Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has filed a notice in Cook County Circuit Court saying it will present arguments in support of two lawsuits that question the constitutionality of the state's gay marriage ban.
The lawsuits, filed Wednesday, are against the clerk of Cook County and claim that his refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates those couples’ rights to due process and equal protection under the Illinois Constitution.
Today's filing said that the attorney general will "present the Court with arguments that explain why the challenged statutory provisions do not satisfy the guarantee of equality under the Illinois Constitution."
Minnesota for Marriage (MFM) said the filing today of a lawsuit in Illinois by Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) underscores the importance of Minnesota voters enacting the Marriage Protection Amendment to avoid marriage being redefined by a state judge here.
“Every day that goes by without a marriage amendment in our state constitution is a day that Minnesota’s definition of marriage is in jeopardy of being redefined by an activist judge,” said Chuck Darrell, communications director for MFM. “A constitutional amendment is needed because statutes can be changed by politicians or struck down by judges at any time. Today the ACLU filed a lawsuit in Illinois. They could file one tomorrow in Minnesota. There is already a case pending in our state courts to redefine marriage. The only way to make sure that voters always control the definition of marriage in Minnesota is to enact the Marriage Protection Amendment.”
Minnesota for Marriage has released another video featuring Minnesotans explaining in their own words why they are voting for the Marriage Protection Amendment in November:
Five months ahead of the presidential election, the Democratic Party is already losing seats to Republicans, as a growing number of elected officials are changing parties over issues like the right to life, the definition of marriage, and the Obama administration’s mandate that religious institutions cover abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans.
Wednesday afternoon, seven local office-holders from three Mississippi counties announced they had voted with their feet.
Each official had different reasons, but Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner “specifically said when [Obama] came out in favor of gay ‘marriage,’ that was the last straw,” Brett Kittredge, communications director of the Mississippi Republican Party, told LifeSiteNews.com.
“I’m a Christian, and my first allegiance is to Jesus Christ,” Sheriff Waggoner said. “God established marriage, and He established it between a man and a woman. Those are my beliefs. The Republican Party reflects my beliefs.”
... In April, Rick Murphrey, the mayor of Kings Mountain in North Carolina and a lifelong Democrat, changed party registration to the GOP based in part on the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex “marriage.” Governor Bev Perdue, a Democrat, opposed Amendment One. Murphrey said that “is one of the things” he and his wife “evaluated in our decision.”
“We believe in the marriage of one man and one woman,” Murphrey said. “That is something we believe in strongly.”
It won't change how much we're paying for gas, but it might comfort you to know that at Exxon-Mobil your business isn't fueling the homosexual agenda. For the 13th straight year, shareholders voted to maintain their reputation as the only major oil company to uphold the values of a majority of Americans. At Exxon's annual meeting, the corporation voted down a resolution to add special protections for "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to its employment opportunity policy. After so many years of resistance, the result may not have come as a surprise--but the measure of victory certainly did. A whopping 80% of shareholders voted against the amendment--the largest margin of defeat in recent memory. One homosexual activist lamented that "the percentage of shareholders voting for the policy had increased steadily over the years to about 40%." But this week's result--in the midst of a national debate over same-sex "marriage"--was a colossal blow to the homosexual community, which is desperate to prove that its agenda is resonating with Americans.
In a corporate environment dictated by wealthy, pro-homosexual activists, we applaud Exxon-Mobil for refusing to cede the moral high ground to the special interests of the Left. While other businesses drift away from their principles or capitulate under pressure, this company is putting its stock in something other than political correctness. And, as Exxon-Mobil representatives point out, any additions to the nondiscrimination policy are unnecessary. They view the company as a "meritocracy," where employees are rewarded on the basis of performance--not sexual preference. Their conviction is a refreshing change from companies like Starbucks and Target, who continue to alienate customers with radical political views. Join us in thanking Exxon-Mobil for refusing to be bullied. Click here to send the company a note of appreciation!
We are also continuing to build up our campaign at DumpStarbucks.com -- now over 43,000 pledges strong!
Yet another step towards redefining parenthood away:
New Mexico's highest court has ruled in a precedent-setting case that a same-sex partner of an adoptive mother has legal rights as a parent and can seek child custody.
The state Supreme Court issued its unanimous ruling Friday in the case of a woman who wanted joint custody of a child adopted by her partner during their 15-year relationship.
Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights said the court's ruling was very significant because the justices concluded that New Mexico's "parentage statutes must be applied in a gender neutral way to men and women equally, and regardless of a parent's sexual orientation or marital status."
The custody dispute involves Bani Chatterjee and Taya King, who adopted a 13-month-old girl from Russia in 2000. The couple separated in 2008. -- The Associated Press
William Douglas with the Herald's Washington Bureau:
They love President Barack Obama. But when it comes to his support for same-sex marriage, some of the nation’s leading African-American clergy are divided, sometimes passionately.
... But most of the ministers, pastors and theological scholars expressed firm positions on marrying same-sex couples.
"I love all homosexual brothers and sisters, but my discipline says I can’t marry them," said Bishop John Adams, an African Methodist Episcopal minister and former conference chairman. "Same-sex marriages are not being approved by the Christian community because it is a contradiction of creation. . . . The species continues by the procreation of male and female."
Michael Eric Dyson, a Georgetown University sociology professor, scolded African-American clergy members who rail against gay marriage and homosexuals yet take donations from them and allow them to be church ushers and to sing in or direct church choirs.
"Some of the most homophobic preachers there are probably gay themselves," Dyson told the group. "I’m not saying you must be secretly gay. My point is that the gay self has been so constructed and demonized that even the gay person, as a rite of passage, hate(s) the gay self . . . in order to gain legitimacy in black church circles."
"...In seeking to redefine the legal definition of marriage to include same sex unions, President Obama and other proponents of "gay marriage" are in effect imposing their views and lifestyle on the larger populace. Once legal, the state's coercive power will punish those who refuse to embrace gay marriages. For example, public officials - regardless of their views on the rightness or wrongness of homosexual acts - will be obliged to officiate at same sex "weddings", and public schools will be required to teach their acceptability to children whether parents concur or not. Even First Amendment freedoms will not be protected from assault.
Marriage has been primarily about the raising of children (who seem to be hardwired to be best raised by a father and a mother who are married to each other). Society has a legitimate interest in favoring such traditional marriages as a way of investing in the future of society by providing for the human flourishing of upcoming generations.
Same sex "marriage" - if allowed to prevail in law - will result in the devaluation of all marriages with terrible consequences to society. That marriage is a life long union between a man and a woman is certainly part of Catholic teaching - in fact, in our teaching, this union is seen as a covenant and is a sacrament. However, marriage as a union between a man and a woman for the sake of family is not a product of religious sectarianism. Nor is marriage a creation of the state. It is founded in nature itself.
Marriage understood as a union between one man and one woman as an institution precedes church and state - if not a creation of Church or state, neither has any authority to change the nature of marriage.
The common good demands that the understanding of marriage as a union between one man and one woman not be lost."
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Anglican Church in North America affirmed core teachings of the Christian faith they share and expressed hope to jointly fight some key social challenges, including homosexuality, abortion and secularism, after concluding the first round of theological discussions.
The cooperation between the two denominations is a reason for joy at a time when "there is a widespread failure to recognize the biblical teaching regarding the creation of man and woman and their biblical roles, life-issues, and other grave challenges that society faces," LCMS President the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison said in a statement Friday as the two bodies released a joint report summarizing the areas of agreement.
There are some differences in doctrine, Harrison agreed, but quoted a Lutheran theologian as saying that churches who can honestly discuss where they have disagreements in doctrine are in fact closer to each other than churches who cannot discuss such matters.
The dialogue, aimed at increasing the level of mutual understanding and affirmations between the church bodies, led to a joint affirmation of core Christian teachings the two denominations share. The discussions, which took place during four meetings over the past 18 months beginning the fall of 2010, also included a representative of the Lutheran Church-Canada.
Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute explains why you cannot separate the civil definition of marriage from the definition of marriage ascribed in our traditions, including religious traditions.
"It is impossible to have two societal definitions of marriage. One that is recognized by Churches and one that is recognized by government. As a recent article in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy made clear, what is at stake is two competing definitions of marriage. Once a court or legislature decides to redefine marriage to make it genderless, that will be the only type of marriage, same-sex or otherwise will be able to enter. Churches have not only the right but the duty to speak out on issues in the public square especially those that affect the common good."
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is under assault like never before. And Congress may well be its last line of defense.
Please take a moment to thank House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor for standing firm in defense of DOMA and marriage today!
