Northern Ireland Health Minister Resigns After Linking Same-Sex Marriage With Child Abuse: VIDEO

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/northern-ireland-health-minister-resigns-after-linking-same-sex-marriage-with-child-abuse-video.html

Plaintiffs: No, You Can't Unmarry Us

States would never try to ‘unmarry’ couples past childbearing age — so they shouldn’t be able to do the same to same-sex couples, argued pro-equality attorneys.

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Sunnivie Brydum

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/04/28/plaintiffs-no-you-cant-unmarry-us

Internet Tells Instagram: #FreeTheEggplant, After Social Network Decides It's a Bit Suggestive

Charles Pulliam-Moore

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/internet-to-instagram-freetheeggplant.html

Don't Mess With Dumbledore's Rights Some of Our Favorite SCOTUS Signs and Banners

Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on marriage equality, and people on both sides of the issue showed up with signs stating their views,

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James McDonald

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/04/28/dont-mess-dumbledores-rights-some-our-favorite-scotus-signs-an

Breaking Up With God
Like many LGBTs that grew up in the church, when I became a teenager I was faced with a dilemma. EVERY time a cute boy would stand up to read a bible verse or play an acoustic version of “Our God is an Awesome God” my hormones would start to rage. After hitting puberty, I had to accept that decisions needed to be made.  I just couldn’t take it anymore. 

I’ve never been good at keeping secrets so staying in the closet was never an option. I was confident enough in my support systems so the fear of alienation wasn’t strong.  Like a lot of gay kids, the drama club at school provided me with a social safety-net.  Since their divorce neither of my parents maintained very good attendance at church so I wasn’t too worried about them. My extended family were devoted to their faith, but kind, so I knew they’d have my back.

God was my concern.  I loved church and I loved God.  Since I was a little boy something drew me towards religion or spirituality or whatever you want to call it. I remember being very young, lying on the grass, looking at the sky, and just feeling connected to everything God made. I would read the bible at night and pray.  God was my guy.   

The problem was I couldn’t pretend that East Renton Baptist Church was okay with the whole “gay-thing”.  I knew that homosexuality was a sin and God was not going to have it.  I knew that inevitably the time would come when I was going to have to choose between keeping a relationship with God or being true to myself.

I decided to break-up with God.  My teenage hormones made the decision easy. I packed up my bible, Christian-themed t-shirts and memorabilia, and turned my back on my faith.  I thought about praying to God, but the anger of being put in this situation I didn’t choose, stopped me from reaching out.  I figured he’d get the drift.  Besides, if God couldn’t accept me for who I am then I didn’t have anymore time for him.  

My Godless life began at fourteen.  It would be years before we were reintroduced.

Let’s flash forward to today. I’m a licensed minister and the director of Inspire Spiritual Community, a non-profit which I co-founded in 2010.  The initial idea of the organization was to host spiritual services every Sunday in a gay bar smack in the heart of West Hollywood.  We wanted to offer a different possibility for what could happen in a gay bar.  It took some time but four years later it’s caught on and we have our own center. 

A lot of people who attend services at Inspire share a similar story with me.  The idea that we had to divorce God in order to accept ourselves is a common theme with LGBTs.  It’s been a healing process for many of us to investigate the possibility of re-establishing a personal relationship with a higher power; a God that’s all-Loving and non-judgmental.  We’re letting go of the resentment towards this Santa Claus archetype that rewards us when we’re good and punishes us when we’re not.  In essence, we’re simply learning to Love ourselves.

I’m so grateful that technology has evolved enough to where LGBT youth can discover support systems online that provide a palpable “Plan B” to some of the hateful and absurd messages being offered at the pulpit.  I believe that when the beautiful principles laid out in the world’s largest religious doctrines are accurately interpreted and demonstrated then we will see a major decline in the God-divorce rate in the LGBT community and beyond. 

Until then, in honor of the little boy who would spend hours lying on the grass and gazing up at the sky, feeling connected to the beauty in God’s world, I’ll continue to send my prayers and support to all of my brothers and sisters, who at some point, felt like they had to break-up with God. 

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-brune/breaking-up-with-god_b_7155310.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

5 Facts about the Changing Marriage Equality Landscape

Now, more than ever, Americans are joining us on the right side of history.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/5-facts-about-the-changing-marriage-equality-landscape?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Legal Scholar Says Don’t Panic Over Justice Kennedy’s Questioning Of Marriage Equality

The justices asked tough questions of both sides during oral argument, particularly Justice Kennedy and Chief Justice Roberts who are often believed to be “swing votes.” Throughout their peppering questions, neither clearly tipped their hat in any meaningful way.

While proponents and opponents alike will take little solace in reading the tea leaves, the rigorous exchanges are important for preserving the integrity of the judicial process and the Court’s legitimacy.

Justice Kennedy’s questions suggest that he is torn between seeing marriage as an institution intended to confer dignity on spouses and an institution that for millennia was understood to be between a man and a woman. There should be caution in reading too much into this. Justice Kennedy mentioned this tension in his pro-marriage equality decision in Windsor. Kennedy’s questioning of the attorney representing the states provided the most insight when the states’ representative argued that marriage is not about conferring dignity on spouses. Justice Kennedy responded that the whole point was recognizing that same-sex couples “have a dignity that can be fulfilled” in marriage.

For the Chief Justice, the crux of his questions seem to rest on questions of the democratic process and whether the Court would prematurely end debate on same-sex marriage if the justices rule in favor of the couples in June. Those lines of questions are noteworthy, in part, because the Chief Justice almost certainly played an important role in expanding marriage from 19 states to 37 states in the last six months by denying petitions to hear other marriage cases and rejecting applications to delay the implementation of decisions favoring same-sex marriage.

Most observers going into oral arguments believed that same-sex marriage proponents will win when the Supreme Court rules in June. Nothing today gives cause to believe those initial predictions are wrong.

Anthony Michael Kreis is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, specializing in sexual orientation, judicial decision making, social change and the law. He holds a law degree from Washington and Lee University. Since 2010, he’s worked on religious liberty issues in proposed same-sex marriage legislation. He is the author of a series of articles and is currently working on a book length project the courts and same-sex marriage. 

Chris Bull

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/JuwgRYwJItQ/legal-scholar-says-dont-panic-over-justice-kennedys-questioning-of-marriage-equality-20150428

Laverne Cox and Janet Mock React to Bruce Jenner's Coming Out as Trans: VIDEO

Anthony Costello

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/laverne-cox-calls-bruce-jenner-a-beautiful-human-being-during-interview-with-janet-mock.html