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:
St. David's Episcopal Church featured on KXAN TV news in Austin. Bishop Doyle has designated St. David's to become the first of two Episcopal congregations in Texas to officially "bless" same-sex couples.
Reactions to yesterday's news that top Church of England bishops believe marriage equality is the biggest threat to the church in 500 years are appearing from other members of the Church of England. Many are furious, others see it as one more step to irrelevance, and common themes "ridiculous" and "shameful." Those who support marriage equality wonder if it is time for disetablishment and accuse the bishops of "dictatorship".
Bishop Mary Glasspool considers the sacramental dimensions of marriage equality.
David Blankenhorn was an outspoken opponent of gay marriage. He writes in the New York Times how he came to change his mind.
UPDATE: Just minutes after we published our item news flashed on twitter that the club had reversed itself:
@changeLGBT
BREAKING NEWS: The Carilion Clinic announced they will change their family policy so children with gay parents can swim in the pool!
Not all South Carolina congregations share the opinions of their bishop.
While some of the congregations in the SC Lowcountry area publicly agree with Bishop Lawrence, Erin Moody of the Beaufort/Port Royal Reporter writes of at least one differing understanding:
Bishop Kee Sloan, who voted yes at General Convention to approve the new ritual for same-sex blessings, will not allow the blessings to be performed in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.
Same-sex marriage is “a conservative proposal” consistent with basic Christian teaching and the Christian life, Bishop Greg Rickel argues in a statement to be released in Seattle this afternoon.
A new report from the Center for American Progress contends that freedom of religion and the freedom to marry are "twin freedoms" wholly compatible with one another, despite claims to the contrary by conservative religious groups. The group states:
A recent Washington Post poll shows most voters in the swing states of Ohio and Florida support the right of same-sex couples to wed, as do nearly half the voters in Virginia. The Post reports:
A federal appeals court in New York became the second in the nation today to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, ruling that denying federal benefits to married same-sex couples is unconstitutional. CNN reports:
Many U.S. Catholics would be dismayed at how much money the Knights of Columbus are pouring into efforts to battle marriage equality. According to a new report released by Equally Blessed, a coalition of Catholic groups support equal treatment for the LGBT community in the church and beyond, the fraternal organization has"used its extensive financial resources to become one of the most aggressive opponents of marriage equality in the United States."
A new Gallup poll indicates that religion is a major consideration for Americans who oppose legalization of same-sex marriage. Answering an open-ended question, 47 percent of those who oppose marriage equality say religion and the Bible are the top reasons. Supporters of same-sex marriage cite equal rights and personal freedom to explain their choice, and make no mention of God or religion.
UPDATED: The PM has spoken. Video and story at the BBC.
The Church of England is quick to respond, and forcefully object.
Breaking: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases concerning marriage equality, one challenging the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 and the other, from New York, challenges the Defense of Marriage Act.
The New York Times reports:
Jon Stewart of the Daily Show interviews the Rt Rev. Gene Robinson on the changing Christian attitudes toward same-sex marriage and explains how the commonly misinterpreted story of Sodom and Gomorrah actually deals with poverty.
Comparing and contrasting the decision by Washington National Cathedral to perform same-sex marriages and the University of the South's decision to do so only if the bishop in the place where the couple lives approves.
SCG writes on the blog "Wake Up and LIVE."
The Rhode Island State House is expected to pass a bill today that would legalize gay marriage, though the measure faces opposition in the Senate. The New York Times notes that Rhode Island is the "last holdout in New England" on this issue, and is "one of several states, including Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota and New Jersey, where supporters of gay marriage are trying to make legislative gains this year."
The Rhode Island State House has voted 52 to 19 to legalize same-sex marriage. The measure now moves to the Senate, where its fate is less certain. The Providence Journal reports:
As we first reported Friday, the Rt Rev Duncan Gray announced in his Annual Council address that he will give permission for use of the same sex blessing rite in the Diocese of Mississippi. He also called for the election of a coadjutor. There is now more information on the diocesan website.
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee is participating is a panel discussion at New York University today to discuss the "economic harms" of not allowing gay couples to marry. See full story here. Business leaders in Rhode Island have announced the formation of a new coalition in favor of legalizing gay marriage, and the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island has announced its support for same-sex marriage in the state, the only state in New England which has not legalized gay unions. From the Providence Journal:
Jon Huntsman, former GOP governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China and Singapore and a lifelong Mormon, writes in the American Conservative that marriage equality is a conservative cause. .
More than two dozen Episcopal bishops have filed two briefs in the United States Supreme Court supporting civil marriage equality for same-sex couples. The bishops are from dioceses in California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Pacific Church News from the Diocese of California reports:
Integrity has produced a map of where each bishop stands on marriage equality. Does your bishop say yes or no to marriage? blessings? or something in between?
Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman writes about how he has come to believe in marriage equality.
His op-ed appears in the Columbus Dispatch:
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement in support of same-sex parents’ right to wed as well as to foster or adopt children. The policy was guided by the organization’s belief in gay marriage “to promote optimal health and well-being of all children.”
SCOTUSblog rounds up opinions on the marriage equality case before the Supreme Court:
With the US Supreme Court considering two cases concerning Marriage Equality, Washington DC was again busy with demonstrations.
The general consensus of the first day is that the court is likely to find a way to let Prop 8 go away, paving the way for Marriage Equality in California, without making it the law of the land. It remains to be seen if the same will be true of DOMA, which will be argued today, but many feel like this is the case.
