International Gay Rights
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Argentina's Quest for Marriage Equality
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Nepal Wants a Lot of Gay People to Come Visit
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How American Evangelicals are Killing Gay People in Africa
Pope Benedict XVI Would Like to Welcome the Tired, Hungry, Anti-Gay Huddled Masses
Published October 20, 2009 @ 05:58AM PT
If you're an Anglican and you don't like women priests, gay bishops, or same-sex couples infiltrating your church, Pope Benedict XVI has a message for you: try becoming Catholic! Hey, it comes with free wine once a week, and support for all the anti-gay ballot measures you can muster.
The Catholic Church has announced a new theological structure that allows Anglicans who are sick and tired of the social justice leanings of their church to "reunite" with the Catholic Church. An Apostolic Constitution has been signed by Pope Benedict XVI that allows disaffected Anglicans to quit their church, and discreetly enter the Catholic Church.
Huh, I always thought the Catholic Church had a thing against discreet penetration.
But I digress. According to Scott Richert's Catholicism blog on About.com, this new Catholic structure will be open to all in the Anglican Communion (currently 77 million strong), including the Episcopal Church in the United States. And the biggest reason the Catholic Church is doing this? Because they want to tap into the anti-gay wing of the worldwide Anglican community.
"Some within the worldwide Anglican communion have become disillusioned by the election of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions. And there has also been discord in recent years over the ordination of women," reports the BBC.
These folks can find a new home in the Catholic Church if they'd like, which has never been wishy-washy in its support for discrimination against gays and lesbians, or its refusal to recognize women as equal partners in the faith.
Do you hear that sliding noise? It's the Catholic Church, stepping on rather slippery ground toward irrelevancy. Will there really be another generation that grows up thinking it's OK to exclude women from the priesthood, or OK to hate on the love shared between same-sex couples?
Uganda Wants to Kill and Imprison Gay People
Published October 19, 2009 @ 06:19PM PT
Someone might want to tell Uganda that when it comes to homosexuality, pursuing the death penalty is not only reminiscent of the middle ages, it's also a violation of basically every international human rights standard.
The country is currently debating a bill in Parliament that would essentially create death panels for LGBT people in the country. But don't let the Sarah Palin reference fool you -- this isn't something to take lightly.
If this bill passes Parliament, here's what life will look like for LGBT people in Uganda:
- If you promote homosexuality in any form -- whether it's allowing LGBT people to meet in your space, if you give an LGBT person $2.00 for lunch, or you print a pamphlet that depicts LGBT people in a positive light -- you could get up to seven years in prison;
- If someone fails to report the "promotion of homosexuality" within a 24-hour window, that person could be subject to up to three years in prison;
- If you are HIV-positive and you have sex with someone of the same gender, you will be sentenced to death and killed;
- If you decide to hold an LGBT rights rally or publicly speak in any capacity on behalf of LGBT rights, you could be thrown in jail for up to five years;
- Allows Uganda to go after people living abroad who are LGBT or who support LGBT rights.
If your mouth hasn't fallen to the floor yet, perhaps it's also worth noting that American anti-gay religious groups like Exodus International, Abiding Truth Ministry, and the International Healing Foundation are a big reason that this law is moving forward. They held an "ex-gay" conference in Kampala, Uganda earlier this year where authorities said they would go so far as to "wipe out" homosexuals from the country through whatever means necessary.
It looks like they've found the means to do just this, and it's through this gross legislation in Uganda's Parliament. These supposed Christian ministries should condemn this law -- if not because of its disastrous implications for public health and HIV prevention, then for the fact that IT WILL RESULT IN VIOLENCE toward LGBT people. LGBT people will be murdered and imprisoned because of this law. No ministry should be in the business of supporting murder with impunity or unjust imprisonment.
Amnesty International's expert on sexual rights, Katie Sheill, said it best when she said that provisions in this bill are not only illegal, they're immoral.
"They criminalize a sector of society for being who they are, when what the government should be doing instead is protecting them from discrimination and abuse," Sheill writes.
