Richard Ammon, GlobalGayz.com

January 17, 2010

I'm posting this message sent from an activist friend in Uganda. 

It is incredibly beyond words that this vile man should weasel his way to Washington for a 'prayer breakfast' with  the President.  I am amazed at the gall this bizarre bigot to think he can sit at the same table as Barack Obama--not that Obama is perfect but at least  he has a moral heart.

Stop Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill Author From Entering The U.S.

David Bahati, the author of Uganda’s (photo below) now internationally infamous “Kill The Gays” bill, is scheduled to attend the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4th. We cannot allow him to enter this country.

The “Kill The Gays” bill is designed to eradicate homosexuals from Uganda. This is genocide in its most hateful form. It literally calls for anyone who IS homosexual to be put to death, and calls for anyone who knows anyone who is homosexual to be jailed if they do not tell the state the names of the people known to be homosexual.

The ramifications are staggering. And yet Bahati has said he will push to have these portions of the bill included.

We need to take a stand. Contact the U.S. State Department. Sign this petition demanding Bahati be prevented from gaining access to this country.

It truly is a matter of life and death.

In solidariy
Kasha 

-- 
Kasha .N. Jacqueline
Director
Freedom and Roam Uganda
Office:+256 (0) 31229 4863
Cell: UG-+256772463161
Email:kasha@faruganda.org
Alternative:jnkasha@gmail.com

Website: www.faruganda.org

Being Gay is Political--Like It or Not

Richard Ammon. GlobalGayz.com
January 11, 2010

Someone recently reviewed my website, GlobalGayz.com, and thought it was not focused well. Was it a gay site? A travel site? A human rights advocacy site? A political site? A news reports site?

My reply was short: being openly gay at the turn of the 21st is a political act that invokes human rights activity and generates much news around the world.

I wish it were not so but so be it. Being born with a certain hormonal/genetic propensity—that has nothing to do with behavior or environment--toward same-sex attraction has always been a physiological occurrence within the humanoid species, like it or not. Just as left-handers or gregariousness or mental brilliance or genital endowment arise out of the mysterious ooze of prenatal fluids, tissues and embryos.

As these few ‘different’ people (aren’t we all different?) get to be five or nine or thirteen or twenty-seven and start to feel distinct from most others and realize their sexuality is askance they quickly realize that this is not just another difference, like freckles or red hair. This one comes with a lot of opinions and attitudes from others. This is a difference you are not supposed to have because it’s "sinful or illegal or diseased", so naturally we learn to hide it—until we can’t.

Homo or heterosexual desire (sexual orientation) is not like desire for dark chocolate that’s controlled with willing choice, prayer, medicine or threat of jail time or threat of getting hit or rejected or fired from work or killed.

Coming out as gay or lesbian is not the same ‘ripening’ that happens to heterosexual youth where a guy or girl catches your eye and you giggle or gossip with friends about it hoping for a date and then reviewing it afterwards (maybe including the intimacy that ‘just happened’, or didn’t).

Coming out is a political issue like it or not. It brings a lot of baggage such as social discrimination (rejection), unconstitutional inequality (no marital rights) and violation of privacy (i.e., mockery, presumptuous jokes about sex positions or gender roles) and unfair treatment under national laws. Sexual differences polarize people into attitudes that lead to very different behaviors, some of which are against the law (aggression and assault) but justified by religious or social conditioning. Witness the fierce stigma against people with AIDS which is still considered a gay disease by those committed to homophobia.

Gay travelers, domestic or abroad, face social problems if they show even a modicum of affection in public or aboard a non-gay cruise ship or at a straight resort. They are told not to ‘flaunt’ it or be ‘out’ in front of others.

Hence the development of the gay travel industry (ships, resorts, websites, booking and tour agencies, guidebooks) that 'protect' LGBT people from such ostracism as well as help them to enjoy world sites.

GlobalGayz is a member of this industry. It is a travel website. It is, necessarily, a political travel website. And to prove it, on this site are thousands of News articles and Reports that chronicle the worldwide political circumstances--the good, bad, ugly and brave, in which LGBT tourists often travel and negotiate around or through in order to avoid hostility or injury.

