July 2009

UK Quakers will offer marriages for gay/lesbian couples

Posted by NewsEditor  at 10:06 AM (PT)
In: international, religion
Friday July 31, 2009

Source: Independent (Press Association), Bloomberg, BBC, Reuters

quaker marriage certificate Quaker marriage certificate via gracestone.com

One of Britain’s oldest religious denominations today agreed to recognize full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples and called on the government to recognize same-sex unions as legally valid.

The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the denomination which is known as the Religious Society of Friends. About 1200 Quakers are gathered this week at the University of York for the meeting.

The decision means that same-sex couples will be given the same recognition by Quakers in the UK that the group accords heterosexual marriages. 

“Marriage is the Lord’s work and we are but witnesses,” the Quakers’ British organization said in an e-mailed statement detailing the decision. 

The denomination was founded in England in 1652, and now has about 25,000 members in Britain and about 300,000 across the world, Reuters reports. Friday’s decision affects only Britain. Quakers elsewhere will have to come to their own decisions.

In the UK, Quakers have welcomed same-sex unions for more than two decades, allowing local groups to celebrate same-sex commitments through special acts of worship, but many gay and lesbian couples told the meeting that current ceremonies fall short. 

Michael Hutchinson, of Quakers in Britain, told Press Association news service, “Many of our meetings have told us that there are homosexual couples who consider themselves to be married and believe this is as much a testimony of divine grace as a heterosexual marriage. They miss the public recognition of this in a religious ceremony.”

More...

,

Comments (0)

Federal domestic-partner benefits bill advances with subcommittee vote

In a party-line vote, a House subcommittee on Thursday passed a bill that would extend health care and other benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian federal employees. Government Executive reports that the committee made technical modifications to the bill to ensure retirees are covered.

The bill would give same-sex couples access to health insurance and retirement and disability benefits. It would also subject partners to the same obligations of spouses, including abiding by anti-nepotism rules and financial disclosure requirements, Washington Post reports. 

“Aside from the basic concepts of equity and fairness, passage of HR 2517 is essential to promote federal employee retention and recruitment,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., chairman of the subcommittee.

He also said the bill would put “the federal government on par with the private sector, where health insurance, retirement, disability and other benefits are already widely available to domestic partners.”

Five subcommittee Democrats voted to send the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act to the full committee, while three Republicans voted against it. The full committee is expected to consider the bill in September.

More...

Posted by NewsEditor -- 31 Jul 2009 8:36 AM (PT)

Comments (0)

U Hawaii football coach uses gay slur; Asks reporters not to cover it

image The University of Hawaii’s head football coach Greg McMackin used a gay slur during his news conference Thursday at the Western Athletic Conference in Salt Lake City and later asked asked reporters in attendance to “cover for me”, KGMB TV reports.

He then repeated the slur twice during inept attempts to apologize for the initial comment, according to Honolulu Advertiser.

McMackin was recalling a story from last year's Hawaii Bowl against Notre Dame when he told reporters said that each team came together for a cheer. He said the Fighting Irish did a "little f----- dance" for Hawaii, ESPN reports.

KGMB offers an the audio of his speech. To hear it, click here.

McMackin returned to the interview room a short time later to make what ESPN characterizes as “a fumbling attempt at an apology.”

Honolulu Star Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon writes: “McMackin apologized profusely but ineptly, botching it by asking reporters with tape recorders running to not attribute the offensive word to him.”

ESPN quotes the coach’s initial take on an apology:

“I want to officially, officially apologize,” the coach said, according to reports. “Please don’t write that statement I said as far as Notre Dame. The reason is, I don’t care about Notre Dame. But I'm not a ... I don’t want to come out and have every homosexual ticked off at me. You know what I mean. Because I don’t have any problem with homosexuals. But I apologize for saying that and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t run that word,” McMackin told reporters who are gathered in Salt Lake City for the Western Athletic Conference media day.

“If you said dance, that's OK. But don’t use the bad term that I chose, please. Thank you.”

More...

Posted by NewsEditor -- 30 Jul 2009 4:14 PM (PT)

Comments (1)

Tricks – Opponent’s website used hidden search term ‘Rick Perry gay’

image  Thousands of non-displayed phrases – hundreds that reference ‘rick perry’ are embedded in Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaign website.

Oh… those political tricksters in Texas.

A columnist for the Austin American-Statesman searched through the html code for the campaign website of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and found a few intriguing hidden phrases added to the pages, apparently in an attempt to increase its search engine hits.

The most interesting hidden message found by columnist W. Gardner Selby is ‘rick perry gay’. That showed up twice in hidden text on Hutchison’s site, according to Selby.

More...

Posted by NewsEditor -- 30 Jul 2009 2:44 PM (PT)

Comments (0)

Judge blocks release of the 137,689 names on Ref-71 petitions

The names and addresses of those who signed Referendum 71 – a challenge to parts of Washington’s domestic-partnership law – won't be released until September at the earliest.

