Christian organisation – ‘Anglican Mainstream ‘- to promote fear and dangerous gay “cure”.

his weekend in London (UK) The Anglican Mainstream Organisation are holding a fear mongering anti gay conference called Sex & the City. The Anglican Mainstream are the first organisation of the week to be awarded the title “Homo Zeros” for their homophobic conference where speakers will advocate the use of Reparative Therapy which aims to “cure” people of homosexuality.

For anyone who has seen the film But I’m A Cheerleader (about a girl whose parents send her away to the True Directions Camp in order to cure her of her lesbianity) the conference reads like a sick joke.

The Judaeo – Christian conference claims to be: “Ideal for clergy, rabbis, psychologists, therapists, educators and others concerned about the plethora of sexual issues confronting us in today’s society, including mentoring the sexually broken, the sexualization of culture, pornography, the Bible and sex, and marriage, the family and sex.  There will be a special focus on how religious professionals and friends/relatives can respond biblically and pastorally to those struggling with unwanted SSA (same-sex attraction).”

The organisers of the event are determined to whip up hysteria about gay relationships and portray gay life as a disaster which is sweeping the nation. The Anglican Mainstream feel that the UK is “capitulating” to the LGBT agenda.

They also seem disgruntled with the progressive legislation brought into protect LGBTs and are a living, breathing example of why such protective legislation needs to be in place. They say: “Given the present cultural endorsement and legal protection of these ‘orientations’, we will soon be in a situation where there is no turning back: the damage will be complete.”

The Anglican Mainstream promote Affect Focused Therapy (AFT) and Reparative Therapy as the way forward in “curing” gay people; who they prefer to call the “sexually broken” or “sufferers”.

They say: “AFT is transferable across the board to all sorts of deeply-ingrained patterns of dysfunctionality, sin, brokenness and pain.”

Reparative Therapy is a dangerous practise which seeks to change sexual orientation, and views homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Joseph Nicolisi a leading proponent of Repartive Therapy and author of “Shame, Homosexuality and the Practical Work of Reparative Therapy” will be speaking at the confererence. The Anglican Mainstream say: “Joe has a proven track record over almost 30 years in helping people exit the gay world.”

The American Psychological Association have stated that “scientific evidence does not show that conversion (Reparative) therapy works and it could do more harm than good. Changing one’s sexual orientation is not simply a matter of changing ones behaviour. It would require altering ones emotional, romantic and sexual feelings and restructuring ones self concept and social identity.”

News of this conference is particulary worrying especially after the recent report from The University College London and St. Georges University London, which suggested that many UK health professionals had attempted to change their client’s sexual orientation.

The Anglican Mainstream feel that Reparative Therapy “needs to be far better known”.

However, the Lesbian and Gay Foundation urge gay, lesbian and bisexual people to access Gay Affirmative counselling services and therapy.

At the core of Gay Affirmative Therapy (GAT) is the belief there is nothing inherently wrong or bad with being LGBT. Instead your counsellor will affirm your sexuality rather than trying to convince you to alter or change it. The Pink Therapy website is an excellent resource for questions to ask potential counsellors.

A Spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Foundation said: “It is worrying to hear of this conference aimed at promoting such a deplorable and dangerous approach to therapy, and giving a platform to homophobic ideas. We encourage people to access Gay Affirmative Therapy, rather than internalise the homophobic beliefs of others.”

Stand Up to Hatred: Should a conference which promotes homophobia and a harmful approach to therapy be allowed to take place in the UK? The Anglican Mainstream have not disclosed the location of the conference on their website, but it has been reported that the anti gay conference will take place at a Christian run conference centre called the Emmanuel Centre  (9-23 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3DW) in the City of Westminster on April 24/25th.

To lobby Westminster Councillors to stop the conference, or at the very least question the methods it is promoting, click here.

If you would like to talk to someone about your sexuality call The LGF Helpline on 0845 3 30 30 30. If you think you would like to access the Face 2 Face counselling service at the LGF call the Helpline and ask for an Application for Counselling form. All LGF counsellors use Gay Affirmative Therapy.