The Rev. Susan Russell has a powerful blogpost in The Huffington Post on the easily overlooked pastoral dimension of the past days of debate. Here's a glimpse:
Bishop Gene Robinson writes on this Good Friday at the Washington Post's On Faith blog:
Retired Archbishop George Carey has said that Christians who oppose marriage equality are being persecuted. Which raises the question, when is persecution persecution and when us it that sinking feeling that accompanies losing the argument?
The Telegraph reports Lord Carey's view:
Sarah Posner at Religion Dispatches reports that Jim Wallis of Sojourners has sort of jumped on the marriage equality bandwagon:
Updated: A clergy member of the Church of England's Faith and Order Commission has written a response to the recent report by that group defending the view that marriage has always been about one man and one woman. Meanwhile, the Church Times says this about the report: "ignore it."
As the court heard arguments on the constiutionality of California's Proposition 8 and DOMA, religious groups on both sides were out in force. But the group most responsible for passing Proposition 8 in the first place, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was notably absent.
The Constitutional Convention held in Ireland has voted 79% in favor of marriage equality according to Inside Ireland:
As the Rhode Island Senate nears a vote on marriage equality, a myriad of religious groups and leaders have rallied and are working to see the legislation passed.
From the HRC Blog:
Faith leaders in Rhode Island, including Episcopal Bishop Nick Knisely, tell legislators, no more exemptions are needed in the marriage equality bill H5015/S38. The Providence Journal reports:
Not unanticipated. The New York Times has a report:
Francis DeBernardo and Sister Jeannine Gramick of New Ways Ministry note that lay Roman Catholic laypeople are exerting a certain democratic and very positive influence on church leadership regarding same-sex relationships. Writing at Huffington Post, they observe:
A few weeks ago, I traveled to the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, in the state of Washington, to witness the state-sanctioned, church-blessed wedding of my gay cousin and his partner of more than 35 years. The sister of one of the grooms, a devout (and I would have to say downright conservative) Roman Catholic, was one of the lay readers at the service. Another RC cousin in attendance expressed unqualified joy about this long-awaited family celebration. Both brought small children who ate too much cake and ran happily amok at the reception. I thought of them today when I read that Bishop Thomas Tobin in Rhode Island is warning Roman Catholics to "examine their consciences very carefully" before attending same-sex ceremonies. From WPRI.com:
Ezra Klein at Wonkblog:
The U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops is fighting same-sex marriage with new Sunday bulletin inserts about marriage equality and the Supreme Court. From Think Progress:
The Minnesota Senate passed a marriage equality bill Monday and the governor is expected to sign it today according to the New York Times:
Huffington Post notes a new poll that shows the highest percentage of same sex couples raising children live in states that forbid marriage equality:
It looks as though the Congress and President will not include same sex bi-national couples in the immigration reform bill. According to Think Progress:
Recent research indicates that same-sex unions are happier than heterosexual marriages. So what might gay and lesbian couples teach straight ones about living in harmony?"
Liza Mundy writes in The Atlantic:
Against this backdrop, gay-marriage opponents have argued that allowing same-sex couples to wed will pretty much finish matrimony off. This point was advanced in briefs and oral arguments before the Supreme Court in March, in two major same-sex-marriage cases. One of these is a constitutional challenge to a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. The other involves California’s Proposition 8, a same-sex-marriage ban passed by voters in 2008 but overturned by a federal judge in 2010. Appearing before the high court in March, Charles J. Cooper, the lawyer defending the California ban, predicted that same-sex marriage would undermine traditional marriage by eroding “marital norms.”But what if the critics are correct, just not in the way they suppose? What if same-sex marriage does change marriage, but primarily for the better? For one thing, there is reason to think that, rather than making marriage more fragile, the boom of publicity around same-sex weddings could awaken among heterosexuals a new interest in the institution, at least for a time. But the larger change might be this: by providing a new model of how two people can live together equitably, same-sex marriage could help haul matrimony more fully into the 21st century. Although marriage is in many ways fairer and more pleasurable for both men and women than it once was, it hasn’t entirely thrown off old notions and habits. As a result, many men and women enter into it burdened with assumptions and stereotypes that create stress and resentment. Others, confronted with these increasingly anachronistic expectations—expectations at odds with the economic and practical realities of their own lives—don’t enter into it at all.
Same-sex spouses, who cannot divide their labor based on preexisting gender norms, must approach marriage differently than their heterosexual peers. From sex to fighting, from child-rearing to chores, they must hammer out every last detail of domestic life without falling back on assumptions about who will do what. In this regard, they provide an example that can be enlightening to all couples. Critics warn of an institution rendered “genderless.” But if a genderless marriage is a marriage in which the wife is not automatically expected to be responsible for school forms and child care and dinner preparation and birthday parties and midnight feedings and holiday shopping, I think it’s fair to say that many heterosexual women would cry “Bring it on!”
Beyond that, gay marriage can function as a controlled experiment, helping us see which aspects of marital difficulty are truly rooted in gender and which are not. A growing body of social science has begun to compare straight and same-sex couples in an attempt to get at the question of what is female, what is male. Some of the findings are surprising. For instance: we know that heterosexual wives are more likely than husbands to initiate divorce. Social scientists have struggled to explain the discrepancy, variously attributing it to the sexual revolution; to women’s financial independence; to men’s failure to keep modern wives happy. Intriguingly, in Norway and Sweden, where registered partnerships for same-sex couples have been in place for about two decades (full-fledged marriage was introduced several years ago), research has found that lesbians are twice as likely as gay men to split up. If women become dissatisfied even when married to other women, maybe the problem with marriage isn’t men. Maybe women are too particular. Maybe even women don’t know what women want. These are the kinds of things that we will be able to tease out.
