Louisiana

Judge throws out gay marriage ban

A state judge Tuesday threw out a Louisiana constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, less than three weeks after it was overwhelmingly approved by the voters.

District Judge William Morvant said the amendment was flawed as drawn up by the Legislature because it had more than one purpose: banning not only gay marriage but also civil unions.

The courts had rejected a similar argument before the Sept. 18 election, saying it was premature.

Michael Johnson, an attorney for supporters of the amendment, said he would appeal the ruling.

Some 78 percent of those voting favored the amendment. The vote was part of a national backlash against gay marriage, which followed last year’s Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling allowing gay couples to wed.

Washington, D.C.

Poll finds widespread distrust of Muslims

One in four Americans holds a negative stereotype of Muslims, and almost one-third respond with a negative image when they hear the word “Muslim,” according to a new national poll commissioned by a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group.

Officials with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sponsored the survey of 1,000 people, called the findings alarming. Although the organization was aware that hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims had increased since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, “we did not know (anti-Islamic sentiment) was that deep,” the council’s executive director, Nihad Awad, said this week at a news conference.

The violence in Iraq, including the beheadings of hostages by Muslim radicals, might be fueling the negative attitudes, Awad said.

California

Space competition becomes annual rite

Hoping to build on the momentum sparked by a private rocket plane’s dash into space, supporters of opening the heavens to civilians are turning the winner-take-all race into an annual competition that might further fuel imaginations.

The privately owned SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Monday in Mojave by blasting into space for the second time in five days, a feat considered the first stepping-stone in the direction of public spaceflight.

The X Prize, offered to the first team to get into space twice in a 14-day span, will now evolve into a regular competition called the X Prize Cup. In May, organizers selected New Mexico to permanently play host to the X Prize Cup.

The first X Prize Cup will take place in 2005-06. Teams will compete in five different categories to win the overall cup: Fastest turnaround time between the first launch and second landing, maximum number of passengers per launch, total number of passengers during the competition, maximum altitude and fastest flight time.