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Nick Jonas Says He’s Not Intentionally Queerbaiting You

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:06:51 +0000

Last week we learned that Nick Jonas’ character on Ryan Murphy’s soapy horror show Scream Queens is gay. It’s the second gay role for Jonas, following his turn as a closeted boxer in the MMA drama Kingdom.

Jonas, who has spoken of his love for his LGBT fans and has been accused of queerbaiting in the past, told USA Today his decision to play a role is “not based on whether the character is gay or straight” but instead focuses on “what the story is and what the audience is going to get out of it.” He added:

“In the case of Scream Queens, there’s comedy within the role and I think at its core it really is a social commentary about stereotypes and breaking down some of those barriers. Ryan Murphy obviously does that so well.”

RELATED: Yes, Nick Jonas Is (Sort of) Queerbaiting His Gay Fans. So What?

On the choice to play gay in Kingdom, Jonas remarked:

“With ‘Kingdom’, my character is going through a really different journey where he’s struggling with who he is. I think that’s a highly relatable story line that a lot of my fans, both gay and straight, have come and told me that that’s been incredibly important for them: to see the journey he’s on and to know they’re not alone, whatever it is that they’re going through in their life that makes them feel different or strange. There’s real peace and a community and a story being told that feels honest and grounded.”

We look forward to see what else Jonas’ gay roles have to yield.

The post Nick Jonas Says He’s Not Intentionally Queerbaiting You appeared first on Towleroad.

Pat Robertson: Gays Want to Bankrupt, Jail, Persecute ‘Anyone Who Disagrees With Them’ – VIDEO

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 21:39:39 +0000

No doubt referencing Kim Davis as well as other so-called defenders of ‘religious liberty’, 700 Club host and noted bigot Pat Robertson today said that gays are on a vindictive mission to go after anyone “who disagrees with them.”

Robertson remarked that what the gay community really wants isn’t just civil rights:

“What they want to do is persecute anybody who disagrees with them. They want those people bankrupted. They want those people put in jail. Is that what the left wants? The answer is ‘absolutely.’ It is vindictive now. We’re not talking about having rights from the ‘poor oppressed gays’. We’re talking about taking away the freedoms of everybody who disagree with them. Do we want that in America? We’ve got to make a stand for these people. They’re being pilloried in the press, their being laughed at in the press because the press is in league with the gay rights people and they somehow think this is a civil rights issue. They better be careful with what they’re doing because they’re taking away the rights of everybody!”

Watch Robertson foam at the mouth, below:

[h/t JMG]

The post Pat Robertson: Gays Want to Bankrupt, Jail, Persecute ‘Anyone Who Disagrees With Them’ – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Ban Ki-moon commits to fighting LGBT discrimination

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 20:56:40 +0000

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke at the High Level LGBT Core Group Event "Leaving No-One Behind: Equality & Inclusion in the Post-2015 Development Agendaâ, reaffirming his dedication to fighting LGBT discrimination.

News: Umpqua Community College, LGBT Refugees, North Carolina, Colton Haynes, Human Ken Doll

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 20:42:34 +0000

> Up to 13 reported dead and 20 injured in mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Via USA Today: “Oregon State Police said they believe there only one shooter and that he is ‘no longer a threat,’ The Register-Guard newspaper of Eugene reports. A witness at the scene in Roseburg said the male shooter was shot by police and was acting alone. The report could not be immediately confirmed. Mercy Medical Center, a hospital in Roseburg, said it had received nine patients and expected three more.”

> Meet the LGBT refugees fleeing Syria.

> A personal history of the word “faggot.” CC: Azealia Banks.

> LGBT advocates and Democratic lawmakers in North Carolina defeat bill that would have banned local non-discrimination ordinances intended to protect LGBT citizens.

> Sam Smith wants you to get drunk, do karaoke and belt out his James Bond single “Writing’s On The Wall.”

> Colton Haynes makes your Top Gun dreams come true.

> Tom Hanks’ son Chet Haze blames substance abuse for his use of the ‘N’ word.

> Your Facebook profile picture can now be a short video a la those seen in The Daily Prophet in Harry Potter.

> Ireland is one step closer to having marriage equality finally enacted.

> New app “Peeple” is Yelp…for people. And people aren’t happy about it.

> Prince Harry says he’s not ready to settle down.

> Serial podcast is being made into a TV show.

> Troye Sivan announces US tour dates.

> Giovanni Bonamy is a human Ken doll.

> Trent from Pink Is The New Blog says farewell.

> Jennifer Grey on her father Joel Grey’s demeanor since coming out: “He’s a lot more gay! The truth is, he’s a lot happier. He feels very light, his energy feels light and joyful. It feels like there’s just more of a skip in his step. And it just feels like he’s alive.”

> Aaron Sorkin says Twitter is too quippy.

> Ten Commandments to be removed from Oklahoma state capitol despite Governor’s objection.

The post News: Umpqua Community College, LGBT Refugees, North Carolina, Colton Haynes, Human Ken Doll appeared first on Towleroad.

Kim Kardashian Tells Ellen How She Discovered That Caitlyn Jenner Is Transgender – VIDEO

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 20:17:03 +0000

Kim Kardashian-West appeared on Ellen yesterday, revealing interesting tidbits on how she discovered in her early 20s that Caitlyn Jenner is transgender. Kardashian says she had an inkling that Jenner was hiding something, and describes how she accidentally stumbled upon Jenner wearing a dress.

Kardashian articulately explained how she attempted to understand what Jenner was going through, while respecting Jenner’s privacy and wishes in how to address and treat her.

Watch Kardashian give a rather eloquent explanation of how she came to terms with Jenner’s transition and the ways she respectfully honors Jenner’s wishes as she goes through her transition, below:

The post Kim Kardashian Tells Ellen How She Discovered That Caitlyn Jenner Is Transgender – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Clergy who defied Church of England’s gay marriage ban ‘running for Synod’

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 19:01:34 +0000

Two Church of England clergymen are running to sit on the Church's main governing body - after they both separately defied rules by marrying their same-sex partners.

Anti-gay clerk Kim Davis sued Kentucky Governor, he got major lols

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 18:34:04 +0000

The Governor Kentucky is having a bit of a laugh right now at the hands of Kim Davis who filed a lawsuit against him he described as "absurd".

Pope has secret meeting with homophobic clerk

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 18:15:43 +0000

Pope Francis has met with US homophobic clerk Kim Davis while on tour in the US.

Watch: Gay news anchor asks Donald Trump if he’s a homophobe

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 17:46:22 +0000

A gay news anchor directly asked Presidential hopeful Donald Trump whether he is homophobic in an interview today.

Ugandan gay rights activist wins ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 17:22:56 +0000

A Ugandan lesbian activist has been announced as the winner of an 'alternative Nobel Prize'.

Halloween, Las Vegas Style: 18 Spooky and One-of-a-Kind Attractions Not To Miss

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 17:01:04 +0000

Halloween is fast approaching, which means it’s time to plan your ghoulish getaway.

A longtime favorite destination for LGBT travelers, Las Vegas is also a favorite spot for Halloween revelers. The city has plenty to offer its LGBT guests during this spooky season, whether it be scary attractions, one-of-a-kind events as only Vegas can provide or the world’s best musical acts.

We put together a guide to all of the city’s scary, unique and Halloween-themed events coming up in October to help you make the most out of your trip to Fabulous Las Vegas. Check it out below.

EVENTS

Fans of haunted houses will want to check out Fright Dome. This annual celebration of terror is one of the best haunted houses in the country not to mention one of the biggest, transforming the five acres of the Adventuredome theme park at Circus Circus Las Vegas into a park of horror. This year you’ll find 6 haunted houses, 4 scare zones, 25 rides and live shows nightly.

Absinthe Las Vegas reinvents the classic Las Vegas variety show by reimagining it as an acrobatic performance experienced in the round that is equal parts carnival and old world burlesque. There’s no huge stadium here to distance you from the athletic artists on stage, giving you an unobstructed view. Expect thrills, chills and a dash of comedy at this Vegas favorite.

For mystery and mind-reading, attend Paranormal – The Mind Reading Magic Show at Bally’s Las Vegas. Mentalist Frederic Da Silva is the attraction here with his ability to read you as if he were reading a clock. Are his special powers real? You’ll have to experience it for yourself.

Famed magician Criss Angel, the most watched magician in TV history, will spook you with his 40 mind-blowing illusions at CRISS ANGEL Believe at the Luxor Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas. Criss partnered with Cirque du Soleil to create this show so expect plenty of astounding acrobatic feats.

Evil Dead The Musical 4D at Planet Hollywood takes the cult classic horror movie trilogy Evil Dead and reimagines it as a live stage show filled with blood, gore, bad jokes and music. With a Rocky Horror-esque vibe, the show entertains both theatre lovers and more reticent theatre goers alike.

If you’re looking for a more outlandish Halloween experience, head to the Annual Fetish and Fantasy Halloween Ball at the Hard Rock Hotel. With over 7000 guests, music, food, and wild costumes, this is one of Las Vegas’ most outrageous Halloween events.

Head uptown to popular Fremont Street for OktoberFrightFest at the Fremont Street Experience. This mash-up of Oktoberfest and Halloween brings the best of both worlds together with free stage shows like “Frank & The Steins” and “Vampire Rising.” This month-long event culminates with a costume contest on October 31.

For those who like to laugh more than scream, catch funny-lady Margaret Cho perform at Treasure Island for a one-night-only comedy engagement on October 16. Expect her usual brand of irreverent gut-busting humor.

MUSIC

If you’re in town early for Halloween, you’ll want to pay homage to pop icon Madonna, who brings her Rebel Heart Tour to the MGM Grand Garden Arena on October 24. Country music fans meanwhile can take in “The Judds Girls Night Out” with Naomi and Wynonna Judd. They have a limited engagement at The Venetian Theatre inside the The Palazzo Las Vegas in October with performances on October 7, 10, 13, 14 16, 17, 21, 23 and 24. If your music taste runs toward hard metal, check out heavy metal legends Judas Priest when their Redeemer of Souls Tour makes its way to the Pearl Concert Theatre at Palms Casino on October 17.

LGBT music lovers in Vegas for Halloween weekend will have an abundance of concert choices. For something spooky, check out ghoulish Swedish heavy-metal act Ghost with special guests Purson at The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on October 31. Hang poolside and scope out indie pop rock band on the rise The Neighborhood (of “Sweater Weather” fame) as they perform at The Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on October 30. Lovers of EDM will have a tough time deciding what legendary DJs to see Halloween weekend. OMNIA at Caesars Palace will host hitmakers (and Grammy winners) Afrojack on October 30 and Calvin Harris with special guest Generik on October 31. Down the Strip at the MGM Grand, DJ Tiësto hits the Hakkasan stage on October 30 followed by Hardwell with special guests Kill The Buzz on October 31. Meanwhile, renowned DJ Kaskade will perform at XS inside Encore, also on Halloween night.

The post Halloween, Las Vegas Style: 18 Spooky and One-of-a-Kind Attractions Not To Miss appeared first on Towleroad.

Why are there more bisexual women than bisexual men?

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 16:57:30 +0000

Men are less likely to be bisexual than women and men are five times more likely to be gay than bisexual, research has revealed.

Hillary Clinton tried to BLOCK gay-inclusive passports, emails reveal

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:30:54 +0000

Hillary Clinton attempted to block Obama reforms to children's passports, threatening to kill plans to replace 'mother and father' fields with 'parent one and parent two'.

Your boss is more likely to be gay than you are

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 13:23:14 +0000

People in managerial roles are far more likely to identify as gay, new data reveals.

Anti-gay bakery refuses to pay damages despite getting $400,000 in donations

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:29:51 +0000

The owners of an Oregon bakery who refused to serve a gay couple are refusing to pay damages, despite receiving over $400,000 in donations.

Are people in London more likely to be gay?

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 11:40:08 +0000

Data has showed that people who live in London are over twice as likely to identify as gay compared to those in Scotland.

Russia will still take part in ‘Eurovision sodom show’ despite pressure to drop out

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:41:05 +0000

Russia has confirmed it will still take part in and broadcast Eurovision - despite pressure from anti-gay lawmakers to drop out of the 'Eurovision Sodom show'.

Rick Santorum managed to say something about gays that wasn’t totally homophobic

Wed, 30 Sep 2015 19:41:38 +0000

Presidential wannabe Rick Santorum managed to actually say something about gay people that wasn't completely ignorant or homophobic

Concerns raised at UN Human Rights Council

Wed, 30 Sep 2015 17:27:35 +0000

LGBT rights have been raised as an issue of importance during the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council which is currently taking place in Geneva.

Video highlights widespread homophobia in film

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 17:14:41 +0000

New video exposes the lack of diversity in the mainstream film industry and highlights the casual homophobia written into a substantial number of films.

Curves sponsors PinkDrive for fourth consecutive year

Mon, 28 Sep 2015 11:52:19 +0000

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer amongst women worldwide, and a significant issue in South Africa. Curves, Africa’s only ladies-only fitness club, wants to help its members stay healthy in all aspects of their lives, which is why they are sponsoring PinkDrive, a breast cancer awareness and education organisation, for the fourth year in a row.

XGW Digest: September 26, 2015

Sat, 26 Sep 2015 10:00:04 +0000

-President Obama nominates an openly gay man to be Secretary of the Army.

-Tennessee legislators launch another attempt to bypass the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling.

-Britain’s Prince William speaks out against homophobia.

-The Channel Island of Jersey enacts marriage equality.

-The White House includes LGBT representatives in its reception for Pope Francis.

-County Clerk Kim Davis really has a gay friend after all – not that he approves of her actions.

-The real Vladimir Putin calls Elton John following a recent prank.

-The Gay-Straight Alliance Network calls for a boycott of Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall movie.

-Germany’s Federal Council passes a marriage equality bill.

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Tweet powered sculpture challenges blood ban

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 19:07:32 +0000

A tweet-activated rainbow sculpture highlights the current gay blood donor restrictions in the UK.

Programs Supported By the Global Fund Saved 17 Million Lives Through the End of 2014, Fund Says

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:26:37 +0000

NAIROBI, 23 September 2015 (allAfrica) - Programs supported by the Global Fund have saved 17 million lives up to the end of 2014, according to the Results Report 2015 released by the Fund on 21 September. The Fund says that it is on track to reach 22 million lives saved by December 2016, the end of the current replenishment period.

UNAIDS, Kenya Launch New Tool to Help End AIDS Epidemic By 2030

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 05:57:02 +0000

NAIROBI, 22 September 2015 (allAfrica) - The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, have launched an innovative new tool called the Kenya HIV Situation Room, to help track progress and identify gaps in HIV programming in Kenya.

Africa: Young People Must Play Active Role in New Global Development Goals

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 15:27:26 +0000

GENEVA, 21 September 2015 (allAfrica) - From 25-27 September, UN member states will meet to discuss the post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDGs) which include one broad health-related goal. But is there a danger that young people most at risk from HIV will be left behind by the new agenda?

XGW Digest: September 19, 2015

Sat, 19 Sep 2015 10:00:57 +0000

-A Missouri high school elects a transgender homecoming queen.

-County clerk Kim Davis continues to interfere with the issuing of same-sex marriage licenses.

-Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s new Prime Minister, calls for a public vote on marriage equality.

-Support for “religious liberty” laws declines in the wake of the Kim Davis controversy.

-The Columbus, IN city council passes a non-discrimination ordinance.

-Elton John is pranked by a Russian caller claiming to be Vladimir Putin.

