Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
Hobart, Tasmania, November 9, 2009
Gay life is everywhere, as we know, even here in Tasmania.
Some people think of this place as some remote Africa country hardly worth mentioning. But they couldn't be more wrong. Tasmania is Australia's southernmost state, off the south coast of the continent and separated by treacherous seas. But flying in from Sydney is a smooth trip on JetStar Airlines into the modest and tidy airport. Immediately a visitor notices how friendly folks are here--even if recalcitrant legislators here were the last in Australia to acknowledge the presence and legitimacy of homosexuality.
Now, a few short years later it has the best school anti-homophobia programs, Anti-discrimination Act and same-sex relationship laws in the country, all with public support. In 2004 Tasmania became the first Australian State to establish a civil union scheme for samesex and other couples.
The state tourism agency produces a 31-page brochure specific for LGBT visitors (www.discovertasmania.com) with a full history of the struggle for rights and a complete listing of all venues.
Hollywood gossip provided Tasmania with its most famous queer citizen, film idol Errol Flynn of the 1940s and 50s. Famously, one director shouted at Errol: ‘Stop acting like a goddam faggot, you no-good Tasmanian, bum, son-of-a-bitch.’ In this on-set outburst, Michael Curtiz, director of Flynn’s first Hollywood hit, Captain Blood, summed up two major themes of Errol’s life: his Tasmanian origins and his reputed bisexuality. In his autobiography, Flynn reflected happily on trips into the wilderness with his biologist father, Theodore, trapping native animals like the now extinct Tasmanian tiger.
By coincidence, our arrival in 2009 coincided with the annual TazPride Festival, this year from 31 October to 15 November. For this, the GLC Centre produced a 35-page program of events stretching over two weeks, with the state tourism office as one of the major sponsors. Tassie has come a long way in a few short years. TazPride events include a Halloween party, concerts, film festival, family picnic, dances, story telling, radio propgrams and Divine Divas.
In addition to the special events during the Festival, the gay community in Hobart has groups and organizations that offer legal advice services, youth counseling, women's groups, hiking club, social organizations such as Human Rights Week, Coming Out Proud Program and the annual Rainbow Award event--as well as a bar (Flamingos), a gay friendly cafe (Fresh), and accommodations (Huon Bush Retreat).
Overall, gay life is quietly alive here. At a gay day picnic (part of the 2-week gay TazFest) about 50 people showed up for a friendly folksy afternoon of events one might expect at a town fair: pet dog showing, a three-legged race, a drag dressing contest, a potato-sack race and a purse-throwing competition (won by a lesbian) along with tasty lentil burgers, hot dogs, numerous babies and curious neighbors who lived by the Parliament Oval park venue.
As one picnic-goer said, "we used to be more active and vocal but now that they've made us legal there's not much to fight for", referring to the decriminalization of homosexual behavior in 1997. Gay marriage is a far off dream as is full equality. "But we have it pretty good here. People don't hide but we don't have a parade either. There are no grinding issues."
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Love Among the Ruins: USA, an Indian Prince, Love & HIV
Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
November 4, 2009
Sydney, Australia
While America was limping from the loss of two important marriage-rights elections (New Jersey and Maine), across the globe in India there was a cause for celebration of sorts.
Prince Manvendra Gohil, the famous ‘gay Prince’ from Rajpipla state in the western Gujarat area of India announced last night to an audience in Sydney that he had found his “soul mate”. Addressing a forum sponsored by ACON, Australia’s largest community-based LGBT health and HIV/AIDS organization.
During the two-hour conference, Manvendra answered many questions to put him from Andy Quan of ACON and from an attentive audience about his personal life and his HIV charity work in his home state. Some questions focused on his history as the only royal personage to come out as gay, in 2005, and his subsequent rejection and acceptance by his family, the media and the people in his ‘realm’. (His family has headed Rajpipla state for over 600 years and Manvendra is the 39th heir in line to that throne. His father is the current maharaji.)
Manvendra told how he suffered a nervous breakdown and was forced into an unwanted marriage (that failed) as he was coming to terms with his sexual orientation. Fortunately, he said, he was ‘saved’ by two important authoritative figures who helped him to see his sexuality as normal and as something not to hide from. “I was very fortunate in the hospital because my doctor completely understood my condition and told me there was nothing wrong with me... that I was normal and that homosexuality was an acceptable variety of human sexuality...he saved my life.”
