Pa. high court hears arguments on city same-sex partner benefits
By Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments today in a case that challenges a key city gay-rights ordinance. William T. Devlin, an evangelical Christian activist who runs the Urban Family Council, sued the city over a 1998 bill that grants benefits to registered "life partners" of public employees and also exempts such couples from discrimination and from paying property-transfer tax on sales to their partners. Upheld by Common Pleas Court in 2000, Philadelphia's law was struck down by Commonwealth Court in 2002. The state Supreme Court agreed late last fall to hear the city's appeal. Devlin's attorney, Dennis M. Abrams, argued that the city had overstepped its legal authority in creating life-partnership status.
"The City of Philadelphia, I submit, doesn't have the right to do that," Abrams said.


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shame on Mayor Gavin Newsom

San Francisco Sells Gay Newlywed Names
by Mary Ellen Peterson
(San Francisco, California) The city of San Francisco is selling the list of names of same-sex couples who wed in the city.

Nearly 4,000 gay and lesbian couples got married in San Francisco after Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the clerk's office to begin issuing licenses in February. The weddings came to a halt last month after the state Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order.

The list of all the same-sex couples who received marriage licenses was compiled from information the couples put on the license applications.

"They're public documents already and I think they're selling for cost," Newsom acknowledged Monday night.