A Presbyterian church in Wellington, New Zealand, has restated its decision to support same gender marriage. Senior minister at St Andrew’s on the Terrace, Margaret Mayman, said it would be part of a small minority of churches doing so. The Presbyterian General Assembly in New Zealand opposes a bill before Parliament which seeks to legalise Read more
At least 63 former Catholic priests in Washington state said they support Referendum 74, which will make Washington the United States’ seventh state to legalize same-sex or gay marriage. “We are uneasy with the aggressive efforts of Catholic bishops to oppose R-74 and want to support the 71 percent of Catholics who support civil marriage Read more
The Marriage Amendment Bill aims to amend marriage legislation to ensure gay couples are not treated in “a discriminatory manner”. It has passed its first reading and is now open for submissions from the public. In our next piece in a series of opinions, Wairarapa man and future Labour political hopeful Kieran McAnulty says marriage Read more
Whangarei teacher Nigel Studdart, who lost his job at a Catholic school for taking a public stand on gay rights, is considering legal action. The science teacher was dismissed from Pompallier College for helping students stage a peaceful protest against comments made by the principal about gay marriage and gay parenting. Continue reading
Family First NZ says that a Research NZ poll shows that support for gay marriage has dropped to less than 50%, down 11% from a similar poll in 2011. “Only 49% of the 500 respondents said that they were in favour of same sex couples being allowed to marry. This is down from 60% in Read more
A California bill allowing children to have three legal parents will not help children, but instead will unnecessarily complicate their lives. The supposed need for California’s SB 1476 flowed directly from the drive to normalize same sex parenting and recognize same sex unions. Can a child have three parents? If California State Senator Mark Leno Read more
Parents in Scotland will be powerless to prevent their children from being taught about gay marriage and teachers could be forced out of their jobs if they fail to teach the normality of gay marriage. These are just some of the claims made by leading human rights lawyer, Aidan O’Neill QC, in a legal opinion Read more
A number of ministry and church leaders believe a cautious approach to same-sex marriage is needed so as not to alienate those outside the church. Father Neil Vaney, an Auckland Roman Catholic moral theologian, said the secular media and various people were “pushing” the same sex issue. He said the Church should “show great compassion” Read more
Thousands of people who want to access Family First’s website are instead inadvertently being directed to the marriage equality campaign’s website. Wellington man Hamish Spencer purchased the domain www.familyfirst.co.nz last week. While one would expect the site to provide an insight into the charity, it instead redirects you to the marriage equality campaign’s website. Family First is staunchly Read more
Hartford Archbishop Henry Mansell has rebuked a priest from Suffield for participating in his cousin’s same-sex wedding in New York. Rev. Michael DeVito, of Sacred Heart Church in Suffield, spoke with Mansell after the wedding in August. The meeting happened after a wedding announcement in the New York Times mentioned that DeVito assisted in the Read more