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Australians Vote Overwhelmingly For Marriage Equality; and More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…congregants. It was for this reason that Shinta helped found the Pondok Pesantren Waria al-Fatah, the world’s only Islamic boarding school for transgender people. “In the public mosque we made people uncomfortable. We needed a safe place for trans women to pray,” she says. Since its establishment in 2008 the boarding school, or pesantren, has become a safe haven for trans people from across Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. “…

Can a Church Split Truly Be Gracious?

By Adam J. Copeland

…erians, calling itself a new Reformed body. Their website reports they now number 127 congregations and 213 pastors. Most of these come from the PCUSA. Beyond my denomination, there is a growing rift and talk of a possible schism in the United Methodist Church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has lost approximately 600 congregations in the past few years. The Anglican Communion views the Episcopal Church of the United States with increa…

Obamunism? The Traditional Values Coalition Coins a Term

By Bill Berkowitz

…n Bailout! Advocacy Campaign Marjorie Dannenfelser, the President of the Susan B. Anthony List, recently announced plans for the Stop the Abortion Bailout! advocacy campaign, which according to the group’s press release, aims to convince the Senate to preserve “federal abortion funding restrictions.” The campaign intends “to secure the 41 votes necessary to sustain a filibuster against measures promoting federal taxpayer funding of abortion.” The…

The New Disciples: Report from South Carolina

By Sarah Posner

…ocal power brokers like Bob Vander Plaats in Iowa. (Vander Plaats endorsed Santorum, but that failed to fulfill the Christian right’s wish to vanquish Mitt Romney.) At the South Carolina Citizens for Life Rally in Columbia on Saturday, that conventional story was on view: voters for whom abortion is the number one motivating issue, trying to send that message to both candidates and observers. There, on the statehouse steps, another kind of conserv…

Conservative Anglican Bishops Threaten To Split Communion; Malawi Opposition Leader Says Gays Should Be Killed; Anti-Marriage Effort Makes European Union Question Initiative Process; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…reely” taking part in last year’s Pride parade in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. The letter also references a picture of “a group” of gay men who were “semi-naked and hugging each other” in the pool of Brewster and Satawake’s official residence that a Dominican newspaper published. “We view this invitation to public homosexuality as an indecency and a lack of decorum that shames the modesty of the majority of the Dominican population that…

Episcopal Church Removes Bishop Who Split Following LGBT Inclusion Vote

By Elizabeth Drescher

…arolina is the fifth to succeed from the Church, following the Dioceses of San Joaquin in central California; Fort Worth, Texas; Quincy, Illinois; and Pittsburgh, PA. A pastoral letter from Jefferts Schori to members of the Diocese, however, made clear that The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, as with other dioceses voting to secede, “continues to be a constituent part of The Episcopal Church, even if a number of its leaders have departed.” S…

In Praise of Gay Republicans

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…alled,” in Mormon parlance) to serve as a leader in an LDS congregation in San Francisco.” All of these changes have been made because LGBT people were faithful to an institution that has historically despised and rejected them. Progress comes from making changes within, not protesting outside the doors. I completely understand the mindset of those who would question my membership in a club where many of its members wish to eliminate me altogether…

Laura Bush Disses “Dear” Gay Friends

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and county clerks in Sandoval, N.M. had issued 26 marriage licenses before a court put a stop to that practice. Despite Bush’s urge to put an end to such progress via an amendment to the Constitution, Massachusetts married its first gay couple that May, while thirteen other states enacted state constitutional amendments to ban the practice. It was against this divisive backdrop that First Lady…

How Will We Teach About Sikhism After the Tragedy?

By Laurie Patton

…oting not by shutting their doors, but by opening them. The Sikh temple in San Jose held an open house and gave out free head coverings. Over five hundred people gathered for a vigil at the gurdwara in Plymouth, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. This weekend, many Sikh temples have issued an open invitation to all to come and worship, in a concerted effort to welcome and educate America about their traditions. Hospitality is a key element o the Sikh…

Prayer vigil for Las Vegas shooting victim Sonny Melton (WBBJ TV)

No Way Out But The Ballot Box: Why Partisanship Trumps Morality In Gun Control Debate

By Daniel Schultz

So here we are again, after Newtown, after San Bernadino and Orlando. This time the rampage is in Las Vegas, with more dead, more people hospitalized, more deep trauma inflicted, but with the same shitty debate over prayer-vs-action and same despair over the potential for action being recycled. There are some differences, of course. Rather than the NRA paying $3 million to elect a senator from Iowa, we now have a president elected with $30 millio…