See Homophobic conference to promote gay “cure”.

The Lesbian and Gay Foundation

After seeing himself skewered on the “South Park” fish sticks episode earlier this week, Kayne West took to his blog.

But he didn’t exactly rip Kenny, Cartman and the crew a new gill, like you might expect.

He actually sounded more mature, circumspect and actually took the barbs like a man, not a gay fish.

“South Park murdered me last night and it’s pretty funny. It hurts my feelings but what can you expect from South Park!” he wrote. “I actually have been working on my ego though. Having the crazy ego is played out at this point in my life and career. I use [sic] to use it to build up my esteem when nobody believed in me. Now that people do believe and support my music and products the best response is thank you instead of ‘I told you so!!!’ ….

“I just wanna be a doper person which starts with me not always telling people how dope I think I am. I need to just get past myself. Drop the bravado and just make dope product,” the post continued. “As long as people think I act like a … , this type of … will happen to me. … I’m not actually a huge douche but I’m up for the challenge. I’m sure the writers at ‘South Park’ are really nice people in real life. Thanks for taking the time to draw my crew. That was pretty funny also!!”

Click here: Kayne West takes ‘South Park’ gay fish barbs to heart, gets humble?

Los Angeles Times 

When Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk two weeks ago, he used his acceptance speech to rail against supporters of California’s Proposition 8, which last November repealed a State Supreme Court ruling extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Penn’s confrontational tone was in keeping with his prickly public persona, but it was also in line with his character’s real-life activism. Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States, and the fact that he was openly gay defined his policies and goals.

“Milk,” the movie for which Penn won the Oscar, works better as political history than it does as biography. Harvey Milk’s long-term goal was to help build a society in which homosexuals participated fully without having to hide or deny their sexual preferences. But because he understood that many people abhorred those sexual preferences, he knew such a society could not be built on persuasion. He would have to force the issue through political action, just as the civil-rights movement won equality for blacks.

There was one stark difference, however. Black people couldn’t hide their blackness, while gays could hide their homosexuality. The only way Milk could accomplish his long-term goal was to urge his fellow homosexuals to come out and acknowledge their same-sex preferences to their families, friends and communities. He did this by presenting himself, often humorously, as a militant sodomite (“My fellow degenerates!”); in other words, someone who was going to live his life as he pleased.

The fact that Proposition 8 passed 30 years after Milk’s assassination means that his goal has not been accomplished, but his confrontational methodology has become the standard for gay activism. In the process, gays have become culturally, if not necessarily socially, mainstreamed in the U.S. In movie terms, that development is proved not so much by the Oscars for “Milk,” but rather by the box office success of the crude adolescent comedy “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” in which gay stereotypes and jokes are thrown back at antigay attitudes. “This is America,” says the main character, played by Adam Sandler. “You should have the right to put anything you want up your ass.” It’s something Harvey Milk could have said, and probably did.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to “Milk” when it opens here in April. There have been a few gay office- holders at the local level in Japan, but political action for homosexual interests is virtually nonexistent, mainly because there are no laws that explicitly proscribe homoerotic activity or deny rights to individuals who are openly gay. On the other hand, social pressure against coming out remains strong.

The media reinforces this situation by boosting TV personalities who trade in gay stereotypes without ever actually mentioning gay sexuality. It’s the whole point of the popular Nihon TV variety show “Oneemans,” where homosexuality really is the love that dare not speak its name. Last fall, NHK presented a two-part discussion about LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) on “Heart Talk,” a show that addresses social issues from a perspective of sensitivity. Though the program drew the derision of Shincho magazine, which wondered if LGBT was really a proper topic for a public broadcaster, it received a positive reaction from many viewers, and NHK aired a followup last month. Most of the discussion was about the difficulty of coming out to friends and family, and how important it was for LGBT people to receive support from parents. There was a profile of a Sapporo support group for parents of LGBT, one of whom appeared in the studio with his mother.

