Monday, December 31, 2007

Recap of the year - Spain December 30

It was already by early December that the highest hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church called to a demonstration to be held on December 30th in Madrid. The motto of such mass movement, they said, was to promote Family.

Traditional catholic family, that is. Rouco Varela and other ultraconservative monsignori e prelatti dalla chiesa have been claiming, protesting and warning that divorce, abortion and same sex marriage only could lead to dismembration of the whole society, war, and destruction. If people were less read than we are today, Rouco would have possibly blamed famines, hurricanes, earthquakes and the whole War on Terror on same sex marriage. Not many of you, readers, may remember when cardinal Rouco claimed and shouted, just some months before July 2005, that the gates of Hell would literally open on Madrid if Spain dared to legalize same sex unions. But it's not just that issue today. Abortion (they claim to be pro-life but never moved a single finger to protest war or starvation), divorce (Roman Catholics would not recognize divorce, but the Church's got its own court where, if you have money enough, you can have your marriage removed), an educational reform introducing a new, much needed subject, Education for Citizenship, which Rouco and his adlatere find partisan and interested (they would instead teach the Roman Catholic Catechism, of course)... and their own political support for the most right-winged parties, that led to call for such a demonstration.

With invaluable support from autonomic authorities in Madrid, who are close to the Opus Dei or the Legion of Christ, the Spanish Roman Catholic Church staged a reunion of Catechism thumpers. Estimated figures ranged a lot depending on them being Church estimates, police estimates or whatever. Some people said there were more than 1 million people. According to an independent blog which took in charge making estimations for Madrid's demonstration, there were between 80,000 and 150,000 people in such demonstration. But don't worry, Jesus loves you, and will multiply demonstrators the same way he did with fish and bread.

Eventually, some intelligent guy said what must be said about such people. El Teleoperador writes, in Spanish, that:

Christians should be demanding for free abortion, for express divorce and for same sex marriage worldwide, because forbidding these things deprivates them (Christians) from proving the Lord the strenght of their faith. Christians should demand such rights first, then renounce them, and try to convice the rest of us to renounce too. That's what logic says, no? But of course which logic could be embedded within people who believe they can talk to doves?

Party for the Rights will be partying for all our rights extensively today, wishing you all a Happy New Year. Take good care, stay cool, keep safe, and do nothing we wouldn't party about.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Blame it on the teens

Incredible as it could seem, Bernardo Alvarez, bishop of Tenerife (Roman Catholic) said that "there may be, and in fact there are, teens no more than 13 years old, that not only want but provoke molesting" in the sexual sense of the word (as if it had any other), informs El Pais, in an interview on the Canary Islands newspaper La Opinion.

In less politically correct words, Bishop Alvarez says that if you're a teen in the islands and want to sing in your church's choir you'd better be an ugly, chubby boy, unless the bishop himself gets turned on by chubbies and cubs, in which case you'd have the chance to be molested by higher hierarchies of the Catholic Church.

Traditionally, April's Fools Day in Spain is being celebrated on December 28th. I'm writing this thing 30 minutes before dec 28th starts so it's no joke.

How well do you know your world?

Hey, it's not only LGBT rights worldwide, and diatribes against organized religion. Procrastinating the World Wide Web one comes across games like this, the Traveler IQ Challenge. On my first try I scored 491,686 points as of Level 11 (and couldn't get to Level 12, buaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh). And since the guys at Travelpod are so nice that let me embed the code here, let's see if that works or not. Oh, and sure I'll be adding this one to my Facebook.

 


This Traveler IQ challenge is brought to you by the Web's Original Travel Blog 

 

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

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."

Thursday, December 20, 2007

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.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

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?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

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.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Mary J Blige, thank you very much indeed

Informs The Post Chronicle that "Mary J. Blige fires assistants who make homophobic remarks because she insists they can't be counted upon. The R&B diva is a fervent gay rights activist and refuses to tolerate people who have issues with homosexuality."

Well, thank you very much indeed, Mary. I knew you wouldn't let me down.

