Area church blesses same-sex couples
By RAMONA TURNER
Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — A celebration of the gift of love and same-sex unions brought hundreds of people to First Congregational Church of Santa Cruz on Sunday.

During a three-hour event, leaders of various congregations around the Central Coast celebrated gay and lesbian couples — many of whom had gotten married in San Francisco — by blessing each one of them individually.

"It’s an unbelievable privilege to be here ... on behalf of many congregations that have not lost their way," said the Rev. Michael Love of New United Methodist Church.

Daniel Osorio and Michael Hall of Felton were among the dozens of couples blessed at Sunday’s ceremony.


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Romney, mayor square off on gay wedding residency rules
By Brian Ballou
City and town clerks in Massachusetts will be given wide discretion in evaluating the residency of same sex couples come May 17, according to Gov. Mitt Romney's spokeswoman.

     Beginning tomorrow, the governor's office will give state clerks guidance on how to issue licenses for same-sex couples, said Shawn Feddeman.

     ``We'll give city and town clerks a great deal of discretion in choosing how they can satisfy themselves as to a person's residency,'' Feddeman said.

     But Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a supporter of gay marriage, said he's asking his legal counsel to take a look at the legal validity of any residency requirement. ``They never ask that information for heterosexual couples,'' he said yesterday.

     ``I'm not about discrimination, I just want to make sure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect,'' he said.


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Legal same-sexcouples
Transsexuals and their spouses test the definition of marriage.
By Yomi S. Wronge
Knight Ridder Newspapers
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 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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Once seen as dead, marriage amendment close to adoption
JOHN HANNA
Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. - Left for dead a month ago, a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage faces only one legislative hurdle to getting on the November ballot.

Supporters and opponents alike attribute the measure's resurrection to pressure from conservative clergy and other Kansans who view the proposed addition to the Kansas Constitution as an important moral statement, as well as a policy issue.

The proposed amendment states that Kansas recognizes marriage only between one man and one woman and denies the benefits of marriage to other domestic arrangements, such as same-sex civil unions.


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Sex-change (sic) bride is a hit in China
A year after becoming a woman, Zhang Lin wedded the man of her dreams, sparking controversy in the conservative Chinese countryside
AFP , FENGHUANG VILLAGE, CHINA
When Zhang Lin was carried in a bridal sedan chair down a 300m dirt road to her future husband's home, she was no different from generations of Chinese women before her. Except that until a year ago, Zhang was a man.

Thousands of farmers watched with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief as the 38-year-old bride and her groom Yang Qizheng, four years her junior, celebrated their wedding this weekend deep in China's conservative countryside.

"It's a bit strange," said Liu Guifa, a peasant woman who had come to the village of Fenghuang in southwestern Sichuan province to witness the country's first public wedding of a man turned woman through a sex-change operation.