(Source: Albany Times Union)
(Source: Care2)
A new study has found that religious contributors to the media are largely anti-gay, despite growing and often majority numbers among religious people favoring LGBT rights.
The Center on Religion & the Professions at University of Missouri, in partnership with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), studied three years of mainstream news media content.
They found that three out of four religious messages came from people whose religions have formal policies opposing LGBT equality — despite the fact that acceptance of LGBT people is growing across faith traditions. (more…)
If the referendum campaign to block Washington state’s recently passed law authorizing same-sex marriage makes the state’s November ballot, it will not be with any official help of the Seattle archdiocese’s cathedral parish, despite Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain’s outspoken support of Referendum 74 and his call for parishioners to bolster its campaign.
In a short, two-paragraph email sent to St. James Cathedral parishioners April 11, pastor Fr. Michael G. Ryan wrote, “After discussing the matter with the members of the Cathedral’s pastoral ministry team, I have decided that we will not participate in the collecting of signatures in our parish. Doing so would, I believe, prove hurtful and seriously divisive in our community.” (more…)
Join the Women’s Center for the final in SIUC Film & Discussion Series during Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2012. This event will take place in the Illinois Room of the SIUC Student Center.
This session will feature “The Purity Myth: The Virginity Movement’s War Against Women” featuring Jessica Valenti. For more information about this event, contact Jenn Freitag at rcsprevention2@thewomensctr.org or 618.549.4807.
(Source: Fox 13 News)
By Dan Merica, CNN
Kevin Kloosterman, a former Mormon bishop, said he “came out” last year — just not in the way that many people associate with coming out.
“I came out and basically made a personal apology to (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) folks for really not understanding their issues, not really taking the time to understand their lives and really not doing my homework,” Kloosterman said in an interview with CNN.
Though not speaking on behalf of the church, the then-bishop stood in front of a crowd of gay and straight Mormons at a November conference on gay and lesbian issues in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is headquartered.
Donning a suit and tie, Kloosterman was visibly shaken, struggling to find the right words as tears welled up in his eyes.
“I’m sorry — deeply, deeply sorry,” Kloosterman told the group in a speech that was captured on video. “The only thing I can say to those of you who have been so patient, and have gone through so much, is for you to watch and look for any small changes with your loved ones, with your wards (Mormon congregations), with your leaders. And encourage them in this repentance process.”
Kloosterman’s apology was just one example of what many Mormons and church watchers see as a recent shift in the Mormon community’s posture toward gays and lesbians, including by the official church itself.
Though the church’s doctrine condemning homosexuality has not changed, and the church remains opposed to same-sex marriage, many say the church is subtly but unmistakably growing friendlier toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, including voicing support for some gay rights.
Students at the church-owned Brigham Young University recently posted an “It Gets Better” video about the gay and lesbian community there, while a gay Mormon in San Francisco was selected last year for a church leadership position.
A new conference series on gay and lesbian Mormons — the same one Kloosterman addressed last year — is seeing an uptick in popularity.
Church spokesman Michael Purdy would not comment on whether church members are changing their stance toward gay and lesbian issues but said in an e-mail message: “In the Church, we strive to follow Jesus Christ who showed immense love and compassion towards all of God’s children.”
Purdy wrote, “If members are becoming more loving and Christ-like toward others then this can only be a positive development.”
‘It is definitely getting better’
The Brigham Young students who taped the pro-gay video this month were contributing to a popular video series meant to inspire hope in young people who are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality identity.
The video featured students telling stories of being gay at Brigham Young, sharing tales of heartache, loss and even suicide.
“It kind of is a very different world to be gay and Mormon because it feels like neither community accepts you completely,” said Bridey Jensen, a fifth-year senior and acting president of Understanding Same Gender Attraction, the group that posted the video.
“We put out the message for youth that are going through this, and we want them to know that we were them a few years ago, and it gets better and there is a place for you,” she said.
Though chastity is a requirement at Brigham Young, gay and lesbian students say they are under more scrutiny. The school’s honor code says that “homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates” the code.
But Jensen said reaction to the video, which has been viewed almost 400,000 times on YouTube, has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Carri Jenkins, an assistant to Brigham Young’s president, told CNN that the production of the video is not a violation of the honor code and that the students will not be punished.
The honor code, Jenkins said, is “based on conduct, not on feeling and if same-gender attraction is only stated, that is not an honor code issue.”
Jensen said that while gay and lesbian Mormons face a tough road, she sees a shift toward greater acceptance. It is definitely getting better within the church, she said. “They are not so quick to judge. They understand that they don’t understand everything. I am glad I can be a little part of it.”
