Globalize This!

Do you think it's worth of opening your feed reader to awake at words like these: "Uganda's controversial ethics and integrity minister who last month called for the wearing of miniskirts to be made illegal said Saturday he believed civilization was being threatened by gays."?

Wait a minute, apart of the miniskirt thingy, where else have one heard about homosexuality being such a civilization threat? Oh, yes, of course!

This guy James Nsaba Buturo went on adding misconceptions over misconceptions such as that of "globalization of homosexuality". Well, signor James, sorry to disappoint you, but there's no such a thing. What happens is that we're living in the 21st century, dear. There's been homosexuality in Uganda for ages. The problem now, for people like you especially, is that globalization in its best aspects such as the Internet, with its quick spread of news, gossips and MySpaces or Facebooks make easier for Ugandan homosexuals to connect and know they're the a rare species of monster you want them to believe they are. Information is the key, and they can surf the web to find out that they are just normal people, that there are places in this world where people with their same feelings are treated with respect, like human beings. And the same happens with homosexuals worldwide: Ugandans, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, Indians, Saudis, Moroccans and Americans.

But of course, narrow minded people will always rise up to demand a stupid solution to a problem that only exists in their minds. Hey, forbid miniskirts because there are weak minded people and it can cause accidents. It's not the miniskirt, stupid: it's the weakness of your mind. And you're the real accident.

Couching on Bears.

Yes, we're somehow back after some months of silence, there's gonna be major changes in this blog and there'll be people who'll take the most part of such changes, but before publishing the introductory post, I couldn't help wonder thru this picture of Mrs. Palin. I'm frankly worried not only because of the awful decorative taste she's showing (who would really want such a crab in the lounging room? and what's most important, is that really a crab or does it come from Area 51?) but, mostly, because of the love for bears Sarah shows.

I can't deny, as a gay man and as a pocket bear, that one of my sexual fantasies is having a Bear Couch. And since I didn't get the context of the picture I can't be sure whether she's in love with bears or she just loves to hunt them and make them couch her. Any of the cute bears I know (and I know a few, believe me), would surely cuddle the lady for a while, but I'm not sure we'd love to be shot and made couches in order to have people's asses upon ourselves. We surely choose carefully whose ass we get under.

And y'all, twinks, jocks and all the rest of the Gay Nation, beware. If we bears are intended to turn into couches, what use will you have at the eyes of Mrs. Palin?

Gay memorial in Berlin

Because not only Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, gays too, this piece of news is most welcomed:

A multi-media memorial to the thousands of gay men who died in Nazi concentration camps should be ready in a matter of months.

Read the full article in Pink News.

Hate crimes raising up in the USA.

USA Today: "Hate crimes in the USA increased 8% in 2006, but some groups, including gays, Muslims and people with mental disabilities, experienced larger spikes in attacks, the FBI says."

Technorati tags: USA, Hate crimes

I won't run either

Good As You puts it much better than me, but those of you readers who have been chatting with me for months know well that it won't be the first time I have to hit a nose or confront a gay-basher, and maybe it was years ago but I know well how to box. I won't run either. Now see this and tell me it's not a call for violence and hate crimes.

Stickers actually being eBay-ed.

Technorati tags: Hate crimes, Anti-gay, Homophobia

Gay club attacked in Lithuania

That's how PinkNews opens this article about Lithuanian homophobia. It's apparent now that eastern european countries are among the most homophobic at least inside the European Union. While the reasons for this behavior are not yet clear, in my opinion there seems to be some sort of religious resurgence, the deep rejection of communism which probably leads people to the far right in the political spectrum, and an overall laissez faire towards neo-nazi gangs while communist counterparts are hunted, as in the Poland case where not only homosexuals were going to be listed and fired from civil servancy, but every person with "communist" collaboration issues in the past had been included in black lists during the Twin Government. I think we have spoken about Lithuania formerly, here and here, and also you can explore the bonding of their anti-gay bands with US-based organizations in this Alternet article.

It's quite clear to me that the American Religious Right can't do much in Western Europe to strike back against LGBT rights, but recent documents related to Uganda and Lithuania appear to draw a similar trend where the ultimate link leads to American Evangelist Churches — with a paranoid conspiracy sense awake, one would say that such cults had launched a crusade to baptise the world. But we're no paranoid, are we?

