Church Of England General Assembly Will Not Permit Same Sex Civil Unions To Be Held On Congregation Premises, Delaware Civil Unions Law Takes Effect January 1, GOP Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Says He Now Supports Same Sex Marriage, North Carolina Senator Davis Conflicted Over Constitutional Amendment Banning Same Sex Marriage, Openly Gay Son Of Operation Rescue Founder Randall Terry Killed In Car Accident

The Church of England will not permit gay civil partnership ceremonies on its premises without the express permission of its general assembly, it said on Saturday. The AFP reports that new laws allowing same sex "weddings" to be conducted in places of worship in England and Wales come into force on Monday, though no religious group is obliged to host them. William Fittall, secretary-general of the Church's general synod national assembly, set out the position in a letter to the body. "In short, the position under the new arrangements is that no Church of England religious premises may become 'approved premises' for the registration of civil partnerships without there having been a formal decision by the General Synod to that effect," he wrote. Civil partnerships for same-sex couples were introduced in Britain in December 2005, giving them similar rights to married heterosexual couples. However, the partnerships cannot legally be referred to as marriages. The Church of England's legal office said its position did not amount to unlawful discrimination as marriage and civil partnerships are legally distinct. "A gentlemen's outfitter is not required to supply women's clothes. A children's book shop is not required to stock books that are intended for adults," it said in an accompanying letter. "And a church that provides a facility to marry is not required to provide a facility to same sex couples for registering civil partnerships." The British government has drawn up plans to introduce same sex civil marriages before the next election in 2015. A formal consultation will start in March. The legal office letter said that if marriages and civil partnerships were no longer legally distinct concepts, as envisaged by the plans, "we would of course be in new territory. "But that is a separate issue which would have to be addressed in the course of that new legislation." The Church of England is the officially established state church and the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is the largest religious denomination in Britain. The Church of England is to review its approach to same sex relationships next year to clarify its position on an issue which has threatened to tear the Anglican Communion apart. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Church of England leader and the Anglican Communion’s spiritual head, has struggled to maintain unity amid disagreements over the consecration of female bishops in Britain, and of openly gay bishops in the United States.

The final sentence of the Delaware Civil Union and Equality Act of 2011 (Senate Bill 30) reads, “This Act shall be effective at 10:00 am on January 1, 2012,” and according to News Castle County Clerk of the Peace Ken Boulden, that is the soonest he and his counterparts in Kent and Sussex Counties can legally issue civil union licenses. But state and county holiday schedules complicate the matter. The Newark Post reports that government offices are scheduled to be closed on January 1 and on January 2. However, Boulden intends to open his office 10:00 am – 12:00 pm on Sunday, January 1 to issue a limited number of licenses by appointment only. Couples will be granted an appointment based on the urgency of their circumstances. Otherwise, the first day of issuance for civil union licenses will be Tuesday, January 3. On that day, Boulden’s office will open at 9:00 am for the issuance of civil union and marriage licenses. The office closes from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch, and will then resume the issuance of licenses until 4:00 pm. Wednesday, January 4 has been set aside for marriage ceremonies. Thursday, January 5 is being blocked out for civil union ceremonies. Delaware residents seeking a marriage or civil union will be given first opportunity to schedule their ceremony for those dates. The Clerk’s office is not accepting advance bookings. Ceremony times and dates will be selected at the time the license is issued.

Former New Mexico Governor and Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson now supports gay marriage. Johnson had favoured civil unions for same sex couples but, according to a press release issued Thursday, he changed his mind after "a great deal of deliberation, discussion with the gay community, and a conclusion that government has no business choosing who should be allowed the benefits of marriage and who should not." Johnson has been barred from all but one of the televised debates and has failed to build support despite repeated trips to New Hampshire. In recent weeks, he's started talking publicly about leaving the GOP to run on the Libertarian ticket. The Concord Monitor reports he revealed his new stand on same sex marriage during an online chat with voters Thursday night. "As I have examined this issue, consulted with folks on all sides, and viewed it through the lens of individual freedom and equal rights, it has become clear to me that denying those rights and benefits to gay couples is discrimination, plain and simple," Johnson said. "For a very long time, society has viewed gay marriage as a moral and, yes, religious issue. Today, I believe we have arrived at a point in history where more and more Americans are viewing it as a question of liberty and freedom."