A federal judge in Tacoma on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the secretary of state’s office from releasing the identities of those who signed petitions for Referendum 71, which would ask voters if they want to repeal a recent law giving lesbian and gay couples a wide range of benefits.

A Sept. 3 hearing is scheduled to decide the matter, Seattle Times reports.

A Seattle group has said it would ask for the names and publish them on the Internet.

But it’s still unclear if the measure will make it onto the ballot because there may not be enough valid names on petitions for it to qualify.

The state elections office announced Wednesday that there are 137,689 names on the petitions, according to Seattle PI. The secretary of state’s office gave the number after completing an initial count of names without any checks applied for validity.

That’s only 14 percent more than the minimum needed for measure to qualify for a spot on November ballot. The average historic error rate for initiative petitions is 18 percent, which means it will be difficult for the measure to make it onto the ballot.

More...

Posted by NewsEditor -- 30 Jul 2009 1:21 PM (PT)

Comments (0)

Video shows Mormon guards cuffing gay couple detained for kissing

A surveillance video has been released by Salt Lake Tribune that shows four guards in dark suits cuffing a gay couple who were detained by guards employed by the Mormon church after sharing a kiss at Main Street Plaza in Salt Lake City.

The video was given to the city by the church as part of a prosecutor’s review of trespassing charges against Matt Aune and Derek Jones, according to the Tribune. The paper obtained its copy through a public-records request.

The video doesn’t show the kiss, which Aune and Jones have described as “side hug and a kiss” but which was described by Mormon church spokesman as “passionate kissing” and “groping”.

Aune and Jones have said that guards roughly shoved Jones to the ground while trying to cuff him. That’s not clearly shown on the video, but it does appear to have happened as the camera panned away.

The silent video seems to show a quick escalation of anger by one of the guards after a finger was waved in his face by one of the two men who were sitting on a park bench with arms around one another.

Although it shows only the later part of the incident, nothing in the video appears to contradict this account of the encounter offered by Jones to QSaltLake.com:

Jones said he and boyfriend Aune were holding hands, walking through the plaza from the Gallivan Center since it was a direct path to their home.

“Matt paused to say something to me and hugged and kissed me,” he said.

He said then “several LDS Church security guards came up to us and asked us to leave because we were being inappropriate.”

“Matt moved in closer to me and put his arm around me and asked the security guards, loudly, ‘What are we doing wrong?’ We were obviously annoyed that they singled us out, especially since we were just passing through and not spending considerable time there. And there were no other people on the easement that we could see.”

Source: Tribune gets video showing gay couple's confrontation with LDS guards - Salt Lake Tribune

Posted by NewsEditor -- 30 Jul 2009 12:28 PM (PT)

,

Comments (1)

In Kalamazoo, equality activists get ready for a vote on city’s anti-bias ordinance

Posted by NewsEditor  at 11:30 AM (PT)
In: initiative, rights legislation
Thursday July 30, 2009
Kalamazoo

Anti-gay activists in Kalamazoo, Michigan who are opposed to a city anti-discrimination ordinance submitted petitions Wednesday in their campaign to overturn a law that makes it a city infraction -- punishable by up to a $500 fine -- to discriminate against people because of their sexual preferences or gender identification in housing, employment, or access to public accommodations.

The ordinance was passed unanimously by the city commission in June, and took effect July 9. It will be suspended once City Clerk Scott Borling verifies that at least at least 1,273 signatures on the petitions are from registered Kalamazoo voters.

“As soon as I verify or validate the petitions, from that moment…. the ordinance is suspended,” Borling told Kalamazoo Gazette.

Ordinance supporters also held a press conference yesterday to announce that they too had collected thousands of signatures from supporters of the ordinance.

More...


Comments (0)

Rep. Hastings tells Maddow about Congressional ‘don’t ask’ policy

On Tuesday, Rachel Maddow reported that Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) had withdrawn a measure that would have removed funding for enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy”. [See video]

On last night’s program, Hastings confirmed that he’d been pressured by the White House to withdraw his amendment. He said representatives of the White House “have a different political calculus” about ending DADT, but said he doesn’t share their desire to wait until some other time to rescind the law.

“If something is bigoted and if your intent is to see to it that it does not continue, then I did not understand the leadership of Congress or the White House in saying that the time is not right”, he said.

Hastings tells Maddow:

My position is: The president has said he wishes that this matter be repealed.  My colleague, Patrick Murphy, now has more than 170 co-sponsors on a measure to repeal it.  Secretary Gates has said, I‘m glad he is now saying when we change our policy.  Last year, he would have been saying “if.”

But my view is, that the time is now to eliminate this bigoted law once and for all.

See video clip at msnbc

Posted by NewsEditor -- 30 Jul 2009 10:34 AM (PT)

Comments (0)

Breaking - Salt Lake City gay couple detained for kiss won’t be prosecuted

A gay couple who were detained by Mormon church security guards and later cited by police for “trespassing” after they shared a kiss at Salt Lake City’s Main Street Plaza, will not be prosecuted, Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Charges were dropped today against the couple whose detention has sparked a series of protest demonstrations in Salt Lake City and elsewhere.

