Students across country walk out, allege LGBTQ discrimination at religious schools

'You can just see there's this pattern and movement happening of students and employees at these Christian universities finally saying, ‘enough is enough,'' said Chloe Guillot, a graduate student at Seattle Pacific University.

Photo by Angela Compagnone/Unsplash/Creative Commons

October 10, 2022

By 

Alejandra Molina

(RNS) — Queer students like Veronica Bonifacio Penales, who have been protesting religious university policies they call discriminatory and homophopic, often find themselves confronting the same question: “Why would you go to a Christian school if you are LGBTQ?”

For many of these students, this fight at religiously affiliated universities is part of a larger push happening from within Christianity toward more inclusive beliefs to, as activists at Seattle Pacific University put it, “deconstruct harmful theologies on sexuality, gender and queerness.”

And, as they’ve reminded their thousands of social media followers: “You can be queer and Christian.”

“We shouldn’t have to compromise where we go because they don’t want to accept who we are,” said Penales, a student at Baylor University, a Baptist school in Waco, Texas. “Baylor has taught me what I don’t want my religion to be.”

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RELATED: Are the culture wars changing how Christian students choose colleges?

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Within the last two years, students at religious schools across the country have made headlines pushing back against university policies regarding LGBTQ students or staff.

They’ve staged a monthlong sit-in at Seattle Pacific University, a private school associated with the Free Methodist Church, against a policy that forbids the hiring of LGBTQ people. They’ve called on Baylor University, that affirms marriage between a man and a woman as the “biblical norm,” to officially recognize an LGBTQ student advocacy group. They’ve protested at Brigham Young University after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which operates the school, said same-sex romantic behavior was “not compatible” with university rules, despite the removal of the “homosexual behavior” section from its Honor Code, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Veronica Bonifacio Penales. Photo courtesy of Penales

Penales, along with students at more than 100 campuses, are now planning to walk out of school on Tuesday (Oct. 11) to, among other things, protest religious exemptions to Title IX that they say allow for the discrimination and erasure of LGBTQ students. They’re urging for Title IX enforcement so all faculty, staff and students, including those who are LGBTQ and from minority communities, “have the ability to exist completely as themselves.”

Organized by the nonprofit Religious Exemptions Accountability Project and the Black Menaces — a group at BYU, which has expanded to numerous college campuses and has gone viral for their TikTok videos interviewing their largely white peers about issues concerning race — the walkout will be happening at religious, public and secular campuses, including high schools. The nationwide student protest, dubbed “Strike Out Queer-Phobia,” coincides with National Coming Out Day.

Students from Azusa Pacific University, an interdenominational Christian school in Southern California, will be walking out as they demand gender and sexuality training for staff and faculty. They also want staff and faculty to be allowed to include their pronouns in email signatures. LGBTQ singer and songwriter Grace Baldridge and other local artists will be performing nearby after the walkout.

At Denver University, students will be walking out in solidarity with queer students at BYU. And at Western Illinois University, Casa Latina Cultural Center will be participating as a way to urge “institutions to implement Title IX to these religious universities who are exempt.”

“We are privileged here at WIU, especially since students are protected by Title IX,” they wrote.

“We’re all fighting for each other,” said Sebastian Stewart-Johnson, a junior at Brigham Young University, and one of the leading organizers of the walkout. Stewart-Johnson, who was raised Mormon, is one of the founders of The Black Menaces.

“I can’t fight for POC (people of color), or Black people without fighting for queer people,” he said.

The Black Menaces in late August urged mandatory anti-racism training and sessions for staff, faculty and students after a Duke volleyball player, who is Black, alleged she was repeatedly called a racial slur by someone sitting in BYU’s student section. BYU said its investigation —which included the review of video and audio recordings as well as outreach to more than 50 people at the event — found no evidence that fans used racial slurs.

Sebastian Stewart-Johnson, right, interviews people during the Salt Lake City Pride Parade on June 5, 2022. Photo by Rabbecca Torres Moak, courtesy of Stewart-Johnson

After Black Menaces chapters became active on other campuses this summer, Stewart-Johnson said he’s noticed that students in religious campuses answer their questions differently. They’re emboldened by religion, he said, “to push out their ideas, regardless if those are homophobic or racist, because they feel like God is empowering them.”

To Max Perry Mueller, a historian of race and culture, “the work to address racism within Mormonism falls to people not in the center but on the periphery of Mormonism,” he wrote in an essay in Slate. He noted in his essay that restrictions that banned Black people from full membership in the LDS church remained in place until 1978.

Mueller said it’s crucial for university faculty, staff and nearby residents to listen to student activists.

“They’re going to be future alumni who care about the institution … They’re coming into adulthood here so they have a vested interest,” Mueller told RNS. “With any institution … you have a better sight line when you’re on the margins.”

