A clear majority of women, 60 per cent, are opposed to tax individualisation, according to an Irish Times/Behaviour and Attitudes poll released on Saturday. The poll showed that 14 per cent of women were extremely concerned about the issue, 24 per cent were very concerned, while 24 per cent were somewhat concerned.

The US state of New Jersey has stripped the Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association of its tax-exempt status for part of its property, it was announced last week. The Methodist camp made the news earlier this year after it refused, for religious reasons, to allow a lesbian couple to hold a "civil-union" ceremony at a pavilion on the camp's property.

Schools operating Catholics-first enrolment policies are not breaking the law, according to legal advice received by the Catholic Primary School Managers Association (CPSMA). The body says that Catholic schools are in compliance with both Irish and European equality legislation.

Almost half (42 per cent) of women work outside the home work because of economic necessity, and not choice, according to a new Irish Times poll. More than half, 53 per cent, did work out of choice. However, it is not known what proportion of each figure consists of women with dependent children.

A lesbian mother in Australia is battling to stop the gay father of her child from having his homosexual lover declared one of the child’s parents.

The highest court in the US state of Maryland has upheld a 34-year-old state law banning same-sex marriage, rejecting an attempt by 19 gay men and lesbians to win the right to marry. The decision reversed an earlier ruling by a lower court.

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that limiting marriage to a man and a woman does not discriminate against gay couples or deny them constitutional rights. The judges said the prohibition on same-sex marriage promotes the state's interest in heterosexual marriage as a means of having and protecting children.

The decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because the lawsuit relied solely on state law.

The ruling is a major setback for same sex activists, who thought the Maryland court -- considered liberal on social issues -- was their best chance at victory in the nationwide movement to win marital rights.

The state law was defended by the office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. Spokeswoman Raquel Guillory said the office thinks the judges "reached the correct legal conclusion," adding that they were "also correct in recognising that it is now up to the General Assembly to decide whether same-sex couples should be given the right to form civil unions or to marry."

Massachusetts is now the only US state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but nine others, including New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire, have approved civil unions or legal protections in recent years in response to court rulings or political pressure. Washington D.C. and several local governments allow gay couples to formalise their relationships through domestic partnership, which offers some of the rights of marriage.

The battle is now set to move to the state legislature, with gay marriage advocates sponsoring bills to legalize same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, those campaigning to safeguard traditional marriage are proposing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The ruling follows recent decisions in New York, Washington state and California that dismissed gay couples' claims to marriage and its legal rights.

"We're happy that still another court has found that the definition of marriage is placed in the hands of the legislature, not in the hands of judges," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, which opposes same-sex marriage. Nineteen states, including Virginia, have enacted constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.

The Maryland Catholic Conference and some local religious leaders also applauded the decision. "Our argument is not against gays," said Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., pastor of Hope Christian Church in Lanham and leader of a conservative group of black pastors. "It is to protect marriage."

The ruling ends a legal process which began in 2004, when the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of nine same-sex couples. Baltimore Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled for the plaintiffs in January 2006, affirming Maryland's 1973 law as discriminatory and unable to "withstand constitutional challenge." She relied on a 1967 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down bans on interracial marriages.

The appeals court majority acknowledged that gay couples can be suitable parents but gave weight to the state's argument that preserving the legal definition of marriage encourages childbearing in households made up of a father and mother. "Marriage enjoys its fundamental status due, in large part, to its link to procreation," the majority wrote.

Some lawyers said yesterday that the plaintiffs probably would have fared better if they had filed the suit later. Two of the judges in the majority, who are viewed as among the most conservative on the court, have retired since the case began and are widely expected to be replaced by O'Malley with more liberal judges. Retired judges are often permitted to continue hearing cases until their replacements are named.

More than half of Americans who might have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversaries since 2000 were divorced, separated or widowed before reaching that milestone, according to the latest US census data, released last week.

The proposed referendum on children's rights may be held next year, even thought there is still no agreement on the controversial topic of the age of sexual consent, the Taoiseach has said. Mr Ahern said the referendum could be held on the same day as a vote to ratify the new European Union treaty.

The Irish Government has filed arguments with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in support of the UK government against a pair of elderly spinsters who are challenging the UK's tax inheritance rules.

The unmarried father who is seeking the return of his twin boys to Ireland has won an Irish court order declaring that their removal from Ireland was unlawful. The boys, both two, were taken out of Ireland in January by their mother, without the father's consent or knowledge. The man, known as Mr G, is hoping to have them returned to the State by the end of the month.

Faith groups are lining up with the UK Government to argue that religious schools make a positive contribution to community cohesion in England. A joint statement, from groups representing the five faith groups in the state sector, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu and the Government, said that faith schools were "valuable, engaged partners" in education and in the wider society.

A new family research body, with 20 full-time staff and and PhD students, has been launched today by President Mary McAleese. The Child and Family Research Centre says it aims to “improve outcomes for children and their families and advance practice and policy in Ireland”.

Educate Together, a group promoting multi-denominational education, has backed Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in the row over school places in Dublin. Paul Rowe, a spokesman for the group said that the Catholic enrollment policy was not responsible for the acute shortage of school places in parts of north county Dublin.

Fathers who do not live with their children are to get more equal access to them, Social and Family Affairs Minister Martin Cullen has promised. A growing number of fathers are reporting problems with establishing relationships with their children because of lack of visitation rights.

Poor planning by State agencies, not Church enrolment policy, is to blame for the shortage of school places in north and west Dublin, according to Dr Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin.

Polk County in Iowa is to appeal against a lower court ruling that the state's ban on same sex marriage is unconstitutional. Judge Robert Hanson ruled last Thursday that the ban, passed by legislature in 1998, breached the due process and equal treatment provisions of the state's constitution.

Irish farmers fear losing their farms in the wake of divorce. A new poll by Macra na Feirme, an organisation representing young farmers, has revealed that a massive 80 per cent of farmers believe that prenuptial agreements should be recognised in Ireland.

People who think about God are three times as generous as those who do not, according to psychology researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In a study to be published in next month's issue of Psychological Science Journal, researchers investigated how thinking about God and notions of a higher power influenced positive social behaviour. Specifically, the researchers looked at cooperation with others and generosity to strangers.

The number of divorces in the UK is at its lowest for 22-years, according to statistics that suggest that married couples don't see it is a quick fix any longer.

The Supreme Court in the US state of Maine has opened the way for gay adoption. On Thursday it overturned a lower court decision and allowed a lesbian couple to adopt two siblings who were their foster children. And in Colorado, a lesbian couple have become the first to avail of the state's new law allowing gay couples to adopt.