TW talk of violence and torture.

Q.

Two men from Mali who were going to be executed for having gay sex have been saved.

France, as well as other African nations and including Mali’s army, intervened to end a ten month rebellion by groups of Tuareg tribes and Islamist extremists.

The groups have taken over most of Northern Mali, including the town of Gao enforcing Sharia law, punishing thieves with amputation and executing gays.

One of the men, named Badou Ahmed, told Reuters’ reporters yesterday (3 January) he was arrested after being accused of having gay sex but was able to walk free when the French-led troops took over Gao.

Ahmed is covered with scars and walks with a limp, which he reported was a result of being beaten unconscious by the militias.

Ahmed said he had not been allowed to present witnesses at his trial and his captors had threatened to cut his throat for being gay.

Alitiin Ag Oussman, a second man, was awaiting execution on the same charge, was freed a day before it was due to be carried out.

Same-sex activity is legal in Mali, but a recent 2007 report has found that 98% of adults believe homosexuality is unaccaptable.

Omar Kuddus, a Muslim LGBT rights advocate based in the UK, said: ‘As I have stated on numerous occasions, homosexuality is not illegal or forbidden in the Quran, it is not condemned as haram.

‘Fundamental Islamists, having been indoctrinated by religious leaders who impose their own views and interpretations on homosexuality have become obsessed with the idea and this impels them to commit such atrocities and crimes against humanity.

‘If the French led forces had not rescued, found and freed these two Malian men who were about to be executed today, their plight and deaths would have gone unnoticed.

‘The question must be asked, of how many other gay men are executed, tortured, in the false name of Islam, without this being reported or noticed.

‘Muslims must be reminded and educated that only Allah can pass judgement, not mere mortal men, and that Islam is a religion of compassion and forgiveness, not of murder’.

Wow. Quite the change of heart.

Q.

A senior Christian in the Bahamas has slammed clerics those who ‘demonize’ homosexuality and said they may be closet gays.

Bishop Simeon Hall admitted he ‘acted in ignorance’ in the past on LGBT issues – in November 2011 he referred to gay male sex as a ‘deadly’ practice.

But now the former president of the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) has accused other council members of focusing on homosexuality rather than dealing with other issues – like gambling.

In a press statement Hall said the church should affirm the humanity of gay people and indicated that those attacked LGBT rights were often secretly gay themselves.

He said: ‘The demonization of homosexuals by some pastors is the greatest hindrance to any positive dialogue or efforts the church might establish with them.

‘The Bahamian public in general, as well as pastors in particular, must be careful of what we demonize and protest. Psychologists tell us that sometimes the things we strike out against, we do so because a bit of it lies within us on a subliminal level.

‘I also believe that of the 133 sins listed in the Bible, if a pastor can only preach on one of them it could very well be that he has that problem – if not in practice then perhaps dormantly.’

He added the BCC appears to be ‘populated by a group of men who are number one homophobic and that’s the only time that they come alive or they pick small things to speak out against’.

His views seem to have changed in part because he believes the LGBT population is the ‘fastest growing subculture in the country’.

It was only in November 2011 when Hall, responding to a sharp rise in HIV infections in the Bahamas among men who have sex with men took a very different view.

At the time he said: ‘This sexual practice cannot produce anything and now we are seeing that, according to these latest statistics, it is deadly.

‘Homosexuality… is anti-family [and] it goes against what God has ordained. It is deadly.’

Hall is now emeritus pastor at New Covenant Baptist Church, where he was senior pastor for three decades.

Gay and lesbian sex is legal in The Bahamas and gays can serve openly in the military. But there are no legal protections against discrimination and no marriage or partnership rights for same-sex couples. The BCC has threatened criminal charges against pastors who marry gay couples.

Further to my previous post on the proposed criminalizing of homosexuality in Nigeria.

It cannot be stated often enough, homosexuality is not a Western import, but homophobia is. As is Christianity.

Q

South Africa remains the only country on the continent to have legalised equal marriage

Extreme elements of the US Pentecostal Church are behind the ‘surge’ in homophobia across Africa, according to human rights groups.

Speaking to Metro, Renato Sabbadini, the secretary general of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, said: “What we’re seeing is that this surge of homophobia is being encouraged by an active influence of foreign sources and I’m mainly referring to Pentecostal churches in the US.

He added: “These evangelists are finding that homophobia is a sort of visiting card which will aid in getting more people to convert to their own version of Christianity.”

In 2009, American evangelist Scott Lively met with Ugandan public figures to teach against what he described as “the gay agenda”.

