Posts made by avalonmoore

Boston Area Gay Catholics Respond to Sex Abuse Report
U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law, Archpriest of the Papal Liberian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, looks on as Pope Benedict XVI recites a Rosary prayer inside the Basilica in Rome in May 2008.
U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law, Archpriest of the
Papal Liberian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore,
looks on as Pope Benedict XVI recites a Rosary
prayer inside the Basilica in Rome in May 2008.
By Jason Prokowiew -

A report released earlier this month that examined the causes and context of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church has certainly caught the attention of gay Catholics in the Commonwealth and beyond.

Researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York concluded there is no data to support the conclusion that "homosexual identity and/or preordination same-sex sexual behavior are significant risk factors for the sexual abuse of minors."

The report, the third commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops since the sexual abuse crisis came to light in the Boston archdiocese in 2002, concluded that there was "no single cause of sexual abuse by Catholic priests," with situational factors and opportunity to abuse playing a significant role in the onset and continuation of abusive acts.

"The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time," said Dr. Karen Terry, a principal investigator for the report. "Social influences intersected with vulnerabilities of individual priests whose preparation for a life of celibacy was inadequate at that time."

Organizations dedicated to the inclusiveness of LGBT Catholics have praised the report’s findings that homosexuality did not cause the abuse.

"The report does faithful Catholics good service by discrediting the ungrounded, homophobic accusations that the Church’s clergy sex abuse scandal was caused by gay priests," said Jim FitzGerald of Equally Blessed, a coalition comprised of Call To Action, DignityUSA, Fortunate Families, and New Ways Ministry.

Phil Attey, executive director of Catholics for Equality, also welcomed the report.

"That our bishops are looking at this as an institutional and systemic problem in our church is a step in the right direction," he said. "That the study found no link between the sexual orientation of the priests and the sexual abuse crisis leads us to believe the Vatican and our bishops will stop trying to scapegoat this problem on gay priests, but whether they’re ready to address the institutional lack of transparency that allowed this problem to continue is not yet clear."

While pleased with the report’s take on homosexuality, FitzGerald had misgivings about other aspects. "We are dumbfounded by the decision to define children ages 10-13 as pubescent," Fitzgerald said on the New Ways Ministry Web site May 19. "This classification, which should alarm parents with common sense regardless of theological persuasion, has the effect of making clergy abuse scandal look less sinister because fewer ’children’ were involved. This is an insult to many survivors of abuse."

Equally Blessed and Catholics for Equality used the report to call on Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League, to apologize for using the sexual abuse scandal to demonize gays and lesbians. In a full-page ad the "New York Times" published last month, Donahue claimed that gay priests were the root of the sexual abuse scandal. The ad coincided with efforts to secure passage of a marriage equality bill in the New York State Legislature.

"Now that research commissioned by the bishops themselves has shown Donohue’s rhetoric to be based in prejudice rather than in fact," said FitzGerald. "We call on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to speak out on the side of truth when Donohue and his allies perpetrate homophobic slurs in the name of Catholicism."

Church Simply "Doesn’t Get It"
Jeffrey Howard, a 31-year old gay male living in Boston who attends Mass in Cambridge said he’s long felt that the Church simply "doesn’t get it." He also asked EDGE not to disclose the specific parish.

"They still don’t get that it was their inactions in taking priests that were abusing children, and it was their responsibility to protect the children," he lamented.

He felt the report was a step in the right direction; but he also credited the Church with the idea that gay priests caused the abuse. "I don’t think many people think that," added Howard. "I believe the Church was trying to push that, but I don’t run into people who think it was gay men. I think they now need to come out with a much more strongly stated statement saying ’homosexuality didn’t cause it.’"

The full report is available at xxx.usccb.org/mr/causes-and-context-of-sexual-abuse-of-minors-by-catholic-priests-in-the-united-states-1950-2010.pdf.

Researchers Find New Avenue to HIV Hope–Via Monkeys
By Kilian Melloy -

Researchers have found promising new leads in the fight against AIDS, both involving monkeys.

British scientists have hit on a new angle in the quest for a vaccine against HIV by modifying a simian virus and creating a new inoculation that boosts monkeys’ ability to fend off SIV, the simian version of the virus that causes AIDS, reported the BBC News on May 12.

HIV is thought to be an adaptation of SIV that jumped from monkeys to humans. Such viral jumps from one species to another are not uncommon. The new inoculation creates antigens that target SIV and destroy the virus, even months--possibly years--later.

The new vaccine provided protection against SIV to half of the trial’s two dozen monkeys, the article said. Study author Louis J Picker, who is with the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Oregon, told the media that the 13 monkeys that benefited from the treatment seemed to have the virus eliminated from their systems.

Though modern drug regimens can reduce the viral load in human patients to undetectable levels, the virus is still present and would rapidly replicate in the absence of daily doses of anti-retrovirals. In only one case has a human patient seemingly been "cured" of HIV, a bone marrow transplant patient who received marrow from a donor with a mutation that naturally gave him resistance to the virus.

Health experts are cautious, however, about declaring the patient cured, because HIV can shelter in the body’s tissues for years and reemerge later on.

Still, in the case of the monkey vaccine trials, scientists were optimistic, the BBC article reported.

"I’m excited by the science because it really does demonstrate that it may be possible to eradicate the HIV virus by a strong immune response," Oxford University’s Sir Andrew McMichael said. "But at the same time I’m scratching my head how to take this approach into humans."

The problem lies with the vaccine’s synthesis from a simian disease, rhesus cytomegalovirus, which could pose a health threat of its own to human subjects.

"The breakthrough here is in using a viral-delivered vaccine that persists--essentially using an engineered virus to thwart a pathogenic virus," explained Imperial College’s Robin Shattock. "The tricky part will be showing it is safe and effective in humans."

However, the risks may be small to begin with.

"On one level 99% of people in sub-Saharan Africa are CMV-positive and half the people in the developed world are, so we know at lot about it and it’s mostly non-pathogenic, except in vulnerable populations like pregnant women," said Picker. "We’re fully aware to make it available to humans, then the next step is to make a virus which retains or has an enhanced ability to make effector memory cells, but no longer has the capacity to infect vulnerable parts of the population."

Researchers also noted that monkeys benefitting from the vaccine seemed to have a genetic basis for their response, AFP reported on May 5.