The other person of deep influence for the prince was Ashok Row Kavi, India’s bold, colorful and articulate gay rights activist who led the gay movement out of darkness in the 1980s and 90s and is now in Delhi working for UNAIDS, and is still a major spokesperson for LGBT India.
“I love Ashok,” said Manvendra during the forum held at Paddington Town Hall, “he gave me the courage to come out of my closet and be proud of myself. He was my ‘mother’ and nurtured me—he still inspires me.”
The audience applauded the prince’s continuing boldness in spreading the message of gay rights and advocating for LGBT health care in a huge homophobic complex country through his charity work with the Lakshya Trust that he started in 2000.
Lakshya project manager Sylvester Merchant (left in photo) accompanied the Prince and
responded to numerous questions about the health and education efforts of the Trust that especially targets MSM at risk people (including truck drivers) many of whom are marginalized or hidden from mainstream health and education in India. Lakshya also welcomes and supports another stigmatized population, the hijras, transgender/transvestites who live outside mainstream society.
Manvendra described a perspective that hijras have played a important symbolic role in his state’s cultural history going back over hundreds of years. “They have been considered as ‘auspicious’ personages” with special powers of wisdom and blessedness at such ceremonies as weddings and births. “So we welcome them and we make sure they have their own programs at Lakshya.”
As the questions opened for the audience, it was inevitable that the question would be asked about his own romantic life. One questioner cautiously asked the Prince if he had a significant other, with the rejoinder that of course the Prince did not have to answer.
With a wide smile and sparkling eyes and without dropping a beat, the Prince took the microphone said “I will answer that question, gladly. I have met someone recently within the past few months and I can say I have found my soul mate,” to which the audience responded with a hearty round of cheerful applause.
It was a special moment for all, to hear this brave and vulnerable royal of high bearing—once isolated by his status and sexuality-- offering his shared happiness and humanity with very supportive like-minded others who know well the difficulty of finding love and compassion in a homophobic world.
It was an evening of courage, wisdom and truth telling. As Manvendra said toward the end, there is a Hindi saying “Truth always prevails”.
Aslso see:
Global Forum on MSM
APCOM (Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health)
(The Prince is on the Board of APCOM)
November 4, 2009
Sydney, Australia
While America was limping from the loss of two important marriage-rights elections (New Jersey and Maine), across the globe in India there was a cause for celebration of sorts.
Prince Manvendra Gohil, the famous ‘gay Prince’ from Rajpipla state in the western Gujarat area of India announced last night to an audience in Sydney that he had found his “soul mate”. Addressing a forum sponsored by ACON, Australia’s largest community-based LGBT health and HIV/AIDS organization.
During the two-hour conference, Manvendra answered many questions to put him from Andy Quan of ACON and from an attentive audience about his personal life and his HIV charity work in his home state. Some questions focused on his history as the only royal personage to come out as gay, in 2005, and his subsequent rejection and acceptance by his family, the media and the people in his ‘realm’. (His family has headed Rajpipla state for over 600 years and Manvendra is the 39th heir in line to that throne. His father is the current maharaji.)Manvendra told how he suffered a nervous breakdown and was forced into an unwanted marriage (that failed) as he was coming to terms with his sexual orientation. Fortunately, he said, he was ‘saved’ by two important authoritative figures who helped him to see his sexuality as normal and as something not to hide from. “I was very fortunate in the hospital because my doctor completely understood my condition and told me there was nothing wrong with me... that I was normal and that homosexuality was an acceptable variety of human sexuality...he saved my life.”
The other person of deep influence for the prince was Ashok Row Kavi, India’s bold, colorful and articulate gay rights activist who led the gay movement out of darkness in the 1980s and 90s and is now in Delhi working for UNAIDS, and is still a major spokesperson for LGBT India.
“I love Ashok,” said Manvendra during the forum held at Paddington Town Hall, “he gave me the courage to come out of my closet and be proud of myself. He was my ‘mother’ and nurtured me—he still inspires me.”
The audience applauded the prince’s continuing boldness in spreading the message of gay rights and advocating for LGBT health care in a huge homophobic complex country through his charity work with the Lakshya Trust that he started in 2000.
