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Dcn. Christopher Butler flaunted homosexual lover on social mediaLEEDS, England (ChurchMilitant.com) - The bishop of Leeds is to ordain to the priesthood an English seminarian from the Pontifical Beda College who bragged on social media about his same-sex civil partnership. Bishop Marcus Stock will confer Holy Orders on Christopher William Butler in Leeds Cathedral on Saturday at 11 a.m. despite Vatican directives cautioning against ordaining homosexual men to the priesthood. Butler was ordained deacon by Cdl. James Michael Harvey, archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, on June 17, 2020. Same-Sex Union ToutedIn January 2020, Church Militant reported...

Dear Cardinal Dew here, not speaking about the family but the favourite of many senior clergy: homosexuality. No wonder Cardinal Dolan says the traditional family is today an excluded minority, even in the Church. Anyhow Dew is uncomfortable with the phrase 'intrinsically disordered', he wants us to find a new way of expressing something which 'even if there is something which is against Church teaching we put it in such a way that is friendly to them...'. The problem is the Cardinal is confused, the Church is not speaking about homosexual persons but genital acts, which is Church politely, trying...

A cashier at an Ottawa Loblaws grocery store has filed a discrimination grievance with his union, alleging he was told he could not wear pigtails to work. Adam Stone, 22, told CBC News he expresses himself through his hair — and has worn various styles and wigs to work over the past year. "I'm also openly gay and queer-identified. So I also feel it's a representation of my sexuality and my gender presentation," said Stone, who has worked for Loblaws for about four years. On Tuesday, he said his store manager told him that his pigtails were a health and...

San Franciscans may be forced to wear clothes outside of their homes and some nude activists aren't pleased. City lawmakers are scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that, if passed, would make it illegal for anyone over the age of 5 to expose their genitals in public. Exemptions will be made for parades and festivals held under a city permit, according to the ordinance. A group of activists filed a federal lawsuit against the city on Wednesday, asking that a judge issue a temporary restraining order to stop the vote on Tuesday and provide the court enough time to...

The USA’s first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, has responded to presidential hopeful Rick Perry's anti-gay TV promotion suggesting that "it must break God's heart to see religion used in a political campaign like this." Bishop Robinson of the Episcopal Church showed his distaste in a TV interview with MSNBC and also by writing an opinion piece in the Washington Post newspaper. Perry had stated in his commercial that “You don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t...

ELCA Presiding Bishop Tells ELCA Leaders it's Time to Move Forward 10-261-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In a report to leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, said it is time for the church to move forward and get over being "timid" about mission and ministry. "In the name of Jesus Christ our days of timidity are over," Hanson told the ELCA Conference of Bishops, ELCA synod vice presidents and ELCA seminary presidents Oct. 2. "I just think we have to say it. And we have to say it with the...

If Pastor John Vaswig or Pastor Kim Latterell were to leave their East Pierce County Lutheran churches, their congregations could replace them with a gay or lesbian clergy member. In August 2009, the church-wide assembly of the Ecumenical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) voted to allow churches to call pastors who are in a committed, same-gender relationships to head up their congregations. Many other important issues were discussed and voted on at the assembly meeting in Minneapolis, but this decision is the one that generated the most interest. John Brooks, spokesman for the ELCA, said that most of the churches...

Heiress Casey Johnson Dead at 30 January 4, 2010 Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson [Pic in URL] in the spotlight recently for a custody battle, grand theft charges and a flashy engagement to reality TV diva Tila Tequila, was found dead Monday morning in her Los Angeles home, OK! Magazine has confirmed. News of Johnson's death began circulating online around 5 p.m. PST, after TMZ reported that the wayward socialite's body had been found. Access Hollywood reported that the family had issued a statement asking for privacy. Johnson, the daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, had recently...

According to numbers released in December by the Episcopal Church, that denomination’s membership dropped by 3 percent in 2008. That doesn’t sound like much, but I am a bit of a demographics junkie, plus I researched and examined a lot of church membership and growth data in writing my book A Lover’s Quarrel With The Evangelical Church. I can tell you that I have never heard of a major denomination that has ever lost 3 percent of its membership in a single year. What’s even more interesting about these numbers is that the Episcopal Church now says it has only...

BREAKING: Diocese of Los Angeles Elects Non-Celibate Lesbian As Suffragan Bishop

ELCA synods will not have the option of upholding traditional Christian teaching on marriage and homosexuality in their standards for pastors and other rostered leaders according to a draft of candidacy rules released Oct. 10 by the ELCA churchwide organization. No synod or bishop may make decisions on ministry standards that differ from the new policies of the ELCA churchwide organization as defined by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the policy draft explains. The ELCA now allows pastors and other rostered leaders to be in committed same-sex relationships. “By the governing documents, all candidacy and call decisions are made on an...

