Governor vetoes bill for gay veteran memorial
POLITICS: Gov. Schwarzenegger said the legislation was not necessary.
By WES WOODS II / Staff Writer


Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Thursday that would have created a state memorial to honor gay military veterans.

In a written statement to California State Assembly members, Schwarzenegger said: "this bill is unnecessary. California has already established the California Veterans Memorial-a memorial to all California Veterans-in Capital Park."

"I'm disappointed," said Tom Swann, 46, the founder and commander of AMVETS Post 66 in Palm Springs and president of the California Gay Veterans Memorial Association.



~

Conservatives want high court to send same-sex legislation back to MPs
 Canadian Press


OTTAWA (CP) - The Conservative party justice critic is urging the highest court to turn back proposed same-sex marriage legislation to Parliament.

The Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to begin looking at the proposed law next week. Just before leaving office last year, former prime minister Jean Chretien referred the question of the constitutionality of same-sex marriage to the court for its opinion.


~

US Supreme Court Asked To Reject Florida Gay Adoption Ban
by Doreen Brandt
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau


(Washington)  The American Civil Liberties Union Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to to declare Florida's blanket ban on gay adoption unconstitutional.

The ACLU is asking the court hear an appeal in a case challenging the only law in the country that bars all gay people from adopting.

"Florida excluded gay people - and only gay people -- from its system for evaluating adoptive parents for one reason: to punish gay people," said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

"For the sake of the many children in Florida who are without families and for the many lesbian and gay people willing to give them homes, we hope the Court will take the case and declare once and for all that this law is unconstitutional."


~

Pataki Signs Gay Partner Rights Measure 
by Doug Windsor
365Gay.com Newscenter
New York Bureau 


(New York City) New York Gov. George Pataki Friday signed into law legislation that will further protect the rights of gay and lesbian hospital and nursing home patients by ensuring that their domestic partners are granted visitation rights.

"This new law will ensure that no patient in a hospital or nursing home is denied the comfort of being with their loved ones when they need them the most," Pataki said. 

Winning the same access rights as spouses in emergency rooms, intensive care settings, and after visiting hours in hospitals had been a goal of the state's gay community for almost a quarter of a century, since the time HIV/AIDS made its first appearance in the United States and same-sex partners were routinely denied access to each other in health-care facilities, even during the last moments of life.


~

Roman Catholic Church furious over Spain's gay marriage plan


Spain's cabinet proposed legislation Friday that would allow same-sex couples to marry and gays to adopt children, pressing ahead with its liberal agenda despite vociferous opposition from the influential Roman Catholic Church. Parliament was expected to debate the issue and adopt the measure in the next few months.


The Socialist government's proposed legislation "removes a centuries-old barrier" to equal treatment under the law, Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said.