Apr 11, 2008   | COMMENTS     

Arizona same-sex marriage ban dies in legislature

PHOENIX (AP) — A push by social conservatives to have the Arizona Legislature ask voters to ban same-sex marriages suffered a possibly fatal blow last week when opponents succeeded in expanding the proposed ballot measure to include new rights for unmarried couples. House Speaker Jim Weiers (R-Phoenix) declared his resolution dead after several fellow Republicans joined Democrats in expanding the measure over the objections of Weiers and other backers. With the changes, Weiers now doesn’t support the proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution and won’t advance it to a formal House vote. A Senate version remains pending in that chamber, but it hasn’t shown signs of life since emerging from a Senate committee in February. State law already prohibits same-sex marriage, and Arizona courts have upheld that ban but ban supporters contend it also needs to be in the Constitution in order to prevent future court rulings in favor of same-sex marriage. Arizona is the only state whose voters have rejected a same-sex marriage ban, with rejection of the 2006 proposal widely attributed to provisions interpreted to prohibit government recognition of domestic partnerships and civil unions.

Transsexual sentenced for threatening Pa. officials

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania transsexual serving time for the castration death of her husband has been sentenced to more time for threatening prosecutors and witnesses in her first trial. Tammy Felbaum, 48, of Marion, Pa., pleaded guilty to three counts of making terroristic threats and one count of aggravated harassment by a prisoner in February. She was sentenced to 21 to 60 more months on April 1. Felbaum is serving 5 to 11 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and related crimes in the February 2001 death of James Felbaum.

Attorneys argue before appeals court in anti-gay T-shirt case

CHICAGO (AP) — A three-judge panel in Chicago heard testimony last week in a Naperville high school student’s appeal to wear a T-shirt expressing opposition to homosexuality. Alexander Nuxoll, a Neuqua Valley High School sophomore, was banned from wearing a T-shirt reading “Be Happy, Not Gay” to school. Nuxoll and one-time student Heidi Zamecnik, who wore a similar T-shirt to school in 2006, filed a lawsuit saying their civil rights had been violated. Indian Prairie Unit District 204 later said the students could wear a T-shirt that read “Be Happy, Be Straight,” but the students refused. Last year, a judge ruled against them. Zamecnik has since graduated. On April 4, the federal appeals court in Chicago heard arguments from attorneys in Nuxoll’s case. Appellate Judge Richard Posner argued that the T-shirt’s message was just a play on words to reinforce the students’ message. “It’s so tepid,” Posner said. “It’s just a pun because gay once meant happy. It’s a joke.” But school district attorney Thomas Canna said the shirt’s message is no laughing matter. “I don’t believe it’s a joke at all,” he said, “especially for someone struggling with their identity.”

Cross-dressing elementary school event raises ire of religious radio

REEDSBURG, Wis. (AP) — An elementary-school event in Wisconsin in which kids were encouraged to dress as members of the opposite gender drew the ire of a Christian radio group, whose angry broadcast prompted outraged calls to the district office. Students at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg had been dressing in costume all last week as part of an annual school tradition called Wacky Week. On April 4, students were encouraged to dress either as senior citizens or as members of the opposite sex. A Milwaukee-based religious radio broadcast criticized the event and brought it to local residents’ attention calling it an attack on “biblical values.” School officials said the theme day was meant only for fun.

Virginia judge rules in favor of breakaway congregations

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Eleven conservative church congregations seeking to break away from the Episcopal Church in a dispute over homosexuality and other theological issues have won a preliminary victory in a closely watched lawsuit that will decide who controls church property. A Fairfax County judge ruled April 3 that he will decide the case under a Virginia law governing religious divisions that dates to the Civil War era. The language in that law is favorable to the departing congregations because it allows each congregation to realign by a simple majority vote. The judge is still a long way from deciding who ultimately controls church property. He still must rule on the constitutionality of that state law and must decide whether the departing congregations conducted their realignment votes properly. The dispute began in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.