Guyana police are looking for a man who opened fired on a gay wedding reception in Georgetown, Guyana, hitting a participant in the chest. Meanwhile, gay weddings are illegal in the South American country and police plan to revoke the marriage license of whoever performed the ceremony. The couple apparently began attracting attention when they went to the botanical gardens to take pictures. When people at the gardens realized the bride was a man in a dress, dozens began to crowd around them. Some cheered, others cursed. The couple then left quickly for the reception. An hour later a man arrived at the reception and opened fire, injuring one man before everyone dispersed and the attacker fled. Police said the injured man was in stable condition at a local hospital.

Advocate

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Filed in: Gay | LINK

We've been waiting for a ruling on this one: Same-sex couples living in states where laws ban gay marriage (38 at last count) will not be able to marry in Massachusetts, the state's attorney general said Tuesday. Although a court has ordered that gay and lesbian couples can begin marrying in Massachusetts on May 17, Attorney General Thomas Reilly said an obscure 1913 state law prevents the state from issuing marriage licenses to couples who are not eligible to be married in their home states. He said Massachusetts should give a list of those states to town clerks so that they can refuse marriage licenses to people residing there. ajc.com

Meanwhile, Reilly is resisting pressure from Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who wants Reilly to keep gay marriage from becoming legal on May 17. Romney argues gay marriage should be put on hold for at least another 2½ years now that lawmakers have backed a ban on same-sex weddings that may be added to the state constitution in 2006. Reilly refused, arguing that the court had made itself clear in November and in an advisory opinion in February. "The arguments the governor makes are political arguments," said Reilly, who is viewed as a possible gubernatorial opponent in 2006. "The governor's job is to implement the law of the state, and I expect him to do that." Republican-American

In Georgetown, Newburyport and Rowley, flyers were dropped from the National Alliance, a West Virginia-based white supremacist organization. A patrolman spotted the flyers early in the morning. The first flyer, titled, "Let's stand for family values!" stated the organization's opposition to gay marriage. According to their website, group membership is open to any "White person (a non-Jewish person of wholly European ancestry) of good character and at least 18 years of age ... No homosexual or bisexual person, no person actively addicted to alcohol or to an illegal drug, no person with a non-White spouse or a non-White dependent ..." Georgetown Record

Massachusetts gay marriage news

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Jennifer Beals says that, yeah, she had some concerns about being in "The L Word." "It was my first lesbian part and there's a huge lesbian stereotype,'' she says. "What's great about this series is that it represents a multiplicity of gay women." She also talks about explaining her work to her two stepchildren, whose mother belongs to a conservative church. "Sometimes the pastor tells the children that God doesn't love homosexuals," she says. "The children know that's absurd. ... They understand that it is really about loving someone." Sometimes it's about loving two someones: Naturally the photo with this article is from the episode when Bette and her partner got crazy-desperate and brought home a guy to try to get pregnant.

News.com.au

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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's rising political star has been compared with that of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the Irish Catholic mayor said Tuesday he "blew up" his Irish Catholic political base when he cleared the way for gay marriages in his city. Though he refused to discuss his political ambitions, the newly elected mayor of San Francisco said he made the right decision when he challenged the state prohibition on gay marriages as unfair, despite implications for his career. The mayor, who forged a reputation as a moderate while serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said he was booed at a St. Patrick's Day gathering and has lost "thousands" of relationships. Argus

After last week's debate in Kansas over gay marriage, gay activist Bruce Ney is worried about Republican state Sen. David Adkins' future in politics. "He's a marked man," said Ney. "You could hear it in some of the conservatives' comments made during the debate," Ney said. "There will be quite an effort to unseat him." Adkins opposed a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, commandeered debate in the Senate for 4.5 hours, derailing conservatives' efforts to force a succession of roll call votes. LJWorld

Political futures on the line

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Saying that Prudential Financials denial of benefits to the spouse of a lesbian retiree is baseless and uncharacteristic for the company, Lambda Legal this week formally asked the company to reconsider the decision. After her marriage in Canada, Laurel Awishus, a retired Prudential Financial employee who worked for the company for 20 years, sought to enroll her spouse of nearly 22 years, Kathy Adelsheim, in the medical benefits program offered to the company's retirees and spouses. Prudential offers benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees, but says that it only offers those benefits in retirement if the employee retired after January 1, 2000. Straight spouses are entitled to benefits regardless of retirement date.