Yesterday morning, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against the federal Defense of Marriage Act, becoming the first federal appellate court to strike down DOMA. The ruling, coupled with the Ninth Circuit ruling on California’s Proposition 8, sets the stage for a Supreme Court showdown to determine the future of marriage in America next year.
Speaker Boehner and Rep. Cantor deserve a special note of thanks for their courageous defense of DOMA. When President Obama ordered his Justice Department to abdicate their duty to defend DOMA in court (because in his opinion, the law is unconstitutional!), Congress intervened and took over the legal defense of the case. And they hired a superstar, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, to defend our nation’s only federal law protecting marriage.
Please click here to send a message to Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Cantor, and also your own congressman, thanking them for the House’s defense of DOMA.
These leaders are under intense pressure to drop their defense of DOMA—they need to hear from you today! Please click here to thank them for defending marriage and urge them to keep up the fight right now!
Dalton McGuinty’s government threw down the gauntlet Friday as they announced that they will force Catholic schools to allow student clubs called “gay-straight alliances.”
The move is expected to spark a court battle with Ontario’s bishops as they defend Catholics’ denominational rights over the Catholic schools enshrined in Canada’s constitution.
Minister of Education Laurel Broten told reporters at a news conference Friday afternoon that she is introducing an amendment to the controversial homosexual anti-bullying bill that will require schools to let students name the clubs what they want.
In an address to the annual general meeting of the Ontario Student Trustees Association, Broten said her amendment will state that “neither the board nor the principal shall refuse to allow a pupil to use the name gay-straight alliance or a similar name.”
The move is a direct rebuke to Ontario’s Catholic bishops who have gone so far as to allow homosexual clubs, but drew a line in the sand over the GSA name.
A "new rainbow coalition" made up of influential Christian pastors and leaders gathered on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon to declare support for the traditional definition of marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act in response to President Obama's recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's support of repealing DOMA.
...The press event at the "Senate Swamp" was held after "The Defense of Marriage Summit: the Impact of Presidential Decisions on Social Institutions" this week, which produced the Stand for Marriage document. All the pastors and Christian leaders at the summit signed the document that states, "Marriage is intended for one man and one woman in a life-long covenant. One of the essential purposes of marriage is to carry on the human race through childbearing, another purpose of marriage is to illustrate the relationship between Christ and the Bridegroom and the Church as the Bride."
A Minnesota pastor who lost much of his congregation when he expressed support for same-sex marriage has been asking the public for donations to help pay off a $200,000 loan in hopes of keeping the United Church of Christ church open.
The Rev. Oliver White of Grace Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul reportedly needs to raise the funds by June 30 and, as of Monday, had gathered $20,000.
... This is not the first time the Grace Community pastor has been challenged over his support for same-sex marriage. White, who spent seven years as president of the St. Paul Black Ministerial Alliance, cast a vote in support of gay marriage during the 2005 United Church of Christ's National Synod. As a result, he had fewer members attending his church the following week.
Since then, White has stood firm in his belief that marriage should include same-sex couples, and has seen nearly three-fourths of his congregation leave.
With less than two weeks to go, organizers of the Referendum 74 campaign to roll back the state's same-sex-marriage law say they have surpassed the minimum number of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot — with thousands more rolling in each day.
Some of that support is coming in from an unexpected place: Muslims, who as a community have traditionally remained silent on the question of gay marriage.
In recent weeks, several area mosques have requested thousands of Ref. 74 petitions to circulate among their members, and through November, Muslims plan to campaign alongside religious conservatives seeking to overturn the law.
On Wednesday, Preserve Marriage Washington, which is seeking to repeal the gay-marriage law with backing from the National Organization for Marriage, was reporting 127,211 signatures — 6,634 names more than the minimum required to qualify for the ballot. Organizers need to get — and the Secretary of State encourages — at least 150,000 signatures to ensure a sufficient number of them are from qualified registered voters.
"The number is changing daily," campaign manager Joseph Backholm said. "It's now only a question of whether we'll have time to count them all and stick the number on our website every day."
The president of the Iowa and Nebraska conference of NAACP branches says he's struggling with the group's national board resolution to support same-sex "marriage."
Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr. told The Des Moines Register that the group's endorsement one week ago has made him uncertain about his future membership and leadership in the group. He said he's "praying over the matter."
Ratliff is one of 64 members of the national board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Ratliff, of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, has long opposed same-sex marriage. He told the newspaper, "Marriage equality, for me, is between a man and a woman, period. There is no other definition for me."