Straight Spouses Advocate Same-Sex Marriage

SAN FRANCISCO — Wah Cheong, a lifelong Republican and the soon-to-be divorced father of two teenage boys, sometimes surprises his co-workers and neighbors in a relatively conservative community outside San Francisco when he says he supports same-sex marriage.
"Here is my situation," the 47-year-old chemical engineer tells them when the hot-button topic comes up. "If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn't have married a closeted lesbian."
Silence usually follows. Then, a spark of understanding.
Of all the constituency groups that advocate allowing gay couples to wed, none is perhaps more counterintuitive than the heterosexual spouses of gay men and lesbians.
Yet as the issue plays out in the nation's courtrooms and statehouses, some of the wives and husbands who learned that their partner was attracted to other women or men are making their voices known in the often-polarized debate.
"We are the unacknowledged victims of the victims of homophobia," said Amity Pierce Buxton, the founder of the Straight Spouse Network, a New Jersey-based support and advocacy group with 52 U.S. chapters. "When gays and lesbians feel they have to get married to be accepted and to have kids, that hurts not only gays and lesbians, but straight spouses and kids."
The board of the volunteer-run organization, which claims thousands of participants, has adopted a policy of opposing laws that limit marriage to a man and a woman. Last fall, as California voters considered whether to amend the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriages, Buxton, 80, who lives in Oakland, wrote an impassioned opinion piece arguing against Proposition 8.
Some network participants have marched in gay pride parades, tried to persuade church groups that the Bible should not be used to justify anti-gay attitudes, and met with groups of gay fathers struggling to stay on good terms with their ex-wives. Others have expressed their views on talk shows when married politicians like former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey come out or are outed, or just quietly shared their perspectives in hope of changing a few minds.
To be sure, not all mates who discover they are in what has become known as "mixed-orientation marriages" are so sanguine. Cheong, who was married for more than 17 years when his wife told him she thought she was a lesbian, said he knows other straight spouses who voted for California's same-sex marriage ban "out of spite for their ex's, nothing else."
Regardless of where they are on the acceptance scale, each spouse can pinpoint devastating moments of discovery or disclosure that rendered their marital relationships unrecognizable, if not shattered.
For Carolyn Sega Lowengart, 61, who lives outside Washington, D.C., it came after 31 years of marriage. Lowengart thinks if her husband had not seen his sexual orientation as a stigma, both of them would have been free to pursue other relationships.
After her husband moved out, "I asked him, 'When did you know'"' He said, 'When I was a teenager.' I said, 'Why did you marry me?' And he said, 'Because I didn't want to be (gay),'" she said.
Randy Spires, 59, a former military police officer who lives in Southern Maryland, said he went through it on his 21st wedding anniversary when he found an e-mail his wife had sent to her female lover. Compounding his anger and confusion were the reactions of straight male friends who joked that Spires was lucky to be married to a lesbian.
"I've always compared the straight spouses with a chalk line at a crime scene," said Spires. "The gay and lesbian community doesn't want to associate with us because they think we are angry or what do you have to worry about, you're straight. And then you have the heterosexual side saying wait a minute, there must be something wrong with you for this to happen. We lose our own identity. We don't have a face."
Spires' ex-wife, Sue Spires, says she regrets having hurt Randy but does not completely understand why, 13 years later, he feels a need to talk about the end of their marriage, which produced two sons. But she agrees with him that if same-sex relationships had been more accepted when they were young, she would have had a relationship with a woman.
"I knew I was gay from the time I was 8-years-old," she said. "But the socially correct thing to do was to get married. That's what I did. We didn't have an unhappy marriage, but if I could do it again I would be able to tell him, 'No, I'm sorry, I can't go through with this."
Buxton, whose 1991 book, "The Other Side of the Closet," is considered the definitive work on the topic, estimates there are as many as 2 million gay men and lesbians in the United States are or have been in heterosexual marriages. About seven out of every 10 involve women married to gay men, she said.
Of those who contact the Straight Spouse Network — the organization hears from five new straight spouses a day — about one-third immediately split up when the gay partner comes out. Another third stay together for a year or two. The remaining third resolve to make their marriages work.
Citrus Heights, Calif. residents Jim and Anne Marie Will are in the last category. Former high school sweethearts, they had been together for 15 years and married for 11 years when Jim told his wife in 2001 that he thought he was gay but had never acted on his feelings.
The couple, who have a 16-year-old daughter, decided to stay together and to give both of them the option to pursue sexual relationships outside the marriage, which Jim Will has done. Yet the bond between them remains strong, if unconventional.
When asked why they have remained married, both spouses say there is no one else with whom they would rather share their lives.
"Being open and honest relieved my burden of guilt and we were able to consider ways to safely accommodate my additional desires. There continues to be no one else we want to have a life with," Jim Hill said.
"The one thing I have asked him to do for me is to not hook up with other gay married men," Anne Marie Hill said. "I have seen the devastation these women have gone through, and I don't want him to be part of that."
from The Associated Press

