A leading trans activist was killed recently in El Salvador, prompting calls by human rights groups to ensure the authorities to prosecute and punish those responsible.
Francela Méndez Rodríguez was murdered by a group of unknown assailants while she was visiting the home of a friend in Sonsonate, which is roughly 40 miles west of the capital San Salvador. Her friend Consuela Flores Martínez, was also killed.
The 29-year-old had been a member of Salvadoran trans advocacy group Colectivo Alejandría since it was founded in 2010, working tirelessly for human rights and in HIV prevention programs. Read More
Iraq: Gripped by his ankles, a gay man is dropped to his death by ISIS executioner
Militants fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq have brutally murdered three gay men by throwing them from the top of a high building in front of a huge crowd of bloodthirsty onlookers.
Disturbing photographs of the atrocity - believed to have been taken place in ISIS' stronghold Mosul - shows one man being dangled over the edge of the building by his ankles before being dropped. In the event the horrifically injured men are not killed upon impact with the ground, the baying crowd are encouraged to surge forward and stone them to death with a mass of rocks helpfully provided by the ISIS savages who organise the terror group's sickening public executions. Read More
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Ukraine: Nationalists post photo album threatening LGBT activists
Groups affiliated with far-right Ukrainian nationalists have launched online campaigns threatening LGBT activists after an LGBT rights march was attacked.
“For the first time I am afraid for my and my boyfriend’s lives,” LGBT activist Dmitry Pikakhchi said. “Considering the number of these posts, the number of participants [of the group] and the radicalism — I think that the danger is more than real.” Pikakhchi said he was especially worried about a group called Zero Tolerance hosted on the Russian-owned social network VKontakte, which is the dominant social network in much of the former Soviet Union. The group, which has more than 2,800 followers, has posted a photo album of at least a dozen people the group’s moderators say are LGBT activists.
“These degenerates do not deserve to live,” said one person who posted to page. Another wrote, “Homothugs will be destroyed.” Read More
Turkey: LGBTI activists say 'You can murder f*gs, there is no penalty for that'
Seven trans women were assaulted in Istanbul in the last month. Kıvılcım Arat of Istanbul LGBTI said: “It is the government, which avoids producing legislation [against hate crimes] and which issues press statements that point people out as targets, who is responsible for the increase in assaults.”
Kıvılcım Arat, member of the board of directors of Istanbul LGBTI [sic] tied the high number of assaults during the month to the statements by government authorities. While they have avoided issuing statements regarding LGBTIs up until now, government authorities have begun bringing the issue to the forefront as the elections are approaching. Arat reminds us of the statements by President Erdoğan, “We do not put forth homosexual candidates,” and by Prime Minister Davutoğlu, “Homosexuals caused the destruction of the tribe of Lot.”
“Ever since the HDP [which has an LGBTI candidate and actively campaigns for LGBTI rights] started its election campaign, statements by government authorities about LGBTIs have encouraged people to commit hate crimes. Read More
US: Evangelicals open door to debate on gay rights
As a young, gay Christian activist, Matthew Vines considered it a victory just to get into a room at a conservative Christian university with influential evangelicals who disagreed with him over what the Bible says about homosexuality. Youth ministers and chaplains are studying how to respond to students struggling with their sexual identities. Governing boards are re-examining their policies on allowing openly gay people in Bible studies. And pastors are preaching and writing about, rather than ignoring, the recent books arguing that the Bible can be read to support same-sex marriage.
Few are dropping their opposition. But aware that they are seen by many as bigots, some evangelical leaders are trying to figure out how to stand firm without alienating the rising share of Americans — especially younger ones — who know gay people and support gay rights, or who may themselves come out as gay.
“Because this is such a relatively new thing, pastors and church people want to know, ‘How do we navigate this, and how do we navigate this well, without doubling down or capitulating?’ ” Glenn T. Stanton, the director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family, said. Read More
How recognizing LGBT Jewish identities and ritual practice enriches the entire Jewish community
Ritual Reconstructed is a collaborative project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project is a partnership between Liberal Judaism and several universities to work with London-based Jewish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex communities to explore faith rituals which combine both Jewish and LGBTQI identities.
We’re working with film, performance, installation and narrative storytelling to look at the ways in which Jewish LGBTQI people engage in religious and community life.
