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Hate crimes legislation passes Senate, heads to Obama

By Andy Birkey | 10.22.09 | 4:52 pm

The U.S. Senate passed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday with the controversial Matthew Shepard Act attached. The act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crimes laws. The bill now heads to the desk…

‘Racist, homophobic’ campaign fliers distributed in Maplewood

By Andy Birkey | 10.21.09 | 2:29 pm

When Maplewood city council candidate Jim Llanas told the Minnesota Independent this summer, “Brace yourself. It’s just going to get ugly,” he wasn’t far off the mark. An anonymous flier being distributed about Llanas, who would be both the first openly gay and the first Hispanic city council member in the city’s history, is being described as racist and homophobic by a progressive group and a city council member.

Minneapolis to host Lutheran debate on gay clergy, same-sex ceremonies

By Andy Birkey | 07.06.09 | 11:05 am

Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will gather in Minneapolis this August for a vote on whether to become more welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Lutherans. Their decision could pave the way for gay and lesbian pastors, bring same-sex commitment ceremonies to local congregations and impact policy in a state with a large number of Lutheran elected officials.

Obama responds to critics over Rick Warren as outrage from gay community grows

By Andy Birkey | 12.18.08 | 2:02 pm

The fallout from the decision by President-elect Barack Obama to select evangelical preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration continues as Warren explains his incendiary statement, Obama explains his decision, the pundits weigh in on what…

Religious Right Watch: Waning influence, assigning blame and praising Palin

By Andy Birkey | 11.06.08 | 10:11 am

The religious right had a bad day on Tuesday. The election of Barack Obama and Democratic gains in the U.S. Senate and House put support for religious right policies further out of reach, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. Some say Republican John McCain coddled Obama on the issues, and others point to President Bush’s noncommittal attitude for issues the religious right cares about the most: gay marriage and abortion. The one bit of post-election hope seems to be the ascension of Sarah Palin as a religious right figurehead.