According to Paul Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, universities like BYU have ​​a “system of discrimination that is on the brink of collapse.”

Last spring REAP filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of dozens of LGBTQ students at federally funded Christian colleges and universities.

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RELATED: Are LGBTQ students at Christian schools discriminated against? A lawsuit, scholarly studies say yes.

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The younger generation, Southwick notes, went to schools where they were taught critical race theory and to question “the white values that they were taught in their white churches.”

“They are done being told that in order to be a good Christian, that means you must be a white, straight Christian, or embrace white, straight Christian values,” Southwick said. “This is a crisis because the (university) boards are so out of sync with their youth that it will essentially be an inescapable crisis for them.”

A number of these schools are part of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, a global association of more than 180 Christian higher education institutions. Campus attorneys, public relations professionals and outside counsel gathered at a CCCU conference in late September to talk about Title IX and accreditation concerns. The conference was set to feature a “public relations crisis simulation and discussions about how to ensure mission fidelity legally and through good policy.”

Social media post for the “Strike Out Queer-Phobia” protest. Screen grab

Amanda Staggenborg, chief communications officer for the CCCU, said the council “encourages free thought and ideas as protected in the First Amendment.”

“We also support our member institutions and their commitment to Biblical standards in their mission work. We ask for peaceful debate, not campus disruption, as cultural issues are discussed and challenged in academia,” Staggenborg told RNS through email.

Tensions over LGBTQ-related policies have particularly intensified this year at SPU, where students will also be walking out.

Students and faculty have sued leaders of the school’s board of trustees for refusing to end the hiring policy. Additionally, the Washington state attorney general is also investigating SPU for potential illegal discrimination against LGBTQ people due to the school’s hiring practices.

“Our story is not unique,” said Chloe Guillot, a graduate student at SPU who is listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the board of trustees. “You can just see there’s this pattern and movement happening of students and employees at these Christian universities finally saying, ‘enough is enough.’”

While students and faculty claim the trustees’ position threatens SPU’s reputation, school leaders see the blowback as a violation of the university’s right to religious freedom. SPU leaders have sued the state of Washington to “protect its freedom to choose employees on the basis of religion, free from government interference or intimidation.”

But the way Guillot sees it, “it’s not about us persecuting you for your religion, because we share your religion.”

At Baylor, Penales said she has found her voice in “advocating for this work.” 

The university earlier this year granted its first charter in history to a new LGBTQ-focused student group, but its statement on human sexuality that upholds “purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman” still stands, the Texas Monthly reported. The LGBTQ advocacy group that Penales is involved with remains unchartered.  

Penales, who is also a plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit filed by REAP, is a main organizer of the walkout. She loves Baylor so much, she said, that she is willing “to continue this work to make a change.” But, she added: “I love me more to also do that work.”

This story has been updated. 

DEI is more than race and gender. It’s faith, too.

People of different faiths shouldn’t have to miss important work events to celebrate their holidays.

Earthen lamps are lit for Diwali. Photo by Udayaditya Barua/Unsplash/Creative Commons

October 11, 2022

By 

Khyati Y. Joshi

(RNS) — Last week I received two requests asking me to participate in two separate workplace meetings on Oct. 24. These two emails left me feeling angry, frustrated and invisible all at once. Here’s why.

Diwali, a major holiday celebrated by about a quarter of the world’s population, including Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, falls on Oct. 24 this year. Diwali is part of a five-day holiday, with each day carrying a particular meaning to different religions and regions of India and other South Asian countries — and in the worldwide South Asian diaspora. In my particular tradition, as a Gujarati, the day after Diwali is the Hindu New Year. These are days on which I cancel class, and many others take time off, to celebrate with family and community.

Those of us who celebrate Diwali are not alone in having our holidays ignored: Jewish Americans took to social media last week to describe a lecture about microaggressions, a fall social about “belonging” and even Michigan’s statewide K-12 “student count day” — all scheduled for Yom Kippur, a somber day of prayer and fasting.

As it happened, both of the meeting requests I’d received were about DEI work. The acronym DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — encompasses the efforts that workplaces and schools are making to protect, promote and welcome the participation of all kinds of people as colleagues, employees, students and community members. DEI initiatives typically focus on race, sexual orientation and gender. Often, DEI professionals have neither the knowledge nor the comfort level necessary to include religion in how their workplaces handle diversity, even though religion is an essential part of personal and community identity.

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RELATED: Why ‘Merry Christmas’ is better than ‘Happy Holidays’ for Americans of all faiths

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When I brought the meeting conflict to the attention of one workplace, the executive apologized and said they would make sure the meeting would not be held on Diwali — but the DEI leader never even acknowledged my email. The other workplace hasn’t acknowledged my correspondence but continues to be in touch about other matters. I think they are worried, don’t want to offend, and, frankly, don’t know what to do.

