Religion and LGBT Rights
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Pastor Joel Osteen's Sugar-Coated Homophobia
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Sir Ian McKellen's Grudge with Leviticus
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Catholic Church Goes After Straight Allies of Marriage Equality
Quitting Scientology Because of Homophobia
Published October 26, 2009 @ 07:21AM PT
Hollywood director Paul Haggis, whose film "Crash" won best picture several years ago (over "Brokeback Mountain," no less) has penned a heartfelt and poignant letter to the leaders of the Church of Scientology, breaking with the religion over what Haggis sees as homophobic actions in the debate over California's Proposition 8 -- the ballot measure passed last year that rescinded the rights of gays and lesbians to marry in the state.
Haggis writes in his letter that in the lead up to Prop 8, and in the wake of its passage, the director urged the official church to distance itself from the discriminatory ballot measure, and issue a statement saying that it respected the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. After almost a year of run-around from church officials, Haggis made his resignation from the body official with a letter to the church's spokesperson, Tommy Davis.
Toward a Welcoming Catholic Viewpoint on LGBT Rights
Published October 22, 2009 @ 08:21AM PT
It's nice to be reminded that not all of the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to the inclusion and acceptance of LGBT people. That reminder today comes from a Catholic nun who has spent much of the past two decades saying that the Biblical thing to do is to welcome LGBT people into the Church.
Sister Jeannine Gramick, the founder of the LGBT-friendly New Ways Ministry, has a piece up on the Human Rights Campaign's Back Story, taking the Catholic Church to task for making such a big deal about welcoming anti-gay Anglicans who are tired of the social justice directions that the worldwide Anglican church is moving in.
"I believe we should be leading our communities toward a welcoming view, rather than creating a false sanctuary for those who fear a broader view," writes Sr. Gramick of Pope Benedict XVI's decision to appeal to elements of the Anglican Church that oppose gay rights and women's rights. "Some might say that leading the way toward expanded rights for gay individuals and increased roles for women means abandoning the Church’s core principles. For many, including myself, the increased inclusion of women and lesbian/gay persons in our Church is not a desertion, but a fulfillment, of the Church’s core principles because the Gospel mandates us to welcome all to the table."
Sr. Gramick hits at a core tension that seems to be emerging in the American Catholic Church. While the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the Vatican continue to find ways to support discrimination against LGBT people -- be it in the form of donating money to ballot measures or issuing public statements that compare gay people to the threat of climate change -- most American Catholics don't find gay rights all that polarizing. Groups of Catholics for Marriage Equality are forming everywhere between Maine and California, and in many places (Rhode Island, for instance), the majority of Catholics actually favor gay rights measures like marriage equality.
Sr. Gramick delivers the message that not everyone in the Church is homophobic, and it's an important message to get out there, lest the more conservative elements dominate the religious marketplace of ideas.
How American Evangelicals are Killing Gay People in Africa
Published October 21, 2009 @ 08:19PM PT
Hate never made for a good export. But that hasn't stopped a prominent group of American evangelicals from trying to ship their anti-LGBT principles abroad. One glaring example of right-wing theology run amuck across the globe is fresh out of Uganda, where legislative efforts to attack Ugandan LGBT people reached fever pitch this week.
Uganda is an interesting example of how the radical religious right in the United States has sought to take their battle against all things related to homosexuality to a global level. Earlier this year, a prominent group of evangelicals -- among them representatives from Exodus International and Defend the Family International -- attended a conference in Uganda aimed at discussing ways to fight homosexuality. The goal of the conference was to brainstorm ways that the government, schools and churches in Uganda could "wipe out" homosexuality from the country.
From American religious leaders to participate in something like this shows some pretty gross disrespect for human rights. What's worse, their support has lent credence to a bill introduced in Uganda's parliament this week that will imprison people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and will imprison straight people who support gay rights. Oh, and let's not forget that the bill also calls for HIV-positive gay people to be put to death.
All of that and a bag of chips, and it's all courtesy of American evangelicals.
"Anti-gay groups have long viewed Uganda as a laboratory to experiment with Christian theocracy," writes Besen. "These American 'ex-gay' activists clearly left their stamp on this evil legislation, giving Ugandan officials a way to justify the abuse because they can claim that 'sinful' gays can choose to change."
And the proof is in the pudding -- or in this case, the actual text of the legislation, which reads like it could be lifted straight off the hate-filled pages of Exodus International's Web site. Here's a juicy nugget from the bill:
This legislation further recognizes the fact that same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic and that people who experience this mental disorder can and have changed to a heterosexual orientation.