This legislation needs to be stopped. Here at change.org, we have an action petition that allows you to send a letter to Uganda's Ambassador to the U.S., Uganda's Deputy Chief for their Embassy in the U.S., and Uganda's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. These folks need to see that the international community not only disagrees with this legislation, but that if this legislation is passed, Uganda will cement itself as one of the worst human rights violators in the world.
Please consider signing, and sending a loud and clear message in opposition to this horrific bill.
Hey Pope Benedict XVI: Fight Climate Change, Not LGBT People
Published October 15, 2009 @ 12:07PM PT
During an annual end-of-year message last year, Pope Benedict XVI made a very un-peaceful move in comparing the threat of climate change to homosexuality and gender identity. The Pope, usually not one to miss a beat when it comes to calling LGBT people sinful, said that homosexuality was about as much of a threat to the human race as climate change.
Clearly this Pope has never visited the Maldives, or he might come to think that an entire nation being swallowed up by a rising ocean might be significantly worse than two women sleeping together.
The Pope's address was a veiled attempt to say that gender theory -- the type of thinking about human sexuality that promotes tolerance and acceptance of LGBT people, and views sexual orientation as a much more complex issue than the church's black-and-white thinking -- would dismantle humankind. Gay rights groups justifiably blew a gasket.
Today, on Blog Action Day (http://www.blogactionday.org/), it seems critical to think back about Pope Benedict XVI's unfortunate comparison, and challenge the Pope not to fall into the same sort of destructive thinking. If this is a planet worth saving, it's going to take all walks of life -- from queer people to the most devout Catholics.
It's a good thing that Pope Benedict XVI sees climate change as a threat to humanity. The Catholic Church has some muscle, given that it's one of the largest religious denominations in the entire world, and it should be treating the issue of climate change as if it were a threat to humankind. It is. But to say that gay people are as much a threat to the world as climate change isn't productive. It's hurtful.
Two months from now, when the Pope gives another annual message, here's hoping he touches on climate change. And here's hoping he leaves the gay-bashing out.
How Pink Power Can Help Fight Climate Change
Published October 15, 2009 @ 06:28AM PT
Today is Blog Action Day (http://www.blogactionday.org/), the annual day in which bloggers from around the world unite to write about the same topic on the same day. This year's topic is climate change, and if you think the topic has little to do with LGBT rights, think again.
LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell, one of the most vocal champions for equality in the United Kingdom if not the globe, spoke about the importance of LGBT folks getting behind the campaign to fight climate change. Last month, Tatchell put it pretty bluntly: "There is not much point campaigning for LGBT human rights unless we have a habitable planet on which to enjoy these rights."
Or, in other words, the two movements aren't mutually exclusive.
Tatchell's comments came as he joined several other prominent UK activists to launch the 10:10 campaign, which called on folks in the UK to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010. And if the LGBT population were to sacrifice their carbon footprints for this campaign, we'd be making a monumental difference in the fight to save the planet.
"Queers make up one in ten of the population. By reducing our energy consumption by a tenth, ‘pink power’ can help save the planet,” said Tatchell.
And hey, wouldn't it drive the anti-LGBT crowd nuts to know that 'pink power' helped save the planet?
Hillary Clinton and Homophobia in Russia
Published October 12, 2009 @ 07:59PM PT
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to commemorate the establishment of a monument in Russia memorializing American poet Walt Whitman. That's a pretty ironic news blip, because Walt Whitman was gay. And when it comes to the gays, the Russian government has a track record that's as oppressive as it gets.
The purpose of Clinton's trip goes far beyond just a monument dedication. She'll be meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss a wide range of issues, from a nuclear Iran to climate change. But her stop at Moscow State University to dedicate the Walt Whitman monument is beyond curious. Adding more intrigue is the fact that she'll be joined at the Whitman dedication by the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzkhov. Mayor Luzkhov has become famous in recent years for banning demonstrations by LGBT rights activists in Moscow, threatening violence toward demonstrators.
