County ban plan political, gays argue
By Kevin Osborne
Post staff reporter

A gay rights group is harshly criticizing Hamilton County commissioners, saying their expected endorsement today of a proposed federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage is misguided and improper.

Stonewall Cincinnati questions the motivation behind the resolution pushed by Commission President John Dowlin.

Dowlin, who has said gays and lesbians engage in "immoral and destructive sexual behavior," wants the commission to recognize the definition of marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.

Commissioner Phil Heimlich -- Dowlin's fellow Republican -- supports the measure, giving it enough votes for passage on the three-member group.


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Boy Scouts In a Knot of Protest
by Marie-Jo Proulx

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) held their National Convention in Chicago May 19-21. While they got on with their order of business inside the Hyatt Hotel, many groups protested their anti-gay and anti-atheist policies outside.

The New England Coalition for Inclusive Scouting (NECIS), a group made up of former scouts, former scout leaders, and concerned scouts who are still in the movement, held a one-hour press conference in a hotel across the street. Then Scouting For All, a national organization advocating diversity in scouting, brought together a dozen speakers, including representatives of PFLAG, NOW, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, for a rally and day-long protest. All strongly denounced the BSA’s rejection of gay members as well as its requirement that boys and their families be of the Christian faith.

In 1916 the BSA were granted a Congressional Charter mandating them to be “open to all boys.” Today they constitute the largest youth organization in the U.S. According to their own numbers, at the end of 2003 the BSA had a total of 4.5 million boys and adult leaders in their ranks.


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Annuity Board responds to Carnival Cruise controversy
 

DALLAS (BP)—Amid recent reports that a homosexual advocacy group is planning an event called “Gay Days” on a Carnival cruise ship, the Annuity Board has issued a release to address concerns about its investment in Carnival Cruise Lines.

O.S. Hawkins, president of the Annuity Board, said he wants Southern Baptists to be aware of the facts regarding the issue and of the entity’s investment policy.

“The Annuity Board is very much in sympathy with those who have concerns related to investing in certain companies,” Hawkins said in the May 18 news release. “We have a strong investment policy which states, ‘Investments are prohibited in any company that is publicly recognized as determined by the Annuity Board as being in the liquor, tobacco, gambling, pornography or abortion industries, or any company whose products, services, or activities are publicly recognized as being incompatible with the moral and ethical posture of the Annuity Board.’”

Hawkins noted the Annuity Board does not invest in the hundreds of companies on its restricted list and said the entity is continually monitoring and evaluating companies at its regular meetings. He said the entity is still committed to its Baptist identity and will make sound business decisions in accordance with appropriate moral judgment.


The release emphasized that Carnival Cruise Lines has not endorsed the proposed Gay Days vacation package, organized by Gay Days, Inc., an Orlando-based company.