Free Republic

S.F. Mayor Slams Bush Over Gay Weddings Speaking to Huge Town Hall Crowd, San Francisco Mayor Slams Bush, Defends Gay Marriages SAN FRANCISCO Feb. 28 — Mayor Gavin Newsom accused President Bush of political showmanship and discrimination because of the Social Security Administration's decision to not accept any marriage licenses from San Francisco gay or straight until the same-sex issue is resolved. Newsom addressed a huge crowd at his first town hall meeting Saturday, 52 days after taking office and a little more than two weeks after he authorized city officials to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Such meetings...

For Immediate Release - February 28, 2004CONTACT: Bob Taylor press@HowardForSenate.com RECALL BILL LOCKYER EFFORT MOVES FORWARD Attorney General Bill Lockyer Monday Will Be Served With “Notice of Intent to Recall” SACRAMENTO—Republican U.S. Senate candidate Howard Kaloogian (website: www.HowardForSenate.com) announced today that his effort to Recall Bill Lockyer will proceed because of Lockyer’s clear hostility to defending the people’s will on the definition of marriage. Kaloogian said today that he will serve Attorney General Bill Lockyer with a Notice of Intent to Recall on Monday. Earlier this week, Kaloogian, who served as Chairman of the Recall Gray Davis Committee, announced...

AN FRANCISCO (AP) - At the prodding of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's attorney general asked the state's top court Friday to stop San Francisco from issuing same-sex marriage licenses until the justices decide whether the weddings are legal. Attorney General Bill Lockyer has been under fire from every side since San Francisco, under the directive of Mayor Gavin Newsom, began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples two weeks ago. The city has performed more than 3,400 weddings since then. Lockyer asked the Supreme Court to instruct San Francisco officials to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses until the justices rule, and...

Local officials say they won’t — or can’t — follow San Francisco’s lead More than 3,200 couples have been married in San Francisco since Mayor Gavin Newsom instructed city clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples two weeks ago. While local officials around the country, including Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley, have expressed tentative support for the idea of issuing gay marriage licenses, officials in the Washington area say they have no plans to take Newsom’s approach. Tony Bullock, communications director to District Mayor Anthony Williams, said that his office will not follow San Francisco’s lead and begin issuing same-sex...

The rule of law--it's what America is based on. We have very specific rules in this country designed to promote the general welfare and protect the citizenry, and if we don't obey those laws, we are punished. That's the way it's supposed to work. Judge Roy Moore did not obey the law. He defied a Federal court order to remove a statue of The Ten Commandments he had placed in the courthouse where he worked as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. So his fellow justices fired him as they should have. Hundreds of newspapers across the country applauded...

<p>The California Supreme Court declined a request Friday by Attorney General Bill Lockyer to immediately shut down San Francisco's gay weddings.</p> <p>Lockyer had asked the high court to take the matter under urgent consideration, to instruct San Francisco officials to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses and to nullify the more than 3,400 marriages already performed.</p>

They refused the Attorney General's request that they issue an injunction preventing further gay marriages to be conducted in San Francisco.

<p>Bowing to political pressure from the religious right, President George W. Bush today made it official. He endorsed a constitutional amendment authored by Rev. Jerry Falwell that would define marriage as the union between a white man and a white woman only. Excerpted--click here for full article.</p>

Tuesday President Bush announced his support for a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in the strongest possible terms. Meanwhile, in California, a majority of San Franciscans support gay marriage. And so, despite the fact that a few short years ago, a majority of Californians voted to define marriage in state law as the union of a man and a woman, the mayor of San Francisco decided he was above the law and ordered clerks to issue putative marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Americans have a tradition of civil disobedience, in which ordinary citizens risk jail in order to affirm a...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Rosie O'Donnell married her longtime girlfriend Thursday, taking what she called a proud stand for gay civil rights in the city where more than 3,300 other same-sex couples have tied the knot since Feb. 12. "I want to thank the city of San Francisco for this amazing stance the mayor has taken for all the people here, not just us but all the thousands and thousands of loving, law-abiding couples," the former talk show host, holding a large bouquet of purple and yellow flowers, said after she and Kelli Carpenter emerged from their brief ceremony inside...

