August Provost Vigil, Episcopalians Battle Over Gay Issues, Southern Christian Threatens To Expel Leader For Supporting Gays, Defending Diane Ablonczy

An estimated one hundred participants gathered in front of Camp Pendleton Friday night, to pay tribute to slain Seaman August Provost, whose body was found on June 30th, in a guard shack having been shot several times. Provost, gay, was reportedly the victim of harassment on the base, but was reluctant to report it to his superiors for fear of being discharged due to the military ban on gays serving openly. Despite anecdotal evidence, the military insists it will not investigate the murder as a hate crime, and as of this post, no arrests have been made. Earlier in the day, August Provost was buried in Houston, Texas, at the National Cemetery, with full military honors, his partner, Kaether Cordero, on hand.

Delegates from the Episcopalian Church are meeting in Anaheim, California, for the first time in three years, and as expected the divisive debate over performing same-sex marriages and the expanding role of gays within the clergy has begun. The Church, the American branch of the Anglican Church, has seen several conflicts since 2003, when the openly gay priest Gene Robinson was named Bishop of New Hampshire.

Founded in part by Martin Luther King Jr. the Southern Christian Leadership Conference wants to remove the president of its Los Angeles chapter – the Rev. Eric P, Lee – because Lee was one of the few prominent, visible African-American religious leaders who actively opposed Proposition 8, the voter amendment that effectively eliminated the right of gay men and women in the state to marry. Lee, who might be one of the few remaining obvious examples of what it means to be Christian, explained that he fought against Prop 8 because “any time you deny one group of people the same right that other groups have, that is a clear violation of civil rights, and I have to speak up on that.” Rev. Lee also said that he believed the anti-Proposition 8 campaign stumbled in not seeking the support of the African-American community.

In Canada, the Conservative Party, taking its cue from the almost extinct American Republican Party, still seems to contend that appearing to be the political party of hatred and intolerance is best, that despite warnings from members that a fight over gay issues – the four-hundred thousand dollar tourism grant given to the Toronto Pride – is “a complete loser for the party.”