-A Texas judge recognizes a lesbian couple’s common law marriage.

-Ireland’s high court rejects a challenge to the marriage equality referendum.

-Frito-Lay introduces Rainbow Doritos to support the It Gets Better Project.

-Nepal’s new constitution, which includes LGBT protections, passes its last legal hurdle.

Africa: LGBT Rights Must Be Protected to Ensure Healthy Lives for All

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 10:02:19 +0000

NAIROBI, 15 September 2015 (allAfrica) - Next week, 193 governments will attend the United Nation's General Assembly in New York to adopt new sustainable development goals. But for sexual minorities the question is: how serious are governments about ensuring no one is left behind in the goal to ensure healthy lives for all?

Africa: Young People in Desperate Search for Safer Sex

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 09:43:27 +0000

DAR ES SALAAM, 14 September 2015 (allAfrica) - For young people in southern Africa a lack of access to condoms is putting them at risk of unwanted pregnancies and HIV, and could ultimately jeopardise their lives.

"Putin's" call to Sir Elton was a crank

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 02:22:44 +0000

Sir Elton John's supposed phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin was actually a gag by a prank caller.

Anti-equality Abbott rolled as Aussie PM

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 16:27:14 +0000

The stridently anti marriage equality Tony Abbott has been rolled by as Australiaâs Prime Minister by Malcolm Turnbull, who has expressed support for same-sex marriage in the past.

3.4 Million Nigerians Infected With HIV/AIDS in 2014 - UN

Mon, 14 Sep 2015 12:37:18 +0000

ABUJA, 12 September 2015 (allAfrica) - The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) yesterday reiterated that Nigeria carries the second highest HIV/AIDS burden in the world with 3.4 million Nigerians living with the disease in 2014.The figure represents 4.1 national prevalence rate.

Study links homophobia and psych issues

Sun, 13 Sep 2015 03:50:50 +0000

A new study has found homophobia could be linked to psychological problems.

XGW Digest: September 12, 2015

Sat, 12 Sep 2015 10:00:21 +0000

-Same-sex marriages begin in Rowan County, KY

-A Tennessee judge refuses to grant a straight couple’s divorce because of marriage equality.

-ESPN commentator Israel Gutierrez comes out of the closet.

-Ireland’s Gender Recognition Act goes into effect.

-A Fox News panel agrees that county clerk Kim Davis has no right to refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

-Most of the Republican presidential candidates distance themselves from Kim Davis.

-Voters in Fayetteville, AR reinstate LGBT nondiscrimination protections.

-Thailand’s Gender Equality Act takes effect.

-Texas’ Attorney General tries to stop a lesbian from inheriting her late wife’s estate.

-A gay man is violently attacked outside a Cleveland nightclub.

Spanish police officers marry in uniform

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:31:42 +0000

Two gay policemen have married in Spain, in full uniform.

Kentucky Clerk cheered on release from jail

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 20:49:29 +0000

Supporters of the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for stubbornly refusing to do her job granting same-sex marriage licences has received a heroâs welcome as she was released from jail.

XGW Digest: September 5, 2015

Sat, 05 Sep 2015 10:00:50 +0000

-Anti-gay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis continues her fight against issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

-Russia’s only LGBT film festival is canceled by the government.

-The Advocate profiles 14 former ex-gays.

-Neo-Nazis attack the headquarters of a Ukrainian LGBT group.

-China’s film regulators greenlight a gay love story.

-Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is jailed for refusing to do her job.

US Clerk jailed for homophobic stance

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 16:25:03 +0000

The homophobic US county clerk still refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples has been jailed for contempt.

Homophobic Kentucky clerk saga continues

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:24:33 +0000

A homophobic US county clerk is still refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, and could now face fines or jail time.

Ireland's marriage law ratified by President

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 15:43:39 +0000

Irelandâs President has officially ratified the nationâs same-sex marriage law, following the historic May referendum.

XGW Digest: August 29, 2015

Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:00:01 +0000

-Seven Senegalese men are sentenced to prison for having gay sex.

-John Oliver explains the need for the Equality Act.

-The National Organization for Marriage finally releases its donor list in compliance with Maine law.

-The Denver City Council delays Chick-Fil-A’s expansion plans due to the company’s anti-gay stance.

-Two Syrian refugees testify to the UN about ISIS’ persecution of gay men.

-The Pentagon sets an end date for its ban on transgender troops.

-Republican Chris Christie declares that businesses should not be allowed to discriminate against LGBT customers.

-Couples, both gay and straight, begin quoting Justice Kennedy’s comments on marriage in their wedding ceremonies.

-A popular drag performer is murdered in San Antonio.

XGW Digest: August 22, 2015

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 10:00:09 +0000

-Gay athlete Michael Sam leaves professional football, citing mental health concerns.

-A minor league baseball player comes out of the closet.

-A historic Baptist church embraces LGBT equality.

-Two Texas men are charged with torturing a gay African-American man.

-The White House hires an openly transgender staffer.

-Anti-gay icon Josh Duggar is outed as a client of hook-up website Ashley Madison.

-An openly gay Muslim man films his pilgrimage to Mecca.

-Illinois becomes the fourth state to ban conversion therapy for minors.

-The Oregon bakers fined for refusing service to a gay couple send cakes and Christian videos to ten LGBT organizations.

XGW Digest: August 15, 2015

Sat, 15 Aug 2015 10:00:35 +0000

-Supporters of marriage equality rally in cities across Australia.

-Gay Ugandans hold a pride parade.

-Another transgender woman is murdered.

-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott blocks a motion to bring marriage equality to a vote in Parliament.

-Mexico’s Supreme Court overturns a ban on adoption by gay couples.

-Singer Sam Smith uses his Twitter account to expose homophobia.

-The Guam Senate passes two LGBT rights bills.

-A Kentucky high school removes a gay basketball player’s picture from the team’s yearbook page.

-The Colorado Court of Appeals rules against anti-gay baker Jack Phillips.

-A Puerto Rican cabinet member comes out of the closet.

MORAL CONFLICTS AND LIBERTY: GAY PERSECUTION IN UGANDA AND HOW THEY CAN BE LIBERATED

Christina Engela — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 10:41:00 +0000

The following paper was sent to me by Francis Mwine Mubwaro, a LGBT activist from Uganda, with a request to repost it on my blog.

I am honored to oblige, and it is with utmost respect and admiration that I share this document here:

TITLE OF SESSION: MORAL CONFLICTS AND LIBERTY: GAY PERSECUTION IN UGANDA AND HOW THEY CAN BE LIBERATED.

PRESENTER: FRANCIS MWINE

This paper is published under the responsibility of Krysler Thematic and think tank group, where the presenter is the founding member and Chairperson, affiliated to Twagalane Association.

Comments on this paper are invited.

Please contact the author and presenter at EMAIL: frankmwine22@yahoo.com

Dear ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, protocol observed;

First and foremost, I want to convey my gratitude to Anne Cormack, Gillian Harvey, Rev. Pat Bumgartner and Martin Pendergast, for all their courageous efforts they ploughed in towards my participation to this Conference.

I am going to make my presentation very precise in the framework below;

a) Trajectory of Homosexuality in Uganda and key highlights of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill;

b) Reasons why the Uganda Anti-Homosexual Bill should be opposed;

c) Assessment of the Human Rights for Gays;

d) Recommendation and Conclusion;

a. Trajectory of Homosexuality in Uganda and key highlights of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill;

Let me begin with a short true life story;

I was in a tram in Antwerp, Belgium on the 20th of April, this year when my high school friend back in Uganda, but now living in Brussels entered. I was gleeful yet embarrassed; one part of me wanted to greet her, the other to take cover. She is a successful banker in Brussels married to a celebrated female architect.

With the proposed Anti-homosexual bill in Uganda, I was wondering whether she knew that if she ever stepped back home in Uganda, together with her partner they would face the gallows.

And supposedly if she chose to continue to lead her lifestyle in Belgium, and the Ugandan government got wind of it, she would be extradited and sentenced to death and me the friend in any event that I returned home and did not report her to the police then, I would have to serve three years in jail faced with hard labour.

Since I arrived in Europe, I have been confronted with persistent questions about Uganda’s kill-the-gays bill at academic institutions that I have been to, functions name it.

The proposed Uganda, Anti-Homosexuality Bill on 13 October 2009 that would, if enacted, broaden the criminalisation of homosexuality by introducing death penalty for people who have previous convictions, are HIV positive, or engage in same sex acts with people under 18 years of age (age of sex consent in Uganda), has generated a lot of attention far and wide in the public domain.

The bill also includes provisions for Ugandans who engage in same-sex sexual relations in the diaspora, may be extradited for punishment back to Uganda, and includes penalties for individuals, companies, organisations that support LGBT rights, to mention a few.

This bill will be the most draconian law in history if enacted. We are all created equal and endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights such as life, liberty and sexuality to mention a few, thus homosexuals deserve the same equality.

Digging deep into the historical trajectories of culture and sexual practices in many Ugandan communities, homosexuality existed far back before colonisation.

The effronteries that shape homophobia in Uganda and therefore shaped the anti-gay bill, is that the anti-homosexuality domain argues that it is un-African may be un-Ugandan if I were to use the term. But they do not highlight any specific traditional and cultural countenances against gays in any particular pre-colonial African society.

Instead, they bask to Christianity a religion that is not African and is indeed against many African traditions. Since we had our own traditional religious beliefs.

Uganda as a country boasts of over 100 cultures. None of these Anti-Homosexual cultural fundamentalists even knows the traditions of any pre-colonial Ugandan society in significant detail. So their claims are without any scintilla of evidence.

On the contrary studies show that homosexuality existed in pre-colonial Uganda attracting differing levels of opinion. One such study was by Prof. Tibamanya Mwene Mushanga showing that homosexuality was practised and tolerated among the Bahima in pre-colonial Ankole, which is located South Western Uganda.

Although, many Ugandan communities do not have any local vocabulary for the word homosexuality. This suggests that it existed to some less degree and most probably the society did not take a moral position on it.

The most important point to consider is that, pre-colonial Africa was not hostile to homosexuality. Instead, this hostility began with the introduction of Christianity and colonial rule.

b. Reasons as to why the Ugandan Anti-Homosexual Bill should be Opposed.

The majority of Ugandans possibly don’t understand that cultural preconceptions can be used as a moral insult against any group arbitrarily. For example, sections of white society today still believe that black people are animals like donkeys; that inter racial sex is akin to bestiality (I don’t want to sound as a racist, apologies to any it may hurt, but its true).

It was an act of considerable courage that Barack Obama’s mother married a black man in 1960; equally a difficult choice for her white parents to accept it.

In Dreams from my Father, Obama says his fellow kids then, but white used to laugh at his mother for the choice of her father. When his grandfather complained to their parents, they would answer: “Well, you ought to tell your daughter how to behave herself. White people here don’t marry niggers.”

In my last three years research about homosexuality, I have learnt from the prejudice against homosexuals in Uganda not to be hostile to racists because they are also victims of culture. It is in this through being objective to the subject that that I have been trying to conceptualise my answers to this befuddling question.

A friend of mine, a Professor of history in America, once asked me with curiosity, who Hon. David Bahati (the Ugandan legislator who proposed the bill) was. He likened him to Adolf Hitler; a man who stoked anti Semitic, anti gay and anti black hatred.

I perpetually find myself in a very unmanageable situation of explicating how good the anti-homosexual people advance their reasoning that they are trying to protect Ugandan (or Christian) culture from adulteration. This is the highest promotion of extreme injustice to mankind.

To me they are like the senator, the President, the congressman in America who for many years rejected inter racial marriage on grounds that “it is against our culture”; the male chauvinist in Togo still refusing his daughters to go to school in the name of tradition; the parent in Pakistan who marries off his 12-year-old daughter to a 50-year-old man in the name of culture; the religious cleric in Saudi Arabia who, in the name of religion, orders the stoning to death of a girl for premarital sex; the old woman in Kenya who mutilates the genitals of a young girl in the name of custom.

It seems most evil is not always promoted by evil people. A close reading of the crimes of Hitler and the Nazis shows that actually they were following an established European tradition. People of European descent had committed genocides against native populations in America and Africa. Religion (or culture) and science were always at hand to provide justification for mass slaughter.

Sven Lindquist’s book, Exterminate all the Brutes, is a refreshing and insightful account of the role of religion, tradition and science in promoting European genocides.

Many Ugandans choose to bury their heads in the sand of cultural bigotry, Stone Age customs and archaic religious dogmas to persecute gays. Unfortunately, reality and science tell a different story; being gay is as normal as being a heterosexual.

Yet what is intriguing is the similarity of the basis of argument by either side in the gay debate in Uganda. The anti gay campaigners argue that homosexuality is an alien lifestyle to our country; that it is being promoted by people from the West using money. The pro gay campaigners in Europe argue that the anti gay movement in Uganda is promoted and financed by right wing religious groups in Europe and America.

One side denies the domestic origins of homosexuality; the other, the local basis of hostility towards it. This is one way Africa is always denied initiative; events in our continent are seen as instigated from elsewhere as if we are a passive and idle people suffering from too much inertia; initiative in Africa is a sign of forces from outside.

Gays in Uganda like everywhere else in the world grow up only to realise that they are sexually attracted to people of the same sex. They do not need any money or propaganda from the West to have those feelings.

Equally, anti homosexual feelings are born of ignorance and prejudice that is entirely local. Anti gay Ugandans do not need right wing money or propaganda to be hostile to homosexuality. If external influences play a role at all, it is insignificant and secondary.

Most debates everywhere tend to fall into this false and misleading pitfall; rather than debate the objective content of the argument, people focus on the subjective motivations of the participants.

Another true-life story;

When I was about six years old in primary school in Uganda of course, I had a friend of the same age and sex, with whom we went to school with. Truly with no knowledge about sex then, this friend had only male peers. The same trend continued in high school, in a mixed sex boarding school and now at the age of 28 years, he is a self confessed gay and an accomplished doctor but cannot find any form of employment because of his sexuality. Imagine at the age of six years this poor kid didn’t need any monetary incentives to be gay.

The majority of elucidated Ugandans are afraid to openly challenge the anti-homosexuality group’s bigotry and Nazi-like campaign against homosexuals for fear of being misunderstood as either being gay or having been bribed by rich gays in the West.

If there was a referendum to exterminate all gays in Uganda, I think even my grandmother a strong Christian, deep in the village, would vote yes in the name of religion and culture.

On hearing the news from a pal of mine about my inability for not attending this conference, she rang to say that her divine prayers were answered as she could not imagine her favourite grandson’s ideology on homosexuality.

Yet the pillar of Christianity is to Love one another as you love yourself. This is an example of how debate on homosexuality is being done out of prejudice and ignorance.

The anti-homosexual coalition in Uganda is not using God but the state to promulgate draconian laws. God did not bestow judgment of sin on humankind. He kept it as his preserve, possibly knowing that humans would abuse it. The state should not be used to enforce God’s will.

Besides, there are many Christians who do not believe that the Bible prohibits homosexuality. This is because Christianity, like all other religions and cultures, is subject to different interpretations.

These differences cannot be settled by human beings. The Supreme Court of religion is God. It is therefore wrong to pass legislation based on one interpretation of one religion’s values and impose them on others. This takes away the rights of non-believers or people of different religious interpretation.

In both biblical teachings and in evolutionary science, procreation is the engine of life, another point made by the anti-homosexual group. Therefore, I appreciate why many Ugandan societies have traditionally been hostile to homosexuality. The existence of species depends on procreation.