Lakshya project manager Sylvester Merchant (left in photo) accompanied the Prince and
responded to numerous questions about the health and education efforts of the Trust that especially targets MSM at risk people (including truck drivers) many of whom are marginalized or hidden from mainstream health and education in India. Lakshya also welcomes and supports another stigmatized population, the hijras, transgender/transvestites who live outside mainstream society.Manvendra described a perspective that hijras have played a important symbolic role in his state’s cultural history going back over hundreds of years. “They have been considered as ‘auspicious’ personages” with special powers of wisdom and blessedness at such ceremonies as weddings and births. “So we welcome them and we make sure they have their own programs at Lakshya.”
As the questions opened for the audience, it was inevitable that the question would be asked about his own romantic life. One questioner cautiously asked the Prince if he had a significant other, with the rejoinder that of course the Prince did not have to answer.
With a wide smile and sparkling eyes and without dropping a beat, the Prince took the microphone said “I will answer that question, gladly. I have met someone recently within the past few months and I can say I have found my soul mate,” to which the audience responded with a hearty round of cheerful applause.
It was a special moment for all, to hear this brave and vulnerable royal of high bearing—once isolated by his status and sexuality-- offering his shared happiness and humanity with very supportive like-minded others who know well the difficulty of finding love and compassion in a homophobic world.
It was an evening of courage, wisdom and truth telling. As Manvendra said toward the end, there is a Hindi saying “Truth always prevails”.
Aslso see:
Global Forum on MSM
APCOM (Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health)
(The Prince is on the Board of APCOM)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
New Hate Crimes Bill: New Era of Civil Rights Recognition for LGBT Americans (?)
From: Examiner.com October 31, 2009
Sonoma County (California) Civil Rights Examiner
By Megan Cofey
The expanded federal Hate Crime Prevention Act, named for 1998 victims Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. and signed into law by President Obama on October 28, may end up being much more significant than its scope would suggest.
Although the Department of Justice avers that hate crime statutes deter bias-motivated attacks, it offers no statistics to substantiate that claim. Certainly the original 1969 federal law—which covered hate crimes based on the victims’ race, color, religion or national origin—was not sufficient to save the life of the new law’s less famous namesake, James Byrd, Jr., who was killed because he was black. And even if the new measure had been in effect when its other namesake, Matthew Shepard, was killed for being gay, it is unlikely that his crystal-meth-bingeing attackers would have been rational enough to be deterred by the threat of increased sentencing penalties for their crime.
What is much more certain about this latest incarnation of federal hate crime law is that it is the first ever piece of federal legislation protecting LGBT rights to become the law of the land (and the first federal measure to explicitly protect transgender people).
This fact could make the new statute far more significant than its debatable impact as a deterrent to bias-motivated violence. By its recognition that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans represent a group of people likely to be the targets of discrimination, the Hate Crime Prevention Act could be used to argue that LGBT citizens represent a “suspect class,” and as such, are deserving of “strict scrutiny” regarding any regulations affecting them.
In lay terms, this means that it may now be much harder for any government in the US to pass laws that discriminate against gay and transgender people, such as Proposition 8 in California or Question 1 in Maine. It also may speed the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the demise of DOMA and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Who knows but that this one seemingly modest new hate crime law could signal the beginning of a whole new era of civil rights recognition for LGBT Americans….
Sonoma County (California) Civil Rights Examiner
By Megan Cofey
The expanded federal Hate Crime Prevention Act, named for 1998 victims Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. and signed into law by President Obama on October 28, may end up being much more significant than its scope would suggest.
Although the Department of Justice avers that hate crime statutes deter bias-motivated attacks, it offers no statistics to substantiate that claim. Certainly the original 1969 federal law—which covered hate crimes based on the victims’ race, color, religion or national origin—was not sufficient to save the life of the new law’s less famous namesake, James Byrd, Jr., who was killed because he was black. And even if the new measure had been in effect when its other namesake, Matthew Shepard, was killed for being gay, it is unlikely that his crystal-meth-bingeing attackers would have been rational enough to be deterred by the threat of increased sentencing penalties for their crime.
