Gay marriage backers renew effort against ban in Ohio
By JAMES DREW
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF


COLUMBUS - Opponents of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Ohio said yesterday they will adopt the same tactic that a trade group used to keep a prescription drug discount issue off the November, 2003, ballot.

"We intend to fully examine and look at the signatures on the petitions that are being offered," said Alan Melamed, campaign manager of Ohioans Protecting the Constitution.

Gay-rights supporters yesterday kicked off their campaign against the proposed constitutional amendment, pledging a "bipartisan, statewide grassroots effort" to defeat it.

But the issue may not reach the ballot because the opposition's strategy includes hiring Columbus attorney Don McTigue to challenge petition signatures around the state


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Closet Gays Slowly Coming Out
Tran Dinh Thanh Lam
HO CHI MINH CITY, Jul 24 (IPS) - Previously, alternative lifestyles were not widely discussed in Vietnam and topics such as homosexuality were considered taboo in communist-ruled Vietnam.

But an award-winning book and its TV version are helping to bring the issue out in the open -- slowly unshackling preconceived notions that homosexual acts are a display of aberrant behaviour.

''I remember having heard about two French men - my boss and his friend - making love when I was young and working at a French rubber plantation. At that time, I thought that immoral practice involved only Westerners," 70 year-old Nguyen Minh Tri told IPS.

"But now, I understand that homosexuality may involve all kinds of people,'' added Tri.
The media, indeed, has played a big role in bringing the issue out of the closet and into the public arena through a television series based on an award-winning nove