LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items you might have missed:
• OUT: Counting down 6 hilarious times RuPaul couldn’t remember someone’s name.
• Them: An Ohio man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a trans woman at an amusement park. The unnamed suspect, 18, allegedly ripped down the woman’s skirt, exposing her buttocks and genitals, in front of children. Continue reading “RuPaul’s Memory Challenge + Self-Expression During Pride + More”
Some news items you might have missed: • SCOTUS: I’m still on cloud nine over today’s landmark ruling by the Supreme Court that current civil rights laws prohibit discriminating against LGBTQ people in the workplace. Read my post on the momentous ruling here. • Instinct Magazine: The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri now officially has a gay Black man in charge. The Rt. Rev. Deon K. Johnson, who is not only Black and gay but also a married Barbadian-immigrant and father of two children, was elected in a landslide of 115 votes out of 164. As the 11th bishop for the diocese, he represents 42 parishes in the Eastern half of Missouri. • Quibi: The new streaming app premieres its new program from ’60 Minutes’ titled, ‘60 in 6.’ Stories include features, investigations, and profiles in 6-10 minutes. In this episode, Wesley Lowery takes you to Minneapolis to go in-depth, in minutes. Download Quibi here and try it out for two weeks for free.
• Out Music: Heather Mae and Crys Matthews’s new single “6 Feet Apart” showcases the phenomenal talent of the award-winning Mae (who has been described as Stevie Nicks meets Sara Bareilles) and the unique fusion of Matthews’ Americana folk/jazz sound. In addition to the new single, the duo has announced their LGBTQ+ virtual Pride concert tour, “The Singing OUT Tour,” with dates scheduled throughout the month of June. The concerts will feature not only music but games and giveaways as well.
• CBS News: Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on policing Tuesday that aims to accomplish three things — to incentivize police departments to use modernized best practices, to increase information sharing by tracking people who have “excessive” use-of-force complaints, and to address mental health, homelessness, and addiction. • Philadelphia Inquirer: A Philadelphia court supervisor has been fired after a video surfaced on Monday of him tearing down Black Lives Matter protest signs made by children at a South Philadelphia park.
According to reports, this is a Philadelphia city court supervisor tearing down childrens’ signs saying black lives matter. When the person recording says ‘black lives matter,’ the man responds, ‘Not to me.’ He’s apparently been fired by the city. pic.twitter.com/x3udrMbHNQ
— The Randy Report (@randyslovacek) June 15, 2020
The number of senior LGBTQs is expected to double in the next 10 years
(image via Levi’s)
Some news items you might have missed:
• For a little #TBT – I apologize I don’t know where the photo above came from, but it always makes me stop and smile.
• Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, becomes the latest city to ban the harmful practice of so-called “conversion therapy” on LGBTQ minors.
• Same-sex couples will now be able to marry in their home parish even if their local bishop has moral objections to gay marriage, Episcopal Church leaders decided last Friday.
• California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law officially recognizing June as LGBT Pride Month. California is the first state in the U.S. to legislate such a statute.
• Transgender people in Puerto Rico can now change their birth certificates to accurately reflects their gender.
• Russian singer Emin recently trolled the world with his new music video which utilizes lookalikes for Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, Hillary Clinton, Stormy Daniels, Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
You may recall it was Emin’s music publicist, Rob Goldstone, who set up the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian government attorney and Donald Trump Jr.
You do the math.
The Russian calls his video “a satire on the news of the past 12 months.” It looks to me like the Russians are laughing at the U.S.
There’s good news for LGBTQ folks who belong to the Episcopal Church.
At the Episcopal Church’s General Convention last week, a triennial event, the Church’s House of Bishops and House of Deputies approved resolution B012, which will allow gay and lesbian couples to be married in their home parish even if their local bishop has moral objections to gay marriage.
At the Church’s 2015 convention, gender-neutral marriage rites were approved for use in same-sex marriage ceremonies to be performed by clergy who were willing to participate. But, bishops were still allowed to forbid such ceremonies in their diocese if they disapproved.
Under the new resolution, which goes into effect in December, when a same-sex couple wishes to marry in a diocese where the same-sex marriage is not condoned, the priest who has agreed to conduct the ceremony will be allowed to reach out to an Episcopal bishop in another diocese who can step in and provide pastoral support for the couple.
To be clear, though: no priest can be forced to perform any marriage ceremony they do not wish to be a part of.
