By Ramy Eletreby

Maryland Marriage Law Ruled Unconstitutional

On Jan. 20, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled that Maryland's law defining marriage as being between a man and a woman violates the state's constitution. Murdock stayed the decision pending an appeal, which was immediately filed by the state attorney general, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Don Dwyer Jr.	Judge M. Brooke Murdock

"Although tradition and societal values are important, they cannot be given so much weight that they alone will justify a discriminatory statutory classification," Murdock wrote. "When tradition is the guise under which prejudice or animosity hides, it is not a legitimate state interest."

"This is one of the fundamental issues of fairness facing our society," said Maryland ACLU attorney David Rocah who represents nine gay couples in the case. "To have the court vindicate what we believed and argued is a wonderful feeling."

Opponents of marriage equality pledged to continue to fight for a ban through the state legislature and on the ballot. "I assure you the majority of Maryland citizens do not agree with this court's decision," said Republican Del. Don Dwyer Jr. "The only way to protect marriage is through a constitutional amendment," said the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg. -- Karen Ocamb

Florida GOP Bankrolls Gay Marriage Ban Ohio Churches Conduct Political Activity

Of the $193,000 raised by Florida4marriage.org to get an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment on the 2006 ballot, $150,000 came from a single donation by the Florida Republican Party, according to state campaign finance records, the St. Petersburg Times reported. In order to qualify for the ballot, Florida4marriage.org needs 600,000 signatures by Feb. 1, and according to chairman John Stemberger, they have collected 250,000 so far. "We are seeing tens of thousands [of signatures] a day and if the pace continues we could easily do this," said Stemberger. Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who said the measure is unnecessary because state law already bars same-sex marriage, did not know the contribution was made, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, the I.R.S. received a complaint from several clergy members claiming that two Columbus-area churches that favored President Bush in 2004, Fairfield Christian Church and the World Harvest Church, have allowed Republican organizations to use their facilities to promote conservative candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell for governor, according to The New York Times. Political activity by tax-exempt groups is strictly prohibited and the I.R.S. will examine whether the churches' tax exemptions should be revoked.

Washington Pastor Calls for Boycott of Corporations

On Jan. 16, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a pastor of the Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Wash., called for a national boycott of Microsoft Corp., Hewlett Packard Co., Boeing Co., and Nike Inc. for signing a letter urging passage of a measure that would add "sexual orientation" to a state anti-discrimination law. "We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," said Hutcherson. "This is not a threat, this is a promise. Check out the past presidential election. We made the moral issue the No. 1 issue."

Microsoft is showing its support for the measure a year after it was publicly denounced by several gay groups for dropping its endorsement when Hutcherson threatened a similar boycott. Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos told The Associated Press that the company would not change its position this time. "The position that we have taken is one that we do feel strongly about," Boeing spokesman Peter LeConte told The Associated Press. "It is entirely consistent with our own internal practices and policies." The bill has been introduced annually for nearly 30 years but has never been passed.

Point Foundation Teams with Matthew Shepard Foundation

The Point Foundation, the largest national foundation supporting academic achievement in higher education among LGBT students, announced a new partnership with the Matthew Shepard Foundation that would award three scholars $10,000 each. Dennis and Judy Shepard started the Matthew Shepard Foundation to honor their son, the victim of a Wyoming anti-gay hate crime murder in 1998. The partnership is expected to be seamless.

"Judy Shepard and I are both about changing hearts and minds through education and turning around situations, making a positive out of what appears overwhelmingly negative," said Point Foundation Executive Director Vance Lancaster. "I often think of Matthew and the terrible outcomes and crushing despair that too many LGBT youth still face. These scholarships aim to create a powerful legacy for our future leaders." Lancaster has offered to fund one of the three $10,000 scholarships himself, with the hope that the new partnership will help raise additional funds in order to help more LGBT students in the future.

Most Point Scholarships cover the costs of tuition, books, supplies, room and board, transportation, and living expenses and are available for both undergraduate and graduate study. For more information, go to www.thepointfoundation.org.

CNN Donates $100,000 to NLGJA

On Jan. 12, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) announced that CNN will make a $100,000 donation to the NLGJA Scholarship Fund endowment to support the Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award. The scholarship award was established in 2005 to honor the memory of NLGJA founder and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor Leroy F. Aarons, who died in 2004 at the age of 70. The $5,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to an LGBT undergraduate or graduate student who plans a career in journalism and is committed to furthering NLGJA's mission of fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community.

Mixner and McGreevy Team Up on Poverty

Longtime LGBT politico David Mixner and openly gay former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevy teamed up to write a powerful series on poverty in America, recently published by HuffingtonPost.com.

"The Amazing Marsha Timpson" focuses on the struggles of one woman, her family, and neighbors in War, W. Va., living almost like "a lost tribe of people that has been totally forgotten by their country." To read the entire series, go to www.huffingtonpost.com/david-mixner-and-james-mcgreevey.

"I felt that we had lost the human face on poverty and had become a nation of statistics which removed the daily pain and suffering of being poor in America. We need to regain our humanity before we can tackle the problem." Mixner told IN.

On Jan. 12 the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that California's homeless population of 195,367 is the highest in the nation, according to the Los Angeles Times. "This is the capital of homelessness in the United States of America," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, noting that in 2005 an estimated 82,291 people in L.A. were homeless.

A Jan. 9 report by San Francisco's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center found that of 93 youths surveyed, 67 percent live on the streets, in shelters, or transitional housing; 31 percent survive through prostitution; and 19 percent sell drugs to support themselves, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. -- Karen Ocamb