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. A little story in the WASHINGTON POST sums up what's really going in San Francisco. Reporter Evelyn Nieves had just described how San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had decided to violate state law simply because he didn't like it: He ordered city and county officials to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals who wanted to "marry." As a result, thousands of homosexuals have defied the law, taking part in so-called "weddings." Until days ago, the state attorney general of California -- whose job it is to enforce state law --...

This has to be a bit of a vanity - the advocate website, which is cited as the source for Drudge, won't allow me access. However, it should come as no surprise that Rosie, best known for her lesbian activism, is planning to marry her significant other in good ol' San Francisco.

I am a believer that the gay Americans should have the rights of all Americans, including the right to have legally recognized unions. I am personally not opposed to calling these unions "marriage." I have publicly opposed the federal marriage amendment to the Constitution. But I am appalled by the assault on the American legal and political system by the left, the attempt to change a 5,000 year old social institution through a one-appointed-judge majority, the defiance of law and of majority opinion by one elected official in the city of San Francisco, and the anarchy to which this will...

<p>Conservative legal firms yesterday filed a lawsuit in California Supreme Court seeking to stop San Francisco's county clerk from issuing any more "marriage" licenses to same-sex couples.</p> <p>If local officials can declare what is state law and what is not, "we would have complete chaos in the system," said Robert Tyler, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).</p>

SANTA CRUZ — When Doreen Boxer and Cynthia Zapata heard that "power of love" was the theme of this month’s services at the Santa Cruz Bible Church, the recently married gay couple thought their search for a new place of worship might have been guided by a divine hand. "What a coincidence — we were honoring our love at a time they were celebrating love’s power," said Boxer. "It seemed like God had sent us to this church." Little did Boxer and her partner of seven years know that their Feb. 15 attendance at the church on Frederick Street would...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — Opponents of gay marriage (search) asked the California Supreme Court (search) on Wednesday to block San Francisco from issuing any more same-sex marriage licenses and to nullify the thousands of weddings already performed.</p> <p>The suit was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (search) less than a week after two state judges declined to prohibit San Francisco city officials from continuing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, more than 3,300 of which have been granted since Feb. 12.</p>

SANTA CRUZ — When Doreen Boxer and Cynthia Zapata heard that "power of love" was the theme of this month’s services at the Santa Cruz Bible Church, the recently married gay couple thought their search for a new place of worship might have been guided by a divine hand. "What a coincidence — we were honoring our love at a time they were celebrating love’s power," said Boxer. "It seemed like God had sent us to this church." Little did Boxer and her partner of seven years know that their Feb. 15 attendance at the church on Frederick Street would...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Opponents of gay marriage asked the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to stop San Francisco from issuing any more same-sex marriage licenses and to nullify the thousands of weddings already performed.</p> <p>The lawsuit was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund less than a week after two state judges declined to stop San Francisco city officials from issuing the marriage licenses, more than 3,200 of which have been granted since Feb. 12.</p>

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Members of the Legislature's gay and lesbian caucus Wednesday said they will introduce a resolution calling on legislators to oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage proposed by President Bush. The legislators also asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to apologize for remarks he made last weekend about same-sex marriages happening in San Francisco that they called "insulting" and "inflammatory." "Governor Schwarzenegger has been a great disappointment and has done a great disservice to Californians," said Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego. "The governor's description of what is happening in San Francisco ... is misleading and inaccurate. I hope that...

<p>For as much as they oppose President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his crew wasted no time spinning it their way.</p> <p>They even see Bush's move as having given the pro-gay marriage forces a tactical advantage -- one that takes a bit of the national heat off Newsom himself.</p>