An Edmonton teacher fired after telling a Catholic school board she was changing her gender to a man says the case fuels an unfair stereotype nationwide that Albertans are rednecks. "I do believe it may feed into the myth that Albertans are redneck," said Jan Buterman who this week launched an Alberta Human Rights Commission complaint about the firing from a public Catholic school board in St. Albert that came on her birthday last October. "I really don't think it's really what Alberta is," said Buterman. She's undergoing the process of becoming a man and had been a substitute teacher...

More Photo Galleries 1 of 13 John Ruys, left, of San Ramon embraces friend Stephen Yardbrough of San Francisco at the annual Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco on Sunday. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2009/09/25/folsom_st_fair.DTL&o= [Sorry, this was filed under animals]

SALT LAKE CITY — Gay rights activists are organizing a nationwide string of kissing demonstrations in response to the treatment of gay couples in Utah and Texas who tangled with security guards or police after kissing in public. The Great Nationwide Kiss-In is scheduled for Aug. 15. Events are planned for at least seven cities, including Boston, New York, Houston, Portland, Ore., and three California cities — Irvine, San Diego and San Francisco. A Web page and Facebook page promoting the demonstrations says more events are in the works. A pair of bloggers, David Badash, of New York, and David...

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. — When word got out that Mr. McBeth, a popular substitute teacher at two southern New Jersey school districts was about to come back to class as Miss McBeth, it caused an uproar. The former William McBeth had undergone sex reassignment surgery and was now Lily McBeth. The schools' 2006 decisions to keep her on as a substitute were hailed around the nation as a model of tolerance and acceptance of transgender Americans. But the storybook ending never happened: She got only a handful of assignments since then and is resigning in frustration.

DETAILS San Diego Pride ParadeWhen: 11 a.m. todayWhere: University Avenue at Normal Street to Sixth Avenue at Upas StreetSan Diego Pride FestivalWhen: From noon to 10 p.m. today, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrowWhere: Balboa Park, Sixth Avenue at Juniper StreetFestival admission: $20 each dayHillcrest Community CleanupWhen: 7 a.m. MondayWhere: Park Boulevard at University AvenueMore information:www.sandiegopride.orgThe hundreds of San Diegans who marched for gay rights in the mid-1970s walked through a city largely indifferent, even antagonistic, to the cause.What strides they have made.Today, up to 9,000 people will take part in the San Diego Pride Parade, including the...

VIDEO: Lord of the Rings Film Star Ian McKellen Admits to Ripping Out Hotel Bible Sections Against Homosexuality By John-Henry Westen AUKLAND, NZ, August 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - British Actor Ian McKellen who has used the mega-stardom he achieved playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films to promote homosexuality, has admitted to ripping out pages of hotel bibles that refer to homosexuality. In an August 10 interview on New Zealand's TV1 Close Up program McKellen was confronted by the interviewer questioning the truth of the rumour "He's the one, that when he stays in hotels rips the part...

Eileen DiFranco sang the hymns, prayed and took Communion as she had done at countless other Catholic Masses.But yesterday, for the first time, she led the service as an ordained priest - and received a warm reception from hundreds of Catholics and others."Nothing is impossible with our God," she told a congregation at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. "Not even a woman priest."Applause rippled across the steamy sanctuary, where many fanned themselves with programs titled: "First Mass. Eileen DiFranco."DiFranco, 54, of Mount Airy, had participated in a July 31 ceremony that organizers say made her among the first...

CHICAGO, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was released today by the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM). The RSM will respond to the fear and intolerance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) persons, by many of our Catholic Bishops on Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2006. We will be entering, with our straight allies, Catholic Cathedrals across the nation on Pentecost wearing Rainbow Sashes as a sign of identification. Some Bishops have welcomed us in the past, and we are thankful for their welcome.Nationally our Bishops have lobbied against our human rights. Our grief is intensified because many in the GLBT...

"Several years ago Gary Glenn came to Midland as a conservative political activist... Soon thereafter he rekindled the American Family Association of Michigan, based in Midland. Since that time, the AFA has been on a non-stop campaign to deny basic freedoms, safety and dignity to (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered) people. The American Family Association claims to be a 'pro-family' organization, but a recent study by the (National Gay & Lesbian Task Force) Policy Institute showed that the AFA and similar groups do little for families, but instead spend their time trying to outlaw abortions, stop equal rights for gay...