Lambda Legal

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A Utica, New York, priest with a history of advocacy for gay and lesbian rights has publicly acknowledged he is gay. We are, frankly, shocked. Anyway, the Rev. Fred Daley, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Church, is believed to be the first priest in the seven-county Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse to come out. When he told his congregation, he received a standing ovation. "It was obvious that people love him," parishioner Christine Bart said. Daley, 56, has been pastor of St. Francis de Sales since 1992. For at least 30 years, the Utica parish has had a reputation for supporting poor people and fighting injustice. Last week, Daley received a "Real Hero" award from the United Way of Greater Utica in recognition of his work with poor people.

CBS 2

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Interviews with most of the 33-member Tennessee state Senate makes it clear they are not interested in allowing civil unions and domestic partnerships, signaling probable passage of a bill today that would add those unions to the list of banned relationships in the state. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, was the lone senator of 29 who stood up for same-sex relationships: "They preserve order and structure to society, guaranteeing freedom, privacy, benefits and rights that are important when a person is dying, when a person is sick, when a person is in need of a companion to help them."

The Tennessean

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According to a British census, Bournemouth has the fifth largest population of gays and lesbians in England and Wales. The town is seeing more and more gay people moving out of big cities and opting for the seaside. So why are gays and lesbians flocking to Bournemouth? Paul Robinson, duty manager of popular gay nightclub Rubyz, says the town has a lot of offer. "It is a good clean town and a nice place to live. I think we have one of those transient communities with a mixture of foreign students and a lot of people who come and go. Gay people tend to move around quite a bit."

This is Bournemouth

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Lesbians Terry Hayes and Freda Routt traveled to the capital from their home in Chesapeake to help defuse what they consider a politically explosive election-year issue. As a House panel began hearings on "legal threats to traditional marriage," this couple of six years' partnership arrived to tell what they believe to be their unthreatening story - and head off a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The woman are daughters of military families. Routt works for the Coast Guard, and Hayes has retired from her job as a special-education teacher. "We might look different on the outside," said Hayes, 45. "But on the inside, we're just the same as any other family."

TimesDispatch

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New Mexico's attorney general asked the state Supreme Court to order Sandoval County Clerk Victoria Dunlap to halt imminent plans to issue same-sex marriage licenses. If the high court agrees to the stay requested by Madrid, then Dunlap "of course will comply." Albuquerque Journal

A Minneapolis City Council panel went on record as opposing a constitutional ban on gay marriage. The council's Intergovernmental Relations Committee approved a resolution that condemns any effort to amend the state or U.S. constitutions. The committee endorsed the proposal without dissent. Minneapolis Star-Tribune


The Montana Family Foundation said Tuesday it will launch an initiative to amend the Montana Constitution this year to prohibit gay marriages. The year-old organization plans to collect the necessary 41,020 voter signatures to get on the November ballot. Billings Gazette

Today's Short Takes

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In New Mexico, a hearing to determine whether to permanently ban Sandoval County from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples was postponed, and State District Judge Kenneth G. Brown, who made the original ruling, has recused himself from the case. The postponement means the restraining order against Sandoval County clerk Victoria Dunlap that prevented her from issuing more marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples will expire. , leaving open the possibility that Dunlap will begin issuing marriage licenses anew. Dunlap issued 66 licenses before Brown's restraining order. Dunlap said she planned to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples this month before the restraining order was imposed. Her attorney, Paul Livingston, said, "One way or another, she will probably be issuing people gender-neutral marriage licenses as the law allows, and people will find it's not such a big deal," he said. "That's what I hope."

Albuquerque Tribune

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Popular transgender Muay Thai boxer Apinya Sor Phummarin found that size does matter after a loss to Hong Kong’s Zhao Ying Ho at Lumpini Stadium last week. The 18-year-old from Payao, who had a victory over American Anthony Fighting Gym in Apinya's first bout in Bangkok early this year, lost in a points decision to Ho. "His tactics were not better than mine. What he had was a weight advantage. If our weights were equal, I am confident he could not beat me easily," Apinya said after the match.

The Nation (last item)

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Three days after being elected Lord Mayor of Sydney, Australia, State MP Clover Moore was attacked by an angry parent screaming "you lesbian bitch." Sarah Le Bon went after Moore, punching her until she was restrained. The assault which took place on the grounds of a school was witnessed by mothers picking up their children. Le Bon, who has pleaded not guilty, yelled from the back of the court room yesterday that Moore's status had led to "political interference" in her case and prevented her from having legal aid. The case was adjourned with the magistrate suggesting to defense that they have their client receive a psychiatric evaluation.

news.com.au

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British entertainer Michael Barrymore, who is gay, is being sued for about $182,000 by the family of the man who was found dead in his swimming pool. They claim the entertainer failed in his duty of care to Stuart Lubbock, who died three years ago. Lubbock had suffered severe internal injuries, but a precise cause of death was never determined. Barrymore said he didn't jump in to save Lubbock because he can't swim. His ex-wife begs to differ.

