BRIEF: Gay couple to talk on marriage rights

Gay rights activists Craig Dean and Patrick Gill are trying to change that. Currently, they are jointly suing the District of Columbia for refusing them a marriage license. Tomorrow, along with two other speakers, Dean and Gill will participate in a "Legal Issues Seminar" sponsored by the University's Lesbian and Gay Graduate and Professional Students Association. If they win their case, which was filed in Washington, D.C. Superior Court last year, Dean and Gill will be the first married same-sex couple in the U.S. Currently, same-sex couples can be legally married only in Denmark. The couple has recently appeared on a variety of nationally televised talk programs, including the Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue shows, making their civil rights case known across the country. Yet Gill and Dean contend that the law prohibits only polygamists and incestuous partnerships from obtaining marriage licenses and says nothing about the gender of the couple. Also speaking will be University alumnus Michael Greenberg, a family law attorney. Rosalie Davis, a local Philadelphia attorney and coordinator of Custody Action for Lesbian Mothers, will address the legal issues of adoption for same-sex couples. The seminar will begin at 6:30 in the second floor Penniman Library of Bennett Hall and is free to the general public. -- Jodi Bromberg

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