Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Focus on the Family agitates against lifting the ban on gayfolk in the armed services;

FotF newsbrief arguing that a same-sex divorce in Iowa (dissolution of a Vermont CU) means that the country needs the Federal anti-Marriage Amendment;

FotF newsbrief on Wisconsin lower house passing an on-campus ban on emergency contraception - governor promises a veto;

Federal court in California upholds DOMA, quote from Judge Gary Taylor's decision: "Because procreation is necessary to perpetuate humankind, encouraging the optimal union for procreation is a legitimate government interest... By excluding same-sex couples from the federal rights and responsibilities of marriage, and by providing those rights and responsibilities only to people in opposite-sex marriages, the government is communicating to citizens that opposite-sex relationships have special significance" - also, New Jersey judge upholds their local marriage ban;

Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney endorses anti-marriage amendment in Massachusetts, one that includes both marriage _and_ civil unions - note included action item to thank him for support;

Hostettler amendment to ban the use of Federal funds to enforce judicial opinions against any "Ten Commandments" display passes the House of Representatives;

Today's Family News in Focus;

Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight rails against Indiana governor Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. order protecting gayfolk from discrimination in state hiring/firing decisions at state agencies;

Southern Baptist Convention sees another decline in baptisms - group is concerned about direction;

Longer story on Mitt Romney's endorsement of the more extreme anti-marriage amendment in Massachusetts, that bans both marriage and civil unions in any form;

LONG New York Times article on the fundamentalist fight against marriage rights and on gayfolk in general;

Challenge on Michigan's marriage ban brought by weird neopagans - gay rights leaders upset, wanted a more picturesque couple - CWA's Robert Knight and the American Family Association are both gleeful;

Washington Post article on President Bush's options to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist;

U.S. Medical Privacy Law Gutted. << Don't gloss over this one, I got to it last but it's not lame.

( Transcriptions and excerpts below )