Silence isn’t a solution. Not responding tells me you don’t care, you hope it goes away, and you don’t want the topic to be brought up again. It is the silence of the middle school teachers who didn’t intervene when my classmates teased me for “praying to cows.” It’s the silence, unfortunately, of how too many American workplaces, schools and communities have responded to the post-1965 increase in American religious diversity.

Photo by Brittani Burns/Unsplash/Creative Commons

In most places, the response to more religious diversity has been “less” religion — that is, to restrict words and activities that acknowledge any religion. That approach hasn’t gotten us anywhere: It’s upset some religious communities, particularly Christians, without making other groups feel any less excluded. And for religious minorities, the message is still: You are invisible, and you don’t really matter.

It has deepened the sense that we can’t talk about religion, and it has left fewer and fewer Americans with the vocabulary and understanding to talk about religion. So even in settings where we absolutely should be accounting for and talking about religion — including DEI initiatives — we don’t even talk about faith.

How do leaders in the DEI space not know about Diwali? Both workplaces have numerous employees and consumers who celebrate Diwali — and, even if they didn’t, it is a holiday celebrated by millions of Americans. When it comes to holidays, the information you need is not difficult to find. There are even public “interfaith” calendars, on platforms like Google, you can subscribe to. Armed with that and a rudimentary understanding of who’s in your workplace community, you’ll be doing, sadly, better than most.

You can use the internet to learn enough about the holidays to know, for example, why you shouldn’t wish someone a “happy Yom Kippur.” You can discover which important holidays are more than one day long. (For example, even if your calendar indicates a single day as “Eid,” many Muslims observe it as a two- or three-day holiday.)

Remember that not every conversation about holidays is about “days off.” Years ago, not long after I earned tenure, my then-department chair scheduled an important meeting on Diwali — a meeting that would shape the direction of the department, and decisions affecting me and my students would be made. When I alerted her to the conflict, the chair told me I could skip the meeting. But that missed the point: Keeping the faculty meeting on my holiday denied me the opportunity to have my voice heard. She shouldn’t have excused me; she should have moved the meeting.

This is what Christian privilege looks like. No one may be actively trying to “discriminate” or exclude religious minorities; the exclusion comes from not knowing — and the sense of not having to know — about our neighbors’ faiths. And it’s not just meeting schedules: U.S. legal and cultural standards cause Christian social realities to be accepted as common sense, with other religions being accommodated only sometimes and only if it’s convenient.

An ethnic Tamil woman holds a tray of oil lamps during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nov. 4, 2021. Diwali is one of Hinduism’s most important festivals. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

DEI directors and their staffs are working to combat precisely these kinds of “discrimination.” But all too often, religion is their blind spot. Too many DEI professionals have neither the knowledge nor the comfort level necessary to include religion in their investigations into how their workplaces handle diversity. If they need help, there are plenty of experts to consult.

We all need to be conscious that religion is an essential part of personal and community identity. We need to ask our executives and DEI directors: Do you see religion among the diversities in your workplace, and do you understand why it is important? Are you including religion in your climate surveys and needs assessments? Do you consider ethnoreligious identities when you’re creating focus and affinity groups?

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RELATED: Meet the Hindu god Rama, an immigrant

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If your DEI team is not doing these things, they are not doing all the work they were hired to do — and their silence and lack of knowledge are speaking volumes to the religious minorities around you

What the Catholic Church is learning from Pope Francis' big bet on 'synodality'


Peter Weber, Senior editor

THE WEEK
Tue, October 11, 2022 

Pope Francis. Illustrated | Getty Images

In Oct. 2021, Pope Francis launched an ambitious, audacious project to gather the world's 1.36 billion Catholics in a global synod, or advisory assembly, a process usually reserved for cardinals or bishops. His worldwide synod was so unprecedented the Vatican had to invent a new word for it, synodality, which it defines as "a style, a culture, a way of thinking and being, that reflects the truth that the church is led by the Holy Spirit who enables everyone to offer their own contribution to the church's life."

The pope's two-year-long Synod on Synodality is now at the stage where the synodal conversations at every Catholic church and organization in the U.S. and around the world have been distilled down to national summaries. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released the U.S. national synthesis report on Sept. 19. Here's a look at the Synod on Synodality, how it works, and what it will tell the pope and the world about the Roman Catholic Church.
What is the Synod on Synodality?

On one level, the Synod on Synodality is a massive prayerful listening session and exercise for building unity and mutual respect and understanding in a very large and diverse global church. But Pope Francis also hopes it will permanently change how the church operates on a parish, diocesan, and global level.

A synod, the Vatican explains, "is a gathering of the faithful in order to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church and asking her to be and to do." The synodal process is one "in which people participate in decision making, share responsibility for the Church's mission, and cooperate and collaborate more in the day to day life of the church," the Vatican adds, though the Catholic Church "is neither a monarchy nor a democracy."

