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NEWS ITEMS AFFECTING GAYS AND LESBIANS
FOR 2005 - JANUARY to MARCH
Sponsored link.
In the following, "SSM" refers to "same-sex marriage."
News of 2005-JAN:
 | 2005-JAN-10: FL: U.S. Supreme Court declines to review gay
adoption: A group of four gay men, including a father who has
parented the same foster children for 17 years, launched a lawsuit
challenging a Florida law which prohibits gays and lesbians from
adopting children. The case is: Lofton v. Secretary of the Florida
Department of Children and Families, 04-478. The U.S. Supreme Court
decided to not review the case. Mathew Staver, president of the
fundamentalist Christian group, Liberty Counsel, said that the
decision "sends a huge message that the court is not going to be open
to a broad-based homosexual agenda." Matthew Coles, the American
Civil Liberties Union, said: "Whether kids should have two moms
or two dads, it's always been a fake argument. What all the professional
organizations say is sexual orientation has nothing to do with whether
someone is a good or bad parent." 1 |
| 2005-JAN-11: IL: Illinois House Passes Gay Rights Bill: The
Illinois Senate passed a bill by a vote of 30 to 27 that bans
discrimination against heterosexuals, gays, lesbians, and bisexuals on
the basis of their sexual orientation. The House passed the same bill 65
to 51. The bill amends an existing law which bars discrimination in
housing and employment based on race, religion, etc. Governor Rod
Blagojevich is expected to sign the bill into law. Illinois is the 15th
state to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. Supporters of
the bill argue that it is a human rights issue. Opponents express
concern that it will lead to SSM and allow cross-dressers to use rest
rooms of the opposite sex. 2
Covenant News, a fundamentalist Christian news service, referred to the bill
in the following terms: "Wicked and Vile Men Pass 'Sodomite
Rights' Bill: The Illinois House passed a bill that bans
discrimination against deviant sodomite behavior, giving sex offenders and
predators license to roam Illinois streets freely." This appears to be a
misunderstanding of the intent of the bill. It does not give persons of any
sexual orientation the freedom to commit sex crimes.
3 |
| 2005-FEB-01: ID: Idaho marriage amendment
is in difficulty: Although Idaho has a Defense of Marriage Act which
prevents same-sex couples from marrying, it is widely believed to be
unconstitutional and thus subject to being overturned. In an attempt to
strengthen the prohibition of same-sex marriage, an amendment to the sate
constitution has proposed. According to Focus on the Family, "...both
the House and Senate must approve the amendment with a two-thirds majority
for it to make it to the voters on the 2006 ballot. At this time, there are
enough votes in the Senate to kill the amendment on the floor." Six
Democrats and six Republicans are planning to vote against the bill.
4 |
| 2005-FEB-11: Sweden: Pastor acquitted of
hate speech: Aake Green, a Pentecostal minister in Sweden had been
convicted under an anti-hate speech law after he delivered a sermon in
church which denounced homosexuals as a "a deep cancer tumor on
all of society." He linked it to pedophilia and bestiality. Prosecutor
Kjell Yngvesson argued that Green "expressed disdain for the homosexuals
as a group. He compared the sermon to a racist shouting out the Nazi salute
'Sieg Heil'." An appeals court overturned Green's 30 day jail sentence,
saying: "The purpose of making agitation against gays punishable is not
to prevent arguments or discussions about homosexuality, not in churches or
in other parts of society."
 | Ralph Toerner, a priest of the Holy Catholic Church said: "This
indicates that the justice system works, and that it gives a certain
amount of protection to us who preach God's word...But at the same time,
I think this should be a warning signal to preachers overall, that they
shouldn't use such coarse language when talking about something
sensitive. The Christian faith is not about judging people." |
| Nystroem, a spokesperson of the Swedish Association for Sexuality
Education said: "To say these things in a public setting is to call
for action [against gays]. It's one thing to be against homosexuality,
but when you're urging people to take action in the way he did, it's a
completely different matter." |
| Swedish Archbishop Karl Gustav Hammar calling the sermon "a
miserable theology." He said: "It's not a question of the freedom
of the pulpit. The sermon was evidently sent out to the media to create
a reaction." |
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| 2005-FEB-23: Worldwide Anglican Communion splits over treatment of
homosexuals: In 2003-OCT, The Lambeth Commission on Communion was
created to find ways in which Anglicans can agree to disagree by preventing
schism of the Communion over the question of homosexuality. On 2004-OCT-18
the Commission's 92 page Windsor Report was released to the public. It
called for dialogue, sensitivity to each other's beliefs, attempts to reach
compromises over homosexuality, while striving to keep the Anglican
Communion united. 1,2
At a meeting of almost all of the heads of the 38 Anglican Provinces
(national churches), the primates, in effect, rejected the Windsor Report.
They decided to ask the the Episcopal Church, USA and the Anglican Church of
Canada to withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council until the next
Lambeth Conference of 2008. This is the key body which facilitates contact
among the 38 provinces.
In effect, the primates have ejected the two North American churches from
worldwide Anglican Community. The Anglican Communion survived internal
conflicts over human slavery, the morality of birth control, equality of
treatment of women. But it seems to have not been able to survive an
internal conflict over its treatment of homosexuals.
More information. |
References:
- "Supreme Court Sidesteps Gay Adoption Case," Associated Press,
2005-JAN-10, at:
http://start.earthlink.net/
- "Illinois House passes gay rights bill," Associated
Press, 2005-JAN-11, at:
http://start.earthlink.net/
- "Covenant News," 2005-JAN-12, mailing list. Their home page is at:
http://www.covenantnews.com/
- Mona Passignano, "Idaho Marriage Amendment in Jeopardy,"
CitizenLink, 2005-FEB-01, at:
http://www.family.org/
- "Swedish Pastor Acquitted After Anti-Gay Sermon," Associated Press,
2005-FEB-11, at:
http://www.foxnews.com/
Notice:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. sec 107: The news items
contained in the above hyperlinks are provided without profit by the
Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance, PO Box 27026, Kingston ON
Canada K7M 8W5, and are intended to be available to anyone
interested in the topics included, for educational purposes only. Any
editor, author, Webmaster, writer, publisher, news service, etc. that
objects to being part of this listing may request that future works be
excluded. We will also attempt to delete previous entries from the
same source.
Copyright © 2005 by the Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2005-JAN-12
Latest update: 2005-FEB-27
Compiler: B.A. Robinson
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