Robert Julian lived through the AIDS crisis, when friends were dying around him. In honor of World AIDS Day (which was Sunday), Julian wrote about what his life at that time was like.
About a month ago Duncan McAlpine Sennett celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. As part of that he read a passage from the Torah, Genesis 29, and spoke about what he learned from it. That chapter in Genesis is about how Jacob worked for his uncle Laban for seven years to take Laban's daughter Rachel as his wife. But at the wedding Laban substituted older daughter Leah. Jacob worked for Laban another seven years in order to also marry Rachel.
From that Sennett learned that traditional marriage has changed over time. It is no longer a business deal between groom and father. It doesn't involve two sisters and usually doesn't involve first cousins. Sennett then mentions the gay couples who are family friends. He concludes by saying:
My Torah portion taught me that the definition of traditional marriage has changed a lot since the days of Torah. So why can't it change just a little bit more so everybody can marry who they love? And now that I'm a Bar Mitzvah, I will not only continue to support but encourage other people to support equal marriage rights. Shabbot shalom.
The Australian Capital Territory (equivalent to America's District of Columbia) declared they would offer same-sex marriages. The national government said they can't do that. The issue is now before Australia's High Court. The ACT reasoning is interesting and maybe entertaining.
ACT said yeah, the national gov't declared they are the only ones who can define "marriage". And we agree that they defined it as "between an man and a woman." But our new legal contract, which we've labeled "same-sex marriage" isn't a "marriage" by the national definition. It's something else, so the national gov't can't control it. Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin sums it up this way:
It’s a rather fun Catch 22. If they are real marriages, then what business has the Commonwealth [national gov't] in engaging in bigoted discrimination. And if they are not real marriages, then bugger off and leave the ACT alone.
Oliver White, pastor of Grace Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul, MN, voted in 2005 at the national UCC conference for a resolution to recognize marriage equality within the denomination. His congregation, mostly African American, didn't take too kindly to his position. Membership dropped from 320 to 100. Last July, the church closed. What to do with the remaining members of the congregation?
He teamed up with Clark Memorial UCC in South St. Paul. That congregation was old and white, also in favor of marriage equality, and was faced with closing its own doors. The combined congregation is now an advocate for bringing all kinds of people together.
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