Oregon judge halts gay marriages
A judge on Tuesday ordered a halt to same-sex weddings in an Oregon county that for weeks has been the only place in the nation where same-sex couples could get married.

Judge Frank Bearden said he believes the Oregon constitution would allow either civil unions or gay marriage, but he said a state supreme court ruling is needed first. He also said "public debate and legislative action may be required to carry out the court's mandate." The ruling came in a lawsuit that has consolidated all the arguments over same-sex unions in hopes of a quick ruling by the Oregon supreme court.

Officials in Multnomah County, which is home to Portland, began issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples on March 3 after a legal review determined it was unconstitutional to ban applications from same-sex couples. About 3,000 gay couples have been married in the county since then.

The action effectively ends gay marriage nationally, because Multnomah County was the only jurisdiction in the country known to allow same-sex weddings. On May 17, the state of Massachusetts is slated to begin allowing gay marriage in accordance with a November ruling of the Massachusetts supreme judicial court.

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Anti-Gay Groups Seek To Enter Marriage Lawsuit
by Doug Windsor
365Gay.com Newscenter
New York Bureau

(New York City) Conservatives opposed to same-sex marriage are asking a Manhattan court to let them intervene in a lawsuit filed last month by same-sex couples seeking the right to marry in New York.

The groups include the Liberty Counsel of Longwood, Florida, the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy based in Tupelo, Mississippi, the Thomas More Law Center from Ann Arbor, Michigan, the New York Family Policy Council and Michael Long, Chairman of the Conservative Party of New York.

In briefs to New York State Supreme Court they claim that they would be harmed if same-sex couples are allowed to marry in New York.

The case before the court is a challenge to the constitutionality of state laws barring same-sex couples from marrying brought by Lambda Legal on behalf of a group of gay and lesbian couples.