While in the capital, Kampala, he wrote a report for a website linked to his ministry which stated: “The international ‘gay’ movement has devoted a lot of resources to transforming the moral culture from a marriage-based one to one that embraces sexual anarchy.”

Emily Gray from Amnesty International said: “We have noticed that the religious right-wing, particularly from America, has had a big impact on the levels of homophobia and incidences of intimation and violence.”

Last weekend, Uganda’s Parliament adjourned for the year without voting on the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

First issued in 2009, the legislation widely became known as the ‘kill the gays’ bill, referring to one of the clauses proposing death for offences such as “aggravated homosexuality”.

Earlier this week, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said gay people should not be killed or persecuted, but warned that homosexuality should also not be promoted.

Although most African nations seem to be going backwards on LGBT equality, Kenya has been cited by Amnesty International as making significant progress.

South Africa remains the only country on the continent to have legalised equal marriage.

Man Strips in front of Fundamentalist Preacher! (by Kyle Fasanella)

When rational argumentation doesn’t work, strip!

Q.

“At the University of Central Florida free speech lawn, a Baptist preacher (Micah Armstrong) talks about the sins of sexuality. In response one student (Austin Cooper) strips in front of him.”

Seems to me the only indoctrination that goes on is by religious groups in order to expand their flocks. Religion is a choice, sexuality isn’t.

Q.

As election day approaches, anti-gay groups are once again scaring voters in other states with ads hinting that Massachusetts indoctrinates young children about same-sex marriage. Maine, Maryland, and Washington will vote Tuesday on measures allowing gay couples to marry, while a ban on such marriages is on the ballot in Minnesota. Ads running in those states feature David and Tonia Parker, who were among a group of parents who unsuccessfully sued school officials in Lexington in 2006 over children’s books that dealt in various ways with same-sex marriage. “After Massachusetts redefined marriage,” David Parker says in a video clip, “local schools taught it to children in second grade.”

Maine voters may remember the Parkers’ case from the last marriage fight in 2009. But voters should also know that Massachusetts is not, in fact, teaching children to read, write, and have same-sex marriages. In 2006, a teacher in Lexington did read second-graders a book about a prince who marries another prince. But it wasn’t a regular subject; a federal circuit court that later reviewed the case noted there was no formal curriculum related to the issue. Meanwhile, some of the other books at issue in Lexington were included in a bag of books about a variety of diversity issues; students were allowed — but not required — to bring it home precisely in an effort to bring parents into the discussion. And the books had previously been made available for parents’ review. Not surprisingly, the scary ads omit these details.

The Lexington litigation was highly unusual, and the scores of other school districts in the state simply haven’t been convulsed with controversy about same-sex marriage. That’s not to say the issue never arises; children increasingly have peers whose parents are married to adults of the same sex, and they’re bound to ask questions. But it’s noteworthy that the one case of pro-gay indoctrination that marriage opponents regularly cite is more than half a decade old — and misleading to boot.

More Christian love.

Q.

Posted October 8th, 2012 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 8, 2012

Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications
Phone: 920.265.6023
Email: john@truthwinsout.org

Truth Wins Out Condemns Twin Cities Archbishop for Anti-Gay Letter to Catholic Parent of a Gay Son

Abp. John Nienstedt’s Assertion That Salvation May Depend on Acceptance of Anti-Gay Beliefs is Reprehensible, Says TWO

BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out condemned Twin Cities Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt today for a letter in which he told a mother with a gay son that her “eternal salvation” may depend on whether or not she embraces the anti-gay teachings of the Catholic Church.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune, which published Nienstedt’s letter last weekend as part of an article about the prelate’s aggressive efforts to pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, reports that it was written in May 2010 in response to a note from “a mother who pleaded for acceptance for her gay child.”

“It is appalling that Archbishop Nienstedt chose to issue such an un-Christian response to a vulnerable member of his flock who came to him seeking help,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “The archbishop’s letter shows just how deeply held his anti-gay views are.”

In the letter, Nienstedt wrote that Catholics are obligated to believe the Church’s official teachings on homosexuality, and that “those who do not… ought not to participate in the sacramental life of the Church.” He exhorted the recipient to reconsider her inclusive spiritual beliefs, saying that “[her] eternal salvation may well depend on a conversation of heart on this topic.”

“Telling the parent of an LGBT child that she ‘ought not to participate in the sacramental life of the Church’ unless she renounces her pro-equality views – and that her ‘eternal salvation may well depend upon’ her willingness to accept the Catholic Church’s anti-gay teachings – is spiritual bullying of the highest order and utterly reprehensible,” added John Becker, Director of Communications & Development for Truth Wins Out. “What kind of spiritual leader demands that a mother reject her child in order to save her soul?”

