Tiny Unitarian Universalist denomination claiming loud voice on gay marriage
By JAY LINDSAY
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON- Its Beacon Hill headquarters are within earshot of the gay marriage protesters that swarmed the Statehouse steps, but inside the Unitarian Universalist Association the debate is long over.

While other churches remain split over gay marriage, the tiny denomination has staked a claim as a leading religious voice in favor of same-sex unions.

Ministers in San Francisco have presided over gay marriage ceremonies and two in New Paltz, N.Y., were charged after performing ceremonies. The church's official Web site offers a "Same Sex Wedding Planning Guide."

And on May 17, the day the nation's first state-sanctioned gay marriages can begin, the church plans to welcome in the newlyweds with fanfare that includes trumpets and tolling bells. That day, association president Rev. William Sinkford will officiate the wedding of Julie and Hillary Goodridge, lead plaintiffs in the case that led the state's highest court to rule the state constitution gives gays and lesbians the right to marry in Massachusetts. Two other plaintiffs will be married at the Arlington Street Church in Boston in a ceremony to be broadcast on ABC's "Nightline.

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Supporters outnumber Kansas church anti-gay protest in Vegas
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Counter-protesters far outnumbered anti-gay picketers from a Kansas church who rallied Wednesday against a high school play based on the 1998 beating death of a University of Wyoming student.

"Wherever they are, that's where we'll be," said Christian Jose, 20, a property agent carrying a rainbow flag and a sign reading, "Hate Kills."

Jose joined more than 250 people who jammed a sidewalk in front of the Las Vegas Academy, facing about 10 picketers on the other curb from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.

The church group held posters and sang songs to highlight what they call the homosexual message in "The Laramie Project."


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Federal Judge Weighs Blocking Gay Marriages In Mass.
by Martin Finucane
Associated Press 

(Boston, Massachusetts) Conservative groups pleaded with a federal judge Wednesday in an 11th-hour bid to stop the nation's first state-sanctioned gay marriages from taking place next week in Massachusetts.

Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, argued that the state's high court stepped outside its jurisdiction when it ruled in November that gay marriage should be legal in Massachusetts.

``It's an unusual time that we live in, and we're asking this court to intervene to prevent this constitutional train wreck,'' Staver told U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro.

Assistant Massachusetts Attorney General Peter Sacks, arguing on behalf of the Supreme Judicial Court, said the state court based its ruling on an interpretation of the state constitution, and the case does not belong in federal court.