Box Turtle Bulletin

Sodomites “Arrogant, Overfed and Unconcerned; They Did Not Help the Poor and Needy”

Warren Throckmorton re-read Ezekiel and wonders whether Americans really have exported the Sins of Sodom to Africa.

Vandalized LGBT Center Vows To Keep Anti-Gay Graffiti

A vandalized LGBT center at the University of California at Davis has vowed to keep the graffiti as reminder that as a reminder that intolerance still exists.

The anti-gay vandalism follows other anti-Semitic and racially-motivated hate incidents on campus. A Jewish student found a swastika carved into her dorm room door late last week, and several racially-charged incidents were prompted by an off-campus party that mocked African-Americans with urban stereotypes.

UC Davis officials are planning a town hall meeting in response to the events.

Group Presents Petition Against Anti-Gay Bill to Ugandan Parliament, Warns of More Pastor Wars

Here is NTV Uganda’s coverage from last night’s newscast:

As we reported yesterday a group representing religious leaders, AIDS service providers and health care workers presented a petition with more than 450,000 signatures to Uganda’s Parliament calling for the withdrawal or defeat of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Led by Anglican Canon Gideon Byamugisha and retired bishop Christopher Senyonjyo, the group handed the petition over to Parliament Speaker Edward Ssekandi. Speaker Ssekandi said that it was “too late” to withdraw the Anti-Homosexuality Bill from Parliament, but said that Parliament would take the group’s concerns under advisement.

Cannon Byamugisha warned of the bill’s dangers:

This would obstruct religious leaders, doctors, counselors, and other service providers in their essential role, and will facilitate political and religious witch hunts and false accusations.

The Red Pepper's cover story of February 25, 2010. (Click to enlarge.)

Uganda has a long history of political and religious witch hunts, in which rival pastors accuse each other of sodomy in order to increase their own standing among their followers. The most recent accusation has been levied by the notorious tabloid Red Pepper, which recently accused American televangelist Benny Hinn of having an affair with a prominent Ugandan pastor. This is seen as retaliation from last June, when several Kampala pastors were denied entrance to Hinn’s “Fire Conference” revival in Kampala. Those pastors were denied entry after having falsely accused the pastor of the revival’s host church of sodomy.

Since the Ugandan pastor has been cleared of charges following a police investigation, the Red Pepper has declined to name him in these latest charges, although virtually everyone in Uganda who knows of the very popular Hinn (His program is carried twice-daily on Kampala-based Lighthouse TV) also knows the pastor whose name is hinted in the “story.”

An alert and helpful BTB reader has provided this scan of the kind of religious witch hunts which are a shamefully common practice between pentecostal pastors in Uganda. Given Uganda’s religious climate, it would seem that perhaps those who should fear the Anti-Homosexuality Bill the most would be pastors who become prominent enough to become a threat to the prestige or finances of other pastors.

The Red Pepper's story of February 25, 2010. (Click to enlarge)

Last spring, the Red Pepper launched a public vigilante campaign in an attempt to “out” LGBT people in Uganda. In December, the tabloid published what it claimed were “city tycoons who bankroll Ugandan homos.” Pastors Martin Ssempa and others are believed to be behind many of these campaigns.

Click here to see BTB’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

American Political Science Association Moves Conference From Uganda

This year’s theme for the American Political Science Association’s 2010 African Summer Workshop is Global Perspectives on Politics and Gender, a theme which would necessarily touch on sexual identity and LGBT issues in politics. The APSA had begun planning for the 2010 Workshop in Kampala, Uganda last summer, before the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced in Parliament. Obviously, that poses a problem for the APSA, which has announced that they will be moving their 2010 Workshop to another location:

The political climate in Uganda now, along with the possibility that the legislation in some form will pass, and that it will include criminalization of thought as well as harsh penalties, precludes our going forward there with this Workshop. The long lead time to plan and reorient a Workshop session requires that we identify right now another venue where the Workshop topics can be addressed openly. We cannot commit today to send staff and scholars to work in Uganda safely on topics that include the study of sexual identity in politics, and we of course must not remove these topics from our agenda for the Workshops.