Spanish Village Of Rainbow Weddings

CAMPILLO DE RANAS, SPAIN - Far from the hedonistic beaches of Ibiza or the disco nights in Barcelona, the tiny town of Campillo de Ranas — the Little Field of Frogs — is nestled in the rugged hills of Castilla-La Mancha, a 90-minute drive north of Madrid in Guadalajara province. With its squat slate houses barely rising above the rolling hillsides on which they are built, the town’s pretty Romanesque bell tower is the only thing that doesn’t blend into the landscape. The place would appear to be the perfect setting of an open-air staging of “The Flintstones.”
But first impressions can be deceiving. This small town, with around 60 full-time residents, most of them over 60, has in the last few years been transformed into the unofficial gay wedding capital of Spain.
In June 2005, Spain’s socialist government passed a law legalizing gay marriage and conferring the exact same rights and nomenclature — matrimonio in Spanish — to both homosexual and heterosexual unions. But soon after the law’s passage, several prominent and conservative mayors publicly declared that they would not perform gay marriages. Campillo’s nonprominent and liberal mayor, Francisco Maroto, who also happened to be openly gay, declared that he would perform them.
What happened next is the subject of a documentary film, “Campillo Sí, Quiero” (“Campillo Yes, I do”), which was produced and directed by Andrés Rubio and is making the rounds at gay and independent film festivals from Dublin to Buenos Aires. Shot over the span of a year, the film tells the story of how this hardscrabble hamlet, which was virtually abandoned 20 years ago, has been revived through a willingness to serve anyone who is willing to marry there. Saying “yes” to gay couples turns out to have lured straight ones as well and has spawned a wedding and tourism industry that coexists quite peacefully with the town’s rural character.
“Campillo shows what’s possible when you have the proper measure of tolerance and respect,” Mr. Rubio said in a phone interview, explaining what inspired him to make the film.
Since the summer of 2005, Mr. Maroto has married more than 140 couples. While gender is not listed on wedding records, the town archivist says that 40 percent of them have been same-sex couples. Brides and grooms — in various combinations — have come from all across Spain and as far as the United States and Russia to tie the knot in Campillo’s rustic city hall.
With its main salon painted a perky robin’s-egg blue and adorned with little more than a portrait of King Juan Carlos I, the Spanish flag and a rainbow flag — the presence of the first two being required by law at official acts like marriages — city hall is hardly the Chapel of Love, but then this town is hardly Las Vegas.
Visitors go to Campillo not to gamble, but to gambol along the miles of hiking trails winding through green pastures that are carpeted with wildflowers in springtime. In the heat of summer, folks hike to the poza del Aljibe, a spectacular natural swimming hole created by a cascading waterfall. In the autumn, the hillsides and riverbanks get a good grooming by locals and visitors out gathering berries and wild mushrooms.
The region is part of the Ruta de la Architectura Negra (Black Architecture Route), named for the quirky, vernacular slate buildings. For centuries, if not millenniums, virtually everything here has been constructed of slate, much of it tinged green with lichen or stained red by the iron content of the stone.
There is a pragmatically haphazard look to the buildings, a combination of odd angles and rounded corners that is instantly appealing. Despite their lack of architectural pretense, the houses convey a sense of nobility and permanence. With their silvery and irregular slate tiles gleaming in the sunshine, the gently sagging roofs look as if they could be made of molten lead dripped by the hand of a primordial giant.
Even before Campillo’s wedding fame, a small neo-rural return to the land was under way in the region, where electricity, such as it was, only arrived in the late ’ 50s. Landline phone service was installed just last December, mostly for high-speed Internet access.
Drawn by the simplicity of life and the beauty of the surrounding countryside, José Antonio Reig and his family arrived 12 years ago, when there were just a handful of residents. In 2001, the Reig family opened a restaurant and small hotel, Aldea Tejera Negra, and two years ago, started Alternatura, a tour company specializing in the region’s diverse outdoor activities.
Thanks to such efforts, Campillo’s country charm does not require roughing it. Aldea Tejera Negra puts on an elegant spread in wedding tents overlooking the hotel’s pool and surrounding hills. Across town — about 100 yards away — is a more intimate restaurant, La Fragua, where a cozy dinner for two might start off with homemade pâté and savory spinach and prawn croquetas followed by a tender filet mignon, all accompanied by an excellent Ribera del Duero and topped off with decadent chocolate truffles.
Other accommodations are equally civilized. While the nearby four-room Casa del Sol might want to rethink the creaky brass beds in a town known for weddings, no issue could be taken with the bohemian-chic charm of the place or with the delicious breakfast, which can include rustic homemade cinnamon bread topped with quince paste and mild queso fresco. Toasted bread is the ideal vehicle for sampling the local honey, which is a deep caramel color and has none of the cloying sweetness or floral aftertaste of most honey.
The influx of both workers for the hospitality industry and so-called neo-rurals has meant the reopening of Campillo’s elementary school, which had been shuttered for 32 years.
Though he was elected, Mr. Maroto’s post is an unpaid one, and like most residents he earns his living from the land. In 2007, he was re-elected in a landslide, and in 2008, he was married to Enrique Rodríguez, his partner of 15 years, by one of the town council members. While he acknowledges having an activist streak, he says he’s just doing his job.
“Mayors mostly have to deal with problems — sometimes we even get blamed for the weather — so it gives me a lot of satisfaction to be known for marrying people.”
from The New York Times

'American Idol' Finalist Jim Verraros Gets Married

ILLINOIS - From the matching Tom Ford bowties to the unity sand ceremony to the 10-ft. ice sculpture bar, the wedding of American Idol's Jim Verraros to entrepreneur Bill Brennan on Sunday was planned down to the last detail.
"Every little choice reflected who we are," says Verraros, who finished ninth on Idol's first season. "It was the most beautiful day."
The couple, who wed at the Oak Brook Hills Resort in Illinois, exchanged self-penned vows under dragonwood trees decorated with white hydrangeas, orchids and roses. The singer, 26, in a tuxedo by Ermenegildo Zegna and shoes by Christian Dior, walked down the aisle strewn with white rose petals to the tunes of a classical trio playing Johann Sebastian Bach's "Air."
The outdoor event included a unity sand ceremony in which the couple and their family members poured individual glasses of colored sand into a large vase.
"Since this is a gay wedding, we wanted both traditional touches as well as original ones," says Verraros, whose father Nicholas Verraros and Brennan's father William Sr. served as best men.
"Gay marriage is not legal in Illinois," Verraros says, "but we wanted the day to be a reflection of our love and commitment to each other as well as a statement to other gay couples in Illinois."
After the ceremony, the newlyweds and their 174 guests enjoyed cocktails by an ice sculpture bar carved with three lions. The old Hollywood-themed reception was held inside a tent, where florist Anthony Gowder had created 5-ft. centerpieces made of roses, amaranthus, white orchids, willow branches and hanging crystals.
After the first dance, to Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," the couple cut their 4 ½-ft. tall white wedding cake with vanilla buttercream frosting before hitting the dance floor until midnight to a 10-piece orchestra playing 1940's tunes to contemporary dance music.
Verraros and Brennan met four years ago when Brennan sent the singer a message to his MySpace account. "We found out we lived 20 minutes apart," says Verraros, who was born and raised in Crystal Lake, Ill. "I wanted to meet someone with substance and he changed my life. He's an incredible person."
The singer recently released two new singles, "Touch (Don't U Want 2)" and "Electric Love," on YouTube. He's currently working on his next album.
from People Magazine

