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New Orleans, LA (AP) -- The federal appeals court in New Orleans says Louisiana must put both fathers' names on the birth certificate of a boy adopted by a same-sex couple.

he California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question. Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed...

By the time Shidiva and Sherri Black-White were married at Oakland City Hall in June, they had spent two years trying to help their families adjust to the idea of their lesbian relationship. Shidiva's relatives in Contra Costa County came around. "I kind of put it to my family, if you make a decision that you can't deal with my sexuality, you're really going to be losing the relationship you have with me," she said. "Over time, they got used to me." Sherri's family resisted. "Mine is still in the working phase," she said. "We're a very opinionated family." Their...

SAN FRANCISCO -- After a heated, divisive campaign fueled by a record $73 million of spending, California voters have approved Proposition 8, which would change the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Opponents promptly filed suit to try to block the measure from taking effect.With 96 percent of the vote counted, Prop. 8 was winning by a decisive 400,000-vote margin, 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent. It piled up huge margins in the Central Valley and carried some Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles County. The measure lost in every Bay Area county but Solano.As the vote counting continued this morning,...

SAN FRANCISCO — While this city is known as the epicenter of the gay rights movement, the Castro has been its hypocenter — the origin of the explosion. And Tuesday night was no exception. As results rolled in for Proposition 8, which would amend the California constitution to prevent same-sex couples from marrying, part of Castro Street was transformed into an election dance party, complete with thumping music, colored lights and thousands of energized voters. But it was unclear what, in the end, they would be celebrating. The race was tight. With a little more than a third of precincts...

SAN FRANCISCO- When Californians vote on Proposition 8, they'll decide whether same-sex partners' right to marry will still exist as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. What's less clear is the impact on as many as 16,000 gay and lesbian couples who have wed since June. Some legal commentators say Prop. 8, if passed Tuesday, would retroactively invalidate all same-sex marriages performed in the state since a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing such weddings took effect. Others say the court established rights that can't be taken away, even if the law changes.The answer could come from the same court that overturned California's...

The struggle over Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage in California, has tightened dramatically in the past month, with opponents holding a slim 49 to 44 percent edge among likely voters, according to a new Field Poll. "The 'Yes' campaign has raised some doubts and moved people over to their side," said Mark DiCamillo, the poll's director. "A relatively large segment of voters are in conflict over this measure." << Database: Look up Prop. 8 donors >> The new poll also showed that Proposition 2, which would require bigger cages and pens for farm animals, appears headed toward an...

A tsunami of new money has poured into the campaign to defeat Proposition 8, as Hollywood celebrities, deep-pocketed donors and thousands of people from across the country wrote checks to block the proposed ban on same-sex marriage in California. "If they keep raising money at this rate and our supporters don't respond, (Prop. 8 opponents) will blow past us in money raised," said Chip White, a spokesman for the Prop. 8 campaign. "They will beat us in paid advertising and beat us on election day." Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18, the closing date for the latest state financial report,...

Stockton -- Nearly 100 people gathered in a deserted parking lot under a gray Central Valley sky, ready to knock on doors and tell perfect strangers why they should vote to ban same-sex marriage in California. Bill Doughty, a volunteer organizer for the Yes on 8 campaign, told the crowd. Stockton is only 90 miles east of San Francisco, but the Central Valley is worlds apart from coastal California, and the tight ballot battle over same-sex marriage highlights the distinction. "There's an increasing divide between the coastal view of the political world and the Central Valley's view, and you can...

An estimated 11,000 couples have wed since the California Supreme Court ruled in May that same-sex marriages are legal. Two weeks before the election, it's not clear what happens to them if state voters approve Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage. Would the marriages carried out before Proposition 8 still be legal? "I wake up in the morning thinking about it, and it's still on my mind when I go to bed at night," said Dru Richie, 53, who is among the newly married. At times, she said, she feels sick to her stomach with the stress. Richie and...

