Blog
Remembering Who We Will Be: The United Church of Christ and LGBT People in 2057
Posted on Jun 23, 2007 at 02:41 pm
Harry Knox, United Church of Christ's 50th Anniversary General Synod,Hartford, Conn.
June 23, 2007
Read Harry Knox's powerful speech, which describes the historic transformation the UCC church has brought to LGBT people and their families and offers a vision for the future built on their powerful witness for LGBT equality. [Link]
June 23, 2007
Read Harry Knox's powerful speech, which describes the historic transformation the UCC church has brought to LGBT people and their families and offers a vision for the future built on their powerful witness for LGBT equality. [Link]
OPINION: Republicans play key role in wins
Posted on Jun 22, 2007 at 03:40 pm
Washington Blade
June 22, 2007
Thanks to Rep. Ross and all the others who voted against the constitutional amendment, we can celebrate a bi-partisan victory in Massachusetts — and it is a huge victory. Families in the Bay State are stronger, more secure and better because the freedom to marry will go on. Civil marriage equality is here to stay in Massachusetts, planting an anchor for other states to make similar progress. [Link]
June 22, 2007
Thanks to Rep. Ross and all the others who voted against the constitutional amendment, we can celebrate a bi-partisan victory in Massachusetts — and it is a huge victory. Families in the Bay State are stronger, more secure and better because the freedom to marry will go on. Civil marriage equality is here to stay in Massachusetts, planting an anchor for other states to make similar progress. [Link]
Pride Agenda’s marriage ambassadors take the lead in NY
Posted on Jun 21, 2007 at 04:04 pm
Gay City News
June 21, 2007
Edith Windsor keeps working the phones. But this spring, she and Spyer decided that Thea couldn't wait any longer. With the help of three of Spyer's home care attendants, the couple flew to Toronto on Memorial Day weekend. The judge who married them, Windsor told the Toronto Globe and Mail, said that "we had married for all the people who died before same-sex weddings were possible." [Link]
June 21, 2007
Edith Windsor keeps working the phones. But this spring, she and Spyer decided that Thea couldn't wait any longer. With the help of three of Spyer's home care attendants, the couple flew to Toronto on Memorial Day weekend. The judge who married them, Windsor told the Toronto Globe and Mail, said that "we had married for all the people who died before same-sex weddings were possible." [Link]
Marriage touches legislators’ emotions
Posted on Jun 21, 2007 at 04:02 pm
New York Times
June 21, 2007
As the debate ended, Assemblyman Matthew J. Titone, a Staten Island Democrat who is also gay, held up his cellphone and announced that his partner had just proposed. "Now everyone's asking, 'So when's the wedding?'" Mr. Titone said yesterday, "and my response is, 'We'll have to ask Joe Bruno when it will be.'" [Link]
June 21, 2007
As the debate ended, Assemblyman Matthew J. Titone, a Staten Island Democrat who is also gay, held up his cellphone and announced that his partner had just proposed. "Now everyone's asking, 'So when's the wedding?'" Mr. Titone said yesterday, "and my response is, 'We'll have to ask Joe Bruno when it will be.'" [Link]
EDITORIAL: Equality itself
Posted on Jun 21, 2007 at 03:42 pm
Times Argus
June 21, 2007
In Massachusetts, as in Vermont, supporters of marriage equality gained ground when they put a human face on their cause. Gay and lesbian residents told stories about the relationships that mattered to them, about family, loyalty, commitment. When confronted with the human reality of gay relationships, it happens again and again that fear recedes. [Link]
June 21, 2007
In Massachusetts, as in Vermont, supporters of marriage equality gained ground when they put a human face on their cause. Gay and lesbian residents told stories about the relationships that mattered to them, about family, loyalty, commitment. When confronted with the human reality of gay relationships, it happens again and again that fear recedes. [Link]
State Assembly approves marriage law
Posted on Jun 19, 2007 at 04:07 pm
Gay City News
June 19, 2007
In an historic vote late in the evening on Tuesday, June 19, the New York State Assembly approved legislation guaranteeing marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. The measure was approved by a vote of 85 to 61 after a floor debate that lasted more than three hours. "Fresh from the historic Massachusetts victory last week, we now have a state that many thought couldn't do it become the second legislative body in the country to step toward marriage equality," Evan Wolfson said. "The fact that states such as New York, California, and New Jersey are so dramatically within reach ought to inspire all of us, gay and non-gay people, funders, and allies to go the extra mile now, and really work for what is now within our reach."
