Is this the end of the Anglican Covenant?

[The Episcopal Cafe]: The General Synod’s vote on the Anglican Covenant (Synod, 26 November) had been well prepared. The organisers made it clear that voting in favour was The Right Answer. Contrary to normal prac­tice, nobody was given the task of summarising the case against, either in the prior paperwork or in the debate itself. The GAFCON Primates [announcement] then turned it into farce.

Rev. Jesse Jackson Supports Marriage Equality, End of Prop 8

The Rev. Jesse Jackson called into the community gathering at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals courthouse hosted by Marriage Equality USA and made the following remarks in support of marriage equality and Judge Walker's ruling.

Many years ago in the late 1970s, I visited South Africa, then deep in the throes of apartheid. I was asked by the media what I thought of the situation, and I said, “I believe in human rights for all human beings. We must measure human rights by one yardstick.” That principle – our moral center - still applies. Everything flows from this perspective.

We stand together today as equal members of the human family…. as consistent principled advocates for human rights for all people. We stand together today to uphold the principles of due process, of equal protection under the law, of fighting against discrimination against any and all people based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

We stand with you today to support Marriage Equality, and to declare that Proposition 8 must be struck down as unconstitutional. Peoples’ right to self-expression, self-determination be respected and affirmed. It’s time to challenge ignorance, a time to break the silence and the chains of hatred, of divisive and discriminatory bigotry. Marriage is based on love and commitment – not on sexual orientation. I support the right for any person to marry the person of their choosing.

If Dr. King and our civil rights movement has taught us anything, it’s the fundamental principle of that all people deserve Equal protection under the law. LGBT people deserve equal rights – including marriage equality – and equal protection under the law. Discrimination against one group of people is discrimination against all of us. The State – and the Courts - should not sanction discrimination.

To those that believe in and fought for civil rights, that marched to end discrimination and win equality, you must not become that which you hated. It’s past time to exist in hypocrisy and ignorance, and time to come out of the shadows and darkness to support unequivocally, equality for all people. Those that support civil and human rights cannot, must not, become perpetrators of discrimination against others based upon race, religion, culture, sexual orientation.

African-Americans know too well the sting of legal, state sanctioned, constitutionally driven “second class” citizenship – from centuries of legal slavery and Jim Crow segregation, to classified as 3/5 of a human being in the U.S. Constitution, to facing anti-miscegenation laws that prevented blacks from marrying whites.

We cannot not sit idly by while Prop. 8 seeks to target gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, as America’s newest “second-class citizens.” Our legal scholars have cited fourteen times where the Supreme Court has stated that marriage is a fundamental right of all individuals. That principle must be upheld today – for blacks and whites, for straight and gay, for ALL Americans. No group of people should be denied their fundamental constitutional liberties, like equal protection under the law, simply because of who they are.

So today, we do not stand alone. It’s time to go forward by hope and not backward by fear, to stand up with courage, hope and strength and send a shout out for equality. Stiff winds of resistance seek a return to intolerance, bigotry and state sanctioned discrimination – whether against immigrants in New Mexico or against marriage equality in California. It should only strengthen our resolve to defend equal protection under the law, equality for all Americans, and the forging of a One Big Tent America.

Keep hope alive.

"We are deeply touched and honored to have Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the most powerful civil rights leaders alive today, join our event today and make these historic remarks in support of marriage equality," said Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA media director.

"Hearing Rev. Jackson's vision of the Rainbow Coalition as I came of voting age in the late ‘80s inspired me to want to get involved in making our country's promise of equality and justice for all ring true. Hearing his vocal support against Prop. 8 and in support of marriage equality today his been a truly extraordinary and we look forward to continuing to work together towards our shared vision of forging a One Big Tent America."

Oasis Action Alert: Call Your US Senators Today, Support DADT Repeal

The Senate may vote today on whether or not to repeal the military's failed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

This may be our last, best hope to end this discrimination before the new Congress shows up in January, with the House under staunchly anti-LGBT leadership.

I just called my senators and asked for the immediate repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I hope that you will join me. Will you take just a minute and call your senator?

More: http://www.couragecampaign.org/CallNow

Anglican Covenant Update

Alan Perry has written two articles:

• Defining Controversial Actions

• Defining Relational Consequences

Savi Hensman has written How might the Anglican Covenant work in England?

