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Catholic News We Missed Last Week While Stalking the Pope

By Mary E. Hunt

…, 2015, at the age of ninety, during the visit of the first Jesuit pope to Washington, D.C. In a perfect (ok, even a decent) world, Pope Francis would have announced John’s death the next morning. He would have hailed his brother Jesuit as the pioneer honest gay man that he was, lauded his massive pastoral contribution, and recommended his marvelous books for widespread study. He would have lifted John’s name in praise, paid his condolences to Joh…

Catholic Bishops Meeting For Family Synod; South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church OKs Gay Weddings, Ordination; Court in Malaysia Deals Setback To Transgender Advocates; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…si was a high school student. Grassi, an Argentine native who now lives in DC, and his boyfriend were “the only real audience granted by the Pope” at the Vatican embassy during his D.C. visit. In fact, Francis personally called Grassi to tell him he’d like to give him a huge when we was in D.C. Grassi spoke with the Washington Blade’s Lou Chibbaro: Concerning reports that the Pope has been a longtime opponent of same-sex marriage and opposed a sam…

Does Traditional Christian Marriage Just Mean “Not Gay”?

By Daniel Silliman

…y law speaks of places, not people. In other jurisdictions (such as nearby Washington State) where the question of who is required to preform same-sex marriages has come up, laws have specified that clergy don’t have to preside over any wedding they object to. The Idaho city’s ordinance was written in a different context, though; it didn’t originally apply to weddings since same-sex weddings weren’t yet legal in the state. That context changed wit…

Egypt Goes After Gays to Silence Islamist Critics; South Africa’s ‘Open Mosque’ is Closed; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…Center for Justice and Human Rights President Kerry Kennedy spoke with the Washington Blade this week about the “global problem” of anti-LGBT legislation. “It’s really important to recognize that this is not just an Africa problem,” said Kerry Kennedy during a telephone interview from New York. “It’s a problem wherever it happens in the world.” From the story: Uganda is among the more than 70 countries in which homosexuality remains criminalized….

‘Open Mosque’ in South Africa Receives Threats; ‘Blood Test’ for ‘Degeneratism’: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ru earlier this month. The Washington Blade’s Michael Lavers interviewed a number of Caribbean LGBT advocates who agreed that “the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in their region continues to lag far behind that in Latin America,” partly because there has been a longer experience of independence in Latin American countries. Erin Greene, director of advocacy for SASH Bahamas, told the Blade that conservative religious bel…

Morality Police, Jihadists, Religious Competition, Grindr, & Americans Abroad: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ctor of communications at BBC Worldwide Asia, said as an international broadcaster the BBC had to comply with the broadcast regulations of the countries in which its channels were aired. As there was only one edit for the whole of the region, the broadcast had to comply with the regulations of the strictest country, the official pointed out. Kazakhstan: Ad for Gay Club Provokes Outrage A gay club in Kazakhstan’s largest city is located at the corn…

Conservative Bishops Headed For Synod Victory?; Indonesian Sharia Official Says Gay Caning Law Meant To ‘Safeguard Human Dignity’; Slovenian Court OK’s Referendum on Marriage Equality Law; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…gnoring his vow of celibacy despite a previous warning.” Charamsa told the Washington Blade’s Michael Lavers that coming out was “liberation.” “I suffered for what the church taught about persons like me,” Charamsa told the Blade. “It offended my dignity and kept no fundamentals in the reality, which I can know from my experiences, from my sentiments, my desire to love, my capacity for relationships with others.” Charamsa told the Blade he took pa…

Is Downward Dog the Path to Hell?

By Andrea R. Jain

…” Even more recently Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, told a live audience that: “Yoga is demonic… It’s absolute paganism… Yoga and meditation and Easternism is [sic] all opening to demonism… if you just sign up for a little yoga class, you’re signing up for a little demon class. That’s what you’re doing. And Satan doesn’t care if you stretch as long as you go to hell.” Similar to Islamophobic attempts to produce a…

Catholic Church Campaigns Against Gay US Ambassador; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…respect for a United States ambassador is unchecked and unprecedented. The Washington Blade has more details about the campaign against Brewster: Nearly 32,000 people have signed the petition that a group of Dominican evangelicals posted to the White House’s website earlier this month. A group of Catholic bishops in the Dominican Republic have urged Medina’s government to formally complain to the U.S. about Brewster’s “conduct” that includes visit…

Mexico’s Religious Conservatives Seek Anti-LGBT Constitutional Amendment, LGBT Activists Defend Secular Government; Cash From Qatar Funds ‘Traditional’ Family Activism Worldwide; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…,” said Ahmed Hafez, an Egyptian analyst with the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, DC-based LGBT advocacy group. “Now the police in Egypt are targeting gay people to show the public that they are on the side of morality and are doing a good job in fighting debauchery, as a distraction to hide their failures in the crackdown on terrorism or drug trafficking,” he added. In Iraq and Syria, the shadow of ISIS adds to the danger. “Day after day, we…