The Guardian

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The trial of Travis Palmer, who was charged with sexually assaulting a transgender woman in New Jersey, stalled before jury selection began with the defense attorney saying he will file a motion to dismiss the charges based on claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Apparently the prosecutor gave a few details to the local paper. The unnamed victim reportedly was going to be sexually assaulted when her attacker pulled down her pants ... then decided he should also stab her in the face and steal her jewelry. It also turns out Palmer is facing a possible life sentence under New Jersey's habitual offender law.

Jersey Journal

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Matt Bass, kicked out of Baylor University for being gay, has been invited to attend the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Baylor, located in Waco (with a long "a," but we understand your confusion), Texas, told Bass he "interferes with Baylor's pursuit of its objective ... " and fails to comply "with historic Baptist commitments." After David Key, director of Candler's Baptist studies program, heard about Bass' situation, he sent Bass an e-mail suggesting he apply to Emory. Bass applied and was accepted but says he won't know if he can attend until he receives more information about financial aid.

The Emory Wheel

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun looking into dozens of anti-gay fliers mailed to members of the Denver, Colorado-area gay community and gay-rights supporters over the past four years. All the fliers are signed by someone calling himself "The Watcher," said Denise de Percin, executive director of the Colorado Anti-Violence Program. Creepy. The messages consist of a single sheet of paper with Bible verses on the front and back that purport to condemn homosexuality. Sometimes the fliers have handwritten notes such as, "I will enjoy watching you die," she said.

Denver Post

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Filed in: Gay | LINK

A veterinary surgeon who allowed a nurse to operate on a cat at his Telford, England, practice had started drinking heavily after his partner moved to London, a disciplinary hearing has been told. Gordon Lonsdale apparently began suffering from an alcohol problem after leaving his gay life in London and climbing back into the closet. At the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons disciplinary hearing in London yesterday Lonsdale admitted failing to provide adequate professional care after a cat had all her teeth removed two years ago.

Shropshire Star

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Incensed by the city of San Jose, California's decision to recognize same-sex marriages, a group of evangelical Christians has hired a well-regarded Sacramento consultant to explore a recall effort or ballot initiative to overturn the action. "The repercussions are going to be different here than in San Francisco," said Bill Buchholz, pastor of the Family Community Church. "People make jokes about San Francisco. We don't want them making jokes about San Jose." Apparently he doesn't know people make jokes about San Jose all the time. Mayor Ron Gonzales predicts a ballot measure would be divisive for the city and its churches. We think he's right.

Mercury News

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The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a bill that would allow gay and straight unmarried couples to register as "life partners" with the state health department. The designation would grant the couples the same rights as married people to make medical decisions for each other. The measure passed Monday on a bipartisan vote of 103 to 30 after it was expanded to include any unmarried couple, regardless of sexual orientation.
WBAL

Yes, we told you that Miriam of "There's Something about Miriam" fame was rejected by her reality-dating-show winner when he learned she was transgender. But this article has a photo of the loser, er, winner, as well as a photo of Miriam herself that when we clicked to enlarge made us say, "Va-va-va-voom!" out loud, much to our embarrassment. ThisisLondon (photos)

In Kentucky, hundreds of hymn-singing protesters urged lawmakers to revive a proposed constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages and denying recognition of civil unions. Supporters of the proposed amendment didn't get their wish. Time ran out on the General Assembly session at midnight. Courier Press

It's gay rodeo time again, and in New Mexico they're asking cowpokes why they ride: "You still have the farm boy in you. ... You still need the culture also. You can't come out of your skin totally," says one gay cowboy. "When you are born into something, whether it be gay or the rodeo world, you can't just leave that." Santa Fe New Mexican

A lesbian couple married in Albany, New York, over the weekend by a Unitarian Universalist minister left City Hall on Monday empty-handed - but not defeated - after they tried to get a marriage license from the city clerk. Setting the stage for what could be a long legal battle, Elissa Kane and Lynne Lekakis vowed that the official refusal would help them launch a test case challenging the constitutionality of the state ban on same-sex marriage. timesunion.com