Newspaper Rejects Same-Sex Wedding Announcement

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — A southern Utah newspaper has rejected a gay California couple's wedding announcement, saying its policy is to publish announcements only for marriages legal under Utah law.
The Spectrum in St. George initially accepted a paid wedding announcement for Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones last week, but then changed course, Jones said. The San Francisco couple were legally married June 17, 2008. They wanted the announcement printed in Jones' hometown paper ahead of a family party next week.
Jones, 30, said he initially agreed to the paper's request that the announcement run without a photo, after a clerk told him the publisher feared the picture might make readers uncomfortable. Then Jones changed his mind and appealed to publisher Donnie Welch, asking him to reconsider.
"After all, our marriage is just as real and legal and entitled to celebration as any of the others that are announced each week in the pages of The Spectrum," Jones, 30, wrote in an e-mail to Welch.
"This simply is not true," Welch replied in an Aug. 10 e-mail, a copy of which the couple provided to The Associated Press. "While that may be the case in some states it is not the case in the state of Utah. As our policy is to run marriage announcements recognized by Utah law, I have made the decision not to run the announcement."
A telephone message seeking comment from Welch was not immediately returned Thursday. The Spectrum is owned by Gannett Co. A message left at Gannett's corporate offices in McLean, Va., was not immediately returned.
As more states move to legalize gay marriage, newspapers across the country are faced with similar decisions. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which conducts telephone surveys every two years, says more than 1,000 papers have policies allowing same-sex wedding and engagement announcements.
The Salt Lake Tribune, owned by MediaNews Group Inc., has accepted Jones and Barrick's announcement and will run it Saturday.
In 2008, The Spectrum was included on GLAAD's list of "inclusive newspapers."
A GLAAD representative contacted Welch on Wednesday, but wasn't able to change the publisher's mind, said Rashad Robinson, the organization's senior director of media programs. Robinson said GLAAD has also contacted Gannett to express its concern.
"At the end of the day, this is not about their editorial pages or the opinions of their columnists," Robinson said. "This is about the celebration pages reflecting the community, and a community is going to have people from many very different walks of life. We are diminished if our stories are put aside."
On Thursday, GLAAD posted a message on its Web site asking supporters to contact the paper to express concerns. Robinson also said GLAAD plans to contact Spectrum advertisers, many of whom have long-standing nondiscrimination policies.
"So the question is, do these advertisers, who have a long track record of diversity, want to be lumped in with a business decision that falls down on the side of inequality?" Robinson asked.
The California Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal in the state in June 2008, not long before Barrick and Jones wed. Less than five months later, California voters approved Proposition 8, a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage. In May, the court upheld the ban, but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the ban took effect would remain legally married.
Gay marriage is banned in Utah.
Jones, a Utah native, and Barrick, 28, were both raised as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Salt Lake City-based Mormon church is opposed to gay marriage and called on its members last year to give time and money to the campaign to pass California's Proposition 8.
"I've thought a lot about the gay and lesbian kids who are surely all over the place in southern Utah, and maybe it's gratuitous on my part, but they need to see this announcement in the paper," he said. "When I was a kid ... I would have loved to have seen a picture of two guys having their life together celebrated in the paper."
from The Associated Press

Ex-Mayor Becomes Example Of Gay Partners' Immigration Dilemma

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - The mayor of this West Texas sheep ranching town offered a stunning explanation when he suddenly resigned: He was in love with a man who was an illegal immigrant and had gone to Mexico.
They had to move, he said, because there was no legal way for them to remain together in the United States.
"It wasn't a decision that any U.S. citizen should have to make," former Mayor J.W. Lown said in an interview from Mexico. "I left a home. I left a ranch. I left a promising political career."
His local prominence and his run for the border on the day he was supposed to be sworn in for a fourth term caused jaws to drop, but it also became a high-profile example of the thousands of Americans who face a similar choice - separate or move abroad - because they can't secure green cards for their partners like heterosexual spouses can.
An estimated 36,000 Americans are in this situation, said U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, citing information from the advocacy group Immigration Equality.
Bills have been introduced in Congress to treat same-sex partners like heterosexual spouses for the purposes of immigration but are likely to face a strong fight, both from gay marriage opponents and anti-immigration groups. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevents immigration officials from recognizing gay marriages, even from states where they are now legal.
Proponents see the issue as a basic rights question, and Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, said he believes the best chance for the legislation is as part of a larger immigration bill.
But other immigration advocates want to keep the issues separate, fearful of bogging down an already tough fight. Kevin Appleby, migration policy director for U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the push for same-sex partners in immigration is about getting recognition in federal law for gay marriage - which he opposes.
"It's an unholy marriage of the immigration debate and the same-sex marriage debate," he said. "It's very combustible."
Lown's decision last month brought the issue to an unlikely place, a town of 90,000 where ranchers and roughnecks from the vast open lands come to do their banking and send their kids to the regional state college. The town's only other recent brush with national fame came last year when it housed the hundreds of children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch in nearby Eldorado.
Before his May 19 resignation, Lown (pronounced "lawn") was considered a political rising star. The 32-year-old Republican, first elected at age 26, won his fourth term with about 89 percent of the vote.
During his tenure, Lown transformed the $600-a-year, part-time job from a mostly ceremonial position to a hands-on office. He actively appeared at thousands of community functions and went to Washington to lobby for the West Texas town - spending his own money after a few residents complained about taxpayers footing the bill.
"That's devotion and dedication," Councilwoman Charlotte Farmer said. "He would have gone far in the political arena in the state of Texas and perhaps farther."
Lown's sexuality never really came up. Some people didn't know. Lown's godfather, Mario Castillo, said most who knew didn't care.
"San Angelo has a live-and-let-live attitude. As long as you don't go around waving your boxer shorts in Sunday school, people leave it alone," said Castillo, a longtime resident who is now a Washington lobbyist.
But Lown, who worked as a real estate agent, said his prominence meant his two-month-old relationship would be scrutinized and his 20-year-old partner might be subject to deportation.
"My heart was torn, and I had to make a decision," he said in a conference call with local reporters shortly after his resignation.
Lown has declined to identify his partner but said the man came across the Rio Grande as a teenager and attended high school and college in San Angelo. They went to Mexico - Lown won't say exactly where - so that his partner can apply for legal residency in the United States, generally a lengthy process for Mexicans without a U.S. citizen spouse, child or parent.
"I did not want to consciously violate the law," Lown said. "We want to make a life together and do it in the right way and follow the law."
Lown, whose mother was Mexican, holds dual citizenship allowing him to live legally in Mexico, he said.
San Angelo, meanwhile, will be without a mayor until the City Council decides whether to appoint someone or schedule a special election.
Lown hopes to eventually return here with his partner.
"I don't know how long this is going to take. It could take months. It could take years, but I'm prepared to wait as long as it takes," he said. "I hope I'll have some shred of my good name left when this is resolved."
from The Associated Press

