MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

Interfaith Celebration of CA Marriage Ruling in LA TONIGHT!

You are invited to attend an Interfaith Celebration of     Thanksgiving with the Los Angeles plaintiffs in the California Supreme     Court marriage case, The Reverend Dr. Troy Perry and his spouse,     Phillip Ray De Blieck, and long-time activist Robin Tyler, and her partner,     Diane Olson -- whom the LA Weekly referred to as "the LA four who     stated all the trouble." 

 

The brief celebration will take place at 6 PM at     Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles on Thursday, May     15th.

   

The Los Angeles interfaith event will be led by Rabbi     Lisa Edwards of Beth Chayim Chadashim and Rev. Neil Thomas, senior     pastor of MCC Los Angeles.

   

An open press conference will follow. 

   

The event is open to the public.

   

All are welcome.

        

In 1969, Rev.     Dr. Troy Perry officiated at the first public same-sex wedding     ceremony in the United States -- in Huntington Park, California. In     January of 1970, Rev. Perry filed the first U.S. lawsuit seeking legal     recognition of same-gender marriages. The case was dismissed before it was     heard, but it launched the marriage equality movement. Rev. Perry was the     first openly-gay member of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and     was a delegate to the White House Conference on AIDS and the White House     Conference on Hate Crimes. Each year the denomination of Metropolitan     Community Churches (MCC), founded by Rev. Perry, performs more than 5000 same-gender marriages.

‘Art That Dares’ named Lammy finalist

Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More by Kittredge Cherry has been named a finalist for the 20th annual Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the Lammies.

Kitt also participated in a reading by Lammy finalists in West Hollywood on May 8.  See the video or click here for more info on the reading. 

Lammy winners will be announced May 29 at a gala ceremony in West Hollywood, CA.  The glamorous event is the queer literary version of the Academy Awards.

The awards recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature.  They are considered to be the highest honor for a book from the GLBT community

More than 80 judges -- writers, journalists, booksellers, librarians, professors -- chose 107 finalists in 21 categories this year.  Finalists were chosen from 463 books nominated by 190 publishers.

Art That Dares is one of five finalists in the LGBT Arts and Culture category.  It’s up against Harvard University Press among others -- quite an accomplishment for a small start-up queer press. 

Three legendary figures of the LGBT literary community will receive Pioneer Awards at this year’s ceremony.  They are Ann Bannon, author of the Beebo Brinker lesbian fiction series;
Mark Thompson, author of Gay Soul; and Malcolm Boyd, Episcopal priest and author of Are You Running With Me, Jesus?

Art That Dares is packed with color illustrations by 11 contemporary artists from the U.S. and Europe.  Art that dares to show Jesus as gay or female has been censored or destroyed.  Cherry gathered these beautiful, liberating, sometimes shocking images into a book to ensure that they would be available.  In the book, the artists tell the stories behind the images and the introduction puts them into political and historical context, exploring issues of blasphemy and artistic freedom.

For tickets and more info, visit LambdaLiterary.org.

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Kittredge Cherry blogs at the Jesus in Love Blog and edits the Jesus in Love Newsletter on queer spirituality and the arts.  She offers GLBT and progressive spiritual resources at JesusInLove.org. 

Is Mike Myers Film "The Love Guru" Laughing WITH or AT Spiritual Self-Help?

The movie doesn't open until June 20, 2008, but people are already talking about THE LOVE GURU and Mike Myers' latest outrageous character, Guru Pitka, "the 2nd Best Guru in India."

As you can see in the trailer below, the movie will be laugh-out-loud funny - that just goes with the territory in a Mike Myers film - but will it be helpful?

Oprah caught so much grief in the 90's when she had a segment on her show called "Remember Your Spirit," but she continued to inspire the world, most recently in partnership with Eckhart Tolle (read about it here in O Magazine).  Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Louise Hay and others have achieved incredible success by helping people improve their lives, but many people still scoff at their work.  I have my own problems with "The Secret," but it's still helped millions of people feel more confident and focused and optimistic.

There are definitely ways to differentiate between what is helpful and what is not - for me, laid out most clearly in Ken Wilber's GRACE AND GRIT - and I would advocate that such discrimination is important.  THE LOVE GURU seems to point out the worst excesses of spiritual self-help, and maybe in that way will help people discriminate between what is actually useful and what is sugary slop!

Will Myers' horny guru do anything to help people in the real world or do you think the movie's mockery will take the spiritual self-help movement backward? 

How much can we laugh at ourselves?  Do we take spirituality too seriously?  THE LOVE GURU will be giving us the chance to hold it lightly!  Will you see the movie?  Does hearing that the movie is officially partnered with Deepak Chopra and Beliefnet (and that they asked MyOutSpirit for our input) change how you feel? 

JOIN MYOUTSPIRIT.COM NOW!

Presbyterian Highest Court Clears Spahr of Censure

Tiburon, CA – Today the Presbyterian’s General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) reversed the two-year-old Synod decision to censure Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr for her role in marrying same-gender couples. Today’s decision held that the Presbyterian constitution contains no prohibition against marrying same-gender couples.

“I am grateful that the Commission let stand the Presbytery’s original ruling which affirmed my ministry,” said Rev. Spahr. “The Church is a place of welcome and hospitality in which I will continue to honor relationships of love and commitment, regardless of sexual orientation.”

Surprisingly, by a bare majority, the decision – while clearing Spahr – attempted to set forth language that could be interpreted to preclude such marriages in the future. 

In a dissent signed by five Commission members – a significant minority – the members stated, “It is not the place of this Commission to go any farther and step into the legislative realm…In rendering it’s decision, the majority has taken the liberty of legislating in the guise of interpreting inconsistencies” within the constitution and current case law.

“We are deeply troubled by the majority’s insistence on reading any language into the constitution that renders these marriages anything less than fully equal.” said, Sara Taylor, Rev. Spahr’s attorney.  “By this act, the majority exceeded its judicial authority with respect to marriage in this denomination.”

“I will continue to honor my calling to perform marriages for all couples who love one another and are committed to one another,” said Spahr. “To not perform these marriages would go against my faith, my conscience and most importantly, against God.”

The Judicial Commission’s ruling marks the end of a four-year legal journey for Spahr that began in 2004, when she was charged by her local Presbytery for performing same-gender weddings. The ruling by the Redwoods Presbytery Permanent Judicial Commission originally affirmed Reverend Spahr, ruling that performing same-gender weddings was not “outside of, or contrary to, the essentials of the Reformed faith as understood by the Presbytery of the Redwoods.”  That historic decision was appealed and sent to the next highest church court, the Synod Permanent Judicial Commission, which ruled against the Redwoods Presbytery's affirmation of Janie's Ministry. That decision was appealed and this past Friday was heard by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, which is the church’s highest court.

“Our marriage affirms that no matter whom you love, you still have complete access to God,” said Sherrill Figuera and Annie Senecahl, a couple married by Spahr and named in the disciplinary case.