TWO SPIRITS: ¨The bravest choice you can make is to be yourself¨

I relished my private time to do something I hadn´t done for quite a long while--I indulged in self hypnosis...

This morning I found myself alone in the house.  It´s a rare treat for me to be all alone as I´m usually busy with helpers working in my art studio and most mornings and afternoons the housekeeper comes and puts my comodos living conditions in order.  So, this morning I decided to gather the doggies and let them sleep on my King Sized bed as I closed off all the outside sounds of my small village life in Central America.   You know, exotic birds chirping, street dogs barking, donkeys hauling wood/big bags, riders riding horses and the constant outside human movement that is created when workers work from dawn into the night.

I relished my private time to do something I hadn´t done for quite a long while--I indulged in self hypnosis after I closed all the windows, darkened the rooms and prepared to relax and let go...to let go of the everyday tensions, my deepest noisy memories, conscience and not, and a tendency I have to think I must constantly strive ¨to be¨ in charge of a life that I can´t really control in many ways...a life that often does very well when I simply show up and participate in it calmly and observe it happening around me instead of dominating it with demands.

After the dogs began to snooze around me I started relaxing in ways that were taught to me years ago by my therapist, the well-known, around here and beyond around here, Dr. Jean.  Dr. Jean died over six years ago, in her fifties, after spending a lifetime as a paraplegic.  A paraplegic who refused to accept the mind boggling physical limitations that had come her way.  Dr. Jean was a clincial psychologist, a brilliant friend and a specialist in post-traumatic stress related disorders.

As I drifted into the place of ¨letting go¨  I started visualizing, one by one, friends who had left life and my life many years ago (some natural causes and some sadly not).   Not fearful ghosts materializing around me but more like the essence of dear friends who in a renewed state of emotional and spiritual wellness had come to visit, one by one, in my bedroom, this morning from places far away from me...from timeless decades ago they began to take shape and flow in and out of my subconscience mind.  Their visits gradually made me fill-up with a warm wave of gladness and well-being.

I felt comforted and rejuvenated by these unusual visitors but it was more than that...I was able to see, feel the authenticity of real human beings who came to me from afar, and once had struggled hard with themselves (and others) to ¨be¨ themselves...courageous friends with strong personal character who had a thread of commonality in the reality they were Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people and dear friends of mine who had found happiness and peace of mind. People much like me who somehow survived difficult personal and emotional/spiritual/social adjustments to become exactly who they/we are--we had become the people we were created ¨to be¨ and I saw it clearly this morning in my own darkened bedroom, sprawled out on my bed, surrounded by sleeping dogs, as current images flickered, then emerged, from my past.

Later I came out of the trance, moved to the computer and saw immediately this inspiring story about a TWO SPIRITED person:

Fred Martinez was a Navajo boy who was also a girl. In an earlier era, he would have been revered. Instead he was murdered.

(San Francisco, CA)-- Two Spirits interweaves the tragic story of a mother's loss of her son with a revealing look at the largely unknown history of a time when the world wasn't simply divided into male and female and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders. Powerful and moving, Lydia Nibley's Two Spirits explores the life and death of Fred Martinez and the ancient Native American two-spirit tradition. Two Spirits will premiere on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, hosted by America Ferrera, on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 10PM (check local listings.)

Fred Martinez told his mother he felt as if he was both a boy and a girl, and she explained that this is a special gift, according to traditional Navajo culture. But the place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to live, and Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at sixteen. Between tradition and controversy, and freedom and fear, lies the truth--the bravest choice you can make is to be yourself.

Two Spirits explores issues of national concern including the bullying and violence commonly faced by LGBT people, and the epidemic of LGBT teen suicide, and reveals the range of gender expression that has long been seen as a healthy part of many of the indigenous cultures of North America, and of Navajo culture in particular.

The Navajo believe that to maintain harmony, there must be a balanced interrelationship between the feminine and the masculine within the individual, in families, in the culture, and in the natural world. For the first time on film, Two Spirits tells stories from the Navajo tradition of four genders. The first gender is the feminine woman. The second is the masculine man. The third is the male-bodied person who has a feminine essence--nadleehi. The fourth is the female-bodied person who has a masculine essence--dilbaa.

In Navajo, nadleehi means "one who is transformed," and as the film traces the ramifications of Fred's murder, it also shows the transformation being undertaken by Native activists who are working to restore the rich heritage of two-spirit people and to claim their place within their tribal communities.

"The film team is working with over sixty organizations nationwide to have six million people see the film and to help expand the national conversation about gender," says the director of Two Spirits, Lydia Nibley.