Some scholars of Mormonism, such as Columbia University’s Richard Bushman, said they see the very existence of such a gay rights group at Brigham Young as a step toward greater acceptance of gays and lesbians.
“The last 10 years have been a huge sea change in terms of willingness to accept homosexuals,” Bushman said. “Gay kids are still going to have a tough time in the church, but this level of acceptance and acknowledgment — that is really that last decade I would say.”
Most gay Mormons point to 2008′s push for Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage in the state but has faced legal challenge in the courts, as a low point in the relationship between the church and gay and lesbian community.
Mormons make up 2% of California’s population, but they contributed half of the $40 million war chest used to defend Proposition 8, according to a Time magazine report.
The church’s Proposition 8 activism angered many gay rights groups around the country, with some labeling the church “bigoted,” “homophobic” and “anti-gay.”
But church officials pushed back against the perception that the Proposition 8 backlash has provoked a Mormon softening on gay and lesbian issues.
“Many positive relationships have come from the Church’s experience in supporting traditional marriage in California,” Purdy, the church spokesman, said in an e-mail exchange with CNN.
Purdy draws a distinction between being against same-sex marriage and against equality for gays and lesbians.
He reiterated that the church was “strongly on the record as supporting traditional marriage,” but he said its stance should never be used as justification for violence or unkindness.
“The Church’s doctrine has not changed but we certainly believe you can be Christ-like, loving and civil, while advocating a strongly held moral position such as supporting traditional marriage,” Purdy wrote in an e-mail message.
“We do not believe that strong support of traditional marriage is anti-gay,” he wrote. “We love and cherish our brothers and sisters who experience same gender attraction. They are children of God.”
Church doctrine says that sex outside marriage is a sin and can lead to excommunication. Since gay people cannot be married in the church, any sex for them would be premarital and, therefore, sinful.
“The distinction between feelings or inclinations on the one hand, and behavior on the other hand, is very clear,” the church’s website says. “It’s no sin to have inclinations that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression. The sin is in yielding to temptation. Temptation is not unique. Even the Savior was tempted.”
Openly gay and a church leader
Mitch Mayne seems to relish his role as a lightning rod.
Mayne, an openly gay Mormon who blogs about homosexuality and the church, received the calling — a term Mormons use for being invited into a church position — in August.
Mayne is now executive secretary in a San Francisco ward of the church.
“I view myself as gay and being completely whole as being gay,” Mayne said.
Many observers of Mormonism say Mayne’s calling marked a unique moment in church history. Purdy said that Mayne’s appointment is “not unique,” but it’s hard to find precedent for an outspokenly gay executive secretary.
Mayne said he sees his job as building bridges with the gay community in San Francisco and showing them “there are pockets in the Mormon Church where you can be yourself.”
The biggest obstacle toward building those bridges is the threat of excommunication, said Mayne, who told CNN that in some wards just being gay can lead to expulsion from the church.
According to church doctrine, a formal disciplinary council can be called at the request of church leader.
While the leaders of the church mandate councils called for murder, incest or apostasy, it has a long list of reasons to call a disciplinary council.
According to the church’s website, the list of reasons includes “abortion, transsexual operation, attempted murder, rape, forcible sexual abuse, intentionally inflicting serious physical injuries on others, adultery, fornication, homosexual relations. …”
Some wards are observing that guidance while others aren’t, Mayne said.
“Here in the Bay Area … we are no longer seeking out LGBT members of the church and excommunicating them,” Mayne said. “Our role is to bring people closer to the Savior, so if we are routinely excommunicating people, then we are really not doing our job.”
Mayne said he believes the challenge is to convince church leaders that they don’t ever have to excommunicate gay members.
And he said the Proposition 8 campaign was the “least Christ-like thing we have ever done as a church.”
“Not only did we alienate gays and lesbians, but we alienated their parents, their friends, those who support them — the ripple effect went way beyond the gay community, and I don’t think we were prepared for such a negative fallout,” Mayne said. “I think the church deserved the black eye they received.”
He added, “As a result of that really horrible time, I think we are entering a really good time to be a gay Mormon. It is getting better.”
‘Mormonism doesn’t simply wash off’
When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speaks, the City Council of Salt Lake City listens. At least the council seemed to in 2009 when it voted on an ordinance to make it illegal to discriminate against gay and transgendered residents in housing and employment.
“The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage,” church spokesman Michael Otterson told the council.
Shortly after the church’s expression, the City Council approved the measure unanimously.
Many gay rights activists said they saw the move as an olive branch after the Proposition 8 debate.
“The tone and the culture is evolving, and the way the LGBT people are being treated is changing. I don’t think the church’s policy has caught up to that change in culture,” said Ross Murray, director of religion, faith and values at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “The Mormon church hasn’t gotten nearly as politically involved as they had since 2009.”