"It tells us--probably much to our surprise--that there will likely be in humans certain genes expressed by some people but not in others that may well be contributing to protection," said Harvard Medical School’s Norman Letvin. "So that we not only have to look at vaccine-induced antibody responses but we also have to look at the genetic makeup of the individuals who are being vaccinated because these data in monkeys suggest that both of these can be contributing."

The new study relates to a 2009 study in which a vaccine was tested on monkeys and showed promising results--but then the protective effect faded in a few years.

"We have demonstrated in the [earlier] vaccine trial that with existing technologies we see modest protection against HIV infections," noted Letvin. "If we couple that optimistic data in humans with the kind of data we generated in this study with monkeys, as well as other studies in monkeys, it suggests that if we can induce an even better antibody response through vaccination.

"Maybe with our next generation vaccine we can get that up to 50 percent or 60 percent or even higher levels of protection, and that protection can be even more durable," Letvin added.

Kilian Melloy is EDGE Media Network’s Web Producer and Assistant Arts Editor. He also reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes aggregate news stories and commentary for EDGE.

M-RueWorks.com is the portal for Jamaica's premiere adult web sites.

This Website, and others it links to, contain material that includes images and verbal descriptions of nude adults engaging in sexual acts.

The oldest gay in the village: 5,000-year-old is 'outed' by the way he was buried

By Daily Mail Reporter
   * Skeleton was pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs - rituals only previously seen in female graves

Five thousand years after he died, the first known gay caveman has emerged into the daylight.

According to archaeologists, the way he was buried suggests that he was of a different sexual persuasion.

The skeleton of the late Stone Age man, unearthed during excavations in the Czech Republic, is said to date back to between 2900 and 2500 BC.
Y-M-C-Cave: The skeleton was found in a Prague suburb with its head pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs - rituals only previously seen in female graves

Y-M-C-Cave: The skeleton was found in a Prague suburb with its head pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs - rituals only previously seen in female graves. Men would normally be buried with weapons, hammers and flint knives

During that period, men were traditionally buried lying on their right side with the head pointing towards the west; women on their left side with the head facing east.

In this case, the man was on his left side with his head facing west. Another clue is that men tended to be interred with weapons, hammers and flint knives as well as several portions of food and drink to accompany them to the other side.

Women would be buried with necklaces made from teeth, pets, and copper earrings, as well as domestic jugs and an egg-shaped pot placed near the feet.

The ‘gay caveman’ was buried with household jugs, and no weapons.

More…

* Proof of a 'Jester god': Oldest royal Mayan tomb dating back to 350BC found in Guatemala
   * So that's why dinosaurs were bad-tempered... scientists reveal they were plagued by lice

Archaeologists do not think it was a mistake or coincidence given the importance attached to funerals during the period, known as the Corded Ware era because of the pottery it produced.

From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake,’ said lead researcher Kamila Remisova Vesinova.

‘Far more likely is that he was a man with a different sexual orientation, homosexual or transvestite. What we see here does not add up to traditional Corded Ware cultural norms.’

An oval, egg-shaped container usually associated with female burials was also found at the feet of the skeleton.
One of the domestic jugs in the caveman's remains. Normally only placed in female graves, the jugs suggest the caveman was either homosexual or transsexual

One of the domestic jugs among the caveman's remains. Normally only placed in female graves, the jugs suggest the caveman was either homosexual or transsexual

Another member of the archaeological team, Katerina Semradova, said that colleagues had uncovered an earlier case dating from the Mesolithic period where a female warrior was buried as a man.

She added that Siberian shamans, or witch doctors, were also buried in this way but with richer funeral accessories appropriate to their elevated position in society.

‘This later discovery was neither of those. We believe this is one of the earliest cases of what could be described as a transvestite or third-gender grave in the Czech Republic.’

Read more: hXXp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1374060/Gay-caveman-5-000-year-old-male-skeleton-outed-way-buried.html#ixzz1MMAoa6jg

no live links please

Parliament Closes…. Without the Bill becoming Law
Sigh.....

Of huge relief.

Simply because this bill, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a huge threat. To me, and mine, in Uganda.

I do love this silly country of mine. Even when I admit it is silly and stupid.... in some things. It also has some very beautiful things that am proud of.... like yours truly!!!!!

Yes, I have not been blogging. Fact, I was seeing a flood of information at other places. Boxturtle Bulletin. Warren Throckmorton's to mention a few.

And, I was also so involved and busy preparing things concerning that bill that I was simply not up to getting pen to paper to blog.

Oh, yes....

It is a defeat, for Bahati. Am told he lobbied his best to have the bill passed. Yes, the committee had some recommendations, cutting out some of the more silly provisions in the bill. And, dear Pastor eat da poo poo, and Steven Langa, and others.... They were on a tear to make sure that the bill becomes law.

So, it is a defeat for them.

No. It is not victory for us. Our countrymates, for seemingly no reason at all, are very willing to believe in the nonsense of our 'recruiting' and going after their children, and spreading homosexuality like a contagion.... LOL.

OK, it does not shine a good light on the fact that we are very clever [sniff],

but, and a huge but, we have another day to fight.

And, believe me, I am going to be calling out more of the stupidies.

For today, until the next parliament is sworn in, with dear David Bahati featuring, we are going to wait for this bill.

Yes. It is going to come, again.

and, we shall be fighting it. Again.

Tooth and nail. Our very lives and liberty depend on it…...

Be well, and thanks for helping to hold us up.

gug

in a small island country like mine a cell phone can get you in a lot of trouble. you see if the pics get in to the wrong hands you have a face book scandal or worst yet it goes in the news paper. don't get me wrong they are some who don't care but most would like to enjoy the party with you some body BBM'ing or snapping a shot every 5 mins.

inclusion of the Human Rights of LGBTIQ People in the Final Statement at the 7th ASEAN People’s Forum
In early May the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held one of its twice-yearly summits. It was hosted in Jakarta by Indonesia (as the group’s current chair). Formed to establish economic, socio-cultural, and political cooperation and regional peace amongst members, ASEAN is a critical intergovernmental body in the region. It is also a body that has become an important target for civil society activism and, recently, for activism on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Significantly, the 6th ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in September 2010 in Hanoi, Vietnam for the first time included the human rights of lesbian, gays, bisexuals, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people in the meeting’s final statement.

