PORTSMOUTH,
N.H.
—
Pastors
at
South
Church
plan
to
sign
marriage
licenses
for
gay
couples
married
at
the
facility,
similar
to
those
signed
for
opposite-sex
couples,
and
send
the
licenses
to
Portsmouth
City
Hall
for
approval,
the
Portsmouth
Herald
reported.
Officials
at
the
Unitarian
Universalist
church
on
State
Street
want
to
promote
the
legalization
of
same-sex
unions,
the
newspaper
reported.
Unitarian
Universalist
pastors
have
performed
gay
marriage
ceremonies
for
more
than
15
years,
the
Herald
noted.
“We
want
to
encourage
a
change
in
the
laws
as
expeditiously
as
possible,”
Rev.
Will
Saunders
told
the
newspaper.
The
Portsmouth
church
leaders,
however,
will
not
go
as
far
as
other
Unitarian
Universalist
officials,
some
of
whom
have
begun
to
refuse
signing
marriage
licenses
for
heterosexual
couples
they
marry.
“It
seems
to
me
that
not
signing
the
certificates
of
heterosexual
couples
is
a
negative
action,”
said
Saunders,
who
runs
the
parish
with
his
wife,
Rev.
Marta
Flanagan.
“We’re
not
interested
in
angering
people.
We’re
interested
in
change,
and
we
want
to
get
heterosexual
couples
on
board
too.”
LOS
ANGELES
—
Known
as
a
social
justice
activist
and
leader
among
gay
rights
advocates,
Kerry
Lobel
is
the
new
interim
executive
director
of
Metropolitan
Community
Churches,
MCC
said
in
a
news
release.
MCC
is
the
world’s
largest
religious
group
with
a
primary
ministry
aimed
at
gays,
lesbians,
bisexuals
and
transgendered
people,
the
release
stated.
Lobel
began
her
new
duties
with
MCC
on
Dec.
19.
“Kerry
Lobel
was
the
unanimous
choice
of
the
MCC
Board
of
Administration,”
Rev.
Dr.
Cindi
Love,
chair
of
the
board,
said
in
the
MCC
press
release.
“Kerry
brings
extensive
gifts
and
abilities
to
this
new
position.
Her
clarity
and
focus,
her
commitment
to
social
justice,
and
her
work
on
behalf
of
the
spiritual
needs
of
GLBT
people
of
faith
make
her
an
excellent
choice.”
Lobel
is
a
former
executive
director
of
the
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force
and
an
author.
MADRID
—
The
leader
of
Spain’s
Roman
Catholic
Church
is
the
focus
of
a
lawsuit
by
a
Spanish
gay
organization
after
the
cardinal,
in
a
sermon,
said
same-sex
marriages
would
degrade
the
country’s
social
security
system,
the
Religion
News
Service
reported.
The
Popular
Gay
Platform,
a
group
of
politically
conservative
gays,
filed
the
suit
after
a
sermon
by
Cardinal
Antonio
Maria
Rouco
Varela
at
Almudena
Cathedral
in
Madrid,
RNS
reported.
Carlos
Biendicho
told
El
Mundo
newspaper
that
Rouco
Varela’s
comments
are
“slander
and
an
incitement
to
discrimination.”
According
to
RNS,
RoucoVarela
said
in
his
sermon
that
if
families
based
on
opposite-sex
couples
are
made
equal
with
“all
types
of
unions,
including
those
by
nature
unable
to
have
children,
it
will
result
in
the
systematic
destruction
of
the
social
security
system.”
He
said
gay
couples
will
overburden
the
state
pension
system
as
they
draw
benefits
without
having
children
whose
incomes
would
bolster
the
system,
Religious
News
Service
reported.
LONDON
—
An
e-mail
petition
sent
last
week
to
Archbishop
of
Canterbury
Rowan
Williams
asserts
that
more
than
13
million
Anglican
church
members
oppose
a
recently
promoted
gay
bishop,
the
Guardian
reported.
Evangelicals
opposed
to
gays
within
the
Anglican
communion
asked
Williams
to
offer
an
alternative
for
congregations
who
do
not
support
New
Hampshire’s
Gene
Robinson,
the
church’s
gay
bishop,
the
newspaper
reported.
Support
for
the
petition
rose
from
500,000
to
13
million
in
a
few
days,
according
to
the
Guardian;
heads
of
families,
clergy,
bishops
and
archbishops
signed
on
behalf
of
all
their
family
members
and
congregations.
The
petition
asserts
that
“a
majority”
of
the
church’s
70
million
members
worldwide
oppose
the
consecration
of
Robinson,
the
Guardian
reported.
It
calls
on
Williams
to
refuse
to
recognize
the
ministries
of
any
bishop
who
attended
Robinson’s
consecration,
according
to
the
newspaper.
Those
signing
the
petition
said
they
will
pray
for
the
archbishop
and
for
all
“who
are
confused
or
living
in
sin,”
the
Guardian
reported.
AMSTERDAM
—
Three
Dutch
Protestant
churches
will
merge,
put
aside
their
ideological
differences
and
agree
to
perform
same-sex
weddings,
Newsday
reported.
On
May
1,
the
Dutch
Reformed
Church,
the
Calvinist
Reformist
Church
and
the
Lutheran
Church
will
unite
to
become
the
Protestant
Church
of
the
Netherlands,
according
to
the
magazine.
The
combined
churches
will
include
about
2.2
million
people,
about
14
percent
of
the
Dutch
population,
Newsday
reported.
The
merger
was
viewed
with
“great
apprehension”
by
conservative
members
of
the
Dutch
Reformed
Church,
but
they
believe
that
unifying
the
church
is
most
important,
chair
Arie
van
der
Plas
told
the
Dutch
broadcaster
NOS.
Leaders
agreed
that
no
individual
church
will
be
forced
to
conduct
same-sex
marriages.
