Dr. Swoozie Nights, Chapter One, by Leonardo Ricardo

Wise Man
Originally uploaded by NameTaken!

"I'm just going to do it!"

"I can't keep going
on and on with this boring thing! I've got to
find a way to escape being normal. You know, normal, like
all of them, like most everyone else has settled into "being." I tried it, I've
done my part, it was fine, I gave it my best but it
just isn't working for me.

Normal is so gray
and I hate it! I once knew a women by the name of Gray, and she certainly was boring, attractive and boring, I nicknamed her Ms. Beige...I quit my job when they promoted her to become my boss...she had "normal" down real well.

The whole idea of "normal" makes me feel trapped and edgy. Did somebody talk me
into this or did I do it to myself? Did I think it would be easier in some way to act like all the others and accept the everyday stuff they accept as "the way that it is?" I've been normal
for over five years now. I can't remember why I did
it but I think it was when I returned from living in Central America...there must have been a good reason. It's about time I become alert and notice why I did "normalizing" to myself with "good intentions" for "good reason" ...so I became normal?

Normal is going to kill me! I wonder why so many
people like it? I feel friendly, accepting and have goodwill for the "normies" ..it's not that I disdain them. I think they should be allowed to do whatever they want to do and keep roaming around freely experiencing their blandish form of seeking bliss...but, I'm a little angry I'm starting to become one of them. "Come on, join in it's safe." That's what they think. Of course it's not safe, they just think it is safe
because they all wander around in people packs for protection from having any real adventure and risk. They stay with thinking "safe" thoughts (mostly) and call it "being responsible"....however, they avoid thinking about stark reality, infinity and the
really big picture of life and death...they don't like being required to pay excessive attention to how life really is.

I'm happy they have all those chickens in their pots,
sleek cars in their triple/double
quadruple bi-pass garages along with all the other, expensive buffed
out sports home work-out stuff. I admire their Platinum covered
partners and all their sweet, cute 18 carat golden kiddies
and pure kittens/doggies/birds and the rest of the joys and toys
too...but, my time is running out and I don't want to
be trapped in a live museum of what should "be"... I don't want to be like them. I never wanted to be like them and I never really was like them.


I've got to think this next living my life part out very carefully.

This is no time to slow down, cower, or roll over and
play living dead. Getting old requires getting serious about whatever it is that I think I want and/or must have and/or contribute to life in the time I've got left. This is the hard part, the no going
back part, I'm getting a last "gasp" of a sprint and energy before getting ready to go...go wherever it is we all go in the end.

I turned sixty years old last Monday. I can't pretend it didn't
happen. Birthdays never bothered me before this one. The enemy is circling my wagon, this is it,
it's high noon and there are buzzards up in the
sky...the line to the cliff is forming and I'm not ready to drop off.

What do I do?

I'm going to stay focused. This is entirely about me. YES! No diversions. no distractions! My senses won't be fooled with fearfilled covers of what I should or must "do." I'm not interested in fillers. I'm only interested in locating the original me and building a fuller life in a happier direction for a great finale. I want to enjoy
me for the rest of my life! I'm going to win my struggle against boring myself to death.


I want to find out where I went wrong and where I want to go.
I'm going to take the flying leap and get on with my
life the hard way...by participating in all that I find, even if I find nothing at all...I know how to do that real well!

About Monday. I didn't notice anything that different, so I'm
older so what! However on Tuesday my good friend Sam
in the Mid-West had a massive stroke and died. I love Sam and
I never met him in person. Sam and I became
friends at our cyber group...one for recovering from the madness of the 60's..

Since Sam and I were the longterm, still living, members in our
group we sort of hung-out cyberspacewise together...we understood each other.
You know, he became my confidant my best
friend. We told each other everything. We sat
at our computers, in our various bedrooms, in our
various cities thousands of miles away from one another and we spilled
our guts to each other, every night. We didn't use the group for sharing our personal dilemmas much. It
worked real well with just the two of us on "messenger" before bed.

What a good friend I had until
Tuesday morning of this week when Sam dropped dead.

I knew it beforehand! I knew it before I tried to
find him on-line. It's one of those things that
happens between friends. I felt it. I felt it the
whole day like something was wrong with my good friend
Sam. I call that feeling of apprehension "pending doom" other people
call it intuition. It's
gloomy. It feels like you know something is
about to happen. Pending doom is like some prehistoric
instinct coming alive and edging up to me through the
tar pit of lifetimes ago. I bet other people notice it too. It isn't
the kind of thing that people talk about. People
probably don't like to talk about it. People don't
like to look at real feelings of dread...feelings that are weird or mystical,
sometimes they think it's a anti-religious or superstitious. It scares them. Not me, I want to get understand the really deep
and under-the-surface/current stuff. I want to know
what everything means. I'm not interested in
how things "appear" to be. I'm on a mission of
knowing the absolute truth about me and everybody else
around me. I'm going to find a good shrink. I'll talk to
the shrink about all of these things. The shrink will
know for sure exactly what I mean and what I need to do to find
my way to live enthusiastically in reality...enthusiastically, right up to, and including, the end." Chapter One, Dr. Swoozie Nights, by Leonardo Ricardo

Women Bishops at the Lambeth Conference 2008...a date with FATE? Don't be late!

ACNS/Gunn July 26
Originally uploaded by Lambeth Conference 2008

Howdy Ft. Worth!

Hola San Joaquin!

Mention Our Names in Peoria y Quincy!

Let Springfield Ring!

Anybody Home at the Province of Southern Conealone?

