Free Republic

The reading of the Torah ended, and Cantor Charles D. Osborne led the congregation at Temple Emanuel in Newton in a poignant prayer for renewal. It was time for the sermon. Rabbi Michelle Robinson rose and delivered the most stirring sermon of her young career -- an impassioned demand that the Conservative movement in Judaism sanction same-sex unions and other Jewish rituals for gays and lesbians. If movement leaders, who are in the midst of a deep debate over these issues, disagree, Emanuel, one of the wealthiest and most influential Conservative synagogues in New England, should sanctify such unions anyway,...

A fresh focus on domestic partnersFocus on the Family is supporting legislation to provide expanded legal benefits for heads of untraditional households including gay couples. We were pleasantly surprised last week when Focus on the Family expressed its support for state legislation that would provide expanded legal benefits for same-sex couples and other non-traditional households. In the chaos of domestic-partner, civil-union and gay-marriage measures, there will be plenty of time to take sides in 2006 as state lawmakers and voters consider whether to expand the standing of same-sex couples to anything that resembles heterosexual marriage. Focus on the Family, the...

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington voted yesterday to approve same-sex blessing ceremonies at its annual convention at the Washington National Cathedral, while the Diocese of Virginia, meeting in Richmond, passed an omnibus resolution that touted unity.     The Washington diocese has unofficially allowed same-sex ceremonies for years, and it has had a same-sex rite on the books since June 2004.     However, that rite has been put on hold until a meeting of the Episcopal General Convention in June in Ohio, when the denomination's future stance on homosexual clergy and same-sex blessings will be decided.     The Virginia diocese's resolution, passed in the...

Two druid priests yesterday became the first North Wales same-sex couple to tie the knot in a so-called gay wedding. Seven couples across the region took part in the historic ceremonies. And one wedding guest said if the controversial partnerships were introduced earlier, an inheritance tax legal battle after his partner of 48 years died, could have been avoided. The first North Wales ceremony was held in T£ Dewi Sant, Wrexham, between Philip Main, 49, and David Girvan, 52. The keen druids both dressed in white robes for the 10am ceremony - which fell on the winter solstice, also a...

With Great Britain’s first same-sex civil unions set to be recognized under law on Dec. 21, an informal poll conducted by the advocacy group Changing Attitude suggests uneven enforcement of disciplinary procedures spelled out in a July 25 pastoral letter by the House of Bishops. The new law on civil unions will allow same-sex couples to register their partnership with the state. Registration entitles the couple to most of the same civil benefits as heterosexual married couples. In the July 25 pastoral letter, the Church of England’s House of Bishops said the new law does not change doctrine or discipline....

Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth. - Phaedrus Most newspapers expect the readers to believe a news story will be an honest and unbiased presentation of an event factually written by a reporter and honestly reviewed by a news editor. Readers expect the news section will be bias free. An editorial or an op-ed piece in a newspaper represents the “official view” of the news by that particular newspaper or the opinion of an interested reader. And of course newspapers have the right to express their “official view”...

Dear Friends Warm greetings to you all on a chilly December day. I have been sparing with the Ad Clerum genre over the last two years, but I think it's time to start making amends. And there is a pressing matter about which you need to know how things are shaping up. Last week the Civil Partnerships Act came into force, and couples of the same sex are now able to apply to register as Partners, with various tax and inheritance benefits very similar to those applying to married couples. After a short waiting period, registrations will take place, beginning...

The Rev. John C. Danforth, an Episcopal priest who previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and U.S. senator from Missouri, recently told a political gathering in St. Louis he was open to performing rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, but would not officiate at a gay “marriage.” Speaking to the St. Louis chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans (which describes itself as “the leading voice for fairness, inclusion and tolerance in the GOP”) Fr. Danforth rejected calls for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, saying it was “nothing more than gay bashing.” He told The Living...

California's highest court ruled Monday that country clubs must offer gay members who register as domestic partners the same discounts given to married ones — a decision that could apply to other businesses such as insurance companies and mortgage lenders. The decision by the California Supreme Court dealt with a policy at the Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego that allowed only the children, grandchildren and spouses of married members to golf for free. Birgit Koebke, 48, an avid golfer who pays about $500 a month in membership fees, challenged the policy after being told that her longtime lesbian...

In country club case, court says domestic partners deserve same the benefits given married couples. By John Spano Times Staff Writer August 1, 2005, 1:01 PM PDT A country club that granted married couples benefits it denied to gay couples registered as domestic partners was in violation of California civil rights laws, the California Supreme Court ruled this morning. The wide-ranging ruling means that any benefits that California businesses provide to married couples must be offered to registered domestic partners. The court struck down a policy by the Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego against admitting gay couples as...