 

... 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.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

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!!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Six men sentenced in Morocco over gay marriage

Justice in Morocco, publishes El Pais, is sometimes quicker than expected. The article refers to a quickly made trial against some of the Moroccan persons who staged and played on a simulation of gay marriage, some of them cross dressed, in Ksar el Kebir. El Pais informs that there were no lawyers to defend those guys, and three attorneys had to be appointed from Rabat. The article describes in brief a hostile environment allegedly boosted by islamic integrism in Ksar el Kebir, with some touches of Tabligh even (which seems to be involved in anti-homosexual actions in Uganda hand by hand with Christian fundies; who said Islam and Christianity can't live together?). The only information I could find about this, apart of the El Pais article, is an editorial on TelQuel, where the staff makes reference to a media war lauched against them by Rachid Nini, who, according to El Pais, played an important role in the media instrumentalization of an anti-gay feeling before the trial. Six of the guys involved in the staged marriage have been sentenced to fines not exceeding $140, and 4 to 10 months in prison.

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Monday, December 10, 2007

Brief note on Huckabee

Pink News headlines an article as "Huckabee challenged over attitude to gays" following the recent statements on his interview for GQ (see our former post) and some news about would-be Republican president had favored isolation for AIDS patients.

What I fail to see is why anybody on earth would challenge Mike Huckabee over his attitude to homosexuals, given that former Arkansas Governor has been also a preacher or something, is deeply and respectfully Christian (probably another born again) and therefore his attitude over gays, lesbians and homosexuality is plainly this: Homosexuality is a deadly sin, and homosexuals are abominations. Period. Let's face it, Huckabee's view is that, no other, no matter which kind soft lovely words he use to wrap that standpoint.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Forget Iran, here's the real enemy

Sometimes one's forced to get some months back in time. Remember the Ig Nobel Awards earlier this year, and how the Gay Bomb was one? Roman Silantyev is a man most revered among Eurabian bloggers for his articles on how muslims are baptizing in former Soviet Union, (I read that before in my grade 6 history class, but it was about Isabel and Fernando, the Catholic Kings of Spain and the forced baptization of muslims, jews and non catholics alike during the 16th century). Silantyev seemed to have entered some sort of late night show back in October this year, when he stated to Interfax, the Russian News Agency, in regards to that "gay bomb", that "the development of this bomb means that the Pentagon equates the propagation of the idea of homosexuality to weapons of mass destruction".

Hence, President Bush's definition of the "Axis of Evil" is wrong. The New Axis of Evil should include countries that not only "promote homosexuality" by allowing gay pride parades, but nations that go even further, allowing gay marriage: Canada, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and the very USA Fifth Column of Massachussets!!!

I'm not sure that the UN Security Council be expected to issue a resolution in this matter before air raids start over all these WMDs-bearing countries. However, Mr. Silantyev was deadly serious in his statements.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Rwandan Bishop leads world crusade against homosexuality

Rwanda's New Times brings forth another Anglican Bishop to crusade against homosexuality: Emmanuel Kolini. During a congregation gathering in Rwanda, dubbed as "a three-day peace crusade". Kolini is informed to have stated that "our church has decided to ignore the 2008 Lambeth Conference because it has not done much to fight homosexuality in the communion". The article goes on saying that "The Anglican Church of Rwanda has been at the forefront in evangelisation and peace building in the world", which is basically true, we only have to check this page to read about the way that "Kolini seems as concerned with the problems of America's Episcopal church as he is with his own.Some of the bishops of the Episcopal Church USA consider Kolini a buttinski. In January, he and Archbishop of Singapore Moses Tay ordained two Americans as missionary bishops to the United States."

But who is this Emmanuel Kolini? Which was his place and standpoint during the Rwanda genocide? Paul Rusesabagina, in an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, says that "while the Rwandan Patriotic Front in power today slowly drove Rwanda into anarchy from 1990 to 1994 with massive killings of innocent civilians, the churches ministering in Rwanda, including the Anglican Church, chose the path of indifference, passivity and silence. When genocide broke out in Rwanda in the spring of 1994, taking the lives of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus, again the churches operating in Rwanda, including the Anglican Church, chose silence and retreat," which includes Emmanuel Kolini as part of that Anglican church, however strong are his claims that it was the West which kept silent during the 1994 genocide. Mark Harris, an Episcopal priest of the Delaware Diocese, writes in his blog Preludium that "Archbishop Kolini seems to be making peace by making war. An odd bit of doublespeak."

Thursday, December 06, 2007

I don't heart Huckabee

I'm not sure that Mike Huckabee deserve the time and effort needed to publish an entry here at Party for the Rights, but I got trapped in some sensationalist headline at Gay News Watch, saying that Huckabee Warns Gay Marriage Threatens Civilization. Immediately I thought about Mike depicting hordes of Gay Terrorists crashing red roadsters onto all major Evangelical Churches in America and Europe, in a weird alliance of homosexuality and Islamic integrism; or maybe it was just a matter that now that 16 US Intelligence Bodies have disclosed that Iran stopped any nuclear weapon program back in 2003 George W. Bush "Arbusto" and his gang wanted us to present with, next World War would have to be on homosexuality because conservatives and ultrarreligious fellows always need a foe to fight, be it sin, the devil or the gay family next door. Well, I followed the given link to the GQ interview and I can't find any mention of Western Civilization Downfalling, at least in the Internet version. However, it's certainly curious that former Arkansas Governor (whom I can't really recall whether he was supporting creationism when Republican presidential runners were asked) gave this answer to the question of teaching Evolution at school: "I think people should be exposed to evolution. They should be taught that, yes, this is the prevailing scientific view, but that there are others who happen to view things differently." That's great, and proves my point that Huckabee and similar people will always try to appear the weak side, so that people should be taught that while there is one prevailing view, there are people who have other viewpoints too — except of course when Fundamentalist Christian is the prevailing view, in which case it becomes The One And Only Absolute Truth To Be Followed By Everybody Worldwide, as it's the case with homosexual marriage, just to mention the most obvious.

Or maybe now that Ahmadinejad isn't an atomic foe, they can dine together after executing some more homosexuals.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A double rule in Europe

While European (and African) LGBT organizations, with help of EU governments, are pushing African governments to stop state-supported homophobia in preview of a EU-Africa summit next week, Italian government Foreign Minister says plainly that gay marriage won't be supported in Italy. That speaks enough for Europe's double rule, and while I personally think that the Yogyakarta principles should be adopted worldwide, and of course welcome the push on African governments, Italy should be pushed too in order to stop anti-gay bias in its governments officials. Not long ago, it was an Italian city major who blabbed in favor of creating gay ghettos there. And then retake the Pink Triangle used in the 40s, that could be next step.

While Italian politic corpse is well aware and ready to hurt feelings of Islam followers, it seems to me that such a territorial insertion as the Vatican State is displaying a lot of force in Italian politics, just in the same way the Roman Catholic Church would love to do in Spain, however not risking the creation of a separate political party. Now, this is how our democracy works: if you want to become a lawmaker you have to run for the Congress and obtain a majority there.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

AIDS - Be Safe

In 1985, December 1st was designated as World AIDS Day. 20 years later, we continue to struggle with this devastating pandemic.
World AIDS Day is about people getting the facts about HIV and AIDS. By becoming informed, we can make safer choices about our behaviors and options.

  • If you are sexually active, use a condom.
  • Get tested, know your status.
  • Facilitate frank and honest discussions with your partner(s). Don’t assume anything.
  • If you are infected, there are treatment options available. Talk to your doctor, visit one of the websites below or call an AIDS hotline. There are no stupid questions.
  • Help others in the process: Volunteer on a hotline. Deliver meals. Support one of the many wonderful organizations providing preventive education and condoms, as well as client service to those in need.

For additional information – these are but a few of the many wonderful organizations fighting the AIDS battle:
UNAIDS - The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the epidemic.
Stop AIDS Project - Internationally recognized as a successful model of grassroots prevention and support, STOP AIDS brings diverse groups together to talk about the challenges and issues posed by HIV/AIDS through neighborhood outreach, workshops and community forums.
amfAR - amfAR's mission is to prevent HIV infection and the disease and death associated with it and to protect the human rights of all people threatened by the epidemic of HIV/AIDS.
Test Positive Aware Network - TPAN empowers people living with HIV through peer-led programming, support services, information dissemination, and advocacy. They also provide services to the broader community to increase HIV knowledge and sensitivity, and to reduce the risk of infection.

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

World AIDS Day

Need more words?

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Civil unions in Uruguay

"Uruguay will legalize civil unions for homosexuals and heterosexuals next month, making it the first Latin American nation to treat gay and straight couples alike, a lawmaker said Thursday.

Deputies in the early hours of Thursday passed legislation allowing gay and straight couples to form civil unions after living together for at least five years." (SignOnSanDiego.com)

Five years living together before being able to formalize a civil union. For any couple, I don't mean here any sort of homosexual discrimination. But why "religious"-bound couples may be able to formalize their bond almost immediately? A civil union/marriage is not, in my eyes, an instrument to certify that you two have been able to manage your daily living together for some years. It must be a promise to try to bond, and the legal security that your partner won't be stripped from any of your benefits in the case you pass away.

So, while welcoming this Uruguay act, my wishful thinking is for it to be just a first step into more developed forms of unions. Both for homosexual and heterosexual couples.

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