Ready, Set, It's a GO in Merry Ol'

Changing: A Long Tradition of Intolerance and Machismo

Guatemala: big news
Originally uploaded by xeni

Short History of Gay Guatemala

"Guatemala A republic in Central America with the third largest area in the region, Guatemala is, after Mexico, the largest of the Central American countries in population, with about 11.5 million people. Homosexuality was made illegal by the Spanish conquest (1524). It was decriminalized in the nineteenth century, but it was not until the 1960s and 1980s that more open-minded attitudes toward homosexuality began to appear within Guatemalan society as a whole.

The Colonial Period
After the Spanish conquest, the administrative entity called Captaincy General of Guatemala comprised an area that today comprehends six countries (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua). The Spaniards condemned the same-sex sexual practices that were common among many of the Mayan peoples and promulgated the Christian sexual ethic that only heterosexual relations in marriage were acceptable sexual behavior.

The Spanish colonial period ended in 1821, but the cultural hegemony of the Catholic Church remained until 1871, when a liberal revolution took place. Through all the "ecclesiastical period," homosexuality was illegal and persecuted under statutes forbidding "sodomy" or "pecado nefando." The law covered both male and female homosexual acts, but only male cases were indicted. Female homosexuality was invisible to the male-centered establishment.

Although homosexual acts were illegal, the penalties were rather mild. Natives were regarded as minors under the law, and thus they were not actually tried for sexual offenses. Instead, they were subjected to sermons and lectures.
The more common offenders during this period were friars and priests, but if they were sentenced for violating these statutes (which very seldom happened), their jail terms of six months to four years were served in their monasteries or religious houses, not in secular prisons.

The Revolution of 1871
In 1871 a vast reorganization of the Guatemalan state began. The state abandoned the colonial discourse and changed the laws that had been dictated by the Catholic Church. French ideas and concepts replaced the old ones. As part of this revolution, homosexuality was decriminalized on the constitutional grounds that private sexual acts between consenting adults were not the concern of the state.

The law changed, but a culture that despised homosexuals and homosexuality remained for many decades. Denigrating jokes about homosexual relations were common in families and even in the newspapers.

It was not until the late 1930s that a noted lesbian, Julia Quiñones, began a cultural club composed of gay men and herself. The activities of this group were very discreet, consisting mostly of reading and discussing poetry. Nevertheless, it was a beginning.
The 1950s and 1960s

In the 1950s, the attitudes of Guatemalan society began to change. After the surgical sex-change of Christine Jorgensen in the winter of 1952-1953, a timid discussion of sex in general began to take place in the media. The most important of the newspapers, El Imparcial, published for some months a weekly page about the "third sex."
This opening was expanded during the presidential tenure (1958-1963) of General Miguel Ydigoras, who appointed some noted homosexuals to important administrative offices.

From the AIDS Panic to Today
The AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s found the Guatemalan glbtq community without any cultural, social, or political organizations. At that time there really was no glbtq community. Moreover, the AIDS pandemic had a very negative effect on attitudes toward homosexuality.

However, in the 1990s a few political organizations appeared. The most significant of these was the Colectivo Gay de Guatemala that in October 2000 changed its name to Guatemalan Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual and Transgender Community. It has subsequently grown to become an important voice in Guatemala.

However, despite this new political voice, crimes against homosexuals continue to be a serious problem. Moreover, they do not receive the same attention from the authorities that other crimes do. Several transvestites were murdered, and the crimes were not seriously investigated by the police.

Thanks to the valiant struggle of activists to counter a long tradition of intolerance and machismo, Nicaragua now has a more visible glbtq community than ever before."

Bibliography

-Morales, Oscar. Al final del arcoiris. Guatemala City: Editorial Oscar de León Palacios, 2003.
-Whitam, Frederick L. Male Homosexuality in Four Societies: Brazil, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the United States. New York: Praeger, 1986.

Dr. Swoozie Nights, Chapter Ten, by Leonardo Ricardo

He is Not Here, He is Risen !
Originally uploaded by Seoirse

After Jose was murdered in 1997 I was in grief...I didn't realize how sad and empty I had become...I returned to Puerto Rico to try and stabalize my everyday emotions and life...my dear friend Suzanne Woods suggested I start writing a book...a "thin book" a "little novel"...NOW, from time to time here at Eruptions at the Foot of the Volcano, my blogspot, I'm going to read/write you one of my thin chapters from that thin book...I hadn't read any of it for many years and I was startled by what I just discovered...we will begin with Chapter X:


"Hey Doctor Goldberg, How's it going today?"

"Yes, I'm well, and you're looking healthy and chipper
Dr. G. I think you must be feeling as good as you
look! Have you lost some weight?"

"I thought so. You're looking handsome and fit as hell


"Yes, I'm doing fine but I'm getting a little restless
and I find myself daydreaming and thinking about my
past quite a lot."

"Oh, It is normal? I was wondering about it. I didn't
realize these sessions would stimulate my thinking
about the past to the extent that they do. I also
think silly thoughts about trying to make sense about
life and the big world and I try to make sense about
all of the 'thems' too. Right! Like I could ever
make sense about life or know what the heck the
'thems' think. The 'thems' don't even agree on what
they think! The 'thems' could use extensive theraphy
with you Doc."

"Dr. Goldberg, I'm starting to get worried. I mean, I
don't want to start dwelling or getting obsessed about
my past." I want to be able to live in the now and
accept life exactly as it is! I'm starting to wonder
if I'm ever going to be truly active, happy and feel
love again."

"No, I'm not depressed. I don't think I'm feeling
depressed at all. I'm just starting to do all this
introspective type thinking and seems to be happening
more and more. Well, I guess I've always had a very
active and colorful mind. If anything, I'm feeling a
little lonely and sad."

