On World Refugee Day, Integrity Remembers LGBT Asylum Seekers

Friday, June 20th, is World Refugee Day, when the plight of displaced persons around the world is upheld for advocacy and prayer.  The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts-Schori, issued a statement which says, in part:

"Remember in prayer all who flee persecution and suffering in search of security and peace, remember the baptismal promise to strive for justice and peace, and reaffirm our commitment to welcoming the stranger as Christ himself."

Throughout 2014, Integrity has shared messages from the LGBT Faith Asylum Network, an organization led by our former Executive Director, Max Niedzwiecki.  Max also addressed the April meeting of the Integrity Stakeholders' Council.

LGBT-FAN helps connect LGBT asylum seekers with individuals and groups who are willing to help with housing, job placement, the asylum/immigration process, and spiritual care.  Where possible, they help to foster a community for these displaced people by guiding them to places where others share their cultural/ethnic experience.  In addition, LGBT-FAN seeks to educate faith communities about the struggles LGBT asylum seekers face, in the hope of building much-needed additional support and outreach.

The situation for LGBT people in many countries throughout the world is dire.

• There are laws against homosexuality in over 80 countries around the world.
• In over 70 countries, you could be imprisoned if you are part of the LGBT community.
• In 7 of those countries, the punishment is the death penalty
• In some of those countries "corrective rape" is common and sometimes committed by government officials.

In the past year, Nigeria, Uganda, India and Russia all created new anti-homosexuality laws.  Violence has increased against LGBT people, often with the tacit approval of government officials and church leaders.  The Anglican archbishops of Uganda and Nigeria, along with their backers in the West, have voiced their approval for the new legislation in those countries.

Once here, asylum seekers are not eligible for government social services nor permitted to seek employment for at least six months, while they are trying to sort through the immigration/asylum process, often without the funds to pay for legal help.

On this World Refugee Day, we ask that you learn more about the work of LGBT-FAN and consider whether you are being called to assist their work in some way.  We ask that you speak about the plight of LGBT asylum seekers within your faith communities; there is a good deal of information available on the organization's web site for sharing.  You can read first-person accounts from some of the people they have been able to help, learn about the innovative ways different groups are providing assistance, and consider whether a program might be possible in your area.

Some LGBT groups have elected to dedicate part of their presence at Pride events toward building awareness of the LGBT refugee community.  Reflecting the need for anonymity or their "facelessness" situation, asylum seekers or those representing them wear masks or even bags over their heads, carried placards, etc.

Please hold LGBT asylum seekers and those working to assist them in your prayers as they attempt to find a safe home where they can live authentically without fear.

Christian Paolino is the chair of Integrity's Stakeholders' Council

Presiding Bishop Issues Statement on Criminalization of Homosexuality

The leadership of Integrity read with gratitude the statement issued January 30th by the Most. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, regarding the recent efforts to criminalize homosexuality by several countries in recent months.
The statement reads:

"The Episcopal Church has been clear about our expectation that every member of the LGBT community is entitled to the same respect and dignity as any other member of the human family. Our advocacy for oppressed minorities has been vocal and sustained.

The current attempts to criminalize LBGT persons and their supporters are the latest in a series, each stage of which has been condemned by this Church, as well as many other religious communities and nations. Our advocacy work continues to build support for the full human rights and dignity of all persons, irrespective of gender, race, national origin, creed, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability or inability. To do less is effectively to repudiate our membership in the human community.

No one of God’s children is worth less or more than another; none is to be discriminated against because of the way in which she or he has been created. Our common task is to build a society of justice for all, without which there will never be peace on earth. Episcopalians claim that our part in God’s mission is to love God fully, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That means all our neighbors."

The Most Rev.
Katharine Jefferts Schori

Photo Credit:
Flickr user kirkamunga

Used under Creative Commons

"I am deeply grateful to the Presiding Bishop for adding her voice to the others around the church who are beginning to speak out against the inhumanities being endured by LGBT people around the world," said the Rev. Jon M. Richardson, Integrity's Vice President for National Affairs, who -- as our liaison to the Chicago Consultation -- traveled to Africa several times to meet and pray with LGBT Anglicans there. "It is especially heartening that she has set her words in the context of the larger vision that has been emerging in the Episcopal Church over the past few decades - we are not a church that will tolerate oppression against anyone. God has given us a higher calling: to respect the dignity of every human being."