By Ging Cristobal

As a representative of the Asia and Pacific Program of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s I had the opportunity to engage with activists participating in the 7th ASEAN Peoples’ Forum. The ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN Peoples’ Forum is an annual event held parallel with the ASEAN summit. This civil society conference is organized to provide a venue to discuss topics that are important to people in the ASEAN countries and is also a space for civil society groups to interact and network to promote mutual understanding about diverse cultures, histories, political systems, social and economic structures among the peoples of ASEAN countries. The People’s Forum has become an important way to communicate with the region’s leaders – the recommendations and the final statement from the forum are communicated to the ASEAN government leaders in forms of face-to-face meetings and public statements.

For LGBT activists the People’s Forum seemed a great opportunity and the 1st LGBTIQ ASEAN Regional Meeting was organized in Jakarta, Indonesia – consisting of:

1. The LGBT Regional Caucus on May 2, 2011 hosted by the organization Arus Pelangi; and
  2. attendance at the 7th ASEAN Civil Society Conference from May 3 – 5, 2011, including hosting a LGBTIQ Workshop on May 4th – entitled, “Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of LGBTIQ in ASEAN.”

This 7th Civil Society Conference became the first ASEAN Peoples’ Forum that included LGBTIQs as a specific focus area (along with Minorities/Indigenous Peoples) and also the first with a specific workshop addressing LGBTIQ concerns.

The LGBT Regional Caucus
Forty ASEAN LGBTIQ activists from 8 of the 10 ASEAN member countries participated in the meeting. Activists from Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam gathered for the first time as a group in Jakarta to discuss, brainstorm and present the concerns and issues faced by ASEAN LGBTIQ people from their countries. The group came up with draft recommendations to be presented during the workshop at the People’s Forum. The outcomes of the meeting included creating a network of ASEAN LGBTIQ activists and strengthening and maintaining visibility in the region. A mailing list will be created to continue communication & network since LGBTIQ groups have committed to use the ASEAN People’s Forum as a regional platform for LGBT rights advocacy.

Workshop for the “Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of LGBTIQ in ASEAN”
The workshop had three speakers. Anne Lim from GALANG, an LGBT group from the Philippines presented a paper titled, “Going Grassroots: The Role of Local Organizing in Philippines LGBT Rights Advocacy”. She presented the urban-poor community-organizing her group has been doing with lesbians in two of the barangays (the smallest political unit in the Philippines). Brian Choong from the Singapore group Oogachaga – a counseling and personal development group aimed at individuals and communities of all sexual orientations and genders – presented the highlights of the LGBT Regional Caucus meeting and its three draft recommendations for discussion among workshop participants.

As one of the three speakers in the workshop, I discussed the challenges faced by LGBTIQ in the region and regional mechanisms LGBT groups can engage with – such as the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR); the ASEAN Commission for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC); and the Asia Pacific Forum. I focused in particular on the recommendation on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) recently made by the Advisory Council of Jurists (ACJ) and also looked at how the Yogyakarta Principles [http://yogyakartaprinciples.org/] can be promoted in ASEAN countries. I was also there to promote and launch the Courage Unfolds video documentary that was screened during the Solidarity night and as an event during the People’s Forum.

Advocating for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Rights During the ASEAN Civil Society Conference
Aside from the discussion of these issues at the workshop the three recommendations that came out of the LGBTIQ caucus and were affirmed in the workshop, there was another important strategy that I surfaced during the caucus meeting. This was for LGBTIQ activists to attend the different non-SOGI specific workshops at the Civil Society conference and to use those as a platform to discuss SOGI issues and recommend their inclusion in the three recommendations that each conference workshop had to submit at the end of the session. The recommendations from all thirty-three workshops together formed the basis for the final statement of the 7th Peoples’ Forum. On the final day of the People’s Forum during the drafting of the final statement, I was able to work with Yuli Rustinawati from Arus Pelangi and Thilaga Sulathireh of Justice For Sisters from Malaysia to make sure that SOGI issues were incorporated in the final statement of the Forum. In the end we added LGBTIQ issues under the clusters of Child Rights and Youth, Gender and Women’s Rights, and Right to Health: Universal Access to Health Care (under the Transformative Social Protection cluster).

The three recommendations from the LGBTIQ workshop that were included in the final statement were demands to ASEAN member States to:

1. Repeal laws that directly and indirectly criminalize SOGI, recognize LGBTIQ rights as human rights, and harmonize national laws, policies and practices with the Yogyakarta Principles.
  2. Establish national level mechanisms and review existing regional human rights instruments (AIHRC, ACWC) to include the promotion and protection of the equal rights of all people regardless of SOGI with the active engagement of the LGBTIQ community.
  3. Depathologize SOGI and promote psychosocial well-being of people of diverse SOGI in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, and ensure equal access to health and social services.

Reaction from the LGBTIQ Activists
The success of having a legitimate space for LGBTIQ groups in the People’s Forum was a first step and a big achievement by itself. Most, if not all, LGBTIQ groups in the region have not had the opportunity to engage with more mainstream civil society organizations and much less with the government even in their own country.

It’s hard to predict the effectiveness of engagement of LGBTIQ groups with ASEAN governments through the People’s Forum. Since the civil society space’s conception in 2005 very few developments have been achieved by mainstream civil society organizations in engaging and influencing ASEAN states to take account of the recommendations from the Peoples’ Forum.

But as evidenced from the fact that no one raised an issue with there being an LGBTIQ workshop and nobody questioned the incorporation of LGBTIQ issues in the final statement, the conference provided a real venue for partnership with mainstream groups from activists’ own countries and even those from across the region. This has presented a big opportunity to mainstream SOGI issues and it is now up to LGBTIQ groups in Asia to take advantage of this position and to engage with mainstream civil society organizations in their countries.

“This is the right time for the ASEAN to follow the recommendation from the civil society groups because people with diverse SOGI have been suppressed and discriminated across Asia by means of religion, culture and by means of law and so this is the right time since ASEAN have been claiming that ASEAN should be people-centered. They must never forget that LGBT are part of the society. We are not the problem of society.

