Anti-gay adoption amendment approved
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Senate approved an amendment Tuesday that says the state will not recognize same sex adoptions from other states or countries.

Sen. James Williamson, GOP leader of the Senate, said "a key component of the radical homosexual agenda is to take away the right of states to regulate and define adoptions _ just as they are trying to redefine marriage across the nation."

Williamson's amendment to clarify state law was attached to a bill dealing with how foreign adoptions are registered in the state.

Only five senators voted against the amendment, then the bill was passed, 44-0.


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Provincetown to defy same-sex marriage ban


PROVINCETOWN, Mass., April 13 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts tourist town has decided to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite legal uncertainties, USA Today reported Tuesday.

Provincetown, on the Cape Cod peninsula, is the first community to make the move since Massachusetts became the first state to recognize gay marriage. The state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled last November it was unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry and ordered marriage licenses to be issued starting May 17.

The main legal concern is a 1913 state law barring the issue of marriage licenses "if such marriage would be void if contracted in (another) jurisdiction."

Regardless, the town is pressing ahead.


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South Asian gays find US voice
By Chhavi Dublish in New Jersey
As gay people fight for legal same-sex unions in the United States, South Asian gays there are slowly stepping out of the shadows to form a small but formidable force.

In the face of both ethnic and sexual bias, some South Asian gays have come to terms with their sexuality and have been bold enough to acknowledge their orientation to family and friends.

Dr AdityaMoy Kar, 38, an associate professor at the University of Georgia, went through an internal struggle during his teenage years in Calcutta.

"I knew I was different from other boys but there was no one I could talk to," he says.

"In India we never discussed sexuality let alone sexual orientation. It was finally when I came to the United States, I understood what it meant to be gay.


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Gay-union ban falters in Senate
Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
A resolution aimed at pushing Arizona into the forefront of the national debate over same-sex marriage has crashed and apparently died on the floor of the Arizona Senate. The measure would have urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. It got off to a sizzling start, passing the House easily and gaining tentative approval in the Senate by a 15-11 vote. But one of the lawmakers pushing the bill has been unable to find the 16th Senate vote needed to send the resolution to Congress. Senators who had been considered potential swing votes say they oppose it. "We have a solid 15 votes, and we're waiting for that last person to have a revelation," said Sen. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, who is pushing the bill. "I wouldn't say I'm optimistic."


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CALL FOR AN ANTI-FASCIST BLOC AT THE MARCH FOR CHOICE 4/25 IN DC

Anti-Racist Action is calling for a visible antifascist bloc on April 25th in Washington DC as part of the March For Women's Lives. The climate of fear engendered in this country by the Bush administration's military agression and assult on civil liberties has created an opportunity for the forces of the right wing to consolidate their power and work together to push through an agenda which is oppressive in many ways, one of the most visible today being the assault on sexual and reproductive freedom. This calls for nothing less than total resistance, and it is critical for anti-authoritarians to make our presence felt as part of this opposition.

As anti-authoritarians and anti-fascists, we work to build strong communities of families and inclusive support networks. We come from a position where we find our attempts at strengthening our communities under attack by state regulations in many different ways. We need to stand up for what we need: full reproductive freedom, access to birth control, acceptance of adoption as a choice, support structures for having and raising children, access to affordable prenatal and birth options, and free abortion on demand. Ultimately we want to care for ourselves and we believe in taking practical steps toward that - NOW.

Our call for an antifascist bloc allows us to raise awareness of the ties between fascism and the restriction of sexual freedom. Historical fascism was much more effective in its patriarchal redefining of gender relations in the "homeland" than in its more widely publicized racist outrages, and right-wing religious and nationalist movements today, from the Taliban to the Christian Right, similarly build their power first and foremost on state power over women as a class, and state regulation and social conditioning of sexual and family relationships. Bringing up this often-overlooked connection keeps the struggles of women and sexual minorities from being marginalized.


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Wisconsinites support gay-marriage ban, uncertain on civil unions
by Abby Peterson, State Editor
A recent Badger Poll confirms Wisconsinites' support for a state constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage, but the results leave support for a similar ban on civil unions unclear.

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said they support an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman.

Support for an amendment rose when language excluding civil unions was dropped. In that case, 66 percent of Wisconsin residents said they would support the amendment, while 28 percent said they would not.