L.A. Gay Pride Parade Darkened By U.S. Stance On Marriage

LOS ANGELES - The mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco joined gay rights groups Sunday in raising concerns about the Obama administration's defense of a federal law restricting same-sex marriage.
"I think it's a big mistake," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said shortly before he and his Los Angeles counterpart, Antonio Villaraigosa, kicked off the annual L.A. Pride parade in West Hollywood.
The mayors, potential rivals in next year's Democratic primary for governor, were each careful to avoid direct criticism of President Obama.
But their mutual disapproval of a Justice Department brief filed Thursday in support of the Defense of Marriage Act comes amid growing discontent with Obama among gay rights groups.
The battle over same-sex marriage added a serious note to the West Hollywood celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village that launched the modern gay rights movement.
"I'm concerned about some of the arguments being made by the Justice Department," Villaraigosa told a cluster of news crews on Santa Monica Boulevard as motorcyclists in the "Dykes on Bikes" group revved their engines for the parade's start.
In his campaign for the White House, Obama pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which President Clinton signed into law during his 1996 reelection campaign. The law bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and enables states to refuse to recognize such marriages performed in other states.
The Justice Department brief, filed in opposition to a federal lawsuit arguing that the law is unconstitutional, says the act "reflects a cautiously limited response to society's still-evolving understanding of the institution of marriage."
It was filed by Assistant Atty. Gen. Tony West, who was a San Francisco fundraiser for Obama, and two other Justice Department lawyers.
Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, called the administration's defense of the law unacceptable.
The Defense of Marriage Act "is and has always been an immoral attack on same-sex couples, our families and our fundamental humanity," Carey said.
Other groups denouncing the brief included the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union.
White House spokesman Shin Inouye said the Justice Department, in submitting the brief, was following its normal practice of defending a law on the books in court.
"The president has said he wants to see a legislative repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act because it prevents [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] couples from being granted equal rights and benefits," Inouye said.
"However, until Congress passes legislation repealing the law, the administration will continue to defend the statute when it is challenged in the justice system."
Obama, he said, "remains fully committed" to his proposals on gay rights.
Gay rights groups have called on Obama to act more quickly on the major ones, including abandonment of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars gays in the armed forces from disclosing their sexual orientation.
Rodney Scott, president of Christopher Street West, the parade's chief sponsor, said he was "deeply saddened" that Obama's administration was defending the marriage law.
"That's not the president I voted for," he said as thousands of people lining Santa Monica Boulevard cheered the procession of marchers and floats.
Bill Rosendahl, a gay member of the Los Angeles City Council and early Obama supporter, was equally blunt.
"I'm very upset with him on everything he's done regarding us so far," he said.
Among those vowing to fight for the repeal of Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that barred same-sex marriage in California, were Villaraigosa and Newsom.
"We're going to do everything we can," Villaraigosa said, "to put this issue back on the ballot."
from The Los Angeles Times

New York City's First Gay Marriage

NEW YORK CITY - I dupe, I dupe!
While political arguments rage, New York City has certified its first gay marriage -- of two men who fooled the City Clerk's Office into letting them tie the knot.
Hakim Nelson and Jason Stenson married on May 26 with nary a raised eyebrow among the oblivious city bureaucrats who not only OK'd the marriage license, but conducted the ceremony, despite gay marriage being illegal in the state.
The plucky couple filled out their marriage application online at the Apple Store on 14th Street in May. A few days later, they went to the City Clerk's Office on Worth Street to complete the form and get their marriage license.
Nelson -- who goes by the name "Kimah" and hopes to one day have surgery to become a "full female" -- wore an orange dress and white leggings, his straight, brown hair falling to his shoulders.
The gullible clerk didn't seem to notice that both Nelson, 18, and Stenson, 21, have male first names.
They both had to present identification to obtain the license. Stenson used his state ID card, and Nelson gave a state Benefit Card, which he uses to collect food stamps.
By a fluke, Nelson's ID card has an "F" for female on it, because the official who issued it in April assumed from his appearance that he was a woman.
But Nelson couldn't believe the license clerk didn't ask for better identification.
"I was scared. I thought they would ask for more paperwork from me because I have a male name," Nelson said.
The clerk didn't. Instead she asked questions about the couple's jobs and addresses -- which they listed as Sylvia's Place, a city shelter for gay, lesbian and transgender youth -- but nothing about their gender.
Ten days after obtaining their license, the wedding crashers returned to the office for the ceremony. They were clutching their license and a pair of $10 silver wedding rings they had bought in the West Village. Nelson was in the same orange dress.
They showed another clerk at the marriage bureau their license, and he gave them a number and told them to wait.
Then a third city official, Blanca Martinez, took their IDs and the license. She printed out the marriage certificate and performed the quick ceremony, pausing to ask Nelson whether she was pronouncing "Hakim" properly. A friend served as a witness.
As they walked out of the building hand in hand, Jason said to his new spouse, "I think we just made history."
A source with the clerk's office said the employees were simply snookered.
"Is our system 100 percent foolproof? What system is? We do the best job we can," he said.
"If someone is trying to willfully sneak through, we try to stop it. But you have instances of females [who] have male names and vice versa.
"You've heard of a boy named Sue, right?"
The bureau is currently deciding what steps to take regarding the license or any others that may have been issued improperly, adding that Stenson's and Nelson's is not valid.
When they told another male couple about duping the city, that pair made a bee-line for the clerk's office and were also wed, Nelson said.
After The Post's inquiries, the city's marriage bureau stopped two more people with male names from marrying Friday, requesting birth certificates.
Stenson, who has two children by his former domestic partner, does not consider himself gay. He sees his new spouse as a woman.
Experts say the marriage is not legal.
"Gay marriage is not lawful here in New York, so they're technically not married," said matrimonial attorney Raoul Felder.
Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom to Marry, a local advocacy group devoted to legalizing gay marriage, saw the Stenson/Nelson example as "one more illustration of why the New York Senate needs to move quickly to pass the marriage bill and end this discrimination in New York."
The "newlyweds," meanwhile, have already run into trouble. They took their new license to the Adult Family Intake Center in Manhattan hoping to qualify for couples' housing. But Nelson's name immediately drew suspicion.
"Are you a man or a woman?" the intake officer demanded.
"I'm a transsexual," he lied.
For now, the pair is living as a married couple in a Brooklyn shelter.
"People in Albany can say, 'Look, it's already happened, so let's just make it legal,' " Stenson said. "We're all human beings. What makes me and my wife different?"
from The New York Post

