In DC, Judge Asked to Block GAY MARRIAGE Decision

Opponents of gay marriage filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court yesterday hoping to force a referendum on whether to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

The civil suit against the District’s Board of Elections and Ethics asks Judge Judith E. Retchin to overturn an election board ruling Monday that blocked a proposal to put the issue before the voters. Citing a District election law prohibiting votes on matters covered under the 1977 Human Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination against gay men, lesbians and other minority groups, the board said that a referendum would “authorize discrimination.”

The plaintiffs asked for an expedited hearing. If the court or Congress does not intervene, recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere will become law early next month, at the end of the required congressional review period.

See GAY MARRIAGE Judge Asked to Block Decision

Washington Post

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Bill to allow same-sex unions introduced in Minnesota

Bill to allow same-sex unions introduced

The next round of the perennial battle over same-sex marriage in Minnesota was officially joined on Thursday. A bill that would define marriage as a civil contract between “two persons,” rather than a man and a woman, was introduced in the state Senate, sponsored by five DFL members.

It has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but no hearings have been scheduled.

The bill would strike language from state law that specifically prohibits marriage by persons of the same sex, along with language that refuses to recognize same-sex marriages from another state or country.

Debate over the bill is likely to be fierce if the recent track record in the Legislature is any guide. Between 2004 and 2006, gay marriage opponents proposed bills to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would have decreed marriage is a union of a man and a woman only. The bills didn’t get out of the Legislature, but opponents said last year they would try again in 2009. So far, gay rights advocates are seizing the offensive this year, after trying and failing to pass a bill in 2008.

See Bill to allow same-sex unions introduced

Minneapolis Star Tribune