From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Same-sex marriage, the law, religion, and politics.

Hello again, I'm Aronaldi, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most. Only four states have legalized same-sex marriage, and it's pending in just a handful of

others. 40 states limit marriage to a man and a woman. But public opinion supports civil unions

for gays and lesbians, and voters aged 18 to 45, are favorably inclined toward homosexual rights. Does the constitutional

guarantee of equal treatment include same-sex marriage? Are religions free to discriminate as they

choose? How does the issue work for and against Democrats and Republicans? On reporters'

notebook later on, torture and war, what's the difference? First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation, the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, dedicated to the

idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. Information at

Gates Foundation.org. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Same-sex marriage

has been legalized in four states and proposed in several others, but it's a long way from becoming a U.S. institution. We'll talk about constitutional rights, religious objections, and political calculations. On reporters' notebook, the horrors of war and the intimate brutality of torture is one worse than the other. First, this news update in Switzerland at today's

UN conference on racism, delegates walked out of a speech by Iran's president

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They were protesting his characterization of Israel's government as

racist. Laura McKinnis is in Geneva for Reuters. And Laura, good to have you on our program.

Thanks for having me. Tell us what he said have you on our program. Thanks for having me.

Tell us what he said and what the reaction was.

Yeah, well, the Iranian president took the floor today to a conference at which the U.S.

and seven other Western states did not participate.

He was the only head of state to be there, and therefore had quite a strong audience,

...