"O.K. Doctor Goldberg, I won't be concerned. I know
we're making great progress with our sessions. I'll
keep my eye on the ball."

"Sure, thanks, I'm comfortable. Yes, I'm feeling
relaxed. I'm ready to start...."

....going back and back and back....closing your eyes
now and slipping back...slipping back further than you
have ever gone back before. Going back past the time
when you were a child and then past the time when you
were a baby and going back and back in the time when
you lived before...going back and slipping into the
space and time when you existed before....slipping
back now, slipping back past your birth and your
conception....back and back and back...dropping off
and going far, further back and into the darkness of
before. Dropping back to the time when you were
living before....

"It's dark and I'm going back and back into the
darkness and into the silent place where I'm alone and
but I'm not afraid. I'm going back to before there
was a me...I'm falling and flying backward to the
place that was me...the place where I was me
before...one of the me's before this me. Back and
back...slipping and drifting far down past this me.
Dropping down into the valley of before that is
further back than ever before...I'm slowing now, I'm
starting to slow to a stop now...I'm stopping now...I
fell far back and I'm feeling hundreds of years back
in my primitive world of before and finding my way
back to the original me. Falling back to discover the
origin of me."

"I've stopped now. I've stopped and I'm letting the
shapes and images form around me. I'm not forcing the
shapes to appear...gently, I'm letting the shapes
appear from out of the dark and from out of the
graygreen of this place that I see is my before."

"..yes, I can hear you whispering Doctor and I'll keep
telling you what I see....I'm starting to see the
outdoors around me...I'm outdoors and it's cold..."

"I'm out in the craggy wilderness and I live alone in
a little shack that is made out of stones and
branches. It's small, but there is only me. I live
here alone now. It's cold and windy out here in this
place with only a few trees and mostly dry and frozen
brush. It's always cold here but sometimes in snows
too and that makes it worse. It's always cold in the
highlands and sometimes it freezes and I take my dog
and my cow and we stay inside my house. I don't care
about anything very much. I have my dogs and I have
the cow and I have a few sheep that I keep at night in
a covered and walled pen. I don't have any family or
friends because they all died from the cold and I
buried them under piles of rocks to keep them warm. I
stay near my little house. I'm not very old. I don't
know how old I am but I have my teeth and my body is
strong and my hair is brown. It doesn't matter if I'm
old or not and it doesn't matter what I look like. It
only matters that I'm the original me. Nothing matters
to me because there is nothing that changes anything
for me. I just exist in this place that is graygreen
colored and windy and cold.

It does matter that I keep my fire burning and I stay
alive to take care of my cow and my sheep. My dogs
keep good care of themselves and sometimes my dogs
take good care of me by sleeping on top of me and
keeping me warm. Dogs are smart and they want to play
but I don't feel like it anymore.

At night, when I go outside for wood, I stare up into
the sky and wonder who keeps all those tiny fires
burning up there? When the little fires go out in the
nightsky the whole sky turns blue and the cold moon
becomes warm and then I have day. I wonder how far up
it is to those tiny fires in the sky? There must be
other people and dogs up there in the nightsky place.
There must be other people like me who take care of
cows and sheep and build the nightfires. I wonder who
lives up their in the nightsky and I wonder if they
don't care about anything either. I wonder if they
are alone? I wonder if they look down on me lighting
my nightfires and then they wonder about me. I'm so
small in this place and the sky is so big and I bet
there are many people like me up there that would like
me to come up and so we could be friends. I can tell
their fires are set far apart and they probably live
alone just like me. They are like me and they don't
know where anyone else is either. They just see the
fires and dream about having a friend like me.

My life is lonely and small in this empty place and I
don't care about anything at all. I don't know anybody
and nobody knows me. Nobody knows that I'm here in
this place except the people in the sky that see my
nightfires and wonder who I am.

I hear noises coming near my house. My dogs are
barking. I see there are three men coming down the
hill toward my house. They are angry bad men I can
tell. They are killing my dogs. I stare and them and
feel nothing. They are coming to me with big knives
and I know they are going to kill me. I don't care.
They killed my dogs and I don't care about anything at
all.

They stabbed me and killed me and rolled my body down
the hill. I don't mind because I'm glad I'm dead. I
feel better now that I'm dead and my dogs are glad to
be with me and they are dead too. My dogs are jumping
all over me and are glad to be with me. My dogs are
so happy and are licking my face. We are all feeling
warm again.

My dogs and I are going to go exploring up into the
nightsky. Right now we're leaving this place where we
didn't ever want to be. The bad men can keep the cow
and sheep, and my dogs and I don't care anything about
them.

Being dead has made us free. This is the way I always
wanted to be. I didn't know it before.

I'm going to go find friends up in the sky.

I didn't know I wanted friends, until I was dead."


end/chapter ten

Thanks also to you fs, for reminding me I'd written some chapters of this little "thin" book.

Thinking of YOU Sgt. Leonard Matlovich and The Mormon Church too...

Sgt. Leonard Matlovich
Originally uploaded by dbking

Leonard Matlovich's headstone in Congressional Cemetery.

Matlovich was a highly decorated soldier and was the first to go before the Supreme Court challenging the military's exclusion of gays and lesbians. He was featured prominently in Time magazine in the 1980's during this case. He died of AIDS in the late 1980's.

