RIDGEFIELD’S OWN HARVEY FIERSTEIN ON TOUR WITH “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”
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GAY COUPLES SEEK OUT SURROGATES IN INDIA
For gay US businessman Brad Fister, experiencing the joy of fatherhood meant flying half way around the world to India where he first held his baby daughter, born to a woman who had signed away any right to her child.
Commercial surrogacy is a booming industry in India, and in recent years the ranks of childless foreign couples have been swelled by gay partners looking for a low-cost, legally-friendly path to parenthood.
In the United States, laws governing adoption and surrogacy vary from state to state, while in India the service is legal, loosely regulated and — so far at least — non-discriminatory on grounds of sexual orientation.
For Fister and his partner Michael Griebe, a crucial attraction is that surrogate mothers in India are generally willing to renounce any legal claim to the child.
“We decided to have a baby a year and a half ago but the problem in the United States is mothers often do not relinquish the rights to the child,” Fister told AFP before leaving the southern city of Hyderabad with his baby daughter last month. – Source – AFP
ANTI-GAY WESTBORO CHURCH COMES UNDER SUPPREME COURT SCRUTINY
The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether vitriolic anti-gay protestors who picket the funerals of US soldiers are protected by free speech laws.
The emotionally-charged case was brought by the family of US Marine Matthew Snyder, who was killed in combat in Iraq in 2006.
His family organized a private Christian funeral for him in Maryland that attracted members of the radical Westboro Church led by Baptist preacher Fred Phelps.
Phelps and his congregation regularly demonstrate at military funerals, carrying inflammatory signs to draw attention to their anti-gay message.
The religious group protest at the funerals of soldiers, regardless of the sexuality of the deceased military personnel, and use the events to bring publicity to their campaign.
After the funeral was over, Phelps continued to deride and criticize Snyder on his website, prompting the dead Marine’s family to sue the preacher before a Maryland court.
Snyder’s father Albert claimed Phelps had intruded on a private event and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the bereaved family and won an initial award of five million dollars.
But the award was overturned on appeal, where a court ruled that Westburo protestors were simply exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. – Source – AFP
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