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Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday he wanted to tap into the "core decency" of Americans to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians, and argued that civil unions for same-sex couples wouldn't be a "lesser thing" than marriage. At a televised forum focusing on gay rights, the Illinois senator was asked to explain how civil unions for same-sex couples could be the equivalent of marriage. He said, "As I've proposed it, it wouldn't be a lesser thing, from my perspective. Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, which supports gay marriage, but Obama has yet to go that far. All...

Supreme Court OK's same-sex marriage Last Updated Thu, 09 Dec 2004 13:19:37 EST OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada says the federal government can change the definition of marriage, giving gays and lesbians the legal right to marry. In a non-binding opinion released Thursday morning, the court reaffirmed religious freedoms under the Charter, saying religious officials opposed to same-sex marriages do not have to perform them. It declined to answer a fourth question added by Paul Martin when he became prime minister: whether the current definition of marriage as a man and a woman was unconstitutional. But the court...

Last weekend, SpectrUM hosted the first annual Florida Collegiate Pride Coalition Student Conference, the first statewide conference to address gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer issues [GLBTQ]. Twelve organizations from universities across the state, including UF, UCF and FIU, participated in the conference. "This conference will help us greatly because we will be able to join together, get more people behind what we do and have more of a force on campus," Dara Solomon, SpectrUM public relations chair, said. The conference, themed "Connections," encouraged GLBTQ students to have a unified and powerful voice on campus. Events included a series of...

SAN FRANCISCO Feb. 14 — Gay and lesbian couples from across the country answered this city's Valentine's Day invitation to wed in an unprecedented spree of same-sex marriages that has challenged California law and sent conservative groups scrambling for court intervention. About 300 people lined up Saturday morning outside City Hall to secure marriage licenses and then take each other as "spouse for life" in brief vows that have given San Francisco's seat of government the feel of a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Rodney Vonjaeger and his partner John Kussmann, both 37, drove overnight from San Diego and arrived at...

While liberal judges strike down law after law after law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, polls show that most Americans are against legitimizing gay marriage. This fact has led conservative congressmen to draw up a Federal Marriage Amendment to "protect traditional marriage," and rightly so. Activist judges have repeatedly shown themselves to be out of step with the Constitution; apparently, this is not enough. Now, they are proving to be out of step with public opinion--making the Judicial branch of government increasingly resemble a web of Communist dictators. However, the margin of support for...

The question of homosexual marriage presents the American people with an inescapable moral challenge. The words homosexual and marriage are inherently contradictory. The very fact that these terms are in public conflict demonstrates the radical character of the social revolutionaries that now demand the legalization of homosexual marriage. For at least the last one hundred years, America has experienced an unprecedented season of social transformation. Now, this transformation has been extended to experimentation with the most basic institutions and cherished principles of our common life. A conversation about "homosexual marriage" is only possible if the concept of marriage is completely...

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (BP)--I received an e-mail from a member of our community about a sermon I had preached concerning homosexuality. "Why do you feel you can speak with such authority on this subject when Jesus is quoted not one single time on the topic of homosexuality?" he asked. If you are a connoisseur of the cable news channels, you probably heard the same question posed to those who opposed the election of a homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church last year or Massachusetts' supreme court declaring that "marriage" rights must be extended to homosexuals. "If Jesus had nothing to...

BOSTON - A 21st century battle for gay rights is being fought with rhetoric from the civil rights movement of the 1960s - ideals that have echoed through Massachusetts' gay marriage campaign from its outset. Denunciations of "separate but equal" laws have energized a crowd of protesters fighting for new rights. U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, has weighed in with a brief to the state's highest court, as the legislative phase of the debate began and the courts prepared to revisit the landmark decision. "Let freedom ring. Let freedom ring. My...