Such rejection can have devastating consequences for LGBT youth: according to a 2009 study conducted by San Francisco State University researcher Caitlin Ryan and published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, LGBT teens who experienced negative feedback from their families were 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide, 6 times more vulnerable to severe depression, and 3 times more likely to use drugs than teens who did not experience negative feedback.

Yep, that about sums up the religiously righteous.

And I would argue that all fundamentalist religions are equally at blame, not just Catholicism.

Q.

A former Irish President has said the Catholic Church is partly responsible for the growing number of gay men who take their own lives.

Mary McAleese, who served from 1997 to 2011, said when the research is broken down, it shows young gay teens are one of the most at-risk groups in Ireland.

Speaking to RTÉ Radio, McAleese said many of these young men will have gone to Catholic schools and they will have heard their church’s attitude to homosexuality.

She said: ‘They will have heard words like disorder, they may even have heard the word evil used in relation to homosexual practice.

‘And when they make the discovery, and it is a discovery and not a decision, when they make the discovery that they are gay, when they are 14, 15, or 16, an internal conflict of absolutely appalling proportions opens up.’

McAleese said many young gay men are driven into a place that is ‘dark and bleak’, and they feel they only have one option left.

The former president said she met with the Papal Nuncio shortly after Easter this year to raise with him her concern about the growing number of suicides.

However, she said the issue will not be tacked until the ‘omerta’ or code of silence on the issue is broken.

The urgency of the gay teen suicide problem is reflected in studies which show over a quarter of young and gay men have attempted suicide, and four times more men have taken their own life in Ireland than in the UK.

Dublin City University research also found a majority of teachers reported homophobic bullying in their schools, but said they felt less equipped to handle it than with other forms of bullying.

Recently, the Pope has described gay people as a ‘defection of human nature’, and said marriage equality ‘threatens society’.

By Karen Millington BBC Religion and Ethics

Peterson Toscano now performs to raise awareness of the damage conversion therapy can do

After $30,000 for controversial conversion therapy, three attempts at exorcism and one failed marriage, Peterson Toscano finally resolved the conflict between his faith and sexuality - he was gay.

It took 17 years to accept it.

Whether called straight to gay, conversion or reparative therapy, the practice Mr Toscano put himself through purports to help individuals change their sexual orientation.

There are those who claim the practice, largely supported by fundamentalist Christian churches, to have changed them from homosexual to heterosexual. They are know as “ex-gay”.

But as far as Mr Toscano - who calls himself an “ex-gay survivor” - is concerned, not only does it not work, the process is “psychologically damaging”.

Mr Toscano, now 47, grew up in an average Italian American Catholic home in Upstate New York.

But as a devout Christian, and member of the Evangelical Church, he found it difficult to resolve what he saw as a conflict between his sexual orientation and his faith.

“I was doing something spiritually and morally wrong that I would be punished for in the afterlife. And so there was a lot of fear and terrible desperation,” he told BBC Religion.

As a teenager in early 1980s America, Mr Toscano experienced a time when the word “gay” was synonymous with Aids. Up to 1973, US psychiatrists had been classifying homosexuals as insane.

“I put two and two together and made what I thought was a logical equation at the time of saying ‘that’s wrong, that’s bad, I need to fix it’. And then 17 years later I finally woke up and came to my senses,” he said.

His years of treatment are painful for him to recall. After an interview with US National Public Radio that triggered a period of depression, he now avoids recalling the specifics.

However, he recounts one of the darkest incidents in some of his performance work. During a two-year residential stay at Love in Action, now called Restoration Path, in Memphis, Tennessee, Mr Toscano was required to record all the homosexual encounters he ever had.

He was then told to choose the most embarrassing to read out to his family.

Read More

Ugh. ‘Christian’ love in action…

Q.

Anti-gay Christians in Jamaica are holding a ‘Love March’ this weekend to combat ‘porn, fornication and homosexuality’.

Hundreds of teenagers and young adults are expected to take to the streets of the Corporate Area of the Jamaican capital, Kingston, with participants coming from various schools, churches and professions marching for ‘sexual purity’.

It will start at Hope Gardens at 9.30am on Saturday (15 September) and culminate in a short concert at Mandela Park in Half Way Tree.

The concert will consist of prayers, worship and performances by various Christian artists. This will be interspersed with personal testimonies centered on ‘deliverance from sexual sin’.

The organizers, Creative Counter Culture and 3R Youth, have emphasized they ‘love homosexuals’ but have combined together ‘porn, fornication and homosexuality,’ and are opposing all three simultaneously.