On September 8, 1975, Latter-day Saint Air Force Sgt. Leonard P. Matlovich Jr. appeared on the cover of Time magazine, declaring "I am a Homosexual" to the nation and hurling him into the national spotlight as "poster boy" for Gay rights. In a watershed moment for the Gay rights movement, the Gay Mormon was the first openly Gay person ever to appear on the cover of Time or any other major US news magazine. Matlovich was featured in the magazine because he was suing the US Armed Force for discharging him for being Gay, despite the fact that he had an impeccable record, having served three tours of duty in Vietnam, where he received the Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and an Air Force Meritorious Service Medal. Matlovich, initially raised Catholic, had apparently converted to the LDS Church during his tour of duty in Vietnam. He was ordained a Mormon Priest in 1970 and then an Elder on January 19, 1971 while in Vietnam, by W. Brent Hardy.

Although the Time article did not mention that Matlovich was LDS, when the publicity on his case against the Air Force broke, the Mormon Church conducted a series of trials against him. On August 1, 1975, the Norfolk Virginia Stake High Council met with Matlovich to investigate "alleged wrongdoing on [his] part involving infraction of the standards and rules of the Church". During this meeting, Matlovich "made a strong and convincing plea for time to think and consider the course of action [he was] pursuing, and to decide whether or not to abandon it and to seek professional help", which the Stake Presidency had "offered to help arrange". Matlovich was disfellowshipped at that time, meaning he could attend church meetings but was not "entitled to speak, offer public prayer, partake of the sacrament, or otherwise participate in these meetings". Of course his first charge was to "continue to pay [his] tithes and offerings" to the Church. Matlovich stopped attending church services and declined further "invitations" to meet with the Stake Presidency.

Then after his appearance on the cover of Time a month later, the Norfolk Stake leaders decided a more severe punishment was warranted. Stake President W. Boyd Lee and his two counselors, Kirk T. Waldron and Mark J. Rowe wrote him on September 12, 1975, requesting another appearance before the Stake High Council on September 27, because of his "expressed decision to make no effort to change or correct" his homosexual activism. Matlovich was unable to make that meeting because of "the demands on [his] time by the United States Air Force". However, the High Council ignored his plea to reschedule. They met without him on October 7, 1975 and "took action to excommunicate [him] from the Church". They cited his "intention to continue activism in a practice which is abhorrent to and in direct violation of the laws of our Heavenly Father. We cannot accept that you cannot change or be helped. It is our prayer that you may come to realize that you can indeed be changed and that you will seek such help as is necessary to accomplish it." They informed him that excommunication meant "complete severance from the Church and denial of all Church priveliges [sic] and rights". He was welcome to attend public meetings as a guest but he was "not to pay tithes or other contributions, but [was] encouraged to keep them on deposit until such time as [he] might be readmitted to the Church." (Apparently getting money from even ex-members is a priority for the Church!) They concluded in their letter to him that they urged him "to study the scriptures and pray, that [he might] come to know the truth, and to ignore the rising popular clamor for liberal practices in conflict with God's laws and eternal purposes".

After his court victory against the Air Force (which ultimately ended in Matlovich resigning with a large settlement in hand) he moved to San Francisco, and then appeared on the Phil Donahue television show in 1978. On October 12, 1978, "Mat" Matlovich received yet another summons from the Church, this time from the San Francisco Stake President, Jonas J. Heaton of Daly City, to investigate "conduct in violation of the law and order of the Church". Matlovich was unable to make that trial date and Heaton wrote an identical letter on November 20, 1978, requesting a trial on January 17, 1979. In January 1979, both the California Sentinel and the Bay Area Reporter published stories of how the LDS church was shortly going to excommunicate Matlovich yet again. Metropolitan Community Church Elder James Sandmire, an excommunicated Mormon "high official" said in the media interviews that he had "had seen or heard of hundreds of these cases where gays have either been 'disfellowshipped' or 'excommunicated'" once, but not twice.

Jonas Heaton also told the reporters that there "is a move to drop the upfront Gay activist because of 'conduct in violation of the law and order of the church'--namely his homosexuality." Leonard in turn vowed, "that the attempt to remove him from Mormon rolls will be a media event." Matlovich also admitted he "[was] confused on how he [could] be removed twice from the same church. When Heaton was asked about the double excommunication, the official said, 'This is a private matter within the church--I know a great deal about Mr. Matlovich that I am not going to discuss.'" Matlovich was then excommunicated a second time from the Mormon Church in January 1979. As early as 1978, due to the unethical treatment he received by the Mormon Church, his faith and spirituality were crushed and he considered himself somewhere "between an agnostic and an atheist."

The publicity surrounding him was enormous, and he received thousands of letters from all over the nation and even Europe, praising his courage and bravery for coming out. Of the many letters I read in his archived collection, only two were negative; the rest were heart-wrenching expressions of gratitude and support. For example, Joseph Allen, a native of Vienna, Austria, wrote him to say, "I saw your picture on the front cover of Time and cried. It is, indeed, a new awakening for us....I feel it happening because of people such as you who are unafraid."

Matlovich also befriended and corresponded with several other Gay Mormons. For example, C.R. "Joe" Smith, corresponded regularly with "Mat" in 1978 and 1979, encouraging him in his activism, and frequently mentioning their bond as ex-Mormon Gays. Smith had been raised in Utah but was excommunicated. He then had moved to Yucca Valley, California where he and his partner lived for many years together, running an animal shelter in the high desert.

Eventually the media circus around Matlovich exhausted him and he grew weary of being at the brunt of the Gay rights movement. However, he did continue to speak out against homophobic crusader Anita Bryant, and in June 1977 was a featured speaker at a large Gay rights convention held in Salt Lake City, during which Affirmation: Gay Mormons United was founded.

