Thursday, July 16, 2009

Gay Catholics discuss marriage equality by Seth Hemmelgarn





Excerpt from s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

Reaching out to people of faith is seen as one of the most important aspects of repealing Proposition 8, and that was one of the topics addressed as Dignity USA, a group for LGBT Catholics, held its biennial convention in San Francisco last weekend.

Catholic church leaders, including San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, urged parishioners to support the measure, which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to be married in California.

In a phone interview, Marianne Duddy-Burke, Dignity's executive director, said that along with other progressive Catholic organizations, Dignity is part of a program called Catholics for Marriage Equality.

"We're really trying to tap into that support that exists and that we believe has grown since those 18,000 [same-sex] couples were able to legally wed in California," said Duddy-Burke, noting the unfairness of couples being allowed to marry before Election Day in November while, later that same week, same-sex couples weren't allowed to wed.

"We really have to do it one heart at a time, one family at a time, one congregation at a time," said Duddy-Burke. "Unlike the bishops we can't send a pastoral letter to every church in California and expect it will be read at Sunday mass, so we depend on the power of truth and Catholics' commitment to justice to do this work." Read complete article - BayAreaReporter

Photo: Rick Gerharter

Father Geoff Farrow, who lost his job at a priest at a Catholic Church in Fresno after he came out as gay and urged congregants to vote against Prop 8, spoke at Dignity USA's conference in San Francisco last week.

Father Geoff Farrow - blog


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