After a monumental decision by the Supreme Court overturning sodomy laws, Senate majority leader Bill Frist has thrown his support behind a Constitutional Amendment that would ban gay marriage, AP reports. Frist told AP, ‘I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament, and that sacrament should extend and can extend to that legal entity of a union between—what is traditionally in our Western values has been defined—as between a man and a woman. So I would support the amendment.’
A judge in New Jersey is expected to rule this summer on whether the case brought by seven gay and lesbian couples seeking the right to marry can go forward.
Jefferson County, Mo., Prosecuting Attorney Bob Wilkins dropped some of the charges against six men who were arrested as part of a sting operation at an adult bookstore, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Wilkins dropped charges under Missouri’s sexual misconduct law just hours after the Supreme Court overturned the Texas law, which was similar to the Missouri law. Wilkins said all along he believed the Missouri law was unconstitutional.
Two men in Philadelphia described as ‘roommates’ were murdered last month and Philadelphia. Police are asking for the help of citizens to uncover the motive, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Kevin Pringle, 42, and Arthur Stanley III, 44, were found shot to death June 2 in their home. Both men were gay and police think they knew their killer or killers.
It happens all the time. The battle among political wannabes over who is more of a minority or who is more gay. And now it’s happening in Salt Lake City, Utah, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. A forum at the University of Utah had hoped to bridge cultural gaps between the city’s growing minority communities. But what resulted, the Tribune reported, was a heated shouting match over the mayor’s appointment of a white lesbian as the city’s minority affairs and communications coordinator. Several participants said that the appointment of a white woman, regardless of the fact that she’s a lesbian, was an insult to ethnic minorities in the city.
Honolulu has made a partnership with a Christian group for July 5 events, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. But gay activists say the match is not made in heaven. The July 5 ‘Family Festival’ requires organizations who sign up for a booth to provide deposit checks made out to the Christian Family Charities. The Hawaiian Christian Coalition is handling the food and beverage tents. Michael Golojuch Jr., president of the Honolulu Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, cried foul because the mayor—who, they say, receives political contributions from the Christian groups—appointed these groups to handle finances.
Michael Magidson, one of the men charged with killing transgender teen Gwen Araujo in the San Francisco Bay Area, asked a judge to reinstate bail, according to the Oakland Tribune. Magidson, called the primary aggressor in the killing, was released on $1.68 million bail in January. The bail was revoked after preliminary hearings cemented Magidson’s likely involvement in the case. Magidson’s attorneys argued that holding the suspect without bail is unconstitutional because a previous judge stated only death penalty cases should cause a defendant to be held without bail.
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