Every evolutionary biologist will tell you that species that had high survival abilities but poor reproductive capacity became extinct. So it is reproduction that keeps us replenished.

But this also poses a vital evolutionary puzzle. If homosexuality threatens life, evolution would have biologically, socially and psychologically eliminated it. Homosexuals would cause their own extinction since they would be unable to pass on their gene.

Research shows that every human society has homosexuals to the tune of 5% to 10% of the population. Homosexuality is also found in 537 species of vertebrate mammals.

And since many oppose homosexuality because it undermines procreation, a legitimate point-oh yes.

But there are many heterosexual couples who choose not to have children. The Pope and the entire hierarchy of the Catholic Church is celibate. There are many women who are sterile and men who are impotent. There are millions of birth control programmes in the world. All this has not caused the extinction of humanity.

So homosexuality is as old as life. From ancient Greece to the Roman Empire, homosexuality has been recurrent. How can something that threatens life survive for this long?

The great Greek thinker, Aristotle, also thought that it evolved to check over- population. Modern evolutionary psychologists and biologists have developed several theories to explain it. But the debate and research continues. The good news is that there are enough heterosexuals who want to have children to sustain life.

c. Assessment of Gay Human Rights and Way Forward.

Today, with all the economic, social and political crises facing Uganda, homosexuals present a convenient group to point fingers at as the “biggest threat” or the “real problem” to society.

The re-criminalisation of homosexuality is meant to distract the attention of Ugandans from the real issues that harm us. It conveniently diverts the attention of the millions of Ugandans who have been walking the streets for years with their college certificates and no jobs on offer.

Homosexuals have nothing to do with the hundreds of thousands of families that sleep without a meal or the thousands of children who die unnecessarily every day from preventable or treatable diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, measles, pneumonia, etc.

Homosexuals are not the ones responsible for the lack of drugs and supplies at primary health care centres.

Social Implications;

You may think that this bill targets only homosexual individuals. However, homosexuality is defined in such a broad fashion as to include “touching another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.” This is a provision highly prone to abuse and puts all citizens (both hetero and homosexuals) at great risk. Such a provision would make it very easy for a person to witch-hunt or bring false accusations against their enemies simply to “destroy” their reputations and cause scandal.

Moreover, the bill imposes a stiff fine and term of imprisonment for up to three years for any person in authority over a homosexual who fails to report the offender within 24 hours of acquiring such knowledge.

Hence the bill requires family members to “spy” on one another. This provision obviously does not strengthen the family unit in the manner that Hon. Bahati claims his bill wants to do, but rather promotes the breaking up of the family.

This provision further threatens relationships beyond family members. What do I mean? If a gay person talks to his priest or his doctor in confidence, seeking advice, the bill requires that such person breaches their trust and confidentiality with the gay individual and immediately hands them over to the police within 24 hours. Failure to do so draws the risk of arrest to themselves.

Or a mother who is trying to come to terms with her child’s sexual orientation may be dragged to police cells for not turning in her child to the authorities. The same fate would befall teachers, priests, local councilors, counselors, doctors, landlords, elders, employers, MPs, lawyers, etc.

Furthermore, if your job is in any way related to human rights activism, advocacy, education and training, research, capacity building, and related issues this bill should be a cause for serious alarm.

In a very undemocratic and unconstitutional fashion, the bill seeks to silence human rights activists, academics, students, donors and non-governmental organizations. If passed into law it will stifle the space of civil society.

The bill also undermines the pivotal role of the media to report freely on any issue. The point I am trying to make is that we are all potential victims of this draconian bill.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us many years ago, “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights instructs us: “All Human Beings are Born Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights.”

The Legal Implications of the Bill;

The Anti-Homosexuality bill has a total of 18 clauses. 12 of these 18 clauses (i.e., 67%) are not new at all as they simply replicate what we already have on our law books.

So the first point I want to highlight is that Parliament has been given a bill two-thirds of whose content duplicates existing laws.

So, let us examine the content of the remaining 6 clauses that introduce new legal provisions.

Clauses 6 provides for the recognition of the right to privacy and confidentiality for the victim of homosexual assaults. This is a procedural issue that no one can dispute and it can easily be inserted in the Penal Code provisions that criminalize rape and aggravated defilement.

Nevertheless, the remaining 5 clauses are extremely problematic from a legal point of view. They violate Uganda’s constitution and many other regional and international instruments that Uganda has ratified.

The interpretation section (Clause 1) replicates several definitions that are provided for elsewhere. Its novel provisions lie in the attempt to define homosexuality and its related activities. I have already alluded to the potential danger that Ugandans face in the threatening and broad fashion that the bill defines a “homosexual act.”

Clause 13 which attempts to outlaw the “Promotion of Homosexuality” is very problematic as it introduces widespread censorship and undermines fundamental freedoms such as the rights to free speech, expression, association and assembly.

Under this provision an unscrupulous person aspiring to unseat a member of parliament can easily send the incumbent MP unsolicited material via e-mail or text messaging, implicating the latter as one “promoting homosexuality.” After being framed in that way, it will be very difficult for the victim to shake free of the “stigma.”

Secondly, by criminalizing the “funding and sponsoring of homosexuality and related activities,” the bill deals a major blow to Uganda’s public health policies and efforts.

Take for example, the Most At Risk Populations’ Initiative (MARPI) introduced by the Ministry of Health in 2008, which targets specific populations in a comprehensive manner to curb the HIV/AIDS scourge.

If this bill becomes law, health practitioners as well as those that have put money into this exemplary initiative will automatically be liable to imprisonment for seven years!

The clause further undermines civil society activities by threatening the fundamental rights of NGOs and the use of intimidating tactics to shackle their directors and managers.

Clause 14 introduces the crime of “Failure to Disclose the Offence” of homosexuality. As I have noted above, under this provision any person in authority is obliged to report a homosexual to the relevant authorities within 24 hours of acquiring such knowledge.

Not only does this infringe on the right to privacy but it is practically unenforceable. It dangerously opens up room for potential abuse, blackmail, witch-hunting, etc. Do we really want to move sexual acts between consenting adults into the public realm?

Clause 16 relates to extra-territorial jurisdiction, and basically confers authority on Ugandan law enforcers to arrest and charge a Ugandan citizen or permanent resident who engages in homosexual activities outside the borders of Uganda. This law enforcement model is normally used in international crimes such as money laundering, terrorism, etc. The Ugandan Penal Code already provides for crimes that call for extra-territoriality. All these touch on the security of the state e.g., treason, terrorism and war mongering (see S.4 of the PCA).

Recommendation and Conclusion:

A particular problem with Ugandan society is its low levels of openness. As evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller has written, openness to experience implies curiosity, novelty seeking, broad-mindedness, interest in culture, ideas and aesthetics.

Our society exhibits low levels of openness partly because of the influence of tradition.But as our society modernises and urbanises, a new cultural sophistication is consolidating.

For example, in the current debate on Bahati’s bill, the most virulent anti-gay crusaders are largely (although not entirely) from rural areas, born in peasant families, are less travelled and are not widely read. So they lack exposure to diversity. The opposite applies to most of the people who are tolerant of gays.

It is easy to tell open-minded people; they tend to seek complexity and novelty, they readily accept innovations and changes – and as Miller writes, they prefer grand new visions to mundane, predictable ruts.

People who are low on openness tend to seek simplicity and predictability; they resist change and respect tradition. They are often more conservative, close-minded, conventional and authoritarian.

They follow the established cults as did their grand parents. Even in heterosexual relationships, they reject creative acts that increase intimacy. In the name of tradition, they support female genital mutilation, practice polygamy, beat their wives and want to decide for their children.

Sex is a very important element in our lives that cannot be limited to simplistic reasoning. It would be very dangerous for the sate to visit people’s bedrooms at night to monitor whether sex is practised through the legalised style. For example, should the government investigate whether couple X, practise oral sex or couple Y, masturbates. If this was to be done then, it would put us on a slippery sex satisfaction slope.

The Ugandan education system adds to the problem. At home, children are taught to obey their parents without question. In school, Students are taught to respect every opinion in a book or from the teacher instead of questioning it.

I belong to a community of cattle keepers, whose daily food rations are milk, yoghurt and meat with a few supplements from our neighbouring agricultural based communities. It was a taboo to eat fish, grasshoppers and chicken in my past cultural norms, reason being that if you ate them your cows will die, very archaic, since cows are seen as a source of pride and measure of wealth, I wonder what my Hindu friend, Alok, in India would say about me.

Since I have travelled around the world and I have been confronted with many challenging cultures, I have learnt how narrow minded how some of my cultural beliefs are.

I have been served snails and lizards in Nigeria, Rats in Zambia, Pig brains in Hungary, and I would not be surprised if I were to be served dog meat in South Korea. Any peasant from my community would tell you how primitive these people are who eat these foods, many would not come to terms with me, to cope requires open mindness.

Finally, while chatting with a senior legislator back in Uganda, actually the one who proposed this bill, he said, “he would not wish his son to marry my son, and then he is invited for the wedding”, dear Hon. Friend, I wish you the best, but it is always better to prepare for the worst as well.

Four decades back, it was scandalous for women to wear mini skirts and trousers, when it happened there was an outcry from male chauvinists that our culture was going to the dogs, but now its okay and they look pretty in the outfit.

When black people demanded equal rights, white people spoke of an apocalypse, read the New York Times of July 5, 1950, when Jack Johnson (black) knocked out Jim Jeffries (white), in the World boxing title challenge. Cultural change is difficult but inevitable.

The biggest threat is war, and we should instead see all the efforts of the anti-homosexual groups channelled to campaigns against nuclear arms proliferation, the other danger is climate change caused by human activity through industrial expansion and human pressure.

The challenging problems in Uganda are corruption that has killed health care systems and other social amenities, shortage of social housing, abusive partners who engage in domestic violence whether physical, sexual or emotional, sexual predators that breach the trust placed in them as fathers, teachers, religious leaders, doctors, uncles and sexually exploit young girls and boys, rapists and child molesters who pounce on unsuspecting family members, lack of social education finance support structures.

I am aware that I am swimming against the tide presenting on this topic. But I feel strongly that keeping silent in the face of injustice, especially one promoted through culture, is a worse option to the advancement of justice for mankind.

I understand that well intentioned people like these anti gay promoters, can promote extreme injustices because of the influence of culture and tradition.

Uganda needs courageous people to challenge injustices against homosexuals perpetuated through culture and religion.

I present this paper in honour of those white people, the abolitionists, who, against the ridicule and harassment of their peers and at great personal risk opposed slavery and discrimination against black people.

It pains me that black people who have been victims of discrimination due to cultural stereotyping are the ones most virulently hostile to homosexuals. The chains of culture can be tough.

Together we can create change, like the words of Margaret Meade, “Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world, indeed it’s the only thing that ever has”

Thank You.

XGW Digest: August 8, 2015

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 10:00:26 +0000

-A Senegalese journalist is jailed for ‘acts of homosexuality.’

-An Iowa couple raises funds to place anti-gay messages on billboards.

-A homophobic man makes the mistake of assaulting gay West Point alumni.

-The American Foundation for Equal Rights announces its closure.

-The UN removes LGBT rights from its latest agreement on development goals.

-The Republican National Committee votes down two anti-gay resolutions.

-A district judge overturns Nebraska’s ban on foster parenting by same-sex couples.

-Ohio Gov. John Kasich exhorts his fellow Republicans to accept marriage equality.

-Two anti-gay Michigan legislators are caught having an affair.

XGW Digest: August 1, 2015

Sat, 01 Aug 2015 10:00:22 +0000

-A Lutheran bishop comes out of the closet.

-Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta rejects President Obama’s call for gay rights protections.

-An ‘ex-gay’ politician runs for governor in Missouri.

-The Boy Scouts officially lift their ban on gay adult scout leaders.

-Pride Jamaica plans the country’s first gay pride celebration.

-A world champion power lifter comes out as transgender.

-Omar Sharif Jr. talks about life as a gay man in an Arabic television interview.

-A religious extremist stabs six people at Jerusalem Pride.

-An ‘ex-lesbian’ asks for funding to help her become straight.

-An Israeli Knesset member comes out of the closet.

XGW Digest: July 25, 2015

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 10:00:52 +0000

-Thomas Roberts becomes the first openly gay man to anchor a network news program.

-The government of Taiwan begins drafting a same-sex partnership law.

-A new petition may force the Finnish parliament to reconsider its marriage equality law.

-An anti-gay archbishop is accused of sexual harassment.

-Support for marriage equality remains stable even as more disapprove of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

-A transgender woman is murdered in Florida.

-The Polish Parliament passes a transgender recognition bill.

-A gay Ukrainian couple holds hands and sits together in public to gauge reactions.

-The Texas Supreme Court deals a blow to Houston’s LGBT rights ordinance.

So tell me, why are you single?

Cobus Fourie — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:09:00 +0000

“So tell me, why are you single?” I pause. The image of this ingrained in my mind while I'm staring at it on BlackBerry Messenger. Anyone accustomed to the concept of jamais vu would know instinctively that words on a screen can be as meaningless as its encoded semantic presentation.

The sender of this loaded question is a very good-looking young professional. Well, by young I am of course referring to my age of reference. Being in the winter of your twenties renders an early thirty-something as sorta young. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

I wonder why anyone would ask such a seemingly trite question. I would never ask someone that. At the base it is underscored by a host of presuppositions. Call me a militant homosexual activist (wait, I've already been called that by the Levitican Lobby) but several very flawed assumptions and societal constructs create a loaded question rendered almost impossible to answer other than to indict yourself with some social stigma and pariah status. So, no, I do not do things because "one has to" or because "society expects it" -- I rebuke such notions like the militant feminist I was recently called.

So I ask him, “what do you mean with that question”, not even pretending to be flabbergasted. He retorts: you are young, you are good-looking, you are successful and accomplished at your job and a visible and seemingly successful activist (I won't own up to all of that though). So I reply with a simple “flattery will get you everywhere”. He laughs. Emoticons aplenty.

I did not know that being seemingly accomplished afforded one perpetual marital bliss though. Had I known that I would have strung them in by now. I tell him that I've had mostly meaningless relationships and that in the gay community a life of a relationship is measured in something akin to dog years. He thinks I'm pretty humourous by now. All I've been was dead honest.

Immediately I think of Bridget Jones' Diary (the movie) and how Bridget shyly (and wryly) says that singletons are covered in scales. Also immediately the image of the angstful dream of being mauled by Alsatians comes to mind. Mind you, I recently had to protect myself against escaped suburban dogs while jogging at night. The eaten-by-Alsatians theme seems universal. Lest I break out in All By Myself by Celine Dion and diarise how much I drink and smoke (none of each) and how much I weigh (godforbid) I shall end this juxtaposition right here.

I have seen the cutest couples on Facebook, and despite the notion that gay relationships are as fleeting as the life of a housefly there's evidence that many relationships do not conform to this stereotype. My (maternal) uncle and his partner have been together for 25 years more or less, ever since I could remember. So I tell myself that there's hope. It is not always easy to harbour such a positive view on the subject as I normally revert to my sardonic jadedness. I am very happy in my own skin for all those who are wondering.

Back to the good-looking young professional. In the meantime I learn that he is in a relationship (he didn't think it necessary to tell me). His relationship is as dysfunctional as it probably gets (and I am grilled on why I am single, pot kettle black...) And that he's kind of desperate and in a very miserable state of mind. If this is how the average relationship looks I'm quite content sans the heartache. I eventually wean myself from him but that loaded question mulls in my mind.

