PC-USA Approves GLBT Ordination

Big news in the church world: the Presbyterian Church USA -- not to be confused with its more conservative cousin, the Presbyterian Church of America -- has finally approved allowing the ordination of GLBT ministers. It only took 33 years!

Well, no one can ever say that they needed more time to discuss the issue!

Pastor John Shuck has the details for those interested in the technicalities.

To me this is just another brick felled in the wall preventing full inclusion in our society for gays and lesbians. Try as some folks might, you can’t stop the culture from changing. They couldn’t stop blacks and whites from marrying, and you won’t be able to stop the gays, either.

Meanwhile, yesterday we read news that the U.S. Navy was preparing for the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” by writing guidelines for performing same sex marriages on Naval bases. This prompted the usual freak-out, and an immediate reversal:

Washington (CNN) -- The Navy did an abrupt about-face late Tuesday, suspending earlier guidance that could have allowed same-sex marriages on military bases once the Pentagon scraps its present Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

A memorandum from the Chief of Chaplains, Rear Admiral M.L. Tidd, suspended one he issued about a month ago.

"My memorandum of 13 April 2011 is hereby suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and inter-Departmental coordination," Tidd wrote on Tuesday to all Navy chaplains and "religious program specialists."

The green light for gay marriage on military bases prompted a new round of Congressional opposition to ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Of course it did. But don’t worry, brothers and sisters. The bricks are falling. This one will, too.

Years ago I served on the session of a local Presbyterian church which had welcomed several openly gay families into our congregation. These people were talented and active in the church; we knew they had a lot to contribute to the life of our congregation, so we nominated two individuals to be part of the church’s Session, which is basically the church board. And then we all had to be reminded that in approving their inclusion on our church session we were running afoul of official PC-USA policy. While no one expected this to happen, it was possible our pastors could be removed from their positions.

This was a sobering thought, and it hardened our resolve. We approved their nomination and became what I believe to be Nashville’s first PC-USA church to have two openly gay elders serving the congregation. It sent a powerful message when these folks went to Presbytery meetings and other denominational functions. Several other congregations followed. And now the entire denomination has changed.

This is how change happens. The first step is always the hardest, but those steps have already been taken, long ago. Throughout our history, as our understanding of the human family has grown, we have opened the doors of our society wider to more people. Those fighting against full equality are marginalizing themselves by standing on the wrong side of history.

Growing Pains

There’s a world of hurt and confusion in this story, as well as the de rigeur Tennessee connection:

Federal authorities last week arrested and charged a Tennessee pastor with aiding in the “international parental kidnapping” of a girl who has been missing since late 2009 and is at the center of a lengthy custody battle between her two mothers — a onetime lesbian couple who were in a civil union.

The two had a bitter falling-out after one became an evangelical Christian and denounced the other’s continued “homosexual lifestyle.”

[...]

Lisa Miller, the girl’s biological mother and a newly fervent Baptist, was championed by conservatives for her efforts to shield her daughter from homosexuality. A Vermont court had granted her primary custody of the daughter, Isabella Ruth Miller-Jenkins, after Ms. Miller split with her partner, Janet Jenkins, in 2003. But the court also declared Ms. Jenkins to be a legal parent with liberal visiting rights, and Ms. Miller, who had moved with the girl to Virginia, defied repeated orders to permit the visits.

The case took a turn in late 2009, as the Vermont family court, citing Ms. Miller’s noncompliance, shifted primary custody to Ms. Jenkins. Ms. Miller and Isabella, who is now 9, disappeared. A warrant was issued for Ms. Miller’s arrest, and they have not been heard from since.

I’ve always said that the reason we need to have legal gay marriage is so we can have legal gay divorce. Even under the best of circumstances, divorce is an ugly business but if you’re gay, breaking up really is hard to do. Gay divorce is truly a legal nightmare for lots of reasons related to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, differing state laws, and all sorts of complications.

The Miller-Jenkins case is a perfect example of this. As I read the story in Sunday’s paper, I thought about how this whole situation reflected the cultural shifts of the past few decades -- changes we’re still coming to terms with in society at large. The issues at play are those same cultural issues which surface every election and are a major factor in our politics.

Once upon a time in America a situation like this would never exist: there would be no doubt as to whether a court would award custody or visitation rights to an avowed lesbian, there would be no question as to who was right or wrong in this scenario. For that matter, it would be pretty much a given that a same-sex couple would be infertile. But the past 30-40 years have seen major cultural changes, not to mention medical advances. Not all of these changes have been embraced by the totality of our religious and legal institutions. We're still sifting through it all, and I'd say it will take about a generation for all of this stuff to finally settle out.

