Gay People

A mom and dad joke with their kids as their Ford Freestyle winds through scenic terrain. They stop at a roadside stand for a snack. They frolic on a beach at sunset. They look like the perfect, happy family until the Freestyle pulls into a condo complex and Dad gets out. "Thanks for inviting me this weekend," he tells his former wife. Dad gives his kids a heartfelt hug and waves as the Freestyle crossover vehicle pulls away. A voiceover intones: "Bold moves: They happen every day." The daring move here really belongs to Ford: showing a divorced couple in an advertising campaign.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops have drafted new guidelines for ministry to gay people that affirm church teaching against same-sex relationships, marriages and adoptions by gay couples, yet encourage parishes to reach out to gay Catholics who feel alienated by their church. The bishops' document, the result of a four-year effort, gives specific instructions on some of the conundrums now faced in many parishes. The guidelines recommend baptizing the adopted children of same-sex couples, as long as the children will be raised as Catholics.

WASHINGTON -- I guess the tent wasn't big enough after all. Meaning the "big tent" strategy dreamy-eyed Republicans have been touting since the '90s. Theirs was, they said, a party big enough to encompass people from all walks of life. Now we learn they meant all walks except the gay walk. If this wasn't clear before (and it was), it sure is now, in the wake of revelations that Mark Foley, former congressman from Florida, was not-so-secretly gay and not-so-secretly sending explicit e-mails to teenage pages.

This year's National Coming Out Day - today - is a bittersweet one for me. Although I have been openly gay for decades, my partner of 14 years did not come out publicly until this spring - when her obituary appeared in this newspaper. Cecile had come out to her family only four years earlier, on the day she came home from the hospital after surgery to remove a malignant tumor. What fueled her fear of coming out? She did not have to be afraid of losing her job. She was a tenured, full professor at the Johns Hopkins University.

Once again, Republicans have made a lame attempt to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage. Once again, referenda will appear on the ballot in various states not only to ban gay marriage but also to forbid gay adoption. Clearly, Republican Party strategists figure that this dying horse can be beaten for at least one more set of election victories. They may be right. There is a singular terror shadowing this issue that defies rational argument and defeats any appeal either to civil rights principles or to basic human empathy.

Would the state of California "out" Abe Lincoln, now that a controversial biography has suggested that he not only changed the course of a nation but also shared a bed with men? Last week, after the state Senate voted to require that the historical contributions of gay people be taught in California schools, the weight of practicality - how would it be accomplished? - settled in. Many educators and activists found themselves in a briar patch of confusion - even those who believe that folding the concept of sexual orientation into the school curriculum would lead to greater levels of tolerance.

A few Star Trek fans were shocked by the official revelation that actor George Takei - aka Mr. Sulu - is gay. But many accepted the news with the respect for diversity that devotees say is the hallmark of the sci-fi series. Takei, 68, revealed his homosexuality in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community. Takei said he and his partner of 18 years, Brad Altman, have been open about their relationship to friends and family for many years.

CLEVELAND, Ga. - Kerry Pacer was used to the whispering behind her back, the name-calling and the snickering when she walked down the hall. But when almost the entire student body at White County High School booed as she accepted a rose from a female friend during a Valentine's Day program last month, she knew it was time to do something. Pacer, who said she never has tried to hide the fact that she is a lesbian, did what other gay students in schools across the country have been doing for more than a decade.

Gays and lesbians have experienced a drastic rise in acceptance over the past two decades, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll. Almost seven in 10 Americans know someone who is gay or lesbian and say they would not be troubled if their elementary school-age child had a homosexual teacher. Six in 10 say they are sympathetic to the gay community, displaying an increasing inclination to view same-sex issues through a prism of societal accommodation rather than moral condemnation. On questions ranging from job discrimination to adoption to whether homosexuality is morally wrong, responses indicate that as gays and lesbians have become more open, heterosexuals in return have become more open toward them.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The billboard worker owed money he didn't have, so he found a way to erase his debt: He let his creditor cover six billboards with a biblical passage condemning homosexuality. That deal backfired spectacularly, at least for the employee. Billboards are meant to be seen, after all. When sign company executives saw them a few weeks ago, they promptly fired the worker and papered over the unauthorized messages. But many people couldn't get over the sight of a half-dozen billboards in Buncombe County coated with the Old Testament words of Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be put upon them."