In 1980, a federal judge ordered the Air Force to reinstate Matlovich with back pay. The Air Force, disgruntled that their policy was found to be discriminatory and illegal, pressed Matlovich to drop his case and settle out of court, or they would appeal to the US Supreme Court. Finally Matlovich gave in and accepted $160,000 tax free, and explained to angered Gay rights advocates that "he believed it to be less likely to win a government appeal in front of an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court."

Leonard Matlovich announced that he had HIV on "Good Morning America" television show in July of 1987 and died from AIDS in West Hollywood at the home of a friend on June 22, 1988. His famous epitaph at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC reads, "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one".


Thanks to flickr...http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/13203725/

Archbishop Rowan WE Have ZERO Tolerance for Enabling Bigots, Liars and Thieves!

Dear Archbishop Rowan,

You are admired, you are respected and you, like all of us, sometimes need to be reminded about SPIRITUAL and RELIGIOUS priorities and basic, everyday morals. While you were very busy lecturing North Americans, and MOST all of us who live in Western Hemisphere, at The Lambeth Conference, you forgot to mention the SPECIFIC destructive (to The Anglican Communion and others Human Beings) and deadly actions of Global South Bishops who are full-blown/out-of-the-closet BIGOTS! You also failed to mention during your 3rd, and final, Presidential address the CRIMES of HATE that have been instigated/generated against OUR Anglicans/others thoughout the world by religious zealots and common thugs who think they hold the title "beloved" exclusively. Did you have a temporary "lapse" of judgement when discussing crimes against women and other parts of humanity but FAILED to mention the HATE CRIMES instigated against LGBT Anglicans/others at Church? That would of course include the recent murder by beating to death of Michael Causer at Liverpool, England that you ignored (who died on August 4th after a week of great suffering).

IT'S YOUR JOB TO STAND UP TO THE BIGOTS ARCHBISHOP...it's your job to stand up to the BIGOTS both in the United Kingdom and throughout the Worldwide Anglican Communion/other!

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23526365-details/It%27s+your+job+to+stand+up+to+the+bigots%2C+Archbishop/article.do

The Evening Standard/London

By Will Self


"Why does Rowan Williams bow down before those belligerent African Anglican bishops and their conservative supporters who view homosexuality as "unnatural" and a "sin"? By doing so he is not only betraying the spiritual welfare of gay Anglican communicants but also undermining any claims his church has to be established.

Dr Williams has ended this decade's Lambeth Conference claiming he is "content" with the way things have gone but this is only papering over a crack that will widen into schism. Two hundred conservative bishops didn't turn up for the conference at all, while the man who personifies the clash of cultures, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, was refused an invitation on the grounds of his sexuality.

The Archbishop may assert that there is scriptural authority for the denial of equal opportunities to gay Anglicans, yet this is the same Old Testament fundamentalism that leads to denying the discoveries of Galileo or Darwin - not something he subscribes to at all. Besides, his is an explicitly political church - he owes his own appointment to a prime minister - and Britain is a nation where gay rights are enshrined in law, including the right to same-sex union. If Dr Williams wants his church to remain the official state religion in this country, he and his male bishops should get with the programme when it comes to the full recognition of women and homosexuals, instead of insisting that there be a moratorium on any further ordinations of openly gay priests, let alone - gulp! - women bishops.

But, most worryingly, the Archbishop's position gives ammunition to those regimes where institutionalised homophobia and misogyny have truly tragic consequences. Two of the bishops who've been vocal in their lambasting of the liberals hail from Uganda and Nigeria, states where punitive laws against homosexuals are still on the statute book: a man was sentenced to death for being gay by sharia courts in northern Nigeria only last month.

In an interview yesterday, Williams speaks of how the worldwide Anglican communion is important because "there may be a complicated development-issue we can broker". This idea of Anglicans as auxiliary peacekeepers is a nonsense, and for once I agree with those African conservative bishops who accuse Lambeth Palace of neo-colonialism.

The Anglican church, as constituted, is first and foremost the Church of England, and is charged expressly with ministering to the spiritual needs of all of us, regardless of whether we even believe in God. You would think that with his church's attendance still declining, Williams would want to reach out to everyone who genuinely understood the New Testament ethic of tolerance and love - and leave those who still want to be bigots to join other denominations."

Thanks to "Thinking Anglicans" for originally publishing the link to Will Self/the Evening Standard

Photo by Juan Carlos Castillo Fuentes
"O Tolerance" Stools by Leonardo Ricardo

PERSECUTION of Gays Intensifies in Uganda....++Orombi Endangers the LIVES of Anglicans by Promoting anti-Gay Campaign!

Dictator museveni
Originally uploaded by Joram Jojo

"The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) this week reported this intensified persecution of homosexuals in Uganda. The increased pressure on pro-gay organisations comes after the Anglican Church of Uganda launched a strong campaign against homosexuality."

http://www.afrol.com/articles/14993

READ THE WHOLE STORY:

"Human rights groups report of a "dramatic escalation of intimidation and persecution" of gay and lesbian activists in Uganda as result of a government campaign. Ugandan authorities are following the Church in DEMONISING homosexuality in the country.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) this week reported this INTENSIFIED PERSECUTION of homosexuals in Uganda. The increased pressure on pro-gay organisations comes after the ANGLICAN CHURCH of Uganda launched a strong campaign against homosexuality.

- The government action seems to have been touched-off by the broadcasting of a call-in talk show on 'Radio Simba', according to IGLRC. 'Radio Simba' is a popular Ugandan radio station that featured sexual rights activists - a lesbian and two gay men - discussing discrimination against homosexuals in Uganda and the need for HIV/AIDS services for men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women.

As a result of the open discussion, the Broadcasting Council of the government of Uganda imposed a fine of approximately US$ 1000 on the radio station and ordered the station to apologise for "having offended a wide section of the public."

The chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Godfrey Mutabazi, claimed that the programme violated federal law prohibiting broadcasting that is contrary to "public morality". The council also threatened other broadcasters, advising them to "be more responsible about the content of their programmes."

According to IGLHRC, the Broadcasting Council's threats "seem to have encouraged a flurry of public assaults on the safety of individuals whose actual or perceived sexual practices fall outside of social or cultural norms." The Ugandan press soon followed the advice of the Council.

In October, the Ugandan weekly 'The Xtreme', published a list of purportedly gay people. The article further claimed that homosexuals have "invaded" and "infested" Uganda. The publication threatened to release more names over time, the result of which would be to create a climate of fear and threat that violates individuals' rights to privacy and security of person.

When Francesco Mascini, the First Secretary and Legal Advisor at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Kampala, challenged the Uganda Human Rights Commission to have an open conversation about sexuality and sexual orientation, he was ridiculed by the government, calling his appeal "indecent", and arguing that Ugandans "have more pressing issues to propose debate about."

- Uganda's determination to shut down public discussion of sexual rights issues, and the public threats to anyone who challenges the government's efforts to limit freedom of speech and association violate the very fundamentals of human rights, stated Susana Fried of IGLHRC. "We see, time and again, how claims to protect 'public morality' are used for the distinctly immoral purpose of excusing a pattern of human rights abuses against marginalized communities," Ms Fried added.

In another set of incidents, the government of Uganda is reported to have directed the police to investigate and "take appropriate action" against "homosexual associations" at a major Ugandan university. Activists in Uganda have perceived this as a direct threat to their freedom of expression and association, as well as their ability to receive an education in conditions of safety and security.

According to IGLHRC, President Yoweri Museveni's government has "a documented record of torture and abuse of lesbians and gay men." In 1999 for example, five Ugandan gay and lesbian activists were tortured in secret government detention centres and forced to flee the country after the president called for the arrest of "homosexuals".

- The newly-intensified threats represent a cyclical pattern of abuse under an administration that is known for fostering a climate in which human rights violations against targeted dissidents persist and increase, the pro-gay group said in a statement.

IGLHRC added that it was "deeply concerned about recent violations of the rights to privacy, freedom of association and expression, and the right to education in Uganda." According to IGLHRC, the government of Uganda "is undermining its own commitment to HIV prevention and a progressive human rights record by endangering the safety and security of those willing to speak out for change."

By staff writer

© afrol News


UPDATE TODAY: The Evening Standard/London "It's your job to stand up to the bigots Archbishop"

read it here:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23526365-details/It%27s+your+job+to+stand+up+to+the+bigots%2C+Archbishop/article.do

Thanks to "Thinking Anglicans"

Outraged Friends of Murdered Michael Causer Plan Memorial March at Liverpool, England

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
Originally uploaded by j-dphotos

WHAT was ROWAN WILLIAMS, The Archbishop of Canterbury and "First Amongst Equals" NOT thinking about at The Lambeth Conference/The Anglican Communion when Michael was beaten and died? The Liverpool, ENGLAND Gay "hatecrime" was committed while ++Rowan was busy planning and insisting on the exclusion of LGBT Christians at ALL levels of Churchlife...Dr. Williams didn't even mention the CRIME OF HATE and other atrocities generated against LGBT Christians/others in his THIRD Presidential address on the very day of Michael Causers DEATH (which was a week after he was beaten)! The Archbishop of Canterbury's "Presidential" address covered the subject of worldwide abuse, victimization and the persecuting/exploiting of others (excluding any mention of LGBT Anglicans/other religious who have been persecuted/murdered outcasted and demonized)! ++Rowan Williams what were you NOT thinking of?



***

Campaigners plan march in memory of Michael Causer
Aug 4 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

OUTRAGED friends and campaigners are planning a march and a three-minute silence to mark the death of a popular teenager killed in an alleged homophobic attack.

Michael Causer, of Whiston, died on Saturday, a little more than a week after being attacked.

The 18-year-old was walking past a quiet cul-de-sac on Tarbock Road, on the morning of Friday, July 25, when he was attacked.

He was admitted to Whiston Hospital at 11am and later transferred to the Walton Critical Care unit where he remained in a critical condition for eight days.

Doctors at Liverpool’s Walton Neurology Centre performed emergency surgery in an attempt to stem the swelling on his brain. But police confirmed he died at 12.30pm.

Detectives have described the incident as a “homophobic hate crime”.

Now people such as campaigner Matthew Fox, of Liverpool, are gearing up for a march to commemorate Michael’s life and stand up against homophobia.

He said: “Marches take a little while to get organised, you need police approval and city council approval and you need lots of trained volunteer stewards.

“We could also have a minute’s silence in St John’s Garden at the memorial to victims of prejudice next Saturday.”

A march along Tarbock Road has been suggested in a fortnight, once the local authorities have been informed.

The city council’s first openly gay councillor, Steve Radford, said the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Forum will discuss the idea at the Quaker Meeting House this Wednesday....more:

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/08/04/campaigners-plan-march-in-memory-of-michael-causer-64375-21459419/

***

The LGBT position of the Church of Englands Bishop of Liverpool:

Bishop quotes Jesus as he backs same-sex relationships

By NICOLA BODEN
February 2008

The Bishop of Liverpool suggests Jesus might have had a physical relationship with a disciple

A senior bishop appears to have performed a complete U-turn by suggesting the Bible might sanction same-sex relationships.

Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend James Jones, claims in a new book that the bond between Jesus and John the Disciple, as well between David and Jonathan, are possible examples of close relationships between two men.

