Here’s Jimmy Carter’s religious argument in support of marriage equality, and it’s funny — it’s exactly what gay activists have been fighting for:

Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.

I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.

The idea that gay people want to “force” churches to marry us has always been a straw man erected by the biggest liars of the Religious Right to scare people. Individual churches have always and should continue to be able to bless or not bless whatever unions they want to.

Why would we want to get married in a congregation that doesn’t support us in the first place?

[h/t Zack Ford]

Great news on the marriage equality front in Europe:

Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said in a press conference today that the government is finalizing a bill that will legalize same-sex marriage on June 15, but individual priests will still be able to refuse to perform ceremonies. Thorning-Schmidt expressed pride in the development, saying, “It’s an important message for a country such as Denmark to send — we respect every citizen’s choice but we also respect priests’ choice too.”

Perfect.

This is great news from Public Policy Polling:

It looks like Maine voters will reverse their 2009 decision and legalize gay marriage in the state this fall. 54% think that gay marriage should be legal to only 41% who think it should be illegal. And when we asked about the issue using the exact language voters will see on the ballot this fall, they say they’re inclined to support the referendum by a 47-32 margin.

Joe screen capped the graphic:

One of the Religious Right’s favorite talking points against marriage equality is that “in 31 out of 31 states, voters have rejected same sex marriage when it’s put to a vote blah blah blah.” It looks like that talking point will soon die for them, in Maine and also in Washington state if their marriage law is put to a referendum. It’s always nice when Religious Right talking points die.

Ohio Equality announced recently that a state freedom-to-marry coalition will seek petition signatures for a constitutional amendment that would not only reverse the state’s 2004 ban against marriage for same-sex couples, but also legalize equal marriage with an exemption for churches.

Last week, former Exodus International board member and veteran antigay activist Phil Burress responded — telling the Columbus Dispatch that Ohio’s antigay and ex-gay movements will not only topple the pro-equal-marriage amendment, but also “kiss Obama goodbye.”

Phil Burress is not engaging in idle bluster: What Burress wants, he often gets.

His Citizens for Community Values is largely responsible for the original 2004 ban. In 2008, CCV shared some credit for John McCain’s transformation from political maverick into an ally of the Christian Right. And back in 1998, CCV co-sponsored the “Truth in Love” national TV- and newspaper-ad campaign, in which Exodus activists boasted that they had prayed away the gay (and you can, too!). CCV acknowledges that a coalition called the “National Pro-Family Forum on Homosexuality” intended the ex-gay ad campaign to reinforce efforts to deny marriage to gay couples:

 National Pro-Family Forum on Homosexuality – This group includes representatives from most of the national pro-family organizations and meets every three months, usually in Washington, D.C. The group’s first organized effort was the National Campaign to Protect Marriage that mobilized national and local pro-family leaders in all 50 states to work together to defend traditional “one man-one woman” marriage. However, their major achievement has been The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and other similar laws that were passed in 36 states since 1996. Another major achievement of this forum was the “Truth in Love” full-page ad and campaign printed in many major newspapers and on TV.

On its web site, CCV boasts of its cooperative affiliation with two organizations, the American Family Association and Family Research Council, that have been identified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Cetner. CCV is also affiliated with the social-conservative might of Focus on the Family. And CCV promotes numerous Ohio social-conservative organizations, including state affiliates of Exodus International.

As it has needed broad coalition-based support before, CCV will need the support of these endorsees now to achieve victory. Here are a few of the local Exodus affiliates that stand to gain from supporting CCV and thwarting the families of Ohio sexual minorities:  (Read More)

An esteemed Hispanic theologian is the latest victim of the American Catholic Church’s apparent campaign to shame and marginalize LGBT people and silence the voices of those who support them.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports today that Christian Brothers University has withdrawn its support for the seventh annual Gerard A. Vanderhaar Symposium, a conference founded to honor a late CBU religion and peace studies professor by “bringing a noted scholar or peace activist each year to the Christian Brothers University campus to address social and moral issues related to peace and justice and/or Catholic social teaching.” Yesterday’s cancellation came just two weeks before scheduled start of the conference, forcing organizers to relocate to a nearby Congregational church.