What is much more certain about this latest incarnation of federal hate crime law is that it is the first ever piece of federal legislation protecting LGBT rights to become the law of the land (and the first federal measure to explicitly protect transgender people).
This fact could make the new statute far more significant than its debatable impact as a deterrent to bias-motivated violence. By its recognition that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans represent a group of people likely to be the targets of discrimination, the Hate Crime Prevention Act could be used to argue that LGBT citizens represent a “suspect class,” and as such, are deserving of “strict scrutiny” regarding any regulations affecting them.
In lay terms, this means that it may now be much harder for any government in the US to pass laws that discriminate against gay and transgender people, such as Proposition 8 in California or Question 1 in Maine. It also may speed the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the demise of DOMA and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Who knows but that this one seemingly modest new hate crime law could signal the beginning of a whole new era of civil rights recognition for LGBT Americans….
Friday, October 30, 2009
How Did These Homophobes Lose Their Humaneness?
(Humaneness: marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals)
Well, isn't this a sweet headline from a government official:
Ugandan Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo spoke with journalists today. While acknowledging the great numbers of “foreigners” who express grave concern over the possibility of such a [proposed anti-gay] bill becoming law, he made it clear that he is not paying attention to them.
Buturo balked at the notion that the proposed bill — which, among other things, would criminalise any public discussion of homosexuality and could penalise an individual who knowingly rented property to a homosexual — constituted a human rights violation. “We are really getting tired of this phrase human rights. It is being abused. Anything goes, and if you are challenged? ‘Oh, it’s my right’,” the minister snapped.
Read more: African Veil, Asylum Law, Behind the MaskAnd then there's Dr. Rick Scarborough of Vision America Action who declared: “This is a sad day for America. While a small minority of homosexual activists are celebrating, [signing of the Hate Crimes Bill last week] thousands of pastors, priests and rabbis are lamenting their loss of First Amendment freedoms. I for one refuse to bow before this unjust and unconstitutional law, and I intend to continue to preach the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture." [That is, homosexuality as sin; homophobia as virtue.]
Add to this Pat Robertson's rant against Obama's signing the Hate Crimes Bill:
"The noose has tightened around the necks of Christians to keep them from speaking out on certain moral issues. And it all was embodied in something called the Hate crimes bill that President Obama said was a major victory for America. I’m not sure if America was the beneficiary. [...] We have voted into office a group of people who are opposed to many of the fundamental Christian beliefs of our nation. And they hold to radical ideology, and they are beginning to put people sharing their points of view into high office," - Pat Robertson (Read the comments that follow his rant.)
Where do these homophobes come from and how did they lose their humaneness?Are they so callous to the suffering of other human beings that they continue to advocate discrimination and 'spiritual violence'? Maybe if these Christian men had come upon Matthew Shepard or James Byrd and seen their bloody broken bodies they might have softened their fierce stance against a population of stigmatized 'different' people--or maybe not.
What kind of vision do they have for their society, for their fellow citizens who are not like them and who live and love beyond the cage of "counsel of God as revealed in Scripture."
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Princely Gay Man - Manvendra Singh Gohil of India Comes Out
Laguna Beach, CA - October 29, 2009
Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
No question that rank carries privilege and privilege carries fame. This time it belongs to an Indian prince who came out as gay in 2005 and shocked his family and fascinated the Indian public.
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of the Rajpipla region in the state of Gujarat, the westernmost state in India (Mahatma Gandhi was also born in Gujarat) decided he could no longer live the heterosexual life his family expected. After a marriage debacle Gohil announced his homosexuality and was immediately disowned by his royal family.
Not a shrinking flower, Gohil publicized his ‘coming out’ on the Oprah show in 2007 and proved to be a charming, articulate and intelligent spokesman for gay authenticity and gay rights. Since then he has traveled the world speaking out against discrimination.
Instead of withdrawing behind gilded walls and silken pillows he has taken on charitable projects that include a hospital for HIV infected people and, most recently, building India’s first retirement home for elderly gays and lesbians (expected to open in late 2009).
Gohil’s coming out in ’05 happened coincidentally with a vigorous and determined campaign by courageous Indian activists to decriminalize homosexuality in India. In July of this year the Delhi High Court struck down India’s colonial era anti-gay law.