Reports of violence against LGBT people in Russia, Uganda and Nigeria have been publicized since their governments enacted or considered laws intended to punish either those who are LGBT, provide assistance or support to LGBT people, distribute pro-LGBT "propaganda"  participate in a same-gender wedding, or even express same-gender affection.

Integrity president, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall commented that "these new laws and the consequent violence are in part due to a sustained campaign by Americans acting in the name of Christ. I am grateful that the Presiding Bishop has made it clear that The Episcopal Church has no truck with such homophobic activities."
The Presiding Bishop's statement follows commentary from the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, published widely earlier the same week. She acknowledged the western church's role in creating the intolerant climate many African LGBT people now face.

A petition by Davis Mac-Iyalla of the UK-based Changing Attitude calls for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, to speak to his Ugandan and Nigerian peers about their enthusiastic endorsement of the laws.  Archbishop Welby and the Archbishop of York, the Most Rev. John Sentamu, published a joint letter to the primates reminding of the commitment made in the Dromantine Communiqué of 2005 to "the pastoral support and care of homosexual people" but referring only vaguely to the situations currently unfolding.

Integrity urges all our members and partners to speak to your congregations and loved ones about the persecution of LGBT persons abroad and the plight of those who seek asylum in the United States.  Please contact us if you would like more information.

Christian Paolino is the Chair of the Stakeholders' Council of IntegrityUSA

House of Deputies President Speaks Out on Nigeria & Uganda

On Monday, January 27th, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, issued a strong statement in Religion News about the deteriorating plight of LGBT people in Uganda and Nigeria, where the countries' parliaments approved new laws that essentially make it illegal to be gay.

The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings at a bible study during the
first Chicago Consultation event in Durban, South Africa,
in October of 2011

Photo Credit: The Rev. Jon M. Richardson

As Paul Lane reported last week, a weakened version of Uganda's "Kill the Gays Bill" voted into law in December was tabled by President Yoweri Museveni on a technicality, but it is not likely to be forgotten.

In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan approved a new law which is nominally intended to prevent same-gender marriage (with a 14-year prison term) but which in fact essentially states that it is a crime to either express same-sex attraction or support anyone who does.  Reports that gay men are being rounded up have been condemned by the United Nations and others.  In the Muslim-controlled north where sharia law is applied, those arrested are at risk of death by stoning.

The new laws have been lauded by the Anglican leadership in both countries. In her commentary, Jennings acknowledged the role the church has played in the situation:

"I am troubled and saddened that fellow Anglicans could support legislation that fails to recognize that every human being is created in the image of God. Western Christians cannot ignore the homophobia of these church officials or the peril in which they place Ugandan and Nigerian LGBT people. The legacy of colonial-era Christian missionaries and infusions of cash from modern-day American conservatives have helped to create it."

 Jennings, who is also a founding member of the Chicago Consultation, has spent time in Africa meeting with those who seek a more compassionate stance towards LGBT people, but find the literal understanding of the Bible encouraged by Western missionaries difficult to overcome:

"These brave leaders have taught me that there is no getting around the Bible when searching for the origins of the homophobia that is rampant in many African cultures. What’s more, Europeans and North Americans bear much of the historical responsibility for this sad state of affairs. As Zimbabwean biblical scholar Masiiwa Ragies Gunda has written, it is 'far-fetched to look beyond the activities of Western missionaries' when considering the role of the Bible in Africa."

The anti-LGBT fervor within African churches has been encouraged by American evangelical ministers like Scott Lively.  Lively is currently the target of a lawsuit for crimes against humanity in the U.S.  by Ugandan LGBT leaders for his role in the increasingly anti-LGBT culture there, under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law which has been expanded in recent years to include human rights abuses. Undeterred, Lively told a radio host in October that he considers the new anti-gay laws in Russia, where he has also spent time, "one of my proudest achievements."

Jennings sees all of this as a call to action for the church:

"Western Christians cannot fix the homophobia that is currently gripping Nigeria, Uganda, or other African countries. We can, however, stand in solidarity with progressive Africans and support their efforts to teach new ways of interpreting the Bible and understanding sexuality. When we see human rights abuses, we can speak out. And most of all, we can acknowledge with humility that we bear our share of the responsibility for this tragic legacy of empire and insist on repudiating contemporary efforts to expand its reach."

Integrity's Vice-President for National Affairs, the Rev. Jon M. Richardson, is a fellow Chicago Consultation steering committee member who also took part in the Africa meetings:

"Reading this op-ed from the President of the House of Deputies makes me proud, once again, to be an Episcopalian. By virtue of our baptism we have a responsibility to 'seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.'

