Beauty And The Beat Boots by Todrick Hall

The Gay Agenda

Gay UK football fans lured to hoax meeting and attacked

An LGBTI football supporters group was invited to meet a group similar to theirs, only to find it was a hoax and their members were attacked.

Charlton Rainbows describe themselves as ‘a Charlton Athletic supporters group made up of Bi, Gay, Lesbian and Trans Gender fans who are standing up to homophobia’, who are based in South East London.

Earlier this week (11 January), the group tweeted about the attack which happened the day before.

‘Before yesterday's match, we were told to meet a group equivalent to ours. Unfortunately, this was a hoax and some members were attacked,’ they said.

The group tweeted the perpetrators of the attack did not belong to either Charlton Athletic or Brighton & Hove Albion.

Twitter users flooded them with messages of support.

‘Disgusting what is wrong with people - hope you are all ok,’ said Jamie Thomas.

‘That’s vile. *All* genuine football fans are sickened by this sort of thing,’ tweeted Liquid Spurs.

‘Not much you can add to worrying statement from @proudcafc - but predetermined nature of attack on #LGBT football community deeply troubling,’ tweeted Chris Osborne.

Charlton Rainbows tweeted the incident is being investigated.

‘An investigation's ongoing with CCTV and statements being taken,’ they tweeted.

‘Thank you for the support! Our members shaken, but OK. We can't give more info as this is a criminal matter, but the thugs will be caught.

‘We would also like to thank the public who helped and the emergency services for their quick response and actions. #LookAtThePositives.

‘Once again, thank you for your continued support. This matter is being dealt with through the correct channels. #StandingTogetherStronger.’

Ultimately, the group say this incident will not hold them back.

‘The solidarity and support shown has been fantastic. These were not real football fans and neither will this put us off going to football.’

The group has been inundated with tweets and messages of support. 

"I'm Not Asking Anymore, I am Just Being!"

Are Average Joe’s Being Overlooked In The Gay Community?

My mom always told me I was the “cutest thing she ever did see.” Her crooked smile, red lipstick, and piercing blue eyes used to persuade me out of the deepest of insecurities. For a while I believed her, that is, until I began to get into the gay scene.

When I was in my roaring twenties, I waited in anticipation for Friday night to come. My boys and I would take over the boulevard (or any other place we can find) and reek havoc. During that time, it was easy to see that we didn’t exactly fit in. Not that we were unattractive, per say. After all, I didhave a 30″ waist and a killer smile, but when it came to the “hot or not” categories, I was nearly always place in the “not.”

Today, it seems like nothing has changed in the gay scene. Sure it’s an incomplete representation of what the gay community is like as a whole, but for many non-LGBT people in the world, they take it as the whole pie. As a young man fresh out of the closet, I took it as an accurate portrayal of what my new “role” as a gay man was.

Stereotyping is a serious issue in the gay culture, but more so than “Bears,” “Twinks,” “Jocks,” and everything else, the most damaging, above all, is the scale of hotness. Usually those who are 8’s and above are living the high life. They’re the ones we see on TV, film, and even radio (weird, right?). While they remain the “face” of the gay community, the average Joe’s continue to be the ones on the street. They’re the activists who rarely get air time on network television, they’re the ones that walk past your periphery whenever you’re at a bar. They’re the majority.

One might look at what I’m saying and ask, “What happened to you that made you so bitter?” The truth is, nothing. There was never a traumatizing moment in my life that leaped me towards this feeling of inequality based on physical attraction. However, being ignored by the bartender for the more attractive guy next to me, getting eyes rolled at me whenever I’ve asked for someone’s number, or even being pushed aside at my job for the more attractive “face,” has begun to add up, leading me to wonder if I’m the only person who’s experienced these things.

Just because we’re men doesn’t mean we need to resort to physical judgments. It’s true that men are visual creatures, in that we’re stimulated by what we see. It’s built in our biological structure (that pesky testosterone), but shouldn’t we be smarter than that. If we’re going to preach equality, we need to practice ALL forms of it.