The group refuse to acknowledge the existence of committed loving gay relationships.

Opposing gay rights, they quote Biblical texts, prominently a passage in 1 Corinthians which states: ‘Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.’

Daniel Thomas, the public relations officer for Creative Counter Culture and 3R Youth, said pornography and fornication are so prevalent they are considered normal and even promoted.

He claims this results in a breakdown of the family and the erosion of values like integrity, respect and the intrinsic dignity of the human body.

They also oppose the repeal of Jamaica’s anti-buggery law which was proposed during her election fight by the country’s new Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller. She has also spoken against discrimination on the basis of sexuality.

According to Jamaican activist Angeline Jackson, the march’s focus on homosexuality is part of a fundamentalist Christian strategy to ‘to erode current Jamaican culture and impose Christian fundamentalism.’

She said: ‘It is time for the rest of Jamaicans who are tired of this hostile takeover of beautiful Jamaica to come forward, the progressive Christians, non-Christians, atheists, agnostics, secularists. We need to rise up and take a stand.’

Jamaica has long held a reputation for intense homophobia, partly due to the notoriety of Jamaican singers with violent anti-gay lyrics. Famously reggae star Beenie Man sang, ‘I’m dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays’. He has since apologized for his lyrics stating his understanding of homosexuality has changed.

Gay activists say the stigma against homosexuals has forced gay and bisexual men to hide their sexuality. This makes it harder to promote safer sex and is a major stumbling obstacle in AIDS prevention in Jamaica, they say.

The Jamaican HIV infection rate is estimated at 25% or more among men who have sex with men, compared to 1.7% in the overall population.

Human rights activists have also demanded action to curtail Jamaica’s high rate of murders of gays and lesbians caused by homophobia.

Jamaican gay activist Maurice Tomlinson, who had to flee the country in January due to the death threats he received after his marriage to his partner was publicized, told GSN the so-called ‘Love March’ should be a wake-up call.

He said: ‘I hope this march will motivate the still fractured LGBT community on the island to unite against the common enemy of intolerance.

‘More than ever we need to be visible in order to counter the perverse stereotypes being peddled about same-gender intimacy. To eradicate hate we must educate.’

Many advocates in Jamaica’s LGBT community we have spoken to so far have indicated many feel religious people have the right to march and the real problem is that Jamaica’s LGBT population do not enjoy the same right.

And some are concerned that condemning the march could play into the hands of the religious right which has previously claimed the ‘gay lobby’ is suppressing religious freedom.

By Zack Ford on Sep 6, 2012 at 11:10 am

A new study presented this week at the European Symposium of Suicide and Suicidal Behavior examines the suicide attempt rate among Israeli youth, finding that it was much higher than reported in official statistics. Among LGBT youth, 20 percent reported suicide attempts, 112 times the rate of the general population in Israel. In particular, those who were particularly religious had the highest rates. Study director Dr. Chana Bar Yosef explains the phenomenon:

YOSEF: This is a sector that does not get enough notice, and it is a hotbed for suicides that you later hear about after the fact. The suicide rate among the religious homosexuals is the highest because they experience more distress when confronting their families.

Indeed, here in the United States, the Family Acceptance Project has thoroughly documented how family rejection of LGBT youth contributes significantly to suicide attempts, substance abuse, and homelessness:

By Zack Ford on Aug 27, 2012 at 9:00 am

The tragic suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi motivated an important conversation about bullying through the trial of his roommate, Dharun Ravi, who spied on his intimate moments with a webcam. But after nearly two years, Clementi’s mother, Jane Clementi, is opening up about some of her own guilt, because when Tyler came out to her, she still shared her evangelical church’s beliefs that homosexuality was a sin:

JANE CLEMENTI: People talk about coming out of the closet — it’s parents coming out of the closet, too. I wasn’t really ready for that… It did not change the fact that I loved my son. I did need to think about how that would fit into my thoughts on homosexuality.

In the wake of Tyler’s death, she has been troubled by the thought that he may have felt rejected, and she has since left her church:

JANE CLEMENTI: I think some people think that sexual orientation can be changed or prayed over, but I know sexual orientation is not up for negotiation. I don’t think my children need to be changed. I think that what needed changing is attitudes, or myself, or maybe some other people I know… At this point I think Jesus is more about reconciliation and love. He spoke more about divorce than homosexuality, but you can be divorced and join a church more than you can be gay and join churches.

Many other parents have reached out the Clementis to talk about their own gay children, revealing how many families struggle with the shame imposed by their churches. Stigma and condemnation continue to prevent families from developing the understanding and appreciation they need to make sense of a child’s coming out, and in some cases, the results can be quite tragic.