The the church-owned television station, KSL, summarizes the incident this way: “On July 9, Derek Jones and his boyfriend, Matt Aune, walked through the plaza holding hands. One reportedly kissed the other, and that's when security guards asked them to leave.”

The area where the couple was detained appears to be a public right-of-way, but ownership was turned over to the church a decade ago. That still-controversial land swap was addressed by the prosecutor when he dropped charges.

He said that if the church allows the public to use the plaza, that it must make it more obvious to visitors what kinds of rules it intends to enforce there.

The Tribune reports:

[Salt Lake City prosecutor Sim] Gill said despite the fact that Main Street Plaza is owned by the church, there “continues to be a mistaken belief by many visitors that there is a public right of way.”

“There is conflicting notice to those who walk onto and through this corridor that they do so with permission and exclusive pleasure of the property owner. There is no personal right to be there and no necessity for the property owner to explain if and why the property owner wishes to eject a visitor,” Gill said.

“Simply stated, the property owner does not have to give a reason. However, once a visitor is allowed to come upon or is invited upon the property, the property owner must provide some notice of the conditions under which the visitor received permission to enter the property subjecting the visitor to the discretion of the property owner.”

Sim said that Jones and Aune should not have been cited for trespassing by Salt Lake City police “because they believed they had a right to be there” – a belief that Sims described as “reasonable”.

Kim Farah, a church spokeswoman said in a statement, “While we feel the city had the necessary elements available for prosecution in this matter, the decision on whether to move forward or not rests with the city prosecutor.”

Source: Prosecutors drop case against gay couple accused of trespassing on LDS property - Salt Lake Tribune

Posted by NewsEditor -- 29 Jul 2009 11:49 AM (PT)

, ,

Comments (0)

Anti-gay terror in Iraq; Catholic LGBT rights; Mystic kisses; Headlinks

   ::: USA Today’s Baghdad correspondents Paul Wiseman and Nadeem Majeed tell an all-too-familiar story in today’s paper of gay men being killed in Iraq for the “crime” of being gay. A secular, liberal Sunni legislator blames the killings on armed militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army militia. “By targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in a conservative Muslim society — people whose sexual orientation is banned by Iraqi law — the militias essentially are serving notice that they remain powerful despite the U.S. and Iraqi militaries' efforts to curtail them,” the legislator tells USA Today. “I am worried about my life,” says a middle-age gay man in Baghdad who asked the paper to identified him only with a pseudonym. He declined to be identified by his real name because the recent violence has made him fear for his life. “I don't know what to do,” he says.

   ::: Counter-intuitive data points: A study of data from two separate surveys finds that states with a higher proportion of Catholics are more likely to favor a broad range of civil rights protections for LGBT people, USA Today reports. The surprising data was uncovered by Mark Silk, who heads the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, when his research team mashed a Columbia study of attitudes toward public policy issues with the latest statistics from a religious identification study published at Trinity. “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,” the researchers discovered. USAT’s Faith & Reason blog points out “the Catholic Church also offers a pervasive message of social justice” which liberal Catholics interpret to call for support of marriage equality or life issues such as abortion, contraception, and end-of-life decisions.

   ::: The DC WNBA team, Washington Mystics, doesn’t have a “kiss-cam” active for their home games at Verizon Center. They don’t have camera operators who focus on unsuspecting couples in the stands for display on the big screens during time outs. Why? They’re afraid they’d catch a lesbian couple sharing a smootch. “We got a lot of kids here,” Sheila Johnson, the Mystics’ managing partner, told Washington Post when asked about the lack of the common crowd-pleasing video trick. “We just don't find it appropriate.” One of the team’s players compared a random kiss shared by a gay couple to abortion. “It’s a similar, sensitive subject,” said point guard Lindsey Harding. “We don’t want to put anything out there to turn down certain fans.” OutSports points out that fans can contact the Washington Mystics or email Community Relations Director Nicole Boden directly at nboden@washmystics.com.

headlinks:

[law] Odds are federal marriage lawsuits could deliver surprise win [Bay Area Reporter/Lisa Keen]
[parenting] The Battle Over a Baby (article on same-sex adoption) [New York Times Magazine]
[referendum 71] Oregonian Gary Randall Attacks Washington's Elections Law [Pam’s House Blend]
[referendum 71] Kitsap County couples wait and worry about Ref. 71 [Bremerton Sun]
[bigotry] Terrorist threat to Sacha Baron Cohen over Bruno ridicule [Times of London]
[activism] Columnist: Combining being gay and green [Seattle Times]
[gayborhood] Love of Gay Bars Will Tear Us Apart, Again – Nightlife [Gawker]
Posted by NewsEditor -- 29 Jul 2009 10:44 AM (PT)

,

Comments (0)