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.

Abdellah Taïa interviewed

Today's online number of Publico presents an interview with Abdellah Taïa, Moroccan writer born in Sale in 1973, and the first one in coming out of the closet via Tel Quel magazine in January 2006. Abdellah has been pictured in Tel Quel's front page. Over his picture there was an only word: "Homosexual".

The interview, in Spanish language, describes briefly his coming out process, his family feelings and an overview of Morocco in regards to homosexuality. Some excerpts:

What about your family?

They thought I couldn't be a good Muslim, but they didn't reject me totally. They feared about me, my personal safety. My younger brother couldn't go out to the street.  [...] When I came back home, my mother cooked a lot for me. It was so tender, but also a way of not speaking about my sexual condition. Morocco is in the stage of denial of homosexuality: we don't want to name it since naming it means recognize its existence.

Homosexuality is present in Moroccan popular culture.

Sure; those men in women disguise in Jmaa el Fnaa (Marrakech) and nothing happens; there's been a wide tolerance, traditionally. Privately, Moroccans are a very free people. The problem is society's control. [...] Even the Islamist party will tell you "You can be homosexual, but you can't show it". There's no problem as long as you hide, however, there'll be some point in which you'll be socially compelled to get married.

Are you optimistic about Morocco's future?

Sometimes I am: nowadays, newspapers are criticizing the King, but there's an economical impasse. For many Moroccans, there's a daily struggle to find food for today. You can't achieve sexual freedom when you live in such conditions.

For those of you able to read Spanish, here's the link to the full text.

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?

The Spanish Larry Craig

Though "Larry Craig" wouldn't define well this Spanish politician and Tax Office clerk. Javier Rodrigo de Santos, formerly vice major in Palma de Mallorca, spent the amount of 50,804 Euro in gay relax services, disguised as "Public Relations Consulting" from the public budget of Palma Townhall. It couldn't be otherwise, the man is known to have refused to celebrate homosexual marriages while in office (objecting to those because of moral issues), though celebrated the Pope's visit to Valencia in 2006 and stands as an ultra Catholic. Ethics and morals, of course. Full information, in Spanish, in El Pais.

Everyday life best argument for gay marriage

A really interesting analysis on the SF Gate by C W Nevius, on how homosexual marriage will become accepted as normal. Here's the full text, which I mostly agree with.

When defenders of the "sacred union of marriage" held a news conference last Tuesday after oral arguments on same-sex marriage at the state Supreme Court, they weren't facing a friendly crowd.

A small group of activists tried to drown out the comments with songs, chants and heckling. I'm sure they thought they were carrying the banner of freedom, standing up for principle and advancing the cause.

They're wrong.

At the end of the day, when the change comes to allow same-sex marriage - and it's coming, don't kid yourself - it won't be because of protests. It will be because people in this state, and across the country, are talking to gay and lesbian co-workers and neighbors, meeting same-sex couples and their kids at Little League games, and working at companies with domestic-partner health plans.

"It is the normal interaction in everyday life," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who is leading San Francisco's legal effort along with attorneys for 23 same-sex couples. "It is the guy at the water cooler at work, seeing them with their kids - that's what drives it home for people."

It is that familiarity driving the change in perception. Polls tell us that those born before 1940 are probably a lost cause. But those in their 40s, for example, have seen a dramatic uptick in support for same-sex marriage. And the real sea change is among the teens and twentysomethings who seem to wonder what the fuss is all about.

When our son told us he was gay, he was in high school (he's a junior in college now). I remember hugging him and saying, "Don't worry. It will be fine." What he didn't hear was my inner voice adding, "I hope."

I worried about him having a miserable time at school, harassed by narrow-minded kids and forced to withdraw into a shell. It wasn't without rough moments, of course, but overall, his problems seemed minor.

He played high school sports, was active in school events and ran for student body president. During the election, a Neanderthal jock anonymously posted an incredibly offensive and obscene comment on an Internet site. My wife and daughter saw it and so did much of the student body. Here we go, I thought.

But his friends rallied around him. They took on the jock, identified him and told him to offer an apology. When he did, my son's group quickly accepted it and moved on. He won that election.

Frankly, with a few blips, that's how it has gone. Having a gay son has been a lot less of a big deal than I ever dreamed. And among his fellow students and contemporaries, it seems to be a big shrug.

As Herrera says, the youth mind-set represents an undercurrent of change that is sometimes overlooked.

"If you look at the poll numbers in 2000 for Proposition 22 (reaffirming a 1974 law that said marriage was between a man and a woman) the support was 61 percent," he said. "But those numbers have changed dramatically. And when you look at the younger demographic, it is totally different."

