LAWS AGAINST SEXUAL MINORITES (Uganda?): ¨Equivalent to racism, unworkable and open to appalling abuse¨ says Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury (what say ++York?)

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

¨Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the global Anglican communion, stepped on Tuesday into a row which is flaring at the U.N. Human Rights Council over the persecution of gays and lesbians.

Williams, who has faced strong opposition from parts of his own church especially in Africa for his stance on gays, did not directly refer to the current controversy at the Council, according to the text of a speech prepared for delivery at the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC).

However, he said laws against sexual minorities were equivalent to racism, and warned that legal regulation of consensual sexual conduct "can be both unworkable and open to appalling abuse - intimidation and blackmail..."  please read it all, HERE
`
INTIMIDATION, BLACKMAIL, SLANDER AND DECEIT IN UGANDA:

SPEAKING OF ´RACIST TYPE´ UNWORKABLE  ´CONSENSUAL SEXUAL CONDUCT´ SLANDER:

SODOMY SLANDER RESULTS IN THE APPALLING ABUSE OF THE BROTHER OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK BY PROTESTANT FUNDAMENTALIST PREACHERS IN UGANDA!



Ugandan ´Mega Church´Pastor Robert Kayanja, Brother of John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

MAGISTRATE IN UGANDA HOMOPHOBIC SMEAR CASE AGAINST BROTHER OF ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: ¨Accuses lawyer of dirty tricks campaign¨
HERE

 BACKGROUND:

¨Pastor Kayanja is very, very strong. His is 'Rubaga Miracle Cathedral'... and it is a mega church. He has recently opened a TV station in Uganda. Christian. And his ministry spans the earth. Yes, it does. He has good connections with the First Family, and has given of his accumulating wealth, judiciously. I mean, he has been giving to the police. Gifts of appreciation.¨  HERE

¨Kampala — THE first half of this year left its mark in the history of Uganda's Born-again church. Renowned pastor, Robert Kayanja, was accused of sodomy.

A group of five pastors and their colleagues pinned the Rubaga Miracle Centre cleric but Kayanja denied the allegations, calling them mudslinging.

The Christian Pastor ¨sodomy accusers¨ of Reverent Robert Kayanja, brother of ++Sentamu, become the accused! 

The accusers were anti-LGBT campaigners/pastors Michael Kyazze, Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male, Kayiira and Semujju.¨ ¨The Pastor Wars¨, HERE

Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury:  ¨...laws against sexual minorities were equivalent to racism, and warned that legal regulation of consensual sexual conduct "can be both unworkable and open to appalling abuse - intimidation and blackmail..." 

·  Thanks to Not the same stream, sidebar
·  Thanks to Reuters
·  Thanks to Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
·  Thanks to Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters
·  Thanks to Paul Bagshaw
·  Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar

Grandmère Mimi to Archbishop Rowan: IF WE PAY, WHY CAN'T WE PLAY?



Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, First Among Equals and more

BREAKING PEWS!  QUESTIONABLE QUESTIONER ALERT!
NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!  NO LOITERING AT CHURCH!

From:

His Most Grumpy Rowan,  STATWDG
(Smarter Than A Thorned Whip Design Group)

The Department of How Dare You
Lambeth Palace
(Tower Annex)

Grandmère Mimi, aka June Butler (most probably a real heterosexual person, although the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, certainly will NOT recognize any of that type of American Episcopalian/Anglican/other exists), has been asking *questions* (again).  Oh, twadle, oh snuff-box-sniff, oh steak and kidney pie and a off with your head too! This disrespectful act, of *repeated* asking of undesireable *questions* of his Grace (and staff/mass implimentors and other underlings and insignificant others) in itself,  is discouraged at Lambeth Palace!  You certainly must know that already, yet you persist?

When the Archbishop is initiating¨no comment allowed¨ alerts and/or ¨snappy little pro covenant videos¨ (on demand) at his office (daily), nobody, he means nobody/nobody (that would include the English House of Bishops) may ask QUESTIONS!  Fools! Undercrofts!  Fallen Yorkshire Puddings! Harvey Nichols Trendies! Chimney Cleaning Filth!

Bah Humbug, bah bat poop, bah tweezers and wild hair plucking! There is no doubt that the aledged Miss June of Luisiana (of course June is a month and not a proper name at all) has stepped over the frown line and will receive, in all due time of course, a nasty backbite. There may be, in addition, a proper ignoring and/or a free dinner/Bible Study with +Pete Akinola, +Hank Orombi and +Frank Lyons on the shores of Lake Titicaca!  Besides, who asked her anyway?  Everyone, and Rowan Williams means everyone, knows his Godly insistant demands must be met! 

Off with you now, and, please, the rest of you ¨incoherent¨ lame brains from throughout the Anglican Communion, do not read one word   HERE written by the dangerous, word bewitching, no Anglican Covenant trickster and double dealing librarian (she´ll expect everyone of you to learn how to read)! 

Can´thour

DELIVER US FROM EVIL: Lesbian Denied Communion By Priest Who Then Quits In Middle Of Her Mother’s Funeral

Father Marcel Guarnizo is an anti-choice activist who has delivered speeches about abortion  which calls abortion clinics — one, in particular which he mentions by name — a “veritable death camp.”

