‘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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Bitter loser Harry Jackson files lawsuit to force referendum against gay marriage in DC
See Harry Jackson, a Beltsville, MD preacher who is trying desperately to gain national recognition by forcing the District of Columbia’s residents to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, and has reportedly turned to the courts to force the DCBOEE to approve his anti-gay marriage voter referendum. Based on Jackson’s repeated racially-tinged statements, he appears to believe that, because Washington is a majority African-American city, there are religiously- and culturally-based motivations for the city’s black residents to vote en masse for his socially conservative agenda. He and the pastors who speak in unity at his side have an unyielding argument that gay activists are hijacking the Civil Rights movement in an attempt to pit the interests of black community members and gay community members against one another — ignoring the obvious crossover or support that exists between them.
The DC City Council has already rebuffed Jackson and his so-called “army” of bible-waving protesters by voting twice in favor of recognizing gay and lesbian marriages that have been performed legally in other jurisdictions. The Board of Elections and Ethics also determined that that the intentions of Jackson’s referendum would not be in-line with existing ordinances. Reports indicate that Jackson and his wife, Vivian, are Maryland homeowners, but if Jackson is a legitimate tax-paying resident of DC, he has only been so for a extremely short period of time, and is possibly the roommate of another man. (No word yet on where his preacher wife is living officially.) Jackson seemed to indicate on a recent plea to Fox News, that he was the victim of computer hackers who obtained his personal residential information. His group of conservative preachers in April complained about unelected, activist judges approving of homosexual marriages, so it’s rather ironic that he is turning to the judges now to help him regain footing against the determinations made by DC elected officials and the board of elections. (Washington Post)
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Gay Couples Express Hope Over Benefits Extension
As Candy Holmes eyes retirement after 33 years of work for the Government Accountability Office, a major worry clouds her outlook.
Her partner, a clergywoman with limited health insurance, is not covered by the health or retirement benefits that Holmes receives from the federal government.
“I’ve been without benefits for my partner the entire time,” said Holmes, an information technology manager at the GAO. “Thank God we have not had any major illness. If we had, I’m not sure how we could manage.” See Gay Couples Express Hope Over Benefits Extension
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Deleware Gay rights bill heads to full state Senate
The state Senate next week will debate a bill adding sexual orientation to Delaware’s anti-discrimination laws.
Newark-area Democrat David Sokola says he’s grateful Senate leaders let him offer his own version of the bill.
Audio Here
During the past 10 years, similar bills have reached the Senate only to die in committee or as the result of a so-called “desk-drawer veto”, but Senate Insurance Committee members Wednesday voted 5-0 to send Sokola’s measure, which has the support of Governor Markell and key House leaders, to the full Senate.
Sokola says he expects spirited opposition from the bill’s opponents, but is confident the measure will pass. See Gay rights bill heads to full state Senate
WDEL 1150AM -
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Pulitzer-winner Kushner revels over Bachmann’s possible response to ‘Homosexual’ ads
Periodically each evening, the “smokestack”/LED sign atop the Guthrie Theater on Minneapolis’ riverfront lights up to spell out, in gigantic letters, “HOMOSEXUAL.” The word, along with others in the title of playwright Tony Kushner’s newest work have given the gay Pulitzer Prize winner pleasure recently. In the intro to an interview with CNN today, he speaks about how he felt first seeing bus advertisements for the Guthrie’s production of the play, “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures,” on streets in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s home state:
“I was excited to see a bus go by a couple of months ago when I first got to Minneapolis and the only words you could make out as the bus went by were ‘homosexual’ and ’socialism,’” Kushner says, adding that the first thing he did when he saw it was call his husband back home in New York City.
“He said, ‘Yeah, it’s great — You’ve come up with a perfectly shaped 14-word phrase of English that’s guaranteed to give [Republican U.S. Rep.] Michele Bachmann a heart attack, and it doesn’t even have an active verb in it.’”
Bachmann — a conservative who made national headlines during last year’s election when she called for an investigation into “anti-American” members of Congress (including then-presidential candidate Barack Obama) — is a vocal critic of gay rights and supports a federal ban on gay marriages.
“So it’s like … I feel good about that,” Kushner adds with a chuckle.
“The Intelligent Homosexual,” as t-shirts available at the Guthrie shorten it to, was commissioned by the Guthrie and gets its lengthy title from two 19th-century books: George Bernard Shaw’s The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It closes June 28
See Pulitzer-winner Kushner revels over Bachmann’s possible response … Minnesota Independent
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Shanghai gay pride: the show goes on
A colourful show of drag queens dressed in Chinese opera costumes was one of the festivities that marked Shanghai’s gay pride on Saturday, the first in China where homosexuality remains largely hidden.
A “Big Bash” barbecue Saturday — billed as the highlight of the week-long festival — went ahead as planned in a bar despite previous last-minute event cancellations by local authorities that marred the “Shanghai Pride.”
Drag and fashion shows and a ‘hot body’ competition took place at Cotton’s bar attended by at least 500 people, in a garden that was hidden from view by a rainbow banner covering the surrounding fence.
Later Saturday night, two fake gay marriages were to take place before people were ferried onto buses to go to an afterparty at a bar on Shanghai’s famous Bund promenade.
“We would have liked the whole week to go without cancellations, but today everything has happened as we wanted it to, so we’re happy,” said Kenneth Tan, spokesman for organisers Shanghai LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender).
