Cardinal: Catholic schools welcome kids of gays – but priest made OK call
(Boston) Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley on Wednesday defended a priest who denied admission to a parish school to a gay couple’s child, calling it a pastoral decision and saying the priest had his “full confidence and support.”
O’Malley’s comments on his blog were his first public remarks about the decision earlier this month by St. Paul Elementary School in Hingham to rescind the boy’s acceptance because his parents are lesbians.
A parent of the boy said the Rev. James Rafferty, the parish priest at St. Paul’s, said her relationship was “in discord” with church teachings, which sees marriage as only between a man and a woman. She said the principal told her teachers wouldn’t be prepared to handle the boy’s questions when he realized the church’s view of family conflicted with what he saw at home. The parent spoke to The Associated Press but asked not to be named to protect the welfare of the child.
The decision prompted calls for O’Malley to intervene. The Catholic Schools Foundation, which O’Malley chairs, said the decision was at odds with Gospel teaching, and it wouldn’t fund schools that made similar decisions.
The archdiocese’s head of education later called the parent, apologized and offered to help the 8-year-old enroll in another Catholic school.
O’Malley said Rafferty had come under “undue criticism” for the decision.
“He made a decision about the admission of the child to St. Paul School based on his pastoral concern for the child,” O’Malley wrote. “I can attest personally that Father Rafferty would never exclude a child to sanction the child’s parents.”
The archdiocese said it is creating a policy to clarify its schools don’t bar children with same-sex parents.
“It is true that we welcome people from all walks of life,” O’Malley wrote. “But we recognize that, regardless of the circumstances involved, we maintain our responsibility to teach the truths of our faith, including those concerning sexual morality and marriage.”
O’Malley began his post with a recollection about meeting the young daughter of a murdered woman who had run a brothel while he was bishop in the West Indies. He said the woman’s daughter had left public school because she was being badly taunted, and he immediately directed that the girl be admitted to the local Catholic school.
“Catholic schools exist for the good of the children and our admission standards must reflect that,” he wrote. “We have never had categories of people who were excluded.”
The Hingham case was similar to a situation in Boulder, Colo., in which a Catholic school said two children of lesbian parents could not re-enroll because of their parents’ sexual orientation, and the Denver Archdiocese backed the decision.
“It is clear that all of their school policies (in Denver) are intended to foster the welfare of the children and fidelity to the mission of the Church,” O’Malley wrote. “Their positions and rationale must be seriously considered.”
New poll looks at Presbyterian views
[Eds. note: I think this whole Associated Press story is interesting, because the more liberal Christians tend to be on the salvation issue, the more likely they are to support gay marriage - but scroll down to the last two paragraphs for the info on the gay poll question - ...
U.N. AIDS chief in South Africa for World AIDS Day
(Johannesburg) The head of the U.N. AIDS program says South Africa is the ideal place for him to visit on World AIDS Day.
Michel Sidibe, speaking to The Associated Press in Johannesburg Monday, on the eve of World AIDS Day, says that while South Africa has more people infected with the …
Out lawmaker is named to Air Force Academy board Out U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., has been appointed to the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors.
Out U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., has been appointed to the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors. Although Polis is against the military’s gay ban, he doesn’t intend to lobby for the policy’s repeal through his membership on the board, according to this article.KMGH-TV (Denver)/The Associated Press
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
 |
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/out-lawmaker-…
Senate gives nod to gay-inclusive hate crimes bill
The U.S. Senate voted 63-28 to attach gay-inclusive federal hate crimes legislation to the 2010 defense authorization bill. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D.-Mass., who first proposed amending U.S. hate crimes law to cover sexual orientation, issued a statement saying that the proposal would “[close] the flagrant loopholes that for too long have prevented effective prosecution of these shocking crimes that terrorize entire groups of communities across America.” Google/The Associated Press
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/senate-gives-…
Gay sailor’s family blames military after his death
Relatives of a slain sailor are calling the 29-year-old’s death a hate crime.