A California Field Poll conducted in March found that those born in the 1970s and '80s support same-sex marriage by 51 and 58 percent, respectively.

The change in values seems to leave the same-sex opponents struggling to find a rational objection to the question posed by one of the justices: "What are the adverse consequences that could occur?"

Randy Thompson, president of the California Coalition for Children and Families, could only offer that banning same-sex marriage would "be a role model for the next generation. What dream do you want children to have, to grow up and marry a nice girl?"

Yep, that's the dream. I suppose many never guessed it would be a girl's dream, too.

The news conferences went on too long for both groups. At the end, a gentleman who represented the group Stand With Children stood at the podium, talking away as TV crews packed up their cameras and microphones.

No one was listening. He was talking to himself - with one exception.

One of the gay and lesbian activists stayed and heckled him. As the crowd dispersed, the two bickered back and forth. It's funny, because while they are arguing, real change is taking place all around them.

HIV and gay in Tunisia: A twin taboo

By Sonia Ounissi

TUNIS, March 7 (Reuters Life!) - Homosexual men living with HIV/AIDS In the Arab world face a twin taboo, but Karim doesn't look like someone burdened by stigma. Smiling and self-assured, the healthy looking Tunisian says his peace of mind comes from accepting what he cannot change, living in the moment and taking care to present a normal face to the world. The 34-year-old draws the menace from his infection by seeing it as his offspring. "Personally, I accept the illness. I consider the virus my little baby. Together, we make up the same person," he said.

Dressed in jeans and a V-neck pullover, Karim sounds matter-of-act about his condition, but acknowledges that it wasn't always so easy. Karim first learned he had HIV when he returned to his native country from France in 2005. He was infected during an eight-year relationship with a French man. "First, I thought I had flu. But my health kept worsening and analysis showed I had AIDS. A person who was so important to me had infected me," he said.

"I WAS FURIOUS"

"At the beginning, I was furious. I hated everything. But afterwards, I thought that it's better to be hopeful than crying." He decided to face up to the illness, sensing that a positive mental attitude would translate into stronger physical health. Also, he is on anti-retroviral medication. "I'm quite good. My health situation is stable. HIV-positives who can't move or even walk are people who refuse the fact that they're infected with HIV. They suffer because they're in very low spirits and not because of the virus." "I have a principle in my life which says we must make the most of life while we still have its advantages. So, I still enjoy my life. I consider AIDS a flu." He lives with his Tunisian boyfriend, who is uninfected. They have protected sex. "I was sincere. I told him the truth and he accepted. His attitude really moved me," said Karim.

"ENJOY THE MOMENT"

Unlike most Tunisians, Karim refuses to draw up plans for his future, even in the short-term, as he doesn't know when AIDS will bring his life to an end. "I can't do long-term projects. I can't even plan for the summer holidays. I think just about what I can do in the next week and enjoy the moment." HIV/AIDS is a common topic of conversation widely discussed in many Western countries. But it is still an invisible disease in north Africa and many other parts of the world. Karim, one of 1,428 Tunisians who live with HIV, has learnt to keep his status a tightly guarded secret in a society where fear, prejudice and ignorance about the disease prevail.

Seventy new cases are declared per year in the North African country, according to official figures.

HIV-positive people who become known as such are shunned by society. "To live in Tunisia, people infected with HIV have to lie and never say they suffer from AIDS," he said. "I told my boss, because he's French. If I told a Tunisian about that he'd have a cardiac arrest", said Karim.

"I hate the Tunisian way of thinking. They present themselves as open-mind people and cultured. But it's just a mask," he said. "In reality, they still think they can be infected via the air."

(Reuters, reporting by Sonia Ounissi, editing by William Maclean and Paul Casciato)

‘Gay is OK’ in Afghanistan

When American and British marines started returning from the war in Afghanistan in early 2002, they brought along with them curious stories about Afghanistan’s peasants who put on make-up and consistently followed them around or even sexually abused them. This was a very shocking experience for the soldiers.

- They were more terrifying than the al-Qaeda. One bloke who had painted toenails was offering to paint ours. They go about hand in hand, mincing around the village – a terrified marine, James Fletcher, told the Scotsman upon returning from Afghanistan.

- We were pretty shocked. We discovered from the Afghan soldiers we had with us that a lot of men in this country have the same philosophy as ancient Greeks: ‘a woman for babies, a man for pleasure’ – Fletcher continued recounting his experience.

For every Pashtun there is an Ashna

After the fall of the repressive Taliban regime in which homosexuality, sodomy and generally any kind of relations outside of marriage between a man and a woman were punishable by death, Afghans have finally become free to enjoy homosexual relationships that have been an integral part of their culture for several centuries.

In the city of Kandahar, which is considered the gay capital of Southern Asia, there is an ancient custom among the ethnic Pashtun people. An adult man picks a young boy, a teenager, called an “ashna” and gives him money and presents in turn for sexual favours. This Pashtun tradition is even represented in their poetry, in odes written about the beauty of young “ashnas”. This is a tradition that is present in all facets of society, practiced by the rich and poor alike. The parents of young boys who are sex slaves are usually aware of their sons’ relations with their “sugar daddies”. And although their parents keep this a secret from others, they do not contest the custom. Especially if the Pashtun is rich.

You can see some Afghanistan male couples HERE.

Traditional dancing in women’s clothing

Such a form of prostitution has been quite widespread in recent years due to poverty among teenagers and the strict rules that forbid any contact among singles of the opposite sex. American Fox writes that in 1994 two Afghanistan officers got into a fight over a boy they both took a liking to. The government even had to pass a law forbidding Afghan soldiers from living with their “ashnas”. After the Taliban regime, the Afghanistan Supreme Court ruled homosexuality illegal and sodomy punishable by death. But in reality, nobody will lose their life because of homosexual relations. Rather, they will be given long-term prison sentences or just get away with a fine, which is a very lenient punishment in this Islamic country.

The British wrote about gay love in Kabul as far as a century and a half back, which is proof that homosexuality was pretty widespread even back then. Some gay tourist guides claim that there used to be stores in Kandahar which held pets that were considered gay symbols, quails, for example. There are even customs in which, during wedding ceremonies, entertainers dress up in women’s clothing and dance traditional dances. The local population says that birds fly above the city using only one wing. They use other wing to cover their derrieres. Taliban leader Mullah Omar curried favour with Taliban officers by offering them young boys.

Contact with a woman is taboo; contact with a man is not

There are no organised gay associations in Afghanistan, but contrary to many Western countries, men can freely walk the streets holding hands. This was especially shocking for foreign troops who became fascinating for the Afghan men. Armed and ready to engage in conflicts with Al-Qaeda, the only conflicts the foreign troops had were with local men who only wanted to stroke their hair.

- It was hell. Every village we went into we got a group of men wearing make-up coming up, stroking our hair and cheeks and making kissing noises – 20-year-old Corporal Paul Richard uttered.

One can only speculate about the roots of sodomy and homosexuality in Afghanistan because the fact is that a long-standing tradition is always the result of various factors. Some claim that the main reason for this is the ban of any contact between men and women who are not married, while men constantly spend time together.

Most indigent boys do not even know what a woman’s body looks like until they are married. And marriage is a very expensive endeavour in Afghanistan – the dowry usually consists of several average Afghanistan salaries, which only a few can afford.

Taking into consideration the reports of Western marines, much is forbidden in Afghanistan. But it would not be surprising if in a few years’ time Kandahar throws its first gay parade.

[From Javno]

Comedy in theaters and Knesset. And the Peanut Butter Jar.

After some weeks of watching mostly drama and thriller movies, I was looking for a good comedy this weekend, just to relax from work, also from the political campaign in Spain (which has good points, for instance, as I'm following Spain's politicians I don't have time anymore to follow the candidates in the USA). The only movie I could find in theatres currently, a decent comedy (and I mean "decent" in the sense of "please don't play me another stupid American teen movie") was, of course, Juno. But this is Party for the Rights and Juno is not a comedy about homosexuality, eh? No problem, there's enough comedy worldwide. Would you believe, dear abominable readers, that YOU cause earthquakes "when putting your genitalia where they're not supposed to be put"? That's exactly the collegiate opinion of Schlomo Benizri, who declared in Israel's Knesset, this week, about the measures to be taken on Israel's readiness on earthquakes.

It must have been funny, a committee of lawmakers having experts stating about measures and all that blah blah, and then this guy comes up and says something like, "if you stop passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes", that's the best measure to be taken in order to prevent victims on earthquakes, and quakes themselves.

If one thinks carefully about the whole thing, it's obvious that religion, ultra-orthodox religion, is always behind such attacks. Those ultra-religious people, fanatics and fundamentalists, are quite similar to little children who aren't able to catch a good sleep without a good tale before switching the lights off. The problem, and I use "problem" here because they move towards creating a problem for us, the problem then, I say, is only that ultra-religious people do believe that their tale is true. Pastors, bishops and preachers in the USA oppose homosexual marriage saying "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve". Funny slogan, but it's not Adam and Eve unless you defend Creationism (which is lately labeled as Intelligent Design, as if it was some sort of Italian couch or a masterpiece of Rem Koolhaas). There was no Adam and there was no Eve, there is the Theory of Evolution and that's science. And some people will still go dreaming of Peanut Butter Jars after being read the Bible Fairy Tale before going to sleep.

