- The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says all Roman Catholics should support a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
- U. S. Senator and rumored presidential candidate Russell Feingold, D-Wis., announced that he supports marriage equality for same-sex couples.
- A gay male couple have asked a federal appeals court in California to declare they have a right to marry under the U.S. Constitution. The case highlights a split in strategy among LGBT-rights activists. High-profile groups such as Lambda Legal and the ACLU are not supporting the case, claiming the time is not yet right for a federal appeal, and that a loss here could set back progress. The groups are instead pushing for state-by-state rulings.
- First Lady Laura Bush has said that “all families are welcome to attend” the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House. (That’s the most sense I’ve heard out of anyone in that family for a long time.) The Family Pride Coalition is encouraging LGBT families to attend.
And a few state-specific items of interest:
- The Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee rejected a reworked version of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and its legal equivalents in the state. This means the bill is dead for the current session, although supporters say they are still trying for a full Senate vote. Worth reading activist and blogger Abigail Garner’s testimony, which helped defeat the amendment.
- A lesbian couple in Oregon are suing the state for not putting both mothers on their son’s birth certificate. They claim that by denying the non-bio mom parental rights, the state is illegally discriminating against her on the basis of her gender and sexual orientation.
- Supporters of same-sex marriage in Rhode Island testified before the legislature against a proposed same-sex marriage ban in that state.