Technorati tags: Christianity and Homosexuality, Lithuania, Homophobia, Hate crimes

The real "gay bomb" of the Iraq war

By Brian Ochalla, Gaywired.com - copypasted from Edge NY, all rights reserved Gaywired.com

Everyone has had a chuckle over the non-lethal "gay bomb" the U.S. Air Force considered adding to its arsenal in the early ’90s.
Although the weapon never made it out of the planning stages, a gay bomb of another sort has been exploding in Iraq since the U.S. military invaded the country in 2003, according to Ali Hili, a 34-year-old Iraqi exile now living in London.
"The U.S, and other allied forces are doing nothing to stop the massacres of any ordinary Iraqi, not to mention the homosexuals, the most unpopular portion of Iraqi society under the new evil regime," says Hali, who launched Iraqi LGBT in late 2005 "after hearing about the killing of so many of my friends" inside the war-torn country.
Hali describes Iraqi LGBT as a "secretive underground network" for the country’s LGBT community-especially effeminate men and anyone transgender. "We’re a fledgling group but have been paramount in helping Iraqis with safe houses, protection and underground communication," Hali explains.
Two of the group’s safe houses are set to close at the end of the month, however, due to a lack of funds. According to Hali, it costs about $1,800 each month to run just one of his safe houses, which covers gas, electricity, food, water and the salaries of two guards-essential to protecting the 10 to 12 people living within their walls.
Closing the safe houses wasn’t a decision Hali and his partner made lightly-especially considering such an act could well be a death sentence for some of the soon-to-be-homeless.
"Homosexuality was generally tolerated under Saddam," Hali says. "There certainly was no danger of gay people being assassinated in the street by police. Since his overthrow, the violent persecution of gays and lesbians is commonplace. Life in Iraq now is hell for all LGBT people; no one can be openly gay and alive."
Although the plight of Iraq’s LGBT community hasn’t been ignored completely in the U.S. and the rest of the world-in June, for instance, Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Barney Frank (D- MA) called on U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to investigate reports of violent persecution of gay and lesbian Iraqis by Islamic groups and militias-Hali says LGBT Iraqis continue to be "the most unpopular portion of our society."
"Sometimes when I look at the news I feel so sad," he adds. The deaths of his LGBT compatriots "doesn’t matter to world. [It’s] as if we don’t exist."
Hali hopes to change all that with Iraqi LGBT, though he admits he can’t do it alone. "We need donations to help fund the safe houses and to pay for food, clothing, electricity, police protection-even phone cards," he says. "Many people have nothing but the clothes on their backs, and sometimes not even that."

Technorati tags: LGBT, Iraq, Gay bomb

Ex Gay movements turning violent

Ex-gay Watch, a blog devoted to keep an eye on ex gay movements, writes about the relationship between JONAH, (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) and NARTH. Among the many points of similarly neo totalitarist rhetoric of NARTH, these bloggers count the following:

• NARTH sports a guide to “taking back” schools from pro-tolerance activists, written by Scott Lively. Lively is a former American Family Association state chapter leader (he’s still listed as an active director) and the author of the book The Pink Swastika, which (according to the SPLC) falsely asserts that more gays were involved in the perpetration of genocide than were murdered under the Nazi regime. Lively has used The Pink Swastika to achieve popularity in Eastern Europe and among Russian-speaking U.S. immigrants. Lively is now a leader of a Slavic organization called Watchmen on the Walls (Google translation link), which has applauded the murder of a Sacramento gay man by Slavic skinheads, used West Coast Russian-language radio shows to promote anti-gay ethnic cleansing, and taught audiences that homosexuals have a contagious disease that must be quarantined and treated. If you think this sounds eerily familiar, you’re right.
• Paul Cameron, previously reported to be a supporter of a “Final Solution” for homosexuals and an admirer of Nazi officer Rudolph Höss, is still quite pervasive in NARTH’s library. Articles that cite his work can be found here, here, here, and here.

Another author enlisted in NARTH ranks is Joseph Nicolosi, who, with Gerard J. M. van der Aardweg, the latter being a psychologist deeply involved with the Opus Dei, make the core project of the Catholic Ex-Gay movement, which tried to root in Spain as well as in Latin America apparently without much success, as one can deduct from the site Es Posible El Cambio, promoted by a so called Grupo Juan Pablo II.  It's likely that Courage Latino be more active around Latin America, though.

Finally, and about the involvement of Mr. Scott Lively with Watchment on the Walls, we recommend you an interesting reading, this article from Alternet published on October 5th.

