AP: Mass. court backs gay marriage on ballot

BY DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer

BOSTON - The same court that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize gay marriage ruled Monday that a proposed constitutional amendment to ban future same-sex marriages can be placed on the ballot, if approved by the Legislature.

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Ambiente magazine - July 2006

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Indian gay prince out of closet, loses inheritance

MUMBAI (Reuters) - An Indian prince has been disowned by his family after he publicly announced he was gay in a country where homosexuality is outlawed by a 145-year-old law.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, who belongs to one of the country's richest royal families that ruled the former Rajpipla principality in the western state of Gujarat, has been disowned for "activities unacceptable to the society," one disinheritance notice placed by his parents in a newspaper said.

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Breaking News: New York's top court blocks gay marriage

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The state's top court says New York law doesn't allow gay marriage.

In a four-to-two decision, the Court of Appeals rejected arguments from gay and lesbian plaintiffs. They had argued that the inability to get marriage licenses in New York violated their constitutional rights.

In the ruling, a judge said New York's marriage law clearly limits the unions to a man and woman. He says any changes should come from the state Legislature.

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Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus - Members' pets page

Ricardo's Cocoa

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Castro's niece fights for new sexual revolution

BY ESTEBAN ISRAEL Reuters

HAVANA - Mariela Castro is leading a Cuban revolution less well known than her Uncle Fidel's: one in favor of sexual tolerance within the island's macho society.

Castro, 43, is leading the charge from her government-funded National Center for Sex Education, based in an old Havana mansion.

As director of the group, she promoted a soap opera that scandalized many Cubans in March by sympathetically depicting bisexuality. The controversial show depicted, among other story lines, the life of a construction worker who leaves his wife and children for the man next door.

Now President Castro's niece is pushing for passage of a law that would give transsexuals free sex change operations and hormonal therapy in addition to granting them new identification documents with their changed gender.

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Gay Pride in New York: Liza Minnelli judges a dog show at a lesbian bar