Help Inlaws & Outlaws Make It To Public TV!

Sep7 by D Gregory Smith

One of the best (and most elegant) pieces of human understanding and compassion is Drew Emery’s film Inlaws & Outlaws. I’ve written about the Montana screenings we had this past spring and the fantastic impact it had on the audiences that gathered in Helena and Bozeman. It’s an amazing piece of work.

Now, this little gem has a chance for public distribution- and a better tool for compassion and understanding of gay relationships (and all relationships in my opinion) would be hard to find.

If everybody in America saw this film, opposition to marriage equality would melt away like a bad mood in a room full of puppies.

From the True Stories Project:

We’ve got terrific news! The National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA) has offered to distribute a full presentation of Inlaws & Outlaws on public television! That means that, if we act quickly, the film will be made available to virtually all public television stations in the US this Fall – including over 350+ PBS affiliates!

This is huge!

Public TV reaches over 117 million viewers a week. If we slice off even a modest amount of that, we’ll bring Inlaws & Outlaws to a much, much larger audience than it’s ever had. Just as same-sex marriage has finally arrived centerstage with President Obama’s support, we have the opportunity to reach millions of households with true stories we know change hearts & minds.

But to meet our deadline, we need your help — and we need it now.
Donate

We need our first $50,000 in underwriting by the end of September. Your support will pay for vital post-production for broadcast, closed captioning, station relations and more. Can you help?

You betcha. I’m in. Anybody else?

Donate here.

Inlaws and Outlaws (davidhortonsblog.com)
Greer Among Young NW LGBTQ Leaders Invited to The White House (dgsmith.org)
Share Your Story- Montana LGBT Couples Needed (dgsmith.org)

Hate (Officially) Comes To Billings For A Day

Sep1 by D Gregory Smith

From KTVQ News:

Chick-fil-A (Photo credit: Adam Kuban)

Calling it an opportunity to support traditional family values the Montana Family Foundation will open a Chick-fil-A drive through in Billings for one day in September. The chicken will be available for one day only in Billings’ west end on Saturday, September 8th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. This one-day drive-thru event is called Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day 2.0.

For a suggested donation of $20 per person the public is invited to attend this fund-raising event where hot Chick-fil-A chicken, coleslaw and chocolate chip cookies will be available to the first 1000 people.

Jeff Laszloffy, President/CEO of the Montana Family Foundation said, “A majority of the citizens of Montana share the same conservative values as Dan Cathy and solidified them as the law in 2004 when Montana voted to amend its Constitution to define marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman in this state.”
“Since Chick-fil-A doesn’t yet have locations in our state most Montanan’s were unable to participate in the national event in August. So we created Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day 2.0 on Saturday, September 8th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and invite the Treasure State to join the celebration and help support the Montana Family Foundation’s efforts.”

Yeah, this completely sucks- and it hurts my heart. But here’s something I love:

From the KTVQ Facebook comments on the story:

“Twenty dollar donation? Why protest across the street when you can be much more effective: they want people to donate twenty dollars to their deplorable organization. They will serve 1,000. Simply get in line, be polite, and pay .01 for the meal.”

Sounds like a plan.

Who’s in?

Update 2: A Counter Rally is being planned- check it out here.

Chick-fil-A Introduces New Hate Sauce – New Yorker (blog) (newyorker.com)
Chick-fil-A And The Conservative Appropriation Of Christianity As An Anti-Gay Wedge (thinkprogress.org)
Is Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay? ‘Guilty As Charged’ Says Its President (patheos.com)
My Two Cents on Chick-Fil-A (Which I Wouldn’t Give Them) (bilerico.com)
Christians Say Chick-fil-A Under Siege by Militant Gays (radio.foxnews.com)
Chick-fil-A and the Ironic Allegation of Bigotry (wellspentjourney.wordpress.com)

State Tells Yakima Diocese “No Collection” For Anti-Marriage Equality Group

Aug30 by D Gregory Smith

From New Ways Ministry:

Last week, we reported that Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima, Washington State, had instructed parishes to distribute collection envelopes in its parishes to raise money for Protect Marriage Washington, the state’s main organization working to defeat Referendum 74, a ballot initiative to uphold a law guaranteeing marriage equality.

