Date: 2004-02-29

Real Progress Requires Respect for Life and Marriage, Says Pope

In Address to Argentine Envoy

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 29, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II says there can be no genuine development if the fundamental rights of life and the family are not respected.

The Pope expressed this Saturday when greeting the new ambassador of Argentina to the Holy See, Carlos Luis Custer. The ambassador is a trade unionist and a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In his address to the Argentine envoy, the Holy Father highlighted two requirements to "construct a society based on fundamental values that cannot be given up, for a national and international order worthy of the human being."

"One is certainly the value of human life itself, without which not only is the right broken of every human being from the moment of conception until his natural end -- which no one can claim for himself the power of violating -- but the very principle of all human coexistence is reduced," the Pope began.

"It is worth asking what sense it makes to improve ways of living together if life itself is not guaranteed," he added.

"It is necessary, therefore, that this value be guarded with care, quickly impeding all attempts to degrade, in a more or less veiled way, the primordial good of life, converting it into a mere instrument for other ends," the Pontiff continued.

The other pillar of society and, therefore, of progress, is "marriage, union of man and woman, open to life, which gives place to the natural institution of the family," he clarified.

"The latter is not only anterior to any other larger order of human coexistence, but upholds it, being in itself an original fabric of intimate relations guided by love, mutual support and solidarity," the Pope explained.

"Because of this, the family has its own rights and duties that it must exercise in the realm of its own autonomy," the Holy Father said in Spanish.

"According to the principle of subsidiarity," he said, "to lawmakers and to the political measures of larger societies corresponds the task of guaranteeing these rights scrupulously and of helping the family in its duties when the latter are beyond its capacity to fulfill them."

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), February 29, 2004

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-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), February 29, 2004.

Great stuff Bill!

-- Pat Delaney (pat@patdelaney.net), March 01, 2004.

Waiting List Grows For Gay Marriages In Upstate Town

FEBRUARY 29TH, 2004

Hundreds of same-sex couples have put their names on a waiting list to get married in an upstate town in New York.

The mayor of New Paltz, New York Jason West, married more than 20 gay couples on Friday, calling it his moral obligation and urging other mayors to do the same. He promised to resume the ceremonies on Monday.

State officials, meanwhile, are arguing over whether the marriages are even legal.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has refused a request for an injunction from state health officials, who maintain marriage records and say same-sex unions are not legal in New York. Spitzer says that question will be determined by the courts.

-- Stop the insanity! (Nomore@none.none), March 01, 2004.

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com Gay rally cry: Marry us, Mike By MICHAEL SAUL DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU Monday, March 1st, 2004

Holding signs proclaiming, "Let my people marry" and "Don't deny love," hundreds gathered yesterday at City Hall to beseech Mayor Bloomberg to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. "It is past time that Mayor Bloomberg give the civil rights - the basic fundamental civil right of marriage - to same-sex couples," City Council Speaker Gifford Miller said to applause from a crowd of 300.

Ed Skyler, Bloomberg's press secretary, said later the mayor will not order the city clerk to give out marriage licenses to gay couples - unless the state law is changed.

"The city clerk is following New York State law, which does not permit gay marriages," Skyler said.

"Advocates for it should spend their time persuading Albany to change the law, rather than calling on the city clerk to break it," Skyler said.

Andrew Berg, who came to yesterday's event with partner Dominic Pisciotta and their 1-year-old twins, took the podium on City Hall's steps to praise the mayors of San Francisco and upstate New Paltz. Those leaders began performing same-sex marriages last month.

"Look into my eyes, Mayor Bloomberg," Berg said. "Look into the eyes of my children and then tell the New York Legislature, [Gov.] George Pataki and [President] George Bush that the marriage law needs to be clear and that gay and lesbian couples are entitled to the same rights and protections guaranteed to any married heterosexual family."

Organizers said that as many as 50 same-sex couples will converge on the city clerk's office Thursday to demand marriage licenses.

In New Paltz, officials said they have received roughly 800 online applications for same-sex marriages. The mayor, who presided over 25 gay weddings Friday, is planning a similar event as early as Saturday.

A CBS News poll conducted after President Bush endorsed a constitutional ban on gay marriage last week revealed that 59% of Americans favor an amendment that would "allow marriage only between a man and a woman." That's up from 55% in December.

Activists at City Hall urged Bloomberg not to be scared off by politics or polls.

"Get on the train, Mayor Bloomberg," said state Sen. Tom Duane (D- Manhattan), who is gay. "You better step up to the plate and give us the right to marry now."

-- Stop the insanity, Now! (nomore@none.none), March 01, 2004.