Oct 30, 2009

A URGENT CALL FOR HELP:Prejudice & Murder Instigated at Church in UGANDA--UPDATE ¨Murderous Christian Taliban¨


·A URGENT CALL for HELP from LGBT CHRISTIANS, our families, our beloved friends, as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is before the Parliament of Uganda·

A Call to Action for EVERYONE who believes in JUSTICE:

A Call to Anglican Archbishop Orombi of Uganda. A Call to ALL PRIMATES at The Anglican Communion.

A Call to The Archbishop of Caterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams!

DENOUNCE THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL UP FOR VOTE AT THE PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA.

PROTEST AT THE UGANDA DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN YOUR COUNTRY, CONTACT ALL HUMAN RIGHTS AGENCIES!

As you already know, the "Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009." was recently tabled before the Parliament of Uganda. The Bill's provisions are draconian and among them are;

• Any person alleged to be homosexual would be at risk of life imprisonment or in some circumstances the death penalty;

• Any parent who does not denounce their lesbian daughter or gay son to the authorities would face fines of $ 2,650.00 or three years in prison;

• Any teacher who does not report a lesbian or gay pupil to the authorities within 24 hours would face the same penalties;

• And any landlord or landlady who happens to give housing to a suspected homosexual would risk 7 years of imprisonment.

• Similarly, the Bill threatens to punish or ruin the reputation of anyone who works with the gay or lesbian population, such as medical doctors working on HIV/AIDS, civil society leaders active in the fields of sexual
and reproductive health, hence further undermining public health efforts
to combat the spread of HIV;

• All of the offences covered by the Bill as drafted can be applied to a Ugandan citizen who allegedly commits them - even outside Uganda!

¨Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) calls upon YOU, our partner, ally and/or FRIEND to action. Denounce this bill through a protest at a Ugandan Diplomatic Mission in your country on November 9th 2009, where applicable.
Urge the Government of Uganda to reject this Bill in its entirety.¨

·Smug of Uganda·

For more information please contact:

Frank Mugisha
Email:fmugisha@sexualminoritiesuganda.org
Telephone: + 256 772 616 062

Valetine Kalende
Email: vkalende@faruganda.org
Telephone: +256 752 324 249

UPDATE, Friday Afternoon, October 30, 2009

Uganda's Proposed ‘Anti-Homosexuality’ Law Threatens Human Rights, Say International Organizations: Draft Provisions Illegal, Immoral, Ominous, and Unnecessary, click HERE, from Amnesty International

Uganda: ‘Anti-Homosexuality’ Bill Threatens Liberties and Human Rights Defenders, click HERE, from Human Rights Watch

Uganda’s toothless battle on gays, click HERE, from The Daily Monitor, Kampala

The Government of The United States of America objects to Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill pending before Parliament

An official with the US Embassy in Kampala, Uganda, has said that the new Anti-Homosexuality Bill, if enacted into law, would “mark a major setback in the promotion of human rights.”

¨We urge states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests, or detention.¨ click HERE, By AFP


PRA: Rick Warren exports bigotry to Africa

In March 2008, U.S. evangelical leader Rick Warren told Ugandans that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. One year later, U.S. conservative evangelical and Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively (a resident of Massachusetts) addressed the Family Life Network and Ugandan members of Parliament in March 2009, saying legalizing homosexuality is akin to legalizing "the molestation of children or having sex with animals." read it all, click HERE

Alert/Note/Response, October 31, 2009: ¨Martin Ssempa does not represent me, my wife Kay, Saddleback Church, nor the Global PEACE Plan strategy. In 2007, we completely severed contact with Mr. Ssempa when we learned that his views and actions were in serious conflict with our own. Our role, and the role of the PEACE Plan, whether in Uganda or any other country, is always pastoral and never political. We vigorously oppose anything that hinders the goals of the PEACE Plan: Promoting reconciliation, Equipping ethical leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the sick, and Educating the next generation.¨ Pastor Rick Warren Denounces Martin Ssempa and Ugandas Anti-Homosexuality Bill, click HERE

UPDATE FROM CANADA: Uganda´s Muderous CHRISTIANS!

¨If the anti-homosexuality bill passes, that will be a sign that the culture of fanaticism in Uganda is starting to get into Taliban territory, only it's Christian. I'd really like to hear the Anglican Church, which has so much influence in Africa, speak out strongly against this.¨ by Kate Heartfield, The Ottawa Citizen, click HERE

Alert/Note: Ethics and integrity minister James Nsaba Buturo revealed that there was ¨pressure from the international community not to implement the Bill.¨

Alert/Note: Chwa MP Livingstone Okello Okello expressed fear that the ¨Government might block the Bill.¨

Alert/Note: KEEP UP THE PRESSURE, Contact the Ugandan Consulate near you. Contact your religious denomination leaders and object to The Anti-Homosexuality 2009 Bill that is pending before the Ugandan Parliament.

·Thanks to Gay Uganda, right sidebar
·Thanks to The Daily Monitor, Kampala, Uganda
·Thanks to Sexual Minorities Uganda
·Thanks to Frank Mugisha
·Thanks to Valetine Kalende
·Thanks to The Reverend Colin Coward
·Thanks to Changing Attitudes, U.K.
·Thanks to The Episcopal Cafe, right sidebar
·Thanks to Thinking Anglicans, right sidebar
·Thanks to Amnesty International
·Thanks to Human Rights Watch
·Thanks to Rodney Muhumuza, ¨Truth Every Day¨
·Thanks to Ex-Gay Watch, right sidebar
·Thanks to The United States Embassy, Kampala, Uganda
·Thanks to Public Research Associates
·Thanks to The Ottawa Citizen, Canada
·Thanks to Kate Heartfield
·Thanks to New Vision Online, Uganda

Oct 28, 2009

U.S. FEDERAL HATE CRIMES: Include Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity


·The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Junior Hate Crimes Prevention Act·

Wednesday, October 21, 2009, Signed into Law by President Barack Obama!

President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Junior. HATES PREVENTION ACT during a White House signing ceremony today.

International civil rights groups hailed passage of the bill, saying it puts the U.S. at the forefront of civil rights.

