= = = = = = = = => Please note: <= = = = = = = = = = There will be no "NewsWrap" segment on "This Way Out" the weeks of 11/28/05, 12/26/05 and 1/2/06. = = = = = = = = = Happy Holidays! = = = = = = = = = NewsWrap for the week ending November 19, 2005 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #921, distributed 11-21-05) [Written this week by Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon, with thanks to Cindy Friedman, Graham Underhill, and Rex Wockner] Reported this week by Sheri Lunn and Christopher Gaal A renegade New York church and a Virginia pastor with the courage of his convictions took stands this week destined to make waves in the Presbyterian Church USA. Disregarding the denomination's 1997 edict excluding non-celibate gays and lesbians from the ministry, the Hudson River Presbytery approved Raymond Bagnuolo for ordination. During his November 13th ordination ceremony at the South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, Bagnuolo affirmed his acceptance of the authority of Scripture, belief in one God and Creator, and intention to proclaim the word and sacrament. However when asked about his allegiance to the Church's constitution, Bagnuolo made it a point to exclude the Presbyterians' "fidelity in marriage, chastity in singleness" standard, saying that the requirement questions God's creation and contributes to anti-lesbigay violence. The Hudson River Presbytery is one of a handful to openly defy the 1997 "fidelity/chastity" rule, which will be debated again at the denomination's biennial General Assembly next year. At that time delegates will consider the recently released report from a Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church recommending that individual presbyteries and churches be allowed to decide how "essential" the teaching on homosexual clergy is. But until then Bagnuolo's ordination is clearly "illegal," and a complaint could be filed against his presbytery. Meanwhile Bagnuolo has been assigned to pastor the 139-member Palisades Presbyterian Church in Palisades, New York, where the local church board has already declared their intention to ignore the constitutional ban on lesbian and gay clergy. "This is a happy and wonderful indication of what can happen when you don't give up," Bagnuolo said, "and when you wait and see what God has in store for you." In Arlington, Virginia, the target of Clarendon Presbyterian Church Pastor David Ensign's protest is not the Church, but the state. Upon accepting a county human rights award on behalf of his congregation, Ensign announced their decision to stop performing traditional marriages because of the state's laws against same-gender marriages. "What we're saying is that in the commonwealth of Virginia, the laws that govern marriage are unjust and unequal," Ensign told the Washington Post. The pastor has already renounced "the authority granted to him by the state" to officiate at weddings. Henceforth, heterosexual couples will be offered a "celebration of commitment" at Ensign's church, and then must be legally married by a justice of the peace. While not a violation of Presbyterian Church USA rules, Ensign's action is expected to come up at the denominational Assembly next year. Antagonisms within the worldwide Anglican Communion over LGBT issues have reached a point where cracks are beginning to appear even on the conservative side of the argument. A letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams published by a network of Global South churches called for the nominal head of the Communion to take a harder stand against the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians and the blessing of same-gender couples. It's purported to be endorsed by 17 of the Church's 38 archbishops, but since the headlines broke several primates have said they did not give permission for their names to be used. First among the dissenters was Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East Clive Handford. Handford expressed his reservations about attending the meeting of mostly African and Asian bishops organized by Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola, but said he felt it was appropriate because it was taking place in his own province. He said in a press release that he left before the fate of the draft letter had been decided, and found it "most regrettable and in no way helpful to the Church’s mission" that it was placed on a Web site while Williams was involved in the Church of England’s General Synod and unable to respond. At the London meeting, Williams was calling on Synod leaders and members to engage in some "interactive pluralism." He challenged each individual to make contact with someone in another part of the world who they were likely to disagree with in an effort to ease the "suspicion and hostility or lack of mutual respect" among Anglicans. In response to news of the Global South letter, Williams' office said, "... if it is an attempt to foreclose the debate, it would seem to serve very little purpose indeed." Two more young men have been added to the list of gays executed in Iran -- and that list may be growing faster than the international community realizes. