Russia and Egypt Refuse to Sign the Olympic Charter with LGBT Protections

One of the ways that Vladimir Putin has endeavored to retain support is by pandering to the most extreme elements of the hysterically anti-gay Russian Orthodox Church.  Here in America, Der Trumpenführer has mimicked Putin's tactic and has been dismantling LGBT non-discrimination protections to the near orgasmic delight of Christofascists.  In Egypt, increasing anti-LGBT efforts - including the arrest and imprisonment of gays - is aimed at pandering to Islamic extremists.  All three situations are examples of how tyrants - or a would be tyrant - use the toxicity of religion to bolster their own power.  Now, in advance of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Russia and Egypt are refusing to sign the Olympic charter for the 2018 games if it includes provisions banning discrimination and abuse of LGBT athletes.  Putin's aim is to thrill the homophobes in his Russian Orthodox Church base.  In Egypt, the goal is to mollify Islamic extremists.  A piece in Newnownext looks at this disturbing development:

Russia and Egypt are fighting a resolution by the International Olympic Committee that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Since 2015, Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter has condemned anti-LGBT bias, but representatives from the two countries have issued an ultimatum at the U.N, where member nations are negotiating the Olympic Truce Resolution: Either LGBT protections are stripped from Principle 6 or they won’t sign the treaty.

“Egypt and Russia are not simply fighting over symbolic language but over the levels of violence governments are allowed to use against LGBT people,” saidOutRight International’s Jessica Stern.

The ultimatum comes as attacks on LGBT citizens are escalating in both nations.

“After systematic attacks on LGBT people in their own countries, they are now setting their sights on promoting violence and discrimination in every country of the world,” says Stern. “The Olympics Games are supposed to be a time for sport, technique, pride and community, not for politicking, hatred and violence.”

After a rainbow flag was spotted at a concert in Cairo in September, Egyptian authorities launched a crackdown that has seen dozens of suspected homosexuals arrested and detained. Last week a bill was introduced to criminalize homosexuality and support for LGBT people.

In Russia, senior officials have called for jail time for violators of the country’s infamous anti-gay propaganda ban. The Russian government has also been criticized for turning a blind eye to the anti-gay purge in Chechnya.

Protections for LGBT people were originally added to the Olympic Charter in advance of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, after the country first instituted its ban.

Said Stern, “We cannot allow this type of bullying to target LGBT people or undermine the principle of global community.”

Trump To Meet With Leading Anti-LGBT Hate Groups

Hate and bigotry continue to be the unifying theme of Donald Trump's presidential campaign: hatred of non-whites, hatred of immigrants, hatred of Muslims, hatred of non-Christians, etc. - and now, hatred of LBGT individuals.  Indeed, the only people seemingly not targeted for hatred the uneducated, racist whites who make up the core of Trump's constituency.  If nothing else, Trump's candidacy has shown just how ugly a sizable portion of the Republican Party base is in fact. As Right Wing Watch reports, Trump is now scheduled to meet with a veritable who's who of anti-LGBT hate group leaders, a group that has been in the forefront of disseminating lies and untruths about LGBT citizens and, when possible sought to criminalize LGBT Americans.  Here are highlights:

Next month, Donald Trump will host a meeting with some of the country’s most radical anti-LGBT and anti-choice leaders in New York City. Trump, who has already recruited a variety of far-right activists and conspiracy theorists to his campaign, is set to take part in a convening organized by Ben Carson, a former rival turned campaign surrogate, aimed at bringing reluctant Religious Right leaders to his side.

According to a copy of the invitation to the event obtained by the National Review, Trump will be joined by Religious Right activists including Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Penny Nance, Jim Garlow, Rick Scarborough, Phil Burress, Ken Cuccinelli, Lila Rose, E.W Jackson, Harry Jackson, Tim Wildmon, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson and Cindy Jacobs.

The meeting will be co-hosted by the Family Research Council [a certified hate group], Vision America and AFA Action, the political arm of the American Family Association, [a certified hate group] three of the most vicious anti-LGBT hate groups in the country.

Trump has already pledged to use nominees to the Supreme Court to pave the way for the reversal of the landmark rulings on abortion rights and marriage equality and has vowed to defund Planned Parenthood, key priorities of right-wing activists.

The piece also gives a run down of some of the hate merchants who will be in attendance.  Having followed some of the groups involved for well over a decade and a half, it is noteworthy that many have very strong white supremacist tendencies.  Indeed, Tony Perkins has documented ties to white supremacist groups.

