Monday Male Beauty

Limited Posting

EDITOR NOTE: Just a note to readers that due to a crazy work schedule today that requires me to leave the house very early, some personal matters to attend to and a Legends Committee meeting this evening, I will most likely be doing very little posting today. I should be back more on a usual note tomorrow.

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The photo is one the my son took on the Sea to Sky Highway in British Columbia.

A Letter to the ELCA

In August of this year the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") will be taking up two action items that - if approved - could make the ELCA one of the most gay affirming mainline denominations. One item is a social statement on human sexuality that would recognize gay relationships even if not granting the title :marriage." The second issue is that of allowing partnered gays to be rostered clergy. The committees formulating the two policy changes recommend them for approval, but there's no telling how voting members at the Assembly will vote. Since I am sure that the opponents of gay rights within the ELCA will be vocal in their opposition, I wrote a letter to the voting members who will be attending from the Virginia Synod. I hope others in the ELCA who seek full membership for LGBT members will do likewise. Here is the text of my letter:

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I am writing you because it is my understanding that you will be a voting member at the August, 2009, Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (“ELCA”) where two of the action items have special significance to me. One concerns the proposed modification of Ministry Policies and would allow partnered gays to be rostered clergy. The other deals with approval of the social statement “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.” As a gay member of First Lutheran Church Norfolk I want to share my prospective on why approval of both action items is so very important. Indeed, I believe that approval of these items is a tremendously necessary step toward ending what I see as the spiritual murder of gays and lesbians by Christian denominations.

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Words cannot adequately express the fear and often terrible self-hatred that one experiences growing up and coming to the realization that you are homosexual in our sexual orientation. For years I wondered why God has cursed me so and I tried prayer and other means to “change” myself to no avail. Yes, you can try to repress and deny the reality – and I did this for literally decades – but the truth is that one cannot change one’s sexual orientation, a fact now recognized by all of the legitimate medical and mental health associations in the United States but still ignored by the majority of Christian denominations. To be told that you are sinful and until recently criminalized takes a tremendous toll on one’s life and can lead to a life filled with unhappiness. In fact, I know of several gay men personally who committed suicide because they could not “change” and live in accord with what their churches taught them. One was a Lutheran. Then there are others I know who have been enrolled in bogus “ex-gay ministries” – often by their families - and come out still gay, but severely emotionally damaged. A few I know have become alcoholics as a result and others have felt no recourse but to walk away from a faith tradition that only condemns them.

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In my own case, I married a woman and fathered three wonderful children. However, in the process I always maintained a “glass wall” between myself and my former wife, my children, and virtually everyone in my live. I lived as an actor on perpetual stage so than no one would learn of my terrible secret. The result was that I wasn’t the husband and father I should have been and I lived a life of constant fear of discovery and emotional isolation and self hate. Eventually I reached a point where I had to either face who/what I really was or end my life (something I have tried to do on two occasions, once almost succeeding). At this point in my life, I have (i) ended my marriage in a horrific divorce where I was treated exceedingly harshly due to my sexual orientation and (ii) finally come to terms with and accepted my sexual orientation. I am now in a committed loving relationship with a wonderful man who is one of the kindest, most compassionate, and most Christian acting in his actions towards others people I have ever met. I truly do not believe that God looks harshly on our love and relationship.
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By approving the new social statement on human sexuality and the revision of the Ministry Policies, the ELCA will be sending a long overdue message to gay Lutherans and other gay Christians that they are not cursed by God and that they are children of God as well. Selective parsing of the Bible or fear of change should not be used to perpetuate a message of shame and hate against gays and lesbians and the transgendered. Unless and until partnered gay clergy are allowed by the ELCA, the continued message to gay/lesbian members will be that they are not truly welcomed or considered as equal members of the Church. You can help stop the spiritual murder of so many.

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I urge you from the bottom of my heart to vote for approval of both of these measures.

Sunday Male Beauty

"Protecting Marriage" Idiocy

This cartoon in nutshell shows the idiocy of the anti-gay marriage crowd and its disingenuous bloviating about the need to "protect Marriage" by denying it to same sex couples. From my years living in the straight world and supposedly perfect suburban neighborhoods, gays getting married was the least of the threats facing married couples who were struggling financially, pressed for quality time together, and often trapped in unhappy marriages because of financial and child rearing issues. Of course, our opponents on the Religious Right do nothing to address these problems - instead they blame it all on LGBT citizens. It is such bullshit

When Religion Becomes Evil

Wake Forest religion professor Charles Kimball has a new book that sounds like it will make for interesting reading. The title is "When Religion Becomes Evil: Five Warning Signs." While the book is not limited in its focus on Christianity, the five warning signs that seem to be custom designed for the anti-gay Christianist and professional Christian crowd. What makes Kimball an interesting commentator is that he is a Baptist minister with a doctorate in the history of religions from Harvard. Kimball believes that it is urgent for us all to be aware of these signs. Here are the five warning signs that a religious tradition is going toxic and becoming a force for evil:

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Whenever a religion emphasizes that it holds the absolute truth-the one path to God or the only correct way of reading a sacred text-to the exclusion of the truth claims of all other religions and cultures, that religion is becoming evil. Other warning signs include blind obedience to religious leaders, apocalyptic belief that the end time will occur through a particular religion, the use of malevolent ends to achieve religious goals (e.g., the Crusades) and the declaration of holy war.

