NEWS Bush & Vatican stance on gay marriage outrages San Francisco community August 4, 2003 SAN FRANCISCO - Gays in the US gay hub of San Francisco are expressing shock and outrage over opposition to same-sex marriage by the Catholic Church and President George W. Bush. Residents of the city that is home to tens of thousands of same-sex couples condemned the Vatican for what they termed its hypocrisy for rallying Catholics to oppose gay marriage and brand children raised by gay parents as victims of violence. "These are the same people who condemned Galileo, and marriages between blacks and whites, and birth control," fumed artist and landscape designer Ed Roecker. "They are making this a morality issue to get people to stop thinking about it as a civil rights issue." The furious reaction came after Bush said Wednesday he believed that marriage could only be sealed between a man and a woman and suggested that the White House was mulling legislation to enforce that position. The president also implied that homosexuality was morally wrong when he replied to a question on gay marriage by saying: "I am mindful that we are all sinners." The next day, the Vatican released a 12-page document calling for Catholics and non-Catholics to unite in opposition to gay marriage and gay adoptions as a "moral duty." "It is an outrage. I'm really offended," said Kathy Levinson, an intellectual property consultant who is raising two children in Oakland with her female partner. "I interpreted Bush's remarks to say that homosexuals are sinners. That is what my children will read." The issue of gay marriage rights has sharpened since the US Supreme Court in June overruled a Texas state law banning sodomy, and following Canada's move to legalize gay marriage. A case currently being heard in the Massachusetts state Supreme Court is also testing the issue of gay marriage. The issue, say San Francisco-area gays, is one of equal civil rights and protections, not morality. With the exception of the state of Vermont, gay couples in the US are denied most of the legal protections and community property rights that heterosexual couples enjoy automatically. It means higher taxes in many cases, and that a gay person doesn't have the right to make medical decisions for a partner who is hospitalized, says Toni Broaddus, a lawyer with gay rights group Equity California. The demand for such rights and protections is clearly strong. Since California enacted a state domestic partnership law in 2000 to address some of these differences, more than 21,000 gay couples have registered. Yet this still does not amount to marriage, said Broaddus. The California law is administered by the same office that deals with business partnerships, and most of the 1,000 rights and protections automatically accorded a man and woman marrying are still denied gays. Moreover, points out lawyer Naomi Fine, Kathy Levinson's partner, the domestic partnership protections are not honored by other states. "The fact that we are denied this basic right, a marriage that is protected by law, seems as preposterous as denying marriage rights based on skin color," said Fine. The San Francisco area's gays also expressed dismay that the issue was being framed as a question of religion and morality. Many said that the Vatican does not set guidelines for non-Catholics, and pointed out that a number of religious groups in the US now embrace homosexual unions. "At any rate," said Levinson, "We live in a democracy, not a theocracy." -Sapa-AFP Talk about it in our forums Related stories US attorney general leaves possibility of same-sex marriage open Top US politician opposes Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages Bush "supports" law that defines marriage as union between man and woman Most European countries recognise same-sex marriages Vatican to call on Catholic politicians to oppose gay marriages Oldest wedding magazine publishes first article on gay weddings US poll: only 53% of Americans are against gay marriages Gay couple unites in Argentina, a first for Latin America Canadian govt seeks Supreme Court advice on gay marriages New Zealand to legalise gay marriages, report Bush: Constitutional ban on gay marriage not necessary - yet UK unveils "gay marriages" plan