Anti-gay movements are out there and homosexuals are their target. Even physically. Beware.

Technorati tags: Religion and Homosexuality, Ex gay, Violence against homosexuals, Catholic, NARTH, JONAH, Ex gay watch, Courage Latino, Es Posible El Cambio, Watchmen on the Walls

Celebrating Eid in Uganda

Pink News informs that an Ugandan Muslim cleric, some sort of scholar of prestige among muslims, has called for all homosexuals in the country to be put on exile off to an island in Victoria Lake, and "If they die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country" he bothered to remark. This stupendous solution for the homosexuality "problems" that Uganda has been allegedly facing lately, partly with support from the United States of America, which has been allegedly funding homosexuality-hate groups as developers of HIV programs, has been put to use in more extreme conditions last century, when homosexuals were also called to wear pink triangles. And then Mr. Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje calls himself a scholar.

Well, the truth may be that after the celebrations of the end of Ramadan, Sheikh Mubajje may have been suffering of some acute attack of gastroenteritis, or perhaps he was simply drunk.

And there are still people who think homosexuals don't need hate protection. Sure.

Technorati tags: Uganda, Islam and Homosexuality, Final Solutions, Abominations and Deadly Sins

USA financing Homophobia in Uganda? IGLHRC speaks

Via Gays Without Borders, some worrying letter by IGLHRC:

October 10, 2007
For Immediate Release
Contact: Hossein Alizadeh, IGLHRC Communications Coordinator, 212-430-6016
(New York, Monday October 10, 2007) - The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has uncovered evidence that the U.S. government has funded groups in Uganda that actively promote discrimination against lesbians and gay men. In a letter to U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul, IGLHRC has criticized funding the groups and has asked for assurances that U.S. government funds are not being used to support homophobic organizations anywhere in the world.
IGLHRC’s investigation followed a series of distressing events in Uganda. At an August 16 press conference, Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG), a coalition of LGBT groups, launched Let us Live in Peace Campaign, calling for understanding and respect of sexual minorities. SMUG’s campaign was met with an increase in hate speech by religious groups. The primary instigator of the backlash was Pastor Martin Ssempa, leader of the Makerere University Community Church and spokesman for the Interfaith Family Culture Coalition Against Homosexuality in Uganda. Ssempa organized an August 21 rally in Kampala, the country’s largest city, at which more than one hundred demonstrators, including several government officials, demanded official action against LGBT people. Ssempa has called homosexual conduct, “a criminal act against the laws of nature,” and has said that, “there should be no rights granted to homosexuals in this country.”
According to the U.S. Embassy in Uganda’s website, Makerere University Community Church received a grant under a program designed to provide funds for AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs in Africa. Mr. Ssempa and his coalition, which includes Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, and Evangelicals, have threatened the safety of Ugandan LGBT rights activists by posting their names, photos and addresses on a website (http://kobsrugby.com/demo/). With support from conservative organizations such as Family Watch International in the United States, Ssempa has launched attacks not only on homosexuals but on Uganda’s women’s rights and HIV activists as well.
“The U.S. government’s funding is meant to alleviate suffering and support effective AIDS initiatives in Africa, not to further blame and stigmatize already marginalized groups,” said IGLHRC Executive Director Paula Ettelbrick. IGLHRC provided Ambassador Dybul with evidence of grants made by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to the Makerere University Community Church.
Furthermore, IGLHRC found that the Uganda Muslim Tabliqh Women’s Desk has also received a grant under the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to implement HIV programs in Masaka District. Recently, Muslim Tabliqh youth announced a plan to form an 'Anti-Gay Squad' to fight homosexuality in Uganda. On 28 August 2007, Sheikh Multah Bukenya, a senior cleric in the Tabliqh Organization, was quoted during prayers at Noor Mosque in Kampala as saying that his followers are “ready to act swiftly and form this squad that will wipe out all abnormal practices like homosexuality in our society.”
PEPFAR is a $15 billion Bush administration fund to fight AIDS in Africa. According to IGLHRC’s 2007 report, “Off the Map: How HIV/AIDS Programming is Failing Same-Sex Practicing People in Africa,” less than U.S. $1 million targets HIV programs for men who have sex with men in Africa, despite strong evidence that HIV has a disproportionate impact on LGBT communities throughout the continent. According to IGLHRC, the complicated PEPFAR sub-granting process lacks transparency and makes it difficult to track the funding.
“What we do know, is that few PEPFAR dollars are being used to fight HIV among gay men in Africa,” said Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC Senior Specialist for Africa. “Not only have African men who have sex with men been largely ignored with regard to HIV prevention services, but avowedly homophobic organizations are receiving funding for programs that will only further stigmatize homosexuality. This has to stop.”
IGLHRC has called for increased transparency in the distribution of U.S. government HIV/AIDS funding internationally and a commitment by U.S. administrators that organizations espousing hate speech will not be funded
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and is punishable by between 14 years and life imprisonment. Last year, the Ugandan Parliament passed a constitutional amendment making same-sex marriages illegal.
You can download a high resolution photo of Paula Ettelbrick from IGLHRC website:
http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/graphic/Paula.jpg
You can download a high resolution photo of Cary Alan Johnson from IGLHRC website:
http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/otm/JohnsonCA.jpg
IGLHRC’ letter to Ambassador Dybul, can be found at: http://www.iglhrc.org/files/iglhrc/program_docs/IGLHRC%20Letter%20to%20Amb.%20Dybul.pdf