New Miss California Also Against Gay Marriage

Miss California USA's executive director says the pageant would never try to silence new titleholder Tami Farrell's stance against gay marriage.
Keith Lewis told The Associated Press on Friday that he wants all of the beauty contestants he deals with to be able to voice their opinions as long as they don't violate their contracts.
Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean, who was given a second chance earlier, lost her title Wednesday after Lewis said she skipped pageant events while speaking out against gay marriage during unsanctioned appearances.
In a television interview Thursday, Farrell said she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman. But she added: "I don't think I have the right or anybody has the right to tell somebody who they can or can't love."
Prejean says she was dethroned because during the Miss USA pageant she said gays shouldn't be allowed to marry.
from Mercury News

Gay Comment Cost Me My Crown

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean says she lost her crown because of a comment she made about gay marriage and not because she had been skipping appearances.
Prejean told Matt Lauer on NBC'S "Today" show Friday that she "absolutely" had been dethroned because of the comment, when she said marriage should be between a man and a woman.
Prejean lost her title Wednesday after California pageant executive director Keith Lewis said Prejean was skipping Miss California USA events while speaking out against gay marriage at unsanctioned appearances.
Lewis said Friday that the pageant would never try to silence its contestants. He says they should be able to voice their opinions as long as they don't violate their contracts.
Prejean was replaced by the Miss California pageant's first runner-up, Miss Malibu Tami Farrell. Farrell has also said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.
from The Associated Press

Cheney Comes Out For Gay Marriage, State-By-State

Former vice president Richard Cheney waded into another simmering public debate today, suggesting he supports legalizing gay marriage as long as the issue is decided by the states rather than the federal government.
Cheney, whose youngest daughter is a lesbian with a longtime partner, said during an appearance at the National Press Club that "people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."
He said he does not support federal action allowing gay marriages, however. "Historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level," Cheney said. "It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis."
Cheney has long departed from conservative orthodoxy on the issue of gay marriage, saying during the 2000 presidential campaign that the matter should be left to the states. He also prompted an uproar during the 2004 race when he appeared to distance himself from a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which was strongly supported by his boss, George W. Bush.
But his endorsement of state-sanctioned marriage for gays and lesbians appears to put him to the left of President Obama, who has said he supports civil unions rather than marriage for same-sex couples.
"With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone," Cheney said at a 2004 campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, using language nearly identical to his remarks today. "People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to."
As he has in the past, Cheney specifically cited his family's experience during his comments in Washington today. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family," Cheney said.
Cheney's youngest daughter, Mary, and her longtime partner, Heather Poe, have a son, Samuel, who was born to Mary Cheney in 2007. Both Mary and her older sister, Elizabeth, have been prominent supporters of their father and Republican causes, although Mary has said in interviews that she considered quitting the Bush re-election effort in 2004 because of the gay marriage issue.
from The Washington Post

Levi's Mannequins Sporting White Knots In Support Of Gay Marriage

LEVI’S is getting in the spirit of the season by dressing its storefront mannequins in white. In Levi’s-owned stores in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, that means more than just marking the passing of Memorial Day, the traditional date to begin wearing white: in 20 stores, the mannequins’ white Levi’s jeans and shirts are adorned with White Knots, a symbol of solidarity with the same-sex marriage movement.
The symbol was made more timely by the California Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state. Developed by Frank Voci, a digital media consultant, as a response to Proposition 8’s passage last November, the White Knot for Equality is a white ribbon tied in a knot.
It has been worn by the actress Anne Hathaway at President Obama’s Inauguration; Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter of “Milk,” at the Oscars; and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at a May 17 Manhattan rally supporting gay marriage. At the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles in April, the comedian Kathy Griffin wore a bikini with a strategically placed White Knot.
With that kind of visibility and the online support among gays, lesbians and straight allies, the merchandising team at Levi’s was prompted to ask Mr. Voci if the company could use White Knots in its stores.
“Our design team was seeking something that would resonate beyond just fashion but also fit with our white product theme,” said Rene Holguin, senior vice president for global creative services for the Levi’s brand.
Levi Strauss & Company has a tradition of supporting equal rights for gays. Last fall, the San Francisco-based company filed an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court outlining the economic advantages of allowing same-sex couples to wed. The company has also signed on to sponsor a programming block on Logo, the gay cable channel owned by MTV Networks, and developed a marketing partnership with “Milk,” the Focus Features movie about Harvey Milk, the gay civil rights leader.
“We always try to connect to the energy and events of our time,” said Erica Archambault, Levi’s director of brand marketing and public relations. “What’s the pioneering spirit of today? A lot of people are rallying around marriage equality and fighting for that and so many individuals within our company feel so strongly about it.”
The Levi’s stores have no signs or conspicuous messages about the White Knot for Equality organization. Instead, the intent is to encourage customers to talk with employees, who have been briefed on the campaign. “We have weekly calls with our store managers and we sent out detailed information about the White Knot organization and also ways in which we’re supporting marriage equality over all as a company,” Ms. Archambault said.
The point, she said, is for sales staff “to be educated and able to have an informed conversation that’s more interactive than reading off a card or something.”
Mr. Voci said that he decided to create a symbol after seeing a number of rallies opposing the passage of Proposition 8. Inspired by the red ribbon for H.I.V./AIDS and the pink ribbon for breast cancer, he headed to a fabric store and began playing with white ribbon. “I was trying to figure out something different to do with it,” he recalled. “I tied it in a knot and thought, ‘Oh, tie the knot, like getting married.’ ”
“Everyone should have the right to tie the knot,” he said.
His eureka moment also led to the creation of a Web site, WhiteKnot.org. The owner of Voci Media Works, Mr. Voci advises companies like Living Proof, which makes hair- and skin-care products, on Internet strategies. He said he applied his knowledge to develop the WhiteKnot.org site. Volunteers have made thousands of White Knots, and the site features stories about their efforts.
Mr. Voci said he was not interested in turning the White Knot campaign into a major fund-raising operation. Instead, he said, he plans to support the efforts of established organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry.
Mr. Voci said he hoped that the White Knot could represent other initiatives promoting gay civil rights. “There’s a larger push for overall equal rights, the repeal of DOMA” — the Defense of Marriage Act — “the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the passage of a hate crimes bill and the end of workplace discrimination,” he said. “Marriage equality seems to be the headliner right now, but what we really want is comprehensive civil rights.”
Ricki Lake, the actress, has worn the White Knot to events. “It’s so simple and it says a lot,” she said. “It’s the same thing as the Lance Armstrong LiveStrong bracelet — that simple gesture that gets the word out.”
from The New York Times

