Soulforce makes Easter plans
Soulforce and other homosexual rights advocates are planning to make a statement in Washington this spring by lining up 1,000 “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender” families to participate in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which has been a favorite among children since the Civil War.
“The media will be there (they are always there for the egg roll) and millions of Americans – many for the first time – will meet our families,” Soulforce said in an e-mail to its supporters. “This is an amazing opportunity to reach homes in blue states and red states with positive images of our families participating in this great American family tradition.
“This event will be like nothing anyone has ever seen before,” Soulforce said. “The White House lawn – the Bush White House lawn – will, quite unexpectedly, be filled with gay and lesbian families. This is something people will be talking about for a long time, an event that will make history!”
More than just blending in, Soulforce and their fellow activists plan to wear coordinating T-shirts to identify them as homosexual families.
Poker craze sweeps nation
Poker has become so commonplace in America within the past five years that many people forget it’s illegal in various situations. With shows such as “Celebrity Poker Showdown” and a vast array of available games on the Internet, a “royal flush” is becoming as familiar a sports phrase as a “Hail Mary,” USA Today said Jan. 18.
But as the card game grows in popularity, law enforcement officials are taking extra measures to ensure it stays within the legal bounds, which means folks who run poker games for profit are at risk of getting arrested. But a game of poker among family and friends at home is okay, according to the law.
“There are different sets of laws for players as opposed to operators,” Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif., and an expert on gambling laws, told USA Today. “Most of the time, players are not breaking the law. Most of the time, the operators, if they are running it for profit … are.”
Poker has become so popular in America that many people may not realize they’re breaking the law, USA Today noted, including a business group in San Jose that had planned to host a poker tournament in order to raise money for a library and was warned it would be illegal.
Eminent domain lurks over church
It could be a matter of time until a 2005 Supreme Court ruling forces people out of their pews to make way for a Wal-Mart Supercenter or another such retail giant, at least if a particular situation in Oklahoma is any indication.
Centennial Baptist Church in Sand Springs, Okla. – not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention – is at the center of a land dispute because it is located in an industrial hub west of Tulsa, where the city plans to move ahead with a redevelopment plan to clear the church and other occupants from the area to make room for retail stores, according to The New York Times Jan. 23.
If the city and the church cannot agree on a selling price for the property, the city, under the Supreme Court ruling, could use eminent domain to acquire the property and then sell it to developers.
In response to the court’s ruling on eminent domain, BB&T Corporation, which owns banks along the East Coast and in the Southeast, announced Jan. 25 it will not lend to commercial developers that plan to build condominiums, shopping malls and other private projects on land taken from private citizens by government entities using eminent domain.