Marriage Equality Proponents Continue To Push Dallas Mayor To Sign Freedom To Marry Pledge, California Secretary Of State Clears Anti-Gay Group’s Proposal To Repeal Senate Bill 48, Second Most Powerful Senior Cleric In Church Of England Suggests Prime Minister Cameron Would Be “Dictator” If Legalized Same Sex Marriage

Supporters of marriage equality took over the grounds outside Dallas City Hall Friday tonight, urging Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to get onboard with a national pledge, reports KDAF-TV. “We really feel that the mayor needs to speak out on this issue, needs to take a stand. We need his private beliefs to match his public policy,” said Get Equal Texas North Texas Coordinator Daniel Cates. They want Rawlings to join other mayors across the country in signing the Freedom to Marry pledge. They say so far 100 other mayors have. “I have a lot of friends that are in the LGBT community, and I have seen atrocities that happen to them over and over in this city, and in this state,” said protester Noam Zerzan. There were some heated exchanges tonight as others came to protest the protesters."As a concerned citizen just supporting the biblical definition of marriage and just kind of stand for our Mayor,” said opponent Will Stanford. Rawlings is scheduled to meet with the group Saturday morning. Last week, on his Facebook page he addressed the issue saying, "I decided not to sign onto that letter because that is inconsistent with my view of the duties of the office of the mayor.” But the protesters think the mayor is out of touch. "I think that some of his comments have actually been destructive, they've bordered on homophobia where he said these are issues that are no relevant to the lion's share of the community that he serves. I think that's an unfortunate statement,” said Cates. To them, same sex marriage is an issue that starts local. "He has the power to unite with us and when you unite with us and stand for equality for all human beings you send a message to your constituents, the state of Texas and to the rest of America,” said protester Shannon Kern. "While the mayor may not have the power to directly influence the law, he does have the power to pressure law makers who do have that ability,” said Cates.

In California Thursday, the secretary of state’s office today cleared a proposal to repeal Senate Bill 48 for circulation. Senate Bill 48, also known as the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act, requires that LGBTs’ historical contributions be taught to California’s school students. According to The Bay Area Reporter, the proposal, submitted by Lou Sheldon of the anti-gay Traditional Values Coalition, repeals SB 48′s requirement that instructional materials recognize those contributions. Sheldon also wants to undo the law’s provision that prohibits instructional materials that reflect adversely on people based on their sexual orientation and other characteristics. Backers of Sheldon’s initiative have until June 25 to collect the 504,760 valid signatures needed to get the proposal on the state ballot. Sheldon could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute and its affiliated Capitol Resource Family Impact, is backing another SB 48 repeal initiative, which is expected to be cleared for circulation by mid-February. Richard Rios, another anti-gay activist, had also proposed undoing SB 48, but he said this week he’s dropping his efforts.

Ministers should not overrule the Bible by allowing same sex marriage and David Cameron would be like a "dictator" if he lets homosexual couples get married, the Archbishop of York has said. The UKPA reports that Dr. John Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, said marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the archbishop said marriage is set in history and the state cannot change it overnight. He said: "I don't think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and you can't just (change it) overnight, no matter how powerful you are. We've seen dictators do it in different contexts and I don't want to redefine very clear social structures that have been in existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it could go in a particular way. It's almost like somebody telling you overnight that the Church, whose job is to worship God (that it will be) an arm of the Armed Forces. They must take arms and fight. You're completely changing tradition." The Government will open a consultation on the issue in March. Dr. Sentamu said the bishops in the House of Lords did not try to stop Labour introducing civil partnerships in 2004, giving same-sex couples improved legal rights. He added the Church was also content with last year's move to allow civil partnership ceremonies in places of worship, as long as it is voluntary and agreed by the governing body of any particular denomination. Meanwhile, Dr. Sentamu said the Church must do more to avoid its leadership being solely white and middle class. The archbishop said white working class parishioners and black church-goers are poorly represented in the Anglican church. He said, "I used to chair the committee for minority ethnic Anglican concerns, and we seemed to be making some progress but that now seems to be going backwards. Where we have lost out is black people who had been realised Anglicans, who are now joining Pentecostal churches. That's a huge drain."