Proposition 8 Upheld

LONG BEACH - Proposition 8 proponent James George expected the California Supreme Court to disappoint him.
Instead, the 53-year-old Alamitos Heights resident came out of a business meeting Tuesday morning to find that the justices had ruled in favor of the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.
"Honestly, I am surprised. I am very happy that they did it, but I am surprised that they did," said George, who attends Cottonwood Christian Church in Los Alamitos. "How many times have there been times like this - when the people vote and the court overturns it?"
George supports domestic partnership laws, but believes the traditional definition of marriage is sacrosanct.
"It is the cornerstone of American society - the family unit," George said. "If you look at the biggest problems facing our society, you can trace it back to the degeneration of the traditional family."
California's high court upheld the most divisive voter referendum in modern state history Tuesday but allowed the 18,000 already performed same-sex marriages to stand.
Though members of the local gay community were still absorbing the news, advocates of same-sex marriage said the court ruling strengthened their resolve.
"The court decision has only made the movement for marriage equality stronger," Long Beach Councilman Robert Garcia said in an e-mail following the ruling. "I am confident that history is on our side, and that our movement fueled by love and compassion will win - and win soon."
Belmont Shore community activist Justin Rudd said he hoped that a future law or court action would override Proposition 8.
"I do look forward to the day when everybody can have the equal right to get married, and I am happy for my friends who get to stay married," Rudd said.
Organized supporters of same-sex marriage plan to put the issue back on a future state ballot and may appeal Proposition 8 to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But clearly Proposition 8 supporters won the first battle in what will likely be a long cultural war.
"I think personally, just as a citizen of the state, that they upheld it the right way," said George Fessler, executive pastor of Life Center Church in Lakewood.
Fessler, who has said in the past that he is OK with domestic partnership laws, said his argument for the definition of marriage, which he regards as between a man and a woman, stems from history.
"It's something that has been trans-cultural," he said. "One man, one woman has been predominate, that's been the historical definition of what has been called marriage."
Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood, who opposed Prop. 8, reminded that a partial victory was at hand because the court "cannot tear families apart by nullifying same-sex marriages that already exist."
from The Press Telegram

Cynthia Nixon Engaged

NEW YORK CITY - Cynthia Nixon has announced her plans to wed girlfriend Christine Marinoni. The actress was out rallying for gay rights at the time she broke the news.
Nixon was taking part in the Love, Peace and Marriage Equality rally in New York City when she shared her big news. Nixon and Marinoni became engaged last month. The couple is currently hard at work promoting the new gay rights bill proposed by Governor David Paterson. The bill hopes to achieve equality for same sex unions.
Nixon and Marinoni have been together since 2003. Their relationship came as something of a shock as Nixon had previously been involved with a man, Danny Mozes, with whom she has two children, Samantha, 14, and Charles, 7. Back in 2004, when the news broke that Marinoni and Cynthia Nixon were involved, Nixon told the Daily News, "My private life is private. But at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy."
Who would have thought that out of all the women on "Sex and the City," Cynthia Nixon would be the only cast member whose real sex life was more confusing and interesting than her character's? We would have thought that it would have been Kim Cattrall for sure. (Wait, you mean actors and actresses aren't just like the people they play on television? Weird.)
In June, Nixon told the Daily News that she and Marinoni hoped to marry one day but only when gay marriage became legal in New York. At the time, Nixon said, "In an ideal world, we'd like to in New York, when it becomes legalized. Hopefully, it won't take 20 years."
Cynthia Nixon has previously praised Brad Pitt for the donations he gave to support the legalization of gay marriage. Nixon has said, "I think it's great. I think the way Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie always give their money, and the things they give it to, and the enormous amounts they give of it is just incredibly commendable. I think they inspire other people to give as well."
from Actress Archives

California's Gay Marriages Begin

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - On the front steps of the Beverly Hills Courthouse, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson became the first gay couple to marry in Los Angeles County, and possibly all of California. Tyler and Olson were the leading plaintiffs in the 2004 same sex marriage lawsuit that went before the California Supreme Court, with the majority of justices ruling in their favor on May 15. On late Monday afternoon, it was time to make everything official.
With a crowd that included LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, Beverly Hills Mayor Jimmy Delshad, actress and producer Honey Labrador and her girlfriend, and many friends and family, the courthouse steps were jammed.
A little after five o'clock, Tyler walked out of the courthouse with Olson and their lawyer, Gloria Allred, waving the official marriage license. Tyler said the couple had ordered their white wedding suits a year ago, expecting this day to come.
"It's a great day for tolerance in America," said Michael Libow, a Beverly Hills real estate agent and master of ceremonies, as more friends and family looked on.
During the Jewish wedding, Tyler and Olson were surrounded by every major TV and radio news outlet in Los Angeles, with most of them broadcasting the nuptials live. "This is a time for celebration and rejoicing," said Rabbi Denise Eger, who married the couple.
Anti-gay protesters also attended the event, but they were silent during the ceremony after Beverly Hills police reportedly warned them to be respectful. Volunteers from the gay community stood next to the wedding crashers with rainbow flags.
For many people, it was hard to hold back the tears, and, to be honest, I was one of them. This hasn't happened often. The only other time emotions blind-sided me on the job was when I covered the 2005 civil disobedience arrest of gay rights activist Jake Reitan and his parents, Philip and Randi, at Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado. I'm still not sure why the eyes teared up in Beverly Hills, but watching Tyler and Olson successfully overcome their long struggle, which is the long struggle of every gay man and woman, stirred something in me.
After the ceremony, Janet Singleton, a friend of the married couple, served slices of a four-layered cake named "Eden" to anyone who wanted it...even, she suggested, the protesters.
Just before Robin Tyler ate her cake, she told the crowd, "We stand on the shoulders of thousands of activists who came before us...it's not about us." Tyler added, "We wanted marriage because it's the most special word in the world for someone."
At one point, anti-gay protesters started yelling at Tyler and Olson, calling them an "abomination." Gloria Allred briefly confronted them, waving the supreme court ruling in their faces. More protesters are expected to show up at ceremonies in West Hollywood and Norwalk on Tuesday.
By six o'clock, everything was over, and Tyler no longer introduced Olson to people as her "partner." Whenever she got the chance, she smiled, looked at her longtime companion, and said, "This is my wife." The day, Tyler said, made her feel like Alice in Wonderland.
A lot of music has been running through the head the past couple of days, and after I was driving home from Beverly Hills along Doheny Drive, David Bowie's "Heroes" popped up on the car stereo, with these lyrics adding to a weird buzz fueled by two slices of wedding cake and too much adrenaline:
"I can remember/ Standing/ By the wall/ And the guns/ Shot above our heads/ And we kissed/ As though nothing could fall/ And the shame/ Was on the other side/ Oh we can beat them/ For ever and ever/ Then we can be heroes/ Just for one day..."
On a warm Monday evening in West Hollywood, and a half hour after one of the first same sex weddings in California, it was the perfect gay anthem.
from LA Weekly