Spain pre-election promises, promises, promises...

With most eyes focused on the American campaign, I've just following, like most Spaniards, the moves of our pre-elections season. Eventually, the Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy disclosed some amount of the changes to bring about on society: contract agreements for immigrants to "behave like Spaniards" and "fulfill the existing laws" (I had never guessed that any person coming to Spain, tourist or permanent settler, had not the obligation to respect and fulfill our laws, and that Spanish behavior might mean they will have to shout and scream in bars for most of the Saturday evening, drive fast and half drunk, and learn how to throw papers and all sorts of other rubbish out of the wastecans when walking the streets); of course, on homosexuality the Party is starting to appear more the wolf they are than the sheep: the first (notice: the first) proposal is to ban homosexual marriages from adoption. It's just a first step, I'm afraid, later on it'll come the banning of homosexual marriage too. But the implications are broader: if homosexual couples can't adopt, it must be because they are not able to raise children correctly, and hence... what will we do when a lesbian couple give birth to a baby? Of course, call the social services and find a suitable home. Preferably traditional, catholic, and conservative.

On other parts of the world, Romania's Senate is trying to amend the Romanian Civil Code on marriage to explicitly forbid same-sex marriages, though that's a move which could bring about some sort of admonition from the European Union. When joining the EU in 2007, Romania had to "recognise same-sex couples registered in other member states". A couple of cases brought before the European High Court could oblige lawmakers to rewrite their homophobic moves.

And just two interesting links to finish: Patrick Chapman makes a brief but interesting critic to the NARTH Journey into Straight, showing that studies of ex-gay organizations are not always trustable, while Ziggy on High posts The Gay Agenda according to the US ultraconservatives.

Bollywood stars on homosexuality

According to NewKerala.com, via Topix news, an increasing numbers of Indian movie stars are asserting their own position on changing the laws on homosexuality in India. Statements on the issue by some of the most renowned Bollywood stars are:

Lillete Dubey: Of course, the laws pertaining to homosexuality should be revised. They are archaic and inhuman. An individual's sexual preference is a completely private matter. It falls under the realm of the law when there's a public display of obscene behaviour. Any such conduct must be equally punishable for straight and gay persons. If gay behaviour offends publicly, the law has every right to react. Otherwise, we're the largest democracy and sexual freedom is our democratic right.
Celina Jaitley: My closest friends are gay and I wouldn't let anyone hurt them. The laws need drastic change. Homosexuality has existed since the invention of civilisation. Some of our greatest artistes today are gay. At this time of HIV and AIDS, gay rights should be our primary concern. In Britain, they've gay marriages. So why are we stuck with their obsolete laws? They left the country long back! Also science proves homosexuality is genetic.
Randeep Hooda: I've lots of gay friends, both male and female. As long as they respect my heterosexual space, I've no problems with their sexuality. As far as the gay party on Saturday night is concerned, if the partygoers were disrupting the neighbourhood's peace then they deserve to be pulled up. Alternative sexuality must not be an excuse for extra rights and privileges. If you want to be equal then fight it out in life just like any of us.
Manoj Bajpai: Yes, the law should be revised. All citizens have the right to decide how they live their lives.
Rohit Roy: I'm not very clear about gay rights and laws in India. But I must say this sort of raid gets us thinking about the priorities of the police. Shouldn't they crack down on elements dangerous to society rather than gays who just want to live in peace?
Nandana Sen: Yes, absolutely! The laws need a change. No one has the right to invade a peaceful private gathering. It's against our democratic principles to treat homosexuality as crime.
Tanushree Dutta: Oh my god! This is ridiculous. The laws need desperate change. Or maybe homosexuality is legal and the cops don't know about it?
Imtiaz Ali: Of course, the laws need to be revised. An act that is natural to some cannot be illegal in a free democracy.
Riya Sen: Everyone in a democracy should enjoy the freedom to do what he or she likes. I think it is uncivilised to question anyone's sexuality. Invasion of privacy is a bigger crime than any. Not just homosexuality, we need to open up our minds against all kinds of prejudice if we want to really go global.
Amrita Arora: Gays have just the same rights as straight people. I party with them and I find them sensitive and dependable. Why single them out to ridicule? High time people stop being judgemental about how others live their lives.
Vipul Shah: Yes, laws need revision. Nobody has the right to decide for others. It's every individual's birthright to decide his or her sexual preference. And nobody has the right to interfere. Unless they were behaving obscenely, the gay partygoers shouldn't have been raided.
Shefali Shah: I don't see why there should be laws against individuals based on their sexual preferences. It's a free world. People are entitled to make their own choices as long as their choices don't hurt anyone.
Samir Soni: I don't think the laws should vary according to sexual orientation. What is unlawful should remain so regardless of whether you are gay or straight.
Mahesh Bhatt: The state has no business to step into people's bedrooms and question their sexual preferences. It's a matter between two consenting adults.
Neil Nitin Mukesh: It's a sensitive subject that needs careful consideration.