I was pleased to see the big crowd that attended the LGBT workshop because as before the LGBT issue is always a taboo issue, like nobody wants to talk about it because of culture & religion. It was good to see non-LGBT people in the room as well as seeing LGBT people because we can engage in discussion and a good build up of solidarity and our movement with non-LGBT people. This is a good sign and I am very happy about this.”

–Ang Myo Min, HREIB, Burma

“It’s a good strategy that we are trying to include LGBT and SOGI issue in the different workshop on labor, women and children because there are LGBT people in those groups and they are not discussing LGBT issues. It’s good that when we go in the workshop e discuss about this & make them include SOGI issues in their work. Next year Cambodia will be the host of the ASCS/APF and for sure SOGI issues will be included in the workshops.”

–Srorn Srun, Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK), Cambodia

“It’s my first time to attend a regional workshop and I feel it’s very important to share my voice specially they do not know about LGBT issues particularly about transgender men in Asia. Being the person to read the recommendations and doing it spontaneously, I did not feel any fear and being proud of myself. I am happy & relieved that LGBT issues are included in the statement of the APF. Now, everyone in the region will now know about it. To my surprise, some if not most, are interested and are concern about our issues. Now is the best time to engage with other groups and work with them.”

–Rio, Transman from Indonesia

“This is very interesting for me since this is my first time to join a regional event and meet friends from ASEAN countries. I just started the Galaya group last year. It’s great to learn about what other groups are doing & I think I need a lot more to learn and I think it is important to bring other Thai activists so that they will also learn what we are doing in the region.

–Sumon Unsathit, Galaya Club, Thailand

“This is the first time Vietnam participated in a regional event on LGBT rights and the feeling is very nice. As a young Vietnamese lesbian it is important for us to learn about the LGBT issues from other countries, see the difficulties they face and the achievements they have gained so that when we go back to Vietnam we can share with others what we learned and also do the activities in our country. I was so happy when I saw the room packed with people. I see it as many people care about LGBT issues in Asia. The workshop was done very well specially the Yogyakarta Principles.”

–NGUYỄN HẢI YẾN | Project Manager, ICS – Information Connecting and Sharing, Vietnam

“As the organizers of the event, we only had 2 months to prepare for the event and since this is the first time LGBTIQ will be included in the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum we were not expecting too much but are more curious how other civil society organization see us face-to-face. I was so surprised in the attendance, we were expecting forty people but there were more than 80 people who attended the event, we can’t even close the door and even have to ask for more chairs to accommodate people. It’s also surprising to hear non-LGBT people not criticizing us but more on helping us. It’s really amazing! It’s very good we are moving forward!”

–Yuli Rustinawati, Arus Pelangi, Indonesia

The space to address LGBTIQ in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum is now ours and this can only be maintained and strengthened with the active participation and advocacy work of LGBTIQ groups in ASEAN member states. As the final call from the LGBTIQ Caucus statement said, “for a people-centered ASEAN, LGBTIQ rights now!”

When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one. ~Epitaph of Leonard P. Matlovich, 1988 (Thanks, Marlene)

If gay and lesbian people are given civil rights, then everyone will want them! ~Author unknown, as seen on a button at evolvefish.com

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision. ~Lynn Lavner

My lesbianism is an act of Christian charity. All those women out there praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share. ~Rita Mae Brown

You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight. ~Barry Goldwater

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~Ernest Gaines

It doesn't matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses. ~Daphne Fielding, The Duchess of Jermyn Street

Homosexuality is god's way of insuring that the truly gifted aren't burdened with children. ~Sam Austin

Isn't it a violation of the Georgia sodomy law for the Supreme Court to have its head up its ass? ~Letter to Playboy magazine, February 1987

Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law. ~Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, A.D. 524

If homosexuality is a disease, let's all call in queer to work: "Hello. Can't work today, still queer." ~Robin Tyler

You know what they say: You can't teach a gay dog straight tricks. ~Trey Parker & Matt Stone, South Park

No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody. ~Rita Mae Brown, speech, 28 August 1982

You could move. ~Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood

War. Rape. Murder. Poverty. Equal rights for gays. Guess which one the Southern Baptist Convention is protesting? ~The Value of Families

If time and space are curved, where do all of the straight people come from? ~Author Unknown

Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality. ~James Baldwin

What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains. ~Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, 1947

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats. ~Elton John

I'd rather be black than gay because when you're black you don't have to tell your mother. ~Charles Pierce, 1980

That word "lesbian" sounds like a disease. And straight men know because they're sure that they're the cure. ~Denise McCanles

As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children. ~Anita Bryant, 1977

If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nailbiters. ~Anita Bryant

Anita Bryant like Anita hole in the head. ~Graffiti

The radical right is so homophobic that they're blaming global warming on the AIDS quilt. ~Dennis Miller

Jesse Helms and Newt Gingrich were shaking hands congratulating themselves on the introduction of an antigay bill in Congress. If it passes, they won't be able to shake hands, because it will then be illegal for a prick to touch an asshole. ~Judy Carter

My own belief is that there is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror. ~W. Somerset Maugham

Drag is when a man wears everything a lesbian won't. ~Author Unknown

Did you hear about the Scottish drag queen? He wore pants. ~Lynn Lavner

I'm a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being… by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant. ~Paul Newman

From various bumper stickers: My sexual orientation? Horizontal, usually. ~ I can't even think straight. ~ Let's get one thing straight, I'm not. ~ Straight But Not Narrow ~ Closets are for clothes. ~ I'm not a lesbian but my girlfriend is. ~ I'm not gay but my boyfriend is. ~ Equal rights are not special rights. ~ Homophobia is a social disease.

