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Presbyterians expected to clear way for gay clergy

10-05-2011

NEW YORK — After decades of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Tuesday struck down a barrier to ordaining gays, ratifying a proposal that removes the celibacy requirement for unmarried clergy, in the latest mainline Protestant move toward accepting gay relationships.

The change was endorsed last year by the Presbyterian national assembly, but required approval by a majority of the denomination's 173 presbyteries, or regional church bodies.

The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, based in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., cast the deciding 87th vote Tuesday night. Sixty-two presbyteries have voted against the measure and balloting will continue, but the majority needed for ratification was secured in Minnesota.

"It's a thrilling day," said Sylvia Thorson-Smith, an elder at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Ariz., whose family advocates for gays and lesbians in the church. She invited 40 people to her house for a party after the vote was announced. "I can't help but think of those who have worked and suffered and endured and hoped for this. Some have not lived to see it."

Differences over the Bible and homosexuality have split Protestant groups nationally and worldwide for years. Within the Presbyterian Church, about 100 of the 11,000 congregations had already broken away ahead of the vote, but a group of large theologically conservative congregations, which calls itself Fellowship, has decided to remain in the denomination for now.

Top Presbyterian executives issued a statement to the church acknowledging that "some will rejoice while others will weep," at the decision.

"However, as Presbyterians, we believe that the only way we will find God's will for the church is by seeking it together — worshipping, praying, thinking and serving alongside one another," the executives wrote.

The measure approved Tuesday eliminates language in the church constitution requiring that clergy live "in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." The new provision instead requires ministers to "submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life."

Each regional body will decide who it should ordain, and some districts are expected to continue to reject gay and lesbian candidates.

Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas will send a letter to its nearly 5,000 members reaffirming the congregation's commitment to traditional marriage and celibacy for unmarried clergy. The church has formed a task force to study the impact of the new policy.

"While this change is deeply troubling, it does not change (Highland Park church)," the Highland Park senior pastor and elders wrote in the letter. "We have the freedom and the responsibility to continue upholding biblical standards for church officers."

The 2.1 million-member denomination, based in Louisville, Ky., is the latest mainline Protestant group to move toward accepting same-gender relationships.

In 2003, The Episcopal Church caused an uproar in the global Anglican fellowship by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran group in the country, liberalized its policy toward gay clergy two years ago. The United Church of Christ started ordaining openly gay clergy in 1972, and more recently endorsed same-sex marriage.

The nation's largest mainline group, the United Methodist Church, which has just under 8 million U.S. members, retains its celibacy mandate for unmarried clergy.

In the Presbyterian Church, regional bodies had rejected similar amendments in three previous votes on ordaining gays since 1998. In this latest round of balloting, 19 presbyteries switched their vote in favor of ordaining openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry.

Among the reasons cited by activists on all sides of the issue: the change in broader American society toward accepting same-sex relationships, weariness of the debate, and the departure of some conservative churches from presbyteries, which changed the balance of votes in some regions.

The new policy will take effect on July 10, after all presbyteries complete their voting.

The much smaller Presbyterian Church in America, a separate denomination, bars ordination for women and openly gay clergy candidates.

Source: NewsVine.com

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Bay Area bisexuals work for recognition in LGBT rainbow

10-05-2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- For the last 13 years, Lindasusan Ulrich has been in a committed relationship with the same woman. The couple have married three times, twice before it was legal in California and once while it briefly was. But if acquaintances were to assume Ulrich and her wife, Emily Drennen, are lesbians, they would be wrong. They identify as bisexuals and are proud of it.

This doesn't mean their sexual orientation hasn't presented challenges. Even in a do-as-you-like city such as San Francisco, the women have found bisexuals to be a misunderstood and often overlooked minority. During the state's 2008 campaign to ban same-sex marriages, they forcefully reminded gay rights leaders -- in the form of a cake decorated with the words "Having Our Cake and Eating It Too! Bisexuals Exist!" -- that political advertising and fundraising appeals referring only to gay and lesbian couples did not encompass their imperiled union.

"It's a unique identity as opposed to half one and half the other," said Ulrich, a 41-year-old writer and musician who recently authored a report on "bisexual invisibility" for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

The commission unanimously adopted the report, and that could prove a significant step, said Denise Penn, director of the American Institute of Bisexuality.

