The Boston Globe reported this week that the U.S. State Department will appoint a special envoy “to advocate for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people overseas.” Legislation calling for such an envoy had been introduced in Congress last week. But in Congress, Rep. Chris Smith, who heads the subcommittee whose jurisdiction includes human rights and international organizations, declared, “I am a strong believer in traditional marriage and I do not construe homosexual rights as human rights.”
Also in the U.S., a group of Catholic and Evangelical leaders have prepared a diatribe against same-sex marriage that will appear in the March 2015 issue of First Things. David Roach at Baptist Press notes that the statement comes “[i]n the wake of an interfaith Vatican conference on marriage two months ago.” Evangelicals and Catholics Together, which produced a manifesto in 1994, served as a sort of precursor to the Manhattan Declaration. Like the Manhattan Declaration, the new document strikes a defiant tone in the face of legal advances – so much so that David Gibson of Religion News Service writes that it “reads like a declaration of war.” Among its assertions: “Christians who wish to remain faithful to the Scriptures and Christian tradition cannot embrace this falsification of reality, irrespective of its status in law.”
Vatican: Pope endorses anti-gay referendum in Slovakia; Advocate looks at new cardinals
Pope Francis this week used his remarks at his general audience in Rome to endorse a referendum being held Saturday February 7in Slovakia would ban marriage equality and adoption by same-sex couples. BuzzFeed’s Lester Feder reports:
“I greet the pilgrims from Slovakia and, through them, I wish to express my appreciation to the entire Slovak church, encouraging everyone to continue their efforts in defense of the family, the vital cell of society,” Francis said during Wednesday’s general audience in Rome.
Slovakia is the latest battleground over LGBT family rights in Europe, which is increasingly divided between east and west. Slovakia’s parliament actually added language denying marriage recognition to same-sex couples to the country’s constitution in June, making it one of four countries in Eastern Europe to do so since 2012. The first of three questions before voters on Saturday’s ballot, which asks if marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman, won’t change the legal status quo in Slovakia. But the second question would also ban adoption for same-sex couples, and the third allows parents to withdraw their children from sexual education classes.
Feder notes that Francis’s remarks come “as the Slovakian church has been under criticism from the country’s LGBT rights supporters, who say the church is to blame for the recent push against LGBT rights in the country.”
“For first time in Slovak modern history the Catholic Church is heavily involved in political campaign,” said Martin Macko, executive director of the LGBT rights group Inokost. The Slovak referendum follows the success of a similar ballot measure in another Catholic-majority Eastern European country, Croatia, which adopted a ban on recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples in December.
Read Feder’s article for a discussion of the Church’s involvement in raising funds for the referendum-backing Alliance for Family while publicly denying doing so. Some legal analysis of the referendum can be found here.
The Advocate’s Stevie St. John reports on the LGBT-related track records of some of the 20 new cardinals named by Pope Francis this year:
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti
On LGBT issues: “Regarding morally controversial subjects, such as abortion or homosexuality, freedom of consciences must be respected…Every person, no matter what his beliefs, has, by means of his conscience, the natural capacity to distinguish good from evil and that he should act accordingly. Therein lies the true freedom.” (The remarks were related to the expression of religious beliefs in the workplace.) Mamberti is prefect of the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Catholic Church’s highest court.Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Ethiopia
Souraphiel heads Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, which took an anti-LGBT stance last year. The Malawi Voice reported that Souraphiel had this to say about same-sex relationships: “We affirm [the] institution of marriage as [an] insoluble union of love between man and woman open to procreation and renounce any attempt to redefine this institution. … We strongly condemn same sex unions and other deviations that go against human nature and natural laws. We urge for the protection and defense of family at all costs as that is the beginning and pillar of human life and society.”Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington, New Zealand
Per the National Catholic Register: “The only Anglophone nominee is Archbishop John Dew of Wellington, New Zealand. In 2005, he advocated a new ‘pastoral approach’ for allowing divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics to receive Communion. During last year’s synod on the family, he also voiced his support for a change in language when ministering to persons with same-sex attraction.”Archbishop Alberto Suárez Inda of Morelia, Mexico
On same-sex couples adopting children, quoted from Catholic News Agency: “It’s one thing to tolerate conduct contrary to what is commonly accepted; it’s another to want to legitimize that which goes against nature itself… I know many cases of children and young people who are deprived of a father or a mother … because of this, they have a great emptiness and are sometimes traumatized for life. … It is unjust to arbitrarily step all over the foundation of our society. The nucleus or cell of our social fabric has been the family made up of man, woman and their biological or adopted children.”
