Texas GOP on Homosexuality’s Threat to the Family

Apparently, the Texas GOP is striving to make the Republican Party of Virginia and Taliban Bob McDonnell and Ken "Cooch" Cuccinelli appear to be middle of the road moderates. In fact, the 2010 GOP party platform is so extreme that one has to wonder how much Kool-Aid the folks that adopted it were drinking - it must have been vast quantities. The rabidly anti-gay and anti-immigrant platform can be found here. It looks like something the Klu Klux Klan could happily endorse. As the Dallas Morning News notes in a main editorial:
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[Y]ou didn't have to look far to see that the GOP base continues to value purity of belief. Gov. Rick Perry repeatedly pounded his fist about his party facing a battle for the soul of Texas. Other speakers wasted no time emphasizing their own conservative bona fides on such issues as protecting the Second Amendment.
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The party platform took a hard line, too. For example, it calls on the feds to stop sponsoring pre-kindergarten classes. It proposes strengthening the powers of the hard-right-dominated State Board of Education. And it calls for overturning the U.S. law that makes children born on U.S. soil automatically U.S. citizens. (You can guess who that one's aimed at.)
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How the GOP thinks it can continue to win in a state with an exploding Hispanic population by demonizing Hispanics is dumbfounding. Meanwhile, the platform takes aim at gays who are viewed as a menace to society. Cities like Austin and Houston that are flourishing precisely because they are more open to diversity and tolerance ought to be unnerved by the lunacy of the state GOP. Here's some of the platform language on gays:
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We support the definition of marriage as a God–ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman, which is the foundational unit of a healthy society, and we oppose the assault on marriage by judicial activists. We call on the President and Congress to take immediate action to defend the sanctity of marriage.
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Marriage Licenses – We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such.
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Homosexuality – We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle in our public education and policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.” We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, refuse to recognize, or grant special privileges including, but not limited to: marriage between persons of the same sex (regardless of state of origin), custody of children by homosexuals, homosexual partner insurance or retirement benefits. We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.
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Texas Sodomy Statutes – We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.
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Not surprisingly, creationism would be taught in schools as science under the platform. Read the whole thing if you want to understand true lunacy. All in all, the platform is a call to oppose modernity and would impose one particular religious - and racist - view on all citizens. The Texas Tribune has live blogging of the coven of would be Klan members, religious extremists and general nutcases.

D.C.'s Same-Sex Marriage Proposal has Couples Contemplating Moving

Assuming Congress does not torpedo Washington, D.C.'s new same sex marriage law, marriage equality could be a boon to the District as hard working, often professional gay couples in Northern Virginia decide to make a short move into the District from anti-gay Virginia. Back when I came out, I tried to make a move to D.C., but the difficulties of moving after many years of private law practice made it unworkable. Now, with the boyfriend's successful business in Hampton, a move would be more difficult. But we do still talk about "someday" moving to a more gay friendly state or country. And many Norfolk area gays DO leave the area for more accepting cities and states (on the home tour last night, we ran into a guy from Norfolk who moved here to Key West). When Canada first allowed gay marriage, the influx of educated and successful gays from the USA was called the "gay drain." Now Washington, D.C. may benefit from Virginia's intolerance. Anti-gay legislators will not care - our leaving the state might even please them, but the state's big business ought to care because Virginia is becoming increasingly non-competitive in the recruiting world because of legalized discrimination. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on this potential movement of talent from Virginia:

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Before they had children, Zizos and her partner of 16 years, Karen Bell, chose to settle in Alexandria even though they knew their rights as a gay couple would be limited. They didn't want to create a life anywhere else. Now, just weeks before same-sex marriage becomes legal in the District -- barring congressional intercession -- Zizos, Bell and other gay couples who have settled in the District's Virginia and Maryland suburbs are asking: Is it worth moving?
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The question -- make your marriage legal, or stay in the place where you've made a home -- has forced many gay couples to weigh the battle for equal rights against quality-of-life issues, pitting a yard in Fairfax County against the chance to lock in inheritance and hospital visitation rights and the other benefits of marriage.
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"My partner just turned to me a month ago and said, 'You know, if they pass this in D.C., would you want to get married?' " said Rich Hooks Wayman, who is adopting 4-year-old twins with his partner, Aaron Hooks Wayman. "A lot of us in this community are talking about what this really looks like and whether it's important or not."
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Gay activists and experts on same-sex couples say that if the District's endorsement of gay marriage survives -- the council and mayor approved a measure last month, and Congress has 30 days to review the bill -- they do not expect a mass migration of suburban couples. What is more likely, they said, is that the tourism industry will see a spike as couples come from across the country to marry and then return to their home states. For couples in Virginia and Maryland with children, analysts said, the opportunity for legal marriage will probably be outweighed by misgivings about the District's troubled public schools.
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In fact, the boyfriend and I might be among those who travel to D.C.to get married and spend money there rather than have a ceremony that has no legal effect at all in Virginia.

