The Importance of Anderson Cooper's Coming Out Statement

Situation for LGBTI Folks in Uganda Grows Graver, Nobel Peace-Prize Winners Respond

The situation for LGBTI people in Uganda grew more grave lately, as the Anglican archbishop of Uganda Stanley Ntagali joined other Christian leaders in that country in asking the Ugandan parliament to pass the infamous anti-homosexuality legislation that has been under consideration in Uganda for some time now.  As this press release by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights also indicates, on Wednesday, the Ugandan Minister of Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo, a former Catholic priest who still uses the title of "right reverend father," also  announced last week that he is banning 38 human rights organizations for "promoting homosexuality." The ban announcement came two days after Lokodo ordered a raid on an LGBTI rights workshop in Kampala.

More Global Warming Commentary, with Theological Reflection by Leonardo Boff

More commentary on the current excessively hot and dry summer many Americans are having, and the almost certain link between these weather events (which are becoming ever more common) and global warming:

More Blistering Criticism of Regnerus Study: 200+ Scholars Write Journal to Ask Critical Questions

Peer Review

Not-to-miss news today about sociologist Mark Regnerus's recently published study which claims to prove that children raised by "gay" parents have problems children raised in traditional households lack (I've blogged about the study previously here, here, here, and here):

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Girl Scouts Clobber Bishops in Numbers Game

Back to that NCR thread* about the recent USCCB-sponsored "Fortnight for Freedom" rally about which I wrote earlier today: the article reports that some 2,000 attended the "freedom" rally in D.C. last Sunday.  Anytime the Catholic media issue glowing reports about the numbers flocking (not!) to the "freedom" rallies, right-wing Catholic who love playing the numbers game offer comments about these reports suggesting that many more Catholics are rallying to the bishops' side than to the nuns in the Nuns on the Bus tour.  

The Mormon Moment: Romney Candidacy and Emergence of Liberal Reaction within Mormonism

The story about which I just blogged--the firing of Catholic teacher Trish Cameron in Moorhead, Minnesota, because she dared to write on a self-evaluation form that she does not agree with all church teachings (though she had never stated this in the classroom), obviously centers on the theme of conscience.  Though the U.S. Catholic bishops are staging lavish, expensive shock-and-awe political theater events this summer with claims that "Catholic" freedom of conscience is being trampled on, they themselves and the Vatican ride roughshod over the informed consciences of believers like Trish Cameron and many others.  

Catholic Teacher in Crookston, Minnesota, Diocese Fired for Supporting Marriage Equality

Among many disturbing aspects, the one I find most mind-boggling in this story of the firing of a Catholic teacher in Moorhead, Minnesota, because she supports marriage equality?  It's this: