Catania Quits D.C. GOP Governing Committee


Washington -  D.C. Councilman David Catania has resigned his leadership in the local Republican Party.

The Common Denominator newspaper tells ABC 7 News Catania left the organization after its chair decided he could no longer be a delegate at the national convention. Party chair Betsy Werronen says Catania lost the seat because he opposes President Bush's re-election.

Catania - who's openly gay - started speaking out against Bush after the president called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

The only other Republican on the 13-member council resigned as a delegate to the convention in protest of Catania's dismissal.

Catania says he hasn't decided whether to change his party registration to Independent.



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No let-up on gay-wed violators
By Steve Marantz

Gov. Mitt Romney is moving to crack down on out-of-state gay couples seeking marriage licenses in Attleboro and Fall River.

     Administration officials have obtained documents from both municipalities indicating that licenses were illegally issued to nonresident gay couples since May 17.

     Romney said yesterday the documents will be forwarded to the Attorney General's Office, which already has stopped Somerville, Worcester, Provincetown and Springfield from issuing licenses to nonresident gay couples in violation of a 1913 law.

     ``Any time we hear of elected officials not following the law, we will gather the information necessary . . . and forward it to the attorney general for whatever action he feels is appropriate,'' Romney said


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Gay marriage old news in the Netherlands
BY KEN DILANIAN
Knight Ridder Newspapers


AMSTERDAM - (KRT) - Like a lot of politicians, the mayor of Leeuwarden, a small town about 60 miles north of the Dutch capital, is married.

It's just that his spouse happens to be a man.

Same-sex marriage may be making headlines in America, but here in the land of tulips and canals - not to mention state-sanctioned marijuana cafes, brothels and euthanasia - it's yesterday's news.


In 2000, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize gay nuptials. These days they have become so unremarkable that the city council of Leeuwarden felt no compunction in nominating Geert Dales, a former Amsterdam alderman who married his longtime partner in 2002, to lead their midsized borough.