 

After the historic vote, Rev. Gary Patersons said he wouldn’t want his sexuality to become the centrepiece of his time as moderator ‘because I think there are huge issues that we are called to address,’

Photograph by: Jana Chytilova, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — In a historic vote, the United Church of Canada has elected its first openly gay moderator.

After six ballots and nearly eight hours of voting at the church’s 41st general council in Ottawa Thursday, Rev. Gary Paterson emerged from a record field of 15 candidates to win the top job at Canada’s largest Protestant church. He is thought to be the first openly gay person to head any mainstream Christian denomination.

The 350 voting commissioners at the general council greeted the announcement with cheers and a prolonged standing ovation, and quickly voted to make Paterson’s election unanimous.

“I am so humbled by the trust and the responsibility you have placed in my hands,” Paterson told them.

The moderator, who is paid between $119,000 and $135,000 a year, is the presiding officer at meetings of the church’s general council and executive, and is viewed as its principal spokesperson. Paterson will be formally installed in the role for a three-year term Saturday, succeeding the current moderator, Mardi Tindal.

At a news conference following his election, Paterson acknowledged the historic nature of his election. “Among main line denominations, as far as I know this is probably a first,” he said. But he added that he was heartened that his sexuality had been a non-issue with those who voted for the new moderator. “

“I would suspect that that’s the primary news story. What some denominations or some parts of the world see as a huge dilemma or problem has not, within our immediate community here, been seen that way at all.”

Read More

Maybe someone should inform the bishops that their religion (and bigotry) is not a ‘traditional African value’.

Homophobia is a Western import, homosexuality is not.

Q.

Kenyan Catholic bishops are saying they will oppose any efforts to recognize ‘new teachings’ such as same-sex marriage and contraception.

The comments come after a newspaper article reported the African country is one of the countries signed up to a new $4.2 billion (£2.68b, €3.11b) drive to promote family planning services, as reported by LGBT portal Identity Kenya.

In a statement released by the Kenya Episcopal Conference, they said: ‘We cannot allow our country to be part of an international agenda, driven by foreign funds and by so doing, losing our independence and our African values of the family and society.’

Led by Archbishop of Nairobi John Njue, the bishops added: ‘The same foreign forces are dedicating billions of shillings promoting same sex unions while millions of women across are dying due to lack of proper maternal care facilities.

‘Furthermore, the use of contraceptives, especially as radically proposed in the article is both dehumanizing and goes against the Teaching of the church especially in a country like Kenya where a majority of the people are Christians and God fearing.

‘It already threatens the moral fabric of the society and is an insult to the dignity and integrity of the human person.’

Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya, who was among more than 150 leaders from donor and developing countries and agencies, said family planning dramatically improves the health of mothers and their children.

According to statistics, one in 38 women die from pregnancy-related causes and Kenya is among the highest in the world for unsafe ‘backstreet’ abortions where the majority of deaths occur.

The comments follow Kenya bishop Julius Kalu who told his congregation gays are worse than terrorists on 22 July.

He labeled gays and lesbians as ‘enemies of faith’. Kalu told his congregation: ‘Our greatest fear as a church should not be the grenade attacks, but the new teachings like same-sex marriages.’

Two months ago Christian and Muslim clerics condemned an appeal by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission to legalize homosexuality in the country, deeming it ‘unconstitutional and unholy.’

Christian neocolonialism.

Q.

The method used to reach the figure was widely questioned

A Ghanaian newspaper has claimed 82 percent of citizens ‘abhor homosexuality’ solely because they subscribe to religions whose leaders have spoken out against gay activity.

The Informer used recent census data along with records of public statements by religious leaders to infer the figure, although the census itself did not ask for people’s views on homosexuality.

Of the nearly 25 million people in Ghana, the paper reported that 28.3 percent were Pentecostal/Charismatic, 18.4 percent Protestant, 17.6 percent Muslim; 13.1 percent Catholic and 11.4 percent Other Christian.

5.3 percent did not belong to any religion and 5.2 percent identified as Traditionalist.

The figures do not appear to take account of age but the paper suggests that pronouncements by religious leaders connected to the faiths show 82 percent of Ghanaians are vehemently opposed to homosexuality on faith grounds.

Although homophobia is widespread in the state, one commenter said it was “false” to report that religious affiliation alone could be used to determine a population’s views on homosexuality.

Another argued homosexuality was a “European cultural life style choice” being used to “sabotage” African fertility.

One commenter on the story said gays are “also creations of God. Let them be. If you have to arrest anyone… Arrest GOD for HIS creation.”