He and his family have reconciled as they have come to see him as a more empowered and purposeful person. In 2000, before coming out, he started the Lakshya Trust, a community-based organization that now provides support and education for HIV/AIDS prevention among men who have sex with men (MSMs). Lakshya Trust today runs three centers where men get health information, social support and counseling services.
The Trust has grown to become a research surveillance site for the Government of India’s National AIDS Control Organization and was awarded the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) Civil Society Award in 2006. His Highness is also the India regional representative on the Executive Board of the Asia-Pacific Coalition of Male Sexual Health (APCOM), a regional network addressing HIV issues affecting gay men and
transgender people.
The most remarkable aspect of this man is not his royal trappings or his constructed buildings or his charity organization but his out and proud gay presence in the vastly homophobic Indian culture. This is a place that has for over a century vilified, condemned, punished and beaten anyone caught or admitting to homosexual activity.
There are many out gay activists in India today and have braved the scorn of the populace and been brushed aside by a 'high society' brainwashed by punitive and archaic British anti-gay laws. It is easy to reject gay 'commoners' with no pedigree other than their intelligence and advanced university degrees. But it is not so easy to dismiss the blue-blood heir of a 650 year-old aristocratic dynasty, even though it carries no legal power today. In India reputation, rank andstatus have a persuasion that transcend normal social attitudes and carry authority and legitimacy above the ordinary.
Prince Gohil cannot be said to be heroic but he has un-common distinction and being homosexual he has unusual distinction as well, and he is choosing to use his distinct position to carry the message of social equality more noticeably than any non-royal can.
And that takes courage. To bring light into darkness. To bring tolerance into bigotry. To bring dignity to the outcast and compassion to the rejected. That is the true royalty of this man.
See this page for other recent News & Reports about India this year.
Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
No question that rank carries privilege and privilege carries fame. This time it belongs to an Indian prince who came out as gay in 2005 and shocked his family and fascinated the Indian public.
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of the Rajpipla region in the state of Gujarat, the westernmost state in India (Mahatma Gandhi was also born in Gujarat) decided he could no longer live the heterosexual life his family expected. After a marriage debacle Gohil announced his homosexuality and was immediately disowned by his royal family.
Not a shrinking flower, Gohil publicized his ‘coming out’ on the Oprah show in 2007 and proved to be a charming, articulate and intelligent spokesman for gay authenticity and gay rights. Since then he has traveled the world speaking out against discrimination.
Instead of withdrawing behind gilded walls and silken pillows he has taken on charitable projects that include a hospital for HIV infected people and, most recently, building India’s first retirement home for elderly gays and lesbians (expected to open in late 2009).
Gohil’s coming out in ’05 happened coincidentally with a vigorous and determined campaign by courageous Indian activists to decriminalize homosexuality in India. In July of this year the Delhi High Court struck down India’s colonial era anti-gay law.
He and his family have reconciled as they have come to see him as a more empowered and purposeful person. In 2000, before coming out, he started the Lakshya Trust, a community-based organization that now provides support and education for HIV/AIDS prevention among men who have sex with men (MSMs). Lakshya Trust today runs three centers where men get health information, social support and counseling services.
The Trust has grown to become a research surveillance site for the Government of India’s National AIDS Control Organization and was awarded the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) Civil Society Award in 2006. His Highness is also the India regional representative on the Executive Board of the Asia-Pacific Coalition of Male Sexual Health (APCOM), a regional network addressing HIV issues affecting gay men and
transgender people.
The most remarkable aspect of this man is not his royal trappings or his constructed buildings or his charity organization but his out and proud gay presence in the vastly homophobic Indian culture. This is a place that has for over a century vilified, condemned, punished and beaten anyone caught or admitting to homosexual activity.
There are many out gay activists in India today and have braved the scorn of the populace and been brushed aside by a 'high society' brainwashed by punitive and archaic British anti-gay laws. It is easy to reject gay 'commoners' with no pedigree other than their intelligence and advanced university degrees. But it is not so easy to dismiss the blue-blood heir of a 650 year-old aristocratic dynasty, even though it carries no legal power today. In India reputation, rank andstatus have a persuasion that transcend normal social attitudes and carry authority and legitimacy above the ordinary.
Prince Gohil cannot be said to be heroic but he has un-common distinction and being homosexual he has unusual distinction as well, and he is choosing to use his distinct position to carry the message of social equality more noticeably than any non-royal can.
