Democrats court gay vote in Denver parade

DENVER (AP) — It’s a must for Democrats in an election year, and the gay-pride parade in Denver Sunday will include both Democrats seeking the party’s Colorado Senate nomination.

Sen. Michael Bennet and former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff are both on the list of people in the 35th annual Denver PrideFest parade Sunday.

Bennet voted last year to add expand the federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation. In a Senate floor speech, Bennet cited the 2008 killing of a transgender woman from Greeley.

Marriage group to ask Maine to dismiss complaint

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A group that helped fund a successful effort to repeal Maine’s gay marriage law is going to ask the state ethics commission to dismiss an investigation into the fundraising techniques it used prior to last year’s vote.

An attorney for The National Organization for Marriage, Barry Bostrom, tells the Portland Press Herald the group doesn’t want to reveal the names of donors because they fear harassment and because there is a constitutional privilege not to.

Maine law says groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence elections must register with the state and disclose their donors.

The Organization for Marriage donated more than $1.9 million to Stand for Marriage Maine, a political action committee that helped repeal Maine’s same sex marriage law.

Gay marriage plaintiffs name Minn. as defendant

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three gay couples suing to overturn Minnesota’s gay marriage ban added the state as a defendant Tuesday, hours after Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit for not doing so.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Hennepin County, had named as its defendant the official who issues marriages licenses in that county. Freeman complained the state should be the main defendant, because gay marriage is prohibited under state law.

“You’ve got to have all the critical players at the table at one time,” said Freeman, saying the lawsuit should not proceed otherwise.

Peter Nickitas, the attorney for the plaintiffs, had declined to comment on Freeman’s motion. But about two hours later, the plaintiffs sent out a news release stating they had amended their summons and complaint to include the state as a defendant.

Freeman’s office said that, assuming the plaintiffs had amended their complaint properly, the motion to dismiss the lawsuit would be abandoned. Freeman had said earlier that his main intention in filing the motion was to force the plaintiffs to make the state the principal defendant.

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Child custody fight resumes, despite disappearance

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A long-running legal saga pitting two former lesbian partners in a child custody fight returns to Vermont this week, with the state’s highest court set to hear an appeal.

Lawyers for Lisa Miller, who has disappeared with the 8-year-old girl, are challenging a Family Court judge’s decision to award custody to former partner Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven.

Isabella Miller-Jenkins and mother Lisa Miller, of Forest, Va., failed to appear for a court-ordered Jan. 1 custody swap in which Jenkins was to get the girl. Since then, Jenkins’ attorney has said the two are believed to have moved to El Salvador.

A contempt citation and arrest warrant have been issued for Miller in Vermont, and a Virginia court has issued a show cause order against her.

Isabella Miller-Jenkins is listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which calls her disappearance a “family abduction.”

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Patrols to increase near gay bars in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland police will increase patrols and take other action to prevent anti-bias crime downtown.

The steps announced Tuesday by Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese follow a pair of incidents in which gay men were allegedly assaulted by people who uttered anti-gay slurs.

The mayor and chief say police patrols will be boosted near gay bars and officers assigned to those areas will get additional training.

The bureau is also helping volunteers form a Neighborhood Watch-style program called the “Q Patrol.”

When a bias crime is reported, an advocate for the victim will respond along with investigators. The bureau already does this for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Lawyers give final arguments in gay marriage case

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lawyers arguing a landmark federal case involving California’s same-sex marriage ban made their final arguments Wednesday, with supporters describing matrimony as an institution intended to promote childbearing and opponents saying the U.S. Supreme Court had recognized it as a fundamental right.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson delivered the closing argument for the two same-sex couples who sued to overturn voter-approved Proposition 8, claiming it violated their civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.

He told Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against gay couples.

“‘We have always done it that way’ is a corollary to ‘Because I say so.’ It’s not a reason,” Olson said at the start of the five-hour hearing. “You can’t have constitutional discrimination in public schools because you have always done it that way.”

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