Florida Agenda

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – The former Archbishop of Canterbury has responded to the most prominent gay member of the British government, in a public battle over the Church of England’s positions on marriage equality and other gay rights issues.

Nick Herbert, a Conservative Member of Parliament and the Minister for Police and Criminal Justice, accused the Church last week of “intolerant” language, after Lord Carey—who reigned as Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world’s Anglican Communion from 1991 to 2002— wrote in the Daily Telegraph (UK), “The Government’s fundamental interest in marriage should be confined to preserving an institution in which the raising of the next generation of citizens is stable and secure. Its interest in other kinds of relationship, though it may regard them as of equal esteem, has no pressing importance. To allow the state to interfere in this way in the institution of the family is to establish a very dangerous precedent.”

Herbert, 49—the highest-ranking LGBT person in the United Kingdom— said that he has never felt “more distant” from the Church than now, because of its stands on gay rights. Herbert, who is himself in a civil partnership, said that gay people will interpret Christian leaders’ comments as “judgmental or intolerant.” In a response in the Times of London , Carey said that supporters of “traditional marriage” are the ones facing judgment from gay rights advocates. “It is in fact the supporters of traditional marriage who have been accused of bigotry and homophobia—the kind of intolerant and judgmental language he talks about in his interview,” Carey said.

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – In an unusual call for political unity between faiths that are often at-odds with one another, the pope’s personal representative to the United Kingdom is urging British Roman Catholics to form a “united front” with British Muslims and conservative Jews to oppose marriage equality.

During an address to Roman Catholic bishops, the papal nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, repeated recent comments made by Pope Benedict XVI, who said that the church faces “powerful political and cultural currents” that threaten the traditional definition of marriage.

The nuncio’s timing coincides with recent statements by conservative British Jewish and Muslim leaders, who voiced strong opposition to Undersecretary for Equalities Lynne Featherstone’s call for a national dialog on marriage equality and the best ways to implement it. In response, the Muslim Council of Britain described the plan as both “unnecessary and unhelpful.”

Similarly, Scotland’s Council of Glasgow Imams agreed to a resolution that describes same-sex marriage as an “attack” on the Muslim faith and its fundamental tenets Although Liberal and Reform Jewish synagogues have thrown their support behind the U.K.’s marriage equality plans, the country’s United Synagogues—British Judaism’s largest sect, which holds its religious authority from the Chief Rabbi of Britain—have come out in opposition, with one prominent London rabbi condemning what he called the government “assault” on religious liberty and values.

In addition, the leader of Britain’s Network of Sikh Organizations, Lord Indarjit Singh, says that the plans to reform the U.K.’s marriage laws are “a sideways assault on religion.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – An 18-year old who was born male but has lived as a girl since the age of ten, was asked to enter the Miss England beauty pageant by modeling scouts who had no idea of her background. The aspiring model, Jackie Green, hopes to use the opportunity to speak out about bullying and transgender issues.

According to the London Times-Mirror, Green said: “I went to the ‘Britain’s Next Top Model’ show in London and was really surprised when scouts came up to me. Miss England is a prestigious competition. I’d love to win. I’ve as good a chance as anyone.”
Green, from Leeds, England, became the UK’s youngest transsexual after an operation in Thailand on her 16th birthday. Green says that she wanted to switch gender from the age of four. By ten she had long hair and wore a girl’s uniform to school. Her mother took her to a U.S. clinic for hormone treatment to halt her male puberty. Bullying led Green to attempt suicide five times. She says she can never thank her mother enough for saving her life.

LONDON, ENGLAND – The BBC has reported that the lifetime ban on blood donations by homosexual and bisexual men will be lifted in England, Scotland and Wales. Ministers have agreed to let men who have not had sex with another man in the past twelve months to donate starting in November. The restrictions were originally put in place in the 1980s to prevent the risk of HIV contamination. However, the latest medical evidence presented to a government panel argued the ban could no longer be justified.

Ministers in the three countries accepted the argument and said they would soon be relaxing the rules. Northern Ireland is expected to make a decision soon. The National Blood Service screens all donations for HIV and other infections. However, there is a “window period” after infection during which it is impossible to detect the virus.