GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

May 8, 2009

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www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

D.C. marriage recognition may be an issue in Congress

by Anthony Glassman

Washington, D.C.-A measure to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other locations passed the D.C. Council on May 5, with only one dissenting vote.

The ordinance now goes to Mayor Arian M. Fenty, who is a supporter of same-sex marriage.

If Barry signs it, the next stop could be Congress, which has 30 days to review all D.C. legislation.

The first vote was unanimous. Former mayor Marion Barry, however, seemed to not realize what the vote was for, and moments later put forward a motion to reconsider the vote, then voted against it.

According to the Washington Post, Barry said that he is a longtime supporter of

equal rights for LGBT people, but that he was standing with the "ministers who stand on the moral compass of God."

Many of those ministers were in the council chamber, with followers who yelled loudly at the council after the vote.

"It has been a very agonizing and difficult decision," Barry continued. "I feel comfortable with this position because I know where my heart is. I am representing my constituents. I have thought about it a lot and I have been a friend of [the gay] community and will continue to be a friend of this community."

Barry's vote created conflict with David Catania, one of his two openly gay colleagues on the council.

Catania argued that the issue was simple equality.

"The issue is whether or not our colleagues on a personal level view me and Jim Graham as your equals," Catania noted. "If we are permitted the same rights and responsibilities and obligations as our colleagues. So this is personal. This is acknowledging our families as much as we acknowledge yours."

After saying that he understood how personal the issue was for Catania and Graham, the other gay councilor, Barry said that he understands discrimination.

However, "I resent the implication that because you are not here on this particular issue, that you are not being treated equally . . . I resent Mr. Catania saying either you are a bigot or against bigotry as though this particular legislation represents all of that."

Catania said he does not think Barry is a bigot, "but your position is bigoted. It is hard for me, as a friend, for you to vote against a status that you can enjoy, that I cannot."

While Fenty is expected to sign the bill, that is not the end of its journey. All District of Columbia legislation is subject to final approval from Congress.

If Congress does nothing with it during the 30-day review period, it will go on the books, as happens with most District legislation.

However, anti-gay activists have promised to take their fight to Capitol Hill, although the current make-up of Congress makes their success less certain than in previous years.

Couples begin weddings as lowa ruling takes effect

Many come from out of state, including a Missouri state senator

by Amy Lorentzen

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Des Moines, Iowa-Gay and lesbian couples in Iowa began holding weddings on April 27 as the state became the third in the U.S. to allow same-sex marriage, a leap that even some supporters find hard to grasp in the nation's heartland.

Within hours of a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage taking effect, several couples had exchanged vows on the steps of the Polk County Administrative Building.

"It's not very romantic is it?" Melisa Keeton joked, referring to the location of the ceremony and the media attention, before marrying Shelley Wolfe.

The couple was allowed to wed after getting a judge to waive the state's three-day waiting period. The waiver was granted after the couple claimed the wait was stressful on Keeton, who is

CLAW

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ela ten years ago. During the interview, conducted by the Gay People's Chronicle and recorded onto DVD to be kept in the Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago, Iriza explained that he came to the States for HIV treatment.

In his native country at that time, treatment was readily available for women and children with HIV, or if one contracted the disease through a transfusion, but gay men were on their own.

He expressed hope, however, that things there were changing, since president Hugo Chavez has repeatedly expressed support for LGBT rights mea-

Special Guests! Columbus Women's Chorus

Guest Soloist

LaJoyce Daniel-Cain

director of the

pregnant and due in August.

On April 3, the Iowa justices upheld a lower court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and woman. The decision added Iowa to the list of states where same-sex marriage is legal, joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. A Vermont law allowing full marriage will take effect in September.

Officials said the Polk County recorder's office had received 82 marriage applications from lesbian and gay couples by 4 p.m.

Marilyn Dopheide, the Carroll County recorder and president of the Iowa County Recorder's Association, said that by lunchtime there had been no problems with licenses being issued.

Some judges refused to issue waivers to same-sex couples.

In Cerro Gordo County, District

sures, including adding antidiscrimination into the country's constitution.

After the one-on-one interview, audience members asked questions of the titleholder.

CLAW president Dennis McMahon asked Iriza what he thought could be done to stop the spread of crystal meth addiction in the LGBT community.

Iriza opined that it was difficult to step in and make someone get help unless they wanted it, so the most prudent course of action was to focus on prevention. He pointed out that, in addition to being a leatherman, he is also very fond of circuit parties, and

Windsong

Cleveland's Feminist Chorus Karen Weaver, Artistic Director

Spring Concert Girls' Night Out

Sunday, May 31 at 4:00 p.m.

The Church of the Covenant 11205 Euclid Avenue in University Circle (Free parking in church lot and Ford Ave, garage to the east)

Advance tickets: $12

Available from any Windsong member; or on our website: www.windsongchorus.org

Otterbein College gospel choir or call 216-556-0858; or by mail to P.O. Box 609534,

Cleveland, OH 44109-0534

At the door: $15

Court Judge Colleen Weiland said she was presented with two applications from same-sex couples and denied them both.

"Some judges, frankly, interpret it a lot more leniently than I do," she said of Iowa's law concerning waivers. "The ones that were presented this morning I didn't believe to be an emergency or extraordinary circumstance."

Besides the three-day waiting period, another state law could prove difficult for gay couples: Iowa has no residency requirement for marriage, but a divorce requires at least one of those involved to live in the state for a year. Massachusetts and Connecticut have similar laws.

Dozens of couples have flocked to Iowa from elsewhere in the Midwest since the door to same-sex marriage was opened there, and some counties have seen more interest from outside

some of his friends express the need to do drugs to have fun.

"But look at me," Iriza said. "I'm having fun," and he's not on illicit drugs.

Events like the Titleholders' Cocktail Reception and the Leather Family Dinner packed people in like leatherclad sardines, although nobody seemed to mind.

Wrapping up the weekend, the Leather and Rouge Revue on Sunday night moved to the Agora, a venerable concert hall on the east side. It was the first time the event was held at a nongay-specific location, and the staff at the Agora were thrilled with it.

The bar manager dressed in black skin-tight pants, bare-chested under a black vest, and the booker, a sprightly young woman with many gay friends,

the state than within.

Among them are a Missouri state senator, who married her partner after traveling with more than a dozen other couples to Iowa, where same-sex marriage is legal.

Democratic Sen. Jolie Justus, of Kansas City, married Shonda Garrison, her partner of two years, at a May 1 ceremony in Iowa City. Justus told the Kansas City Star that it was one the best days of her life but also bittersweet.

Missouri does not recognize samesex marriages. A constitutional amendment, approved in 2004, states that a marriage is between a man and a woman.

Justus says she has known Garrison since they were in elementary school in Branson. They went to school together through high school but hadn't seen each other for about two decades before several years ago.

had a grin permanently spread across her face throughout the night.

In addition to being a large party, the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend is a fundraiser, and organizers donated over $140,000 before the start of this year's installment. With the addition of CLAW Nation parties, organized throughout the year by local men and women across the country, groups like the Cleveland LGBT Center, local AIDS charities and the Leather Archives and Museum are seeing even more money coming in from CLAW.

This year's totals from the main CLAW events were not available by press time, but after the Leather and Rouge Revue, the organizers looked happy. Exhausted, but happy.

White doves for all

occassions

216.701.7711

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