The new location for the African Summer Workshop hasn’t been settled yet, but APSA Executive Director Michael Brintnall suggests that Dar es Salaam, Tanzania may be a possibility.

[Hat tip: GayUganda]

Click here to see BTB’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Catholic Charities Ends Spousal Benefits

In a bid to avoid inadvertently providing spousal benefits to gay men and women who happen to be employees, Catholic Charities of Washington, D.C. , has taken the extraordinary step of ending spousal benefits for all of its employees, the Washington City Paper reports.

Catholic Charities President and CEO Edward Orzechowski sent a memo out to employees yesterday informing them that spouses’ who have already been enrolled in the health plan would continue to receive care under a grandfather clause, but that new employees or newly married employees would no longer be eligible to obtain coverage for their spouses through Catholic Charities.

The change goes into effect today. The District of Columbia will begin granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning on March 4.

According to the Washington Post, Catholic Charities employs 850 people in the District and five surrounding Maryland and Virginia counties, but fewer than 100 use the spousal benefits option.

Cyprus government to consider marriage equality

From the Cyprus Mail:

The Government will soon examine the issue of making same-sex marriages legal in Cyprus, Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Lazaros Savvides has told the Sunday Mail.

Savvides said that the intention is to hold a meeting next month involving the Attorney-general’s office, Law Commissioner Leda Koursoumba, Ombudswoman Eliana Nicolaou – who also heads the Authority against Racism and Discrimination – as well as senior representatives of the relevant government ministries.

Should Cyprus enact marriage equality, it could have an impact on the area. Israel does not have civil marriage laws and those who wish to marry must either do so according to Orthodox rules or leave the country to marry elsewhere. Those who aren’t Jewish or aren’t religious often go to Cyprus. Israel does currently offer some limited recognition to foreign-married gay couples, so a change in Cyprus would be a benefit for gays in Israel as well.

Cyprus is one of the most religious nations in the European Union, primarily Greek Orthodox, as well as being its furthest east. Although discussions will occur, there is no certainty that equality will result.

Martin Ssempa Has A Blog

The Ugandan pastor and kill-the-gays advocate is not only blogging, but he’s also Facebooking and commenting on BTB.

UK Scouts Condemn Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill

Uganda's top scout: MP David Bahati is honored during an East African scouting conference in Kampala. (Click to enlarge)

On first blush, that’s doesn’t look like a headline that would strike fear in the hearts of those who support Uganda’s proposed “kill the gays” bill, but there is an important angle to it. Ugandan Member of Parliament David Bahati, sponsor of the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill, also happens to be chairman of Uganda’s Scouts Board.

According to a press release from UK LGBT advocate Peter Tatchell, the Chief Executive of the Scout Association UK, Derek Twine, has condemned the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill as “discriminatory and contrary to the sanctity of life, [and] completely incompatible with our interpretation of the values of our worldwide Scouting Movement.” Twine continues:

We have already drawn our grave concerns on this to the attention of the Secretary General of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM), and we are subsequently aware that the issues are now subject both to WOSM\’s direct engagement with the Chief Scout of Uganda (Mrs Maggie Kigozi) and to ongoing global consideration by members of the World Scout Committee.”

Tatchell adds:

“Scouting is very big in Uganda and Mr Bahati derives great prestige from his position as Chairman of the Scout Association of Uganda. If we can get him removed from office it will be a significant personal blow to him. He’ll be weakened and his credibility undermined.

“OutRage! is urging the disaffiliation of the Ugandan scout organisation from the world scouting movement, as a way of adding further pressure on the Ugandan government to drop the Bill. Our request for disaffiliation was immediately forwarded by the Scout Association UK to the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in Geneva.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Ugandan Religious Leaders, Human Rights Advocates to Petition Against Anti-Gay Bill

Canon Gideon Byamugisha

The anonymous blogger GayUganda passes on a press release from a group of Ugandan human rights advocates and AIDS service providers led by Anglican priest Canon Gideon Byamugisha, announcing a meeting with Parliament speaker Edward Ssekandi Kiwanuka on Monday to present their opposition to the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. They also plan on presenting a petition to the Speaker and members of Parliament signed by more than half a million people around the world. After the meeting, there is to be a press conference.

