A Great Perspective

I found this wonderful quote on the Dallas Morning News religion blog:

"When faith simplifies things that need to remain complex instead of giving us
strength to live with complexity, when it gives answers where none exist,
instead of helping us appreciate the sacredness of living with questions, when
it offers certainty when there needs to be doubt, and when it tells us that we
have arrived when we should still be searching - then there is a problem with
that faith."

- Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, author of the new book "You Don't Have to be Be Wrong for Me to Be Right."

I don't often quote Rabbis here, being a Christian myself, but wisdom is wisdom regardless of where the originator worships.

I hear right wing fundamentalits spout how simple everything is to understand, how they have all the answers, how anyone living outside of their philosophy is a heretic, how anyone in a same-sex relationship is an abomination with no room for doubt.

Then I see that quote and realize that there are people who DO get it. WE don't have all the answers.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isiah 55:8-9

Any person who thinks that they understand it all it is actually putting themself up on a pedestal they will eventually fall off of. I'm content seeking the answers about life and God that I can obtain and accepting those that I'm not capable of understanding and that He does not see fit to reveal.

That's called faith folks, and that's what truly loving God is all about.

A Preview of the Upcoming Equality Battle in the Maryland Legislature

In 2008, my home state of Maryland will be one of the key battleground states regarding GLBT equality issues.  The Washington Blade has a preview on the eve of the start of this year's legislative session:

A marriage rights bill, tax relief proposal and other measures to benefit gay Marylanders will greet state lawmakers when they reconvene next week.

Such bills, including one to sanction the marriages of same-sex couples, are going before the General Assembly during a time when lawmakers and gay activists are seeking historic gains.

“I think there’s a strong chance the General Assembly is going to take action to remedy discrimination against same-sex couples in Maryland,” said Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland.

But he said exactly what inequities are addressed — and how they are remedied — remains to be seen.

“My job as the executive director of the state’s largest LGBT organization isn’t to glimpse into a crystal ball,” Furmansky said, “but to mobilize to make the greatest gains possible for our community.”

The greatest gains could come from the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act, a measure that would make valid marriages of “two people.”

Click here to for more detail in the Washington Blade story.

Senator Kennedy Ready to Make Another Push for ENDA

The Washington Blade is reporting that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is ready to take another shot at passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act during the 2008 session of Congress.

“Although Sen. Kennedy strongly supports protections against job discrimination for transgender workers, inaction won’t advance justice for anyone, and will just make it harder to pass any version of ENDA in 2009,” said Kennedy spokesperson Melissa Wagoner.

“We will most likely work to move the House-passed bill, rather than introducing a separate Senate bill,” Wagoner told the Blade by e-mail. “Because the same legislation must pass both the House and Senate, now that the House has acted, the only realistic way to get a bill to the president’s desk this Congress is to have the Senate pass the House bill.”

Asked if Kennedy thought ENDA could pass the Senate in an election year, Wagoner said, “Yes, if enough Republicans support the bill to give us a realistic chance of breaking a filibuster.”

Unfortunately, this came at a time when it appears the HRC tripped over itself again.

The statement this week by Kennedy’s office that Kennedy plans to back a gay-only version of ENDA comes after news surfaced last month that a high-level official at the Human Rights Campaign suggested a vote on ENDA would not take place until 2009.

News of the HRC official’s comment came in a memo that was leaked to transgender blogger Marti Abernathey, who published it on her Transadvocate blog on Dec. 4.

The five-page internal memo, written by HRC national field director Marty Rouse, proposed that HRC adopt a series of actions and policy initiatives to “win back” the confidence of the transgender community. Rouse acknowledged in his memo that HRC lost the confidence of transgender leaders and that community’s rank-and-file members when HRC changed its position of unequivocally opposing a gay-only version of ENDA to one of “not opposing” such a measure.

Rouse’s memo calls for HRC to redouble its efforts to build support for a trans-inclusive version of ENDA by providing logistical and financial support for transgender groups in states where opposition to transgender rights is strong.

“HRC has the political and financial clout to do all this,” Rouse said in the memo. “We have two years to prepare for the next volley in Congress. I think this would be a good start.”

By saying HRC has two years to accomplish his proposals before Congress next considers ENDA, Rouse created a stir within some gay activist circles because it raised questions about whether HRC had inside knowledge from congressional leaders that ENDA would be put on the shelf until at least 2009.

Brad Luna, HRC’s director of communications, confirmed the authenticity of the Rouse memo but said it was a draft proposal that did not tie HRC to a specific timetable for when ENDA should come up for a vote.

“The memo referenced is not a plan but rather a collection of thoughts and ideas in a very embryonic, draft form,” Luna said.

Thoughts that would likely have been better left behind closed doors.

"Little Girl, Big Voice"

For those of you who don't think they can make a difference in advocating for GLBT equality, you need to know about Rebecca "Becca" Lazarus. By the way, she is only 13 years old.

From the Manchester, CT Journal Inquirer:

Don't let her small voice fool you. Rebecca Lazarus - or "Becca" as she
likes to be called - is a fighter, and she's already had more experience with
activism at age 13 than most 50-somethings managed to accrue during the Vietnam
War era.

An eighth-grader at Sage Park Middle School, she was presented with an
award during a Board of Education meeting last month in recognition of her
community service and focus on civil rights.