Today's Short Takes

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Filed in: Gay | LINK

Ilene Chaiken, executive producer of "The L Word," a steamy Showtime series about a mostly lesbian group of women in Los Angeles, says the characters' fashions will evolve in the next season. We're not quite able to picture Shane in Carrie Bradshaw's Manolos, but that's just us. Chaiken is busy interviewing stylists who would dress the characters when the second season begins airing in 2005. Meanwhile, she says lesbian fans' main complaint about the show has been that the women are too pretty and feminine. No word on how the new fashions will score on the femme-o-meter.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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In 1981, long before her husband was elected vice president, Lynne Cheney wrote "Sisters," a steamy bodice-ripper set in the 19th-century American West, featuring vivid tales of whorehouses, attempted rapes, a suspicious murder and several lesbian affairs, of which Cheney wrote approvingly. The paperback, published in Canada, has been out of print for nearly two decades. But on April 6 the book is scheduled to be released for the first time in the United States. A Cheney spokesperson says the reissue came as a surprise to the second lady. Cheney told The Washington Post in October 2000: "The reports of my novel are greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, I hope they improve sales."

Sun Herald (second item)

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Sumner Redstone, Viacom Inc.'s chairman and chief executive, doesn't like to admit mistakes. But he confessed to one this month: The media company shouldn't have abandoned plans it was studying two years ago for a cable network aimed at gays, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. Such a channel now could "be worth a billion dollars," he said, and would have cost only $30 million to launch. He has ordered Tom Freston, chairman and chief executive of Viacom's MTV Networks, to come up with a business plan for the country's first gay-theme network. Viacom officials decline to comment on the channel, which is back on the front burner. It doesn't even have a name, though Outlet has been discussed.

CNN

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If same-sex wedding ceremonies are new to you, the arbiters of etiquette are ready to guide you. "Don't be scared," says Charles Purdy, who writes the "Social Grace" column for SF Weekly in San Francisco. And don't imply in even the slightest way that you don't consider it a "real wedding," he says. Also? Don't use the occasion to voice your political beliefs/disapproval: If you can't be happy for the lovely couple, stay home.

Delaware Online

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Austin and Brandon Cremeans are premature twins born to a teen mom in Hernando County, Florida. The state says they need to be in a foster home for medically needy children. Brenda Swallow, their grandmother, says she has medical training and thinks the only reason anyone would want to take her daughter Brandy Cremeans' boys away is because their household includes Swallows' partner of eight years, Paula McIntosh. Brandy's made some mistakes, her mom says, including being thrown out of the Ronald McDonald House for drinking. But she wants to sign over full guardianship of Austin and Brandon to her mom, Swallow says.

Hernando Today

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A federal magistrate has recommended that a gay federal prison inmate continue to be barred from sending letters to his partner, who is in the same Pennsylvania prison, because the men aren't immediate family. "It is my contention that we are immediate family since we have been in a continuous relationship for the past 18 years," Kerry Dean Shotsberger wrote to prison officials. Shotsberger and his partner aren't legal family members under federal law any more than two heterosexuals with a long-term unmarried relationship, said U.S. Magistrate Keith Pesto. Then he threw in some crack about polygamy.

Times Leader

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Supporters of a former Baylor University seminary student who lost his scholarship because he is gay rallied over the weekend to protest the school's decision. Matt Bass and other gay students and alumni say they don't expect the world's largest Baptist university to stop considering being gay a sin, but they want an anti-discrimination policy. The seminary's dean has declined to discuss Bass' case. The university handbook warns that being gay, engaging in non-marital sex, drinking, gambling, cohabitation and using weapons are all grounds for discipline and possibly expulsion.

Yahoo! News

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An update on what gay Catholic Chuck Colbert did to disrupt Mass and lead St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church to call the police on him: When the church showed an anti-gay-marriage video at the end of Mass, he stood up and told the congregation: "I'm a gay Catholic man, I'm engaged to be married, and I will be married on May 20 in Cambridge. I mean you no harm." Said the parish priest the Rev. Michael Doyle, "Mass isn't a time for people to voice their opinions about what they agree with or disagree with." In a later interview, Colbert said the video "was the most contemptuous, vile, slanderous piece of political propaganda that I have ever seen in a Roman Catholic church," he said, adding that the video suggested that wedded gay couples would take away benefits from the poor and elderly.

