Religious Left

President-elect Barack Obama made a lot of promises to the GLBTQIA community while on the campaign trail. We have to make sure he follows through. What better way to do it than to send him a friendly little reminder? The good folks over at www.civilrightsfront.com have come up with a wonderful idea. Postcards Get a postcard by either buying one or obtaining a free one at many retail establishments. Address it: President-elect Barack Obama Presidential Transition Office Kluczynski Federal Building 230 S. Dearborn St., 38th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 The first step of obtaining federally mandated marriage equality for our community is the repeal of D.O.M.A. (the Defense Of Marriage Act). So it would be best to put this message on your postcard: Dear President-elect Obama, Please ask Congress to repeal D.O.M.A.! All Americans should have the right to marry. Thank you in advance for advocating for the civil rights of your GLBTQIA citizens. Don't forget to sign your name because nothing i...

BBC News A vicar in Gwynedd has been reprimanded by the Archbishop of Wales for blessing a gay civil partnership between two women. The service was conducted by the Reverend Jim Cotter at St Hywyn's Church in Aberdaron, with the approval of the local church council. A complaint was made to the Archbishop who wrote to the Rev Cotter telling him he had exceeded his authority. The vicar said he had been given approval by the local church council to carry out the ceremony in July, and he was not aware of any opposition locally. full article

I applaud Rev. Bruce McDaniel who wrote an opinion piece in the Toledo Blade regarding gay couples. In his recent letter to the editor, the Rev. Russ Merrin stated that "churches promoting being open to gays have lost their way." Today, there are a growing number of churches that have joined the "welcoming church" movement, and yet there are also churches that exclude persons who are in same-gender committed relationships. Pastors such as Mr. Merrin and I simply disagree on the question of whether or not being in a committed same-gender relationship is, in itself, sin. The church universal is also divided on this issue. Mr. Merrin and I, like our country, are divided on the issue of GLBT persons, and whether they can be in committed same-gender relationships and living in God's way for them. I choose to stand with my courageous GLBT brothers and sisters who have chosen Jesus' way of love, even in the face of hate and persecution. I will take my chances on b...

by Jesse McLean, The Observer, Canada Several Anglican churches in southern Ontario could abandon their diocese after it passed a contentious motion yesterday that would recognize same-sex unions, an insider says. A resounding 70 per cent of Anglicans from the Huron Diocese voted in favour of conditionally allowing ministers to bless married, same-sex couples during a gathering in London. The motion put to the delegates was to ask the presiding bishop to consider authorizing clergy and congregations, comfortable with the idea, to bless a union of two people of the same gender who've already legally married in a civil ceremony. At least one of the spouses must also have been baptized. full article

by Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune nola.com The American Political Science Association is considering relocating its 2012 annual conference from New Orleans because of a state law concerning gay marriage and same-sex partner recognition. At issue is the 2004 "defense of marriage" amendment to the Louisiana constitution that denies legal status to common law relationships, domestic partnerships and civil unions between gay and heterosexual couples. full article

Good As You has uncovered some rather astonishing events over at the Save California website. Good As You has a link to the Google cached article but evidently the Google cache has updated and no longer shows the offending page. However, the Good As You website does have a screenshot which shows Save California saying: Ask your county clerk if they were a Nazi officer during WWII and had been ordered to gas the Jews, would they? At the Nuremberg trials, they would have been convicted of murder for following this immoral order. And should have states obeyed the 1857 Dred Scott decision designating black slaves as"property," not "persons"? Abraham Lincoln reacted with disgust to the ruling and was spurred into political action, publicly speaking out against it. Several state legislatures essentially nullified the decision and declared that they would never permit slavery within their borders, no matter who ordered them to do so. Likewise, the rulling to destroy t...

by Sanjaya Jena BBC News An Indian tribe has given its consent to a lesbian 'marriage' in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Both the women are day labourers and now live together in Dandabadi village. Same-sex relationships are outlawed in India. The 145-year-old colonial Indian Penal Code clearly describes a same sex relationship as an "unnatural offence". full article

I am a big admirer of the current Pope , am glad he came to America , and hope he had a good time. Nonetheless, it really is about time for a papal proclamation announcing that God is a bi gender twister. But since that is not going to happen anytime soon, it would be good if he just turned down the gay bashing a bit. However, I tend to pay him no mind on this stuff. When the Pope preaches the sin of queerness , it carries the same theological weight as the edict against birth control —who cares? Not most Catholics . Jesus talked about a lot of stuff, most of which people don't follow. But he never bothered to mention homosexuality one time. And in the Bible there are only four or five passages on the subject, and the bulk of those are stuck back there with the dietary laws, which also address the necessity of griding your loins and wearing ash sack cloth on certain holidays. As far as specifically condemning dykedom -- there is one ambiguous obscure passage . The Pope adm...

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 ...

In what may be a prelude to other attempts nationwide, a campaign is under way for a 2008 ballot initiative that would amend the Florida constitution to outlaw gay marriage . That drive is being fueled by the Florida Family Policy Council – which is affiliated with James Dobson’s Focus on the Family — and a local outfit called the Community Issues Council. High-profile Religious Right leaders helped draw attention to the Florida anti-gay marriage drive by co-sponsoring a so-called “Family Impact Summit” at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., over the weekend. The three-day event was replete with speakers who bemoaned gays as societal threats and pleaded for evangelical Christians to not become complacent in the public policy arena. The underlining message of the conference was not subtle – the outcome of the 2006 elections was disappointing, but don’t give up. So conference speakers urged the gathering of around 300, many of them local pastors, to become informed on the issues...

According to a Chinese newspaper, Shanghai’s city government is readying laws that would criminalize the renting of housing space to unmarried couples, including same-sex partners. According to reports, the city government of Shanghai intends to stop cohabitation outside of marriage. However, reports also suggested that besides this moral values reason, there may be other, more pragmatic aims at work, such as thinning out the city’s population density. http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=22731