In her battle for the
legalization of same-sex marriage, Rebecca has been interviewed on National
Public Radio, has spoken in front of several support groups, created a
Connecticut chapter of COLAGE, which stands for Children of Lesbians and Gays
Everywhere, and spoke in February at a news conference at the Legislative Office
Building in Hartford.

She told reporters at the news conference that she lives with two fathers,
Eric Lazarus and Jason Charette, who are in a committed relationship, but
otherwise she's "like any other kid."

Read more in the Journal Inquirer article.

Civil Unions In N.H. Not a Big Deal, And That's a Good Thing

Wednesday was the first day same-sex couples could obtain state-recognized civil unions in New Hampshire. The day passed somewhat uneventfully, and that's a good thing. More about that in this editorial from the Boston Globe:

WHEN VERMONT legislators legalized civil unions for gay couples in 2000,
there was a bitter backlash against the reform. But on New Year's Day, New
Hampshire joined Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey in extending civil union
rights to gay and lesbian couples, and the event was met with a collective yawn.
There are several reasons for this change, but the most important is that
residents of New Hampshire have had a chance to observe Vermont and
Connecticut's civil unions and Massachusetts' same-sex marriage, and realized
that extending rights to a minority is no threat to the majority - or to the
institution of marriage.
more stories like this

But the strongest factor making civil unions such a non-issue in New
Hampshire has to be the opportunity the state has had to look elsewhere in New
England, where experience shows that legal recognition of same sex couples has
stabilized and strengthened those relationships without doing anything to weaken
heterosexual marriage. Like other civil union laws, New Hampshire's grants gays
property rights, shared wills, and hospital visitation privileges. Several other
states have created varying levels of rights in domestic partnership laws.

As beneficial as these protections are, they still confer a separate
status, as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made clear in 2003 when it
ruled that the state's constitution prohibited the Commonwealth from denying
full marriage rights to gays. So far, no other state has joined Massachusetts,
but it is still gratifying to see that in New England, the region with the most
experience in granting rights to same-sex couples, another state has recognized
the profound unfairness in withholding those rights.

There have been plenty of negative things said about civil unions from advocates of full marriage rights for same-sex couples, but there is a very positive trend developing.....as civil unions become more normalized in states across the nation, the leap to fully legalized marriage becomes shorter and, theoretically, more attainable.

One At a Time

Lori Henne writes a piece for Whosoever Magazine where she takes readers through her path away from anger and unforgiveness toward hope and faith.

Over the decade I’ve been out as a lesbian, I have learned a great deal
about evangelical Christians. Most of what I’ve learned that’s proven to be
worthwhile, that’s proven to be trustworthy, I’ve learned from my own, personal
experience. Stereotypes and groupthink have proven no good to me at all.

I was told, time and again, that I could trust nobody on “the
Religious Right.” They “all” hated us, I was warned, and therefore I had to be
wary of them all. When it came time to begin coming out to the friends I’d made
over the years, most of whom were religious conservatives, I was afraid. Surely
to a one, they would dump me.

Finally I came out to one of my best friends, Shawnee, a lifelong Southern
Baptist. I hemmed and hawed while telling her, ‘til she became quite frightened
herself. When I finally got the words out, I got a huge surprise. She was
actually relieved!

“Is that all?” she asked me. “The way you built up to it, I expected you to
tell me you were dying of cancer or something.”

I should have taken a lesson from that, but I didn’t. Big media – including
the big GLBT media – kept right on telling me that “those people” were all
alike. Much the same way the big hetero media keeps telling straights that “all”
GLBT folks are alike. I knew very well that the latter was wrong, but for some
reason, it was oh-so-easy to go on believing the former. Most of my friends in
the community – even those who were Christian – accepted it as gospel, so why
should I have been any different?

Read her answer at Whosoever.

A Different Path Towards New Year's Resolutions

How many people have ever made New Year's resolutions, hopefully sometime around New Year's Day? Okay, I see plenty of hands out there. How many of you have kept most, or even any of them? Just like I figured, there aren't too many hands still up for that question.

Mine isn't either. Why not?

There are a lot of reasons people can have for coming up short on their resolutions, some of them compelling, some of them just a load of crap. However, I think I finally figured out the key to developing successful resolutions.

Instead of trying to establish what you want to accomplish in the new year, take a different
approach. Ask God what HE wants to you do.

You can't send Him an e-mail or a registered letter, you have to pray. Not just a perfunctory
prayer either, one where you are in a spirit of submission, preferably on your knees, not just asking but truly seeking God's plan for your life.

That's what Pastor Brenda and I spent most of last weekend doing, and he is gradually revealing answers to us. God is leading us toward a major initiative where we reach out to unchurched GLBT people in the Washington, DC metro area. I also believe he is leading me toward some type of leadership role in bring GLBT and straight Christians together in service, side-by-side, to help the community and bear witness that we CAN work together to serve God, and He will bless that effort.

We've got a lot of balls up in the air, and it is the peace of knowing God's plan for us is better than one we can come up with on our own that is keeping us focused, grounded, and somewhat sane. Along with a major ministry push, Pastor Brenda is trying to lock down her job situation (which seems very promising at this point) and we are looking for another home. Given the state of the real estate market, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that this has been somewhat of an adventure.

There's a lot going on in our household, including the recent change of having two dear friends as housemates, but we are seeking and finding God's will throughout all the busyness.

I hope, if you haven't already, that you take some time and seek God's plan for your life. It may not be what you expected--I can directly testify to that--but it will be good.

Have a happy and blessed 2008 everyone!