This week, however, the Associated Press reports that the state’s Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) has ruled that for parishes to collect the envelopes would be illegal and has informed the diocese of its decision:

“. . . Lori Anderson, a spokeswoman for the state’s Public Disclosure Commission, says no organization can be an intermediary for a contribution. She says the church can hand out envelopes, but either a member of Preserve Washington has to be on hand to collect them or parishioners must send them in individually.”

The diocese appears to be ready to dispute the PDC decision. Diocesan Chief of Staff Monsignor Robert Siler claims that the procedures are not a “collection” :

” ‘As far as I know, the procedures we sent to the parishes meet the requirement of state law,’ he said, noting that the envelopes are preaddressed to the campaign.

” ‘We’re not collecting and counting money,’ he said. ‘We’re just collecting envelopes and forwarding them.’ “

KIMATV.com quotes Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson’s comments on the PDC decision:

“Bishop Tyson says it’s just one big misunderstanding. In fact, he told KIMA that he has yet to see one of the donation envelopes.

“In the letter, where the Bishop specifically asked parish staff not to open the donation envelopes, but instead place them into the addressed security envelope and mail them directly to Preserve Marriage Washington. It says the collection is supposed to take place September 8th and 9th.

“ ‘It’s not our collection, we’re not collecting the money, it’s not our envelope. We’re not banking the money, we’re not rolling the money, we’re not collecting the money and we’re not taking the money. Preserve Marriage Washington is doing that…we’re going to follow the state law and I’m going to make sure that we’re doing that,’ said Bishop Tyson”

Catholics for Marriage Equality Washington State, the statewide Catholic organization working to support marriage equality in the referendum, praised the PDC’s decision. Spokesperson Barbara Guzzo said:

“We are delighted by this ruling because we represent so many Catholics in those pews who not only find political fund raising inappropriate for their Sunday services, but also strongly disagree with the Bishop’s stance.

“We believe we should all be able to practice our faith without pressure from our Bishop or our parish priests to support an effort we oppose. “

Legal questions aside, the moral question remains: why are church institutions raising money for a political organization?

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Yakima, WA Diocese To Collect Money To End Marriage Equality (dgsmith.org)
Yakima Diocese Will Collect $$ for Political Campaign to End Marriage Equality (newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com)
State Tells Catholic Church in Washington It Has Gone Too Far (advocate.com)
Washington State Catholic Pastors’ Refusal Continues to Inspire (dgsmith.org)

Yakima, WA Diocese To Collect Money To End Marriage Equality

Aug24 by D Gregory Smith

From New Ways Ministry:

The Diocese of Yakima (in yellow), Washington State, has announced that it plans to take up special collections to support efforts to defeat the state’s referendum to enact marriage equality in November.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports:

“Labor Day weekend marks the official beginning of what the three Catholic dioceses in the state are calling Preserve Marriage Month. In Yakima that means organizing an educational program and fundraising campaign to inform parishioners about Catholic teaching on marriage and church opposition to Referendum 74, which would affirm the state’s same-sex marriage law.

“Bishop Joseph Tyson sent a letter to pastors in all 41 parishes Friday asking that they announce a special financial appeal at Masses sometime during the next two weekends. Money collected will go to Preserve Marriage Washington, a statewide group seeking to defeat Referendum 74.”

The money collected will go directly to a political organization working to repeal the state’s newly-minted marriage equality law. The dollars will not be considered tax-deductible or a contribution to the church:

“Bishop Joseph Tyson sent a letter to pastors in all 41 parishes Friday asking that they announce a special financial appeal at Masses sometime during the next two weekends. Money collected will go to Preserve Marriage Washington, a statewide group seeking to defeat Referendum 74.