Because San Francisco takes its commitment to gay and lesbian rights so seriously, shining a spotlight on the hostility bisexuals sometimes encounter from gay men and lesbians could help ease one of the most painful aspects of having a bisexual identity, Penn said.

"People don't trust bisexuals, and I've heard some really, really nasty stuff," Penn said. "'Oh, you are going to just go back and hide in your straight world.' Bisexuals are (seen as) tourists in the community, opportunists."

As gay, lesbian and transgender people have succeeded in putting their fight for equality front and center in American politics, bisexuals -- the often forgotten "B" in the LGBT rainbow -- have been waging their own fight for recognition. From adopting a bisexual pride flag and commemorating Sept. 23 as bisexual pride day to urging researchers and government agencies to treat bisexuality as a distinct category, activists who acknowledge their attractions to both men and women say they want to assert their existence.

In promoting their not-insignificant ranks, activists point out that a UCLA demographer estimated last month that slightly more Americans self-identify as bisexual than as gay or lesbian. But the activist argue their task is complicated by stereotypes of bisexuals as fickle sex fiends, the difficulty in pinning down who counts as bisexual, and discrimination from both the straight and gay communities.

"Even people who would not feel comfortable saying bad things about gay or lesbian people still feel comfortable trashing bi people," said Robyn Ochs, a veteran bisexual activist in Boston.

Johnny Fesenko, 42, a computer programmer in San Francisco, said that contrary to popular belief and jokes about male fantasies involving threesomes, living as a bisexual can sometimes feel like the worst of all worlds instead of the best of both. Gay friends and potential partners tell him his interest in women is just a phase. He's had straight women refuse to date him because he's not "a real man." He once was punched in the face while walking with a boyfriend in Manhattan, he said.

"It's almost like being called an atheist -- you would rather call yourself agnostic because there is such a stigma associated with it," Fesenko said.

Despite the inherent obstacles, activists point to signs of progress. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, one of the nation's largest gay rights groups, a few years ago started holding bisexual-specific meetings and panels. Students at Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota have established groups for bisexuals. Out & Equal, a San Francisco-based organization that advocates for workplace rights for gays, last year sponsored an international survey aimed at uncovering on-the-job issues that bisexuals face.

"People really believe that bisexuality is covered by either gay issues or straight issues, so... you don't need to worry about the whole middle thing," said Heidi Green, a diversity trainer who co-conducted the survey. "Yet there are huge issues for bisexuals. When I ask people if they are out at work, the answer is almost universally 'no.' And because we don't have really strong community, there is a tendency to believe the issues you have in your life are unique to you, there is something wrong with you."

Chicago resident Adrienne Williams, a web content producer, launched the online Bisexual Social Network in late 2008 to fill what she considered a shameful absence of bisexual celebrities and entertainment in gay media. She still likes playing watchdog. One of her recent pet peeves is that gay publications celebrated the coming out of singer Ricky Martin, who was long rumored to be gay, but gave short shrift to Anna Paquin's announcement, while she was engaged to a man, that she is bisexual.

Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, acknowledges that gay and lesbian leaders have not always made their bisexual comrades feel appreciated. Within the LGBT movement, bridging internal divisions of race, class, gender and sexual orientation can take a back seat to combating bias on the outside, she said.

"What the movement must always be doing is looking around for whose issues are being ignored, whose issues are being left behind, who is not with us as we see gains being made," Kendall said. "Certainly bisexual folks have a legitimate beef when they say that they have felt by turns disrespected and by turns ignored."

Kendall's advocacy organization last year sued the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association on behalf of three bisexual men disqualified from playing in the 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle. Their team's eligibility had been challenged based on a rule limiting each squad to including no more than two straight players. During a hearing, the three players were asked whether they were predominantly attracted to men or women and other questions about their sexual orientations. A panel then voted on whether they were "gay" or "non-gay," according to the still pending complaint.

"I thought we were going to get more resistance from lesbian and gay folks in the community, not only for representing these men, but suing a gay softball association," Kendall said. "With a few exceptions, we have had overwhelming support, which I take as an indication that we as a movement overall have matured on this issue."

