R: ALT1, S: 1IN10, D: 08/01/1996, B: David Valdes Greenwood,

Webbed bliss

Politically speaking, GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole and President Bill Clinton are in the same bed. (But, unlike some members of the Lesbian Avengers, they feel no threat from Mayor Tom Menino.) First, Dole and Clinton postured righteously in favor of the Internet Decency Act. More recently, they've backed DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act. So it's not a great leap to think that Web sites dispensing information on same-sex marriages -- the union of Dole and Clinton's twin fears -- would be their worst nightmare.

And a quick surf around the Web shows that there is much for Dole and Clinton to fear: there are hundreds of pro-gay marriage sites in cyberspace.

Perhaps the queen of these is the Equal Marriage Rights Homepage (http://www.nether.net/~rod/html/sub/marriage.html), which summarizes countless stories by the press on same-gender marriage. In addition, this site posts the entire text of Baehr v. Miike (the Hawaii case). One excellent feature is a map showing related trends in every state -- a sobering reminder that winning the right to marry involves more than waiting for wedding leis to become readily available.

The epicenter of the same-gender marriage debate is located at The Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project home page (http://www.xq.com/hermp/index.html), which provides an analysis of the legal benefits of marriage, a question-and-answer page, and tips for straight reporters (i.e., use the term `same-gender marriage' over, say, `homosexual marriage,' and note that `lesbians' and `gay men' are, in fact, separate terms). The site is also a fundraising venue: dial (900) 97-MARRY and donate $5 to HERMP. Why not ask five friends to do the same (and ask each of them to ask five more)?

The Human Rights Campaign (http://www.hrcusa.org/whowhat/), the most well-organized political lobbying group of the queer community, enables you to fight the right from the comfort of your office cube. Through this site, you can join action lists that blitz Congress when anti-gay bills are sponsored. The advent of on-line communications means you can no longer claim that you don't have time to help the cause: you can fight in tiny increments of cybertime, i.e., the two minutes you spend on hold listening to Muzak. Maybe it's this aspect of the Internet that rallied Dole and Clinton to support restrictions on the Net.

Conservative support for equal marriage rights can be found at the Log Cabin Club ( http://www.cais.com/logcabin/releases/marriage.html), an organization for gay Republicans. Rich Tafel, executive director of the LCC, skips the legal-fairness approach in favor of a spiritual one: he blames divorce and illegitimacy for the decay of society's "moral and economic well-being," and, to support his argument, he quotes from both the Old and the New Testaments. Although he never fully explains how the advent of gay marriages will yield fewer divorces and fewer unwed mothers, at least he speaks in language that our enemies can understand. Also, check out The NRA and Gay Marriage home page (http://www.pookas.com/col.06-14-96B.html) for an essay on how the full-faith-and-credit clause of the US Constitution -- frequently cited by members of the National Rifle Association as a safeguard of the right to bear arms -- will apply to same-gender couples who get married in Hawaii and expect their home states to recognize the legality of their marriages.

Right-wing opinions on the subject can also be found on the Web, but they're hidden in such innocent sounding sites as The Family Research Council (http://www.cc.org/cc/ca/marriage.html), which warns the faithful that we're coming and offers soothing links to the Christian Coalition home page. This site describes President Clinton as "an outspoken homosexual rights advocate." But the Family Research page is tame compared to that of The Sexual Health Internet Project (http://www.shiproject.com), which contains anti-gay articles and links. One article ranted that it's not gay-bashing to be pro-DOMA, just as it's not racist to call for an end to affirmative action, nor sexist to call for a ban on abortions. From here you can e-mail the project to order a copy of the book When the Wicked Seize the City (you can guess who the wicked are), by Chuck and Donna McIlhenny. Dubbed a "real-life drama showing what can happen to a city taken over by militant homosexuals," this book recounts the tale of poor, beleaguered Chuck McIlhenney, who was sued after he fired a gay organist from his San Francisco church.

The perfect antidote to such poison is Against Gay Marriage (http://www.mediabass.co.nz/agm/against.html), which is actually a list of common anti-gay arguments followed by short, cogent rebuttals. A great snare for haters crawling the Web, this site is bookmark material; a quick-reference pocket version ought to be released for those unexpected chats around the water cooler or the biological-family dinner table.

Other great sites include Raelani and Teri's Handfasting Page (http://www.kaupe.com/hf.html), which includes links to an article from the local gay paper about the lesbian couple's commitment ceremony, the script for the ceremony, copies of the invitation and wedding announcement, and a photo of the happy couple. Order wedding invitations from the Sacred Rainbow Home Pages (http://www.gaypride. com/rainbow/) and participate in an on-line survey about attitudes toward same-gender marriage. And don't miss the comprehensive Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples (http://eskimo.com/~demian/toc.html), which includes a list of benefits received by heterosexual married couples and an estimate of the amount of money lost by an average gay and lesbian couple not given the Social Security, health, disability, and pension benefits that straight couples are given. This site also links to a photo gallery showing committed queer couples, and provides instructions on how to send in pics of you and your beloved.

More on same-sex marriage: One down, 49 to go? | Back to the future | Who's backing DOMA? | Webbed Bliss | Bad for business