10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
News Briefs
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UMC: homosexuality "incompatible"
Tampa, Fla.-The United Methodist Church will keep its doctrine that homosexuality is not in line with "Christian teaching" after a vote during its general confer-
ence.
The May 3 vote saw supporters of changing the Book of Discipline to fully include LGBT people moving to the margins of the room to illustrate how the church was marginalizing gays and lesbians. After a recess, those supporters stayed outside and sang.
The debate over the proposed change saw one African delegate say that God does not create gay men and lesbians, and comparing homosexuality to bestiality. The UMC is making inroads in the "global south," places like South America, Asia and Africa where issues of sexuality are dealt with very conservatively. In terms of homosexuality, however, Africa is the most restrictive, and that is where the greatest expansion in Protestant denominations is happening.
May 18, 2012 www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
Virus detected in those taking HIV meds
Boston-New studies show that HIVpositive men with undetectable viral loads in their blood can still transmit the disease to others, with HIV showing up in semen.
All 101 men in the new study were on highly active antiretroviral therapy, 80 percent of them for over a year. Scientists measured the viral loads in their blood and semen, and checked for coinfections.
Around 20 percent of the men in the study had detectable HIV levels in their blood despite medication, but 30 percent had detectable levels in their semen. Researchers said the levels were high enough to carry the risk of infecting others through unprotected sex.
Two of the factors that seemed to correlate with detectable HIV levels in semen were having another sexually transmitted infection, and being a top in unprotected anal sex.
Other studies have shown that, even with an undetectable viral load, HIV can still be transmitted.
Rev. Jane Adams Spahr wins support
Napa, Calif.-Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, a retired minister who faced rebuke from the Presbyterian Church (USA), has been given the full support of the Presbytery of the Redwoods, the Northern California division of the church.
The presbytery refused to rebuke Spahr for performing same-sex weddings, voting 74-18 to support her. The weddings were performed during the window between when the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and the voters passed Proposition 8, which barred the marriages constitutionally.
Spahr has been fighting the charges against her in ecclesiastical court since 2010.
Fox reporter praises Obama
Washington, D.C.-Perhaps the oddest reaction to President Barack Obama's support of same-sex marriage came from Fox News' Shepard Smith, who, after playing the clip of Obama
expressing his support for same-sex marriage, noted, "The president of the United States, now in the 21st Century." He then asked Bret Baier, a fellow Fox News host, if he thought the Republicans would "go out on a limb and try to make this a campaign issue while sitting very firmly, without much question, on the wrong side of history on it."
Smith's statements brought vitriol from right-wing pundit Rush Limbaugh, who asked on his radio show if Smith could show him anywhere that same-sex marriage had won at the ballot box. "Shep, where has the issue won? Where has the issue been victorious, Shep, outside your house?"
Shepard Smith, who was married to a woman from 1987 to 1993, was on Out Magazine's Power 50 list in April 2011, despite not being out. Shepard Smith also took Rick Santorum to task earlier in the year on the former Republican candidate's campaigning on an anti-gay platform.
Marraige
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know who had these wonderful relationships."
"And they'd say to me, 'You know what: The words matter. So, even though you're a strong supporter of civil unions, somehow it still says we're different.' And that particular set of conversations that I had is ultimately what led me to this conclusion."
In an interview with Fox News Thursday (May 10), Romney suggested President Obama's position in support of samesex marriage is a political calculation.
"You don't change your positions to try and win states, or certain subgroups of Americans," said Romney. "You have the positions you have. And, as you know, for a long time, I think from the beginning of my political career, I made it very clear that I believe marriage should be a relationship between a man and a woman. I know other people have differing views, but that's my view."
When Fox News anchor Neil Cavuoto suggested there has been at least some confusion over Romney's position, Romney thanked him for the opportunity to make it clear: He would prefer there be "a national standard that defines marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman."