TOP justices in the western state of California have ruled that same-sex unions are on par with man-woman marriages when it comes to country club membership benefits, US attorneys said. The decision stemmed from legal action taken by B. Birgit Koebke and Kendall French after Bernardo Heights Country Club denied them the same access to its golf course afforded members in heterosexual marriages, according to a lawyer representing the couple. Striving for a "family friendly environment" was a legitimate business goal that was undermined, not bolstered, by discriminating against gay couples who qualified as domestic partners, state Supreme Court Justice...

San Francisco (AP) -- A country club must offer spousal discounts to same-sex domestic partners, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday, saying that a San Diego golf course discriminated against lesbians when relatives of married members played for free. Deciding a case brought against Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego, the state's highest court said that allowing the families of married members to golf gratis while charging the partners of gay members constitutes "impermissible marital status discrimination." While businesses might have once claimed a legitimate business interest for maintaining different policies for married couples and gay members who cannot...

"And yet for my husband and me, it seems that marriage simply adds a new category of potential suitors: the couple with a crush on us." -- David Valdes Greenwood ------------------------------------------------------ COUPLING Four's a Crowd Breaking up with one person is hard enough. But when it's a couple you want to avoid, it can get ugly. By David Valdes Greenwood | July 24, 2005 Once you marry, you think you are safely removed from the perils of dating. And yet for my husband and me, it seems that marriage simply adds a new category of potential suitors: the couple with...

HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund board voted unanimously yesterday to study the cost of extending health benefits to the same-sex and heterosexual "domestic partners" of state employees. Determining the price tag would be the first step toward making a politically controversial move -- actually providing state benefits to workers' domestic partners. It's a move that Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell supports but many socially and religiously conservative Republican legislators oppose. Rendell supports the move "as a matter of fairness," said Kate Philips, his press secretary. Philadelphia city employees had domestic partner benefits when Rendell was mayor in the...

Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples Family Research Council via Virtuosity Online ^ | April, 2004 | Timothy J. Dailey, Ph.D., http://www.virtuosityonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=650 Summary: Many times, homosexual relationships are touted as being no different than ordinary married couples. But research shows that in several key respects, the homosexual lifestyle differs radically from other types of relationships. by: Timothy J. Dailey, Ph. D. "Married and Gay Couples Not All that Different," proclaimed the headline of a news article portraying homosexual households as remarkably similar to married couples. "We're the couple next door," claimed one partnered homosexual. "We have...

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI condemned same-sex unions as anarchic "pseudo-matrimony" Monday and reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion. Benedict repeatedly referred to marriage as a union between man and woman in an address to a conference of the Diocese of Rome on the role of the family held at St. John Lateran basilica. He said matrimony was not just a "casual sociological construction" that changed in certain times in history but rather an institution that had its roots "in the most profound essence of the human being." "The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like...

The American Civil Liberties Union today announced plans to launch a national Marriage Campaign to persuade Americans that it is unfair to deny legal protections to the families of same-sex couples. The campaign will be led by Michael Mitchell, who comes to the ACLU after serving as the Executive Director of Equality Utah, that state’s lesbian and gay advocacy organization. "Our Constitution guarantees basic fairness to all people, yet lesbian and gay couples who make lasting commitments to each other just like married couples, are denied protections for their families," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "With...

Same-sex couples still losing out By Jasmyne Cannick Guest Columnist "In other words, if you're a two-working family, like a lot of families are here in America, and two people working in your family, and the spouse dies early -- before 62, for example -- all of the money that the spouse has put into the system is held there, and then when the other spouse retires, he or she gets to choose the benefits from his or her own work or the other spouse's benefits, whichever is higher, but not both. See what I'm saying? Somebody who's worked all...

"Gay Rights" and Multinational Business: A New "Marriage of Convenience"? In a striking business development, actions by major "multinational" corporations to include "domestic partners" of gays and lesbians in employee benefits schemes have become increasingly common in recent years. Even formerly conservative Walt Disney Enterprises has now "restructured" benefits in this way. One sees few non-multinational corporations and almost no small businesses taking such steps, however, from which one may conclude either that (1) multi-national corporations posess size and strength non-multinationals and small businesses simply do not, which enable these "megabusinesses" to absorb the increased overhead of including gay and...

On a summer day nearly five years ago, Lois Farnham and Holly Puterbaugh made their 27-year relationship official before 200 guests at First Congregational Church in Burlington, Vt. The occasion was remarkable on several levels. For the women, the ceremony brought legitimacy to their partnership, both legally and emotionally. For the state of Vermont, it was one of the first civil unions of gay couples to be recognized. And for the nation, it helped spark one of the most fiercely debated issues fueling the current culture wars. "Every once in a while, I step back and say, 'Oh, my gosh,...