I am reminded of a colleague who reiterated "all my homosexual patients are quite sick" - to which I finally replied "so are all my heterosexual patients." ~Ernest van den Haag, psychotherapist

For a long time I thought I wanted to be a nun. Then I realized that what I really wanted to be was a lesbian. ~Mabel Maney

When it comes to exploring the sea of love, I prefer buoys. ~Andrew G. Dehel

What's the point of being a lesbian if a woman is going to look and act like an imitation man? ~Rita Mae Brown

The degree and kind of a man's sexuality reach up into the ultimate pinnacle of his spirit. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886

Why can't they have gay people in the army? Personally, I think they are just afraid of a thousand guys with M16s going, "Who'd you call a faggot?" ~John Stewart

If male homosexuals are called "gay," then female homosexuals should be called "ecstatic." ~Shelly Roberts

My mother took me to a psychiatrist when I was fifteen because she thought I was a latent homosexual. There was nothing latent about it. ~Amanda Bearse

Some women can't say the word lesbian... even when their mouth is full of one. ~Kate Clinton

One should no more deplore homosexuality than left-handedness. ~Towards a Quaker View of Sex, 1964

I think God is a callous bitch not making me a lesbian. I'm deeply disappointed by my sexual interest in men. ~Diamanda Galas

The one bonus of not lifting the ban on gays in the military is that the next time the government mandates a draft we can all declare homosexuality instead of running off to Canada. ~Lorne Bloch

Soldiers who are not afraid of guns, bombs, capture, torture or death say they are afraid of homosexuals. Clearly we should not be used as soldiers; we should be used as weapons. ~Letter to the editor, The Advocate

No matter how far in or out of the closet you are, you still have a next step. ~Author Unknown

People who can't think of anything else but whether the person you love is indented or convex should be doomed not to think of anything else but that, and so miss the other ninety-five percent of life. ~Robert Towne

It always seemed to me a bit pointless to disapprove of homosexuality. It's like disapproving of rain. ~Francis Maude

You are digging for the answers until your fingers bleed, to satisfy the hunger, to satiate the need.... And as you pray in your darkness for wings to set you free, you are bound to your silent legacy. ~Melissa Etheridge, "Silent Legacy," Yes I Am, 1993

To hear two American men congratulating each other on being heterosexual is one of the most chilling experiences - and unique to the United States. You don't hear two Italians sitting around complimenting each other because they actually like to go to bed with women. The American is hysterical about his manhood. ~Gore Vidal

There's this illusion that homosexuals have sex and heterosexuals fall in love. That's completely untrue. Everybody wants to be loved. ~Boy George

Straight Americans need... an education of the heart and soul. They must understand - to begin with - how it can feel to spend years denying your own deepest truths, to sit silently through classes, meals, and church services while people you love toss off remarks that brutalize your soul. ~Bruce Bawer, The Advocate, 28 April 1998

What are you trying to protect heterosexual marriages from? There isn't a limited amount of love in Iowa. It isn't a non-renewable resource. If Amy and Barbara or Mike and Steve love each other, it doesn't mean that John and Mary can't. ~Ed Fallon

People sometimes think I'm gay because I once played a gay in a movie. It's funny. Audiences don't think you're a murderer if you play a murderer, but they do think you're gay if you play a gay. ~Perry King

It's hard enough to be taken seriously in the struggle for gay rights without having a bunch of straight girls running around kissing each other to get the attention of boys and videocameras. ~M. Robin D'Antan, 2002

Let my lusts be my ruin, then, since all else is a fake and a mockery. ~Hart Crane

I get sick of listening to straight people complain about, "Well, hey, we don't have a heterosexual-pride day, why do you need a gay-pride day?" I remember when I was a kid I'd always ask my mom: "Why don't we have a Kid's Day? We have a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but why don't we have a Kid's Day?" My mom would always say, "Every day is Kid's Day." To all those heterosexuals that bitch about gay pride, I say the same thing: Every day is heterosexual-pride day! Can't you people enjoy your banquet and not piss on those of us enjoying our crumbs over here in the corner? ~Rob Nash

Wouldn't it be great if you could only get AIDS from giving money to television preachers? ~Elayne Boosler

In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation. ~Simone de Beauvoir

Trust a nitwit society like this one to think that there are only two categories - fag and straight. ~Gore Vidal

Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night. ~Woody Allen

The world is not divided into sheeps and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning sexual behavior the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex. ~Alfred Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948

Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people. ~Martina Navratilova

Labels? Okay, fine. I'm bisensual. Heteroflexible. And life-curious. That about covers it. ~Morgan Torva

The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself. ~Gore Vidal

Pronouns make it hard to keep our sexual orientation a secret when our co-workers ask us about our weekend. "I had a great time with... them." Great! Now they don't think you're queer - just a big slut! ~Judy Carter

I can't help looking gay. I put on a dress and people say, "Who's the dyke in the dress?" ~Karen Ripley

The geography of my heart has hills of desire and valleys and meadows of love - for both men and women - a single day's trek passes through it all. ~Agavé Powers

It's a public service when a gay chick goes lipstick instead of lumberjack. ~Two and a Half Men, "Alan Harper, Frontier Chiropractor," teleplay by Lee Aronsohn and Mark Roberts, original airdate 15 December 2003, spoken by the character Charlie Harper

My cousin is an agoraphobic homosexual, which makes it kind of hard for him to come out of the closet. ~Bill Kelly

As long as society is anti-gay, then it will seem like being gay is anti-social. ~Joseph Francis

My mom blames California for me being a lesbian. "Everything was fine until you moved out there." "That's right, Mom, we have mandatory lesbianism in West Hollywood. The Gay Patrol busted me, and I was given seven business days to add a significant amount of flannel to my wardrobe. ~Coley Sohn

We love men. We just don't want to see them naked. ~Two Nice Girls

The next time someone asks you, "Hey, howdja get to be a homosexual anyway?" tell them, "Homosexuals are chosen first on talent, then interview... then the swimsuit and evening gown competition pretty much gets rid of the rest of them." ~Karen Williams

If Michelangelo had been straight, the Sistine Chapel would have been wallpapered. ~Robin Tyler

If you removed all of the homosexuals and homosexual influence from what is generally regarded as American culture, you would pretty much be left with "Let's Make a Deal." ~Fran Lebowitz

Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don't are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn't put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a Lesbian. ~Fran Lebowitz

About a year ago I was a guest on a network news show in New York. They were showing film clips from a gay pride parade down Fifth Avenue, but they only decided to show the part with men in dresses and heels. I had seen the parade, and there were men in business suits as well. After showing the film, the newsperson made some comments, and I found the comments extremely offensive. "This is what's wrong with the media," I said. "You show a fringe position. You show one point of view. You're closing the minds of the people by not showing them what the reality is." I got up and walked out, and I've never been asked back again. ~Kathleen Nolan

My urges to write poetry are lesbian, but whatever compels me to prose is straight. ~Agavé Powers