Which reminds me to the fact that, in Spain, we lived our sexuality half in the closet and half openly, but it was only when Boris Izaguirre came out on full display of his queerness in Cronicas Marcianas, a late show which was followed by quite a number of Spaniards, when homosexuality happened to start to be viewed as something between curious and appealing... and that was the beginning of the so many changes we have witnessed in these last ten years.

A bit busy lately

But still had some time to browse through the week's news, choosing the worst of them all in Cameroon, another nation which has sentenced three guys to six years of hard labor just for being gay. That's fair justice and treatment, absolute equal rights. One wonders if heterosexuals would be given equal sentences in a gay-leaded country. And speaking of country leaders, from inside Spain it doesn't seem that next March 9th election will only depend on gay marriage, as Deutsche Welle puts it. No, even though the Roman Catholic hierarchy is actively fighting everything they deem as sin, some days ago the Popular Party leader, Mr. Rajoy, said that his party position on gay marriage is to let it be as is. It's of course not clear whether them, the right side of the political spectrum, would amend the gay marriage law if they could obtain Congress majority enough to govern alone.

On the northeastern side of Europe, Topix says that Lithuania is facing the Council of Europe censure over their position on homosexual rights. There must be something in advantage when your country belongs to the European Union, the Bill of Rights is common for all countries (except for Poland, but it'll change too). However, on Eastern Europe, "Metropolitan Kirill, Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, has made a strong statement condemning societal acceptance of homosexuality and reaffirming the task of the Church to proclaim the truth". Of course, it's a religious thing, what else can they say?

Well, I guess it's been all for today. I promise I'll try to keep updating for the weekend, but forgive me if I'm sending scarce posts till after Carnival... A man also needs a bit of free time for himself. Cheers.

Pride and Prejudice - Straightly gay from China

Pride and prejudice
By Xie Fang
Updated: 2008-01-14 07:26

Two bold young men kiss each other during a kissing contest held by a Beijing department store on the Valentine's Day in 2006. Li Fangyu

Name: Tong Ge Age: 57 Occupation: Writer and independent researcher

Tong Ge was married to a woman for more than 20 years, and has raised a son.

But Tong is gay.

"If I could turn back time, I would never have married a woman," he sighs.

"Even though my wife has forgiven me, I cannot forgive myself, and feel guilty all the time."

Tong says he has been attracted to the same sex since he was a boy. The son of a rich family, Tong was sent to the countryside to learn from farmers during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

His best friend, a former classmate, was willing to follow him. No matter how tough the living conditions got, no matter how poor they were, they were always deeply attached to each other.

One day after both had been drinking, they had sex for the first time.

"It had never crossed our mind that we were gay, and also we had no idea how to define our behavior," Tong recalls.

Two years later, his friend was called to the city. It would be the darkest moment in Tong's life - having to say farewell to his first lover.

"It might sound silly nowadays," he says with a laugh. "But I have missed him a lot over the years."

At age 27, Tong went back to the city, where he was astonished to discover scores of secret places where gay men met at night, such as public parks and toilets.

According to Tong, the phenomenon emerged in the mid-1970s when the "cultural revolution" had yet to come to an end.

"The more you try to oppress sex, the more resistance will rise up," he explains.

He says that men rarely used condoms at the time. "They were not available in any shops. Only the birth control offices of Stated-owned companies had them, and of course it was impossible for us to ask," he says.

Tong declined to explain what drove him to tie the knot, except to say "in the past, it was right and proper to get married when people reached a certain age".

Tortured by his double life, Tong studied various medical books, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Finding no answers, he decided that the only way he could live with himself was to confess to his wife.

"I thought she would be furious after I told her," he recalls. "However, she said that she had known it for a long time."

Tong was waiting for his wife to ask for a divorce, but she chose to stay with him. He says that despite their past difficulties, their relationship remains strong.

"A lot of Chinese gay men have had similar experiences," he says.

