N.C. Senate Bill Seeks To Add Gay-Marriage Ban To Constitution

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Voters could decide this fall whether to place a gay marriage ban in North Carolina's constitution with a bill introduced in the state Senate.

The measure, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Jim Forrester, would place a referendum on the Nov. 2 ballot asking whether the state should add the ban on same-sex marriage to the constitution.

The bill was turned in to the Senate clerk late Tuesday and will be filed officially Wednesday.


"We ought to let the people decide and let them vote on it," said Forrester, R-Gaston. "I think the vast majority of people would be voting as marriage as between one man and one woman."


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MORE NEWSPAPERS RUN SAME-SEX UNIONS IN MICHIGAN
By Sean Kosofsky  

(Detroit) – More newspapers in Michigan will run announcements of same-sex commitment ceremonies than any other state in the country. This puts Michigan media outlets ahead of the country in recognizing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) families. 
 
Triangle Foundation, Michigan’s largest GLBT civil rights organization has partnered with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nations largest GLBT media watchdog organization, in its “Announcing Equality” campaign. The partnership in Michigan was designed to encourage newspapers to honor same-sex couples who announce their relationships and commitment ceremonies to their local paper.

Out of 242 newspapers surveyed, ninety-eight said they would run announcements for same-sex couples if asked. This means Michigan is the leading state in terms of number of newspapers willing to print same-sex announcements.
 
“This is another reason I am proud to live in Michigan where most people do value diversity and honor the commitments made by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families,” said Sean Kosofsky, Director of Policy for Triangle Foundation.


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Poland: Gay activists hit with eggs, stones
by Ben Townley
Gay.com U.K.

Hundreds of gay rights activists in Poland endured verbal abuse and had eggs and stones thrown at them as they took part in a march through the city of Krakow last weekend.


Around 800 people marched for their rights in the city, which has been a focus of gay rights advocates in recent weeks. Gay rights groups had planned to combine the march with a small festival of "tolerance," featuring art, music and films that were GLBT-friendly.


However, the Campaign Against Homophobia had complained that local media had started their own crusade against the group, claiming they had scheduled the event to coincide with a national religious holiday so as to inflame conservative groups and raise publicity.


The group had rescheduled the protest for Friday last week in a bid to avoid clashes, despite conservative and religious groups calling for the march to be banned.


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Socialists urge French to back gay marriage

PARIS France's opposition Socialists, spurred on by their allies in the Greens party, on Tuesday urged the French to back homosexual marriage.
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The Socialist party leader, Francois Hollande, said he would ask his party to file a draft law that would put civil marriage on France's statute books, regardless of the gender of the two people asking to be married.

The Greens parliamentary deputy and former presidential candidate, Nl Mare, plans to celebrate France's first same-sex marriage between two men on June 5. Justice Minister Dominique Perben has called on judicial authorities to block the ceremony.



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Lesbian Egg Donor Has No Parental Rights
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(San Francisco, California) A woman who donated her eggs for her partner's twin girls has no parental rights a California appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The woman, identified in court documents only as K.M. She donated eggs to her registered domestic partner, identified as E.G. who became pregnant and delivered healthy twins in 1995.

The two women lived together and raised the girls for almost six years. But in August 2001, the relations soured and they separated.  E.G. moved with the girls to Massachusetts.  

Both claimed to be the children's' mothers, but E.G. contended that K.M. had voluntarily given up any rights, while K.M. she never intended to do so.

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Log Cabin rolls out anti-marriage amendment ad campaign in Colorado

In its continuing expansion of an advertising campaign critical of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would enshrine antigay discrimination in the U.S. Constitution, the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans will begin airing TV spots on Wednesday in Colorado. The commercial includes excerpts from then-vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney's 2000 debate with Sen. Joe Lieberman in which Cheney made references to the legal recognition of same-sex relationships. "That matter is regulated by the states," he said. "I think different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that's appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area."


Log Cabin's commercial, which is part of a $1 million campaign of print ads and lobbying efforts, will coincide with testimony from Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, the House sponsor of the proposed amendment, in support of the measure before the House Judiciary Committee. "Real issues that Colorado families care about are being ignored by Congresswoman Musgrave and Senator [Wayne] Allard," said Log Cabin Republicans executive director Patrick Guerriero. "While Congresswoman Musgrave spends time testifying on how to write discrimination into our sacred Constitution, families in her district are focused on fighting the war on terror, supporting our troops in Iraq, and continuing to jump-start the economy."