In the News August 2004

August 25, 2004 GOP Platform Supports Gay Marriage Ban - By Nick Anderson, Times Staff Writer
NEW YORK — The emerging Republican Party platform strongly endorses President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage — despite Vice President Dick Cheney's contrasting views — and declares that only heterosexual couples should be entitled to legal recognition and related benefits. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-082504gop_lat,1,6480015.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Divorce Granted By Iowa Judge Renews Gay Marriage Controversy - By Jimmy Moore - Talon News December 15, 2003 DES MOINES, IOWA (Talon News) -- A judge in Iowa last month granted a stealth divorce to a lesbian couple who entered into a civil union in Vermont last year, renewing the national debate over the highly-charged gay marriage controversy. Although civil unions between gay people were declared illegal in the state of Iowa in 1997, Kimberly J. Brown and Jennifer S. Perez were allowed to have a legal divorce by Woodbury District Judge Jeffrey Neary on November 14. The two gay women had received a legal civil union on March 25, 2002 in Bolton, Vermont after Democrat presidential candidate and then-Gov. Howard Dean signed midnight legislation into law that granted same-sex legal unions. http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/december/1215_gay_divorcep.shtml

Group forms to oust judge for signing divorce http://www.lemarssentinel.com/story/1074440.html Monday, August 16, 2004 - DES MOINES (AP) -- A group of northwest Iowans has formed a political action committee to try to unseat a state judge who granted a divorce to a lesbian couple joined in a Vermont civil union. The Judicial Accountability Group, which filed organizational papers last week, will raise money for an effort to oust District Judge Jeffrey Neary from the bench this fall.

Massachusetts victory marks three straight wins in battle to defend marriage
ADF: More evidence that same-sex “marriage” is not inevitable BOSTON—The third major victory in a week for defenders of marriage came in the form of a Massachusetts ruling yesterday. A Massachusetts Superior Court judge denied the request of eight homosexual couples to stop enforcement of a law preventing out-of-state couples from marrying within the commonwealth. Striking down the law would have allowed homosexual couples from other states to marry in Massachusetts and attempt to have their marriages legally recognized in their home states. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/story/?id=477