Portugal Votes to Legalize Marriage Equality

As reported earlier:

The mainly Catholic population of Portugal, which is also one of Europe’s more socially conservative countries, is expected to approve legislation on Friday that will legalize marriage equality, and expected to do so without a great deal of opposition.

Portugal’s current government is made up of a majority of those belonging to the Socialists and other left-wing parties which has paved the way for the new law is to gain quick approval.

Unlike the 2005 decision to legalize same sex marriage in Spain, which invoked hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets, the pending legislation in Portugal has received minimal opposition even from those on the right.

Amazingly, the Catholic Church has not been active in seeking support against the law which according to Lisbon’s Cardinal Patriarch Jose Policarpo, is “parliament’s responsibility”. It would appear that Portugal’s residents have a greater understanding of the importance of separation of church and state than many Americans.

According to Miguel Vale de Almeida, Portugal’s first openly-gay lawmaker:

“I think the Portuguese people have learned one of the fundamental tenets of democracy: respect for the rights of the individual.”

UPDATE:

Portugal’s parliament passed a bill today that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.

Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva is thought unlikely to veto the Socialist government’s bill, which won the support of all left-of-center parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April — a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.

Right-of-center parties opposed the change and sought a national referendum on the issue, but their proposal was rejected and the government’s bill was passed by 125 votes to 99.

Gay rights campaigners applauded from the galleries, hugged and kissed outside the building and ate wedding cake.

“This law rights a wrong,” Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a speech to lawmakers, adding that it “simply ends pointless suffering.”

More at: Mercury News!

Religious Right Takes a Deep Philosophical Breath

I found this great post on Politics without God and felt it worth sharing. Please support the separation of church and state as it is not ethical or fair to allow personal religious ideologies dictate the rights and laws administered to tax-paying citizens.

For two decades, the Religious Right has reveled in the successes of their crusade to erode the wall separating church and state. Since America’s sharp Left turn in 2008, they have not been so quick to gloat. Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said, “I’m not grieving over Barack Obama’s victory, but over the loss of things that I’ve fought for, for 35 years,” particularly concerning abortion rights and advancement of the so-called homosexual agenda. The Religious Right itself seems to be taking a soul-searching sabbatical, to get back in touch with its deeper mission: to live by the rule of God.

In October over 500 evangelical Christian leaders attended a conference at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on “renewing the evangelical mission.” Many felt that evangelicals had veered from the mission of Jesus. As one pastor put it: “The missing ingredient is not the primacy of the mind and doctrine. It’s the willingness to suffer.”

To this point, attendees sang a hymn with the words, “We spurned God’s way and sought our own, and so have become worthless.” I’m not sure if in this context “worthlessness” pertains to human beings or to evangelism’s usefulness to society. Indeed, one pastor lamented, “We’ve become useless in a society that desperately needs us.”

Another theologian urged pastors to talk less about fulfilling individual potential and teach more from Old Testament prophets like Prophet Joel, who urged repentance before God. Others argued for embracing Christian Reconstructionism, a movement emphasizing the total reformation of society according to God’s Law. Yet another pastor, spoke of his frustration in getting evangelicals of differing perspectives to collaborate on goals such as fighting abortion rights.

But in the end, all conferees agreed that Scripture should be the foundation for whatever direction Christianity is to take.

Looking for a way to help, visit Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Progressives Responsible for Separation of Church & State

According to Beck, there should be no separation of church and state.  His rhetoric says so!  Does this guy have an education?

The Church and the Capital

Gay people will eventually win full civil rights — including the right to marry — throughout the United States. Between now and then, there will be many more disputes like the one unfolding between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the District of Columbia City Council over a bill recognizing same-sex marriages that could be voted on as soon as next week.

City lawmakers who are negotiating with the archdiocese over the language of the bill should try to settle it without acrimony — but not by abandoning the District’s equal-rights tradition or by selling out same-sex couples.

Mormon Prop 8 Backlash = Black Oppression

From the Associated Press:

The anti-Mormon backlash after California voters overturned gay marriage last fall is similar to the intimidation of Southern blacks during the civil rights movement, a high-ranking Mormon says in a speech to be delivered Tuesday.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks refers to gay marriage as an “alleged civil right” in remarks prepared for delivery at Brigham Young University-Idaho, a speech church officials describe as a significant commentary on current threats to religious freedom.

In an advance copy provided to The Associated Press, Oaks suggests that atheists and others are seeking to intimidate people of faith and silence their voices in the public square.

“The extent and nature of religious devotion in this nation is changing,” said Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a church governing body. “The tide of public opinion in favor of religion is receding, and this probably portends public pressures for laws that will impinge on religious freedom.”

Oaks’ address comes as gay-rights activists mount a legal challenge to Proposition 8, the ballot measure that overturned gay marriage in California. His comments about civil rights are likely to anger gay rights activists who consider the struggle to enact same-sex marriage laws as a major civil rights cause.

In an interview Monday before the speech, Oaks said he did not consider it provocative to compare the treatment of Mormons in the election’s aftermath to that of blacks in the civil rights era, and said he stands by the analogy.

“It may be offensive to some — maybe because it hadn’t occurred to them that they were putting themselves in the same category as people we deplore from that bygone era,” he said.

Now this is amazing. White people, (the LDS church has very few black members, I’ll get to that in a minute) claiming their struggle for religious freedom (and by religious freedom they must mean spending tens of millions of tax-exempt dollars on supporting a political agenda and dictating who is entitled marry), are being oppressed by LGBT Americans, who don’t have the same rights or equality? What about separation of church and state?

This is so wrong at so many levels I’m not sure where to start. How are those who are spending millions and circulating petitions against other’s freedoms being subjected to oppression?  No one is telling them they can’t hate!  It’s just the opposite!  The government is letting them discriminate and oppress based on their religious beliefs.

Just in case you aren’t familiar, the Mormon Church used to preach segregation. It was their firm belief that being a person of color was a punishment from God and people of color were lesser than white people…and that was up until 1978! It was in that year former President Jimmy Carter threatened the LDS church with taxation if they did not stop preaching segregation, and amazingly enough, God spoke to the elders, and within weeks of the taxation threat, told them being a person of color was no longer a punishment from God, therefore they should be accepted into the church.

Secondly, how is anyone, who enjoys full benefits of marriage, employment, housing, etc….you know, all the rights, liberties and freedoms offered to everyone in America except for those of us in the LBGT community, going to claim they are being oppressed…and compare their oppression to that of what people of color experienced during and prior to the Civil Rights Movement?

This statement is not only stupid and delusional, but it’s extremely disrespectful towards anyone of color, and it demonstrates the lengths people will go to in their attempt to prevent American citizens who are a member of the LGBT community from ever enjoying full equality and maintain our second class citizenship.

It is with my most sincere hope, the community of color in this country stands up against this distasteful ignorance. I sincerely hope this becomes the straw that broke the camels back with the Mormon church. Hopefully Americans are smart enough to see through blatantly false and degrading statements like this and recognize that this mentality is twisted and wrong.

I never quite stop being amazed at the hate, intolerance and bigotry that comes from those who oppose equality for LGBT citizens, but this is over the top, and I again hope, that over the top, the Mormon church finds an edge, with a very steep decline that drops a long way down.

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