Apr 30, 2011

NIGERIAN GAY EXORCISM: ¨Come out! Come out demon of homosexuality!¨ -- ¨the Anglican Church in Nigeria, emphatically does not accept gay people¨


¨In Nigeria, religion is central to everyday life but many Christian churches exclude gay members.

When Ade's aunt learned he was gay, the then 16-year-old Nigerian was made to go through an exorcism to expel "the demon of homosexuality".

"The priest came to the house with candles, holy water and anointing oils. I had to kneel down, holding candles in my hands," recalls Ade, now 25, as he sits in a cafe in Lagos. He does not wish to reveal his full name. "He kept shouting 'Come out! Come out! Come out!' in a fevered voice. I was allowed to go back to church after that but I had to pretend to be straight...."  read it all HERE


HIS GRACELESSNESS: ¨Do not come here to tell me about grace; what grace? We will never accept it”, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh furiously replied.


Bishop ¨Furious¨  and ¨ Fearful¨ of  ¨Invading LGBTI people¨ HERE Okoh,  Primate of Nigeria Anglican Communion
In an unexpected but dramatic turn of events at St Marylebone Parish Church London, the Coordinator of Justice for Gay Africans Society [JfGA], Mr. Godwyns Onwuchekwa, confronted the newly consecrated Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Nigeria on issues relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people [LGBT].

"Let me say this; the Anglican Church in Nigeria, emphatically does not accept gay people. Our bible is against it, the word of God is against it. Gay or lesbianism or whatever… it is like saying we condone drug users. What we offer them is repentance and deliverance from that evil spirit. Do not come here to tell me about grace; what grace? We will never accept it”, the Archbishop furiously replied.


¨Well known Nigerian Homophobe¨  Peter ¨Massacre at Yelwa¨ HERE Akinola
The Archbishop, the Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh succeeded the former well known homophobe Peter Akinola. Mr. Okoh was on a pastoral visit to Nigerians of the Anglican faith in the UK and held an interactive open meeting at St Marylebone Parish Church London.

In his question, Godwyns who was brought up a Christian of the Anglican faith quoted the controversial Leviticus 18:22 which condemns homosexual sex, but also compared it to the subsequent verses in the same line of laws in Leviticus 21:17 which outlaws priests with physical disabilities. He then asked how the Archbishop how he will turn a new page for the church in Nigeria to desist from influencing state-sponsored homophobia...¨ read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to LGBT asylum news, sidebar
·  Thanks to Mr. Godwyns Onwuchekwa
·  Thanks to The Guardian, United Kingdom
·  Thanks to Shyamantha Asokan,  Nigeria
·  Thanks to Father Jake Stops the World, sidebar

Apr 28, 2011

THE HUMAN CAPACITY FOR GENEROSITY AND LOVE: ¨Juan Carlos is the sponsor of Gerardo, but they think of each other as a brother...¨ Update -- Gerardo´s Birthday Party

Juan Carlos and his ¨little brother¨ Gerardo
Juan Carlos reflects. "Thanks to Camino Seguro, I feel proud to have this responsibility with my sponsor child Gerardo, that makes me feel joyful and happy and motivates me to continue forward and help other people.”

Juan Carlos’ words and actions remind us all of the human capacity for generosity and love. He gives what little he has to sponsor Gerardo, and we admire his commitment to children in Guatemala and their right to a happy childhood:

“The memory that I carry with me is that I always lived with fear, traumatized by the violence in my home. My father was an alcoholic and drank too much, and he would come home aggressive and violent. I gained the courage to leave my mother and siblings when I was nine years old, with the promise of returning to help them. I started working for a very religious family in exchange for food and a little money. Every day I woke up at 3:40am to be at work at 4:30am and would finish at 5:00pm and then go to school in the evening. That was my life for a long time, until I was 16… always working.”

Two years ago, when he was offered a modest raise, Juan Carlos chose to put that money toward becoming a child sponsor at Safe Passage. “I never had a childhood; I never played a sport or had a friend." He hoped that as a sponsor, he could make a difference. "I don’t want this history to repeat itself [for another child in Guatemala]."

He sponsored six-year-old Gerardo.

Gerardo is now eight years old, and he shares, “We eat pizza together, and my sponsor does not eat pizza with his hands. And, we read together a lot. We play with cars after we eat pizza… And he teaches me how to eat pizza without my hands… but I can eat French fries with my hands!” Gerardo has not only picked up some good manners from Juan Carlos, but also found a role model in his sponsor: "Juan Carlos makes me very happy, and he is like a brother to me because I don't have an older brother. I wish he lived at my house.”

