Gay Marriage Amendment Crafted with a Progressive Loophole
by Matt Peiken
 

Who thought Republicans, of all people, would carry the torch of social progress? But to those who support federal and state marriage amendments to discriminate against homosexuals, I salute your biblically ordained effort to preserve the Constitutional rights of transgendered people to wed.

Your intention to protect transgender marriage is clear in the language of the proposed federal amendment: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

Thank you, wise congressmen, for the loophole guaranteeing the rights of men who’ve become women to marry men, and vice versa. Cynics might call this an oversight. I call it forward thinking.

For too long, society has pushed transgendered people to the margins, regarding them with such abhorrence even gays and lesbians embrace them with stiff arms. As today’s gays enjoy unprecedented exposure through popular media, transgenders suffer the comic indignity of the Wayans brothers masquerading on screen as “White Chicks.” Well, who’s turning green now?


~

this is the first use of the word Activist I have seen in term of a conservatism // its about time..

Activists submit signatures to put bias issue to voters
By Alisa Weinstein
The Bulletin

Bend residents who want voters to decide whether the ordinance protecting the rights of gays, lesbians and transgenders should go on the city books delivered a thick stack of signed petitions to City Hall Friday afternoon, beating the 5 p.m. deadline set by city officials.

Petitioners told City Recorder Patty Stell that they gathered 3,895 signatures, exceeding the 3,352 required to put the question on the November ballot.

The Bend city recorder and the Deschutes County clerk have 15 days to verify the signatures, said Deputy Recorder Kim Meyers. The joint effort between the city and county will begin Monday, she said. But City Councilor John Hummel said between 10 percent and 20 percent of the collected signatures could be thrown out during the verification process.


~

Lesbians find ways to make peace with their sexuality
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Oscar Wilde, himself imprisoned for a scandalous relationship with another man, once said that the only sin one would have committed was to have lived against one's nature.

The words strike at the conscience of "Sarah", a 29-year-old young executive, for she has been denying her feelings for almost 15 years.

"I used to deny to myself that a lesbian. It took me 15 years before I finally was able to make peace with myself and say 'yes, I am a lesbian and there's nothing wrong with it'," she said.

The 29 year old knew that she was different from other girls when she was in elementary school. Of course, she did not know what the word lesbian meant; all she knew was that she was drawn to her female peers in unusual ways..


~

Missouri Synod affirms marriage as 1 man, 1 woman
Adelle Banks,  Religion News Service


 
Delegates to the triennial convention of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod have overwhelmingly passed a resolution affirming marriage as "the lifelong union of one man and one woman."

The resolution was adopted this week in St. Louis by a vote of 1,163 to 22, gaining the affirmation of about 98 percent of the voting delegates.

The statement referred to how "many in society are demanding legal recognition of same-sex unions as 'marriages' by appeals to 'equality under the law' " and declared that "for our Synod to be silent, especially in the present context, could be viewed as acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle."

The resolution cited biblical verses and past church statements to underscore the denomination's stance. It called for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to "urge its members to give a public witness from Scripture against the social acceptance and legal recognition of homosexual 'marriage.' "