Malawi arrests gay rights activist - Maravi Post

BLANTYRE--Police in Malawi have arrested a 21-year-old man found putting up posters said to be promoting the rights of homosexuals.

"He claimed to have been fighting for gay rights," Southern Region Police publicist Edna Ligowe said on Tuesday.

She said Peter Sawali, who was putting up the posters along the streets of the commercial capital Blantyre and was found with stacks of printed materials, was arrested Saturday night after a public tip-off.

Police said the posters, which looked expensive, contained the message: "Gay rights are human rights."

Police believe Sawali, whose livelihood is yet to be disclosed, could be working with other people. The government recently lambasted local non-government organisations who were offered over $500,000 by international human rights organizations to promote gay rights in Malawi. None of the local organizations took the money but they did attack the country's laws that prohibit homosexuality. Read complete article - Maravi Post

Lutherans (ELCA) to consider ordination of partnered gays

August 11, 2009 Birmingham Gay Community Examiner - by Joe Openshaw

Next week (August 17-23) in Minneapolis the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will hold their biennial General Assembly. On the agenda: whether gay and lesbian clergy who are in committed relationships can hold their positions.

They already ordain gay men and lesbians who are celibate, and some individual churches allow those in relationships to continue without punishment (though in the past such clergy have been removed). Read complete article on Birmingham Gay Community Examiner

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Lutherans prepare for big decision on gay clergy

By PATRICK CONDON (AP Associated Press)

FRIDLEY, Minn. — The Rev. Dave Glesne stood before the members of Redeemer Lutheran Church a few weeks ago and told them there might be some painful decisions in the near future.

Glesne is against letting people in same-sex relationships serve as pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and he says his congregation is behind him. They're worried this suburban Minneapolis church could find itself on the losing side as leaders of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination vote on whether to take that step at their biennial national convention, which starts Monday in Minneapolis.

"Of course the question was asked: What will we do, Pastor Dave, if this goes?" Glesne said. "The conversation we had left me no doubt that we will definitely have a discussion about leaving the ELCA."

Avoiding such divisions was a main goal of an ELCA task force that prepared recommendations for debate by the 1,045 voting members at the convention. One is a revision of ministry standards that would let individual congregations employ gay and lesbian people in committed relationships as clergy. The other is a broader statement on human sexuality, a 34-page document that tries to craft a theological framework for differing views on homosexuality — but which critics say would simply liberalize the ELCA's attitudes.

At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA would be one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy. Read complete article on AP Associated Press

Gay Clergy: Lutherans Join the Battle on Queering the Church Read more

'Largest Marriage Rallies Ever' - by Peter Hackney - Queensland Pride

Queensland Pride

by Peter Hackney

Australia is about to experience its largest rallies in support of same-sex marriage in history, predict GLBT activists.

Groups across the continent are preparing for the rallies tomorrow as part of the National Day of Action (NDA) for Same-Sex Marriage.

In Sydney, the NDA will begin with a rally at Town Hall, followed by a march to the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour where the 45th ALP National Conference will be in session.

A ‘mass illegal same-sex wedding’ will be held outside the conference from 1pm, presided over by MCC Crave pastor, the Rev. Karl Hand.

Emilia Lawonski from Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) predicted that Sydney’s NDA would be the biggest and most effective in the Harbour City yet.

“The National Day of Action will have a huge impact on the same-sex marriage campaign this year,” she said.

“We’re hoping for same-sex marriage supporters to come out in the thousands!”

Lawonski said that 60 couples had registered to take part in the ‘illegal wedding’, adding that registrations could still be made at www.caah.org.au/nda.

Speakers at the event will include Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP, NSW Greens Leader Lee Rhiannon, out gay actor Matt Young, So You Think You Can Dance star Danny Golding, Australian Marriage Equality (AME) spokesperson Alex Greenwich, and veteran gay rights campaigners Mannie de Saxe and Kendall Lovett. Read complete article - Queensland Pride

Quakers in Britain approves Gay Marriage

News Release

31 July 2009

Quakers consider committed relationships

Quakers in Britain today concluded a long and profound process of discernment about the way forward for Quaker marriage and approach to same sex partnerships.

