GAY TRUTH

neil Forster presented a paper at a conference on " Freedom of Religion or Belief: Creating the Constitutional Space for Other Fundamental Freedoms" on Friday 15 Feb. The paper, “Protection of Religious Freedom under Australia ’s Amended Marriage Law: Constitutional and Other Issues" is linked here for those who are interested: Freedom of Religion or Belief paper Foster . I argue that, while some religious freedom rights are protected under the amended marriage law , there are some serious gaps in protection for some involved deeply in the celebration of same sex weddings , and also a failure to deal with a range of other issues, such as the ability of faith-based schools to operate in accordance with their fundamental commitments in both engagement of staff and teaching pupils, and whether people who conscientiously believe that same sex relationships are not best for human flourishing will be penalised in the workplace or elsewhere. I note that at least one S...

Australian homosexual couple  were excited to see the homosexual wedding programs they ordered for their immoral  gay wedding . But when the package arrived, the gay couple also found Christian pamphlets with messages about homosexual temptation and gay sin.  The immoral sinful unbalanced homosexual couple are so upset that a Christian would insert biblical truth into the box that they are taking a federal lawsuit against printing company Vistaprint - to teach people a lesson! The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday in Massachusetts , accuses Vistaprint of attacking, abusing, vilifying the couple because they're gay by replacing their wedding program order with the biblical truth about homosexuality - which they conveniently call - "hateful and discriminatory."   WHY ARE HOMOSEXUALS EASILY HURT AND OFFENDED AND SELF-RIGHTEOUS? The two homosexual men have a unrighteous immoral agenda.  "Their goal is to hold Vistaprint accountable fo...

A West Virginia county clerk 's office has agreed to pay $10,000 in damages to a lesbian couple who said they faced disparaging remarks while applying for a marriage license last year. The incident prompted Amanda Abramovich and Samantha Brookover to sue Gilmer County Deputy Clerk Debbie Allen and Clerk Jean Butcher. According to the complaint, Allen called the couple an “abomination” and told them that God would “deal” with them while processing their application. According to The Washington Post , Allen's comments against the women lasted several minutes and another clerk shouted that it was Allen's “ religious right ” to harass the couple. When Brookover's mother, who witnessed the abuse, called the county clerk's office to complain, she said that Butcher stood by her deputy and allegedly said that the next same-sex couple that sought a marriage license “would get the same or worse” treatment. Allen has denied she called the couple an “abomination or any ...

The same-sex marriage campaign makes me wonder when my fellow Australian lesbians lost their political backbone? Where's the sparky radicalism of the gay and lesbian community ? When did chasing after marriage become our life's work? Or for that matter any feminists ' work?  For feminist Marriage = Patriarchy . Our heterosexual sisters must be wondering why we're so keen to dignify an institution – which for so many women has led to violence from their partners and drudgery for themselves. They surely notice the hypocrisy; lesbians becoming cheerleaders for an institution which has caused so many so much pain.  We get the "gold rings and honeymoon" appeal of marriage; but I feel embarrassed for our collective selves that the public now sees us as grovelling for the chance to wear white wedding dresses . How are women going to recognise lesbianism as an alternative to heterosexuality, if they don't see us protesting against institutions that ...

Question: Homosexuals testify that marriage makes them happier and does not hurt anyone, so how can this be wrong? One of the most dangerous ideas about today's morality is the suggestion that we should limit human behavior only on the basis of identifiable harm. Reducing morality to the avoidance of harm is dangerous because it tends to reduce harm to that which is immediately identifiable in an individual's experience or in society at large. Legalizing same-sex marriage does not mean the heterosexual couple next door will experience immediate harm. It does mean marriage as an institution is harmed, however, which weakens the social cohesiveness and health of the entire society. The problem with arguments concerning the morality of harm is that much of what causes the most devastating and lasting harm is not readily apparent. In many aspects, the law recognizes that reality by establishing patterns of right behavior. The violation of these patterns would cause no imme...

"On the issue of marriage I think the reality is there is a cultural, religious, historical view around that which we have to respect. The party's position is very clear that this is an institution that is between a man and a woman." If I told you that was a quote from Cory Bernardi , Lyle Shelton or worse, that oft condemned unreconstructed traditionalist Tony Abbott , would you consider it just more evidence of their homophobia ? Many commentators would. It seems right now no one can make any statement in favour of marriage without being condemned for being a "hater" or "bigot".  However, the statement doesn't come from Mr Bernardi, but from that other strong-minded senator from South Australia , Penny Wong . Senator Wong articulated the traditional view of marriage in an interview on the Sunday program on network TEN in 2010. She spoke it in that calm, emphatic metre which has made her so formidable in our parliament. It's a bold...