Islamic State: Militants execute man in Syria as part of anti-gay campaign
The Daily Mail reported this week that ISIS militants executed a man for having a “homosexual affair.” Video shows the man was blindfolded, thrown off tower, and then stoned to death after apparently surviving the fall. The CBS affiliate in San Francisco has described the killing as part of a war being waged by ISIS against LGBT people.
In a September recruitment video, ISIS militants placed gay people in the same category as pedophiles and drug dealers.
“Who is gonna teach your children?” asks a fighter in the video. “It’s gonna be maybe a gay, maybe a drug dealer, maybe a pedophile. You know? So it’s very important for you to protect your children from these animals, from these dirty people.”
ISIS militants released a document on social media last month explaining rules of its “penal code” which is being brutally enforced across ISIS-held territory in Syria and Iraq.
The extremist group’s radical interpretation of Shariah law requires punishments to be carried out in an Islamic State court. After sentencing, the prisoner is taken into the center of town where men and young boys are encouraged to gather and watch the punishments, which range from crucifixion for stealing to stoning for adultery.
The British Government’s Foreign Office released a statement Wednesday saying, “ISIS is not Islam. It is extremism hiding under the banner of religion in order to carry out barbaric, appalling atrocities against Muslims and non-Muslims alike. ISIS makes no distinction between cultures countries or religion. We condemn ISIS’s treatment of all people, including LGBT individuals.”
Canada: Montreal Mayor opposes youth center proposed by radical Muslim cleric
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is opposing efforts by a radical cleric to open an Islamic youth center in the city, reports the National Post.
Mr. Coderre, who met with spiritual leaders Wednesday in hopes of fostering dialogue in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, said he will consult with borough mayor Réal Ménard about the plan.
But Montreal’s mayor said he rejects Mr. Chaoui’s rigid views on democracy and homosexuality, and his suggestion that democracy and Islam are antithetical. “That is not the message of the Qur’an.”
Originally from Morocco, Mr. Chaoui studied electrical engineering at Université Laval, where he became the imam to Muslim students there.
In postings on his Facebook page, Mr. Chaoui argues that Islam and democracy are “parallel lines that never intersect” because democracy allows for the election of “an infidel or a homosexual or an atheist who denies the existence of Allah.”
In other teachings, he has denounced the World Cup of soccer, where stadiums were rife with the temptations of music, dancing and alcohol. Yet he disagreed with Saudi Arabia’s refusal to let women drive, saying it was not nearly as risky as the alternative — the prospect of women coming into physical contact with men while travelling by taxi or public transport.
Speaking to reporters in Quebec City, Kathleen Weil, Quebec’s minister of immigration, diversity and inclusion, said Mr. Chaoui’s views are “dangerous” and “unacceptable” in a democratic society like Quebec, where the rule of law applies and men and women are treated as equals.
Ireland: Proposal would strip religious schools of right to fire gays
In Ireland, where a referendum on marriage equality will be held in May, the government is moving other equality measures forward. GLAAD reports:
Ireland’s health Minister Leo Varadkar, who last week came out as gay, has referred recommendations to revise restrictions on gay men donating blood; while Equality Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has confirmed that religious-run schools and hospitals will by Easter 2015 be prevented from firing staff for being gay, divorced or an unmarried parent.
More from the Irish Examiner’s Shaun Connolly:
Religious-run schools and hospitals will be stripped of the ability to sack staff for being gay, divorced, or unmarried parents by Easter, Equality Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin says.
The move will see Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act changed, as the minister says it puts a “chill” into workers who fear being fired for private lives that go against the ethos of church-run institutions.
“They can be sacked, technically, if a board manager felt that someone was actively undermining the ethos of their school by their private life,” Mr Ó Ríordáin told the Irish Examiner.
