Box Turtle Bulletin reports:
Happiness is when reality exceeds your expectations. Apparently the National Organization “for” Marriage has officially lowered its expectations.Over on their blog, NOM is happily touting a new poll in a post called, New Quinnipiac Poll: Majority Does NOT Support SSM:
Public Religion Research Institute (PPRI) reports that there is at least a 20-point generation gap between Millennials (age 18 to 29) and seniors (age 65 and older) on every public policy measure in the survey concerning rights for gay and lesbian people.
in addition to the generation gap, "the Executive Summary also looks at a number of assumptions concerning the views of religious groups and the public perception of these groups.
Here are the links to the full report as well as the press release.
Same sex marriage is moving ahead in Denmark and could become a reality as early as next summer if a bill establishing marriage equality passes parliament.
The Copenhagen Post Online reports:
A short documentary tells the story of Carl and Dave.
Fox News (!) gives space to Shari Johnson, the mother to a now-married lesbian daughter, to tell her tale. In the telling, she disputes the previously aired opinions of Mark Driscoll, a pastor who believes sex is fundamentally an act of selfishness - but still, a kind of selfishness which only one man and one woman may enjoy.
He may well be against marriage equality for LGBT persons, but Pope Benedict XVI wasn't as vitriolic as he was recently made to seem.
In a speech given Monday to the diplomatic corp at the Vatican, the pope said
Update: Proposition 8 has been overturned. The Los Angeles Times has the story.
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of Washington, wrote a powerful article for "On Faith". Here is an excerpt:
With what appears to be a bit of irony, just as Bishop Budde's article discusses the role religion plays in the same-sex marriage debate in Maryland, Bishop Robinson makes it clear that religion should not be the cause of undoing marriage equality in New Hampshire:
The New Jersey Senate voted to approve a bill for marriage equality for same sex partners according to The New York Times and faith leaders in New Jersey express support:
Last night news broke that the Maryland House of Delegates voted to approved a measure that would legalize "same-sex unions". This is significant because last year the House blocked such a measure.
Mark Lattime, the Episcopal Bishop of Alaska has written publicly of his support for Prop 5, a marriage equality measure for the City of Anchorage that is to be on the April ballot.
An attempt to repeal marriage equality in New Hampshire failed on Wednesday in the House of Representatives.
It appeared to many supporters of marriage equality that the Republican-dominated legislature would be sure to pass the repeal. Most of the hope centered on Governor Lynch, who had promised to veto any repeal. The question would be whether or not the veto could be overturned.
Three Episcopal bishops in North Carolina have released a joint letter in opposition to a state constitutional amendment that would define marriage as existing only "between one man and one woman" and would effectively outlaw other forms of domestic partnership within the state.
We covered the demonstration following rejection of any official accommodation of conscience for clergy and laity in the Methodist Church who are supporters of marriage equality last week. But there's more to what happened than just the demonstration. The Conference decided, after the votes that would have officially admitted a diversity of opinion to cancel all subsequent votes on issues touching on the same subject.
The Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina offers the following on the day after the passage of Amendment One.
Susan Russell posts:
Just finished an interview with NPR's fabulous Barbara Bradley Haggerty. Look for her segment on Obama, Faith & Marriage Equality tomorrow on Morning Edition!
(Via e-mail) Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington released the following statement on President Barack Obama's endorsement of marriage equality:
The Church of Ireland met in General Synod last week. Last year, Dean Tom Gordon entered into a civil partnership with his long time partner and in so doing created a crisis in the Irish Anglican church. After attempts by the bishops to reiterate the traditional opposition to marriage equality in the church as part of a temporizing compromise, a push by the progressive voices to oppose that plan has highlighted the disagreement within the church.
In the Dallas Morning News' blog on religion, theologians from all over Texas consider the question of marriage equality and of how and whether the church should shift when the culture does - or if it's the other way around - or both - or something else entirely.
Fort Worth's Katie Sherrod takes a reasoned swing at the question.
CBS News is reporting that the NAACP has voted to support marriage equality:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) backed a resolution on Saturday in support of "marriage equality."
"I am a Christian, and I am in favor of gay marriage," writes law professor Mark Osler on CNN's Belief Blog. "The reason I am for gay marriage is because of my faith."
Osler, who worships at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Edina, Minn., goes on to say:
As the Episcopal Church and other denominations have taken positions of that support the full inclusion of LGBT Christians and marriage equality, those in support of that position point out that the ritual law of the Old Testament was suspended after the resurrection, and arguing that Levitical prohibitions are still in force for some things and not others doesn't make a lot of sense.
Politico reports that Colin Powell endorses marriage equality:
