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Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Give First U.S. Speech to the LGBT Community

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) announced today that Archbishop Desmond Tutu will give an historic 30-minute address to the LGBTI community in San Francisco on April 8, 2008. It’s the first time that he has directly addressed such a large LGBTI gathering in the United States. He will speak to a crowd of approximately 400 people at A Celebration of Courage, the IGLHRC’s annual gala awards ceremony, where he will also be honored for his leadership on human rights. Archbishop Tutu, a Nobel Prize winner for his work against apartheid in South Africa, has persistently challenged discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He has publicly condemned persecution on the basis of sexual orientation, comparing it to apartheid. In article published in The Times of London in 2004, he wrote:

“We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about-our very skins. “It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups.”

Archbishop Tutu has also vigorously criticized the Catholic church for its homophobia. Last year, he told BBC radio, “If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn’t worship that God.” He has even challenged the church for “being almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality” when other issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS and war are more deserving of attention and action. He told Union Theological Seminary students in 2006 that “All belong–white, black, red, yellow, Arab, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, young old, male, female, rich poor, gay, lesbian and so-called straight–all belong.”

I find his use of the term “so-called straight” to be an interesting choice.

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No Lesbian Pagans Allowed in Isreal

The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports that Starhawk, a prominent American pagan, feminist, environmentalist and lesbian, was deported from Isreal today. She had traveled to the Middle East on March 12 to teach a course on permaculture in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian area, and to work with earth activists to develop a project in the Bethlehem area.

According to Wikipedia, permaculture is formally defined by a set of ecological values as they relate to human communities:

• Earthcare – recognizing that the Earth is the source of all life (and is possibly itself a living entity- see Gaia theory) and that we recognize and respect that the Earth is our valuable home and we are a part of the Earth, not apart from it.
• Peoplecare – supporting and helping each other to change to ways of living that are not harming ourselves or the planet, and to develop healthy societies.
• Fairshare (or placing limits on consumption) - ensuring that the Earth’s limited resources are utilised in ways that are equitable and wise.

In the IMEMC article, British psychologist Dr. Joanne Taylor, said of the deportation that “clearly the Israeli authorities are paranoid even about letting people grow crops and conserve rainwater on their own land.”

Or perhaps the presence of a queer wiccan was just too spooky.  Apparently Starhawk didn’t make it to the temple.  She was too busy practicing witchcraft and being a lesbian.

Starhawk is well-known as a global justice activist and organizer. She is the author or coauthor of ten books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, in continuous publication for more than 25 years and long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement. Her first novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, won the Lambda award for best Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction in 1994. Her newest book is The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature.

Phelps Family Won’t Let Heath Ledger Rest in Peace

Fred Phelps and his family cult are at it again. His Westboro Baptist Church announced their intention to protest at actor Heath Ledger’s U.S. memorial services. The actor, who was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday, is expected to be buried in his native Australia.

Classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed thousands of LGBT events, including funerals. The Topeka, Kansas group has more recently turned its rage toward the U.S. military, protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in action in Iraq. Their clearly irrational “rationale” is that God is punishing America for being tolerant of gays and lesbians by killing U.S. soldiers with IEDs.

Phelps’ church posted a bulletin on one of its many hate Websites announcing their intention to picket the actor’s U.S. memorial services, because he portrayed a gay cowboy in the ground-breaking film Brokeback Mountain. Heath Ledger was not a homosexual; he just played one in the movies.

And again, the media is covering Phelps’ announcement as a “church’s” protest. Yet Westboro Baptist “Church” is attended only by members of Fred Phelps’ immediate family. (Read my post about the Showtime documentary Fall from Grace for a full rant on the Phelps clan.) Just because Phelps twists the pages of the bible, picking and choosing the passages to follow, doesn’t make him a minister and doesn’t make his family a church. There is a more accurate term for Westboro. It’s clearly a cult built around the rage and abuse of one father, from which only four of his 13 children managed to escape.

