Free Republic

Boston and Cambridge are rolling out the rainbow carpet. Tourism officials hope to lure more gay and lesbian travelers through a new $100,000 advertising and marketing campaign. The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau has teamed with Man Around - a U.K. company billed as the world's largest long-distance gay-tour operator - to market Boston and Cambridge as gay-friendly destinations. Gay and lesbian travelers are an attractive market for the tourism industry, according to Pat Moscaritolo, the convention bureau's chief. ``Because they have higher income, they have a propensity or ability to travel,'' Moscaritolo said. ``They also have an affinity...

With 16 months to go before an expected vote on a state constitutional ban on gay marriage, groups on both sides of the issue are gearing up for a major fight. Action Wisconsin, a statewide advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, has joined forces with the Milwaukee-based Center Advocates to mount a statewide advocacy campaign aimed at defeating the proposal, which will likely be placed on the November 2006 ballot. Leading the charge in support of the proposal is the Wisconsin Coalition for Traditional Marriage, a nonprofit, volunteer group that is coordinated by Julaine Appling, executive director...

Using an end run around a previous vote against a bill authorizing same-sex marriage, a California legislator is seeking to revive the issue believed dead for this session in a parliamentary maneuver known as "gut-and-amend." The original bill, AB19, authored by San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno, fell four votes short in the Assembly last month because seven of his Democrat colleagues failed to vote on the measure when the roll was called, a practice known as "taking a walk," according to an editorial in today's San Francisco Chronicle. Unable to reintroduce his original bill, Leno deleted the language of a...

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Tens of thousands of people, many dancing or banging drums, packed the streets of Madrid on Saturday to celebrate Spain's new law legalizing gay marriage. "This is infinitely gay. There are no words to express it," Ivan Sanchez, a 26-year-old pharmacist, said as the throng snaked its way through the capital. Flatbed trucks crowded with young men and women honked their horns as they made their way through the streets under a blazing summer sun in a procession led by Culture Minister Carmen Calvo and other members of the governing Socialist party, which sponsored the law....

Three homosexual couples filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn a law that prohibits Oklahoma from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries. The lawsuit alleges the measure, which is an amendment to the Oklahoma Adoption Code, "appears to sever legal ties between parents and their children whenever families led by same-gender couples enter the state of Oklahoma." Gov. Brad Henry signed the law in May. It was drafted by 17 state lawmakers after Attorney General Drew Edmondson issued an opinion in April requiring the state to recognize all adoptions, regardless of the gender of parents....

The United Church of Christ - famous for setting precedent - considers backing same-sex marriage at its national synod. As a federal constitutional amendment on marriage garners growing public support, one American Protestant church could soon go against the grain. During its national synod, which begins Friday in Atlanta, the United Church of Christ (UCC) will debate three marriage resolutions - one backing "full marriage equality" for same-sex couples, one defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and a third proposing further study of the issue. No one is predicting the outcome, but the UCC - a union...

Parliament legalized gay marriage Thursday, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third nation to allow same-sex unions. Gay activists cheered the vote and blew kisses to lawmakers. The measure passed the 350-seat Congress of Deputies by a vote of 187-147 with four abstentions. The bill also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each others' property. The bill is now law. The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week. But it is an advisory body and final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies. After...

SACRAMENTO – Despite a defeat in the Assembly and a likely veto from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, advocates of same-sex marriage plan to revive their legislation in the Senate. Yesterday, they began using a legislative technique known as "gut and amend" to replace the provisions of an Assembly bill that's already in the Senate with provisions from the defeated same-sex marriage bill. "I can continue the fight for a critically important civil rights issue," said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the author of the same-sex marriage bill. "Why would I not go forward?" Gay rights advocates hope that the more liberal...