“. . . . He proposed that pastors suggest not only that parishioners inform themselves and others about the referendum, to be voted on in November, but also that they ‘can contribute to the campaign by using the envelope in this week’s bulletin to make a generous donation to Preserve Marriage Washington.’ “

The envelope reportedly is addressed to Preserve Marriage Washington.

Monsignor Robert Siler, the diocesan chief of staff, said:

“To be clear, this is basically a contribution to a political campaign, and these are not considered tax-deductible church donations.”

Of course, not all Catholics support such a fundraising campaign:

“Dr. Kevin Walsh of Toppenish is uncomfortable with what he views as picking only a few issues from papal encyclicals about social justice and raising them to the level of national causes.

” ‘It’s an example of church leadership using the pulpit for what they see as a moral issue, but it’s isolated. It’s not part of a package to make life better for everybody,’ he said.

“Walsh added,’I think it’s misguided. We should be struggling toward inclusion instead of excluding people.’ “

The diocese has not set a fundraising goal for the collection. Perhaps that was done as a strategic move so that they don’t end up in the embarrassing position of falling way short of the goal–which would be proof of what polls are consistently showing: although Catholic bishops oppose marriage equality, Catholic people in the pews are overwhelmingly supportive of it.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Catholics For Marriage Equality Events In Washington State (dgsmith.org)
T-Mobile Donates To WA Marriage (joemygod.blogspot.com)
REI Endorses Marriage Equality (joemygod.blogspot.com)
Monsignor Is Caught in a Lie as Diocese Backs Out of Selling Property to a Gay Couple (newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com)
Pro-Marriage-Equality Ad Will Run Tonight During Olympics Opening Ceremony (slog.thestranger.com)

Catholics For Marriage Equality Events In Washington State

Aug15 by D Gregory Smith

Sister Jeannine Gramick

New Ways Ministry’s Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder, and Francis DeBernardo, executive director, will be speaking at two separate events to promote Catholic support for marriage equality.

The first event will be held on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 7:00-9:00 pm, The United Churches of Olympia, 110 – 11th Avenue SE, Olympia, Washington, 98501. This event is co-sponsored by Call To Action–Western Washington and The United Churches of Olympia.

The second event , sponsored by Call To Action–Western Washington, will be held on Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 7:00-8:30 pm, St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral (Bloedel Hall), 1245 10th Avenue East, Seattle, Washington 98102. Washington State Senator Ed Murray, a Catholic will join them at this event.

Complimentary copies of New Ways Ministry’s book, Marriage Equality: A Positive Catholic Approach, will be available at each

REI Sporting Goods Company Endorses Marriage Equality In Washington (thinkprogress.org)
Surging US Catholic Support For Marriage Equality (dgsmith.org)
Catholics for Marriage Equality (slog.thestranger.com)

Surging US Catholic Support For Marriage Equality

Aug1 by D Gregory Smith

By Terence Weldon, Queering The Church

Marriage Equality USA logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New research by the Pew Forum on religion and public life has confirmed once again that the tide of opinion is moving inexorably in favour of gay marriage. In 2oo4, supporters were outnumbered by opponents, by almost two to one (30% to 61%), but supporters now outnumber opponents, by 48% to 44%. The age split confirms that support will continue to grow: the only groups still opposed are those over 50, and the youngest is in favour by 63% to 32%. All this is familiar.

What is new in this poll, is its focus on the impact of President Obama’s declared support last May for the principle of marriage equality. Overall, Pew reports that there has been very little change in support since before the announcement – but that it has strengthened support in his Democratic base, and hardened opposition among his Republican opponents. This shift among Democratic voters (especially liberal Democrats) could have a beneficial impact on the gay marriage ballots this November in the Democratic and Democratic leaning states of Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota, and has been widely reported on in the major news media (see for instance,Huffington Post, SF Gate at the San Francisco Chronicle, or Seattle Post PI).

