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The Reverend Nancy Wilson
(above) is
scheduled to be installed as Presiding Bishop of the predominantly-gay
Metropolitan Community Churches at Washington National Cathedral this
afternoon.
Rev.Wilson had planned to announce
a 10-year initiative to be called “Focus on the Human Family”. But
yesterday, lawyers for Dobson’s conservative religious group insisted the
gay church cease using the campaign's name.
“Even though many of our views are
diametrically opposed, apparently Dobson’s organization feels the name of
Metropolitan Community Church’s new campaign could create confusion for
people,” said the Reverend Wilson.
“Our program features ministry to
women and children with HIV and AIDS, compassionate care for gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender senior adults, a focus on issues of infant
mortality caused by the global HIV pandemic, and an educational program to
create understanding about gay and lesbian people of faith,” said Wilson.
“Well, it's a Goliath versus David
situation," she continued. “As a relatively small Christian denomination,
we don’t have the financial resources to go up against one of the largest
Right Wing organizations in existence, and quite frankly, we wouldn’t want
to invest our funds to fight them.
“We’d rather put those monies into
our ministry programs that provide faith and hope for people," she said.
As of yesterday evening,
Metropolitan Community Churches had committed to remove the “Focus on the
Human Family” name from their
website.
“It’s a bit puzzling,” admitted
Rev. Wilson. “The ministry of Metropolitan Community Churches is so
different from that of James Dobson. His group tends to focus on one kind
of family, what they often mistakenly call the ‘traditional family’.
“In Metropolitan Community
Churches, we believe that God’s people find many ways to create family, and
that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families.”
Rev. Wilson indicated she would
address the differences between the two organizations during her
Installation Service at Washington National Cathedral on Saturday.
“Dobson's group is certainly within
their rights to defend their trademark as they see fit,” she said. “They
may be able to stop the name of our program, but they can’t stop our
ministry or our commitment to all members of the human family, especially
those that have experienced rejection by other faith communities.”
The installation of Rev. Wilson as
Presiding Bishop is at Washington National Cathedral this afternoon (October
29) at 2pm and is open to the public.
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Recent Articles
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October
29:
Gay Arts
Festival in Liverpool Gets Underway. November 2005 is
the month that Liverpool will again play host to the hugely successful Homotopia. After launching a pilot programme in November last year. On
offer are a wide variety of events, events including film, theatre, comedy,
heritage, cabaret and art. The festival runs from October 31 to November 14.
October
27:
UK:
Civil Partnership:
Gays in Northern Ireland Have Two-Day Start on Rest of UK.
The first registrations for Civil Partnerships in the United Kingdom will
take place on Monday December 19 in Northern Ireland – two days before
England, Scotland and Wales – the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) in
Belfast said today.
Pasolini: First English Translation of 1964 Poem by Famed Gay Italian Poet,
Filmmaker. November 2 will be the 30th
anniversary of the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini – and to commemorate his
disappearance, one of his major poetic works Victory has been
published for the first time ever in English translation.
October 26:
UK/Nigeria:
Nigeria: Outrage! Protests Teen
Lesbians ‘Brutal Caning’. The London-based gay human rights
group Outrage! has protested the recent sentencing of six young girls, one
said to be as young as 12, to 90 strokes of the cane following accusations
of lesbianism.
USA:
New Estimate Suggests
25 of 2,000 US Casualties in Iraq May Have Been Gay.
As reports circulated yesterday that American casualties in the war in Iraq have reached
2000, statistician Gary Gates estimated today that more than 25 of those
killed were gay or lesbian.
October
25:
France/Russia:
Russian Public Opinion Shows Support for
Gay Equality. A majority of Russians think that gays should
have equal rights, a poll has revealed.
October
22:
UK:
Two Charged With Murder
of Gay Barman Jody Dobrowski. Two men have been charged
with the murder last week of Jody Dobrowski.
October
20:
France/Russia:
Plans for IDAHO Meeting to Be Revealed in
'Gay Paree'. Details of the first-ever
meeting of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) are to be
unveiled in Paris next week – in the ‘Mayor’s Auditorium’ of the
historic Hôtel de Ville (City Hall)
October 19:
UK/Europe:
Sir Elton John Becomes
Patron of EuroPride London. Sir Elton John has accepted an
invitation to become a EuroPride Patron, giving the event two Peers of the
Realm and a brace of Knights among the high-profile supporters.
France (Sports):
Gay Football Club in
Limelight at Top French League Match.
A gay French football (soccer) team will step into the sporting limelight on
Saturday (October 22) when it plays an exhibition match against former stars
of one of the country’s top clubs, Paris Saint-Germain.
October 17:
UK:
Clapham Murder:
Inaction on Homophobia Condemned by Gay Group.
The government, police and Crown Prosecution Service have been condemned for
their “indifferent, complacent attitude to homophobic hatred and violence”.
The criticism comes from gay human rights group OutRage! following the
vicious murder of 24-year old Jody Dobrowski in a ‘queer-bashing’ attack on
Clapham Common late last Friday, October 14.
UK:
Plea to Brighton MPs:
‘Deliver All the Goods on Gay Equality’. Green Party city councillor Simon Williams has written to Brighton and
Hove’s three MPs saying that they are not doing enough to persuade the
Government to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people.
Russia:
Likening Gays to
Fascists Made Me So Furious. Commentary by
Nikolai Alekseev of GayRussia.ru on
his trip to Krasnodar. When I saw the slogan at the
anti-gay protest in Krasnodar that organisers of next year’s Moscow Pride
want revenge for fascist’s defeat over 60 years ago, I was not just amazed –
I was furious.
October 16:
Russia:
Krasnodar’s Anti-Gay
Protest Turns Out Low Key Under Watchful Eye of Militia, by
Nikolai
Alekseev.
Yesterday’s anti-gay protest in Krasnodar was banned by the authorities on the
technicality that one of the groups organising the demonstration had been
ordered by the courts to be closed down. So there was one obvious question I had when I arrived at
the monument to the Black Sea Kazak Army in the city and found the local law
enforcement officers there.
October 15:
Russia:
Anti-Gay Protest Goes
Ahead in Krasnodar Despite Ban - Only 30 Turn Up. Anti-gay
protestors defied a ban imposed by the Krasnodarski region authorities and
rallied as promised in Krasnodar today. Earlier in the week, organisers of
the “patriots-homophobes” demonstration had predicted that 500 would turn up
to protest the staging of a Gay Pride in Moscow, some 1,500 kilometres away.
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