One of the gifts of the Anglican Communion is that it helps us all to see just how wide a net that covenant casts - our neighbors are not just the people closest to us, but our brothers and sisters all over the world in their times of celebration and in their times of suffering.

I had the honor of participating in the consultations on Bible and sexuality that the Rev. Jennings mentioned, and I have heard first hand of the suffering - and the celebrations and hopes - of our LGBT sisters and brothers from around Africa. We cannot stand quietly by as so many of their governments - too often with the blessing of their churches - seek to further oppression.

I am deeply grateful to our President of the House of Deputies for speaking with such wisdom here. I can only pray that other church leaders both here and around the world will speak as fearlessly and strongly as she has. It's a message the that needs to be heard by the whole church and the world it inhabits."

Integrity encourages all Episcopalians concerned about the plight of Nigeria and Uganda's LGBT people to educate your congregations, your bishops and your deputies to General Convention.  Please contact us for more information.

Christian Paolino is the Chair of the Integrity Stakeholders' Council

No One is Free Until We All Are Free: Reflections on MLK Weekend

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King famously said "no one is free until we are all free". I have been thinking about this quote a lot over the past few weeks and months. The LGBT movement for equality has made major strides in North America and Europe over the past few years. Granted, much of this progress is tied to where you live. In many states and countries we can marry; in many we can adopt children; in some we can do one but not the other; and in many we can do neither. It seems, at least in many Western countries that the arc of the moral universe is finally bending toward justice. This has led to a feeling of complacency among many of our brothers and sisters.

The Rev. Winnie Varghese
with Davis Mac-Iyalla
of Changing Attitudes:
Nigeria, when he spoke
at St. Mark's-in-the
Bowery in New York.

Photo Credit: Paul Lane

This progress is, unfortunately, not the case everywhere. In many areas of the world not only are the conditions not getting better, they are in fact getting worse. In June Russia passed the "anti-gay propaganda law" effectively taking away freedom of expression and assembly from LGBT people. There is now a push, much of it coming from the Russian Orthodox Church, to recriminalize homosexuality, which was decriminalized in 1993. This has been largely covered by the U.S. media in the lead-up to the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi next month.

The LGBT community in Uganda was given a reprieve last week when President Yoweri Museveni returned the bill, now infamously known as the "kill the gays" bill, although "softened" to life in prison, to the Ugandan Parliament for review and further discussion. Make no mistake, this bill will rear its ugly head again, supported by American religious organizations as well as many in the Anglican Church of Uganda. Sodomy is already illegal in Uganda.

In Nigeria, a bill titled the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, supported by the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, was passed by the Nigerian Parliament and signed into law by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. This bill not only outlaws "gay marriage" (which was never legal in Nigeria in the first place), it provides for a prison term of fourteen years for anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage or civil partnership abroad. It also criminalizes anyone who registers or participates in gay organizations or clubs or who makes a public show of a same-sex relationship, the punishment being ten years in prison. The arrests have started. While fourteen years in prison may sound draconian, in Northern Nigeria, where Sharia law operates side by side with federal law, those arrested have been handed over to Sharia courts where the maximum punishment is death by stoning!

The Rev. Scott Gunn, Integrity's President, the Rev.
Dr. Caroline Hall, Davis Mac-Iyalla (Changing
Attitude: Nigeria), The Rev. Colin Coward
(Changing Attitude: UK) at the Primates' Meeting
in Tanzania in 2007

Photo Credit: Scott Gunn
Used under Creative Commons License.
Some Rights Reserved

In Uganda and Nigeria, as well as other countries with harsh penalties for homosexuality (many of which are vestiges of British colonial rule), these bills seriously threaten health services providing HIV treatment to MSMs (men who have sex with men).

What can we do? Educate ourselves. Get the word out: these developments, especially those in Nigeria, have largely gone under the radar of the U.S. media. A good source of information is on the Nigerian LGBTIs in Diaspora web-site: http://nigerianlgbtindiaspora.wordpress.com/

As an Episcopalians / Anglicans we can urge our bishops to speak out. Find out who the Indaba partners of your diocese are and ask your bishop to speak with them about this; ask him or her to contact the Presiding Bishop and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Sign Nigerian LGBT rights activist Davis Mac-Iyalla’s petition to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York which can be found here.  At press time the petition was approaching 1,000 signatures.

