ACT President Clinton is under attack from civil liberties and gay rights group, following a White House announcement that the President would sign any bill which denies Federal recognition to same-sex marriages. In Hawaii, that state's highest court ruled that the government could not withold granting a marriage license on the basis of sex. This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a controversial Colorado law known as Amendment 2 which had nullified local ordinances protecting gays from public discrimination. The case involved a conversation between the cleric and Conan Hale, who is a suspect in a triple murder case. The local District Attorney had earlier said he was considering using the tape as evidence, but last Wednesday apologized for his remarks and announced that he would not use the recording in court.
Civil libertarians are mixed in their reaction.
Some critics say that the Oregon case should have been the business of American courts, not Vatican foreign policy. Others worry about Ambassador Raymond Flynn, who has been cited by internal State Department investigators for being a conduit for Vatican positions rather than American interest. An internal report cited Flynn's actions on issues such as abortion. Former-Soviet society is awash in a cultural wave bringing everything from religious fundamentalism to new age hokum into the intellectual markeplace. Astrology has made a strong comeback, and it seems that the star-gazing soothsayers are throwing their support behind President Yeltsin as the likely winner in the June 16 election.