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Gay priest won’t become UK bishop & more
Gay priest won’t become UK bishop
LONDON — A Church of England committee has decided against nominating a gay priest to become a bishop, according to British news reports.
Church officials would not comment, but the July 8 Daily Telegraph reported that the Very Rev. Jeffrey John was rejected as a potential nominee to become bishop of Southwark in south London. Other newspapers had similar reports.
John was nominated to become bishop of Reading in 2003, but withdrew in the face of an uproar from conservatives, according to the Associated Press. He is now the dean of St. Albans cathedral.
John, although united in a civil partnership with his long-term partner, has declared he is celibate, conforming to Anglican teaching.
Church officials had not confirmed news reports that John was on a list of candidates considered by a Crown Nominations Commission, which met last week behind closed doors.
The Associated Press quoted Rev. Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude, as saying the development was “painfully disappointing news for Jeffrey, who has lived through a week in which his identity and reputation have been pored over, analyzed and attacked once again by conservative forces in the church in a way which I can only describe as poisonous.”
Coward’s group is devoted to promoting the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, where issues of sexuality have caused much acrimony and deep splits.
Mexico City sees 271 gay weddings in 4 months
MEXICO CITY — Mexico City has seen 271 gay and lesbian couples get married since the capital enacted the first law in Latin America explicitly allowing same-sex marriages.
The Associated Press reported the city government says there have been 142 marriages between men and 129 between women in the four months since the law took effect March 4.
The government said July 6 that 18 foreigners were among those married, and the rest were Mexican citizens. The largest number of marriages occurred in the first month after the law took effect.
Mexico’s Supreme Court is considering challenges to the law, which applies only to the capital, but the measure will remain in effect while the review is under way. A decision is expected sometime in August.
Facebook group finds big support in homophobia fight
DUNHAM, England — A new Facebook group that supports LGBT users, Wiping Out Homophobia on Facebook, has become one of the web site’s fastest growing pages.
Page founder Kelvin Patrick O’Neil said the group, which drew 3,000 fans on its founding day two months ago, now has more than 30,000 fans.
“Eight weeks ago I was flicking through Facebook, when I came across a homophobic page,” said O’Neil, who lives in Dunham, England. “I was so appalled that I decided to report it. To make sure that Facebook got the message, I sent a link of the group to all my friends so that they could also report it. Minutes later, they had sent me replies with links to other pages, so I decided to collate them on one page so that all of my friends could join in order to report these pages.”
O’Neil said that page, Wiping Out Homophobia on Facebook, drew 3,000 fans the same day he created it.
“So far, the members have … had over 900 profiles, groups and pages removed for hate speech,” O’Neil said. Other group actions have included signing a petition to stop a gay activist from being deported and crashing three anti-gay web sites.
Wiping Out Homophobia on Facebook is similar to other politically-driven Facebook pages in that it contains relevant links, comments and photos. It’s online at facebook.com/WOHOF.
“Through our daily posts, we have educated, informed and entertained with supportive slogans, humorous pictures, news reports and links,” O’Neil said. “I now have 14 administrators … [and] together we work 24/7 making, stealing and uploading links and pics, so that people can post them to their walls.”
O’Neil said the daily activity provides free publicity for the page while spreading awareness of anti-gay pages.
National
Queen Jean is Tony’s first transgender winner
Designer/activist wins for work on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’
It was a historic night at the 79th annual Tony Awards on Sunday as Queen Jean won the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, making her the first out transgender person to win a Tony.
“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
She won the award for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and was also nominated for best costume design of a play for “Liberation.”
In addition to her stage work, Queen Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, an organization that supports trans and gender-nonconforming people in New York City.
National
Madonna turns Times Square into massive dance floor
Pop icon celebrates Pride month with surprise performance
Pop icon Madonna celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday to the delight of 50,000 fans.
She performed for about 15 minutes high above street level, including several songs from her new album “Confessions II” due on July 3, along with a trio of songs from the first “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”
In addition to the brand new “Love Sensation,” she performed “I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” plus “Hung Up,” “Get Together” and “I Love New York.” She wished the crowd a happy Pride season; the event was shared with audiences through Grindr’s first-ever livestream.
National
Gallup finds LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping
Marriage equality support lowest since 2016
Gallup, one of the leading organizations in public opinion polling, has found that LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping.
The poll, whose data was collected using Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, was conducted in May and was published on Wednesday. The data was collected through telephone interviews from a sample of more than 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and D.C. using random digit dialing.
It highlights declining attitudes surrounding LGBTQ issues in multiple areas — from support for same-sex marriage to views on gender identity and the morality of one’s sexuality.
One of the most striking findings was that support for marriage equality fell six points from its 2022-2023 high.
The survey also found that 62 percent of Americans view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, the lowest level since 2016 just after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the U.S. Supreme Court.
One newer question on the poll found that the perceived morality of changing one’s gender has dropped eight points since 2021, indicating the American public is less supportive of transgender people.
The data attributes much of the decline to shifting Republican views alongside the party itself. Conservative leaders have pushed back against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.
President Donald Trump has been a guiding force behind waves of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, particularly when it comes to trans rights. The president has enacted multiple executive orders, including Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which mandates that gender be defined by one’s sex assigned at birth. He also signed Executive Order 14183, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which barred qualified trans applicants from joining the military and led to the removal of trans service members already serving in the armed forces.
Additionally, he signed Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits trans female athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams.
In February, Gallup found that an estimated 9 percent of Americans identified as part of the LGBTQ community in some form.
The organization also found that 23 percent of adults under age 30 identify as LGBTQ, compared with 10 percent of those ages 30 to 49 and 3 percent or less among those ages 50 and older.
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