"I've always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally."

After "evolving" on the issue for a couple of years, Barack Obama became the first serving US president to make public his support to allow same-sex couples to get married.

President Obama's comments add to a growing chorus of state leaders that support marriage equality which includes recently elected Socialist French president Francois Hollande and Conservative UK prime minister David Cameron.  

With increasing support shifting across the broad international political spectrum, the question remains: why do our political leaders continue to oppose equality for all Australian citizens?  

In his impassioned interview with America's ABC, President Obama identified that marriage is not a religious sacrament provided for by the government.

Here in Australia, we only need to look to the connotation of the word "marriage" under section 51(xxi) of the Australian constitution. Irrespective of whether the term "marriage" extends to the inclusion of same-sex couples, when read in light of section 116 of the constitution that enables a separation of church and state, at least one thing is clear: legislators cannot purport to privilege a particular religious meaning when it comes to marriage.

In practice, civil marriages performed by the state are a secular option for couples wishing to formalise their relationship. The Australian Bureau of Statistics notes that in 2009, 67 per cent of all marriages were solemnised by a civil celebrant.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4003202.html

Obama’s case for gay marriage shows that invoking faith isn’t just for conservatives anymore

You don’t have to be Christian to know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. In fact, scholars note that it is the one precept common to all major faith traditions. But in his interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts on Wednesday, President Obama cited the Golden Rule as found in Matthew 7:12 when describing the role his Christian faith played in leading him to support same-sex marriage.

“When we think about our faith,” he explained, “the thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule. . . . Treat others the way you would want to be treated.”

Announcing to the nation that he thinks that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry wasn’t the first time Obama has linked his Protestant beliefs to his support for specific policies. In his address at the National Prayer Breakfast this year, he credited his faith for inspiring policies as diverse as funding for medical research and eliminating tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. “Living by the principle that we are our brother’s keeper [and] caring for the poor and those in need,” Obama said, are values “that have defined my own faith journey.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-case-for-gay-marriage-shows-that-invoking-faith-isnt-just-for-conservatives-anymore/2012/05/11/gIQAg6QoIU_print.html

Cuban president Raul Castro backs greater gay rights and ending discrimination against homosexuals, his daughter Mariela, a famed sexologist, said during a colourful gay rights march in Havana.

Traditionally stigmatised in Cuba, homosexuality was fiercely repressed for many years by the regime, which interned homosexuals in work camps in the 1960s and ostracized them in the 1970s under the rule of Fidel Castro.

Raul Castro succeeded his brother Fidel as president in 2006.

Mariela Castro runs Cuba's National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX) and is an outspoken advocate for the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals in Communist-ruled Cuba.

"He has done some advocacy work, speaking of the need to make progress in terms of rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity," Ms Castro told reporters.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-13/raul-castro-backs-gay-rights/4007976

The group, Doctors for the Family, has made a Senate submission which argues same-sex marriage would put the "future health of our nation" at risk.

It says marriage between a man and a woman is more stable, and children who grow up in a family with a mother and father do "better in all parameters".

Among the 150 medical practitioners who signed the submission was Victoria's chief psychiatrist and member of the state's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Dr Kuruvilla George.

The Australian Medical Association has distanced itself from the group, saying a growing body of evidence actually suggests children raised by same-sex parents show no difference in their psychological development, general health, or sexual orientation.

And same-sex families are also hitting back.

Meet the Milne family from suburban Melbourne.

Lee Milne, now 44, came out when his children were five and two years old.

He has been with his partner Simon Mallia for 10 years.

Lee's kids - Georgia and Lachlan - are now aged 15 and 13 respectively. They've grown up with two dads and a mum, and Georgia says she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I wouldn't change my family for anything," she said.

"I love both my parents and I love my dad's partner because I've grown up with him for at least 10 years so he is literally a second dad to me.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-14/same-sex-families-hit-back-at-doctors27-claims/4009998

One of the most influential figures in modern psychiatry has apologised to America's gays for a scientific study which supported attempts to "cure" people of their homosexuality.

The survey, published in 2001, looked at "reparative therapy" and was hailed by religious and social conservatives in America as proof that gay people could successfully become straight if they were motivated to do so.

But Dr Robert Spitzer has now apologised in the same academic journal that published his original study, calling it "fatally flawed". "I believe I owe the gay community an apology," his letter said. "I also apologise to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works."

Spitzer's letter, which was leaked online before its publication in theArchives of Sexual Behaviour, is sure to cause delight among gay civil rights groups and stir up anger among social conservatives, who have used the study to combat the acceptance of homosexuality as a normal part of human society.

Reparative therapy is popular among Christian conservative groups, which run clinics and therapy sessions at which people try to become heterosexual through counselling. Gay rights activists condemn such practices as motivated by religious faith, not science, and call them "pray away the gay" groups.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/19/psychiatrist-admits-gay-cure-study-flawed

(Miami, Florida) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People today released a resolution supporting marriage equality. At a meeting of the 103-year old civil rights group’s board of directors, the organization voted to support marriage equality as a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law.

“The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people,” said Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NAACP. “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”

“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people.” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP.

The NAACP has addressed civil rights with regard to marriage since Loving v. Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967. In recent years the NAACP has taken public positions against state and federal efforts to ban the rights and privileges for LGBT citizens, including strong opposition to Proposition 8 in California, the Defense of Marriage Act, and most recently, North Carolina’s Amendment 1, which changed the state constitution’s to prohibit same sex marriage...

http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/naacp-passes-resolution-in-support-of-marriage-equality

MP survey shows signs of gay marriage change

Date: May 24 2012

Opponents of same-sex marriage outnumber declared supporters of marriage equality in the Federal Parliament, according to a stocktake by campaigners.