And I have no doubt which way it will go. The culture wars are over and the right has lost; they just don't know it yet. Throughout its history America has always expanded its table to invite ever more groups of people to democracy's banquet; we've never taken seats away. That doesn't mean it's been an easy or effortless thing, far from it. And I think a lot of the knee-jerk legislation we see in places like Arizona and Tennessee attacking GLBT citizens and immigrants and the poor are all just a response to this societal shift we're going through right now.

We live in a post-Christian, post-racial, post-Roe-v-Wade, post-internet, post-biomedical engineering, post climate change, post-you-name-it age, and that's a lot of change for one society to handle. It's inevitable that we've splintered as we have, it's a predictable response by a large group of people to a lot of change. But I have great expectations for the next 20 years.

We're just going through some growing pains, that's all.

Today In Teh Gaiiiii

Ken Mehlman is finally out of the closet:

Former Republican National Committee chairman and Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman has announced publicly that he is gay, CBS News chief political consultant and politics editor for The Atlantic Marc Ambinder reports.

"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman said. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago, but I didn't."

Ah well, glad you got that weight off your shoulders.

Still waiting for Larry Craig to come out of the closet though....

What The Hell, WSMV?

I’m wondering why WSMV, our local NBC affiliate, is devoting an hour of prime time tonight to an infomercial for Time-Life.com’s “Pop Memories From The ‘60s” collection.

Does it have anything to do with the fact that the episode of Law & Order SVU which viewers in other markets get to see tonight is a re-run of the one featuring Kathy Griffin as a lesbian activist who--gasp--kisses a girl?

I mean, it’s just speculation, but is it possible that WSMV thinks the “L” word is too hot for our delicate ears (or eyes)?

Of course, NBC in its infinite wisdom already edited out the offending kiss. So maybe the station is so strapped for cash that they need to devote an hour to hawking CDs featuring “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport,” instead of offering some real programming.

Just wondering which it is. I think I already know.

What A Difference Same Sex Marriage Makes

Feb. 25, 2010::

Catholic Charities USA Calls for Affordable and Accessible Healthcare for All

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In accordance with its 100 year history of working to reduce poverty in America, Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) and its President, Rev. Larry Snyder, today called for Healthcare Summit attendees to put politics aside and unify behind the need to once and for all bring affordable and accessible health care to all Americans.

March 1, 2010:

Letter from Catholic Charities president and CEO to staff

[...]

Catholic Charities will continue to honor the health plan coverage that current employees have as of March 1, 2010. As of March 2, a new plan will be in effect that will cover new employees and requests for benefit changes by current employees. The new plan will provide the same level of coverage for employees and their dependents that you now have, with one exception: spouses not in the plan as of March 1 will not be eligible for coverage in the future. If your spouse currently has coverage in our Plan, he/she may continue to be covered by the health benefit plan, even if you later add a dependent or decide to change your option level (e.g., change from low option to high option).

We sincerely regret that we have to make this change, but it is necessary to allow Catholic Charities to continue to provide essential services to the clients we serve in partnership with the District of Columbia while remaining consistent with the tenets of our religious faith.

Summary: The District of Columbia’s new law recognizing same sex marriage has prompted Catholic Charities to drop insurance coverage for all spouses of employees not currently covered by their insurance plan.

Catholic Charities had already shut down its foster care and public adoption program.

To which I respond: assholes.

Karma Gets Focus On The Family

Focus On The Family has a $6 million budget shortfall this year, according to the AP, and has been forced to go begging to its donors yet again.

Aww. Can you hear me playing the world’s tiniest violin for you folks? No?

Last November, you may recall, the group was forced to trim 20% of its staff, after sinking $500,000 into California’s Prop 8 campaign. Well, they won that battle but it looks like they lost the war:

Focus on the Family also says it will no longer stage "Love Won Out" conferences, which promise to "help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome."

The events will go on, instead staged by Orlando, Fla.-based Exodus International.

I always say, karma’s a bitch!

This Week In Intolerance

Book burnings? Really? Sadly, when it comes to library books that don’t portray GLBT folks as demons, yes:

Ginny Maziarka, 49, said the books in the section of the library aimed at children aged 12 to 18 included homosexual and heterosexual content she thought was inappropriate for youths.

She and her husband also asked the library to obtain books about homosexuality that affirmed heterosexuality, such as titles written by "ex-gays," Maziarka said.

"All the books in the young-adult zone that deal with homosexuality are gay-affirming. That's not balance," she said.

[..]

Outside West Bend, the fight caught the attention of Robert Braun, who, with three other Milwaukee-area men, filed a claim against West Bend calling for one of the library's books to be publicly burned, along with financial damages.