“I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman and that is a sin according to the church,” the priest, Father Marcel Guarnizo, a Vicar at Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, reportedly said to the woman, identified only as “Barbara,” in this piece by Ann Werner at Addicting Info:

¨My friend Barbara, the daughter of the deceased woman, was denied communion at her mother’s funeral. She was the first in line and Fr. Guarnizo covered the bowl containing the host and said to her, “I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman and that is a sin according to the church.” To add insult to injury, Fr. Guarnizo left the altar when she delivered her eulogy to her mother. When the funeral was finished he informed the funeral director that he could not go to the gravesite to deliver the final blessing because he was sick...¨  sicker than the dog that he is,  HERE

Marcel Guarnizo

·  Thanks to The New Civil Rights Movement, sidebar
·  Thanks to Ann Werner at  Addicting Info
·  Thanks to  David Badash

THE AMERICAN FACISTS: Their ´final objective´ is to keep common man in ¨eternal subjection¨ Henry Wallace, Episcopalian and U.S. Vice President

Vice President Wallace spoke out during race riots in Detroit in 1943, declaring that the nation could not "fight to crush Nazi brutality abroad and condone race riots at home."

¨Vice President Wallace was elected in November 1940 as Vice President on the Democratic Party ticket with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His inauguration took place on January 20, 1941, for the term ending January 20, 1945.

Roosevelt named Wallace chairman of the Board of Economic Warfare (BEW) and of the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB) in 1941. Both positions became important with the U.S. entry into World War II. As he began to flex his newfound political muscle in his position with SPAB, Wallace came up against the conservative wing of the Democratic party in the form of Jesse H. Jones, Secretary of Commerce, as the two differed on how to handle wartime supplies.

On May 8, 1942, Wallace delivered his most famous speech, which became known by the phrase "Century of the Common Man" to the Free World Association in New York City. This speech, grounded in Christian references, laid out a positive vision for the war beyond the simple defeat of the Nazis. The speech, and the book of the same name which appeared the following year, proved quite popular, but it earned him enemies among the Democratic leadership, among important allied leaders like Winston Churchill, and among business leaders and conservatives.

Wallace spoke out during race riots in Detroit in 1943, declaring that the nation could not "fight to crush Nazi brutality abroad and condone race riots at home."

More About Vice President Henry Wallace

In 1943, Wallace made a goodwill tour of Latin America, shoring up support among important allies. His trip proved a success, and helped persuade twelve countries to declare war on Germany. Regarding trade relationships with Latin America, he convinced the BEW to add "labor clauses" to contracts with Latin American producers. These clauses required producers to pay fair wages and provide safe working conditions for their employees and committed the United States to paying for up to half of the required improvements. This met opposition from the U.S. Department of Commerce...¨ HERE

· Thanks to  (exposing) Republican Dirty Tricks.com

· Thanks to the 33rd  Vice President of the United States Henry Wallace, Democrat

· Thanks to Wikipedia

NO ANGLICAN COVENANT: ¨So take my advice, don´t buy a pig in a poke¨

Comments have been disabled
by Paul Bagshaw

Rowan Williams,  Archbishop of Canterbury, bold promoter of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO) and their ¨task of fascilitaiting the reception of the Anglican Covenant¨

¨Suddenly there's a little flutter of pro-Covenant publicity. Clearly the No Anglican Covenant Campaign has got people rattled.

There is one very good reason why those who want the Covenant have been so tardy in asserting their case: serious opposition was never expected.

I am confident that there was a conscious policy of not provoking discussion, of not dealing with the issues or the detail. I believe that the planned tactics have been to assert the merits of the Covenant in bland and general terms and to repeat there is no alternative. The calculation was that if this twin message was reiterated often enough, people would be lulled into passing the Covenant on the nod.

Reception of the Covenant

Hence the new talking-heads videos described as "empty of critical content" by Mark Harris HERE. They come from a sub-group of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO). This group is tasked with facilitating the reception of the Covenant across the Communion.

But, please note, this is reception after the Covenant has been adopted. It was never anticipated that the group would need to explain or justify the Covenant in order to convince the voters of each Province to vote in favour. Here 'reception' means a PR exercise to induce people to like the Covenant once it was a legal fact that they could do noting about. (Admittedly 'reception' has always been a poor starveling in the spectrum of Anglican ecclesiology.)

Therefore the tone of the videos is mellow and reassuring: the Covenant is entirely benign, a Good Thing, motherhood-and-apple-pie, so don't worry your heads over it.

This is the Covenant of fairy land. It is as though To Mend the Net had never been written HERE or GAFCON created, as though Gene Robinson had never been consecrated bishop, as though no same-sex couple ever had their union blessed in church, as though there had never been any intrusion by one Province into the territory of others, as though Primates have always shared bread and wine together without demur, as though no Province had already declared itself out of Communion with any other...¨ there is more regarding the fairy tale from fairy land, HERE  (emphasis color/size added by Leonardo Ricardo)

·  Thanks to Paul Bagshaw
·  Thanks to Not the same stream, sidebar
·  Thanks to The No Anglican Covenant Coalition, HERE
·  Thanks to The Reverend Canon Mark Harris
·  Thanks to Preludium,  HERE

EQUAL MEANS EQUAL and EVERYONE MEANS EVERYONE: Maryland Senate Passes Marriage Equality Bill

Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R) even read the full text of the children’s book King and King on the floor, expressing concern that schools will teach that same-sex couples exist — one of many “filibusters” that delayed the vote.

