Philadelphia Mayor Steps Up for LGBT Rights During Papal Visit

Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter said he didn’t get the chance to make good on his promise to personally ask Pope Francis to “end judgment” of LGBT people iduring the pope’s visit to his city. 

But according to the website for the Philadelphia Inquirer, he told reporters he was sure the pope heard his speech Saturday at Independence Hall, where the mayor raised the issue shortly before the pontiff spoke. 

“In America, everyone has rights,” Nutter said Saturday. 

In that speech, Nutter cited the mentorship of a one-term Philadelphia city councilman who was gay, and helped launch Nutter’s political career. John Anderson contracted AIDS and died in 1983. And then he addressed those in the crowd who are lesbian, gay and bisexual, who he said “continue to fight for equality.”

“Keep fighting for your rights. It’s a collective fight. And there are many others fighting with you.” 

Nutter made no mention of transgender citizens, who Pope Francis has likened to nuclear weapons and the Vatican has announced cannot serve as godparents to Roman Catholic children being baptized. 

Nutter, a practicing Catholic who is openly pro-choice and advocates for LGBT rights, was named by Archbishop Charles Caput of Philadelphia honorary co-chairman of the World Meeting of Families, which was the primary reason for the pope’s visit. 

A statement from the mayor on Friday included a letter Nutter said he sent Pope Francis, in which he pressed the pope to reconsider the Church’s treatment of LGBT Catholics. 

“We encourage ending the systematic and institutionalized discrimination against LGBT people through the message of love, hope, and acceptance. For the many LGBT individuals who seek the Lord and have good will, we ask that you end judgment of these individuals by those within the Church through teaching and pastoral practice currently in place.” 

That statement earned Nutter, and Chaput, criticism from conservative Catholic websites which accused the mayor of pushing the “gay agenda.” One website went so far as to demand the archbishop remove Nutter and other “pro gay-marriage members from the leadership team,” but those cries fell on deaf ears. 

Despite not getting to personally speak to Pope Francis about LGBT rights, Nutter told the Inquirer the visit was “wildly successful, completely successful.”

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/9/27/philadelphia-mayor-steps-lgbt-rights-during-papal-visit

Obama rips Republican candidates who oppose gay marriage

Barack Obama on Sunday (27 September) night ripped Republican presidential candidates who oppose gay marriage at an LGBTI fundraiser in New York.

The president was introduced at the Democratic National Committee LGBTI fundraising gala by Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the landmark case that legalized gay marriage nationwide.

Obama said the ‘good news’ was that gay marriage would probably not be used as a wedge issue in the upcoming election ‘because the country has come too far.’

‘America has left the leaders of the Republican Party behind,’ he said before singling out three for special criticism, though without mentioning names.

‘One of their leading candidates argued that going to prison turns you gay,’ Obama said about Ben Carson.

‘Another candidate boasts that he introduced an amendment to end nationwide marriage equality –which isn’t even an accomplishment at all,’ he said in reference to Ted Cruz.

The president continued: ‘A third says Americans should just disobey the Supreme Court’s ruling entirely.’

‘I’m sure he loves the Constitution – except for Article III,’ he said about Mike Huckabee. ‘And maybe the Equal Protection Amendment. And the 14th Amendment, generally.’

Obama then said that religious freedom was not license to discriminate against LGBTI people.

‘We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions,’ he said between bouts of cheers and applause.

‘But we also have to say clearly that our religious freedom doesn’t grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights.’

‘And that even as we are respectful and accommodating genuine concerns and interests of religious institutions, we need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes.

‘That’s not how we move America forward.’

The post Obama rips Republican candidates who oppose gay marriage appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/obama-rips-republican-candidates-who-oppose-gay-marriage/