Block on gay marriage is just like 'apartheid'
By Emma-Kate Symons, Social affairs writer, Sophie Morris and Misha Schubert
April 27, 2004

HIGH-PROFILE lesbian couple Kerryn Phelps and Jackie Stricker have labelled John Howard's plan to block legal recognition of gay marriages "a form of apartheid".
"Blacks and coloureds were not allowed to marry whites under apartheid in South Africa," Dr Phelps, the former Australian Medical Association president, said yesterday.

"This is no different.

"And it's a desperate and narrow-minded attempt to copy what (US President) George Bush is trying to do in the US."


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Thousands Protest Against Gay Marriage
LOS ANGELES -- An estimated 7,000 people rallied in San Francisco Sunday to protest same-sex marriages. The rally in the city's Sunset District was billed by its organizers as showing support among Christians. Many of the leaders of the protest, and a sizable portion of the crowd were Chinese Americans. Speakers addressed the crowd in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Organizers say the rally drew members of more than 150 Bay Area churches. A handful of people showed up in opposition to the protest. The City of San Francisco issued about 4,000 marriage licenses in about a month's time before the State Supreme Court ordered a halt to the marriages. Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.


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Proposal to Leave Weddings to Churches
All Things Considered audio
A proposal is put forth in Massachusetts that would take the state out of the marriage business altogether. Couples, of any sexual orientation, could receive civil unions from the state, but actual marriage would be left to religious institutions. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.


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Massachusetts orders officials to perform same-sex nuptials
By Katie Zezima
NEW YORK TIMES
BOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Justices of the peace in Massachusetts must perform same-sex marriages when they become legal in the state next month, state officials said Sunday, and they warned that those who refused could face discrimination lawsuits.

"Your task is straightforward and can be summed up in three words: Follow the law," Daniel B. Winslow, chief legal counsel for Gov. Mitt Romney, told a meeting of the Massachusetts Justices of the Peace Association. "If you hold true to your oath of office and follow the law, whether you agree with it or not, you will fulfill your duty as a justice of the peace."


Winslow urged any justice with qualms about officiating for same-sex couples to resign.


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I think this is important for the fact that this was the plan all along.. to make this a divisive subject and divide the nation... I mean what else does a non-elected president (sic) who took this county to war on a lie , do? that is other then have hundred dies for a lie...

Conservatives highlight gay marriage issue in campaign ads
DAVID ESPO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - From the first moment of the first television commercial of his campaign for governor of Indiana, Eric Miller could not have been plainer about his opposition to gay marriage, the simmering social issue of the election year.

The conservative Republican "is fighting to protect marriage in Indiana," the ad said. "Marriage should be between a man and a woman."


Nor is Miller alone in spotlighting gay marriage in his campaign. A small number of conservative Republicans have done likewise in the two months since gays and lesbians lined up to obtain marriage licenses in San Francisco and other cities, and President Bush called for a constitutional ban on same-sex nuptials.


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Celebrating gay rights
Weeklong fete to honor Canada as gay-friendly
By RON GOLDWYN
THE TIMING couldn't be better: Equality Forum launches a week of programming that focuses on gay marriage - with gay-friendly Canada in the spotlight.

The theme was chosen even before gay marriage exploded from San Francisco's City Hall to the presidential campaign, says Malcolm Lazin, Equality Forum's founder and executive director.

Canada has been on board since last fall as the forum's "featured nation." Government officials, cabaret stars and Canada's first gay couple to marry legally are all heading to Philadelphia from north of the border.

"It became a better choice with the passage of time," Lazin said. "Marriage equality is absolutely something that is happening in Canada."


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At Brown, a different gender gap
Transgender students who had pushed for more "safe and comfortable" housing options say they feel betrayed by the university.
BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Luke Woodward perceived Brown University as a progressive place where he would feel comfortable. As someone who came out as homosexual in high school, an accepting, nonjudgmental atmosphere mattered to him.

So Woodward came to Brown, and in many ways, it has been a good fit. Now a senior, he has found close friends and support during a pivotal time -- his transformation from a lesbian with a female name he no longer uses to a transgender male named Luke.

"My gender expression got more masculine as time went by," Woodward, 23, said. Eventually, it made more sense and felt more natural to become male. Last summer, he had surgery to remove his breasts. Later this year, Woodward plans to start taking testosterone to further alter his appearance.

As a transgender student, Woodward is at the forefront of a student movement at Brown and several other colleges that is pushing for a "gender-neutral" housing option for incoming students.


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Activists upset over conservative group's spot on adoption panel
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Some activists are angry that legislators plan to include a group that opposes gay marriage on a panel studying whether unmarried couples can adopt children.


The Palmetto Family Council is the only private group so far given a position on a committee studying a bill before the state Senate that would bar unmarried couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents. The conservative Christian-interest group is a nonprofit that advocates for traditional families and opposes gay marriage.