Religious Left

Unfortunately, it would seem, the Separation of Church and State in Australia is a bit blurred. In NSW (New South Wales) the educational system includes SRE (Special Religious Education). The option to Opt-Out is available, however, the student will not receive any alternative course! They will do nothing for that time and receive no credits. At the plea of parents a test program was put in place. A select group of schools in the test program offered a new 'ethics course' for students who selected to opt-out of the SRE course. A vocal religious element are claiming this will be the end of SRE. I'm sure some are claiming morality will suffer and decline. Some of us may find it quite odd that the SRE course even exist. But information shows, in Australia, the church used to do all the teaching. When the government took over the job, part of the agreement they made with the church was to provide SRE. The final decision has not yet been made regarding this issue. Fo...

In many cases, religion is about control. What's happening in Australia provides proof. Recently Australia voted in an openly atheist Prime Minister (head of state). Her name is Julia Gillard and she has honestly and openly stated she is atheist. Now we hear the Catholic Archbishop in Perth, Australia, Barry Hickey, from the pulpit, stating "her atheism might influence Christian voters not to vote Labor at this month's federal election." You see, Julia Gillard is a member of the Labor Party in Australia. So this statement by the Catholic Archbishop in Perth, as some see it, is clearly stating anyone who votes for a Labor Party candidate is supporting atheism. full story www.GayTalkRadio.org a 24/7 LGBTQIA Licensed Independent Internet Radio Station. Visit, Listen, Support and become involved.

Recently we heard about a Chicago teacher using the term "Black Fag" in his daily lesson plan. Now we hear about a Australian "volunteer teacher" telling a 11th grade student “Faggot Kid! You don’t know what real marriage is!” The student, Jimmy Y from Glen Waverly Secondary College had been putting up posters all week for the upcoming Equal Love Rally, a gay protest for equal rights in Victoria on November 28. According to Jimmy the posters kept getting ripped down. The culprit was finally caught in the school library, and found to be a teacher. When confronted about posters, the teacher (whose real name is ironically Mr Right) turned around and shouted at the student, “Faggot Kid! You don’t know what real marriage is!” The hard working folks at Same Same spoke with the school principal. Mr Schiller, in part, said “Mr Right is an older gentleman with values coloured by a very different time and perhaps religious beliefs too. Not that it makes his actions excusabl...

1/26/2009 - 1 hr GayTalk at 9 AM (PST). Call in during the live show (347) 237-5246 otherwise call voicemail at (360) 283-5052 or send me email tom@2015Place.com . Today we will talk about Star Trek: Phase II, Tom Hanks appology, EightMaps.com, Ted Haggard and more. Click here to listen. I have started a new project to create a dedicated LGBT Channel/Station. To hear more about this, click here . Donations and or sponsors are welcome. Please click here to donate. All the best to you and yours.

by Glenis Green Courier Mail, Australia GYMPIE gun lobbyist and former councillor Ron Owen has been ordered to pay a group of lesbians $12,500 in an Anti-Discrimination Tribunal decision. He has been told he must also also issue a public statement acknowledging he offended the town's homosexual community. The tribunal ruled he is entitled to express his homophobic views, but he went too far with the bumper sticker: "Gay Rights? Under God's law the only rights gays have is the right to die." Mr Owen was also ordered to publish a statement in the Gympie Times within 45 days stating that the tribunal had found he contravened the Anti-Discrimination Act by displaying a bumper sticker on a vehicle, publishing a report to the Cooloola Shire Council, making a comment in an interview broadcast on television and publishing a letter on a website - all of which incited hatred, serious contempt for or severe ridicule of homosexuals. He also has to acknowledge his conduct was un...

JTA News A same-sex commitment ceremony was held in a synagogue in Sydney, an Australian first. Scott Whitmont, 47, and Christopher Whitmont-Stein, 38, stood under a chupah at the Emanuel Synagogue Sunday in front of about 75 guests. The pair, who had a secular commitment ceremony six years ago, exchanged rings, smashed a glass and walked around each other 3 1/2 times. The celebration follows a decision in May 2007 by the Council of Progressive Rabbis of Asia, Australia and New Zealand to allow its rabbis to officiate at same-sex commitment ceremonies. full article

by Linda Morris, Religious Affairs Writer The Sydney Morning Herald THE Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, is helping to organise a breakaway faction of the global Anglican Church that is opposed to same-sex blessings and the consecration of gay clergy from his diocesan headquarters at St Andrews House. The controversial move has angered moderates in the Australian church. The postbox address for the Sydney diocese and its bishops is the central contact point for the movement that emerged from a meeting of more than 1000 Anglican conservatives in Jerusalem last month. full article

