There’s no pride in bashing gays, Bishop
If you’re reading, Bishop Michael, I really didn’t want to have another pop at you about your trenchant and sometimes bizarre views about what constitutes Christian truth. As to the rest of you reading this, I’m sorry if it looks as if whenever Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who retires as Bishop of Rochester in September, makes a public statement I launch an attack on him. Believe me, the routine is tiresome for me, too.
But his comments in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph, which he is expected to repeat today, that homosexuals should “repent and be changed” cannot pass unchallenged. Or rather, they should not go challenged only by homosexual rights campaigners, such as Peter Tatchell, who you would expect to be somewhat antipathetic to the expressed view.
Because Dr Nazir-Ali is wrong in the eyes of a broad swath of kind and tolerant people of differing sexualities, social mores and of the Christian faith, other faiths and no faith at all. Badly, badly wrong.
I say that I didn’t want to have another fight with him because such fights polarise Anglicans, and we’re at our best when we’re talking. I went to a private lunch recently, to which Dr Nazir-Ali was also invited. He didn’t show. The seat next to me went empty. I do hope he didn’t bottle it; it’s important that religious leaders don’t just inhabit comfort zones with friends who share their views.
Dr Nazir-Ali’s friends are the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Foca), who this week will try to get the Anglican schism over homosexuality going again, while denying that they are doing any such thing. Had he turned up to our lunch, I would have asked him why he and Foca are so convinced that they know the mind of God better than those who disagree with them and that their interpretation of scripture is with absolute certainty the one and only true one.
When I write about the Church and homosexuality, inevitably I receive messages that read simply “Romans 1:26-27″ or “1 Corinthians 6:9″, as if that settles something. We can argue scripture until we’re at the pearly gates. But the essential difference between Dr Nazir-Ali and me is this: I accept, disappointing as I would find it in my fiery furnace, that he might be right. By contrast, he and his friends cannot accept that I might be right, claim that I can’t be a proper Christian, and some of them go so far as to suggest that I’ll burn in hell for all eternity.
And there’s the real problem: it’s an issue of intolerance. Anglicanism has long been characterised by a broad tolerance. But my tolerance of Dr Nazir-Ali and his friends, that they are Anglicans with whom I happen vehemently to disagree, doesn’t seem to be reciprocated.
See There’s no pride in bashing gays, Bishop Telegraph.co.uk
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
 |
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/theres-no-pri…
Homosexual Haitian Migrants Focus of UA Doctoral Student’s Research
Erin Durban spent time in Haiti last year initiating her field research about individuals who immigrate to the United States. While there, she worked to immerse herself in the culture, which included learning about vévé, religious symbols used during rituals, from a Haitian vodou priest, Edouard Glissant.
Erin Durban, center, is making her second trip to Haiti to learn about the decisions homosexual Haitians make in immigrating to the United States, but then opting to return to their home country.
Erin Durban, a doctoral degree candidate in the UA’s gender and women’s studies department, will travel to Haiti to study the decisions homosexual Haitians migrants make when they leave for the U.S. but then return home.
As an undergraduate in Denver, Erin Durban began to study the conditions of Haitian immigrants and ways the United States has been embroiled in the history of the country.
Now a University of Arizona doctoral degree candidate in gender and women’s studies, Durban is studying the immigration of “queer-identified” Haitians who choose to leave for the United States, but then opt to return home.
Perplexing to Durban is the idea that the United States has a reputation for offering “more liberated spaces” to people around the world seeking asylum – whether for political, economic, religious reasons or because of sexual orientation – and yet certain populations of Haitians decide to return to a county that has offers little protection against sex-based discrimination.
Durban, whose research interests are in sexuality, migration and cultural studies as well as social and economic justice, said she is interested in studying way Haitians interpret the relationship between the United States and Haiti within the context of what is defined as “home.”
She recently received a Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute grant for her project, “Desire to Return, Desire to Leave: Investigating Queer Haitian Migration.” The institute, which operates out of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, promotes research in the college.
The project will take her later this month to the country of more than 9 million inhabitants, where she will spend several weeks conducting research in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince to better understand the complexities association with the migration of Haitians who are homosexual.
Her investigation, she said, may also help to shed more light on the ways in which economic, political and social interactions and pressures influence certain people.
One challenge she’ll face is the limited amount of information about homosexuals in Haitians, said Durban, who intends to publish an article about her research and incorporate her findings into her dissertation.
“Surprisingly, there is not a lot of research about queer migration in Haiti,” Durban said, noting that of existing literature and documentaries, most tend to focus on gay men or the vodou, or voodoo, religion, which tends to be more accepting of homosexuals.
