A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Research is our best hope to find a cure for AIDS. This holiday season, you can give the gift of science and help fund vital HIV/AIDS research by supporting amfAR's dedicated scientists.
Visit Adopt-A-Scientist.com to find out what some of our researchers are working on, what inspires them, and how their work is helping to conquer this deadly disease. Then “adopt” your favorite with a donation of as little as 10 dollars.
Or better still, adopt a scientist as a holiday gift in honor of a friend or family member. Adopting a scientist is the perfect way to put heart, soul--and brainpower!--into the season of giving. You can read updates, track progress, and take pride in knowing that your gift is helping amfAR and its researchers work toward a world without AIDS.
According to a report in tomorrow's issue of the UK's Guardian, Ugandan member of parliament David Behati has presented his "kill gays" bill and vows that it will not be watered down. In addition to the death penalty or a life sentence for some cases, the bill provides for the imprisonment of people who don't turn in someone they know to be gay.
The Ugandan bill extends existing laws to make it illegal to promote homosexuality by talking or writing about it, and forcing people to tell the authorities about anyone they know who is gay. The bill, said Bahati, 35, an MP from the ruling party, aims to "protect the cherished culture of the people of Uganda against the attempts of sexual rights activists seeking to impose their values of sex promiscuity on the people of Uganda". He denied reports that international pressure might result in parts of the bill being toned down. "We are not going to yield to any international pressure – we cannot allow people to play with the future of our children and put aid into the game. We are not in the trade of values. We need mutual respect."
The Guardian goes on to point out that despite Bahati's claim that Uganda is immune to outside pressure, it was in fact outsiders from America's evangelical world that spawned the bill in the first place.
In March, Bahati met several prominent anti-gay US Christian activists who attended a conference in Uganda where they pledged to "wipe out" homosexuality. The conference featured Scott Lively, president of California's anti-gay Abiding Truth Ministries and co-author of The Pink Swastika, a book claiming that leading Nazis were gay. Also there was Don Schmierer, on the board of Exodus International, which promotes the "ex-gay" movement, believing people can change their sexuality and be redeemed. The third extremist evangelical to attend was Caleb Lee Brundidge, who is linked to Richard Cohen who believes that psychotherapy can "cure" homosexuality. Bahati's bill was drawn up within weeks of the conference.
Another American evangelical deeply involved in Uganda is Rick Warren, who yesterday released a videotaped message denouncing the submitted bill, something he only did after weeks of criticism over his silence. Bahati is disappointed with Warren, saying, "It's unfortunate that a man of God who has inspired many people across the world can give in to pressure and disappoint them."
In response to a request from the Advocate, the White House has issued a statement (finally) condemning Uganda's proposed "kill gays" bill. Via Kerry Eleveld:
"The President strongly opposes efforts, such as the draft law pending in Uganda, that would criminalize homosexuality and move against the tide of history," read the statement that came late Friday in response to an inquiry from The Advocate. The bill in question would extend the punishment for engaging in gay sex to life imprisonment and introduce the death penalty for those who do so repeatedly or while HIV-positive — acts termed "aggravated homosexuality” within the bill.
Earlier this week a Uganda MP proposed striking the death penalty and life imprisonment portions from the bill.
Scientists have discovered a genetic "on-off" switch that tells the body what gender it is.
An international team found that the action of a single gene is all that stops females from developing male physical traits, including testes and facial hair. When this gene was artificially “switched off” in adult female mice their ovaries began to turn into testes and they started to produce a level of testosterone found in healthy male mice. The discovery could eventually revolutionise gender reassignment therapy and improve treatments for babies who are born with a mixed gender. The research, published today in the journal Cell, challenges a common perception that gender is determined purely by the X-chromosomes and Y-chromosomes. The gene that was switched off, known as FOXL2, lies on a non-sex chromosome that is shared by males and females.
Researchers had merely expected the female mice to stop producing eggs. Other than the change in gender characteristics, the test animals appeared to experience no other physical changes and lived a normal lifespan.