(Emphasis mine)

Technorati tags: Homophobia, Uganda, USA

More Anti-Gay Speech. Phelps and Blair.

Aha! It was time to get it announced, how not. So Fred Phelps is going to "stage protests at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality." Couldn't be no other. Ask our mates at Good As You about the Phelpesses of this world, they have the theory that such a family name could have something to do with the bearer's gay hate (Thank you for the blog, and all the Youtube videos), and they look like real experts in such phenomena (note, with "ph" like "phelps").

And miles southwards, on the Caribbean Jamaica, Bishop Herro Blair warns politicians to not be permissive at all with abortion and homosexuality: "To legalise the murder of an unborn child and to legalise same-sex marriage - it is not here yet - but it is a slap in the face to the Almighty God." Since I didn't attend the meeting, I can't affirm that he didn't do similar remarks on political corruption, religious hypocrisy, heterosexual pederastia, wars for oil, unemployment, hate crimes and all those not-so-important aspects of island and continental life.

Technorati tags: Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church, Anti-gay speech, Hate speech, Jamaica, Herro Blair, Religion, Church

LGBT paradise in Europe endangered?

Amsterdam, once well known as Gay paradise in Europe, is endangered. From 16 attacks on homosexuals in 2006, the number of such in 2007 (Jan-Aug) has already raised up to 18, informs El País (Spanish). The former Blue and Pink hotline established by Dutch police to receive denounces on homophobia has turned into a corpse of 30 gay and lesbian policemembers who patrol Amsterdam streets encouraging same sex loving people to denounce aggressions. Though the report on the Eurogaypolice site points to Arab on Arab attacks, El Pais reports that the aggressor profile is more diffuse, noting that white supremacists may also be involved, while not exclusively attacking arab homosexuals.

At the same time, Manchester's police is looking for gay advisors to help them handle homophobia denounces, and in Spain, recent headilines about homophobia are not uncommon, with five attacks last month in Gandia, Valencia. Add all the cases in Eastern European countries, with violence in Moscow Pride and other ex Soviet republics now independent, the recent Gay Kiss issue in Italy, Poland's twins government, et al. No, this is no paradise for homosexuals, and homophobia can be awaiting behind any corner on any street, and that's why we must carry on the, let's say, normalization of homosexuality.

Technorati tags: Homophobia, Amsterdam, Hate crimes, LGBT, Spain, Poland, Europe

Nigerian Gay Activist's family attacked.

Via the Gay Religion blog and Gay/Lesbian News we come across an attack on a Nigerian activist family.

Gun men invaded the family house of Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude, Nigeria, in Nigeria and started shooting. They killed 20 people. The family was gathered for the swearing in ceremony for one of his brothers. He had just been appointed as Commissioner by the Rivers State Governor. His mother was shot in the leg and is still in the local hospital. His cousin Opali was killed. Davis' brother, who was the main target, managed to escape. Davis currently lives in exile after receiving repeated death threats following his vocal opposition to Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola's anti-gay statements.

Though Davis Mac-Iyalla was not the target since he's in exile, and there could be political reasons other than homophobia for such attack, be it killing a Commissioner or killing the brother of a gay activist, we regret such acts of terror.

Technorati tags: Nigeria, Davis Mac-Iyalla, Hate crimes

Some bwoy will go a jail fi murda tun badman chi chi man!!!

