A small minority of the U.S. population that is homosexual continues to wield undue influence on American law and the U.S. economy. Minutes after the state's so-called "civil union legislation" took effect, two women in the small southern Vermont town of Brattleboro stood before a justice of the peace. Justice T. Hunter Wilson pronounced, "By the powers vested in me by the state of Vermont, I join you in civil union."

Reuter's headlined it as "U.S. Gays Tie Historic Knot in Midnight Marriage." So much for the careful crafting that Vermont legislators put into the law to avoid lending its approval to same-sex marriages. Encouraged by the Green Mountain lawmakers, a gay New York state senator is drafting a bill similar to the Vermont civil union law. Openly gay Rhode Island legislator Michael Pisaturo is intent on leading his state to expand marriage law to include homosexual couples.

Reuter's coverage of the Brattleboro union reads like a society page piece report on a wedding, giving detailed descriptions of what each of the women wore.

In a related story, Subaru launched an ad campaign that targets the homosexual market. The slogan-"It's not a choice. It's the way we're built"-would not necessarily catch the ear of the uninitiated. But it was carefully worded to market the Subaru product to homosexuals. One of the ad campaign's developers explained that it's apparent to gay people, while straight people would not know what's going on.

"Subaru has become so successful at attracting gay customers that some drivers consider themselves members of a 'club,' in which fellow Subaru owners share an implied message in their cars' brand," reports Kimberly Palmer of The Washington Post. The CEO of a gay marketing firm said, "We call [Subarus] Lesbarus" (ibid.).

To appeal to the gay community, Subaru contracted with tennis great Martina Navratilova, a lesbian activist, to pitch their product.

In another related story, in the name of "fairness," the city of Phoenix, Arizona, recently decided to extend the benefits it provides to its married employees to those employees in same-sex unions-a small minority of its workforce. The central Arizona county of Maricopa quickly followed with an announcement that it is considering doing the same for its employees. (AP, Reuter's, The Washington Post, The Arizona Republic.)