Gay marriage a minefield for candidates for California governor

From the start of his run for governor, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has tried to show there is more to his career than the gesture that won him worldwide fame: his 2004 decree legalizing same-sex marriage.

Yet there he was Tuesday on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” speaking out for gay rights after the state Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban that Californians passed in November.

For Newsom and five major-party rivals, the resurgence of the same-sex marriage issue has added a new complication to the race for governor.

If gay rights groups get their way, the nominees to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will share the November 2010 ballot with a measure to repeal Proposition 8, turning an emotionally charged cultural issue into a central focus of the campaign.

Across the nation, the subject has grown more challenging for candidates of all kinds as the mere concept has given way to the reality of tens of thousands of married gay couples. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Iowa have legalized same-sex marriage.

Voters have also shifted their views. In April, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 49% of Americans said gay marriage should be legal, and 46% said it should be illegal. Three years earlier, 36% had said it should be legal, and 58% had said it should not.

“The trajectory of public opinion on this issue has been dramatic,” said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman.

In California, where Newsom’s rebel edict in 2004 touched off the court battles that spawned some 18,000 marriages that were declared valid Tuesday, candidates for governor face multiple dangers on the issue. Although support for gay marriage has risen over the last decade — the 52% yes vote on Proposition 8 was down from 61% on a similar measure in 2000 — the issue still sharply divides Californians.

“People care about this one — a lot — on both sides,” said Steve Smith, a Democratic strategist who worked on the campaign to defeat Proposition 8.

A Field Poll taken three months ago affirmed stark generational and ideological splits on same-sex marriage.

Younger voters were far more likely to approve of it than older voters. And Democrats overwhelmingly favored it, while Republicans were strongly opposed.

In that environment, candidates for governor are juggling wildly different needs for the primaries and the general election. See Gay marriage a minefield for candidates for California governor Los Angeles Times * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Mayor quits job for gay illegal immigrant he loves

It was, simply put, the most stunning abdication since King Edward VIII in 1936 gave up the British throne for Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite.

Only two weeks after being elected to serve his fourth term, Mayor J.W. Lown of San Angelo submitted his resignation letter Tuesday from an undisclosed location in Mexico.

No, being mayor of San Angelo is not exactly the same as being the King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India, but the reason for Lown’s abdication is the same as Edward’s.

Love.

What made it stunning wasn’t the status of Lown’s office, which pays $600 a year, but the status of his lover.

Lown fell for an illegal Mexican immigrant.

A man.

Lown told the San Angelo Standard-Times he had fallen for the man in March, after he had already filed for re-election. The man came to the U.S. five years ago to study at Angelo State University.

It was unclear whether he had a student visa, but if he did it apparently had expired.

Lown told the Standard-Times he chose not to take the oath of office while “aiding and assisting” a person who was illegally in the country.

Lown had been an extraordinarily popular mayor. Only 32 years old, he was elected in 2003 as the city’s youngest mayor. Serving in an office that inevitably requires decisions that accumulate enemies, he managed to get re-elected three times with increasing margins of victory each time. Two weeks ago he defeated two challengers by garnering 89 percent of the vote.

See Mayor quits job for gay illegal immigrant he loves Houston Chronicle

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Students protest anti-gay activists

NEW BRITAIN — Students from New Britain High School started their day earlier than usual Wednesday as they engaged in an unplanned class on the constitution, equal rights and free speech.

About 40 students began gathering about a block south of Mill Street and South Main Street at 6:50 a.m. as a small contingent of out-of-town anti-gay protesters arrived.

Joseph Ellzey, a 16-year-old sophomore, said he was shocked to see the group so near the school.

“What they’re doing is an insult and disgusting,” he said, as schoolmates cheered him on. “People have the right to say things, but this is just hate.”

The anti-gay group, members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., is well-known for its virulent attacks on homosexuals, the U.S. Supreme Court and, with the recent codification in the Legislature on a gay marriage law, the state of Connecticut.
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Compound may block HIV infection

Researchers have identified a cheap, commonly-used compound that, applied vaginally, can stop monkeys being infected with a primate version of HIV.

The discovery, by the University of Minnesota, raises hopes of a similar microbicidal treatment to block HIV transmission in humans.

Several microbicides have been tested, but results have been disappointing.

The study – focusing on a compound called glycerol monolaurate (GML) – is published online by the journal Nature.

GML is a naturally occurring compound widely used as an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agent in food and cosmetics.

Crucially, it is also cheap, and is likely to protect against other sexually transmitted infections too.