Lois Vossen the producer and founder of Independent Lens explains, "Two Spirits is an important film that tells a modern story with deep historical roots and does so in a way that is surprising and striking. It's a film that shows humankind at both our best and worst. It's gut-wrenching at times, but also hopeful and very engaging."

To learn more about the film, and the issues involved, visit the companion website for Two Spirits at www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits. Get detailed information on the film, watch preview clips, read an interview with the filmmaker, and explore the subject in depth with links and resources. The site also features a Talkback section where viewers can share their ideas and opinions.¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Dr. Jean, RIP
·  Thanks to Eternal Friendships
·  Thanks to Fred Martinez, Jr, RIP
·  Thanks to "nadleehi," a Navajo term referring to a two-spirit person
·  Thanks to  Dr. Jillian T. Weiss
·  Thanks to PBS-Independent Lens
·  Thanks to The Bilerico Project, sidebar

THE PRICE OF NOT PROTECTING THE CHILDREN: Republican Speaker John Boehner/Ohio meet Nick Kelo Jr./Ohio

Meet Nick Kelo Jr. Nick was 13 when he died of a self inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday, Feb 23, 2011 in Rittman, OH.

It is not known whether Nick was gay, but bullying based on the perception that he was gay, apparently played a role.

¨At the tender age of 13, Nicholas Kelo Jr. knew what it was like to be relentlessly bullied. It may have been what persuaded him to pry open a safe inside his Rittman home and remove the gun that killed him.

...''It had been going on for years,'' Jacqueline Kelo said. ''We would talk and he would say [of the bullies] that they were not worth his time.''

Nick played football in middle school but gave up the sport this year to participate in high school band. The switch, Jacqueline Kelo reasoned, resulted in swelling rumors. Some, she said, wrongly assumed that a kid who would prefer to play the tenor sax rather than tossing a pigskin must be gay.

''After that, it [the bullying] spiraled out of control,'' she said.

After Nick's mother found him, an emergency squad rushed him to Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital. He then was transported by helicopter to Akron Children's Hospital. But the handsome boy with the incredible mind could not be saved.

Even in the throes of anguish, his parents had the mindset to donate his organs. ''We just wanted something good to come out of this tragedy,'' said the senior Kelo, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls.

Because the boy had worked so hard to earn a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do and held a red-black belt in kumdo, his body was in remarkably good shape.

''They were able to get nine organs,'' Jacqueline Kelo explained. HERE

The purpose of  ¨The Price of Hate¨ blog HERE is to list the children who commit suicide or are killed because of their sexual orientation, or their perceived sexual orientation. The various professional religious hate organizations out there are fond of telling everyone how they are being victimized because their religious beliefs apparently force them to hate LGBT people. But what about the rights of these children who really pay the price for their attempts to institutionalize their bigotry and hate?

Republican John Boehner, Ohio 8th District, Speaker of The House of Representative and an anti-lgbti irresponsible accomplice.

John Boehner has received a "0" rating from the Human Rights Campaign in the last three congressional sessions, voting against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, the Early Treatment for HIV Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Boehner voted for a Federal Marriage Amendment. In a letter to the Rights Campaign, Boehner stated, "I oppose any legislation that would provide special rights for homosexuals... Please be assured that I will continue to work to protect the
idea of the traditional family as one of the fundamental tenets of western civilization." ^HERE

Reminding people that hatred does have a price. You don't get to go around proclaiming "Protect the Children!", while contributing to their deaths:

I'm talking to you FRC*, AFA*, NOM, CWA*, ADF, FOtF and so many others.

* These groups are listed as hate groups by the SLPC.

·  Thanks to The Price of Hate, sidebar
·  Thanks to The Human Rights Campaign

WAKEFIELD DIOCESAN SYNOD: First English diocesan vote rejects Anglican Covenant

Modern Church, Inclusive Church and the No Anglican Covenant Coalition are pleased with the result of the first diocesan vote on the proposed Anglican Covenant.

Both clergy and laity (the latter overwhelmingly) rejected the Covenant at the Wakefield Diocesan Synod meeting on Saturday 12th March.

While recognising the need to avoid the bitter controversies of recent years, we are glad that this Synod does not believe the Covenant is the way to do it.

We believe we should retain the traditional Anglican openness in which provinces govern themselves and disagreements are resolved by openly debating the issues free from threats of sanctions or schism.

