From the ‘Little-By-Little’ file, The New York Times (May 29) reports the state of New York will recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions (e.g., Massachusetts, California and Canada). New York does not as yet allow same-sex marriages to be obtained in-state. State officials noted a number of state agency rules and regulations might have to be altered to agree with the new ruling. At some point, all the various pro- and anti-gay marriage laws will be balanced exactly. Will a conservative (Bush-era) Supreme Court step in or will a liberal (whose?-era) court step in to decide the outcome? Another reason the presidential election is important.
Harper’s Magazine (June ’08) has a cover article, ‘Turning Away From Jesus: Gay Rights and the and the War for the Episcopal Church,’ which, in 12 pages, encapsules the Episcopal (Anglican) church’s history and the history of the (pretty much a sure thing) upcoming schism (split) of the church due to an internal conflict over homosexuality. The church’s problem stems, ironically, from its success—its major new converts are in Africa and they considerably outnumber the European and American mother churches. The mother churches tend to be liberal re gayness but the converts lean toward frothing-at-the-mouth conservative views over gay issues. (However, not all African Anglicans are homophobes. Archbishop Desmond Tutu compares homophobia to apartheid.) The African Anglicans were especially incensed by the American church when it made Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, a bishop. Anglicans do not have a central authority—the Archbisop of Canterbury is not a pope, and the two sides in this situation seem to want a big papa to say they, and not the other side, are right. The split looms.
The New York Times (May 28) says Germany has established a major monument honoring the many gay people who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis. The monument shows two men kissing, and is near Germany’s large Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
From the ‘How-Low-Can-We-Go?’ file, the Chicago Reader’s News of the Weird column (May 29) reports a YouTube appearance of a clip of a group of Filipino doctors and nurses cheering and screaming with laughter as they remove a perfume bottle from the nether regions of a male patient. General Hospital meets Animal House? Aromatherapy in the back room of the Eagle? Maybe the Marx Brothers do IML?