Following the Episcopalians’ decision to permit LGBT bishops, the Presbyterian Church U. S. A. approved a measure allowing local churches to decide on the fitness of an individual to be ordained or serve as a lay official, even if the issue of sexual orientation arises. The measure does not, however, revoke a church law that
Clergy and lay delegates in the Episcopalian House of Deputies today rejected a proposed ban on LGBT bishops that was being urged by other churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. This will likely kill the measure, at least for this year’s General Convention. The Episcopalians’ newly elected Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, said yesterday she
It’s Juneteenth Day, a commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U. S. and the achievements of African Americans. The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF) says that nineteen states, plus the District of Columbia, now recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday. At least eleven more mark it in some fashion, such as a legislative
Lots of LGBT-related church news right now. The U. S. Episcopal Church last week chose its first female leader, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. The move strains both the Church’s internal divisions and its relations with other members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Most other countries’ Anglican churches do not permit women to become bishops. Many conservative
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U. S. should debate same-sex marriage “with respect for every human being,” but declined to give her own views, saying it was not her area of expertise or concentration. Cop-out or good decision not to play politics by stepping into a domestic issue that, well, really isn’t in
A new book on same-sex marriage adds compelling evidence to the debate, while also making some controversial recommendations. Gay Marriage: For Better or For Worse? claims to be “the first of its kind to present empirical evidence about same-sex marriage.” The authors, attorneys Darren R. Spedale and William N. Eskridge, Jr., study the example of
This week’s big story was, of course, the defeat of the Federal Marriage Amendment. News didn’t stop happening elsewhere, though: Alabama adopted a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, with over 80% of voters supporting the ban. The state of Missouri dropped its appeal of a decision that a lesbian was wrongly prevented from becoming a
. . . your three-year-old is is doing everything in his considerable power to delay naptime, and you think to yourself, “I have to invoke cloture.”
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled yesterday that lesbian moms using anonymous donor sperm can both be registered as parents on their child’s birth record, without the non-bio mom needing to adopt. The judge gave the Ontario government 12 months to change the law. This may not be the last word on the matter,
The U. S. Senate voted 49-48 today to kill the Federal Marriage Amendment. Seven Republicans joined 41 Democrats to invoke cloture, a motion (known to fans of The West Wing) to end debate on the proposal and not bring it to a full vote. (Eleven more votes would have been needed to move to a
