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Friday, March 14, 2008
Norway Moves Closer to SSM
From "Norwegian government proposes law allowing same-sex marriages, adoptions," AP, March 14, 2008:
OSLO, Norway: The Norwegian government proposed a new marriage law Friday that would give gay couples the same rights as heterosexual pairs, including church weddings, adoption and assisted pregnancies. The new legislation would replace a 1993 law that gives gays the right to enter civil unions similar to marriage, but refuses them the right to church weddings or to be considered as adoptive parents... The proposed law gives couples the right to a church wedding, but does not require any clergyman or religious organization to perform the ceremony. It said couples wanting to be married in church can do so in churches that accept gay marriage...
posted by Imapp Staff at
3:06 PM | link
Lutheran Group Declines to Alter Traditional Definition of Marriage
From "Lutheran Group Addresses Marriage Issue," AP, March 13, 2008:
NEW YORK (AP) — A task force drafting a statement on sexuality for the nation's largest Lutheran group said Thursday that the church should continue defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman... The report released by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [called a "Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality,"] is part of the denomination's yearslong effort to bridge internal differences over the Bible and homosexuality... "The church recognizes the historic origin of the term `marriage' as a lifelong and committed relationship between a woman and a man, and does not wish to alter this understanding," the report says...
posted by Imapp Staff at
12:19 PM | link
Out-of-Wedlock-Baby Boom in Scotland
From "Baby boom where marriage doesn't matter," The Scotsman, March 14, 2008:
SCOTLAND is in the midst of a "baby boom" with the number of births reaching a ten-year high – and almost half the babies were born out of wedlock, according to figures released yesterday. More than 57,000 births were registered last year, 2,000 up on the previous year and the highest annual total since 1997. It was the fifth consecutive rise. Provisional statistics from Duncan Macniven, the Register General for Scotland, show 49.1 per cent of last year's births were to unmarried parents. The number of couples walking up the aisle is nearing its lowest level since Victorian times. Last year saw 29,866 marriages, 32 fewer than the previous year...
posted by Imapp Staff at
12:11 PM | link
CDC: 1 IN 4 U.S. TEEN GIRLS HAS AN STD: From Time magazine
...About half of the girls acknowledged ever having sex; among them, the rate was 40 percent. While some teens define sex as only intercourse, other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some infections. more
posted by Eve at
10:45 AM | link
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Robert Bellah Endorses Obama in Commonweal
The venerable Robert Bellah, whose books I admire and have profited from, explains why Obama excites him as no politician since Roosevelt (and yes he remembers FDR): "I believe both Clintons have read Habits of the Heart and The Good Society, because they have told me that they have, and I believe Hillary Clinton would try to put into practice some of the things that I and my coauthors were talking about in those books. I have no reason to believe that Obama has read the books, yet he has caught their spirit in a most remarkable way and expressed it more eloquently than anyone in living memory. In Habits of the Heart I and my coauthors described four traditions that are powerful in America today. We called our primary moral language “utilitarian individualism,” the calculating concern for self-interest that is natural in our kind of economy, and a language that all candidates, Republicans and Democrats, must often use as they appeal to various interest groups to support them. But we have three secondary moral languages that give a greater richness and moral adequacy to our discourse (even as they are often shunted aside by the dominance of the language of self-interest), expressive individualism, biblical language, and the language of civic republicanism. All candidates use the language of expressive individualism when they try to show us their human side, tell their individual stories and the stories of those who support them. But the substantial alternatives to the language of utilitarian individualism are biblical and civic republican. Biblical language, like all the others, comes in several forms, but here I am referring to the language of Martin Luther King Jr. and William Sloane Coffin—that is, a language that expresses the dominant biblical concern for those most in need, a language that reminds us of our solidarity with all human beings. When Obama says “we are our brothers’ keepers; we are our sisters’ keepers,” when he suggests, as he does in so many ways, that we all need one another, all depend on one another, he is using that biblical language at its most appropriate. And in his emphasis on public participation at every level, in his refusal to take money from lobbyists and political action committees, he is reviving the spirit of civic republicanism, of voters as citizens responsible for the common good, not political consumers concerned only with themselves.
