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 | 2007-JAN-06: Orkney Islands Council cancels gay wedding: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music, and his long-term partner Colin Parkinson had planned to be married on the remote Orkney Island of Sanday. However, the council refused to allow Sanday's registrar to carry out the ceremony. Sir Peter Davies, a resident of Orkney for 37 years, accused the council of "downright discrimination" and said: |
"Everybody can get married where they live except me, it seems. Ever since the law on civil partnerships was brought in, we thought that finally there was an opportunity to get married and to have a little celebration. There are all sorts of people we were wanting to invite from the music world and it would have needed a lot of telephone calls. Well, if we can’t have it here in the place we live then we don’t want to do it at all in Orkney; we’ll probably go to London."
He told the Independent newspaper:
"Fundamental [sic] religious people, who delve into the Bible to justify their hatreds, still hold great sway. That kind of malignant influence is wrong."
Mr Ridley had been told by council that he could perform the ceremony, only to have them reverse their decision later. Ridley said:
"It is the law that everybody should be allowed to have a ceremony whether it is a same-sex partnership or one between a man and a woman. We are leaving in disgust. It’s such a great shame because Sanday is such a beautiful place."
There have been 16,000 same-sex weddings in the 12 months since the Civil Partnership Act came into force in 2005-DEC. 1,2
| 2007-FEB-22: WY: Anti-SSM bill dies: An anti-SSM bill, SF 13, failed to pass out of the House Rules Committee. It would have prevented the state of Wyoming from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. Massachusetts is the only state in which same-sex couples can marry at this time. Other Wyoming legislation defines marriage as the union of one woman and one man. However, it does not have specific legislation that prohibits the recognition same-sex marriages solemnized outside the state. 3 |
| 2007-FEB-21: RI: Attorney General issues ruling on SSM: In a major development, Attorney General Patrick Lynch wrote a ruling that covers same-sex couples who are residents of Rhode Island, go to Massachusetts to marry, and return to their homes. The ruling states that they are entitled to have their marriages recognized, and they are to receive the full set of benefits, rights and obligations that opposite-sex couples routinely receive. More details. |
| 2007-JUN-28: Sweden: Legislation planned to legalize SSM: "Gender neutral" marriage legislation is expected to be introduced by the Swedish government. Their target date for achieving marriage equity is 2008-JAN. More details. |
| 2007-OCT-10: "Dear Abby" columnist supports
same-sex marriage: Jeanne Phillips, a.k.a. Abigail Van
Buren, who writes the Dear Abby column, is being given an award by
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) because of her support
for same-sex marriage." She told the Associated Press:
Stephen Bennett is founder of http://TheParentsGroup.com, a conservative Christian support group for parents, family members and friends of homosexuals. They appear to recommend that gays and lesbians lead celibate lives, rather than enter into loving, committed civil unions or marriages. He commented:
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| 2007-OCT-12/13: Anglican Diocese of Ottawa back same-sex blessings: By a wide margin (177 to 97) the delegates passed a motion that would allow a priest, with the prior approval of his parish, to approach the bishop for permission to perform a blessing of a previously solemnized same-sex civil marriage where at least one spouse is baptized. This would give the married couple's parish, their priest, and their bishop separate veto power over the blessing, so that all three would have to be in agreement. However, the actual performance of same-sex marriages would still be banned. Because the Anglican Church is not fully democratic, their Bishop, John Chapman, has veto power over the resolution. More details. |
References:
- David Lister, "Gay marriage of a royal master hits the buffers," Times Online, 2007-JAN-06, at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
- Gudrun Schultz, "UK: Orkney Island Officials Won’t Permit 'Celebrity' Homosexual Civil Union Ceremony," LifeSiteNews.com, 2007-JAN-09, at: http://www.lifesite.net/
- "Wyoming marriage effort falls short," CitizenLink, Focus on the Family, 2007-FEB-23, at: http://www.citizenlink.org/
- John-Henry Westen, "First She Backs Abortion and Now "Dear Abby" Supports Homosexual 'Marriage'." LifeSiteNews.com, 2007-OCT-10. at: http://www.lifesite.net/
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Copyright © 2007 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2007-OCT-10
Author: B.A. Robinson
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