Category: News

Going back to reclaim site of assault – solidarity events in DC, Chicago, NY

 

Rev. Josh Noblitt and his partner were attacked in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park on July 2. According to news reports, the attack started when they were accosted by three young men, who said “Are y’all gay? Two men laying on a blanket. We ought to beat y’all for that.” They later returned with a large stick. Noblitt and his partner defended themselves and called 911, but one of the assailants also made a call. The two men, who were in the park simply enjoying a picnic, found themselves surrounded by eight to 10 men, one of whom put a gun to Noblitt’s head and demanded money. They took Noblitt’s wallet, phone, keys and his partner’s phone. Noblitt sustained a bruised back and ribs and a bruised forehead.

In church two days later, Noblitt said “The church can be the source of a lot of hate toward LGBT people. This makes me feel good about the work Saint Mark does and other affirming churches to try to change that climate.”

In an open letter “to the Beloved Community” a week later, Noblitt reflected on the experience, the “permanent relationship” he now finds himself in with his attackers, the “spiritual starvation” at play, and Martin Luther King’s vision and hope for a beloved community that embraces all, transcends boundaries and promises justice to all. He wrote of how easy it would be to take “the path of fear” and how instead he is committed to taking “the path of love.”

Noblitt has invited people to join him this Sunday, July 18 at Piedmont Park, in the same place he and his partner were attacked, for another picnic – to reclaim the space and forge the path of love.

In solidarity, members of the Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling Methodists (B-WARM) are also holding a picnic on July 18 at 3pm in Washington’s Lincoln Park. “Together we can make every park a safer place and promote healing and understanding,” their invitation says.

There is also a solidarity picnic on July 18 at 3pm in Chicago’s Grant Park (just south of the Spirit of Music Dance Floor on Michigan Ave.).

MIND is dedicating its annual picnic, which will be July 24, to Josh Noblitt, the fight for safe space — in our parks, in our churches and everywhere — and the work of building the “Beloved Community.”

[UPDATE: The solidarity picnic response is growing. Additional picnics (that we know of) are being held in Topiary Park in Columbus, OH and in Houston, TX.]

A federal judge in Boston ruled a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional today. Two separate cases were before the district court. In Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, Judge Joseph Tauro ruled “DOMA violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” reports Bay Windows. In the other case, Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Health and Human Services, Tauro held that the DOMA definition of marriage (one man and one woman) violates state sovereignty by interfering with the state’s right to define and regulate the marital status of its residents. This ruling, based on the Tenth Amendment, has a certain delicious irony to it, as Rachel Maddow pointed out – the cry of “states’ rights” and the appeal to the Tenth Amendment have long been the province of anti-civil rights crusaders, most famously in a century-long defense of racial segregation. 

The rulings can be read here:

Gill v. Office of Personnel Management

 The concluding paragraph in Gill:

“In the wake of DOMA, it is only sexual orientation that differentiates a married couple entitled to federal marriage-based benefits from one not so entitled. And this court can conceive of no way in which such a difference might be relevant to the provision of the benefits at issue. By premising eligibility for these benefits on marital status in the first instance, the federal government signals to this court that the relevant distinction to be drawn is between married individuals and unmarried individuals. To further divide the class of married individuals into those with spouses of the same sex and those with spouses of the opposite sex is to create a distinction without meaning. And where, as here, “there is no reason to believe that the disadvantaged class is different, in relevant respects” from a similarly situated class, this court may conclude that it is only irrational prejudice that motivates the challenged classification.149 As irrational prejudice plainly never constitutes a legitimate government interest, this court must hold that Section 3 of DOMA as applied to Plaintiffs violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Health and Human Services

The concluding paragraph in the Massachusetts case:

“This court has determined that it is clearly within the authority of the Commonwealth to recognize same-sex marriages among its residents, and to afford those individuals in same-sex marriages any benefits, rights, and privileges to which they are entitled by virtue of their marital status. The federal government, by enacting and enforcing DOMA, plainly encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state, and, in doing so, offends the Tenth Amendment. For that reason, the statute is invalid.”

[UPDATE: New York Times coverage here.]

Presbyterians move towards blessing same-sex marriages

In addition to  the civil rulings in the DOMA case, today also saw a step towards marriage equality in church law. The Presbyterian General Assembly will consider recommendations from committees for the denomination to allow and celebrate same-sex marriages. A vote by the Assembly is expected today or tomorrow. If passed, the Presbyterian Church would become the largest denomination in the U.S. to allow gay marriage.

Additional coverage of the Presbyterian General Assembly is on the More Light  Presbyterian blog.

[UPDATE: The Presbyterian General Assembly voted down the marriage equality proposal, opting instead to “study” the issue for the next two years. More here.]

Once a year in the summer MIND members and supporters gather without an agenda to not have a meeting. The goal is fellowship and fun, and of course, food! It’s a chance to restore our souls, get to know each other a little better and rejuvenate for the work we all do bring about the day that the UMC finally welcomes and embraces God’s LGBT children as equal to heterosexuals.

We hold this picnic in a different district every year and this year it’s Long Island West, so we especially encourage those of you in Nassau, Queens and Brooklyn to join us. But this being a MIND event, we invite everyone to come!

The picnic is Saturday, July 24, from 1 to 5pm at Park Slope UMC in Brooklyn. PSUMC is at 410 6^th Ave, easily accessible by subway and car. Go here for directions.

[UPDATE: we are dedicating the picnic to Josh Noblitt, the fight for safe space — in our parks, in our churches and everywhere — and the work of building the Beloved Community. This comes after Noblitt and his partner were attacked for being gay while having a picnic in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park. Picnics to reclaim public space are being held July 18 in Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago, Columbus and Houston. More on the story here >>]