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Personally, it sounds like Kimball had James Dobson, Tony Perkins, the men at Concerned Women for America and Pope Benedict XVI among others in mind when he prepared that list of warning signs. Hat trick to Bob Felton at Civil Commotion.

Remebering D-Day

With today being the anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy I find myself thinking of my father who died three years ago this coming September. As a 22 year old he was in the Army Corps of Engineers and followed the troops ashore as his division was tasked with building pontoon brides and other structures to allow the troops to continue the push inland. Generally, he did not talk a great deal about the combat he witnessed other than as a kid I do recall watching the old TV show Combat which would get him to occasionally talk about friends lost and things he witnessed. He preferred to think of the better experiences such as being Paris, living off the Champs Elysee, or his time as Fire Marshall for Marseilles after hostilities ceased.

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Many of today's younger generation will never know the experience of hearing first hand accounts of those who were there and the horrors they witnessed and the extreme heroism exhibited by so many. I hope everyone will take a moment today to remember the brave men and women who gave their lives to stop the Nazi regime.

Saturday Male Beauty

Prime Minister Berlusconi 's X-Rated Parties

One of the principal allies of the Vatican in the fight against gay rights in Italy is Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who claims to be a "family values" type of guy. I previously looked at his wife's announcement that she was divorcing him in part because of his affair with an 18 year old model. Now, the proverbial shit is hitting the fan as photos - like the one at left - from some of Silvio's parties have been printed by the news media. How do we spell HYPOCRISY?? Adding to the stink is the fact that Berlusconi has apparently been using government funds to transport his party crowds to his villa. I suspect the Vatican will pretend to know nothing about Berlusconi's partying habits. As America Blog notes:

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Spanish newspaper El Pais published a few photos of a party that Berlusconi was hosting at one of his houses. The photos include a few naked women as well as a former Czech prime minister who is, ahem, excited at the idea of taking a shower or whatever excuse Berlusconi tried to offer.

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It would seem that Berlusconi's about as much of a family values guy as Senator David Vitter who has a fondness to prostitutes. Hopefully, this scandal will help usher Berlusconi out of the Prime Minister post. Here are a few highlight from an English translation of the El Pais story:

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Zappadu's photo feature shows the atmosphere at Villa Certosa, the people with whom Berlusconi socializes and how he spends his spare time. The property covers 60 hectares and is near Porto Redondo, an area concentrating most of the tourism of Costa Smeralda.

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Those pictures have led to an investigation of Berlusconi?s alleged illegal use of flights financed by the State. The journalist says that "almost every weekend", official planes flown by the 31º Squadrone dell' Aeronautica Italiana delivered at the airport the prime Minister's friends, artists, dancers and velinas (television hostesses).

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On August 2008, Berlusconi passed a new regulation that broadened the official flights to include different categories of companions, based on the needs of the Prime Minister.Zappadu's pictures bear witness to the fact that four months before the new regulation came into effect, Berlusconi travelled to Olbia with his friend the Napolitanian singer Mariano Apicella and an alleged flamenco dancer.

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The pictures from Villa Certosa reveal that there is an obvious lack of inhibitions in the mansion, which is protected by strong security measures. Berlusconi himself said that one of the men in the pictures is the Czech ex-Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek. This newspaper has not been able to check the identity of the man who appears naked in one of the photos.

Christianist Crazy Fest

I had done a post last month on a confab of Christianist lunacy that was to take place in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area over the last two days. Since the event titled "Rediscovering God in America" was closed to reporters, details are brief - such as did Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, the GOP candidate for governor sneak in even though he is pretending to be a moderate - but it definitely sounds like the wingnuts were in full force bleating their theocratic message. Among those speaking at the event which took place at Rock Church in Virginia Beach were the loon from Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, failed senatorial candidate Oliver North, David Barton (WallBuilders), Lou Engle (TheCall visionary), and Ron Luce (Teen Mania founder). The three hours of lunacy was broadcast live on God.TV, an evangelical Web site, and will replay Sunday evening. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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Two leading voices of the Republican Party's evangelical wing visited Rock Church on Friday for a forum aimed at recapturing some of the movement's political momentum. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life.

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They and other speakers warned about the continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books. Gingrich and Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, argued the rights of Americans stem from God and to ignore that connection is perilous. The two were among several speakers, including former U.S. Senate candidate Oliver North, at the three-hour "Rediscovering God in America" event. The event was closed to reporters but was broadcast live on God.TV, an evangelical Web site.

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Huckabee told the audience he was disturbed to hear President Barack Obama say during his speech in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday that one nation shouldn't be exalted over another. "The notion that we are just one of many among equals is nonsense," Huckabee said. The United States is a "blessed" nation, he said, calling American revolutionaries' defeat of the British empire "a miracle from God's hand." The same kind of miracle, he said, led California voters to approve Proposition 8, which overturned a state law legalizing same-sex marriages.

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"I am not a citizen of the world," said Gingrich, who was first elected to the U.S. House from Georgia in 1978 and served as speaker from 1995 to 1999. "I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator." Huckabee urged his listeners to get engaged in public life or their views won't matter.