Gov may yet nix out-of-state vows
By Steve Marantz

Gov. Mitt Romney may ``end-run'' the Attorney General's Office and prosecute out-of-state gay married couples on his own, according to municipal officials.

     An obscure statute empowers the Registrar of Vital Statistics, under supervision of the Commissioner of Public Health, to prosecute violations in the marriage laws - including a 1913 law that prohibits couples from marrying here if their home states do not allow it.

     ``Our solicitor was told by the governor's office that the registrar could actually enforce the marriage laws,'' said Mark Horan, spokesman for Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone.

     The state Senate yesterday voted overwhelmingly to repeal the 1913 law, but the law is in effect unless the House also repeals it and overrides a certain veto by the governor.


~

Boulder won't challenge ban
By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

BOULDER - A legal challenge to the state's ban on same-sex marriage won't come from the Boulder County commissioners.


A Boulder City Council resolution passed unanimously late Tuesday asks the commissioners to direct the county attorney to issue a ruling on whether the ban is constitutional. If it is unconstitutional, the resolution asks the commissioners to request that County Clerk Linda Salas issue licenses to same-sex couples.



~

Petition asks court to revisit marriage initiative decision
A ballot proponent of defining matrimony as between a man and a woman predicts a small setback in signature-gathering
Thursday, May 20, 2004
DAVE HOGAN

A leading gay-rights activist asked the Oregon Supreme Court on Wednesday to reconsider its order approving the ballot title for an initiative that would ban same-sex marriage.

The request, made on the last day allowed by the court, is expected to delay signature-gathering for the initiative, which will need 100,840 valid signatures by July 2 to qualify for the statewide general election in November.

Roey Thorpe, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, asked the court to reconsider last week's rejection of an earlier challenge to the initiative's ballot title. The initiative would define marriage as only being valid if it is between one man and one woman.

Thorpe and other opponents say the title should specify that the proposed amendment would place limits on the Oregon Constitution's guarantee of equal treatment for all citizens.


~

Civil rights groups to defend gay couple
The two men who applied for and were denied a marriage license in Bucks are being sued.
By Walter F. Naedele
Inquirer Staff Writer

DOYLESTOWN - Three civil rights organizations say their lawyers will defend two gay New Hope men being sued because they want to marry.

An Arizona foundation fighting same-sex unions says it will pay Lancaster County lawyers to argue for 12 state legislators who sued the couple to prevent them from marrying.

A lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund in Scottsdale, Ariz., said the suit was the first of its kind in the nation.



~

Gay weddings push marriage issue into election-year spotlight
By Greg Barrett, Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — Shine Cash is the kind of thoughtful teenager and future voter whose opinions and deliberate manner of speaking elicit quiet. Peers lean in and hang on his every soft-spoken word.

So when discussion at his Miami-area middle school turned recently to marriage education, two-parent homes, and the political debate over gay weddings, a half dozen students looked toward the head of the table where Shine, 13, had just cleared his throat.

"If you follow our history, you see that America is very nosy," he said, and heads nodded in agreement. "There are boundaries that our government oversteps and marriage is one of those boundaries. The government should stay out of it."

Whether it's President Bush's $1.5 billion plan to promote "healthy marriages" in poor communities or the Republicans' push to forever ban same-sex marriages, an institution older than the republic is center stage — and at a critical juncture.