A lesbian motorcycle group dressed in bridal veils and wedding gowns lent a matrimonial touch to San Francisco's gay pride parade Sunday as revelers celebrated their newfound freedom to marry. The Dykes on Bikes tossed bouquets as they led the city's 38th annual gay pride parade down Market Street. Some of the motorcycles were adorned with signs that read "Just Married." Huge crowds lined the route as city tourism officials predicted the largest turnout yet for the parade, which typically draws tens of thousands. The county clerk's office was busy Friday handing out marriage licenses and handling wedding ceremonies. ...

The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out Monday against plans by conservative Anglicans to set up their own global fellowship of those who rejected the liberal teachings of north American and British churches. Rowan Williams said proposals to set up a separate global council of bishops who would train priests and interpret Scriptures would create more problems than they solve. "A Primates Council which consists of only a self-selected group ... will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion," he said. "Any claim to be free to operate across provincial boundaries is fraught with difficulties, both ...

A year after its debt-saddled organizers almost pulled the plug, the 34th Seattle Pride Parade returned to the heart of downtown Sunday, with new corporate sponsors and its hallmark mix of the outré and the ordinary. Spectators lined up five deep along Fourth Avenue's retail core to lustily cheer on gays and lesbians, buff or otherwise naked; politicians trolling for votes; and marchers touting causes including gay adoptions and recycling. The three-hour parade featured several new corporate sponsors, including Alaska Airlines, Verizon Wireless and Safeco Insurance Foundation. Occasional showers of Frango mints, Tazo tea bags and other brand-name freebies ...

Waikato Bishop David Moxon was told Hamilton priest David Lord was gay at least three years before he horrified church authorities by taking part in its first gay wedding, according to another Anglican priest. Dr Lord relinquished his clergy licence earlier this month after fall-out from his high-profile gay blessing ceremony in London with his partner the Rev Peter Cowell which has reignited rifts within the church. Waikato Diocesan has a policy of not issuing licences to openly gay clergy and in 2004 Keith King was declined a licence to practice in Hamilton. However Reverend King now practising in ...

Pete Wentz may have knocked up Ashlee Simpson, but he still gets shit for being a homo. The Fall Out Singer tells Out that he regularly gets called out on the street - and he’s all right with that. In fact, he’s basically embraced the abuse: See Pete Wentz Embraces Gay Jibes Queerty, NY ...

he same-sex marriage ceremonies that took place starting last week in California attracted widespread mainstream media attention, with newspapers and cable news shows carrying images of couples exchanging vows. The images were sharply different from those broadcast in 2004, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began marrying gay couples. Back then, the weddings sometimes looked more like an impromptu protest than a dignified ceremony. This time, however, the media feasted on images of celebrity and longtime activist couples in dignified settings, often featuring children. This, of course, was no accident. Managing a media tsunami ...

OUTH ROYALTON — A renewed fight over the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is being watched closely here on the campus of the Vermont Law School, a 600-student institution on the banks of the White River. The Vermont Law School is one of two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters, as a protest against the 15-year-old rule that prevents openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military. As a result, the school is denied some federal research money — $300,000 to $500,000 a year— according to the estimate of one outside analyst. "Every ...

Openly gay former Dallas City Councilman Ed Oakley has come almost full circle after losing last year’s mayor’s race in a runoff. “The day after the race, all I could think about was getting away on vacation,” Oakley said. But on Friday, June 26, Oakley announced that not only is he considering running for public office again, but that his seventh annual 50th birthday party fundraiser the night before had raised more than $30,000. “For a non-elected official, that’s a real good thing,” he said. But the event did more than just raise money. It helped him decide that ...

 Georgia’s five Democratic candidates who want to replace incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss collided Sunday in their first televised debate over campaign cash, gay marriage, political experience and even the past TV reporting of one of the candidates. The thinly funded candidates attacked former state lawmaker Jim Martin for taking special-interest campaign money. DeKalb Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones and former WSB-TV investigative reporter Dale Cardwell traded jabs over Cardwell's past reporting.  Senate candidates spar over fund-raising, gay marriage Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA ...

Lesbians Rally In S.F. On the eve of the annual Gay Pride Parade, thousands of women converge on Dolores Park for a celebration and march.

