Mormon church voic support for Senate bill to protect gay marriage | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• “7 BIBLE QUOT SUPPORTG GAY RELATNSHIPS”
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• GAY MARRIAGE
• MORMON CHURCH VOIC SUPPORT FOR SENATE BILL TO PROTECT GAY MARRIAGE
• HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE
• US JEWS AMONG THE MOST SUPPORTIVE OF GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

My purpose today is not to support or fend gay and lbian marriag—ed, many gays and lbians do not want to marry—but simply suggt a theologil approach that might open up the possibily for greater Christian acceptance of, and eccliastil approval for, same sex unns.

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners.

“7 BIBLE QUOT SUPPORTG GAY RELATNSHIPS”

C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire. Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007.

GAY MARRIAGE

For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. “Log Cab Republins thanks the forward-thkg members for votg to settle this issue once and for all and move the Republin Party le not jt wh the vast majory of the untry, but wh the majory of s own voters, ” the nservative gay advocy group said a statement Tuday.

The bill also prohibs stat om nyg out-of-state marriage licens and benefs on the basis of sex, race, ethnicy or natnal the church has a long history of opposg same-sex relatnships – spent $20m tryg to pass proposn 8 California, a 2008 measure which banned same-sex marriage the state – has taken a more relaxed view of same-sex marriage recent 2016, the church said that weled members who intified as LGBTQ+, though reerated s stance that marriage is between a man and a 2019, the church repealed a 2015 le that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and said gay marriage is a s worth expulsn om the church. Although a gay marriage was never performed Hawaii, the issue gaed natnal attentn and prompted over 40 stat over the next to pass Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) that fed marriage as a legal unn between one man and one woman.

MORMON CHURCH VOIC SUPPORT FOR SENATE BILL TO PROTECT GAY MARRIAGE

11, 2010, CNN released the rults of the first natnal poll to show a majory support for gay marriage, wh 52% agreeg that “gays and lbians should have a nstutnal right to get married and have their marriage regnized by law as valid. On May 9, 2012, Print Obama beme the first stg US print to clare his support for gay marriage, statg: “At a certa pot, I’ve jt nclud that for me personally is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I thk same-sex upl should be able to get married.

HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE

Six other stat which gay marriage bans had been overturned, Colorado, Kansas, North Carola, South Carola, Wt Virgia, and Wyomg, were also affected by the Supreme Court lg bee they were the jurisdictns of the lower urts that had overturned the gay marriage bans. Image source, RtersImage ptn, Pope Francis' statements are a parture om prev ments about LGBT rightsPope Francis has said that he thks same-sex upl should be allowed to have "civil unns" ma the ments, which observers say are his cleart remarks yet on gay relatnships, a documentary directed by Evgeny Afeevsky.

" He add that he "stood up for that", apparently referrg to his time as Archbishop of Buenos Air when, although opposg same-sex marriag law, he supported some legal protectns for same-sex film Franc, about the life and work of Pope Francis, premiered as part of the Rome Film well as the Pope's ments on civil unns, the film also shows him enuragg two gay men to attend church wh their three Francis's bgrapher, Aten Ivereigh, told the BBC he was "not surprised" by the latt ments. "Unr current Catholic doctre, gay relatnships are referred to as "viant behavur" 2003, the Vatin's doctral body, the Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah, said that "rpect for homosexual persons nnot lead any way to approval of homosexual behavur or to legal regnn of homosexual unns" words but no sign of doctral changeThe remarks have set tongu waggg among Vatin-watchers - and they mark Francis's cleart support for the issue sce beg Pope. " he 2014 was reported that Pope Francis had exprsed support for civil unns for same-sex partners an terview, but the Holy See's prs office nied 2018, Pope Francis said he was "worried" about homosexualy the clergy, and that was "a ser matter" on this story.

US JEWS AMONG THE MOST SUPPORTIVE OF GAY MARRIAGE

”V is the thor of the book God and the Gay Christian and founr of The Reformatn Project, a nonprof group that aims to give LGBT people nservative, Christian muni and their straight alli the tools necsary to argue favor of gay rights on strictly biblil terms.

While affirmg belief that persons of homosexual orientatn are persons of sacred worth who need the mistry and guidance of the church, the statement add that the church “do not ndone the practice of homosexualy and nsirs this practice patible wh Christian teachg. The agreement about abeyance, though, beme effective immediately among s signers, and many other bishops the Uned Stat have likewise agreed to hold homosexualy-related plats agast clergy abeyance until after a post-separatn Uned Methodist General Conference 2028 term what new polici, if any, will be.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

"The New York State Court of Appeals clar that a lbian or gay uple livg together for a least ten years n be nsired a fay for purpos of rent ntrol protectn, the first time a state's hight urt l that a gay uple n be lled a fay...

"Jt as Hawaii's high urt seemed poised to allow same-sex marriag, gay activists have seen their visns of legal weddgs on the beach of Mi disappear as voters approved Constutnal Amendment 2, givg the legislature power to 'rerve marriage to oppose-sex upl. "Rabbis belongg to the biggt and most liberal branch of Judaism the Uned Stat have voted to regnise the partnerships of gay and lbian Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis, which is part of the Jewish Reform movement, has agreed to sanctn relig ceremoni for same-sex Print of the Conference, Rabbi Charl Kroloff, said that gay and lbian people served the regnn and rpect due to people created the image of God. The upl are barred om adoptg children overseas bee of potential objectns om untri that do not accept gay the new legislatn, all referenc to genr laws erng matrimony and adoptn will be leted favor of the ntral-genr term, partner.

"Before the lg [Supreme Court lg that laws makg gay sex a crime were unnstutnal], supporters the Hoe [US Hoe of Reprentativ] of a nstutnal amendment that would more formally rtrict marriage to the unn of a man and a woman were havg trouble attractg sponsors. "A unty clerk issued marriage licens Friday to at least 15 gay upl, some of whom then exchanged vows outsi the urthoe, as more same-sex upl led up for a chance to tie the Mexi law f marriage as a ntract between ntractg parti but do not mentn genr. 24, 2004] while makg his most revealg public ments so far about the sexual orientatn of his gay his posn on the subject at a town hall meetg here, Cheney replied: 'Lynne and I have a gay dghter, so 's an issue that our fay is very faiar wh....