Thursday, February 19, 2004

Pacific School of Religion Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion
and Ministry  Launches New Web-Based Marriage Project for Religious Leaders and Community Organizers

In response to recent public debate over the right of same-sex couples  to
legally marry, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and
Ministry (CLGS) at Pacific School of Religion has created a new web-based
Marriage Project, now available on its web site at http://www.clgs.org .

The project was launched on Valentine's Day, the culmination of Freedom to
Marry Week, which also coincided with the historic decision  by San
Francisco's mayor to defy California state law by issuing marriage  licenses
to same-sex couples.

Designed for religious leaders and community organizers, the CLGS Marriage
Project provides biblical, historical, and theological resources  for
affirming same-sex committed relationships and liturgical models to honor
those relationships. It features information on the history of marriage,
denominational policies and statements, legal definitions by states, LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) religious caucus statements,
sermons and pastoral resources, teaching tools, and many other materials.

"The right-to-marry debate promises to be one of the more divisive 'wedge'
issues in this year's presidential campaign," says PSR Professor Mary A.
Tolbert, the Center's Executive Director. "Reactionary religious
organizations have obscured the important difference between civil rights
and religious rites. Marriage equality for same-sex couples is a matter of
civil rights, of enjoying the same benefits and responsibilities as any
other married couple."

"Securing these civil rights has nothing to do with whether or not faith
communities choose to celebrate and bless same-sex couples with religious
and liturgical rites. CLGS is particularly suited to help both LGBT people
and communities of faith learn about the important distinctions between the
civil and religious issues involved in marriage and become articulate
advocates for marriage equality."

Learn more about the new CLGS Marriage Project at http://www.clgs.org .

For more information, contact Jay Johnson or Alvan Quamina at 510-849-8206.