“Black leaders of faith should not use the Bible to suppress the rights of LGBT community just like the Bible was used to suppress the rights of Black Americans,” said Dyson.
If Black pastors tried to “take all the [gay people] out of the Black church, there wouldn’t be a Black church,” he added. “And I never heard of any pastors refusing tithes from gay people.”

Dyson joins numerous of Black pastors who have spoken out in support of the President’s freedom to marry stance.

READ MORE NBJC BLOG  

Read NBJC’s statement commending President Obama for his courageous leadership

Melanie Nathan at Mission Incomplete GetEQUAL Rally in the Castro

Calling on the Repeal of DADT Supporting Senators to Co-Sponsor the Repeal of DOMA -

On September 20, 2011, while the LGBT community celebrated the activation of the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy, which had prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, activists, including myself, attended GET EQUAL rallies across the country to protest “ Mission Incomplete.”

I was emphatically reminded of  this incomplete mission,  when I noticed on television, that out of the six senators attending a news conference hailing the historic DADT repeal, only three have signed on to “The Respect for Marriage Act” (RFMA) the legislation that supports the repeal of the “Defense of Marriage Act,” (DOMA.)

The repeal of DADT is a milestone, in that gays and lesbians can now serve openly. Yet, other than drawing attention to the iniquities suffered by openly gay members of the military, it does nothing to further equality for LGBT servicemembers. Certainly not until all enjoy marriage equality and the protections provided by ENDA.

Transgender people still serve in silence and LGBT Servicemembers  are denied marital benefits in parity with straight members of the military.

Accordingly, activists and advocates ought to use the DADT repeal activation as an opportunity to enter what is clearly now an historically wide open door. Until this time, we have been tip toeing around legislation always knocking at the back door.   The opening is a view to the offensive inequality suffered by all LGBT members of our American society, whether in uniform or not.

The DADT repeal serves to highlight the discrimination because even though gay and lesbian  servicemembers can serve openly, they are still unequal in the eyes of the law.  Serving openly is not equality. That is why the fight has truly just begun.

The three senators who are co-sponsors of the marriage equality legislation attending the news conference for DADT, on Capitol Hill included Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.); and the three, standing next to them, who have yet to sign on to the repeal of DOMA and who were supporters of  the DADT repeal include Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

By standing at the conference and celebrating the conclusion of DADT, the latter three senators are definitely MIA – they are missing in action and ought to show up for equality – not merely the right to exist in the military or the right to exist in society for that matter. De facto existence is a given – yet de jure equality remains elusive!

It would be hypocritical for Senators Lieberman, Levin and Collins, at this point, to remain silent on DOMA and I hope their constituents will call them on this serious omission.  When they show up on the Respect for Marriage Act,  they will provide the votes needed to have the Senate repeal of DOMA. Of course the House has a long way to go; but the Senate will provide an advance trend favoring full equality for same-sex partners.

Nothing short of full equality will suffice. There is no excuse for anything less; that means the repeal of DOMA, the passage of ENDA and an Equality Bill – an omnibus of sorts – that spells out to the individual States in the US  that even though they are free to create their own laws, they are not free to discriminate.  It is un-American to discriminate.  The most basic of American values is equality and freedom. Now is the time for all to share in the magnificent intent of the Constitution.

So like the folks at GetEQUAL have asserted through the rallies, the “mission is incomplete” –  and  it is up to us as a movement to define and lead and compel the mission.   Let’s do it….  DOMA must be repealed immediately.

By Melanie Nathan.
melanie@gayusathemovie.com
www.visualcv.com/melnathan

Senators Co-Sponsoring  DOMA’s repeal:

1. U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI)

2. U.S. Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO)

3. U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)

4. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)

5. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

6. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

7. U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

8. U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-OH)

9. U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE)

10. US. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)

11. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

12. U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN)

13. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

14. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

15. U.S. Senator Dan Inouye (D-HI)

16. U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA)

17. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

18. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI)

19. U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

20. U.S. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

21. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

22. U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

23. U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)

24. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

25. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

26. U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

27. U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO)

28. U.S. Tom Udall (D-NM)

29. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

30. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

In a 5-2 vote, the Leon County Commission approved the controversial changes to the county’s current human-rights ordinance. The changes are designed to deter discrimination and include more protection for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.

