Jan 09, 2004   | COMMENTS     

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — At the behest of a gay member of the Rochester City Council, city officials are exploring whether or not they can legally give marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported. Currently, gays are barred from receiving marriage licenses in New York. “There’s nothing different about a gay person being married and a straight person being married,” Councilman Tim Mains told the newspaper. “It’s a civil right and civil benefits come from marriage.” Mains said denying same-sex couples a marriage license is discrimination, the Democrat & Chronicle reported. No gay couple has asked for a marriage license in Rochester to date, according to the newspaper. “I’m assuming that’s going to happen and I’m assuming it’s going to happen here,” city clerk Carolee Conklin told the newspaper. “I want to know if I can legally give a marriage license or not. If I could, I certainly would.”

Mass. political heavyweights support gay marriage law
BOSTON — Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, two former state attorneys general and two top state attorneys spoke out this week in favor of a law allowing gay marriage, the Boston Globe reported. In a letter to state lawmakers, the officials said the “rule of law and the legitimacy of the courts” are at stake, the newspaper reported. They support legislation to make law the Supreme Judicial Court’s recent ruling that says the state must allow gays to marry, according to the Globe. The letter is signed by Scott Harshbarger, Massachusetts attorney general from 1991-99, and James M. Shannon, his predecessor. It stated that a proposed alternative civil union system has “no legal justification,” the Globe reported. “We see the SJC’s ruling as unequivocal: The existing ban on marriage for gay people is unconstitutional,” reads the letter, authored by Harvard constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe, the Globe reported. Boston Bar Association President Renee M. Landers joined Harshbarger, Weld, Shannon and Tribe in signing the letter, the Globe reported.

Iowa judge revises ruling on lesbian couple’s divorce
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Clarifying his original ruling, a judge who granted a divorce to a Sioux City lesbian couple now says he only ended their civil union in Vermont, not their marriage, which the state of Iowa does not recognize, the Des Moines Register reported. District Judge Jeffrey Neary handed down his original ruling in November and filed a two-page revision last week, the newspaper reported. In the revision, he said he had no jurisdiction to dissolve a marriage defined by state law, but that he could end the civil union of the two women, according to the Register. Neary came under fire for his original order from conservatives, who said the revision means little, the Register reported. “He has accomplished through the back door (that) which he himself determined he couldn’t accomplish through the front door,” Timm Reid, a lawyer for the Iowa Liberty & Justice Center in Pleasant Hill, told the Register. Conservatives are concerned that Neary’s ruling might open a door for same-sex unions in Iowa, according to the newspaper.

Sen. Feingold to lead fight against anti-gay amendment
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold says he will fight a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. “It is unbelievable to me that we would use our Constitution to deal with an issue like that,” the Wisconsin Democrat told the editorial board of the Capital Times of Madison. Feingold serves as the ranking Democrat on the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee held hearings on the subject this summer. “I think we did very well in pointing out how inappropriate it is for the federal government to have a constitutional amendment to take the decision away from the states,” he said. Some lawmakers are proposing the amendment in response to recent federal and state court rulings. A recent Badger Poll found nearly two-thirds of Wisconsin residents would support a constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage. Yet Feingold said the topic came up only a handful of times during his listening sessions around the state this year.

Judge: Boston cannot allow unauthorized groups in parade
BOSTON (AP) — Organizers of South Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade won a court victory last week when a federal magistrate ruled that unauthorized groups — like gay organizations — that want to participate in the parade must march at least a mile behind authorized marchers. The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which plays host to the annual event, sued the city in October after police allowed an anti-war group to march at the end ...