Conn. Becomes 3rd State to OK Gay Marriage

Vaughn Walker confirms homosexuality

(NEWSER) - The judge who overturned California's ban on gay marriage acknowledged in an interview for the first time that he's homosexual and that he never considered recusing himself from the case. "If you thought a judge's sexuality, ethnicity, national origin (or) gender would prevent the judge from handling a case, that's a very slippery slope," retired federal Judge Vaughn Walker tells the San Francisco Chronicle . "I don't think it's relevant." More»

Rich ex-execs present Tea Party alternative

(NEWSER) - Business leaders crossing over to politics are finding success as GOP candidates, using their experience and personal fortunes to challenge established Republicans in Senate and gubernatorial races. In California, Meg Whitman has earmarked $39 million for her campaign for governor. In Michigan, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, former executives are making waves in local contests, setting up viable conservative alternative to the Tea Party. More»

Law designed to forbid gay civil unions actually bars any unions

(NEWSER) - The geniuses who wrote Texas’ gay marriage ban may have accidentally banned all marriage in the state, according to one Houston lawyer. Subsection B of the ban, a constitutional amendment ratified in 2005, states, “This state…may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.” The intent was to prevent even civil unions for gay couples—but it doesn’t actually specify the “gay” part. More»

(NEWSER) - Proposition 8 could turn out to be a win-win for everyone, “if we can stop all the shouting,” writes Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic, pro-Obama Republican law professor. The California Supreme Court’s ruling “is as inconsistent as it is incomplete,” declaring that gay couples must be given equal treatment, and that Prop 8 denies them the marriage nomenclature only. In that contradiction, Kmiec sees a solution. More»

(NEWSER) - Protesters around California are gearing up for tomorrow's state Supreme Court session on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the voter referendum that banned gay marriage, the Los Angeles Times reports. The decision isn’t due for 3 months, but the opinion is already written, and the court's stand may be revealed in the judges' responses to oral arguments, which will be televised. More»