Mike Elk, Truthout: "I was shocked when I heard that my conservative Grandma had stormed out of church after her pastor denounced 'being gay as the worst sin' ... It was an absolute scandal throughout the small town where she lives. However, what was was even more shocking was that when, at Thanksgiving dinner, I asked my grandmother which book she was reading, she responded 'Glenn Beck's 'Common Sense.'"
Ten young Iranian men, including eight teenagers, are currently awaiting execution for sodomy, and two more are being re-tried on the same capital charge. And, in an exclusive interview with Gay City News, an Iranian student gay rights activist confirmed for the first time the existence of queer organizing on multiple university campuses throughout Iran.
The information about the ten youths currently under sentence of death for sodomy (lavaat in Persian) was released on November 25 in a joint appeal by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO), and COC of the Netherlands, the world’s oldest LGBT rights group, founded in 1946. The three organizations called on Western countries “with significant diplomatic and economic ties to Iran, including Germany, France, Canada, as well as the European Union, to pursue diplomatic efforts to cease these executions.”
"If the FCC is going to investigate anything it should be that Lambert may be compromising the reputation of gay men everywhere. Gay men have proudly worked hard for centuries to cultivate the appearance of having good taste. Tom Ford, fashion designer and the living embodiment of homo-sexy refinement, is even bringing his mission to movie theaters this month with "A Single Man.’’ And then comes Lambert with his Mystic Tan, makeup, and eyeliner to steamroll it all back dozens of years.
"Even more offensive than the bump, grind, and kiss is that Lambert is now taking it upon himself to explain why folks had a difficult time digesting his American Music Awards performance. 'People aren’t used to seeing gay men portrayed that way on TV,' he told Ellen DeGeneres last week. 'The gay male image in the media tends to be very cliché.’ So, let me get this straight. Lambert, who dresses like the immaculately conceived love child of Siegfried and Roy, is not a cliché? Cut to me giving the TV the side eye and scratching my head. He’s a bundle of clichés, and represents a very outdated image of the flamboyant gay performer. Freddie Mercury and his stretch unitards were more groundbreaking, and definitely sexier."- Boston Globe style columnist Christopher Muther.
The Austrian parliament approved a civil unions bill today, bringing the number of EU member nations with such a law to ten.
The bill, slated to become law Jan. 1., will give same-sex couples a series of rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts, including access to a pension if one partner dies and alimony in the event of a split. It bans the adoption of children or artificial insemination. "We are living in the 21st century and I'm very glad this step is being taken today," Justice Minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner said during parliamentary debate leading up to the vote. Christian Hoegl, co-president of the Homosexual Initiative Vienna, Austria's oldest group of gays and lesbians, agreed. "It's a relief, a big success and a reward for two decades of lobbying," Hoegl said. Earlier in the day, Hoegl and co-president Jona Solomon passed out pink rum-filled cupcakes to parliamentarians, along with a letter that urged them to vote yes.
As we saw with Ireland yesterday, some LGBT advocates opposed the bill, arguing that it was too limiting.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two couples who challenged California's ban on same-sex marriage have told a federal judge in San Francisco that they plan to prove at a January trial that the measure is "irrational, indefensible and unconstitutional." Jump here to read the rest of the article
Via the Economist: In 2008 Maine had the second highest concentration of gay households, with over eight in every 1,000 households said to be headed by partners of the same sex, according to research based on census data by the Williams Institute, a gay rights think-tank at UCLA. Those states where gay marriage is legal or where same-sex partnerships are recognised have a higher proportion of same-sex couples than the national average of 4.7. The District of Columbia is home to most gay households with over 14 for every 1,000
I'm an unmarried heterosexual woman, and since I probably won't be using my right to get married, I would like to give it away. I would like to sell it to the highest bidder and donate the proceeds to an organization that supports LGBT rights since the government designed to protect all of us is picking and choosing based on what they think is icky, weird, or unkown to them.
Bid now, and you can have my super wonderful privilege and legal ability to get married as many times as you want in a classy place like the one pictured. You don't have to know the person, you don't have to like them, you don't have to think through your decision to get married or anything - you can just do it! Because you can! Come on, it's cool to get married, and think of the pictures you'll have to show people of this person that they will definitely think is so wrong for you and probably is! But heavens to BETSY, do NOT marry someone of the same gender because that would be a mockery of the institution of marriage. And if it doesn't work out, just get divorced. Half the cool people who get married do that anyway.
