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NEWS ITEMS AFFECTING GAYS, LESBIANS & BISEXUALS
FOR 2005 - JULY to SEPTEMBER
Sponsored link.
In the following, "SSM" refers to "same-sex marriage."
News of 2005-July to September:
 | 2005-JUL-02 Spain: The new law
legalizing SSM was published in a government registry;
same-sex couples are now free to marry throughout the country.
More info.
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| 2005-JUL-04: United Church of Christ
endorses SSM: The most liberal of the major Protestant Christian
denominations in the U.S., the United Church of Christ, endorsed
same-sex marriage. The resolution at their General Synod was overwhelmingly approved by
about 80% of the delegates.
The resolution calls on its congregations to
consider wedding policies "that do not discriminate on couples based on
gender." They also ask its congregations to support changes in state
marriage legislation to give equal rights to same-sex couples. An alternative
resolution which would have defined marriage as being between one man and
one woman was rejected. Although the resolution is not binding on individual
congregations, some conservative congregations are expected to leave the
denomination. 1 More
details. |
| 2005-JUL: England: Methodist Church
will endorse blessing of same-sex unions: At their annual conference,
British Methodists unanimously approved a report titled "Pilgrimage of
Faith." The denomination plans to issue guidelines later in 2005 which
will uphold: "...the Church's teaching that sex should be
restricted to heterosexual marriage." They will also permit its
ministers to bless same-sex couples. More details. |
| 2005-JUL-19: Canada: Senate passes same-sex marriage bill:
In a lopsided vote (47 to 21 with three abstentions) the Canadian Senate
passed bill C-39. On this date, same-sex marriage was available in every
province except Alberta and Prince Edward Island, and in every territory
except for Northwest Territories and Nunavut. |
| 2005-JUL-20: Canada: Same-sex marriage legal: The same-sex
marriage bill was signed into law. Same-sex marriage is theoretically be
available in every province and territory across Canada. Canada is the
fourth country in the world to allow all loving, committed couples to marry.
The Netherlands was first, followed by Belgium and Spain. However, the
battle is still not over. Stephen Harper, head of Canada's Conservative
Party promises to eradicate same-sex marriage if he gains control of the
government. Religious conservatives promise to try to unseat any Member of
Parliament who voted for the bill. More
information. |
| 2005-SEP-07: CA: California legislature approves same-sex marriage
bill: Democratic majorities in the California Senate and Assembly passed
Bill AB-205 which would have authorized same-sex
marriage in the state. This is the first legislature in the U.S. to approve
same-sex marriage. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
(R) has promised to veto the bill. Neither legislature has the necessary
votes to override the veto. 3 |
| 2005-SEP-20: USA: Human Rights Campaign
releases annual report: The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a gay-positive
group, issued its annual Corporate Equality Index. 4
They reported that 101 large companies received a perfect score for "gay-frendliness.
This is an increase from 13 in 2002. HRC president, Joe Solmonese, said: "Corporate
America knows that treating employees fairly is not just the right thing to
do, it's good for the bottom line...The enormous growth we've tracked
in fair employee policies proves that corporate America is making good on
the old adage: what's good for business is good for America." They list
a number of corporations who are "actively working against equality."
They include Emerson Electric, Entergy, Exxon Mobil and Perot Systems. |
| 2005-SEP-20: World: Roman Catholic Church
to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation: There are
substantial rumors that Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document that
denies gays the opportunity to be considered for ordination. According to
Catholic World News: |
"The text, which was approved by Pope
Benedict at the end of August, says that homosexual men should not be
admitted to seminaries even if they are celibate, because their
condition suggests a serious personality disorder which detracts from
their ability to serve as ministers."
The document is expected to be made public
after the Synod of Bishops which concludes on OCT-23. 5
| 2005-SEP-04: NC: Statement of
inclusivity by Methodists of color: Meeting at Lake Junaluska, NC, a
group of Asian American, African American, Hispanic, Native
American and Pacific Islander Methodists issued a statement promoting
inclusiveness. It said, in part:
"...we raise our voices lest the mistakes of the past be
repeated in the present. We are reminded that at not so long ago
African Americans were denied entry into this historic site at
the heart of Methodism and based on the remembrance of this
tragic legacy, we speak out today so that no other individuals
or groups will be similarly denied hospitality at Christ's holy
table of fellowship."
"As UMOC, we are mindful that then as now, more conservative
voices from within this Church that we love have sought to deny
access and entry to fellow Christians and United Methodists. And
we are concerned that then as now acts of inhospitality have
opened the door to expressions of extremism and hatred. In
particular, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the
efforts of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and of other misguided
individuals to intimidate and threaten this gathering of
faithful United Methodists. Again, as UMOC, we are mindful of
the campaign of brutality, violence and terror that the KKK has
waged from the past down to the immediate present against
African Americans, new immigrants, Catholics, Jews, people of
differing political perspectives, the federal government, and
many, many others."
"Now, in recent weeks, the KKK has made it abundantly clear that
they have expanded their circle of hatred and terror to include
Reconciling United Methodists, particularly those who are gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people of faith."
6,7 |
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References:
- "United Church of Christ backs gay marriage," Associated Press, 2005-JUL-05, at:
http://www.usatoday.com/.
- Ruth Gledhill, "Methodists will bless gays," Times Online,
2005-JUN-30, at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk.
- Steve Lawrence, "Schwarzenegger
vows gay marriage bill veto," Associated Press, 2005-SEP-08, at:
http://news.yahoo.com/.
- "Corporate Equality Index," Human Rights Campaign, 2005-SEP, at:
http://www.hrc.org/
- "Pope approves barring gay seminarians," Catholic World News, at:
http://www.cwnews.com/
- "UMOC Statement from Lake Junaluska," The Reconciling Ministries
Network Digest, 2005-SEP-22.
- The UMOC web site is at:
http://rmnetwork.org/umoc/
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-JUL-02
Latest update: 2005-SEP-21
Compiler: B.A. Robinson
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