The first gay marriages in the UK have taken place in the
traditionally gay-friendly areas of north London and Brighton. Prime Minister
David Cameron sent congratulations, and a rainbow flag was flown over Whitehall
for the day.
Alongside this change, the Equalities and Human Rights
Commission has issued new guidance, saying that it is illegal for
wedding-related businesses to refuse to supply services to a gay wedding. The
guidance also suggests that churches and other groups opposed to gay marriage
could lose publicly funded contracts or grants in areas where their opinions on
gay marriage were deemed ‘relevant’, such as marriage guidance counselling,
prison chaplaincy, or adoption services. A Conservative MP has protested that these
changes breach assurances given by ministers that people’s employment rights
would not be affected by their beliefs on gay marriage.
Meanwhile, there appears to be a grassroots movement in
California that wants to make it punishable even to criticise or oppose gay marriage, on the grounds that it offends gays, especially those who are now in gay
marriages. There are calls for the new CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, to step
down from his post because he once donated $1,000 to a campaign against gay
marriage. Eich has expressed “sorrow for any pain” and has promised “an active
commitment to equality”; however, this is not enough for some, including some
of his own employees. Mozilla is vulnerable to grassroots movements because like
Wikipedia, its business model partly relies on voluntary contributions; one
(gay) software developer has already said that he will cease supporting Mozilla
until Eich steps down.
The Pope has strongly criticised the Mafia, saying that if
they do not repent they are going to hell. “It’s blood-soaked money and
blood-soaked power that you have,” he said, “and you can’t take it with you.”
An ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablet, written a thousand
years before the book of Genesis, has recently been deciphered. It carries part
of the Babylonian version of the story of the Great Flood – specifically,
instructions on ark-building. The proposed Ark differs from both that described
in Genesis and the one described in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, both in
materials (palm fibre and bitumen are recommended) and shape (it was to be
round, like a massive coracle). However, one key point of agreement has been
found for the first time – the tablet instructs that the animals should enter
“two each, two by two.”
In sport, the cricket World Twenty20 competition in
Bangladesh is reaching the end of the group stage. England’s women have
qualified for the semi-finals; England bowler Anya Shrubsole is the leading
wicket taker in the whole tournament, with combined figures of 10 wickets for
57 runs. England’s men have been eliminated at the group stage, though they are
less embarrassed than Australia’s men, who failed even to survive for their
allotted 20 overs in their most recent match against India.
And finally, IMAX cinemagoers in Los Angeles watching the
controversial new “Noah” film found it a bit more realistic than they bargained
for; at the point where “the world pretty much ends”, the whole cinema started
shaking. One tweeted, “I was thinking that this surround sound was pretty damn
good; alas, it was just an earthquake.” The 5.1 magnitude tremor caused no
injuries but disrupted power supplies for many people.
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