18
Politics
Q-NOTES • MARCH 13 . 2004
WOoSsHB^
...Levi/Leather Club
4000 S. 1-85 Service Rd. • Charlotte, NC
704.394.1712
www.woodshedlounge.com
EVENTS:
Wednesday
Pool Tournament
$2.00 Domestic Beers
First Saturday
Fetish Night
Third Friday
Country Night
• Best Beer Selection
• Best Juke Box
• Best Country Music
as named in
The Charlotte Observet^s
annual Best of Charlotte!
Coast to coast gay marriage
SPECIALS:
Monday
$5 All You Can Drink Beer
Tuesday
$3 Call Liquors, $2 Beer
Wednesday
Pool Tournament • No Entry Fee • $50 to the Winner
Thursday
$1 Domestic Beer
Friday
$2 Smirnoff Ice, $3.00 Malibu Rum
Saturday
$2.00 Corona, $3.00 Jim Beam
Sunday
$2 House Drinks • Free Buffet at 6:30 pm
HOURS:
5 pm - 2 am - Six Days a Week • Sunday - 3 pm - 2 am
Patio Bar Open Friday, Saturday & Sunday!
Sunday Buffet at 6:30 pm
Queer wedding bells are ringing in
California, New York and Oregon
by Aaron Owens
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Gay rights
activists across the country rejoiced and
conservative religious foes cried foul after
two court attempts to stop San
Francisco from offering gay
and lesbian marriages have
failed.
At press time, more than
4,000 same-sex marriages had
been performed at San
Francisco’s City Hall.
Many of the couples are
taking their marriage licens
es and heading to a church
or synagogue for a second
ceremony or, in some cases,
for an alternative to the civil
proceeding.
Some are heading to the
Department of Motor Vehicles
for name changes and the
DMV is recognizing the city
marriage certificates as legal
for the purposes of making
name changes.
The licenses will allow gay couples to
change their name at the Social Security
Administration to preserve their benefits.
In San Jose, same-sex couples also arc
expected to win another victory — the City
Council plans to adopt a resolution official
ly recognizing the marriages.
“We’re going to make sure that we rec
ognize that marriage as valid and legal,
and that we will be offering those couples
who work for the city of San Jose the same
benefits as we could any married couple,"
said City Council member Ken Yeager.
If the resolution passes, same-sex cou
ples who get married in San Francisco and
have a marriage certificate would be eligi
ble for the city benefits, officials said.
In New York, a state judge barred the
mayor of a college town in New Paltz,
N.Y., from performing more same-sex
marriages for a month, saying Jason West
was ignoring his oath of office. A total of 25
weddings had been performed before they
were halted. West was charged Mar. 2 with
19 criminal counts for performing marriage
ceremonies for gay couples. If the charges
are pursued. West could spend as much as
a year in jail, though it is unlikely.
About three dozen couples in New York
City were turned down for marriage licens
es Mar. 6 when they applied before City
Hall. Gay couples began lining up outside
the city clerk’s office two hours before it
opened. Those who applied were handed a
50-page rejection letter that included the
state and city’s legal opinions and offered
information about domestic partnership
options. According to a story in the New
York Times, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg,
who has refused in his two years in office
to disclose his personal views on gay and
lesbian marriage, told 80 journalists at a
lesbian and gay fund-raising dinner in
Manhattan that he favored changing state
law to legalize same-sex unions.
About 300 gay and lesbian demonstra
tors held signs and chanted; "It’s about
equality!”
In Nyack, N.Y., town Mayor John
Shields met on Mar. 4 with same-sex cou
ples and then accompanied them to the
Orangetown clerk’s office to apply for mar
riage licenses. The mayor and his partner.
Bob Streams, went first and the town clerk
handed them a statement saying she is not
authorized to issue licenses to same-sex
couples. Eight other couples were also
denied. New York Gov. George Pataki said
the state would be ready to “crack down”
on any public official who performed a
wedding without a marriage license.
In Portland, Ore., opponents scrambled
around Mar. 5 in hopes of closing
Multnomah County’s doors to gay couples
who want to wed and ousting the leaders
who made it possible. One group filed a
lawsuit, two others launched recall efforts
and politicians made their stances clear. At
the same time, determined couples turned
out in even greater numbers when the
county first began issuing marriage licens
es to same-sex couples.
Another 451 couples received marriage
licenses by Mar. 5, with 40 couples turned
away at closing hour. A total of 1,237 mar
riage licenses have been issued. The
Defense of Marriage Coalition filed a law
suit seeking to block the county from issu
ing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
But there was no immediate injunction.
Outside of the United States, the southern
state of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, has
become the first in that country to permit
civil unions between same-sex couples. The
court-order announcement came Mar. 4.
“The fact is that homosexual relation
ships exist and, as a matter of legal recti
tude, they deserve to be regulated (by
law),” said the statement, issued in the
name of the Rio Grande do Sul Civil and
Criminal Courts System.
“Technically, this is not going to be
called ‘gay marriage’ by the justice of the
peace, but it’s the equivalent,” said Tania
Bampi, a spokeswoman for the state court
administration.
No gay couples have yet come forth
seeking a “civil union” license. However,
court officials said they expect the first
such requests within days. The order gives
same-sex couples broad rights in areas
such as inheritance, child custody, insur
ance benefits and pensions.