"Pope Francis has made clear that the synod is not a parliament, or a convention, or an opinion survey," the Vatican says. "Although it has many elements familiar to political and similar processes — listening, speaking, taking votes — what differentiates a synod is that it is a spiritual process that takes place within the church."

For Pope Francis, this is also "the greatest gamble of this papacy," Fr. Thomas Reese writes at Religion News Service. Under his predecessors, synods "were stage-managed affairs, where the agenda and debate were carefully controlled," and participants used the opportunity mostly to "show their loyalty to the pope and his teaching." Francis has asked for, and gotten, frank feedback from the bishops, he adds. And this global synod "may succeed in bringing greater unity to the church, or it could result in greater conflict and division."

How does the process work?

After Pope Francis launched the synod in Oct. 2021, every Catholic parish, school, association, and other organizations worldwide was invited to organize and hold its own listening and discernment sessions, each of which was documented and sent to the local diocese or archdiocese. The diocese synthesized the contributions from each individual church and sent that document to a regional body, which summarized the diocesan contributions and sent them to national bishops' conferences.

That's the stage the church is at currently. The bishops conferences created national synopses of what their member parishes discussed and discerned, and they will pass it up to a continental assembly of bishops and laity, which will synthesize the national documents and pass it up to the Vatican for the "universal phase" of the synod. The Vatican will release a final document in Oct. 2023.

How big of a task is that?

It is a very large undertaking. The U.S. portion or the Synod on Synodality involved about 700,000 participants in 15 regions made up of 178 diocese and 112 Catholic organizations, all of whom submitted more than 22,000 reports, the USCCB reports. The 18 U.S. Eastern Catholic eparchies submitted their reports directly to the Vatican.

"Many who conducted listening sessions described being transformed by the process of listening to others' stories and hearing about their faith journey," the document from Region XI (Northern California and Nevada) records. "Those who shared their stories, especially those who participated in small group sessions, stated that they felt listened to by the church for the first time."
What did U.S. Catholics say?

The Catholics who participated in the synod said they feel alienated from church leaders but also scared to enter into relationship with each other because of the clergy child sex abuse scandal, and they lamented that the church seems deeply divided along political and ideological lines and over use of the Latin Mass. "Many regional syntheses cited the perceived lack of unity among the bishops in the United States, and even of some individual bishops with the Holy Father, as a source of grave scandal," the U.S. report relayed.

The participants wanted a "more welcoming church in which their 'lived reality' is prioritized over rules and regulations," Dennis Sadowski recaps at Catholic News Service. And they hoped the Catholic Church would do a better job of addressing the needs of the marginalized, including immigrants, racial minorities, the poor, prisoners, addicts, LGBTQ+ Catholics, divorced parishioners, the disabled and sick, and women, "whose voices are frequently marginalized in the decision-making processes of the church," as they U.S. report puts it.

Just as "noteworthy is that many of the priorities of the U.S. bishops got little attention in the listening sessions," Reese writes at Religion News Service. "In the synthesis, there is no mention of the religious freedom of the church being under attack, no opposition to gay marriage or gay teachers in Catholic schools, no concern about trans persons in bathrooms or sports, no desire to prohibit certain people from going to Communion. The word abortion is never mentioned, although 'the unborn and their mothers' are mentioned along with other marginalized groups."

"The most common desire named in the synodal consultations was to be a more welcoming church where all members of the People of God can find accompaniment on the journey," the U.S. synthesis document reports.

As the synod from Region XII (Oregon, Idaho, and Montana) wrote: "People noted that the church seems to prioritize doctrine over people, rules, and regulations over lived reality. People want the church to be a home for the wounded and broken, not an institution for the perfect. They want the church to meet people where they are, wherever they are, and walk with them rather than judging them; to build real relationships through care and authenticity, not superiority."

Does the Synod on Synodality have critics?

Is the pope Catholic? (In other words, yes.) Jonathan Liedl at the National Catholic Register says that with an "abysmally low" 1 percent of America's 66.8 million Catholics participating, the synod can't credibly be called an "accurate portrayal of Catholics' experience of how the church listens," and he argues that synod organizers are unrealistically inflating expectations with "hyperbolic language about what the synod is and what it can accomplish."

The U.S. national synthesis is "as bad as you'd expect," writes Eric Sammons, editor in chief of the conservative Catholic magazine Crisis. "It's full of straw-men," tired cliches, and "properly woke talking points, such as encouraging diversity, lamenting 'marginalization,' overcoming racism, fighting climate change, welcoming 'LGBTQ+ persons,' and empowering women."

