Grand Lodge of Georgia Bans Gay Men

It does, without question. And that is why, were I subject to the laws of the GL of Georgia, my demit would have been tendered as soon as I learned of such a fearful, ignorant, and hateful move on the part of that body. Much as it would have pained me to do so, I have lived long enough and been a Mason long enough to know that any substantial move to turn things around would likely have the same end result - one less member of that GL. The sexual orientation of a Brother is not the business of the Lodge. Removing fear and ignorance, by providing light, is the business of the Lodge, which is why this move is so deeply offensive.

 

Given the events in Florida a couple of years ago when they voted down an edict about religious membership, I would urge Georgia members to wait for the next GL and if possible attend and vote before leaving. Sometimes our principles of free thought prevail.

 

Your advice for temperance is sound, brother, but frankly I find it more and more difficult to reconcile the ideals with the practical reality where such an outrageous edict could even be brought up for serious discussion. Never mind the fact that it is quite transparently a knee-jerk reaction to certain recent court decisions.

 

Agreed!

 

Agreed but where else can I go? I had enough exposure to tobacco when I was in the military so I will not tolerate a smoking Legion post and all of them seem to allow smoking. Other fraternities are worse off than Masonry for membership and/or more political.

Were I a member of one jurisdiction I might well vote with my feet and wallet given a nonsense move like Arkansas, Florida or Georgia. When I became a member of my second jurisdiction I realized that if one of the GMs goes nuts I have the ability to demit (terminate plural membership) from that jurisdiction. It gives me more willingness to work within the system should the problems of one of my jurisdictions reach that level.

So far as I have seen no jurisdiction is without problems. There's always something I object to at some level - We're all human so how much of that is in myself. Few have reached the level I have written paperwork for so far. I did have paperwork circulating in two jurisdictions over the Florida situation.

 

Check out what happened in kentucky.
A lodge there made an interesting decision.

Google: Kentucky masonry refuses to ban openly gay men

 

Great!

 

Hi.
Dear brethren, viewed from Europe, and european freemasonery, this debate seems surrealistitic !
However, I think we must consider :
- Freemasonery (essntially the one which pretend at "regularity") bans women to participate in masonic activitys. In Europe too !
So, how we can condemn Grand Lodge of Georgia to ban homosexuals and on the same time ban women, atheists, disabled ?

 

Bingo.

EDIT: And it needs to be remembered. This is not new. This is not an edict. This is their Code. The prohibition has been official Masonic Law in GA for decades.

 

I think it appropriate to mention that observance of a law or regulation by anyone carries with it an obligation to consider the moral justification of that law or regulation
Being free men with a free will and a moral compass entitles us to judge every law and regulation we choose to obey.
This is the very reason why we must have a moral compass, be considerate of others and be educated as to the long and short term ramifications of law

 

All the more reason it is disturbing that we don't see calls for changes to their Code, either internally or externally. But my point is it comes back to us, what is acceptable discrimination in the Craft. We seem to be okay with gender discrimination (no girls), religious discrimination (no atheists), mental health discrimination (no madman), age discrimination (no young or old men adled by age), etc...
Why does this prohibition offend us so greatly? Why aren't we changing our codes?

 

All of the others prohibited from joining are anciently recognized landmarks of Freemasonry. This prohibition bothers me so much because:

a. In the US this is a hotly debated political issue,
b. The GL has no business banning this, oddly enough it makes part of the MM obligation easier to obey for gay men,
c. Masonry is declining and GL's in the USA are scrambling to "fix" this "problem". This goes against what most young people believe and will be a turn off for them. (FYI pun intended)

 

It seems to me that the basic problem is lack of competition between Grand Lodges.

Exclusive territory allows GLs to do what they want with only limited recourse for brethren who wish to remain active in a lodge.

 

There are two problems with that statement:

Firstly, The absence of any universally applied landmarks of the Craft. At best, at least within the mainstream US Grand Lodges, you have the standards of recognition used by the Recognition Commission for the COGNMA, but beyond that... nothing. Which is why, the GL of GA is able to say definitively (within the scope of their domain) that Masonry is a Judeau-Christian organization and their laws derive from such principles.

Secondly, even if those were landmarks, most of them aren't ancient.

EDIT: I'm not defending the GL of GA, I don't agree with it at all. But I think the better action is for us to correct our Codes at home first, and then worry about GA.

 

If Freemasonry promotes acceptance and tolerance, how is this ban congruent with that ? Many objections to "gays" are based on religion.... which should not shape Freemasonry's organizational decisions, OR prejudice, which should be made subservient to just actions, treating people with respect and equality seems core to freemasonry and this edict seems at odds with those values. Neither does being a fraternity (not admitting women) seem at odds with them either.

The stupid thing is, homosexual men are already members and valued freemasons, why would you ban them???

For me, being gay is not "unmasonic".

All that said, the GL in question needs to run its own show.... but if something like this was proposed here i would fight it, just as i would respect a lodges decision not to advance an application from a man who would not fit into their lodge....

 

I have certainly seen predatory gays in other contexts but never in a lodge.

Thus it seems to me the issue is whether the brethren are of good will.

 

Banning homos or women or atheist has the same nature. It comes from outside the freemasonery by introducing "moral law" from culture, civil laws, relious tendancies. It has nothing to do with the intemporality of free-masonery where values of fraternity, equality, freedom are for ever.
As we know the "moral law" change depending on countries and times. We cannot lapidate people, do human sacrifices, have slaves, discriminate women or black people. This is THE MORAL LAW of to-day.
In the world we have to fight against muslim integrists who seek in old books laws againt the civil laws.
We must not do the same.
On another point, how you can check if someone is gay or not ? ... if he still really believes in God ?
And women ... what in our rituals should make women innaceptable to receive initiation among men ?
Risks of seduction ? Is-it different at work ?

 

Stolen from /r/freemasonry