If adjustment is necessary, it should be made primarily with regard to the position the homosexual occupies in present-day society, and society should more often be treated than the homosexual. ~Harry Benjamin

Lesbianism has always seemed to me an extremely inventive response to a shortage of men, but otherwise not worth the trouble. ~Nora Ephron, Heartburn, 1983

If horse racing is the sport of kings, then drag racing must be the sport of queens. ~Bert R. Sugar

In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis. ~Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant, 1978

The diagnosis of homosexuality as a "disorder" is a contributing factor to the pathology of those homosexuals who do become mentally ill.... Nothing is more likely to make you sick than being constantly told that you are sick. ~Ronald Gold

Homosexuality is a sickness, just as are baby-rape or wanting to become head of General Motors. ~Eldridge Cleaver, "Notes on a Native Son," Soul on Ice, 1968

The Reagan Administration has fostered a climate in which a barest majority of the Supreme Court caters to the passions and hatreds of the American mob, stripping away the constitutional shield outside our bedrooms.... How tragically ironic that an Administration that promised to get Government "off our backs" is now so active in draping Government gumshoes over every part of our anatomies. ~Carl T. Rowan

An engineering professor is treating her husband, a loan officer, to dinner for finally giving in to her pleas to shave off the scraggly beard he grew on vacation. His favorite restaurant is a casual place where they both feel comfortable in slacks and cotton/polyester-blend golf shirts. But, as always, she wears the gold and pearl pendant he gave her the day her divorce decree was final. They're laughing over their menus because they know he always ends up diving into a giant plate of ribs but she won't be talked into anything more fattening than shrimp.
Quiz: How many biblical prohibitions are they violating? Well, wives are supposed to be 'submissive' to their husbands (I Peter 3:1). And all women are forbidden to teach men (I Timothy 2:12), wear gold or pearls (I Timothy 2:9) or dress in clothing that 'pertains to a man' (Deuteronomy 22:5). Shellfish and pork are definitely out (Leviticus 11:7, 10) as are usury (Deuteronomy 23:19), shaving (Leviticus 19:27) and clothes of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19). And since the Bible rarely recognizes divorce, they're committing adultery, which carries the rather harsh penalty of death by stoning (Deuteronomy 22:22).
So why are they having such a good time? Probably because they wouldn't think of worrying about rules that seem absurd, anachronistic or - at best - unrealistic. Yet this same modern-day couple could easily be among the millions of Americans who never hesitate to lean on the Bible to justify their own anti-gay attitudes. ~Deb Price, And Say Hi To Joyce

The Lord is my Shepherd and he knows I'm gay. ~Troy Perry

• My mother made me a homosexual.
• If I gave her the wool, would she make me one too?
  ~Graffiti, London, 1978

I like my beers cold and my homosexuals flaming. ~Homer Simpson, from the television show The Simpsons

While many minority groups are the target for prejudice... and discrimination... in our society, few persons face this hostility without the support and acceptance of their family as do many gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth. ~Virginia Uribe and Karen Harbeck

Mothers, tell your children: be quick, you must be strong. Life is full of wonder, love is never wrong. Remember how they taught you, how much of it was fear. Refuse to hand it down - the legacy stops here. ~Melissa Etheridge, "Silent Legacy," Yes I Am, 1993

Bisexuality is a blessing and a curse, but viewing it as a schizophrenia will make you insane.... I am not a whole person with split desires: I am a whole person with desire. As everyone is, regardless. ~Agavé Powers

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anaïs Nin

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. ~William Shakespeare

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another. ~Homer

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. ~Harvey Fierstein

There is just one life for each of us: our own. ~Euripides

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. ~Benjamin Disraeli

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. ~Johann von Goethe

Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness. ~Shakti Gawain

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag. ~Author Unknown

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss

Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to do. ~Eric Hoffer

Is life not a hundred times too short for us to stifle ourselves. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

The white light streams down to be broken up by those human prisms into all the colors of the rainbow. Take your own color in the pattern and be just that. ~Charles R. Brown

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. ~Agnes Repplier

Resolve to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery. ~Matthew Arnold, "Self-Dependence," Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems, 1852

There's a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside. ~Pearl Bailey

It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy. ~Lucille Ball

For most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed. ~Clifton Fadiman

You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart. ~George Michael, "Kissing A Fool"

To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying "Amen" to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to keep your soul alive. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

My theory is that the hardest work anyone does in life is to appear normal. ~From the movie Ed TV

The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity. ~Thomas Szasz

Gay Bars, Gay History
More than gin joints, they were our town hall, our town crier, our safe havens — and they still have a role to play in our lives
Written by Steve Weinstein

The recent news that the nation’s oldest gay bar is closing has focused attention once again on the beleaguered state of our most hallowed institution, the local gay bar.

The Cedar Brook Café, is located in tiny Westport, CT (that’s where Lucy and Ricky Ricardo moved when they left New York City.) That might be an unlikely place for such a landmark. But it actually embodies the unique place the gay bar holds in American culture.

For decades, gay bars served as the place where gay men and lesbians came out. They served as our town hall, where injustices were discussed and coping mechanisms were worked out. They were the place where information was disseminated, everything from what park the cops were raiding that week to a gay bashing. Most of all, they were our safe havens. They were the only places were we could be ourselves. The only places where we could be gay.

More than one historian has commented, as did the New York Times’ Stephen Holden, in a recent review of a new documentary, Stonewall Uprising, that, “gay bars offered the same kind of social haven for an oppressed minority as black churches in the South before the Civil Rights movement.”

Read any of the recent histories (they’re all recent, because until the 1970s, we were essentially invisible and certainly not a worthy object of study) of gay life in America before Stonewall. All of them spend most of their time discussing bars.

And what about Stonewall? Do you believe that it was some cosmic joke that our Bastille, our Bunker Hill, was …a bar? Stonewall (Riots or Rebellion — take your pick), as everyone now knows, was a seedy, dark Mafia-controlled dive bar in Greenwich Village, where, on the evening of June 28, 1969, the police came in to make a routine sweep of arrests of queers for the crime of socializing together. The resulting three-day disturbances along Christopher Street and environs were our Big Bang, the explosion that set the modern gay-rights movement in motion.