"Christian" Pastor Call for Imprisonment of Gays

While we see the dangers of religious extremism in the Middle East, here at home in America almost everyone turns a blind eye to the pernicious hate and extremism that conservative Christianity  typifies.  Worse yet, Christianity continues to receive undeserved deference and all Americans are forced to subsidize religious crack pots and hate mongers through the tax-exemptions granted to religious organizations regardless of the poison that is there stock in trade.  Part of the problem, of course is the IRS's reluctance to enforce the Internal Revenue Code and withdraw tax exempt status to organizations that improperly engage in political activities be they the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, or the rag tag "ministries" set up as money making propaganda machines of the professional Christian crowd.   An example of such improper conduct is Pastor Michael V. Williams (pictured above) who is advocating for a constitutional amendment to impose 10 years imprisonment for gays.  The Raw Story looks at this batshitery that ought to prompt IRS action against this douche bag.  Here are highlights:

A pastor who uses his Internet platform to teach political lessons based on conservative Christian ideology has proposed a constitutional amendment to punish LGBT people for “ten years in prison at hard labor.”

In a video posted to his PreachingPolitics.com website last month that was flagged by the Good As You blog on Monday, Pastor Michael V. Williams asserts that Christians have been “increasingly tolerant” of gay people over the last 50 years.

“Whereas homosexuality used to be a felony in every state — referred to as sodomy — it has now been decriminalized, and homosexuality is allowed to be openly expressed in public,” he notes. “While Christians are becoming increasingly tolerant of homosexuals, homosexuals are becoming increasingly intolerant of us.”

“It’s time for Christians to resume obeying God and his word, and to re-criminalize homosexuality, outlaw it again,” the pastor continues. “The only way to do this and keep it beyond the reach of activist judges and unaccountable bureaucrats is to create a constitutional amendment.”

Williams’ proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution declares that the “United States of America is a Christian nation with Judeo-Christian ethics, morals, principles and values.”

And it decrees that the “practice of homosexuality in the United States of America and in all its territories and possessions, and in all its States, Counties and Cities shall be a felony punishable by ten years in prison at hard labor.”

Williams recommends that his viewers “incessantly” contact lawmakers until they agree to outlaw homosexuality. . . . only vote for those who promise to adopt this amendment.”

“We’re in a fight for survival and only one side can win,” the Internet preacher concludes. “Let’s make sure it’s our side.”

As I have said the only difference between American Christofascists and the members of ISIS is one  of degree and the level of violence they are willing to inflict against those with differing religious beliefs.  At the core, both groups are based on hate, the embrace of ignorance and extremism towards others.

Virginia Finally Repeals it Sodomy Statute

There must be wholesale mourning going on at The Family Foundation following a vote in the Virginia General Assembly which finally repealed Virginia's sodomy statute which had twice been ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court and the 4th Circuit.  The heinous statute had long been supported by the Christofascists and theocrats who wanted gays charged with felonies rather than mere misdemeanor charges like others engaging in inappropriate sex.  Now, there will be uniformity across the board - I'm sure Victoria Cobb must have sobbed and torn her clothing on hearing the result of the vote.  Here are details from Think Progress (note that other states, mostly in the South, have yet to repeal such statutes):

The Virginia House of Delegates passed, 100 to 0, a bill Thursday that will finally eliminate an unconstitutional sodomy ban than made oral and anal sex — even between consenting married couples — a felony. The legislation, which passed the Senate unanimously last month, will now go to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) for his signature.

After years of unsuccessful attempts to repeal the law, in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas ruling held that states may not ban private non-commercial sex between consenting adults. Virginia’s Crimes Against Nature statute, which made oral sex (even between consenting married couples) a felony, was clearly the sort of legislation the Court was referencing. But a year later the Republican-controlled state legislature killed a bill to update the law and remove the statute’s consensual sodomy provisions. Virginia’s leading anti-LGBT forces opposed the update.

Last year, the federal courts overturned the conviction of a man charged, under Virginia’s Crimes Against Nature law, of soliciting a 17-year-old female for oral sex — a felony under the statute. Because that law — first enacted in 1950 to prohibit oral and anal sex, as well as bestiality — had not been updated, the court ruled it was unenforceable, putting the convictions of other sexual offenders and child predators at risk.

In response, Sen. Thomas A. Garrett (R) filed a bill in December that would have eliminated the ban on adult consensual sodomy, but would have made oral sex between 17-year-olds a felony, even if they were legally married. After ThinkProgress reported on this possibly unintended consequence, Garrett and the Senate Courts of Justice Committee agreed on a substitute version that generally treats all sex equally. 

More than a decade after the Lawrence decision, several other states still have sodomy bans on the books, including Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

 What is shocking is that even Del. Bob Marshall who is motivated by constant anti-gay animus voted for the repeal.   The vote is a major defeat for The Family Foundation.

