Freedom to Marry, a nonprofit organization dedicated to allowing same-sex couples the option to legally marry, sponsors Freedom to Marry Day Feb. 12. In fact, this week is Freedom to Marry Week marked by special events nationwide. 'The more people talk calmly to one another about what reasons there are for excluding committed couples from marriage because they are gay, the more Americans are coming to accept marriage equality,' said Evan Wolfson, the group's executive director. Visit the Web site www.freedomtomarry.org for information.
The Boy Scouts in San Diego filed suit against the city alleging the city violated the Scout's First Amendment rights by dropping a low-cost lease agreement. The Scouts lost their lease on prime city land as part of a settlement agreement the city made with the American Civil Liberties Union. The Scouts argue that they are singled out as losers in this case because of their outspoken beliefs.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin to test the efficacy of the anti-HIV drug tenofovir in preventing the disease from taking hold in non-infected people, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The $6.5 million study funded by the CDC will track men who have sex with men in Atlanta and San Francisco. Two studies funded by the National Institutes for Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will track women in Cambodia and Africa.
Episcopalians in Mississippi voted to stick with the national organization after the consecration of openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson, reports the Jackson Clarion Ledger. More than 800 delegates met and voted against resolutions to break off from the national church and voted against withholding the $440,000 the diocese sends annually to the national organization.
If the Presidential election were held today, George W. Bush would probably lose, according to a poll by Newsweek. Fifty percent of respondents said they do not want Bush re-elected while 45 percent said they do. The poll also suggests many Americans support a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage; 47 percent said they support a nationwide ban while 45 percent said they oppose it. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.
In Houston, a man convicted of the attempted murder of gay civil-rights activist Paul Broussard, is on the run, reports KPRC-TV. Police are looking for Paul Chance Dillon, one of several teens convicted surrounding the 1991 death of Broussard.
Meanwhile, in Knoxville, a man convicted of murdering a gay-rights activist in that town, has been ordered to serve one year in jail after he was charged in a peeping tom police sting in Virginia Beach. Chad Allen Conyers admitted to killing Joseph Camber. Conyers received no jail time on that offense.
Federal prosecutors last week sought to withdraw charges against a man accused in the torture slayings of lesbian hikers in Shenandoah National Park, reports AP. Darrell David Rice, 36, was to stand trial on four counts of capital murder in the killings of Julianne Williams and Laura 'Lollie' Winans nearly eight years ago. Forensic evidence may show he did not do the crime.