People locally voicing opposition to the bill is absolutely vital, and much more important than outcry from abroad. This is a very important meeting. No one meeting will likely change things, but pastor Martin Ssempa and others have had an almost exclusive hold on the rhetoric behind the bill until now. The question now is whether Ugandan media will pick up on it.

In December, Canon Byamugisha blasted the proposed bill, calling it “state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans.” He also lambasted it as a cynical ploy by the ruling party for the upcoming elections. President Yoweri is seeking to extend his 24-year lock on power in 2011 despite his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party being rocked by a long series of financial corruption scandals.

Update: Uganda’s Daily Monitor has picked up the story with a photo:

L-R: Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, Canon Rev. Gideon Byamugisha, Frank Mugisha (Sexual Minorities Uganda) and Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga (retired) presented the petition to parliament.

Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.

Startling discoveries about Lauren Ashley

When the Pop Tart at Fox News first broke the story about how Lauren Ashley, the self-titled “Miss Beverly Hills”, opposed marriage equality, they played into her quest for that elusive minute and a half of fame.

Since then she’s been denounced by the city of Beverly Hills and pretty much anyone else with a blog and a sense of humor.

But now she has spoken with NBC Ch 4 to clarify that she does really mean that the Bible should be taken literally. And in the process sh revealed a number of exciting revelations to report.

There’s the discovery that Lauren seems not to be able to quote the scripture she “quoted” to Fox News. In fact, she doesn’t know much about it other than that it was “from Leviticus”.

There was the exciting news that in Christianity there is “forgiveness and receipt* from Jesus, himself” which gives new meaning to “be sure to keep your receipt.” But she was a bit stumped when asked, “if they get to know Jesus, can they remain gay?”

But perhaps the most startling revelation of all is that apparently, Lauren Ashley seems to only own one top!

UPDATE:

No, Timothy, no. Jesus doesn’t give a receipt, he gives mercy. Mercy.

Sigh. It was so much more fun when I thought she said ‘receipt’.

Gays Gain Right To Cheapen Marriage Just Like Straight People

Straight people have been turning weddings into cheap stunts for eons, whether it’s a nude wedding in the Berkshires or a wedding chappel in Las Vegas featuring Elvis impersonators. While most of those who have been fighting for marriage equality have taken the ideals of marriage very seriously, we shouldn’t be too surprised to see that, much like out straight families and friends, not all see it as the dignified and solemn occasion that most of us would envision. Yes, there are tacky gay people too, and quite a few of them are apparently completely clueless of what a precious a gift their stunt will be to our opponents, free for the asking:

The largest gay wedding in history is scheduled for Saturday, March 20th in Washington, DC. Up to 400 couples will exchange vows breaking the current Guinness World Record.

Event Emissary is the company organizing this stunt and shamelessly cashing in on the hard work of LGBT advocates in DC. But there you have it. Real equality also means the right to cheapen marriage for publicity and commercial purposes just like the straights have been doing. Cue Maggie Gallagher…

GOProud talks to Big Government about gay conservatism

In September, Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com launched with a splash by releasing the undercover video done by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles on ACORN. The scandal, which resulted in Congress cutting ACORN’s funding, propelled Beirtbart and his websites to conservative stardom.

This week, columnist Bob Parks posted an interview with GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia, in which the gay conservative defended his positions. I think LaSalvia did well in explaining himself, and was more proactive and less defensive about gay issues than I had given him credit for in the past.

BOB: Let\’s move on to gays in the military.

JIMMY: Cool.

BOB: While serving in the Navy, I had a supervisor who was gay. He wasn\’t in your face about it, and because he was (and everyone knew it), he had to be doubly squared away. Through him, I became a much better writer and journalist and our department won two Chief of Information 2nd Place awards for excellence amongst 600 ship and shore commands. With that, why would there be a need for him to come out and force his sexuality on his shipmates?