The show was basically an appeal for understanding, filled with testimonials from LGBT people about their loneliness and inability to function normally in a society that won’t acknowledge their situation. It was a passive appeal. The LGBT people who spoke out are waiting for society to change. One participant said LGBT should come out only when they were in a positive frame of mind, since doing so out of anger or frustration might create negative feelings. The advice was mostly about being respectful of other people’s — i.e., straight people’s — feelings. Even the example of the lesbian couple who made a point of not hiding their relationship from the neighbors was presented cautiously. The two women would walk through the streets hand-in-hand greeting everyone they met, and after a year or so people accepted them. However, on TV their faces were blurred out, as were many of the other LGBT participants’. They were not scared for themselves; they just didn’t want to take the chance of making friends and family uncomfortable.

The LGBT participants who did not opt for masking had more than a personal stake in the matter: former Osaka prefectural assemblyperson Kanako Otsuji, Setagaya Ward assemblyperson Aya Kamikawa, psychologist Toshiaki Hirata and some LGBT organization representatives. Hirata explained that the government’s new antisuicide measures do not take into consideration LGBT-related suicides, but that was as far as the discussion went into public policy. It was not the purpose of the program.

The purpose was to show how LGBT people feel, and it seemed clear that the main obstacles they need to overcome in order to live their lives freely are society’s fundamental ignorance and their own fears. In that regard, the program’s blurred-out faces and polite deference to straight sensibilities can only be considered counterproductive.

 See Gay rights in Japan blurred on TV

The Japan Times

For GLBT students in London, it must have been a romantic dream come true to see their lives and feelings depicted on the stage in a work pf passion and sweeping poetry authored by none other than William Shakespeare.

For others, however, the idea of a gay version of “Romeo and Juliet” called “Romeo and Julian” is “political correctness gone mad.”

The play was adapted by the London high schoolers in January for LGTB History Month.

But the kids’ playful reinterpretation of a timeless classic to pertain to their own lives ruffled some feathers, reported The Hindustan Times in a Feb. 28 article. See Gay Take on Shakespeare Sets Off UK Row

EDGE Boston -

Sabino Arana, the hawkish first ideologue of Basque nationalism, must be spinning in his grave.

Arana exalted died-in-the-wool Catholicism and Basque racial purity. A century after his death, the Berlinale Panorama welcomes “Ander,” billed by sales company Latido as the first-ever gay Basque-language movie.

What’s more, it’s set in the Arratia Valley in Biscay, an idyllic spot, where, traditionally, real men are farmers, and farmers real men.

Pushing even a larger envelope, most of “Ander’s” finance comes from the Basque government, via Berdindu, its gay-lesbian service.

And the cream of Basque politicos — including Basque government president, Lehendakari Juan Jose Ibarretxe — turned out for “Ander’s” world preem on Jan. 30, when it opened the Basque Country’s Zinegoak 09 — the 6th Bilbao Gay-Lesbo-Trans Intl. Film Festival, playing to enthusiastic auds.

Roberto Caston, its writer-director, bridles slightly at the gay tag. Pic follows fortysomething Ander, a Basque farmer-cum-factory worker who breaks a leg. He hires a Peruvian immigrant, Jose (Christian Esquivel, “Che”), who inspires in Ander feelings he didn’t know he had.

“The film’s about solitude, which most of the characters suffer,” said Caston.

 See Latido unveils first gay Basque film
Variety, CA 

THE city council is resisting growing demands for an inquiry into its decision to allow a gay couple to adopt two city children against their grandparents’ wishes.

Christian charity Care has approached the local authority asking for assurances that the law was not broken when the grandparents’ protests were over-ruled. he grandparents have reportedly now lodged a formal complaint about the actions of social

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work staff in a first step towards overturning the adoption. They claim they were pressured into giving up their carers’ rights and their wishes ignored. The council is legally obliged to consider the family’s views before deciding who should bring up the children.

Social work leaders insist they did take the grandparents’ feelings into account before deciding where to place the children.

The grandparents say they were told they must change their attitude and support the decision to place the children with a gay couple or never see the five-year-old boy and four-year-old girl again.

 See Council standing firm as calls grow for gay adoption probe
Scotsman, United Kingdom