This entire misguided Synod on Synodality "institutionally favors endorsing heresy and immorality, and this document reflects that," Sammons adds. "The church is not a democracy; it is a monarch with Jesus as King," and the faithful should not to look to "suburban Catholics in their 60s imbued with the false self-centered presuppositions of modern culture" reshape the church.

"As the synodal process has progressed, conservatives have openly expressed fear while progressives loudly voice their desires. Both sides have used the synodal process to push their agendas," Religion News Service's Reese writes. But "Francis has pushed back on what he terms 'politicizing' the synodal process," which he stresses "should be a time of prayer, listening, and discernment, not a time for pushing agendas."

"Apologetics may be necessary in other regards, but it is a most unhelpful posture for the synodal process," Michael Sean Winters notes at the National Catholic Reporter. "You can't really listen to others if you think you have the answers already."

Will the synod lead to big changes, like women or married priests?

You wouldn't want to bet on that.

The "synodal process should not automatically reject certain topics or positions for dialogue and deliberation merely because they are questions of long-held discipline in the life of the church or reformable Catholic doctrine," Cardinal Robert McElroy, the bishop of San Diego, writes in America Magazine. The lived reality of the Catholic laity is an important "prism that can help to reinvigorate Catholic doctrine and discipline," and our quantum of faith "is not an inert and abstract body of teaching that forms a straitjacket for Christian faith and practice."

But at the same time, "a synodal church is a discerning church, not a parliamentary one," and "its search for God's will cannot be reduced to building majorities or forming coalitions," McElroy writes "It is essential to recognize that synodality is more concerned with nurturing a culture within the life of the church rather than specific policy outcomes."

To put it another way, "when doctrine is involved, the local church is not at liberty to change what it wants, but must consult with the universal church," National Catholic Reporter's Winters adds. "The whole judges the part, and the church of Rome plays a unique role in that universal judgment. Almost all Catholics understand this."

What does Pope Francis hope to learn or accomplish?

The Synod on Synodality is the pope's most ambitious attempt to decentralize power in the Catholic Church and include regular Catholics in directing the life of the church. "One of the ills of the church, indeed a perversion, is the clericalism that detaches priests and bishops from people, making them officials, not pastors," Pope Francis said in September 2021, at the start of the synod.

The goal of the synod, the pope has said, is "to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another, and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands."

At the same time, "for Francis, you might say that the synodal process is more important than the results," Reese writes at Religion News Service. "For Americans, who are result oriented, this is unintelligible. Francis sees the experience of prayer, listening, and discernment as a way of healing divisions and building the Christian community. If we are not true to the process, the results are meaningless."

"As Pope Francis frequently reminds us, synodality is not a one-time event, but an invitation to an ongoing style of church life," Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, writes in the U.S. summary. "We have taken the first steps of this path, and we have learned much; we have more to learn and more to do."

Why it may be ‘impossible’ for Canada to sever ties with the monarchy

Shibani Gokhale

·Editor

Mon, October 10, 2022 

Here are ten things you need to know:

• Support for the monarchy in Canada has declined

Canadians are wondering whether it makes sense for the country to be tied to the monarchy this day in age. A 2022 poll by the Angus Reid Institute shows at least 51% of Canadians want to abolish the monarchy in Canada.

• It's virtually "impossible" to abolish the monarchy

Canada’s Constitutional framework makes it incredibly difficult to sever ties with the monarchy.

“I did say that it is virtually impossible to abolish the monarchy in Canada because of the rule of unanimity. And that's not likely to change any time soon,” says Constitutional law expert David Schneiderman.

Canada's Constitution makes it incredibly challenging to cut ties with the monarchy

• The move would require unanimity across the country

Canada would need approval from the House of Commons and the Senate, as well as the unanimous consent of all 10 provinces to amend the Constitution and then abolish the monarchy.

The approval from the three territories is not required since they don’t have independent governing powers but their opinion would be considered as a part of general consensus.

• This is not how amendments to the Constitution typically work

Normally you need the consent of the Senate, House of Commons and seven provinces to amend the Constitution. But some some parts of the Constitution can be modified only with the unanimous consent of all the provinces and the two Houses of Parliament.

These include making changes to the monarchy, the use of the English or the French language, the composition of the Supreme Court of Canada and changing the amendment procedure itself.

• The last time the Houses and the provinces agreed on an issue was in 1992

The Canadian Houses of Parliament and provincial governments proposed The Charlottetown Accord in 1992. They aimed to obtain Quebec’s consent to the Constitution Act, 1982 which would have recognized Quebec as a distinct society, decentralized some federal powers to the provinces and addressed the issue of Indigenous self-government. But it was submitted to the Canadian public in the form of a referendum and failed.

• Canada may need a referendum to abolish the monarchy

“When you're engaging in significant constitutional reform and, you know, an amendment that requires unanimity by its on its arm would suggest that it's significant that that a referendum is required, but it's not legally or constitutionally mandated,” says Professor Schneiderman.

