Wisc. AG won’t defend partnerships
The New York Times reports Wisconsin’s attorney general said on Aug. 21 he will not defend a new law that grants same-sex couples spousal benefits, saying lawmakers went against the voters’ decision not to extend such privileges.
“When the people have spoken by amending our Constitution, I will abide by their command,” said Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. “When policymakers have ignored their words, I will not.”
The law, which took effect Aug. 3, allows gay and lesbian partners many of the same legal protections as married spouses.
Wisconsin is the first state to grant domestic partnerships to gay couples, despite having a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
W. Hollywood to install marriage plaque
The Los Angeles Times reports a bronze marker honoring gay marriage will be placed this month in West Hollywood.
The City Council plans to unveil the plaque at its Sept. 8 meeting before installing it at West Hollywood Park off North San Vicente Boulevard.
The plaque will bear a quote from former South African president Nelson Mandela: “I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”
Lesbian couple accosted at church
The Advocate reports a lesbian couple in Memphis, Tenn., claim they were assaulted while attending an Aug. 23 church service.
Monique Stephens and her partner were at the New Olivet Baptist Church to meet the Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr., a candidate for the mayoral election in October.
Whalum told the congregation to bow to the ground, but Stephens said she and her partner sat still. At that time, Whalum and other church members started calling them “devil worshipers” and disparagingly said they were “gay,” she said.
Security guards then allegedly pushed them out of the space.
Whalum claims the couple was being loud and said he did not throw them out for being lesbians, adding, “If I put every lesbian out of church we’d be putting people out of church all day long.”
— Larry Nichols