CBU’s stated reason for the sudden move? This year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Ada María Isasi-Díaz, gave a sermon at her nephew’s 2009 wedding to his same-sex spouse in a Washington, D.C. Unitarian church.

Dr. Isasi-Díaz co-authored the first book on Latina theology in English and is widely recognized as a pioneer of mujerista theology, a spirituality developed through the lens of the American Latina experience. She is Professor Emerita of Christian Social Ethics and Theology at New Jersey’s Drew University and contributor to Newsweek and the Washington Post. Dr. Isasi-Díaz noted that although she’s had other speaking engagements at Catholic-affiliated institutions canceled at the last minute due to her outspoken support for women’s ordination, ”…this is the first time I’ve been canceled because of the sermon at my nephew’s wedding.”

According to the article, Isasi-Díaz was selected as the Vanderhaar Symposium speaker by a committee that included Dr. Vanderhaar’s late wife and several members of the CBU faculty. The university administration issued a statement to the committee explaining that they decided not to host the conference because Dr. Isasi-Díaz’s views on marriage equality for same-sex couples “[diverge] from a basic Catholic teaching.” The Christian Brothers University Faculty Assembly responded angrily, passing a resolution yesterday afternoon which states,

“The Faculty Assembly respectfully asserts that the administration of this university does not hold proper authority to render judgments about an individual’s divergence or adherence to basic Catholic teachings. The decision to rescind the invitation to Dr. Isasi-Diaz to speak on our campus has a chilling effect on academic freedom at this university.”

If you’re feeling a little déjà vu, it’s because today’s revelations are only the latest in a string of high-profile salvos fired by the Catholic Church in its crusade against loving LGBT relationships. On Monday the nation learned about Barbara Johnson, a lesbian woman who was denied communion at her mother’s funeral in Maryland because she lives with her same-sex partner. And just two days later, we heard the awful story of Al Fischer, a popular and openly gay music teacher at a St. Louis-area Catholic school who was fired in February when an archdiocesan official overheard him talking with co-workers about his upcoming New York wedding to his same-sex partner of nearly 20 years. Fischer’s firing was fast-tracked last month when his partner posted the news on Facebook, but it was originally scheduled to take effect one week from today — on his wedding day.

And now the Catholic Church appears to have widened the scope of its anti-LGBT witch hunt, targeting a person whose only “crime” is that she had the temerity to publicly express love, support, and affirmation for a married same-sex couple. What were the horrible, evil, subversive words in Dr. Isasi-Díaz’s wedding sermon? Here are a few:

“This union celebrates the presence of God in our lives, a God who chooses to be present in the love this couple has for each other. This is why this is a religious ceremony: not because it is in a church but because it celebrates the essence of our God, love . . . This wedding is a celebration of justice, for that these two men can publicly celebrate their love, can get married today in this church in front of this joyful cloud of witnesses, is a moment of triumph in the long struggle for justice for LGBT people.”

Apparently, expressing the belief that God is present in the love of a married same-sex couple — and that such a marriage is cause for joyful celebration — defies the basic teachings of the Catholic Church to such a degree that it renders even widely respected theologians unfit to speak at Catholic-affiliated universities. It’s funny — the attempted silencing of Dr. Isasi-Díaz reminds me of another theologian who religious leaders tried to silence because they felt threatened by his radical beliefs about love…

Please watch and share this touching video from Randi Reitan. She and her son Jacob are friends of TWO; they let me stay at their house during part of the time I was undercover getting “reparative therapy” at the Bachmann clinic last year.

Jake’s grandparents live in Washington State, which just this month passed a law granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry. Rev. John and Dorothy Reitan have been married for nearly 70 years and have nine grandchildren, two of whom are gay; Rev. John is also a Lutheran pastor. They recorded this video because they support their state’s marriage equality law and believe that ALL of their grandchildren deserve the right to marry the person they love. It’s a powerful statement, especially considering that a constitutional marriage discrimination amendment will be put before the voters in Jake’s home state of Minnesota this November.

via Reuters:

Maryland’s governor plans to sign a bill making same-sex marriage legal later this week, his office said on Monday, while opponents were making plans to challenge the new law at the ballot box. The legislation, making Maryland the eighth state in the nation to legalize gay and lesbian nuptials, heads to Governor Martin O’Malley’s desk for his signature at a ceremony at 5 p.m. on Thursday, his office said.

