External Link:  Read more at The Religious Consultation

By Professor Daniel C. Maguire
a Catholic Theologian teaching at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Catholic Church is beginning to rediscover what it once knew; that not all persons are heterosexual, that many people are homosexual and that this is just fine. In the past, the Church accepted homosexuality more openly and even had liturgies to celebrate same sex unions.1 There was a recognition that different sexual orientations are clearly part of God's plan for creation-some people are heterosexual and some are homosexual-this is the way God made us and we have no right to criticize God.

by Patricia Beattie Jung

The contemporary debate about same sex marriage has created a wonderful opportunity for all Christians – whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or straight – to think about why we celebrate marriage. Only when we are clear about what it is that Christian couples do when they marry can we address the question of whether the church should continue to bless only heterosexual partnerships. Ultimately all decisions about the form(s) marriage should take hinge decisively on foundational judgments about the purpose(s) of marriage. For Christians, such normative claims about the purpose(s) of marriage are deeply embedded in our faith convictions about God’s designs for and work in the world. So at bottom our question is really quite clear: from a Christian theological perspective, what is marriage for?

It began innocuously enough when the incoming priest at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center at Drake University noticed a piece of paper on a copy machine in the parish office.

On it was a counselor's authorization of hormone therapy for a transgendered person about to undergo a sex change. On a letterhead that included the center's name and address.

What came quickly after is changing a community:

Rest of the story can be found in the Des Moines Register

At its last meeting this fall, DignityUSA’s National Board decided to begin raising funds to help defray the cost of traveling for our Board members. As many of you might know, due to the financial stress DignityUSA has experienced in the past few years, we have been asking our National Board members to pay for their own expenses when we meet in person, three times a year. Depending on where the Board member lives and where the meeting is taking place, the cost of airfare, hotel, meals, and incidentals can easily run over $1,000 per trip.

DignityUSA is forming two new volunteer committees: Transgendered Committee and Technology Committee.

Transgendered Committee

A volunteer Transgender Committee within DignityUSA is in the formation stage as we close out 2009. It is the fruition of the Transgender programming during DignityUSA’s 40th Anniversary Convention in July 2009 in San Francisco.

Leaders of the US’s largest group of gay Catholics expressed surprise and satisfaction at the release of a Vatican statement that opposed the use of the death penalty and other severe violations of the human rights of gay people. They noted that the statement was particularly welcome in light of an effort by the government of Uganda to pass a law imposing the death penalty for being gay, and the reported impending execution of twelve gay men in Iran.

At the UN last week, the Vatican’s Permanent Observer issued a statement that said, in part,

By Mark Matson, President of DignityUSA

At the October 2009 DignityUSA Board Meeting held in Minneapolis, the DignityUSA Board of Directors unanimously adopted a reworded Mission Statement that is more inclusive, more reflective of reality, and more forward-thinking than the former Mission Statement.

By Daniel Helminiak

DignityUSA is probably stronger than ever. The superb work of a paid staff and talented Board has given Dignity the stability, efficiency, and competence to be a powerful voice for change. Yet one uncertainty continues to becloud the organization: there is no consensus on what its work should be. Thus, Dignity’s impact is scattered, fragmented, and diluted.

DignityUSA once again joins with individuals and organizations across the globe to mark World AIDS Day. Today, we recall the 24 million individuals throughout the world whose lives have been cut short by this disease, and we reflect on the people left behind--orphaned children, beloved partners, bereft parents, siblings, family and friends.

External Link:  Read more of Norma's letter to the editor

Editor's Note:  This is an letter to the editor written by a member of Dignity/Columbus:

All the Catholic priests in Ohio called to a two-day convocation on marriage. Wow! According to two Dispatch articles of Nov. 6, "Help for modern marriages" and "Priests seek ideas to help newlyweds," this conference, part of a national effort to strengthen marriage, offered "speeches from clergy, theologians and academics with advice."

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External Link:  Click Here to read the entire blog by Thomas C. Fox

It has been so unfair. Elements in our Catholic community have repeatedly placed the blame of the sex abuse scandal that has rocked our church at the feet of a gay clergy.

It has been a case of guilty until proven innocent. 

At its annual fall meeting from November 16 19, 2009, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is expected to review a new pastoral letter pertaining to marriage. In a statement to the bishops, Catholic reform leaders call upon them to create a pastoral that addresses the real needs of Catholics in the United States:

 Nov. 18, 2009--During their annual meeting this week in Baltimore, the US Catholic Bishops reviewed a preliminary version of a study they commissioned on the reasons for clergy sexual abuse. The study by John Jay College of Criminal Justice researchers found that being gay had no correlation to the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S.

External Link:  Read more at DC Agenda

The gay Catholic group Dignity USA is urging the D.C. City Council to reject a demand by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington that it amend a pending same-sex marriage bill to allow its charitable arm to discriminate against gay employees.

Just in time for your fabulous Holiday shopping The Fall Fling opens for bidding on November 21, 2009 at 8:00 AM EST Time.

By Fredrikka Joy Maxwell, a DignityUSA member from Nashville, Tennessee

Do you know that more than 434 tramsgender people have been killed around the world so far this year, and those are just the ones we know about? That's according to the website www.Transgenderdor.org which keeps track of such statistics. All those people will be memorialized at the Tramsgender Day of Remembrance as celebrated in local communities on or about November 20, 2009.

Creator God,

It took me far too long to get it, but my eyes and ears are wide open now. I get it now. My difference is not a curse, it is my richest blessing. You must delight in ironies — the last shall be first; the meek shall inherit the earth, and so forth. In my early years, all I wanted was to fit in. But I was made different from most around me. Only You really know how often I wondered what I had done to deserve this intrinsic difference. My Church called it “evil”. My friends called it “queer”. My parents called it nothing at all. They didn’t even want to think about it. See? See how I used to think about my sexuality as an “it”? I think it is called “disassociation”. “It” was the source of so much pain growing up. How could I have known then what a gift my sexuality would be? A different gift? An unusual gift? A rare gift? A priceless gift? Your gift?

Sunday October 11, 2009, was the most glorious day imaginable. Temperatures right around 70 degrees, a light breeze, a perfect blend of sun and clouds, even a rainbow overhead in the early afternoon. As many people said, it was clear that God was smiling on the National Equality March for LGBTQ Rights. Early doubts about the feasibility of the March and Rally disappeared as bus after bus pulled alongside the march route and discharged their passengers.

It took much too long, more than a decade. And it came at too great a price: the brutal killings of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. are just two among the thousands of crimes motivated by hate and bigotry.