Gay Weddings

COMEDIAN Margaret Cho is back on TV. Her slightly scripted reality program "The Cho Show," costarring her parents and pals, premiered Thursday on VH1 and runs for seven episodes. P.S. She thinks it'll be back for a second season. How's New York treating you? Good! I've been here now for just two days and just done a ton of press and, you know, trying to promote the show. . . . I really want people to see it, I think it's really good. I want the show to go on 'cause I think my parents, it gives them a whole new life, and they're older and we don't get to spend a lot of time together.

Jessica Clark and Natalie Vacha started planning their wedding as soon as the state Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. The Lancaster couple decided to splurge on a bash for their summer nuptial, complete with handmade bridesmaid dresses from red to purple and a seven-layer rainbow cake. It was Clark's job to book a florist. She scanned the Lancaster yellow pages and put in an order for bouquets made from rainbow frosted roses. But the florist declined.

With same-sex marriage now legal in California, people of faith are renewing a passionate debate over whether homosexuality is sanctioned by God. Christians, Jews and Muslims on both sides of the issue cite the holy writings of their religions. Some note that the Bible depicts man-lying-with-man as an "abomination," while others say it speaks of God's love for all people created in his image. Both sides defend their positions with the zeal of the biblical warriors who inhabit their scriptures.

I haven't visited Bakersfield in a while, so I didn't have any inkling that the capital city of Kern County had turned into the West Hollywood of the Central Valley, a madcap gay mecca right there in the breadbasket of the Golden State. It must have, though, because Kern County's auditor-controller-clerk, Ann Barnett, has decided that, after Friday, she'll be locking the doors of the county's two civil wedding chapels. As she puts it, once same-sex couples can legally tie the knot in California, "we will not have the staff or space to deal with an increase in both licenses and ceremonies."

The mayor of a tiny Aegean Sea island was charged with breach of duty after conducting Greece's first same-sex marriage ceremonies in defiance of a prosecutor's order designating such nuptials as illegal. Mayor Tasos Aliferis of Tilos held the civil ceremonies for a gay couple and a lesbian couple shortly after dawn, provoking the wrath of conservative church officials and the country's justice minister. "This is a huge step forward for human rights in Greece," said Evangelia Vlami, one of the newlyweds.

Forget economic stimulus checks. Same-sex marriages may give California just the financial boost it needs. Wedding planners, bakers and hotels began booking more business almost immediately after the state Supreme Court's May 15 decision overturning a ban on gay marriage. Citing pent-up demand, one UCLA study projects that same-sex unions could provide a $370-million shot in the arm to the state economy over the next three years.

Walt Disney Co. has changed its policy to allow same-sex couples to participate in a popular Fairy Tale Wedding program it runs mainly at its two U.S. resorts and on its cruise line, a Disney spokesman said Thursday.

He's no celebrity, but when Phillip McKee III tied the knot in September, he did it with all the pomp and circumstance of an A-lister: custom-designed gold rings, a $2,000 kilt and a caviar-and-crepe reception at a five-star hotel. McKee, 34, sank some $60,000 into his Scottish-themed nuptials, worth it he says for the chance to stand before a minister and be pronounced husband -- and husband.

A breezy romantic farce bouncing lightly off a singular historical moment, Manuel Gomez Pereira's "Queens" takes place in the days leading up to Spain's first legal gay wedding. (Spain was the fourth country to legalize gay marriage, a little over a year ago.) The title is a play on words; the story centers around three young gay couples who plan to marry in a televised ceremony for 20. But the "queens" of the title are four of their formidable mothers.

The New Brunswick Theological Seminary has ousted its president and reprimanded him for officiating at his gay daughter's wedding. The Rev. Norman Kansfield, 64, of the Reformed Church of America performed the ceremony in Massachusetts, which last year became the first state to sanction same-sex marriage. He could face a church trial later this year.