BOISE - A proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages and other kinds of domestic relationships cleared the Senate State Affairs Committee on Friday. Following three hours of emotional testimony in an overcrowded hearing room, there was no discussion or debate among committee members before they voted 5-4 to send the legislation to the full Senate. Full Story

Legislation that would grant marriagelike rights to adults not able to wed barely passed a preliminary vote in the state Senate on Friday after several conservatives assailed it. Lawmakers opposing Senate Bill 89 argued it was retreating from a same-sex marriage ban approved by voters in November. Full Story

Legislation that would grant marriagelike rights to adults not able to wed barely passed a preliminary vote in the state Senate on Friday after several conservatives assailed it.

Lawmakers opposing Senate Bill 89 argued it Full Story

I have known President Bush for 40 years - ever since we attended Yale College together in the 1960s. I'm a Democrat (and I was a Democrat then), but I liked him and I still like him, as a sincere and kind man and a good friend. Because I've known him for so long, it was clear to me when he first began running for president that he could beat Al Gore, and I warned Gore of that early on. I knew it then (and again in 2004) because I knew, from my earliest memories of George W. Full Story

PARK CITY - In a nation of red and blue states, where sex on television is publicly reviled but "Desperate Housewives" is among TV's most popular shows, is there a place for common ground in American culture? No, says musician Michael Franti, and that's a good thing. "I don't want a common culture," Franti, founder of the band Spearhead, said during a panel discussion, "The Culture Wars," here Saturday at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Full Story

PARK CITY -- In a nation of red and blue states, where sex on television is publicly reviled but "Desperate Housewives" is among TV's most popular shows, is there a place for common ground in American culture?

No, Full Story

Controversial legislation that would grant some marriage-like rights to unmarried adults sailed through a Senate committee on Friday without a single opposing comment. In fact, Republican Majority Leader Peter Knudson made the motion to pass it and called it "a fine piece of legislation." Full Story

Controversial legislation that would grant some marriage-like rights to unmarried adults sailed through a Senate committee on Friday without a single opposing comment.

In fact, Republican Majority Leader Peter Knudson made Full Story

BRAZIL Prosecutor pushes to legalize gay marriage SAO PAULO - A federal prosecutor said Wednesday he has asked a judge to order courts across Brazil to perform gay marriages, an effort likely to meet strong resistance in the world's largest Roman Catholic country. Brazil's constitution specifies that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, but Joao Gilberto Goncalves Jr. Full Story

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff will hire outside counsel to defend Utah's marriage amendment - if lawmakers ask him to. Since his outspoken opposition to Amendment 3 during the 2004 election, Shurtleff, a Republican, and some conservative lawmakers have been at odds over whether he should represent the state if the amendment is challenged in court. But apparently Shurtleff is giving in. Full Story

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff will hire outside counsel to defend Utah's marriage amendment -- if lawmakers ask him to.

Since his outspoken opposition to Amendment 3 during the 2004 election, Shurtleff, a Republican, Full Story

ATLANTA - Martin Luther King Jr.'s youngest child lit a torch at her father's tomb last month to kick off a march advocating a ban on gay marriage, creating a strong image linking the slain civil rights icon to today's heated social debate. But just nine months earlier, King's widow defended the rights of gays and lesbians in a speech at a New Jersey college. Full Story

WASHINGTON - When Mike Leavitt was Utah's governor seven years ago, the coordinator of his state abstinence education program announced the Midvale Family Support Center would receive $56,000 in state and federal funds to teach "refusal skills for sexual activity" to kids at the Murray and Midvale Boys and Girls Clubs. Full Story

Harmonious is not a word to describe the past relationship between Utah's Republican governors and GOP-controlled lawmakers. Tense is more fitting. Or strained. Or, at times, adversarial. A year ago, Gov. Olene Walker was shot down by the Legislature in her plan to strip money from roads and divert it to schools even before the 45-day lawmaking session got under way. Her predecessor, Gov. Full Story

WASHINGTON -- When Mike Leavitt was Utah's governor seven years ago, the coordinator of his state abstinence education program announced the Midvale Family Support Center would receive $56,000 in state and federal funds to teach Full Story

Harmonious is not a word to describe the past relationship between Utah's Republican governors and GOP lawmakers.

Tense is more fitting. Or strained. Or, at times, adversarial.

A year ago, Gov. Olene Walker was shot Full Story

Utah lawmakers like to consider themselves the guardians of the traditional family. And one legislator has drafted a bill to make that job official. Pleasant Grove Republican Rep. Craig Frank is sponsoring legislation setting criteria for a "Family Impact Statement" that would be tacked onto the end of each bill by legislative attorneys. Full Story

Utah lawmakers like to consider themselves the guardians of the traditional family. And one legislator has drafted a bill to make that job official.

Pleasant Grove Republican Rep. Craig Frank is sponsoring legislation setting Full Story

Hale Center Theatre's annual production of "A Christmas Carol" ended last month in West Valley City, but a lingering controversy over lead actor Richard Wilkins' opposition to same-sex marriage has some theater people crying Scrooge. The flap stems from Wilkins' decision to sell a reprinted edition of the Dickens classic to patrons in the theater lobby during performances of the show, which closed Dec. 27. Full Story

Hale Center Theatre's annual production of "A Christmas Carol" ended last month in West Valley City, but a lingering controversy over lead actor Richard Wilkins' opposition to same-sex marriage has some theater people Full Story