¨Today, the Maryland Senate passed marriage equality legislation with a vote of 25-22. Opponents proposed numerous amendments in an attempt to derail the bill, including several that failed in the House last week. Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R) even read the full text of the children’s book King & King on the floor, expressing concern that schools will teach that same-sex couples exist — one of many “filibusters” that delayed the vote. All the proposed amendments failed, which means the passed bill now proceeds to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who has promised to sign it. The law is set to take effect January 1, 2013, but will likely be challenged in a referendum before then...¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Think Progress, sidebar
·  Thanks to Governor Martin O’Malley (D)

LEAP YEAR 2012: It´s the way that we see things that makes the ¨realismo magico¨ into being things.

HAPPY LEAP YEAR, 2012

ATTENTION Anglican Archbishop John Chew Hiang Chea -- South East Asia: Burmese rights group to broadcast LBGT news online

 A Chiang Mai-based LGBT rights group that serves the Burmese LGBT community and began Rainbow TV programs in late 2011 says it will continue to broadcast television programs on a monthly basis.

The following was first published by the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma on Feb 19, 2012:

¨In 2012, the Colours Rainbow group will continue to broadcast television programs, with a variety of topics covered in each month’s program. The first program of 2012 can be watched online.

The Colours Rainbow group, a Chiang Mai [Thailand] based LGBT rights activist group, started Rainbow TV programs in late 2011, and broadcast programs bi-monthly. This has now changed to monthly broadcasts.

This month the program includes international LGBT news, a documentary about the transgender day of remembrance ceremony organized by the Burmese LGBT community, an interview with Naomi (who is transgender and LGBT rights activist from the Philippines) and interesting news about the most attractive female-to-male transgender person. Moreover, the LGBT song named “Lu Maung”, which is about the tragic story and emotions of a young homosexual man from a village in Burmese society, was also broadcasted in this month’s program.

Currently, there are four episodes of Rainbow TV already broadcast. The programs can be watched on tvnews.colorsrainbow.com. You are welcome to send feedback and comments, news about LGBT, articles, stories, songs, footage and documentaries, and movies to clrburma@gmail.com....¨ please read it all,   HERE

URGENT REQUEST FOR MALAYSIA -- PASTORAL CARE NEEDED!

Attention: Anglican Archbishop John Chew Hiang Chea of South East Asia:

Serial gang-attacks on transgender women in Malaysia increasing! HERE

·  Thanks to The Human Rights Education Institute of Burma
·  Thanks to The Colours Rainbow group, a Chiang Mai [Thailand]
·  Thanks to Rainbow T.V.
·  Thanks to Fridae News & Features, sidebar
·  Thanks to Burmese LGBT community

PLEASE MEET CHAIM LEVIN: Chaim Levin is Giving Hope to LGBT Orthodox Jews

¨Chaim Levin, 22, grew up feeling the sting of discrimination¨

“I felt like I didn’t want to live anymore.”  Chaim Levin

¨When people think of anti-gay places, the gay Mecca of New York City does not often come to mind. However, Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community is a hotbed of homophobia, where LGBT people are shunned, abused, rejected and told they must change their sexual orientation to be accepted.

Chaim Levin, 22, grew up feeling the sting of discrimination and disgust from his Orthodox family and neighbors in Crown Heights. In his teenage years he was sent away to a strict religious boarding school in France. After Levin was outed, he was bullied and humiliated on a daily basis...¨ read it all please, HERE

Against all odds, Levin has brushed off his critics and pushed forward to break barriers and begin to create lasting change in a hostile environment. This month he started a new blog named after gay icon Harvey Milk’s famous saying, “You gotta give em hope.”*

¨Last week, Levin joined me in Atlanta to protest an “ex-gay” conference. It was part of his heroic advocacy to help LGBT youth and educate people in Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods.

Levin has ruffled feathers and gained notoriety since he published an historic pro-LGBT essay in the Jewish Press, the first of its kind in this traditionally conservative publication. In reaction to his piece, some anti-gay activists urged a boycott of the Jewish Press and extremist Rabbi Yehuda Levin wrote a letter to the editor calling for the   chemical castration of gay men. Levin has also had to endure the criticism of some LGBT Orthodox Jews who prefer a quieter, more closeted approach to advocacy...¨ by Wayne Besen   HERE

*This month Chaim Levin started a new blog named after gay icon Harvey Milk’s famous saying, “You gotta give em hope.”

· Thanks to Truth Wins Out, sidebar
· Thanks to Wayne Besen
· Thanks to Chaim Levin
· Thanks to ´You gotta give em hope¨ HERE


Jewish Gay Pride

MAGISTRATE IN UGANDA HOMOPHOBIC SMEAR CASE AGAINST BROTHER OF ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: ¨Accuses lawyer of dirty tricks campaign¨

Ugandan ´Mega Church´Pastor Robert Kayanja, Brother of John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

BACKGROUND:

¨Pastor Kayanja is very, very strong. His is 'Rubaga Miracle Cathedral'... and it is a mega church. He has recently opened a TV station in Uganda. Christian. And his ministry spans the earth. Yes, it does. He has good connections with the First Family, and has given of his accumulating wealth, judiciously. I mean, he has been giving to the police. Gifts of appreciation.¨  HERE

¨Kampala — THE first half of this year left its mark in the history of Uganda's Born-again church. Renowned pastor, Robert Kayanja, was accused of sodomy.
A group of five pastors and their colleagues pinned the Rubaga Miracle Centre cleric but Kayanja denied the allegations, calling them mudslinging.