Whether it’s treatment by society, views on our community, or assumptions based on our body types, every judgment we’ve been taught to feel has been implanted in our brains by culture. It’s time we unplug ourselves from the Matrix and start living in the truth – and the truth is that we should all be judged by our character, not our “cast type.”

An LGBTQ renaissance in Juneau

SEAGLA members get together to march in Juneau’s 2014 July 4th parade. (Photo courtesy James Hoagland)

Juneau’s alliance group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people has been going through a renaissance with new board members and energy. Now, with recent grant funding, SEAGLA hopes to increase visibility and awareness in the capital city and beyond.

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SEAGLA has been around since the early 1980s providing support for the LGBTQ community in Juneau. The name used to be an acronym for Southeast Alaska Gay and Lesbian Alliance, but it’s moved away from that strict definition to be more inclusive.

For years, SEAGLA’s programming consisted of a weekly Friday night social and an annual picnic. Last year, SEAGLA organized a first ever Pride Week in Juneau with several events.

“We did a film festival, a hike, a kickball game, a karaoke night, a big dance and a picnic,” says James Hoagland, one of eight volunteer board members. “All sorts of different kinds of events because we wanted to see who was out there, who our community was and what they needed from us, and we found that they liked all the events and they said, ‘We need more of this and we need to do it even bigger.'”

Kickball was one of several events during SEAGLA’s Pride Week last June. (Photo courtesy James Hoagland)

The annual picnic last year drew about 200 people, the biggest attendance in the organization’s history.

It recently received a $5,000 grant from thePride Foundation, which supports LGBTQ groups in the Northwest. It awarded funds to 56 organizations – three in Alaska. This is the largest grant SEAGLA has ever received.

The money will help expand programming.

“We know that there are hundreds of people out there who just even locally want to get together and do things and build community in all sorts of ways,” Hoagland says.

SEAGLA is meant to be an alliance group for all of Southeast Alaska, but it’s historically served just Juneau. The grant will allow the nonprofit to bridge gaps and offer services to other Southeast communities. Hoagland says individuals in Ketchikan, Haines, Sitka and Skagway have reached out to SEAGLA.

Josh Hemsath with Pride Foundation in Anchorage says the organization gave funding to SEAGLA for this very reason. Anchorage-based Identity Inc. also received a grant to bring students from rural areas to a youth leadership summit at Birchwood Camp.

“The need that we were seeing was how best to address serving individuals, whether they be youth or people who experience geographic isolation because they live in rural and remote communities,” Hemsath says.

Outside of grant funding, Hoagland hopes SEAGLA can grow in other ways.

“It’ll be particularly interesting during the legislative session and figuring out how to plug SEAGLA into the really dynamic political landscape that’s going on right now in Alaska for LGBT people,” Hoagland says.

With the legalization of same-sex marriage, Hoagland says other issues are ripe for change. Representatives Cathy Muñoz, a Republican, and Democrat Andy Josephson have pre-filed bills to add sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Hoagland says SEAGLA can play a role in education. He says many Alaskans don’t even realize that people can get fired from a job because of sexual orientation.

“They thought that maybe we’re protected under another law or something like that and it’s just not the case and I think that most people understand that that’s just not fair. And just opening up their eyes to the importance of putting that on the books in writing so that we can make sure that people don’t experience a really tragic situation like losing your job just because of the person you love,” Hoagland says.

Hoagland says making a political impact will be a natural outcome of expanding membership and strengthening SEAGLA.

Tyler Oakley Reacts to Teens React to Tyler Oakley

A Rare Glimpse Into Iran's Underground Gay Community

When then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared in 2007 that there were no gay people in Iran, he was correct in one sense. Because homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, torture or execution, the idea of someone living their life openly gay in Iran is unheard of. 

But of course Ahmadinejad was wrong in that there are plenty of gay Iranians living in the shadows. It's just that the government chooses to ignore them — at least until it doesn't. 