“The adoption and enforcement of this bill sets the stage for further comprehensive reforms at home and adds momentum to U.S. efforts to continue its leadership in combating the scourge of hate crimes abroad,” Paul LeGendre, director of Human Rights First's Fight Discrimination Program, said in a statement.

The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was killed in 1998 by two men he met in a gay bar, and James Byrd Junior, a black man dragged to death behind a pickup truck a year earlier in Texas. Shepard was beaten and left to die shackled to a post along a rural road near Laramie. Judy Shepard devoted herself to passage of the bill named after her son.

The bill defines hate crimes as those motivated by prejudice against race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. It allows the Attorney General to assist cities and states in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.


House lawmakers approved a similar bill in 2007, but it sank in the Senate under the weight of a VETO THREAT from President George Bush.

President Obama had urged lawmakers to approve the measure.

read it all, by Carlos Santoscoy, click HERE

MURDERED: James Byrd Junior, a victim of a CRIME OF HATE!

MURDERED: Matthew Shepard, a victim of a CRIME OF HATE!

“This is a landmark step in eliminating the kind of hate motivated violence that has taken the lives of so many in our community including Brandon Teena, Matthew Shepard, Fred Martinez, Gwen Araujo, Sakia Gunn, Sean Kennedy, Angie Zapata, Duanna Johnson, Lateisha Green and so many others. The visibility of these tragic losses and the conversations that they sparked brought us to today’s historic step toward ending this violence.”
Media Release from Gladd, Richard Ferraro, Director of Public Relations, read it all, click HERE

¨...In April of 1968, just one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King, as our nation mourned in grief and shuddered in anger, President Lyndon Johnson signed landmark civil rights legislation. This was the first time we enshrined into law federal protections against crimes motivated by religious or racial hatred -- the law on which we build today...¨ read President Obama´s entire address at todays Hate Crimes Law Enactment, click HERE

·Thanks to The United States Congress
·Thanks to President Barack Obama
·Thanks to Betty Byrd Boatner and Louvon Harris, sisters of James Byrd, Junior
·Thanks to Judy and Dennis Shepard, Parents of Matthew Shepard
·Thanks to International Civil Rights Groups
·Thanks to Paul LeGendre
·Thanks to Carlos Santoscoy
·Thanks to On Top Magazine
·Thanks to Gladd, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to Richard Ferraro
·Thanks to Pams House Blend, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Oct 27, 2009

PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICE: World Citizens are Terrorized by Clergy who Demonize and Politicians who LIE!

LGBT Christians/others have been slandered endlessly!

It´s not hard to believe the depth of the shallowness regarding anti-LGBT ¨witness¨...afterall, we, LGBT people/family/friends, are people, no matter where we live, who have been slandered, made to be outcasts and often abused, persecuted and accused of MAKING OTHER PEOPLE GAY!

Endlessly we´re shamed/blamed RIGHT UP TO NOW in UGANDA HERE, Nigeria and Kenya/beyond! Gay Hate Crimes are being committed daily in Liverpool, U.K. (over the past weekend a off duty Gay Policemen was jumped/beaten by a gang of 13 teeniebopper thugs), Canada, Jamaica and The United States. Italians crank ¨death to gays¨ out with regularity as do murderers in Iraq and Egypt!

Meanwhile: The Pope/accomplices covers/distracts from the fact that most of his priests, bishops and cardinals are gay (celibate perhaps) HERE.

The Church of Englands Archbishop of Canterbury, first amongst equals at The Anglican Communion, wants REALITY to go away (so untidy to address the really painful/bloody issues thrust before him in the world today...particularly by those ¨Americans¨ and their OPENLY GAY Bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire and ALL those female Bishops too)!

The point is: Ignorance knows no borders, no boundries, no class distinction of the educated, or not, and no religious preference amongst ¨certain¨ people...but, never-the-less any REAL FACTS don´t change a thing when LGBT´s are abused, over and over again. Tormented and harmed by many ¨puritan/angry type¨ heterosexuals, and/or extremist religious zealots who feel their exclusive and HOLY WORLD is threatened/ended by the likes of other human beings who love one another and happen to be of the same sex.

When people/citizens are terrorized by the pontificating of clergy, politicians or when family and FRIENDS initiate lies/slurs against OUR LGBT sisters and brothers there are often deadly results. Pay attention! Looking the otherway is being a accessory to the smear campaign...one that can result in a crime of hate or even suicide.

Who is ultimately RESPONSIBLE for the fear/smear-hate campaign? You? Me? Who instigates difference, discrimination, persecution and hate?

BE CLEAR: The perpetrators are NOT the victims just because the abusers are now, or soon will be, forced to face their soulsickness, bitterness, FEAR/HATE-mongering and chronic deceit.

Peter Akinola/Nigeria, PB Venables, Bul/Sudan, Jensen(s)/Sydney join the ranks and mob thinking in todays Ugandan Parliament of David Bahati and Nsaba Buturo.

Simultaneously in Uganda, +Henri Orombi/Anglican Archbishop and ¨the obsessed/righteous¨ and devious/obsessed Mr/Rev. Seempa (and their ¨moneyed¨ U.S. bigot friends) are promoting fear and hate against others. HERE These folks aren´t just sharing ¨personal opinions¨ or quoting Scripture (selectively) or stating plain fact or guarding the ¨morals¨ of the general public. These passionate liars are inventing ugliness against other human beings and condeming LGBT people to further torment, danger and outcasting. Their very dangerous hatefilled words spewnout and deceive are lethal (to themselves and others)...these are the irresponsible, who are currently running unaccountable, but soon will realize, through failure, far reaching consequences of their negative instigating actions against other human beings. They are grossly unwise and these grandstanding men who will find no place to hide in a world aspiring toward TRUTH/REALITY (and dealing with reality honorably, accepting responsibility, when working toward World Peace and Peace of Mind for EVERYONE...yes, everyone does mean everyone.).

I´m constantly made aware that ¨actions have consequences¨ (they sure do for me) and quite often those who unjustly harm others risk the poisoning of their own physical, emotional and spiritual well-being (and their loved ones and friends around them)...endlessly I see the startling results of viciousness directed toward others come back like a boomarang . Karma? God´s Justice? Who knows but TRUTH will be revealed!

