Spanish Catholic leader hits out at gay marriage plans
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK


One of the leaders of the Catholic Church in Spain has caused anger by attacking the government's plans to legalise same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Fernando Sebastian of Pamplona, seen by many as the second in command of the country's Church, did however suggest the Church was supportive to "certain civil rights", despite the Pope attacking lesbian and gay people for going against the "moral law" last year.

The comments came during a press conference earlier this month, according to the Zenit Catholic news agency.
In it the Archbishop attacked government plans to allow lesbian and gay couples to marry should they wish. These proposals were announced when the government swept to power in March this year.


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Rock Island, IA -- Karetha Dodd reports
Local gay couples to apply for marriage licenses
By Karetha Dodd


ROCK ISLAND - Local same sex couples plan to go to the Rock Island County Courthouse this morning to apply for marriage licenses. The couples say they know they'll be turned down, but want to make a statement.

Among the couples seeking licenses are Clayton Peterson and Steve Johnson. The two have been partners for the last 26 years. Both say it's about time the law recognizes their commitment. "They can call our union something other than marriage, as long as we get the same rights," says Peterson.


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Activists: Black pastors hinder AIDS fight
Bay Area church leaders' stance against gay marriage bolsters stigma, doctor says
By Rebecca Vesely, STAFF WRITER


Leaders in the fight against AIDS in Alameda County on Wednesday criticized local African-American pastors who have said they will vote to re-elect President Bush because of his stance against gay marriage.

"I'm ashamed to say these pastors have made the situation worse," said Dr. Robert Scott, an Oakland physician who has been treating HIV/AIDS patients for nearly 22 years and is chairman of the AIDS ministry of Allen Temple Baptist Church.

Speaking at a forum on funding, treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, Scott angrily held up a copy of Wednesday's Oakland Tribune story on the announcement by 20 Bay Area black religious leaders that they would vote for Bush. The pastors said they are backing Bush because they believe gay marriage erodes community values and sends a poor message to children.


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Singapore gays inch closer to acceptance
Jaya Prakash


In wishing no quarrels with how nature ordains people, Singapore’s gay community may soon outlive the ignorance that has tormented them so far. In a sign of changing times, the ridicule and ostracising disapproval of yesteryears may soon give way to a new orientation to accepting homosexuals as ‘different’, yet same.

For one daringly tweaking the nose of conventional wisdom over the hitherto taboo topic of homosexuals; 37-year-old Derrick must be something of a lightning rod for Singapore’s gay fraternity.

For not only does he openly admit to his ‘frailties’, he is downright forthright about what some have benignly classified as a personality disorder.

"I am open about my being gay. I say it to my friends, my clients and even my family is aware of what I am. It does not matter to me the least what people or society feel about", says the puny, bespectacled, planner visibly angry at how he sees is the deep felt disapproval to homosexuals in Singapore.


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Gay marriage poll a surprise
56% would vote for ban; both sides thought support was higher
By Jim Siegel
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Backers and opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage both found things to like about a new poll showing a majority of Ohioans support the issue.

The University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll found 56 percent of 763 likely voters would approve the proposed language on the November ballot if it withstands legal challenges. Forty percent said they would vote against it, and 4 percent were undecided.


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Move Is Made in Connecticut Courts to Legalize Gay Marriage
By WILLIAM YARDLEY


HARTFORD, Aug. 25 - A gay rights group that won a Massachusetts case legalizing gay marriage announced a similar suit in Connecticut on Wednesday, expanding its mission into a state its lead lawyer declared ripe to confront the issue.

"It's about treating people fairly," said Mary L. Bonauto, a lawyer and the civil rights director for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a New England group that was the lead agency in the Massachusetts suit and in an earlier suit in Vermont that led to the nation's first civil unions between gay couples. "And from everything we see, Connecticut's getting ready for that."

Ms. Bonauto, standing in a Hartford hotel among six of the seven Connecticut couples who are plaintiffs in the suit, cited a string of legislative moves in Connecticut that have expanded rights and protections for same-sex couples, including, in 2000, a law making it easier for them to adopt children.


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Oregon judge orders Benton County to again issue marriage licenses


CORVALLIS, Ore. A state judge has ordered an Oregon county to begin issuing marriage licenses again.
Benton County had stopped in April after the state threatened to sue if the county allowed gay couples to marry.

County commissioners -- trying not discriminate -- decided then that no one should get a license.

Even though the judge's order doesn't specifically mention same-sex couples, officials are expecting licenses will only be given to marriages between a man and a woman.

Benton County had been poised to be the second county in Oregon, after Multnomah (muhlt-