As this is being written, gay, lesbian and trans travelers, some knowing, others not, are weaving their way among countries and states that criminalize homosexuality and would be happy to deport or incarcerate those same travelers. Fortunately, in most cases, one’s sexual orientation is not outwardly visible so most return home safely from such gay-toxic places as Jamaica, Iran, Serbia or Uganda.

Christian Africa and the ‘mid-global’ Islamic countries are the most virulently anti-gay regions in the world. Fundamentalist religions in these areas have spread poisonous misinformation about gay people and nurtured exaggerated distortions and false witness about sexual orientation. Some LGBT activists as well as non-gay citizens in these places have been arrested, attacked or killed for being gay—or being suspected of such.

The most recent crime was the murder of Honduran gay activist Walter Trochez in December 2009. (photo right)

Yes, being gay is very much political and so is gay travel. So is GlobalGayz--gladly.

Curing Homosexuality—with Murder

Richard Ammon, GlobalGayz
Laguna Beach, California January 5, 2010

How many ways can you kill a person for being gay?

We like to use the word ‘barbarian’ these days to describe ancient war tactics, medieval religious torture and primitive ‘medical’ practices.

But the truth is barbaric practices are in current vogue in certain countries around the world. About 80 countries criminalize homosexual practices and of those about dozen allow the death penalty. Saudi Arabia is the most notorious, followed by Iran and more recently—since we ‘liberated’ it—Iraq.

In Baghdad where gangs seem to regulate the law, death squads have been ferreting out gay men for summary execution. Worse (if that’s possible), even people suspected or accused of being gay are gunned down with no consideration of truth.

In Afghanistan under the Taliban, they toppled brick walls on top of accused gays who were staked to the ground. This usually killed them but if it only severely maimed them, they were set free, as a sign from Allah!

This brings us to the most recent applicant to join the ‘death club’ against gays, Uganda. The trouble has been brewing for 9 months, ever since some anti-gay fundies from America went to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, to hold a pitiful and poorly attended seminar on curing gays of their sinful lifestyle. (Image: Uganda Coat of Arms)

Hardly anyone noticed or cared except the anti-gay press such as the unscrupulous gay-hating tabloid ‘Red Pepper’, which regularly increases its circulation with distorted and scandalous stories about homosexuals. It portrayed the seminar as the ‘second coming’ against the anti-Christ gay enemy.
(The most recent slander came on December 31, 2009 in a full page story with the personal details of people who, allegedly, 'bankroll Ugandan homos'.)

Worse by far—and the point of this blog--is the infamous action taken a few months ago by a Ugandan parliament member who swallowed the Americans’ homophobic ideas (discredited by virtually all knowledgeable professionals) about the ‘illness’ of homosexuals and how to cure it by prayer.

But why cure them when you just get rid of them?

This first-term MP, David Bahati, subsequently submitted a bill for debate in the national parliament that seeks the death penalty for gays and imposes jail sentences for anyone who does not report them, including parents, pastors and friends.

Despite the fact that homosexuality is already criminalized in Uganda, Bahati felt urged to proposed the ‘final solution’ for same-sexers . And the bill is getting serious support in homophobic Uganda. The bill’s fate should be voted on in early 2010.

Needless to say. great opposition has come from churches, human rights activists worldwide as well as governments including the US, UK, and European Union. Sweden has threatened to cut off its foreign aid to Uganda.

Hmmm.... curing gays by murder in the 21st century civilization. Seems barbarism is alive and well in the service of ignorance and hatred.

Sound shocking doesn’t it, but it’s really happening as I write this.

New Year, Full Moon

Richard Ammon, GlobalGayz.com
Laguna Beach, California, January 1, 2010

5 AM before sunrise, Southern California

A brilliant white glowing moon hangs, seemingly weightless, on the edge of deep space, over the Pacific Ocean, its luminescence reflected in the rippling water. The dark gray-blue sky is cloudless. The moon is completely full round. The air is still. There is silence. The reflection is a path to my eye.
The world seems reborn for a moment, as measured in my mind. This is as the world began and continues, across infinite moments and far beyond my mind. A small blink of stunning peaceful beauty suspended across the sky. It was a long time coming. I, on the other hand, have been only a short time coming. I am filled with awe for this moment, then back to bed until the sun replaces the moon of my vision.
I'm only a short term spectator here, stuck to the surface of my planet. The moon on this New Years morning is a reminder that every day is a new year, a light year or a thousand. I am merely a ticket holder for the current event.