California Gay Weddings May Start June 14

Same-sex couples in some California counties will be able to marry as soon as June 14, the president of the California's county clerks association said.
Stephen Weir, who heads the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said Monday he was told by the Office of Vital Records that clerks would be authorized to hand out marriage licenses as soon as that date, which is a Saturday and exactly 30 days after the California Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage should be legal.
The court's decisions typically take effect after 30 days, barring further legal action.
"They are shooting for the 14th," said Weir, adding that the state planned to give California's 58 counties advice this week for implementing the historic change so local officials can start planning.
Suanne Buggy, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Public Health, which oversees the vital records office, would not confirm Monday that state officials have settled the matter of when counties can or must start extending marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
"We will be getting guidance out to the counties soon," Buggy said.
According to Weir, it would be up to each county clerk to decide whether to open their offices to gay and lesbian couples on that Saturday or to wait until the following Monday.
Some clerks have said they would try to accommodate couples at the earliest possible date, depending on their staffing and anticipated demand, he said.
If the court's decision does take effect on June 14, couples could, in theory, plan to obtain their licenses and take their vows at 12:01 a.m. that day, he said.
As it happens, Weir's office in Martinez already holds open hours on the second Saturday of each month, so serving couples who want to get hitched as soon as possible won't be a problem, he said. He and his partner of 18 years hope to be the first ones to tie the knot.
"Just because we have been so close to it, and so far, I would really like to be first," Weir said.
An effort, however, is under way to stay the Supreme Court's decision until voters can decide the issue with an initiative planned for the November ballot. The measure would overrule the justices' decision and amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage.
Justices have until the ruling's effective date to weigh the request, but could give themselves longer to consider it, attorneys have said. Another complicating factor is that the Supreme Court also directed a mid level appeals court that upheld the state's one man-one woman marriage laws a year ago to issue a new order legalizing same-sex marriage, and it's not clear when the appeals court would comply.
Massachusetts is the only other state to legalize gay marriage, something it did in 2004. More than 9,500 same-sex couples in that state have wed.
from The Associated Press

Elizabeth Edwards Says She Backs Gay Marriage

SAN FRANCISCO - Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco's annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with her husband over support for legalized same-sex marriage.
"I don't know why someone else's marriage has anything to do with me," Edwards said at a news conference before the parade. "I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage."
Edwards made the remark almost offhandedly in answering a question from reporters. The topic arose after she delivered a standard campaign stump speech during a breakfast hosted by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club, an influential San Francisco political organization.
The Edwardses' daughter Cate, a 25-year-old law student, also supports same-sex marriage.
Elizabeth Edwards conceded that her support puts her at odds with her husband, a former senator from North Carolina. She said he supports civil unions for same-sex couples, but not marriages.
"John has been pretty clear . . . that he is very conflicted," she said. "He has a deeply held belief against any form of discrimination, but that's up against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural Southern town."
None of the leading presidential candidates has publicly supported same-sex marriage.
San Francisco's gay pride parade is a campy civil rights celebration, sprinkled with drag queens, leather chaps and nudity. Very rarely do mainstream, national politicians ride or march in the parade.
from The Washington Post

California Assembly OKs Gay Marriage

The state Assembly voted Tuesday to allow same-sex couples to marry, challenging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said he will veto the bill if it passes the full Legislature.
Legislators approved the measure on a party-line vote of 42-34, with the majority saying lawmakers should not to wait for the state Supreme Court to act on the issue.
A debate about California's one man-one woman marriage law of 1977 is likely to be decided this year or early next year by the high court.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which adopted a similar measure in 2005. Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
California in 2003 recognized domestic partners, creating a registry that affords same-sex couples many of the rights given to married couples.
Massachusetts is the only state that allows same-sex couples to marry. Several states have or plan to enact laws allowing either civil unions or domestic partnerships.
from The Associated Press