If eBay somehow allows the auction to remain, Jamie is donating the proceeds to the Point Foundation, a scholarship fund for LGBT students. Jamie Frevele, our straight ally hero for the day!
"I have long advocated using the term 'bigot' sparingly when referring to gay-rights opponents. It’s not that I don’t think bigotry is a serious problem. On the contrary, it’s vital to identify bigotry for what it is and to expose its tragic effects. It’s also important to learn the lessons of history, including the ways in which bigotry can hide behind religion, concern for children’s welfare, and other seemingly benign motives.
"But there’s a difference between identifying bigotry, on the one hand, and labeling any and all people who disagree with us as bigots, on the other. Such labeling tends to function as a conversation-stopper, cutting us off from the 'moveable middle' and ultimately harming our progress. It’s also unfair to the many decent people who genuinely strive to understand us even where, for sincere and complex reasons, they cannot accept our position. [snip]
"Many of our opponents are fundamentally decent people. For both principled and pragmatic reasons, we don’t want to saddle them with an identity that suggests their being beyond redemption. In other words, we don’t want to label them 'bigots' prematurely. At the same time, we don’t want to shrink from identifying the evil of anti-gay bigotry, wherever and whenever it occurs. And so, we can distinguish. We can point out the sin of bigotry forcefully while using the epithet of 'bigot' sparingly (though that epithet, too, has its uses). Because, in the end, we do know it when we see it." - John Corvino, writing for Independent Gay Forum.
WASHINGTON, DC – Right on the heels of last week’s vote on gay marriage in the New York State Senate, Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage could well be facing its 3rd investigation into its 2 year old operation.
In an IRS letter recently received by Ben Katzenberg on behalf of Californians Against Hate (letter below or CLICK HERE), Sunita Lough, Director, EO Examinations said, “Thank you for the information you submitted regarding the National Organization for Marriage PAC New York. The Internal Revenue Service has an ongoing examination program to ensure that exempt organizations comply with the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code…. Internal Revenue Code section 6103 protects the privacy of tax returns and tax return information of all taxpayers. Therefore, we cannot disclose the status of any investigation.”
NOM is already the subject of investigations in California and Maine. Both complaints were filed by Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate. The California investigation (Case #08/735) is in its 2nd year. That investigation covers the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) and NOM for not reporting in-kind expenditures on behalf of the Yes on Prop 8 campaign.
The Maine investigation began when that state’s Ethics Commission voted on October 1, 2009 to investigate NOM for not filing as a PAC in the recent election there to ban same-sex marriage. NOM should have filed as a PAC when it raised $5,000. It raised well over $1.8 million, and still refused to file as required under Maine elevation law.
“In Maine they refused to release the names of their donors, even after Federal Judge D. Brock Hornby and Maine State Attorney General Janet Mills ordered them to,” said Karger. This type of blatant disregard for the law is inconceivable. NOM is not above the law.”
“Soon Maggie Gallagher and her sidekick, Brian Brown (NOM executive director) are going to get caught.”
“NOM has spent nearly $20 million around the country in the past 2 years in at least 11 states, but apparently does not believe in following either state or federal laws.”
“Additionally, no one has yet to see any federal reporting by NOM of its National Organization for Marriage Educational Fund. This is their 501(c)3 charitable organization. There is no telling how many more millions of dollars they have raised and spent through this entity. It was formed in 2008, and their filings should have been available to the public well before now. We have requested this information from the IRS and have not received it as of today.”
“NOM’s 501(c)4 finally released its required 990 tax filings for 2007 and 2008 over one year late, and only after repeated requests were filed with the IRS by our organization and several other media outlets.”
“The Congress of the Untied States should launch an official investigation of the National Organization for Marriage at once,” concluded Karger.
NOM is believed to be a front group for the Mormon Church. See our web site www.Mormongate.com for details.