Most ¨haters¨ refuse to take RESPONSIBILITY for their previous words/actions...the quality of their self-accountability is denialdriven at the core. These twisters of truth scramble to ¨save face¨ and then skulk about looking for other people or causes to demonize (and feel/look better about themselves)...it´s only a matter of time until fear will ¨fall away¨ from YOUR LGBT family members as there is nothing to fear from LGBT people (Christians or not)...meanwhile, *things* may get more ugly thanks to the LGBT fear/hate-mongering, lie spewing, pompus grandstanders in Uganda, Nigeria, The United States, Canada and other pockets of fear/hate who want BLOOD.

Bigots, hate/fear-mongers, common thugs, feed off one another for validation/community ¨standing¨ and financial support/gain. ON they will go to find new accomplices to hunt down NEW VICTIMS to satisfy their rotting sadistic characters and hunger for their vile ¨deal¨ making ...they will continue to form ¨circles¨ like vultures hoping to encounter a fresh KILL...until, of course there is nowhere to run and nowhere to go to demean/exploit and degrade fellow human beings.

Lord have mercy

·Thanks to Gay Uganda
·Thanks to Father Geoff Farrow
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Oct 24, 2009

EVERYONE MEANS EVERYONE: ¨God wants us to live abundant lives...¨


·Fundamentalists of any stripe, be it from the RC Church, the LDS Church, or from any denomination, church, or secular authority are birds of a feather who flock together. Hence, the Vatican holds its arms open to reactionary Anglicans, even going so far as to allow them to have their own liturgy and married clergy within the context of Roman Catholicism, some doctrines of which are antithetical to those of Anglicans and protestants in general·

The Reverend Jerry Maneker HERE


¨...Since God created Gay and Straight (and bisexual and transgender) people, God wants us to live abundant lives that only comes from living lives of authenticity that comes from partaking of the unique gifts, among them our sexuality, that God has conferred upon us.


And like being Straight, being Gay is a gift from God, and to deny that gift is to not only stunt the spirituality of that person but is tantamount to throwing that gift back in God's face.


The Archbishop of Guam, the Vatican, and all religious homophobes are advocating that others throw God's gift of sexuality back in God's face, and by so doing are helping to create lives of self-loathing manifested in untold suffering, suicides, assaults, and murders of LGBT people.


And this suppression of sexuality, the projection of one's warped views of sexuality onto others, and the condemnation of the sexual lives of Gay people bears no relationship to Christianity!¨


The U.S. Catholic Bishops teach Americans about sexual morality.


¨In LGBT people and popular bigotry, they have an effective scapegoat for the “moral evils” plaguing marriage and society. Thereby they are able to refocus popular attention away from the pedophilia sex scandals in the Catholic Church and re-establish themselves as a moral authority. What if someone should bring up the inconvenient fact that most Catholic priests and bishops are gay and that this data has been published? Well, hypocrisy is the obsequious bow which vice pays to virtue. Besides, most people chose not to believe that embarrassing data.¨ Father Geoff Farrow HERE

·Thanks to The Reverend Jerry Maneker
·Thanks to Father Geoff Farrow, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to A Christian Voice For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Oct 22, 2009

PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICE: Homosexuality in Uganda is a FAILURE by parents/guardians to bring up children in an upright manner!

(I fear the blame/shame and abusive deadly witchcraft angle/purging against LGBT children can´t be far behind if extremist Christians/others believe the kind of dangerous and feardriven nonsense that Nsaba Buturo is spewing in the name of the Ugandan Government at Orombi´s Anglican Church)

James Nsaba Buturo is a Ugandan politician who serves as the Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity. He is also the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, and he represents the electoral district of Bufumbira East.

¨He has accused the United Nations of a surreptitious mission to impose acceptance of homosexuality on sovereign countries.¨ click HERE

·Ugandan ¨Morals¨ Minister blames ¨Gay¨ on PARENTS·

Wednesday, 21st October, 2009

MUKONO - ¨Ethics and integrity minister James Nsaba Buturo has blamed homosexuality in Uganda on failure by parents and guardians to bring up their children in an upright manner...

·Anglican/Gafcon Archbishop Henri Orombi of Uganda supports excluding LGBT Anglicans, Christians/others from aspiring to all levels of Churchlife and campaigns against a ¨open closet/transparent¨ Ugandan Society based on equality and healthier laws protecting Human Rights...+Orombi, along with ¨Morals Minister¨ James Buturo blames ¨Western Imported Homosexuality¨ along with ¨Failed Parents and Guardians¨ and ¨Lavender Infiltrating¨ school administrators for a current and rampant Gay Ugandan Plague·

...He made the remarks on Sunday while attending the fundraising ceremony for the expansion of St. Luke Anglican Church at Seeta. Buturo asked parents to join the battle against homosexuality by bringing up their children well.¨

Buturos ¨battle against homosexuality¨ address at St. Luke Anglican Church, click HERE


·Uganda Refuses to Bow to United Nations Pressure to Accept Homosexuality. Warns homosexual indoctrination and recruitment taking place in some schools under guise of humanitarian relief organizations·

KAMPALA, April 6, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) Ugandan Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has accused the United Nations of a surreptitious mission to impose acceptance of homosexuality on sovereign countries and said that Uganda will not bow to international pressure to legalize "abnormal practices."

¨Abnormal Practices in Kampala, Uganda¨

KAMPALA, April 6, 2009. Ugandan Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity Buturo has said that Uganda will not bow to international pressure to legalize "abnormal practices." click HERE

"Uganda will not be forced to legalize practices that are illegal, unnatural and abnormal," he told a press briefing on Friday.

"At the United Nations there are attempts by some nations to impose homosexuality on the rest of us," Mr. Buturo told reporters. "We have learned that they want to smuggle in provisions on homosexuality."

Pictured on the right,¨Ethics and Morality¨ Ugandan Minister James Buturo, who will ¨not be forced¨ to legalize ¨immoral practices¨ of homosexuality.

Uganda will not give equal rights to gays and lesbians nor has it plans to legalise homosexuality, Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo has said.

Buturo says ¨No Equal Rights for Gays and Lesbians,¨ click HERE

"Uganda's made a decision that homosexuality, prostitution and those things are not our way of life. Anyone who violates them really will deserve what they get."