Juan Carlos says, “I never had a childhood; I never played a sport or had a friend." He hoped that as a sponsor of Gerardo, he could make a difference. "I don’t want this history to repeat itself [for another child in Guatemala]."

Today, Juan Carlos shares, “I love my sponsor child like he was my younger brother, or even myself. It is the most beautiful and satisfying experience that I have ever felt… The difference I feel that I am making is that I have the heart and desire to help him, to give him the opportunity to be happy and see all of the positive things, and to be a good person. And that his childhood can be a wonderful memory for him when he is an adolescent.” HERE

Gerardo, Juan Carlos and Gerardos friend Dyllon celebrate life!
Juan Carlos has advice for others considering becoming a sponsor at Safe Passage:

“Don’t deny this opportunity to a child that needs you. Don’t let him lose his innocence to drugs and manipulations. Don’t let him take the short path, because there is a long road full of adventures of love, joy, and happiness. If you had a loving and happy childhood, let these children know that it is possible, it does exist."

UPDATE:  CINCO DE MAYO -- Gerardos Birthday Party today!



Email: info@safepassage.org
HERE

THE DEGENERATION OF DONALD TRUMP: The bottom of the All-American basic decency barrel and sickly champion of grandstanding bigots, greedsters, racists and thieves

Donald Trump, scavenger, racist and political opportunist?
¨...The furore came soon after the President released his full birth certificate - finally putting the question of his citizenship beyond reasonable doubt.

Yesterday Mr Trump called on the President to release his college transcripts.

Reacting to the call, Mr Schieffer said: 'That's just code for saying he got into law school because he's black.

'This is an ugly strain of racism that's running through this whole thing.'

Earlier in the day Mr Trump had hinted that the President did not earn the grades at his first college Occidental to allow him to enter the two prestigious Ivy league schools.

He said: 'I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard.

'We don't know a thing about this guy. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about our President.'

In a separate interview given moments after Mr Obama released the birth certificate, Trump said: 'I'd like to know how does he get into Harvard, how does he get into Colombia if he isn't a very good student.

'If he wants to release it that's fine, if he doesn't want to release it that's fine too. But the word is he wasn't a very good student.' HERE

The Truth Must Be Stated, No Matter How Painful

The Rage--  HERE it´s authentic, it´s unlike the teaparty/groveling/whining putrifying of America done by munipulated greedsters and scared to death blockheaded racist/sexist white (mostly) machismos-- this fully justified rage is well-earned, not rationalized nor simply childish/selfish temper tantrums as with bigots and religious extremists. It´s The Rage that many of us feel regarding the once again betrayl of common decency coupled with a slap in the face to common sense and respect for human dignity/rights...common sense and decency that too few of the SNIDE Republican Party politico criminals know/live today.  Leonardo Ricardo (commenting at Padre Mickeys Dance Party).

'Trump is a racist': Bob Schieffer attacks The Apprentice host... as liberals desert reality show in protest at anti-Obama campaign HERE

RACIST UPDATE:

Oklahoma GOPer: It's A Fact That 'Blacks' Don't Work As Hard

Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) says that she's seen "a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them." HERE

Update: More Foaming Mouths

¨The foaming-at-the-mouth “birthers” are hardly the type to lay down their rhetorical arms and admit defeat even when forced to see the very document they’ve been demanding from President Obama.¨

The Day After: ‘Birthers’ Regroup With Crazed Claims of Fraud

UPDATE: The birther movement was born by Barack Obama's blackness-- White America´s Shame 

Barack Obama's humiliation was brought on by circumstance over which he has no control -- the color of his skin. HERE

·  Thanks to Padre Mickeys Dance Party, sidebar HERE
·  Thanks to Bob Schieffer, CBS News Anchor
·  Thanks to The Daily Mail, United Kingdom
·  Thanks to Getty Images
·  Thanks to Hatewatch, sidebar HERE
·  Thanks to Talking Points Memo, sidebar HERE
·  Thanks to The Huffington Post, Politics HERE
·  Thanks to Jillian Rayfield
·  Thanks to Ryan Lenz
·  Thanks to George Mitrovich

Apr 27, 2011

ANTI-LGBTI VILENESS IN AFRICA ALERT: Lesbian brutally raped and stoned to death

The insanity of it all begins as righteous bigots and selective Scriptural perverts circle LGBTI victims -- first, with wicked words that quickly become crime/hate filled vicious acts of murder
¨Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24-year-old lesbian, was found dead in an alley in Kwa-Thema township, South Africa, on Easter Sunday morning. It is believed she was raped and murdered. Noxolo was a member of Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee (EPOC). The violent murders of lesbians Eudy Simelani and Girly “Sgelane” Nkosi and hate crimes towards LGBTIs in general prompted the formation of EPOC in July 2009...¨ please read it all HERE


·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Black Looks, sidebar

GAY BUCHENWALD SURVIVOR HONORED: The last known gay survivor of the Nazi holocaust is to receive the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur.

