GLENN DALE – A church pastor and a Web page designer yesterday got as close to marriage as two same-sex Episcopalians can in Maryland. During a service led by the Right Rev. John Bryson Chane, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the 12-year relationship between the Rev. Michael Warren Hopkins and John Clinton Bradley…
by C. Ann Shepherd The typical married couple in America receives over 160 benefits and rights by virtue of their union. It seems ironic that a heterosexual couple married for one hour, has more rights and benefits than a same-sex couple that has been together for 30 years. The following is only a sample of…
Since the start of the AIDS epidemic, more than 78 million people have been infected with HIV and 39 million have died. Acquiring HIV no longer means certain death. A person on HIV treatment in a high-income setting now has nearly the same life expectancy as a person who does not have the virus. However,…
Soon after Alfred Kinsey began tabulating the sex data he was collecting in the 1940’s it became obvious that several new modes of analyzing it would be necessary, both for clarity and to avoid confusion. For instance, to show how easy and feasible homosexual contacts are for “the human animal” as Kinsey liked to say,…
CALGARY – Yesterday the Liberal government introduced their much-awaited marriage legislation. The decision I have come to has been a difficult one. I have spoken to many hundreds in my riding of Calgary Centre-North. I have met with many community leaders including religious leaders from Calgary and representatives of the gay community. I have held…
A possible Conservative victory in the upcoming federal election could mean social policies favouring a traditional “family” ideology: Where men are men and women are housewives and sexual and reproductive freedom is set back half a century. It’s an outcome too depressing to be worth discussion. Instead, I want to talk about one aspect of…
Read Part 1 of this article. Today, as Canadians (or at least those of us who vote) are choosing our government for the next five years, I want to recall the words of a former national leader. On Dec. 22, 1967, defending the decriminalization of homosexual behaviour, Pierre Elliott Trudeau opined that “The state has…
In the present ongoing discussion about same-sex marriages, the one thing that seems to be missing within the Roman Catholic Church and within our country, is a dialogue among people who respect one another. And for me, as your pastor, it is much easier to remain silent, than to take up the challenge to use…
HALIFAX, NS — The military has marked its first same-sex wedding, more than a decade after gays were allowed to join the Armed Forces. Two servicemen, who do not want to be named, exchanged vows May 3 at the chapel at CFB Greenwood, N.S., in front of 45 friends and a United Church minister. Lt.-Cmdr….
The Liberal sponsorship scandal, the Enron affair and the Parmalat case seem to be symptoms of a failure in modern Western culture. We put too much emphasis on individual rights and not enough on individual responsibilities. The public clamours for the individuals responsible for corporate and government failures to face the same sort of criminal…
Lloyd Thornhill and his partner Bob Peacock were married last year in Canada and were involved in the court case for equal marriage in Canada. Below is a presentation they made to the government’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights back on April 1, 2003 before they won the right to marry. Vancouver, BC,…
Secretly, many parents hope not. But if the answer is yes, there’s a lot of support to help you and your child along the journey. A few weeks before writing this, I bumped into an acquaintance, a middle-aged woman with two teenage sons. I told her I was working on an article about parents of…
The Scottish Episcopal Church has voted to allow gay couples to marry in church. It makes it the first major Christian church in the UK to allow same-sex marriages. The Scottish Episcopal Church has voted to allow gay couples to marry in church. It makes it the first major Christian church in the UK to…
Controversial Christian rock star Vicky Beeching, who in 2014 came out as a lesbian and argued that God loves her “just the way I am,” has received an award by the head of the Anglican Communion for her contributions to worship music. Beeching, who is also a theologian and media commentator, hit back against online…
by Brother Lawrence Damien Note from Mary: This is taken from a letter by Brother Lawrence Damien (aka Rev John Brown) to the Social Group during a discussion on celibacy: I am Catholic (though not Roman – I am from the California Diocese of The American Catholic Church which is an Independent Catholic Church) and…
Note from Mary: There are many versions of this story on the internet with different names and schools mentioned. I suspect this is the correct version but have no way of verifying. Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997. Dr. Schambaugh is known for…
This beautiful poem is being presented on the internet as “A translation of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, directly from the Aramaic into English – rather than from Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English”, but please read on after the poem for the truth. O Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration! Soften the ground of…
by Rick Brentlinger The sin that Jude condemns is humans having sex with angels. He does not mention or condemn homosexuals and lesbians, yet many anti-gay Christians take the following verses out of context to condemn gays and lesbians. They assert (falsely) that verse 7 is a negative attack on gay men and lesbian women….
Kingston West Free Methodist Church has asked Lauren Min-Pearson to step down from her involvement with the teens at her Church. First and foremost, Lauren is a committed born-again Christian with an intense desire to serve the Lord in her personal life and in her Church community life. She also graduated with distinction as a…
ALEXANDRIA, IN (Press Release) – Apparently, a visit by Marsha Stevens to a Gaither Homecoming concert in 2002 is being misrepresented and misused by her and others. Marsha Stevens is an outspoken lesbian singer-songwriter who operates an organization called Born Again Lesbian Music (BALM Ministries). Her story is a sad one. In 1969, as the…
Now THIS is what Morality is About! Morality is NOT about Gender Identity. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that…
In June 1958, Virginia residents Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter traveled to Washington, D.C., got married and returned home. An unexceptional story but for one fact: Richard was white and Mildred black. Their marriage therefore violated Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act. The Lovings were convicted in Virginia court and sentenced to a year in jail, with…
In August of 1984, my youngest brother, who had been my childhood playmate, died with AIDS. Just two weeks earlier, while visiting him in the hospital, he told my husband and I his lifelong secret. He was gay and had always been gay. I have wished many times since that brief encounter with the person…
by Jan Prout 365Gay.com Newscenter Toronto Bureau Posted: September 20, 2004 12:02 am ET (Toronto, Ontario) A Canadian television station has apologized publicly to viewers for a telecast of American evangelist Jimmy Swaggart’s television program in which he threatened to kill gays. The program, aired last week on Omni 1, a Toronto multicultural station, and…
I didn’t catch gay from a toilet seat, I caught it when for the first time a girl smiled at me and I knew why. I didn’t catch gay from playing with G.I. Joes, I caught it from the secret longing I got when I looked at the other girls around me. I didn’t catch…
There is no book I love more nor one that has shaped my life more dramatically than the Bible. This is probably true for many of us. The stories in the Bible have filled many of my days and really, are part of my very soul. I have come to realize that the Bible can…
Dear Betty, On May 5, 2001, Pope Paul II begged God’s forgiveness for sins committed by Roman Catholics against Jews, heretics and women. By doing so, he acknowledged that the “Church” has been wrong in the past. This morning, your husband, James, and your guest, Joyce Meyer, acknowledged that within the different denominations, we all…
People often ask me why I wear a Red Ribbon. Some people ask the question simply to find out what the ribbon means, but other people are really asking a hidden question: they wonder what experiences in life has moved me so that I would want to wear a Red Ribbon, a visible reminder to…
Everywhere I turned today, I read yet again another perversion of Holy Scriptures with a decidedly anti-gay twist. It is an epidemic of ignorance and misplaced righteousness. First, the Vatican is at it again, or should I say still at it. What I predicted last year has come to pass: The Pope has banned gay…
I have once again finished reading an official document issued by the Vatican in Rome that deals with the complex issue of gays in ordained ministry. Not since the document “CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING PROPOSALS TO GIVE LEGAL RECOGNITION TO UNIONS BETWEEN HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS,” issued two summers ago by John Paul II, have I been so absolutely…