The conservative evangelical's comments are all the more remarkable given his vehement opposition to the appointment of gay cleric Dr Jeffrey John to Bishop of Reading in 2003.

He was one of a group of bishops who wrote a letter of objection at the gay man's selection for the high-profile role, leading to him ultimately turning down the post.

In the book, A Fallible Church, Bishop Jones calls for Anglicans to "acknowledge the authoritative biblical examples of love between two people of the same gender most notably in the relationship of Jesus and his beloved [John] and David and Jonathan."

Referring to the Theology of Friendship report, he discusses John "leaning against the bosom, breast, chest of Jesus".

The Bishop also describes an "emotional, spiritual and even physical friendship" between David and Jonathan, who appear in the Old Testament books of Samuel.

When Jonathan, the son of Saul, King of Israel, first meets David after he slays Goliath against the odds, the Bible describes him as being immediately struck by the young man.

It reads: "And it came to pass, when he [David] had made an end to speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him with his own soul."

The Bishop asks: "Was their friendship sexual? Were they gay? Was at least one of them homosexual? Were they both heterosexual? Were they bisexual?"

Answering his own question, he then writes: "You assume that it is a person's sexual inclination that defines their personhood. Is it not possible to say that here are two men with the capacity to love fully, both men and women?"

Gay cleric Dr Jeffrey John was controversially selected to be Bishop of Reading in 2003. The Bishop of Liverpool and seven others opposed his appointment and he stood down

In the article, entitled Making Space for Truth and Grace, the Bishop of Liverpool also apologises to Dr John for opposing his appointment to Bishop of Reading more than four years ago.

The gay cleric turned down the job due to the furore but later caused more controversy when he became Dean of St Albans in 2004 and "married" his partner of 30 years in a civil ceremony in 2006.

Bishop Jones writes: "I deeply regret this episode in our common life.

"I still believe it was unwise to try to take us to a place that evidently did not command the broad support of the Church of England but I am sorry for the way I opposed it and I am sorry too for adding to the pain and distress of Dr John and his partner."

Fellow clerics regard his latest comments as the mark of a distinct change in his views on homosexuality.

Dr Mike Homfray, who withdrew from the Anglican church because of perceived homophobia, said it was a "most profound shift".

He said: "I think Bishop Jones is saying he is now more able to live with difference and diversity and that it is necessary to keep the issue open and allow continued dialogue.

"Unless he was open to the possibility of embracing change, then he wouldn't be suggesting this as a way forward. That doesn't mean he necessarily fully embraces it himself, though. Not yet anyway, but he has moved."

Of David and Jonathan, Dr Homfray added: "They may have had sexual contact - but that doesn't make them 'gay' in a Western sense. No-one in the Bible can have that lable because it is a term with all sorts of social and cultural meanings."

The diocese of Liverpool said in a statement: "The Bishop's essay is asking us to find a new and more open way forward that doesn't compromise people's convictions, respects conscience and understands people's hurts and vulnerabilities in this debate.

"He is making a plea for continued debate in which there is both truth and grace."

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-512607/Bishop-quotes-Jesus-backs-sex-relationships.html


Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, please step down and let The Church of England and The Anglican Communion get on with the Commandment of "Loving Thy Neighbor"...well, you know the rest, except a reminder, "loving" doesn't mean ignoring, excluding or punishing/outcasting and demonizing your brothers and sisters at The Body of Christ.

Blessings to you Bishop Robinson and God HELP US in All That We Do!

982e
Originally uploaded by exitthroughthedoor

Thank you so much Bishop Robinson for the willingness, courage and spiritual WELLNESS to show up in England and be the FIRST EVER duly elected/consecrated Episcopalian/Anglican Bishop to be excluded from The Lambeth Conference by a Archbishop of Canterbury...you were marginalized and also verbally abused by Primates Bul, Anis/others and a whole cast of biggoted/destructionist relics, such as Akinola/Nigeria and Orombi/Uganda who promoted difference fear and hate from afar...exclusion, difference and hate at OUR Church and throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion directed against LGBT Christians/others.

Being a LGBT Christian/supporter or family member/friend takes guts and a lot of TRUST in God!

Your daily presence/update, Bishop Gene, was a inspiration to many of us, who, like you are physically present at most levels of society but are not fully invited into all levels of Churchlife...at least not yet ...we're the same people who have received the everyday snearing/excluding and dangerous death threats that you have experienced too...we are the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered, families, friends, coworkers and supporting Christians/others who most often quietly listen to hatefilled fellow human beings talk "filth" about us, observe discrimination against us, note vile persecution directed at us (see Nigeria and Uganda) and watch "thugs" (religious and other) act out against US visciously by beating and murdering US....all of the while the homophobic Christian/other AGENDA does not give a damn about the reality of our individual character or our loved ones or our love for a God who includes us along with everyone else as Beloved.

Bishop Robinson as you were EXCLUDED and attending The Lambeth Conference "on the fringe" another Gay person was the victim of a Crime of Hate...this crime of hate was happened on the other coast of England from the Lambeth Conference in a diocese of The Church of England that is well known for it's self-proclaimed Evangelical righteousness/spirit but with a more open minded, pastoral and "seeking to understand" Bishop than Rowan Williams:

18 year old Michael Causer of Whiston, near Liverpool is DEAD! He was MURDERED! Michael was a victim of yet another Hate Crime!

