May 09, 2008   | COMMENTS     

McGreeveys fight over daughter in bitter divorce battle

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — She claims she was duped into marriage by a closeted gay man who needed the cover of a wife to advance his political career. He says he gave her a child and the coattails she rode to the governor’s mansion, thus fulfilling the marriage contract. As Jim and Dina Matos McGreevey’s three-and-a-half-year separation approaches the duration of their marriage, the former first couple is about to become unhitched. Their divorce trial began this week. New Jersey’s former first couple are fighting over custody of their 6-year-old daughter — he’s seeking a 50-50 split — alimony and child support. Matos McGreevey, 41, is seeking $600,000 as compensation for the time she would have lived at the governor’s mansion in Princeton had her soon-to-be-ex not resigned in disgrace. McGreevey’s political career unraveled during his first term after an affair with a man he put on the state payroll as homeland security adviser. McGreevey says in his book that the marriage was “a contrivance on both our parts.” McGreevey “will testify at trial that he needed to have a disrobed male present in the room with them when the parties had sexual relations in order to maintain an erection,” his lawyer, Stephen Haller, wrote in court papers. “This tends to prove that plaintiff was at least bisexual, a fact which should have been obvious to defendant prior to the marriage.”

Judge rules Georgia Tech gay rights manual biased

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge says a gay rights web site sanctioned by the Georgia Institute of Technology cannot use language that discriminates against religions that condemn homosexuality. The Safe Space site, a campus resource for gay and lesbian students, gave an overview of various religions’ views toward homosexuality. For instance, it called the Mormon Church anti-gay and the Episcopal Church more receptive to gays. The Alliance Defense Fund sued Georgia Tech in 2006 on behalf of two students who said the university discriminated against students with conservative religious views through policies aimed at protecting the campus from intolerance. In a ruling last week, U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester ordered religious information removed because it violates the separation of church and state. He denied the students’ request for damages. University officials said the information was removed a year ago, and that the ruling requires no further action from Tech. They said they disagree with the ruling but do not plan to appeal.

United Methodist Church upholds anti-gay doctrinal statements

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Delegates to the United Methodist Church’s general conference have upheld a church law that says gay and lesbian relationships are “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Gay advocates at last week’s conference also failed to remove a sentence from the Methodist Book of Discipline that says the church “does not condone the practice of homosexuality.” Methodist delegates retained a policy that lets pastors deny membership to gays and lesbians. The meeting is held every four years to set church policy. On the final day, more than 200 Methodists did attend a lesbian couple’s commitment ceremony in a park across the street from the convention center in Fort Worth, Texas. Rev. Julie Todd spoke during the commitment ceremony and led communion.

Child care rating system expands in Indiana despite claims of pro-gay bias

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A state rating system in Indiana for child care centers began enrolling providers in 40 southern, western and north-central counties last week, but an anti-gay critic is promoting a boycott because she believes the program has a liberal agenda. The Paths to Quality system, already used in 17 counties, rates child care centers with one to four stars based on the training of their staffs and the level of services offered, ranging from meeting the health and safety needs of children to achieving national accreditation. One goal of the voluntary program is to create competition among centers to achieve the highest level of quality to better prepare kids for school, Zach Main, director of the state’s Division of Family Resources, said this week during a Family and Social Services Administration meeting. Main said few providers have resisted the rating system, but one opponent is Monica Boyer of Warsaw, Ind., founder of the Fellowship of Christian Daycares. Boyer said her group fully supports health and safety guidelines for children — but to attain four stars, a provider has to adopt standards from outside groups that may be more accepting of what she calls alternative ...