The minute recording their decision is as follows:

Minute 25 Britain Yearly Meeting 31 July 2009

Further to minute 17, (attached) a session was held on Tuesday afternoon at which speakers shared personal experiences of the celebration and recognition of their committed relationships. These Friends had felt upheld by their meetings in these relationships but regretted that whereas there was a clear, visible path to celebration and recognition for opposite sex couples, the options available for couples of the same sex were not clear and could vary widely between meetings. Friends who feel theirs to be an ordinary and private rather than an exotic and public relationship have had to be visible pioneers to get their relationship acknowledged and recorded. Photo

This open sharing of personal experience has moved us and added to our clear sense that, 22 years after the prospect was first raised at Meeting for Sufferings we are being led to treat same sex committed relationships in the same way as opposite sex marriages, reaffirming our central insight that marriage is the Lord’s work and we are but witnesses. The question of legal recognition by the state is secondary.

We therefore ask Meeting for Sufferings to take steps to put this leading into practice and to arrange for a draft revision of the relevant sections of Quaker faith and practice, so that same sex marriages can be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, recorded and reported to the state, as opposite sex marriages are. We also ask Meeting for Sufferings to engage with our governments to seek a change in the relevant laws so that same sex marriages notified in this way can be recognised as legally valid, without further process, in the same way as opposite sex marriages celebrated in our meetings. We will not at this time require our registering officers to act contrary to the law, but understand that the law does not preclude them from playing a central role in the celebration and recording of same sex marriages.

We have heard dissenting voices during the threshing process which has led to us this decision, and we have been reminded of the need for tenderness to those who are not with us who will find this change difficult. We also need to remember, including in our revision of Quaker faith and practice, those Friends who live singly, whether or not by choice.

We will need to explain our decision to other Christian bodies, other faith communities, and, indeed to other Yearly Meetings, and pray for a continuing loving dialogue, even with those who might disagree strongly with what we affirm as our discernment of God’s will for us at this time.

Following the decision, Martin Ward, clerk of Quakers Yearly Meeting said: “This minute is the result of a long period of consultation and what we call “threshing” in our local meetings, culminating in two gathered sessions of our Yearly Meeting. At these sessions, according to practice, we heard ministry arising out of silent worship which led us to discern the will of God for the Religious Society and record it in this minute.” Read more on Quakers in Britain

UK Quakers call for same-sex marriage

Posted in: International Daily News

By GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 3rd August 2009

The United Kingdom arm of the Quakers, a highly influential Christian religious group, say full-fledged marriage equality should be bestowed upon gay and lesbian families.

The UK Quakers are calling on the British government to step up the "civil unions" status available to gay and lesbian families to full-fledged marriage equality.

The say they are prepared to amend their understanding of Scripture, and the church laws that define the practical applications of their faith, in a manner that allows for the full dignity and equality of gay and lesbian individuals and their families.

Civil partnerships have been legal in England since 2004, and are designed to provide all the same legal rights and protections as marriage. But, as the Quakers noted, civil partnerships do not include the ability of same-sex couples to be wed in religious ceremonies.

The Quakers in New Zealand have consistently backed campaigns for equal legal rights for glbt people and were the first religious group to publicly back the campaign for Homosexual Law Reform in the early 1980s.

Read more and learn more

Related links:

The decision of Yearly Meeting Gathering 2009 to treat same sex marriages in the same way as marriages between straight couple has gained a lot of press coverage. Quakers in Britain

Portugal's High Court Keeps Gay Marriage Ban - But Not For Long...

Portugal's High Court Upholds Gay Marriage Ban, Denies Lesbian Couple's Appeal

(AP) Portugal's Constitutional Court on Friday upheld the country's ban on gay marriage, rejecting a challenge by two lesbians who are seeking to wed.

The court said its five judges ruled 3-2 against an appeal lodged by the women two years ago.

Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao, divorced mothers in their 30s who have been together as a couple since 2003, were turned away by a Lisbon registry office when they attempted to marry in 2006 because the law stipulates that marriage is between people of different genders.

Portugal's constitution, however, also forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. The women took the case to a Lisbon court, which rejected their unprecedented challenge.

After considering their appeal against that decision, the Constitutional Court said in a statement posted on its Web site that the constitution does not state that same-sex marriages must be permitted.

The court said the question before it was not whether the constitution allows same-sex marriages, but whether the constitution compels them to be accepted, which it does not.

Paixao told The Associated Press by telephone she regarded the decision as "a victory" because the split decision demonstrated that attitudes are changing in Portugal.

"It shows there's a change coming. Bit by bit people will come around" and accept gay marriage, she said. Read complete article on CBSNEWS

States with more Catholics more favor gay rights – by Cathy Lynn Grossman - USA TODAY

Want to predict which state might move next to legalize same-sex marriage? You might count Catholics. The higher their percentage of the population, the more likely the state is to... support gay rights.