Love, Death and Sochi

A column in the New York Times uses the start of the 2014 Winter Olympic in homophobic Russia this week as a spring board for a review of the plight of LGBT individuals in the many countries that criminalize homosexuality.  Some countries, all Muslim, even impose a death penalty for gays.  Behind all the hate and torment is ultimately religion.  Fundamentalist religion in particular.  Religion, which over the centuries has cause so much bloodshed and some much misery.  Religion, which in my view has brought a net harm to humanity.  Yes, scapegoating gays is a convenient way for corrupt and repressive governments to distract their often ignorant and uneducated citizenry from the true cause of their misery, but without religion it would be a much more difficult task.  Today, in Norfolk supporters of Virginia's gay marriage ban will hold a demonstration in support of the ban.  Despite what they may disingenuously claim about caring about children - these same folks politically generally support slashing social welfare programs and oppose Medicaid expansion - their actions are really all about religion and forcing their religious beliefs on all Virginians.  Americans need to face the reality that fundamentalist religious belief, whether Christian or Muslim, is an evil that the world would be better off without.  Here are column highlights:

There are few moments sweeter, more humbling or more thrilling than telling someone you love how you feel.  As soon as Roger Mbede did that, he was damned.

This happened in Cameroon, which, like many African countries, treats homosexuality as if it were a curse, a scourge. He lost sight of that, and made the mistake of sending several text messages that were too candid, too trusting.

“I’m very much in love with you,” one of them said, and the man who got it, apparently worried that he was being set up, turned Roger in. Law enforcement officers scrutinized all of his correspondence for suggestions of sexual activity with people of the same gender, which can lead to a prison sentence of five years.

On Thursday the Olympics begin. Worldwide attention will turn to Sochi, Russia, and there will be a spike in commentary about Russia’s dangerously homophobic climate, which has already prompted discussion and protest.

But while this will be an important reminder of the kind of persecution that L.G.B.T. people endure in a country openly hostile to them, it will also be an incomplete one. Russia’s hardly the worst.

Although it has an easily abused and utterly ridiculous law against so-called gay propaganda, it doesn’t technically criminalize same-sex activity. About 75 other countries do, and by the laws or customs of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania, Sudan and certain parts of Nigeria and Somalia, such activity is even punishable by death. Gays, it turns out, are handy scapegoats, distracting people from the grave problems that really hold them back.

In Nigeria, the president signed new legislation last month that establishes 14-year prison sentences for anyone who enters into a same-sex union and 10-year sentences for people who publicly display same-sex affection or who simply participate in gay groups. There have since been accounts of gay people being rounded up.

L.G.B.T. people in Jamaica live in fear, despite a fresh, hopeful push by some Jamaicans to repeal a law that permits long prison sentences for sodomy. Mobs there have chased people believed to be gay, and last year a transgendered teen was reportedly killed — stabbed, shot and run over with a car — in a hate crime.

Strains of Russia’s florid bigotry can be found in its neighbors, too: Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine.

Back before the text message, back before the dread label of homosexual was hung on him, Roger [Mbede] had confidence. He had respect. He studied philosophy at a local university, with an eye on a teaching career.  “He was the hope of the family,” Nkom told me. “He was the one who had a future.”  Then he shared what was in his heart. And that future was gone.

These countries ought to be treated as international pariahs yet sadly, because of the undeserved deference and privilege given to religion, atrocities continue.    As I have said before, when I hear that someone is a "born again Christian" or "devout conservative Christian," increasingly my first thought is that they must be a horrible, self-centered person.  They deserve our contempt, not our deference or respect. 

American Hypocrisy Over Russia’s Anti-Gay Laws

These states have anti-gay laws that aren't that different from Russia's http://thkpr.gs/1etn5ms

UPDATED:  I added the map above via Think Progress.  It goes without saying that most of these states are in the South.

I for one am a severe critic of Russia's anti-gay laws - as should anyone of believes in equality under the law not to mention freedom of religion and freedom of speech.  But there are many in America who do not believe in those principles and before America condemns Russia without reservation, America needs to put its own house in order and eliminate anti-gay laws on the books here are home.  A piece in the Washington Post written by two Yale law professors looks at anti-gay propaganda laws on the books here in America - and that doesn't even get into the issue of the lack of LGBT protections in states like Virginia.  State sanctioned homophobia remains alive and well in the United States.  Here are some column excerpts that underscore anti-gay extremism still on the books:

Controversy over a Russian law that prohibits advocacy of homosexuality threatens to overshadow athletic competition at the upcoming Sochi Olympics. Thoughtful world leaders, including President Obama, have criticized Russia for stigmatizing gay identity.

Many of these critics find it hard to believe that in 2014 a modern industrial government would have this kind of medieval language in its statutory code: 

●“Materials adopted by a local school board . . . shall . . . comply with state law and state board rules . . . prohibiting instruction . . . in the advocacy of homosexuality.”

●“Propaganda of homosexualism among minors is punishable by an administrative fine.”

●“No district shall include in its course of study instruction which: 1. Promotes a homosexual life-style. 2. Portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style. 3. Suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”

●“[I]nstruction relating to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include . . . emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense.”

Amid the rush to condemn Russia’s legislation, however, it is useful to recognize that only the second quoted provision comes from the Russian statute.  The other three come from statutes in the United States.