Boston.com

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Rev. Daniel O'Connell, a Unitarian minister, plans to submit an affadavit to St Louis County stating that the two women he married this weekend, Leslie Proud and Sally Nelson, are legally wed. Nobody expects the county officials to issue a license, but O'Connell says it's important to be a part of the struggle for civil rights.
St Louis Post-Dispatch

Today's Short Takes

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Massachusetts lawmakers resume their constitutional convention on Monday and are expected to decide whether to give final approval to an amendment on the table that would ban gay marriage but allow gay couples to enter into civil unions. If it is approved, the Legislature would have to adopt an identical measure in the 2005-06 session, then put it before voters on the November 2006 ballot. Senator Robert Havern has joked that those who are uncomfortable with gay sex should endorse gay marriage, because everyone knows, "After marriage, there is no sex." The Bible has been cited both as evidence of the sanctity of heterosexual marriage, but "Solomon had 700 wives," Democratic Rep. Daniel Bosley noted. "I am not suggesting anyone try that."

WJLA

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Diane Groff heard the news at 5:45 a.m. Her partner, Elizabeth Cahill, read aloud a report that Multnomah County, Oregon, would issue same-sex marriage licenses later that morning. The couple, both teachers at McLoughlin High School in Milton-Freewater, have been together for 12 years. With their principal's blessing, they hopped in the car for the four-hour trip, stopping only to pick up two other high school teachers, another lesbian couple in nearby Athena, who also wanted to marry. In Eastern Oregon, not a whole lot of people are "out," said Groff. "But, when all four of us didn't show up for work that day, it didn't take long for our students to realize what we were doing."

OregonLive.com

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A school committee in Wilmington, North Carolina, has decided to restrict access to a children's book about a prince who falls in love with another prince. In response to complaints from parents, The book called "King and King" will be locked up at the Freeman Elementary School library and available only to adults. The parents who initiated the complaint after their first-grader brought the book home say they're satisfied. The authors, who are from the Netherlands, say they didn't set out to write a controversial book. School officials say they didn't set out to order one, either.

ChannelOklahoma.com

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After a British production company paid off contestants who said they were humiliated after finding out a beautiful woman they competed to woo was biologically male, they were able to air the reality series, "There's something about Miriam." The last episode finds the winner, Tom, learning 22-year-old Miriam's secret and agreeing to go on a luxury cruise with her, then changing his mind, saying she was too deceitful for him.

Breaking News

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A gay Catholic man interrupted Mass at a Canton, Massachusetts, church to protest an eight-minute anti-gay marriage video shown during the Sunday morning service. No one's saying what Chuck Colbert, a freelance writer for Catholic publications, did, but police were called. He was not arrested. "My life is very similar to the people in there," Colbert told New England Cable News outside the church. "I want to be married, I have a wonderful partner, we're building a life together, it in no way threatens anyone else."

CBS4

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The Kansas bill proposing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, which passed in the House, failed in the Senate late last week. After six hours of debate and wrangling, the Senate voted against the bill. Some conservatives voted against it because of the weakened state the wrangling left it in, like the removal of the clause which denied all benefits to same-sex couples. Senator David Adkins, a Republican, fought against the bill by adding admendments to it that would ban divorce and separations. Although many conservatives were angry over the debate, gay rights advocates felt victorious that Kansas would not further seek to deny them rights.

Lawrence Journal-World

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The Atlanta, Georgia, police department has hired Sgt. Connie Locke as its first full-time GLBT liaison and crime specialist. The police hope that the new post will serve to eradicate the years of distrust the GLBT community has held for the department. Locke, who is a lesbian, recently attended the vigil for Precious Armani, whose murder case she is helping to investigate. DeeDee Chamblee, executive director of the transgender support group La Gender, is hopeful that Locke will finally pay attention to the transgender community, which has largely been ignored by the Atlanta police.
Access North GA

In further news about our woman in uniform, Locke helped to correct a situation in which a man was not allowed to file a missing person report on his partner because he was not a relative. Dane Steffenson was the last person to see his partner, Alonzo Kenneth Perry, and therefore attempted to file the report. The employee at the police department told him he could not file because he was not married to Perry. After receiving the same answer from the employee's supervisor, Steffenson finally called Perry's family and had one of them file the report. Sgt Locke, when consulted, said the police employee acted against department policy and should have allowed the report from Steffenson. Locke ensured that police employees will be retrained on the subject.
Southern Voice

Sgt. Connie Locke represents

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Maryland Delegate Carmen Amedori has pushed herself into the anti-gay spotlight by shouting at many gays and lesbians during committee hearings on same-sex marriage. She repeatedly asked people if they believed in God because she believes marriage is a God-given instutition. Amedori, though, has had problems in the past with her own family, accused by her first husband of attacking and threatening their daughter. Amedori insists that she only hit her daughter in an attempt to discipline her but that it was still "an unfortunate incident." Amedori also stated that marriage is "for no other reason than for procreation" but has had no children with her second husband.

Washington Blade

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