No legislative consensus in Tenn. on gay marriage
NASHVILLE (AP) -- State law now bans same-sex marriage in Tennessee. But a survey of lawmakers conducted by The Tennessean newspaper last week found it's not certain that a majority want to write the ban into the state constitution.


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The Africana QA: Gay Activist Keith Boykin
Writer, speaker and political activist Keith Boykin says equal rights for gays and lesbians ought to be on the black agenda.
Boykin has publicly challenged black leaders on homophobia and gay leaders on racism. In 1995, he was a vocal and visible presence at the Million Man March, led by the anti-gay Nation of Islam. He again made national news in 2000 when he spoke at the Millennium March, a massive gay rights demonstration that was criticized for not including more people of color. The poem Boykin read at the Millennium March includes the following lines that go a long way toward explaining why he believes it is important that blacks support the same-sex marriage fight:

I
Speak
as a proud African-American
same-gender-loving
Christian-identified man
unashamed of who I am
unwilling to be divided into identity camps, and
unbowed by the demons of hatred that would incite me
to fear instead of love.


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Hundreds counterprotest
By SUZAN CLARKE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
SOUTH NYACK — Hundreds carried placards and joined in song last night to express their displeasure with the nine members of a controversial Christian church from Kansas who vocally declared that God hates gays. Counterprotesters had signs that read, "Nyack Thrives on Positive Energy," "Hate Kills" and "Click your heels 3 times, 'cause there is no place like home. Go back to Kansas." About 500 people stood behind barriers to await the arrival of the contingent from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., who had announced their plans to protest outside St. Paul's United Methodist Church last night and in front of Nyack Village Hall this morning.


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Poll: Ohio residents overwhelmingly oppose gay marriage


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The 'pros' have it on gay marriage
By Christine Chinlund,
THUS FAR in 2004 readers have complained relatively little about the Globe's news coverage of the same-sex marriage debate. Aside from a cluster of objections to headlines on poll stories and the occasional reminder about phrasing (e.g., it's "heterosexual-only marriage" that's being challenged, not heterosexual marriage"), it's been reasonably quiet on the news front.On the opinion side of the fence, however, readers have a chronic complaint: The number of pro-gay marriage letters routinely outnumbers anti-gay marriage letters.Actually, the ratio of incoming letters is even more lopsided -- more like 40 to 1 in favor of gay marriage -- according to the two editors, Glenda Buell and Peter Accardi, who compile the daily letters for publication.


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Area students converge on D.C. in support of gay marriage
By Jeremy Hsieh
About 150 people rallied Saturday afternoon for gay marriage rights in Washington to the tune of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" and the words of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's (R-Colo.) - a staunch opponent of gay marriage - being ripped to pieces. 
Speakers read quotes from Musgrave, the chief author of a Constitutional Amendment bill banning gay marriage, ripped them up and deposited them into "the trash can of bigotry."


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Kentucky Republican wants to put new clamps on what he calls activist judiciary
By JESSICA WEHRMAN Courier & Press Washington bureau
Yet another member of the Tri-State congressional delegation is fighting against what he perceives to be an activist judiciary. Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Ky., has introduced legislation that would allow both houses of Congress to override certain future decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court with a two-thirds vote. Lewis said his bill aims to put a check on judicial activism - legislating from the bench.


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Culture war casualties
Polarisation in US politics reflects the huge rift that has emerged over individual lifestyle and moral values
Gary Younge
Monday April 5, 2004
The Guardian
Shortly after Massachusetts legislators voted to ban gay marriage last week, Chauncey Chance rollerbladed past a man outside the statehouse holding a sign stating: Homosexuals are Possessed by Demons. "It's sad to see people are so hateful," Chance told the Boston Globe. "This is who I am." The legislature chose instead to endorse "civil unions" - which gives gay people similar rights to married couples but denies them the title of marriage. "It's terribly wrong to think that God would be pleased," said one man. "If we recognise gay marriage there will be more attacks on this country, chemical, biological, terrorist."



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Resurrecting a bad law to bash gays

ONE DAY 40 years ago when I was 16, my grandmother sat me down and sternly warned me, "I don't want you to ever marry a colored girl"! By contrast, my parents had seemed more concerned that I not marry a Catholic. I informed my grandmother that my choice of marriage partner was my business and not hers, little imagining that a decade later I would find myself dating someone who was black, Catholic -- and male.


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Surveys show trend toward
greater acceptance of gays