And while we often hear about LGBT Iranians who've fled the country, what about those who choose to stay or can't afford to leave? 

In a story published Tuesday, Vocativ offers a compelling look at Iran's underground gay community through the eyes of three of its members: a 25-year-old single man who recently had the courage to come out to his parents, and two men in their early 30s who are in a relationship, albeit a very secretive one. 

It's a story of private parties whose hosts must pay off the country's moral police, and of wealthy married men who live parallel lives and cruise parks for young male prostitutes.

From Vocativ:

Gays from lower classes and rural areas, where stigmatization is often most severe, rarely have the ability to move out of the house before marriage, let alone leave the country. Even in more affluent communities in cities. there is generally little acceptance of homosexuality, but some middle- and upper-class Iranians have the means to create parallel lives, out of sight of their relatives or friends. These people—men like Saeed—are the lucky ones. 

“Ninety-five percent of gays in Iran will never come out,” Saeed says over pasta at one of northern Tehran’s coffee shops, where the atmosphere is relatively permissive. For all his friends who have dared, coming out has been a traumatic experience; parents lock their children inside the house, confiscate their phones and laptops, and force them to seek therapy.

Even "the lucky ones" like Saeed live in constant fear — "We are all so fucking scared," he told Vocativ. The Iranian government keeps extensive intelligence files on its citizens and presumably monitors gay apps like Grindr. But an even bigger threat to gay Iranians can be blackmail by other citizens who find out. 

The pressure is so intense in Iran that many gay men choose to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Being transgender is acceptable in Iran, where more people undergo GRS than in any other country except Thailand. 

Meanwhie, the country's HIV rate has increased nine-fold over the last 10 years, and 70 percent don't know they're infected. 

Still, there are signs of hope. 

A recent government study found that 17 percent of young adults in Iran said they were gay. And the government has begun to at least acknolwedge their existence — even if it's through backward policies like a ban on military service for those who can prove it. 

Hossein Alizadeh, of the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told Vocativ: 

“There’s a new generation of people who are more tolerant of these issues. But at the end of the day, it only takes one person to destroy your life.”

And in some cases, "destroy your life" can mean literally. 

  

Read Vocativ's full story here.

It's all in the kiss

What’s in a kiss? Once you see these GIFs it won’t matter because they will render you speechless. The folks over at grabhim.net scoured through thousands of kiss GIFs and came up with an Alzheimer’s inducing collage of hotness. Take a look at some of these samples…

JK Rowling Confirms Hogwarts Is A Great Place For Gay Wizards

We love hearing stories of high schools becoming safer spaces for LGBT students to openly express themselves, but what about the witches and wizards?! Inquiring minds want to know.

Well over at the world’s most famous wizarding secondary school, a boy will never be made to feel ashamed for having pictures of Cedric Diggory plastered to his potions book.

JK Rowling was recently asked on Twitter:

“Do you think there are a lot of LGBT students in modern age Hogwarts? It’s safe to assume that Hogwarts had a variety of people and I like to think it’s a safe place for LGBT students”

Here’s the tweet:

And here’s how Rowling replied:

.@claraoswiin But of course. pic.twitter.com/Galu47MT4X
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 16, 2014

PASTOR STEVE ANDERSON'S DISCIPLE SAYS GAYS SHOULD BE KILLED BECAUSE THEY'RE 'FILTHY FAGGOTS' WHO SNATCH AND RAPE CHILDREN

Pastor Steven L. Anderson (above right), of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona, made headlines earlier this month when he said the world would be AIDS-free by Christmas if we simply stoned all gay people to death. 

Anderson has also said that gays are "basically rapists" and compared them to ax murderers and Hitler.

Now, it appears Anderson has a disciple who is every bit as hateful as he is.

