Submitted by admin on Sat, 2006-04-08 13:58. ::
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said April 4 he supports giving gay couples the right to marry, becoming the fourth U.S. senator to take that position, according to a national gay rights advocacy group. Feingold issued a statement saying he was asked about his views on the subject at a listening session with constituents April 2 in Kenosha, Wis. In an interview with the Associated Press, he said he decided to express his support for gay marriage at the session in response to what he called a "mean-spirited" Wisconsin constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions, which will appear on the state ballot in November. Asked if he would support federal legislation to legalize gay marriage, Feingold said he’s not focused on that now. By supporting gay marriage, Feingold, a potential presidential candidate, has once again taken a position that places him to the left of potential 2008 rivals. Feingold said presidential politics had nothing to do with his position on gay rights. "I recognize that it will have some national implications as well, but what caused me to do it at this time had to do with the Wisconsin proposal that I oppose," he said. Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, praised Feingold. "This kind of statement is something we have been yearning for — at long last we have a fair-minded progressive leader taking an ethical and moral stance," Foreman said.
BEIJING — Former President Bill Clinton said March 25 that countries with high HIV infection rates should implement mandatory HIV/AIDS testing for all their citizens, according to a report in China View. More than 40 million worldwide are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS but are unaware of their status, according to Clinton’s HIV/AIDS initiative foundation. Testing for HIV "is essential to reduce the spread of AIDS … the whole idea is to treat this as a public health problem, not as some source or shame or disgrace and to keep as many people alive as possible," Clinton said, according to China View. For countries where more than five percent of the population is estimated to be HIV positive, testing is invaluable in stopping its spread, Clinton said.
VATICAN CITY — Speaking just 10 days ahead of Italy’s national elections, Pope Benedict XVI lashed out against gay marriage and abortion on March 30, Reuters reported. Opposition center-left politicians who advocate some legal recognition of the rights of unmarried heterosexual and gay couples accused the pope of meddling in politics. Addressing lawmakers from the European People’s Party, Benedict said the Church’s position on such issues was "non-negotiable," Reuters reported. Benedict said the Church had a right and duty to defend "the recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage." Opposition politicians criticized the pope’s comments as political interference. "It is people who decide whether their relationships constitute a family," said Franco Grillini, a gay parliamentarian of the Democrats of the Left, Italy’s largest leftist party.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The singer who dressed as a policeman in the flamboyant late 1970s disco band Village People has been arrested after disappearing while drug and gun charges against him were pending, officials said April 3. Victor Willis, 54, who co-wrote some of the band’s hits such as "In the Navy" and "YMCA," has had a number of run-ins with the law since he left the group in 1980 and now faces as much as five years in prison, said Morley Pitt, assistant district attorney in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco. Willis was arrested last year on charges of possessing a gun and cocaine, but he disappeared after agreeing to a plea deal that set a maximum sentence of 16 months behind bars, Pitt said. He was re-arrested March 26 and pleaded not guilty in court on March 28.
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