Posts Tagged ‘Rule of Law’
Pride & Pentecost
The fact that Pentecost is occurring on the same weekend as DC Capital Pride, one of the largest Pride events on the East coast, isn’t lost on me. Pentecost is a weird spoke in the wheel of the year, but it’s an amazing one all the same. As the Orthodox hymn for the feast goes, “Blessed…
Read MoreAWAB Joins Federal Lawsuit Challenging North Carolina’s Marriage Laws
The Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists (AWAB) joined the General Synod of the United Church of Christ vs. Cooper as a plaintiff in the pending Federal District Court lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s marriage laws, including Amendment One. Among the suit’s charges is that North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage restricts the rights of clergy to…
Read MorePresident Obama Proclaims LGBT Pride Month
President Barack Obama has issued a proclamation declaring June 2014 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. In this proclamation, President Obama traces the origins of the LGBT movement and names the injustices we still face today, urging Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to protect LGBT workers from discrimination based on their…
Read MoreAdvancing Equality In Love And Marriage
Love is one of the things that makes us, as a people, thrive. We love our families. We love our friends. We grow to love those in our communities. We love those in our church. And we even love those who are in our schools. Love is a matter of the heart. Most persons who…
Read MoreTrans-forming Love: New Ways Ministry To Advance Transgender Education And Justice
As marriage equality and, broadly speaking, lesbian/gay equality become widespread, LGBT advocacy has begun focusing more on the “T” of the common acronym. New Ways Ministry and other Catholic institutions have begun to help church members better understand this community. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 84% of Catholics agree that lesbian/gay legal protections…
Read MoreUnited Church Of Christ Landmark Lawsuit Says North Carolina Laws Restrict Freedom of Religion
The General Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, arguing that North Carolina laws defining and regulating marriage as being between a man and woman restrict UCC ministers from performing their religious duties and are unconstitutional. The State of North Carolina prevents couples of…
Read MoreA Tale Of Three Bishops
Last week, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (pictured middle above), laid the mass murders of Christians at the feet of same-gender married couples and Americans: I have stood by gravesides in Africa of a group of Christians who had been attacked because of something that had happened in America….[If the Church of England accepted same-gender marriage,] the…
Read MoreA Mormon And A Lesbian Walk Into A Bar…
That could be the opening to a great joke, but the story here ends with something better than a punch line. My sister Sharon and I could not be more different. In high school, she was the super-popular and uber-cute homecoming queen, student officer, and North Ogden Miss Cherry Days. I was immersed in debate,…
Read MoreCase Dropped In Prosecution Of Scholar: Bishop Vows “Cessation Of Trials”
White Plains, NY, March 10, 2014 – At a joint press conference today, United Methodist Bishop Martin McLee and Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree (pictured above) announced that the church was dropping the case against Dr. Ogletree for officiating at his son’s wedding. In a huge victory for the Methodist movement that is organizing ministry to all…
Read MoreThe Adventist Church’s Denial Is Deadly For African LGBTI People
Last week, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a bill that imposes 7-year-to-life sentences for same-sex intimacy, 7-year sentences for those who perform same-sex marriages, and 5-7 years in jail for people and NGOs accused of “promoting homosexuality” or seeking support through the internet or local religious ministers. Once dubbed the “Kill The Gays”…
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