The accusers were anti-LGBT campaigners/pastors Michael Kyazze, Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male, Kayiira and Semujju.¨ ¨The Pastor Wars¨, HERE

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, brother of Pastor Robert Kayanja

¨Just caught up this, that the Archbishop of York, the number 2 in the Church of England is not going to comment on the Anti-Homosexuality bill.

Yeah, the guy was born in Uganda. And, forgive the gentleman, he has some more than veiled interest in what is happening! I mean, remove the fact that he is the number 2 to Canterbury. And, he is Ugandan... by birth. Grew up here. Went into the diaspora during the Amin times....¨ HERE

UPDATED:

The trial magistrate in Uganda’s on-going landmark homophobic smear case against three anti-gay pastors has accused the lead defence lawyer of a dirty tricks campaign.

Pastor Martin Ssempa (hand/head/facing down) and Kyazze (facing down) during a court appearance in 2011

¨Magistrate John Wekesa said the lawyer, Edward Sekabanja, had orchestrated a bribery smear campaign against him in the media and meanwhile sanctioned “false affidavits” to accuse the magistrate of having received a bribe from Robert Kayanja of Lubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral in Kampala.

Sekabanja represents three Christian preachers, Martin Sempa, Solomon Male and Bob Kyazze who stand accused of conspiracy to damage Kayanja’s name by way of a homophobic smear campaign. Kayanja has sued the three pastors in the on-going case...¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Behind the Mask, sidebar
·  Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar

¨THE ARCHITECT´S MANIFESTO¨: Archbishop Drexel Gomez and The Anglican Covenant

Archbishop Drexel Gomez,  Primate of the West Indies (retired) and chair of the Anglican Covenant Design Group

¨Drexel Gomez was not chosen to chair the Covenant Design Group as a neutral chair. His views of the present and future of the Communion were well known and the Archbishop of Canterbury must have chosen him with this in mind.¨ Paul Bagshaw HERE

¨In 2001 Drexel Gomez co-edited with Maurice Sinclair  HERE(wikipedia) a short book called To Mend the Net: Anglican Faith and Order for Renewed Mission. It was published by The Ekklesia Society. HERE

Please note the date: 2001. Two years before Gene Robinson (wikipedia) HERE

To Mend the Net is a collection of essays with a conservative prescription for the reform of the Anglican Communion. It is not available on the net.

(References below are to paragraph numbers)

The editors' focus was on The Episcopal Church's disregard of the Lambeth 1.10 resolution on sexuality, TEC's decision to monitor progress towards women's ordination in all dioceses, and the equal valuing of marriage and non-marital sexual relations within the Church (1.8) though the valuation of homosexuality within the church was their particular horror (1.6).

Amongst other things the book prescribes:

'Enhanced Responsibility' for the Primates' Meeting ( Lambeth Conference 1998-3-6). This was central to the book's programme. (1.2)

The 'need to be clear what kind of new practices can be accepted into a process of open reception, how necessary openness can be guaranteed, and how a proper collegiality among Anglican bishops can be restored when it is eroded or broken' (1.8)

'Some may be tempted to imagine that democratic structures linked with democratic values will sole our problems. Instead ...' [we choose] 'truth and holiness of life' 'We want to allow the authoritative Scriptures to speak into and redeem our Church and our world and we refuse to relativise or domesticate the Word of God.' (1.10) (See an earlier post, A Richer Covenant)

They claimed no brief to put a legislative structure above Provinces, but espoused 'the exercise of a form of political authority at the international level.' (1.11)

'Genuine collegiality will normally require a minority to respect decisions supported by a majority of Primates.' Experiment in 'doctrine, discipline or ethics' would need 'a consensus or a very substantial majority of Primates' (2.2)

The Exercise of Enhanced Responsibility was summarised as:

Self Examination led by Primates' personal example (3.1)

Education: promoted by Primates who should also 'specify the limits of diversity and the frame of reference of provincial autonomy.' (3.2)

Advanced Sharing: especially sharing initiatives with one another in advance of implementation (3.3)

Preparation of Guidelines: if a significant minority of Primates disagree with the proposed initiative it should not proceed. If such advice is ignored then 'guidelines' should 'address the situation created and identify its remedy.' (3.4)

Godly Admonition: the 'guidelines' would be sent to the errant province or diocese [to address the issue of 'local' action allowed but not authorized by a Province] for approval and acceptance. 'This step would be taken with a very positive intent.' (3.5)

Observer status: if the admonition was not heeded the Archbishop of Canterbury would demote the recalcitrant body from member to observer on international Anglican bodies. (3.6)


Continuing Evangelization: the Archbishop of Canterbury would also be asked to authorize 'appropriate means of evangelization, pastoral care and episcopal oversight' of the offending body. (3.7)

New Jurisdiction: And if resistance continued the Archbishop of Canterbury would be advised how to set up a new jurisdiction to replace the offending body as the legitimate Anglican entity in that geographical area. (3.8) The 'intransigent body' would be suspended. (3.8)

Primates' Commission: a standing commission to assist the Archbishop of Canterbury would be established 'to the furtherance of priorities in mission and the re-ordering in cases of disorder.' (3.9)

What remains in the Covenant? ...please read it all, By Paul Bagshaw, HERE

Note:  Emphasis added by Leonardo Ricardo

·  Thanks to Not the same stream, sidebar
·  Thanks to Paul Bagshaw

¨NO¨ to ANGLICAN COVENANT: ¨This weekend, the dioceses of Leicester, Portsmouth, Rochester, and Salisbury all voted against the Anglican Covenant.

