Posts

Pope's "Change in Tone on Homosexuality and Cohabitation Remarkable"

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Demotix / CorbisIs this the modern family according to Francis? From gay relationships to extramarital sex, from divorce and remarriage to civil unions, the Roman Catholic church has signaled it is ready to adopt what some see as a markedly more conciliatory tone towards those in “irregular” familial setups. . .

The [Pope’s synod] document, known as a relatio post disceptationem, received applause when it was read aloud in the synod hall after a week of discussions, due to continue this week. It does not contain any decisions but offers a significant idea of the gathering’s direction of travel. Some Vatican observers said its change in tone on homosexuality and cohabitation was remarkable.

“The document published today by the synod of bishops represents an earthquake, the ‘big one’ that hit after months of smaller tremors,” wrote John Thavis, author of The Vatican Diaries. “The document clearly reflects Pope Francis’s desire to adopt a more merciful pastoral approach on marriage and family issues.”

Referring to the increasing numbers of people choosing to live together before marriage, or to have civil weddings, the bishops spoke of the need to see “the constructive elements” in those options while not viewing them as an equal substitute for Christian marriage. “In such unions, it is possible to grasp authentic family values or at least the wish for them,” they noted. . .

“Often they wish to encounter a church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?”

Read more from this story HERE.

What The Founding Fathers Believed About Homosexuality

/6 Comments/in , /by

I have made no bones about the fact that the ultimate authority on the issue of homosexuality is the Bible and it is crystal clear in condemning it. If others want to cite polls and commentaries and “experts” to attempt to bolster their claim in favor of homosexuality, they are welcome to do so. However, what I find a bit disingenuous are those that will talk about rights within the context of the Constitution, which was written by men, not God as though the men who wrote it and backed it would have sided with practicing homosexuals today on the issue of marriage. I can tell you that the issue of marriage would have never been addressed as it is today, simply because the view of homosexuality was addressed first, thus making the point of same-sex “marriage” a ridiculous notion.

First, note that our founding fathers would have been outraged that homosexuals would be out in the open. They knew that such perversion would both undermine and erode the moral foundations of civilization. Under the British common law, the term sodomy was used to identify same-sex relations and was a capital crime. Understand that the founders referenced Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England extensively. He was a British attorney, jurist, law professor, author, and political philosopher.

Blackstone’s commentaries were the premiere legal source used by the Founding Fathers in America. So this should carry some weight with those who claim they know what the Founding Fathers knew and wanted concerning the issue of homosexuality, but I’m guessing they will dismiss it. In Blackstone’s Book the Fourth of Public Wrongs: Of Offences against the Persons of Individuals, Chapter Fifteen, he writes the following on pages 215-216 (emphasis added):

IV. WHAT has been here observed…, which ought to be the more clear in proportion as the crime is the more detestable, may be applied to another offence, of a still deeper malignity; the infamous crime against nature, committed either with man or beast…. But it is an offence of so dark a nature…that the accusation should be clearly made out….

Read more from this story HERE.

Judges Are Changing the Meaning of Marriage

/3 Comments/in , /by

Idaho, Nevada, North Carolina, West Virginia… So much has happened in the past week on the gay-marriage front you may not have even heard about the latest example of judicial tyranny. On Sunday U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess, a George W. Bush appointee, declared Alaska’s constitutional marriage amendment unconstitutional. Alaska was the first state to pass a constitutional marriage amendment in 1998 and it was passed with the support of 68% of Alaska voters.

Judge Burgess’s reasoning for overturning the will of the people of Alaska is telling:

Refusing the rights and responsibilities afforded by legal marriage sends the public a government-sponsored message that same-sex couples and their familial relationships do not warrant the status, benefits and dignity given to couples of the opposite sex.

Apparently there is nothing wrong in Judge Burgess’s mind in “refusing the rights and responsibilities afforded” to the people of Alaska to decide issues such as these for themselves. We have to wonder if Burgess and the other revisionist federal judges redefining marriage have ever read the 10th Amendment. The Constitution does not say anything about marriage (and the 14th Amendment doesn’t say anything about it either). Ergo, this is a State issue. No federal judge has the right to declare it unconstitutional.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Carolina And Alaska Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Jeff Siner / MCT / LandovSame-sex couples in Alaska and North Carolina are receiving marriage licenses, after courts in those states recently overturned bans on gay marriage. The two states are part of the cascading effects of the Supreme Court’s refusal to review any appeals in same-sex marriage cases in its current term.

Some couples say they’re rushing to marry out of concern that future rulings could go against them; others are merely pouncing on an opportunity they had long awaited.

In North Carolina, a few counties began issuing the licenses to same-sex couples late Friday, after a federal judge in Asheville struck down the state’s ban. Member station WUNC has been reporting on the weddings that followed.

By the time the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds opened at 8 a.m. this morning in Charlotte, about 20 couples were already waiting in line, according to member station WFAE.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Tyranny: Bush Appointee Says Alaska's People, Constitution Don't Matter

/6 Comments/in , /by

A federal judge on Sunday struck down Alaska’s first-in-the-nation ban on gay marriages, the latest court decision in a busy week for the issue across the country.

It wasn’t immediately clear when marriage licenses would be issued to same-sex couples in the state, however the state does have a three-day waiting period between applications and marriage ceremonies.

The state intends to appeal the ruling, Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for Gov. Sean Parnell, said in an email to The Associated Press.

