Protests against gay foe Ashcroft’s honorary degree
(Columbia, Missouri) A Missouri university’s decision to award an honorary degree to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is drawing protests from some students and faculty members.
Ashcroft will receive an honorary doctorate and deliver the commencement speech Saturday at Truman State University in the northeast Missouri town of Kirksville. As …
Missouri’s first openly gay senator married over weekend
Jolie Justus, Missouri’s first openly gay senator, took her seat on the Senate floor as a married woman for the first time Monday.
But Justus’ marriage isn’t recognized in Missouri because of a 2004 constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters and legislators alike that mandates a marriage is between one man and one woman.
“Missouri is not ready for same-sex marriage,” Justus said Monday, though she also said she was “overwhelmed” with congratulations upon returning to work.
Justus and her partner, Shonda Garrison, were among 17 couples that traveled on a bus over the weekend to get married in Iowa, the state that most recently legalized same-sex marriages.
“I’ve been fighting, as everybody knows, for equality for years now, and it would mean a lot to them to have us on the bus,” said Justus, D-Jackson County. “And to my partner and me personally, it meant a lot for us to be on the bus, too, because we wanted to have that moment with those 16 other couples, and I’m glad that we did.”
Some senators who voted for the 2004 amendment banning same-sex marriage declined to comment on the recent nuptials. Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said: “I’m not going to respond to it.”
Missouri’s first openly gay senator married over weekend
Columbia Missourian * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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‘Milk’ screenwriter calls gay rights the ‘civil rights fight of your generation’
COLUMBIA — Dustin Lance Black was in high school in 1988 when he heard about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. Black said that at that point, he had never heard of an out gay man before, joking his first thought was that Milk must have been bad at hiding it.
Black, who won an Academy Award this year for best original screenplay for “Milk,” spoke at MU on Sunday evening. The movie, starring Sean Penn, recounts Milk’s election in 1977 to the board of supervisors in San Francisco and his murder by fellow supervisor Dan White. Penn won an Oscar for best actor.
Black’s speech at MU included some serious and not-so-serious topics that seemed to engage the mostly student crowd. Full and equal federal rights should be the goal, he told them, and not the current “bit-by-bit civil rights.”
“This is the civil rights fight of your generation,” Black said. “This is the civil rights fight of the 21st century.” See a’Milk’ screenwriter calls gay rights the ‘civil rights fight of …
Columbia Missourian
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Columbia, Mo. passes partner registry
(Columbia, Missouri) By unanimous vote, Columbia city council has voted to establish a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples who choose not to marry.
While registering does not offer any specific rights in the city, it could be used as proof of a relationship for anyone wishing …
