"Out" at work: Gay employees seeing a welcome change in attitude
By Amy Joyce
The Washington Post


. . . .Although the number of companies providing same-sex partner benefits hasn't jumped significantly in recent years, employees say they're seeing a change in attitude and acceptance that helps them, as gay employees, work to their fullest potential, not having to hide their private lives.


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Gay couples stage mass 'wedding'


A mass blessing service of lesbian and gay couples - thought to be the biggest ever held in the UK - has taken place in Manchester's Gay Village.

About 70 couples tied the knot at the symbolic ceremony, as part of the Manchester Pride festival.

Gay and lesbian relationships are not currently recognised by UK law.

However, the Civil Partnership Bill, currently going through Parliament, will give gay and lesbian couples legal status for the first time.

When enacted, the bill will give certain financial rights to gay and lesbian couples, in areas including pension rights and tax entitlement.


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Rodney Croome: Why same-sex marriage matters
Rodney Croome


In Baghdad, a young woman cowers by her window watching US troops and Iraqi fighters killing each other in the street, and she wonders why.

In Tasmania's ancient southern forests, helicopters firebomb another clearfelled, poisoned valley. Locals hear the choppers fly low over their houses and they wonder why.

In a park in Sydney, a little boy asks his two mums why some of the other kids aren’t allowed to play with him. They tell him that there are some people who think his type of family isn't as good as others, and he, too, wonders why.

Never doubt that fallen soldiers in Iraq, Tasmania's fallen trees and a little boy's sinking heart are intimately connected.

They are connected by greed, corruption and a hunger for power that tramples unheedingly over life's dignity and hope.


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Violence Continues in Dupont
Murder followed by fresh attack on 16th Street; Mayor speaks at Annie's
By Will O'Bryan


WEDNESDAY, AUG. 25 -- As the emotional fallout from the murder of Adrien Alstad continues to grip Washington's gay community -- and all residents in the area of Dupont and Logan circles -- new attacks have rocked the same neighborhood. Three men walking on the 1600 block of 16th Street NW told police they were attacked at 12:35 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The three were approached by two men, one of whom brandished a handgun, a police spokesman told Metro Weekly. The victims told police the assailants demanded money, and that one victim surrendered his wallet. A second victim said the armed attacker used the gun to strike him near his eye before both assailants fled on foot, last seen running north on 16th Street.


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Board of Elections won't intervene in gay-rights dispute
Post staff report


The Hamilton County Board of Elections decided Friday not to wade into a dispute about the wording of a ballot measure that would repeal a Cincinnati charter amendment involving sexual orientation.

Election officials will let Cincinnati City Council attempt to achieve a compromise between the two sides of the dispute when council members meet in special session Monday.

Opponents of an effort to repeal the amendment, known as Article XII, said ballot wording circulated on petitions by repeal supporters and approved by City Council is misleading. They dislike that the issue uses the word, "discrimination," which isn't included in the charter amendment's actual wording.

Article XII forbids the city from passing any local laws based on sexual orientation.


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Ban foes seek funds
By Sherri Richards, The Forum


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Equality North Dakota, an opponent of a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, has started an aggressive fund-raising campaign, chairman Robert Uebel said at a news conference Friday.

Under the theme “Vote No to Discrimination: the Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment,” the group will sell bumper stickers with that slogan for $1 each, and solicit donations through mailings and e-mail.

A fund-raising event will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Sept. 23 at the home of Rep. Mary Ekstrom, D-Fargo. It includes food and entertainment.

“It is a matter of morality to me that everyone have equal protection under the law,” Ekstrom said. “It may not be as mainstream in North Dakota, but we cannot isolate ourselves.”