Ghana government official wants to round up, arrest gays

Gays and lesbians living in western Ghana face possible arrest after Paul Evans Aidoo, the minister for the Western Region of Ghana, called for their round-up and arrest, reports The Independent.
“All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in society,” Aidoo reportedly said in a radio interview. “Once they have been arrested, they will be brought before the law.”

Homosexuality isn’t expressly illegal in Ghana, though a constitutional ban of “unnatural carnal knowledge.” makes arrest possible for gay males.

Aidoo has received support from the People’s National Convention (PNC), a small political party.

The general secretary of the PNC told Radio Gold, “Homosexuality is abhorrent. Media discourse across the world is being dictated by the vulgar opinions of homosexuals. Ghana and probably Africa cannot sustain the menace of homosexuals.”

Homosexuality is expressly forbidden in dozens of African countries. Uganda became infamous for introducing a “kill the gays” bill last year, which didn’t pass, but is expected to come up again this fall.

“Arresting this type of person is not going to be easy because you must have proof of the offense – either one person has come to lodge a complaint against the other, or they are caught in the act,” Western Regional Police Commander Ransford Ninson said by telephone to Reuters.

Pope accepts Philadelphia archbishop’s resignation

Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Philadelphia archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali on Tuesday, sending him into retirement as the archdiocese faces accusations that it covered up a long-running priest sex abuse scandal.
The pope named conservative Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput to succeed him.

The brief Vatican announcement said the resignation of the 76-year-old Rigali was for reason of age. He submitted it on his 75th birthday in April 2010, as required by church law, but the pope did not immediately act on it.

But the Cardinal has been under pressure for his handling of the sex-abuse scandal. In his eight-year tenure, a pair of grand jury reports, one in 2005 and one released in February, have rocked the archdiocese by accusing church officials of covering up abuse allegations against priests.

February’s scathing report resulted in unprecedented criminal charges against a former secretary of clergy for allegedly transferring pedophile priests without warning new parishes.

The grand jury accused church officials of keeping 37 clergy in active ministry despite credible claims that they had sexually abused young people. The allegations came nine years after U.S. bishops promised at the height of the clergy abuse crisis to oust all predators from ministry.

Gov. Cuomo on gay marriage: ‘It’s a new day’

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that he hopes marriage equality will be passed in New York State by June. The key question, he said, is not when exactly a bill will come to the floor, but whether it will pass.

He says he is working for passage by bringing the case for marriage equality to the people – if it were left to happen in the hallways in Albany, it never would, he said

RI diocese urges civil unions rejection

After playing a key role in defeating a push for gay marriage, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has urged Rhode Island lawmakers to reject an alternative establishing civil unions for gay couples, calling them a “stepping stone” to gay marriage.

The comments came in an unsigned editorial in the diocese’s newspaper, the Rhode Island Catholic. It followed state House Speaker Gordon Fox’s decision to stop his push for gay marriage and offer civil unions as a compromise.

Fox, who is openly gay, said he didn’t believe he could deliver the votes needed for gay marriage to pass, but that civil unions legislation would keep the issue alive and grant vital legal rights to same-sex couples. The legislation is expected to be introduced in the coming week.

The diocese’s editorial, published Thursday, urged lawmakers to reject the compromise and instead pass legislation defining marriage as only between one man and one woman.

“However well-intentioned it is the experiment called “Civil Unions” is not an acceptable alternative to marriage as it too undermines the unique relationship of one man and one woman in holy matrimony by giving equal status, albeit by another name, to same-sex relationships,” it read.

The editorial said civil unions don’t settle the debate over recognizing same-sex relationships, but often lead to eventual recognition of gay marriage. It cited precedent in states including Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Pro-gay marriage advocate Marriage Equality Rhode Island also opposes civil unions, but because it believes such unions continue to treat same-sex couples as “second-class citizens.”

“So the question becomes, why is the speaker attempting to be the architect of a compromise no one wants?” group spokesman Bill Fischer asked.

Fischer called on Fox to allow lawmakers to vote on gay marriage.