The focus, too, tends to be on the turmoil in Haiti, considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Durban’s interest in these issues was heighted about five years ago with the announcement of the United Nations’ Stabilization Mission in Haiti, a mandate established in response to armed opposition in the country. The United States is among the countries offering military and police personnel in the effort.
“Everywhere I went it seemed I was hearing about Haiti and I found it very strange that here is this place that is really close that no one ever really talks about,” she said. “But when they do, all we ever hear about is corruption, violence and disease.”
Durban said it is important to understand – outside of the typical contexts of violence and poverty – how gender and sexuality are shaping the experience of migrants.
She was encouraged to begin studying what she described as “the coexistence” of two seemingly conflicting beliefs about migration after visiting Haiti last year.
One belief describes the desire by gays and lesbians to leave Haiti for the more “progressive” United States, whereas another describes a strong desire to return to Haiti once in the United States because of a preference to live in their home countries.
Her research, she said, may help explain the role that family obligations, work-related struggles, the pursuit of citizenship, homophobia, the stigma associated with being an immigrant, “the heightened anti-immigrant fervor post-Sept. 11″ and other factors play in migrants choosing to leave the United States.
In her grant proposal, Durban noted that her research could potentially “rethink the idea of the United States as a site of ‘liberation’ for queer people of the world from a new vantage point.” Of particular concern are ways in which racism, xenophobia and homophobia affect and influence the decisions of Haitian migrants.
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/homosexual-ha…
Ancient India didn’t think homosexuality was against nature
NEW DELHI: Was Indian society tolerant of homosexuality before the colonial administration proscribed it in 1860? The government has taken conflicting positions on this within the country and outside.
On a petition pending before the Delhi high court seeking to decriminalize homosexuality, the government said in its counter affidavit that that there were “no convincing reports to indicate that homosexuality or other offences against the order of nature mentioned in Section 377 IPC were acceptable in the Indian society prior to colonial rule.�
But when it was being reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council last year for the first time ever, India distanced itself from that provision when Sweden, arguably the most gay-friendly country in the world, questioned its record in ensuring equality irrespective of a person’s sexual orientation.
This is how Goolam Vahanvati, who was then solicitor-general and is now attorney-general, tried to save India’s face before the council as part of its official delegation. “Around the early 19th Century, you probably know that in England they frowned on homosexuality, and therefore there are historical reports that various people came to India to take advantage of its more liberal atmosphere with regard to different kinds of sexual conduct.
“As a result, in 1860 when we got the Indian Penal Code, which was drafted by Lord Macaulay, they inserted Section 377 which brought in the concept of ‘sexual offences against the order of nature’.
Now in India we didn’t have this concept of something being ‘against the order of nature’. It was essentially a Western concept, which has remained over the years. Now homosexuality as such is not defined in the IPC, and it will be a matter of great argument whether it is ‘against the order of nature.”
Vahanvati’s admission on the international forum that the ban on homosexuality was a western import and its relevance was debatable flies in the face of the government’s unabashed efforts before the Delhi high court to retain Section 377, complete with its colonial baggage and archaic notion of unnatural offences.
Whatever the politics behind this glaring contradiction, there is ample evidence placed before the high court by petitioner Naz Foundation substantiating in effect Vahanvati’s view that in the centuries prior to the enactment of section 377, India was rather accommodating of homosexuals. See Ancient India didn’t think homosexuality was against nature
Times of India
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/ancient-india…
Gay Men Kissing Ousted From Chico’s Tacos in Texas
The Chico’s Tacos restaurant chain in El Paso Texas doesn’t like homosexuals eating their fast-food tacos and the police agree reasoning, that a business can refuse service to anyone it wants, despite the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
When two men briefly kissed at the popular taco chain, bigotry, homophobia and ignorance of the law came out in full force, beginning with the security guards’ hurling anti-gay slurs at the men and ending with the El Paso Police ordering the men to leave the restaurant or face a “homosexual conduct” citation.
The incident has garnered national attention and the taco chain faces a growing movement by gay rights activists to boycott the restaurant, with protests planned at the restaurant’s multiple El Paso locations.
See Gay Men Kissing Ousted From Chico’s Tacos: Cops Threaten …
ChattahBox
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-men-kissi…
Gay Activist Can’t File Married Joint Tax Return
CN) – The U.S. Tax Court has rejected gay activist and millionaire Charles Merrill’s claim that he doesn’t have to pay his taxes unless he can file a married joint return with his partner of 18 years.
Merrill, an artist and cousin of Merrill Lynch founder Charles E. Merrill, said he refused to file his 2004 and 2005 tax returns as an act of civil disobedience promoting same-sex marriage equality. He demanded that the IRS grant him “married filing jointly” status, rather than single status, based on his committed same-sex relationship.
