Same-sex marriage

Developments in March 2004
In March 2004, the Associated Press provided the following information regarding developments on Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, in the United States:


 * Dozens of same-sex couples sought marriage licenses from the New York City clerk's office but were turned away with a letter explaining that gay marriages are illegal in the state.
 * At least 100 gay couples lined up in Portland, Ore., as Multnomah County handed out licenses for a second day. Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski has warned the marriages may not be legal and requested a legal opinion from Oregon's attorney general.
 * New Paltz, N.Y., Mayor Jason West, says he will continue conducting same-sex weddings even though he has been criminally charged, and the mayor of Nyack, John Shields, led a group of same-sex couples to apply for marriage licenses. They were denied.
 * A religious rights law firm went to court to bar gay marriages in New York and said it will try to remove West from office. Meanwhile, a gay rights group plans to file a lawsuit in Manhattan seeking full marriage for same-sex couples.
 * The Kansas House gave tentative approval to a proposed amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage. The Michigan House will vote next week on a similar measure.
 * On Wednesday, the Utah Legislature voted to put a proposed amendment banning gay marriage on the November ballot, despite a protest outside the Capitol by hundreds of gay-marriage supporters.

In his March 2, 2004, article for Reuters, Greg Frost wrote that the "Gay Marriage Wildfire Was Years in the Making." [link no longer active]


 * Mary Bonauto is the "director of the Civil Rights Project at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders [and] a lawyer representing seven lesbian and gay couples who successfully sued the state of Massachusetts seeking the right to wed legally." Bonauto told Reuters that "she is not surprised at the sudden spate of officials conducting gay marriages."


 * "A popular uprising for gay marriage erupting in different parts of the United States was triggered by a Massachusetts court ruling in November but the fight for equal rights for gay couples has been years in the making," according to Bonauto.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Alliance Defense Fund
 * Alliance for Marriage
 * American Family Association
 * American Values Agenda
 * Arlington Group
 * Defense of Marriage Act
 * Federal Marriage Amendment
 * gay rights
 * Log Cabin Republicans
 * U.S. congressional elections in 2006
 * U.S. presidential election, 2004: Wedge Issues

2001

 * Richard Goldstein, "The Gay Marriage Bomb," Village Voice, August 14, 2001.

2003

 * Sean Cahill and Sarah Tobias, "Children of Gay Parents Get Left Behind," AlterNet, June 13, 2003.
 * Molly Ivins, "Supreme Tantrums," AlterNet, July 2, 2003.
 * Sandip Roy, "Gay Rebels without a Cause," Pacific News Service, July 18, 2003.
 * Earl Ofari Hutchison, "Gay Marriage Is No Racial Wedge Issue," AlterNet, October 6, 2003.
 * Patrick Letellier, "Gay Apocalypse Now," AlterNet, October 22, 2003.
 * Earl Ofari Hutchinson, "Gay Marriage Is A Civil Rights Issue," AlterNet, December 9, 2003.
 * Richard Goldstein, "Gay Marriage: The Gender Gap," Village Voice, December 19, 2003.
 * Ana Hristova, "The Candidates on Gay Marriage," In These Times, December 30, 2003.

2004

 * Traci Hukill, "Who Wants to Marry a Marriage Initiative?" AlterNet, January 20, 2004.
 * Joanne Mariner, "Anita Bryant's Anti-Gay Legacy," FindLaw.com, February 3, 2004.
 * Joel Federman, "The Great Valentine Wedding Party," AlterNet, February 16, 2004.
 * George Lakoff, "What's in a Word?" AlterNet, February 18, 2004.
 * Sandy Kleffman, 18 "Gay marriage becoming small wedge in campaign-issue pie," Contra Costa Times, February 18, 2004.
 * David Sirota, Christy Harvey and Judd Legum, "Dividing Not Uniting," The Progress Report, February 25, 2004.
 * Edward E.J. Davis, "Gay Marriage Definitely A Wedge Issue Among Democrats," etalkinghead.com, February 26, 2004.
 * Doug Ireland, "Tea Leaves and Exit Polls," Tom Paine, March 3, 2004.
 * Rukmini Callimachi, "Gay Marriage Debate Erupts Across U.S.," Associated Press (USC), March 4, 2004.
 * Suzanne Goldenberg, "Ban rebounds on Bush as gay couples flock to wed," Guardian Unlimited (UK), March 5, 2004.
 * "Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Advances in Wisconsin," NewsMax, March 5, 2004. (Associated Press story).
 * Mark Morford, "Where Is My Gay Apocalypse? Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?" San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, 2004.
 * Dan Janison and Deborah S. Morris, "Bloomberg: Let gays marry," New York Newsday, March 5, 2004.
 * Howard Kurtz, "Gay GOP Group Challenges Bush on Marriage. Log Cabin Republicans to Air TV Ad in D.C., 7 States," Washington Post, March 10, 2004. See internet activism and U.S. presidential election, 2004: Campaign Ads.

2006

 * Jim Finkle, "No Massachusetts marriages for out-of-state gays," Reuters, March 30, 2006.
 * John Aravosis, "ACTION ALERT: Call Congress, ask if THEY'RE defending THEIR marriages," AMERICAblog, June 5, 2006.
 * Steven Leser, "Bush and Rove Wag the Gays - Yes they are Incompetent, but You should Support Them Because They Hate and Want to Discriminate," Op-Ed News, June 6, 2006.
 * Sidney Blumenthal, "Standards go up in smoke. A desperate Bush is cynically deploying the totemic issues of gay marriage and flag-burning to rally his weary troops," The Guardian (UK), June 6, 2006.
 * "Marriage bill seeks to strip freedoms," USA TODAY, June 6, 2006.
 * Laurie Kellman, "Gay Marriage Amendment Faces Senate Defeat," Associated Press (Forbes), June 6, 2006.
 * Lou Dobbs, "Gay marriage amendment sheer nonsense," CNN, June 7, 2006.
 * Matt Frei, "Washington diary: Bush's word addiction," BBC, June 7, 2006.
 * Jonathan Freedland, "Big business, not religion, is the real power in the White House. Bush is again pandering to the Christian right over gay rights. But Democrats should not be distracted from the main enemy," The Guardian (UK), June 7, 2006.
 * John Aravosis, "Wash that man-whore right out of your hair, eh congressman?" AMERICAblog, June 8, 2006.
 * John Nichols, "No Majority for Discrimination," The Nation (Common Dreams), June 8, 2006.
 * Jim Abrams, "House Rejects Gay Marriage Ban Amendment," Associated Press (1010 WINS), July 18, 2006.