Martha Stewart Celebrates First Gay Wedding Ceremony - And It's Someone I Know!

This week, Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, did its first article that included a same-sex wedding ceremony. What's amazing is that it's the August wedding of Good As You blogger Jeremy Hooper and his husband Andrew Shulman. I met Jeremy at the LGBT Blogger Summit last year - his blog is one of my daily reads - and had previously done posts about his beautiful wedding. Jeremy writes as follows at Good As You (where you can click through and see their wedding album):

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We're humbled and honored to have been deemed "good thing"-y enough to grace this mass market mag's pages. It's one time you won't hear us complain about our love being turned into an issue. Our full equality: Today Martha, tomorrow Congressional Quarterly?
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Congratulations Jeremy and Andrew!! And kudos to Martha Stewart for including a gay wedding in her magazine. I look forward to the day when all can recognize the legitimacy of the love of same sex couples.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden Says Yes to Gay Marriage

With some far right members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America already having vapors and conniption fits over the Churchwide Assembly vote this past August to allow partnered gay clergy, this move to allow same sex church weddings - which I support completely - by the ELCA's sister Church of Sweden ought to put the Neanderthals into utter aneurysm territory. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a trend where modern knowledge of the immutability of one's sexual orientation will trump ignorance and bigotry. Here are some highlights from The Local, a Swedish English publication:

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The Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden has come down in favour of church weddings for homosexuals in a vote held on Thursday morning. The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members.

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“The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favour of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value,” Åsa Regnér, head of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) - the country's largest gay rights group, said in a statement. In June, the church board took the first step towards permitting same-sex marriages by submitting a petition to the Church of Sweden Synod – the church's highest decision-making body.

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The board proposed the church continue to perform wedding ceremonies following new legislation which came into force on May 1st and grants same-sex couples in Sweden the same legal marriage status as heterosexuals.

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Current church regulations will likely continue to apply in practice, with some alterations, such as replacing “man and wife” with “lawfully wedded spouses” when a homosexual couple is married. Individual pastors would also still be able to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

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The ruling by the Synod, which has 251 delegates - two of which were absent from Thursday's vote, puts Sweden among the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major church.

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Not surprisingly, homophobes in other denominations - which in my opinion have forgotten the real Gospel message - have gone off the deep end as further reported by The Local:

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Representatives from the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Sweden, however, were disappointed by Thursday’s decision.“It is with great sorry that we receive news that the Church of Sweden’s Synod has today decided to wed same-sex couples that it will be referred to as marriage.

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Church of England spokesperson Steve Jenkins confirmed that relations between the two churches may be headed for a turbulent phase in the wake of the decision.

Southern Virginia Episcopal Diocese to Remain Less Than Fully Gay Accepting

For more than 150 years Virginia has remained in the rear guard among those states rejecting modernity and equality be it based on race or sexual orientation. As is all too typical in this state, even though national trends and policies change and move forward towards equality for all, the Southern Virginia Diocese has decided to act in the usual Virginia manner and ignore the recent changes voted on by the national church that allow gay bishops and marriage like ceremonies for same sex couples. But for the boyfriend's successful salon, I swear that nothing would make me happier than to leave this benighted and backward state. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot on the Southern Virginia Diocese's to reject change and full equality:

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The Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia will continue not to marry or bless same-sex couples despite tentative movement in that direction by the national denomination last week. "Nothing in our policies about either has changed," Bishop Herman Hollerith said in his blog this week. He leads the diocese, which encompasses Hampton Roads.

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Hollerith said meetings in the diocese will allow congregants to discuss the convention's decisions.
Debate over gay ordination and same-sex unions has shaken the denomination since it approved in 2003 the ordination of a non-celibate gay man as New Hampshire's bishop.

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I had hoped to perhaps join the Episcopal Church if the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America fails to adopt pro-gay resolutions at the Churchwide Assembly next month, but apparently to make the change worthwhile I'd need to move rather than change denominations.