VOTE: What was the best TV show of the year?
Vote for your favorite once a day until February 21st! #Queerties

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Church of England Apologizes After Saying Sex is for Married Straight Couples Only

The Church of England has apologized for issuing guidance last week saying sex is for married heterosexual couples only.

However, in their statement Thursday, the archbishops of Canterbury and York stopped short of retracting the guidance, and LGBTQ advocates say their apology isn’t good enough.

“We as archbishops, alongside the bishops of the Church of England, apologize and take responsibility for releasing a statement last week which we acknowledge has jeopardized trust,” the archbishops said. “We are very sorry and recognise the division and hurt this has caused. At our meeting of the College of Bishops of the Church of England this week we continued our commitment to the Living in Love and Faith project which is about questions of human identity, sexuality and marriage. This process is intended to help us all to build bridges that will enable the difficult conversations that are necessary as, together, we discern the way forward for the Church of England.”

The Jan. 23 guidance from the church’s House of Bishops was prompted by the introduction of opposite-sex civil partnerships in England. The guidance said the church’s teaching on marriage “remains unchanged,” claiming sex outside of marriage is “falling short of God’s purpose for human beings.”

“For Christians, marriage – that is the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows – remains the proper context for sexual activity,” the guidance said.

More from the Guardian: Responding to the archbishops’ apology, Jayne Ozanne, a leading campaigner for LGBT+ inclusivity in the church, said she was grateful for the statement but added: “I fear that more than words is now needed.” Ozanne, one of the authors of an open letter saying the guidance had made the C of E a “laughing stock,” added: “We await the evidence that they have truly heard and taken onboard our concerns by what comes out of the Living in Love and Faith report. “I – along with thousands who signed our letter – look forward to understanding what a ‘new radical Christian inclusion’. means for those of us who have been excluded for far too long.”

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Church of England Apologizes After Saying Sex is for Married Straight Couples Only

Queerties 2020: The GLAAD Media Institute takes over awards season

www.glaad.org/blog/queerties-2020-glaad-media-institute-takes-over-awards-season

South Dakota Advances Bill Criminalizing Transition Care for Minors

Doctors could get a year in jail under the bill, approved by the state House and now going to the Senate.

www.advocate.com/transgender/2020/1/30/south-dakota-advances-bill-criminalizing-transition-care-minors

Man lands in hospital defending friends under homophobic attack

Today in the hero files…

Lee Brobson, a 30-year-old man in the UK, has become something of a local celebrity after landing himself in the hospital for breaking up a homophobic attack.

The attack took place in the early morning hours of January 26. Brobson and his friends, Dan and Clark, walked to a bar in Chelmsford when a pair of men approached them. When they noticed Dan & Clark holding hands, the strangers immediately began yelling homophobic insults and attacked.

“We spotted these two guys staring at us, following us down the road with their eyes,” Brobson recalled to PinkNews. “Clark decided to engage with them and said hello, to ask what they’re staring at.” That’s when the homophobic insults began, with the unidentified assailants yelling “faggot” and calling the group “unnatural.” Brobson then stepped in.

Related: Brutal assault of Palestinian trans woman & her gay friends caught on tape

“I tired to calm them down,” Brobson said, “and dismiss it, but they grabbed my friend and pulled him back. It’s 2020, and we’re just off doing out own thing. They weren’t having any of it and that’s when they punched me down.”

“They were going in for blood,” he said. “It was hurtful and disgusting.”

Brobson absorbed the punches of the two attackers to protect his friends. After the homophobes ran off into the night, Brobson spent nine hours in the hospital. He endured cuts, bruises, and missed two days of work at his bartending job as a result.

Still, despite the injuries, Brobson’s spirit has not wavered. “I’m determined that something good will come from this even if they never get caught,” he says. “Homophobia or hate crimes do not have a place in modern-day society.” Brobson has used the attack as an opportunity to raise funds for LGBTQ charities like Terrence Higgins Trust and the Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline.

Chelmsford police have opened an inquiry into the assault, and continue to solicit information from the public in hopes of identifying Brobson’s attackers. This attack is just the latest in a rash of homophobic attacks in the UK, which–like those in the US–have risen in number over the past few years.

www.queerty.com/man-lands-hospital-defending-friends-homophobic-attack-20200130?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Suspect Charged in 8-Day Holiday Stabbing Spree Targeting Los Angeles LGBTQ Community

A suspect faces hate-crime charges in connection with a stabbing spree targeting the LGBTQ community that occurred over the holidays in the Los Angeles area.

Joshua Ebow, 30, could spend up to 14 years in prison on multiple felony counts stemming from attacks that spanned a period of eight days beginning on Christmas.

KTLA-TV reports: The first incident was reported on Dec. 25, 2019, when Ebow attacked a man and brandished a knife at a pizza restaurant in Inglewood, authorities said. About four days later, Ebow pulled out a knife and stabbed another man at a Five Guys restaurant at Culver City Mall, according to the Culver City Police Department. Witnesses told responding officers that a victim had been stabbed in the hand. On Jan. 1, the suspect allegedly assaulted a man with a knife in the West Los Angeles area, the DA’s office said. The next day, Ebow stabbed another person in the arm while the victim was walking into the JCPenney store at Culver City Mall, police said.

Ebow, whose occupation is listed as “former delivery driver,” reportedly confessed to both Culver City stabbings. He is being held on $250,000 bond.

The post Suspect Charged in 8-Day Holiday Stabbing Spree Targeting Los Angeles LGBTQ Community appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Suspect Charged in 8-Day Holiday Stabbing Spree Targeting Los Angeles LGBTQ Community