Frontiers of law enforcement

Apparently infected by a mosquito-borne parasitic worm that cuts off blood flow to brain cells, District Attorney Donald Williams in Kingston, NY, has charged two Unitarian Universalist ministers with

criminal offenses Monday for marrying 13 gay couples in what is believed to be the first time in the United States that clergy members have been prosecuted for performing same-sex ceremonies,

AP reported. They were charged with multiple counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license. Each count could bring a fine of $500 or up to two years in jail.

The same charges were earlier leveled against Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, who married 25 same-sex couples on February 27 before being stopped by a court order.

Williams said his decision

was influenced by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's opinion that gay marriage is illegal in New York and by the injunction issued by a state supreme court justice against West.

Scene one: an auto showroom.

"I want to buy a car."

"You're undermining the auto industry!"

Scene two: a military recruiting station

"I want to join the army."

"You're undermining the military!"

Scene three: an employment agency

"I want to get a job."

"You're undermining the economy!"

Scene four: City Hall, License Bureau

"My partner and I want to get married."

"You're undermining marriage!"

Footnote: The battle is far from over.

In Oregon, Multnomah County commissioners decided Monday that they will continue to issue gay marriage licenses despite legal objections from the state.

About 2,000 gay couples from around the nation have flocked to Portland to be married since a March 3 county review of state law concluded that denying such applications would be unconstitutional.

Portland remains the only major city in the United States where gay couples can get married.

I hear Portland is a wonderful place for a honeymoon.

Update to the Footnote: Actually, Oregon as a whole is rather pretty.

(CNN, March 16) - Commissioners in a second Oregon county voted Tuesday to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The board of commissioners of Benton County agreed to follow in the footsteps of Multnomah County, a Benton spokeswoman said.

The county's district attorney said county officials will begin distributing the licenses March 24. Benton County, about 70 miles southwest of Portland, is home to the city of Corvallis and Oregon State University.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, efforts are continuing toward a proposed amendment to the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. The initial attempt floundered but a "compromise" that would define "marriage" as one man and one woman but allow for same-sex "civil unions" has gained support at a constitutional convention. If approved by the convention, the proposal would also have to pass both houses of the state legislature in 2005 and succeed as a ballot question in the 2006 elections in order to be added to the constitution.

The problem with "civil unions" is that they write second-class citizenship into the constitution, because even if interpreted as being legally the same as marriage in terms of Massachusetts law and benefits, they not only provide less protection anywhere else but they are meaningless in terms of federal law and benefits. One obvious example - April 15 being less than a month away - is that such couples could not file federal income taxes as "married" but would have to pay separately at the higher "single" rate.

Decades ago, we admitted as a society that as a legal principle, "separate but equal" is not equal. Now, however, we're expected to enshrine "separate and unequal" into the most basic legal documents of our governments. Have we - skip the obvious jokes - learned nothing?