In the case of homosexual conduct, that can mean life imprisonment (DEATH LAW pending in the Parliment). It is not surprising that the Minister has a high opinion of the official government view of such things -- it is not just that it pays his salary, but he also believes that God installed it.

¨Gods work¨ is currently being paid for by the Government of Uganda to Minister Buturo, read it all, click HERE

Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Assumed office 29 January 1986)

·THE UGANDAN DEATHWATCH·

¨Ugandan Lawmakers want Death Penalty for LGBT Citizens¨ read it all, from Latin America, click HERE

Death Penalty for Homosexual Acts?, read it all from ¨To See and to Follow¨, from Canada, click HERE

Witchchildren, Hooligan Children, Bastard Children--Evangelical Christianity in Africa, click HERE

UPDATE/FRIDAY: An Anglican church leader in Uganda has rejected proposals that homosexuals should face the death penalty for sexual assault in some cases, but says that prison terms should remain as a deterrent.

"We want to state categorically that homosexuality is unacceptable," Anglican Bishop Stanley Ntagali of Masindi-Kitara diocese told Ecumenical News International in an interview. read it all, click HERE


·Homosexual acts are already a criminal offence in Uganda, with the maximum penalty being life imprisonment·

The new measure, introduced by lawmaker David Bahati, proposes a seven-year jail term for anyone who "attempts to commit the offence" or who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage in acts of homosexuality."·

Heterosexual Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, Retired bishop of West Buganda, Uganda, was excommunicated by this ¨archbishop¨ after establishing a ministry for gay and lesbian believers in his community of marginalized/persecuted LGBT Anglicans.

Morals Minister Nsaba Buturos new anti-LGBT law would make it illegal for Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, LGBT Christians/others to worship together because of ¨effectively banning political organizations, broadcasters and publishers that advocate on behalf of gay rights.¨

·ANY WORD YET FROM THE POPE and THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY? Thought not, the REAL and HONORABLE sexuality issues are FAR beyond THEM·

Perhaps they´ve been busy avoiding the inconvenient issue of LGBT ¨religious¨ ordained clergy (Priests, Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals) and LGBT ¨religious¨ Baptised/Confirmed laity at Church who have professed to be lifelong CHRISTIANS and find the playing of hide-and-seek in ¨the closet¨ dishonest, immoral and self-depricating?

Monday, October 26, 2009, UPDATE from Pambazuka:

¨Bahati’s bill: A convenient distraction for Uganda's government¨ click HERE
By Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe and Frank Mugisha

·Thanks to New Vision Online
·Thanks to Wikipedia
·Thanks to Gay Uganda, right side bar
·Thanks to The BBC/Africa
·Thanks to Lifesite News
·Thanks to Global Bioethics Blog
·Thanks to Wounded Bird
·Thanks to To See and to Follow, Canada
·Thanks to Ecumenical News International
·Thanks to Pambazuka.org
·Thanks to Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe and Frank Mugisha
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Oct 19, 2009

PREJUDICE·PREACHING·PRETENDING: This weeks sadly abusive/un-holy crimes at Church; UPDATED with RC POACHING!

IS THERE NO END TO THE MISCHIEFMAKING and PANDERING?

The Most Reverend John J. Myers, J.C.D., D.D. Fifth Archbishop of Newark

In 2005, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Myers as Ecclesiastical Delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the Pastoral Provision for admitting married former Anglican clergy to the Catholic priesthood in the United States...¨

BREAKING NEWS for ANGLICANS who wish to ENTER FULL COMMUNION with the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH:

¨Pope Benedict XVI has approved, within the Apostolic Constitution, a canonical structure that provides for Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony.¨ ·Joint Statement by The Archbishop of Westminster and The Archbishop of Canterbury· UPDATED TODAY October 20, 2009! read it all, click HERE

¨...Between 1966 and 2008, he served as a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, part of the Roman Curia responsible for helping the Holy Father, the supreme legislator of the Church, interpret the laws of the church.¨

·HARK! HE HELPETH THE POPETH AND INTERPRETH LEGISLATIVE TEXTS FROM PARTICULARETH COUNTRIES and JURISDICTIONS·

¨The Council further assists the Holy Father in the correct application of current law and the interpretation of norms for particular countries and jurisdictions.¨

Pope Benedict XVI

·HARK! THE POPETH PROMOTETH· (again)

¨In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named him a Member of the Pontifical Council.¨

·HARK! HARK! HE KICKETH OUTETH AND REMOVETH (six years after the conviction of Father Michael Fugee was overturned)·

OCTOBER 19,2009/BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: ¨The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.: Father Michael Fugee removed by Archdiocese of Newark, saying they just learned of his 2003 molestation conviction.¨ (even though Fr. Michael Fugee´s ¨conviction¨ had been overturned in 2003?).

·REVIEWTH FOR YOURSELFETH·

¨A Roman Catholic priest was convicted here today of one charge and acquitted of another in a sexual abuse case involving a teenage boy in his parish in 1999 and 2000.

After a day of deliberations and three days of trial testimony, the jury found the priest, the Rev. Michael Fugee, former assistant pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in Wyckoff, guilty of a charge that he brushed his hand over the youth's crotch during four brief wrestling sessions in the boy's home during the two-year span. The charge, aggravated criminal sexual contact, carries a possible prison sentence of three to five years, but it does not require a jail sentence for those with no prior criminal convictions. In the other part of the verdict, returned about 6 p.m., the jury found Father Fugee not guilty of endangering the welfare of a minor.¨ read all the information regarding the conviction of Reverend Michael Fugee that was published in The New York Times: Saturday, April 12, 2003, by Robert Hanley, click HERE

Juror in Priest Case Expresses Misgivings About the Verdict

¨An hour before the verdict was reached, 8 of 12 jurors believed that there was not enough evidence to find Father Michael guilty,¨ the juror wrote of deliberations on April 11. ¨Somehow, a split decision was negotiated and I felt undue pressure by the jury to conform.¨read all the information regarding the ¨doubt of guilty conviction¨of Reverend Michael Fugee, published in The New York Times: Wednesday, June 4, 2003, by Robert Hanley, click HERE

¨The priest's supporters were in shock. Debra McDonald, of Franklin Lakes, whose son, Anthony, was a character witness in the case, said the priest had become the victim.¨

"Timing is everything and this came up in a climate fraught with anxiety over the church," McDonald said.


