Premier Kathleen Wynne, speaking to students at Agincourt Collegiate on Wednesday, says she is not a "gay activist" but hopes she can be an example to others. "I can be an example . . . If I can help (gay) people be less frightened, that’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
Wynne, 61, still maintains that she is not an activist, but told reporters after her speech to the school “that being a lesbian, being in this office allows others to look at this office in a different way.” Read More
More than 150 students and alumni of a Des Moines–area Catholic high school demonstrated in protest of the school’s decision to rescind a full-time job offer of substitute teacher and school coach Tyler McCubbin because he’s gay. McCubbin says the school initially told him he could continue substitute teaching and coaching if he wanted. But after news of the decision prompted public outcry, the administration rescinded their offer.
Students walked out of class and prayed in the rain with alums. “I just want the community to know that this is a really important topic, and that just because our school officials or diocesan leaders might have made this decision, it does not directly reflect what we believe as students,” said Grace Mumm, a sophomore.
The diocese has said that the Catholic School contract “contains specific language that outlines the code of conduct in accord with long accepted Church teaching” and that “it is our expectation that staff and teachers support our moral beliefs as they are the models of our Catholic faith.” There have been several cases around the nation of staff at Catholic churches and schools being fired or not offered jobs because they are engaged or married to a same-sex partner. Read More
Backed by the country’s rapidly growing evangelical population, a large number of religious conservatives won election in October as part of a broad conservative coalition that now controls Congress. They have taken office bent on reversing recent gains for LGBT rights, including a 2013 decision by a judicial panel that established marriage equality nationwide.
Jean Wyllys, Brazil’s only out gay member of Congress and best-known progressive standard bearer, wrote that the threat of “religious fundamentalism” has gone ignored as Brazil’s major parties have scrambled for the votes of conservative evangelicals who now make up more than 20% of the population. This “Christian fundamentalism” is every bit as dangerous as “Islamic fundamentalism” in the Middle East, and now threatens “individual liberty, sexual diversity, and secular culture” in Brazil, he said.
“When will we wake up to the true nature of the monster emerging from the lake,” he asked. Read More
Brisbane’s Anglican archbishop has joined a local Catholic priest in calling for Queensland’s controversial “gay panic” homicide defence to be scrapped.
Speaking after his Easter Sunday mass the archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Phillip Aspinall, said he supported Fr Paul Kelly in his calls for the Homosexual Advance Defence to be removed from Queensland common law. The defence means a murder charge may be reduced to manslaughter if the defendant establishes their victim “came on” to them, and the killing was in self-defence.
“I think Fr Paul Kelly is on the right track, well and truly,” Aspinall said. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to murder someone who approaches you sexually. Violence is never a constructive response.” Read More
The newly-named Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Office is on the spot over his anti-homosexuality remarks at a time when the church is divided sharply over gay clerics.
The Most Reverend Dr Josiah Atkins Idowu-Fearon was appointed to be the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. He currently serves as Bishop of Kaduna in the Church of Nigeria where he has earned a global reputation in the Church for his expertise in Christian-Muslim relations.
However, the Bishop is under fire for his support for the criminalization of homosexuality and support of Nigeria's anti gay law, the Same Sex Prohibition Act signed by the then president, Jonathan Goodluck. In a 2014 interview, Dr Idowu-Fearon said, “The government has criminalised homosexuality which is good, our battle is not against human beings, it is against the devil.” Read More
Spearheaded by The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, Bishop Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder and Bishop-Elect Pastor Joseph Tolton, the organization’s international outreach ministry has launched a month long tour of key African nations where LGBTI communities continue to experience extreme discrimination and persecution. These countries include: Uganda, Rwanda, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
Until April 30, 2015, Pastor Tolton will be on the ground working to provide an uplifting alternate Christian narrative. The message advocates for inclusion, economic justice and the reconciliation of all people of African descent globally.
“As black gay Christians who identify with Pentecostal worship and as people of social justice, we are countering the work of conservative, mostly white American evangelicals who are doubling down on their attempt of spiritual colonization of Africa,” said Pastor Joseph Tolton. Read More
Parliament’s Health Select Committee has heard that the lack of healthcare services for trans and intersex people is a priority public health issue where urgent intervention is needed.