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission -- or IGLHRC -- announced this week that it is investigating reports that 92 executions and death sentences have been handed down in just the last four and a half months. An exiled LGBT rights group has claimed that over 4,000 have been executed by the Iranian government since 1979. IGLHRC and the Muslim LGBT organization Al-Fatiha are lobbying the U.N. and international human rights groups to take action. There was both good news and bad news this week for Kansas juvenile sex offender Matthew Limon. The state Supreme Court last month struck down the so-called "Romeo and Juliet" sentencing law that punished under-age homosexual activity much more harshly than similar sexual misbehavior by heterosexuals. Limon was serving a 17-year prison term for having consensual oral sex just after his 18th birthday with a boy who was less than 4 years younger. Under the same law, the maximum jail sentence for heterosexuals was 15 months. Limon was released from prison in early November by a county judge following the Kansas Supreme Court ruling, but he was ordered to stay on his aunt and uncle's family farm, keep away from minors, stay sober and receive counseling. State Attorney General Phill Kline announced this week that "after careful review and consideration," his office has decided not to appeal the Kansas high court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had been an option. But later in the week, County Attorney David Miller filed a charge of unlawful voluntary sexual relations against Limon, telling reporters that he's not seeking more jail time, but that he wants Limon to be on formal parole for up to 5 years with the state's Department of Corrections. "That couldn't happen unless he was recharged and went through the judicial process," he said. So Matthew Limon's days in court apparently aren't over. Paul Cates of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Limon, said what Miller is doing is wrong. "... [I]t seems like the prosecutor is trying to extend the supervision," Cates said. "This is for somebody who has served four-and-a-half years in prison for a consensual sex act." There was alarming HIV/AIDS news in the U.S. this week about men who have sex with men. According to new statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gay and bisexual men -- particularly men of color -- continue to represent the country's largest number of new HIV diagnoses. Slightly more than half of those diagnosed between 2001 and 2004 were African Americans, more than 8 times higher than whites. Latinos accounted for 18 percent of all HIV diagnoses, more than 3 times higher than whites. Gay and bisexual men of all races continued to account for the largest number of diagnoses from 2001 to 2004 -- 44% of all HIV diagnoses, and 61% among diagnosed men. New York was for the first time among 33 states surveyed in the report, providing a more balanced view of the epidemic across the U.S. The data also reflect an 8 percent jump in diagnoses between 2003 and 2004 among all men who have sex with men, regardless of ethnicity, but CDC officials could only speculate as to why. According to Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, acting director of the CDC's National Center for HIV, STD & TB Prevention, riskier sexual behaviors, such as the use of crystal meth leading to multiple partners, may account for those higher numbers -- but he said it may also reflect an increase in HIV testing among gay and bisexual men. "HIV continues to exact a tremendous toll [on] men who have sex with men of all races," said Valdiserri, "especially men who have sex with men of color." And said the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Matt Foreman, "The Bush administration's de-funding, de-prioritizing, and de-gaying HIV prevention programs has been nothing short of a disaster. We call upon Congress to act immediately to begin to address this tragedy." And finally, in happier numerical news, figures released this week by Statistics Netherlands show that the number of same gender couples there has increased in the past decade from about 39,000 to 53,000, and that Amsterdam is their most favored place to live. About 12 percent of the couples are legally married, and another 10 percent are in registered partnerships. Perhaps surprisingly -- at least compared with other countries where they've been counted -- male couples are a bit more prevalent than female couples: 29,000 cohabiting same gender couples are gay men, and 24,000 are lesbian. About 9 percent of those couples have one or more children, with lesbian couples more likely to have a child -- 18 percent of cohabiting lesbians are raising children, compared with just 1 percent of gay male couples. Despite the significant increase over the past 10 years, however, gay and lesbian pairs represent just over 1 percent of the total number of counted cohabiting couples in the Netherlands. The figures also show that most queer Dutch couples prefer big cities. Nearly 25 percent live in Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht or Rotterdam. The most popular city was Amsterdam -- about 13 percent of all Dutch gay and lesbian couples live there -- but given the city's well-known reputation for a "live and let love" environment, it didn't require a statistician to "figure" that out.