JIMMY: I don\’t think it\’s a matter of forcing his sexuality on anyone. It\’s a matter of whether he has to lie about it or not. Listen, conduct should be appropriate in the military no matter who you are. But gay and lesbian servicemembers are forced to lie everyday, just to serve their country. It can be significant, like who should we inform if you are killed or wounded? or somewhat trivial just in conversation like “what did you do when you were on leave?” In 2010, our fine servicemembers are more than capable of doing their jobs as professionals whether straight or gay…we shouldn\’t make some of them lie in order to do it.

But Jimmy could not resist getting in his digs about the “not like me” gays with whom he finds so little in common.

BOB: How do you feel about gay pride parades. Personally, I cringe when watching rap videos because of the impressions it leaves on others of who black people are. Do you see gay pride parades, as lewd as some can be, as a serious PR blunder?

JIMMY: Certainly in this day and age, as more and more gay people have come out and live their lives openly and honestly, the stereotypical images of pride parades don\’t accurately portray the reality of the lives of the vast majority of gay Americans. For the most part, we are just like everyone else…sitting at home on the couch as boring as most other folks watching those nuts on TV! Yes, I suspect it\’s very similar to your reaction watching stereotypical images of black people. The best thing that gay people can do (from a PR point of view) is just live your life like any other person, and the rest of America will realize that we are no different than them.

The great Lutheran schism that wasn’t

When the Episcopal Church confirmed Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire even though Robinson was in a long-term committed relationship with a man, it resulted in a world-wide shake-up of the Anglican faith. Several congregations, including some with historical reverence, separated from the denomination. Three dioceses voted to leave the church, and legal battles have warred over church property. In total, the Episcopal schism included as many as 700 congregations and in excess of 100,000 congregants.

Internationally, this decision was catalyst for a split between more liberal Western members of the Anglicanism and the churches in the Global South. Primates in Africa and Asia, which have more congregants but are poorer and traditionally less influential have seen this as an opportunity to redefine the global power structure of the Anglican Communion and to redirect the flow of Anglican Christianity in a more conservative direction.

The Episcopal Church, and other western bodies of the union, have shown no inclination to rethink their liberal understanding of Christianity or to adopt anti-gay attitudes or rules that the Bishops of Nigeria and Uganda (among others) sought to dictate. But having had a taste of international prominence and influence, conservative African Anglican leaders are unlikely to “allow” Anglicans in the United States, Canada, or even the United Kingdom to set their own policies. It seems inevitable that the corporate structure of the third largest Christian community in the world will fracture.

So when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the seventh largest denomination in the nation, came together in August of last year to consider several changes to the way in which the church would recognize gay Lutherans, some pointed to the Episcopal schism and warned of the same. And after the ELCA voted to adopt a new social position on sexuality that included as valid those who advocate for full civil marriage, changed their rules to allow gay partnered pastors, and authorized blessings of same-sex unions (all with significant majorities), dissenters warned of a great consequence that the church would have to pay.

Six months have passed since the denomination chose a more inclusive stance towards gay Lutherans. And while several local newspapers have carried stories about positions and actions of specific congregations, it has not been immediately clear to what extent the changes have impacted the body. But an article in the Washington Post has now provided the answer: not much.

Since August, congregations have not left the ELCA in huge numbers. The denomination has about 10,000 congregations, and in all 220 have taken at least one of two required votes to leave. So far, only 28 congregations have actually approved leaving, which requires two separate votes that each attain a two-thirds supermajority.

“Even if that number doubles or triples, it would still be less than 5 percent of the ELCA,” said Bishop Peter Rogness of the St. Paul, Minn. synod. “So it’s not as though a schism has happened, where we’re a denomination split in half. Nothing on that magnitude is in the offing.”

So the great Lutheran schism exists more in the minds of those who are theologically anti-gay than in reality. Considering that Lutherans, on the whole, are less liberal on the grand scale of religious ideology than Episcopalians, this might come as a surprise to some.

But there are several reasons why the ELCA is not fracturing over the issue of homosexuality in the church.

First, there are far fewer ELCA member with sharp ideological differences but a long affiliation to the history of the denomination.