As an independent researcher, Tong has devoted himself to the academic study of homosexuality, not only from a social perspective, but also how to best combat AIDS.

"My goal is to make a general report on Chinese gay relationships," he says.

Name: Ruo Zhe

Age: 33

Occupation: Webmaster of the first gay website www.gztz.org in China

Ruo Zhe used to think he was a monster, because of his attraction to the same sex. He even tried having a girlfriend at university, even though he knew that he felt nothing for her. "It's like your left hand touching your right hand," Ruo says.

The Beijing native decided to leave for Guangzhou after graduating from university, partly because there were job prospects and partly because he didn't want his parents to discover the truth. In 1997, he spent all his savings on a computer, which led him to a bigger world than he had ever imagined. "By visiting foreign websites, I realized that I was not the only gay man in the world," he says.

In order to meet other gay men, Ruo put his personal information both in English and Chinese on the Internet. A few months later, someone responded. Rather than feeling overjoyed, Ruo says that the prospect of meeting anyone face to face was terrifying. "I do care about being called a gay man in public, therefore emails are safer for me," he admits.

Eventually he met more men after being taken by a foreign friend to a local gay bar. "I was shocked to see so many people there. It seemed like a totally different world, where people all looked so relaxed, chatting and smiling," he says.

Ruo then launched the first Chinese website for gay people at the end of 1998, which aims to provide a platform for people to meet each other. The website offers news, health tips, entertainment listings and overviews of gay and lesbian communities in other countries.

Despite being the only full-time staff, Ruo says hundreds of people have offered to help out. The current registered membership has grown rapidly and now stands at 220,000. According to Ruo, most of these are young people aged between 20 and 30, up to 80 percent of whom are college educated.

Ruo has been living with his partner for six years. Even so, they seldom show their affections - such as holding hands - in public. "I know many gay men don't dare to do it either, because of social pressure," he says. "We have to wait till someday when we are accepted."

Ruo hopes to buy a car for his partner, dreaming of the day when they can drive wherever they want, listening to their favorite music.

Name: "Never give up", her online nickname

Age: 26

Occupation: Clinical doctor

For this 26-year-old, telling her parents that she is lesbian is the hardest thing she has ever done in her life. The young woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that her mother and father were simply not ready to hear what she had to tell them.

"No parent is able to accept such a fact. That's always been true in China," she says.

Since the young woman came out of the closet, she has hardly spoken to her parents. The young woman says that ever since she was a child she preferred to dress like a male, despite her parents' efforts to make her more feminine.

She loved casual clothes, shunned high-heels and was always playing with boys, even though she felt no sexual attraction towards them. While studying medicine at university in Shenyang, Liaoning province, the young woman actively started seeking female partners.

Oblivious to her sexual preferences, her parents were busy arranging men for her to date.

"The pressure to marry increased dramatically after I graduated from university. At the beginning, I had to obey my parents' wish to date the young men they chose for me," she says. "I would find any excuse to end the relationships."

But this didn't discourage her parents, who worked even harder to find the "right guy".

It was around this time that the young woman's charade began to weigh down on her.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore," she says. So she decided to open up to her family.

"Both my parents believe that I have certain physiological problems," she says. "They claim that it is a natural law for a woman to get married and give birth to a baby. How can I be an exception?"

They even took her to a top clinic in Beijing to seek advice. But the parents were disappointed when the doctor said their daughter was perfectly normal.

"Understanding from your family is more important than that of the outside world, because you have to face them everyday," she says. "If they were willing to accept me, I would be less depressed."

The young woman now has a girlfriend, a former university classmate who has not told her parents about the relationship.

The pair hopes to live together one day but don't have enough money to buy an apartment.

She envies men as their incomes are generally higher, and more jobs are available for them.

What's more, she says that it is traditional for a Chinese family to pay for their son's wedding and first house.

However, money is only one stumbling block for the couple. "Even if we were rich enough to buy a house, would our parents allow us to live together?" she asks.

Yet despite the rift between her and her parents, the young woman says she doesn't regret her decision to be honest with them.

"It is my life, and it is my right to choose the lifestyle I want," she says.

Manifesto pro Family Diversity

Following the recent events in Spain, with the Catholic hierarchy mourning their times of power under the Franco dictatorship, a number of people launched a web/blog under the name Internautas por la Diversidad Familiar, whose manifesto aims, in brief, at promoting equality among all the different family models that coexist in our 21st century societies: monoparental, homoparental and heteroparental, not excluding or promoting any of those over the other, however rejecting the discriminating and excluding attitudes coming from the Catholic hierarchy (and we understand here, that, on extension, from any other excluding attitudes).

