Religion and LGBT Rights
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The Manhattan Declaration and the Right's Return to the Culture Wars
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The Catholic Church's Program to Cure Gay People
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The End of the Road for Carrie Prejean
Female Country Music Stars Love Them Some Gay Marriage
Published November 17, 2009 @ 08:33AM PT
*crickets*
OK, so it doesn't make the best punchline. But it is true that several country music superstars are making bold steps to speak up for LGBT equality. The latest is Dolly Parton, who not only said she's cool with gay marriage last week, but also dropped a bit of a sucker punch in the direction of Pastor Joel Osteen, who himself went on national television a few weeks back and said that homosexuality "wasn't God's best." Parton said that if Pastor Osteen were genuinely religious, he wouldn't be judging LGBT folks.
Huh, turns out that God's best may be a bunch of country music divas.
The Future of Gay Marriage in Latin America Begins in Argentina
Published November 14, 2009 @ 01:01PM PT
Gay marriage will become reality in Latin America, that's a fact. The only question is where it will happen first. Several countries have taken bold steps toward LGBT rights in the past few years, from Uruguay to Colombia. But this week Argentina took the boldest step of all, with an Argentine judge paving the way for Latin America's first legally recognized gay marriage.
The judge, Gabriela Seijas, ordered the city of Buenos Aires to recognize the marriage of two men, Alejandro Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello, who had sued the city's registry for failing to recognize their relationship as a marriage. In her ruling, Judge Seijas said, "The law should treat each person with equal respect in relation to each person's singularities without the need to understand or regulate them."
But the best quote of the day went to the mayor of Buenos Aires, who despite being part of a political party that is often reticent on LGBT rights, said that he would not stop the judge's ruling from taking effect.
"The world is heading in this direction," said Mayor Mauricio Macri. "What we have to learn is to live in liberty without violating the rights of others." Anybody want to see if this guy wants to be a politician up here in the U.S.?
A Really Good Week for Lesbian Ministers
Published November 11, 2009 @ 08:14PM PT
It's been a very good week for lesbian clergy. First Sweden consecrates the world's first lesbian bishop, Lutheran Eva Brunne, and now a section of the Presbyterian Church of the United States has voted, albeit by a mere 18 votes, to ordain their first lesbian minister. It's good news for Lisa Larges, who if everything continues to move forward, will be known from this point on as Rev. Lisa Larges.
Larges' appointment as minister had been blocked for fifteen years by folks who thought ordaining gay clergy would cause the sky to fall on the Presbyterian Church. Less than 24 hours after voting 156-138 to finally allow Larges to be a Reverend, the sky is still floating above. And the Presbyterian Church has taken a giant step toward inclusion.
In a statement released after the vote, Larges noted that the times they are a-changin'. Next thing you know the official Mormon Church might be supporting a gay rights measure.
The World's First Lesbian Bishop
Published November 10, 2009 @ 12:11PM PT
Eva Brunne is 55 years old, the mother of a three-year-old, and armed with a pastoral smile that could probably melt that hardest of hearts. Oh, and she's got one other title she can now hang under her hat: she's the world's first openly lesbian bishop.
Bishop Brunne became, well, "Bishop" Brunne this past weekend during a ceremony in Sweden. Her consecration as Bishop comes just two weeks after the Lutheran Church of Sweden, of which Brunne is a member, said that they would approve recognizing same-sex marriages.
Even more significant? Brunne is part of a Communion of Lutherans that spans 6.9 million members worldwide, making it the largest Lutheran Church in the world.
Pastor Joel Osteen's Sugar-Coated Homophobia
Published November 05, 2009 @ 02:23PM PT
Pastor Joel Osteen is one of the most popular preachers in the country, and the author of several best-selling books that help people achieve "their best life now" and teach people how to practice a Christianity rooted in making money.
He's long been seen as a friendlier version of televangelist, an upgrade from the fire and brimstone preachers from a few decades past. But what Pastor Joel Osteen doesn't really divulge is that for the most part, his interpretation of religious scripture is a candy-coated pill that leaves a sour taste of homophobia at its core.
To his credit, and perhaps it's to benefit his wallet, Pastor Joel Osteen largely stays above debates over social issues. The man has the aura of the richest used car salesman in the world, and that's exactly the persona he works: "Hey, come over here! I've got some of that old tyme religion that's way better than what the competitors are offering!"
But this week, in response to a question from Whoopi Goldberg on The View no less, Pastor Joel Osteen let his real feelings about LGBT people come to life.
"What I believe the scripture teaches is that homosexuality is not God's best," said Pastor Joel Osteen.
God's best is apparently straight beauty queens who make lewd sex tapes, or Republican politicians who cheat on their spouses and bill the government for intercontinental travel to hang out with the mistress.
Sir Ian McKellen's Grudge with Leviticus
Published November 02, 2009 @ 03:48PM PT
How's this for the premise of X-Men 4: Magneto decides that instead of seeking world domination, he's just going to wage battle against radical right-wing religious folks who use the Bible as a means of beating up on LGBT people.
Well, it might hit a little close to home for Sir Ian McKellen, the out British actor who plays Magneto. As it turns out, he's been quietly waging a war against the use of religion as a weapon of oppression against LGBT people all along in his real life. His method? At every hotel he visits, he rips out a page in Leviticus that fundamentalists use to label LGBT people as sinful.
McKellen tells Details magazine that he's not intending to vandalize the Bible. He just thinks the world would be better off if people took the passages in Leviticus a little less literally.
"I'm not proudly defacing the book, but it's a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible," McKellen says.
For those not familiar with Leviticus 18:22, it might be interpreted as the most homophobic verse in the Bible. It starts with the familiar refrain, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind," and finishes up with a powerful "it is an abomination" punch. But the passage is often misunderstood, and all too often used to justify hatred and violence toward LGBT people -- as was the case earlier this month in New York, where the friend of a gay basher said that attacking gay people was justified because the book of Leviticus approved.
Catholic Church Goes After Straight Allies of Marriage Equality
Published November 01, 2009 @ 08:39AM PT
Though it's no fun seeing same-sex marriage rights placed on a statewide ballot, one of the best things to come out of the Maine vote on marriage equality is the fact that progressive-minded Catholics are starting to speak out for the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Through groups of "Catholics for Marriage Equality" and other venues, ordinary Catholics are speaking up in new ways arguing that love should win out over hate.
It's just too bad that the institutional Catholic Church can't let go of their anti-LGBT agenda. Maine is an interesting case study here. Despite the fact that the Bishop of Maine (Richard Malone) has had to close more than a half dozen parishes this year because of financial constraints, the Catholic Church in Maine has pumped out more than half a million dollars to urge Maine residents to vote for discrimination against gays and lesbians. Worse yet, Bishop Malone has said that giving equal rights to gays and lesbians is a dangerous sociological experiment and that same-sex marriage would be a threat to children.
But what's even scarier is that the Catholic Church in Maine is now punishing straight people who support the rights of gays and lesbians. Look no further than the ironically named Prince of Peace parish in Lewiston, Maine. There, a Eucharistic Minister and lector (the person who volunteers to read the weekly scriptures) was removed from her position because she said publicly that she supports the rights of gays and lesbians to get married.
The Catholic Church has had some real lows this year when it comes to LGBT rights. From the Pope saying that LGBT people were as big a threat to the world as climate change, to the U.S. bishops prepping a document to be released later this month that will say that same-sex marriage will harm the intrinsic human dignity in every person. Add to this list now a possible witch-hunt to identity straight allies of same-sex marriage, and to remove these straight allies from any positions within the Church.