A sparse crowd was on hand late last week at the community building in Franklin where North Carolina State Senator Jim Davis held his first town hall meeting since being elected to office. The Macon News reports that Senator Davis plans to schedule town hall meetings in all eight counties within Senate District 50 in the next several months. The November 22 meeting was promoted as a non-partisan event, as Macon County GOP Chairman Chris Murray announced when introducing Senator Davis to the podium. Murray did invite Macon County’s Democratic Party chairman Ben Utley to the meeting, but Utley declined due to a scheduling conflict. Ed Trull, pastor of Holly Springs Baptist Church, delivered the invocation and The Smoky Mountain Marine Corp League presented the colors before the meeting commenced. After WWII Navy veteran Richard Robb led the audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, Davis took questions from his constituents for the next hour and a half. When asked about compromising on tough votes, Davis commented that his vote in support of the same sex marriage ballot initiative made him somewhat uneasy. “I have a lot of libertarian in me,” he said. “I believe firmly, passionately that a marriage should be defined as being between one man and one woman. But I also believe with all my heart that in a free America people who choose to live a different lifestyle should have a legal right to do so. Just don’t call it marriage,” said Davis. He explained that the same sex marriage amendment that will be on the ballot next May will “restrict their freedoms a little more beyond my comfort zone,” he said. “The marriage amendment is so important because these gay and lesbian, transgender people want moral equivalence to a heterosexual marriage, and it never can be in my opinion. A heterosexual marriage is the bedrock of our society. I feel passionately about that, but I don’t think we need to restrict the rights of people who do not choose to live our lifestyles,” said Davis. The senator used a similar argument when talking about people who choose to smoke cigarettes and live sedentary lifestyles, arguing that people should have the liberty to live as they see fit, but they should pay higher insurance premiums to compensate for their unhealthy habits. The North Carolina legislature, with Democratic support, voted to put a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and civil unions in North Carolina on the ballot next summer. The people of North Carolina will vote on the amendment next May.

The son of a prominent political activist was killed Wednesday morning in a two-vehicle crash in Gwinnett County. Jamiel Terry, 31, died when he crossed the center line on Dickens Road driving a Plymouth Breeze and struck a Nissan Rogue head-on, according to the incident report obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Three people in the Nissan were evaluated for minor injuries, police said. Terry was the adopted son of Randall Terry, the Operation Rescue founder and a longtime opponent of homosexual marriage. In 1987, Randall Terry and then-wife Cindy agreed to take in Jamiel, then 8, and his two sisters as foster children. Jamiel Terry was formally adopted in 1994. Jamiel Terry made national headlines in 2004 when he announced he was gay and wrote an essay for "Out" magazine. His father published his own essay on his website, titled My Prodigal Son, the Homosexual. "We were taught that if you saw pain in the world, you should speak out,” Jamiel Terry told the Washington Post. "I knew that because of my name I could get published and help young men and women who are gay and struggling because of their religious upbringing." The rift between Jamiel and Randall Terry played out in the national media, but the two remained in contact recently, Randall Terry said in a statement released Friday. "I thank God that Jamiel and I spoke regularly, and texted each other about a wide variety of issues, frequently discussing and debating elections, politics and policy, to which we have both dedicated our time and talents," Randall Terry said. "While we remained irreconcilable on the issue of ‘homosexual marriage,' and the morality of homosexual behaviour, Jamiel remained firmly pro-life, and recently helped convince a young woman to not kill her child by abortion. There were many other issues that we kicked around -- with laughter and good humour."