"But this is a man, not a church," McDonald said. "An innocent man." read it all, click HERE

and then:

By CAROLYN SALAZAR, STAFF WRITER
Date: 07-17-2007, Tuesday
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
Section: NEWS
Edition: All Editions

Michael Fugee, whose criminal sexual contact conviction in 2003 was overturned on appeal, qualified for Pretrial Intervention, a special form of probation that would leave him with no record if he follows certain conditions. (Which Father Fugee agreed to)

·SO ENDETH THE MESSINESS AND UNSEEM-LIE-TH HUMAN AWKWARDNESS FOR VARIOUS OTHERETH ORTHODOX-LIKETH ODDS AND ENDS THAT *APPEAR* TO PURIFYETH/READYETH FOR THE HOMOPHOBE/HETEROSEXUAL MISOGYNIST (ANTI-FEMALE) PRIESTHOOD/EPISCOPAL RC/ANGLICAN AGENDA·

Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England, ¨First Amongst Equals¨ at The Anglican Communion

Vatican moves to poach traditional Anglicans ¨Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, admitted he had been caught unawares¨ Oh dear, read it all HERE (¨unawares¨ indeed)

***

NEW ZEALAND: The Exclusive Brethren Church is being rocked by accusations that it has covered up a "plague" of sexual abuse in its ranks.

Last week a former member of the church, 74-year-old Clive Allen Petrie, was found guilty in Nelson of nine counts of indecently assaulting girls under 12 and one of inducing a girl under 12 to do an indecent act on him. The case involved four girls, three in the 1950s and 60s, and the fourth in the 1980s.

Former church member Neville McCallum, who last week sent a letter to all 1900 Brethren households in New Zealand about alleged crimes and cover-ups within the church, says the Nelson case "is only the tip of the iceberg". And one of the four women assaulted by Petrie told the Sunday Star-Times there were many other cases of sexual abuse in the church. read it all, click HERE

***

Pentacostal Church Pastor Obiri Kojo Yeboah

Uganda: Pastor Obiri Kojo Yeboah arrested for fraud for wearing a hidden electrical device to deceive parishioners into thinking his touch was slaying them in the Lord. Bonus: The Pentacostal Church is outraged at faked miracle healing.

¨There has been a massive growth in churches set up by charismatic preachers in Africa in recent years, amid fears some could be fraudsters.

The pastor told the BBC that during his prayers, members of the congregation "act as the spirit comes in them".

The website of the company Yigal Mesika, which makes the "Electric Touch" machine, among other magic tricks, says: "Charge a spoon, keys or coins and watch as it shocks a volunteer!

"They will believe you have supernatural powers! read it all, from the BBC, click HERE

¨Uganda's Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has asked police for a report into the activities of churches, such as Mr Obiri-Yeboah's We Are One ministry, following several charges of impropriety.

"We feel there is a need for a policy on religion," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Nsaba Butro denied the government was interfering in people's private lives.¨


UGANDAN GOVERNMENT DOESN´T INTERFER IN CITIZENS PRIVATE LIVES?

¨Cheating¨is a larger problem in Uganda for Public Morality and Ethics Minister Mr. Nsaba-Buturo than waging HIS costly anti-LGBT Conference and organizing a ongoing hatecampaign. Nsaba-Buturo has initiated a ¨Witch Hunt¨ seeking out everyday LGBT innocent citizens at all levels of Ugandan life. However, working toward putting a STOP to Human Sacrifices, Rampant Corruption at Public Institutuions, Prostitution and Domestic Violence, doesn´t seem to be a priority. Secretary Buturo apparently doesn´t know the difference between ´morals, ethics´ and ´human rights´ or plain murder, theivery, common deceit, BIGOTRY and witchcraft.

***
Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches in NIGERIA and beyond

This Aug. 18, 2009 photo shows children accused of witchcraft waiting for food at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria. The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity.

EKET, Nigeria (AP) — ¨The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him — Mount Zion Lighthouse...

...A month later, he died.¨ read it all, click HERE

·Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered· read more, click HERE

·Thanks to By Anthony Hubbard, Sunday Star Times, NZ
·Thanks to This Week In Holy Crimes, right sidebar
·Thanks to BBC News
·Thanks to The Star-Ledger, Bergen, New Jersey
·Thanks to Carolyn Salazar, The Record, Bergen, New Jersey
·Thanks to The Los Angeles Times
·Thanks to Katharine Houreld, Associated Press
·Thanks to John Tugume, Tabu Butagira & Patricia Walaga/Uganda
·Thanks to Monitor Online/Uganda
·Thanks to Wounded Bird, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to Anglican Communion News
·Thanks to The Times Online, UK
·Thanks to Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen
·Thanks to Mark Harris, Preludium, right sidebar
·Thanks to Of Course I Could Be Wrong, Mad Priest, right sidebar
·Thanks to Friends of Jake, IT, right sidebar

Oct 17, 2009

PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICE:Witchchildren, Hooligan Children,Bastard Children--Evangelical Christianity in NIGERIA?

¨Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."


¨This Aug. 18, 2009 photo shows accused child witch Jerry posing for a picture on his bed at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria. Jerry was beaten by his pastor, starved, made to eat cement and then set on fire by his father as his pastor's wife cheered it on.¨

·Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered·

"When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," said Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."


¨This Aug. 18, 2009 photo shows children accused of witchcraft carrying water at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria. The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity

·Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered·


¨This Aug. 18, 2009 photo shows accused child witches Jane, left, and Mary, right, standing with other children accused of witchcraft at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria. Jane's mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her and Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda.¨

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

·Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered·

read all about the tortured and murdered Child Witches of Nigeria, click HERE

¨Nigeria is one of the heartlands of abuse, but hardly the only one: the United Nations Children's Fund says tens of thousands of children have been targeted throughout Africa.¨

Anglican/Gafcon/CANA Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria

Archbishop Akinola; "Gays Produce Hooligans"

Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, was a recipient of the Kairos Journal Award. A press release, written by Cynthia Brust, Assistant Director of Communications for the American Anglican Council, contains this quote;

¨Homosexuality and lesbianism, like divorce, breed a society of single parents which gives rise to a generation of bastards. And in the context of much poverty and lack of education, this further produces an ill-bred generation of hooligans, portending much terror to the peace and stability of the society.