“At the end of the day, we have full faith people will do the right thing,” he told The Providence Journal

Minn. will vote on gay marriage ban

A state Senate committee passed a bill Friday setting a statewide vote next year on banning gay marriage in the Minnesota Constitution, a goal that eluded conservative activists for years but got sudden new life this week with Republicans now in control of the Legislature.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill 8-4, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed. Passage by the full Senate and the House appears likely with solid Republican majorities in both chambers, meaning voters in 2012 would be asked to enshrine in Minnesota’s Constitution a prohibition on same-sex marriage that already exists in state law.

Supporters said the constitutional definition of marriage is important enough to give the final say to voters, rather than elected officials or judges. Critics said the bill reflects a narrow religious agenda that doesn’t belong in the state Constitution and that a months-long, divisive debate will distract from more important issues facing the state.

No death penalty provision in Uganda anti-gay bill

The Ugandan parliamentarian behind an anti-gay bill that attracted worldwide condemnation said the most controversial part of the legislation – the death penalty provision – is likely to be dropped from the bill.

Prop 8 stay “deadly” for elderly gay and lesbian couples

For many older same-sex couples living in California, a dream wedding may never become a reality.

Last week, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift the stay of Proposition 8, the ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in the state. The stay will remain in effect until the California Supreme Court rules on a procedural matter, which will not happen until this fall.

Courage Campaign chairman Rick Jacobs says continuing to delay marriage equality is unjustly harming thousands of families, including elderly men and women who cannot legally marry their ailing partners.

“This decision has a direct, powerful and in some cases deadly impact on gay and lesbian couples,” Jacobs said. “This is a delaying process that’s not about justice.

Indiana’s House passes gay marriage ban

On Tuesday, the Indiana House passed a constitutional ban on gay marriage for the second time.

The measure, House Joint Resolution 6, amends the original bill from 2005 and passed 70-26 with votes from all but one Republican and 11 Democrats, according to indystar.com. Though gay marriage is already illegal in Indiana, this would write a ban on gay marriage and any relationship “substantially similar” into the state constitution

The bill now advances to the state Senate. If approved, it will take another three years before the constitution is changed, as the constitution needs approval from two consecutive and separately elected legislatures. If the General Assembly adopts the resolution this year, it would have to do so again in 2013 or 2014 in order for the resolution to be placed on the 2014 ballot, according to WSBT .

Legislation to legalize gay marriage introduced in Washington

On Monday, state legislators introduced a bill to legalize gay marriage in Washington State.

Currently, domestic partnerships are legal in Washington. Referendum 71 expanded the domestic partnership law to grant registered domestic partners rights that had only been offered to married couples when it was approved in 2009.

UK plans to lift ban on gay church ceremonies

UK plans to lift ban on gay church ceremonies
By The Associated Press
02.14.2011 3:41pm EST
Lawmakers in the United Kingdom plan to lift the ban on same-sex civil partnership ceremonies in churches.

Send / ShareAdd CommentThe Sunday Times reports Liberal Democrat Equality Minister Lynne Featherstone will present a timetable to allow the unions in religious buildings and a proposal to end the ban on same-sex marriages.

Religious groups will not be forced to perform the ceremonies. The Church of England is one organization that opposes the law.

A spokesperson for the Church of England told the BBC: “Given the Church’s view on the nature of marriage, the House of Bishops has consistently been clear that the Church of England should not provide services of blessing for those who register civil partnerships.”

Synagogues and mosques are also covered under the new legislation, though homosexuality is forbidden under Orthodox Judaism and Islam.

The UK has granted 26,000 civil partnerships to same-sex couples since they were legalized in 2005.

Transgender Americans face multiple challenges

Many transgender Americans face intolerance in almost every aspect of their lives, contributing to high levels of homelessness, unemployment and despair, according to a comprehensive survey being released Friday.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality say their survey of 6,450 transgender people is the largest of its kind. It details discrimination encountered “at every turn” – in childhood homes, in schools and workplaces, at stores and hotels, at the hands of doctors, judges, landlords and police.