I keep on wondering what it is that makes me less than relationship material. Is it because I can relate to most of Sarah Britten's writings? Apparently gay men ought not relate to the writings of honest and accomplished contemporary women. Apparently most men are sex obsessed to the point where I couldn't hide my incredulity anymore. “Say what, you do it how many times a week? You must be kidding me!”

Of course I too went through a rather promiscuous phase. I gathered a lot from that. I thought chasing after one meaningless fling to another that I would somehow find love. I didn't. All I found was a lonely emptiness and an equally empty gratification.

I might for all intents and purposes not be relationship material after all. I have too much baggage, a mind too free to be tied down. I might be too comfortable in my own skin and I might be too cynical and obstinate.

As I'm nearing 30 (shock, horror) it slowly dawns on me that I would
get asked this question more frequently in future. In my defence, I could always be the love-interest-to-be one step ahead and ask the question before I get asked. Then again, I am not a little a creature drowned in inane assumptions but desperate times call for desperate measures. Jamais vu might as well turn into déjà vu. “So pray tell, why are you single?”

Live Your Dream!

Christina Engela — Sun, 10 May 2015 01:17:00 +0000

I think we all start off hoping to start changing into that mythical supermodel with the long thin legs, that impossible Barbie waistline and cleavage we always wanted as soon as we embark on HRT... Meanwhile, it doesn't happen for everyone quite the way we hope it will, and certainly not overnight, if at all. I think it's an unrealistic expectation we all have.

We want the exterior to match the interior. We feel like beautiful people on the inside, and we want the outside to reflect that image we have been taught from an early age, a woman ought to be.

"I don't think my face is feminine enough". "I don't think I pass". "I look like a dude in a dress"... These are some of the many, many self-critical comments I've heard from many of my sisters over the years. Some of them I've heard from my own lips.

Many people tell me I'm beautiful. These days it's not so much that I believe them, eventually - it's more that it doesn't really matter to me what other people think of my looks.

I still think my jaw looks a little square in certain lighting, I still cringe at recent pictures that remind me of the 'old me'. I delete a lot of selfies! My voice still gets me called 'sir' on the phone or at the drive-through.

It doesn't really bother me anymore. Do you know why?

Because no matter what people see about me, no matter how they may judge me, I am more than this. There are cis-women with deeper voices than mine. Their are cis-men with higher voices than mine. And this is only the beginning. Let me explain:

Back when I was still contemplating my journey, I was a 92kg dude who was in the Army, restored VW Beetles as a hobby and used to impress my friends by lifting a whole Beetle engine off the garage floor onto a workbench. I think you get the idea. I worried then that I wouldn't pass as a woman, that I wouldn't be pretty enough or feminine enough to please the world.

Then one day, while I was in Cape Town, I sat in a shopping mall watching all the people go by...

I noticed there were people of all shapes and sizes. Varying degrees of masculine and feminine in appearance and build. Big ones, little ones, thin ones, fat ones, the good, the bad and the ugly. I began to compare myself to them in various different ways.

Then I realized that no matter what we look like on the outside, that appearance is only on the outside. I began to realize how shallow society's image of beauty truly is. A beautiful appearance could be a mask for a horrible person, and a beautiful person could be shining through a facade the world devalued because it didn't measure up to its shallow and unrealistic expectations, with a plethora of permutations between.

I realized that no matter what people think of me from the outside, what really mattered - what really ought to matter to ME - was how I knew myself as a person, and that as long as I allowed myself to be the person I knew I was inside, to allow that person to shine through, it wouldn't matter what the rest of the world thought of me. This was part of my first awakening realization.

I knew I would never be a dainty, petite girl able to fit into size 5 shoes, or to wear size 8 skinny jeans. I would always be a near-6 foot Amazon with a large build. But I would be strong, and confident, and regardless of what my face would look like, or what my voice sounded like, or what people around me thought of me, or how people judged me, I would be beautiful.

It's a mind-shift. No matter how we think the world sees us as trans-women, we are still prettier, more feminine, more compassionate, more loving, better friends, better lovers, better companions, better workers, better colleagues - than a lot of people out there who take pleasure in judging us. You see, other people tend to forget while they are judging us - for whatever reasons - that they aren't perfect either.

They tend to forget that while they are judging us for dealing with and confronting our own issues, they may well be avoiding their own.

Yes, I walked the MTF path, and while this letter is addressed mainly to people today walking the same MTF path I walked, it is also addressed to our FTM brothers.

Don't judge yourself, leave that to the people who like to judge others. You already have enough work on your shoulders just by transitioning, just by facing their frowning disapproval or critical remarks or hysterical apprehension. It's won't help you to take on their work too! Don't project their negativity onto yourself as well!

Once you realize this, you won't feel under so much pressure anymore.

If people who criticize you for your appearance and for the way you fight to survive aren't the ones who love you, who shelter you, who keep you warm at night, or dry your tears away, what do their opinions matter?

Just by taking these steps to be yourself, to be honestly and authentically YOU - you are already a much braver and stronger person than many of those who may criticize or judge you. People like us walk boldly where angels fear to tread.

You cannot be transgender and not become transformed into a strong person. The road is too

Live your dream.

The Memo

Christina Engela — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 04:02:00 +0000

An article by a militant fundamentalist "Christian" group misleadingly called "Freedom Of Religion SA", entitled "Christian Leaders Unite to Protect Religious Freedom in SA" states: "the growing number of cases being opened up against Christians, and lost by them, for trying to live out their beliefs, clearly indicating that religious freedom is already being lost in South Africa."

Apparently this group, which misleadingly claims to be "for religious freedom in South Africa" is advocating that forcing Christians to share public spaces with people of other faiths, to do business with them, to study with them, and denying Christians the power to dominate society and to persecute people is "a threat to religious freedom and the autonomy of the Church in South Africa"? Interesting how that works. I wonder why I never got the memo?

Yes folks, this is the new terrorism in South Africa - when groups of people get together to claim to represent the actual opposite of what they stand for, and blame the victims of their abuses for being part of fictitious conspiracies to rob them of their religious freedom.

Well, actually it's not that new. It's been on the horizon in the USA for years - and it's been here a while too. You might just not have noticed, or perhaps you'd forgotten. But crying 'wolf' is hardly a new thing.

To start with, first look at the article on the FOR SA site called "What is the “Schools Case” about, and how can Christians help?" There, the group stupidly argues that removal of Christian indoctrination from SA public schools is a violation of freedom of religion - in complete disregard of the other side of the story - the children (and parents, and staff) at public schools who are NOT Christians - AND completely ignoring the actual purpose of schools, which is EDUCATION, not indoctrination.

While you're at it, look at the article about "Watchmen on the Walls" which gives right-wing homophobic hate-pastor Errol Naidoo (also of the Family Policy Institute) a podium to wag his little finger and rant about how persecuted the Christian business community is for exercising their religious freedom to shame, offend and persecute people they don't want to do business with - for religious reasons, of course.

The entire thing is a hair-brained, limp-noodled, air-headed argument that the same Constitution which grants protection to everyone in South Africa, should be wavered solely in cases where Christians indulge their self-righteous need to discriminate against anyone else "on religious grounds"- and er, also because they claim SA is a "majority Christian nation".

So, if you're not a Christian, what does that mean? In their view, that means "tough luck". The irony is that a decade ago these people were calling the fight for equality by the LGBT community "asking for "special rights". But what's the point of trying to explain that to them? Logic is lost on fanatics.

It's not bad enough that in government departments we have religious loonies who abuse the loopholes in the Constitution that allow people to decline to deliver the services their departments are mandated to deliver to the public, based on how they choose to interpret their religious scriptures - or that the government departments seldom bother to rectify the injustice without being shamed in the press or being threatened with court action. Oh no, now the wingnuts are putting on a song and dance number, with lights, music and theater, about how 'persecuted' their religion is in South Africa - and that essentially, South Africa is a "Christian country" and that the only religion that should be allowed to dominate in public, in the media, in business, in schools (public and private), the workplace, and in government - is theirs.

Any other alternatives, including secularism (which means broadly, that no religion shall dominate, take preference over or be subjected by another), is simply "not religious freedom". It's not the first time I've seen lunatics argue this way - that not being allowed to dominate or persecute or force your religion on other people is "persecution" - and I'm sure it won't be the last.

The problem comes in when people bring up that rather inconvenient little piece of paper called "the South African Constitution", which grants freedom of religion to everyone - but, perhaps most importantly also includes freedom from religion for those who do not like other people's beliefs rammed down their throats in a public library, or in a public school, or for instance, in a public newspaper, a general radio station, or on a bus to Cape Town.

The shameful thing about South Africa is that we have a Constitution that so few people understand, adhere to or appreciate. And you know what they say about that - you don't know what you've got, till it's gone.

Another complication that is frequently overlooked, is the detail that there is more than one kind of Christianity. There are benevolent and compassionate Christians, who adopt a live and let live attitude, who despite having their own feelings on various subjects regarded as 'sinful', do not force their beliefs on others - and then there are violent, militant and hateful people out there who would like to have all avenues of escape blocked, so that all 'unbelievers' have no alternative but to convert to their fanatical version of the faith.

As we've seen in places like Uganda, there are some who would also like nothing better than to round up people they don't like - who "god" apparently shares their hatred of - and to have them killed.

I will leave it to you to read the article, and then you can decide for yourself, from which side of this coin these people at "For SA" - have crawled off.

The meeting on Thursday, 29 May 2014, was fronted by "some of the most influential Christian leaders from around the country" - including people like Michael Cassidy, Moss Ntlha and Andrew Selley, was advertised on Gateway News as a “crucial meeting” for church and Christian ministry leaders."

Funny how this claim of 'influence' is made, despite almost nobody hearing anything about Cassidy and Ntla for the past decade, since they scuttled off into the shadows after losing the case against marriage equality in 2005. In fact, I thought Cassidy had already shuffled off his mortal coil by now - guess I was wrong. It seems though, that old hate doesn't die so easily.

Those of you who know anything about the now almost forgotten "War For Marriage" in South Africa back in the mid 2000's, will recognize Moss Ntla and Michael Cassidy as two religious-right extremists who rubbed elbows and fronted groups like SACSA and NIRSA, which openly fought against marriage equality and human rights for LGBT people - and at the time described it, very chillingly, and deliberately, as a "War".

This sort of Christian is not the sort of person we visualize when we think of Christianity as a faith preached by a loving shepherd who turned the other cheek, gave selflessly and sacrificed everything for others. No, these are the sort of people one thinks about when one hears about ISIS, 911 and lunatics walking into shopping malls with guns, looking for people they have never met, but who match the description of 'evils' that must be destroyed for the good of the faith. These are the sort of people who preach imaginary threats, who spread fear and repeat misinformation based upon willful ignorance, and who paint misdeeds and injustices committed by their fellows in the name of their 'religious convictions' as heroic - and their perpetrators as martyrs. They don't preach forgiveness, love or tolerance, or in fact, anything remotely Jesus-like - they preach war, persecution, prejudice, oppression, separation and "autonomy".

Autonomy from WHAT?

As witnessed by this incredibly surreal and threatening message: "As stated by Michael Cassidy during his video message, “Christianity is by far the majority religion of South Africa according to census statistics. The State must not think it can tread lightly on Christian conviction and belief, and tell us what we may believe, how we should live or raise our children… We are saying that we are not prepared to accept this interference. We are going to stand our ground, whatever the price or cost of that may be.”" - it seems Cassidy and his cohort of religious fanatics seem very much intent on forcing "Christian values" upon everyone in South Africa, Christians and non-Christians alike - even if they have to lie, cheat and manufacture or distort statistics, and lean on politicians like the Godfather, to do it.

People who talk like this don't mean the Christian faith should be autonomous from government interference, even if that is what they seem to be saying. No, they mean that the "church" - they - should be autonomous and exempt from having to answer to anyone here on earth - and most especially to their victims - for their actions.

Tiny political parties such as the ACDP and CDA, which are little more than political fronts for madly-frothing-at-the-mouth Christian "jihadists", also make the same hair-brained and statistically invalid claims now and then about South Africa being "majority Christian" - and yet have repeatedly failed miserably at the election polls since 1996. Why?

Because these people are not Christians. They are fanatic extremists who represent the opposite of Christ, who are working to hijack the name, the identity and control of the religion, and to pervert it into a philosophy of power, domination, and self-entitlement.

Because there is a difference between a) making an 'x' in a block on a survey form that says "Christian" because to them that's just a cultural thing - and b) what you actually believe, how you identify, how you live - and how you treat other people. Because people don't like the idea of handing power to religious zealots who jump up and down and get hysterical about other people enjoying the same rights as them, that's why.

The Department of Justice Pamphlet "Harmful Religious Practice Is A Crime" - An Analysis

Christina Engela — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 03:45:00 +0000

The Department of Justice Pamphlet "Harmful Religious Practice Is A Crime" - An Analysis.

Page one, panel 1(Right):

"Practise your religion or belief in a way that builds you."

Title: "Harmful Religious Practice Is A Crime"

Page 2, panel 1 (Left):

"Harmful Religious Practices:

1) Many people, in particularly children are hurt or killed as a result of some form of practise which are perceived as part of a religion."

This statement is in and of itself taken as a standalone statement, correct. However, this is only true in the sense of the large number of people in rural South Africa who are accused of witchcraft and who are either forced to flee their villages for fear of violence directed at them by their neighbors and even their families who frequently use Christian doctrine as an excuse to "not suffer a witch to live". Many are killed each year due to this harmful practise, although the victims themselves typically do not self-identify as witches or practise witchcraft. Frequently the true motives indicate that this is a convenient way to obtain property or to exact revenge on the victims for some personal matter.

"2) These incidents often happen in schools or among young people."

This is of course a swipe taken at the recent allegations of "satanism" in schools - or incidents which have been labeled "satanism" by those either ignorant of what Satanism is as a religion, or opposed to the existence of Satanism as a religion, or both. The incidents referred to as occurring in schools are not religious Satanism at all, but the actions of "legend trippers" influenced by the ORC/SAPS and similar Christian ministries conducting spiritual warfare in schools by enforcing the notion that "Satanism" (and the acts they wrongfully associate with Satanism) will give the impoverished and ignorant children seeking a way out of their circumstances the power over others to do so.

The pamphlet conveniently omits to mention the fact that in most state schools, a Christian doctrine and ethos replete with rituals and ceremonies is forced upon all students, regardless of their own religious affiliations or beliefs, coupled with a varying degree of intimidation upon those who would dare deviate from the set Christian norm as they are entitled to under the Constitution. Thus, Christian doctrine and indoctrination is touted as being acceptable in pubic schools and not considered "incidents of abuse", while criminal acts not truly associated with other religious or spiritual paths are wilfully linked to these by hearsay from the media and self-proclaimed "occult experts" who think wearing black or losing concentration in class makes people "Satanists".

"3) These incidents are often regarded as practices protected by "freedom of religion"."

Again, the incidents used to paint certain religions as "dangerous" or "criminal" by the Christian warfare ministry within the SAPS (Occult Related Crime unit) which are not linked to the real religions being literally 'demonized' by them, are used as a pretext to outlaw identification with these religions - in short, making it difficult for children (or even parents of children in such schools) to identify publicly with their spiritual beliefs for fear of intimidation or unwelcome attention from the SAPS based on suspicion of criminal activity solely for being open about their religious affiliations. This is a violation of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, to which this pamphlet refers, and no amount of propaganda and outright lies will obscure that fact.