It is Utah that prohibits “the advocacy of homosexuality.” 

Arizona prohibits portrayals of homosexuality as a “positive alternative life-style” and has legislatively determined that it is inappropriate to even suggest to children that there are “safe methods of homosexual sex.”

 Alabama and Texas mandate that sex-education classes emphasize that homosexuality is “not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.” Moreover, the Alabama and Texas statutes mandate that children be taught that “homosexual conduct is a criminal offense” even though criminalizing private, consensual homosexual conduct has been unconstitutional since 2003. 

Eight U.S. states, and several cities and counties, have some version of what we call “no promo homo” provisions. Before the United States condemns the Russian statute’s infringement of free speech and academic freedom, it should recognize that our own republican forms of government have repeatedly given rise to analogous restrictions.

The underlying ideology of these statutes is the same: Everybody should be heterosexual, and homosexuality is per se bad. This ideology has never rested on any kind of evidence that homosexuality is a bad “choice” that the state ought to discourage. 

Maybe Obama ought to send Olympic delegates Billie Jean King and Brian Boitano to Alabama and Texas. 

We offer that suggestion somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but there is an important lesson here. Sometimes the moral failings of others can help us see moral failings in ourselves. It was revulsion toward Nazi Germany’s eugenics policy that, in part, caused U.S. legislatures and courts to renounce state sterilization programs. Opposition to South African apartheid and the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime generated greater national pressure for the Eisenhower administration and the Warren court to renounce apartheid in the American South. 

Putin’s inability to justify this law puts a spotlight on the inability of Utah, Texas, Arizona and other states to justify their gay-stigmatizing statutes. They should be repealed or challenged in court. Just as judges led the way against compulsory sterilization and racial-segregation laws, so they should subject anti-gay laws to critical scrutiny. 

As things stand, one could imagine Putin responding to U.S. criticism by saying: “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye.”

America doesn't have a monopoly on hypocrisy, but it surely suffers from it on staggering levels.

Times Dispatch Column Slams GOP's Latest Effort to Revive Sodomy Statute

As note many times on this blog, members of the Republican Party of Virginia are obsessed with resurrecting the twice invalidated sodomy statute a/k/a the "crimes against nature" statute.   At first blush one has to wonder why the obsession, but once one realizes that the Virginia GOP is controlled by the viciously anti-gay "family values" group misnamed as The Family Foundation ("TFF"), the obsession begins to make sense. In addition to opposing abortion in every instance and pushing for a theocracy in Virginia, TFF's number one goal is to make life a living hell for LGBT Virginians and to criminalize us in every possible manner.  Hence GOP state Sen. Tom Garrett's misguided bill to restore the sodomy statute which could again expose gays to felony charges rather than mere misdemeanor charges.  Garrett (pictured at left) may claim his goal is to protect minors from adults, but the real agenda is something different.  A column in the Richmond Times Dispatch rightly takes Garrett and indirectly the GOP to task.  Here are excerpts:

Some Virginia public officials seem to have trouble grasping an extremely simple concept: Protecting children from sexual predation does not require drawing distinctions among different types of sex.  

Garrett recently introduced legislation to amend and re-enact Virginia’s notorious crimes-against-nature statute, which court rulings have rendered a nullity.  The bill renews the prohibitions against oral or anal sex with minors or in public, while stipulating that such acts between consenting adults in private do not violate the law.

This marks a considerable improvement over the position taken by Ken Cuccinelli, who believes homosexuality “brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of [the] soul” and that “homosexual acts . . . should not be accommodated in government policy.”

[W]hile Garrett’s bill is an improvement, it still has a lot of problems, as others have pointed out at length. Virginia law lets 17-year-olds marry. But if those 17-year-olds then had oral sex, under Garrett’s original bill they would be committing felonies. Genital sex between an adult and a 17-year-old remains a misdemeanor, but merely to solicit oral sex with a 17-year--old would be a felony.

Moreover, public sex acts would be treated differently depending on what sort of conduct they involved: as felonies for “crimes against nature,” but misdemeanors otherwise. As the Virginia ACLU’s Claire Guthrie Gastañaga told ThinkProgress, Garrett’s original measure “leaves in place discriminatory treatment and doesn’t address the underlying problem that LGBT people are treated differently than folks that have other kinds of sex.”

Like they say, this isn’t rocket surgery: (1) Grown-ups should not prey on kids, and (2) sex belongs in the bedroom, not on the boardwalk. Virginia can easily regulate those two questions of “who” and “where” without ever bringing up the question of “how.” 

