same-sex marriage
Edie Windsor, heroine of gay marriage movement, revels in a whirlwind year
By Richard Wolf — December 30, 2014
(RNS) The 85-year-old widow keeps up a hectic pace of public appearances and takes pride in the progress seen by the LGBT community both in court cases and public opinion polls.
Gay activist’s campaign to show Christian love to Oregon bakers falls flat
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey — December 4, 2014
(RNS) The idea was unwelcome from both gay activists and those who oppose same-sex marriage.
Archbishop Chaput: Pope’s 2015 Philly visit won’t focus on hot-button sex issues
By Josephine McKenna — November 19, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) "We want to focus next year not just on the neuralgic sexual issues that seem to dominate the American media," Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said.
Gay debate challenges traditional definitions of ‘evangelical’ (ANALYSIS)
By Jacob Lupfer — November 11, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) What can you believe about gays and still call yourself an evangelical? And who gets to decide?
Gay marriage hits major bump in federal appeals court
By Richard Wolf — November 6, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) "This decision gives greater certainty that this matter will ultimately return to the Supreme Court, as we have said all along that it must," said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage.
Russell Moore, Rick Warren to join Vatican conference on marriage and family life
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey — November 3, 2014
(RNS) Organizers say the new conference will show that while the Catholic hierarchy is split on how to address contemporary challenges to marriage and family life, the church can nonetheless seek common ground with religious leaders outside the Vatican.
Southern Baptists change their tone but not their substance on homosexuality (COMMENTARY)
By Jacob Lupfer — October 30, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Nashville conference was remarkable for two notable shifts: a change in tone -- call it a kinder, gentler opposition to homosexuality -- and a pragmatic concession that the fight over gay marriage is largely lost.
Bishops object as Catholic universities offer same-sex benefits
By David Gibson — October 30, 2014
(RNS) Twenty-two Jesuit universities now provide benefits to same-sex partners.
At Idaho wedding chapel, a hollow victory for religious freedom (COMMENTARY)
By Jacob Lupfer — October 24, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) Donald and Evelyn Knapp are businesspeople, not pastors. They abandoned their religious vocation the moment they traded the sacred meaning of marriage for a profit-making enterprise.
Idaho city: Chapel owners exempt from discrimination law
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey — October 24, 2014
(RNS) The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom said the Hitching Post wedding chapel is not a nonprofit religious organization like a church, but rather is a religious for-profit limited liability company like a Bible publisher.
Love thy neighbor: Westboro’s ‘God Hates Fags’ message vs. a drag show (VIDEO)
By Sally Morrow — October 24, 2014
(RNS) Steve Drain, spokesman for Westboro Baptist Church, says the intersection of 12th and Orleans streets is "the epicenter of the moral struggle of the covenant."
Puerto Rico gay marriage ruling sets up a potential federal conflict
By Richard Wolf — October 23, 2014
(RNS) "Ultimately the very survival of the political order depends upon the procreative potential embodied in traditional marriage," U.S. District Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez ruled. "Those are the well-tested, well-proven principles on which we have relied for centuries."
Idaho ministers sue to prevent gay weddings at for-profit wedding chapel
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey — October 19, 2014
(RNS) Donald and Evelyn Knapp are ordained Pentecostal ministers who say they can't provide same-sex services at their for-profit wedding chapel because it's "something forbidden by their religious beliefs and ordination vows."
Vatican debate on gays provokes strong reaction from all corners
By Josephine McKenna — October 10, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Should families welcome their gay son and his partner home at Christmas? Lay Catholics say yes, and one leading cardinal calls it "evil."
What happens next in the 20 states that still ban gay marriage?
By Brad Heath — October 7, 2014
(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday leaves unchanged 20 state laws blocking same-sex unions. Each is already under legal attack, and some judges in those cases had been waiting to see what the high court would do. The court's instruction Monday: Proceed.