The Angus Reid poll from April 2022 shows that 26% Canadians are unsure of their stance and 24% support continuation of the monarchy. So a public referendum is "unlikely to be successful soon."

• Why Barbados succeeded but Australia did not

Barbados was successful at severing its ties to the monarchy whereas Australia attempted a similar move that was unsuccessful.

"Barbados is an interesting counterexample because there was no nationwide referendum. They avoided that risk by running an election campaign on the promise of abolition. And so once the government was elected, the Prime Minister could then take steps to fulfill that election promise, and that's how that was done," Professor Schneiderman explained.

Australia, on the other hand, conducted a nationwide referendum, which failed.

“The Australian public, though approving of moving towards abolition, didn't approve of the scheme that was devised to replace it. And this is why nailing down these kinds of details about what functions a head of state, who is not a member of a family that is part of this hereditary monarchy.”

• These details are actually very hard to nail down

Before you can even ask the House of Commons, the Senate, the provinces and the people of Canada, a plan needs to be devised.

While the monarch is only the nominal head of Canada, there are some constitutional functions that he performs in the country.

These have to do with prorogation and dissolution of Parliament, identifying the Prime Minister, who is then invited to form government after an election or after a vote of confidence. But these are actually performed by the King's Delegate in Canada, the Governor-General.

“So if we were to imagine a different form of government, we would require either somebody to serve in this capacity in lieu of the king and his delegates, the governor general. So some president, some figurehead,” says Professor Schneiderman.

This is exactly what Barbados did. They nominated a president in lieu of the King who is now a largely symbolic figure in their democracy.

• The entire process could take forever

“Proposals to amend or resolutions to amend the Constitution that require unanimity don't have a due date on. And that's because it's harder to cobble together unanimous consent. So if a resolution were to pass out of a legislative assembly, it could be sitting kind of on the table forever, ” Professor Schneiderman said.

• The monarchy in Canada was designed to be difficult to abolish

Professor Schneiderman does not think the monarchy in Canada will be abolished any time soon.

“It's not going to happen. And so the Crown will continue on into perpetuity, which was precisely the design.”

        IMPROBABLE AT LEAST 

New rules fix 'flaw' for families seeking Obamacare coverage


The healthcare.gov website is seen, on Dec. 14, 2021 in Fort Washington, Md. More families who are offered expensive health insurance premiums from their employers will get a discount if they sign up instead for coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace this fall. The Treasury Department announced new rules that determine the tax breaks for certain families when they buy private health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act. 

Tue, October 11, 2022 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Families who get expensive health insurance through employers could see a price break if they sign up instead for coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace this fall.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced new rules that determine the tax breaks for certain families when they buy private health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act.

The new interpretation of the Obama-era health law aims to fix the “ family glitch, ” which determines a family’s eligibility for ACA tax credits based on the cost of an individual’s work-sponsored health insurance plan rather than the cost of the plan for the whole family.

Since the law was enacted more than a decade ago, people who have access to health insurance plans through their employers are supposed to get price breaks on the Affordable Care Act marketplace if they pay more than 9.5% of their income toward monthly premiums.

But for years, the Internal Revenue Service arrived at that calculation based on the cost of a work-sponsored health insurance plan for a single individual, instead of a more expensive family plan. That meant many families didn't qualify for the tax breaks offered through the ACA, popularly known as “Obamacare.”

“Today’s action resolves a flaw in prior ACA regulations to bring more affordable coverage to about one million Americans,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Our goal is simple: leave no one behind, and give everyone the peace of mind that comes with health insurance.”

The number of uninsured Americans has dipped to a historic low of 8% this year, with an estimated 26 million people in the U.S. still without health insurance.

Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act marketplace begins Nov. 1.

India will weigh what Russia has to offer 

on Sakhalin-1 ownership revamp

Mon, October 10, 2022 

By Marianna Parraga and Gary McWilliams

HOUSTON (Reuters) -India maintains a "healthy dialogue" with Russia and will look at what is offered following an announced ownership revamp to the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Reuters.

Russia last week issued a decree allowing it to seize Exxon Mobil's 30% stake and gave a Russian state-run company the authority to decide whether foreign shareholders including India's ONGC Videsh can retain their participation in the project.

"We’ll look at what is the state of play and what’s on offer," Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Reuters in an interview on Monday following meetings with U.S. oil executives in Houston.

India is "actively monitoring" Saudi Arabia's Asia premium over oil prices after OPEC+ last week agreed to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day beginning next month, Puri said.

"At the end of the day, consumers start playing a role when situations like this evolve,” he said referring to global energy balance and the "unintended consequences" of the OPEC+ decision. Too high oil prices could exacerbate inflation and tip the global economy in recession, reducing oil demand, he added.

