Seattle to recognize marriages of gay city workers
05:17 PM PST on Sunday, March 7, 2004
Associated Press
SEATTLE -- Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced Sunday that the city will begin recognizing the marriages of gay employees who get their unions licensed elsewhere. Beginning on Monday, Seattle is going to give every married couple the same rights -- regardless of whether they're straight or gay, Nickels said.
Nickels supports gay marriage, but because counties -- not cities -- issue marriage licenses in Washington state, he said he lacks the legal authority to issue same-sex marriage licenses like mayors in San Francisco and New Paltz, New York, have done.


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Arizona county halts mail-in marriage licenses because of gay marriage controversy
(03-07) 12:39 PST PHOENIX
(AP) -- Phoenix-area heterosexual couples who plan to marry must now appear in person to obtain a marriage license because officials halted a mail-in program amid the controversy over same-sex marriages


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Steven Waldman: Bush may have done favor for the cause of gay rights
March 8, 2004
President Bush's endorsement of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage could prove to be a great moment for gay rights
This may seem an absurd statement, both to gay rights activists who have roundly denounced the decision and to religious conservatives who have cheered it.