As a U.S. citizen, you can contact your Senators and Representatives in Congress and ask them to contact the State Department, which -- although it has publicly condemned these laws -- could do more. It has been reported that the Canadian government has already cancelled a state visit by Nigerian President Jonathan which was scheduled to take place in February. Keep the pressure on.

Keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers and those of your local parish.

"No one is free until we all are." We still have a long road to travel.

Paul Lane is the Diocesan Organizer for New York and Acting Chair of the LGBT Concerns Committee of the Diocese of New York

Davis Mac-Iyalla challenges Bishop Orama's attack on lesbian and gay people

Wednesday, 5 September 2007
by Davis Mac-Iyalla

The Anglican Bishop of Uyo, Rt. Rev. Isaac Orama, has condemned the activities of homosexuals and lesbians, and described those engaged in them as "insane people''. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) given on 2 September 2007 he said: "Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God's purpose for man."

Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, said today:

"As the time draws close for the Nigerian bishops to vote whether or not they will attend the Lambeth Conference, Archbishop Peter Akinola is at work lobbying the bishops of Nigeria to support his personal ideas about the future of the Anglican Communion. Even if bishop Orama needs to reward Akinola and the other bishops who lobbied for him to become a bishop himself, he doesn’t need to step on the head of innocent gay and lesbian people.

"Changing Attitude Nigeria is surprised that a bishop like Orama uses such language about homosexuality and calls people created in the likeness and image of God satanic. Bishop Orama is from the Niger Delta and knows very well that homosexuality existed in Nigeria even before the advent of western missionaries.

"Changing Attitude Nigeria challenges his authority to use those words about us. We ask, as LGBT Anglicans in Nigeria, whether this is his contribution to the Listening Process to which the Communion is committed in the Windsor Report.

"Bishop Orama has once more focussed the attention of church and society against an innocent and vulnerable minority of people in a hostile country like Nigeria.

"Changing Attitude Nigeria calls on the facilitator for the listening process, Canon Phil Groves, to take note of Bishop Orama’s comments. The Church of Nigeria has been denying our existence and is now using every means and tactic to silence us."

Click here to read the rest.

Should same-sex marriage be allowed in Nigeria?

By Taiwo Olanrewaju
Nigerian Tribune
Tuesday 15th May, 2007

HOMOSEXUALITY has always been in existence from time immemorial, but was rarely an issue to generate public reactions especially in Nigeria until recently. It started generating impulse for the first time in Nigeria a few years ago when a Gay Bishop was to be consecrated within the Anglican Communion in the United States of America (USA). The bulk of old generation Christians in Nigeria belongs to the orthodox setting of which Anglican is a prominent sect, therefore elite Christians who wield influence in the society are many in the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

The issues bordering on same-sex marriage and Gay priests were stiffly opposed by the church authority. This eventually led to the break-away of many African Anglican Churches from the world order, dissociating selves from same-sex marriage which they classified as unholy and ungodly, unfit for existence.

Subsequently, when homosexuality in South Africa became a public issue and many gays and lesbians came out to assert their rights, their counterparts in Nigeria became more confident, but before they knew, a bill had been passed criminalising same-sex relationship. All these notwithstanding, one can’t rule out the fact that homosexuality is very much among us, and those that practise it want to be heard. Speaking with some members of the public, the question the Nigerian Tribune put across was: Should gays and lesbians be given freedom to marry (same-sex marriage) in Nigeria?

Click here to read the rest.

CAN welcomes election of Dr Good Luck Jonathan as Vice-President of Nigeria

Tuesday, 24 April 2007
by Davis Mac-Iyalla

Changing Attitude Nigeria receives with gladness the news that our Christian brother and father, an Anglican knight in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Dr Good Luck Jonathan is the Vice-President elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We have been so very worried about the many irregularities and casualties that have surrounded the elections. However we are grateful to God Almighty who has not allowed Nigeria to split into different factions. God has still held us together in one nation despite our differences.

We hope that both the losers and winners in this election will put their differences away and unite to work together for the unity and peace of Nigeria. Our word of hope and prayer for the new government is that you will not fail in your promises to create a better, safer and more just society for all Nigerians.

Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, said:

"We are worried that the Nigerian Anglican Church will try and use the new Vice-President elect to push for the reintroduction of the bill against same-sex marriages, relationships and organisations that was lost in the last Assembly. This bill would cause problems for Nigerian in the international community. It would also increase the fear suffered by lesbian and gay Nigerians and the dangers that we live under in our society and encourage people to deepen their prejudices against us.

