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Bush: States Should Not Define Marriage (BGN)
No more grand lifestyle for gay ex-gov’s wife (phillyburbs.com)
Police worker commended for work on homophobic crime (Pink News)
New York Governor Faces Gay Marriage Fight (CBS News)
Turkish court slaps ban on homosexual group (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Jewish academic attacks gay Holocaust memorial (Pink News)
Orlando venues are rolling out the red carpet for Gay Days (Orlando Sentinel)
Gay in Turkey (Radio Netherlands)
Akbayan pushes for bill to end discrimination vs gays (GMA News)
Gay marriage issue not over yet (Politico via Yahoo! News)
Transsexual worker not wrongfully dismissed (Vancouver Province)
How Governor Set His Stance on Gay Rights (New York Times)
Ritter signs bill giving gays equal access to accommodations (Colorado Springs Gazette)
VIDEO: Lesbian Yearbook Controversy (KALB Alexandria)
Opposition forms against gay rights for NYers (AP via Yahoo! News)

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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, May 29 (UPI)

U.S. President George Bush thinks a definition of marriage should be based on “national agreement,” not state-by-state, the White House said Thursday.

Spokeswoman Dana Perino said the administration was concerned about the legal implications of New York Gov. David Paterson’s order that all state agencies recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. In the May 14 directive, Patterson’s legal counsel instructed state agencies to revise policies and regulations to assure same-sex couples married elsewhere will be afforded “the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

Perino said she was “sure there’s going to be a lot of people who analyze the legal ramifications” of the directive.

“(The) president believes that we should try to make this decision based on a nationwide agreement for the what the definition of a marriage should be,” Perino told reporters while traveling to an Olathe, Kan. fundraiser, “and that activist judges and different states trying to impose something of that importance on the rest of the nation is to be looked at skeptically.”

She said Bush thinks “the people should be making these decisions,” not judges.

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Anti-Gay Teen and Father to Pay Damages (BGN)
New York state agencies recognize gay marriages (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Opposition forms against gay marriage rights in NY (San Francisco Chronicle)
Crimes Against Minnesota GLBT Community Up 135% (KIMT Mason City)
Australian diver comes out ahead of Olympics (Pink News)
Same-sex weddings rescheduled for June 17 (San Francisco Chronicle)
Court weighs if doctors can not treat lesbian (San Francisco Chronicle)
Wife of NJ’s gay ex-gov testifies again in divorce trial (AP via Yahoo! News)
Turkish court orders dissolution of gay rights group (Pink News)
Gay rights advocates score win in New York (Detroit Free Press)
Jail alters transgender inmate policy (The Washington Examiner)
Holocaust Academic Pans Monument to Nazis’ Gay Victims (Deutsche Welle)
Pretty In Punk (Metro Weekly)
State Supreme Court may give gays a medical victory (Los Angeles Times)
Man Arrested In Attack Of Homeless Transgender Men (CBS 13 Sacramento)
Gays get splashed in beverage wars (Planet Out via Yahoo! News)
Man charged in slaying of Madison activist in Mexico (Wisconsin State Journal)

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MONTREAL, May 28 (UPI)

A Canadian human rights tribunal in Quebec has ordered a father and son to pay $15,000 in damages to a Montreal-area gay couple they admitted harassing.

The complaint to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal was based on incidents in 2003 when Theo Wouters and Roger Thibault complained the boy, who was then 17 and can’t be identified, threw a roll of toilet paper and a firecracker on the couple’s lawn.

In another confrontation, the teen was arrested for threatening to “wreck his fist” on their faces, The Gazette newspaper in Montreal said.

The youth was arrested but never charged, as prosecutors suggested an apology would suffice, along with psychiatric counseling.

An apology was made, but the gay couple went to the tribunal seeking $37,000 in damages with claims the apology was only a ruse to avoid prosecution, the report said.

The judge awarded the couple $5,000 each in moral damages and $2,500 each in punitive damages, the report said.

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Poll: Most Californians Back Gay Marriage (BGN)
Calif. Court to Consider Gay Rights Case (BGN)
Man is charged with hate crime (The Sacramento Bee)
Pornographer attacks Presidential candidate over gay rights (Pink News)
Transgender experiences (The Easterner)
Scouts sue city over gay policy (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Berlin memorial honors Nazis’ gay victims (Seattle Times)
Notorious gay basher kills himself in jail (CNews)
Rally backs gay rights (The State)
Activist stabbed by a man she brought back to her hotel room (WI State Journal)
Identity card for transgenders (Chennai Online)
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert musical opens in NZ (The West Australian)
Philly to Boy Scouts: Admit gay members or pay rent (USA Today)
Delay in Irish civil partnership bill exposes coalition tensions (Pink News)

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 27 (UPI)

The California Supreme Court, just weeks after legalizing gay marriage, will hear another potential landmark case Wednesday involving same-sex civil rights.

