BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jerusalem gay march ban set aside

Well, that’s good and joyful all right. A judge came down hard on the Jerusalem mayor’s unilateral banning of this year’ Gay Pride parade. Not only will it go on, but the city of Jerusalem will pay 30,000 shekels to the gay and lesbian center to underwrite the vent, plus another 30,000 shekels just for good measure, and they have to line the parade route with banners.

So there, nyah. It’s good news, much better than those crotchety old religious clerics of various faiths who came together last March only to condemn hatred of gays, not to promote peace between warring factions of faith.

In church today, Fr. Ted inserted a prayer for gay, lesbian, and transgendered persons celebrating Pride today in downtown Chicago, and nobody batted an eye. Then in the sermon he wished everyone a happy Pride Sunday. It went along with the theme he was working off of – how to welcome people – and it went off pretty well.

Actually, the big deal in church this morning was how hot it was, and that an elderly parishioner had actually baked a variety of yummy things rather than buying them to bring to coffee hour. So the “big gay issue” seems to have settled down again into the background of parish affairs.

It’s good that Ted (he actually prefers to be called just by his first name) now feels safe and welcomed enough to make no bones about his orientation. Our previous vicar was more discreet about her status. Either way, a vicar who feels comfortable is a good thing. Now we just have to work to keep him.

Now we just have to do something about the rather horrible conditions at the house he and Mark are living in, because the other parish owns it and the upkeep is not, shall we say, what it could have been. The other thing we have to figure out is how to keep the doors open AND open the doors to new people.

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