same sex blessings

With this final, formal step in a long debate, Queen Elizabeth II has given her blessing to same-sex marriages, which will begin next year in the United Kingdom.

A lesbian couple in Guangzhou, China, hosted a wedding in a busy shopping area Wednesday, asking passers-by for tolerance and words of blessing for the same-sex couple, reports China Daily.

Since the liberal arm of the U.S. Episcopal Church passed a resolution in July to bless same-sex unions, particularly in states like Massachusetts that legalize such marriages, so too has, at least, one black congregation within the Massachusetts diocese. On August 30th St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in Cambridge housed the marriage and blessed the union of its mayor E. Denise Simmons and her lifetime partner, Ms. Mattie Hayes.

Rev. Eva Brunne became the world's first lesbian bishop after being elected May 26th by the Church of Sweden. The Lutheran bishop of Stockholm says as a lesbian she wants to stand side by side with people who feel powerless.

A lesbian minister in North Carolina has joined the ranks of those willing to officiate marriage ceremonies but not sign licenses until gay couples’ marriages have the same legal recognition as heterosexual ones. Nancy Petty (pictured), pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, recently told her congregation she would prefer that straight couples have a magistrate at the local courthouse sign their license. She is waiting to hear if church deacons will endorse her position and if a vote of the congregation will be necessary.

A lesbian couple in Austin say the relationship between being gay and Christian should be “both-and,” not “either-or,” and toward that end they’re both seeking to be ordained as ministers — something that may be a problem in one’s denomination. Annanda Barclay is seeking to become a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which allows openly gay, partnered clergy, and Mary Ann Kaiser in the United Methodist Church, which does not as of yet, but she’s determined to forge ahead just the same.

A lesbian United Methodist minister in Wisconsin pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that she violated church law by being a “self-avowed practicing homosexual” and performing a same-sex union. The Reverend Amy DeLong (pictured) does not dispute the facts of the case, but her counsel, the Reverend Scott Campbell, says the evidence does not support the charges.

The 'Same Love' songstress will perform in front of 1,500 LGBT Christians come this January.

Jayne Ozanne says she tried to reconcile her faith and sexuality for years, a process that saw her go through 'conversion therapy' and contemplate suicide.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has now officially endorsed the recommendation in urging state, territorial and tribal governments to eliminate all of the legal barriers to civil marriages between same-sex couples otherwise eligible to marry.

The Green Street United Methodist Church in North Carolina is taking a stand for marriage equality by refusing to conduct marriages for heterosexual couples until United Methodist polices are changed to allow pastors to officiate at marriages for same-sex couples as well.

Two women became the first same-sex couple to marry in a Buddhist ceremony in Taiwan on Saturday, an act the brides hope will prompt the country to recognize marriage equality. Agence France-Presse reports on the wedding of Fish Huang and You Ya-ting, both 30, at a monastery in Taoyuan in northern Taiwan. Shih Chao-hui, a female Buddhist minister and social activist, presided over the ceremony.

The Episcopal Church is decisively closer to fully accepting gays and lesbians by working toward recognizing same-sex marriage in addition to ordaining openly gay bishops.

The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Redwoods Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church has upheld three of the four charges against Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, who performed same-sex marriages during the brief period it was legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry in California in 2008.