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An ultra-Orthodox Jewish member of Israel's parliament has resigned after prominent rabbis criticised him for attending his gay nephew's wedding. Yigal Guetta revealed in a radio interview on Sunday that he had gone to the ceremony two years ago. He said that although same-sex marriage was against his religious beliefs he had wanted to make his nephew happy. But five rabbis accused Mr Guetta of desecrating God's name and demanded that the religious Shas party fire him. Same-sex weddings held in Israel are not sanctioned by the state. However, couples who wed abroad can register officially as married couples. In...

Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, whose same-sex marriage fight led to a landmark US ruling, has died aged 88. Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her wife Judith Kasen-Windsor. Ms Windsor's Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, granting same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time. She had sued the US government after being ordered to pay $363,053 (£224,940) in federal estate tax after her previous wife died. The couple had been partners for 44 years and had married in Canada in 2007. Ms Windsor argued that the provision...

Australian political leaders, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, have come out in support of a campaign for same-sex marriage. More than 20,000 people gathered in Sydney to campaign ahead of a non-binding postal vote on changing Australia's marriage act. Mr Turnbull made a surprise appearance and speech at the launch of the New South Wales Yes campaign. Opposition leader Bill Shorten then addressed the crowd at the main rally. The non-binding vote to gauge support for changing Australia's Marriage Act will be sent out from 12 September, with a result expected in November. The survey will not have the power...

Pope Francis has reiterated his belief that marriage can only be defined as a union of one man and one woman, explaining that “we cannot change it.”In a series of interviews with French sociologist Dominique Wolton that was published Wednesday in a book whose title translates to “Politics and Society,” the pontiff reaffirmed Church teaching on marriage.“We cannot change it. This is the nature of things,” explained Francis regarding the traditional biblical definition for marriage, adding that gay marriage should be “civil unions.”Francis also maintained the Church’s teaching on abortion, referring to the procedure as “murder of an innocent person.”...

Four years ago, amid much uncertainty, 400 British members of parliament voted to redefine marriage in the United Kingdom. Then prime minister David Cameron announced that, despite having made no mention of the issue in his party’s pre-election manifesto, it would be MP’s who decided the fate of marriage. Now, it’s Australia’s turn to choose. There’s one key difference. Unlike in Britain, it will be the people who decide. Everyone agrees, whether they admit it or not. This is a decision of enormous significance. Therefore, it seems sensible to analyse the consequences of the potential change, within nations in which...

Mid-February is the most frigid time of year, so it’s always seemed apt that that this is when they choose to hold the highest holy day of the cult of coupledom. If you’re reading this, there’s a not insignificant chance that you are one or several of the following: a) young b) female c) single or d) nauseated by the sheer volume of saccharine romantic propaganda sloshing around the public sphere at this particular time of year. But none of us live outside culture, and feeling frustrated on Valentine’s Day doesn’t make you stupid or duped or a mindless drone...

The challenges and potential business opportunities China's nearly 200 million "single population" has given rise to have been making headlines for some time now. Single population refers to the group of people who are not married despite reaching the legal marriageable age, and those that are divorced or widowed. According to China's population and employment statistical yearbook 2015, the total single population aged above 20－people who are unable to get married as well as those that choose to remain single－was about 140 million in 2014. According to a survey in 2015 more than 58 million people in China live alone...

Florida police rescued an Indian woman Saturday who was beaten by her husband and his parents who traveled from India to help assist him with the assault. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said Silky Gaind, 33, called her parents in India to tell them of the abuse. They then called the authorities. Police said Gaind was being held in the Riverview home by her husband Devbir Kalsi, 33, and his parents Jasbir, 67, and Bhupinder Kalsi, 61, who traveled from India to help their son “counsel and discipline his wife for being disobedient” after he asked for their assistance, according...

Thanks to cheap sex, marriage may be doomed. The share of Americans ages 25-34 who are married dropped 13 percentage points from 2000 to 2014. A new book by sociologist Mark Regnerus blames this declining rate on how easy it is for men to get off. Regnerus calls it “cheap sex,” an economic term meant to describe sex that has very little cost in terms of time or emotional investment, giving it little value. Regnerus bases his ideas, in part, on the work of British social theorist Anthony Giddens, who argued that the pill isolated sex from marriage and children....

A high-profile Vatican adviser responded to a recent Evangelical statement affirming marriage between “one man and one woman” with his own statement affirming "LGBT people."   Rev. James Martin, a Catholic priest, author, and adviser to the Vatican on communications, tweeted a seven-point list of pro-homosexual affirmations in response to the Evangelical’s “Nashville Statement” that defended marriage between a man and woman. Martin’s series of tweets were picked up by The Washington Post and published as a “counter-list” in an August 30 article titled “Seven simple ways to respond to the Nashville Statement on sexuality.” In his list affirming “LGBT people,”...

