SAN FRANCISCO -- The first federal trial to determine if the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from outlawing same-sex marriage gets under way in San Francisco on Monday, and the two gay couples on whose behalf the case was brought will be among the first witnesses.

The proceedings, which are expected to last two to three weeks, involve a challenge to Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban approved by California voters in November 2008...

(CNSNews.com) – A Catholic church in San Francisco was recently vandalized apparently by pro-homosexual marriage activists, and part of the blame for the damage rests with Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, according to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

“This was not an isolated event in terms of how San Francisco treats Catholics,” Susan A. Fani, communications director for the Catholic League, told CNSNews.com. “For a city that’s very open and into diversity, we find that it is a hostile atmosphere for Catholicism”...