Source: ContraCostaTimes.com

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International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association convenes in Fort Lauderdale

10-05-2011

Hundreds associated with the global gay travel market are in Broward this week for the annual International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association convention.

BY STEVE ROTHAUS
srothaus@MiamiHerald.com
Miami Beach hotelier Karen Brown understands both sides of the gay travel market. As general manager of The Angler’s Boutique Resort on Washington Avenue, Brown says about 20 percent of her hotel clientele is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Even more LGBT people (about 30 percent) dine at The Angler’s on-site restaurant.

“Everyone is welcome,” Brown said. “We have seniors we call ‘silver foxes’ sitting next to Craig and Steve, next to six girls here for girly spring break weekend.”

Brown is also a lesbian traveler active in the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, a Wilton Manors-based organization with 2,200 members in 88 countries that this week is holding its annual convention at home in Fort Lauderdale. Five-hundred business are participating in the conference and 3,000 locals are expected at a Friday night street fair in Wilton Manors.

“It’s going to be the Super Bowl of gay travel opportunities,” Brown says, “to educate, to learn, to see how the gay travel world has evolved with new technology, politics, new laws, travel habits, financial abilities.”

The convention, which runs Tuesday through Sunday, is hosted by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The past decade has brought a sea change in the global gay travel industry. Many of the world’s largest airlines and hotel companies now actively recruit gay travelers and employees.

“Before you might have had a rogue gay person who had the guts to go after the market if their company accepted it,’’ Brown said. Today, marketing to the gay community has become so commonplace that it’s a standard part of the strategy for many travel companies and destinations, she said.

“It’s sitting there, you take your share. There are several really great hotel companies that offer really great programs: Kimpton, W, Wyndham.”

This year’s convention workshops will focus on how social media has impacted the travel industry, said IGLTA President/CEO John Tanzella of Fort Lauderdale.

Brown, who will emcee the travel association’s gala dinner Saturday night, said this is her first IGLTA convention. “I hope to widen my already broad travel scope of the gay market.”

The gay travel association “represents hospitality legitimacy,” she said.

“So many people around the world have different experiences,” Brown said. “We take it for granted how open our society is here in Miami Beach. Whereas other members of IGLTA have very different backgrounds where they’re not as free.”

In addition to typically gay friendly spots like Brazil, Great Britain and Australia, IGLTA members also hail from socially conservative nations including Jamaica, Turkey, Poland and Lebanon.

IGLTA began 28 years ago in Fort Lauderdale with 25 members. “They were gay guesthouse owners and gay travel agents who wanted to work together and promote each others’ businesses,” Tanzella said.

Today, leading IGLTA partners include American Airlines, Delta, Caesars Entertainment, Hyatt and MGM Resorts. British Airways, Hilton, Macy’s and Marriott are also major partners.

IGLTA employs eight full- and part-time employees with satellite offices in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Paris.

“We are not a travel agency. We are a trade organization,” Tanzella said. Visit IGLTA’s website and you’ll immediately find a customized “LGBT Travel Search” function that identifies location-specific contact information including gay-friendly hotels, travel agents, airlines and tourist offices.

Membership in the organization, said Tanzella, is equivalent to a seal of approval for gay travelers. “When they go to IGLTA’s website, they are going to find options that are interesting to them’’ – such as gay-friendly tour companies and lodging.

“We have a code of ethics [members] have to abide by,” he said. “They’re going to be welcome to – and not discriminate against – gay and lesbian travelers.”

Source: MiamiHerald.com

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Should teachers be forbidden to discuss homosexuality before 9th grade?

26-04-2011

Lawmakers in Tennessee are considering a bill that has been dubbed "don't say gay."

A report in Time Magazine says that the measure would mandate that before the ninth grade, teachers could not "provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality."

Supporters of the bill say it is simply neutral. Gay-rights activists see it as a form of discrimination.

There are plenty of parents and community leaders who believe that decisions about what is taught in schools should be made at the local level, not by the state. And there are plenty of states whose lawmakers seem to believe that they know best about what should and should not be taught in schools.

Statistics vary widely on what percentage of people are gay. Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that a study released by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law said that 3.5 percent of Americans identify themselves in surveys as gay or bisexual. That's about 9 million people.

But even the headline added that, "solid figures are elusive."