RNC Official Praises Russia's Anti-Gay Laws

Screenshot from Agema’s Facebook page - click image to enlarge

I get challenged often as to why I did not remain in the GOP and "work for change from within."  I have one principal response.  The first is that I am a realist and, given the current nature of the GO base, working from within is impossible.  And I am not a masochist.  Hence my decision to work against the GOP with a goal of hoping that repeated electoral defeats might at some point force the GOP to change.  But, back to why I left the GOP.  Dave Agema, National Committeeman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), has come out praising Russia's anti-gay laws as "common sense" with little or no care that the laws are encouraging violence against gays.  As The New Civil Rights Movement notes, Agema has an ugly history of spreading anti-gay lies and hatred.  Here are excerpts:

It was less than a year ago that the name Dave Agema drew national attention — and outrage. Agema had posted on his Facebook page a link to a website that labels gay people as “filthy,” claims the “median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65),” “Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered,” “25-33% of homosexuals and lesbians are alcoholics,” “50% of suicides can be attributed to homosexuals,” and “78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs.” And that is just a sampling.

Unlike most other politicians — and unlike any decent person — Agema (image, above, with his wife, via his Facebook page), not only refused to apologize or see the error of his actions, he steadfastly stood by his post and later comments, even when members of his own party were calling for his resignation.

Now, Agema is at it again.   Agema’s Facebook page  . . . shows a link to an article at the Illinois Family Institute, a group that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of active certified anti-gay hate groups. The IFI is also affiliated with the American Family Association (another anti-gay hate group) and says it has a “working relationship with other Christian ministries like the Liberty Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom.”

That article offers full-throated support for President Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws, which have engendered an increase in anti-gay hate violence.  Agema offered simple commentary: “Common sense in Russia!”

Anti-gay groups  . . . . are flocking to support the policies of Vladimir Putin, merely because he opposes homosexuality.  It is a frightening barometer of the level of conservative anti-gay hate.

When I complain about such horrific anti-gay ideology in the GOP,  former GOP colleagues accuse me of being obsessed on "a single issue."  These people depict gays as near vermin, want to criminalize us and bar any recognition of our life partnerships.  Why would anyone sane want to work with these people?

British War Hero Alan Turing Belated Pardoned for Being Gay

I guess it is better late than never, but the fact that Alan Turing, the inventor of the computer and breaker of the Nazi enigma code, was driven to suicide (or murdered as some have speculated)  in 1954 and has only now been pardoned for his criminal conviction for being gay, speaks to the sad status many gays wrongly prosecuted suffered.  Turing's life was but one of many ruined and destroyed by the improper privilege given to hate and fear based forms of Christianity.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at Turing's brilliance as well as his far too late posthumous pardon.  Here are story excerpts:

Alan Turing was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. He laid the theoretical foundations for computer science, and his code-breaking efforts during World War II greatly aided the Allies's effort to defeat Adolf Hitler.

But Turing, a gay man, had the misfortune to live in an intolerant era. In 1952, he was prosecuted for "gross indecency" for having a sexual relationship with another man. He lost his security clearance and was forced to take hormone treatments. Two years later, he was found dead of cyanide poisoning. His death was ruled a suicide.

Now, the BBC reports, the computing pioneer has finally received a pardon from Queen Elizabeth. It only took the British government 61 years to recognize its mistake. Hopefully, it won't take the British government long to acknowledge that other gay men prosecuted under the same law also suffered an injustice.

There was no subject called computer science when Turing began his work in the 1930s, so he set to work laying its foundations. He first described what came to be called the Turing Machine in a famous 1936 paper. The Turing Machine consisted of a paper tape with characters written on it and a "head" that could read and alter the tape, one character at a time.

The Turing Machine was a thought experiment, not a practical computing device. But Turing used it to prove some of the fundamental theorems of computer science. He showed that given enough time and paper tape, the Turing Machine could perform every calculation that can be performed by any other sequential computing device, including those that would be invented far in the future.

Today these fundamental insights about the nature of computation are taught in computer science departments around the world.

When the war came, Turing threw his considerable genius into defeating the Nazis. Turing was a key figure at Bletchley Park, Britain's wartime code-breaking lab. The Nazis used a sophisticated mechanical cipher machine called the Enigma to send coded messages. Turing and his colleagues at Bletchley Park built some of the most sophisticated mechanical computing devices yet seen to help break the Enigma code. And they succeeded, giving the Allies priceless intelligence about Germany's war plans.

Some gay-rights advocates fault the British government for waiting so long to acknowledge the injustice it perpetrated against Turing 61 years ago. More importantly, they say, thousands of other British men were also prosecuted under the "gross indecency" statute, and some are still alive today. They hope that Turing's pardon will be the first step toward a pardon for all gay men who were prosecuted under Britain's homophobic laws.

Hate, bigotry, the rejection of science and knowledge and a trail of ruined lives - these are the main fruits of conservative Christianity.