The four plaintiffs -- who describe themselves as "elderly" in their complaint --- claim their "mental and emotional well-being was damaged by [the] book at the library."

The claim, unconnected to the Maziarkas, says the book "Baby Be-bop" -- a fictional piece about a homosexual teenager -- is "explicitly vulgar, racial and anti-Christian."

Braun, who says he is president of a Milwaukee group called the Christian Civil Liberties Union, said he singled out the book because it "goes way over the line" with offensive language and descriptions of sex acts.

So, just to recap: A Wisconsin mom wants to remove books about gays from the young adult section of her public library because they don’t portray gays as having some kind of disorder.

Meanwhile, some old farts who don’t even live in that town claim to have been so traumatized by one of the books in the library that they want it to be burned and they are suing for damages.

Let’s be even more clear: West Bend, where the library is located, is in Washington County, “an hour’s drive north of Milwaukee.”

Braun lives in West Allis, in Milwaukee County, which is just west of downtown Milwaukee. Not very close to West Bend, at all. I’m wondering if he couldn’t be emotionally damaged by some library books a little closer to home?

However, I did learn that West Allis is home to the International Clown Hall Of Fame. I think they have a new member to induct.

A Few Words On Marriage Equality

Just got an e-mail from a blog friend who has decided to wed his partner of 14 years this fall. They will travel to one of the handful of states to recognize gay marriages for the ceremony.

Here's the part of his e-mail that touched me the most:

Marriage may be no big deal to a lot of people, but it's every -- every -- little thing to me. [We] have been through everything a couple could possibly go through, from the greatest joys down to homelessness and near-death sickness. We're not redefining marriage -- we have lived it. Having that piece of paper and a ring on my finger means everything in this world to me.

Compare that to some folks I know--even some celebrities--who treat marriage like some silly little excuse for a party, and I have to think those folks who claim gay marriages threaten "traditional" marriages just don't have a fucking clue.

Giant Gay Repellent Umbrella

I'm probably the last one to see this parody of the "Gathering Storm" advertisement, but in case you missed it, I think it is by far the funniest:

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

Rick Warren Spins Those Prop. 8 Claims

[UPDATE]:

Rick Warren a no-show on This Week .... Spokesperson cites "exhaustion."

-------------------------

Rick Warren’s spokesperson has sent a letter to Shuck & Jive blogger John Shuck, a progressive Presbyterian minister here in Tennessee who supports marriage equality and who rightfully called Warren on his “I never campaigned for Prop 8” lie.

Apparently some other folks got the letter too (I didn't), so it seems Warren’s spokesperson is doing a little damage control in the wake of that Larry King Live appearance. Warren, it appears, was against Prop. 8 before he was against Prop. 8 before he was for gays before he was against them .... or somethin'.

She actually thinks folks will buy this nonsense:

When Dr. Warren told Larry King that he never campaigned for California's Proposition 8, he was referring to not participating in the official two-year organized advocacy effort specific to the ballot initiative in that state, based on his focus and leadership on other compassion issues. Because he's a pastor, not an activist, in response to inquiries from church members, he issued an email and video message to his congregation days before the election confirming where he and Saddleback Church stood on this issue.

This is really rich. I’ve never seen someone in such deep denial about the craven ambition of their client. Rick Warren is just a simple pastor, not a limelight-seeking celebrity with a coterie of media handlers. A guy whose video messages to his congregation are inconsequential little things that go completely unnoticed by anyone outside his small little church community. Right.

Shuck rightfully calls him on this little BS, too, and the rant is awesome:

He thinks that somehow having "gay friends" absolves him from actively working to pass Proposition 8. Yes, he actively worked to pass Proposition 8. He didn't stuff envelopes. He didn't go to meetings. He didn't knock on doors. He didn't make telephone calls. He helped the cause of Proposition 8 more than thousands of hours of activism by those who did those things.

He did it with a two minute fifteen second video. Care to see it again?

Do go over to Shuck & Jive and read the rest of the post. Let me say, as a progressive Presbyterian myself, Pastor Shuck rawks.

I just don't get this fence-riding by Warren. I guess he wants everyone to love him, from conservative evangelicals to the gays he claims as friends. But when you take a public stand on someone's civil rights, and classify certain people as more equal than others, you're gonna piss folks off.

Here a lesbian woman is about to get deported because she can’t legally wed her partner of 23 years, the woman with whom she has two children. She is not a U.S. citizen but her partner is; if she were straight she could wed and be a citizen. She’s not straight, she’s gay, and the federal government won’t recognize her relationship because of ignorant people like Rick Warren who have taken certain passages of the Bible as the inerrant word of God, while completely ignoring others. What they end up with is a world view that discriminates and destroys families.