Rudolf Brazda, 97

Rudolf Brazda, 97, who spent three years in Buchenwald concentration camp, was recommended for the honour by President Sarkozy.

News of his award came 66 years to the day he left the camp, in 1945.

Philippe Couillet, president of Les Oublié(e)s de la Mémoire (an association campaigning for recognition of the suffering of gay people once imprisoned by the Nazis), said the award marked “a further step in the recognition of the deportation of homosexuals” and was a deserved reward for the bravery Mr Brazda had displayed in speaking publicly about his experience.

¨Happiness Always Came to Me¨

Author Alexander Zinn has documented Mr Brazda’s life in a new book titled Das Glück Kam Immer zu Mir (Happiness Always Came to Me). In addition, Mr Zinn has gathered material for a documentary which he hopes will be screened this year, which includes interviews with Mr Brazda and his return to Buchenwald.

It was after the unveiling of the Berlin monument to gay and lesbian holocaust victims that Mr Brazda came forward to tell his story. He has previously received the gold medals of the cities of Toulouse and Nancy...¨read it all HERE

· Thanks to Pink News, sidebar
· Thanks to Christopher Brocklebank

Apr 25, 2011

Amplifying African LGBTI Voices: Botswana's LGBTI Community

Caine Youngman, Botswana
¨Botswana is taking centre stage in the progress of human rights in Africa with Caine Youngman's law suit demanding that the government decriminalise homosexuality. Richard Ammon traveled to Botswana and spent time with all the people involved in the case. He also explored Botswana's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community...¨ please read it all HERE

·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Richard Ammon
·  Thanks to Botswana´s LGBTI Heros, Caine, Pilot, Monica and Uyapo

Apr 23, 2011

FUNDAMENTALIST/EVANGELICAL WARNING: ¨If Religion Kills America There Will Be No Resurrection (Happy Easter!)¨ Frank Schaeffer


Ignorance has been elevated to a new form of "virtue"

¨...One group that has perfected the art of special pleading for respect for non-reality-based "ideas" are the religious fundamentalists otherwise called Evangelicals. They train their families from birth to be the sort of gullible dupes the Palin/Trump/Bachman/Becks of this world manipulate.


Evangelicals are a group to which no idea is too farfetched. From birth they are told that facts are lies and that "true believers" like them -- and they only -- have access to the actual and only truth: the Bible.

And this isn't just any Bible theirs is the literal "I-believe-every-word-to-be-true" Bible.

When you raise people on the idea that black is white and white is black, green is red and blue is yellow.... don't be surprised if eventually a whole class of folks are color blind.

Someone repeatedly told that God-hating elites deny the "fact" that dinosaurs and humans coexisted a few thousand years ago; that the world is 6000 years old; that gay men and women choose to be that way and can be "cured"; that everyone besides "born-again" Evangelicals are going to hell; that Jesus will come back soon... etc., etc., becomes the sort of person who, quite literally, will believe anything.

Talk about alternative medicine, here's a whole alternative reality: "You believe in human evolution, but we know better!" "You believe that president Obama was born in America, but we know better..." please read it all HERE (bold emphasis, photos and caps by LR)

·  Thanks to Frank Schaeffer
·  Thanks to ¨Sex, Mom and God¨ HERE
·  Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing

THE WAY OF THE CROSS IN UGANDA -- INSTIGATING DIFFERENCE and HATE: Homosexuality does not reflect God´s creation of mankind

Do as I say, not as I do
¨The men of God are asking government officials not to misuse their authority to oppress those who oppose the government, but emulate Jesus Christ who did not abuse the rights of those who opposed him¨ Anglican Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi 

Christians from Rubaga Cathedral walk the way of the cross to Nakivubo Stadium April 22. Father Expedit Walakira urged Christians to avoid western cultures like homosexuality that do not reflect God’s creation of mankind. HERE

Anglican ¨leader¨ Archbishop Henry Orombi ought practice what he preaches and ¨listen¨  instead of ¨oppressing¨ LGBTI Anglicans/others in Uganda