Italians Rally Against GayMarriage Bill

ROME - Tens of thousands of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters rallied Saturday to tell Italy that they alone should be counted as families, pressuring parliament to reject legislation that would grant new rights to unmarried and same-sex couples.
The "Family Day" rally, drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in an unexpectedly strong outpouring, was organized by lay Catholic groups and family associations. While the demonstration was endorsed by Italian bishops, neither the Vatican nor the Italian bishops' conference was formally behind it.
"With this demonstration, we wanted to give a signal. It must not be a sporadic event, but it must contribute to dialogue and help (people) understand family must be protected," said Emanuele Cirillo, a 27-year-old Neapolitan who had traveled to Rome for the demonstration.
People from across Italy began pouring into the massive St. John Lateran piazza in the morning. The demonstrators were entertained by singers, speakers and even a brief video featuring the late John Paul II, the beloved pontiff who died in 2005, in a 1988 speech about the need to protect family.
Clowns and stilt walkers mingled with the crowd to entertain the children.
By the end of the day, organizers said as many as 1.5 million people had showed up, while police did not give a final estimate. Earlier, police had put the number of participants at 250,000 but the crowd became bigger.
The turnout was above the organizers' expectations.
Premier Romano Prodi's Cabinet passed the legislation at the center of the debate last February, and the bill now requires parliamentary approval.
The proposed legislation would grant legal rights to unmarried couples who live together, including hospital visits and inheritance. It does not legalize gay marriage, as was done in other European countries, such as Spain.
The bill has angered the Vatican, which under Pope Benedict XVI has campaigned to protect traditional family based on marriage between man and woman.
Benedict, speaking on the eve of the rally from Brazil, where he was traveling, accused the media of promoting sexual immorality. He also decried what he called the "plague" of extramarital unions.
The bill's critics say the legislation would dismantle the traditional family by offering an alternative model. Supporters argue that the bill would make Italy a more civilized nation by recognizing the basic rights of people who live outside marriage, and organized a counter-rally in Rome. Organizers said 10,000 attended the counter-demonstration.
"We came here today to protest against those traditional families who think only they represent a real form of family," said Alberico Nunziata, 30, who is gay and arrived at the rally - a much smaller gathering expected to go into the night - with his partner.
"There is no need to get married in order to achieve something as a couple, there can be also different form of unions between two people, we personally hope to build a lot together," he added.
The "Family Day" has proven embarrassing for Prodi's center-left coalition, with at least two ministers taking part, while other center-leaders attended the counter-demonstration.
Prodi tried to defuse tensions Saturday, saying that religion should not be manipulated and calling secularism an "essential principle" of politics.
Many center-right leaders, including former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, attended the pro-family rally.
from The Associated Press

Walt Disney Would Be Horrified At Gay Marriages In His Parks

An anonymous blogger summed up the reaction best when Disney announced recently its Fairy Tale Weddings would allow for same-sex unions: "It's the home of Goofy. 'Nuff said.
Disney, apparently, has put the "fairy" back in "fairy tale," I might add. The packaged pageantry covers both Disney World in nearby Orlando, Disneyland in California and Disney cruise ships.
My suspicion is that Disney made the call for the same reasons NBC and CBS pulled the plug on "shock jock" Don Imus the other day. Money. Corporate greed, some might grumble. The first responsibility of any board of directors and company management is to maximize the profits of its shareholders. After all, the shareholders elected the board and selected the management they thought would best represent their financial stakes in a publicly-owned firm.
In Disney's case, it's an opportunity to sell more $8,000 to $45,000 wedding packages. At NBC and CBS, retaining the provocative Imus show would have threatened serious sponsorship revenue losses in an intensely competitive media field. Both instances illustrate what can happen when weak management fails to nip controversy in the bud.
Disney's "splicing" ceremony includes, at those prices, a wedding planner, flowers, music, food, a ride in a magic pumpkin and the attendance of a formally-clad Mickey and Minnie Mouse as guests of honor.
For Disney, the acceptance of same-sex commitment ceremonies is likely to be interpreted as an endorsement of gay marriage -- in keeping with the entertainment company's slogan, "Something for Everyone." What would old Walt Disney have thought?
I doubt Walt would have ever personally approved of gay marriage; he's probably rolling over in his grave at this very minute. Walt Disney would most likely have just turned the other cheek and shrugged, "Well, this is supposed to be a place where dreams come true." As with other fairy tales, however, reality strikes at midnight. The same-sex couple, in tiaras and tuxedos, would be returned to a world that still, largely, puts traditional family values first.
It's a world where Focus on the Family's head, Dr. James C. Dobson, a weekly columnist on this page, and the majority of us view gay marriage at the very least as "unproductive," a view shared by strong Southern Baptist churches. Dobson and the Southern Baptists are indelibly attached to any Disney scenario involving gays and challenging to the American religious community in general. Previously, both have recommended boycotting Disney World and Disneyland for hosting June's annual Gay Pride celebrations.
Any gay and lesbian demonstration, including marriages or parades, brings up the question of what we should tell our children about their $65 theme park experiences. How do we explain to our young innocents when a GLBT crowd is "in your face" and not particularly family-rated? Fairy tale weddings are part of show biz. Same-sex marriages are all about politics. An argument could contend that all politics is show bizness, or vice versa. I guess that's what Disney is trying to say.
A suggestion for all those politicos wrestling with same-sex marriages. Just make like other countries where joint ownership, medical decision-making, tax filing status and insurance are available to all couples, regardless of sex. That's really all anyone wants.
from Hernando Today / John Herbert

Governor Vows To Veto Gay Marriage Bill Again This Year

SACRAMENTO - Supporters will renew their efforts this week to legalize gay marriages in California, but there seems to be little doubt that the outcome will be a rerun - another veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco Democrat who introduced the gay marriage bill that Schwarzenegger vetoed in 2005, said he is confident lawmakers will send the measure to the Republican governor again this year.
"We're hopeful that he will understand why it's important that he end the second-class treatment of countless California families and children," Leno said.
The bill is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the Assembly Judiciary Committee. A spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, Sabrina Lockhart, said the governor's position hasn't changed.
In his veto message in 2005, Schwarzenegger said the Leno bill violated Proposition 22, the anti-gay marriage initiative approved by California voters in 2000, and that any attempt to legalize same-sex weddings also should go on the ballot.
Schwarzenegger repeated that stand in comments to high school students attending a YMCA conference in February.
"I don't want, as governor, to go against the will of the people,"
he said.
A Field Poll released last month found that 43 percent of those questioned said they supported gay marriage, up from 38 percent in 1997 and 30 percent in 1985. The Public Policy Institute of California found a similar trend in its polling.
Despite those numbers, Leno said civil rights shouldn't be determined at the ballot box.
"The governor's civil rights, as well as my own civil rights, shouldn't be placed before the voters," he said. "That's not how we make decisions regarding equal protection under the law for all citizens."
He said his bill doesn't need voter approval because it would amend a different section of law than Proposition 22, which was put on the ballot to prevent California from recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere.
Leno said his bill deals with marriages performed in California and would define them as civil contracts between two persons.
Given Schwarzenegger's position, the issue probably will be decided by the state Supreme Court, which agreed in December to rule whether California's ban on gay marriages violates equal protection requirements. A decision in that case isn't likely before late this year.
from The Long Beach Press Telegram