Schools Should Teach Tolerance for Transgenders, Activists Say
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
(CNSNews.com) - A group that advocates tolerance for homosexuals says California schools are not doing enough to teach students about transgender people.

Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, said if the schools were doing a better job of teaching tolerance, the murder of trangender teenager Gwen Araujo might not have happened.

Three men in their early twenties are now on trial in Hayward, Calif., charged with killing Araujo after discovering that Araujo -- who looked female and went by the name Gwen -- was biologically male and used to go by the name Eddie.

The murder in Newark, Calif., on Oct. 3, 2002, drew national media attention. Activists called it a shocking example of anti-transgender violence.


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Facing difficult decisions, intersex people and their families push for understanding
By Will Evans -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, April 20, 2004
David Cameron feels neither completely male nor female.

Born with male genitalia, Cameron began growing breasts during puberty and didn't sprout chest hair until testosterone treatment kicked in. Instead of the typical male XY chromosomes or the female XX set, Cameron has XXY.

"I feel sort of like a blend," says Cameron, 56, of San Francisco.

Some researchers say that's a reasonable conclusion. Humans don't always clearly divide into male and female categories. Some are born with abnormalities that challenge the very definition of sex. The term for them is intersex.


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Judge to give update on gay marriage case
Location: Bernalillo
Source: AP
The judge assigned to the Sandoval County same-sex marriage license case has scheduled a status conference.

The attorney for County Clerk Victoria Dunlap -- Paul Livingston -- says he was notified over the weekend that a status conference is set for May 7th.


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TRANSSEXUALS A NEW TEST OF MARRIAGE
THE GAY- MARRIAGE DEBATE MAY CAST DOUBT ON VALIDITY OF UNIONS INVOLVING PEOPLE WHO CHANGE GENDER
By Yomi S. Wronge
Depending on how you see things, Fran Bennett and Erika Taylor are a heterosexual or lesbian couple.

Either way, under California law, they're married.

That's because the couple tied the knot before Bennett, once a popular Bay Area disc jockey known as ``Weird Old Uncle Frank,'' had what is commonly called a sex change.

Their marriage -- and possibly thousands like it involving transsexual women and men across the Bay Area and country -- is already testing the boundaries of marriage as the nation wrangles over the rights of same-sex couples to wed.


Many transsexual couples have until now fallen under the mainstream radar as they've continued to marry, or remain married despite having changed genders. And now they're worried the contentious debate over same-sex marriage will cast an unwelcome spotlight on their largely quiet existence.



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BAY AREA
Committed to marriage for the masses
Polyamorists say they relate honestly to multiple partners
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Unitarians from Boston to Berkeley have opened another front in the liberal crusade to expand the definition of marriage and family in America.

It's the new polygamy, and according to the Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness, their relationships are at least as ethical as other marriages -- gay or straight.

"Polyamory is never having to say you've broken up,'' said Sally Amsbury of Oakland, whose sex and love life openly includes her husband and two "other significant others," known in polyamory parlance as "OSOs."

Amsbury serves on the national board of directors of the Unitarian Universalist organization, which defines polyamory as "the philosophy and practice of loving or relating intimately to more than one other person at a time with honesty and integrity.'


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New Yorkers Supportive Of Civil Unions
(CPOD) Apr. 20, 2004 – Many New Yorkers reject the possibility of wedlock for gay and lesbian partners, according to a poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 55 per cent of respondents are opposed to same-sex marriage.

On Feb. 24, United States president George W. Bush asked the U.S. Congress to enact an amendment that would define marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

The New York state community of New Paltz issued certificates for same-sex partners in March. Two Unitarian Universalist ministers—Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey—were charged with multiple counts of "solemnizing a marriage without a license" on Mar. 15. The ministers performed 13 ceremonies for same-sex couples. Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, pleaded "not guilty" to similar charges on Mar. 5.

New Yorkers support giving same-sex couples some of the legal rights of married couples. 52 per cent of respondents back the concept of civil unions for gay and lesbian partners, which are currently available only in the state of Vermont.