Unlike the Episcopal Church, there is not one official historical organizational body for Lutherans. While ELCA is the largest Lutheran community, there are many others including the traditionally more conservative Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (the nation’s eighth largest denominational body). And the ELCA has only been in existence since 1988, when it was the result of a merger of three smaller Lutheran groups. And those who were somewhat similar in thought probably would not have merged at that time.

Secondly, leaving the ELCA is not administratively easy. It requires a two-thirds agreement of congregants in two votes separated by 90 days. It is not easy to keep a sense of anger whipped up for three months.

And Lutherans are not known as a divisive or confrontational bunch. The “oh, sure, you betcha” stereotypes are not without a basis. In more than one instance, church leadership got all fired up only do discover that the members just didn’t care that much.

Next, there is no unified schismatic organization to lobby for continued division.

Unlike the Episcopal offshoot, The Anglican Church in North America, those who left or are leaving the ELCA have a number of options with whom to affiliate. The Lutheran Core, which sought to be the anti-ELCA, moved too slowly to create their own new community and with so many Lutheran groups focused on the positive who are ready to welcome breakaways, it is less easy to organize around anger and discontent.

Finally, there is no sense of international outrage and thus no feeling of entitlement in breakaways or any sense that they are the “real” Lutherans.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is part of the Lutheran World Federation. But unlike the Anglican Church, Lutherans are more dominant in Northern Europe and have a much lesser presence in the developing world (other than Ethiopia, which seems to have been a religious anomaly for millennia). As the ‘official church’ of a number of Scandinavian countries, Lutherans in Sweden, and Norway, Denmark have long since become accustomed to ever more inclusive theology.

Going forward, other denominations may be well served by looking at the resulting situation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rather than that of the Episcopal Church. The Lutheran model is probably much closer in structure and international presence to most other mainline churches.

People With HIV Can Have Near Normal Life Expectancies

That’s according to two new studies presented at the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) being held in San Francisco.

The first study from the Netherlands followed 4612 newly diagnosed patients between 1998 and 2007. The study excluded those who start antiretroviral therapy (ART) less than six months after diagnosis or who already had an AIDS-defining illness in the first six months. The researchers then calculated the mortality rate of 0.67% a year:

This mortality rate enabled the researchers to compute life expectancies. For a patient diagnosed at the age of 25 the life expectancy came out at 52.7 years – in other words they would die, on average, at the age of 77.7. This was scarcely different to the life expectancy for 25 year olds in the general Dutch population – 53.1 years.

…Men and women diagnosed aged 25 could expect to live just five months less than HIV-negative people and men diagnosed at age 55 would live 1.3 years less (women 1.5 years less). For patients diagnosed with HIV (but not AIDS) symptoms the figure was two years shorter for men and women diagnosed at 25, and six and 7.5 years shorter for men and women respectively diagnosed at 55.

The second study was a much larger one of more than 80,000 patients from 30 European countries. This study didn’t just follow the newly-diagnosed, but all patients who had been on anti-retriviral therapy (ART) since 1998. It found that men who were not injecting drug users and who had a current CD4 count over 500 were no more likely to die during the follow-up period than their HIV-negative counterparts.

The key was maintaining a CD4 count of over 500 for at least three years. Over all, when those with lower CD4 counts were included, people with HIV had a 50% higher risk of death. But when injected drug users and people with CD4 counts lower than 500 were excluded, the mortality of people with HIV was virtually identical to those who were HIV-negative.

Forty Years of LGBT History Is Now Safe

It was a horrendous loss when the venerable Washington Blade went belly up last year. While the paper itself was thriving and profitable, it’s parent company, Windows Media, was a financial disaster. The Blade had become the LGBT paper of record for the nation’s capital, and with its tremendous access to Congress and administration figures, I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration to say that the Blade was the nation’s paper along the lines of the New York Times or Washington Post on LGBT issues.

Today, the paper’s successor, DCAgenda, announced that they have successfully purchased the print and electronic archives and other assets of the Blade, ensuring that this historical treasure will be in safe hands.