"What the Constitution/Law Says About Religion:

1) Everyone has the right to freedom of religion or belief".

On its own, this mention seems innocent enough - but viewed as part of the whole, the intent can be viewed as nothing other than sinister. Yes, everyone ideally is allowed to affiliate with any religion they wish to - if they are willing to suffer the consequences. What consequences in the New SA? Aren't Pagans and Satanists and occultists safe from discrimination on the grounds of religion? No, they aren't.

People are still treated like criminals or potential criminals based upon their religious affiliations or even perceived religious affiliations. People are evicted from their homes and business premises, fired from their jobs and prevented from enrolling in schools etc based upon their religious affiliations. People are murdered based upon suspicions of their religious practices formed by misinformation and ignorance of what their perceived religions and practices really ARE. The Press Ombudsman categorically refuses to accept ANY complaints by Pagans about slander in the media for example, thus giving license to abusers to abuse people based upon their religious affiliations.

Ironically, in the worst betrayal of a public office holder in a body intended to protect the public, the ORC commanding officer Col Attie Lamprecht (a Christian evangelicalist pastor himself) was quoted in the media several years ago as saying that "Satanism is not a crime, but it is a belief system that leads to crime." That viewpoint alone can be used to sum up the core message of this pamphlet.

Everyone has the right to believe whatever religion they wish - but if they dare to identify with a religion that is not Christian, then they are potential criminals to be suspected of killing cats and fiddling with kids or working evil magic against their Christian neighbors. This is propaganda at its worst, creating a false and unfair stereotype based upon lies and religious prejudice.

"2) This right can be limited if it interferes with the rights of others."

This should have continued "...except of course if it is Christian doctrine being used to interfere with the rights of Pagans, Satanists and occultists, because naturally, Christians are the "good guy cops" and the rest are just criminals using religious freedom clauses that don't belong in the Constitution and don't really apply to them anyway because they are conducting 'harmful practices'."

Oddly enough, no cases of abuse are known to have been logged based upon complaints of Christian doctrine being forced upon children from occult religions in PUBLIC state-funded schools, or cases of bullying based upon religious oppression.

Christian pastors posing as policemen and "deliverance ministries" receive praise for their work in 'rescuing people from Satanism" but nobody seems to question their self-proclaimed status as "occult experts", or their volumes of statements to their followers in church, the media - or in government - which are filled with exaggerations, lies and fabrications and intended to destroy those who choose to follow religious belief systems other than theirs.

This point is being used as a convenient excuse to limit the rights to religious freedom being exercised by law-abiding citizens on the misunderstanding of what their religions truly are about and what they entail. Instead, they have fabricated a lie and perpetuate it to the public as if it were fact, lending them the appearance of just crusaders against "crime".

Except they aren't just, and it isn't criminals they are persecuting - it is people who exercise their right to not be Christians whom they scapegoat for the acts of criminals who fullfill their own self-fullfilling legend-tripping prophecies.

"3) Participation in religious activities MUST NOT BE harmful to others or even to yourself."

Oddly enough, when it comes to the harmful activities (condemned and even illegal in many first-world countries around the world) conducted by so-called "ex-gay ministries", which are Christian (and even Jewish) organizations founded upon interpretations of religious doctrine intended to coerce LGBT people to deny their sexual orientations or gender identities in the name of their religious doctrines, no actions are taken against these bodies. This includes cases where people have been abducted into "boot camps" by their families, or who have voluntarily entered into such facilities in vain attempts to change their sexual orientation in order to satisfy religious prejudices. Instead, in South Africa they stand protected under the "freedom of religion" clauses in the Constitution and still peddle their snake-oil and venom via social media and via Christian networks. Yet the harm they inflict on their victims is measurable and recognized around the world - hence why these practices and those who advocate them, have been outlawed there.

However, in the section stating "or even to yourself" the culpability and the responsibility of an adult is undermined when it comes to choosing to be a part of a religion other than that of the mainstream. This is similar to the Muslim extremist view that anyone choosing to convert away from Islam "must be insane", viewing alternatives to the set religion as being a) inherently harmful and b) rejection of their own "one true way".

Conveniently however, identifying with other religions which embrace the wholeness of the individual, or which go contrary to the prevailing Christianist ethos of supplication, conformity and obedience to the doctrine - are falsely portrayed as 'harmful to others', or even to the individual identifying with them - and often to the point of hysteria.

"4) Any form of religious practice or belief which seeks to hurt, harm, destroy another will be punishable in terms of the law."

Despite the most admirable intent of this statement, it seems that Abrahamic religions are exempt from this statement in general.

"Exorcisms" are still conducted in cult-like church settings, with sickly victims (frequently children) suffering abuses and even dying from these abuses based upon religious ignorance about illnesses like epilepsy being perceived as "demonic possession". It seems these practices continue unabated, while the attention of the Law (specifically the ORC) remains focused upon the "Satanist conspiracy" plotting in the bushes behind every house, or seeking to place subliminal messages in music.

"5) Using religious practice or belief cannot be an excuse."

In an ideal situation, this should be the case. However, this situation is not ideal. In this situation, it is the adherents of one religion who dominate the SAPS and its ORC unit, and likely the Dept of Justice as well (since it has become the instrument for delivering this misinformed and biased document) and who are abusing their authority and state power and resources to oppress the adherents of other religions which it deems unacceptable based on upbringing and prejudice exacerbated by unfounded lies, paranoia and fearfulness.

Page 2, panel 2 (Center):

"Using religion or belief is not an excuse when you are arrested for committing a crime!"

This should be true, but is it? In South Africa people are arrested for committing crimes regardless of the motives behind the crimes... however, the Media - and more frequently, representatives of the Police - make uninformed and ignorant statements linking these crimes to legitimate religions and belief systems which have nothing to do with the commission of criminal acts or the criminals in question and whose ethos and practices completely contradict what these "experts" claim they do.

That aside, once again South African society is troubled by the enforcement of double standards. It is for example perfectly acceptable for the representatives of State bodies to condemn criminals in the media and in public platforms based upon their religions - except when these religions are shared by those doing the condemning. It has become acceptable to confuse the public by repeating ad infinitum the lie that the acts of legend trippers (who believe their lies and adopt them as their own) represent the beliefs of minority religions and belief systems which are being misrepresented by them. It has become acceptable to reinforce the lie that the legend trippers created by their misinformation propaganda and real occultists are one and the same and represent a significant criminal threat to the public - and that "the public" is a group which does not include them.

Page 2, panel 3 (Right):

"Signs that may show that someone is being influenced by a harmful or dangerous belief or practice:"

It is likely that the description of a dangerous or harmful practice may be possible, given the definitions in the statues of Law - but how does one quantify what constitutes a "harmful or dangerous belief "? Is freedom of conscience or expression not part of the Constitution, regardless of what that belief is? If one cannot be tried (theoretically, at least for now) for holding a belief - ANY belief, then why is it the focus of the Department of Justice and the SA Police what may constitute a "harmful or dangerous belief"? Are we a police state? If not and if beliefs are not illegal, then the DOJ and SAPS are over-stepping their boundaries and acting outside the law and in an unconstitutional manner.

"Your friend or classmate develops a new or odd way of behaving;"

Since this document is aimed at children or teenagers, and teenage development is perpetually in a state of change, this patently stupid statement is likely to result in more than a few witch-hunts in any school environment.

"becomes unusually aggressive, very quiet or secretive;"

Bravo. The drafter has just described every 'hormonal' teenager on Earth, and in fact a natural series of personality development of every individual in this vague and irresponsible statement.

"loses concentration or suddenly does poorly at school despite the fact that he or she was once a brilliant learner;"

It is likely that kids who develop learning problems, problems at home or other emotional difficulties typical of teenage development or who have learning disabilities will have an interesting time persuading over-zealous teachers or classmates that they are not "influenced by a harmful or dangerous belief or practice". This point is over-simplified and generalized and irresponsible.

"insists on wearing black [in bold] clothes, dyes her hair black and/or regularly wears black make-up;"

Here we find the proof that the source for this fallacious document is the SAPS website where "warning signs" of "involvement with the occult" are displayed, despite the fact that the entire basis for the list is nothing more than hysterical nonsense peddled by short-sighted and ignorant individuals pushing their own personal views into the policy of a government department intended to serve the public trust and not to conduct, as it has been, an ongoing witch hunt.

Wearing of black clothing, make-up or hair is not a sign of occult involvement, "satanism" or "harmful beliefs or practice" - it is a fashion statement popular in particular with teenagers, people who identify with Gothic or Emo subculture. Why are people whose natural hair-color is black not suspected of "being influenced by harmful beliefs or practices"? Why are they not being encouraged to change their hair color if they actually believed that this nonsense were indeed true? This point is entirely facetious and of as much factual worth as believing that the Earth is flat simply because things do not fall off it.

"talks about being in touch with the devil or about black magic;"

Again, we are addressing belief here. Belief is an iffy ground, where the onus of proof cannot be satisfied. A belief - particularly a religious belief, is not something which can be proven in a court of law. It cannot be substantiated by providing a solid tangible piece of evidence. Many people use the Christian "devil" as a scapegoat for natural disasters, misfortunes in their personal lives and so on - but nobody has yet proved the existence of either the character or the act of magic as having any physical effect in the real world. Courts of law in this country do not recognize either - why then is talking about being in contact with an improvable mythical entity or talking about magic of any kind enough to bring anyone under suspicion of criminal activity? When criminals use the "Devil made me do it" as a defense, why are they and their ludicrous claims taken seriously? Is there no longer an onus on the state to prove evidence of guilt, or is suspicion of suspicion now enough to conclude that someone is tied to criminal activity solely because they may speak of things which their own religion dictates are intolerable? Is this not biased in and of itself?

People talk about other mythical intangible characters (such as the Christian God) every day, and use same as an excuse to incite harm against people they dislike - and they do so publicly and without shame - and yet oddly enough, the DoJ and SAPS do not appear to formulate informational pamphlets on how to categorize them?

If the aim of this document is to warn about harmful practices, then it fails on the point of vagueness, trips over incomplete statements, stumbles over broad generalizations and drowns in a mire of inaccuracies - all of which have been warned against by activist bodies within the Pagan community of South Africa, for one - for a protracted period longer than a decade.

"shows addiction to reading or watching black magic books and movies;"

Oddly enough, NOWHERE in this ill-informed document intended to warn TEENAGERS about the alleged dangers of religious practices, is the term "black magic" explained or expounded upon. How are they supposed to know what it means? How are they supposed to know the difference between black magic, white magic and even gray magic - or that the alternatives exist? Are we to assume that the drafters of this pamphlet are of the same opinion as the ORC doctrine that views all of them as being the same thing? Or will the impressionable and gullible teen reader simply accept this intimated view without question?

Of course, we know how extremist religious elements view "black magic books and movies"... they include everything from books on kitchen witchcraft, natural remedies, crystals, tarot and energy-healing techniques to Harry Potter and Twilight in that category. Suitably vague, as with everything else. And yet these books can be bought legally in South Africa, imported legally, downloaded off the net legally, shared legally.

Books and movies are not banned in South Africa, at least not since 1996. Even a book like "the Pink Agenda" which demonizes gay and lesbian people by perpetuating slander, lies and incitement to hate against a minority group in contravention of the Constitution has been allowed to continue circulating unhindered since 2000 because the authors used their Christian religious views as a defense to peddle their shameful prejudice and bigotry. Even the most violent book in the world - the Bible (and to a lesser degree other religious scriptures such as the Q'uran and Torrah) is freely distributed, and people - hordes of people, become obsessed with these books and use them to inflict harm upon themselves and others - and yet no particular mention or distinction of this is made here.

"boasts about having spiritual powers that could cause harm to others;"

This seems to be no more intimidating than hearing a person claiming that their god will visit actions of one kind or another on their enemies or on people whom they perceive to be undesirable; and yet no attempt to apply this alleged classification against Christians, Muslims or other religious groups aside from Satanists (already indicated by mention of the devil in a previous list-point), Pagans and occultists is made. It appears that only occultists boast about having spiritual powers that could cause harm to others, and people like the venomous pastor in the Western Cape who threatens LGBT people on Twitter and Facebook and from his pulpit with hellfire and eternal damnation and causes emotional trauma to LGBT Christians are more protected by "religious freedom" than his victims.

"forces you to join his/her religion and does not listen when you refuse;"

This statement is laced with irony. In most public schools - schools that are not private and which are funded by tax money paid by the public - there is a strongly enforced Christian religious ethos. This is typically forced on all learners, and children who dare to be open about being Pagan or even atheistic are frequently intimidated, forced to attend Christian ceremonies, prayer etc against their will. Parents within the Pagan community frequently report hiding their own and their children's religious affiliations from school staff for fear that they will either not be admitted to the school, or because they fear discrimination, intimidation, bullying and other repercussions. Odd how this sort of harmful practice does not seem to warrant the attention of the SAPS, ORC, or DoJ.

That aside, religious Satanists generally do not even have groups, let alone demand attendance or participation of anyone. Pagans also are mostly solitary. The focus of these religions is mostly on the development of the self, of the individual - not concerned with what other people believe or do. (That's Christianity you're thinking of, not Paganism or Satanism.) The sort of people who would try to force people into occult group are legend-trippers, not Satanists, Pagans or serious occultists, because for them, forced or coerced participation is worthless.

"shows fascination with blood, especially human blood;"

If this were really indicative of criminal activity then all aspiring medical, chemistry, biology, and phlebotomy students would be implicated. Now 'fascination' is being used to indicate potential wrong-doing, and belief is enough to turn someone into a potential criminal. The changing of ordinary mundane things into hysterical "indicators" and "warning signs" is indicative of a hysteria and a societal witch hunt. This was true for the Mc Carthyist era in the USA, for the "Rooi Gevaar" era in South Africa - as much as it is here and now in South Africa's "satanic panic".

In occult belief systems, blood plays a significant role. However, the uses for blood are to form a deeply personal connection with the magical ritual being performed, involve SMALL amounts, usually a few drops - and most typically the blood of the individual conducting his or her own private ritual - and do not involve harm upon themselves or another. However, conveniently, none of this is explained or addressed nor is any attempt made to differentiate this practice from any kind of legend-tripping behavior.

The use of this point seems more to be to connect the occultist or person who identifies with Satanism or even Paganism as a religion with some or other threatening behavior without actually coming out and saying it - something which appears to be a hallmark of this pamphlet as a whole.

"speaks of killing or hurting animals or people;"

Again, using hearsay to conduct a witch-hunt, the drafters ignore the facts: most teenagers - boys and girls will at some point in their lives express such desires against each other. The likelihood that they will ever act on these words however is very small. Again, this is a generalization aimed at linking the actions of legend-trippers in school environments to those who may express normal teenage feelings of rivalry and implying that people who identify with occult beliefs are dangerous and may cause harm to people or animals. The notion that occultists, Pagans and Satanists harm animals as part of religious practices is completely off the mark; it is the practice of legend-trippers to do so - since the belief that human or animal sacrifice is required as part of "satanism" is the message included in the propaganda distributed by the SAPS ORC and other evangelicalist Christian bodies.

"speaks of attempts to cut herself/himself;"

Typically this form of self-harm is indicative of an emotional trauma or psychological condition, not a recognized modern religious practice. Instead of being targeted for a witch hunt, children who indulge in self-harm should be helped with counseling, not categorized as potentially harmful cultists or subjected to religious indoctrination and other abuses. Here it is erroneously being linked to occult belief systems and used to alienate people from the idea that occult belief systems and practices could be anything other than abhorrent.