It also recognizes that because homosexuals are not born that way, but develop this disorder based on experiences and environmental conditions, it is preventable, especially among young people who are most vulnerable to recruitment into the homosexual lifestyle.
Homosexuality is a mental disorder. Homosexuality can be cured. Homosexuality can be prevented. Did somebody put some crazy in the Ugandan Parliament's water?
Nope, far from it. Instead, American conservative religious leaders have been feeding Ugandan politicians this type of rhetoric for quite some time. According to Besen, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been embraced by American fundamentalists as "the key man" in Africa to helping spread conservative Christianity. This homophobic bill is really just the latest in a history of efforts by U.S. religious groups to spur anti-gay sentiment in Uganda, and the entire African continent.
It's worth sending a message to officials in Uganda that this type of legislation is a clear violation of human rights. Uganda now has a choice: Do they want to be a country with one of the most vile human rights reputations in the world, or do they want to show that they can be responsible actors in the world community and respect the rights of all of their citizens?
This, to me, is by far the clearest example of how these 'ex-gay' ministries are not only damaging to LGBT people; they're damaging to international human rights. People will be murdered and imprisoned because of the work of organizations like Exodus International and Defend the Family International.
(Photo courtesy of Stig Nygaard's photostream on Flickr, used under creative commons license.)
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?
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.
Using the Book of Leviticus to Beat Gay Men Into Comas
Published October 14, 2009 @ 03:43PM PT
As the U.S. Congress prepares to finally pass hate crimes legislation that includes protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, a bloody and gruesome example of why such hate crimes protections are needed is coming out of New York. Over the weekend, two men beat and mauled 49-year-old Jack Price near his home in Queens, New York. They left him for dead, crushing his lungs, breaking his jaw, and lacerating his spleen. His condition was so bad that when he was finally rushed to a hospital, he had to be put into a medically-induced coma so that doctors could treat him.
Disturbing. Brutal. Bigoted. Disgusting. And beyond these terms, what's another scary part? Friends of the perpetrators are saying that the hate crime was justified because of the book of Leviticus.
One of the friends gave an interview to WABC News in New York, and the commentary is repulsive.
"I don't want no man blowing me a kiss either. I mean things happen," said Marcel Gelmi, a friend of one of the attackers. "I've been beat up like that too, but you don't see me on the news and my family crying and this and that. Wounds heal."
Somehow I highly doubt that Gelmi has been beat up to the point where he had to be placed in a medically-induced coma so that doctors could save his life. Gelmi also showed the TV reporters a tattoo he has on his arm, from the book of Leviticus.
"Leviticus. You should not lay with a man as one does with a woman. It's an abomination."
Of course, if Gelmi actually bothered to open his bible instead of just tattooing religious right soundbytes onto his arm, he'd find that the real abomination is interpreting a biblical verse as license to violently assault people because of their sexual orientation. I don't seem to recall anything in the Bible where God blesses the beating, the lacerating of one's spleen, the breaking of one's jaw, or the crushing of one's lungs simply because one is gay.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown summed up this beating pretty damn well: "This is probably the most vicious and brutal incident that I've seen, captured as it was on videotape."
If these two men are guilty -- and all indications, including video that captured the horrific assault, seem to suggest that they will be -- they deserve to be held accountable for their actions. And if there was ever a reason to make sure that expanded hate crimes laws find their way to President Obama IMMEDIATELY, this is it.
Mormons and Catholics Waste Church Resources Fighting Marriage Equality
Published October 14, 2009 @ 04:57AM PT
Sen. Harry Reid is the highest-ranking member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints serving in Congress. His church was one of the biggest funders of the anti-gay ballot initiative in California, Prop 8, which rescinded marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Sen. Reid is now saying that as a whole, the Mormon Church has bigger fish to fry than fighting marriage equality.
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Sen. Reid regretted the divisiveness caused by the Mormon Church's involvement in Prop 8, and wished the institutional church would have spent resources on something much more productive to society.
"He said that he thought it was a waste of church resources and good will," LGBT rights activist Derek Washington told the Tribune. "He said he didn't think it was appropriate."
Sounds about right. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians doesn't sound like the type of investment anyone should support, let alone the Senate Majority Leader. Now let's see if we can find a Catholic politician to criticize that Church's behemoth money dump in Maine to do discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. Numbers were released yesterday in the state, and the Catholic Diocese of Portland donated $245,000 to fight marriage equality in the state.
Meanwhile, God was heard to say yesterday, "Do you know how many hungry people $245,000 could feed." Way to misplace your priorities, Catholic Church.
