3,000 demonstrate on eve of convention
Protesters of every stripe deliberately avoid the city's designated demonstration area, asserting their right to march in the streets.
BY MICHAEL CORKERY
Journal Staff Writer


BOSTON -- More than 3,000 protesters, from socialists to pacifists to an antiabortion activist urging them all to repent, marched through the city streets with a common cause yesterday: the right to demonstrate.

Capping a week of legal wrangling in federal court, the protesters walked noisily but peacefully by Beacon Hill and past the FleetCenter, the site of this week's Democratic National Convention.

City officials had sought to prevent yesterday's march from passing by the FleetCenter because of security concerns, but a federal judge allowed it to proceed as planned.


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LGBT groups gear up for ballot battle
By Kris Hamel
Detroit

Lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities and their allies in Michigan are geared up for a big battle. The newly formed Coalition for a Fair Michigan (CFM) is preparing to defeat a reactionary amendment to the state constitution that would not only ban same-sex marriage, but also ban civil unions and domestic partner benefits.

An anti-gay group called Citizens for the Protection of Marriage turned in over 482,000 petition signatures on July 5 to the state's election commission to put the proposed amendment on the November ballot. This group was spearheaded by right-wing Bush administration supporter Marlene Elwell.

Elwell reportedly paid a petitioning busi ness up to $3 for each signature collected.

The amendment reads: "To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose." Domestic partner benefits would be taken away from public sector workers in several municipalities and stripped from workers at some corporations.