Miami gays, lesbians celebrate weddings
MIAMI – Lesbian and gay couples were wed in Miami on Monday by the same judge who approved their marriage licenses, hours before Florida’s coming-out party as the nation’s 36th state where same-sex marriages are now legal statewide.
The addition of Florida’s 19.9 million people means 70 percent of Americans now live in states where gay marriage is legal.
The cheers in the courthouse reflect how much of the nation’s third-largest state has changed since the 1970s, when Anita Bryant, the former beauty pageant queen and orange juice spokeswoman, started her national campaign against gay rights in Miami.
Although same-sex marriage is now reality in Florida, Attorney General Pam Bondi is still pursuing appeals at both the federal and state levels. Her position – shared by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, now considering a Republican run for president – has been that marriage should be defined by each state.
2 men attempt Yosemite climb
SAN FRANCISCO – Two men are roughly halfway through what has been called the hardest rock climb in the world: a free climb of a half-mile section of exposed granite in California’s Yosemite National Park.
Tom Evans, a climber and photographer, has been chronicling Kevin Jorgeson. 30, of Santa Rosa, California, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, of Estes Park, Colorado, as they scale their way using only their hands and feet.
El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world, rises more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor.
The men eat, stretch and sleep in hanging tents suspended to El Capitan’s Dawn Wall. They don’t have the creature comforts of home, but they have kept in touch with the outside world thanks to social media – tweeting, posting on Facebook, feeding information for blogs and keeping in touch with a bevy of supporters on the ground.
If all goes as planned, the duo could be at the top as soon as Friday or Saturday, Lowell said.
Associated Press