From all media accounts (which, in their own right, have gone way overboard in sensationalizing the actor’s death), Heath Ledger was a tolerant man. His love for his daughter and family were obvious. If only those who were moved by Ledger’s art were less tolerant of the kind of hate and hurt that the Phelps family plans to interject into the actor’s memory. May Heath rest in peace.

Fall From Grace a Prophetic Title for Showtime Documentary

We’re not in Kansas anymore. If only Fred Phelps had a heart. I TiVO’d K. Ryan Jones’ documentary about Phelps, Fall from Grace, which premiered last night on Showtime, (which will air five more showings on its networks as well as on-demand availability). Watching it over coffee this morning was a rude awakening. Seeing so much hate was so vile, I thought I would throw up my Cream of Wheat. Fred Phelps is pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, a congregation that consists only of his immediate family, according to the documentary. The Phelps family began picketing to publicize their hatred of homosexuals in the spring of 1991. In the 16+ years since, they have staged more than 22,000 protests, most targeting GLBT events and gatherings.

Sitting clean-shaven (forbidden by God: Leviticus 19:27) before the camera in his Golden Girls sweat suit, no doubt weaved of many fibers (forbidden by God: Leviticus 19:19), Phelps cloaks his hate in religion. He spells out his biblical justification literally, quoting Leviticus 18:22 (including clarifying the exact punctuation). “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind SEMICOLON it is abomination.”

Apparently that’s all the bible-reading Phelps did. He missed the PARAGRAPH later in the chapter, where it says, ” “Though shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart COLON ‘thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neghbour COMMA and not suffer sin upon him PERIOD.” Then, in the next PARAGRAPH, the bible emphasizes the point: “Though shalt no avenge COMMA nor bear any grduge against the children of thy people COMMA but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself COLON I am the Lord.”

I will leave biblical scholars to debate interpretation of Leviticus, that tool of intolerance. I will leave it to ministers to justify why some Leviticus Laws are to be followed and others can be ignored. I will pause only to point out that the recently published Bible study guide, Study New Testament for Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgender, is just the most recent scholarly challenge to literal Leviticus interpretation. Dr. Ann Nyland, an ancient Greek language scholar and lexicographer, indicates that “arsenokoites,” the Greek word assumed to mean homosexual, actually has a range of meanings, including one who anally penetrates another (whether female or male)–but can also mean a rapist, a murderer or an extortionist. She also asserts that the fabled fall of Sodom and Gomorrah was due to angels having sex with humans, not homosexuality.

What I found unbelievable in “Fall from Grace” was the disapproval of Phelps by other ministers. In the film, the Reverend Jeff Gannon, pastor of the Wichita, Kansas Chapel Hill Fellowship, (a different Jeff Gannon than the former gay prostitute-turned-conservative-blogger) said he “feels bad because Phelps gives Christians a bad name.” Yet Gannon and thousands of Christians like him do little to oppose their church’s official policies of intolerance, exclusion and condemnation of the LGBT community. Injustice is everywhere in the majority of Christian denominations. Dr. Martin Luther King warned us from a Birmingham jail cell more than 40 years ago: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The injustice afflicted on LGBT Americans has recently threatened a different just cause: support for American troops in Iraq. The Phelps family has found a new target for their rage, and it is the right wing’s revered military forces. Phelps believes that homosexuals are taking over the U.S. military and the nation, and that soldiers killed in action in Iraq are proof of God’s vengeance. Phelps says God hates fags and is punishing America for allowing homosexuality to exist. He makes his point with protests at the funerals of American troops killed in Iraq.

While most Americans sat passively by for Phelps’ ranting against “fags,” his disrespect for American troops prompted a little more action. In May 2006, President Bush signed an amendment to U.S. law that prohibits protests within 300 feet of military funerals at national cemeteries and outlaws them altogether for an hour before and an hour after the service. In April 2007, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a similar state law. Other states added their own restrictions, including Kentucky and North Dakota. I did a little research and was unable to find any similar protections for funerals for gays and lesbians, another common Phelps family tactic. America tolerates homophobia.

