Recovering Queen Elizabeth misses Commonwealth Day service

LONDON (CNN) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will miss a service celebrating the Commonwealth Monday, as she continues to recover from an illness that left her hospitalized last week, Buckingham Palace announced in a statement. The 86-year-old monarch was admitted to a London hospital on March 3 with symptoms of gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the…

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Embattled Scottish Cardinal O’Brien apologizes for ‘my sexual conduct’

(CNN) — A Scottish cardinal who had earlier challenged allegations of sexual impropriety — claims that once again shined an international spotlight on alleged sexual abuse involving Roman Catholic clergy — reversed course Sunday and apologized. “I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen…

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Scotland’s Roman Catholic archbishop, mired in abuse claim, resigns

ROME, Italy (CNN) — Scotland’s Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has resigned amid allegations that he abused four men studying to be priests in the 1980s. Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation last week, the Vatican said in a statement released Monday. O’Brien said he submitted his resignation to the pope months ago, citing…

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Catholic bishop slams homophobic letter that denounces the idea of same-sex love

MALTA – The auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta, Charles Scicluna has weighed in to condemn a provocative letter written by a zealous Catholic churchgoer. Pinknews.com repoted that Joe Zammit, a devoted Catholic from Paola in Malta, wrote a series of letters in the Times of Malta with offensive statements distinguishing between…

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Dutch couple sues for recognition of their same-sex marriage in Austria

TYROL, Austria – Chretien van der Leest and Edwin Veldt are Dutch citizens living in Tyrol, Austria where they run holiday homes. When the Netherlands legalized marriage for same-sex couples in 2001, the couple married. However in Austria, based on a decree by the Austrian minister of the interior van der Leest and Veldt’s marriage…

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UK lawmakers to vote on same-sex marriage bill

LONDON (CNN) — UK lawmakers are to vote on a bill to introduce same-sex marriage Tuesday, an issue that has prompted widespread rebellion within Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party. Three top party members appealed to Conservative MPs to get behind the controversial legislation in a letter published in the Telegraph newspaper Tuesday. The letter,…

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Kathleen Wynne becomes Ontario’s first female premier and Canada’s first out LGBT premier

ONTARIO, Canada – Last Saturday at the Ontario Liberal leadership convention Kathleen Wynne beat Sandra Pupatello to be elected to lead the party and become Ontario’s first female premier — and Canada’s first out LGBT premier. BuzzFeed reported that Wynne, 59, and  married to Jane Rounthwaite, said she believed her sexual orientation would not be…

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