The sponsors of a ballot initiative that seeks to ban same-sex marriage in California say Republican presidential candidate John McCain has endorsed the measure. The ProtectMarriage.com campaign says it received an e-mail from McCain Thursday in which the Arizona senator expressed his support for the group's efforts "to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman." McCain has previously said that while he does not back banning same-sex marriage at the federal level, he thinks it is appropriate for states to do so. McCain backs Calif. gay marriage ban San Jose Mercury News,  USA  ...

SALT LAKE CITY - Mormon church leaders will ask California members to join the effort to amend that state's constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. A June 20 letter sent to Mormon congregation bishops and signed by church president Thomas S. Monson and his two top counselors calls upon Mormons to donate "means and time" to the ballot measure. A note on the letter says it should be read during church services June 29, but it was published on several Internet Web sites Saturday. Scott Trotter, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus ...

Source: San Francisco Chronicle , San Jose Mercury News , Louisville Courier Journal The proper role of gay and lesbian members and clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been a subject of contentious debate among church leaders every other year for the past three decades when they've met for their biennial rule-making body, the General Assembly. They've debated endlessly, but they just can't make up their mind. And while leaders of the church have debated, membership in the denomination has been dropping. The Louisville-based denomination suffered its worst annual membership decline...(read more) ...

Against a backdrop of the first week of legal gay marriages in California, the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination opened its biennial meeting in San Jose on Saturday amid deep divisions over whether gays and lesbians should be ordained and same-sex marriages recognized. The constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has 2.3 million members, defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman. The liberal-leaning denomination has been moving toward accepting same-sex marriages with various church court rulings. But supporters want the marriages fully recognized. In 2000, the church's court ruled that ministers can officiate at same-sex ...

Civil rights organizations today asked the California Supreme Court to block a November ballot initiative that would restore the state's ban on gay marriage, arguing that it was not drafted properly. In court papers filed with the state's high court, civil rights lawyers insist that backers of the ballot measure did not follow proper procedures for amending the California constitution. The measure would amend the state Constitution to limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman. The 55-page petition to the Supreme Court argues that the measure circulated in the spring to potential voters was misleading ...

Source: San Francisco Chronicle , San Jose Mercury News , Los Angeles Times SAN FRANCISCO -- Equal rights organizations today asked the California Supreme Court to block a November ballot initiative that would restore the state's ban on gay marriage, arguing that it was not drafted properly. In court papers filed with the state's high court, equal rights lawyers insist that backers of the ballot measure did not follow proper procedures for amending the California constitution. The measure would amend the state Constitution to limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman. "We...(read more) ...