Leaders from two prominent Jesuit schools in Australia have tacitly endorsed gay “marriage” before the country’s vote on the issue in communications to parents, staff and students. Leadership for St. Ignatius College in Sydney and Xavier College in Melbourne used Pope Francis' emphasis on love as the “primary Gospel value” and the primacy of individual conscience to give a positive portrayal of homosexual relationships. Their statements also directly defied Catholic teaching and recent statements by Australian prelates about upholding Catholic identity in Church institutions. The Jesuit schools are alma maters for generations of Australian politicians, The Sydney Morning Herald reported....

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a statement issued by evangelical leaders August 29: The Catholic League has a long history of mutual cooperation with evangelical Christians on a host of cultural issues. In that spirit, we condemn the unfair attacks against the statement on marriage, family and sexuality that was signed by more than 150 evangelical leaders following their conference in Nashville last week. “Hateful,” “homophobic,” “anti-LGBT” are among the hysterical condemnations of the statement flying around print, broadcast and social media. But the statement is none of those things. While restating long-held Christian teaching that marriage is...

The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) released The Nashville Statement, signed by evangelicals and pastors throughout the country. The statement affirms that marriage is between one man and one woman and that the approval of same-sex relationships is sinful. The message comes at a time when some in the evangelical community have revised their views on human sexuality. “Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be,” the statement reads. Article 10 of the statement...

Evangelicals draw critics with 'Nashville Statement' on sexuality By Lukas MikelionisPublished August 30, 2017A group of evangelical leaders who released “the Nashville Statement” on Tuesday -- reiterating Christian viewpoints toward same-sex marriage and transgender rights -- have come under fire from Nashville's mayor and critics on social media.The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), consisting of a number of evangelical Christian leaders, published a manifesto aimed at addressing issues of sexuality. It was endorsed by scholars, pastors and leaders at a Nashville conference Friday.“The spirit of our age does not delight in God’s good design of male and female....

Pop star Meghan Trainor has said it is "so wrong" that her face has been used in an anti-gay marriage campaign in Australia without her consent. Australia is set to hold a non-binding postal vote on whether same-sex marriage should be made legal. The ad, on a Facebook page, featured her image and lyrics from her 2016 song No, urging people to vote against it. Trainor, a vocal supporter of gay marriage, was alerted to the poster by a fan. The American singer condemned the ad's message and stressed her support for marriage equality. The administrators of a Facebook page...

"In the spring of 1971, I met a girl…" So began Bill Clinton's tender, rambling speech last night at the Democratic National Convention, a speech in which he described his wife Hillary as a natural leader, an excellent mother, and "the best change maker" he'd ever met. "I married my best friend," he said. It was a reminder that the Clintons are still together after 45 years of marriage, in spite of all the public humiliations they've faced. They've outlasted the Gores, the first two Trump marriages, and the first two Gingrich marriages. Could the Clintons be — and having...

With every week, life under the Trump administration becomes more unnerving. The administration is trying to “phase out” the 15,000 trans people in the military, Trump is basically threatening nuclear war with North Korea and Mueller is tapping a Grand Jury to look into the Russia connection. We live in interesting times, and by interesting, I mean on the very verge of the second dark ages. Or, at least, some people believe that. Other people believe everything is fine, somehow.

Disney Junior released an episode of a cartoon aimed at preschoolers that depicted two "married" lesbian moms. Doc McStuffins, a show about an aspiring doctor who "fixes" toys with help from friends, featured a family led by two "moms" in its August 5 episode "The Emergency Plan." Although Doc McStuffins has been praised by many cultural critics for its depiction of a young African-American female doctor, it's now under fire for its most recent episode pushing same-sex "marriage." Here are 12 facts about Doc McStuffins. The creator of the show, Chris Nee, is in a same-sex 'marriage.' Michelle Obama...

In a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas excoriated his fellow justices for refusing to temporarily stop enforcement of a federal district judge's ruling that overturned the marriage laws of the state of Alabama and ordered Alabama to recognize as legal "marriages" unions between two people of the same sex. On Jan. 23, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade ruled that Alabama laws limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the law. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the...

Marriage and baptism are not bourgeois rites of passage. We need to make them easierThere are plenty of things for which I thank God: good friends, the health of my children, the glorious tenth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, the fact that the Detroit Tigers will not be trading their star pitcher Justin Verlander. Another is the fact that my wife and I were never made to attend a Catholic marriage preparation course.If we had been members of a parish where the mind-numbingly dull half-year of expensive weekend retreats had been required, we would have gone through with it, obviously. Offering...