Potential ballot referendum or not, this is a major step forward. Thursday is my birthday, and I can’t think of a sweeter present than marriage equality for same-sex couples in Maryland.

This is what it looks like when hate groups like the Family Research Council really start losing it:

Consider this thought experiment. Twin brothers announced on a TV talk show that they were gay. Under the laws proposed, can they marry? If not, why not? They’ve certainly had a “committed relationship” since before they were born. What constitutional principle could you invoke to say these twins cannot marry each other? And if these twin brothers may marry, why not a twin brother and sister? Dick Cheney probably never met Mae West. For younger readers unfamiliar with one of Hollywood’s original blond bombshells, I’ll simply say: sailors in World War II called their large life jackets Mae Wests. (This is a family blog, after all.) Mae West famously said: “Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.” How strange that Mae West had a better understanding of civil marriage than a former Vice President of the United States, a man who was twice elected to national office by pro-family voters.

For those trying to keep up at home, blah blah blah, twins, Mae West was hot and said something funny, therefore Dick Cheney sucks.

Activist judge! Activist Republican judge!

This afternoon, Bush appointee Judge Jeffrey White (Northern District of California) struck down DOMA as unconstitutional under the equal protection clause.

[...]

Noting that neither the Ninth Circuit nor the Supreme Court has determined what level of scrutiny should apply, the court determined that heightened scrutiny should apply to classifications based on sexual orientation…

Angry Black Lady [who you all should be reading] goes on to point out that this ruling, and the rulings on other DOMA-related cases we’re seeing, are a direct result of the Obama administration’s decision not to defend DOMA. Obama may not have done everything we all want him to do yet, but he’s definitely done significant things to contribute to full LGBT equality.

Really. This is happening. If you want an insight into the worldview that informs the people who oppose LGBT equality, take a gander at Michelle Duggar’s tips for creating a healthy marriage:

1. A husband needs a wife who respects him as a man: This one states that a woman destroys her husband’s manliness by “being financially independent; Love is killed by self-sufficiency.”

Ladies, you are not viewed as chattel from a governmental perspective anymore, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be.

2. A husband needs a wife who accepts him as a leader and believes in his God-given responsibilities

Ladies, please do not worry your pretty little heads about “things.”

3. A husband needs a wife who will continue to develop inward and outward beauty: Your hairstyle, for example, can show “obedience vs defiance” and “personal discipline vs inconsistency,” among many other things.

Ladies, do your damn hair.

4. A husband needs a wife who can lovingly appeal to him when he is going beyond his limitations and wisely respond to those who question his ideas, goals, or motives: “Ask your husband to tell you when you have a resistant spirit; ask forgiveness whenever you do.”

Ladies, if your husband says you’re being a little bit too vocal about your quote-unquote needs, pipe down.

5. A husband needs quality time to be alone with himself and with the Lord.

Or whatever else it is he’s doing when he’s locked in his office.

6. A husband needs a wife who is grateful for all he has done and all he is doing: “Expect nothing and be genuinely grateful for each little evidence of your husband’s love.”

Ladies, even if he beats you, remember how he tells you that he loves you afterward. That’s the important part.

7. A husband needs a wife who will be praised by other people for her character and her good works.

Don’t embarrass your husband by doing anything that might lead people to believe that you have your own personality, your own soul, your own passions, your own anything, really. Just worship that man.

Do realize that this sort of thinking is a big part of why things like marriage equality mess with wingnuts’ heads so much. In their world, The Man is unquestionably the most important part of the equation and The Woman is there to serve his every need. When asked, wingnuts don’t really know how to express the ways that gay marriage threatens their heterosexual marriages, or they’re embarrassed to really answer the question. But this is the answer. Two men or two women being married threatens the worldview that says that The Man Of The House is faultless, just by virtue of his god-given penis-having. And for heaven’s sake, in a successful lesbian marriage, there isn’t even a god-given penis-haver! But yet those ladies down the street are doing just fine, aren’t they?