We are also working with Rabbis, philosophers and theologians to enable us to explore the importance of ‘queering’ text and to think about how we can challenging hetero-normative assumptions about what it means to be a ‘good Jew’. The aim of the project is not only to demonstrate the richness, pride and imagination LGBTQI Jews bring to ritual practice, but also to show the importance of inclusive religious identities. Read More
Australian Archbishop Denis Hart lobbies parents to support 'the meaning of marriage'
Children at Catholic schools have been sent home with glossy booklets that oppose gay marriage following a request by the Archbishop of Melbourne. The 15-page booklet, "Don't Mess With Marriage" said redefining marriage would have "far-reaching consequences". "All marriages would come to be defined by intensity of emotion rather than a union founded on sexual complementarily and potential fertility."
The Safe Schools Coalition, which works to create a safe environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students, urged principals not to distribute the material. The coalition's co-ordinator, Roz Ward, said the material could damage the mental health and wellbeing of same-sex attracted young people, by suggesting their relationships were unnatural or not as important.
"At school it is particularly important that they can feel they can be themselves and valued for who they. In a situation where you feel that is not valued, everything else becomes more difficult." She said same-sex families who sent their children to Catholic schools would see this as a "direct attack on their existence as gay Catholics". Read More
Russian Orthodox Church ends ties with protestants over gay marriage
The Russian Orthodox Church says it is severing ties with the main protestant churches of France and Scotland over the issue of same-sex unions. The Moscow Patriarchate said that "formal contacts" with the two institutions were pointless after France's United Protestant Church last month voted to allow pastors to bless same-sex marriages and the Church of Scotland approved ordaining clergy in same-sex civil unions.
"We regretfully acknowledge, that today we have a new divide in the Christian world, not only regarding theological subjects, but regarding moral issues as well," the patriarchate said in a statement.
The Moscow Patriarchate noted that it had previously suspended ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church in 2003 after it consecrated an openly gay bishop, and with Sweden's Lutheran Church after it sanctioned ceremonies for civil unions in 2005. Read More
Vatican: Children need heterosexual parents, says pope after gay pride march
Pope Francis stressed the importance of children having heterosexual parents, just a day after Rome’s gay pride march demonstrated the changing attitudes about same-sex couples outside the Vatican walls. Addressing around 25,000 followers from the Diocese of Rome, the pope said the differences between men and women are fundamental and “an integral part of being human.”
The pontiff likened a long-lasting marriage to a good wine, in which a husband and wife make the most of their gender differences.
“They’re not scared of the differences!” the pope said. “What great richness this diversity is, a diversity which becomes complementary, but also reciprocal. It binds them, one to the other.” Heterosexual marriages not only ensured couples’ happiness, the pontiff said, but were essential for good parenting. Read More
Italy: LGBT pride to demand respect for human rights
Twenty floats, a procession and thousands of participants--the 21st annual Roma Pride was a parade full of color, music and fun. A party with a serious message: the recognition of the rights, as recently happened with the referendum in Ireland. Organizers said over 250,000 attended the event. Leading the march, the mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino , who commented: "We are here to celebrate. Rome, the host city, the city that believes in love, has made romises and kept them all. In Rome love counts." Read More
Iran: Bishop Leo Boccardi, the Holy See Ambassador to Iran seeks interfaith response to gay marriage
Bishop eo Boccardi, the Holy See Ambassador to Iran says that he would like to see an interfaith solution to problems such as the legalization of gay marriage in Ireland. The Apostolic Nuncio to Ira made his comments during a meeting with Ayatollah Hosseini Boushehri, the President of Iran's Seminary Schools.
Boccardi is quoted saying, "A referendum in Ireland took place that legalizes marriage between two men. Now what should we do and how can we respond to this?... My hope is that religions can start a dialogue among themselves and keep close contacts to address problems of this sort."
When asked by his host about the reason for the lack of a strong response from the Vatican against the spread of homosexuality, he said, "In today's societies, secularism is institutionalized and the separation of church and state has made religion a personal choice... Over the past 50 years, a trend has been growing that distinguishes between morality and faith, allowing the people of faith to commit immoral acts." Read More
Vatican says Ireland gay marriage vote is 'defeat for humanity'
A senior Vatican official has attacked the legalisation of gay marriage in Ireland. “I was deeply saddened by the result,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state. “The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelisation. I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity.”
The remarks by the Vatican’s top diplomat, who is seen as second only to the pope in the church’s hierarchy, represent the most damning assessment of the Irish vote by a senior church official to date.
It was a far more critical response than the circumspect reaction offered by archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, who said: “It is very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people … [then the church needs] a reality check.”
While the results were celebrated by advocates of gay rights in Ireland and around the world, it was also seen as a stark symbol of how wide the chasm has grown between young people in what has traditionally been a staunchly Catholic country and the church itself, which says that homosexual acts are a sin and vehemently opposes gay marriage. Read More