But Phelps’ agenda seems more sinister than simple homophobia. In the documentary, Phelps declares that America is doomed. His son Timothy tells us his family’s goal is to “put the cup of God’s fury to the lips of this nation and make them drink.” The pickets signs are the writing on the wall. Their messages include “Fags are worthy of death,” and “USA=Fag Nation.” In case you fail to make the connection, others are clearer, such as “Thank God for 9/11.” He has stoked his rage, building a firestorm of hate toward his own country.

What we learn from Jones’ documentary is that Phelps’ rage runs deep. Two of his 13 children are interviewed by phone for the film, and recount vicious beatings from their father. Yet only four of his 13 children left the family and their church, a testimony to the power of his personality. There have been other “religious” men with similar holds on their families and followers, like Jim Jones, for example. It’s called a cult.

“Fall from Grace” is an important film. It should be required viewing for the Christian right. They should have to face what their hate helped create. It should be required viewing for the LGBT community. We should understand the danger that faces us, lest we choose to donate a dollar at Pride or join HRC and assume the fight for acceptance and inclusion is handled. It should be required viewing for any American who has fallen for the social conservative agenda.

I’ll close this post after one more dip in the quotationspage.com well. The Reverend Ralph W. Sockman said, “The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.”

Out of Two Closets: Gay and Wiccan

In our first podcast, Life on Q interviews Christopher Penczak, a gay man, a witch, a teacher and the author of 12 books on Wicca. Christopher discusses what it’s like to come out of two closets–as a gay man and as a witch. He talks about how homosexuality is viewed by the Wiccan community, and what queers and witches have in common.
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For more information on Christopher’s book, Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe, see a description and reviews here.   Or click here to buy Gay Witchcraft from Outwrite Bookstore.

Visit Christopher’s Website

Visit Christopher’s MySpace page

Learn more about pagan religions at The Witch’s Voice, a site recommended by Christopher.

On Being Queer and Iranian: A Real and Dangerous Existence

Arsham Parsi is proof positive that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not only wrong, but knows he is wrong. There are homosexuals in Iran, of course. And gay Iranians suffer from much more than a public denial of their existence. Beatings and executions are legal remedies for even the mildest display of homosexual behavior. Arsham knows the dangers of being Iranian and gay firsthand. Arsham fled his country and is now exiled in Canada, where he is Executive Director of the Toronto-based IRanian Queer Organization – IRQO (formerly called the Persian Gay & Lesbian Organization – PGLO).

With his permission, Life on Q is sharing Arsham Parsi’s story of his own exile and the torture of his friends and fellow Iranian queers. You can learn more about his and other LGBT Iranian experiences of persecution on the IRQO Website, including many disturbing photos and accounts of torture and execution. You may also support IRQO’s efforts to raise awareness, promote community and provide assistance to queer Iranian refugees and immigrants with a donation.

I Was Forced to Flee Iran

By Arsham Parsi, Executive Director, IRQO

I was born in September 1980, in Iran. As a teenager growing up in Shiraz, I was lonely and filled with self-loathing. I had never met another queer, and I thought I was a freak. I prayed to become a good person, a normal person. Other people fasted for one month, but I fasted for three. Then I found the Internet. And I discovered that I was not alone.

After that, I started to understand who I am and come to terms with my sexual identity. I began to do advocacy work for the queer community in Iran, but my work earned me the attention of the Iranian authorities. I was forced to flee Iran on March 4, 2005. It was 12:45 pm. I have never forgotten that time. I had to leave all my own things in my motherland and go into exile. It was intolerable.

My train took me to Turkey, where I was able to register as a refugee at the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara. I had stopped praying by then. When I fled to Turkey, I promised my God that I would continue my support for Iranian queers and that would be my form of worship. Three months after arriving in Turkey, my case was accepted, and two months later I was invited to the Canadian Embassy in Ankara. Eight months later, here I am in Canada.

Homophobia runs deep into Iranian society. It reflects a patriarchal social system in which sexuality is controlled and feared, except when at the service of reproduction. Of course, it also reflects the influence of the conservative Islamic legal and religious standards promoted by the government. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini notoriously called for homosexuals to be extirpated as “parasites and corruptors of the nation” who “spread the stain of wickedness.”