Homosexuality and lesbianism thrives on many sexual aberrations and improvisations typical of human selfishness and greed in the name of pleasure and self-actualization.¨


¨Hooligan Children¨ and ¨A Generation of Bastards¨ read it all by +Peter Akinola/Nigeria, click HERE

·Thanks to MSNBC, MSN Home
·Thanks to Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network
·Thanks to Martin Dawes
·Thanks to The United Nations Children's Fund
·Thanks to Gary Foxcroft
·Thanks to Stepping Stones Nigeria
·Thanks to Fr. Jake at the right side bar
·Thanks to Katharine Houreld, Associated Press Writer
·Thanks to Campaigners against the defamation, abuse and murdering of children in Nigeria and throughout Africa
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Oct 16, 2009

PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICE: Ugandan Lawmakers want DEATH PENALTLY for LGBT Citizens


Uganda Lawmakers Want A Gay Death Penalty

¨A bill introduced by Member of Parliament (MP) David Bahati, a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement, includes a provision that calls for the death penalty for gay men and women in Uganda, the BBC reported.
Bahati's Anti-Homosexuality Bill would approve the death penalty for having gay sex with a disabled person, anyone under 18 or when the accused is HIV-positive.

The bill increases the penalties for being gay in a country where it is already illegal.

It would also criminalize the “promotion of homosexuality,” effectively banning political organizations, broadcasters and publishers that advocate on behalf of gay rights. The bill's provisions that ban sexual intent are its most noxious and likely to be abused.

“A person who keeps a house, or a place of any kind for purposes of homosexuality commits an offense and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for seven years,” the bill says.

Friends and family of gay men and lesbians would also become criminals if they failed to report a violation.

“Who's going to occupy Uganda 20 years from now if we all become homosexuals,” James Nsaba Buturo said at an October press conference. “We all know that homosexuals don't reproduce.” read all about Morals Minister Nsaba Buturos ongoing fear/hate driven deadly/immoral smear campaign against the demonized citizens of UGANDA, click HERE

¨Ethics Minister¨ Nsaba-Buturo has initiated a ¨Witch Hunt¨ seeking out most everyday LGBT innocent citizens, at all levels of Ugandan life, to be discriminated against, persecuted/prosecuted, abused and punished to the maximum...even death.

STOP CHEATING, CLERGY TELL HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES IN UGANDA

¨Cheating¨is a larger problem in Uganda for Public Morality and Ethics Minister Mr. Nsaba-Buturo than waging HIS costly anti-LGBT Conference and organizing a ongoing hatecampaign. Nsaba-Buturo has initiated a ¨Witch Hunt¨ seeking out everyday LGBT innocent citizens at all levels of Ugandan life. However, working toward putting a STOP to Human Sacrifices, Rampant Corruption at Public Institutuions, Prostitution and Domestic Violence, doesn´t seem to be a priority. Secretary Buturo apparently doesn´t know the difference between ´morals, ethics´ and ´human rights´ or plain murder and witchcraft.

Monitor Online, Kampala
By John Tugume, Tabu Butagira & Patricia Walaga

¨The religious leaders, airing their views under the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) banner, condemned worsening acts of marital unfaithfulness and domestic violence. They urged adults to repent and take the path of honesty and salvation¨

“The cases in mind among the many include; human sacrifice, child abuse, loss of professional ethics, unfaithfulness among couples, rampant corruption in public institutions, homosexuality, domestic violence and prostitution, which result in rampant abortions and child neglect,” read it all, direct from Uganda, click here:

Minister Buturo believes ¨the gays¨ have infiltrated local schools and are "luring" students to the ¨lavender side¨.

¨The government and loyalists, said Buturo, should begin compiling a list of suspected queer interlopers and, you know, have a good, old fashioned witch hunt: "I appeal to the investigative arms of the government to quickly compile reports of such students and their schools so that tough action is taken against them."

Ugandan ¨Ethics¨ calls for ¨witch hunt¨ against ¨gays¨ in Uganda, read it all, by ¨Morals Minister¨ Buturo, click HERE

¨Morals and Ethics¨ Minister Buturo of Uganda, speaks for God, read it all, directly from God to Buturo, click HERE

The Anglican Church of UGANDA excludes/marginalizes, demonizes/condemns and excommunicates LGBT Anglicans and others at the Body of Christ

Anglican Archbishop Orombi/Uganda

DEADLY WARNING: Anglican Fundamentalist/Extremist Gafcon Bishop Henri Orombi of Uganda threatens the right for LGBT Anglicans/Christians and other to EXIST and excludes LGBT ANGLICANS at all levels of Churchlife!

Heterosexual Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, Retired bishop of West Buganda, Uganda, was excommunicated by this ¨archbishop¨ after establishing a ministry for gay and lesbian believers in his community of marginalized/persecuted LGBT Anglicans.

Morals Minister Nsaba Buturos new anti-LGBT law would make it illegal for Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, LGBT Christians/others to worship together because of ¨effectively banning political organizations, broadcasters and publishers that advocate on behalf of gay rights.¨

·Thanks to The Monitor Online
·Thanks to On Top Magazine
·Thanks to Gay Uganda
·Thanks to Queerty, at the right side bar
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing
·Thanks to Joe.My.God. at the right side bar
·Thanks to John Tugume, Tabu Butagira & Patricia Walaga
·Thanks to The BBC
·Thanks to Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, Anglican diocese of West Buganda and founder of a inclusive/welcoming new Church in Uganda.

Oct 14, 2009

PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICE: Republican Congressman John Boehner, have you met Daniel Rodriguez?

House Republican Leader John Boehner

¨Republican Congressman Boehner objected to House passage of a bill LAST WEEK that would "expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation. Why GOP Leader John Boehner Opposes Hate Crime Protections for Gays,¨ read his whole absolutely dangerous, ignorant and pathetic excuse/disgrace, click HERE

Meanwhile, in the REAL WORLD inhabited by REAL and notable everyday citizens--over the weekend, the beating/hating and lack of FEDERAL PROTECTION continues for LGBT citizens. Representative Boehner are you a feckless/sleezey coward, a ignorant bigot and/or a happy accomplice to crimes of Gay hate? Have you sold out your integrity to the religious extremism on the ¨political right¨ or have you simply never had much interest in the basic welfare and common good of ALL AMERICAN citizens? Are you a highly paid politician occupying dead space? You DO nothing to prevent brutal crimes of hate targeted against LGBT U.S. citizens...in fact, you obstruct justice.