India's Ruling Congress Party Slams Supreme Court for Banning Gay Sex

The fallout continues in India over the Supreme Court of India's bowing to religious extremists and reinstating section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that hearkens back to the 1860's and British colonial rule.  Now, the ruling Congress Party has condemned the Court's action and is urging Parliament to fix the problem that was reactivated by the Court's ruling.  The choice before the Indian Parliament is one of whether India is to be a modern nation or a backward dominated by religious based ignorance and bigotry.  The New York Times has details.  Here are excerpts:

NEW DELHI — India's ruling party on Thursday slammed the Supreme Court for reinstating a ban on gay sex, taking an unexpectedly bold stance ahead of elections in the religiously conservative nation. 

The court on Wednesday overturned a 2009 ruling by Delhi's High Court, which had lifted a ban on gay sex between consenting adults that dated back to the nineteenth century. The top court said only parliament could change the penal code. 

The court's shock move triggered protests in cities across India on Wednesday as fear spread that the gay community was effectively being outlawed. The ruling was condemned internationally. 

"The High Court had wisely removed an archaic, repressive and unjust law that infringed on the basic human rights enshrined in our Constitution," said Sonia Gandhi, the head of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that leads the ruling Congress party, in a rare public statement. 

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Law Minister Kapil Sibal also voiced dismay.  "To say in this day and age that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender)rights should not be recognized is extremely regressive and extremely disappointing," Chidambaram told reporters. 

Gay rights activists had not expected the Congress-led coalition government to wade in on the issue . . . 

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ducked mounting pressure to make its stance known.

"This is not a political issue. It is a social issue," said BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi. 

India's parliament could now vote to change or remove section 377 of the penal code, which prohibits "carnal intercourse against the order of nature", a phrase widely interpreted to refer to homosexual sex. Violation of the law can be punished with up to 10 years in jail. 

Gandhi urged parliament to take up the matter in her statement. Chidambaram suggested that, given the notoriously slow pace of India's lawmakers, the government should instead file a "curative petition", a kind of appeal under which the case is reviewed by a five-judge panel. 

Gay rights activists have long argued that the current law reflects British colonial standards of morality and not Indian traditions. 

The choice is embracing modernity or ignorance and religious based hatred.

Obama Says World Must Stop Persecuting People for 'Who They Love'

In a speech at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama found an opportunity to support LGBT equality and to challenge the world - especially African nations to which America Christofascists are exporting homophobia and hatred - that stop persecuting gays.  No doubt Obama's remarks will only intensify the hatred he faces from white Christofascist/white supremacists in America.  Here are excerpts from his speech:

For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe - Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate his heroic life. But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or circumstance, we must ask: how well have I applied his lessons in my own life?

It is a question I ask myself - as a man and as a President. We know that like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took the sacrifice of countless people - known and unknown - to see the dawn of a new day. Michelle and I are the beneficiaries of that struggle. But in America and South Africa, and countries around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not done. The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality and universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger, and disease; run-down schools, and few prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who they love.

We, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace. There are too many of us who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. And there are too many of us who stand on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard. 

The full transcript of Obama's speech can be found here.

Cuccinelli: Claims References To His Anti-LGBT Record Are "Unfounded Personal Attacks"

If anyone is guilty of personal attacks it is Ken Cuccinelli who has made a career out of maligning and denigrating gay Virginians.  The man has worked relentlessly to keep us and our families third or fourth class citizens devoid of even the most basic employment non-discrimination protections.  Yet Cuccinelli is whining that Terry McAuliffe's references to Cuccinelli's extreme anti-gay agenda are "unfounded personal attacks."  The man is either a pathological liar or truly living in a fantasy world if he thinks his past actions aren't relevant in this years gubernatorial election.  Think Progress looks at this whining bullshit from Cuccinelli.  Here are highlights:

After compiling a record of votes and comments that easily make him among the most virulently anti-LGBT elected officials in the country, Virginia Attorney Ken Cuccinelli II (R) sought to minimize his record in a gubernatorial debate on Wednesday. But his claims fly in the face of his 11-year political career.

Cuccinelli attempted to downplay social issues, saying, “Look, I believe– I have some basic beliefs that are fundamental to me. But overwhelming proportion of my time as attorney general has been spent moving Virginia forward economically and protecting liberty and our constitution.” But as attorney general, he has consistently opposed liberty and the constitutional protections for LGBT Virginians, demanding that public colleges and universities rescind non-discrimination policies and making a campaign issue his attempt to revive an anti-sodomy law he refused to bring into compliance with the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas ruling. When asked about LGBT issues, McAuliffe reiterated his full support for marriage equality and employment non-discrimination protections. 

Cuccinelli attempted to deny his own prior anti-LGBT comments — even though he had stood by them in his first debate against McAuliffe in July. In both debates, McAuliffe highlighted a 2008 speech Cuccinelli made to the anti-gay Virginia Family Foundation in which he had opined, “When you look at the homosexual agenda, I cannot support something that I believe brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul.” 