If a majority of dioceses of The Church  of England vote against the Covenant, one would expect that the Covenant will have effectively been rejected by the Mother Church of worldwide Anglicanism

¨As I’m sure many readers know, dioceses of the Church of England—there are 44 of them—are voting on the Anglican Covenant. Only if a majority of the dioceses vote in favor of the pact will the question of its adoption by the Church of England return to the General Synod for final approval. If a majority of dioceses vote against the Covenant, one would expect that the Covenant will have effectively been rejected by the Mother Church of worldwide Anglicanism. One always has to worry, however, whether Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams might devise some ad hoc contrivance to rescue his beloved Covenant from ignominious defeat by his own church.

Going into this weekend, the diocesan vote was 5 dioceses for Covenant adoption (Lichfield, Durham, Europe, Bristol, and Canterbury) and 6 dioceses against (Truro, Birmingham, Wakefield, St. Edmundsbury & Ipswich, Derby, and Gloucester). The vote is no longer so close.

This weekend, the dioceses of Leicester, Portsmouth, Rochester, and Salisbury and all voted against the Covenant. This makes the current vote of dioceses 5 for the Covenant and 10 against!
By Lionel Diemel  HERE

More information , including actual vote totals, will eventually appear on the No Anglican Covenant Coalition’s blog http://blog.noanglicancovenant.org/ and Web site http://noanglicancovenant.org/

·  Thanks to The Church of England
·  Thanks to No Anglican Covenant Coalition, sidebar
·  Thanks to Lionel Diemel, sidebar
·  Thanks to Church of England dioceses of Leicester, Portsmouth, Rochester and Salisbury

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IDIOT OF THE WEEK: Mainline Protestantism is ¨in shambles¨ and ¨gone from the world of Christianity¨

Roman Catholic former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania

Santorum Excommunicates 45 Million Christians: Mainline Protestants Are ‘Gone From The World Of Christianity’

¨We all know that this country was founded on a Judeo-Christian ethic but the Judeo-Christian ethic was a Protestant Judeo-Christian ethic, sure the Catholics had some influence, but this was a Protestant country and the Protestant ethic, mainstream, mainline Protestantism, and of course we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it. [...]

Whether its sensuality of vanity of the famous in America, they are peacocks on display and they have taken their poor behavior and made it fashionable. The corruption of culture, the corruption of manners, the corruption of decency is now on display whether it’s the NBA or whether it’s a rock concert or whether it’s on a movie set...¨  HERE

·  Thanks to Think Progress, sidebar
·  Thanks to  Alex Seitz-Wald

I DON´T THINK IT WILL ALWAYS BE EASY: When Your 7-Year-Old Son Announces, 'I'm Gay'

"My 7-Year-Old Son Is Gay, and I'm So Proud To Be His Mom"

¨Considering that my son has a longstanding crush on Glee's Blaine and regularly refers to him as "my boyfriend," I thought there was a fair chance that he would someday say, "I'm gay." But my kid is only 7 years old. I figured I had a few years before we crossed that threshold (if we ever did), probably when he was 14 or 15. I never thought it would happen this soon.

Six months ago "gay" wasn't even a word in my son's vocabulary. He has always known that some of our male friends are married to men and some of our female friends to women, and it is such a normal part of his life that he never needed a special word to describe them. When he did notice the word and asked what it meant, I told him that when boys want to marry boys and girls want to marry girls, we call that "gay." He didn't seem very interested and quickly went off to do something else more exciting than a vocabulary lesson with his mom.

Fast-forward a few months. I was on the phone with a relative who had just discovered that I was blogging on The Huffington Post and openly discussing my son's crush on Blaine. I was in another room alone (I thought), explaining, "We're not saying he's straight, and we're not saying he's gay. We're saying we love who he is," when my son's voice piped up behind me.

"Yes, I am," he said.

"Am what, baby?" I asked.

"Gay. I'm gay."  there is more, please read it all, HERE

NOTE:   I´m Leonardo Ricardo/Len and I knew I was ¨Gay¨ at least by age 7 too.  As described in Amelia´s entry at Huffington Post, ¨I didn´t know what the language for *it* was and I was afraid *it* was wrong to be who I was born to be...the authentic me.  My parents were loving and accepting of me (and my friends) at all ages/stages of my life even though we never had much conversation on ¨Gay¨ specifically. Thanks, Len

·  Thanks to Amelia, Mother, Wife, Partner and Breadwinner
·  Thanks to The Huffington Post, sidebar
·  Thanks to End Bigotry in Venango County, HERE

HELP! Anglican Archbishop John Chew Hiang Chea: Serial gang-attacks on transgender women in Malaysia increasing!

¨At least 13 transgender women have been assaulted in Kuantan, the state capital of Pahang, in the last six months – stirring fears that the same gang is responsible for the attacks, The Star newspaper reported on Thursday quoting a friend of several of the victims.

