I wonder if anyone has

I wonder if anyone has stopped to think just how expensive it is to have all the court cases that involve the on-going legal issues of gay people? Day after day I come across this case or that case dealing with some lawsuit filed because a civil union from Vermont cannot be terminated un Texas because Texas will not honor it. Or, a suit involving the Boy Scouts of America; or a student group who was refused the use of school facilities that other students enjoy, just because they are gay.

I keep posting these as I see them and I've noticed an increase in the number of cases coming out weekly. Wouldn't it just be easier for everyone and a lot less expensive for tax payers (that's ALL of us) to just grant equal rights to gay people? There has to be some better way of doing this. All that money in legal fees going to.... lawyers.

Grads walk out on 'gay basher' Santorum. May 19, 2003 -- PHILADELPHIA - About 100 graduates walked out of yesterday's commencement at St. Joseph's University before the keynote address by Sen. Rick Santorum, who recently infuriated gay groups and others with derogatory remarks about homosexual behavior.
Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican, didn't mention the walkout or the controversy directly. Senator Santorum and I are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum," said graduate Sara Foglesong, among those who walked out. "I am not incestuous. I am not a bigamist. I just happen to be bisexual. It offended me."
Protesters walk out on Santorum commencement speech
100 graduates walk out ahead of Santorum address in Pa.

Two Lutheran churches in Twin Cities extend a hand to gay Christians. "With great joy and gratitude, on behalf of Church of Christ the Redeemer, I welcome you as our pastor." With those words, congregation president Ruth Peterson embraced the Rev. Mary Albing, and worshipers at the Lutheran church in southwest Minneapolis rose to their feet and applauded.

Sunday's installation ceremony defied a requirement by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) that unmarried clergy -- gay or straight -- be celibate, and it was presided over by three former bishops of the denomination. Albing, 48, is a lesbian in a noncelibate relationship. It's a hot topic these days in many Minnesota Lutheran churches: whether sexually active gay people should be ordained as pastors or receive blessings for commitment ceremonies. Also on Sunday, congregants at Pilgrim Lutheran of St. Paul overwhelmingly passed a "statement of welcome" to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) people at its annual meeting.
Gay rights a hot topic in Lutheran churches

Blood Drive Cancelled Over Anti-Gay Policy. (Ashland, Oregon) Students at Southern Oregon University have cancelled this term's Red Cross blood drive saying the organization discriminates against gay men. The blood drive has been a spring term tradition for a number of years. This semester though students said the Red Cross policy of refusing to allow gay men to be donors is a violation of the university's anti-discrimination policy. Red Cross guidelines say males who have had homosexual encounters even once since 1977 are ineligible. The student government said that the policy continues to label AIDS and HIV as a gay men's disease. David Adkins-Brown, SOU multicultural senator, said that the policy is a misnomer that needs to be eradicated. "From my understanding, it's a rule they made up in the 1980s and people are not up to date," he said. Student Daniel Conner praised the decision to cancel the blood donor clinic. " I've been yelling about it for years," said Conner. "I'm a gay man and I don't like being forced to lie to help people."
Oregon blood drive canceled over ineligibility of gay men

Organizers reached out to women, minorities. LONG BEACH People locked arms, police officers waved from their patrol cars and city workers walked hand-in-hand Sunday during the Gay Pride Parade, on the last day of what organizers called the largest Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival. The 20th annual two-day event drew an estimated 130,000-plus people to the parade and festival through the afternoon on Sunday, the last day of the event. Lines of thousands waited into the evening for admission. The crowd at the event, the city's second- largest next to the Long Beach Grand Prix, easily topped last year's, which had an estimated attendance of 100,000, according to organizers.
Gay event to boost economy
Festival dances day away
Gays march on in L.B.

Quarter divided on bill aimed at public sex. ....Even though Martiny's bill prohibits publicly engaging in "vaginal, oral or anal sexual intercourse," some say his bill targets the gay community and its informal annual gathering, the Southern Decadence festival. "I think they're just trying to single out gay people," said Rob Clemenz, another Quarter resident. "They already have laws on the books. They're not enforced, and this stems from somebody b -- -- -- - about Southern Decadence," added Daryl Wilson, a bartender at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.
Legislative bill aims to end public sex

Vermont Civil Unions: Will Sister States Recognize Them? An Early Status Report. On July 1, 2000, Vermont's law creating the civil union - a legally recognized marriage-like status available to same-sex couples - became effective. Almost three years later, the validity and meaning of a civil union outside of Vermont is entirely uncertain, despite the fact that eighty-five percent of the civil unions granted have been to out-of-staters.

Only a handful states have weighed in thus far on the validity of a civil union relationship outside of Vermont, and in those states, the results for the most part have been discouraging for parties to civil unions (even those who want to dissolve them). In the remaining states, couples have little or no information on the legal status of their relationship. This legal limbo means that parties to a civil union--intact or not--live with a degree of risk and uncertainty to which other couples are simply not subjected. New York, however, has bucked the trend of states' refusing to recognize Vermont civil unions. Recently, a New York court held that the surviving partner to a Vermont civil union is a "spouse" for purposes of applying New York's wrongful death statute.

Judge Asked To Dismiss Gay/Straight Lawsuit. Kentucky - Boyd County school officials deny they violated federal law by banning a gay-rights student group from meeting at Boyd County High School. They want a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit against them. The lawsuit challenge is by the school board, Superintendent Bill Capehart and Boyd County High School Principal Jerry Johnson. U.S. District Judge David Bunning said last month the suit has a strong likelihood of winning.
Boyd schools request dismissal of bias suit