[OutVoice] A happy but bittersweet anniversary to Massachusetts marriage equality

[TWORadio@aol.com]

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                           The week of 05/22/06 on
                          T H I S    W A Y    O U T
             the international gay & lesbian radio magazine
                        THIS WAY OUT
              the international gay & lesbian radio magazine
              RUNDOWN for Program #947, distributed 05/22/06
    (hosted this week by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle)
   A happy but bittersweet anniversary to Massachusetts marriage equality;
   International actions mark a Day Against Homophobia, an anti-gay Shiite
 fatwa is out of sight but not out of mind, a United Nations committee nixes
   queer consultants, Moscow's mayor officially bans Pride, Clapham Common
   killers plead guilty, the so-called "Federal Marriage Amendment" marches
            down the U.S. Senate aisle, and more global GLBT news

* In "NewsWrap": The second annual International Day Against Homophobia -- or 
IDAHO -- is observed on May 17th around the world, including diverse actions 
in Japan, Nepal, Israel, Latin America, and the U.K., but the United Nations 
Economic and Social Council uses the day to reject applications for 
consultative status from two LGBT organizations, and Human Rights Watch issues an IDAHO 
"Hall of Shame" listing the world's most anti-queer public officials, including 
Moscow Mayor Yuri Lushkov, who officially makes good on his vow to ban any 
demonstration of Pride in his city... revered Iraqi Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali 
al-Sistani removes from his Web site a fatwa calling for the killing of 
homosexuals in the "worst, most severe way possible," but leaves a directive calling 
for punishment of lesbians... two men plead guilty in Britain and face minimum 
30-year prison sentences for the brutal bashing murder of popular gay bar 
manager Jody Dobrowski in October, while two more suspects are arrested on the 
Caribbean island of St. Maarten in the viciously-homophobic attack on two CBS-TV 
newsmen there earlier this year... Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader 
Bill Frist schedules a floor vote for June 5th on the so-called "Federal Marriage 
Amendment" to "protect" the institution as hetero only... the groundbreaking 
TV sitcom "Will & Grace" bows out after 8 years on primetime television, but 
fans can bid on a piece of the show in an online auction to benefit a Southern 
California children's charity [www.ebay.com/varietyskids]... and more GLBT 
news from around the world (written by GREG GORDON and reported this week by 
CHARLS HALL and GREG GORDON).

* Anniversary greetings are in order for the thousand plus same-gender 
couples who received their marriage licenses on May 17, 2004, the first day of 
marriage equality in Massachusetts -- and in view of the occasion, let's also 
congratulate all of the 8,171 lesbian and gay partners who've married there in the 
two years since.  "Observances" by anti-lesbigay groups include bringing the 
legislature an initiative proposal -- supported by presidential hopeful 
Governor Mitt Romney -- that would amend the state's constitution to restrict 
marriage to heterosexuals.  And the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 
earlier this year that a 1913 law barring out-of-state couples from marrying in 
Massachusetts if that union wouldn't be legally recognized in their home state -- 
targeting interracial marriage at the time -- applied to gay and lesbian 
couples today.  The gift we'd prefer to offer is a review of our coverage of the 
life-changing event on our broadcast the week of May 24, 2004:  "CAMBRIDGE 
jumped at the chance to be the first municipality to issue licenses to gay & 
lesbian couples at the stroke of midnight.  Later that day in BOSTON, as they 
arrived at City Hall to get their licenses, the Mayor welcomed three of the original 
seven plaintiff couples who successfully sued for marriage equality, and the 
lawsuit's namesake couple, Julie & Hillary Goodridge, were legally wed that 
afternoon at a Unitarian Universalist church (with comments by same gender 
couples in CAMBRIDGE and BOSTON and a supportive heterosexual pair; by BOSTON MAYOR 
THOMAS MENINO, three of the original 7 "Goodridge" plaintiff couples -- ROB 
COMPTON & DAVID WILSON, JULIE & HILLARY GOODRIDGE, and MIKE HORGAN & ED 
BALMELLI -- and attorney MARY BONAUTO of Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the 
legal group behind the successful November 2003 Supreme Judicial Court ruling; 
and excerpts from the Goodridge wedding -- all from multimedia coverage 
provided on their Web site by the HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN [www.hrc.org];  begins with 
an excerpt from "Goin' To Massachusetts For Love" written and performed by 
JANICE LEBER [www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/liver], and ends with brief outro 
music from "Chapel of Love" by THE DIXIE CUPS)".
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