The majority of convention attendees agreed with the solution.
From LifeSiteNews:
One priest said, “For 40 years our LGBT brothers and sisters have been at the back of the bus and, every so often, they are invited to move forward one row at a time.”
Another delegate who is a longtime pro-LGBT leader said she supported the resolution “recognizing that this is a hard-won compromise but one which I believe will lead us forward into that work as the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.”
The chairman of the General Convention’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage, “implored deputies to complete convention’s actions on marriage. ‘We are fond of saying around the Episcopal Church that all are welcome, and all means all, y’all,’” according to an Episcopal News Service report.
According to the Episcopal Church website, the 8 bishops who did not condone same-sex marriages were: Albany Bishop William Love, Central Florida Bishop Greg Brewer, Dallas Bishop George Sumner, Florida Bishop John Howard, North Dakota Bishop Michael Smith, Springfield Bishop Dan Martins, Tennessee’s Bauerschmidt and U.S. Virgin Islands Bishop Ambrose Gumbs.
Just days after the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, leaders of the U.S. Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to allow clergy to wed same-sex couples.
The decision once again puts the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion at the forefront of mainstream Christian acceptance of gays and lesbians.
Presented at the church’s triennial General Assembly on Wednesday, the resolution strikes the words “man and woman” from a marriage canon and replaces them with gender-neutral language.
Clergy, however, will not be compelled to perform same-sex marriages under the resolution. A clause in the revised canon states it “shall be within the discretion of any member of the clergy of this church to decline to solemnize or bless any marriage.”
The vote on Wednesday represents the latest move by the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, which claims roughly 2 million members, to embrace the LGBT community.
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| Bishop George Wayne Smith |
Welcome news from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri.
The City of St. Louis recently issued marriage licenses to four same-sex couples in opposition to the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. The Attorney General for Missouri, Chris Koster, subsequently sued the city to stop further licenses from being issued.
Now, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri has issued a statement in support of overturning the ban:
Bishop George Wayne Smith said in a statement that he “supports St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and City Counselor Winston Calvert in their challenge to Missouri law prohibiting same-sex marriage.”
“Even as the Episcopal Church works to clarify our theological understanding of and pastoral practices around same-sex blessings, I believe that it is not the place of the State of Missouri to deny the privileges and responsibilities of marriage to anyone, basing that denial solely on the gender of the couple,” Smith said.
Four Episcopal Bishops have released a statement applauding the ruling in Michigan which overturns the state’s marriage equality ban:
As Christians and leaders in the Episcopal Church, we applaud Judge Friedman’s decision to overturn Michigan’s ban on equal marriage as a step on the right side of history.
As the case of DeBoer v. Snyder continues to work its way through our judicial system, it is our hope that future judges will continue to find that the denial of marriage to same-sex couples is a denial of human dignity and a denial of rights under the law. We look forward in hopeful anticipation to the day when we can recognize all faithful and covenantal relationships between any two people regardless of sex, both within the Church and within our society.
Signed,
The Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs, Jr. – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Michigan
The Rt. Rev. Whayne M. Houglund, Jr. – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan
The Rt. Rev. Todd Ousely – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan
The Rt. Rev. Rayford Ray – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan
(source)
With the ruling in the Michigan marriage equality lawsuit due anytime time, Bishop Wendell Gibbs, of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, has issued this statement in support of marriage equality:
“Picking and choosing whose rights should be protected or which civil rights the church will support is neither American ‘justice for all’ nor supported by the God of salvation history. I stand in support of marriage equality and pray that our justice system will work to break down the walls of segregation, promote the humanity of all and calm our irrational fears.”
Episcopalians have approved a churchwide ceremony to bless same-sex couples, the latest major step toward accepting homosexuality by a denomination that nine years ago elected the first openly gay bishop.
The liturgy can be used starting Dec. 2, the first Sunday in Advent.
At the Episcopal General Convention, which is divided into two voting bodies, about 80 percent of the House of Deputies voted Tuesday for the provisional rite for same-sex unions over the next three years. A day earlier, the House of Bishops approved the rites 111-41 during the church meeting in Indianapolis.
Supporters of the same-sex blessings insisted it was not a marriage ceremony despite any similarities. Called the Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant, it includes prayers and an exchange of vows and rings. Couples must complete counseling before their unions or civil marriages are blessed by the church.
Via AP