• Complete coverage of S.F. Gay Pride events

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SALT LAKE CITY — When he was 16, David Nielson divulged his attraction to men, knowing it could cost him the two great pillars of his life: his parents and his Mormon faith. "When you come out, the philosophy here has always been, 'Say goodbye to your family because they will say goodbye to you,' " said the postal worker, 24. "But, I believe—and hope—that the climate is finally changing." While the church still teaches that gay sex is a sin and actively opposes gay marriage—which it will do from pulpits across California this Sunday—a first-ever meeting between ...

Extremists throwing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs have attacked the Bulgarian capital's first gay pride parade. Police say they prevented the extremists from harming the 150 or so people in the procession through Sofia. No serious injuries have been reported. Police say they detained about 60 people for harassing the parade participants.  Bulgarian extremists attack gay parade with rocks The Associated Press ...

Tens of thousands joined gay pride marches across Europe on Saturday but homophobics spoiled the party in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria where scores were arrested for disrupting events. Czech security forces were forced to intervene after right-wing extremists moved in on a parade in the country's second city Brno, leading to 15 arrests as tear gas was thrown, police said. Several dozen black-clad extremists tried to break up a planned two-hour march through the city centre by gays and lesbians. The right-wingers threw eggs and fireworks into the midst of the marchers as they gathered in a central ...

SACRAMENTO -- Since June 16, Californians have been bombarded with images of gay marriage: men kissing men, women embracing women, with friends and family celebrating alongside. Now both backers and foes of Proposition 8, a November ballot initiative that would amend California's Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, are employing those images and others in their fundraising strategies. As of Friday, the initiative's supporters had raised nearly $2.3 million, its foes about $1.3 million. Consultants predict that by the time voters go to the polls 4 1/2 months from now, each side will have raised $15 million or more. "In ...

County clerks issued more than 8,500 marriage licenses in the first week same-sex marriage was legal in California, more than two and half times an average June week, a Times survey found. The tally includes licenses issued to both same-sex and heterosexual couples, although county clerks in many locations indicated that the majority went to gay and lesbian couples. The state, which is not tracking the gender of applicants, has replaced "Bride" and "Groom" on marriage applications with the terms "Party A" and "Party B." In Los Angeles County, the state's most populous, 1,806 licenses were issued from ...

NEW YORK The military has finally, after nine months, announced the results of its probe into the death by gunshot of a gay soldier in Afghanistan, who was engaged to marry her partner in Massachusetts, last fall. The case has drawn wide coverage by Boston area newspapers. The military's handling of the case has been disturbing from the outset, with claims of murder voiced by friends and family due to the fact that the victim was known to be gay and had written home that she had seen some troubling things that might cause her not to survive. Officials ...

Deepa Mehta, who has just completed another celluloid treatise on the subjugation of women, can’t hide the pride in her voice when she’s told that Delhi’s first-ever gay parade today will begin from Regal cinema in the Capital, where the screening of her lesbian film, Fire, was forcibly stopped years ago. “I remember I was in Dubai in 1996, watching AR Rahman’s concert. I had just thought Fire would come and go in India without creating a ripple, like all films on unconventional themes. I should’ve known better. I got a call in the middle of the concert, asking me to come down to Delhi immediately. They had just halted the screening of Fire. I was aghast. It was my first brush ...

BY STEVE RALLS Words matter, and Michelle Obama is a woman of powerful words. Last night, in a passionate address to the Democratic National Committee’s Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council, Mrs. Obama delivered a rousing call-to-equality and put her husband on record as a fighter for the full equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. “Barack believes,” she said, “that we must fight for the world as it should be, a world where we work together to reverse discriminatory laws.” Invoking “those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall,” Michelle implored Democrats to continue ...

An openly gay and much-decorated soldier has been released from the Army after telling his story to the media. According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Sgt. Darren Manzella lost his job — which included stints in Baghdad providing medical care to soldiers, Iraqi guardsmen and civilians — because of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. His troubles may have begun during a CBS "60 Minutes" interview aired in December, when he told Lesley Stahl that he served openly during much of his service. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was put in place by President ...

By Rev. John Makokha Other Sheep Coordinator/United Methodist Minister. NAIROBI, June 28, 2008 (Other Sheep)  –  Kenyan Anglican clergy, gays and allies have sent a strong message of affirmation and inclusiveness to the bishops at the forthcoming Lambeth conference, due to be held next month. The message was unanimously agreed at the ceremony organised by Integrity USA, a pro-gay Anglican based group, in partnership with the Other Sheep organisation in Kenya at a meeting last week. Rev. Cynthia Black and Katie Sherrod from Integrity USA carried out the personal interview of the participants using video recording.  The objective of ...