Auckland counsellor and advocate Tom Hamilton told gathered MPs that trans and intersex people and their whanau find wide variety of care standards. Lack of expertise results "in frustration for the community, which leads to further delay in treatment, possible mental health deterioration and extra costs being met by the individuals … or individuals actually educating the health professionals to improve their experience of care.”
Hamilton’s submission follows a petition urging the government to take action “to address the inadequate supply of publicly funded gender reassignment health services, including counselling, endocrinology and surgical services, in New Zealand”. Read More
A simply worded amendment covering ‘heinous crimes’– which currently includes murder, extortion, rape, child exploitation and spreading an epidemic that results in death – adds individuals who “transmit and infect consciously and deliberately others with the AIDS virus. (sic)” was presented to the Brazilian Parliament by the populist Congressman, Pompeo de Mattos.
The bill has considerable support thanks to an outbreak of moral panic that began with an article in the daily newspaper, O Estado de S. Paulo, that uncovered the gay ‘barebacking’ subculture and further suggested that some men were deliberately passing on HIV to unsuspecting partners. Days later, it was reported that police were now looking into the allegations. Read More
A conference discussing the religious case for marriage equality has heard there will be “a price to be paid” by the Catholic Church for its stance in relation to the upcoming referendum. Marriage Equality: The Religious Case for a Yes Vote was hosted by Faith in Marriage Equality at Trinity College Dublin.
Vice-provost Prof Linda Hogan said: “Theologically speaking, there are no impediments to gay and lesbian people marrying in a civil ceremony. People of faith can exercise their freedom of conscience to vote yes to lesbian and gay people marrying in a civil ceremony. This debate is being framed as religious people being no voters with everyone else voting yes. This couldn’t be further from the truth. People of all faiths support sharing the freedom to marry with gay and lesbian couples."
Church of Ireland bishop Michael Burrows said he was supporting a yes vote in the referendum: "I have come to believe that the rights of gay people have become, very properly, the great justice issue of our time just as the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of women were in the past. I could not vote against this proposal because of my utter abomination of homophobia." Read More
A new report finds that in addition to other forms of discrimination, lesbian and bisexual women in Cuba face unequal treatment from public health services and their specific sexual and reproductive health needs are ignored.
Lesbians receive less information about STI prevention than other population groups and they have fewer welcoming institutional spaces where they can socialise and discuss their problems, said the report. The research study debunks the myth that engaging in lesbian sex avoids all infection risks, although these are indeed much lower than for other sexual behaviours.
Women represented 18.5% of the 2,156 new HIV-positive cases diagnosed in Cuba in 2013, bringing the total number of people living with the virus to 16,400, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Read More
A Brazilian Congressman Jair Bolsonaro claimed patients receiving blood transfusions should be able to demand ‘heterosexual blood’.
The congressman said his party, the far-right Progressive Party, wants to introduce a policy which would see people be made aware if they are receiving blood from a gay donor. Patients should also be allowed to ask to not receive the blood if it makes them uncomfortable and, instead, request blood donated by a heterosexual person.
Blood donations from men who have sex with men were previously banned completely, but in 2013 the ban was lifted allowing MSM to donate if they are in a long term relationship or if they have not had sex in the past 12 months. Read More
France's National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) believes maintaining a ban is not a matter of gay rights, but a health issue as there are still “scientific uncertainties” on the risks of using blood from homosexuals.
“Giving blood is not a right. What matters most is the health and the protection of the receiver,” said Jean-Claude Ameisen, president of the CCNE. The committee says that lifting it now “could expose people to medical risks, which should be taken into consideration from an ethical point of view."
The ban covers people who habitually practice same sex relations, and those who confessed to even a singular gay contact during preliminary interviews for potential donors.
President of the LGBT Federation, Stephanie Nicot, called it absurd: "It's risky behavior that should lead to exclusion, and only a temporary one, not the fact that you are gay or you had a homosexual relationship 20 years ago. This is an extremely worrying sign," he said. Read More