Posts Tagged ‘Marriage Equality’
Australian Students Demand Greater LGBT Respect From Catholic Institutions
College students in Australia are protesting an upcoming lecture by a of a Catholic man who claims “reparative therapy” successfully changed his sexuality, the latest dispute about LGBT issues as they relate to Catholic education in that nation. The University of Sydney’s Catholic Society will host James Parker tonight to speak about his experiences with…
Read MoreComplaint Against United Methodist Minister Moves Forward Following Failed Resolution
In early April, the Great Plains (Kansas and Nebraska) bishop rejected a proposal to resolve a complaint lodged against Rev. Cynthia Meyer who came out to her Edgerton, Kansas, congregation during a Jan. 3rd sermon. Instead, the bishop referred the matter to a United Methodist Church as counsel. The action is significant because it moves…
Read MoreCelebrating All Kinds of Love This Valentine’s Day
After last June’s historic Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, “the love that dare not speak its name,” which publicly outed Oscar Wilde at his “gross indecency” trial in 1895, is finally and forever out of the closet. We were told by religious conservatives if the U.S. legalized such an ungodly act as same-sex…
Read MoreIt’s Ash Wednesday: Time to Indulge!
Today’s Ash Wednesday. Wait! What? Already? I still have to put some boxes of Christmas decorations back in the attic. Lent begins early this year—probably about the earliest that it can be. But, truth be told, Lent always kind of creeps up on me. I never seem ready to begin 40 days of fasting, prayer,…
Read MoreHow LGBTQ-Affirming Christians Can Help Conservatives Walk On The Water
The dust is settling from the cultural upheaval of the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision that established marriage equality across the United States and, in my Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the almost simultaneous adoption of a description of marriage as “between two people,” which permits pastors to preside at the weddings of two people…
Read MoreThe Four Words This Kentucky Pastor Didn’t Expect To Hear
I wasn’t going to call him back. I got the message off our church’s answering machine: “I want to ask you some questions,” the caller said, and he left his name and number. But I wasn’t going to call him back. Frankly, I was afraid. I was afraid the caller would be belligerent, combative, wanting…
Read MoreWin for LGBT Equality: Court Says No To Religious Exemption
On January 14, 2016 a New York appeals court ruled that an upstate farm that rents out its premises for weddings illegally discriminated against a same-sex couple when it refused to host their wedding ceremony. The court rejected the farm’s claim that the owners’ religious beliefs exempted them from New York’s long-standing equality law. Melisa…
Read MoreNow Is My Time: Coming Out To My Methodist Congregation
On January 3, 2016, Rev. Cynthia Meyer, pastor for Edgerton United Methodist Church in Edgerton, Kansas, came out to her congregation. Meyer’s announcement comes after 25 years of leadership in The United Methodist Church (The UMC), a denomination that does not allow LGBTQ clergy or same-sex marriage. The wise sages from different lands had seen…
Read MoreMarried Gay Catholics Chosen As “Persons of the Year”
Married gay Catholics Greg Bourke and Michael DeLeon were chosen as Persons of the Year by the National Catholic Reporter for their role in the U.S. Supreme Court case which led to marriage equality’s legalization across the nation last June. Bourke and DeLeon were plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court decided that marriage rights…
Read MoreGod Has Prepared Unimaginable Surprises For Us!
This past Sunday’s Gospel reading focused on a beautiful story of two women, one of whom is a central figure in the Advent narrative—Mary. I must confess that I have never felt close to Mary. Growing up Catholic, with yearly May processions, Marian feast days, and rosaries filled with “Hail, Mary’s” just didn’t help me…
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