“It has a chilling effect when people feel they can’t be themselves. In the staff room they have to hide their private lives; they have to hide the fact that they’re gay, or that they are divorced, or in a second relationship, or that they’re an unmarried parent.”
The Irish government also released Respect, an anti-bullying guide that “encourages teachers to challenge children to think about family, love and gender from an early age,” reports Pink News, which says “the government is also moving forward with a same-sex adoption bill and a gender recognition bill.”
On the lighter side, an Irish man whose sputtering denunciation of political parties backing same-sex marriage at a public forum drew laughs when he seemingly denounced allowing men and women to marry was given a musical remix.
Northern Ireland: ‘Conscience Clause’ legislation draws protest
Echoing a debate that is growing increasingly intense in the U.S., advocates for LGBT equality in Northern Ireland rallied to protest a “conscience clause” bill that would “effectively exempt people with ‘strongly held’ religious convictions from equality laws – allowing them to discriminate against gay people.”
John O’Doherty of The Rainbow Project told UTV: “We believe this conscience clause will create a licence to discriminate for those who oppose the LGBT people here in Northern Ireland.
“We don’t believe we should be treated as second-class citizens. We want to ensure equality for our entire community and we’re looking forward to many people across Belfast, Derry and Newry standing in solidarity with us today in opposition to this draconian legislation.”
Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International added: “What is proposed is not a conscience clause, it is a discrimination clause.
“This change to the law is not welcome and it is not needed. The law already strikes a fair balance between the human right to freedom of religion and the human right not to suffer discrimination.
Poland: Trans MP runs for presidency
Anna Grodzk, a transgender member of the Polish Parliament, announced that she will be running for the presidency as a candidate of the Green Party. As we noted in our stories-to-watch “precap” for 2015, Polish bishops a year ago launched a campaign against “gender ideology.”
Jamaica: Human rights lawyer says anti-gay foreigners make bad situation worse
The Daily Beast’s Quorum project this week posted video remarks from Jamaican law professor Maurice Tomlinson on “the pervasive cultural and religious attitudes against LGBT people in his home country.” He notes those pervasive attitudes, which manifest in deadly violence, are also shared by many in law-enforcement.
As we have reported, Jamaica’s anti-gay leaders also get support from American and British anti-gay religious advocates, who have traveled to the Island to rally support for colonial-era sodomy laws that criminalize homosexuality. Tomlinson cites Peter LaBarbera among those anti-gay exports from the North that he says are constantly bombarding Jamaica to reinforce existing homophobia by saying that gays are a threat to children and must not be given any rights. He said that agitation contributed to the largest ever anti-gay demonstration in Jamaica.
Church of England: High-ranking woman comes out
Jayne Ozanne, one of the highest-ranking officials in the Church of England, came out as a lesbian. Trevor Grundy at Religion News Service reports that Ozanne revealed that she had subjected herself to various forms of conversion therapy, including one “where clergy tried to case out a sexual orientation they deemed demonic.”
“God is a God of surprises,” said Jayne Ozanne, 46, as she took up her new job as director of Accepting Evangelicals, a network of Christians who believe the time has come to move toward the acceptance of loving same-sex partnerships and a positive Christian ethic for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people.
Think Progress has posted video of Ozanne’s coming-out announcement.
United Kingdom: ‘Christian Soldiers’ denounce ‘New Sodom’
A group called “Christian Soldiers of UKIP,” a group that the right-wing party says is “authorised but not official” released newsletter slamming the pride parade as a “display of wickedness” and warning that “New Sodom is being largely unopposed and are intent…of enforcing their agenda upon all.”
Latin America: A ‘Rainbow Wave’
In the Emory Journal of International Affairs, Hobie Hunter argues that progress toward LGBT equality in Latin America is an underreported story. (In excerpts below, citations removed for readability).
While the region may conjure images of machismo and Catholic conservatism, many countries of the region have actually shown remarkable progress on LGBT rights.
In recent years same-sex marriage has swept across much of Latin America. In 2010, Argentina became the first Latin American country to nationally legalize same-sex marriage. Uruguay and Brazil, which had previously only had marriage equality in some states, followed in 2013. In Mexico, Mexico City, Quintana Roo, and Colima all grant marriages to same-sex couples. More importantly, each Mexican state is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Although marriage equality technically is not the law of the land in Colombia, judges are able to use a 2011 ruling to marry same-sex couples.
