Poll: California residents support gay marriage

The latest Los Angeles Times/USC [1] poll found more evidence that the majority of Californians support same-sex couples’ right to marry.

The poll found 53 percent of the state’s residents support same-sex marriage, while 40 percent oppose it.

[2]

The results are similar to previous polls. The poll cited divisions along party lines, with Democrats and liberals supporting marriage equality and Republicans and conservatives opposed.

In addition, age appeared to be a factor – most voters younger than 30 voiced support; those older than 64 were opposed to marriage equality.

Does mean this that Proposition 8 would be rejected if voted on now? Not exactly. Older voters are more likely to turn out on Election Day than younger voters, a problem gay rights advocates must contend with.

[1] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/majority-in-california-support-gay-marriage-times-usc-poll-finds.html
[2] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-tuxedo-boys-top.jpg

Videos urge LGBT participation in Census

Ten new videos released by the U.S. Census Bureau urge the LGBT community to fill out and return Census forms [1].

“What I tell folks in the bureau is that this is a powerful, important part of American society,” Tim Olson, a Census Bureau assistant division chief helping to oversee the campaign, told the Associated Press [2].

[3]

“We have to reach out and engage this part of the population. Anything less than that is a failure.”

Five states and Washington, D.C., have legalized same-sex marriage, but the Census Bureau encourages any same sex couples who consider themselves to be married to check the “husband” or “wife” boxes. And “unmarried partner” box is also available.

Conservatives are angry about the move because they feel it legitimizes and redefines marriage.

Watch all of the videos at Logo Online [4].

[1] http://www.365gay.com/news/get-counted-why-the-census-is-crucial-to-gays/
[2] http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAYS_CENSUS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
[3] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-census-pie-top.jpg
[4] http://www.logotv.com/video/misc/499724/ben-de-guzman.jhtml?id=1635376

Okla. conservatives debate divorce legislation

(Oklahoma City) Touching on a sensitive issue among conservatives nationwide, the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature is embroiled in a dispute over whether lawmakers should remain focused on the state’s budget problems and other fiscal priorities or delve into family issues, especially the state’s chronically high divorce rate.

Republican members proposed three pieces …

SC rules against filming Prop 8 case

The Court’s conservatives ruled that federal law prohibits televising federal court cases.

SC rules against filming Prop 8 case

The Court’s conservatives ruled that federal law prohibits televising federal court cases.

SC rules against televising Prop 8 case

The Court’s conservatives ruled that federal law prohibits televising federal court cases.

Gay leaders blame TV ads, Obama for loss in Maine

(San Francisco) Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads – and President Barack Obama’s lack of engagement – for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate.

Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters’ rejection of a law …

Withers: Former child actor goes after Darwin

This is getting silly. And sad. Put a microphone under the mouth of a conservative and he/she will spout out theories that can’t even pass the smell test. From porno equaling gay and same sex marriage being a talking point for the socialist revolution, conservatives have harangued us for the …

‘Two-Track’ Church Suggested by Archbishop of Canterbury

PARIS — The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said profound differences among the world’s 77 million Anglicans over gay clergy and same-sex unions could divide their church into a “two-track model” yielding “two styles of being Anglican.”

The formula could avert a formal breach between liberals and conservatives but bring new strains in the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and American Episcopalians who resolved this month to open the door to ordaining openly gay bishops and to start the process of developing rites for same-sex marriages.

Archbishop Williams insisted that the issue should not be debated “in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican.”

In a lengthy message published Monday on his Web site, the archbishop offered a detailed and nuanced response to events at the Episcopal convention in Anaheim, Calif., this month when gay-rights advocates in the United States chalked up major victories over conservatives on sexual issues. The Episcopal Church is the official branch of the Anglican Communion in the United States.

The developments were seen by liberals and conservatives as likely turning points in the history of the divided Episcopal Church, reflecting the profound rifts over sexual issues within Anglicanism — the world’s third largest network of Christian churches after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The differences have crystallized around the Episcopal Church’s consent in 2003 to the consecration of the church’s first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

The Episcopalians had agreed to a moratorium on the election of gay bishops, but it was lifted at the convention in Anaheim.

The archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, which is composed of 38 provinces worldwide. The Episcopal Church claims about 2.3 million members.

In his message, Archbishop Williams repeated his view that “a blessing for a same-sex union cannot have the authority” of the full Anglican Communion, any more than a blessing for a heterosexual couple living outside marriage would have.

That, in turn, means that as long as the broader church “as a whole does not bless same-sex unions, a person living in such a union cannot without serious incongruity have a representative function in a Church whose public teaching is at odds with their lifestyle.”

The issues have confronted the archbishop with deep divisions not simply between liberals and conservatives in the United States but also across the broader church with its many followers in Africa, Britain and elsewhere. Four conservative dioceses in the United States and many individual Episcopal churches have broken away from the national denomination to forge alliances with conservative Anglican groups such as the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Archbishop Williams said: “There is at least the possibility of a twofold ecclesial reality in view in the middle distance: that is, a ‘covenanted’ Anglican global body, fully sharing certain aspects of a vision of how the Church should be and behave, able to take part as a body in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue; and, related to this body, but in less formal ways with fewer formal expectations, there may be associated local churches in various kinds of mutual partnership and solidarity with one another and with ‘covenanted’ provinces.”

The archbishop has promoted the idea of covenant — described by some analysts as a kind of good-behavior guide for churches — to overcome the rift.

“This has been called a ‘two-tier’ model, or, more disparagingly, a first- and second-class structure,” the archbishop’s message said. “But perhaps we are faced with the possibility rather of a ‘two-track’ model, two ways of witnessing to the Anglican heritage, one of which had decided that local autonomy had to be the prevailing value and so had in good faith declined a covenantal structure.”

The message continued: “It helps to be clear about these possible futures, however much we think them less than ideal, and to speak about them not in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican, whose mutual relation will certainly need working out but which would not exclude cooperation in mission and service of the kind now shared in the Communion.”

See Anglican Sees ‘Two-Track’ Church @ New York Times

Archbishop warns ordination of gay clergy could lead to two-tier … guardian.co.uk
Anglican Head Warns Of Two-Tier Church After Gay Vote On Top Magazine Archbishop of Canterbury responds to General Convention actions on … Austin American-Statesman

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/two-track-chu…

Lawsuit Challenges Wis. Domestic Partnership Law

Social conservatives asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday to strike down the state’s new domestic partnership law, saying it violates a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The lawsuit, filed by three members of Wisconsin Family Action, acknowledges the court will not have time to act before the law goes into effect next month but says justices should halt registrations as soon as possible.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed the law in the state budget last month. Starting Aug. 3, same-sex couples can register with counties to receive dozens of the same legal protections as married couples, including the right to inherit assets, make hospital visits and take medical leave to care for an ill partner.

Wisconsin became the first Midwestern state to enact legal protections for same-sex couples through the Legislature. It also became the first nationwide to allow domestic partnerships despite having a ban on gay marriage and any “substantially similar” relationships. See Lawsuit Challenges Wis. Domestic Partnership Law WCCO

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