Meanwhile, Rowan, the Archbishop of Canterbury, remained speechless/quiet about this MURDER and was taking "special" measurers to wrap up his bungled/spendthrifty "Lambeth Conference" by ramroding the REVALIDATION of the contaminated 1.10 1998 Lambeth statement AGAINST the acceptance of LGBT Anglicans/Christians at all levels of Churchlife and Everydaylife...++Rowan refused to allow the attending/meeting 650+ bishops to review the tainted 1.10 "statement" (not law) and insists it is the "mind of the Church" even though he wouldn't let the bishops discuss/review it...also, Dr. Williams has called for a special NEW Inquisition type REVIEW Panel that will be birthed by his "view" of a continuing Windsor Report....a report that he demands must be "continued" although it has long been a failure, ignored and abused by him and others.

http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2008/08/uk-gay-hate-victim-18-is-dead/

The violence continues. The demeaning and outcasting of LGBT Anglicans/Christians continues...the active persecution of LGBT must stop in Africa and beyond...Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury has FAILED to do his job as "first amongst equals" and set a standard for "loving thy neighbor." Furthermore, Dr. Williams promoted RELIGIOUS segregation and played PRETEND when vigilante violence against LGBT Christians/others continues unchecked worldwide!

Rowan Williams is dangerous to everyones spiritual HEALTH and emotional well-being and ought step down immediately before he destroys The Anglican Communion with his manipulative bungling and cowardliness when dealing with dangerous +bigots and self-righteous +thieves.

Our Lady of Walsingham, Bigot Bishop and Orombi vs Gods "Colonial" RAINBOW Arch*

Our Lady of Walsingham
Originally uploaded by Lawrence OP

"That’s the spirit, Bishop Bigot. Let’s hate everybody"


By Rod Liddle



"Like many of you, I suspect, I have been wondering who Jesus Christ would have liked least, Africans or homosexuals. Most of the available evidence suggests He would have found it a pretty close call, all things considered. By “available evidence”, I mean the most eminently flexible of texts, the Bible.

I had intended to take advice and guidance from the 2008 Lambeth Conference, that convocation of extravagantly bearded men in purple dresses, but it was like soliciting advice from a tub of margarine. When an issue of principle hove into view, the prelates ducked and pretended it hadn’t been raised at all. I don’t know what our Lord would have made of that. I suspect He would have sniggered and then maybe headed off to the wilderness once again.

Certainly, bits of the Bible seem pretty clear on the issue of homosexuality - smite, smite and smite again until there are no buggers left standing, seems to be the general gist. I refer you to Corinthians and Romans, for starters. This is the view of that upstanding Christian Henry Luke Orombi, the Archbishop of Uganda, who boycotted the conference in case he had to take communion somewhere near a poof, or somewhere near someone who didn’t mind poofs. “I do not think there is a debate,” said Orombi. “When God gives His word, you either take it or leave it.”

Well, quite, a good point well made. The trouble is, God also made his position pretty clear about black people in the curse-of-Ham passage in Genesis. Or, at least, that is what a very large number of Christian church leaders thought back in the 19th century, to the extent that in the Church of the Latter Day Saints, for example, black people were not allowed to be ordained as bishops for many years.

Today the supposed message of the curse of Ham has about as much relevance to the wider world as a meeting of the General Synod and is cleaved to only by a few wacko evangelical bigots storing up their cans of weedkiller in an Oklahoma basement. This, however, is the problem when you follow Orombi's somewhat literal interpretation of what God likes and doesn't like. Orombi has extended his attack from homosexuals to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and indeed the entire edifice of the Anglican church, which he has called a "remnant of British colonialism". A remnant of British civility and decency, might be more to the point.

I cannot see our Lord getting on too well with Orombi, either. This pig-headed and vengeful cleric has conducted a campaign of persecution against the one decent bishop – or former bishop – his country has. Christopher Ssenyonjo, a heterosexual who believes that the church should at least talk to queers, has been vilified, defrocked and even threatened with arrest by Orombi for challenging his diktat.

Meanwhile, the godforsaken branch of the Anglican communion in Nigeria has just thrown its weight behind a government act that outlaws both homosexuality and indeed anyone who has a good word to say about homosexuality. Get caught listening to a Judy Garland CD in downtown Lagos and you could find yourself in prison for five years, with the local Christian church entirely in favour of your punishment.

The Anglican church has accustomed itself lately to worrying far too much about schisms and too little about the notion of what it stands for and what it represents. The bishops gathered in Canterbury might have had their memories tweaked to this effect when, last week, one of the Pope’s little minions, one Walter Kasper, sent them the following message: homosexuality is “disordered behaviour that must be condemned”. Kasper then chucked in a couple of broadsides about women as well, just in case anyone thought the Catholic church was merely homophobic and not a proud bastion of misogyny, too.

The first schism was no bad thing, the bishops might consider. And a second one might be just as uplifting."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article4449315.ece

* Our Lady of Walsingham

Our Lady, as she is venerated at Walsingham, is depicted as a simple woman, a mother. She is seated on the throne of Wisdom, in the midst of the Church which is represented by the two pillars symbolic of the Gate of Heaven, with seven rings to signify the seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. THE ARCHED BACK OF THE THRONE REMINDS US OF THE RAINBOW WHICH WAS SET AS A SIGN OF GOD'S FIDELITY TO HIS CREATION Our Lady is clothed in the blue of divinity, the white of motherhood and the red of virginity. In her hand she holds a lily-sceptre with three blooms because she was virginal before, during and after the Saviour’s birth. As the Woman of the New Creation, the New Eve, she crushes beneath her feet a toadstone, symbolic of the power of evil. As the Queen of Heaven and of England, her Dowry, she is crowned with a Saxon crown. On his mother’s knee is the child Jesus who, as the Word of God made Flesh, holds the book of the Gospels. He extends his right arm in a double gesture of blessing and protection of his mother.

(all CAPS, my emphasis, LR)