And that takes courage. To bring light into darkness. To bring tolerance into bigotry. To bring dignity to the outcast and compassion to the rejected. That is the true royalty of this man.
See this page for other recent News & Reports about India this year.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
For Gays and Lesbians Apartheid is Alive and Well
Laguna Beach, CA - October 28, 2009
Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
Last night on PBS a drama titled ‘Endgame’ was broadcast nationwide that focused on the intense and delicate negotiations in South Africa in the late 1980’s that brought down apartheid and brought a new dawn of democracy in that tormented country.
It was a gripping drama of real life brought close up with cameras, script and fine acting by players who had not previously been privy to the dangers and risks of the political and murderous chess match. At any one time, any one of the historical figures could have been assassinated, including Nelson Mandela whose release from 27 years in prison was the keystone to the new order of life in South Africa.
I couldn’t help thinking of the poignant parallel between the South African apartheid mentality that justified so much killing and violence, and the ongoing apartheid of today that continues against homo-affectional citizens around the world that manifests in murder, brutality, imprisonment and discrimination.
The singular enemy that the black-race ANC faced was the white-race National Party, a political authoritarian system of governance in place since the turn of the 20th century, which in 1948 manipulated apartheid into an official policy of repression.
More than One Enemy
But the homosexual ‘movement’ faces more than one enemy embodied in a single figurehead with an armed militia. Gay and lesbian citizens are surrounded by many forces that wish to minimize or destroy us daily in many countries.
We are assaulted by political enemies such as legislative systems who pass anti-gay laws; as well as legal systems that hand down unjust rulings; religious enemies that stigmatize gay people as sinners; societal enemies such as schools who allow bullying and refuse LGBT clubs; secular institutional enemies such as corporations who fire gay employees or refuse to extend health benefits to domestic partners; a military enemy that forbids homosexual personnel; and individual enemies who walk the streets or schoolyards with hatred in mind to attack queer or queer-looking people.
Yet such ongoing anti-gay discrimination is not seen as apartheid because so many of these institutions justify it and declaim against gay rights or protections.
When a lie is told loud and long enough it eventually feels like a truth—a notion that worked so well in Germany in the 1930’s and 40’s that soldiers and militias and individual vigilante groups felt justified, even righteous, in the carnage against gypsies, Jews, gays and Poles and others, thinking they were actually doing good to cleanse the Aryan society of pollutants.
The Violence Continues
So too today as these many enemies (ex-gay ministries, family focus groups in addition to the institutions) seek to cleanse gay contaminants from their ranks and pews and homes and parenthood. Their messages feed simple minds toward violence and bigotry--even in ‘developed’ countries with ‘advanced’ societies.
Two apartheid-style attacks occurred recently, one in the UK against an off-duty gay policeman (also this report) The other attack in the Queens borough of New York City against a gay man on his way home.
Even in the face of real-life facts (“I was born gay”), scientific studies (homosexuality in nature), disproven fallacies (gays are pedophiles), human rights progress (UN declaration of human rights)... people committed to ignorance and blindness insist on seeing in the darkness and shadows strangers whom they do not know yet target as sinners and criminals - victims of apartheid thinking.
I think this struggle will never end because non-rational religious thinking infuses this mode of discrimination. Faith and belief rarely submit to logic, reason or evidence. The best we can hope for is legal protection against violence since there is no other means by which by which LGBT people can fend off the sword of religious contempt.
Their are exceptions of course. To their great credit, working uphill against spiritual violence are SoulForce
Human rights are frail against prejudice and aroused emotion; anger will always cut through dignity with a bloody machete as it did in Rwanda and Burundi against enemy tribes and continues today in many African countries against gays (such as currently in Uganda), though nowadays not usually with hand-held weapons—except in Iraq where the killing squads use knives and guns for individual executions. In the USA fists and bats are favored.
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first major federal civil rights law protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was just passed by the US Congress but not as a free-standing bill. It was attached to an obscene $680-billion measure for the Pentagon’s budget, which includes $130 billion for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo left: James Byrd, Jr)
The great irony in this Congressional act was that under the cover of protecting some innocents at home with a hate crimes statute, Congress authorized massive acts of war against countless innocents abroad.
