Americans United Protests North Carolina School Official's Promotion of Anti-Gay Religious Event

A public school official in North Carolina violated the First Amendment when he encouraged his staff to attend a fundamentalist Christian presentation on homosexuality, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has said.

In a letter sent Nov. 10 to Don Martin, superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Americans United said the principle of church-state separation was compromised when Martin encouraged administrators and principals in the district to attend a presentation that said conversion to Christianity can turn gays into heterosexuals.

“By promoting this event, you effectively sent the message that you and the School District on whose behalf you write are endorsing a religious perspective on a social issue and are encouraging other District employees to do the same,” Ayesha Khan, AU’s legal director, wrote. “While you are certainly entitled to hold your personal religious views (and to speak about them in your personal capacity, to members of your church, for example), the Constitution prohibits your use of your public position to advance them.”

Martin had sent an e-mail earlier this year to administrators and principals promoting an event by an organization called Living in Freedom Eternally (L.I.F.E.) Ministry. Joanna Highley, one of the group’s founders, was to speak at a local Presbyterian church about how Christianity can convert gays into heterosexuals. In his e-mail, Martin said Highley had “worked with a number of practicing homosexuals about returning to a heterosexual lifestyle” and that he would like “to encourage you to come hear about her program.…”

At the presentation, Highley said her group believes “that homosexuality is a Satanic counterfeit to God’s created design,” according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

“Government officials have no right to promote a religious agenda,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, AU’s executive director. “The public school superintendent clearly took advantage of his position when he encouraged his subordinates to attend the event.”

AU’s letter urged Martin to “refrain in the future from advocating staff attendance at religious events” and asked him to respond to AU’s complaint within 30 days.

“We want to make sure this sort of thing does not happen again,” Lynn said.

ACLU Wants to Stop the Expanded Use of Secret Searches
Congress is very close to giving government law enforcement agents even broader powers to force businesses to turn over sensitive private information about their customers without any judicial review.

Part of a little-noticed provision that is pending before a conference committee, the expanded powers would allow the government to access your travel records, car purchases, stock trades or other purchases and stop you from finding out that these records have been searched. The government could undertake these searches for loosely defined 'national security' purposes even if it has no reasonable suspicion that you were involved in a crime.

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Catholic Bishops’ Marriage Document Condemened by Soulforce as Confusing, Harmful, and Spiritually Violent

(Washington, DC) - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) today approved a document condemning loving relationships between people of the same gender, and defining marriage as “between a man and a woman”. The document, entitled Between Man and Woman: Questions and Answers about Marriage and Same-Sex Unions, is intended to be made into a pamphlet and circulated among Catholic parishes and parishioners.

Soulforce, a national interfaith movement committed to ending spiritual violence perpetuated by religious policies and teachings against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people, denounced the document as confusing, harmful, and spiritually violent. Soulforce has been seeking to dialogue with the Bishops and vigiling outside of the USCCB meetings for the past 4 years.

This document is being released at a time when the country is divided over the issue of civil marriage rights for same-gender couples and the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), which seeks to amend the US Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, thereby codifying discrimination against GLBT individuals, unmarried couples, and their families. Although the Catholic document does not mention the FMA, Soulforce believes it is meant to influence Catholics to support it.

“The Catholic Church has always been free to decide which marriages it will or will not recognize,” said Kara Speltz, grandmother, lifelong Catholic, and Soulforce Catholic Denominational Team leader. “However, it is painful and morally wrong that the bishops of my church have set aside their role as shepherds to try to influence parishioners and the government to discriminate against me and my family.”

The document states that Christians should “oppose as immoral both homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons,” then goes on to say that “the state has the obligation to promote family,” and that it would be “wrong to redefine marriage for the sake of providing benefits to those who cannot rightfully claim marriage.”

Additionally, the Catholic document does not address the difference between the 1000+ rights granted though civil marriage vs. the religious ritual of marriage, nor does it site specific examples of how granting the rights of civil marriage to couples of the same gender will harm the institution of marriage.

“This document is not only discriminatory, harmful, and confusing, it is a thinly veiled attempt to influence Catholics to support the proposed anti-family Federal Marriage Amendment by inserting their politics into a religious document,” declared Laura Montgomery Rutt, spokesperson for Soulforce.

“Although the Catholic Church is free to discriminate against whoever they choose,” Montgomery Rutt continued, “the U.S government has a higher obligation to Americans to insure equal rights and protections to all individual, couples, and families – to do less is not only discriminatory, it is anti-family and un-American.”

“How dare the Catholic Church attempt to install their ant-gay teachings into the US Constitution that would make second class citizens of millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals,” stated Rev. Mel White, co-founder and executive director of Soulforce. “When will the Catholic Church learn that this kind of spiritual violence leads to great pain, suffering and even death for GLBT people.”

Soulforce Press Release, November 12, 2003
Contact: Laura Montgomery Rutt
Cell: 717-278-0592

White House Sends Mixed Signals During Bush-Endorsed Anti-Gay "Marriage Protection Week"

West Hollywood Call it a mixed-message at best. Or maybe politics at worst. During the same week that U.S. President George W. Bush endorsed the anti-gay Marriage Protection Week, he sent enthusiastic 35th anniversary congratulations to the predominantly gay and lesbian Metropolitan Community Churches, a group that performs more than 6000 same-sex weddings annually.

Metropolitan Community Churches is one of the world's largest gay organizations, and was founded by openly gay Rev. Dr. Troy D. Perry in 1968. Today, MCC provides almost 300 local churches for its 43,000 members and adherents in 22 countries.

In his letter dated October 14, 2003, to MCC Los Angeles, the founding congregation of Metropolitan Community Churches, President Bush wrote, "By encouraging the celebration of faith and sharing of God's love and boundless mercy, churches like yours put hope in people's hearts and a sense of purpose in their lives. This milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on your years of service and to rejoice in God's faithfulness to your congregation."

The letter was written during the anti-gay "Marriage Protection Week, "an effort endorsed by President Bush and organized by such Religious Right leaders as Jerry Falwell, Dr. James Dobson, the Southern Baptist Convention and the American Family Association to deny equality under the law to gays and lesbians. In his proclamation endorsing "Marriage Protection Week," President Bush wrote, "Marriage is a sacred institution, and its protection is essential to the continued strength of our society. Marriage Protection Week provides an opportunity to focus our efforts on preserving the sanctity of marriage and on building strong and healthy marriages in America."

Rev. Troy Perry, human rights activist and Founder of Metropolitan Community Churches, expressed alarm at President Bush's proclamation in support of "Marriage Protection Week," which was designed "to preserve the sacred institution of marriage" by denying the right to marry to gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

Of President Bush's proclamation, Perry, "President Bush was wrong in his endorsement of a week dedicated to denying equal rights to gay s and lesbians. And while we appreciate the sentiments he expressed on MCC's anniversary, the President has sent a very mixed message that makes his effusive praise of MCC's 35th anniversary all the more puzzling."

President Bush's letter to MCC Los Angeles left Rev. Neil Thomas, senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles, baffled.

"How does one denounce the right of gays and lesbians to marry in their churches and suggest they are incapable of having healthy marriages in one moment, and in the next rejoice in God's faithfulness to a gay and lesbian congregation that perfoms such same-sex mariages?" Rev. Thomas asked.

Photos of Rev. Troy Perry and Rev. Neil Thomas with the Bush letter are aviailable online at www.MCCchurch.org.