Leaders are servants of the people, using your power and mechanisms to oppress others is ungodly. Leadership should have space to talk and listen to their people,” the archbishop said. “When food and fuel prices are soaring; when our young ones remain unemployed; and when our mothers, wives and sisters die during child birth. Like the disciples, we wonder what happened to the solution we had so much hope and faith in to make our world a better place.” He added that like Jesus’s disciples, Ugandans should “always hope for a better tomorrow.¨  Archbishop Henry Orombi

¨Hope and Faith to make the world a better place¨ for all Ugandans?
·  Thanks to The Daily Monitor, Kampala
·  Thanks to Stephen Wandera, photo
·  Thanks to Gerald Bareebe
·  Thanks to Anglican David Kato, RIP

Apr 22, 2011

SO WHAT´S SO GOOD ABOUT GOOD FRIDAY? Well, three days later Jesus walks out of the tomb, much to the consternation of Wall Street and the Republicans...¨ Josh Thomas



¨...But what “Love Unknown” does for me is to personalize this in ways I’m not used to; “But O! my Friend, my Friend indeed.” Christ died for me, as well as every one of us. ¨Life isn’t just about politics, churches, governments, wars, corporations or other nameless, faceless groups; it’s about us. God came to save us, you and me, our life and death. It’s the most astounding story ever, and I believe it’s true. I know it is; hard to believe sometimes, but an absolute fact

If we don’t believe that love triumphs over all, we have no hope. The evil forces arrayed against our lives are overwhelming otherwise. But it’s not enough to cling to a belief in some vague fairy tale, which might or might not come true. We need to see the proof for hope to be real, a fact Jesus completely understood. The story of Doubting Thomas, who had to touch Christ’s wounds himself, shows that Jesus knew that only proof would do.

The miracles throughout the Gospels are all about the proof. Yes, Jesus is the Son of God. Yes, he can and will raise us from the deaths we suffer by injustice and war and homophobia and patriarchy and apartheid, as well as mere disease and old age. In the case of his pal Lazarus, Jesus even waited to intervene till after he expired, old and moldy in the grave (“Lord, he stinketh”) before giving him life again...¨ please read it all,
HERE

· Thanks to Josh Thomas
· Thanks to Gay Spirit Diary, sidebar
· Thanks be to God

Apr 21, 2011

BEYOND DEATH: ¨...What no thief or time can steal from us, the love we have generously received and given...¨ Father Geoff Farrow


¨This week both Passover and Easter are commemorated by observant Jews and Christians throughout the world. What meaning do these “Holy Days” have for contemporary people who do not share the theological beliefs of orthodox believers?

Passover is the commemoration of the liberation of the Jewish slaves from tyranny. While that sounds wonderful, the story as related in the Torah (Bible) contains implications that make this less and less of a fantastic story and bears a strong resemblance to the human reality even today. The freed slaves find themselves in the middle of a desert facing a lifetime of uncertainty and difficulties, sound familiar? I have written on this subject before, if you wish to revisit those thoughts, follow this jump.


Christian Holy Week is bookended by Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. It is connected to the Passover, since the young Rabbi Jesus was visiting Jerusalem to observe the Passover with his disciples. There is a layering of new significance onto the older significance of the Passover.

The crowds jubilantly welcome Jesus as a Liberator/King on Palm Sunday. The popular opinion/understanding was that he would eject the Roman occupiers of Jerusalem and restore the Davidic Kingdom. Through this Kingdom and its expansion, Israel would fulfill her role in Salvation history by imposing the Covenant on the pagans (at the point of the sword).

This, was never the divine plan, according to the Prophet Isaiah (42: 43) and to Luke (2: 34), the Messiah of God would invite inner spiritual conversion and not impose external conformity. Not a crowd-pleasing plan, as the elderly priest Simeon prophesied in Luke’s Gospel, this was not the Messiah the crowds expected (or wanted). He still is not, people want the “Shell Answer Man and Julius Caesar” all rolled up in a neat package. Evil should be defined as people elsewhere, someone not like us (me). Evil should never be defined as something we each have to personally face and overcome within ourselves. That requires something of me, far too much work and highly disquieting.


In the course of the week, Jesus fails to deliver, 1) what people want, 2) how they want it, and of course, 3) on their timetable. The religious and political authorities of the day seize this golden opportunity to eliminate Jesus and maintain the status quo, along with their power, wealth and social status. The same crowds that shouted praise at Jesus on Palm Sunday shout jeers at him on Good Friday. This resonates with a truth about popular opinion; it is fickle and more often driven by emotion than by reason.


