I saw this on Towleroad earlier, and I have to say I'm really impressed by Reverend Pam Shepherd of Ashland, Oregon. Pam and her fellow members of the clergy at the First Congregational United Church of Christ have decided not to sign any marriage licence until they are allowed to sign them for any couple that wants to get married, gay or straight. Reverend Shepherd had this to say:
"We've blurred equal protection under the law and civil rights of all people with the right of faith communities to marry or refuse to marry anyone they want," she said. "Our faith communities need to struggle about what the Bible says about gay people and gay marriages, but the government should be deciding who gets civil rights based on the Constitution. The Constitution is very clearly based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and if marriage is not the pursuit of happiness, what is?"
We could certainly use more allies like Reverend Shepherd who take stands like these, no matter how small they may seem individually.
Speaking of allies, 365Gay has an article about the promises that many of those newly elected to the 111th Congress made on gay issues and about the expectations that those promises will be followed through on quickly. This includes repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, as well as passing the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, among others.
If the Democrats, with their strong majorities in both houses and an ally in the White House, don't act quickly to make these changes, they will have no one to blame but themselves and it will certainly come back to haunt them on election day.
The same holds true, of course, for health care reform, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countless other issues that aren't strictly LGBT related.
There is a lot to be done, but for the first time in many years, it seems like we're actually in a position to accomplish real change.
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