Judge upholds same-sex registry in Cleveland Heights


CLEVELAND A judge ruled Friday that the nation's first voter-approved domestic partner registry is constitutional.

The ruling by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Robert T. Glickman threw out the challenge to the Cleveland Heights registry filed by Rev. Jimmie Hicks Jr., a Cleveland Heights councilman.


Hicks had sued in February to stop the Cleveland suburb from continuing to register gay and straight unmarried couples.

The initiative creating the registry passed with 55 percent of the vote last November in the community of 50,000.


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Bush campaign mum on any openly gay staffers
By ADRIAN BRUNE

When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, he refused to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans.

But eventually — after he clinched GOP the nomination and was eager to brandish his image as a “compassionate conservative” — he met with the so-called “Austin 12,” a group of gay party activists who supported his candidacy.

In early April of that year, the dozen handpicked supporters, including D.C. Council member David Catania, flew to Austin, Texas, for what turned out to be an emotional meeting with the candidate at campaign headquarters.

Those present said at the time that Bush listened carefully to the Austin 12, declared himself a “better man” for having heard their concerns, and pledged to keep in place gay-friendly executive orders. In turn, his gay supporters helped Bush reap an estimated 25 percent of the gay vote.

Four years later, Bush has formally called for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and alienated not only members of the Austin 12, but also any openly gay Republican previously willing to work on his campaign, according to Catania.


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GOP Drives More Gay Advocates From Party  
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff


(Washington) As the Republican Party continues its move to the far right the number of gays and their supporters who are leaving the party grows.  

In Washington, D.C., Friday, Councilman David Catania quit the party after he was told he could not longer be a delegate at the national convention. Party chair Betsy Werronen says Catania lost the seat because he opposes President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

The openly gay Catania has publicly voiced his opposition to the proposed amendment.

Within hours of Catania's withdrawal from the party, the only other Republican on the 13-member District council resigned as a delegate to the convention in protest of Catania's dismissal.