Church agrees to bless gay partnerships


A Swiss offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church is to become the country's first officially recognised church to bless same-sex couples on a nationwide basis.

The move has been welcomed by the gay rights group, Pink Cross, but the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference is questioning whether it is merely a publicity stunt to attract new members.
 
The Old Catholic Church, which parted ways with Rome in 1870, voted at its national synod to offer gay congregation members the possibility of a church blessing. In June last year Swiss voters approved a new law allowing gay couples to register their partnerships.
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Who gets to decide a child’s gender?


NICOLE, 5, WAS BORN Nicholas. She wears ponytails and pink flip-flops, she loves dresses and dolls.

A story, written by Julia Reischel for the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, quotes Nicole’s mother, Lauren Anderson: “As a young toddler, he wouldn’t let me snap her onesies together because she wanted to wear a ‘dwess’ like his sister,” she said.

The Andersons love their child and want Nicole to express herself. At first, they tried telling Nicole she could be a girl at home but needed to be “neutral” in public. After a while, they gave up and friends note Nicholas has become the shining personality of Nicole.

But now the Andersons are faced with bringing Nicole into a bigger, harsher world: She starts public school in the fall. Maybe as a girl. Maybe as a boy.

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Latvia, Poland Snub EU Gay Declaration


(London) While the European Parliament was passing a motion calling on all EU countries to toughen their laws to deal with hate crimes the Latvian Parliament was stripped sexuality from its non-discrimination law.
The law was originally passed in 2004 as a condition of European Union membership.


Despite the requirement the law was never implemented and on Thursday, Parliament voted to remove the LGBT protections.
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Deadlock looms over response to gay cleric

 
The American Episcopal Church appeared to be heading for deadlock at its general convention in Ohio tonight as it discussed how to appease the rest of the Anglican world over its election of a gay bishop.

This weekend will see a vital moment in the life of 77 million-strong worldwide Anglican communion as members of the US church, sister to the Church of England, effectively debate whether they wish to remain within the communion or not.