In fact, Stonewall was not the first police-gay bar riot. There were two others, both on the West Coast. Technically, the Compton Cafeteria Riot of 1966 was not “gay” per se, but transgender. The patrons of a popular eating spot in San Francisco’s Tenderloin were picked out for cross-dressing. Gay men and lesbians joined an impromptu picket of the cafeteria. There was another fracas in a bar in West Los Angeles only a few years before Stonewall.

What happened at Stonewall was world historical because it marked the first sustained populist action by LGBT people against repression in modern times (aided by the anarchists, hippies and radicals who made up much of Greenwich Village at the time). It also was in the right place at the right time, coming as it did in an area of a big city amenable to radical causes and at the end of a decade that had seen a burst of “liberation” movements among aggrieved people. And it could only have happened at a bar.

That’s the point: We were rioting over a bar. Too many people these days see gay bars as anachronisms. People in 1969 knew how to fight for their right to party.

Today, we hear that it’s a different story. Who needs bars to meet other gay folks, some say, when we have Manhunt and Facebook? Some argue on moral grounds: Bars are for, well, drinking, and it’s true that LGBT rates of alcoholism tend to trend upward of the general population. Furthermore — or so the argument goes — why should we be ghettoizing ourselves? We’re welcomed in straight bars and (as I wrote in a recent issue of noiZe) straight people are welcomed in ours.

The popular sentiment has gotten so widespread that Entrepreneur magazine, in a widely quoted article on the 10 most endangered businesses, put gay bars right up there with film camera manufacturers and used bookstores.

But before we put down our last frozen cosmo, it’s worth taking a second look at the legacy these bars have given us. Gay bars once served as the epicenter of gay culture. They were the only places where we could openly socialize. Have blacks given up on historically black churches because they have become more successfully integrated into the mainstream of American life and Jim Crow is dead? Have Hispanics discarded the Catholic Church?

There’s another aspect to bars, something that we might want to consider before we leave them for the comfort of our cathode ray home screens. Sociologist Robert Putnam caused a stir and coined a term when a wrote an essay and then book called Bowling Alone. Putnam detailed the anomie that has infected American society. “Americans are right that the bonds of our communities have withered,” Putnam wrote, “and we are right to fear that this transformation has very real costs.”

For gay men, the vast majority of whom live the first part of their lives in a terrible isolation, it seems unfair and unworthy to ask them to spend the second and third parts alone. Yes, some gay bars are pretentious. Some overcharge for drinks. Some cater to patrons with attitude toward whoever is unlike themselves. They can be loud. People can get messy. And there’s the drive home.

But even with all those caveats, the modern gay bar still serves a function. It’s a place where we can meet our friends and make new ones. It’s where we hear the latest gossip and discuss politics (if we can be heard above the music). It’s where we catch what other people are wearing, whom they’re seeing, how they’re faring.

In a recent issue of local New York gay magazine Next, Andrew Belonsky once again raises the question, “Is this the end of the gay bar?” He hopes not. “Gay bars are more than the local watering hole where you act a fool without repercussion,” he writes. “They’re monuments — sites of resistance and change. They’re different things for different people. But, through it all, they’re influential and deeply intimate places. Places we will always need.”

And now Connecticut’s Cedar, at the venerable age of 71 years of age, is serving its final last call. It joins institutions we thought would always be there. Places like the Boom Boom Room in Laguna Beach. Uncle Charlie’s in New York. The Black Cat in San Francisco.

Are we doomed to only cherish our local public houses when they are no more

This is Jamaica and we come to expect nothing less from them

Cell Phones Are Ruining Circuit Parties
Written by Steve Weinstein
04/29/2011

The Black Party came in for some controversy for the long lines during the peak arrival time, roughly 1 to 3:30 a.m. The reason was that security guards were thoroughly scouring people’s clothes and bags.

Drugs? No, although not allowed, that was not the direct target of the search. Weapons? Come on, this is a gay party. Chewing gum? Don’t laugh; for a while at the old Twilo, they were taking away gum in a fruitless attempt to preserve the purity of the flooring.

No, the contraband they were seeking — and confiscating — were cell phones. Attendees who had cell phones that were found saw them placed in a plastic bag, marked with their name and stored until they claimed them as they left.

Many people complained, and it’s true that the Saint at Large, the producing organization, should have put more people on security detail, something the producer vows to do next year. But it wasn’t only the long lines that had people peeved. It was the loss of their digital security blanket.

Once inside Roseland Ballroom, however, people did something that was refreshing and new. They lived. They experienced. They became involved. They didn’t post to Facebook. They didn’t text their significant other. They didn’t call their parents across the country. Most important, they didn’t take photos.

This last is crucial, because the Black Party is the Las Vegas of parties: What goes on there, stays there. That has always been a mantra, but in these days when an instant Facebook posting of someone in a compromising public sexual position could ruin that person’s life, it takes on an added urgency.

I’ll go further and echo what a West Coast producer said: Cell phones are ruining dance parties. It’s not only the incessant clatter, clatter, clatter of the keyboard or the distracting green-tinted gleam. It’s the way people bunch up on the dance floor for photos. You aren’t in Atlantic City, people! You’re on a crowded dance floor! And anyway, there are plenty of photographers — from this website and elsewhere — taking professional party pictures for posting.

I understand that people are uncomfortable traveling without their cell phones. I mean, we’re talking about the middle of New York City in the middle of the night. And many people, for several reasons (handsome ones, I hope) will not be going directly home. But this claptrap about how people “need” their phones to get in touch with their friends who have wandered away is a hollow argument.

What did we do before cell phones? I remember. We danced. Sometimes, we scoured the dance floor for a familiar face. Just as often, we followed Stephen Sills song, and if we couldn’t be with the one we loved, we loved the one we were with. In other words, we met people. Sometimes tricks, sometimes momentary dance-floor shenanigans, sometimes even lovers, and sometimes friends.

I know it’s not going to happen, but I would be perfectly happy if every club were as eager to take away patrons’ cell phones as they are to fish out their bumpers and water bottles.

Livin' in a world they did not make: A second student rescued from homophobic attack at school

Police had to provide escort for a male student at a Clarendon school recently, after he was allegedly attacked by several of his schoolmates who accused him of being involved in 'funny' acts.