We welcome the crumbs of the Shepard/Byrd law but for gays and lesbians the pandemic of apartheid is alive and well.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Arab Homophobia, Poverty, Religion and Forbidden Sex
Westhampton, MA - October 18, 2009
Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
According to a new UN report presented in Tunis, Tunisia, on October 20th, Tunisia, Libya and United Arab Emirates are the only 3 Arab nations where famine has been eradicated. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations conducted the survey of 17 Arab states ahead of a global summit on hunger, malnutrition and food security, set for November 16th-18th in Rome. (There are a total of 25 Arab nations, ranging from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. Iran is considered Persian not Arabic.)
Certainly this is good news for a few but overall for the majority of the 325 million people in that swath of earth, it's not. Poverty and hunger are ills that should be resolved by good governance and grass roots organizations to relieve the problems. But these two 'plagues' persist in the majority of Arab countries as governments don't appear to take the suffering of their own people seriously. Leaders would rather buy weapons and tolerate corruption than cure misery.
And it's a curious fact that these same impoverished lands are also among the most homophobic cultures on the planet--in addition to Jamaica. The range of attitudes and treatments in these countries runs from stigma and rejection to actual death penalties.
Is there any common thread between these two phenomena, between deprivation and discrimination, between the anger within poverty and the anger at homosexuals?
(Photo right: traditional friendship kiss)
Deprivation breeds anger in it victims; deprivation is cruel and unusual punishment for no justifiable reason and renders a victim helpless and hateful. Since an individual can't strike out against something as amorphous and complex as a government it is more convenient and available to strike out against something particular and local, such as a person caught being sexual with someone of the same gender.
As well, these Arabic countries are also Muslim countries which interprets Islam's holy scriptures in a way that urges people to condemn and scorn homosexuals. This religious condemnation legitimizes expressions of anger, which ordinarily is suppressed by authorities. But gays represent a legitimate target for this displaced anger and the reaction toward them is often excessive and harsh or murderous (some call it 'spiritual violence') - even to the point of an honor killing of a family member to redeem family's shame for have a homosexual among them.
As if privation and religion are not enough drivers of violence, there is another urge against homosexuality in these Arab/Muslim cultures. This is the well-documented 'open secret' than many, if not a majority, of pre-marital men experience their first sexual contact with other males.
Usually this natural drive has to be shrouded in privacy, denial and guilt, oppressive forces that evoke silent resentment at having to hide what should be a thrill. Instead it becomes a shame; what should be pleasure is turned into anguish at desiring carnal intimacy. And for genuinely gay Arabs their sense of self is clouded and punctuated with fear and self-doubt.
(That said, not all male-male erotic activity is private: see this CNN video on boy sex slaves.)
At a certain pitch of anguish and frustration all these negative feelings can sometimes be expurgated, purged, by turning individually or in a group to verbal or physical violence against an actual or alleged homosexual who is found out or suspected.
It is a very sad entanglement of poverty, helplessness, social anger, religious conditioning, family shame and personal guilt (or any one of these) that drive homophobia into the blind recesses of most Arab minds.
And it's not just male homosexuality. In a recent book from Arab Jordan, Bareed Mista3jl, one lesbian recounted this most painful experience of enraged homophobia from her own father:
The rage of homophobia is the rage of deprivation, religious repression, secret shame, family dishonor. Overcoming such rage will take generations of defiance and courage and truth-telling. This is true of many societies around the world, not just the Arab world. Poverty and deprivation and repressive religions and homophobia are everywhere.
Also see this Facebook Forum: Gay Arab Reality
And this report: The Gay Sons of Allah
A commentary: Love, Sex and Religion--Murder in Muslim Morocco
Links to other gay Arab sites:
Gay and Lesbian Arab Society (USA)
Gay and Lesbian Arabs
Village Voice Article on Gay Arabs
Gay Arabs Come Out in Beruit
Book: Gay Travels in the Muslim World
Book: Unspeakable Love
Richard Ammon - GlobalGayz.com
According to a new UN report presented in Tunis, Tunisia, on October 20th, Tunisia, Libya and United Arab Emirates are the only 3 Arab nations where famine has been eradicated. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations conducted the survey of 17 Arab states ahead of a global summit on hunger, malnutrition and food security, set for November 16th-18th in Rome. (There are a total of 25 Arab nations, ranging from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. Iran is considered Persian not Arabic.)