¨U.S. Citizen, Mr. Jack Price, 49, beaten by thugs...a shocking video shows the gay man trying in vain to fend off two attackers who repeatedly punch and stomp him on a deserted Queens street.

Watch the video that captures the brutal HATE CRIME taking place, Representative Boehner of Ohio, just click HERE, if you´ve got the balls.

BOEHNER and his FAUX RELIGIOUS ACCOMPLICES ARE THE PROBLEM as he and his Congressional buddies pander to fear/hate-mongering bigoted citizens who indulge in the spiritualike, often terminal, sickness of playing pretend using permissible prejudices for their holy faking.

"It's a despicable crime," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said of the assault in College Point, where the victim and his alleged attackers all live.

"The individual was attacked simply for his orientation, and we're just not going to tolerate it in this city."

UPDATE: Late Tuesday, however, Mr. Jack Price remained in critical condition at New York Hospital Queens, hooked up to a respirator. His lungs are collapsed and his jaw and ribs are broken.

Surveillance video captures brutal beating of gay man, Jack Price, in Queens; Both suspects arrested

Republican John Boehner, may I introduce YOU, yes YOU, to Daniel Rodriguez?

According to police, Daniel Aleman, 26, who was nabbed Sunday night, and Daniel Rodriguez, 21, was captured Tuesday night in Norfolk, Virginia.

ATTN CONGRESSMAN BOEHNER: REALITY JUST TAKES SOME GETTING USED TO (but you can do it if you start being personally responsible for your very OWN dangerous political absurdities)!

United States Justice Department SEEKS ACTION VS. GAY DISCRIMINATION

UPDATE: “We must fight for fairness and basic equality for our LGBT brothers and sisters who so frequently are being left in the shadows,” and to “ensure that there’s a level playing field in which our LGBT brothers and sisters are judged by the content of their character.” Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights.

ATTN: Republican Congressman Boehner, please read it all, click HERE


A friend of suspected gay basher Daniel Rodriguez who proudly displays his Leviticus tattoo says the attack on Jack Price wasn't an anti-gay hate crime and was justified because, he claims, Price hit on his attackers before the "beatdown" that sent Price to the hospital with a fractured jaw, rib fractures and a lacerated spleen.¨ ATTN: Republican Congressman Boehner, you may want to have this ¨Leviticus¨ ¨blame/shame¨ handy/dandy tatoo reproduced on your worthless butt as you continue to make a ass of yourself in Ohio, at The U.S. Congress and beyond, read it all, click HERE

UPDATE Saturday, October 19, 2009: 49-year-old NYC hate crime victim Jack Price talked about the attack with the New York Daily News from his hospital bed:

Republican Cogressman Boehner/Ohio, are you INTERESTED IN KNOWING THE TRUTH REGARDING THE VICIOUS CRIME OF HATE done to Mr. Jack Price? If so, click HERE.

Congressman Boehner/Ohio, are you capable of being honest with yourself and the rest of us?

·Thanks to The New York Daily News
·Thanks to CBS News
·Thanks to Political Hotsheet
·Thanks to Washington Blade
·Thanks to Bladewire
·Thanks to The New York Times
·Thanks to Anahad O´Connor
·Thanks to Ruby-Sachs
·Thanks to The United States Department of Justice
·Thanks to Devlin Barrett
·Thanks to Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division
·Thanks to The Associated Press
·Thanks to Towleroad, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to ABC News

Oct 12, 2009

PREJUDICE PREACHING & PRETENDING: This weeks sadly abusive and un-holy crimes at Church!

REALITY CHECK: Over the last seven days some of the ¨orthodox, traditional, mega-church¨ clergy hide/shout-outs have been busy tainting even the most basic of ¨Commandments¨ and beloved ¨Spiritual/Religious¨ laws and beliefs. Sometimes at Churches where fear and hate distractions, are promoted over and over again each Sunday, against ¨abominable LGBT Christians,¨ are focused upon instead of honoring God and attempting to love thy neighbor...all of thy neighbors and certainly not abusing them.

It´s often clear that imagined/pretended arrogantly portrayed purity and holiness, justice, forgiveness, personal virtue/accountability are NOT a quick fix solution for some of the self proclaimed/self-righteous selective Scriptural extremists who harm others. Bigots and other Criminals at Church often ¨fall¨ headfirst onto their hard, and vulnerable discrimination-spewing, heads that seem convulted with thoughts of demonizing others while they are living in a world of denial and lack of personal self-searching and amends and remorse.


Ohio, Father Gerald Robinson loses his appeal to overturn his conviction for murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, whom he stabbed 31 times in the face and neck.

New York: Pastor Eddy Mijares sentenced to 14 years in prison for molesting 13 year-old girl.

Canada: Brothers Allen and Phillip Latimer reveal they were sexually molested by the late Father Allen McDonald while serving as his altar boys. The men came forward after last week's arrest of Bishop Raymond Lahey, who briefly hid from authorities after being charged with the possession of child pornography. Lahey had been in charge of Father McDonald's case.

New Jersey: Baptist Pastor Lonny Aleshire demands new trial after pleading guilty to raping underage girls.

Alabama: Pastor Simon Bussie arrested for sodomizing 11 year-old girl. Bussie was in the charge of the church's day care center.

North Carolina: Pastor Robert Lee Adams Reaves, Reaves formerly served as a bishop with the Living In Favor Global Network Churches in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

THESE and MORE of this Weeks collection of Church Crimes:

Alabama: Pastor Simon Bussie arrested for sodomizing 11 year-old girl. Bussie was in the charge of the church's day care center.

North Carolina: Pastor Robert Lee Adams Reaves, Reaves formerly served as a bishop with the Living In Favor Global Network Churches in Goldsboro, North Carolian.