“Their lives are just a crapshoot,” said Rea Carey, executive director of the task force. “They don’t know from one interaction to the next whether they will be treated with respect and dignity. It’s not the way people should be living their day-to-day life.”

The report comes at a sobering time for transgender community.

While their gay-rights allies celebrated the recent Senate vote that will enable gays to serve openly in the military, transgender people were left out of the debate and remain barred from service.

Efforts to pass a federal law barring workplace discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation failed in the previous Democratic-controlled Congress – gender identity was a key stumbling block – and the new Republican-led House is considered more hostile.

Uncertain of prospects for progress at the federal level, activists hope to make headway through lawsuits, corporate diversity programs, local anti-bias ordinances, and public education efforts. They hope the survey will buttress those efforts; some of the data had been released in preliminary reports, but the final version contains new details and is prefaced by an emotional plea for Americans to rethink their attitudes.

“It is part of social and legal convention in the United States to discriminate against, ridicule, and abuse transgender and gender non-conforming people,” the survey says. “Nearly every system and institution in the United States, both large and small, from local to national, is implicated.”

According to the survey, 41 percent of respondents reported attempting suicide, 26 percent said they had lost a job due to being transgender, and 19 percent reported being denied a home or apartment. Almost one-fifth said they’d been homelessness at some point.

The survey found that complaints of discrimination were particularly pronounced among blacks.

In an e-mail, Ja’briel Walthour of Hinesville, Ga., detailed the difficulties of growing up in the 1980s and `90s as an African-American boy in the South who began to identify as a female. Neither her church nor rural community offered acceptance, she said.

“I felt there was not an ounce of compassion or empathy for individuals who may be displaying atypical gender roles,” and by 17 she was contemplating suicide, she wrote.

“I got into a place where I wanted to just not be here anymore,” she said.

Walthour, now 34, eventually became a school bus driver while deciding to transition to female and pursue a degree in social work.

Transgender activists say future progress for their cause may depend on more people like Walthour choosing to speak out.

“We need more trans people telling their stories,” said Diego Sanchez, a transgender aide to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., at a forum last weekend. “We need to represent ourselves, and not let others represent us.”

The forum was convened to address the frustrations of some transgender people who feel marginalized within the broader gay-rights movement. The movement has for years adopted the initials LGBT – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender – but transgender activists at the forum wondered if the “T” instead meant “token.”

“We’ve become second fiddle, maybe third fiddle to LGB rights,” said Meghan Stabler, a transsexual businesswoman. “We’re a minority inside of a minority … Right now, we’re a small `t’.”

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the LGBT movement – by sheer force of numbers and financial support – was inevitably going to focus on the agenda of gays and lesbians rather than transgender people.

“But the relationship has helped out,” she said. “We have a shared history, shared friends and enemies.”

Looking long term, Keisling expressed optimism.

“The people who just plain hate us – they’re dying out,” she said. “There is not a reasonable person left in United States who doesn’t understand that transgender people exist, that it’s a legitimate aspect of the diversity of nature.”

Supreme Court expected to rule on Gay Marriage in D.C.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce an opinion Tuesday on whether to allow voters to repeal the Washington D.C. equal marriage law.

Jackson v. the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics is scheduled to be discussed at a private conference among the Justices on Friday, according to the Washington Blade.

On Oct. 12, Bishop Harry Jackson and other gay marriage opponents filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking the court to appeal a lower court ruling rejecting the argument that the city must allow voters to decide the marriage question in a ballot initiative.

If the Supreme Court rejects Jackson’s request, D.C. would continue to prevent a gay marriage measure from appearing on the ballot; if the case is accepted, it would be the first time the Supreme Court handles a same-sex marriage related issue.

There is speculation that a decision from the Supreme Court will not be released by Tuesday.

“If there’s no order that day, that’s also significant, meaning either that the justices were not able to decide in their first discussion, or that someone is writing a dissent from denial,” Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU’s D.C. office told the Washington Blade.

Anglican conservatives reject global unity plan

Leaders of conservative Anglicans on Wednesday rejected a proposed covenant to hold their global communion together just as the Church of England gave preliminary approval to the plan.