Rose Roy of Beaumont said her nephew, Navy Seaman August Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay.
Roy said she advised Provost to report and document the incidents, but she said the military did little to help.
“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”
Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.
“That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.
The 29-year-old Houston native was found dead Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Roy said the family was told that Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned.
The family plans to hold funeral services July 10 in Houston.
See Gay sailor’s family blames military after his death
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-sailors-f…
Lesbian Champion Mt Biker Faces Time Behind Bars
Former world champion Missy Giove, 37, faces significant jail time for charges of distributing marijuana. First becoming known in the ’90s, Giove was among the first female mountain-bike racing stars, often recognized by her loud style and being an out lesbian.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials confiscated over 200 pounds of marijuana from Giove’s possession. She was driving in upstate New York when officials found the drugs in the truck she was using, according to The Associated Press. Allegedly, Giove was making a delivery to Eric Canori, 30, at his home. In addition to the marijuana confiscated from the truck, 200 pounds of pot along with cash totaling over $1 million was seized from Canori’s home.
See
Lesbian Champion Mt Biker Faces Time Behind Bars
SheWired
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/lesbian-champ…
Women Inmates Segregated For “Looking Gay”
Virginia’s largest women’s prison rounded up inmates who had loose-fitting clothes, short hair or otherwise masculine looks and placed them in a separate cell block. That’s according to prisoners and corrections officers who talked to The Associated Press about the practice. They say dozens were moved in an attempt to split up relationships and curb illegal sexual activity at the 1,200-inmate Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy. Some straight women were sent to the wing strictly because of their appearance. Civil rights advocates called the moves unconstitutional punishment for “looking gay.” Fluvanna Warden Barbara Wheeler denied that any housing decisions were made based on looks or sexual orientation, and said doing so would be discriminatory. Inmates said life in the so-called “butch wing” or “locker room wing” wasn’t much different than other units. But both inmates and employees said the unit was locked down more often than others, and the women said they were verbally harassed by staff.
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/women-inmates…
Ex-TV anchor is Detroit’s 1st openly gay candidate
When reporter and anchor Charles Pugh told viewers of Detroit’s Fox television affiliate about his gay lifestyle, he gambled that people in his working-class hometown still would accept him as a journalist. That was about five years ago, and over that time Pugh’s popularity grew to where he became one of the more recognizable faces on local news broadcasts. He is banking on that translating into enough votes to make him the city’s first openly gay city council member. “I didn’t know what would happen, but at that point it didn’t matter to me because I knew it was the right thing to do,” Pugh told The Associated Press. “I think there will be people who grumble about it and some people who may stray away from voting for me because of that, but I think Detroiters already know me. I believe Detroiters are open-minded, hardworking people who really do accept people who are different. ” See Ex-TV anchor is Detroit’s 1st openly gay candidate
Chicago Tribune
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/ex-tv-anchor-…
Thousands attend Fresno rally supporting gay marriage
With lively chants and rainbow flags, several thousand people rallied in Fresno today, aiming to persuade California’s conservative heartland to support same-sex marriage rights.
Just days after the California Supreme Court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage approved by voters in November, activists launched the rally with a 14.5-mile march from Selma to Fresno in the Central Valley.
Hundreds participated in the march. Seeking to link the march with the 1960s civil rights movement centered in places like Selma, Ala., organizers said it was “a symbolic sign of respect for the social movements before us.”
The march ended at Fresno City Hall with the larger rally and drew support from such celebrities as Charlize Theron and Eric McCormack. McCormack, a heterosexual actor who played a gay lawyer in the TV sitcom “Will & Grace,” said he joined the march as a symbol of gay rights to middle America.
“We are the gays they accepted,” he said, referring to middle America TV viewers.
See Thousands attend Fresno rally supporting gay marriage
Hundreds march for gay marriage in central Calif. The Associated Press
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/thousands-att…