"We hope the Vice-President elect will work to protect and respect everyone in the diverse cultures of Nigeria including those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians, a hidden and persecuted minority in our country.

"We Christian LGBT people deplore the terrible violence and corruption which is wounding our country so deeply, and the failure of our Government to make a priority of the need s of the poorest people in our society. We pray for a Government that upholds the rule of law and works towards justice and protection for all, Moslem or Christian, lesbian, gay or heterosexual, rich or poor."

Source: http://www.changingattitude.org.uk/news/newsitem.asp?id=294

New Life for the Grace crew?

by Ralph Routon
Colorado Springs Independent
April 12-18, 2007

For those who have been paying attention, the sad internal strife at Grace Church has been enough to make a heathen shudder.

As of Easter Sunday, the highlight of the Christian calendar, the Grace members who feel loyal and committed to the Episcopal Church of the United States found themselves unwelcome at their own church building. Instead, they had to celebrate Easter in exile at Colorado College's Shove Chapel.

snip

And people wonder why churches aren't as large or influential as they once were. Especially when a congregation as established and deep-rooted as Grace's can split in such a deplorable manner—with the "breakaway" group seizing control of the church complex and embracing a Nigerian archbishop who believes homosexuals and their supporters should be imprisoned.

Let's be more specific. Archbishop Peter Akinola supports the idea of Nigeria's government making same-sex relationships criminal. He also favors Nigeria outlawing positive publicity for homosexuals "through the electronic or print media, physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise..."

snip

Here are some of Akinola's own words in a "message to the nation" of Nigeria, just last September: The Church affirms our commitment to the total rejection of the evil of homosexuality which is a perversion of human dignity and encourages the National Assembly to ratify the Bill prohibiting the legality of homosexuality since it is incongruent with the teachings of the Bible, Quran and the basic African traditional values.

Click here to read the rest.

Gay Christians Vs Archbishop of Canterbury

Thursday 29 March, 2007

The Reverend Richard Kirker, Chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is unimpressed with a statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury on making the Anglican Communion a "safe place" for lesbian and gay people.

"It is being kind to call this statement too late, too little and too vague." said Mr Kirker.

Only last week, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement took out a full page advert in the Church Times aimed at highlighting the plight of lesbian and gay people in the many countries where they are still executed, tortured and imprisoned. Kirker is appauled that the Anglican Church continues to turn a blind eye or in some countries, even bolsters homophobic legislation.

He said: "The fact is that the Anglican Church of Nigeria is the leading advocate of a new law there that will put you behind bars for five years just for supporting the rights of gay people. While the Anglican Church in Singapore is behind a current attempt to newly criminalised and imprison lesbians there."

Click here to read the rest.

Rice is asked to oppose draconian Nigerian bill

March 30, 2007
by Eric Resnick
Gay People's Chronical

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been asked by 32 members of Congress to oppose legislation in Nigeria that would criminalize gay and lesbian "relationships" as simple as having dinner together, as well as the mere act of witnessing a same-sex union. So far, Rice has been silent.

The letter was initiated by lesbian and gay Reps. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Barney Frank of Massachusetts. They were joined by Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, House Committee on Foreign Affairs chair Tom Lantos of California, and 28 other Democrats. The letter was also signed by one Republican, Chris Shays of Connecticut.

snip

The nation’s Anglican bishop, Peter Akinola, leads an effort in the world Anglican Communion to make the Episcopal Church back away from its pro-gay stances or leave the communion.

snip

"It’s important that the United States of America go on record opposing discrimination against LGBT people in Nigeria," said Baldwin.

"Human rights of life, liberty, and security of person should have no border and no nationality, and no exceptions for one’s sexual orientation and gender identity."

Click here to read the rest.

Progress halted on same-sex bill in Nigeria

***PRESS RELEASE***

Progress halted on same-sex bill in Nigeria

Thursday, 29 March 2007

by Davis Mac-Iyalla

For immediate release

Many people have been asking whether the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2006 which was debated on 22 March by the Nigerian House of Representatives is likely to be lost if the Nigerian election takes place soon.

The Nigerian Federal elections are scheduled to be held on 21 April and the ceremonial opening of the new session of Parliament on May 29, 2007, which the constitution recognizes as the hand over date to a new government. Allafrica.com reported on Sunday, 25 March 2007 that the House of Representatives will be prorogued on Wednesday, 28 March but this has not been confirmed by other sources. If the election takes place as timetabled, the present House of Representatives will be officially dissolved in May and the handover to the new House will take place.

