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Friday, August 22, 2008
BOSTON
(AP)
—
Opponents
of
same-sex
marriages
in
Massachusetts
are
seeking
a
ballot
question
that
would
prevent
gay
and
lesbian
couples
from
getting
married
here
if
their
union
wouldn’t
be
legal
in
their
home
state.
Brian
Camenker
of
the
group
Mass
Resistance
said
Aug.
15
that
lawmakers
and
Gov.
Deval
Patrick
bowed
to
the
will
of
the
“gay
lobby”
last
month
by
approving
the
repeal
of
a
1913
statute
that
banned
such
marriages.
Patrick,
the
state’s
first
black
governor
and
the
father
of
a
daughter
who
recently
revealed
she’s
a
lesbian,
said
the
1913
law
had
racial
undertones
from
a
period
when
interracial
marriage
was
discouraged.
“The
legislature
and
the
governor
changed
our
marriage
laws
to
please
the
well-connected
minority
and
force
a
social
experiment
into
other
states
that’s
very
offensive
to
a
majority
of
people,
at
least
the
way
the
votes
have
been
going,”
Camenker
said,
referring
to
recent
votes
in
favor
of
gay
marriage
bans
in
other
states.
His
group
will
need
about
32,000
signatures
to
get
their
question
on
the
ballot.
Calif.
court
says
doctors
must
treat
gays
equally
SAN
FRANCISCO
(AP)
—
California’s
high
court
on
Monday
barred
doctors
from
withholding
medical
care
to
gays
and
lesbians
based
on
religious
beliefs,
ruling
that
state
law
prohibiting
sexual
orientation
discrimination
extends
to
the
medical
profession.
The
ruling
was
unanimous,
a
contrast
to
the
state
Supreme
Court’s
4-3
schism
in
May
legalizing
gay
marriage.
Justice
Joyce
Kennard
wrote
in
the
ruling
that
two
Christian
fertility
doctors
who
refused
to
artificially
inseminate
a
lesbian
have
neither
a
free
speech
right
nor
a
religious
exemption
from
the
state’s
law,
which
“imposes
on
business
establishments
certain
antidiscrimination
obligations.”
In
the
lawsuit
that
led
to
the
ruling,
Guadalupe
Benitez,
36,
of
Oceanside
said
that
the
doctors
treated
her
with
fertility
drugs
and
instructed
her
on
how
to
inseminate
herself
at
home
but
told
her
their
beliefs
prevented
them
from
assisting
her
further.
Court
upholds
orders
in
Va.
couple’s
custody
dispute
WINCHESTER,
Va.
—
Courts
in
Virginia
this
week
affirmed
child
visitation
rights
for
Janet
Jenkins,
a
Vermont
lesbian
who
has
fought
to
see
the
daughter
born
to
her
and
Lisa
Miller
during
their
civil
union.
Rebecca
Glenberg,
an
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
attorney,
said
a
Frederick
County
Circuit
Court
judge
dismissed
Monday
an
attempt
by
Miller’s
attorneys
to
forestall
Virginia’s
enforcement
of
the
Vermont
visitation
order.
“The
court
basically
recognized
their
new
action
for
what
it
is,
which
was
an
attempt
to
do
an
end
run
around
the
decisions
of
the
Virginia
Court
of
Appeals
and
the
Virginia
Supreme
Court,
which
explicitly
held
that
the
Virginia
courts
have
to
give
full
faith
and
credit
to
the
Vermont
orders,”
she
said.
In
June,
the
Virginia
Supreme
Court
upheld
a
Court
of
Appeals
ruling
that
says
Vermont
has
sole
jurisdiction
over
the
long-running
custody
dispute
that
began
after
the
couple
split
in
2003,
and
that
Virginia
courts
must
recognize
and
enforce
Vermont’s
orders.
McCain,
Obama
talk
marriage
at
Calif.
megachurch
forum
LAKE
FOREST,
Calif.
(AP)
—
Presidential
hopefuls
John
McCain
and
Barack
Obama
agreed
Sunday
during
a
Christian
issues
forum
that
marriage
is
a
union
between
a
man
and
a
woman.
But
Obama
told
Rev.
Rick
Warren
during
the
forum
at
Saddleback
Church
in
California,
a
mega-congregation
that
claims
23,000
members,
that
he
supports
civil
unions
for
gay
partners,
giving
them
rights
such
as
hospital
visits
with
one
another.
Obama
also
said
he
opposed
a
constitutional
ban
on
gay
marriage,
calling
the
matter
a
state
issue.
McCain
was
less
clear
in
his
response.
If
a
federal
court
ordered
his
state,
Arizona,
to
honor
gay
marriages
that
are
now
allowed
in
Massachusetts,
he
said,
“then
I
would
favor
a
constitutional
amendment.
Until
then,
I
believe
the
states
should
make
the
decisions
within
their
own
states.”
Family
of
slain
gay
student
blames
school
district
VENTURA,
Calif.
(AP)
—
The
family
of
a
gay
teenager
who
was
fatally
shot
in
class
blames
the
school
district
for
allowing
their
son
to
wear
makeup
and
feminine
clothing
to
school,
factors
the
family
says
led
to
the
death.
The
parents
and
brother
of
15-year-old
Larry
King
of
Oxnard
filed
a
personal
injury
claim
against
the
Hueneme
school
district
seeking
unspecified
damages
for
not
enforcing
the
dress
code,
the
Ventura
County
Star
reported.
King,
an
eighth-grader
at
E.O.
Green
Junior
High
School,
was
shot
in
February.
Classmate
Brandon
McInerney
pleaded
not
guilty
to
the
shooting.
From
staff
and
wire
reports
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