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  WINDY CITY TIMES

National Roundup
by Andrew Davis
2004-11-17

This article shared 1863 times since Wed Nov 17, 2004
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Fearful that aggressive action could backfire and generate public hostility, gay rights groups are planning to limit the scope of their legal challenges to the constitutional amendments banning gay marriage that were passed by 11 states. The New York Times reported that the groups are making a temporary retreat from their most fundamental goal, winning the right for marriages, and focusing instead on those measures that addressed civil unions in some way.

A new report from inside the John Kerry campaign suggests that in the final weeks of the campaign former president Bill Clinton advised Kerry to come out in favor of ballot measures that wrote anti-gay marriage discrimination into the constitutions of 11 states, according to The Advocate. The magazine cited a Newsweek article that stated: 'Looking for a way to pick up swing voters in

the red states, former president Bill Clinton, in a phone call with Kerry, urged the senator to back local bans on gay marriage. Kerry respectfully listened, then told his aides, 'I'm not going to ever do that.'' If true, the advice would not be inconsistent with Clinton's record: He is the chief executive who signed the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Conservative leaders intend to fuel the marriage debate further when they return with an expanded majority to the next Congress, according to the Boston Globe. There is little chance a federal constitutional amendment will pass the House or Senate with the necessary two-thirds' majority, but advocates expect it to be reintroduced in both chambers. Karl Rove said Bush 'absolutely' will use his second term to push for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, according to USA Today.

Connecticut may buck the national trend regarding state constitutional bans, the Danbury News-Times reported. Democrats hold strong majorities in both houses of the state's legislature. The party's leaders favor some sort of civil unions.

Wisconsin residents could be next to consider a constitutional amendment regarding marriage, perhaps as early as April 2005, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. However, with legislative leaders putting a job-creation agenda and a property-tax freeze at the top of their priority lists, the timing of a statewide vote on the amendment is murky.

As Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania prepares to chair the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, the Human Rights Campaign is standing by its decision to endorse Specter's Democratic challenger in the Nov. 2 election, according to the Washington Blade. Specter, who won a fourth term by defeating Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, is a co-sponsor of federal hate-crimes legislation, opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment, backs the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and has been a strong supporter of increasing HIV/AIDS funding. However, it was Specter's July vote to send the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Senate floor that HRC cited as a key reason he did not win the group's support, officials said.

The New York State Supreme Court justice ruled that New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration must carry out a law requiring companies that do business with the city to extend the same benefits to employees' domestic partners that they provide to spouses.

In a press release, Patrick Guerriero, the national president of the Log Cabin Republicans, stated what he thought the GLBT community needed to do to get 'back on track.' Guerriero's recommendations included embracing the heartland instead of Hollywood; finding allies among churchgoers; and winning 'in the legislatures, in the voting booths, and in the hearts of fair-minded citizens to give credibility and power to our cause.'

San Francisco state assemblyman Mark Leno will bring the fight for same-sex marriage back into the spotlight, making it the first order of business when the California legislature reconvenes next month, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Leno, who is gay, is calling for the state to change its definition of marriage from a contract 'between a man and a woman'' to a contract 'between two persons.''

A special committee established by the New York State Bar Association last year to study the question of legal recognition for same-sex partners has completed its report, said the New York Law Journal Nov. 8. According to the news report, the 12-member committee split three ways. Five members ( the plurality ) voted in favor of having the New York State Bar endorse opening up marriage to same-sex couples. Four members ( the rest of the majority ) favored providing equal benefits to same-sex partners using some nomenclature other than 'marriage.' The other three members ( including two former presidents of the state bar, the article emphasizes ) urged the Association to refrain from taking an official position on what they say is a 'social/public policy' issue.

In Washington State, a man was convicted by a judge on charges he deliberately exposed 17 women to HIV by having unprotected sex with them, the AP reported. Five of the women have tested positive for the virus. Anthony E. Whitfield, 32, faces a minimum sentence of 137 years in prison.

The City Council of Northampton, Mass., unanimously passed a resolution asking all employers in the city to extend their benefits to same-sex married couples, according to The Republican. However the resolution has no force of law.

Convicted killer Demarco McCullum, who traded a promising athletic future for a cell on Texas death row, was executed for the abduction, robbery, beating and fatal shooting of a gay Houston man 10 years ago, CNN reported. McCullum, 30, was arrested the same day in 1994 that he was supposed to leave for Tyler Junior College, where he had an athletic scholarship after a standout football career as quarterback at Aldine High School in north Houston.

Instead of paying a $500 fine on charges she lied about her gender, Sandy Gast is waging a legal battle for transsexual rights in Kansas, according to Court TV. Gast was born a man and became a woman. Gast, 48, applied for a marriage license in February to wed her partner, George 'Georgi' Somers. On March 18, however, just two days before the wedding date, Gast was jailed for lying about her sex. A judge in the Leavenworth County Circuit courthouse will try her for falsely swearing on a marriage license, which carries a $500 fine. The state opened an investigation after Somers' daughter, Crystal Call, e-mailed the Leavenworth county attorney's office in March, saying that both parties were men living as women.

A 45-year-old Tampa, Fla., man accused of talking on the Internet about drugging and kidnapping men and having sex with them was indicted on accusations he gave a 'date rape' drug to six men so he could sexually assault them, the Tampa Tribune reported. Authorities are investigating the activities of the man, Steven Lorenzo, and are looking into whether he has knowledge of the disappearances of two men in Tampa.

Michigan's new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage could block benefits in pending contracts with five unions, according to the AP. Nearly 38,000 state employees are holding ratification votes on labor contracts that include benefits for same-sex partners. However, the approval of Proposal 2 means the benefits issue may land in the courts. The amendment will not abolish existing partner benefits, but will deny new ones once it takes effect.

In Michigan, about 150 students in Ann Arbor carried signs, banners and rainbow flags in opposition to the passage of Proposal 2 in the Nov. 2 election, according to The Michigan Daily. 'This will be looked upon by our children how we look upon racism in the '60s,' Drew Philip said. The passage of Proposal 2 amended Michigan's constitution to ban gay marriage.


This article shared 1863 times since Wed Nov 17, 2004
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