8 ball says, "Looks Promising"

From the Gay City News comes this analysis.

After a very long day of chaos, passion, and frustration in the New York State Senate, a couldn’t-be-higher stakes meeting that included the governor, senior Democratic lawmakers, and top LGBT advocates was capped by a dramatic announcement offering the best sign yet that marriage equality may become a reality by New Year’s Day.

With the Legislature unprepared to cooperate with Governor David A. Paterson in his push to adopt a budget reduction plan during the extraordinary session he called on November 10, the Senate Democratic leadership spent much of the day in on-and-off caucusing and huddling to answer the question that seemed uppermost on the minds of Albany-watchers Tuesday — whether to bring the marriage equality bill, passed for the second time by the Assembly in May, to the floor for debate and a vote.

Paterson had placed the measure on his calendar for the session, and many dozens of same-sex couples kept vigil all day long in the Capitol hallways outside the Majority Conference offices, chanting, “We deserve a vote, we deserve a vote.”

A vote was not to be — that day, at least. But shortly after 8 p.m., Paterson, four senior Senate Democrats — Jeffrey Klein of the Bronx and Westchester, the deputy majority leader; Eric Adams of Brooklyn; and Manhattanites Eric Schneiderman and Thomas K. Duane, the measure’s lead sponsor — and Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), the state’s LGBT lobby, appeared before the press to announce that the Senate leadership has made a specific commitment to hold a debate and vote on marriage equality before the end of 2009.

The implications cannot be underestimated. Since April, Paterson has consistently called for a vote, which ESPA on several occasions demanded and Duane said repeatedly he has the bipartisan support to pass.

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Grover on Marriage

Republicans Lean Toward Center on Gay Marriage

YouGovPollingPoint | What the World Thinks

NPR Satire of the RC Welcome...

Can't miss this from NPR! Where's my checkbook? It's pledge week.

From: outreach@vatican.com

To: Disaffected Anglicans

CC: sheila@vatican.com

Subject: Fed up?

Greetings from Vatican City!

If you're reading this letter, you're probably a lifelong Anglican. You've worked hard at your faith and always played by the rules. But lately you haven't been happy with certain developments. Maybe you're even on the fence about your religion. Sometimes you drive past a Catholic church and wonder, "What goes on in there?"

Consider this your official invitation to find out. Since the Reformation almost 500 years ago, people have tended to emphasize the differences between Anglicans and Catholics. But there are a lot of similarities, too. For example, both Catholics and Anglicans consider themselves adherents of the one true faith, whereas people of other religions generally consider themselves in the top 10.

You're probably saying to yourself, "Changing religions sounds like a lot of work." But we want to assure you we're committed to helping make your transition as smooth as possible. You can even keep driving to your former Anglican church, and we'll pick you up with our free weekend shuttle service. It's all part of the Catholic Church's plan to broaden its earthly ranks, using state-of-the-art technology calibrated to poach top talent from all faiths. (For example, our shuttle service outreach program targeted Ivy League Buddhists with driver's licenses.) For years, we've been sending undercover scouts to churches, temples and mosques, getting the e-mail addresses of decent choir sopranos (we're low on sopranos) and anyone who cringes when something remotely gay happens.

Read it all here.

Bishop Frade (SE Florida) on Roman "welcome"

The Vatican has issued a blanket statement recently "welcoming" disaffected Anglican priests into the Roman Catholic Church. This has long been done on a case-by-case basis but now the "Almost Welcome" mat is out. Oddly Canterbury has issued statements spinning this as a positive move toward unity.

Bishop Leo Frade of the Diocese of SE Florida, recently in the news for welcoming Father Cutie (If my Spanish serves me that's Coo-tee-ay', though he is a cutie as well) from the RC tradition, has released a wonderful letter to his Diocese on this. I picked it up from The Lead - Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

"I have always said that the road between Rome and Canterbury and between Canterbury and Rome gets a lot of traffic. For centuries we have been exchanging clergy, and today the Episcopal Church has many priests—and several bishops–who once were Roman priests. Among our diocesan clergy are six former Roman priests, and we have two who are in the process toward being received as Episcopal priests.

"We have not created a special Roman prelature, or provided them with a lamination of their Roman rites over our Episcopal liturgies; but instead we fully welcome them, married or celibate, as clergy in our Communion. They are not ineligible to be called to the episcopate simply because they came from Rome. They are not second-class clergy, but priests in good standing, with all the benefits and full participation in the life of our Church.

"Let me end by expressing my disappointment with the lack of ecumenical love that the Vatican statement shows. I do not criticize them for receiving our clergy and laypersons, just as we receive theirs, but for their fanfare and promotion of this invitation.

“'Ut unum sint' doesn’t mean that we all may be one under the authority of the Bishop of Rome, but that we all may be one under the ultimate authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us continue to pray for that unity."

- The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade

Western AIDS workers introduce homosexuality to Africa

An African Archbishop has accused Western aid workers of sabotaging African values and leading young African men into homosexuality.

Anti-gay religious Web site LifeSiteNews has posted several articles about the claims made by various African Archbishops, who have accused the West of importing "moral relativism," encouraging promiscuity by promoting condom use to stem the African rate of HIV infection, and giving young men supplies of lubricants so that they might have gay sex.

An Oct. 21 article referenced an interview between a National Catholic Reporter reporter and Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Ghana, in which Palmer-Buckle, when asked whether "there really [is] a Western campaign to corrupt African values?" declared, "We don’t only suspect that there is a campaign, we think it’s deliberate."

Read it all at EDGE

Micahelangelo on the March on Washington

"The march in fact has only made us all stronger as a movement. We were able to organize in a few months, using new media, and got 200,000 people to D.C. without spending much on traditional advertising. David Mixner is to be lauded for his passion and putting the idea out there. Cleve Jones, for his vision and his steadfastness at doing it quickly and keeping the costs down to a mere $150,000. Robin McGehee, Kip Williams, and all the other young activists, for tirelessly organizing the event and using the Net roots so skillfully.

"We now know it can be done successfully on short notice and for little money. That means a couple of things: We need to continue making a lot of noise — online, but also getting into the streets and protesting everywhere. And we need to march again on Washington — or at least let them know we’re prepared to do so if we don’t see some real action, real soon."

- SiriusXM radio host and activist Michelangelo Signorile, from a lengthy Advocate opinion piece on the ramifications of the National Equality March.