The present sitting of the House has finished, and they asked the panel of Human Rights which continues to meet, to go and review the bill again. It is difficult to say categorically that the current House has been totally suspended because a lot of manoeuvring is taking place ahead of the election. It may be reasonably safe to assume the bill has been abandoned for now.

What we are hearing from CAN members in Anglican congregations in Nigeria is that the church leaders have been feeling big pressure on them and some are very angry because they expected the bill to be voted on prior to the end of this session. There are also rumours that money has exchanged hands, American money, and yet it has not proved easy for the Anglican Church leaders to push the bill through the House of Representatives. Corruption remains widespread at every level of Nigerian society.

It is also theoretically possible for the next government to reintroduce the bill. This would be unlikely to happen in the first term when they would be trying to satisfy many different expectations. It remains a possibility that the bill could be reintroduced in the next government’s second term.

Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, said today (29 March):

“Because of the continuing uncertainty, Changing Attitude Nigeria will not celebrate the defeat of the bill publicly until after May 29. We are quietly confident and feeling more happy, but there is still the potential for lobbying in favour of the bill to take place by the Church of Nigeria and for the Government to spring a surprise. However, if the Church was confident about the success of the bill, we think they would be issuing a confident public statement now, which they are not.”

ENDS

Contact:
Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria
Tel. Mobile: +2348025866133
Email: davis@nigeria.changingattitude.org

Revd Colin Coward, Director of Changing Attitude England
Tel. Office: 01380 724908
Mobile: 07770 844302
email: colin@changingattitude.org

Nigerian Legislation Delayed

From Jim Naughton at Daily Episcopalian
March 24, 2007

A hopeful delay in Nigeria?

Colin Coward of Changing Attitude emailed me this morning to say that the Nigerian legislature did not consider the hateful anti-gay legislation being supported by Archbishop Peter Akinola and the Church of Nigeria before adjourning yesterday. The legislature as currently composed does not reconvene until May, after the general election, and then only for one week.

If the bill doesn't pass in May, it can be reintroduced in a future session, but people who have been monitoring the situation for various human rights organizations have suggested that the election may alter political dynamics enough to make passage of the bill in its current form less likely.
*******

In an earlier note a commenter writes:
Perhaps you could organize your people to email and/or write the Archbishop of Canterbury. His press secretary's email is: jonathan.jennings@lambethpalace.org.uk

Here is what I wrote:

Dear Archbishop Williams:

I am very disappointed that your office has not spoken out against the Nigerian legislation currently supported by Archbishop Akinola regarding freedom of assembly and homosexuals. This legislation totally contravenes Lambeth 1.10 and safety for homosexual persons. I hope you will use your position in the World Wide Anglican Communion to advocate for those who are in danger of prison and worse due to these proposed laws.


Thank you.

The Rev. Ann Fontaine

Another Update on the Nigerian Bill

It has been confirmed that the bill is indeed up for a final reading.

I was informed it is the same old version that was presented was never reviewed and no amendments were made.

The bill did not come up for voting because there was no consensus between some of the house committees.

Also the house of Representatives will officially go on recess today which give more time and room for lobbying.

+Akinola is said to be doing last meeting lobbying with Anglicans in the house and the government to make sure the bill is voted and passed.

Pray for Nigeria and all those working tirelessly to make sure that this bill should not pass.

Davis Mac-Iyalla
Changing Attitude Nigeria

Nigeria Bill likely to be passed today

Urgent news reaching me from Abuja just now that the house is likely to debate its report today and pass the bill that will criminalise homosexuals even further and threaten us and our supporters with prison.

I ask for your urgent prayers today.

Davis Mac-Iyalla
Director Changing Attitude Nigeria

ENS | Bishops request meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury, Primates' Standing Committee

Responding to the recent Anglican Primates' Communiqué, the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, meeting March 20 in Navasota, Texas, expressed "an urgent need for us to meet face to face with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the members of the Primates' Standing Committee."

The request came as the second of three "mind of the house" resolutions adopted by the bishops on March 20. The resolutions [full texts here] were debated during the business session scheduled during the House of Bishops' annual spring retreat meeting.

In the afternoon's first resolution, addressed to the Episcopal Church's Executive Council, the House of Bishops "affirms its desire that The Episcopal Church remain a part of the councils of the Anglican Communion" and "pledges itself to continue to work to find ways of meeting the pastoral concerns of the Primates that are compatible with our own polity and canons."