Though Murray sees the church lobbying for anti-discrimination laws as a positive step, he said the church’s shift is more about style than substance.
“It is going to take a lot of intentional effort to actually prove they are different,” Murray said. “That burden, because of the really public nature of their support of Prop 8, falls harder on the Mormon church than others.”
Joanna Brooks, a popular Mormon blogger and president of Mormon Stories, a nonprofit group that facilitates conversations on Mormon issues, echoes Murray’s sentiments.
She said she sees the church’s stance as challenging gay Mormons to choose between the religion they most likely grew up with and their desire for romantic companionship.
“Mormonism doesn’t simply wash off,” she said, adding that the church can’t make it that “either you are gay or you are Mormon, or either you support gay rights or you support the church.”
(Source: Fox 13 News)
Friends of Raymond Taavel participate in a vigil on Tuesday in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Mike Dembeck/Canadian Press)
Government officials in Nova Scotia will review the release from custody of a man accused of beating a gay rights activist to death.
Andre Denny is charged with second-degree murder of Raymond Taavel.
Taavel, 49, was killed early Tuesday after leaving Menz Bar on Gottingen Street.
Denny was arrested soon after in a nearby alley. (more…)
This session will feature “Understanding Hookup Culture: What’s Really Happening on College Campuses,” a lecture by Paula England of Stanford University.
Social Justice and Social Action activity in conjunction with the world wide equality march to support NOH8, Anti-bullying, Domestic violence against women, World wide LGBT and Allie equality (Pre-registration encouraged)
Located at Longbranch, starts tomorrow at 9am and goes until 12pm.
Today, from 6:00pm until 8:00pm, in Lawson 141, Dr. Darrel Ray discusses his groundbreaking research on the sex lives of secular people. The results are funny and surprising. Over 10,000 secularists answered 69 questions about their sex lives. What they revealed tells us volumes about the differences between religions with respect to sex, and what happens when people leave religion behind.
GLBT Awareness Week Theme: Unity Through Diversity
(Sponsored by Saluki Rainbow Network & GLBT Resource Center)
*including events sponsored by Rainbow Cafe/Carbondale GSA/Tri-State Alliance*
April 14, 2012 – Rainbow Cafe/Carbondale GSA Pride Prom. Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship from 8-11 pm. http://www.cuuf.net/rainbowcafe **Ages 14-19 only**
April 14, 2012 – Saluki Rainbow Network 41st Anniversary www.srn.rso.siuc.edu
April 15, 2012 – Saluki Rainbow Network Game/Social night. SIU Student Center Activity Rooms,3rd Floor.
April 16, 2012 – 7pm Shadowboxers Anonymous, Student Health Center Auditorium
April 16, 2012 – 10a-2p, Informational Tabling, Student Center (North End) “It gets better” video and unveiling of “Educate before you hate”.
April 17, 2012 – 1p-4p Free STD testing, Student Health Center: The testing will be urine based Gonorrhea and Chlamydia and blood drawn Syphilis testing. For the urine test, it is best if participants hold the urine for 1 hour prior to providing sample. All they’ll have to do is show a student id and fill out a very short form with contact information in case there is a positive we have to know how to reach a person. Other than that, no questions, examinations, etc. **We are still working to bring you Free HIV testing**
April 17, 2012 – 5p, Safe Zone Training, Student Center, Activity Room ‘D’
Aptil 17, 2012 – 6p, Identities Film Festival, Lawson Hall 141
April 18, 2012 – 5pm, Lucy Bledsoe, Outside the Thebes Room, Student Ctr.
April 18, 2012 – 10a-2p, Informational Tabling, Student Center (North End) “It gets better” video and unveiling of “Educate before you hate”
April 18, 2012 – 6p-8p, Saluki Rainbow Network Meeting, Thebes Room, SIU Student Center “4000 years of GLBT History” presented by Kelley Coures, Tri-State Alliance
April 19, 2012 – 7p, Ryan Conrad “Against Equality” Lawson 151
April 20, 2012 – “Day of Silence”
April 20, 2012 – 10a-2p, Informational Tabling, Student Center (North End) “It gets better” video and unveiling of “Educate before you hate”
April 20, 2012 – Saluki Rainbow Network Free Forum “Day of Silence” Demonstration and NOH8 Photo shoot.
April 20, 2012 – Saluki Rainbow Network Pride Potluck & Cookout. 5p-8p, Bucky’s Haven on Campus Lake
April 21, 2012 – 11th Annual Pride Prom, 7p,-12a, Holiday Inn, Evansville, IN (sponsored by the Tri-State Alliance) www.tsagl.org
So. Ill. Activist 