Heather Barwick was raised by her mother and her mother's same-sex partner . She is a former gay -marriage advocate turned children's rights activist. She is a wife and mother of four rambunctious kids. Gay community , I am your daughter. My mom raised me with her same-sex partner back in the ’80s and ’90s. She and my dad were married for a little while. She knew she was gay before they got married, but things were different back then. That’s how I got here. It was complicated as you can imagine. She left him when I was two or three because she wanted a chance to be happy with someone she really loved: a woman. I loved my mom’s partner, but another mom could never have replaced the father I lost My dad wasn’t a great guy, and after she left him he didn’t bother coming around anymore. Do you remember that book, “ Heather Has Two Mommies ”? That was my life. My mom, her partner, and I lived in a cozy little house in the ‘burbs of a very liberal and open-minded area. Her ...

An episode of the Disney Junior show  Doc McStuffins , which is aimed at preschoolers, featured two lesbian "moms" as the heads of a family .  The show is about an aspiring doctor who "fixes" toys with help from friends.  In the August 5 episode "The Emergency Plan ," a lesbian couple and their children (they're a family of dolls) have to flee their house because of an "earthquake." The purpose of the episode is apparently teaching children the importance of having an emergency plan.  "With this episode, they see a family that looks like our family," said Wanda Sykes , a lesbian actress who plays one of the same-sex partners. "We're two moms... it’s going to be very exciting for [my kids] to see our family represented."  During the episode, one woman and a child are separated from the other woman and child, and then reunited at the end. Sykes tweeted that she was pleased with the episode promoting ...

In the new movie Beauty and the Beast, Disney has created its first openly gay character. This has provoked anger in some Christians as well as fear. Perhaps most important, this legitimization of same-sex relationships in popular culture is clouding the hope of the gospel for the same-sex attracted. It can seem like God is distant, his Scriptures out-of-date, and his redemptive love impotent. But this is not true. God is on the throne. And for the same-sex struggler, the gospel is gloriously good news. There is reason to hope. Psalm 27 is one of my favorite psalms . The reason I love it is that one of the central themes of the psalm in my opinion is that the presence of God is the factor that can change everything. This is why David says his one aim is to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord . Enemies are all around. Things need to be learned. God might even be silent. But all of these things pale in comparison to the manifest presence of God in David’s life. This is David’s ho...

This week, Eugene Peterson became arguably the most consequential evangelical to endorse same-sex relationships and marriage. His short interview with Jonathan Merritt isn’t always clear; there is some hedging and “as far as I’m concerned” moral equivalency.  But his testimony leaves little doubt , especially since it feels so very familiar. Peterson’s sexual ethic is overwhelmingly anecdotal - not Biblical. His story of embracing same-sex relationships through friendships and pastoral relationships is a reminder of just how natural, intuitive, and authentic heterodoxy can feel in a post- Christian culture . He risked his faith to be popular. He placed himself as an apostate -to the Christian faith teaching the doctrine As one who holds to historic Christian teaching on sex and marriage, I believe that Peterson is very wrong on homosexuality. But I’m gradually coming to understand what a daily burden holding fast on this doctrine can be, particularly for Christians w...

HOMOSEXUAL ARGUMENT Married couples don’t have children (whether by choice, or because of infertility or age). If we deny marriage to same-sex couples because they can’t reproduce , why not deny it to those couples, too? A couple that doesn’t want children when they marry  might  change their minds. Birth control might fail for a couple that uses it. A couple that appears to be infertile may get a surprise and conceive a child . The marital commitment may deter an older man from conceiving children with a younger woman outside of marriage. Even a very elderly couple is of the structural type (i.e., a man and a woman) that could theoretically produce children (or could have in the past). And the sexual union of all such couples is of the same  type  as that which reproduces the human race, even if it does not have that effect in particular cases. WILL HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE LEAD TO  FEMALE TRAFFICKING? Admittedly, society’s tangible interest in ma...

Australia: Why Marriage is the exclusive union of a Man and a Woman  1.1 Many  Christians  will be aware of the ongoing campaign for so-called marriage “equality”.  Different parties and individuals seeking to put bills  before the  Australian Parliament  aims to change the current  definition of marriage  to allow same sex  couples to marry.  This would represent a radical revision of the public understanding of marriage as a  social institution , and a radical challenge to the Christian understanding of marriage. Federal  Parliamentarians  have been asked to “gauge their constituents’ views on ways to achieve equal  treatment for same sex couples including marriage”. 1.2 What are our views as Christians on this issue? And why should we engage in the political  debate ?  This paper seeks to answer these questions, setting out the case in favour of retaining the  current ...