Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Via JMG: Press Release Of The Day


Here's an excerpt from the U.S. State Department's press release on yesterday's historic United Nations resolution. A total of 85 nations have signed on the Obama administration's call to battle for LGBT rights around the world.
20 countries joined this statement that were neither signatory to the 2006 or 2008 statements. The statement garnered support from every region of the world, including 21 signatories from the Western Hemisphere, 43 from Europe, 5 from Africa, and 16 from the Asia/Pacific region. Delivered by Colombia on behalf of: Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, the Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the former-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Venezuela
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights. We will continue to promote human rights around the world for all people who are marginalized and discriminated against because of sexual orientation or gender identity. And we will not rest until every man, woman and child is able to live up to his or her potential free from persecution or discrimination of any kind."


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: POLL: Majority Of Lay Catholics Support LGBT Rights And Same-Sex Marriage


In what may come as a shocker to the Vatican and Archbishop Timothy Dolan, a just-released poll shows that a slim majority of America's lay Catholics now support same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.
Overall, the survey found 53 percent of Catholics supported the idea of same-sex marriage, while the general public is evenly divided on the issue. Fifty-six percent of Catholics did not believe sexual relations between two adults of the same gender constituted a sin, compared to 46 percent of the general population. Sixty percent of Catholics favored adoption rights for same-sex couples, 49 percent think gays should be allowed to be ordained as clergy, and 73 percent believe they should have legal protections in the workplace – all higher percentages than found in the general population, PRRI said. There was a powerful generation gap found in the survey, with Catholics under 35 much more liberal than those 65 and older. The influx of Hispanic Catholics into the U.S. church in recent years did not skew the results, as the young newcomers were divided between liberal and conservative views of homosexuality.
A sample comment from Free Republic: "The majority of Catholics aren’t Christians either - by the standards of the Holy Bible. Among many things they do that are against God’s Word (the Pope just recently used a Hindu prayer), Catholics engage in witchcraft (praying to dead saints and statues). They also worship Mary instead of CHRIST as the mediator between man and God."


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: CALIFORNIA: Ninth Circuit Court Denies Request To Resume Same-Sex Marriages


Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request to vacate their stay on the overturn of Proposition 8 and allow the resumption of same-sex marriages in California.
Federal Judge Vaughn Walker ruled last year that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional and ordered that same-sex weddings be allowed to resume. That decision was appealed to the Ninth Circuit, where the case is tied up on a legal question the panel asked the California Supreme Court to rule upon: Do Prop. 8 sponsors have legal standing to defend the law in court when the state will not. The order [to deny] was filed by judges Stephen R. Reinhardt, Michael Daly Hawkins and N. Randy Smith.

reposted from Joe

Tribute to Dame Elizabeth Taylor