The covenant, backed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, is intended to contain deep splits within the Anglican Communion over sexuality, the role of women and the authority of the Bible. The communion represents churches affiliated with the Church of England in more than 160 countries.

The Church of England’s governing General Synod voted Wednesday to approve draft legislation that could lead to a final vote in 2012. The covenant will now be referred to dioceses for consideration.

The traditionalists dismissed the covenant as “fatally flawed,” but the plan also has been attacked by liberals within the church.

“While we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned, we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate,” said the statement from leaders of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the GAFCON movement.

The statement was endorsed by archbishops from West Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Australia and Anglican Church of North America, a breakaway group from the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church caused a major rift by elevating a gay man, V. Gene Robinson, to be bishop of New Hampshire state in 2003. It has since consecrated a lesbian, Mary Glasspool, as assistant bishop of Los Angeles, defying Williams’ call for both sides to refrain from provocative moves.

The draft covenant, more than 5,000 words long and seven years in the making, would commit national churches “to act with diligence, care and caution in respect of any action which may provoke controversy.”

Disagreements would be referred to a panel of Anglican leaders, which could declare a proposed action to be incompatible with the covenant. National churches would be free to withdraw from the covenant at any time.

The covenant does not take a position on gay clergy or any other of the current issues dividing the communion except, perhaps, the case of traditionalist bishops exercising authority outside their territory, such as the African bishops who are supervising U.S. congregations.

Covenant signers would pledge to “respect the constitutional autonomy of all of the churches of the Anglican Communion.”

In the Church of England’s debate, Bishop John Saxbee of Lincoln said he feared the covenant would single out some Anglicans to “stand in the corner until they have seen the error of their ways and return to the ranks of the pure and spotless.”

Bishop Michael Perham of Gloucester also had reservations, but said he was voting in favor partly out of loyalty to Williams.

Speaking Tuesday at the opening of the Church of England General Synod, Williams said the covenant “offers the possibility of a voluntary promise to consult.” He said it recognizes that disagreement may continue and cause ruptures in the communion.

“Now the risk and reality of such rupture is already there, make no mistake. The question is whether we are able to make an intelligent decision about how we deal with it,” Williams said.

Liberals in the Church of England fear the covenant would restrict the freedom of the national church. “It would … make the Church of England subject to an outside power for the first time since Henry VIII,” said a statement by one liberal group, Inclusive Church.

The Church of England itself is divided by the issues that trouble the communion. Moves to allow women to serve as bishops, and continuing pressure to accept openly gay bishops, have already caused some bishops to declare that they will leave to join the new “ordinariate” created by Pope Benedict XVI to accommodate Anglicans within the Roman Catholic Church.

Cindy McCain: DADT Enables Bullies

While Sen. John McCain insists that he will filibuster any attempt to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, his wife Cindy denounces the ban in a new ad for the NOH8 campaign, where she connects antigay laws to the culture of bullying that drives vulnerable LGBT youths to suicide.

Cindy and Meghan have expressed their strong support for gay rights in the past, putting them at odds with their husband and father. However, Cindy’s appearance in the new ad marks the widest rift yet in her public stance versus the senator, who has vowed to stop any effort to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the lameduck session.

“Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future,” says McCain in the celebrity-studded ad. “They can’t serve our country openly.”

She even links the toxic messages sent by lawmakers to bullies who then mistreat LGBT youths.

“Our government treats the LGBT community like second-class citizens,” she says. Why shouldn’t they?”

Episcopal bishop observes new LGBT openness in the church

Utah’s presiding bishop Rev. Scott Hayashi said that the number of Episcopalians leaving the church because of its open policy on same-sex unions and gay clergy is decreasing, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori agreed, telling the Tribune she also noticed fewer departures since last year. She believes the change has occurred for the same reason she thinks the church will continue to grow: because the church is working on social justice and diversity issues and is focused on attracting people who are in transitional stages of their lives.

Ohio school asks judge to dismiss bullying lawsuit

An Ohio school district being sued by two families who claim their children’s deaths were caused by bullying has asked a federal judge to dismiss one of the lawsuits.