The strength of the Pew Forum research organization, as its name implies, is in its focus on religion and religious attitudes, and the extensive historical database of strictly comparable results, which is what I want to focus on here.

Catholics strongly support gay marriage.

First, note that Catholic overwhelmingly support gay marriage, by 58% to 33% – a margin of 25%, and identical for both White and Hispanic Catholic groups. This degree of support is greater than that shown by any other Christian grouping (Jews and other faiths are not identified), it is substantially higher than that for the population as a whole).

This degree of support by Catholics, exceeding that for other groups, has now been well – established in numerous polls. It has also been previously noted that the growth in Catholic support has exceeded that in other groups. Just how dramatic that growth has been, can be seen by comparing the latest results with those from August / September 2010. Then, Catholic support for gay marriage was at 46% – a plurality over opposition of just 4%. That plurality has now grown from 4% to 25%, in less than two years.

Read the rest here.

Pew poll shows rising support for gay marriage – Washington Post (blog) (washingtonpost.com)
Democratic Party to Officially Support Gay Marriage [Marriage Equality] (gawker.com)
Marriage Equality is in the 2012 Democratic Party platform! (bluedownstate.wordpress.com)

Baucus Endorses Marriage Equality

Jun13 by D Gregory Smith

Say what you will about Max Baucus- and we have- but this gives me a moment of pride:

Fair is fair: he hasn’t always done what I would have liked (and it might take something much more major to get me over the healthcare debacle) but mad props for being the first elected statewide Montana official to stand for marriage equality. Thanks, Max. Click the link above to follow his Twitter feed.

Now for a Pride Present, I’d like to hear the other statewide elected officials following suit.

Hell, better yet, I want to see them in the parade this Saturday.

They’ve all been invited.

Update: Reader Karl Olson reminded us that “Pretty sure Justice Nelson came first, however, and by several years, and more openly. Nelson proved you could get a statewide vote with an unwavering pro-equality stance. Its history, but still relevant in the current fervor.”

The NAACP Endorses Marriage Equality (bilerico.com)
Obama Speaks Out For Maryland Marriage Equality (thinkprogress.org)
Carrie Underwood shows love for marriage equality (examiner.com)
50 Cent endorses marriage equality (thegrio.com)
Denmark Passes a Marriage Equality Law (pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com)

CNN: Majority Of Americans Support Marriage Equality, Have Gay Friends/Family Members

Jun7 by D Gregory Smith

From LGBTQNation:

A majority of Americans say they support legal recognition of same-sex marriage amid growing evidence that the public has become more comfortable with gays and lesbians, according to a new CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday.

According to the survey, 54 percent of respondents now say that marriages between gay and lesbian couples should be legal, with only 42 percent opposed.

The results also indicated that the number of Americans who say they have a close friend or family member who is gay jumped from 49 percent in 2010 to 60 percent today, the first time in CNN polling that a majority of Americans have said that.

Looks like coming out is having the positive effects Harvey Milk predicted.

Full story here.

40% Of American’s Have No Gay Friends [CNN Poll] (inquisitr.com)
60% of People Say They Have a Gay Family Member or Friend: Poll (ibtimes.com)

True Story

May18 by D Gregory Smith

From my friends at the True Stories Project:

Last week President Obama “evolved” on marriage equality, coming to the conclusion that, personally, he supported the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples.

We couldn’t be any happier or prouder – after all, we’re in the evolution business, nudging along hearts and minds one audience at a time.

In fact, last month, we reached our 500th community screening of Inlaws & Outlaws with a very special screening to raise money for our new partners, Washington United for Marriage.