One of the victims, identified in the press as Mona, received 18 stitches after being assaulted and slashed in the neck at Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz on Sep 1 last year.Photo: The Star The attacks occurred in Jalan Bukit Ubi, Jalan Pasar and Jalan Dato Wong Ah Jang, besides Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz. One of the victims, identified in the press as Mona, received 18 stitches after being assaulted and slashed in the neck at Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz on Sep 1 last year.

The two victims of the latest attack, which occurred on Wednesday, are a make-up artist and her friend who were set upon by six men on motorcycles and beaten with chains, steel bars and crash helmets. They both suffered cuts and bruises.

“They hit me non-stop till I fell, and then hit me some more. They sounded very angry,” one of the victims was quoted as saying in the paper. She received five stitches to close a deep gash on the back of her head...please read it all, HERE

· Thanks to Fridae, sidebar

http://blog.noanglicancovenant.org/

COUNTERLIGHT´S PECULIARS: ¨My Advice to Right Wing Christians Tired of Being Portrayed As Unreasonable Bigots ...

Stop acting like unreasonable bigots.¨

¨Not getting your way in every policy debate and not having everyone else defer to your beliefs is not oppression.

Getting fired from your job, getting evicted from your home, getting constantly harassed and threatened, getting declared deviate and criminal, getting the shit beaten out of you, or getting killed just for being yourself, now THAT'S oppression.¨   HERE

·  Thanks to Doug, Counterlight´s Peculiars

PROFESSOR MARILYN McCORD ADAMS APPOINTED AS NO ANGLICAN COVENANT COALITION’S FOURTH PATRON -- Professor McCord Adams joins Bishops John Saxbee and Peter Selby, and Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch*

Professor McCord Adams

¨The No Anglican Covenant Coalition today announced that Marilyn McCord Adams, Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, has been appointed as the Covenant’s fourth Patron. The Coalition’s news release can be read here

“The proposed Anglican Covenant was conceived in moral indignation and pursued with disciplinary intent,” according to Professor McCord Adams. “Its global gate-keeping mechanisms would put a damper on the gospel agenda, which conscientious Anglicans should find intolerable. The Covenant is based on an alien ecclesiology, which thoughtful Anglicans have every reason to reject.”  Marilyn McCord Adams

Marilyn McCord Adams (born 1943) is an American philosopher working in philosophy of religion, philosophical theology and medieval philosophy.

Since 1 July 2009, Adams has been a Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that she was, in reverse chronological order, the Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University, the Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology at Yale University, and a Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. She is also a former President of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy.

Adams was ordained priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in 1987 and was until recently a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. HERE

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La Coalición No Pacto Anglicano ha anunciado hoy que Marilyn McCord Adams, Distinguido profesor investigador de filosofía en la Universidad de Carolina del Norte, ha sido nombrado Patrono cuarto del Pacto. El lanzamiento de la Coalición de noticias se puede leer La Coalición No Pacto Anglicano ha anunciado hoy que Marilyn McCord Adams, Distinguido profesor investigador de filosofía en la Universidad de Carolina del Norte, ha sido nombrado Patrono cuarto del Pacto. El lanzamiento de la Coalición de noticias se puede leer aquí AQUI . Un extracto:

"El Pacto Anglicano propuesto fue concebido en la indignación moral y la persigue con una intención disciplinaria", según el profesor McCord Adams. "Sus globales de mantenimiento de los mecanismos de la puerta que poner un freno a la agenda del evangelio, que los anglicanos de conciencia deberían encontrar intolerable. El Pacto se basa en una eclesiología extranjero, que los anglicanos reflexivos tienen toda la razón para rechazar ". Marilyn McCord Adams

Marilyn McCord Adams (nacida en 1943) es una filósofa estadounidense que trabaja principalmente en las áreas de la filosofía religiosa, teología filosófica y la filosofía medieval.

El 1 de julio del 2009, Adams fue designada Profesora Distinguida de Investigaciones de Filosofía en la University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Anteriormente había sido la "Regius Professor of Divinity" en la Universidad de Oxford, la Horace Tracy Pitkin Profesora de Teología Histórica en la Universidad de Yale, y Profesora de Filosofía en la UCLA.

En 1987 Adams fue ordenada sacerdote en la Iglesia episcopal en los Estados Unidos de América y hasta poco tiempo atrás fue canónica de la Catedral de Oxford. AQUI

*PROFESSOR MARILYN McCORD ADAMS APPOINTED AS NO ANGLICAN COVENANT COALITION’S FOURTH PATRON -- Professor McCord Adams joins Bishops John Saxbee and Peter Selby, and Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch. 

The Revd Dr Lesley Crawley, Moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition, and Dr Lionel Deimel, the Coalition’s Episcopal Church Convenor

MY SCHOOL DAYS/DAZE VALENTINE BOXES (would you or wouldn´t you be my Valentine?)

When I was a little kid.  A kid in Grade School.  I remember each Valentines Day we´d have a Valentines Day Party in our classroom.   I think the Mom´s brought in refreshments and the last couple of hours in the afternoon on Valentines Day were devoted to frolicing about, playing lovey-dovey games and opening the individual Valentine mail boxes we had wrapped and decorated for OURSELVES!  Yes, there they were all those former shoe boxes now all decorated with cupids, hearts and various throbs of electriclike love designs!  Surely you remember them, that is, if you were a kid when kid´s were still celebrating holidays like Valentines day in Grade School?  

