TOP6NEWS - Date 7.26.05

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1-NEWS: Pro-fam groups promise suit over AG wording of m amendment summary
2-NEWS: Report: Lifting don't ask would increase recruits
3-NEWS: DOMA to be voted on in New Zealand today
4-NEWS: Canadian Evangelical Lutherans reject ssm
5-NEWS: More on Church of England statement on ss unions
6-NEWS: Canadian Catholic homily on ssm
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1-NEWS: Pro-fam groups promise suit over AG wording of m amendment summary

Foes of same-sex marriage plan lawsuit over wording of measure Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Proponents of a measure to ban same-sex marriage promised a court battle over the language that the state attorney general's office announced Monday for the measure's title and the summary voters will see.
The title -- "Elimination of Domestic Partnership Rights" -- and the summary written by Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office must appear on the petitions that proponents are permitted to begin circulating today. If the initiative qualifies for the June 2006 ballot, the same summary and title will appear there.

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2-NEWS: Report: Lifting don't ask would increase recruits

Is this right? The date on it is September ’04. Are they recycling? There isn't a link in the press release. I got it from a blog

Military Would Gain 41,000 Recruits If Gay Ban Were Lifted by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com Washington Bureau Chief
Posted: July 25, 2005  5:00 pm ET
(Washington) A report released Monday shows that if 'don't ask, don't tell' - the law that bars out gays from serving in the military - were repealed the armed forces could alleviate a critical troop shortage.
The report, prepared by the Williams Project at the UCLA School of Law, and released today by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network shows that without the ban, the military could expect to see 41,000 new recruits.
It comes as the Pentagon admits it will not meet its recruiting goal this year for the first time since 1999.
“The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law hangs like a ‘Gays Not Welcome’ sign outside the Pentagon’s front door,” said Sharra E. Greer, director of law and policy for SLDN. “Thousands of lesbian and gay Americans are ready to answer our nation’s call to service, but are turned away because of federally sanctioned discrimination.  Now, more than ever, our country needs the talent of these patriotic Americans.  We can make our homeland more secure by repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ once and for all.”

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3-NEWS: DOMA to be voted on in New Zealand today

Marriage bill in Parliament today    
Government will vote today on the Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill. The Marriage Act 1955 does not state gender specifics, and the proposed amendment will ensure that only a man and a woman may get married.
Similar to laws passed in America and Australia, the bill specifies that a marriage can only be between one man and one woman, ensuring by law that marriage between people of the same sex is prohibited. It also specifies that same-sex marriages registered in foreign countries are not recognised as marriages in New Zealand.

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4-NEWS: Canadian Evangelical Lutherans reject ssm

Delegates to the 10th biennial national convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) have defeated a motion that would have allowed pastors a "local option" to perform blessings for same-sex unions.
The motion, voted on by secret ballot, was rejected by 220 delegates;
183 voted in favour, and five abstained. A two-thirds majority was needed to pass the controversial resolution.
The motion was part of the ELCIC's business agenda at the convention held at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg last July 21-24. (In other business, the delegates re-elected current Lutheran national Bishop Raymond Schultz on the third ballot, giving him a second four-year term.) "Our community is divided almost 50-50," Bishop Schultz told Ecumenical News International (ENI) after the vote. "That means we have a lot more talking to do with each other."

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5-NEWS: More on Church of England statement on ss unions

The Church of England's Bishops yesterday issued a delicately worded 'pastoral statement' on the implications of the Civil Partnerships Act, which comes into force on 5 December 2005 - giving legal recognition for the first time to lesbian and gay relationships.
But critics from all sides of the argument about Christianity and sexuality are already saying that it is a messy compromise and a missed opportunity. And one influential network in the Church, Affirming Catholicism, has vowed to equip clergy with prayers and resources to support same-sex couples The House of Bishops' statement reaffirms the Church's traditional teaching on marriage and sex, but it also says that it "does not regard entering into a civil partnership as intrinsically incompatible with holy orders", provided the person concerned is willing to assurance his or her bishop that "the relationship is consistent with the standards for the clergy set out in [the earlier statement] Issues in Human Sexuality." This means that it must be non-sexual.

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6-NEWS: Canadian Catholic homily on ssm

By Catholic Insight staff
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led astray by diverse and strange teachings.” From the Letter to the Hebrews 13:8
Today I want to talk about a crisis that is threatening one of our basic institutions. The institution is marriage and the crisis is the federal government’s legislation on same-sex “marriage.” The definition of marriage has always been the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.
The government’s intention is to equate the sexual union between two men or two women with traditional marriage in order to eliminate an alleged unjust discrimination against homosexuals.  To accomplish this, the government has defined marriage as the exclusion of two persons to the exclusion of all others.

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