"expresses deep hatred about someone and insists on getting rid of that person;"

Again an attempt to use hearsay as a reason to suspect someone of a crime that most likely has not been committed, and probably never will be - and using a stereotype to portray people who identify with occult belief systems as likely to be dangerous and even violent. How many people are stupid enough to let people around them know that they are about to commit a crime? This point attempts to identify someone as a criminal where no crime has been committed. Non sequitur.

"shows you strange signs and symbols."

This point is so vague that it is just plain stupid. In other words, just showing someone a sign or symbol, likely of religious significance with which the viewer is unfamiliar, is an indicator that the person is "being influenced by a harmful belief or religious practice". Balderdash.

First of all, half of the signs and symbols commonly associated with "satanism" by these "occult experts" are of Christian origin and have nothing at all to do with religious Satanism or the occult - and the other half have no actual religious significance at all. A small percentage of symbols associated with occult beliefs are in fact part of their cultures - BUT, and this point needs to be stressed - they are typically misrepresented to the public by uneducated ignorant people presenting themselves as "experts in the occult" while having no qualifications to do so. Most of these "experts" have only worthless "doctorates" and other papers bought from offshore Christian colleges which are nothing more than diploma mills, meaning that while they have no personal experience earned within any occult religions, they draw on qualifications obtained from other religions to prop up their flimsy claims of being "experts" on religions they really know nothing at all about. Thus we have items presented to the public as "hexagrams" by "experts" whose credibility is as imaginary as their expertise.

Page 1, panel 1 (Left):

"Factors to remember when you feel or are forced to participate:"

"You have the right to protect yourself from any form of abuse!"

It should be interesting to see how this is true in practice for Pagans, Satanists and occultists in work and school environments dominated by Christian doctrine and ethos. it certainly doesn't work for Pagans and occultists in South Africa who attempt to lodge complaints of abuse to the Press Ombudsman or the Human Rights Commission.

"You have the right to refuse to participate in any religious activity that makes you feel unsafe."

Does this apply to children who do not wish to attend religious indoctrination sessions at Assembly or in religious instruction classes or school prayer sessions? Or is it only considered "threatening" when the child ventures into other belief systems not part of the school ethos?

"You do not have to be a part of any form of religious belief if you do not like it."

They might as well add what is suggested by omission: '...but if you choose not to be a part of Christian practices in the school environment or your workplace, or exercise your right to choose another religion, you will face the consequences of prejudice and bigotry.' - because in South Africa this is what happens - to child and adult alike.

"Speak to someone you trust if you have questions or concerns on any suspicious practice. This person can be your priest, your parents or teacher, the Police or social worker."

Very good - but there is no mention of an imam or a rabbi or a priestess (or even a dominee, reverend or pastor for that matter). Just a "priest". Anyway, the absence of diversity in this document pretty much indicates the target audience and the team for which the drafter (or the DoJ) are playing - Christian evangelicalists. Never mind the Hindus, the Buddhists, Muslims, Pagans, Satanists, atheists who happen to live here.

And yes, go speak to the Police about it - they will certainly give you a sympathetic ear when you identify as a Pagan or a Satanist or a student of the Occult.

"You are not alone!"

That has to be quite the oxymoron.

In Summary:

The absence of diversity represented in this document pretty much indicates the target audience and the team for which the drafter (or the DoJ) are playing - Christian evangelicalists seeking to oppress religious freedom by scapegoating religions for the acts of criminals living out the SRA myth created and disseminated by themselves.

This, coupled with the perpetual refusal to engage with community based organizations within oppressed minority religious beliefs in South Africa echoes the sentiments and policy of the SAPS's ORC unit and its "total onslaught" policy towards people who identify with occult belief systems such as the numerous Pagan faiths in this country, as well as the various forms of Satanism.

This cloudy and somewhat increasingly hypothetical "public" they worry about so much is Christian, and the rainbow nation is surprisingly monochromatic, despite the diversity we hear so much about and see surrounding us. And the idea that South Africa and its Constitution is secular is anything other than a mere suggestion, a rumor - is a troubling bothersome headache that the government keeps on shifting to the right rather than facing it..

The document is vague and amid generalizations it speculates about what children should look out for without giving any realistic expectations.

The point of the pamphlet seems more to be to connect the occultist or person who identifies with Satanism or even Paganism as a religion with some or other threatening behavior or criminality without actually coming out and saying it directly - something which appears to be a hallmark of this pamphlet as a whole.

The pamphlet features terminology not explained at all within the context of the pamphlet. It also attempts to present this information as authoritative while twisting the interpretation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit an agenda seeking to oppress freedoms of religion, expression and belief as well as that of association - and attempts to cast suspicion upon those defending their use of these rights by suggesting that they are using them in order to hide criminal activity.

Additional to this, the drafters provide no external references, no citations of studies or facts of any kind or to provide some semblance of academic backing. No attempt was made even to refer to the fraudulent misrepresented "occult experts" in the SAPS ORC unit who cannot even tell the difference between a pentacle and a pentagram, or probably aren't even aware that there is no such thing as a "hexagram". It appears that the information provided is meant to be accepted at face value as truth and fact simply because it is published and distributed by the Department of Justice. It is an omission which proclaims: "These people and their beliefs and practices are bad, because we say so."

Although this material features graphics, good layout and design as well as better grammar and spelling than the SAPS resource site it is sourced from - and is even more vague, if that is even possible - it is at its core simply the same old bullshit dressed up to look official in a way that suggests that perhaps they are hoping this will transmute manure into gold - or lies into truth.

A wave of hate continues to spread through Africa

webmaster@goodhopemcc.org (Robert Bayer) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 09:34:17 +0000

A wave of hate continues to spread through Africa: Nigeria and Uganda have already been caught up in its surge, and it gathers momentum in Burundi, Cameroon and Tanzania.

This so-called Western import called homosexuality is said to be ripping the fabric of African society, destroying African family values and threatening African culture.

My Public Appeal To Christians Worldwide

Christina Engela — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 01:10:00 +0000

Good morning, Christian. I want to talk to YOU about YOUR role in the modern world. As we speak, millions of lives are in the balance, the world over. They have been for quite some time, but right now, this article isn't so much about them as it is about YOU.

See that sign in the picture above? This can be said by ANY of the numerous minority groups being persecuted and targeted for destruction by people claiming, very loudly, to be Christians.

Oh yes, there are really people who are victims of "Christianity". No, I'm not being facetious or "anti-Christian", and nor am I trying to disrespect YOUR beliefs or just trying to make YOU feel bad. I just want YOU to look at the facts.

LGBT people. Black people. White people. Asians. People of other religions. These are people whom religious extremists among Christians - the ChristianISTS of the world, have set out to destroy - at one time or another, by means of propaganda, lies, misrepresentation, legislation and violent oppression, and even extermination.

People like Yowri Museveni, the president of Uganda, has for 5 arduous years dilly-dallied in passing a law that sets life imprisonment for LGBT people, and which at one point would have imposed death for LGBT people. Life imprisonment in a Ugandan jail is scarcely better than execution. Ugandan churches - and not just the leaders of those churches, have been shown in media baying for the blood of LGBT people, of whom they have been fed lies and misinformation by visiting Christian evangelicalists who encouraged the drafting of this odious law, called the "Kill the Gays Bill". This law finally passed just over a week ago. Uganda celebrates its "Christianity" and scapegoats all its societal ills on LGBT people, who are in hiding, being literally killed in the streets in the midst of a witch hunt fueled by religious hate in the name of Christ.

In Nigeria, similar hateful legislation has been recently passed. One of our other neighbors, Malawi has also made the "right noises" which seem to appeal to the increasing tide of religion-fueled hate that seems to be sweeping across Africa. The President of Gambia recently referred to LGBT people as "vermin". Zimbabwe has been hostile to its LGBT community for more than a decade. In Namibia LGBT rights are still in the air and LGBT people there tread lightly.

In South Africa, a country blessed with a strong constitution containing defined protections for minorities against religious persecution, Christian bigots push to have these provisions removed, and continuously push the envelope of what kind of prejudice they can get away with next. Their favorite targets are LGBT people, and religious minorities, including African traditional beliefs. In South Africa, "super-churches", also called "prosperity cults", flourish. They send money and other forms of support to churches in Uganda - churches known to be complicit in the fight to murder LGBT Ugandans, all in the name of "church planting". Local political parties claiming to have a Christian "ethos" show them support, and have in the past even promised to do the same thing here if they could. In South Africa, fundamentalist cults run by foreign nationals mainly from Nigeria have sprung up on almost every street corner in the suburbs, renting small spaces in empty shops, holding services where people preach separation and persecution theology. I have lost count of how many of these little hate churches have sprung up in my own neighborhood - attended by Nigerian faithful and local people they convince to go along. The theology of hate is spreading here, in the name of Christ and wearing the mask of love.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, also heeded the words of visiting Christian evangelicalists to make war on human rights and to destroy LGBT people once and for all. He is supported in this by the politically powerful and affluent Russian Orthodox Church. Roving gangs of thugs kidnap and torture suspected LGBT people. Putin has this past week decided to redefine Russia from a constitutional democracy with freedom of religion into a Christian state, a theocracy which is not following the tenets of Christianity as taught by Christ, by founding it on scapegoating, blame and fear-mongering and separation of minorities from his idealist concept of a Christian society. He works to remove LGBT people from Russian society by legislated harassment, arrest, torture and imprisonment - even going so far as to invade Russia's neighbor Ukraine at an opportune moment on some paper-thin excuse, to the dismay of the Western world. Ukraine, formerly a part of the Soviet Union, is a country which shows open support for individual liberties and civil rights for LGBT people, and many Ukranians showed open support for Russian LGBT people before, during and after the shameful Sochi Olympics, known as "the Olympics of Hate" held in Russia. Russian forces stand poised to enter Ukraine as I type this.

In America, numerous states have clamored to pass new laws which will allow business owners, doctors, nurses, hospitals, police departments, fire departments - in fact anyone - to refuse service to someone they perceive as being LGBT. In some states these laws passed and were after a time, annulled by the weight of popular condemnation. In others, these laws still pend. Though many Christians around the world do not want to hear it, and do not want to believe it, there is a kind of person who also calls themselves "Christian" but who has acid for blood and a heart filled with hatred for their fellow human beings - regardless of whether these people are known to them, or related to them. They are the fanatics of the world, and they use religion as means to an end - self satisfaction, self-empowerment, hubris, and pride - coming together as Christian nationalism, or Christianism.

In America, people like Scott Lively lobby governments around the world - and even in states in the USA itself - to adopt aggressive even genocidal legislation that will isolate, segregate and devastate LGBT people everywhere. Lively is a genocidal maniac who has openly stated that his mission is to destroy LGBT people everywhere because he believes that is his defined Christian purpose. Lively considers what he does, to be "evangelism". He brings with him violence, suffering, sorrow, hopelessness and death - all in the name of Christianity.

Christians seldom seem to remember that Christ did not deny service to non-believers. He healed them, he counseled them, he was kind to them. Not only did he not advocate killing, but he even brought people back from the dead. He didn't turn anyone away or try to isolate believers from non-believers. Yet today there are Christians who act in a completely opposite manner and they do so in the very name of the same Christ. They try to segregate those they perceive as being different or having different beliefs to themselves - even within their own religion. Then they work to slander, persecute and eliminate those whom they have segregated. They clamor to gain financial and political power in order to influence the state and make restrictive laws which will essentially punish and penalize those whom they disagree with and dislike. They use Christ to justify their cruelty and the malice in their own hearts.

This is NOT Christian. This is not Christ-like. Is it? What do YOU think?

Yet - overwhelmingly - they seem to SPEAK FOR YOU. And so far, for two thousand years, YOU and others like you have LET THEM.

YOU have done so by saying nothing about it when people judged, criticized or abused other people in your presence. YOU have done so by not speaking out whenever YOU had the chance to defend people essentially being bullied on the religious ticket of hatred and intolerance, whenever one of YOUR leaders and ministers and pastors has stood up, thumped his bible and used it as a weapon against innocent people and encouraged YOU to do the same. YOU have FAILED YOUR FAITH each time you sat back quietly and just let it pass unchallenged in order to LET them.

YOU have sat silently because they are the leaders of YOUR church and YOU don't think YOU have the right to say anything about it. After all, what do YOU know about religion, the bible, what God says about homosexuality, or tolerance for other religions? YOU likely think because YOU are probably not trained in theology as they are, so who are YOU to challenge them?

Do YOU really need to be trained in theology to know compassion? Do YOU need to have a piece of paper from a seminary or bible college to know what cruelty is? Can YOU really not tell the difference between love and hate? YOU have allowed them to vent their hate and YOU have allowed them to isolate people they didn't like. Is that love? YOU have allowed them to campaign for injustice and persecution without speaking out against them. Is that what Jesus would do?

The next time YOU go to YOUR church, take a look at the empty space on the bench beside YOU, and imagine who might have been sitting there, if it were not for the hate people perceive coming out from Christianity in general. Now take a look at all the other empty spaces.

Where are all those people?

Some believe at home now, some stopped believing altogether - and some are no longer on this Earth. Hate and persecution takes away hope, it destroys happiness and it ruins lives - and it kills. There are people for whom this is acceptable, and they celebrate it in the name of Christ.

How does this make YOU feel?

How do YOU think this makes people being victimized by Christians feel?

How do YOU think Christ would feel about this?

What do YOU think Christ would say to not just all Christians about this, but to YOU?

YOU cannot take back injustice and YOU cannot undo pain and suffering. YOU cannot take back cruelty. YOUR apologies will not cancel death, YOUR flowers will not mop up pools of blood. But YOU CAN stop it.

Are YOU a Christian? How do YOU feel about the sign in the first photo? What can YOU do to make things right? YOU can stand with the victims of religious fundamentalist hate instead of sitting on the sidelines giving tacit consent, YOU can make a difference for others by obstructing the haters. I can't think of anything more Christ-LIKE than that.

Are YOU a Christianist? Are YOU a Christian? Or are YOU Christ-like?

As always, the choice is YOURS.

What YOU choose to do about it is up to YOU.

References:

Slouching Towards Kampala: Uganda’s Deadly Embrace of Hate

No special comment needed’ on Ugandan law criminalising homosexuality – Pandor
Zuma’s ANC rejects DA motion to condemn Uganda’s anti-gay bill
US HATE PASTOR’S LIES BEHIND UGANDAN GAY BILL
Video – Gospel of Intolerance

The Pink Swastika

Putin’s anti-gay propaganda is costing innocent lives!

Gays Blamed For Russian Violence

Anti-Gay Violence On The Rise In Russia
8 Recognizable Stages of Genocide
65 Years After Auschwitz & Christianists Have Learned Nothing
Just Your Friendly Local Preacher Advocating Death to Gays
GEORGIA RESTAURANT: ‘THIS IS A GODLY ESTABLISHMENT WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE!’
No longer loyal to Scouts, boys join Trail Life God commands you kill gays
21 varieties of traditional African homosexuality
‘Homosexuality Is Very African As Much As It Is Nigerian.’

According To The SAPS I Engage In Harmful Occult Practices

Christina Engela — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 01:16:00 +0000

...And probably, you too.