Here’s a reminder for Rick Warren: people used the Bible to justify slavery, Jim Crow, anti-miscegenation laws, the slaughter of Native Americans, the oppression of women, and a host of other atrocities. Those people were wrong then, and you are wrong now.

Media Whores

Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist cult Church will protest the funeral of actress Natasha Richardson:

On its Web site, Westboro Baptist Church said it plans to protest at St. Joseph's Church because Richardson supported research for a cure for AIDS.

No. They are protesting because the media will be there. End of discussion.

Here’s something I’ve never understood: where does Fred Phelps’ money come from? His “congregation” has fewer than 100 people, made up primarily of family and extended family members.

Church members fly all around the world staging their protests, claiming 22,000 such protests since 1991. That’s over 1,200 events a year. That number is certainly wildly inflated but still, they appear at enough events around the country to rack up the frequent flier miles.

And finally, the group’s actions have made them a target of expensive lawsuits, which they’ve appealed ad nauseum. In November 2007, Phelps was ordered to pay $11 million to the family of a solider whose funeral the church had picketed. A judge placed a lien on Phelps’ Topeka, Kan., church building and law offices.

So I’d just like to know who is paying for the Phelps cult to travel around the world spreading their hate, paying all of their court costs and related expenses (though several members of the family are lawyers, they still need to pay for things like posting $225,000 in bond ordered by a judge last spring). And that doesn’t even mention stuff like keeping the lights on and food on the table at the Topeka compound where they all live.

So who is keeping this mission of hate afloat? And why isn’t someone in our media doing some digging to find this stuff out, instead of doing the hate crew’s biding by reporting every time a Phelps family member shows up to picket someone’s funeral?

Come on, doesn’t anyone do investigative work anymore? Anyone?

Bueller?

I suspect learning the identity of Phelps' backers will do wonders for promoting gay rights in this country.

Married Gay People Who Are Sorry

Hilarious.

The Kids Are Alright

Here’s some news that’s very cool:

Upon learning that members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church planned to protest at the school, students acted quickly — and on their own — to mount a counterprotest showing their disdain for the church’s anti-gay message.

The students, along with like-minded parents and other adults, gathered at 75th Street and Mission Road, swelling onto three corners of the Prairie Village intersection. The Phelps group was confined to the fourth corner.

[...]

Several students were taking donations for AIDS research with a goal of raising $250 for every minute the Phelps group stood across the street.

“We’re going over that goal now,” said Alexxus Abreu, a 17-year-old senior wearing a T-shirt that read “God loves me” and carrying a bucket of donations.

It's great to see kids, on their own initiative, take a stand against intolerance, and raising funds for a good cause, too. My hat’s off to them.

GOP Priorities

[UPDATE]:

Aunt B. has more. To fully appreciate the truly Orwellian nature of this bill, you must read her post, now.

---------------------------------------

Tennessee’s jobless rate is nearly 8%, we have an environmental disaster in the east part of the state and retirees losing promised healthcare benefits, we have Tennessee’s higher education system facing budget cuts, and what is the priority for Evangelical Christian Republican Paul Stanley of Memphis?

Senator Stanley wants to know what’s happening in your bedroom. I bring you *SB 0078 , filed today at the state legislature:

Adoption - Prohibits any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 49.

In other words, it bans adoptions by gays and lesbians and anyone else who is unmarried and living with a partner.

Hey, Paul Stanley: it’s none of your business what people do in their bedrooms.

Shame on you. Shame on you! What a horrid little man.

I’ll have more to say about this later but right now I wanted to let people know that with all the important issues facing the people of Tennessee, the one that Paul Stanley wants to tackle is preventing unmarried folks from adopting children.

Pass the popcorn, this is going to get interesting.

Holding Out For Some Royalties

Kudos to Nashville-based Sony/ATV Music Publishing for suing bigot cult leader Fred Phelps and his band of merry hate-mongers for their unlicensed use of the song “Holding Out For A Hero”:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Rev. Fred Phelps' group known for picketing soldiers' funerals around the country has been accused by a music company of violating copyright laws.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing wrote Phelps, telling him to stop what it called unauthorized use of the song "Holding Out for a Hero."

Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church produced a parody it calls "There Are No Heroes," which is on the Internet. Phelps responded Friday in a letter to the Sony saying the video is a parody and not covered by copyright laws.

Last year, another music company accused Phelps of infringing on the song "We Are the World" with a parody it called "God Hates the World."

I eagerly await the day when the Phelps clan are put out of business.

