Internet ads go after Cheney's daughter
By ELIZABETH WOLFE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- A campaign to compel the vice president's lesbian daughter to oppose a proposed ban on gay marriage is launching its first Internet ad on Monday.

A series of simply animated cartoon panels features stick figures of Mary Cheney and Vice President Dick Cheney. One image reads, "Dick's daughter sold out to help Dick run again."

The story line refers to Mary Cheney's job as director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. She held a public role as her father's assistant in the 2000 campaign and helped the GOP recruit homosexual voters during the 2002 midterm elections. She has been less visible this year while traveling with the vice president or working at campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va.

President Bush, meanwhile, has disturbed many gays, Republicans included, by asking Congress to move on a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the United States.


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Lawmaker pre-files amendment to outlaw gay marriages
BOB JOHNSON
Associated Press


MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The first bill pre-filed in the Alabama House for the 2005 regular session deals with an issue that was discussed, but not decided, in this year's session - banning gay marriages.

Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, on Friday pre-filed a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman and ban gay marriages. The amendment would have to be approved in a statewide vote.

A similar amendment was considered by the Legislature this year. It passed the Senate, but died in the House when it did not come up for debate on the final day of the session.

"God intended for a man and a woman to be united together as man and wife. You can't have a marriage any other way," Allen said, when asked why he was sponsoring the amendment.