June 19, 2007
In an historic vote late in the evening on Tuesday, June 19, the New York State Assembly approved legislation guaranteeing marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. The measure was approved by a vote of 85 to 61 after a floor debate that lasted more than three hours. "Fresh from the historic Massachusetts victory last week, we now have a state that many thought couldn't do it become the second legislative body in the country to step toward marriage equality," Evan Wolfson said. "The fact that states such as New York, California, and New Jersey are so dramatically within reach ought to inspire all of us, gay and non-gay people, funders, and allies to go the extra mile now, and really work for what is now within our reach."
NY State Assembly approves marriage law
Posted on Jun 19, 2007 at 04:05 pm
Gay City News
June 19, 2007
In an historic vote late in the evening on Tuesday, June 19, the New York State Assembly approved legislation guaranteeing marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. The measure was approved by a vote of 85 to 61 after a floor debate that lasted more than three hours. "Fresh from the historic Massachusetts victory last week, we now have a state that many thought couldn't do it become the second legislative body in the country to step toward marriage equality," Evan Wolfson said. "The fact that states such as New York, California, and New Jersey are so dramatically within reach ought to inspire all of us, gay and non-gay people, funders, and allies to go the extra mile now, and really work for what is now within our reach." [Link]
June 19, 2007
In an historic vote late in the evening on Tuesday, June 19, the New York State Assembly approved legislation guaranteeing marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. The measure was approved by a vote of 85 to 61 after a floor debate that lasted more than three hours. "Fresh from the historic Massachusetts victory last week, we now have a state that many thought couldn't do it become the second legislative body in the country to step toward marriage equality," Evan Wolfson said. "The fact that states such as New York, California, and New Jersey are so dramatically within reach ought to inspire all of us, gay and non-gay people, funders, and allies to go the extra mile now, and really work for what is now within our reach." [Link]
COLUMN: Do Southern Baptists really support ‘Biblical’ marriage?
Posted on Jun 19, 2007 at 02:42 pm
Ethics Daily
June 19, 2007
Before marriage was elevated to a sacrament during the Council of Trent (1563), it was not regarded as sacred. The ideas that marriage must be licensed by the state or sanctioned by the church are modern innovations that go beyond the biblical tradition. Our modern definition of the traditional marriage based on love, trust, vulnerability and commitment is neither traditional nor biblical. In fact, what we call the traditional marriage is quite a modern invention (since about the 17th century). [Link]
June 19, 2007
Before marriage was elevated to a sacrament during the Council of Trent (1563), it was not regarded as sacred. The ideas that marriage must be licensed by the state or sanctioned by the church are modern innovations that go beyond the biblical tradition. Our modern definition of the traditional marriage based on love, trust, vulnerability and commitment is neither traditional nor biblical. In fact, what we call the traditional marriage is quite a modern invention (since about the 17th century). [Link]
OPINION: Tyranny by ballot
Posted on Jun 17, 2007 at 03:47 pm
The Boston Globe
June 16, 2007
When the Massachusetts Legislature voted this week, it acted upon the knowledge that for too long, gay and lesbian people — like people of color, women, and the physically challenged before them — were penalized by the details of life, enslaved mentally and physically to the will of the majority... This was a moment the Legislature had to be the guardian angel. It acted in the spirit of Federalist No. 51: "A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions." [Link]
June 16, 2007
When the Massachusetts Legislature voted this week, it acted upon the knowledge that for too long, gay and lesbian people — like people of color, women, and the physically challenged before them — were penalized by the details of life, enslaved mentally and physically to the will of the majority... This was a moment the Legislature had to be the guardian angel. It acted in the spirit of Federalist No. 51: "A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions." [Link]
Waves of change swept away bid against gay people’s marriages
Posted on Jun 17, 2007 at 03:44 pm
The Boston Globe
June 17, 2007
Over the years, one legislator after another moved into the pro-marriage equality camp, or at least into the anti-amendment one. Some did so after immense personal struggles over the issue; some after they discovered that switching sides had few electoral costs. In 2004, the year of the most impassioned debate over gay and lesbian marriages, all of the lawmakers who switched their positions to oppose the ban were reelected, even though supporters of the amendment had warned them of bruising battles and certain defeat. [Link]
June 17, 2007
Over the years, one legislator after another moved into the pro-marriage equality camp, or at least into the anti-amendment one. Some did so after immense personal struggles over the issue; some after they discovered that switching sides had few electoral costs. In 2004, the year of the most impassioned debate over gay and lesbian marriages, all of the lawmakers who switched their positions to oppose the ban were reelected, even though supporters of the amendment had warned them of bruising battles and certain defeat. [Link]