Another truth about human life revealed on Good Friday, is when Jesus is stripped of his garments. Life does that to each of us. Everything we think is essential for our life and happiness is slowly stripped away from us with the passage of years. Our youth, friends, loved ones, health, mobility, independence and in many cases and our other half. We, like Jesus, are left naked and in that nakedness discover what is truly essential. What no thief or time can steal from us, the love we have generously received and given. If you doubt this, or consider it emotional hyperbole, spend a day in the local oncology ward of your closest hospital...¨ please read it all HERE

·  Thanks to Father Geoff Farrow, sidebar

A HAPPY GLOBAL SOUTH COVENANT: Kenyan Lesbian Marries American Bride

Courtney Nicole and Terry Ngéndo Wakonyo
A Kenyan woman wedded her American bride over the weekend in Des Moines, Iowa.

Terry Ng’endo Wakonyo, 24, and Courtney Nicole, 25 were joined together in a same-sex marriage ceremony at the Polk County Courthouse on Friday.

The newly weds held a reception on Saturday in Shawnee, Kansas where they were joined by family and friends who included scores of Kenyans.

Speaking to jambonewspot.com, the groom who is from Nairobi proudly said “we are married” when asked whether they were in a civil union.

The couple who are both residents of Kansas had to travel to the neighboring state as Kansas does not recognize same-sex marriages...¨ HERE

David Kuria, Candidate for the Senate, Kenya
¨This is really great. The community may be ostracized in Kenya, but those who do go out can actually live their lives to their fullest potential. This is just so Great! ¨ David Kuria, Kenyan Senatorial Candidate HERE

· Thanks to Anthony Karanja, Dallas, Texas
· Thanks to Habari Za Nyumbani
· Thanks to Gay Kenya, sidebar
· Thanks to Denis Nzioka, Kenya
·  Thanks to David Kuria, Kenya

Apr 20, 2011

ELIZABETH BARTON´S DIVINE VISION: Semana Santa/Eastertime Treason, 1525

“The Imposture of the Holy Maid of Kent”
On this date in 1534, Elizabeth Barton was hanged at Tyburn with her “conspirators” for having prophesied the death of Henry VIII and (in the words of the parliamentary attainder against them) “traterously attempted many notable actes intendyng therbye the disturbaunce of the pease and tranquyllytie of this Realm.”

A country servant-girl, this Elizabeth Barton had begun having divine visions around Easter 1525, and developed a popular following for her gift of prophecy, generally delivered during spooky (perhaps epileptic) fits and trances.

This was all just fine with everyone, since King Henry was still a good Catholic at the time; Barton took orders in the St. Sepulchre Nunnery and continued her career in the seer business.

Elizabeth Barton wasn’t going to leave her place in Henrician England … but to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, Henrician England was about to leave her.

And like so many entries that age has given this site, it all went back to Henry’s leaving his first queen, Catherine of Aragon.

If one likes to see in the prophetic tradition a refracted expression of popular sentiment, speaking a religious rather than a political language, Elizabeth Barton’s divine gift set her up to be the mystical exponent of the English populace’s visceral reaction against Henry’s ascending paramour, Anne Boleyn.

Rather rashly, Barton began publicly warning her sovereign against his bedchamber gambit, threatening that if the proposed Boleyn union should come to pass, he “should no longer be King of this realm…and should die a villain’s death.”

That would be compassing the death of the king — which is treason, HERE

·  Thanks to Executed Today, sidebar

The Frothing Rage: ¨A lot of bitter frightened old white people upset because there's a black dude in the White House...¨


What The Frothing Rage of the Right Is All About

¨A lot of bitter frightened old white people upset because there's a black dude in the White House.

And as they have so often in the past, the plutocracy exploits these fears seeing an opportunity for a coup d'etat. They know from past experience that nothing breaks a union like a busload of black or brown scab workers during a strike. After the race riot is over, there's no more union, and people are left more desperate than before, and willing to work for even lower wages....¨ Counterlight Peculiars, HERE


Homophobia Can Be Good for the Bottom Line¨

Capitalism isn't benevolent and, whatever one can say about it, it doesn't promote altruism. Capitalism's biggest cheerleader Capitalism's biggest cheerleader , in fact, saw that lack of altruism in the free market as its best feature.

And equality isn't always good for the bottom line. If we want to effect real change, we have to be willing to take on the lowest-common-denominator culture that entrusts power to people with lots of money instead of worshipping and praising that power until it does something to piss us off...please read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Counterlight Peculiars, sidebar
·  Thanks to Doug Blanchard
·  Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing, HERE
·  Thanks to Bilerico Project, sidebar
·  Thanks to Alex Blaze

Apr 19, 2011

TERRORIZING, DEMORALIZING and DEMONIZING for God? Malaysia sends 66 boys to anti-gay camp for ¨counseling¨


(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Malaysian authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay, an official said Tuesday.