Are Tennessee lawmakers ignoring something that is a part of life? Do you think not talking about homosexuality in schools is a workable approach?

Source: StlToday.com

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Texas lawmakers may remove transgender marriage rights

26-04-2011

AUSTIN — Two years after Texas become one of the last states to allow transgendered people to use proof of their sex change to get a marriage license, Republican lawmakers are trying to roll back the clock.

Advocates for the transgendered say a proposal to bar transgendered people from getting married smacks of discrimination and would put their legally-granted marriages in danger of being nullified if challenged in court.

One of the Republican sponsors of the legislation said he’s simply trying to clean up the 2009 law in a state that bans same-sex marriage under the Constitution.

“The Texas Constitution,” Sen. Tommy Williams said, “clearly defines marriage between one man and one woman.”

The legislation by Williams, of Houston, and Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, of Brenham, would prohibit county and district clerks from using a court order recognizing a sex change as documentation to get married, effectively requiring the state to recognize a 1999 state appeals court decision that said in cases of marriage, gender is assigned at birth and sticks with a person throughout their life even if they have a sex change.

Most states allow transgendered people to get married using a court order that also allows them to change their driver’s license, experts said. Some advocates for the transgendered say the Texas proposal would not only prevent future transgendered marriages but also open up the possibility that any current marriage could be nullified.

“It appears the goal is to try to enshrine a really horrifying ruling and making it law in the state of Texas,” said John Nechman, a Houston attorney whose law firm does work for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

Gov. Rick Perry’s spokesman Mark Miner said the governor never intended to allow transgendered people to get married. He said the three-word sex change provision was sneaked through on a larger piece of legislation Perry signed two years ago regarding marriage licensing rules for county and district clerks. Perry, a Republican, supports efforts to “clarify the unintended consequences” of that law, Miner said.

“The governor has always believed and advocated that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Miner said.

Williams said he understands that some people’s gender cannot easily be determined when they are born and they later have an operation that could change the originally assigned gender.

“It is an emotional issue,” Williams said. “I can appreciate that.”

But when asked about claims of discrimination, Williams insisted his goal is to simplify marriage licensing for clerks who are trying to balance the 2009 law with the 1999 Texas appeals court ruling.

“They shouldn’t have to resolve these issues,” Williams said. “We have confused them.”

Williams’ legislation has cleared a committee vote and now awaits approval by the full Senate, which is predominantly Republican. The version in the GOP-dominated House has not yet been given a hearing.

Some advocates for the transgendered say that even if the legislation is passed, transgendered people could still get marriage licenses using other state and federally-issued documents such as a drivers’ license or passport. But without the weight of a court order officially recognizing their gender reassignment, they worry any legal challenge, such as a divorce or estate dispute, would nullify the marriage.

“We want to be recognized as people. We want to have the same rights as all of you,” Lisa Scheps of the Transgender Education Network of Texas said at a March hearing on Williams’ bill. No one testified in favor of the legislation.

Kolkhorst, who authored the 2009 law that allowed the sex change documentation to be used in getting marriage licenses, did not respond to messages left at her office seeking comment on why she now wants to take it out.

The 2009 law originally was filed without the sex change document provision, but House records show Kolkhorst put it in as part of a lengthy amendment in the last month of the session. The changed legislation passed the House and Senate and Perry signed it into law a month later.

“It would be terrible for Texas, now that it finally caught up with the rest of the country, to take a step back,” said Shannon Minter, an attorney for the national Transgender Law and Policy Institute. He said most states allow marriages for people who have undergone sex reassignment surgery.

Nikki Araguz was at the Capitol last week to lobby against the legislation. Her husband, a volunteer firefighter, was killed in the line of duty in July 2010 and she is being sued by her dead husband’s family over control of his $600,000 estate.

Araguz had a final sex change operation in October 2008, two months after they were married, and says her husband knew and supported her. His family argues the marriage should be voided because Araguz was born a man and same-sex marriage is not legal in Texas. A hearing is scheduled for May 13.

“This is crazy. I feel like this is a personal attack on me,” Araguz told The Associated Press. “If this bill is passed, it essentially means women like myself who have had reconstructive surgery will not be allowed to marry their heterosexual partner.”

Source: Chron.com

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