While some other Latin America states have yet to adopt same-sex marriage, they have nonetheless made other forms of progress for LGBT rights. Bolivia’s constitution bans all forms of anti-gay discrimination, Ecuador grants civil unions to same-sex couples, and sex reassignment surgery is covered by public health insurance in Cuba, Peru allows gays to openly serve in the military, and Venezuela has laws protecting against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, among other victories.
Hunter argues that much of the progress can be attributed to strong action from the judiciary, backed by strong social movements, and identifies both Catholic and Protestant forces in the opposition.
The progress of LGBT rights in Latin America has not been without opposition. Religious organizations, including both the Catholic Church and the Protestant right, have voiced their opposition. Even within high-income countries that have seen marked progress, divisions can be drawn. Argentina and Uruguay, which have seen the strongest progress on LGBT rights, are noticeably more secular. They have a stronger tradition of separation of church and state and a less religious population. On the other hand, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile all have a major political party with strong ties to the Catholic Church. This is not the case in Argentina or in Uruguay. Pope Francis, from Argentina, garnered significant press attention when he said in a speech, “Who am I to judge?” in reference to homosexuality. While this marks a shift in tone from his predecessors, it is not a change in Church policy. The Vatican’s official Catechism still holds that homosexuality is “objectively disordered,” but that homosexuals must be received with “compassion and sensitivity.” This position, essentially stating, “Hate the sin but love the sinner,” is not new. Despite the Pope’s softening of tone, religious organizations have not budged on policy. Change in Latin America will ultimately come from secular authorities, rather than religious organizations.
Uganda: Foreign Minister says anti-gay law no hindrance at UN
Last week Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa, who was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly last year over the objections of gay-rights activists, mocked his opponents during remarks with journalists. “No matter how much noise the frogs make, they cannot stop a cow from drinking water.” Mutesa said global publicity over the country’s now-inoperative Anti Homosexuality Law has not been a problem for him or Uganda.
African Union: Anti-Gay Mugabe Appointed Chair
Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, became chairman of the African Union, a position he will hold for the coming year, Pink News reports:
In his speech, which drew applause, he said African countries should value relationships with “friends”, but that “colonialists and imperialists” were not welcome on the continent.
Mugabe last year threatened to expel any diplomats who mention homosexuality in Zimbabwe, at a speech after his daughter’s wedding reception.
He said at the time: “Let Europe keep their homosexual nonsense there and live with it. We will never have it here. The act [homosexuality] is not humane.
Scotland: Law Society adopts gender neutral title Mx
The Law Society of Scotland is moving to adopt gender-neutral language that would allow applicants to choose the gender neutral title Mx. In addition to traditional Mr., Mrs., and Ms.
Brunei: Activists urge US to drop Brunei from proposed trade agreement over brutal law
We have reported on protests against the Sultan of Brunei’s decision to impose a harsh form of Sharia law in his country that includes death by stoning for homosexuality and adultery. The U.S.-based Pride at Work organization has called on the Obama administration to drop Brunei from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership. Also this week musician John Legend decided not to attend a party in his honor because it was being held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is owned by the Sultan.
China: Gay former cop makes it big with gay-dating app
The Economist reported last week on Ma Baoli, a former cop who was pressured by his superiors in 2012 to either quit or stop running a dating website for gay men. He quit and launched a dating app called Blued, which now has 15 million users and a staff of 60 and has received $30 million in funding from an American venture-capital firm.
It was very different in the 1990s when, as a young man, Mr Ma risked being sent to a labour camp for “hooliganism”, the crime then attached to homosexual behaviour, by scrawling “I’m gay” on public-lavatory walls in the hope of meeting partners. Homosexuality was not decriminalised until 1997. Now the government is far more tolerant. In 2012 Li Keqiang, who was then a deputy prime-minister (he is now prime minister), met Mr Ma and praised his efforts to help to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. In late January a court in the southern city of Shenzhen became the first in the country to hear a case involving alleged discrimination against a gay man (who says he was fired for being homosexual). A verdict is expected in a few weeks.