Gay rights advocates decried the measure as a symptom of widespread homophobia in this Muslim-majority country where gay sex is illegal.

The boys between 13 and 17 years old reported Monday for what is officially being called a “self-development course” after their schoolteachers in Terengganu state identified them as students who displayed effeminate mannerisms, said Razali Daud, the state’s education director.

They will undergo religious and motivational classes and physical guidance, Razali said. He declined to give further details...please read it all, HERE

UPDATE:  Critics slam Malaysian boot camp for effeminate boys

· Donna Guest, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific program at Amnesty International told CNN the boot camp “feeds into gender stereotyping and homophobia.”

· “It goes to encouraging discrimination against all people because of their sexual orientation,” Guest said. HERE

·  Thanks to 365 Gay, sidebar
·  Thanks to Logo Online
·  Thanks to Amnesty International, Asia-Pacific
·  Thanks to Donna Guest
·  Thanks to Jon Fairbanks
·  Thanks to 365 Gay News, sidebar
·  Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing

Apr 18, 2011

¨President Obama has met the vile far right (and religious right lynch mob) and also met the disappointment of the shrill impatient left with a calm smile and good humor...¨


Obama Is Now and Will Be a Great President
The "disappointed" left says president Obama sold out. The racist-laced Medicaid-mugging, billionaire-codling right staggers under the weight of terminal "birther" mythology (now trumpeted by moron-come-lately Donald Trump). Meanwhile president Obama continues to bide his time and looks down the road to the post-2012 reality when his patience with an impatient country, his thoughtfulness in the context of a sound-bite-entertain-ourselves-to-death era of short attention spans and historical amnesia will be vindicated.

If you think that president Obama played the Republicans in the last lame duck congress like a violin just wait until after 2012 when the rotten Tea Party will be about as relevant as 1930s hate monger radio priest: Charles Coughlin (the "father" of hate radio), is today.

U.S. President Obama honoring Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu
President Obama has met the vile far right (and religious right lynch mob) and also met the disappointment of the shrill impatient left with a calm smile and good humor. He's even reached out to what remains of the Republican Party languishing hock deep in the quagmire of their own frightened and wholly imagined paranoid "victim" status. President Obama has also played chicken with each new crisis and -- invariably -- pulled last moment hair raising victory from what critics said would be defeat...

Before he'd served a year president Obama lost the support of the easily distracted (bitter?) left of the Left and also became the target for the white hot rage of the hate-filled right of the Right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds are sticking with our president.

I happen to be a white fifty-eight-year-old former Republican. In my new book I explain why I left (fled!) the right and religious right movement my family helped found Sex, Mom and God: How the Bible's Strange Take on Sex Led to Crazy Politics--and How I Learned to Love Women (and Jesus) Anyway. HERE (In this book I deconstruct evangelical "thinking" about politics and the Bible in a way that I hope entertainingly exposes the religion-created sexual dysfunction that has been the only actual motivating factor for the so called culture wars.)

That said... I voted for Obama and have been impressed by the success of his presidency so far (we're not in an economic depression because of his interventions) and heartened by the promise of his post-2012 presidency that is shaping up to be historic. . : ¨ please read it all, HERE


PERSONAL NOTE:  I live in Central America. I´m a retired person and a U.S. Citizen and there are many, many ¨Americanos¨ who own second homes near me and enjoy the best of both worlds or simply live abroad all year round-- most, I would guess about 95% of my fellow U.S. citizens are Democrats (we actually had our own Inauguaration Ball to celebrate in 2008)  and will  very likely help reelect President Barack Obama in 2012 by sending in overseas/absentee ballots after legally filing for them, receiving them and then voting (it´s not as complicated as it sounds).  Contact:  democratsabroad_guate@yahoo.com , or The Embassy of The United States near you (Consular Section) for information...online is easy too and there are several options for absentee/overseas resident voting, here is one HERE , it´s not too early to register for 2012.  Leonardo Ricardo

·  Thanks to President Barack Obama
·  Thanks to Frank Schaeffer, sidebar

Apr 17, 2011

MY LOVE COMES THROUGH ANYTHING: ¨The cleverest geneticists can’t fathom him, Priests can´t defeat him with venomous rhetoric...¨


Musa Okwonga is an acclaimed poet, football writer, musician and promoter. A scholarship student at Eton College
Following the murder David Kato, Ugandan poet Musa Okwonga dedicated his poem "My Love" to David Kato and Eudy Simelane. LGBTI Activist David Kato was murdered in his home in Uganda in January and lesbian football player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa in 2008. Musa Okwonga has now turned "My Love" into a multimedia project.