We understand that early in the school day, the boy was accused of stealing items from a female student. It is understood that the matter was reported to some male students and they were asked to get the stolen items from the 'funny' guy.

It is understood that when the description of the boy was given to the male students fitted that of a student who had been accused of being involved in homosexual acts and they went in search of him.

The boy was held and asked to hand over the stolen items, but he refused, resulting in him being assaulted from all directions. He reportedly fought back before someone shouted out that it was the 'funny' guy.

It is learnt that a scuffle ensued and scores of students swooped down on the student trying to beat him, not for the stolen items, but to show their disapproval for his so-called 'funny' acts.

The boy had to hide in an office on the school compound, protected by teachers. It is also learnt that he was hid for almost an hour until a police escort arrived, as students who did not want him in the school decided they were going to give him a good beating before he left.

However, the vigilance of the police prevented that and he was whisked away to his community.
There is now fear that the boy will not be able to return to school as several past and present students have vowed to beat him should he turn up.

Almost three weeks ago, another male student from another school was given a sound beating for appearing in a 'funny' video (as captioned in the cartoon above from the Star News). That student, it is understood, has not returned to his school since, due to fear another assault by persons who have connections with the institution.
ENDS

Notes:
As American pop star Janet Jackson 1988/9 album track says "Livin' in a World (They Didn't Make)" says -
"Children are called the future of an adult world
They are born with spirits so innocent
Til we teach them how to hate
Add to the world's confusion
We teach our kids rules
That we don't adhere to ourselves
Right or wrong
What example can they take
The people we learn from
Forge the ideas we become

Living in a world they didn't make
Living in a world that's filled with hate
Living in a world where grown-ups break the rules
Living in a world they didn't make
Paying for a lot of adult mistakes
How much of this madness can they take
Our children"

It is now the norm I guess for teens to reenact adult homophobic behaviour after all there are very few cases of repercussions or penalties for those who engage in such vigilante typed actions but then again our dancehall artists and music has also taught them well it seems as some tracks have a line or two about hating gays and other stereotypical material encouraging homophobia. Thanks to the police for their interventions in averting this situation it may have turned out worse than it has, cops today seem to be doing the right thing and gratefully so or else the cases would just have been piling up more and more.

How can we shape our youths to understand tolerance and comradery? in this case comradery to mean - A special bond within a group that is in no way erotic or homo-erotic. We hope his family is by his side on this and that he can relocate and start anew.

Peace and tolerance

H

hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmndkSBUzS4

From CNN-Rev. Carlton Pearson talks about preaching that everyone has a place in heaven, including gay people.

EDIT: disabled live link

Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Ugandan lesbian honoured for human rights work
10:21 PM snagay
Share |

Ugandan lesbian campaigner Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera has been honoured with an international award for her bravery in speaking out for human rights.

Ms Nabagesera, the founder of Freedom and Roam Uganda, is to received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

Award organisers commended her “rare courage” in a country which punishes homosexuality severely.

Ms Nabagesera has appeared on national television and radio to call for LGBT rights and an end to homophobia.

She has been physically attacked and has to move house regularly to escape harassment and threats to her life.

Last year, her name and photo were published by the notorious Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone, which campaigned for gay people to be hung.

The Martin Ennals Award is named after the British human rights activist who died in 1991. He was the Secretary-General of Amnesty International between 1968 and 1980.

A jury from ten human rights organisations, including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, selected Ms Nabagesera for the award. The honour is designed to publicise the recipient’s work and help protect them from the dangers they face.

The chairman of the award’s jury, Hans Thoolen, said Ms Nabagesera was “an exceptional woman of a rare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights of homosexuals and marginalised people in Africa”.

Dipika Nath, an LGBT researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “This is a fitting tribute to the courage of one woman, Kasha Nabagesera, and to all activists working under conditions of extreme threat.”

1998
Mark Tewksbury, a Canadian swimmer and gold medal winner from 1992 Summer Olympics announces to the Canadian media that he is gay. He is the first Canadian athlete to voluntarily state his homosexuality and his announcement draws great public attention. In December 2008 Tewksbury is invited by the government of France to speak at the United Nations in New York City on the day that a declaration is introduced that affirms gay rights and seeks to decriminalize homosexuality.

Michael Muska, a former track-and-field coach at Auburn and Northwestern, is named athletic director at Oberlin College. Muska is the first openly gay man to hold such a position in college sports.

Paul Priore, a former New York Yankees clubhouse assistant, files a lawsuit on July 29 against Yankee pitchers Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera and former pitcher Bob Wickman. Priore claims that he was humiliated with gay-bashing remarks, harassed and threatened with sexual assault. He also says he was fired because he contracted the AIDS virus.

Greg Louganis, in a special Goodwill Games edition of New York 1 News' nightly sports program, says that several athletes in professional team sports have asked him for advice about going public with their homosexuality.

Brian Orser, former world figure skating champion and two-time Canadian Olympic silver medalist, is revealed in November as gay in a palimony suit filed by an ex-boyfriend. In an affadavit in which he argued to keep the suit's documents sealed, Orser says, "Other skaters, both Canadian and American, guard their gayness closely because of the likely impact of public disclosure on their careers."

2007
John Amaechi, a retired American-British NBA basketball player, publicly announces he is gay. He is the only openly gay NBA player.

2009
Brendan Burke, son of Toronto Maple Leafs manager Brian Burke, publicly announces he’s gay in an interview with ESPN. His announcement generates discussions in the media about homophobia in sports.

2009
Gareth Thomas, a Welsh professional rugby player for the Crusaders, announced he is gay to the Daily Mail newspaper. His announcement makes him the first openly gay professional rugby player still playing the game.

oh won if only some of the west indies cricket team would come out now

love it

REALLY NOW REALLY

hello form barbados this one really has me i just never get it

here is hos bok i posted also. http://tracker.gaytorrent.ru/details.php?id=94670 .. i found he is selling e books now at a site called lulu. I would love to purchase them.

hXXp://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/jail-trade-unleashed/14258699

hXXp://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/boo-vs-oasis/14002060?productTrackingContext=product_view/recently_viewed/left/1

Contact Information
Screen Name

* [email protected](AIM)

Website

* hXXp://www.belasco-comix.com

Email

* [email protected]

Facebook facebook.com/belasco1

no live links please ~ leatherbear