Anyway, those little ¨mailboxes¨ , one each for each pupil in the class, actually received the paper valentines from fellow classmembers.  Some of the Valentines came in sets of Valentines and they all looked alike and all I had to do was sign my name, after Happy Valentines Day, seal the envelope and then address it, one for each classmate, and then deposit them in the lavishly gushy shoe boxes with the mail slot on top...of course, for SPECIAL friends, there were always larger, individual Valentines that would upstage the everyday/ordinary ones that everyone else would receive.  

Oh, how I worried day after day (Valentines were deposited in secret during recess/etc) that on the final day during the party when I opened my VALENTINE BOX, mine would be empty...yes, it´s true...fret, fret, fret, I was aware that I was ¨different¨ from the others at a very early age and I knew I couldn´t give BIG valentines to those secret recipients that I longed to give them to...and, of course nobody would know that I wanted a BIG VALENTINE  from one, or two, of them too!  

Well, it wasn´t as bad as all of that but I did worry about being ¨different¨ and being alone with my heartshaped unexplained longings.  ALAS! When the boxes were delivered, each one, one by one, to our desks during the Red Glazed Heart Shaped Sugar Cookie Party, my BOX was always full.   Filled with all the cards personally addressed to me from my fellow happy Valentines Day well-wishers...boys, girls and teachers too...it wasn´t a cause for worry as it turned out because year after year many of you, boys, girls (and later older versions too) remained/became my Valentines. 

You know who you are and since I´m now into my sixtyth (something) Valentines Day celebration I wish to tell you that I LOVE and APPRECIATE every one of you...you have been my Valentines, year after year and my Valentine box runneth over with love from many of you...let me count the ways that I love you tooeth...millions of ways I love you and I am thankful for each one of you...thanks be to God for all of you...I need not have worried, you´ve always been there for me when my heart opened (fear and despair falls away from me).

You are a big deal.

Love to you,

Lenny, Len, Leonard, Leonardo, Leo (all of us)
Valentines Day 2012

CORRECTION AND APOLOGIES TO KING ZWELITHINI: The Zulu King, never called gay relationships “rotten” – Never said what the media said he said!

His Royal Majesty,  King Zwelithini

Zulu King is owed an apology
by Abdul Milazi

¨Gay rights and other rights activists have for the past weeks vilified King Zwelithini for having allegedly called gay relationships “rotten” – now it appears he never did.The media took a stance and condemned the King in centimetres and centimetres of editorial comments. To the media the King was guilty of whatever he was accused of. Interestingly, my colleague Sithembiso Msomi, who had listened to the recording of the speech, cautioned in his weekly column that this nationwide condemnation emanated from what he called “lost in translation”.Now isiZulu is my mother tongue and I was fortunate to listen to a discussion on Ukhozi FM (formerly Radio Zulu in my youth) and they played the parts of the King’s speech that was supposed to have called gay relationships rotten.

To my shock and horror, the King never said what the media said he said, even if translated literally.The King said when you are a man or woman abusing another man or woman, you are rotten. He was talking about abuse and not sexual abuse. He used the word “ukuhlukumeza” which means abuse in a general sense. If he had intended to abuse in a sexual context, he would have used the word “ukunukubeza” which is the IsiZulu word for sexual abuse.What he said was, any person abusing another, whether man versus man or woman versus woman, is rotten...¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Abdul Milazi
·  Thanks to Behind the Mask, sidebar
·  Thanks to Times Live,   HERE
·  Thanks to Ukhozi FM

WINTER SOLSTICE 2012: The end of a Maya calendar cycle and a rebirth of the Maya culture for the new cycle

Elizabeth Bell, Author, Historian and award winning Notable Citizen



The new b’aq tun begins on the winter solstice 2012
¨Calendars reflect how cultures and societies view the organization of time and space over the centuries. Many calendars have emerged and many have disappeared or been modified: the Julian calendar, the Republican calendar, the Gregorian calendar and the Maya calendar to name a few. Each one involved astronomical calculations and incorporate harvests and religious or spiritual fiestas.

I remember in the late 1970s, we all studied how it would be the “End of the World for the Maya” in 2012; we thought it was “pretty neat” as to how it tied into other doomsday calculations of other cultures. With very little bibliography by Maya writers at the time (in fact none in English), we continued to believe that indeed the world—at least in Mesoamerica—would end in 2012. I have recently referred to this as a “California spin.” Watching a recent TV program on the subject, I noted that the experts were all from California. I wondered why a Maya expert was not a participant!

Talking to the experts, we find it is the end of a Mayan calendar cycle and a rebirth of the Mayan culture for the new cycle. Some great references include: The Order of Days: the Maya World and the Truth about 2012 by David Stuart (Schele Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing, University of Texas/Austin), 2012: Science & Prophecy of the Ancient Maya by Mark van Stone, Ph.D., and Ri Rejqalem Kisamaj Ri Ajk’ Exelom Chuqa ‘Ri Ajq’ija by Calixta Gabriel (Maya spiritual guide/Thesis Universidad Rafael Landívar), which are all outstanding. Also, refer to the Dresden Codex.