This counter-intuitive finding is brought to you with a tip of two hats -- mine to Mark Silk at Spiritual Politics and his to Robbie Jones who led Silk to a new study soon by be published by two Columbia University political scientists. Read complete article and more by Cathy Lynn Grossman - USA TODAY

Catholics, same-sex marriage...and the GOP

by Mark Silk, prop. – Spiritual Politics

In response to my recent postings (here and here) on the correlation between Catholic presence and support for same-sex marriage (SSM), I've received an interesting (yet unpublished) paper from Darren Sherkat of Southern Illinois and some colleagues conjuring via regression analysis with a number of factors involved in the politics of the issue over the past two decades. The money finding is that whereas just about everyone was in the same place on SSM in 1988 (Democrats and Republicans, Catholics and Protestants), now opposition has become locked into GOP identity. Read Complete article and more by Mark Silk, prop. – Spiritual Politics

Despite what Church Says, Many Catholics Support Same-Sex Marriage - BY MICHAEL A. JONES – Gay Rights

It's no secret that the institutional Catholic Church thinks that marriage equality is a sign of the end of days. Witness the activism of the Catholic Church in Maine to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians, or the outspokenness of Catholic politicos like Rick Santorum (who just this week sent out an appeal message for the National Organization for Marriage).

But here's the funny thing: despite what the institutional Church - the bishops, the Pope, the talking heads that get themselves on TV - says about same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, Catholics themselves as a whole seem to favor equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks. The proof?

A religious scholar, Mark Silk, who took a Columbia University study examining support for same-sex marriage, and meshed it with a study analyzing religious identification. When the two data sets are merged, one thing becomes clear. Here's the juice, according to Silk:

Six of the eight states where 50 percent or more of the public supports gay marriage are the states with the highest proportion of Catholics, ranging from Rhode Island at 46 percent to New York and California at 37 percent.

Cathy Lynn Grossman at USA Today has this to say about the weird dichotomy at play here, between an institutional Church adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage, and a flock of followers who think that marriage equality is just another item in a line of civil rights due LGBT folks.

The bishops have campaigned long, loudly and clearly against same-sex marriage but the Catholic Church also offers a pervasive message of social justice, an umbrella many liberal Catholics stand under when they argue for marriage equality or life issues such as abortion, contraception and end-of-life decisions. Photo

Read complete article & Learn more by MICHAEL A. JONES

Michael Jones
Communications Director
Human Rights Program
Harvard Law School

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Civil Rights Group Divided Over Gay Marriage, by Jennifer Steinhauer - nytimes.com

Photo Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times

Published: July 10, 2009

LOS ANGELES — The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the 50-year-old civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, is seeking to remove the president of its Los Angeles chapter in response to his support of same-sex marriage in California.

The effort by the Atlanta-based organization is meeting stiff resistance in Los Angeles from both the board of the local chapter, whose chairman is secretary of the state’s Democratic Party, and the City Council president.

During the battle last fall over Proposition 8, an amendment to the State Constitution that banned same-sex marriage, the chapter’s president, the Rev. Eric P. Lee, was more than a tangential figure for the opposition. He was front and center at an opposition group’s large rally at City Hall and marched in the blazing sun for 15 miles in Fresno. Many other local African-American pastors prepared mailings featuring church leaders in support of the proposition and linking their views to Barack Obama, then the Democratic nominee for president. Read more The New York Times/International Herald Tribune

The Nation: Obama's Stonewall by Richard Kim - NPR

NPR.org, June 29, 2009 · In 1996, when Barack Obama was running for the Illinois Senate, he was asked in a survey by Outlines, a gay community newspaper in Chicago, if he supported same-sex marriage. Unlike most candidates, who merely indicated yes or no, Obama took the unusual step of typing in his response, to which he affixed his signature. Back then not a single state permitted same-sex marriage, and sodomy was a crime. Nonetheless, Obama took a position on the progressive edge of the Democratic Party, and he did so with unmistakable clarity: "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

Read more NPR

Photo

Marchers carrying a mile-long rainbow banner lead hundreds of thousands of gay rights activists up First Avenue in New York City. The marchers are commemorating riots at the Stonewall Inn. Sunday, June 26, 1994. 2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots, considered the birth of the gay rights movement. AP