Before his relationship with Kevin Boyle, Merrill was married to Johnson & Johnson heiress Evangeline Johnson Merrill for 23 years. He and Boyle began dating shortly after Evangeline’s death, according to the ruling. See Gay Activist Can’t File Married Joint Tax Return
Courthouse News Service
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-activist-…
Senate gives nod to gay-inclusive hate crimes bill
The U.S. Senate voted 63-28 to attach gay-inclusive federal hate crimes legislation to the 2010 defense authorization bill. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D.-Mass., who first proposed amending U.S. hate crimes law to cover sexual orientation, issued a statement saying that the proposal would “[close] the flagrant loopholes that for too long have prevented effective prosecution of these shocking crimes that terrorize entire groups of communities across America.” Google/The Associated Press
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/senate-gives-…
Religious groups in India have warned they will…
Religious groups in India have warned they will oppose any move to legalize homosexuality as the federal government prepares to hold talks on a law that classifies same-sex acts as crimes.
India’s Hindu nationalist main opposition has in the meantime called for a national debate on the legislation that law minister M. Veerappa Moily last week said would come up for a discussion within the government.
“This is a sensitive issue and warrants a debate within the Indian society at large before arriving at any decision,” said Sidharth Nath Singh, spokesman for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
An Indian court is due to give its judgment on a petition filed by a nonprofit group that has challenged the anti-gay provision of the penal code.
In a news conference last week, Moily refused to spell out his government’s stand on it because it awaits judicial determination. But his comments that the federal home minister was “contemplating” a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues on the law drew widespread coverage in the largely conservative country.
“Hope floats at rainbow parades,” read a caption on a front-page picture from a gay parade in New Delhi in Monday’s Times of India newspaper.
Participants in that march demanded repeal of Section 377 of the penal code, which criminalizes private consensual sex between adults of the same gender in the country. 
Watch a New Delhi march in support of gay rights »
Religious leaders, however, oppose any suggestion to scrap 377, describing homosexuality as “unnatural.”
“We are against calling homosexuality a criminal activity, but we are certainly in principle against legalizing it, because that would mean the state endorsing same-sex relationships,” said Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
Homosexuality “violates fundamental norms of a family,” he said.
See India faith leaders: Anti-gay law must stay CNN International
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/religious-gro…
Gay Loggers for Jesus, Tea Partiers rally in Bozeman Montana
One freedom not taken for granted in Bozeman this Independence Day weekend is freedom of expression. Two very different groups held morning parades down Main Street, beginning with the Green Coalition of Gay Loggers for Jesus. Organizers say the group celebrates what’s right about America. Brian Leland, president of the group, said, :”We’re asking folks, shop on your way down Main Street, we have an entire hour to get from here to the courthouse. If you want to stop, get a cup of coffee, please do so.” One logger said, “I think it’s awesome that people could come out here and raise protests and speak their mind and show their affiliation for whatever particular cause they belive in. Another logger noted, “I think the 4th of July is a great day to come out and support the President of the United States, I can’t think of anything more patriotic.” The second parade, the Bozeman Tea Party, brought in a larger crowd and a message far more critical of the status quo.
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-loggers-f…
Judge Declines to Stay Law on Gay Marriage
A Superior Court judge decided yesterday not to delay enactment of a law stipulating that the D.C. government will recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
Judge Judith E. Retchin ruled that she would not a grant a stay preventing the law from taking effect Monday, as requested by opponents. However, the effective date is likely to be delayed by the need for congressional approval. Attorneys for the group said they needed more time to research and argue their position before the law takes effect.
Opponents, led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, and seven other D.C. voters want a referendum on the issue, but the D.C. elections board said that would be illegal under the District’s Human Rights Act.
Although Retchin decided against delaying the law’s enactment, she said opponents could seek to amend the law after the marriage provision takes effect.
See Judge Declines to Stay Law on Gay Marriage
Washington Post
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/judge-decline…
Gay Loggers reach goal, to protest as planned
The Green Coalition of Gay Loggers for Jesus will march on Main Street as planned July Fourth, the organizer of the group said Thursday evening.
Organizer Brian Leland had set a 5 p.m. deadline Thursday to reach his fundraising goal of $1,100, the amount of money the city of Bozeman estimates it will cost it to shut down the downtown thoroughfare for the morning protest.
Leland said Thursday evening that he had raised about $1,500. The $400 difference will be given to the local food bank, he said.
The Green Coalition of Gay Loggers for Jesus was formed to protest how the city went about granting the Bozeman Tea Party’s request for a permit march down Main Street on July Fourth.
City staff initially denied the Bozeman Tea Party’s request to cordon off the street for two hours while they protested government spending, the growing national debt and taxes. But following pleas from members of the Tea Party, the Bozeman City Commission recommended 4-1 that staffers reverse their decision, which they did.
See Gay Loggers reach goal, to protest as planned
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-loggers-r…