Luzkhov has also dropped such rhetorical bombshells as calling gay pride a "Satanic gathering," and saying that gay people are "weapons of mass destruction." Mayor Luzkhov has also blamed gay people for HIV/AIDS, and has said that condoms are silly. So the fact that Mayor Luzkhov will be dedicating a monument to gay poet Walt Whitman is pretty damn weird. It would be like John Ashcroft dedicating a monument to naked breasts, or Glenn Beck dedicating a statue of Van Jones.
But weirdness aside, this might be an excellent opportunity for Secretary of State Clinton to practice a little quiet diplomacy and nudge Russia on the issue of LGBT rights. This past September 11, Clinton herself said that the U.S. must condemn global violence toward LGBT people.
"(We) must condemn violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In country after country after country, young men and women are persecuted, are singled out, even murdered in cold blood, because of who they love or just based on claims that they are gay," said Clinton.
What better place to start condemning global homophobia than in Russia, at a dedication of one of America's biggest gay historical figures?
African Catholic Bishops Call Homosexuality a Ruthless Form of Colonization
Published October 12, 2009 @ 12:39PM PT
There are plenty of American Catholic bishops who have long transferred from the religious train to the crazy train, as they pontificate around the country for Catholics to discriminate against LGBT people. Now a group of African Catholic bishops are joining in spreading global homophobia, by saying that homosexuality poses a direct threat to the stability of the African continent.
The bishops, members of the special Synod of Bishops for Africa, are meeting for a three-week gathering to talk about the role of the Catholic faith in Africa. Sadly, it looks like the bishops are all too eager to tie discrimination to their faith -- all the more tragic in a continent where many countries, from Sudan to Nigeria, still put people to death for being LGBT.
Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, South Africa, may take the prize for most outrageously homophobic statement, by saying that homosexuality is a threat to the health of the African continent.
"[Africa's traditional cultural values] are threatened by the new global ethic which aggressively seeks to persuade African governments and communities to accept new and different meanings of the concepts of family, marriage and human sexuality," Bishop Tlhagale said, according to Catholic News Service. "Africa faces a second wave of colonization, both subtle and ruthless at the same time."
What a stupid statement. It's theologically inept, and worse, it's likely to result in violence. For a Church that's supposed to celebrate the concept of peace, the Bishop's statement is the furthest thing from it.
(Photo courtesy of ^@^ina {back from Africa}'s photostream on Flickr.)
Sixth Graders Take Toys 'R' Us to Task for Gender Stereotyping
Published October 09, 2009 @ 05:57PM PT
A group of sixth graders in Sweden have managed to whip up an official complaint against mega toy retailer Toys 'R' Us for falling prey to gender stereotyping in its annual toy catalog. Huh...guess if a boy wants to play house or a girl wants to be a superhero, they ought to buy their toys from somewhere else.
These are some pretty politically and socially aware sixth graders. The story has it that they were studying the issue of gender roles, and came across a Toys 'R' Us catalog that featured boys playing with active toys, and girls doing more passive activities. Noting that these depictions reinforce certain gender stereotypes, the sixth graders filed a complaint with the Reklamombudsmannen, a self-regulatory agency (and a ridiculously difficult word to type!) that monitors advertising in Sweden.
One teen noted that small girls were dressed as princesses, while boys were dressed as superheroes. Girls were also given dolls, while boys were given action toys.
In finding with the students, the Reklamombudsmannen said that the Toys 'R' Us catalog, whether they intended to do so or not, fostered outdated thinking about gender roles.
"Taken together, the catalogue portrays children’s games and choice of toys in a narrow-minded way, and this exclusion of boys and girls from different types of toys is, in itself, degrading to both genders," their statement said.
So what is this...a valid point about gender roles, and a victory for some very inclusive sixth graders? Or is this over-reaction of the sort that riles people up and gets them damning liberals for being too over-sensitive? Should toy marketing include boys that play with dolls, or girls who want to be Superman?
Either way, score a victory for political engagement in the sixth grade.