The court’s seven justices will hear a case involving fertility physicians accused of discriminating against a lesbian couple by citing religious beliefs when they declined to performs artificial insemination, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday.

David Cruz, a constitutional law professor at the University of Southern California, said this case and the gay marriage case have a common thread. In the marriage case, same-sex couples argued that the state matrimony laws violated their equal-protection rights. In the pending case, gay rights advocates say the state civil rights law mandating equal treatment should override the doctors’ constitutional rights to religious freedom, he said.

“The questions are linked,” Cruz said. “In both cases, the question is how important is equality under California law?”

Guadalupe Benitez sued Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton in 2001.

“Religious liberty protects your right to believe as you wish, but not act in whatever manner a person might wish to based on those religious beliefs,” said Benitez’s attorney, Jennifer Pizer.

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SACRAMENTO, May 28 (UPI)

A majority of California respondents support same-sex marriage for the first time in more than 30 years of polling on the issue, a Wednesday survey indicates.

A Field Poll of 1,052 registered voters conducted May 17-26 indicates 51 percent of those interviewed favor same-sex marriage while 42 percent disapprove, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported.

The polling data indicate a steady increase in the support of same-sex marriage: 28 percent of Californians said they approved of the issue in 1977, 30 percent in 1985 and 42 percent in 2003.

Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo attributes the rising numbers to a “generational replacement” that suggests young voters are more compassionate about offering the same legal rights to same-sex couples as heterosexual couples.

Though the 3.2-percentage-point margin of error shows the issue is clearly a divisive one, DiCamillo called the poll “historical,” The San Diego Union-Tribune said.

Politically, there is a wide discrepancy among Democrat and Republican voters. Democrats said they favor the measure by 65 percent while 25 percent of Republican respondents say the same.

The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on May 15 that a ban on same-sex marriage violates the state constitution. There is also to be a same-sex marriage question on the ballot in November.

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Transgender Paratrooper Awarded $500,000 (BGN)
Foster Left Gal Pal for Screenwriter (BGN)
Candidates to Be Peppered on Gay Marriage (BGN)
Germany inaugurates memorial to gays persecuted (ABC 13 Houston)
Delay in Irish civil partnership bill exposes coalition tensions (Pink News)
Boy Scouts sue city of Philadelphia over rent, gay rights (Centre Daily Times)
Will Gay Marriage Change Our View of Gay Demographics? (East Bay Express)
Area high school in controversy over gay couples (KVII 7 Amarillo)
Police protect Pride marchers in Romania (Pink News)
Brides and grooms of gay weddings will be older than heterosexual weddings (Oakland Tribune)
Gay ex-gov due back on witness stand (Daily Record)
High court to hear lesbian’s case (The Monterey County Herald)
NWI’s first gay pride parade in June (The Times of Northwest Indiana)
Gays take offence with PM again (Jamaica Gleaner)
California’s gays may marry as early as June 14 (People’s Daily)
Sex-change girl ruling ‘compassionate’ (Daily Telegraph)
1 million gays stage parade against bias (People’s Daily)
Court takes lesbian insemination case (KGO-TV Bay Area)
Nearly One in Four Gay and Lesbian Adults Lack Health Insurance (Gay Wired)
Glitz and Giggles at Eurovision (Washington Post)

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LONDON, May 25 (UPI) — A British ex-military paratrooper who had a sex change won nearly $500,000 in damages for humiliation she felt when asked to put on a man’s uniform.

The Ministry of Defense forked over the cash to Jan Hamilton, previously known as Capt. Ian Hamilton, in a settlement before the case went to court, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Hamilton said she was seriously embarrassed when asked to show up for an April 2007 medical exam in a man’s uniform.

“I have been living as a woman since January, but as far as the army is concerned I am still a man. It would have been humiliating and demeaning for me to turn up for my medical examination dressed in a man’s uniform,” Hamilton said.

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LOS ANGELES, May 26 (UPI) — Hollywood actress Jodie Foster left Cydney Bernard, her girlfriend of 14 years, for screenwriter Cindy Mort, sources told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

Foster, a two-time Oscar-winning actress, and Bernard had been raising Foster’s two children together. However, Foster reportedly left Bernard for Mort, whom the film star met on the set of her 2007 revenge drama “The Brave One.”

The Mail said Mort had been raising 10-year-old twins Olivia and Miles with her girlfriend, actress Melanie Mayron at the time of the split.