The Maya Long Count calendar started at 13.0.0.0.0. (not “0”) in 3113 B.C. and comes to a complete cycle at the winter solstice this year. This marks a new cycle. There are two calendars that work together. The solar year (365 days), known as haab, has 18 months (20 days each) and a five-day period before the next year. A day (q’ij), a 20-day month (winäq), a year (tun), a 20-year cycle (katun) a 52-year cycle (tzolkin) and so forth up to the end of a b’aq tun (Kakchikel spelling). The sacred calendar, known as tzolk’in, has 13 months (20 days each), for a 260-day count. Each day has a nawal, look yours up in the calendar. The new b’aq tun begins on the winter solstice 2012—time for another fiesta but this one will be BIG!  please enjoy it all,  by Elizabeth Bell, HERE

·  Thanks to The Revue Magazine, Guatemala´s English-language Magazine
·  Thanks to Elizabeth Bell, award winning historian, author and notable citizen
·  Thanks to http://antiguatours.net/

DEAD SERIOUS -- FATHER CHRISTIAN TROLL: ¨Feeling sexually attracted to people of your own gender isn´t any more a sin than feeling attracted to people of a different gender.¨

¨Feeling sexually attracted to people of your own gender isn’t any more a sin than feeling attracted to people of a different gender. Despite what some (often very dishonest) Christians claim, being gay, or lesbian, or transgendered, or anywhere in between, doesn’t mean you can’t follow Christ without pretending to be someone you’re not. Nor does God hate your sexuality, and "biblical" arguments to the contrary are exactly the same as those once used to justify obscenities like slavery, as well as idiocies like the idea women shouldn’t vote, drive cars, or operate office typewriters (yep – people really did once use the bible to justify that last one).

If you’ve somehow wandered here from the type of places that want you to believe God doesn’t love you as you are, and you find the idea of walking away from self-hatred and guilt frightening, then – please – remember you’re not alone. A lot of people have been along that path before you, and their journeys are proof that you also can find life and the light of Christ on the other side of “ex-gay” judgmental bitterness.

Anyone wanting support along the way in North America should try contacting Integrity HERE those in Great Britain can get in touch with the wonderful team at Changing Attitude HERE. Or you’re always welcome to email me and I’ll do my best to confidentially find the details of someone in your region. Just please don’t ever buy into the lie that the Pharisees speak for God.

They don’t, and the love for you God revealed in Jesus proves so.¨  please read it all, HERE

‘Fr. C.’

·  Thanks to GAFCON, sidebar
·  Thanks to Father Christian Troll

WASHINGTON STATE ¨YES¨ TO GAY MARRIAGE: Home of my heart in the Great Northwest, Land of Beauty, Heavens Best -- Emerald State I love you...*

Gays and Lesbians can now marry in Washington State.

¨Lawmakers in the US state of Washington have passed a bill legalising gay marriage, making Washington the seventh US state to back the measure...¨  HERE

·  Thanks to Counterlight´s Peculiars, HERE
·  Thanks to BBC News
·  Thanks to The Legislature of Washington State
·  Thanks to Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire
·  Thanks to *Blue Monday, A song written by her (when I was a child), honoring Washington State

Thank Washington Governor Chris Gregoire For Making Marriage A Reality HERE

PARENTAL GUIDANCE ADVISED: There are dangerous G.O.P. ¨religious nuts¨ running as fast as they can all around us!

Beware of ¨Religious Nuts¨

Dearest Friends and fellow victims of some Republicans and their ¨religiouslike¨ nonsense heard on the 2012 Presidential campaign prowl!

Ít´s true, what ever happened to the decent men and women who are/were Republicans?  Those nice people? Where did they go?  Did they die off along with, President ¨Tricky Dick¨ Nixon, Wendell Willkie, Martha and John Mitchell,  Herbert Hoover, J. Edgar, Joseph McCarthy  and Anita Bryant  (oops, she´s not dead yet) ?

Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion.^[1] He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate

My very own Mom and Dad were modest citizens/Republicans (unlike any of the above mentioned) of the All American, yet tolerant of others, 4th of July celebrating/President Lincoln variety (and my Moms parents too) . They were level headed, sane, hardworking, generous of spirit, hospitable and God loving (as opposed to God fearing) Christians.  My folks lived industrious lives and helped build their/our American Dream and were NOT bigots, braggards, thieves, exploiters of others or greedsters covering themselves as ¨trickle downers¨ grandstanders and opportunists. 

Gracious, welcoming, friendly and ¨hardworking¨  my Dad the Republican

¨Generous of spirit and hospitable¨ my Mom the Republican

My parents were the ¨Golden Rule¨ type Christians who tried, very hard, and succeeded in staying out of demeaning other peoples religious beliefs (even when they really thought they were off-the-wall and extremist loons). 

My Republican parents weren´t bigots. Everyone, I mean everyone, were welcomed into our home (including me and my heterosexual older sister and all of our acquaintances and friends). 

I know, I was there, a Gay son who witnessed their unending kindness and genuine caring for me and my LGBT close ones whom I introduced them too.  My parents knew my friends and treated them with not only warm respect but also with a gracious and sincere welcome...their arms wide open! 

The ONLY time I heard either of my parents refer unkindly about anyone was when they warned me to be very cautious around/about ¨religious nuts¨!  

My devoted Republican parents, happy, loving in retirement (with adored grandbaby)

Although my parents have now passed on to the greater beyond of their well deserving, I feel I must speak up for them!  I speak for me and for the kind of quality people they were, their Republican friends were and for the inclusive America that evolved/evolves into ¨being¨ because of many generations of people just like them and just like all of the American welcoming WE´S!  Leonardo Ricardo