It's with joy that Party for the Rights joined the campaign and manifesto, and we will encourage from these pages to all Spain and Spanish speaking readers to go check the site, spread the word, and become more active against any bigotry.

Technorati tags: Family diversity, Blogs, Equality

Latest in 2007: Cuba and Nepal.

On a move that will surely add more fuel to the bonfires the worldwide Christian ultraconservative right lighted against same sex marriages, two nations of the so called Third World ended 2007 with awesome achievements in such a field. In Nepal, the High Court ruled that the government must create new laws to protect gay rights and change current ones that might be tantamount to discrimination. Until some days ago, Nepal was an almost feudal kingdom, but recently the nation has announced plans to transform itself into a republic in 2008 after the Constituent Assembly election, abolishing monarchy.

On the other side of the world, in that tiny green lizard island named Cuba,  Monica and Elizabeth (featured on the picture in the right) dressed in white and staged a marriage, though still with no legal validity. IPS News brings an extensive report of the ceremony, which was supported by government bodies and associations, since the country's preparing to take to parliament a legal reform advocated by CENESEX and the Cuban Women’s Federation calling for the recognition of de facto unions between same-sex couples and equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual couples, as well as eligibility to adopt children and, for women, access to assisted fertilization services.

The legal machinery is already rolling and the initiative may reach parliament in 2008, but no one can predict how long it will take to come to a vote. Meanwhile, CENESEX was advised by the ruling Communist Party to make efforts to prepare the public through a media campaign, says IPS News, but both women's ceremony wasn't intended as part of the media machinery.

Technorati tags: Cuba, Nepal, Same sex marriage, Homosexual rights

Italian reparative therapy, and exorcising homosexuality out.

Via Vecchifroci I came to know about Davide Vari, an Italian journalist who posed as homosexual in order to enter religious "reparative" therapy circles. Though affiliated somehow with NARTH, the people involved in ex gay movements in Italy are also affiliated with the Catholic Church (Roman, that is), and Vari dissects the process and procedures of diagnosis and therapy in an article published in Liberatione, but also in his own blog. For those of you understanding Italian, this is the full text of its report. In brief, as I'm not really fluent in Italian, Davide posed as a gay man having had "full sexual relationships" with other men "both active and passive", and conducted a series of interviews with priests and psychologists, undergoing what he clearly describes as the Minnesota Test for purposes of measuring his degree of homosexuality, perceived in such circles as a deviation from natural law, perversion, or neurosis, depending on the interviewer.

Prompted by this article, Arcigay's president, Aurelio Mancuso, issued an statement asking to the proper Health institutions in Italy to watch carefully those reparative "therapies" and reminding that as of May 1990, the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as disease and filed it into a natural variant of sexuality.

Of course, Catholics will not stay quiet about this statement, perceived as a direct attack to the Church: Catholic World News affirms that such WHO declassification of homosexuality was a success of The Homosexual Lobby — whenever I read "Homosexual Lobby" I can't help figuring out some sort of obscure and evil council of leather daddies, smoking cigars, plotting the conversion of all the world's children into gays and lesbians over a huge plasma round screen in the middle of an oval table. It might sound funny but it's the 21st century and you can't bring up again the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, can you? — plus defending their psychologists in the worst way they could to the eyes of a former Catholic: building their academic authority in their militancy with the Legionaries of Christ.

But on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, AlterNet offers an interesting interview with Scott Harrison, who

"desperately tried to change his sexual orientation in various "ex-gay" ministries for eight years, three of them as a ministry leader in Southern California. Most of his experience with ex-gay groups — Christian organizations that see homosexuality as a choice that can be changed with proper therapy — was with Living Waters and Desert Stream, two curricula of a national ex-gay network that has more than 80 branches today. When Harrison joined in 1982, he felt ex-gay ministers were then a band of compassionate outsiders attending to the first AIDS victims. But by the end of that decade, Harrison had taken note of the movement's increasing radicalism, symbolized for him by the minister at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in San Pedro, Calif., who performed an exorcism on him in an attempt to cast out the "demons" said to be the cause of his homosexuality. Harrison finally quit the movement in 1990 after deciding he could, after all, reconcile his sexuality with his Christian faith."

Technorati tags: Ex gay, Reparative therapy, Italy, Davide Vari

EHRC offers funding to grassroots organisations

Copypasting from Pink News due to its importance. If any reader's got a programme that can be included in these terms, go ahead and seek funding.