“Cydney had no idea their relationship was in trouble until Jodie came home one day and told her she’d fallen in love with Cindy and was moving out. Cydney is devastated,” the source told the newspaper. “Cindy wants to stay friends with Melanie because of the twins but Melanie has taken it very hard. It’s not easy to be dumped for the most famous lesbian in Hollywood. It is the biggest lesbian love scandal to grip this town in years.”

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 (UPI) — The presidential candidates will be asked about an effort in California to place a ban on same-sex marriage in the state constitution, political observers say.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that some religious and conservative groups are trying to get an initiative on the November ballot to block a recent state Supreme Court decision that legalized gay nuptuals in the Golden State.

Supporters of the California Marriage Protection Act have submitted more than 1.1 million signatures for the initiative, far more than the 694,354 needed to put it on the ballot.

Barbara O’Connor, a professor of political communication at Cal State Sacramento, said California voters will expect candidates to take a position on the initiative, should it qualify for the ballot.

“Absolutely, this is going to come up,” O’Connor said. “For California voters, it’s something they want people to take a stand on.”

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has stated he supports civil unions, but the Illinois senator has said repeatedly that marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman.

Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, supports California’s proposed constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.

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2 Pro-Gay Laws Signed In Maryland (365Gay.com)
Same-Sex Marriage Opponents Seek Delay (BGN)
Facing hate crime in Turkey (BBC News)
Gambia gay death threat condemned (BBC News)
LGBT People Represent an Important Segment of the U.S. Pop. (Business Wire)
UK is “committed to promoting LGBT rights overseas” (Pink News)
EU must insist Turkey “respect LGBT people’s basic rights” (Pink News)
Gambia’s President Vows to Kill Gays (The Advocate)
California is rewriting its marriage forms for gays (AP via Yahoo! News)
John McCain talks gay marriage with Ellen (Pink News)
Russian Health Ministry ends ban on gay blood (Pink News)
San Francisco mayor condemns refusal to marry gays (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Ontario to resume covering gender surgery (Planet Out via Yahoo! News)
The Real-Life Indiana Jones is a Lesbian (The Advocate)
Sex Reassignment Nixed (Gay City News)
What a drag! (The Times of India)
Turkey: Homophobic Violence Points to Rights Crisis (AlertNet)
Assist us over homosexuality, HC asks Attorney General (IE via Yahoo! India News)

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 23 (UPI)

Opponents asked the California Supreme Court to hold off until November the implementation of its decision allowing same-sex marriages.

Organizations filed their request Thursday, asking for the delay until after the November election when voters will consider a proposed constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

The California Supreme Court knocked down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage May 15, saying the city and county of San Francisco may issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

“Permitting this decision to take effect immediately — in the light of the realistic possibility that the people of California might amend their constitution to reaffirm marriage as the union of one man and one woman — risks legal havoc and uncertainty of immeasurable magnitude,” court papers said.

The proposed ban on gay marriages hasn’t been officially listed on the November ballot but supporters say they have the necessary number of signatures.

County clerks said they thought gay unions could begin as soon as June 16, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the office would oppose any delay in issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples. City lawyers anticipate filing a legal response next week.

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Principal Resigning Because of Gay Club (BGN)
Court Revives Gay’s Suit Against Military (BGN)
McCain, DeGeneres Spar On Gay Marriage (NBC 5 Chicago)
Gay & Lesbian Film Fest celebrates 10 years (Miami Herald)
Manchester’s new gay community radio show (Pink News)
Assist us over homosexuality, HC asks Attorney General (IE via Yahoo! India News)
Gay Syrian in ‘legal limbo’ as he waits for immigration tribunal decision (Pink News)
Liberal questions paying sex-change costs (Toronto Star)
Campest Eurovision Acts (RainbowNetwork.com)
California ruling invites backlash against gay rights (USATODAY)
Jamaican prime minister: No gays in my Cabinet (Planet Out via Yahoo! News)
Gay and lesbian cruises soar in popularity (San Francisco Chronicle)

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 22 (UPI)

A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco ruled a U.S. Air Force major dismissed for being gay can pursue her legal battle against the military.

While letting the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy stand, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the government may “intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals” only to “advance an important governmental interest,” such as improving morale or maintaining troop readiness, CNN reported Thursday. The appeals court overturned a lower court judge’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit.

The decision involved Air Force Maj. Margaret Witt, discharged after spending nearly 20 years in the military on the grounds she had a relationship with a civilian woman for six years.

“I am thrilled by the court’s recognition that I can’t be discharged without proving that I was harmful to morale,” Witt, a flight nurse, said in a statement issued by the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state, which sued the Air Force for Witt in 2006.

At the time of the investigation, Witt was flight nurse and operating room nurse at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Wash.

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