The proposed Anglican Covenant offers instead a process for suppressing disagreements by establishing a central authority, with power to pass judgements and penalise dissident provinces by excluding them from international structures.¨  HERE

We trust that other Church of England Dioceses will have the courage to follow Wakefield’s example.

Further information:

Rev Giles Goddard, 07762 373674, www.inclusivechurch2.net

Rev Jonathan Clatworthy, 0151 7276291, www.modernchurch.org.uk

Rev Lesley Fellows, 01844 239268, www.noanglicancovenant.org

·  Thanks to The No Anglican Covenant Coalition, sidebar
·  Thanks to Thinking Anglicans, sidebar
·  Thanks to Simon Sarmiento

A BIGOT BOUNCED IN UGANDA: Not so ethical ¨Ethics and Integrity¨ Minister James Nsaba-Buturo quits cabinet!

“In 2006, I was handed office in dignity. It is important that I leave in dignity. I have offered my best as a Minister and I I am grateful to God and the President,” Buturo said.

¨Ethics and Integrity State Minister Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has handed over office to State Minister in the office of the Vice President James Baba.¨ HERE

PLEASE NOTE--Amongst the countless dangerous actions and blatant lies that betray  ¨dignity and basic integrity¨ that James Nsaba-Buturo perpetrated against LGBTI citizens during his term in office:  

1.  Madness Alert Uganda:  Dr Nsaba-Buturo answers any LGBTI Ugandan who writes to their member of parliament saying that they should not be persecuted. HERE

2.  Is President Museveni/Uganda ¨cleaning house? ¨  Unprincipled officials turned out: 
HERE

3.  Living through HELL in Uganda thanks to Dr. Nsaba-Buturo and his accomplices:  HERE

4. ¨The bullies drive me into a corner and I can not sleep and somewhere I read that MP James Nsaba Buturo, Ethics and Integrity Minister, was once a witchdoctor¨ HERE

5.  James Nsaba Buturo has accused the United Nations of a surreptitious mission to impose homosexuality on soverign countries HERE

6. There is a murderous ¨anti-Homosexuality Bill¨ pending at the Parliament of Uganda and it is being loudly and enthusiastically promoted by Fundamentalist Protestant religions, The Ugandan Anglican Church  and Dr. Nsaba-Buturo ¨Ethics and Integrity¨ Minister. HERE

7. "The state of moral health in our nation is challenging and we are concerned about the mushrooming of lesbianism and homosexuality," Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo
HERE

8.  The Christian community in Uganda has now declared war on the lives of Gay Men and Lesbian Women in that Country...and they have been abetted by American leaders in the anti-gay and ex-gay ministries and James Nsaba-Buturo HERE

9.  ¨Dr Buturo told Africa's Sunday Monitor that there is no need to beef up security for anti-gay activists in Uganda because God is protecting him/them.¨ HERE

10. The government’s venom is chilling: ¨Homosexuals can forget about human rights,¨ James Nsaba Buturo, who holds the cynically titled position of minister of ethics and integrity, said recently..
HERE

·  Thanks to New Vision, Uganda
·  Thanks to The New York Times
·  Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
·  Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing

¨From one black man to the black community – stop the homophobic madness! And as a gay man, I especially hate it...¨

Many in the African-American Community publicly support marriage equality

¨...I hate the idea of us lgbts having to put the history of our oppression on some sort of display. I hate the notion that lgbts are put on a witness stand where we have to list how many times we have been beaten, disrespected, or denied our basic humanity in order to somehow prove our “worthiness.”

¨During last week’s legislative session in Maryland when lawmakers were pondering the idea of gay marriage, a few black lawmakers took the time to not only criticize gay marriage but also the notion of lgbt equality in general.

We’ve all heard the hurtful sayings before – “you can’t compare gay rights to black civil rights because you can hide being gay,” “gays and lesbians were never oppressed in the same manner in which blacks were oppressed,” etc., etc.

It would be an awful generalization to say that all in the African-American community have these beliefs. In Maryland many African-Americans, including Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, publicly supported marriage equality.

However, statements voiced by some Maryland lawmakers unfortunately stand out and not in a good way. In answer to these comments, I could go on about the many lives either crippled and lost at the hands of gay bashers like that of Matthew Shepard, or the wholesale genocide of lgbts by the Nazis in German, or the suicides of lgbt youth such as Tyler Clementi, or the present day usage of junk science by religious right groups to demonize the lgbt community.