I wear a pentagram. I wear it proudly on my necklace for all to see. I do so as a practising Witch. According to this article by the SAPS on their website, wearing a pentagram is a "warning sign of engaging in harmful occult practices". This and similar hare-brained lunatic ideas can be seen in the list of wildly inaccurate claims from their website where these *snerk* "occult experts" list "warning signs" about Satanist religion.

Seriously. If you're depressed, you're a 'satanist', if you're a teen going through the rebellious stage (yes, that is a stage all teenagers go through), you're a 'satanist'. If you are bored, you're a 'satanist'. If you're a child and don't go to church or Sunday school, you're a 'satanist' or 'dabbling with the occult'. This is simply unbelievable nonsense one would expect to find in something so outdated and archaic as the Malleus Malificarum as used by the Inquisition - or, a witch hunt.

And so, because I wear a pentagram around my neck and because I identify as a Witch, the SAPS calls me a "satanist" or "a dabbler in the occult". Apparently this means I "engage in harmful occult practices" - whatever that means. Funny enough, they seem to exclude crimes relating to Christian religion from this (I guess they haven't figured out that "harmful occult practices" includes "pray away the gay therapy", hate speech and intimidation, exorcisms resulting death or injury etc - funny how they wouldn't appreciate the irony in that.)

Plenty of people know me, many of them are Christians. Some of them actually like me, and I actually like them. Our friendships do not include trading insults about our respective beliefs or trying to influence each other to change. Instead, they are built on a mutual appreciation for each other, for the value of life, freedom, love and all the things that make life here worth living. Other people I know as Witches, Pagans, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Satanists (both Theistic and Atheistic) seem to share the same values. So why is there this insane frenzy to believe the worst of other people without even taking the trouble to get to know them, what they're about, what they believe - before some people hop onto their little soap boxes to wave their crooked little fingers at others? Who died and made them gods? They don't define me or my beliefs or my right to live here - in what alternative universe do they live in that they think they can?

I guess it's lucky I'm not depressed, bored, avoiding family members and secretive about my activities as well, or I would be well and truly fucked. They may have me on the "not attending church" though. I did take mom to church a few times in the last few years, on account of her age and physical frailty - and I didn't even burst into flames in there. Imagine that.

Read through their list to see if you are also "dabbling with the occult" - or if the SAPS is just plain bonkers:

"The Mental Profile of the Dabbler (a person who experiment in different circles of local satanic groups.) The signs to look out for in children are:

Rebellious;
Boredom and
Low self-worthiness.

Warning Signs of the Dabbler:

The dabbler is likely to have difficulty relating to peers and in most cases, they have withdrawn from their family and religious heritage. They tend to become involved in a variety of the following:

A drop in grades;
Burglary;
Drug use;
Physical and sexual abuse;
Mind control;
Animal mutilation;
Increased hatred;
Murder;
Suicide;

Drug abuse is the common denominator in all levels of Satanism. Drugs have become the primary source of mind-altering experiences for the Satanist, thereby, giving him a false sense of power and spiritual potency.

Characteristics that may indicate satanic involvement:

Avoiding family members;
A change in friends;
Becoming secretive about activities;
Loss of interest in extra-curricular activities;
Personality changes;
An unusual interest in books, movies, videos, etc. with an occult theme;
Use of drugs and alcohol and
Lack of attendance of worship with family

Individuals are recruited into satanic groups by any number or combination of the following:

Free drugs or sex;
Companionship;
Power;
Money;
Pornography and
Personal choice

Body Markings:

Commonly used markings include the following (it is important to note that body markings can be used for the preparation of a sacrifice, as well as initiation into a group):

Goat head;
Inverted cross;
Skull;
Pentagram;
Baphomet;
MENA (amen);
Black rose and
Swastika"

These are NOT facts, this is PROPAGANDA. Most of the signs listed are ordinary teenage behavior, and the rest are indicative of psychological stress or other conditions or reactions to circumstances, all circumstantial and conveniently pressed together to form a list which proves absolutely nothing.

The ORC continues to list misinformation and present it at “workshops” and in digital and print media as though they have a clue of what they are talking about. The truth is that they are part of the problem by creating and spreading the myth that “Satanism is a belief system which leads to crime” and using the results of their own handiwork to justify their actions and continued existence.

Satanists, Pagans and Witches DO NOT sacrifice anything, but cherish and value life in all its forms.The kind of "satanism" they describe is a mythical figment of the imaginations of fearful religious extremists, created and disseminated by themselves as if it were true, resulting in the phenomenon known as "legend tripping".

Legend tripping behavior by people who believe their version of “created satanism” and acting this out is being presented as “evidence” that “satanism is on the increase”. It is hysteria based upon misinformation – and what makes it worse is the fact that this is being done DELIBERATELY by a select corps of Christian evangelicalists within the SA Police Service.

The ORC are not "occult experts", they are Christian evangelists given power within a special unit formed to persecute other religions through the spreading of harmful misinformation designed to spread fear and intolerance while bolstering and advancing the interests of their own religion.

The ORC have proved that they are on a mission to spread false information about religious minorities they target as "harmful occult practice" through their religious dogma, including Pagans, Witches and Satanists.

Their consistent refusal to engage with a Pagan community body, who has made repeated fruitless attempts to engage with them on the gross inaccuracy of their material since their public re-emergence in 2012, has demonstrated that they consider themselves above the constitution and the laws of this country, which guarantee freedom of religion and protections from persecution and discrimination.

Yesterday, as if to demonstrate their insincere intentions, the SAPS held a press conference and made a false claim on public record (posted on the same SAPS page) to have 'engaged with the SA Pagan Rights Alliance on issues relating to "occult related crime" - when they have NEVER done so, and certainly not in any official or formal capacity. This is an outright lie, the motive for which can only be subterfuge and deceit.

The continued attack on Occultism and Occult religions - and anyone who does not identify with right wing extremist ChristianISM in South Africa - as led by a governmental body, is uncalled for, unfair, unconstitutional – and it is has been continuing unchecked for far too long.

Further reading:

Satanism, The Acid Test v01.03

After 4 months of work, the final version of the Alternative Religions Project document – “Satanism: The Acid Test” is available, providing explanations of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) hysteria, Satanism as diverse religions under a common label, other religions and subcultures mis-associated with Satanism and the Satanism stereotype, and finally, flaws in the stereotype itself…

SA Government Fails Human Rights Mandate Through Tacit Support For Ugandan 'Kill The Gays" Law

Christina Engela — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 02:01:00 +0000

Uganda has passed the much publicized "Kill the Gays" Bill this past week.

In response to this hateful law, countries supplying aid to Uganda have suspended their aid and openly condemned these heinous acts in Uganda. Norway, Denmark and Netherlands have done so, and there is talk of the UK and USA following suit, as well as several more European countries including Sweden.

South Africa - the supposed "shining light" in Africa however has done absolutely NOTHING so far, aside from quietly releasing a very short, very weak and very vague statement on its website referring to "international homophobia" to say it will "look for clarity".

http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/2014/lgbti0225.html

Yesterday a motion to condemn the new law in Uganda was deliberately silenced by ANC members in Parliament.

http://www.mambaonline.com/2014/02/25/anc-blocks-motion-condemning-uganda-anti-gay-bill/

How much "clarity" is the SA government looking for?

How much clearer can it be? People are facing discrimination, intimidation, imprisonment, persecution, torture, violence and death based upon their nature as human beings.

Let us not forget that our "ambassador" to Uganda (appointed by our President in spite of a pending case in the Equality Court) is still a homophobic bigot former journalist who wrote articles demanding LGBT protections be removed from the Constitution and compared marriage equality to bestiality.

Meanwhile, LGBT Ugandans have begun to experience renewed violence since the passing of this despicable law, with the first resulting fatality being recorded yesterday.

Ugandan newspapers have resumed exposing suspected LGBT people, and Ugandan society is descending into a witch hunt.

http://www.advocate.com/world/2014/02/25/lgbt-ugandans-attacked-tabloid-lists-top-200-homos

... and now, to add insult to injury, according to Naledi Pandor, ANC minister of Home Affairs, this issue is just "not worth commenting on".

This is a disgusting and shameful display of tacit consent to deliberately calculated and legislated human rights abuses in a country with which South Africa trades and provides infrastructure training and support to.

You think no special comment is needed? Go read the SA Constitution, minister - SA is MANDATED to defend the human rights protections of endangered peoples in countries with which it has dealings! By failing to do so, you - and your party - are failing your mandate!

This is a disgusting slap in the face for human rights from a government and political party that allegedly is proud of our constitution and the human rights values for which it stands!

People like you make me ashamed to be seen as a South African.

I Won't Swallow That!

Christina Engela — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 21:16:00 +0000

Folks, as of now I am boycotting all Coca Cola products, and I urge everyone who cares about human rights and the abuses of human rights against its own LGBT people by the Russian government - and who find the determined Coca Cola drive to sponsor the Sochi (Russian) Olympics offensive, to join me.

Coca Cola is deleting all comments by LGBT people critical to it's determination to continue sponsoring the "Olympics of Hate" in an attempt to silence opposition and to promote its own financial interests at the cost of human dignity and lives.

Please refer to the following article for more details:

http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2014/01/26/coca-cola-deleting-enraged-lgbt-comments-from-facebook-page/

Ignorance Is Not A Point Of View

Christina Engela — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 11:42:00 +0000

The debate around the St Marks "Sex in the City - Is Gay Okay?" discussion held at the church three weeks ago just doesn't seem to want to die. Homophobes continue to post their ignorant remarks in such a manner as if to show that a) they know what they are talking about and b) they have some kind of hand-written note from "God" to authorize them to hate and to persecute others in its name.

Yes sirree, Port Elizabeth has a "prophet" in its 'burbs - another one who claims to know what "God" said and meant, intent on not letting anyone get on with their lives without being told off for being the "lustful sinners" they are.

In today's episode, let's look at the comment made by a Nigel Wakeford, a regular in the Herald "chirps" column. In my humble opinion, Mr Wakeford is just showing his ignorance.

In today's "chirp" he uses the words "bred" and "born" as though to illustrate a clear-cut difference between a person being born gay or transgender or having some kind of biological cause to being gay or transgender - and someone who is, for example, "taught to be gay" by (according to the sermon at St Marks) child molestation, masturbation or fixation with one's own genitalia, and other environmental factors such as being raised in a "broken home" etc. I have to wonder at the sort of mind that can dream rubbish like that up and actually look at a person and think it's perfectly true.

It should be noted again, that the above claims as made in the St Marks discussion are based upon absolutely NO credible medical, sociological or otherwise scientific or even academic sources whatsoever, but are merely the theories and claims made by a very small number of extremely biased conservative charlatans who have been discredited by peer-reviews, and dismissed and essentially laughed out of their professions by their colleagues. Just Google the name "Paul Cameron" to satisfy your curiosity, or simply have a look here to see the root source of virtually all right-wing anti-gay and anti-trans propaganda in circulation today. Sadly, conservatives around the world continue to refer to this sheer unadulterated quackery as a foundation for their propaganda and use cardboard credentials to try and turn their baseless claims into "expert witness" from 'Dr' S. A. Quackery Phd.

But I digress. "Bred" and "born" - at least, as they are used by Wakeford, have overwhelmingly similar and overlapping meanings - in the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary for example:

"1: to produce (offspring) by hatching or gestation
2
a : beget 1
b : produce, engender [despair often breeds violence]
3: to propagate (plants or animals) sexually and usually under controlled conditions [bred several strains of corn together to produce a superior variety] " and "
5
a : mate
b : to mate with : inseminate
c : impregnate 2"

These points all indicate a natural point of origin, having far more to do with BIOLOGY i.e. nature rather than "nurture". Similarly, the online Oxford dictionary provides kindred definitions for the words "breed" and "bred" - all of which make no mention of environmental influences outside of say, humans influencing which animals breed and reproduce offspring for purposes of genetic and biological characteristics.

The Oxford definition includes the following, which indicates to me why Wakeford used this comparison:

"verb (past and past participle bred /brɛd/)
[no object]
(of animals) mate and then produce offspring:
toads are said to return to the pond of their birth to breed.../
/...[with object] produce or lead to (something) over a period of time:
success had bred a certain arrogance"

In both Merriam-Webster and Oxford, these clearly refer to figurative contexts in contrast to the other uses which are all clearly related to biological contexts - and are not meant to be taken literally. But then, some people just tend to be susceptible to literal interpretations of whatever they read, such as the school song, tabloid news - their bibles, etc. The Merriam-Webster dictionary entry cited first above states at point 4:

"a : bring up, nurture [born and bred in the country]
b : to inculcate by training [breed good manners into one's children]

I doubt he will appreciate the irony in that, folks - if, like me, you can read between the lines, but since this fellow is so keen on forcing his view of Christianity down other people's throats - even other Christians, that he regularly sends "chirps" to the Herald to remind us how "wrong" and "sinful" and "lustful" gays are (and in so doing, how righteous he is). In this case, he came rushing to defend the people who peddle lies and quackery from their pulpits in order to subject people to scapegoating and social terrorism. All this aside, let's look at this argument from a "Christian" perspective.

Herald "Chirps" 20130829

Like most Christians, he believes his god created everyone. Nothing wrong with that in my view, as long as he doesn't try to force his views on me - but unlike moderate and live-and-let-live Christians, he believes this while also denying that his "God" created people gay. He then appears to agree with this view as a means to justify the persecution of gay people - and to defend those who are doing it, on the basis of his claims that his "God" calls homosexuality an "abomination" and that his bible backs him up on this.

Christo-fascists tend to consider the above viewpoint as pretty much an open-and-shut case, and to most people who have no clue about what they would find if they had to take the trouble to do a little research of their own, this would appear to be an accurate summation.

All this only serves to demonstrate the broad lack of knowledge among many Christians about their own religion however, when you look at academic sources which clearly show that the Christian bible does NOT (1) call homosexuality an "abomination" (since the word 'homosexual' did not appear in ANY bible before 1946, and the previous versions CLEARLY referred to activities relating to ritual sex i.e. in a ritual pagan religious context or setting of the time period referred to in that part of the bible) and (2) an 'abomination' does NOT mean what he clearly thinks it does - it means simply a minor violation of ritual Jewish temple laws of cleanliness in Leviticus (OLD Testament) and means both the previous definition which also sits alongside other "abominations" such as eating shellfish, having tattoos or other body markings, wearing garments of mixed-weave cloth, not putting a rail around your roof so people don't fall off it, and not sewing tassels onto your clothes. Funny, Mr Wakeford, I don't know when last I've seen you write any nasty letters about people eating prawns or wearing tattoos? (3) Usage of the word "sodomy" to describe homosexuality is also a demonstration of how warped the "general knowledge" of the Chrisitian bible has become among Christians themselves - and even in general society. When one looks at academic sources, looking at the setting and context in which the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah were told, it is obvious that the word "Sodomite" meant "an inhabitant of the city of Sodom" and that sodomy meant inhospitality towards visitors. Now if only tourist agencies and city councils in South Africa would take such a narrow view of visitors being treated badly! But once again, I doubt that Mr Wakeford would appreciate the irony in that.

A few sources:
Five Mistakes in Your Bible Translation
The real meaning of “sodomy” – inhospitality
Homosexuality And The Bible
Gays and slaves
Steps to recovery from bible abuse
The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality

So then we have biblical "proof" that "God" is anti-LGBT = 0, and Demonstration that the assumption that "God" hates LGBT people is based on faulty translation and even deliberate manipulation, and a complete lack of comprehension of Christian scriptures by those using them as a weapon against other people = 3.