Associated Press convicted of murdering a 21 year-old woman. According to testimony, Reaves stabbed the woman dozens of times because she was dating a man that Reaves was interested in.

New Jersey: Pastor Lonny Aleshire demands new trial after pleading guilty to raping underage girls.

Canada: Brothers Allen and Phillip Latimer reveal they were sexually molested by the late Father Allen McDonald while serving as his altar boys. The men came forward after last week's arrest of Bishop Raymond Lahey, who briefly hid from authorities after being charged with the possession of child pornography. Lahey had been in charge of Father McDonald's case.

Mexico: Father Jose Carlos Contreras Rodriguez charged with raping and murdering a 16 year-old girl.

South Africa: Unnamed pastor convicted of raping his two pre-teen daughters. His name is shielded to protect the victims.

New York: Pastor Eddy Mijares sentenced to 14 years in prison for molesting 13 year-old girl.

Michigan: Pastor Timothy Allen Ortiz charged with forcible sexual conduct on underage girl.

Virginia: Pastor Steven Joplin charged with seven counts of sexual assault on pre-teen girls.

Ohio:Father Gerald Robinson loses his appeal to overturn his conviction for murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, whom he stabbed 31 times in the face and neck.

This Week's Faith Healing manslaughter/sadness:

Pennsylvania: The parents of two year-old Kent Schaible have been charged with manslaughter for allowing their "faith healing" pastor to pray over the child, rather than seeking medical attention for his bacterial pneumonia, which could have been cured with simple antibiotics. The father is a teacher at First Century Gospel Church, whose members believe in healing by prayer rather than medicine. Before his death, little Kent suffered from "a sore throat, congestion, liquid bowel movements, sleeplessness and trouble swallowing," yet his parents continued to pray.

Read more, and more, and more of the REAL facts, click HERE

·Thanks to Joe.My.God
·Thanks to People Tribe, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to This Week In Holy Crimes
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Oct 9, 2009

PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICES: Responding to Religion-Based Bigotry Our Biggest Obstacle, Part V

Op-ed excerpt from Faith In America’s Founder Mitchell Gold in the Washington Blade

“As thousands converge on the nation’s capital this weekend for the National Equality March, our demand is simple: We want full equality.

Now. Although there has been great progress in the last 50 years, the equality movement for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans has not moved forward as quickly as we should and could have. In the final analysis, it is because we have not effectively addressed the biggest barrier between us and our equality: religion-based bigotry and prejudice.

For those who do not realize the significance of religion and the impact religion-based bigotry has on our struggle for equality, they will continue to wander about aimlessly, dragging the pink elephant in the room behind them, holding them back.”


¨RELIGION-BASED BIGOTRY CAUSES UNTOLD HARM TO MILLIONS, ESPECIALLY YOUTH¨

RELIGION-BASED BIGOTRY is a giant pink elephant in the room. It is the cause of incredible harm to millions of people and especially vulnerable adolescents and teens
To be clear, I am not anti-religion. I am anti-religion based bigotry. I feel truly blessed to have former Rev. Jimmy Creech, Bishop Gene Robinson, Revs. Welton Gaddy, Reggie Longcrier, Benny Colclough, and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum in my life.¨

····Bishop V.Gene Robinson of the The Episcopal Church diocese of New Hampshire. Consecrated in 2003, Bishop Robinson is the first openly Gay/Partnered Bishop in The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Communion (of course there have been, and currently are, many other Gay Bishops, of many denominations, who were or remain ¨closeted¨).

····Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum is since 1992 of New York City’s Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST), Sharon Kleinbaum is as immersed in politics as one can get. She is the openly lesbian leader of the world’s largest gay religious congregation, and is at the forefront of the movement to secure basic civil rights for lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

····The Reverend Dr. Bennie Colclough named as winner of the 2008 Trailblazer Award, which recognizes an individual who has a record of consistent and significant contributions to the LGBT community and is seen as a role model to others, will be presented to the pastor of the Providence Christian Church, Manning, South Carolina.

····The Reverend Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Interfaith Alliance, Washington D.C. While ministering to churches with a message of inclusion, Welton emerged as a leader among progressive and moderate Baptists. Among his many leadership roles, he is the immediate past President of the Alliance of Baptists and is a twenty-year member of the Commission of Christian Ethics of the Baptist World Alliance. His past leadership roles include serving as a member of the General Council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, President of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Chair of the Pastoral Leadership Commission of the Baptist World Alliance.

¨But moving from New York to North Carolina in the 1980s, I discovered just how pervasive and deep anti-gay sentiment is beyond our urban centers. As I traveled to many areas across our country, it became apparent that the condemning and hateful attitudes and actions could be traced to one source: church teachings.

I spoke to many people who have been victimized by rejection and condemnation. I was burdened most by the young people I had met who had been discarded by their families, churches, communities and lost their own self worth from the onslaught of anti-gay religious language and actions they experienced. I met mothers and fathers who had lost a son or daughter to suicide — young people who believed they'd be better off dead than growing up gay in America...¨

· read it all, from The Washingtonblade, click HERE

·The Reverend Dr. Welton Gaddy/Day1 is the voice of the mainline Protestant churches on the radio and online, offering life-enriching sermons, community, and other resources to help you grow in faith.¨ click HERE

·The Rt. Reverend Robinson is widely known for being the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination believing in the historic episcopate. His sexual orientation was privately acknowledged in the 1970s, when he studied in seminary, was ordained, married, and started a family.¨ click HERE

· Going Head to Head with the Religious Right, An Interview with Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum.¨ read it all click HERE

· The Reverend Dr. Colclough has given much time and effort working as an advocate and straight ally for the South Carolina Equality Coalition (SCEC), the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement (SCGLPM), Faith In America and HRC. A native of Sumter, S.C., Colclough served in the United States Marine Corps for six years with a tour of duty in Vietnam, and is a graduate of Yale University Divinity School. click HERE

·Thanks to The Washingtonblade
·Thanks to Jewish Currents
·Thanks to Wikipedia
·Thanks to Day1 (voice of mainline Protestant churches)
·Thanks to Truth Wins Out
·Thanks to Faith in America
·Thanks to Mitchell Gold
·Thanks to The Human Rights Campaign Carolina´s
·Thanks to Wayne Besen
·Thanks to Matt Comer