The Mentor Public School District said in a court filing last week that 16-year-old Sladjana Vidovic was not a student at Mentor High School when she committed suicide in October 2008. Vidovic’s parents sued the school district, superintendent and principal in August, claiming their daughter was severely bullied.

3 Iowa justices removed after gay marriage ruling

Iowa voters have voted to remove three state Supreme Court justices, siding with conservatives angered by a ruling that allowed gay marriage.

The vote Tuesday was the first time Iowa voters have removed a Supreme Court justice since the current system began in 1962.

The three who weren’t retained were Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and justices David Baker and Michael Streit. They were the only justices up for retention this year.

They were on the court of seven justices who unanimously decided last year that an Iowa law restricting marriage to one man and one woman violated the state’s constitution.

Gay marriage opponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the campaign. A group of former governors, lawyers and judges said the justices’ removal would threaten Iowa’s independent judiciary.

Gay youth activist Joseph Jefferson commits suicide

Brooklyn-based gay activist Joseph Jefferson committed suicide this weekend by hanging himself. Jefferson was a 2002 graduate of New York City’s Harvey Milk High School, worked for Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), the People of Color in Crisis (POCC) and most recently as an assistant for NYC LGBT event promoters Laurence Pinckney and James Saunders. Jefferson was only 26 years old.

He shared this final message with his Facebook friends:

“I could not bear the burden of living as a gay man of color in a world grown cold and hateful towards those of us who live and love differently than the so-called ’social mainstream.’ Belonging is one of the basic human needs, when people feel isolated and excluded from a sense of communion with others, they suffer.


“I have been an advocate for my peers and most importantly youth because most have never had a deep emotional attachment to anyone. They don’t know how to love and be loved in return. The need to be loved can sometimes translate to the need to belong to someone or something. Driven by that need….. Most will do anything to belong.”

No Scout leadership post in NC for Mormon parents

A Presbyterian church was happy to have Jeremy and Jodi Stokes as Cub Scout leaders, at least until officials there found out they are Mormons and told them they would have to step down because the church does not consider them real Christians.

The Stokeses enrolled their sons as Scouts at Christ Covenant Church, a Presbyterian congregation about 10 miles from Charlotte, then expressed interest in volunteering as leaders. Church officials were initially thrilled earlier this month, the Stokeses said, until they saw on the couple’s application forms that they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After two Scout meetings, the Stokeses were told their sons, 6 and 8 years old, could remain in their packs, but the parents couldn’t serve as leaders.

“I can’t believe they had the audacity to say, ‘You can’t be leaders but we want your boys,’” Jodi Stokes said. “Are you kidding me? Do you really think I’d let my boys go there now?”

Schwarzenegger expands unemployment benefits for gay couples

Governor Schwarzenegger signed the Unemployment Benefits Act (AB 2055), which ensures that same-sex couples in California have access to unemployment benefits. The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) and sponsored by Equality California.

“We thank the governor for signing this bill, which will provide same-sex couples who plan to enter into a domestic partnership with access to benefits that heterosexual couples who are engaged already enjoy and that affect the wellbeing and security of their families,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California.

“Although this legislation helps chip away at the discrimination same-sex couples face, the fact is that domestic partnerships are not the same as marriage, and the only real solution is to restore the freedom to marry in California so that same-sex couples are truly equal under the law. We thank Assemblymember De La Torre for his advocacy and leadership.”

Currently, couples who are engaged to be married are eligible for unemployment benefits if one of the partners must leave his or her job in order to move closer to his or her future spouse. This bill would extend the same rights to couples who plan on entering into a domestic partnership. The bill is especially beneficial for same-sex couples because they are prohibited from legally marrying and therefore unable to receive these benefits.

“AB 2055 will bring equity to imminent domestic partners and help keep families and couples together,” Assemblymember De La Torre. “By guaranteeing this right to imminent domestic partners fairness under the law will be enforced, family unity will be preserved, and all committed relationships will be given equal opportunity to unemployment benefits.”