Timing of gay marriage vote goes before Supreme Court
DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press


JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri's top elected officials are accusing each other of flouting the law as they ask the state Supreme Court to decide the timing of an election for a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage.

The state's highest court is to hear arguments Tuesday afternoon on whether the gay marriage vote should occur in August, as ordered by Democratic Gov. Bob Holden, or whether it must wait until as late as November, the date preferred by Republican Secretary of State Matt Blunt.

The court's decision may hinge on its interpretation of Missouri's constitution and election laws. But it also may carry political consequences.


A November general election vote is believed by many political observers to hurt Democrats, because the socially conservative backers of the gay marriage ban would be likely to vote for Republicans, including President Bush and Blunt, who is running against Holden. A vote during the August party primaries would diffuse any political advantage, because Democrats and Republicans are not pitted against each other.


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Long Beach City Council Resolution To Oppose Gay Marriage Ban

LOS ANGELES -- The Long Beach City Council is weighing in on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Three city council members say they will propose a resolution tomorrow opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment.

The proposed Constitutional amendment would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The council members proposing the resolution say the city's diversity -- including a large gay and lesbian population -- calls for the council's position against the amendment.


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MPs urge Latham deal on gay rights
By Samantha Maiden


MARK Latham is under pressure from Labor MPs to accept a radical gay rights agenda to overhaul taxation, welfare and anti-vilification laws, in exchange for their support of his compromise plan to allow gays and lesbians to adopt but enshrine marriage as a union only between "a man and a woman".

As the Howard Government warned yesterday that allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children could prompt some overseas countries to suspend Australian adoptions, Mr Latham urged the ALP to allow state laws granting adoption rights but ban gay marriage.

A meeting of the shadow ministry yesterday discussed Labor frontbencher Lindsay Tanner's call to grant gays "civil marriages", but instead agreed to Mr Latham's compromise plan amid warnings that the Howard reforms were simply a bid to apply divisive "wedge politics" to the ALP in an election year.

However, negotiations were continuing last night between Mr Latham's office and dissident MPs to extend an audit of federal laws that discriminate against gays with the aim of introducing "real reforms" that recognise for the first time de facto gay relationships.


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High school students rally for same-sex marriage
By Lindsey Morgan
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR

The honking didn't stop.

For two hours on Saturday morning, drivers passing by the Federal Building on Wilshire

Boulevard had the opportunity to witness a protest for gay marriage, an event entirely initiated by high school students.

Several passing cars honked their horns in support of the signs displayed by the 125 students and teachers attending the rally, holding poster board with slogans such as "We all deserve the right to marry."

High school students from 10 to 15 public and private high schools, some from as far as Mission Viejo, attended the event which was coordinated by students from Windward High, a private day school in West Los Angeles.

Joe Goldman, a freshman, and Sarah Freed, a junior, both from Windward and members of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, coordinated the rally.