|
Friday, July 04, 2008
NEW
YORK
(AP)
—
Barack
Obama
will
fight
for
equal
rights
for
gays
just
as
he
fought
to
help
working-class
families
overcome
poverty,
the
Democratic
presidential
hopeful’s
wife
told
a
gay
Democratic
group
last
week.
“Barack
believes
that
we
must
fight
for
the
world
as
it
should
be,
a
world
where
together
we
work
to
reverse
discriminatory
laws,”
Michelle
Obama
said
at
a
Manhattan
fundraiser
for
the
Democratic
National
Committee’s
Gay
&
Lesbian
Leadership
Council.
Touting
her
husband’s
record
pushing
for
workplace
discrimination
legislation
as
an
Illinois
state
senator
and
his
support
for
civil
unions,
Obama
noted
her
husband
also
had
brought
a
call
for
equality
to
conservative
groups,
telling
churchgoers
they
need
to
combat
homophobia
in
the
black
community.
No
charges
against
Virginia
same-sex
couple
who
wed
RICHMOND,
Va.
(AP)
—
A
Virginia
couple
who
obtained
a
state
marriage
license
and
had
a
ceremony
before
authorities
realized
both
were
men
will
not
face
charges,
officials
said
this
week.
Antonio
Blount,
31,
and
Justin
McCain,
18,
faced
misdemeanor
false
information
charges,
punishable
by
a
fine
up
to
$250.
Authorities
said
the
couple
applied
for
a
license
in
Newport
News
Circuit
Court
in
March
and
passed
off
McCain
as
“Justine.”
Prosecutors
opted
not
to
press
charges
because
they
couldn’t
determine
if
the
couple
knowingly
committed
fraud.
Opponents
of
gay
marriage
go
to
court
over
Calif.
ballot
referendum
SAN
FRANCISCO
(AP)
—
Gay-marriage
opponents
are
urging
the
California
Supreme
Court
to
let
voters
consider
a
November
ballot
measure
that
would
ban
same-sex
nuptials.
In
court
papers
filed
Monday,
five
California
residents
asked
the
high
court
to
toss
out
a
lawsuit
filed
earlier
this
month
by
a
group
seeking
to
remove
the
measure
from
the
ballot.
Equality
California
says
in
the
lawsuit
that
the
signature
petitions
used
to
put
the
measure,
called
Proposition
8,
on
the
ballot
were
misleading.
It
also
says
Proposition
8
is
a
constitutional
revision
rather
than
an
amendment,
which
would
make
it
improper
to
put
before
voters.
In
related
news,
sponsors
of
the
ballot
initiative
said
GOP
presidential
hopeful
John
McCain
has
endorsed
the
measure.
He
sent
a
supportive
e-mail
to
ProtectMarriage.com
last
week.
Presbyterian
assembly
votes
to
drop
gay
clergy
ban
DENVER
(AP)
—
The
Presbyterian
Church’s
(U.S.A.)
General
Assembly
voted
54
percent
to
46
percent
on
June
27
to
drop
the
requirement
that
would-be
ministers,
deacons
and
elders
live
in
“fidelity
within
the
covenant
of
marriage
between
a
man
and
a
woman,
or
chastity
in
singleness,”
a
change
seen
as
a
victory
for
gay
clergy.
The
vote
was
an
“an
authoritative
interpretation”
of
the
church
constitution
rather
than
a
change
to
it,
so
it
goes
into
effect
immediately.
The
assembly
also
voted
77
percent
to
33
percent
to
preserve
the
church’s
definition
of
marriage
as
a
covenant
between
“a
man
and
a
woman,”
rather
than
changing
it
to
“two
people.”
Lesbian
soldier
found
dead
in
Afghanistan
shot
herself:
military
NEW
YORK
—
The
military
has
concluded
a
nine-month
investigation
and
determined
that
a
lesbian
soldier
found
dead
in
Afghanistan
committed
suicide
by
shooting
herself
in
the
head
with
her
own
Army-issued
M-16
rifle
on
Sept.
28,
Editor
&
Publisher,
a
journalism
trade
magazine,
reported.
Officials
first
said
Ciara
Durkin,
30,
of
Quincy,
Mass.,
who
served
in
the
National
Guard,
had
died
“in
action,”
then
revealed
that
she
was
killed
in
a
“non-combat”
incident
that
was
being
investigated.
Friends
and
family
members
wondered
if
she’d
been
targeted
for
being
gay.
The
Boston
Globe
reported
that
Durkin
had
been
on
medication
for
depression
but
stopped
taking
it
because
it
made
her
manic.
Durkin
was
engaged
to
her
girlfriend
and
planned
to
marry
her
in
Massachusetts
this
year.
Arizona
Legislature
puts
gay
marriage
ban
on
ballot
PHOENIX
(AP)
—
Arizona
voters
will
decide
in
November
whether
to
change
the
state’s
constitution
to
define
marriage
as
a
union
between
one
man
and
one
woman.
A
16-4
vote
by
the
state
Senate
on
June
27
sends
the
proposal
to
the
ballot,
the
second
time
in
two
years
that
voters
will
be
asked
to
consider
a
gay
marriage
proposal.
Even
though
Arizona
law
already
prohibits
same-sex
marriages,
supporters
said
the
proposal
would
protect
the
sanctity
of
families
by
helping
to
prevent
judges
from
overturning
the
ban.
The
latest
proposal
is
a
trimmed-down
version
of
the
one
rejected
in
2006.
From
staff
and
wire
reports
|
 |