And please don't call them a church; they're not. It's a family cult, no different from Warren Jeffs' polygamy cult, except this one is centered around hatred of gays. Phelps' "church" has 71 members, "60 of whom are related to Phelps through blood or marriage or both."

Our Great Equal Opportunity Employer

In the post below I quote John McCain as saying the U.S. military is the “greatest equal opportunity employer in America.”

Look what our great equal opportunity employer has done to a dead soldier’s Wikipedia entry:

Pentagon employee erases mention of homosexuality on dead soldier's Wikipedia page

The Washington Blade reports that a computer with a Pentagon-registered IP address removed references of Maj. Alan Rogers’ sexual orientation:

Information that was deleted included Rogers’ sexual orientation; the soldier’s participation in American Veterans for Equal Rights, a group that works to change military policy toward gays; and the fact that Rogers’ death helped bring the U.S. military’s casualty toll in Iraq to 4,000.

[…]

The IP address attached to the deletion of the details and the posted comments is 141.116.168.135. The address belongs to a computer from the office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) at the Pentagon. The office is headed by Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, who was present at Rogers’ funeral and presented the flag from Rogers’ coffin to his cousin, Cathy Long.

I can think of some adjectives right now but “great” and "equal opportunity employer" aren't among them.

Not Answering “The Call”

I’m more than a little disturbed at our local broadcast snooze media’s benign coverage of “The Call,” a gathering of 100,000 charismatic Christians at Nashville’s LP Field. As just one example, WSMV anchor Demetria Kalodimos said the group’s goal is “improving society.” Well, yeah, if your idea of “improving society” is persecuting gays and lesbians, outlawing abortion, and making sure socially conservative Republicans of the Sam Brownback variety are elected in 2008.

(Lest you think this is a uniquely Nashville event, The Call is going on tour, hitting several cities over this summer before ending at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.)

Being interested in these sorts of things I visited ”The Call” website and was more than a little alarmed at what I found. Here they state that they are responding to the 2006 midterm elections, which “showed us that there is no clear moral foundation upon which the nation votes.” Well, not their moral foundation which seems to be exclusively anti-gay and anti-choice. They’ve completely ignored the broader issue of the 2006 election, the war in Iraq. Peace used to be a Christian value, but I guess not to these Christians.

Here is the purpose of The Call, from their online vision statement:

God has a word to say to the Republican Party: "Line up with moral issues--Marriage Amendment and Abortion--and show compassion to the poor and the oppressed--show Justice--or I will remove your lamp stand". He is sifting the Republican Party for its refusal to stand for moral principle and for playing political games with its constituents, who in 2004, voted on moral issues.

This is not your average Billy Graham crusade. This is not, as WKRN reported, just a day of “prayer and music.” They are not trying to “improve society,” not in any way I can see.

The Nashville Scene did an excellent story on “The Call,” noting that this is the group who was active in the Terri Schiavo gatherings in Florida, and are seen at abortion protests with their mouths taped over with the word “Life.”

According to the Scene's interview with founder Lou Engel, this weekend's focus is "radical purity." As an aside, I worked in Christian music for many years before quitting in disgust. “Radical” is a word they like a lot since it conjures up images of a counterculture movement, which they identify with as they see themselves as social outsiders. Lots of things are “radical” in the evangelical Christian subculture. Personally, I don’t think it really means anything other than as a marketing buzzword. It’s code for “we’re cool.”

Anyway, this is more of the anti-sex talk we’re accustomed to hearing from many politically active Christian groups. For example, today’s Call participants are being urged to fast. (And I’m sure our local merchants are just thrilled at the idea of an event bringing 100,000 visitors downtown who refuse to buy anything. But I digress.) Few media outlets have mentioned the fasting angle; no one has mentioned that The Call’s website tells participants to fast for 21 days from all media. All married participants are also instructed to abstain from sex this weekend. Unmarried participants, of course, are already abstaining, in the interest of “radical purity.”

My big complaint about The Call is not that they hold these beliefs or that they are trying to get converts, or even that the Tennessee General Assembly honored Engle and The Call with a resolution saying they embody “the spirit and commitment that are characteristic of a true Tennessean.” OK, that last part bothers me a bit.

Mostly I don’t understand why our local media refused to even look at The Call’s website and read up on this group before deciding they were here to “improve society,” not further an extremist political agenda.

Apparently the word got out anyway. According to a roundup at Music City Bloggers, folks from the local gay bookstore OutLoud handed out bottles of water to “Call”ers participating in a “repentence walk” from Centennial Park to LP Field.

Good for them. If I’d known they were doing that, I’d have joined them.