JESUS CHRIST RETURNS!!

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Gays, lesbians hardest hit:

When the District of Columbia legalized gay marriage earlier this year, Erwin de Leon and the Rev. John Beddingfield tied the knot “knowing full well it’s very limited,” de Leon said during a recent telephone interview.

The federal government doesn’t recognize gay marriage. So when his visa expires next year de Leon, 44, a doctoral student from the Philippines, cannot start the process of becoming a citizen, an option available to spouses of heterosexual U.S. citizens.

“Immigration reform is not just one issue, it’s complicated,” de Leon said. “My mother, a straight woman, emigrated long after I did. She married my step-dad and got a green card in less than a year. If same-sex marriages were recognized federally this would be a nonissue. Just like anybody else, John would be able to sponsor me.”

He and Beddingfield, 46, rector of All Souls Memorial Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., have been together a dozen years yet still struggle with the awareness that “enormous advantages … tax and otherwise” are enjoyed by heterosexual couples but withheld from them, Beddingfield told ENS during an interview from his parish.

Same day, same page.

The “Moving Forward, Exploring a New Path to Full Inclusion” conference at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas was meant to change the way people in the diocese approached consideration of the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the life of the church.

Organizers pointed out that the Episcopal Church has been talking about the issue since 1964. This conversation has happened at General Conventions, at House of Bishops meetings, and, more rarely, in individual dioceses and parishes.

“We wanted to find a way to help [the Diocese of] Texas have those conversations and to contribute to the national conversation, but in a way that tries to engage those who disagree and does not drive them away,” said the Very Rev. Joe Reynolds, dean of Christ Church Cathedral.

“We realized after General Convention 2009 that what we were doing in the Diocese of Texas around the issue of inclusion was not working,” said Laurie Eiserloh of Austin. “We had to try something different.”

Do any of you enjoy an occasional wager? Because I’ll lay $100 that the Metropolitian Community Church ceases to exist inside of five years.