People of Faith for Equality in Virginia

Public Service Announcement:
Breaking News From The General Assembly:

interfaith_window_cropped You or Your Priest, Rabbi, Minister, or Congregational Leader May Be a Criminal, proceed directly to jail, do not pass go, please pay $500.

This week in the General Assembly, seven members of the House Courts and Justice committee refused to protect religious freedom by changing a law that is exclusive and actually makes criminals of the leaders of many Metropolitan Community Churches, Reform Jewish Congregations, Unitarian Universalists Congregations, Episcopalians, and many others. They listened to voices from the Catholic Conference Lobby and the The Family Foundation who, despite everything they have ever said about religious freedom, urged them to continue to criminalize private denominational religious services because they don't agree with who the service is performed on, namely same-gender couples.

Members of the General Assembly seem to think homophobia is more important to defend than your constitutionally guaranteed free exercise of religion.
religiousfreedommatters
A couple of years ago it came to my attention that the Virginia Code, chapter 20:13, says that "Every marriage in this Commonwealth shall be under license." It seems innocuous enough, but as I prepare for my own wedding to my boyfriend, I realize that what I am actually doing is asking my priest to break the law. The law, originally adopted in 1919 during the height of misogamy for interracial couples, has just been upheld by a sub-committee of the General Assembly out of a new fear of same-gender unions.

So what exactly is the problem? Well, while some of us have had or attended "unions" or "blessings" in the past, more and more denominations and traditions are performing actual "weddings" or "marriages". Ultimately, the inherent similarities between a union and a marriage could potentially be construed, legally, as minor semantics, no matter how methodically we avoid the actual word, they are marriages in the hearts and minds of many of those attending.

The bill we proposed to the General Assembly, HB 1115, carried by Delegate David Englin, a hero to our cause from Alexandria, would have corrected three major problems with the law as it stands today.

Find out more.

More Prayer, Not Less

interfaith_window_cropped The annual observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day reminds us that religion and prayer do make a difference in the public arena. Dr. King without prayer--without his following Jesus, without his invoking the words, and evoking the power, of Hebrew prophets—is not authentically Dr. King.

Many in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities see religion as the enemy—understandable due to religiously-based homophobia (and the bulk of that is centered in Christianity). But in truth, as many of us who support LGBT equality know, our faith is often the catalyst for our work in this arena.

This is why prayer is so important in our work for justice, and why we in People of Faith for Equality in Virginia pray together.

We are praying each Wednesday morning at the General Assembly Building in Richmond. You are invited to join us at 7:30 am in Conference Room 3 East.

And we have a special opportunity next Tuesday, January 24, at 8:45 am to pray together at the Equality Virginia annual Lobby Day. Find out More.

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The Struggle Is Global, Right Here in Virginia

clinton12_6x390 Recently, many of us cheered when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.”

It was part of an historic shift in U.S. foreign policy—aligning our government, in its dealings with other governments, on the side of the struggle for justice for LGBT people around the globe. We may or may not feel the effects of this shift here at home, but activists in other countries will.

Her declaration (you can read the full remarks here) reminded me that the struggle is global. We in Virginia are part of that struggle. Two events in the next couple of weeks reflect this.