Catholic Block: Church fights to keep weddings swinging one way.

The authors of the D.C. gay marriage bill are sensitive folks. While they’re eager to grant gays and lesbians the right to get hitched in the District, they don’t want to upset conservative churches in town. So they threw an exemption into the pending gay-marriage bill [PDF]: No church will be obligated to wed same-sexers. It’s a ceremonial loophole that’s not nearly wide enough for the D.C. arm of the Catholic Church. “The language of the bill only protects us on the day of,” says Susan Gibbs, communications director for the Archdiocese of Washington. “But for us, that day is the launching point for the rest of your life. It’s not a day-long event. It’s a life-long journey.”

Read More “A Guide to Gay Wedding Discrimination” »

Yesterday, the The D.C. Council Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary performed a final mark-up on the language of the D.C. marriage bill, voting 4-to-1 to send the bill to a full council vote. The vote will likely take place early next month. Yay!

In committee, the bill’s religious exemptions were finalized to ensure that no religious organizations—including churches, schools, and nonprofits—would have to “provide services, accommodations, facilities, or goods” to aid in the solemnization, celebration, or promotion of same-sex marriage. Boo.

I can’t imagine that you folks are as interested in the implications of the religious exemption than Mike Riggs and I are, but the full language [PDF] of that portion of the bill is after the jump.
Read More “D.C. Marriage Bill’s Religious Exemption Finalized” »

Last month, I argued against the provision in the D.C. same-sex marriage bill that would phase out domestic partnerships. In short: A lot of couples, gay and straight, don’t want to have to opt into that problematic “marriage” business in order to secure our rights. Marriage still comes with a lot of unwanted shit, like an implicit reinforcement of outdated religious and social implications, not to mention our grandmothers’ expectations for a big ‘ol wedding.

Good news: Yesterday, a revised draft of the marriage bill was released that will retain domestic partnerships (for now, at least). Bad news: the revised bill also allows churches to refuse to make their facilities available for those same-sex couples who actually are into that whole “marriage” business.

Read More “D.C. Gay Marriage Bill Preserves Domestic Partnerships” »

AshleyMadison.com, an online dating site that facilitates extramarital affairs, has never been too popular among moral conservatives. Earlier this year, Deroy Murdock argued on Human Events that Ashley Madison has edged out gay marriage as the number one threat to traditional matrimony. Now, cluck-clucking conservatives won’t have to choose between the cheaters and the gays: Ashley Madison has begun marketing itself as a place where the married can pursue their same-sex attractions, too.

Read More “Ashley Madison’s Conservative Values” »

Yep, nearly every species of animal on God’s green earth engages in “same-sex sexual behavior,” UC Riverside researcher Nathan Bailey reports. In a review published yesterday, Bailey and co-researcher Marlene Zuk found that while homosexual behavior spans the Animal Kingdom, the behavior manifests itself differently across species:

“For example, male fruit flies may court other males because they are lacking a gene that enables them to discriminate between the sexes,” Bailey said. “But that is very different from male bottlenose dolphins, who engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding, or female Laysan Albatross that can remain pair-bonded for life and cooperatively rear young.”

So, fruit flies don’t know they’re gay, bottlenose dolphins are socially gay, the Laysan Albatross are lifelong gays, and human homosexuals are demonized as “unnatural.” These findings probably won’t change the minds of homophobes who delight in comparing homosexuality to bestiality, but it may do something to fight the argument that gay sex somehow defies nature.

Last month, Virginia liberals were up in arms over the state’s proposal to offer a “Choose Life” vanity plate option at the DMV. On March 30, Gov. Tim Kaine signed the plates into law.

Now, a new proposition would allow Florida drivers to choose Christ. Drivers could also choose Cross In Front of Stained Glass. When the proposed legislation surfaced, Democratic state senator Nan Rich urged Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the Jesus plate.

Crist responded that those who didn’t want Jesus on their license plates “don’t have to buy one.”

Which raises the question: Who wouldn’t want Jesus on their license plate? Look how fucking sweet that is! This is a momentous occasion: A vanity plate that both right-wing religious drivers and ironic liberal drivers can both believe in.

Remember: Invoking entire religious groups in order to make an unrelated political point is probably not the best idea.

New York Governor David Paterson announced today plans to re-introduce an initiative to legalize gay marriage in the state Paterson introduced a similar bill in 2007, which passed the “Democrat-controlled state Assembly passed in 2007 before it died in the Senate,” the AP reports.

Spearheading opposition to the bill is Republican State Senator and evangelical pastor Ruben Diaz, who called Paterson’s timing of the bill “disrespectful.” Though Paterson likely introduced the bill in the hopes of riding the coattails of same-sex marriage victories in Iowa, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., Diaz thinks it’s actually “a laugh in the face” to Catholics, who just “celebrated the installation of New York City Archbishop Timothy Dolan” this week.

Read More “Gay Marriage In NY A “Slap In the Face” To Religious Leaders?” »

Maryland Catholics move to enshrine “natural complementarity of the sexes” within impenetrable snowglobe

The Maryland Catholic Conference has come out against the Maryland Senate Bill 566, legislation that would protect against discrimination of transgender persons in the state. According to the group’s executive director, Mary Ellen Russell, the church generally would totally support something like this:

Read More “Catholics Oppose Maryland Transgender Legislation” »

The ban has been lifted. In a presser from Health and Human Services:

” . . . in recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research – and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly.”

The full release is after the jump.

Read More “Obama’s Remarks on Stem Cells” »

Stem cell or merely stem? You decide.

Finally, ladies! Our extracted fertilized embryos can go toward a good cause, instead of feeding widespread speculation as to our personal sanities. President Obama is to lift restrictions on stem cell research any minute now, the AP reports:

Read More “Obama to Lift the Stem Cell Ban” »