On the proposed European Union price cap on Russian oil purchases, he suggested it is not yet firm. “If the Europeans come with a plan, let’s see how it evolves," he said.

Puri this week met U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Energy Security adviser Amos Hochstein in Washington, where they discussed collaborations on biofuels and clean energy in addition to energy security.

"At no stage have we ever been told not to buy Russian oil," he said, referring to talks with officials on global energy supplies.

In Houston, he met executives from Exxon Mobil, oilfield service provider Baker Hughes, and with liquefied natural gas producers after launching a bidding round for offshore oil and gas exploration areas.

India is interested in the U.S companies' technical expertise in offshore production, ethanol and sulfur recovery in oil refineries, Puri added.

"For getting to green energy, you have to survive the present," he said.

There are also discussions underway with Guyana, Brazil and Colombia for joint investment and extra supplies of crude for Indian refiners, he said.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Gary McWilliams; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Japan says will decide steps on Sakhalin-1 in consultation with partners


Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura arrives at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official residence in Tokyo

Mon, October 10, 2022 
By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan will decide what to do about the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia's Far East in consultation with its partners as it reviews details of a decree by Moscow, Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Tuesday.

Russia last week issued a decree allowing it to seize Exxon Mobil's 30% stake, and gave a Russian state-run company the authority to decide whether foreign shareholders, including Japan's SODECO, can retain their participation in the project.

"We will consult with stakeholders and consider specific responses while confirming detailed conditions and procedures of the decree," Nishimura told a news conference.

"The Sakhalin-1 remains an important project for Japan in terms of energy security," Nishimura said, adding that the project is a key energy source outside the Middle East, on which Japan relies for more than 95% of its oil supply.

Any immediate impact on Japan's oil supply, however, will be limited as the country stopped importing crude from the project in May, he said.

The ministry is also investigating the extent of the damage to the Malaysia LNG Dua liquefaction terminal, and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply impact on Japanese companies after Malaysia's Petronas declared force majeure, Nishimura said.

Petronas issued the declaration on Oct. 4 after a pipeline leak caused by soil movement at the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline on Sept. 21.

"We have strongly requested Petronas to minimize the impact of the supply outage through early restoration and providing alternative supply for Japan," Nishimura said.

"Japan will continue to hold close discussions with the Malaysian government and Petronas to ensure the stable supply of LNG in Japan," he added.

The disruption comes as Japan and many countries in Europe are scrambling to ensure gas supply for peak winter demand as they face the threat of an energy cut-off from Russia amid the war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Yuka ObayashiEditing by Shri Navaratnam and Gerry Doyle)

Palestinian, 12, dies of gunshot wound from Israel army raid

ZIONIST ETHNIC CLEANSING OF A GENERATION OF PALESTINIANS

Israeli security forces patrol in Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. A manhunt follows a Saturday shooting attack at a military checkpoint in east Jerusalem where a Palestinian gunman fled from the scene after he opened fire, killing a female Israeli soldier and wounding three others, one of them seriously. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)More
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Mon, October 10, 2022

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A 12-year-old Palestinian boy died Monday after being shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers during a September army raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Mahmoud Samoudi was shot in the abdomen on Sept. 28 during an army raid in Jenin, a refugee camp and stronghold of armed Palestinians.

On Monday, the ministry mistakenly reported the boy was wounded during the weekend, but the Israeli military said the incident happened in September and the ministry has since corrected its initial reporting.

The Israeli army said it was “aware of an allegation regarding injuries to a minor who participated in the violent riots and hurled stones at the security forces.” It said the circumstances surrounding the event are being examined.

Israel has been carrying out nightly arrest raids across the West Bank since a spate of attacks against Israelis in the spring killed 19 people. The army said it had traced some of the perpetrators of those attacks back to Jenin.

Israeli fire has killed more than 100 Palestinians during that time, making it the deadliest year in the occupied territory since 2015.

The Israeli military says the vast majority of those killed were militants or stone-throwers who endangered the soldiers. But several civilians have also been killed during Israel’s monthslong operation, including a veteran journalist and a lawyer who apparently drove unwittingly into a battle zone. Local youths who took to the streets in response to the invasion of their neighborhoods have also been killed.

Israel says the arrest raids are meant to dismantle militant networks. The Palestinians say the operations are aimed at strengthening Israel’s 55-year military occupation of territories they want for an independent state.

Also on Monday, Israeli soldiers entered the Shuafat refugee camp and searched homes and shops for a Palestinian suspected in the killing of an Israeli soldier over the weekend. Dozens of camp residents threw stones at the soldiers who fired tear gas.

Saturday night’s shooting happened at a checkpoint near the camp in east Jerusalem. Police said at the time that the assailant got out of a car and opened fire, seriously wounding the female soldier and a security guard before running into the camp. The army announced early Sunday that the woman, who was 19, had died.