"That would then allow states to determine what rights would be provided for people of the same gender that wanted to have a relationship," said Romney. “There could be domestic partnership benefits, for instance, where one state might decide to provide hospital visitation rights,
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President Barack Obama
another state might decide to provide that, as well as benefits of other kinds. States could have their own decisions with regard to the domestic partnership rights, but my preference would be to have a national standard for marriage and that marriage will be defined as being between a man and a woman.'
Cavuto noted that many gay people would consider it discriminatory "that a President Romney would etch in the Constitution something that discriminates against a large swathe of people in this country, gays. What do you say?"
"You know, we, as a society, take action which we believe strengthens the nation," said Romney. "I happen to believe that the best setting for raising a child is where there's the opportunity for a mom and a dad to be in the home. I know there are many circumstances where that is not possible-through death or divorce. I also know many gay couples are able to adopt children. That's fine. But my preference is we encourage the marriage of a man and a woman and that we continue to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman."
Cavuto also asked Romney whether he considers the push for marriage equality to be "sort of like the civil rights movement all over again"?
"I don't see it in that light," said Romney. "I believe my record as a person who has supported civil rights is strong and powerful. At the same time, I believe that marriage has been defined the same way for literally thousands of years, by virtually every civilization in history, and that marriage is literally, by its definition, a relationship.
between a man and a woman. And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, and even want to adopt a child in my state
--
individuals of the same sex were able to adopt childrenin my view, that's something which people have the right to do. But to call that marriage, is, in my view, a departure from the real meaning of that word."
A flurry of quick polls was inconclusive on whether President Obama will lose, gain, or break even politically in regards to stating his personal support for allowing gays to marry. A Pew Research Center poll released Monday (May 14) showed 52 percent indicated his support would have "no effect" on their vote in November, while 25 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for him, 19 percent said more likely, and four percent didn't know. A CBS-New York Times poll showed 58 percent would not be affected by the president's position; 25 percent were less likely to vote for him; 16 percent more likely; and one percent didn't know.
"Asked if they had to decide if same-sex marriage should be legal," noted a CBS news report on the poll, "51 percent said no, including 81 percent of Republicans, 25 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents. Forty-two percent said yes, including 13 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of independents."
Before President Obama's ABC interview, a Gallup poll found 54 percent of Americans consider gay relationships "morally acceptable." After the interview, 60 percent said Obama's position would have no effect on their vote.
And an ABC-Washington Post poll found respondents evenly split in their reaction to President Obama's remarks on same-sex marriage: 46 percent "favorable," 47 percent "unfavorable."
"The unfortunate part here," said Democratic political commentator Krystal Ball, appearing on MSNBC Monday and commenting on what she believes will be the political fallout of Obama's support for same-sex marriage, "is now the [Republicans are] trying to push this narrative that Obama is going to be crusading on gay rights issues....That image on the Newsweek cover is the visual depiction of the Republican narrative."
And it was a dramatic image --a play on the moniker "First Black President" that bestowed on President Clinton by novelist Toni Morrison in the New Yorker magazine in 1998. The Newsweek cover, including a rainbow halo hovering above President Obama, was a provocative exaggeration of the thesis in an article by gay political writer Andrew Sullivan in praise of Obama's announcement last week that he thinks gay couples should have the right to marry.
"To have the president of the United States affirm my humanity and the humanity of all gay Americans was," wrote Sullivan, "unexpectedly, a watershed." Like for Sullivan, the reaction of many in the LGBT community to Obama's statement went beyond trying to gauge the political impact.
Gay author Armistead Maupin, speaking to Weekend Edition Saturday on National Public Radio, said his reaction was more "something I felt in my heart," than political.
"As a gay man who's been an activist for almost 40 years now, it was an extraordinarily moving thing to hear an unequivocal statement to the effect that gay love was the equal to opposite sex attraction. Gay people are used to hearing something, you know, especially from Democrats some little nod toward 'I'm with you folks' but usually in some private dinner, never publicly, never without equivocation like this, so it was a big moment, whatever the reason for it, it was a big, big moment."
Sullivan said the consequences of Obama's affirmation "are simply impossible to judge."
Maupin said he thinks the president's remark, coming as they are "from the top, from the very top" of society, "will filter down, it can't help but filter down."