Back in the early 80s, when I was in High School, I found out that there was some different kind of music called Reggae. At first I didn't like it much. It was 1981 and I sticked to the Queen album "The Game" instead of listening to Bob Marley. It was much later that I started to listen to some of the lyrics that described the struggle for freedom, and I started to like reggae. It wasn't until two years ago that I noticed, after a more in depth approach to the patois lyrics, all the homophobia underlying in many of those texts. This blog is partly a consequence of such discovery. It's been a while that I wanted to say something about the thing, and today it looks a very good day for that matter.

But in spite of saying it in my own words, I'll just voice other people's words. People who know much better than I could ever know. People who lived the issue, and who are struggling to change the facts. Why today? Because it seems that Beenie Man, the same guy who allegedly signed in 2005 the Reggae Compassionate Act, has lately denied such agreement.

According to The Jamaica Observer, "He denied signing any such deal, which Outrage last month announced as the Reggae Compassionate Act, but at the same time said that violence against gays was wrong." He went on further to declare "We don't need to kill dem. We just need fi tell the people dem the right ting because I not supporting a gay lifestyle because it's not wholesome to me."

So, did he sign it yes or no? My opinion is that the guy signs the agreement whenever he needs to have it signed to perform overseas. Three months ago in Barcelona it was either him or some other Dancehall artist who risked to have a concert suspended precisely because of his homophobia. By that time, Spanish LGBT rights groups were calmed and promised he had signed the Act.

But enough of my speech, let me leave you with the guys who best know about the thing. With all due respect and admiration, this people at Murder Inna Dancehall they have a lot of links, analysis and material on the reggae/dancehall homophobia. And I have to agree completely with this view:

Every time I hear a song by an artist who had an homophobic message, I stop dancing. I invite all dancehall and reggae lovers to stop dancing when you hear disrespectful songs in a bar. Furthermore, if you feel confortable, tell the DJ that you don't appreciate such songs. If you hear a homophobic song on the radio, try and get the station's email address and the people in charge of the show where the songs was played. Let them know how you feel or simply send them the link to this website. No more murder music! Play Roots Rock Reggae.

Therefore, go immediately and visit the site. Learn more and more about the situation and how things can be changed. Click on their links. Write. Do your part.

Inside Iran's Secret Gay World

Part one of the documentary is this


And these are the second and third parts of the video.

Mixed bag - Around the world newslinks.

Today's review of what's been happening in the world of GLBT issues must start with a favorite of mine: Michael Moore, who, in an interview with The Advocate, dropped the idea of his next documentary could deal with the issue of homophobia and the anti-gay movement. The way Moore puts things on the screen, I'm already drooling on the possbie results. And you don't miss his Sicko movie, it's demolishing - of course if you're not George W. Bush. In the meantime, some leaders of anti-gay programs (I'll be writing on such things next week for those of you who are not familiar with that thing) apologized to GLBT people by late June, while asking other leaders to do the same. Still in the US of A, homosexuals in the military will receive Ron Paul's statement of rejecting the Don't Ask Don't Tell rule if elected president. It's a long way for Paul to arrive to the White House, but recent studies say that the argument for Unit cohesion is futile, as servicepeople from Ft. Bragg, NC speak in a The Fayetteville Observer article.

Leaving the USA we find that Swedes may soon welcome the whole ecclesial apparatus of marriage with organ, religious chants and whatever it takes, while the Vatican and the Orthodox church strenghten their position (sadly, not unique) on anti-gay grounds. Catholic Ireland will guarantee full equality for same sex couples (though not marriage), while a lesbian couple is taking court action against Gibraltar government, and in Zagreb, Croatia, one man has been charged with a hate crime after the attacks on a Pride march.

In Africa, Nigerian archbishop Akinola's anti-gay rhetoric is analysed in an article on The Advocate, and the rest of the world witness how Singapore forum on decriminalization of homosexual acts is attended by hundreds, while Hong Kong rejects a gay sodomy ban, Australian government is considering the increase in rights for homosexuals, Lebanese homosexual youth is flourishing again in Beirut, and in Jamaica three dancehall musicians made public their signature of some sort of deal called Reggae Compassionate Act by which they compromise to not include gay bashing, homophobic and hate-crime sparkling lyrics in their songs. Sam could write a full essay on the issue, let's hope he'll have time to do so. The worst part of news is that Iran may keep executing more gay people, and in Nepal, four transgendered young people have been beaten by police officers in Katmandu, allegedly for carrying condoms for their own use.