My Love

To some people


My love is somewhat alien;


When he comes up, they start subject-changing, and


In some states he’s seen as some contagion -


In those zones, he stays subterranean;


Some love my love; they run parades for him:


Liberal citizens lead the way for him…


But the same time as these people are embracing him,


Whole faiths and nations seem ashamed of him:


They’ve tried banning him,


God-damning him,


Toe-tagging him,


Praying that he stayed in the cabinet,


But my love kicked in the panelling and ran for it -


He’s my love! Can’t be trapping him in labyrinths! -


Maverick, my love is; he thwarts challenges;


The cleverest geneticists can’t fathom him,


Priests can’t defeat him with venomous rhetoric;


They’d better quit; my love’s too competitive…


He’s still here, despite the Taliban, the Vatican,


And rap, ragga in their anger and arrogance,


Who call on my love with lit matches and paraffin -


Despite the fistfights and midnight batterings,


My love’s still here and fiercely battling,


My love’s still here and fiercely battling;


Because my love comes through anything –


My love comes through anything.  HERE


*David Kato, Anglican LGBT Activist, bludgeoned to death in Uganda, 2011, RIP
Lesbian football player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa in 2008, RIP


·  Thanks to Musa Okwonga
·  Thanks to Eudy Simelane, RIP
·  Thanks to David Kato, RIP
·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

Apr 16, 2011

SOUTH CAROLINA MOB ATTACKS GAY TEEN: "Three came up from the gas pumps. Two came up toward the Laundromat. There were three or four already standing there. They all just came"


Joshua Esskew, 19 year old ¨out¨ Gay person
Esskew was hospitalized and treated for broken blood vessels on his right-eye, cuts on his head and bleeding on his brain.

¨Openly gay teen Joshua Esskew was attacked by a mob at a gas station in Rock Hill, South Carolina last week. The 19-year-old said that the attack started with an anti-gay slur in which he was the target. He was then hit in the head with a beer bottle by an assailant and attacked by several other people who came at him from all angles.¨ read it all, watch the videos  HERE

·  Thanks to Towleroad, sidebar
·  Thanks to WBTV
·  Thanks to WCNC
·  Thanks to Steve Peppin

Apr 15, 2011

Presbyterian Church (USA): One step closer to joining the millions of people in Protestant denominations who accept ¨Gay¨ ministers based on skills and qualifications


Presbyterians Celebrate San Francisco Presbytery Vote in Support of Allowing Gay Clergy

¨All across the United States, Presbyterians have been voting in each of the 173 regional presbyteries to determine whether or not the Presbyterian Church (USA) will drop the ban on gay clergy. The yes vote in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 12, puts the denomination seven votes away from the simple majority required to enact this historic change. But contrary to public opinion, San Francisco Presbytery was not necessarily expected to vote yes.

“While San Francisco has often led in equality in civil society, the San Francisco presbytery did not always vote to support LGBT people in ministry. But here, and in places like Oklahoma, Alabama and Georgia, we are seeing changed hearts. We believe God’s Spirit is at work as more people are understanding that faith and character are more important considerations for ministry than one’s marital status or sexuality,” said Michael Adee, executive director of More Light Presbyterians.

The 198-143 vote on Tuesday, moves the Presbyterian Church one step closer to joining the millions of people in three other major Protestant denominations that accept ministers based on their skills and qualifications rather than who they marry or chose as a life partner.¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Soulforce, sidebar
·  Thanks to  More Light Presbyterians
·  Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing

REFUSE TO SPEAK TODAY: ¨...join a symbolic act of solidarity for those voices we've lost and are losing to homophobia and gender violence.¨


¨Across the country today, young people are contemplating suicide, and being thrown out of their homes and their houses of worship because of their sexual orientation as an LGBT person.

Other students, moved by the statistics about their peers and personally knowing someone affected, will be placing tape over their mouths or otherwise refusing to speak as a symbolic act of solidarity for those voices we've lost and are losing to homophobia and gender violence. It's Good Friday... a week early.


The deaths of these young people are as tragic as the ones from complications due to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s-90s that still plague communities today. And as Marc Adams of HeartStrong was saying at our PFLAG  HERE meeting last night, the frustration is that even with all that has happened to make being gay "more acceptable", children (especially) are still dying because of societal prejudice.

