Anti-Gay Constitutional Battles Heat Up In Ohio, Mississippi

Christian fundamentalists have begun massive campaigns to push for constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage in Ohio and Mississippi.

"We honestly do not trust any judge in this legal climate today. They're out of control," said David Miller, vice president of Citizens for Community Values.

Citizens for Community Values has been working for weeks to collect the 323,000 signatures needed before the Aug. 4 deadline to place the amendment on the November ballots.

Ohioans for Growth & Equality, a coalition of mainly gay organizations, has put together a team of political consultants and fund-raisers to fight the amendment. Their first big task will be to fight the proposed petition drive in court.


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Minister set to 'marry' gay couple in bar
ALAN MCEWEN


A FORMER soldier with terminal cancer is set to "marry" his partner in a controversial gay blessing conducted by a Church of Scotland minister in a pub.

The couple will be joined by family and friends for the ceremony in Broughton Street’s Phoenix bar.

The blessing is to be carried out by Rev Iain Whyte, who has admitted many church members will be unhappy with his involvement.

Mr Whyte agreed to hold the religious service for former Royal Scots serviceman Robert Wicksted, who is suffering from leukaemia.


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Spanish bishops urge barring gay marriage


Uneasy over the new government's liberal social agenda and its own declining influence, the Roman Catholic Church in Spain urged followers yesterday to block Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's plan to legalize same-sex marriage.

The exhortation followed a meeting of Spain's leading bishops, who condemned such unions as an aberration against nature.

Zapatero's Socialist government, elected in an upset in March that ended eight years of conservative rule, says a law formally recognizing same-sex unions should be ready to submit to parliament in September and could be enacted as early as January.

Zapatero has indicated that he plans to relax restrictions on abortion and divorce, permit stem-cell research using human embryos and shelve a law that made Catholic instruction compulsory in schools.


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Some irked by anti-gay union idea
Yucaipa exploring how other cities react to issue
By EVAN LaGASSE, Staff Writer


YUCAIPA - Some residents reacted with outrage after two City Council members said they were considering a resolution that would take a stand on the issue of gay marriage.

The resolution would not hold any legal clout, only create an official city opinion on a constitutional amendment banning the unions, which was discussed in the U.S. Senate last week.

The amendment was voted down, but not before Councilman Tom Masner voiced his opinion.

``Marriage should be between a man and a woman. That is, in fact, the backbone of civilization,'' Masner told The Sun hours before the amendment was defeated in the Senate


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Gay Seattle man recovering from attack in Montreal
By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER


Adam Conley flew to Montreal last week, looking forward to a celebration of song and camaraderie.

Conley, a singer with the Seattle Men's Chorus, was excited to be attending the International GALA Chorus Festival, a quadrennial convention of more than 6,000 mostly gay and lesbian choral group singers from around the world.

On Saturday night, Conley decided to grab dinner and a drink at a downtown gay bar, to relax a bit before the Seattle group's five-song performance set for the next evening. He went to the bar, called Taboo, alone.

As he left just after midnight, Conley said he was suddenly attacked by a half-dozen young men hurling anti-gay epithets at him