One of four children in a family that earns a pittance rolling bidis, or cheap handrolled Indian cigarettes, her elder sister was married off young and forced to bear children before she turned 18, the legal Indian marrying age.

"A vote did not take place. They are negotiating," a spokeswoman for the assembly's upper house, the State Senate, told AFP.

Gay activists have the support of Paterson who has previously attempted to pressure the Senate to act on the legislation already approved by the Assembly.

Referendum 71 expands a 2007 domestic partnership law for a second time, granting gay and lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage. The law, dubbed the “everything but marriage” law by the media, was approved by lawmakers in the spring.

The Provo, Utah-based company, which is the world's largest online resource for birth certificates and marriage records, priced the shares at $13.50 each late Wednesday — the midpoint of its expected $12.50 to $14.50 range. Underwriters are being offered up to an additional 1.1 million shares to cover overallotments, which would boost total proceeds to nearly $115 million.

In a hearing without the jury in the trial of 38-year-old Raymond Jessop, District Judge Barbara Walther ordered that several documents demonstrating his multiple marriages be redacted to show jurors only information about the alleged victim.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan the backlash to a gay protections ordinance was so strong lawmakers were forced to rescind the law and ultimately put it up for a vote. Voters in Maine are the first to be asked to uphold – or reject – a gay marriage law approved by lawmakers in the spring. And whether a gay-inclusive domestic partnership law gets rolled back in Washington State will be decided on Tuesday by voters.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sued the federal government in July on behalf of the 16,000 gay and lesbian couples who have legally wed in Massachusetts since the state legalized gay nuptials in 2004. The suit challenges section 3 of the 13-year-old law, which defines marriage as a heterosexual union for federal agencies. Section 3 denies gay and lesbian couples federal benefits such as federal income tax credits, employment and retirement benefits, health insurance overage, and Social Security payments.

Last week's decision by the Lutheran Church of Sweden to bless gay marriages stunned most the religious world; an overwhelming majority (70%) of church leaders agreed. Gay couples may marry in its congregations from November 1. Pastors, however, were given the discretion to refuse to bless a marriage.

The mayor, known nationally for his fight for gay marriage, was lagging in recent polls behind fellow Democrat Jerry Brown, a former governor and the current state attorney general.

“The time has come to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),” Specter said in a 'Huffington Post' editorial published Tuesday. “Enacted 13 years ago when the idea of same sex marriage was struggling for acceptance, the Act is a relic of a more tradition-bound time and culture.”

Speaking Thursday at a gay rights fundraiser, Paterson said he would put the issue on the agenda for a special session within weeks.

Kennedy's ruling Monday temporarily blocks a federal appeals court ruling last week that ordered the release of the names. Kennedy said his order would remain in effect while he considers a request by a group, Protect Marriage Washington, to reverse the appeals court ruling.

Carcieri told the group that marriage is “not a civil right.”

Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in the southeastern part of the state, refused to issue a marriage license earlier this month to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black. His refusal has prompted calls for an investigation or resignation from civil and constitutional rights groups and the state's Legislative Black Caucus.

Attorney General Janet Mills released a statement Thursday dismissing the claims of proponents of Question 1. If adopted on November 3, the referendum would repeal the state's gay marriage law approved by lawmakers in the spring.

Attorneys representing ProtectMarriage.com urged Walker to dismiss the challenge because Proposition 8 does not violate the U.S. Constitution. They argued that the state's restriction of marriage to heterosexual couples fosters procreation. Proposition 8, they said, does not discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.

The Pan Atlantic SMS Group's Omnibus Poll shows Question 1, the November 3 ballot question that would repeal gay marriage in the Pine State, failing. The survey found that the measure is trailing 52- to 43%.

California, a cultural trendsetter for the United States, banned same-sex marriages in a vote last November that ended gay unions only months after a state court legalized them.

US District Judge Vaughn Walker rejected a bid to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the federal courts are the proper place to decide whether the ban on same-sex marriage discriminates against gays and lesbians.

Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill) and his much younger Colombian wife, Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Vergara), are raising Gloria's child from her previous marriage, Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez).

The group, called NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality, also reported that it has spent $2.2 million on its campaign to preserve the law.

On Nov. 3, Maine voters will become the first in any state with the chance to repeal or uphold a law passed by their Legislature and signed by their governor, legalizing same-sex marriage. The outcome is considered too close to call, and the race is galvanizing activists on both sides of the issue across the country.

In "Wishful Drinking," running at New York's Studio 54 through January 3, the actress-writer relates in alternately harrowing and hilarious fashion her pedigree as the offspring of two major show business stars; her addictions to booze and drugs; her failed marriages to singer Paul Simon and Hollywood agent Bryan Lourd, the latter of whom left her for another man; her struggles with bipolar disorder; her best friend's dying in her bed while she was sleeping next to him; and, of course, her iconic role as Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy.

Dallas District Judge Tena Callahan said in the ruling that her court "has jurisdiction to hear a suit for divorce filed by persons legally married in another jurisdiction and who meet the residency and other prerequisites required to file for divorce in Dallas County, Texas."