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Religious
Social Action
Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, MCC Clergyperson and Human
Rights Activist, Honored With Order of Canada Award
(Los Angeles) - The Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes,
the Toronto clergyperson whose challenge of Ontario's marriage
laws led to marriage rights for same-sex couples across
Canada, has been awarded membership in the Order of Canada
by Canada's national government.
The Order of Canada is the highest civilian
national honor that can be awarded in Canada and recognizes
a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to community
and service to the nation. It honors those who have made
a recognizable and lasting contribution to Canadian society
and is awarded in the name of Queen Elizabeth II, who serves
as Sovereign of the Order, by Canada's Governor General,
the Queen's representative in the country.
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Contact your
U.S. Senators
ACTION ALERT ***To U.S. Residents***
Metropolitan Community Churches
From Rev. Nancy Wilson
MCC Moderator
June 15, 2007
I am writing today to urge you to join me in
opposing the nomination of Dr. James W. Holsinger for the
position of Surgeon General of the United States.
While Dr. Holsinger has a long history of service
to the health care profession, he also has a long history
of unwise, uneducated and unhealthy positions on lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
+ While serving on a United Methodist
Committee, at a time when that communion was seriously considering
a supportive position on LGBT sexuality, Dr. Holsinger authored
a paper concluding that the sexual practices of gay men "have
resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted
disease and associated trauma," and that only heterosexuality
is anatomically mandated. Dr. Holsinger subsequently left
the committee rather than recognize "the moral dignity
of gay and lesbian life," even within monogamous relationships.
+ While on the Judicial Committee of the United Methodist
Church, he voted to end the pastoral careers of Rev. Karen
Dammann and Rev. Beth Stroud, solely because they are lesbians
-- and he even voted to uphold the decision of a clergyperson
to refuse church membership to a gay man.
+ Dr. Holsinger is a founding member and leader of Hope Springs
Community Church, a church that supports the highly discredited
and abusive "reparative therapy," linking the "recovery"
from homosexuality with the recovery from homelessness as
well as addictions to drugs, alcohol and sex.
Find
your Senator
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Center for Lesbian
and Gay Studies
The Center for Lesbian and Gay
Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) is a recently established
center of Pacific School of Religion Berkeley, California.
The Center serves three distinct but overlapping
constituencies: the world of academic religious scholarship;
faith communities; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
people and organizations.
CLGS is purposed toward developing programming
in each of four major areas: Research, Resourcing, Education
for Leadership, and Community-Building/Advocacy. All programming
works to carry out the Center's fundamental mission:
To advance the well-being
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people and to
transform faith communities and the wider society by taking
a leading role in shaping a new public discourse on religion
and sexuality through education, research, community building
and advocacy.
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Instinctively,
we all sense that the answer must be a resounding No!
Yet we live in a time when many
churches are leading the effort to deny gay and transgender
people equal protection under the law.
Just last year, Indiana's legislature
initiated a four-year process to amend our State Constitution
to ensure that gay couples never gain access to the same legal
rights as straight couples. This is the first time since the
slavery era that Indiana's legislature has singled out a specific
group of people for exclusion from Indiana's Equal Protection
Clause. The practical effect of the proposed amendment would
be to deprive gay couples of basic rights -- such as being
able to visit each other in a crisis in the emergency room
or inheriting property from each other.
Since so many churches are invoking
the name of Jesus to justify their assault on the rights of
gay and transgender people, we invite thoughtful people everywhere
to ask this simple question:
What would Jesus do?
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FROM JESUS MCC
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A SIMPLE TRUTH
Using religious teachings to deny
equal rights to anyone,
including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,
is clearly wrong
"Misguided religious
teaching throughout our history has blinded Americans to the
injustice of discrimination against minorities such as African-Americans,
women and interracial couples. It is why many cannot see the
suffering of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people
in America today."
Mitchell Gold
Founder of Faith In America
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FROM FAITH IN AMERICA
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MCC has
organized an online community called
Living Fusion specifically
to join together in organizing Social Action in all areas
of the World. To join us in this effort, please click
here.
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Social Policy Statements on LGBT Concerns
by National Bodies of the United Church of Christ
Since 1969 various national settings
of the United Church of Christ have addressed the concerns of lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in church and society,
calling for welcome, inclusion and justice. On this page you will
find a comprehensive list of the pronouncements, resolutions and
other actions adopted by the General Synod, Executive Council and
other UCC national bodies. You will also find links to the texts
of these actions.
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from the UCC...
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