As wonderful as that evening was, we are no less proud of our 499th screening, put together by two churches and a PFLAG chapter in a small town in southwestern Washington. They got over a hundred folks to turn out on a Tuesday night and got a wonderful article in the local paper. The 501st was presented by students at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana as part of Diversity Week. A Virginia chapter of Integrity,the LGBT Episcopal organization put on the 502nd. And Number 503 kicked off the first Pride Week at Salish-Kootenai College, a small tribal school in rural Montana – the first of three screenings this month in that state.

We could go on — and we’d love to! But we can’t do it without you.

With marriage equality finally center stage on the national agenda, we wanted to make it even easier for schools, congregations, and non-profits to host our next 500 screenings.

Introducing our Equality Deal, an easy way to host a screening of Inlaws & Outlaws for free, raise money for your local organization and help more folks evolve in your community.

Here’s how it works:

First, you pick an Equality Deal package that’s the right size for you. The screening license is free when you purchase a package of DVDs with the Equality Deal.
Next, register your event with us, and we’ll make you a nice event page and give you access to lots of free tools to help promote it.
Then, at your film showing, you sell the DVDs at full price, making back your money and, keeping the extra for you or your cause.

We designed it to be win-win, and a great way for us to helping folks in our community evolve. Check out the Equality Deal. We are so ready to welcome you to our Outlaws Posse.

We all know that the fight for equality is truly about love, family, belonging, the pursuit of happiness – something all Americans can relate to. That’s been the idea behind Inlaws & Outlawsfrom the start. All we have to do is share our stories, and that truth becomes eviden to our friends and neighbors. And that’s how you build support for equality.
With gratitude and pride,
Drew Emery

PS If you’re not up for hosting a screening, consider making a donation to our Hearts + Minds Campaign. Every $100 of support helps us offer a free screening to a community organization to help create change.

Inlaws And Outlaws Heads To Montana! (dgsmith.org)
LGBT Locals Cheer Obama’s Marriage-Equality Stance: D.C., Maryland, Virginia groups praise Obama’s support for same-sex marriage (pinkbananaworld.com)

Anne Rice Reviews “Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage”

May18 by D Gregory Smith

One of the most contentious issues of our time, marriage has been “claimed” by Christians (and others) as an unchanging “institution”, “sacrament”, “contract”, etc. This is far from historically accurate. Author and- I would argue- theologian Anne Rice weighs in with a recommendation from her Facebook page yesterday:

The nation’s talking about marriage, Same Sex Marriage, definitions of marriage, who owns marriage, etc. Well, here is a link to an excellent History of Marriage written by Stephanie Coontz that I reviewed for Amazon a while back. I recommend this book to all who have strong feelings about the institution of marriage and how it has been viewed over the millennia. Comments welcome. (I’ve linked to my review, but there are a lot of others posted on the site).

From the book description: Marriage has never been more fragile. But the same things that have made it so have also made a good marriage more fulfilling than ever before. In this enlightening and hugely entertaining book, historian and marriage expert Stephanie Coontz takes readers from the marital intrigues of ancient Babylon to the sexual torments of Victorian couples to demonstrate how recent the idea of marrying for love is-and how absurd it would have seemed to most of our ancestors. It was only 200 years ago that marriage began to be about love and emotional commitment, and since then the very things that have strengthened marriage as a personal relationship have steadily weakened it as a social institution. Marriage, A History brings intelligence, wit, and some badly needed perspective to today’s marital debates and dilemmas.

Her Review: This is an extremely well researched investigation of the institution of marriage from earliest times to the present. It may prove shocking to some readers to discover how recent our concept of “traditional marriage” may be. But information such as this book provides is essential for those concerned about marital values. History provides us with immensely important lessons regarding the attitudes and feelings of human beings over the centuries; and we must not shrink from the observations made here as we seek to understand the social and economic and even religious crises of our times. The scope of the book is incredibly ambitious yet it is clearly and at times entertainingly written, and always inviting. It can point the way for further research in many areas. On all counts, a fine and important book.

Agreed. To have this information in one place is important- and the scholarship is undeniable. Click book to see more reviews on Amazon and get a sample of the book.