Before I fled to Turkey, three of my closest friends committed suicide because of their sexual orientation. More recently, Iranian police arrested two gay men in their 20s for hosting a small house party. The men received 80 lashes each; I doubt that I would be able to endure one. I admire their courage. After getting his punishment, one of the men asked the person who executed this inhuman sentence whether he felt closer to God by this savagery. Their lives, like many if not all the other LGBT persons in Iran, is miserable.
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Homophobia: Common Ground for George Bush and the President of Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has finally found something he and President George Bush agree on. Both are anti-gay activists who believe homosexuals should be marginalized, outcast and punished. Their religious beliefs give them an excuse for their homophobia.

Speaking at Columbia University Monday, Ahmadinejad declared that there are no homosexuals in Iran. Perhaps this is because queer Iranians are subject to imprisonment, torture and execution. Or perhaps Ahmadinejad has simply extended his denial of the Holocaust to include another group Hitler included in his death camps: homosexuals.

The Human Rights Campaign chose the right word for their official statement on Ahmadinejad’s assertion: absurd. “Today’s assertions by President Ahmadinejad that there are no homosexuals in Iran would be simply absurd were it not for the fact that international human rights watchers have long documented some of the most horrific acts of persecution and violence committed against gay people in Iran. These acts of terror have included incarcerations, beatings, and brutal executions. Ahmadinejad’s denial that there are gay people in Iran shows the extent to which he devalues the lives of the many citizens his government has and continues to violate,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said in the statement.

Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director at The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) said the Iranian President was disingenuous in his remarks about the human rights situation in Iran. “The Iranian President’s stark denial of our reality reflects his government’s ongoing refusal to recognize the basic human rights of LGBT people. IGLHRC and other human rights organizations have documented widespread and systemic violations of the rights of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Iran,” she said in an IGLHRC statement.

Interestingly, the Iranian president may have actually helped the cause of the citizens he denies, and that of all queer Muslims of both Persian and Arab descent, by raising the visibility of the brutal and oppressive treatment that LGBT people endure at the hands of his government and others–including our own. Coverage of Ahmadinejad’s comments was broad and deep. Even Al Jazeera included it in their coverage of the Columbia University forum. Gay rights organizations, bloggers and the mass media have seized on the opportunity analyze the absurdity of his assertion, putting gay rights abuses outside the U.S. on the radar. The conversation that has resulted creates a logic problem for anti-gay Americans, who now find themselves agreeing with the Ahmadinejad’s extreme views.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate will again consider the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime legislation. In the wake of Ahmadinejad’s comments, perhaps it will be harder for Republicans to vote against it. To do so puts them on Iran’s side. And as President Bush has told us, either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists. Sen. Ted Kennedy brought the issue back to the floor yesterday with a statement linking hate crimes to terrorism:

“Hate crimes are a form of domestic terrorism. They send the poisonous message that some Americans deserve to be victimized solely because of who they are.

“The time has come to stand up for the victims of these senseless acts of violence – victims like Matthew Shepard, for whom this bill is named, and who died a horrible death in 1998 at the hands of two men who singled him out because of his sexual orientation. Nine years after Matthew’s death – nine years – we still haven’t gotten it done. How long are we going to wait?”

President Bush has already come out on Ahmadinejad’s side on this issue, threatening to veto the legislation.

Check out our resource page for information, organizations and resources for queer Arabs, Muslims and Persians.

Lutheran Church Votes to Turn the Other Cheek on Gay Ministers

Ironically, the Lutheran Church took a page from “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” today at its national assembly on Chicago’s Navy Pier. The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in America (ELCA) voted to direct church leaders to “refrain from or demonstrate restraint” when enforcing the church’s ban on non-celibate gay clergy. Yesterday the ELCA rejected a proposal that would have eliminated the ban altogether, according to an article just posted on The Chicago Sun-Times’ Website.

In essence, the Lutheran Church has chosen to make it OK to ignore its own rules rather than summon the grace and courage to get rid of rules that foster exclusion, intolerance and persecution. Like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Lutheran’s new “Refrain and Restrain” could be viewed as one baby step forward for gay rights. It will likely allow gay Lutheran ministers to take fewer casualties. But they did not win the battle.