Supporters of gay marriage in California are scrambling to raise funds in response to an unexpectedly strong campaign by Christian conservatives and others to amend the state constitution and ban the practice. Proposition 8, a state ballot initiative up for a vote on November 4, would amend the state constitution so that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognised in California”. Gay rights activists were shocked when a public opinion poll published this month found 47 per cent of respondents favoured the measure, with 42 per cent opposed and 10 per cent undecided. The result...

Gavin Newsom has always played a starring role in the same-sex marriage debate, but in recent weeks that role has turned decidedly unheroic. The mayor has become the reluctant face of the campaign opposing same-sex unions with the help of a prominent Yes-on-Proposition 8 TV ad. Conservative blogs have been atwitter about Newsom last week officiating at the wedding of a lesbian teacher whose class of first-graders took a field trip to celebrate with her.In many ways, Newsom has become the single best campaign tool for proponents of Prop. 8 - and that might have been inevitable, political experts said....

San Francisco (AP) -- Gay couples from around California and the nation are feverishly tying the knot ahead of Election Day to avoid missing out if voters approve a ballot initiative aimed at banning same-sex marriage. Aaron Twitchell and Orlando Manzo from Austin, Texas, waited two months for an appointment to get a marriage license in San Francisco. When they got to the city clerk's office, the line of people ahead of them was so long they worried they would be late for their own wedding. "We are so happy California is so progressive they would allow something like this,"...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- The Episcopal bishops of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area are opposing a November ballot initiative to overturn the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state.

San Francisco (AP) -- California Chief Justice Ronald George has spent more than half his life cultivating an image of a cautious jurist and earning a reputation as a politically skilled court administrator. But his unlikely legacy as gay rights pioneer was sealed May 15, when he heard the roar of a crowd gathered below his office as his majority decision legalizing same-sex marriage was announced. Now, the law-and-order supporter of capital punishment is enduring from gay marriage foes the very complaints of "judicial activism" he has worked so hard to avoid during his 17 years on the high court...

Trenton, N.J. (AP) -- Former Gov. James E. McGreevey will not have to pay alimony to his ex-wife, a judge ruled Friday in granting the couple a divorce after a tumultuous eight-year marriage that crumbled publicly when McGreevey acknowledged he was a "gay American." A superior court judge ruled Friday that McGreevey, the nation's first openly gay governor, must pay $250 a week, or $1,075 a month, in child support for his 6-year-old daughter with Dina Matos. Matos had asked for $2,500 a month alimony for four years and $1,750 a month in child support. The couple share custody of...

<p>New York (AP) -- The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans is urging an extended ban on consecrating another gay bishop until their troubled fellowship can be healed.</p> <p>Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made the plea Sunday, the final day of the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade Anglican meeting in Canterbury, England.</p>

When Bruce Bastian of Utah stood up Saturday night at a San Francisco dinner and wrote a $1 million check for the campaign against Proposition 8, he made it clearer than ever that November's ballot fight over a ban on same-sex marriage won't be a California-only affair. Supporters of the effort to ban same-sex marriage already have taken in more than $1.2 million from out-of-state contributors for the fall campaign. And even before Bastian, a co-founder of the WordPerfect software company, opened his checkbook, gay and lesbian rights groups and their supporters from around the country had put more than...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court refused today to remove a proposed ban on same-sex marriage from the November ballot. The initiative, Proposition 8, is a state constitutional amendment that would overturn the court's May 15 ruling allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry in California. Gay-rights advocates sued June 19 to block a vote on Prop. 8, arguing that the measure would destroy fundamental rights that can't legally be abolished by an initiative.

Marriage laws, lack of church commitment from newlyweds make faith leaders think twice. Some clergy think churches should divorce themselves from the wedding business.The controversy over same-sex marriage – along with a growing sense that many couples who marry in churches never return – has prompted faith leaders to say it's time to reconsider how California couples tie the knot.After the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California began encouraging all couples to marry outside the church. "I urge you to encourage all couples, regardless of orientation, to follow the pattern of...