Asked in the July debate whether he stilled believed LGBT people to be “soulless” and “self-destructive,” Cuccinelli told moderator Judy Woodruff, “My personal beliefs about the personal challenges of homosexuality haven’t changed.”

Calling them “personal attacks,” Cuccinelli announced, “The Northrop Grumman charge is false. The soulless comment is offensively false.”  

There's more to the piece, but you get the point.  Cuccinelli is an anti-gay extremist.

The Anti-Gay World: 76 Countries Where Being Gay is Illegal

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Russia has deservedly been receiving a great deal of media coverage of its newly enacted anti-gay laws - laws motivated by a desire to distract the public from government corruption and incompetence and to win the support of Neanderthals in the Russian Orthodox Church.  But sadly, Russia is only one a many countries where being gay continues to be illegal and, in some cases can subject one to the death penalty.  The main distinction for Russia, is that unlike all but one or two of these other anti-gay countries, it likes to view itself as a modern, civilized and westernized nation.  These new laws underscore that such is, in fact, not the case. BuzzFeed looks at the other anti-gay countries around the world - countries that gays and their allies should avoid visiting or financially supporting in any way.  Here are highlights:

It is illegal to be gay in 76 countries. Punishments range from fines to short and lifelong prison sentences, hard labor, forced psychiatric treatment, banishment, whippings, and death by public stoning. The upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi have put Russia’s “gay propaganda” law and the international community on an unavoidable collision course, but whatever happens in February is only the beginning of a broader (and much more complicated) conversation about the status of LGBT rights around the world. 

In May 2013, the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) released a 110-page study on the status of the international LGBT community with country-by-country profiles of relevant laws. The report is updated annually and was used throughout this post along with other sources when possible.

Here's a sampling of some of these nations - some of which receive billions of dollars in American aid, something that needs to be rethought if change doesn't take place:

1. Afghanistan — Imprisonment.  During Taliban rule, same-sex activity in Afghanistan could lead to the death penalty. The situation has improved, relatively speaking, as a conviction for “pederasty” — used to describe all homosexual relations, regardless of the persons’ ages — results in a “long” prison sentence.

4. Antigua and Barbuda — Up to 15 years in prison.  “Buggery,” a common term for same-sex relations in the Caribbean, comes with a possible 15-year jail sentence in Antigua and Barbuda. The lesser charge of “serious indecency” applies to sexual acts other than sodomy, punishable by up to five years in prison by consenting adults.

6. Barbados — Up to life in prison. According to Barbados’ Sexual Offenses Act of 1992, “Any person who commits buggery is guilty of an offense and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.” The lesser, related charge “serious indecency” can result in up to 10 years in prison.

7. Belize — 10 years in prison.  Having sex with a person of the same sex is considered an “unnatural crime” in Belize and comes with a 10-year prison sentence.

14. Dominica — Up to 25 years in prison and a possible psychiatric treatment.  In addition to jail sentences for “gross indecency” (maximum 10 years) and “buggery” violations (maximum 25), the island of Dominca could also require “ex-gay” therapy. As noted in Section 16 of the country’s penal code: “Any person who attempts to commit the offense of buggery, or is guilty of an assault with the intent to commit the same is guilty of an offense and liable to imprisonment for four years and, if the Court thinks it, the Court may order that the convicted person be admitted to the psychiatric hospital for treatment.”

23. Jamaica — Up to 10 years in prison.  Jamaican law terms “buggery” an “abominable” crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Just a few weeks ago, a teenager was brutally murdered after being caught cross-dressing at a street party in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The tragedy once again underscores how state-sanctioned homophobia is only part of the hostility LGBT people face across the world.

24. Iran — Death penalty.  Even with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who infamously declared during a 2007 appearance at Columbia University, “In Iran, we don’t have gays”) no longer in office, Iran remains one of the most anti-gay nations on earth. Men convicted of sodomy — defined under the Islamic Penal Code of 1991 as “sexual intercourse with a male” — face death, the method of which is determined by a Shariah (Islamic law) judge. A man just kissing another man is punishable by “60 lashes.”

49. Saudi Arabia — Banishment, whipping, and death by public stoning.  According to the 2013 ILGA report, “There is no codifed Penal Law in Saudi-Arabia. Instead, the country applies strict Islamic Sharia law. According to the interpretation sodomy is criminalized. For a married man the penalty is death by stoning, while the penalty for an unmarried man is 100 blows of the whip as well as banishment for a year. For a non-Muslim, who commits sodomy with a Muslim, the penalty is death by stoning. Moreover are all sexual relations outside of marriage illegal in Saudi-Arabia according to the Sharia law, including sexual relations between women.”

53. Singapore — Up to two years in jail; same-sex relations between women are legal.  In April 2013, the highest court in Singapore threw out a challenge to the country’s anti-sodomy law, saying it was a decision best left to the legislature. An LGBT activist in the country told AFP, “[The law] doesn’t just criminalise gay men. It justifies a wide range of abusive behaviours and institutionalises discrimination against LGBT people. It sends the wrong signal to the world that Singapore is a backward and regressive state.”

