Exodus: Live Out Loud

Log Cabin fever: The GOP's gay contingent mobilizes in a bid for an inclusive party platform.

LOS ANGELES TIMES - http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-et-oconnor30aug30,1,7213747.story -
NEW YORK — With their crisp suits and clean-cut boy- and girl-next-door demeanor, the leaders of America's best-known gay Republican organization give little warning they're gearing up for a high-noon showdown at the OK Corral.

Breakaway Parishes Refuse to Hand Over Their Records

LOS ANGELES TIMES - http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-episcopal31aug31,1,3230930.story -
LOS ANGELES - Three breakaway Episcopal parishes refused to surrender their churches, hymnals and financial records to the Diocese of Los Angeles on Monday, despite threats of a lawsuit by the Episcopal Church.

Michael Reagan: A separate peace

LOS ANGELES TIMES - http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/inside/la-et-oconnor31aug31,1,7153968.story
For years, Michael Reagan, the older son of Ronald Reagan, felt unloved and unwanted. His parents divorced when he was 3. Two years later he was packed off to a boarding school where, he says, he was so lonely he cried himself to sleep. Sexually abused at age 7, he felt shame and self-loathing, compounded by Bible passages that convinced him he would never go to heaven.

Commentary: The dollars and cents of gay marriage

Christian Science Monitor - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0830/p17s01-cogn.html?s=hns -
By David R. Francis - [NOTE: I'll leave it to finer minds than mine to dismantle this naive, "whistling past the graveyard" piece from the CSM. Ultimately, though, the economic issue is a red herring. The best the CSM can come up with is that the issue has virtually no impact on the economy. Even if SSM and domestic partnerships proved to be of great financial value to employers (I'm being incredibly generous here), the other side effects trump money evey time. - GW] - Gay marriage challenges society. It roils contemporary politics and raises moral objections for some. But on economists' screens, it barely registers.

Commentary: LDS Church shuns political fight over Utah's marriage amendment

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE - http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2400529 -
By Rebecca Walsh -
On moral issues, LDS Church leaders routinely make their feelings known - in sometimes sweeping statements that often leave details open to interpretation.

Louisiana gay marriage opponents win appeals court victory

SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE - http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040830/APN/408300834 -
NEW ORLEANS - Supporters of a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in Louisiana won a legal ruling on Monday and the issue made its way to the state Supreme Court.

U.S. Rep. Ed Schrock abruptly announces retirement

HAMPTON ROADS PILOT - http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=74982&ran=126361
[NOTE: It hasn't caused much of a stir as of this posting, but the two-term Republican congressman from Virginia's Second District has reportedly been outed. According to numerous pro-gay media sites, Schrock has allegedly sought out gay sex on telephone dating services, and gay activists are set to release the tapes. - GW]
RICHMOND, Va. -- Republican U.S. Rep. Edward L. Schrock abruptly announced today that he will not seek a third term, citing unspecified allegations that have "called into question" his ability to serve.

Poll: Wide support among Ohioans for proposed gay marriage ban

OHIO NEWS NETWORK - http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=2233043 -
COLUMBUS, OH - Sixty-two percent of Ohioans responding to a poll by The Columbus Dispatch support a proposed state constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to one man and one woman.

Commentary: Newspaper Editor Wrong: Ex-Gays Do Exist

AMERICAN DAILY: http://www.americandaily.com/article/839
By Warren Throckmorton (05/27/2004)
Ex-gay. Does that term bother you? Are you skeptical that some people can change from gay to straight? A tremendous diversity of opinion exists about the topic and we often hear about such matters in the news. However, you may never have read about people who have reoriented their homosexuality in your local paper.

The Future of Traditional Marriage

http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=9314&catcode=13

The Future of Traditional Marriage
Written by Lee Wilson
Sunday, August 29, 2004

Some of the modern, liberal thinkers of our day have said that marriage will one day become extinct. They've predicted marriage will slowly but surely be thought of as old-fashioned and unnecessary despite its current popularity and existence throughout human history.

Perhaps their predictions are based on the changes in the way society views love and marriage. During the 1960's, society showed us a picture of love somewhat unfamiliar to American culture at that time. The popular love stories of the day began focusing only on passion and held an attitude that said, ''I'm not committed to you but I am having a great time with you sexually and romantically. I like how you make me feel right now. But who knows what I'll feel tomorrow? So let's not make any kind of commitment to each other but just enjoy this moment.''

Novels, newspapers, and other forms of media touted this as the ideal kind of love. A direct correlation can't be proven, but during that time the divorce rate skyrocketed and has remained high until today. That warped concept of love taught us that if we can't have all the passion and pleasure we want from one person, we can always find someone else who will give it to us. Perhaps that is why some marriage researchers tell us that today 6 in 10 marriages at some time in the course of the marriage are affected by extra-martial affairs.