The probable Republican nominee, John McCain, seems to be a better human being than his Republican rivals, more human and more moral. But to the degree that he relies on the politics of fear—apparently the Republicans’ only hope—and demonizes Islam in the process, he would lead us to follow our worst instincts and continue a policy that has the gravest consequences for the world and the place of America in the world. That leaves the only real choice (I’m writing this in late February) as that between Clinton and Obama."
posted by maggie at
4:16 PM | link
Gay Activists Pessimistic About Winning SSM in MD This Year
From "'Marriage is not happening' in Md. this year," Washington Blade, March 12, 2008:
Unable to overcome a key roadblock, gay activists are pessimistic about winning marriage rights from Maryland lawmakers this year. Carrie Evans, policy director at Equality Maryland, said same-sex marriage supporters will still push a bill to grant gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, but she doesn’t envision it passing this session. “We’re going to get marriage,” she said during a March 7 interview. “Are we going to get it this year? No.” Evans blamed state Sen. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s County) for stalling the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act. She said unless Muse, a member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, changes course, the bill is almost certain to die in committee. Among the Judicial Proceedings Committee's 11 members, four support marriage for same-sex couples, six are against it and one is “non-committal.”... Muse did not respond to messages seeking comment at his Annapolis office...
posted by Imapp Staff at
2:12 PM | link
ADF Wants You!
Alliance Defense Fund is looking for attorneys to attend its National Litigation Academy (see notice below):
The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth, through strategy, training, funding, and direct litigation, is currently accepting applications for its 30th National Litigation Academy, June 30-July 4, 2008, in California’s beautiful Bay Area. The Academy trains attorneys to defend religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family, both in the legal arena and in the broader culture. Continuing legal education sessions at the Academy cover such diverse topics as constitutional litigation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, equal access for religious groups, campus freedom, bioethics issues, church autonomy and nonprofit guidelines, First Amendment Religion Clause developments and more. All of it is wrapped in an energizing spiritual environment of meaningful worship, devotion, and fellowship with approximately 100 other Christian lawyers. Graduates of the Academy join a network of nearly 1,100 ADF allied attorneys across the country committed to protecting Christian belief and practice in the public square.
posted by Imapp Staff at
8:40 AM | link
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Streaming Video of the “Is Gay Marriage Conservative?” Symposium Held February 15, 2008
On February 15, 2008, the South Texas Law Review sponored " Is Gay Marriage Conservative?" a first-of-its-kind symposium at the South Texas College of Law in Houston designed to foster civil debate among conservatives and within conservative thought about gay marriage. Streaming video of the event is available at the syposium's website. Links to video of each participant are also available in the list below:
posted by Imapp Staff at
3:52 PM | link
M. Gallagher: Stop Torturing the Wife
UPDATE: Gruntled Center has some similar thoughts, with some reader commentary on adultery in general.From "Spitzer, Stop Torturing the Wife" by Maggie Gallagher, March 11, 2008:
...I don't have a lot of hope for the public morality. I don't suspect this is the last time a man entrusted with high office will descend into a sex scandal, or even break the law (as Eliot Spitzer did) to get what he wants... But can we at least end this barbaric practice of dragging your wife before the cameras while you confess your shameful guilt? If she wasn't there in the hotel room when you did your crime, don't ask her to do your time... [T]he practice requires a man to turn the best instinct of his wife -- to unite behind the family in crisis -- into an instrument of her own public humiliation... And another thing: Can we end the public practice of trying to shame these wives into divorcing their husbands?... Because we no longer have any public punishments for adultery, we have turned wives into instruments of the public morality: If she doesn't punish him by divorcing him, he will go unpunished, which is intolerable... I'm tired of this transference of the sins of the husband onto the wife. Leave the wives alone. Let's forget about standing by the man, but can't we at least agree to stand by the woman?...
posted by Imapp Staff at
1:05 PM | link
Domestic Partnership for Straight Couples in CA?
From "Should couples be domestic partners?" KGO-TV, March 11, 2008:
SACRAMENTO (KGO) -- Should straight couples who don't want to marry be allowed to become domestic partners?... Forty-eight thousand same-sex couples are already registered with the state [of California]. Current law allows straight couples older than 62 to file as domestic partners, so they don't lose pension and Social Security benefits by getting married. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed [a] proposal today that would expand domestic partnership to all couples... Domestic partnership rights include being able to add partners to healthcare benefits if companies allows it, have step-parent adoption rights and qualify for family leave... The proposal now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where a similar version died last year...
posted by Imapp Staff at
9:00 AM | link
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
What Will Spitzer's Fall Mean for SSM in New York?
