Stories tagged with: gay marriage

• Cultural definition of marriage still evolving five years after Obergefell ruling

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, July 17, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  BP graphic

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- The cultural definition of marriage continues to evolve five years after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide.

  Almost five years to the day after the June 26, 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, the city council in midsize Somerville, Mass., passed a domestic partnership ordinance extending certain benefits to polyamorous relationships. City councilmembers described the ordinance as the first in the nation to recognize polyamory, incidentally in the same state that in 2004 was the first in the nation to allow gay marriage. Read More

• Minn. filmmakers: We can't promote 'every message'

  by Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, August 28, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo from ADF

  ST. LOUIS (BP) -- A federal appeals court has delivered a victory to Minnesota filmmakers who refuse to create videos of same-sex weddings because they believe marriage is limited to a man and a woman.

  A panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled in a 2-1 opinion a federal court wrongly dismissed Carl and Angel Larsen's free-speech and free-exercise-of-religion claims. It also ordered the judge to reconsider the Larsens' request for a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) while their court case continues. Read More

• Taiwan Christians lament new gay marriage law

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock

  TAIPEI, Taiwan (BP) -- A Christian coalition in Taiwan is lamenting the legalization of gay marriage there Thursday (May 16), months after a majority of voters rejected such unions in a nationwide referendum.

  Taiwan is the first Asian nation to legalize such unions. Parliament's vote counters a November 2018 referendum in which 67 percent of voters rejected gay marriage. Read More

• Dutch backlash to Nashville Statement 'ominous'

  by David Roach, posted Friday, January 11, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock

  AMSTERDAM (BP) -- In the Netherlands, signatories of The Nashville Statement on biblical sexuality have been threatened with criminal prosecution, admonished by employers and derided by protests.

  The episode has been cited by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. as "an ominous warning" of religious liberty restrictions to come in the U.S.

  "There are many in the United States who would say, 'Well, that's the Netherlands. It can't have anything to do with Christians in the United States,'" Mohler said Jan. 9 in his podcast The Briefing. "But of course it can. Read More

• Taiwan votes to keep marriage laws traditional

  by Angela Lu Fulton/WORLD , posted Wednesday, November 28, 2018 (5 years ago)

  

  iStock

  TAIPEI, Taiwan (BP) -- Three referendums supporting marriage between one man and one woman passed overwhelmingly in Saturday (Nov. 24) elections in Taiwan. The votes appeared to show that most citizens may still hold traditional values even though the country's highest court moved toward legalizing same-sex marriage in 2017.

  The question of whether Taiwan Civil Code should continue to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman received more than 7.6 million yes votes compared to 2.9 million voting no. Referendums need 4.94 million votes -- a quarter of eligible voters -- to be considered by the government. Read More

• Calif. bill already impacting religious expression

  by Bonnie Pritchett/WORLD, posted Wednesday, May 09, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of world.wng.org.

  LOS ANGELES Calif. (BP) -- The California state legislature's latest effort to outlaw biblical views on sex, marriage and gender identity appears to have claimed its first casualty. Citing concerns over possible legal repercussions from a pending bill, Colorado-based Summit Ministries has canceled a summer conference at Biola University in the Los Angeles area.

  "The vagueness of the bill has opened up threats to religious communities that the author did not intend," Biola communications director Brenda Velasco said. Read More

• Christian col. suspended for marriage view wins appeal

  by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, April 03, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  ARLINGTON, Va. (BP) -- A U.S. Air Force colonel and devout Christian suspended and denied promotion after refusing to affirm same-sex marriage has won a legal appeal to reverse the disciplinary actions against him.

  Col. Leland Bohannon was restored today (April 3) to his military position and good standing, the Air Force Review Boards Agency announced Monday. Before Bohannon was disciplined in August 2017 for refusing to sign a certificate of spouse appreciation for a retiring officer in a same-sex marriage, Bohannon was due a promotion to brigadier general. Read More

• Gay marriage reversed in Bermuda

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, February 09, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Photo from Wikimedia Commons

  HAMILTON, Bermuda (BP) -- The Bermuda Legislature has outlawed same-sex marriage only months after the Bermuda Supreme Court approved such unions there, making the island the first nation to reverse gay marriage.

  The Bermuda Legislature approved the Domestic Partnership Act after a public referendum in favor of traditional marriage, effectively reversing the Bermuda Supreme Court ruling of May, 2017. Bermuda Gov. John Rankin signed the act into law Feb. 7. Read More

• Same-sex couples fight citizenship battle

  by Kiley Crossland/WORLD News Service, posted Monday, January 29, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Image: iStock/license purchase required.

  ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) -- Two same-sex couples filed lawsuits last week against the U.S. State Department, arguing it unlawfully discriminated against them by denying their children U.S. citizenship.

  The cases join a host of others involving reproductive technology and same-sex parenting working their way through the U.S. court system. Since the Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell decision declaring same-sex marriage a constitutional right, LGBT advocates have been pushing back against laws that uphold the biological reality that every child is the genetic offspring of just one man and one woman ... Read More

• Gay marriage legalized in Australia & Austria

  by Diana Chandler, posted Thursday, December 07, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  iStock

  CANBERRA, Australia (BP) -- Australia's Parliament legalized same-sex marriage today (Dec. 7), following a court ruling doing the same in Austria two days earlier, the Associated Press reported.

  Churches and religious organizations in Australia are allowed under the new law to boycott gay weddings without violating existing anti-discrimination mandates, the AP said. The Australian Parliament overwhelmingly approved gay marriage following a nationwide postal ballot that drew approval from 62 percent of voters Oct. 27.

  The countries join at least 25 other nations where the practice was legalized as early as 2000, according to Pew Research tallied through August. Read More