Certainly this is good news for a few but overall for the majority of the 325 million people in that swath of earth, it's not. Poverty and hunger are ills that should be resolved by good governance and grass roots organizations to relieve the problems. But these two 'plagues' persist in the majority of Arab countries as governments don't appear to take the suffering of their own people seriously. Leaders would rather buy weapons and tolerate corruption than cure misery.
And it's a curious fact that these same impoverished lands are also among the most homophobic cultures on the planet--in addition to Jamaica. The range of attitudes and treatments in these countries runs from stigma and rejection to actual death penalties.
Is there any common thread between these two phenomena, between deprivation and discrimination, between the anger within poverty and the anger at homosexuals?
(Photo right: traditional friendship kiss)
Deprivation breeds anger in it victims; deprivation is cruel and unusual punishment for no justifiable reason and renders a victim helpless and hateful. Since an individual can't strike out against something as amorphous and complex as a government it is more convenient and available to strike out against something particular and local, such as a person caught being sexual with someone of the same gender.
As well, these Arabic countries are also Muslim countries which interprets Islam's holy scriptures in a way that urges people to condemn and scorn homosexuals. This religious condemnation legitimizes expressions of anger, which ordinarily is suppressed by authorities. But gays represent a legitimate target for this displaced anger and the reaction toward them is often excessive and harsh or murderous (some call it 'spiritual violence') - even to the point of an honor killing of a family member to redeem family's shame for have a homosexual among them.
As if privation and religion are not enough drivers of violence, there is another urge against homosexuality in these Arab/Muslim cultures. This is the well-documented 'open secret' than many, if not a majority, of pre-marital men experience their first sexual contact with other males.
Usually this natural drive has to be shrouded in privacy, denial and guilt, oppressive forces that evoke silent resentment at having to hide what should be a thrill. Instead it becomes a shame; what should be pleasure is turned into anguish at desiring carnal intimacy. And for genuinely gay Arabs their sense of self is clouded and punctuated with fear and self-doubt.
(That said, not all male-male erotic activity is private: see this CNN video on boy sex slaves.)
At a certain pitch of anguish and frustration all these negative feelings can sometimes be expurgated, purged, by turning individually or in a group to verbal or physical violence against an actual or alleged homosexual who is found out or suspected.
It is a very sad entanglement of poverty, helplessness, social anger, religious conditioning, family shame and personal guilt (or any one of these) that drive homophobia into the blind recesses of most Arab minds.
And it's not just male homosexuality. In a recent book from Arab Jordan, Bareed Mista3jl, one lesbian recounted this most painful experience of enraged homophobia from her own father:
My father has a bad temper. One day a girl came back home with me after school. We were sitting on the floor of my bedroom kissing. My father walked in on us, did not say a word, and asked the girl to leave. Then he beat me up with his fists and his belt and his cane. "Shut up before I break my fist on your face...you animal...I curse the day you were born...' I begged him to stop. I begged like I never thought I would beg in my life. I cried out please, please. I screamed with all my lungs. He screamed, 'you will not learn your lesson unless I bury you. If I ever see you doing so much as looking at a girl I will pluck out your eyes and break your skull.' I begged and pleaded. No human being should ever have to plead for anything, especially from her own father. It's been eight years since. He broke so much more than my arm that day. Every time I remember the way I pleaded for him to stop, I start crying and can't stop... (more about the book)
The rage of homophobia is the rage of deprivation, religious repression, secret shame, family dishonor. Overcoming such rage will take generations of defiance and courage and truth-telling. This is true of many societies around the world, not just the Arab world. Poverty and deprivation and repressive religions and homophobia are everywhere.
Also see this Facebook Forum: Gay Arab Reality
And this report: The Gay Sons of Allah
A commentary: Love, Sex and Religion--Murder in Muslim Morocco
Links to other gay Arab sites:
Gay and Lesbian Arab Society (USA)
Gay and Lesbian Arabs
Village Voice Article on Gay Arabs
Gay Arabs Come Out in Beruit
Book: Gay Travels in the Muslim World
Book: Unspeakable Love
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