Then we come to the SCIENCE - you know, the part that most conservatives believe is some sort of "liberal conspiracy" to strip them of their "right" to destroy other people's lives?

Science has demonstrated all too clearly that people who are gay or transgender are "that way" due to biologically determined factors - if you don't believe me, read for yourself what the scientists (REAL scienctists, who work for actual universities, and who have published widely cited, peer-reviewed and accepted studies - not the quackpot tripe that the St Marks "expert panel" referred to) say about it.

Gay by nature: Part one

Gay by nature: Part two

BBC NEWS Health Scans see ‘gay brain differences’

The Genetics of Homosexuality

Homosexuality in animals

If you were to read through the interesting points about physiological differences and differences in biology evident in these studies, I'm sure you would wonder how people like Nigel would explain those away? And how about that last link about the gay animals, right? Did "God" conveniently forget he made them gay too? Or did he forget to tell them it was an "abomination"? Or are animals supposedly gifted with intelligence enough to make (allegedly) "sinful lifestyle choices" as homophobic Christians claim about gay humans? Or are humans just supposed to "know better"? Careful now, we're talking about animals here - and because it has to be in animal nature (otherwise animals wouldn't act it out un-coerced and spontaneously) it should logically be... c'mon folks - it's on the tip of your tongue...

...Natural.

This puts those who think like Mr Wakeford in a rather precarious position, doesn't it? If his knowledge and understanding of his own religion is this defective, and if medicine and science demonstrate no reason at all to doubt that there is a biological component in sexual orientation and gender identity - removing any semblance of CHOICE to "live a sinful lifestyle" - which - um, isn't actually "sinful" at all from the look of it - then how can he defend his lack of Christian compassion, combined with the use of his religion as a blunt instrument?

Hmmm?

And so there we have it folks, the final score - Logic & Reason = 4, Ignorant Bigots = 0.

Some people like to sound clever, but they're not. Their arrogance in pushing their own narrow views and interpretations of their personal fairytales into law, and their determination to "be right all the time" at the expense of the dignity and human rights of their victims, often reveals the common chink in their armor - IGNORANCE.

Lastly, Mr Wakeford, if you believe your god created everybody, and once you realize the logic of the above - that you have been misled into hating people for no good reason, then you need to accept that your god created gay and transgender people just as they are - and that your resilient dislike and distaste for them is all your own, and also your own responsibility. Once you do this, you will see that the only 'sin' in this equation - that of spreading hate and persecuting others, and especially in the name of your "God" and your Jesus - is yours.

I don't believe in Mr Wakeford's "ogre" version of "God", but I know he does - and he says people will need to give account for their actions in the afterlife to this god. I sure would find his account, given the above, entertaining to say the least.

Qwelane, 4 years later

Cobus Fourie — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:11:00 +0000

20 July 2012 will mark the fourth anniversary of the now infamous article “Call me names, but gay is NOT okay” which featured on page 14 of the Sunday Sun.

Quite the outrage eruptedand a record number of complaints were sent to the Press Ombudsman and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). I believe that those records still stand.

The South African LGBTI community was up in arms and protests were held in Cape Town and Johannesburg while various campaigns brewed. Media24 was targeted because one of its publications published the hateful drivel. They responded by removing Jon Qwelane’s column from the News24 website.

Louise Reardon’s Facebook group Appalling Homophobia In Our Midst quickly grew in size and served as a platform of discussion and dissemination of protest tactics and campaigns. It was also on this group that the South African Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) was born.

After months of nothing happening SA GLAAD held its maiden protest at the SAHRC headquarters on 4 December 2008, at this protest the CEO of the SAHRC made it public that Qwelane would be sued.

In the meantime the political landscape changed and Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was elected president after the 2009 national and provincial elections.

After a strange sequence of events involving the clerk of the equality court trying to serve court papers on Qwelane we learnt that Jon Qwelane had been deployed as High Commissioner to Uganda. Yes, Uganda of all places; a place where the Anti-homosexuality Bill of 2009 was just freshly introduced after some meddling by American lobby groups.

By 31 May 2011 we learnt that the Johannesburg Equality Court found Qwelane guilty of hate speech and fined him in absentia. Qwelane however launched a rescission application and on 1 September 2011 the guilty charge was effectively quashed on a technicality.

The latest according to the Sunday World is that Qwelane has submitted an application in the South Gauteng High Court for a stay on proceedings in the Equality Court pending the ruling on the constitutional validity of sections 1, 10(1) and 11 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (No. 4 of 2000). Qwelane’s lawyers also said that if the stay on the proceedings is granted the constitutionality of the Equality Act will be tested in court.

This in my mind amounts to an attack on the fundamentals of equality and human dignity as contained in the Constitution and moreover an attack on the founding values of our most revered progressive Constitution.

This is an assault on the most basic principles that underlies our new dispensation. Chapter 1 of the Constitution requires a 75% majority vote in the National Assembly to be amended and by that strictest requirement I consider it above other provisions.

Chapter 1 starts with section 1 of the Constitution that states that:

“1) The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values:

a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms…”

Furthermore section 9 in the Bill of Rights (Chapter 2) enunciates on the right to equality:

“3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.

4) No person may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds in terms of subsection (3). National legislation must be enacted to prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination…”

The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, No. 4 of 2000, was promulgated based on the prerogative given by section 9(4) of the Bill of Rights. Note that Qwelane is basically attacking this piece of legislation which was meant to extend equality.

Now there is an unexplained gap in section 16(2)(c) of the Bill of Rights. It states:

“16. Freedom of expression

1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes

a) freedom of the press and other media;

b) freedom to receive or impart information or ideas;

c) freedom of artistic creativity; and

d) academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.

2) The right in subsection (1) does not extend to

a) propaganda for war;

b) incitement of imminent violence; or

c) advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm.”

You might note that “sexual orientation” is conspicuous in its absence in section 16 (2)(c). Was this an error of omission? This same error of omission is also quite prevalent in section 37of the Bill of Rights’ Table of Non-Derogable Rights.

Qwelane, I guess, is basing his defence on section 16 of the Constitution.

Despite our progressive and inclusive Constitution hate crimes directed at the LGBTI community remains rife. Jon Qwelane called for the Constitution to be rewritten in that fateful article of his and amazingly we had Patekile Holomisa from the Constitutional Review Committee who via the House of Traditional Leaders suggested that the “sexual orientation equality” clause be removed. It seems Jon has an ally in CONTRALESA.

Where does this leave us? In 2008 a call was made was for gay rights to be scrapped and now a mere four years later we have the ANC MP and chairperson of the Constitutional Review Committee heeding that call. Uncanny isn’t it?

We didn’t start the fire

Cobus Fourie — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:46:00 +0000

Legend has it that the Montagues and Capulets had a feud for as long as anyone could remember; one source traces it back to Dante's Divine Comedy. The story is somewhat of an allegory of course and it says as much of society today as it does of feudal Italy. That Shakespeare turned this into a convoluted love story just makes it ever the more senseless and tragic.

Concurrently I am vividly reminded of the 2004 film “Crash” starring Ryan Phillippe, which centred on the topics of racism, retribution, vicious cycles, and the self-perpetuating nature of all that is ugly in human behaviour.

While watching said movie I thought about the conflict in Palestine and of stones being thrown by both sides while nobody could remember who cast that first stone. That is the tragedy of human interaction. We can be our own worst enemies and in getting beyond knowing this simply intellectually we are not relinquishing our majesty.

But nonetheless we never learn, not from the mistakes of others nor the mistakes of our own making:

On the 19th of May 2012 it felt good being gay. A grassroots mass of people organised and marched to the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg to express anger at the attempts of the House of Traditional Leaders to remove sexual orientation from the Bill of Rights' equality clause. For the first time in a very long time the local LGBTI community set aside their differences and stood together as one, a united opposition of indignation and a show of political unity.

It felt good carrying one end of a five metre wide by two metre high banner which read "human rights include gay rights."

A mere ten days later everything had changed. Infighting of epic proportions broke out and I was out jogging trying to make sense of the chaos around me. I saw ugly things coming from good people. I saw the worst part of what humanity is capable of. It counts amongst the most profoundly sad couple of weeks in my life.

After jogging a good eight kilometres with quite the fervour and having a quite a bit of time to think I proceeded to de-activated my Facebook account for the first time in five years. A friend of mine said it was quite a radical step of me to take, I explained that I wanted to rescind my gayness, hand in my gaydar and return to what I imagined a sense of normalcy looked like.

I saw that the House of Traditional Leaders needn’t worry too much, that the LGBT community was capable of destroying itself on its own accord. I thought some Members of Parliament who expressed that they don’t care for equality would have been pleased to see the infighting play out. What a soft target we must seem.

While I looked on at the destruction it was inevitable that phrases of George Orwell’s Animal Farm rang in my ears:

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Without appropriating figure for faction, because they are two sides of the same coin in any event, it was plain to see that the oppressed became the oppressor, the aggrieved, and the aggressor.

What’s in a name?

Cobus Fourie — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Would “reparative therapy” pass public scrutiny easier if wrapped in a warm and fuzzy blanket and smothered under some shady PR spin?

Would a concentration camp be a pretty place if it had a view of the Adriatic Sea or would it have been picturesque if nestled somewhere on the Monaco coastline? Unanimous no. Right?

In this world we have euphemisms aplenty. For example: somebody isn’t in an insane asylum, they are institutionalised.

Another example: “reparative therapy” is offered to those with “unwanted same-sex attraction”. Note that the adherents of this ideology do not believe that people are actually gay but suffer from some affliction despite the fact the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of official diseases and disorders in 1973.

I was thus unfazed when I received a very amicable email from an organisation that offers “reparative therapy” under the guise of a fluffy new image.

My letter with the very amicable letter I received hereunder:

---

From: Cobus Fourie

To: New Living Way Ministry

Dear Mr Bekker

Thank you for your communique.

We note the more positive attitude of the organisation. Thank you for the welcoming nature of the letter.

I have to vehemently disagree with the aspect of the organisation that will deal with treating "unwanted same-sex attraction" though.

Basically every reputable medical (psychological/psychiatric) organisation has denounced so-called "reparative therapy" in the strongest terms. Below excerpts from leaders in the field of psychiatry:

---

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM and declared that it is not a disease of any kind. The American Psychological Association and various other medical associations followed suit not long after.

In 1997/1998 and again in 2000 the American Psychiatric Association denounced “Reparative Therapy” saying inter alia:

“[There] is no published scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of reparative therapy as a treatment to change ones sexual orientation”

“The potential risks of reparative therapy are great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behaviour”

“Therefore, the American Psychiatric Association opposes any psychiatric treatment, such as reparative or conversion therapy which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation.”

http://www.psych.org/Departments/EDU/Library/APAOfficialDocumentsandRelated/PositionStatements/200001.aspx

http://www.psych.org/Departments/EDU/Library/APAOfficialDocumentsandRelated/PositionStatements/200001a.aspx

---

The South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) has issued the following position statements:

“SASOP Position Statement on Homosexuality

SASOP acknowledges that in the past, use of diagnostic systems that classified homosexuality as a disorder, may have caused patients distress. SASOP actively distances itself from this previously held position and endorses the equality clauses in the present constitution.

SASOP endorses the stance of the American Psychiatric Association that homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgement, stability, reliability, or general social, vocational capabilities or increased psychopathology. (The APA removed homosexuality as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973 after reviewing evidence that revealed it did not fit necessary criteria to be categorized as a mental illness.) SASOP undertakes to do all that is possible to decrease the stigma related to homosexuality wherever and whenever it may occur.

SASOP opposes any psychiatric treatment such as "reparative" or "conversion" therapy designed to change a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual and supports the opinion of the APA that "there is no scientific evidence that reparative or conversion therapy is effective in changing a person's sexual orientation. There is, however, evidence that this type of therapy can be destructive." In fact reparative therapy runs the risk of harming patients by causing depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior...

SASOP recognizes that bias-related incidents such as acts of violence or harassment, arising from anti-gay and lesbian prejudice are widespread in society and continue to be a source of individual suffering and trauma. These incidents result in emotional and physical trauma for individuals, as well as stigmatization of affected groups. SASOP deplores such bias-related incidents and encourages its own member psychiatrists to take appropriate actions in helping to prevent such events, as well as to respond actively in treating the victims of such events.”

---

I thus have to implore you to rather focus on the positive aspects of your organisational goals (which I welcome) and to refrain from possible destructive "therapies" however well-intentioned.

Feel free to write us to debate these issues.

Kind regards

--
Cobus Fourie
Board Member

SA GLAAD
The South African Gay & Lesbian

Alliance Against Defamation
www.facebook.com/SAGLAAD

Twitter: @SA_GLAAD

---

On 6 February 2012 08:33, New Living Way Ministry <Info@caringforgays.co.za> wrote:

Good Day

I want to thank you for your support to International Healing Foundation (SA) over the past two years. God has guided us to register a non-profit company that has a broader vision than what we had for IHF (SA). New Living Way Ministry will replace IHF (SA) witch will close on 29 February 2012. On the “welcome page” of our new website www.CaringForGays.co.za you will read the following:

Welcome to New Living Way Ministry

New Living Way Ministry is a Non Profit Company and an interdenominational Christian organization that serves and reaches out in love to the gay community and their loved ones. Our vision is to have a care centre from where we will serve those suffering with HIV and AIDS, and where a residential program will cater for people with unwanted same-sex attraction. Temporary accommodation is envisioned for men and woman who are homeless and destitute due to a variety of circumstances, and those involved in prostitution are also close to our hearts to be reached out to. A chapel on the premises will enable us to meet some of the spiritual needs of those we are serving. We believe in serving a person as a whole - spirit, soul and body and will provide the necessary means to do so.

Being also an educational and counselling organization, we endeavour to empower men, women, and children to heal from past and present wounds, releasing them to live a powerful life, and to fulfil their destiny. We also aim at educating the religious and secular communities about same-sex attraction and early intervention. We work to promote healthy individuals and relationships, healing communities, families, and churches.

We value the right of individuals to live life as they desire, and love and accept them just as they are. We will accompany everyone on their journey to wholeness and affirm their right of self-determination, self-acceptance, and self-discovery, while respecting their faith and values and how it might impact their choices.

Not being ignorant of the fact that some terms like "homosexual," "homosexual community," "homosexual lifestyle" or "he is a homosexual," etc. might be offensive to some readers, I want to highlight that it is not our intention to offend anybody, should such terms be found on this website. Because our articles are obtained from many different sources, it's not always possible to avoid these terms. However, please know that it is not used with malicious intent.

As followers of Christ, it is appropriate for us at New Living way Ministry to repent and ask the gay community for forgiveness for the way individual Christians and Christian organizations have often treated you. We publicly apologize to those of you within the Gay community for the hate you have felt and experienced from the Christian community. That has been our sin against you, and we ask for your forgiveness. We want you to know that you matter to us and you matter to God. God loves you, He cares about you, and He has a plan for your life.

Please note that all our contact details remain the same except for the email address which will be Info@CaringForGays.co.za and the website which will be www.CaringForGays.co.za.

We are looking forward to continue serving you and our community.

Kind Regards

André Bekker

New Living Way Ministry

Mobile: +27 (0)71 326 8034

Office: +27 (0)11 394 3031

Fax:+27 (0)86 624 9748

Email: Info@CaringForGays.co.za

CARING FOR GAYS THEIR FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES

Web:www.CaringForGays.co.za