Full Story from Joe.My.God

Click here for gay marriage resources in Florida.

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Mardi Gras festival executive producer Danielle Harvey said 5200 people, including sportspeople, doctors, teachers and retirees, had lined up to take part. “We were expecting 2000 or so … we’re absolutely thrilled,” Ms Harvey said.

Tan lines were the most prominent feature of the Australian line up, which whooped and cheered its way onto the Opera House forecourt in lines in cool, cloudy conditions.

Full Story from the Sydney Morning Herald
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“This law will violate the freedom of expression and will directly discriminate against people on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said John Dalhuisen, expert on discrimination at Amnesty International.

“It will stigmatize gay and lesbian people and exposes advocates for their rights to the risk of censorship and financial penalties. This law is an anachronism in the European Union.”

Full Story from Amnesty International
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She was speaking to members of the Committee for Protection of Freedom and Rights of the Parliament of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during a public debate on a proposed anti-discrimination law. This proposed law falls short of European Union standards, notably for its omission of sexual orientation as a ground of discrimination.

The public debate attracted strong interest from national media and civil society representatives, and focused on the proposed anti-discrimination law in the context of the country’s accession to the European Union.

Full Story from UK Gay News
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Two Christian church coalitions, three Muslim NGOs, two Hindu astrologers, a disciple of yoga guru Baba Ramdev, an NGO run by a former Delhi police officer, and an environmentalist, will be among those in the Supreme Court when it hears an appeal next month against the overturning of the Indian Penal Code’ section 377.

Only one person, film director and Rajya Sabha MP Shyam Benegal, has quietly joined the original petitioner, Delhi NGO Naz Foundation, in support of gay rights in the Supreme Court. With the government saying it will not oppose the Delhi High Court judgement, which experts consider legally strong, the new opponents are readying a range of fresh arguments:

· “Medical opinion” that only the vagina has the muscles required for sex, not the anus (Utkal Christian Foundation, Cuttack)

· Expanding the constitutional right to non-discrimination to include sexual orientation could lead to demands for job reservations (Apostolic Churches Alliance, Thiruvananthapuram)

Full Story from the Hindustan Times
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The Believe Out Loud campaign, an interfaith effort launching Sunday, calls on church members and clergy who support LGBT equality to become more vocal and visible, and make it clear that the religious right does not speak for all Christians.

“We want more [LGBT-friendly] people of faith speaking publicly about what they believe,” says Michael Adee, executive director and field organizer for More Light Presbyterians, the LGBT-supportive group within the Presbyterian Church USA, and one of the groups involved in the effort. They need to speak out not only about church policies but also but also civil matters like marriage equality, employment policies, hate crimes, adoption rights, and many others, he says.

Full Story from the Advocate
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Rights groups have recently criticised Malawi for prosecuting two men who got engaged to each other.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, believed to be the first gay couple in Malawi to start the marriage process, have pleaded not guilty to charges of public indecency. Their trial is due to start soon.

Full Story from BBC News
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But David Cameron, the Tory politician who is viewed by many as the likely next Prime Minister of Britain, has made it his mission to reach out to gay and lesbian voters, reckoning that plenty of gays share his party’s conservative views–at least, the ones that are not flagrantly anti-gay.

But how sincere is Cameron about wanting what his U.S. counterparts would call a “big tent” that includes GLBT constituents? In an interview published in gay magazine Attitude, journalist Johann Hari asked the question, recalling that until its repeal a decade ago, Cameron was an ardent champion of Section 28. Indeed, in the interview with Cameron, which Hari posted at his own site, the journalist put the question directly to Cameron, who told Hari, “I think now looking back you can see the mistake of Section 28,” a measure that Cameron called “an insult” and “finger-pointing.” Added Cameron, “There’s only one thing worse than making a mistake and that’s not putting your hands up and admitting it.”

Full Story from Edge Boston
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