Mat 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear
you in pieces.
Mat 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or
what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give
him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
27 June 13 - The US Supreme Court has announced her decision for gay
marriages by striking down the proponents of Proposition 8 (which bans
Gay marriage in California) and declaring some components of DOMA or the
Defence of Marriage Act unconstitutional.
The repeal against Prop 8 had its origins when Christian Gays and
activists won the
Californian Supreme Court ruling for Gay marriage in 2008 which resulted
in the Christian Right forcing through a public voter intiative in Prop
8 to ban gay marriage.
The victory at the California Supreme Court was in the favor of
the marriage lawsuit brought by gay christians and civil rights
exponents including Rev Troy Perry
who has been knocking at God's door since 1968 with the founding of the
MCC Church which has now extended world wide.
Rev Troy Perry was from a Pentecostal background perhaps reflecting that
Pentecostals had often been at the leading edge to stir up the move of
the Holy Spirit since the Azuza Street revival in Los Angeles in 1904.
For the last 45 years (since 1968), gays have been knocking at the door
at God's heavenly throne praying and pleading for equality and the right
to love their partners. They have asked for bread but have been hitherto
given the hard stones of religious laws or the poisonous rethorics of
serpents of the lies of the Christian Right.
Today, the door is open for us to find love, the loaf of breaf
finally given to the hungry child knocking at the door. In reality from
the time the child started knocking, he would be well aged by now, yet
hope does not diminish with time for we saw the day coming and is now at
hand.
On DOMA, the court's majority opinion by Juctice Anthony Kenny wrote:-
"The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the
purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by
its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,”
"By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons
as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute
is in violation of the Fifth Amendment."
"demonstrated purpose is to ensure that if any State decides to
recognize same-sex marriages, those unions will be treated as
second-class marriages for purposes of federal law."
"The differentiation demeans the couple, whose moral and sexual choices
the Constitution protects ... and whose relationship the State has
sought to dignify. And it humiliates tens of thousands of children now
being raised by same-sex couples. The law in question makes it even more
difficult for the children to understand the integrity and closeness of
their own family and its concord with other families in their community
and in their daily lives."
"The avowed purpose and practical effect of the law here in question are
to impose a disadvantage, a separate status, and so a stigma upon all
who enter into same-sex marriages made lawful by the unquestioned
authority of the States."
"DOMA's principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned
marriages and make them unequal. The principal purpose is to impose
inequality, not for other reasons like governmental efficiency.
Responsibilities, as well as rights, enhance the dignity and integrity
of the person. And DOMA contrives to deprive some couples married under
the laws of their State, but not other couples, of both rights and
responsibilities."
With the Proposition 8 repealed and gay marriage legalised in
California, Gay marriage is now available for 30% of the US population.
There is a long journey to go, but the momentum, public opinion and
moral standing is with gay marriage as a basic human right and civil
liberty.
Change is coming fast like a mighty river with the UK expected to be
next to legalise gay marriage after her opponents failed to derail the
bill at the House of Lords. With New Zealand legalizing gay marriage, it
is expected that Australia will not loose out for too long to the Kiwis.
Where do we go from here. To keep knocking, to keep praying, to keep
asking for God's deliverance and blessings for our gay brothers and
sisters to receive their redemption from the closet (set up by the
people of faith). For Jesus has come to set us free, and if we are still
in our closets, we would never be free to worship Jesus Christ as well.
As we reflect on the decision by the US Supreme Court, when all is said,
it was all by God's grace, love and mercy through Jesus Christ. For
unlike the black civil rights movement, gays form less than 5% of the
population hence have little political voting power.
There is still a long way to keep on knocking but Ephesians 6:18 says
keep on praying, at all times,
Eph 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for
all the saints—
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