CNU delays vote on policy change
A decision is postponed whether to include gays and lesbians as a group protected from discrimination.
BY ANGELA FOREST


NEWPORT NEWS -- Those who want Christopher Newport University to include gays and lesbians in its non-discrimination policy will have to wait longer for an answer.

The board agreed to postpone voting on it for an indefinite period of time during a meeting held earlier this month.

Board members Jay Joseph and Mary Elizabeth Hoinkes sought to include sexual orientation, but the board's majority supported a motion by member Judy Ford to get more information first. Ford suggested the board delay a vote to see how the issue plays out nationally.


The Student Government Association and the Faculty Senate passed resolutions in April and November 2003 recommending that homosexuals be added to the list of protected classes on campus.


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Gays' breakups raise legal conflicts
Custody, visitation, assets are issues
By Stevenson Swanson
Tribune national correspondent


NEW YORK -- First comes love, then comes marriage.
Then comes divorce.

With the first legalized same-sex marriages a month old, pondering gay divorce might seem premature. But according to attorneys and legal experts, it's already here. Gay and lesbian couples have been struggling with the legal fallout of breaking up for years.

Without state recognition of their relationships, partners who are splitting up can find themselves cast adrift by the courts, with few provisions for equitable division of property, parental visitation rights or child support. If anything, the advent of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts last month could bring clarity to a process that has been evolving unevenly from state to state.

"I think one of the important benefits of marriage, ironically, is divorce," said Mark Legere, a New York lawyer with 10 years of experience in the field of same-sex breakups. "All of the collective wisdom that has been built up in divorce law of how to end a relationship will come into play. It makes all of the issues that much easier and cleaner."

Court hearings to resolve property and visitation conflicts for homosexual couples are relatively new. Two decades ago, courts would not hear such cases, even if a couple had a cohabitation agreement.