Benny Hazlehurst offered An Antidote to the Covenant

John Martin wrote The Covenant is good news for Anglicanism in Christian Today

Thanks to Thinking Anglicans for these links.

Prop 8: 'This is about freedom of religion - mine, yours, ours!

Comments prepared by Oasis President the Rev. Tom Jackson for community meeting outside US Court of Appeals in San Francisco Dec. 6, 2010.

This is about freedom of religion: mine, yours, ours. This is about freeing us from being forced to live by the religious beliefs of those who call themselves conservative Christians and believe that they and they alone know the correct meaning of scripture. This is about religious freedom: about freeing us from a civil law that forces us to live by the Biblical beliefs of someone else. This is about religious freedom: about freeing most of us from the strict judgmental theology of a few of us. This is about religious freedom: the freedom we each deserve to live our lives according to our beliefs and not those of Jerry Farwell or our next door neighbor or any other person in America. This is about religious freedom: you, mine, ours. I want mine back. Don’t you?

That’s why Judge Walker’s decision is so important. He looked at the facts advanced by those who support Prop 8 and found they did not present any scientific facts to support Prop 8. He ruled they did not document any real harm caused by marriage equality. The only reason he found to support Prop 8 was the animus towards LGBT people of those who oppose equality in civil marriage. And he ruled that animus – for many clothed in terms of religious belief – cannot stand as the sole foundation for an amendment to the constitution of this state.

Those who support Prop 8, at their best, do so based on their faith: the way they read the Bible, they believe same gender marriage is a sin. We support their right to hold and to live their life according to these beliefs. No one suggests that any man or woman ever be forced into a same gender marriage: if you believe same sex marriage is a sin, marry someone of a different sex.

That’s not the argument of Prop 8. Prop 8 says we all have to live be the religious belief of those who read the Bible in a literal sense. That is not the way I read the Bible, my understanding is that God’s justice demands marriage equality. So repealing Prop 8 is about religious freedom: about freeing me and you and you and you from a law that forces us to live by the religious beliefs of someone else.

Prop 8 tries to force all of us to live by standards some see as ‘biblically correct.’ But their view of what the Bible says is radically different from mine, All I want is the freedom to be the kind of Christian God calls me to be; all I ask is an end to laws and amendments that impose someone else’s religion on me and my church. This is about religious freedom: about freeing me and you and you and you from a law that forces us to live by the religious beliefs of someone else. As an Episcopal priest, I should have the freedom to minister to people based on my understanding of what God calls us to do. Prop 8 tries to take away our freedom of religion. I want it back – don’t you?

Gene Robinson on the Bible, Homosexuality

"We cannot ... isolate these passages about homosexual acts and impute to them the kind of enduring authority which we ascribe to nothing before or after," Robinson writes of Old Testament prohibitions against homosexuality in a guest post forTheWashington Post'sreligion blog, On Faith.

"One has to wonder why the biblical literalists who cite this passage against homosexuality don't seem to go all the way and advocate for death as the punishment for homosexual behavior! We cannot have it both ways," Robinson writes.

Read the full post here.

PSR alumna Kolakowski elected CA Superior Court judge

The final results posted on the Registrar of Voters Web site on November 19 confirmed what most 2010 election observers had already predicted -- PSR alumna Victoria Kolakowski (MDiv ’98) has been elected to the Alameda County Superior Court.Her election has received international attention because she is the first transgender person to be elected judge in the United States.

With training in biomedical and electrical engineering in addition to her law degree, Kolakowski worked her way through PSR as a patent attorney. In addition to her other qualifications, she is an ordained minister in the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), and has been active in justice movements for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Speaking about her new position on the Superior Court, Kolakowski said, “Obviously this is a secular position, but I bring my whole person to it. I’m still grounded in the kinds of social justice concerns that are such an important part of what I learned at PSR.”

Although she wants to be known for her legal accomplishments, Kolakowski said she’s “not running away from the fact that this is an historic occasion.” Tracking on her campaign Web site has shown visitors from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories, from Nepal, Togo, Iran, Kenya, Uganda, and more than 70 other countries. “This is very exciting to many people. I guess they’re looking to see, Is this real?”

“We [transgender people] have a community that has been stigmatized, where many people have to deal with unemployment or underemployment, and now they can see where somebody has become a judge. If that helps just one kid somewhere to hold on for another day, then I don’t mind being the ‘transgender judge.’”