¨By any measure, last week's elections marked a
watershed moment in the history of the LGBT
civil rights movement. The most pro-LGBT president in American history was re-elected, marriage equality won at the ballot box for the first time (in
three states!), Minnesota beat back a constitutional marriage discrimination amendment, and the 113th Congress will contain a record number of out LGBT lawmakers, including Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, who will be the first member of our community to openly serve in the United States Senate.
These historic victories came despite weeks of
concerted attacks against President Obama and LGBT equality from America's Catholic bishops which were, to the best of my memory, unprecedented in both their stridency and overt partisanship. Green Bay Bishop
David Ricken and Springfield, Illinois Bishop Thomas Paprocki both told Catholics in their respective dioceses that voting for candidates who support issues like marriage equality, reproductive choice, and stem cell research were putting their eternal souls in jeopardy -- essentially telling the faithful that if they vote Democrat, they were going to hell. Other bishops, like
John Myers of Newark and
Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, declared that sexually active LGBTs and pro-marriage equality Catholics were unfit to present themselves for Communion. And earlier this year, Pope Benedict XVI
publicly endorsed these spiritual bullying tactics in an address delivered to a group that included Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt, one of the most enthusiastically outspoken proponents of Minnesota's failed amendment effort.
Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Rebecca Kadaga
Against this putrid backdrop, American Catholics did what they've learned to do on other issues like contraception: they ignored the bishops and voted with their consciences. And in a stinging rebuke to the prelates who lead them, a
majority voted to re-elect Barack Obama. To this former Catholic, the public backfiring of the bishops' divisive anti-gay agenda was nothing short of divine.
But I was abruptly snapped out of my post-election euphoria by the incredibly disturbing news that the government of the central African nation of Uganda plans to pass its notorious
Anti-Homosexuality Bill by the end of this year. According to a
report from the
Washington Post, MP Rebecca Kadaga, speaker of the Ugandan parliament, insisted in an interview with the AP that Ugandans are "demanding" the body swiftly pass the bill, which would make homosexuality a crime punishable by death; punish same-sex Ugandan couples marrying abroad with lifetime prison sentences when they return home; outlaw all advocacy on behalf of LGBT people including the provision of medical care, lodging, and basic services; and require citizens to report any LGBT people they know to the police. (Under the proposed law, refusing to report one's LGBT friends, neighbors, and family members constitutes "aiding and abetting homosexuality," a crime that carries a seven-year jail sentence.) Some Christian leaders apparently went even further, perversely claiming that the bill's passage would be "a Christmas gift" to the nation...¨
HERE
Thanks to Bilerico Project, sidebar
Thanks to
John M. Becker
, Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis offered to pay for his honeymoon if Burke agreed to get married. Burke said no. He also angered manager Tommy Lasorda by hanging out with Lasorda’s estranged gay son. The Dodgers soon traded him to the Oakland A’s, where manager Billy Martin called him a faggot in front of his teammates. He retired in 1979. In 1982, Burke became the first professional league player to come out as gay. He was a hero in his adopted community in San Francisco’s Castro, but without baseball his life soon spiraled downhill. He struggled with drug addiction, and for a while became homeless. He spent several months in prison for grand theft and possession of a controlled substance. His final months were spent with his sister before succumbing to AIDS in 1995 at the age of 42.¨ 
_-_James_Tissot_-_overall.jpg)
Posts
