Mission & Justice

Alia Al Theeb; 17/7/08

Police have caught 40 cross-dressing tourists in shopping malls and other public places and they will be deported soon, a senior officer said on Wednesday. The visitors were arrested after police launched a campaign against transvestites last May. Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police Chief, had said then that transvestites were frequently being spotted in public places. “This is against the UAE’s traditions and social values,” he had warned. Any man or woman who dresses up and behaves like the opposite gender in public will be questioned and legal action will be taken against him or her, the police chief had said.

(more…)

Erin O’Dwyer; 13/7/08
Jon McNarmara came out of the closet when he was 21. For 15 years he lived a homosexual life and for five of those years was in a steady relationship with another man. Then in 2003 he began a job as a lawyer in a coastal NSW town. His work was close to a cafe run by a Christian couple and every day he would stop in for a coffee. “They shared Jesus with every customer that came in the door,” he says. “They got to know me and started sharing with me. I was raised as a Catholic but never knew homosexuality was wrong. I just did it because I thought, Tm gay and this is me’.”

(more…)

Tanveer Ahmed;10/7/08

A young Indian patient of mine has just come out. Overcoming his enormous fear of rejection, he has finally admitted to his conservative Hindu family that he is gay. For those who doubt the power of symbols, he was partly inspired by the first gay parade in Delhi last week. A large portion of the several thousand who marched wore masks to remain anonymous. They were both celebrating their sexuality and protesting against an 1861 penal code enacted by the British that “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” is punishable by life imprisonment. While it is rarely applied, there are still cases of corrupt police using it to blackmail suspected homosexuals.

(more…)

Ofri Ilani, 9/7/08

Ro’i, 26, grew up in an Orthodox home. About 10 years ago, when he began having sex with men, he lived with a strong sense of sin. Now, after becoming accustomed to it, he has discovered that he faces another kind of prohibition. He has found the new sense of sin in sexual relations without a condom. “Sex without a condom excited me because of the prohibition involved,” he says. “Every type of homosexual sex is forbidden by the Torah, and there is something arousing about the very transgression against the prohibition. So apparently I’m looking for another prohibition, which will be even stronger.” A few weeks ago Ro’i met another young man who was looking for sex in a gay chat room. When they spoke via the chat room, Ro’i asked his future partner about his preferences.

(more…)

8/7/08

Gay and lesbian Christians will protest the Pope’s condemnation of homosexuality ahead of World Youth Day, labelling his beliefs as right-wing propaganda. The protest, calling for equality for gay and lesbian followers, will take place at the Pitt Street Uniting Church this Sunday, coinciding with Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival in Sydney. Catholic writer and educator Michael Kelly said gay and lesbian people had been marginalised and condemned by mainstream churches, particularly the Catholic Church. He labelled the “version of Christianity that is coming to Sydney” as propaganda.

(more…)

Michael Kirby; 30/6/08

A thousand conservative Anglican leaders met in Jerusalem last week, among them Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria who was reported as saying that Anglicans who preach the inclusion of homosexuals in God’s church were guilty of apostasy. He is not alone in this view. In Zimbabwe, the former bishop of Harare, an ardent supporter of President Robert Mugabe, withdrew from the Anglican province in May saying he could not co-exist with so many gays and lesbians in the church. Many of us know the passage from the Old Testament book of Leviticus that declares homosexuals an “abomination”. It is one of a long list of denunciations that has profoundly affected the way three great world religions — the “People of the Book”: Jews, Christians and Muslims — have responded to sexual minorities. Only in a few countries is there a strict separation of church and state, so what they teach about morality influences secular laws by which most people on the planet are governed. The problem is that those who believe in the inerrancy of religious texts find it difficult, or impossible, to tolerate those who deny or doubt their truth.

(more…)

28/6/08

Indian gay rights supporters have taken to the streets of Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi to call for an end to discrimination and push for greater acceptance. While small groups have marched in Calcutta before, Sunday’s events were the first gay pride parades in Bangalore and New Delhi, the capital. Several hundred people turned out at each of the three events. “This is a national coming-out party,” Alok Gupta, a lawyer from Mumbai, said. “This is a simple thing: We are seeking the right to love.”

(more…)

Jonathan Lis; 26/6/08

Some 3,000 people turned out Thursday to take part in the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade, which as in previous years, had sparked an outcry from the ultra-Orthodox community in the capital. But the parade, unlike in previous years, passed without incident. Past marches have been marred by violent demonstrations by the ultra-Orthodox. This year there were only small-scale protests away from the march route, and police said one protester was arrested. “The Haredis have understood this year that the fight [against the parade] is a shot in the foot,” said Sa’ar Netanel, a member of Jerusalem’s city council for the leftist Meretz party.

(more…)

Tomer Zarchin; 23/6/08

The High Court of Justice on Monday rejected a petition submitted by right-wing activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir in efforts to prevent a Gay Pride parade from being held in Jerusalem this week. The parade will take place as planned on Thursday. The justices took into consideration in their ruling the parade route, the length of time it would take and the organizer’s promise that the parade would be muted in nature. Earlier Monday, the judges recommended that the petitioners withdraw their petition.

(more…)

Jonathan Lis, 19/6/08

Jerusalem’s mayor and city manager urged the High Court of Justice on Thursday to prevent the Gay Pride parade from taking place in the capital next Thursday, on the grounds that it would offend the public’s sensibilities. In a joint letter to the High Court, Mayor Uri Lupolianski and city manager Yair Ma’ayan wrote: “Past experience shows that the parade greatly offends, deliberately and unnecessarily, the feelings of Jews, Muslims and Christians, who view its sheer existence, and the blatant manner in which it takes place, as a desecration of the holy city and of the values with which they were raised.” The letter was sent in support of a petition on the matter filed by right-wing activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Gvir.

(more…)