Once again, tomorrow, we will not be silent, you can count on it.
I bring this up because we all have to remain constant in our efforts to send a message of hope to our queer youth that you have people and groups... even some faith communities... who will take you in and give you the welcome and the shelter you need to survive. And, believe me, things really are getting better... at least in the United States....¨   HERE

· Thanks to Wake Up and Live, sidebar
· Thanks to Susan
· Thanks to PFLAG, ¨Moving Equality Forward¨

Apr 14, 2011

NOT-SO-GAY-UGANDA: POSSIBLE EXTORTION, PERJURY AND FRAUD INVESTIGATION REQUESTED AGAINST PASTOR MARTIN SSEMPA



Gay Man Claims ¨Pastor Martin¨ Ssempa Paid Him To Say He Was ‘Ex-Gay’; Ssempa’s ‘Ex-Gay’ Also Testified in Favor of Anti-Homosexuality Bill Under What Appears to be Coercion and Duress

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Truth Wins Out today called on Ugandan authorities to investigate anti-gay activist Martin Ssempa for potential extortion, perjury and fraud, following the New York Times’ discovery that Ssempa may have paid and pressured a witness to give false testimony in favor of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

In a last ditch effort to bring the “Kill the Gays” bill up for a vote, Ssempa brought so-called “ex-gay” activist George Oundo to a meeting with the speaker of Parliament, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. In the meeting, Oundo said that he had gone from gay-to-straight and strongly urged the speaker to pass the notorious measure. HERE

The New York Times reports HERE that Pastor Martin Ssempa bribed George Oundo $42 to provide testimony in support of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 to Uganda Speaker of Parliament Ssekandi.

In a secretive debriefing after his testimony, Oundo stated that he was against the bill and that “David Kato was murdered; it was a plot.”

¨ Brenda and Georgina¨
Mr. Oundo, 26, a transgender person who used to go by the name Georgina, went next.

“I used to call myself the Queen Mother and Lady of the City,” Mr. Oundo said. “I was recruited into homosexuality many years back, when I was 12.”

¨Pastor¨ Martin Ssempa ¨incites anti-gay genocide¨  HERE
“When I joined Mr. Ssempa, I told him all my problems,” he said. “I had to come out and join the struggle.

“Please help us; let the bill pass,” he said.

But an hour later, in a quiet hotel, Mr. Oundo recanted much of what had been said at the meeting.

“David Kato was murdered; it was a plot,” Mr. Oundo said. “I don’t support the bill.”

As for being a “former homosexual,” that, too, was not true.

“I’ve always been gay,” Mr. Oundo said, in a timid but growing voice. “I didn’t choose it.”

Anglican Gay Activist, David Kato, murdered, RIP
“David Kato was the first one who taught me to protect my human right,” Mr. Oundo added.

Mr. Oundo said that his presence alongside Mr. Ssempa at Parliament had been to “protect” himself and that he had been contacted only that morning by Mr. Kagaba about the meeting and offered about $42 to attend. He said Mr. Ssempa had offered him about $2,000 in 2009 to repent and switch sides in the debate, but later reneged. Either way, Mr. Oundo became a poster-child for Mr. Ssempa’s anti-homosexuality movement.

Mr. Ssempa declined to comment on the allegations.

Mr. Oundo admitted that he had picked up boyfriends at high schools and universities, what the antigay movement calls recruiting. But he said Uganda’s gay population was full of “natural-borns,” like himself.

“If I live or die, I am gay, and if I am buried, bury me gay,” he said.

At the end of the meeting in Parliament, Speaker Ssekandi thanked the delegation but warned that there had been “very different reactions” to the bill, and that it was unlikely to be debated before Parliament’s session ended. HERE

Pastor Martin Ssempa's blog has George Oundo's "ex-gay" story, the one that earned him $2,000 in 2009. HERE

You can read more about the Oundo saga on Gay Uganda's blog. HERE

President Museveni, Uganda, ¨encouraged by committee members to withdraw anti-Gay legislation¨
In other news, it appears that President Museveni setup a sub-committee meeting with MP David Bahati about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009. He was encouraged by committee members to withdraw the legislation since it overlapped the current penal code and other bills in the committee. HERE

·  Thanks to Truth Wins Out, sidebar
·  Thanks to Wayne Besen
·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to THE NEW YORK TIMES
·  Thanks to Gay Uganda
·  Thanks to George Oundo
·  Thanks to President Museveni, Uganda
·  Thanks to Box Turtle Bulletin, sidebar
·  Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices