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Gambian Prez Rails Against Gay ‘Evil Empire’; Irish Priest Comes Out During Mass; Trans Talk on Tunisian TV Sparks Debate; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…concert? Celebrity autograph signing? Nope! It’s a Sunday Mass!,” said MJ Francisco, 31, who is gay and was inspired by Francis to attend Mass for the first time in two years. “I really think that Pope Francis’ gospel of inclusion, while shaking the conservative set, has attracted a far larger number of people back to the Church, especially the young.” The Philippines is the bulkhead of the faith in Asia, where 130 million Catholics now account f…

400 Churchgoing Mormons March in SLC Pride Parade

By Joanna Brooks

…them gay and from Mormon backgrounds—cheered and cried. Some crowd members sang the lyrics to hymns quoted on Mormons Building Bridges placards. Marcher Susan Dortsch walked over to hug a woman at the edge of the parade route. “She had tears rolling down her face,” says Dortsch. “She was sobbing and saying, ‘Thank you so much.’” Adam Ford of Alpine, Utah marched in his Sunday best with his sons Parley and Willard, who are named for historic LDS Ch…

Romney Had No Clue as to Obama Ground Game

By Joanna Brooks

…n Ohio. And eavesdropped on an Obama canvasser. I mean, I spent 45 minutes phone-banking the parking garage of a lowly San Diego field office with four children under nine years old hopped up on Doritos and doing laps around my folding chair, and even under those suboptimal circumstances I could tell right away that Obama’s data was even better than it was in 2008 and that there was hardcore focus on the 18- to 29-year-old set. And, mind you, I’m…

Trump, Islamophobia, and the Philly Pig’s Head Incident

By David Krueger

…ed a fever pitch ever since it was discovered that the two shooters in the San Bernardino tragedy on December 2 were self-radicalized supporters of ISIS. Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, said that if more Americans had permits to carry concealed weapons, there could have been a chance to “end those Muslims before they walked in.” GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump wins the award for Islamophobe-in-chief for his statements…

Indonesia Hears Islamist Arguments For LGBT Criminalization; Zambian Churches Oppose Condom Distribution in Prisons; Lithuanian Conservative Manifesto Calls LGBTs Enemies of Freedom; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…e first democratic government in decades, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, will help them to tackle these abuses and begin writing LGBT rights into law. But the signs so far are anything but promising. “I’m not interested,” said Win Htein, one of Suu Kyi’s closest aides, when asked if the government planned to do anything about LGBT rights abuses. He was answering amid bursts of seemingly uncontrolled laughter. “Burma is not like the…

Global LGBT Recap: Nigeria Jails Gays, Russian Orthodox Spox Calls for Criminalization Referendum

By Peter Montgomery

…sion talking about the LGBT people being less than human. For example, the number two person in the state broadcasting company – actually now he’s the number one person – hosted a show devoted to the question of whether it was enough to protect our children to ban homosexual propaganda or whether more needed to be done. He argued that more needed to be done. He said and we need to outlaw blood and sperm donations by them. And if they die in car ac…

Narco-Violence and the Failure of the Church in Mexico

By Jennifer Scheper Hughes

…in Mexico is thus naturalized and routinized—the grim backdrop for nightmarish dystopias represented in Hollywood films. With the Church, the state, and the global public impotent or simply unwilling to protect them, many of Mexico’s faithful have turned to so called “narcosaints.” From San La Muerte to Jesús Malverde to San Judas Tadeo, these marginal saints offer their protection to all of those made vulnerable by the current “narcoculture”: dru…

The Three Qualities Marking the Capitol Assault as Terrorism

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…35-year-old woman, Ashli Babbitt, had flown to Washington from her home in San Diego at the behest of Donald Trump who urged his supporters to interfere with the electoral vote tally. She had served for twelve years, including being a security guard for US Air Force bases, and had risen to the rank of Senior Airman. Her husband, who remained in San Diego, described her as an enthusiastic supporter of the President, but not emotionally unstable. Li…

‘Almost Like Praying’: The Religious Work of ‘Hamilton’ Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda

By Spencer Dew

…goes on to cast doubt on the reliability of both electricity and roads in San Juan, bitterly ironic in the current catastrophic moment but nasty enough in the original to read like Kipling, but with a quicker rhyme-scheme. As a project, “Almost Like Praying” is a motley collection of styles and voices, in true “puerto” fashion, the hybridity and default cosmopolitanism of port culture. But it’s also an exemplification of a model of community valu…

The Heart of Texas Ain’t Hateful: An Open Letter to Lawmakers From a Texan Trans Queer Latinx

By Robyn Henderson-Espinoza

…try that picked me up every week for Sunday School and worship service. In San Antonio, I was reminded of the power of community when neighbors, loved ones, and strangers stopped by to see how we were doing—just because. And in college, I experienced welcome through a wide variety of student ministry programs. My teachers at Hardin-Simmons University taught me that my own pursuit of what is right stems from a deep-seated sense of awareness of diff…