Stating that "the meaning of the Preamble to the Constitution of The Episcopal Church is determined solely by the General Convention," the resolution also declares that "the House of Bishops believes the Pastoral Scheme of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué of February 19, 2007 would be injurious to the polity of the Episcopal Church and urges that the Executive Council decline to participate in it."

The Primates' "pastoral scheme" seeks to establish a pastoral council and a primatial vicar whom the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop would name to provide alternative oversight of dioceses -- seven of the Episcopal Church's 111 -- that have requested such a provision.

A third resolution -- a longer text -- enumerates four reasons why the bishops, hoping "we will continue to be welcome in the councils" of the Anglican Communion "nevertheless decline to participate in the Primates' Pastoral scheme for many reasons."

snip

[The Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam, bishop suffragan of the Diocese of New York, said,]
"While this was not dealt with by resolution, great concern was expressed about human rights violations for gay and lesbians, particularly in Nigeria, and the need for us as Anglicans and Christians to advocate against it."

Click here to read the rest.

WHY DO STRAIGHTS HATE GAYS?

Why do straights hate gays?
An aging 72-year-old gay man isn't hopeful about the future.
By Larry Kramer
LARRY KRAMER is the founder of the protest group ACT UP and the author of "The Tragedy of Today's Gays."

March 20, 2007

DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,

Why do you hate gay people so much?

Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.

Gays should not vote for any of them. There is not a candidate or major public figure who would not sell gays down the river. We have seen this time after time, even from supposedly progressive politicians such as President Clinton with his "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military and his support of the hideous Defense of Marriage Act. Of course, it's possible that being shunned by gays will make politicians more popular, but at least we will have our self-respect. To vote for them is to collude with them in their utter disdain for us.

Don't any of you wonder why heterosexuals treat gays so brutally year after year after year, as your people take away our manhood, our womanhood, our personhood? Why, even as we die you don't leave us alone. What we can leave our surviving lovers is taxed far more punitively than what you leave your (legal) surviving spouses. Why do you do this? My lover will be unable to afford to live in the house we have made for each other over our lifetime together. This does not happen to you. Taxation without representation is what led to the Revolutionary War. Gay people have paid all the taxes you have. But you have equality, and we don't.

And there's no sign that this situation will change anytime soon. President Bush will leave a legacy of hate for us that will take many decades to cleanse. He has packed virtually every court and every civil service position in the land with people who don't like us. So, even with the most tolerant of new presidents, gays will be unable to break free from this yoke of hate. Courts rule against gays with hateful regularity. And of course the Supreme Court is not going to give us our equality, and in the end, it is from the Supreme Court that such equality must come. If all of this is not hate, I do not know what hate is.

Our feeble gay movement confines most of its demands to marriage. But political candidates are not talking about — and we are not demanding that they talk about — equality. My lover and I don't want to get married just yet, but we sure want to be equal.

You must know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. If someone beats you up because of who you are — your race or ethnic origin — that is considered a hate crime. But in most states, gays are not included in hate crime measures, and Congress has refused to include us in a federal act.

Homosexuality is a punishable crime in a zillion countries, as is any activism on behalf of it. Punishable means prison. Punishable means death. The U.S. government refused our requests that it protest after gay teenagers were hanged in Iran, but it protests many other foreign cruelties. Who cares if a faggot dies? Parts of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. are joining with the Nigerian archbishop, who believes gays should be put in prison. Episcopalians! Whoever thought we'd have to worry about Episcopalians?

(snip)

I think your hate is evil.

What do we do to you that is so awful? Why do you feel compelled to come after us with such frightful energy? Does this somehow make you feel safer and legitimate? What possible harm comes to you if we marry, or are taxed just like you, or are protected from assault by laws that say it is morally wrong to assault people out of hatred? The reasons always offered are religious ones, but certainly they are not based on the love all religions proclaim.

And even if your objections to gays are religious, why do you have to legislate them so hatefully? Make no mistake: Forbidding gay people to love or marry is based on hate, pure and simple.

You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.

read it all at LATimes, click HERE

Leaving Church

Posted with permission of the author.

14 March 2007

The Right Reverend Marc Andrus, Bishop of California

Dear Bishop Andrus,

As a member of your diocese, I am writing to I inform you of my decision to leave the Episcopal Church. This decision is precipitated by the recent actions of our Presiding Bishop in Tanzania , resulting in an ill-named "season of fasting" during this Lent, wherein we have been asked to refrain from blessing gay unions as a gesture of regret and repentance. I have written one letter already on this subject and obviously this one will be my last.