How Liz Truss' controversial climate policy is roiling Britain


Devika Rao, Staff writer

THE WEEK
Tue, October 11, 2022 

Liz Truss. Illustrated | Getty Images

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has had a whirlwind of a start to her term. Elected by her Conservative Party, not in a general election, Truss' economic proposals quickly sent British markets reeling, but her climate policy has also attracted controversy and drawn out a number of eco-protesters. At a time when Europe is facing an energy crisis and just ended its hottest summer on record, taking climate action has become a top priority both for Europe and the world. Here's everything you need to know about Liz Truss' controversial climate policy:
What is Truss' platform on climate?

Even before Truss assumed the position of prime minister, she wasn't exactly known as an environmentalist. She pledged during her leadership campaign to move the U.K. closer to United Nations net-zero carbon emission goals by 2050, but other pieces of her platform are contradictory. Many of her policies encourage the use of fossil fuels and make it difficult to expand renewable sources of energy.


For example, Truss has pledged to suspend the U.K.'s "green levy," which is a system where a portion of people's energy bills go to fund green energy projects, BBC News reports. The charges currently make up about 8 percent of a typical energy bill, and Truss says suspending the tax would reduce energy bills as gas and oil prices soar due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and OPEC+ production cuts. Many experts counter that that green projects can curb the cost of energy and that just removing the levy would not decrease bills by much.
Drill, Britain, drill?

Truss also lifted a 2019 moratorium on fracking. In her first speech as prime minister, she said lifting the ban "could get gas flowing in as soon as six months, where there is local support."

Lifting the ban was controversial in Britain, where polls show that only about 27 percent of the public supports fracking, CNBC reports. During a speech about how her policies will encourage growth, Truss was interrupted by two members of Greenpeace, an environmental nonprofit, holding a sign saying reading, "Who voted for this?" Truss had security escort them out and then called them part of the "anti-growth coalition," Politico reports.

Truss has also announced new North Sea oil and gas licenses, pitching the future increase of domestic production as a way to "reduce reliance on authoritarian regimes." The U.K.'s National Grid has warned of potential rolling blackouts if Britain runs short on gas this winter.

Truss has also sparked concern with her Cabinet picks. Despite saying she will aid in the net-zero goal by 2050, her two main Cabinet picks that would be working on that goal are vocal climate change skeptics.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, has advocated for extracting "every last drop" of North Sea oil and has voiced his doubts about climate science. Ranil Jayawardena, the environment secretary, has dismissed the idea of more solar farms in the countryside. He has noted the potential for wind energy, but neither he, Truss, or Rees-Mogg have jumped at the opportunity to expand it, BBC News reports.
How do her policies compare to other countries?

Overall, Western Europe has seen quite a rightward shift in leadership, and several major countries have similarly eased their ambitious climate goals. Italy elected far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, for example, and the Sweden Democrats, a party based on neo-fascist roots, placed second in September elections. France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen came within striking distance of unseating President Emmanuel Macron. With conservative leaders come conservative climate policies.

An analysis done by the Italian Climate Network found that Meloni's administration scored low in moving away from fossil fuels and environmentalist ambition, for example. Meloni and her party, Brothers of Italy — also with neo-fascist roots — have proposed increasing domestic natural gas production, and renewables are absent in their agenda. The Sweden Democrats have promised to cut gas prices and call the Swedish emissions targets too ambitious, Politico notes.

France's Macron, on the other hand, has been a climate advocate. In last week's inaugural European Political Community meeting in Prague, Macron openly dismissed the construction of the giant MidCat pipeline, a proposed conduit that would bring gas from Spain to Germany and the rest of Europe. He also opened France's first offshore wind farm amid the energy crisis.
What does Truss' climate shift mean for Britain?

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Truss' Conservative predecessor, set tough climate goals after having a change of heart. He talked enthusiastically about the economic opportunities of clean energy at COP26, even though Britain's Conservatives were already eyeing a new leader. Johnson left behind a lot of unfinished climate business that will languish under Truss' leadership, Politico explains.

Truss never hid skepticism about the net-zero pledge even as she campaigned on pushing toward that goal. And she hasn't been ambitious about keeping the pledge. Instead, there has also been confusion as to who will attend the COP27 Summit in Egypt this November.

King Charles III had been set to attend the climate conference before his accession to the throne, but Truss quickly advised him to cancel his plans. The new king has been a long-standing environmental activist and made a speech at COP26 last year in Glasgow. Instead, Truss herself and climate skeptic Rees-Mogg will reportedly attend the summit, The Guardian reports.

"There was a broad sense that we were reflecting [at COP26] the kind of country we want ourselves to be," says Alok Sharma, the Tory Cabinet minister who served as president of last year's COP26 summit. "This government is now betraying all of that."