58. St. Kitts and Nevis — Up to 10 years in prison, possibly with hard labor.  The ILGA’s 2013 analysis of St. Kitts and Nevis’ “Offenses Against the Person Act” notes that, “The Revised Laws prescribe terms of imprisonment of up to ten years, with or without hard labor, upon conviction for engaging in anal sex, described as “the abominable crime of buggery.” Attempted “buggery” is sanctioned by up to four years imprisonment, with or without hard labor, as is “any indecent assault upon any male person.” The latter, which is in no way defined, is subject to arbitrary interpretation. It could potentially encompass any behavior perceived as a “homosexual advance.”

 Read the entire article and make note of countries to avoid when planning your next vacation or your next purchase.  Better yet, let clothing manufactures know why you will not be buying their product if it is made in an anti-gay country such as Bangladesh.

Obama to Leno: "I Have No Patience' for the Persecution of Gay People in Russia"

On the Jay Leno show, Barack Obama said nice words about his opposition to what is happening to gays in Russia.  However, as is always the case with Obama, the question is whether those nice words will translate into concrete actions.  I for one, will not be holding my breath.  After all, we still have no ENDA like executive order protecting federal employees and those working for government contractors.  Towleroad looks at the Leno-Obama exchange:

President Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night and offered a broad interview on a number of current topics, one of which was the current situation with Russia. After a discussion of the Edward Snowden NSA case, Leno expressed his dismay at Russia's anti-gay laws, and wondered why it isn't a bigger story?

Leno:

"This seems like Germany - let's round up the Jews, let's round up the gays, let's round up the...it starts with that. You round up people you don't like. Why isn't more of the world outraged at this?"

Obama:

"I've been very clear that when it comes to universal rights, when it comes to people's basic freedoms, that whether you are discriminating on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, you are violating the basic morality that should transcend every country, and I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”

Obama then brought up the situations he encountered on his recent trip to Africa:

"What's happening in Russia is not unique. When I traveled to Africa there were some countries that are doing a lot of good things for their people, who we're working with and helping on development issues but in some cases have persecuted gays and lesbians and it makes for some uncomfortable press conferences sometimes but one of the things that I think is very important for me to speak out on is making sure that people are treated fairly and justly because that's what we stand for and I believe that's not a preset that's not just unique to America but should apply everywhere."

Again, the question is whether these correct words lead to action or remain merely words.  Mr. Obama, are you listening?

Russia Says It Will Arrest Openly Gay Tourists

Russia is seemingly trying hard to force the International Olympic Committee to rethink holding the 2014 winter games in Russia.   Why else announce that "openly gay tourists" will be arrested?  Vladimir Putin must be indeed desperate to (i) distract Russians from the failure of his rule and (ii) kiss the ass of the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy which has always backed dictators.  Travel and Escape has details.  Here are excerpts:

Thinking of taking a vacation to Europe this summer? If a trip to iconic city of Moscow or the edgier St. Petersburg is on your bucket list, an anti-gay law recently passed in Russia may have you thinking again. It is now outlawed to be ‘out and proud.’ 

In a throwback to the country’s authoritarian ruling, Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a controversial law that punishes people for “homosexual propaganda.” The law fines people—including tourists—up to 200,000 rubles ($6,240 CDN) for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.” For Canadians—where same-sex marriage is legal—it is unfathomable that Russia’s laws permit the government to arrest and detain gay, or pro-gay, foreigners for up to 14 days before they would then be expelled from the country.

So what is considered pro-gay? Anything from gay-affirmative speech to hand-holding; even displaying a rainbow flag alongside a maple leaf on your backpack is illegal. Recently in southern Russia, there were complaints that Elton John’s stage outfits fell under “gay propaganda.” While LGBT are being told they are unwelcome in Russia, with such vague definitions, one wonders if anyone who even looks like they might be gay could also be fined or deported from the country.

According to Voice of Russia, any display of affection between same-sex couples could cause a “distorted understanding” that gay relations and heterosexual relations are socially equivalent, and risk spreading Western liberalism. Putin claims the law doesn’t discriminate against LGBT people, but rather—in an argument riddled with faulty logic—is there to “protect children from pedophilia.”

And how are these new laws going to impact tourism and the world’s spotlight on the upcoming 2014 Winter Games in Sochi? Will LGBT visitors—or anyone who embraces the gay community—want to visit the games? While Russia’s laws stigmatize and target the gay community, Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism is working to encourage the LGBT community to visit. Brazil, which is hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, as well as the 2014 World Cup.

Fortunately, for LGBT travellers looking to take a vacation, there are other parts of the world more receptive to welcoming them with open arms—or at least not promising your vacation could wind up with jail time. 

Russia is definitely on my "do not visit" list - even though I was a Russian history major in college.