But why bother. I’ve reached the point where I hate having to do it...read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Alvin McEwen
·  Thanks to AlterNet, sidebar

GAY GRANTED ASYLUM IN U.S.A.: A gay, deaf Ugandan would have made him another sad statistic if he had been sent back to Uganda

(l to r) CT PRIDE members William Urich and Kalisa* with Attorneys Marisa DeFranco and Amy Grunder moments after Kalisa was granted US asylum.

Kalisa's case is unique in that he is not only gay, but is also hearing impaired since the age of 10 when an incorrect treatment for malaria in his village in Uganda left him deaf.

¨Recently I traveled to the JFK Federal Building in Boston to appear as a witness on behalf of Kalisa*, who works with Connecticut PRIDE. Kalisa, a Ugandan citizen, petitioned for a stay of deportation and had requested US asylum. For some time now, I have been working with Pascal's attorney, Marisa DeFranco, to keep the US government from sending Kalisaback to Uganda. We all know what happens there.

Kalisa's case is unique in that he is not only gay, but is also hearing impaired since the age of 10 when an incorrect treatment for malaria in his village in Uganda left him deaf. There are no protections or accommodations for people with disabilities in Uganda. That fact, complicated by his homosexuality, would surely have made Kalisa another sad statistic if he were to be sent back.  read it all, HERE

*Not his real name. Kalisa asked to use a pseudonym because he fears for the safety of his family in Uganda if his real identity is used.


·  Thanks to William Urich
·  Thanks to Conneticut Pride
·  Thanks to Marisa DeFranco and Amy Grunder
·  Thanks to LGBT Asylum News, sidebar

Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, does not want to see the Anglican Communion self-destruct during his incumbency

¨One can hardly fault the Archbishop of Canterbury for trying to keep the Anglican Communion from disintegrating; doing so is surely a task entailed by his job description¨

¨Yesterday, some friends and I were discussing how Rowan Williams has been such a disappointment as Archbishop of Canterbury. Whereas many of us expected him to be a progressive primate who would move both the Church of England and the Anglican Communion forward, he has instead been an instrument of reaction under whose leadership the Anglican Communion threatens to either fall apart or to descend into irrelevance. Those of us who welcomed the end of George Carey’s tenure had high hopes for the new resident of Lambeth Palace, but those hopes were not to be realized. We prayed that the Jeffrey John affair would prove an aberration, but Rowan’s missteps began happening with such predictable regularity that that it soon became statistically impossible to credit them either to momentary lapses in judgment or simple bad luck.

What went wrong?

The answer, I think, is twofold...¨read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Lionel Deimels Web Log, sidebar

MADNESS ALERT/UGANDA -- TO DR. JAMES NSABA-BUTURO: Distortion of the Word of God is ungodly, perpetuates superstition, instigates ignorance/violence against LGBTI citizens and reveals your ¨abnormality¨

¨Ethics Minister¨ Buturos Uganda:  ¨You too can change under a proper environment...

¨Now, here, courtesy of Uganda Urgent Action, is the suggested response of Dr Nsaba-Buturo to any Ugandan who writes to their member of parliament saying that they should not be persecuted. Here is the supposed official response from the government of Uganda.¨

OFFICIAL SUGGESTED RESPONSE:

Dr. Buturo used a letter he had written to someone who
self-identified as gay and it was this reply which he
suggested as a template for other MPs to use.

Dear _________________ ,
What you have described yourself as is a disorientation proper! It is an abnormality per excellence! In their wisdom, most Ugandans see that state of affairs which you are caught up in as an abomination. It does not mean homosexuality does not exist in our society. It does as yourself can testify. There are over 60 former homosexuals whom government is supporting in their rehabilitation effort. They are reverting to their former heterosexual status before they were lured into homosexuality. You too can change under a proper environment. Clearly, it is wrong to ostracise, harass or take harmful measures against the likes of you that have, following different reasons found yourself in that class. You need all manner of support with a view to rehabilitation. I hope that Members of Parliament, in their wisdom will pass a law that protects the human race (Ugandans) while at the same time suuportive of measures that help victims of the abomination. I believe that Homos are human beings with rights to protection and love that we all need. This must not be denied. What should not be acceptable is promotion of a practice that even animals don't practice! Distortion of the Word of God for purposes of selfpreservation is ungodly.