But advocates remain hopeful of achieving change this year, with supporters and those who are undecided comprising a majority of both houses.

Australian Marriage Equality researched the positions of MPs and Senators by examining their media statements, remarks in Parliament, correspondence to constituents and by direct inquiries.

In the house of representatives, 52 MPs (35 per cent) oppose same-sex marriage, while 35 (23 per cent) support it and 63 (42 per cent) have yet to declare their position. In the upper house, 26 Senators (34 per cent) support same-sex marriage, while 19 (25 per cent) oppose it and 31 (41 per cent) are undecided.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/mp-survey-shows-signs-of-gay-marriage-change-20120523-1z5tm.html?skin=text-only

...

But Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, notes that — importantly — Buchanan’s rumored sexuality was not a secret at the time. For much of the 19th century, American society was considerably more open and accepting than it was in much of the century that followed. It’s a concept that many of us have trouble grasping: indeed, one of the reasons Americans have trouble viewing the past as more progressive than today is because of the narrative many high school history books follow, which portrays the United States as a country that started great and is getting better — “chronological ethnocentrism”, as he terms it.

This type of thinking leaves many students to see history as irrelevant: inconsequential events of the distant past that are totally separate from issues we face today. And while Loewen notes that Obama’s stance on gay marriage is a welcome departure from our recent past, to tout modern American society as more tolerant than any in our history is a claim that has yet to pass the test of time.

Same-sex couples raising children must stand ready to prove to the world they are a family, just one that happens to have two mothers or two fathers.

This constant burden of proof is especially difficult for families like the Muzingos, who live in a state that doesn’t allow them to establish legal ties to each other. Michelle Muzingo was in the delivery room when her wife, Katrina, gave birth to each of their three children, who are now 7, 4 and 1. She cut their umbilical cords and was the first to hold the children, who call her “mommy.” Yet because they live in Ohio, a state that does not allow gay couples to adopt, she is unable to make that title official.

“We are always scanning the circle around us to see what we need to put in place to protect ourselves,” said Katrina, 37.

A report released earlier this week illustrates just how vulnerable these couples and their children are, both legally and financially. After all, 30 states do not have laws that allow same-sex parents to both adopt, while six states restrict them or impose outright bans.

Even families who live in states that recognize their relationships can run into trouble if they travel or move. And if something were to happen to a parent who was unable to adopt or otherwise establish legal ties, the child might be denied certain federal benefits — something that children of most heterosexual parents receive automatically.

“Outdated state laws really place children being raised by lesbian and gay families at risk, whether they do so intentionally through antigay legislation or whether they do so unintentionally because they haven’t updated their laws to reflect modern and contemporary family structures,” said Laura Deaton, policy research director of Movement Advancement Project, which wrote the report with two other research and advocacy groups, the Family Equality Council and the Center for American Progress.

The Muzingos, who live in Brunswick Hills, Ohio, but married in Canada in 2005, know their children would be unable to collect Social Security death or disability benefits on Michelle’s work record.

“We have way more life insurance than probably a typical middle-class family,” said Katrina. “If something were to happen to Michelle, the sole breadwinner, we would have zero rights to her Social Security, to her pension, to anything.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/your-money/same-sex-couples-often-face-obstacles-in-establishing-legal-ties-to-children.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print        

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THE SNP Government it to legalise same sex marriage, Scotland’s health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has announced today.

• Scottish Government to introduce legislation to legalise same-sex marriage

• Consultation received almost 80,000 responses

• Nicola Sturgeon: ‘We are committed to a fair and equal Scotland’

Ms Sturgeon’s announcement comes a week after the government postponed making a decision on whether to change the law on marriage.

The health secretary, who was asked to chair a cabinet sub-committee on the issue last week, insisted that churches and other bodies would not be forced to carry out same sex marriages.

MS Sturgeon said: “The Scottish Government understands and respects the fact that there are very deeply held views in Scotland both for and against same sex marriage and, in coming to our decision, we have had to carefully consider a number of different factors.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-plans-to-legalise-same-sex-marriage-1-2430948

Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed he would support same-sex marriage legislation if the shadow cabinet was given a "free" vote on the issue.

MPs have resumed debate on the merits of gay marriage laws, although a final vote is not expected until later this year.

Labor MPs have been given a conscience vote on the legislation, but Coalition MPs are expected to follow the party's position on the issue, which does not allow for any change to marriage laws.

Mr Turnbull, who has previously spoken out about his support of same-sex marriage, has told the Parliament he would be voting against the legislation.

"The Coalition has taken a position... not to allow a free vote on this issue, so... I will not be voting in favour of it," Mr Turnbull said.

"Were, however, a free vote to be permitted, I would support legislation which recognised same-sex couples as being described as a marriage."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-10/turnbull-voices-support-for-same-sex-marriage-legislation/4252984

A group of theologically conservative Christians will hold a conference in Oklahoma centered on preventing what organizers believe to be an effort by LGBT activists to influence evangelical churches.  

Known as “God’s Voice,” the conference is expecting at least 300 attendees and will be held Feb. 22-23 in Edmond, Oklahoma. 

The multiday event was created in response to the Revoice gathering, which was held July 26-28, 2018 at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Revoice’s official mission was to encourage and support “gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality." 

Although Revoice's organizers and speakers affirmed a traditional understanding of human sexuality, critics argued that their views were trying to push LGBT agenda items into evangelical churches. 

Stephen Black, executive director with First Stone Ministries and part of the God’s Voice Committee, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that their message contrasts with Revoice in that they do not accept the premise of “LGBT Christians” or queer ideology.

Read more:

https://www.christianpost.com/news/hundreds-to-attend-gods-voice-confere...

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