When I made the painful decision to leave the church, to my surprise the main thing I felt immediately and thereafter was relief. I was freed from being caught and dragged along in the tortuous machinations of a collapsing, human-built structure as it wrestles in such ungainly fashion with the radical idea of treating gay people like fully enfranchised human beings. I no longer have to construct justifications for my friends and colleagues who ask how I can bring myself to belong to a religious organization that supports the oppression of gay people.

I have always been proud of the historical association of such a wide spectrum of opinion and liturgical practice in the Anglican communion. Unfortunately that association is being rent asunder, and in the process gay members of the church are being cast into the breach as sacrifices, which may delay the inevitable but will not prevent it. This insult to our integrity will not even purchase something of value - it is merely a delaying tactic. How I wish that my personhood was worth more to my church.

I have waited patiently and listened to all of the well-reasoned arguments why I should be patient, and charitable, and turn the other cheek, and indulge my weaker co-religionists, etc. Ironically, no gay spokesperson in the entire communion that I am aware of has ever suggested that any conservative or evangelical group or individual should be removed, or rejected, or limited to auxiliary membership, no matter how strident or tiresome their calls for our persecution. It is only the conservatives who are permitted to indulge in such un-Anglican harassment of others, and are then rewarded for it.

In particular I refuse to be associated with any actions or pronouncements in support of the bigoted campaigns of Peter Akinola, who has spearheaded a legal bill in Nigeria imposing criminal penalties on homosexuals who dare even to associate with one another. While we as a body are making conciliatory gestures of enforced regret about confirming a gay bishop, gay Anglicans in Nigeria have had to go into hiding in fear of their safety. I do not understand why the Episcopal Church and the entire Anglican Communion is not rising up to speak with one voice against this outrage.

One thing is clear to me: I know of no heterosexual who would for one minute align themselves with a church which refused to recognize and bless heterosexual marriage; or, worse, which decreed a period of fasting from blessing heterosexual relationships in order to display a sufficiency of regret about having had the temerity to act in any way as if heterosexuals deserved equal rights.

Thankfully, none of this in any way affects my relationship with God. I am a child of God and loved by God, and my daily communication with the experience of the Sacred both within and without is untarnished by the tragic limitations of human religious structures. I remain a Benedictine Oblate. I continue to pray the psalms. I sing the hymns of my culture and heritage. But I will not submit to bigotry in the room where I pray, and I certainly will not fund the continuance of such bigotry.

I should add that although I have left the Episcopal Church, I will always remain a friend of Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco, which is a sanctuary for diverse ages, races, opinions, gender identities, and economic brackets, and whose parish priest has my perpetual respect for his eloquent and loving championship of inclusivity and respect for all.

With regret,

Jude Morton

cc: The Reverend Paul Burrows, Rector, Church of the Advent of
Christ the King, San Francisco , California

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of
America

NY Times Says Poisonous Anti-Gay Nigerian Law About to Pass

Editorial
Denying Rights in Nigeria

Published: March 8, 2007

A poisonous piece of legislation is quickly making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly. Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, it is a far-reaching assault on basic rights of association, assembly and expression. Chillingly, the legislation — proposed last year by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo — has the full and enthusiastic support of the leader of Nigeria’s powerful Anglican church. Unless the international community speaks out quickly and forcefully against the bill, it is almost certain to become law.

Read it all here.

An Update From Davis Mac-Iyalla On Nigeria's Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act

I asked:

I take it the Senate did not vote on the bill Thursday. Do you know its current status?

Davis answered:

The bill was read in senate but was not deliberated upon yesterday. We still don’t know what will be the out come yet.

I will keep you posted as soon as I hear any news.

Changing Attitude England challenges Primate of All Nigeria to protect Davis Mac-Iyalla

An excerpt:

Changing Attitude England and Nigeria challenge the Primate of All Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola, and the CANA bishop in the USA, the Rt Revd Martyn Minns, to issue a statement denouncing those church members who are threatening violence. We ask both the Archbishop and Bishop to unreservedly demand protection for Mr Mac-Iyalla and confirm the sanctity of all human life, whatever a person’s sexual orientation, in conformity with the Lambeth Conference 1998 Resolution 1.10 and paragraph 146 of the Windsor report which states that ‘any demonising of homosexual persons, or their ill treatment, is totally against Christian charity and basic principles of pastoral care.’

Click here to read the rest.