A grants programme worth up to £10 million aimed at funding grass roots organisations across all areas of equality was launched by the Equality and Human Rights Commission yesterday.
The funding scheme has developed three areas for priority funding.
Applicants from organisations working to promote good relations, highlight equality and human rights and case work will be encouraged.
Examples include reducing the impact of hate crime, working with the media to promote greater awareness of equality or human rights issues and providing legal advice to victims of discrimination.
In Scotland the Commission is not currently empowered to fund activities promoting human rights but will be able to fund eligible activity to promote good relations, promote equality and carry out casework in Scotland.
Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said:
"Learning to live together is essential if we are to prosper in these times of rapid change.
"Managing the consequence of this change at a local level is essential.
"I am therefore delighted to be announcing a grants programme of £10 million to harness and nurture grass roots equality and human rights organisations.
"By working in partnership with local and community organisations we will ensure advice and support is delivered into every part of Britain."
The Commission will launch a consultation regarding its permanent funding scheme in April 2008. The results will be announced next year.
The deadline for grant applications is 5pm, February 4, 2008.
Successful organisations will be announced on March 31, 2008 and will be funded for a 12 month period commencing from April 1st.
Awards can be made of up to £120,000 per application.
Application packs along with eligibility, guidance notes, good practice examples and frequently asked questions are available online here.

City of Rome puppet of Vatican

"The city council in Rome has blocked plans for a domestic partners register for same-sex and heterosexual couples.
The Vatican, which is an independent state within Italy as well as the seat of the Roman Catholic church, had vehemently opposed the measure." From Pink News.

Now it'll be certainly curious to see how Rome, and Italy at large, complies with the newly issued European Union Chart of Rights, given that Italy doesn't have any sort of excluding signature in the same sense that Poland got it, so that rights wouldn't be applied to homosexual citizens. And given that UK civil partnerships are recognized in Spain as marriages, and that seems to be a common trend all over the countries comprising the European Union, one wonders for how long would a British civil partnership stay unrecognized in Italy or Poland. After all, it might be a matter of courts, but in the end we're going to have homosexual marriage in the European Union. Or is this just my wishful thinking?

Technorati tags: Italy, Vatican, Gay marriage, Civil partnerships

Hungary moving away from fascism

While the Budapest's prosecutor "has accused a far-right group recently established in the country of racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism and asked a court to disband it", "Hungary's parliament yesterday approved the Registered Partnership Act. From January 1st 2009 lesbian and gay couples will have almost identical rights as married heterosexual couples in common law", in accordance with the newly signed Chart of Rights for the European Union, which sadly won't be applied in Poland in full, because of Polish authorities' fear that such Chart of Rights could pave the way for homosexuals to become citizens in full.

Technorati tags: Hungary, Poland, European Chart of Rights

... and now The Pope Himself

So now it'll be His Holiness Himself who's going to define world peace next January 1st. Pink News marks that ex Cardinal Ratzinger's statement on World Peace Day, entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace" includes a description of gay marriage as "an obstacle on the road to peace" besides calling for dismantling nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons and gay marriage. And the Pentagon's Gay Bomb. Homosexuality as a weapon of mass destruction. Mass family destruction. And allegedly, as it's the case with Janis Pujats, Akinola and the whole archbishop list, these guys know perfectly well what a family is, and how to raise children. These same guys who stay in celibacy. Oh, come on. But what could be expected from the Great Inquisitor Ratzinger? The man who dismantled the Second Vatican Council, who lurked to raise to the Seat of St. Peter and then brought back the mass in Latin language, that same guy who claims for interfaith dialogue while stabbing muslims with a smile? And of course, condoms kill.

No. To be honest, Ratzinger should have been the first one in the list of homophobic priests. No wonder that it was long ago when I excommunicated myself, though being raised Catholic, and lately I'm dealing with my own process of apostasy: it's not so easy to stop being recorded as Catholic, it seems as if they were paid for each one follower.

Technorati tags: Christianity and Homosexuality, The Pope, Abominations and Deadly Sins

Janis Pujats, last addition to our Archbishop list

"Latvia's Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis resigned last week and the Archbishop of Riga Janis Pujats warned new candidates not to support LGBT related issues", Pink News informs. Therefore, the priest had himself to describe and define homosexuals and homosexuality as "total corruption in the sexual arena" and "an unnatural form of prostitution."

Wait a minute, a roman catholic talking about total corruption in the sexual area? Someone who allegedly has chosen to stay in celibacy for his whole life? What sort of sexual knowledge Mr Pujats have, to be able to pontify about what's good and bad for me and my fellow Latvian homosexuals? And since when the Chuch still has the right to crown a Prime Minister? Hey, Mr. Archbishop, this is the European Union!!

Technorati tags: Christianity and Homosexuality, Homophobia, Catholics and Politics