By On Top Magazine Staff A coalition of groups – including atheist and gay groups – rallied in Sydney, Australia against Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday. The NoToPope Coalition says Pope Benedict XVI's stand against homosexuality makes him “chief homophobe.” The group also believes the Pope's views on abortion and contraception are unacceptable. Earlier in the week, the coalition was facing a serious threat to their plans as a new ordinance banned anyone from “annoying” the pilgrims. However, a federal court agreed with the protesters right to free speech, striking down the ban. full article

by NIGEL HUNT The Advertiser, Sunday Mail SOUTH Australia's largest community radio station will accept two Catholic Church awards despite controversy The awards are for two programs that highlight the problems confronting ageing gay people and women with HIV. The Sunday Mail last week revealed Radio Adelaide entered the programs in the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Annual Media Citations, but despite being judged as winner and runner-up in the radio category by respected journalist Murray Nicoll, both were rejected by a church official. The decision, made without consulting senior members of the Adelaide Archdiocese, was reversed last week following inquiries by the Sunday Mail . full article

by Harley Dennett Sydney Star Observer Homosexuality as an intolerable sin was not a doctrine of Christianity, the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled last month, because there were many dissenting views on the subject among Christian groups generally, and specifically within the Uniting Church. As long as gay-friendly congregations like Metropolitan Community Church exist, this ruling means Christian organisations don’t have a license to legally discriminate against gays, Brisbane lawyer Stephen Page said. full article

State schools in Victoria must allow gay students to bring their partners to formals and functions, the State Government has said. The directive comes after a Year 12 student at an Anglican school in Brisbane was outraged after his request on behalf of eight classmates at the all boys' school to bring their partners to a formal was met with a lukewarm response. The boy claimed the school told him it might change regulations requiring formal partners be of the opposite sex if it was done with a minimum of fuss. He and his friends are now likely to boycott the event, claiming they have been discriminated against. A Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Devlopment spokeswoman told News Limited that schools were not allowed to disrciminate against gay students. full article

One of Australia's top private schools says it is happy for its students to bring gay partners to the end-of year formal following news that a leading Brisbane school will enforce a ban on the practice. Scotch College in Adelaide said it had no restrictions on students who want to take same-sex partners to college events and they support openly gay students. Deputy principal Craig Rogers said the school promotes student freedoms and the students themselves are very supportive of same sex couples. "We've had students who are openly gay and it hasn't had an effect on their happiness in the school," he said "It's a non-issue to be honest." However, headmaster Mark Merry from Marcellin College in Melbourne said the boys school expects students to bring a female guest or come alone. "We would expect that it would be a female guest, being a boys school and we invite females for a gender balance," he said. Mr Merry said the school would not allow ...

One of Brisbane's most prestigious all-boy schools says its willing to debate a ban on gay students taking same-sex partners instead of girls to the senior formal. The Anglican Church Grammar School, or Churchie, was in defence mode after it emerged several Year 12 students wanted to take their gay partners to the college's end-of year dance on June 19. Under current policy, the young men may only attend the ball with a female partner. A spokesman for Queensland's Catholic Education Commission confirmed it also would not allow gay couples to attend their school formals. full article

A SENIOR minister of a Sydney Anglican parish has made an extraordinary attack on the High Court judge Michael Kirby, warning he would face the wrath of God if he remained unrepentant as a gay man. The rector of St Stephen's Church in Bellevue Hill, the Reverend Richard Lane, denounced the judge for calling himself a Christian Anglican while living in an openly gay relationship and warned as a "messenger, watchman and steward of the Lord in the Anglican Church of Australia", he faced God's judgment. Mr Lane proposed circulating the written exchange with fellow clergy to ask the question: "Am I wrong?" Justice Kirby has agreed to this. In reply he argued Mr Lane's interpretation of biblical injunctions against homosexuality was not a universal one, and the biblical quotations used were unreliable mid-19th century translations. Mr Lane appeared to have turned a blind eye to the "central loving message of Jesus of the gospels". "To defy moder...

High Court Justice Michael Kirby says gay people deserve an apology for past sodomy laws. The man last year voted Australia’s most influential homosexual also revealed he had received “nasty letters” from Sydney Anglican clergy calling on him to leave his partner, seek ex-gay therapy and stop calling himself an Anglican because he doesn’t abide by Leviticus. Kirby said the prospect of facing charges under the then NSW sodomy laws was never a concern for him. “It was only criminal if you did anything about it. We knew nobody would get prosecuted unless, as a result of blackmail, it came to public attention,” he said. “My own view is, it’s a bit like saying Nelson Mandela didn’t have his pass, and that was a very serious criminal offence, so why doesn’t he apologise? Well people should be apologising to me for oppressing me and others who were being oppressed by these silly laws.” full article

James C. Dobson and his right winged "Focus on the Family" have been touting their "scientific study" regarding Gay Reparative/Conversion Therapy. The study has been debunked as junk science. As if that isn't enough, it's been a bit of a rocky road for them: Chris Austin, a preacher with Renew Ministries, received seven years’ probation John Paulk, board chair for Exodus International was photographed in a gay bar Ex-gay therapist and leaders in Australia denounced the therapy Of course they never mention the "therapy" has driven people to suicide.

While the bible passage Leviticus 20:13 advocates the killing of queers, there are other stories in the bible that feature what might be gay and lesbian love affairs. So says Reverend Heather Creighton of the Metropolitan Church in Burnley, a Melbourne chapter of an international queer-friendly church network that began in California in 1968. “To keep out of people’s bedrooms,” is the message that Heather would like to send out to the elements of the mainstream church that advocates homophobia. “There are homosexual stories in the bible, if you really want to look at them,” she suggests. “The love between Ruth and Naomi and the love between David and Jonathan. If you look a bit closer at the story of the Centurian, his servant could possibly be viewed as a homosexual too,” she says, adding “but I wouldn’t want to go there.” She is but one voice in a worldwide chorus of Christians who insist that Jesus never said anything forbidding about homosexuality; that it is the words and agendas...