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It’s time for the Supreme Court to uphold same-sex marriage
It’s unusual when the winners of a case ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of their victory. But that is exactly the plea being made by lawyers for same-sex couples who successfully challenged bans on such unions in Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah. And for good reasons. Although some same-sex couples have been able to enjoy the protections of marriage …
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The Last Holiday
Why are we celebrating the obligation to toil most of our lives? Seriously, why is Labor Day an American holiday? Is it an excuse for one last blowout before – before what? I’m tempted to research the origins of Labor Day, though I have no doubt that I learned all about it back in fourth grade. It’s never made sense to me to get a day off to celebrate work. Of course it’s never made sense to me…
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A gay dad’s open letter to the homophobic parents who threw away their gay son
Another young person has been thrown out of his home for coming out as gay. I have written about this on a number of occasions covering such events in the United States, Nigeria and Uganda. This time the event was recorded. Trying to imagine the evil some people can impart on their children is no longer necessary. Now we can hear them in their own self righteous voices…
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Brad and Angelina getting married is a slap in the face to gay Americans
Brian Moylan at TIME: “I’m sorry, Brangelina, but real fighters for civil rights don’t buckle under pressure when it gets hard. The couple says that their legal union means a lot to the children and that’s why they did it. What about teaching their children about standing up for what you believe in, even when it’s tough and unpopular? …”
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Damon L. Jacobs: The Calm in the PrEP Storm
In 1977, I ran for senior class president, hoping against hope that my penchant for wearing platform shoes and fellating men in my spare time might somehow get overlooked by my high school classmates in Bossier City, Louisiana. I lost that faith when my campaign signs throughout the school hallways were vandalized. As the student body arrived that morning we were greeted with the word “FAG” scrawled across the posters in red spray paint…
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The power of witness
I could tell you about the years that I have spent in prayerful study and discernment learning the facts about homosexuality. I could give you psychological, biological, theological, and biblical arguments to support my decisions and actions. I could do those things. But I won’t. Many times, a powerful testimony is all the proof we need to accept that someone has, in fact, encountered the risen Christ. So my purpose here is not to give arguments, it’s to give testimony…
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A gay dad’s requiem for Robin Williams, the icon of the modern father
There was a deeper profound loss in the news for me in learning of Robin Williams’ death, something very personal, and it took a night of sleep for me to fully get a sense as to what it is. I am a dad. It is the part of my being with which I identify first and most strongly. As I awoke this morning, the first morning of a Robin Williams-less world, I felt a loss in the definition of what it is to be a dad…
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Texas’ claim of a rational, vested state interest in procreation is a step too far
Attorney General Greg Abbott often makes the point that government should tread lightly in matters of personal liberty. Yet in a legal brief defending Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage, the GOP candidate for governor treads heavily. Abbott is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that found Texas’ voter-approved ban in 2005 on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional….
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Dear Matt Barber: Calling yourself a Christian does not make it so
Calling yourself a Christian does not give you special privileges in this country. Calling yourself a Christian does not make you a better American than me. And calling yourself a Christian does not absolve you from rights and responsibilities that all Americans have. This is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian nation, and the rest of us who don’t practice your beliefs do not exist here for your will and pleasure.
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Thank you Ian Thorpe: How your coming out impacted this gay dad and his kids
Last weekend, Ian Thorpe, who Australian politician Penny Wong called her country’s “greatest Olympian,” came out as a gay man. In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of a number of brave public celebrities and a number of athletes from around the globe. There was an aspect to Thorpe’s disclosure which was dramatically more poignant than his predecessors, however…