“This is just an amazing day for Alaska. We’re just so fortunate that so many have fought for equality for so long — I mean, decades,” said Susan Tow, who along with her wife, Chris Laborde, were among couples who sought to overturn Alaska’s ban.

Tow and Laborde, who married in Maryland last year, planned to meet with other plaintiffs, some by phone, later Sunday to celebrate.

Read more from this story HERE.

Tony Perkins: Supreme Court Made 'Back-Alley' Decision on Gay Marriage

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: APThe U.S. Supreme Court’s recent refusal to hear cases upholding same-sex marriage will only ensure the issue rages for years to come, says Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

“The court did a back-alley-type Roe v. Wade judicial decision by letting the lower courts do their evil bidding,” Perkins said on “Fox News Sunday.”

When the Court in 1973 “imposed abortion on the nation” it was to “resolve the issue,” Perkins said. “Forty-one years later, that issue is now a political issue in every election from president on down.”

Ted Olsen, a conservative lawyer who represented plaintiffs in Virginia, disagreed, saying federal courts were handling the issue “in an appropriate and proper way.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Huckabee Threatens To Leave GOP Over Gay Marriage, Abortion

/23 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily CallerFormer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he will leave the GOP if Republicans abandon their ardent opposition to gay marriage and abortion.

Appearing on the American Family Association’s radio show this week, Huckabee was discussing gay marriage and said: “If the Republicans want to lose guys like me — and a whole bunch of still God-fearing Bible-believing people — go ahead and just abdicate on this issue, and why you’re at it, go ahead and say abortion doesn’t matter, either.”

“Because at that point, you lose me,” Huckabee said. “I’m gone. I’ll become an independent. I’ll start finding people that have guts to stand. I’m tired of this.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Justice Kennedy Blocks Gay Marriage Ruling in Idaho, Nevada

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Wednesday temporarily blocked an appeals court ruling that declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada.

Kennedy’s order came a little more than an hour after Idaho filed an emergency request for an immediate stay and about 10 minutes before the state said that state and county officials would otherwise have been required to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The order also applies to Nevada, where marriage licenses to same-sex couples were going to start to be issued later Wednesday.

The delay could last just a few days. Kennedy’s order requested a response from the plaintiffs involved in Idaho’s gay marriage lawsuit by the end of day Thursday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Colorado AG Orders County Clerks To Recognize Gay Marriage

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily CallerBy Greg Campbell.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers ordered Colorado’s county clerks to be prepared to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday.

His statement came just hours after news that the Supreme Court would not hear cases from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Suthers is a Republican who has defended the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Gay couples in Colorado will be eligible for marriage licenses in all 64 counties as soon as the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals lifts its stay, something that’s expected to happen soon now that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear cases on same-sex marriage from five states. This refusal to take up appeals essentially legalizes gay marriage in those states.

Federal appeals courts had ruled that bans against same-sex marriage in those states were unconstitutional, but the courts instituted stays in their decisions pending a ruling from the high court.

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: dallasvoice.comGay Dallas judge won’t conduct marriages because they ‘can’t be performed for me’

By Anna Waugh.

Out lesbian Dallas County Judge Tonya Parker touted her refusal to conduct marriage ceremonies in her courtroom on Tuesday night.

“I have the power, of course, to perform marriage ceremonies,” Parker said. “I don’t.”

The mention of her decision to not perform marriage ceremonies came while the 116th Civil District Court judge addressed the audience at the monthly meeting of Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, of which Parker is a member. While Parker highlighted her progress in her first year as judge in what had been “the worst district court at the courthouse” with more old pending cases than the other 12 district courts, she also spoke about the importance of having an LGBT person on the bench.

Parker is the first LGBT person elected judge in Dallas County and is believed to be the first openly LGBT African-American elected official in the state’s history. As such, Parker said she takes into account the importance of her position to make members of the LGBT community feel comfortable and equal in her courtroom by “going out of my way to do things that other people might not do because they are not who I am.”

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

States That Voted Against Gay Marriage Now Have It Forced Upon Them

By Katrina Trinko.

This isn’t OK.

The Supreme Court’s decision today to not hear any of the cases on same-sex marriage means, as my colleague Ryan T. Anderson writes, that “lower court rulings that struck down state marriage laws now will go into effect, forcing the redefinition of marriage in [Indiana, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah] and potentially in other states in the 4th, 7th, and 10th circuits.”

That shouldn’t be acceptable—regardless of your position on same-sex marriage.

Voters in 31 states voted to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Liberal California voted for that in 2008, and so did red Texas in 2005. From 1998 to 2012—not say, from 1870 to 1890, or some other long-gone time period—34 states voted on defining marriage as being between a man and a woman—and only three voted against it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Same-Sex Marriage Ban Violates 'Fundamental Right,' Alaska Attorneys Say

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Huffington PostAttorneys for the gay couples challenging Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage say the right to marry is fundamental and due to all individuals.

They take issue with the state saying the U.S. Supreme Court has never held that there is a fundamental constitutional right to same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, in a court filing Friday, said the high court has upheld a broad definition of marriage.

They said it is unnecessary to parse out certain classes of individuals for whom marriage should apply.

In this case, “the issue is not whether there is a constitutional ‘right to same-sex marriage,’ but whether excluding people from a fundamental right that belongs to all individuals violates due process,” attorneys Allison Mendel, Heather Gardner and Caitlin Shortell say in the filing.

Read more from this story HERE.