Most American Mainline Protestants Embrace Gay Marriage

With the largest Presbyterian denomination’s official endorsement, American mainline Protestants have solidified their support for gay marriage, leaving the largest mainline denomination — the United Methodist Church — outside the same-sex marriage fold.

Methodists, with more than 7 million members, rejected same-sex marriage at their last nat'l conference. They are likely to revisit the question in 2016, but a growing membership in Africa, where there is little acceptance of homosexuality, makes it unlikely the denomination will accept gay marriage.

Another denomination generally considered mainline, the American Baptist Churches USA, does not allow same-sex marriage, nor do a handful of smaller mainline denominations. But the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and now the Presbyterian Church (USA) sanctify the marriage of two men or two women. The 3.8 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gives congregations the autonomy to decide for themselves.  Read More

Italy: Pope Francis Dines with Gay and Transgender Inmates in Naples Prison

Pope Francis on Saturday met with 10 gay, transgender and HIV-positive prisoners during a daylong visit to the Italian city of Naples. Andrea Miluzzo, director of LGBT News Italia, told the Washington Blade the inmates were among the 90 prisoners with whom the pontiff had lunch during his visit to an overcrowded prison in the city’s Poggioreale neighborhood.

Members of the local affiliate of Arcigay, an Italian LGBT advocacy group, were among those who were allowed to stand along the streets of Scampia, a poor Neapolitan neighborhood overrun with crime, earlier in the day as Francis passed through in his open-air car known as the pope-mobile. Read More

WATCH: Film Makes Case for Full LGBT Acceptance in Catholic Church

Several LGBT Catholics have come together to release a short film called Owning Our Faith, in which they share their stories and call for full acceptance of LGBT people in the church. Executive producer Michael Tomae says he was inspired to make the film by volunteering at a shelter for homeless youth and finding that many of them had been disowned by their Christian families for being LGBT. He then reached out to LGBT Catholics and allies to film their stories.

The makers of the film are also calling on other LGBT Catholics to make videos of their stories and post them to YouTube. They are hoping their message of acceptance will reach the Catholic hierarchy, right to the top — Pope Francis — as the church prepares for a bishops’ meeting on family issues in October.  Read More
 

Ireland: Catholic bishop compares homosexuality to Down's Syndrome

Speaking in the run-up to the spring meeting of Ireland's Catholic bishops, the Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran has compared homosexuality to Down's Syndrome and has also said rape victims should not have abortions as a way of getting back at the rapist.

Bishop Doran implied that being gay was a disability, when asked whether he believed being born gay could be what God intended: "That would be to suggest that if some people are born with Down's syndrome or Spina Bifida, that that was what God intended either," he said.

Currently the same-sex adoption bill is being discussed by the Irish Parliament. The country is holding an equal marriage referendum in May. Read More 

Indonesia: Rights Activists Lash Out at MUI’s Anti-LGBT Fatwa

By inveighing against the LGBT community with its latest fatwa, the council is helping to propagate hatred of an already beleaguered community, says LGBT activist Hartoyo. “Issuing such a fatwa is as same as promoting hatred and motivating people to carry out violence against others,” he said. “If the MUI dislikes homosexuals, it should express its disapproval through other means, in educated and peaceful ways. It shouldn’t shroud its message with hate and violence.”

Haris Azhar, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, calls the MUI’s statement regrettable and says the council has long tried to exceed its actual authority.

“Homosexuality isn’t a crime, nor it is a deviant thing. It is merely one’s preference and it’s private,” he said. “Besides, it isn’t the duty of MUI to determine national law. The MUI is supposed to educate Indonesia’s Muslims. Proposing severe punishment [such as death] shows the MUI’s less-than-mature mind-set.” Read More

Indonesia: Confusion over Highest Islamic clerical body fatwa statements

Indonesia's most prominent  Islamic clerical body has issued a fatwa proposing a host of punishments for "homosexual crimes" - including the death penalty.

While Indonesia does not have a reputation for being particularly welcoming of the LGBT community – and same-sex marriage is not permitted - homosexual relations are not prohibited. Most individuals can go about their lives without prejudice.

But the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) views homosexuality as a sin. It issued the edict at the start of this month, according to The Jakarta Globe.

The fatwa claimed that homosexuality is a disease that needs to be cured and proposed a series of brutal penalties, ranging from caning to death. Read More 

UK: Londoners are least likely to accept a gay or transgender child

The data showed that Londoners are over five times more likely to reject support for a gay child – with 13% of Londoners indicating they would not support a gay child, and 20% indicating they would not support a trans child. Geographically, voters from the north of Britain were more likely to be accepting, with 1% in the North of England and 2% in Scotland indicating they would not support a gay child.

PinkNews Chief Executive Benjamin Cohen said: “This polling is eye-opening as it goes against the widely accepted notion that London is the most tolerant part of the country when it comes to LGBT issues.   Read More 

France: Lesbians’ goodbye kiss leads to ‘humiliation’ in Paris

Paris is where people – lovestruck locals and tourists alike – kiss. You can hardly take two steps down a rue or grand boulevard without seeing a couple smooching, often in the middle of the pavement.  However, it seems that not all kissers are equal in the land of liberté, égalité, fraternité. A train guard from a major railway company has been suspended after allegedly shouting at a lesbian couple that their farewell embrace “cannot be tolerated”. 60,000 people have signed a petition for the train guard's dismissal. Read More

Russia: IKEA shuts down magazine to avoid violating Gay Propaganda Ban

IKEA will shutter the website for its magazine, IKEA Family Live, in Russia to avoid running afoul of the country’s ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors. 

“When we do business, we observe the legislation of the countries where we work, therefore to avoid violations, we have taken the decision to stop publishing the magazine in Russia,” IKEA said in a statement carried by AFP.

The Swedish furniture chain has featured same-sex couples and their families in the magazine, which is published in 25 countries. It came under fire internationally in 2013 for excluding a story on Clara and Kirsty, a British lesbian couple, from its Russian edition after the propaganda ban was passed. Activists held a kiss-in at the Brooklyn, New York, IKEA store to protest the move. Read More 

Cameroon: Lawyer urges world to join her in fight against anti-gay legislation

Despite death threats, Alice Nkom is taking on Cameroon’s repressive law in the supreme court and says her campaign is part of a wider struggle for human rights. Alice Nkom knows she might not be alive today were it not for international support for her battle to defend homosexuals in Cameroon. But now she wants the world to do more to breathe life into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and make it tangible for all, including gay people in Africa. Read More

Jamaica: Alleged Gay Youth Stoned to Death

A recent video of an alleged homosexual youth was stoned to death in Jamaica was posted and subsequently removed from a Jamaican online news Facebook page. The video depicts the lifeless body of a young man clothed in tight pants with long hair laying in a pool of blood and continuously being stoned by his executioners.

In the video, one can hear clearly anti-gay slurs being used by one of the executioners with a Jamaican accent while carrying out the barbaric act lamented, "Batty-man yuh fi dead", in translation it means "gay, you should die", repeatedly. The identity of the deceased and location where the execution took place in Jamaica are being investigated.  Read More

Kenya: Vigilante group threatens to behead homosexuals

An increase in threats against Kenya LGBTI activists from various quarters has culminated in a vigilante group issuing a warning to behead all homosexuals in a village in Mombasa. 

The founders of PEMA Kenya, the oldest LGBTI organisation in Mombasa allegedly received a leaflet that warned him to vacate the area lest he is beheaded. While a police report has been filed in Mombasa, no investigations or further action has been taken. Read More