Wash. state clergy speak in support of same-sex marriage
01:29 PM PST on Tuesday, March 23, 2004
From KING Staff and Wire Reports
SEATTLE - More than 160 religious leaders of various religious faiths met in Seattle on Tuesday to speak in favor of same-sex weddings and against a constitutional ban on gay marriage. At a gathering at Plymouth Congregational Church, the group said they want to affirm, not deny, loving relationships, and unveiled a "Statement of Faith-Based Support for Same Sex Marriage."

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Senators hear leaders debate homosexual rights, civil rights
Mar 23, 2004
By Michael Foust
WASHINGTON (BP)--Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 23, two prominent black leaders disagreed as to whether there are parallels between the homosexual rights movement and the civil rights movement. The hearing focused on arguments for and against a constitutional marriage amendment and featured testimony from political and legal experts from both sides of the issue. Rep. John Lewis, D.-Ga., who spoke at the 1963 March on Washington, said he supports the legalization of same-sex “marriage.” Lewis is black. “Discrimination is discrimination,” he said.

But Richard Richardson, a pastor of an African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Boston area, disagreed. He serves as the director of political affairs for The Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston. “You can’t compare what the gay and lesbian community [is] going through today to what the African-American people went through [with] their struggle to gain their rights,” Richardson said

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Joining forces to battle same-sex marriage
Bishops' conference, religious right fund project that critics call an attack effort against gays