The gay press is reporting that Lt. Gov. David Paterson is even more committed to SSM than Gov. Spitzer. An excerpt from The Advocate: "David Paterson is a terrific, progressive guy -- extremely LGBT-friendly," said Ethan Geto, a Democratic analyst and LGBT activist. "He is somebody who would absolutely follow through on the commitment of the senate Democratic conference to pass gay marriage."
Paterson has been on record in support of marriage equality as early as 1994. When Paterson was asked if he would take part in pushing through the marriage bill following his inauguration in January 2007, he told the New York Blade , "I'm not going to be in that fight -- I'm going to be in front of that fight because my first day as [senate minority leader] was the day we passed the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. One of the reasons we need same-sex marriage is because the statistics for heterosexual marriage are so bad; that might be a way to upgrade some of the success rates."
posted by maggie at
10:24 PM | link
Evidence Mounts Showing Benefits of Two-Parent Families
From "Data Show Benefits of Families," Zenit, March 10, 2008:
ROME, MARCH 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Research into the family continues to confirm the importance of two parents as the best basis for bringing up children... [An article in the February issue of the journal Acta Paedriatica titled “Fathers’ Involvement and Children’s Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies”] reviewed the conclusions from 24 studies. Of these...22 provided evidence of the positive effects of involvement by fathers... Another study, [“The Shift and the Denial: Scholarly Attitudes Toward Family Change, 1977-2002” by Norval Glenn and Thomas Sylvester,] published last week by the Institute for American Values’ Center for Marriage and Families, confirms that academic research is now favoring the family.. [But in] spite of research demonstrating the importance of two-parent families tax systems in many countries discriminate against married couples... [According to a study published by CARE -- Christian Action Research and Education -- titled: “Taxation of Married Families: How the UK Compares Internationally,”] in 2006 a married couple with one working spouse and two children on average earnings of 30,800 pounds ($62,174) a year paid 40% more tax in the UK than in comparable countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development...[O]ther countries with a similar tax system that discriminates against married couples include Finland, Sweden and New Zealand... A second CARE report, [titled “Second Annual Review of the Couple Penalty,” found] that the penalty for living together, rather than apart, has increased...
posted by Imapp Staff at
11:45 AM | link
C of E Marriage Guide
From "Church of England writes its marriage guide," Telegraph (UK), March 10, 2008:
...Worried by the high numbers of divorces, the Church of England has produced its guide to the perfect marriage, called Growing Together, to help couples prepare properly for the rigours of modern marriage. In 120 pages, the guide advises couples to make priorities among their goals in life, including sex, children and sport, even suggesting that they consider who does the cooking and who cleans the lavatory... A survey conducted in 2006 for the Church of England found that 44 per cent of the British population believed that the Church should offer some form of preparation for married life to those who choose to have a church wedding... A Church House spokesman said that the course was part of a wider drive to encourage clergy to get to grips with the modern wedding "market", which has also involved vicars in attending commercial wedding fairs...
posted by Imapp Staff at
8:54 AM | link
DIVORCE ON "SESAME STREET"
"They once tried to deal with the subject of divorce. They knew they couldn't do it with either of our married couples -- Gordon and Susan or Maria and Luis -- so they tried it with Snuffleupagus, writing a show about his parents getting divorced. They wrote a whole show and taped it, and it was just devastating for test groups of kids. So they just threw the whole thing in the garbage and never tried it again. It was just too difficult a concept for a 3-year-old." ( more) (and mentioned here)
posted by Eve at
6:25 AM | link
INDIA NURTURES BUSINESS OF SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD: From the NY Times
here
posted by Eve at
4:31 AM | link
Monday, March 10, 2008
Forced Marriages in Afghanistan
From "Afghan president calls for end to forced marriage," AFP, March 9, 2008:
KABUL (AFP) — [Speaking at a ceremony in Kabul attended by about 300 women to mark International Women's Day,] Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on his countrymen to stop forcing their under-aged daughters to marry, especially to men several decades older... Up to 80 percent of Afghan women face forced marriage, and nearly two-thirds are married before the legal age of 16, according to the United Nations...
posted by Imapp Staff at
9:49 AM | link
Forced Marriages in UK
From "Forced marriage in UK 'a widespread problem'," Observer (UK), March 9, 2008:
At least 3,000 young women are the victims of forced marriages in Britain each year, with the scale of the problem far bigger than originally thought, according to a report out this week. The first study conducted in the UK into the prevalence of the custom shows that there are far more victims, in several ethnic minority communities, than official figures suggest...
posted by Imapp Staff at
9:41 AM | link
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