Events for “Shanghai Pride” have been organised at private venues without a public parade — in stark contrast to similar events elsewhere in the world — to avoid attracting unwanted official attention.
But still, city authorities forced the cancellation of a film screening and a play during the festival, and the two venues hosting the “Big Bash” events Saturday had received calls from officials, according to Tan.
He said police had come to Cotton’s Saturday where expatriates and Chinese people mingled but soon left.
Liu Yang, a 27-year-old Chinese homosexual who was enjoying the shows Saturday, said he was amazed by the festival.
“I’ve never been abroad, and I have really wondered how such an event could take place so smoothly — I’m really nicely surprised,” he said.
See Shanghai gay pride: the show goes on AFP – 4
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Gay Marriage in California
To the Editor:
Re “Ruling Upholds California’s Ban on Gay Marriage” (front page, May 27):
How distressing to hear that Proposition 8 was upheld in California! For years, I have been asking what the downside of gay marriage is, and I have yet to hear a logical response.
Most often I hear that marriage between same-sex couples demeans or destroys the sanctity of marriage and/or family. I wonder, then, why we don’t ban divorce or unhappy marriages! It seems to me that a loving marriage between any two people does more to endorse and protect the sanctity of marriage than a joyless opposite-sex marriage.
There is no downside to a love-filled union. Gay or straight, marriage should be celebrated, not banned.
Laure Dunne
Norwalk, Conn., May 27, 2009 See Gay Marriage in California New York Times * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Knowing Someone Gay/Lesbian Affects Views of Gay Issues Gallup.com -
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While 57% of Americans oppose legalizing gay marriage, Americans who personally know someone who is gay or lesbian are almost evenly divided on the matter, with 49% in favor and 47% opposed. Among those who do not personally know anyone who is gay, 72% oppose legalized gay marriage while just 27% favor it.
The results are from a May 7-10, 2009, USA Today/Gallup poll, which asked Americans their views on a number of issues relating to gays and lesbians. Overall, a majority of Americans (58%) say they have a friend, relative, or coworker who is gay or lesbian — basically unchanged since Gallup first asked this question in 2003.
Examining personal experience by ideology, 71% of self-identified liberals say they personally know someone who is gay or lesbian — far more than is true among moderates and conservatives, who align more closely with the national average.
Views of gay marriage are strongly related to ideology. But the increase in support among those who personally know someone who is gay or lesbian is not merely a reflection of the fact that liberals are more likely to know someone of same-sex orientation. Further analysis reveals that, when controlling for ideology, those who know someone who is gay or lesbian are significantly more supportive of gay marriage than are those of the same political persuasion who do not personally know someone who is gay or lesbian.
Americans who know someone who is gay or lesbian are about evenly split between saying legalizing gay marriage will change society for the worse (39%) and that it will have no effect on society (40%). Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) who do not personally know a gay or lesbian person believe that legalized gay marriage will change society for the worse — far greater than the 48% of national adults who say the same. Only a small minority of Americans believe legal gay marriage will change society for the better, but those who personally know someone who is gay or lesbian are three times more likely to say this than are those who do not know anyone who is gay or lesbian.
Experience and Acceptance
In addition to the findings on gay marriage, Gallup similarly finds those with personal experience with gay or lesbian individuals more accepting of same-sex relations in general. While a majority of Americans overall (56%) think same-sex relations should be legal, two-thirds (67%) of those who personally know a gay or lesbian individual say this. A majority (57%) of those who do not personally know anyone who is gay say gay or lesbian relations should not be legal.
Of those who say they personally know someone who is gay or lesbian, 88% say they are comfortable around these individuals, compared to 64% of those who do not personally know someone who is gay or lesbian. Among adults overall, fewer than 2 in 10 say they are uncomfortable around someone who is gay or lesbian, but that number increases to 3 in 10 among those who do not personally know anyone who is gay or lesbian.
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SHOCK: New Hampshire lawmakers reject gay-marriage bill
New Hampshire lawmakers unexpectedly rejected a bill on Wednesday that would have made the state the sixth in the United States to authorize gay marriage.
The state’s Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted down the bill in a 188-186 vote, hours after its Senate approved the legislation 14-10 along party lines. An earlier version of the bill passed the lower chamber on March 26.
The legislature had been asked to approve language that would give legal protections, including the right to decline to marry same-sex couples, to clergy and others affiliated with religious organizations.
That wording was added by Governor John Lynch, a Democrat who promised to sign the bill if those changes were made.
The House vote against the governor’s amendment means the bill will be sent to a committee that will try to resolve the differences between the two chambers. It remains unclear how the governor would respond to any changes to his wording.
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Miss California defends nude pics
Miss California Carrie Prejean, who sparked a gay rights outcry following an outburst at the Miss USA pageant, has defended a series of raunchy snaps that have hit the internet.
A photo of Prejean topless and in lacy pink underwear surfaced on websites such as www.perezhilton.com and spread quickly. Five other photos are rumoured to be hitting the internet soon.
Miss California officials are investigating whether the snaps violate her contract as a beauty pageant winner.
Prejean, 21, said the photos were taken when she was a teenager and their release was designed to “mock” her religion.
“I am a Christian, and I am a model. Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos,” she said in a statement.
“Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid website that openly mocks me for my Christian faith. I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be.
“But these attacks on me and others who speak in defense of traditional marriage are intolerant and offensive.”
Miss California defends nude pics
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