Dr. Buturo

Nsaba-Buturo perpetuates dangerous lies:   ¨What should not be acceptable is promotion of a practice that even animals don't practice!¨  HERE

Homosexual behavior in animals

Homosexual behavior in animals refers to the documented evidence of homosexual and bisexual behavior in animals. This article covers non-human species, for homosexuality in humans, see read Homosexuality. Such behaviors include sex, courtship, affection, pair bonding, and parenting among same sex animals. A 1999 review by researcher Bruce Bagemihl shows that homosexual behavior has been observed in close to 1,500 species, ranging from primates to gut worms, and is well documented for 500 of them.[1][2] Animal sexual behavior takes many different forms, even within the same species. The motivations for and implications of these behaviors have yet to be fully understood, since most species have yet to be fully studied.[3] According to Bagemihl, "the animal kingdom [does] it with much greater sexual diversity — including homosexual, bisexual and nonreproductive sex — than the scientific community and society at large have previously been willing to accept."[4] Current research indicates that various forms of same-sex sexual behavior are found throughout the animal kingdom.[5] A new review made in 2009 of existing research showed that same-sex behavior is a nearly universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom, common across species.[6] Homosexuality is best known from social species.

The observation of homosexual behavior in animals can be seen as both an argument for and against the acceptance of homosexuality in humans, and has been used especially against the claim that it is a peccatum contra naturam ('sin against nature').[1] For instance, homosexuality in animals was cited in the United States Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas which struck down the sodomy laws of 14 states.[7] Whether animal sexuality has logical, ethical, or moral implications in human sexuality is also a source of debate (see appeal to nature).[8][9][10] For more about arguments regarding homosexuality in Humans, see homosexuality. read it all, HERE

¨There is now a large body of research evidence that indicates that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, the major mental health professional organizations do not encourage individuals to try to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.¨

Ex-gay is a term and concept used to describe persons who were once considered to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, but who no longer assert that identity. The ex-gay movement consists of people, support groups and organizations that support people in changing their ego-dystonic sexual orientation, refrain from pursuing same-sex relationships, develop heterosexual attractions, and possibly enter into an opposite-sex relationship.

When the term ex-gay was introduced to professional literature in 1980, E. Mansell Pattison defined it as describing a person who had "experienced a basic change in sexual orientation."[1] Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, has distanced himself from the term's usage, because he believes "We are all so much more than our sexual expressions."[2]

There is now a large body of research evidence that indicates that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, the major mental health professional organizations do not encourage individuals to try to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.[3][dead link][4]

Ex-gay organizations began in the U.S. with Evangelical Christians, but have since spread to include Catholic, LDS, Jewish, Muslim and non-religious groups[5] in several countries. Ex-gays are considered a protected class in Washington DC after a court order.[6][7] read it all HERE

What follows are 10 key myths propagated by the anti-gay movement, along with the truth behind the propaganda.

¨These fairy tales are important to the anti-gay right because they form the basis of its claim that homosexuality is a social evil that must be suppressed — an opinion rejected by virtually all relevant medical and scientific authorities. They also almost certainly contribute to hate crime violence directed at homosexuals, who are more targeted for such attacks than any other minority in America.


Purposedriven hysteria:  Grandstanding Anglican OPPORTUNIST Archbishop Henry Orombi/Uganda ¨most certainly contributes to the hate crimes¨ directed against LGBTI Ugandans/others by claiming that foreigners fund the recruiting/converting of heterosexual children into Gays and Lesbians in Ugandan schools (not one example given of course).

 ¨Ever since born-again singer and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant helped kick off the contemporary anti-gay movement more than 30 years ago, hard-line elements of the religious right have been searching for ways to demonize homosexuals — or, at a minimum, to find arguments that will prevent their normalization in society. For the former Florida beauty queen and her Save Our Children group, it was the alleged plans of gays and lesbians to “recruit” in schools that provided the fodder for their crusade. recognize all the myths. read it all, HERE

· Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
· Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing
· Thanks to Wikipedia
· Thanks to The U.S. Supreme Court, Lawrence v. Texas
· Thanks to Evelyn Schlatter and Robert Steinback
· Thanks to Southern Poverty Law Center, sidebar

DESPOTS IN WISCONSIN: The Beginning of the End of The Republican Party?

Let the recalls (thanks JCF) and impeachments begin

VAYA CON DIOS: Our dear amigos Jenn and John are on the road heading Norte -- Prayers requested for their safe passage to San Francisco

Jenn and John

Off they´ve gone!  Their car loaded, their spirit of adventure high and they have left many happy and grateful friends in Guatemala who love them dearly...makes us want to cry but we hope to see them again soon--¨home is where the heart is¨ and hearts around here are filled with appreciation for the many kind words and deeds of our friends Jenn and John...our door will always be wide open and piled high ¨tostadas¨ awaiting those two who we love. Enjoy!