Right Wing Watch reports that earlier this year, Anderson ordained Pastor Donnie Romero (above left), who now leads Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Last Sunday, Romero delivered a sermon called "Public Example" in which he also called for gays to be put to death: 

"I'm going to explain to you why God wants these people to be put to death. ... The word of God is very clear that God is against the sodomites, that they're filthy and it says they're an abomination to God. … I love that part of the Bible, and I'm going to preach that part of the Bible until the day I die, and if I ever stop preaching that part of the Bible, I hope my kids tell me, 'Dad, you're going soft on sin, you need to get up there and rip on these queers, because it's only getting worse and worse.' \ 

"And amen to what Pastor Anderson said — I'm not going to let any of these dirty faggots inside of my church. They are all pedophiles. ... They're always trying to rape and hurt other people. They're relentless. They are relentless. They are predators and given an opportunity to snatch one of your children, they would do it in a heartbeat."

Because bigotry is more important than children....

The Irish Catholic Church is severing its ties with the Family Care Society of Northern Ireland, an adoption agency that the Church itself played a major role in founding. The Church’s decision comes after recent legislation allowing same-sex and unmarried couples to apply to become adoptive parents. Laws prohibiting gay parents from adopting were repealed in 2012 and subsequently challenged by Edwin Poots, Northern Ireland’s previous health minister. Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeals dismissed Poots’s appeal after finding that his case was without legal merit.

“It is unreasonable for legislators to oblige faith-based organizations to act against their fundamental and reasonable religious beliefs in the provision of services that contribute to the common good,” the Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland said in a statement late last week. “Since the provision of adoption services in Northern Ireland now also involves acting against the Church's teaching and ethos, we too have no option but to end the long established relationship between the Church and The Family Care Society NI.”

More concerned with the well-being of Ireland’s population of family-less children, Family Care has assured the public that it will welcome any and all applications from couples interested in adopting in accordance with the law.

“We look forward to continuing a dialogue with the Northern Bishops over the coming months about the decision they have found it necessary to take,” Family Care responded in a swiftly issued statement. “[S]upport from the Bishops has greatly assisted FCS in the past, particularly in providing services to adults who were adopted, fostered or raised in a Catholic children's home. Providing vital adoption and support services needed by children and families has always been our focus and will remain so.”

Ten Sneaky Things Christians Say About Gays — And What They REALLY Mean

A lot of Christians, and a lot churches are trying to fool you. But I’m not going to let them. 

They are trying to change what they say, their tactics, their tone. Their marketing and phrases seem to be welcoming to gays. But they have not changed their hearts.

Be very careful.

I will say that many using these phrases are just repeating what they have been taught. They may have what they believe to be ‘good intentions’, but the results can still be so damaging. However, there are others, way too many, who know exactly what they are doing. They are often trying to hide a reparative therapy mindset with these more welcoming statements.

“Welcoming” does NOT always mean “affirming.” And the difference can destroy a gay person, devastate your gay child, and tear apart your family.

This is Rob, Susan’s husband writing today, and I want to help you by letting you know some ‘sneaky’ things you might hear from churches, people on social media, or even Christian friends and family, when they talk about gays.

These things reveal that they are actually not affirming at all.

Frat Boy Dishes On What It’s Like To Be Gay And Greek

“People assume that gay individuals would be completely disinterested in the prospect of joining a fraternity,” Kohlman Harshbarger (pictured) writes in a new op-ed published by The Odyssey. “This isn’t exactly a warped perspective, but it certainly isn’t one of crystalline clarity either.”

Harshbarger is a Marketing and Graphic design major at the University of Minnesota. He is also the current social chair for his fraternity.

He acknowledges the “hyper-masculine, weight-lifting, polo-wearing, country music-listening” reputations that many frat houses and their occupants have.

“They like their beer and their women equally. Both a lot,” he says. “Nowhere in this list do you find Beyoncé or skinny jeans.”

But, he says, there still plenty of gay guys amidst all the rampant heterosexuality.

“[Gay people] join fraternities for the same reason that straight people do,” Harshbarger writes. “For me, an out-of-state student (1,406 miles out of state to be exact), my fraternity is like my family away from home. It’s a support system of 107 best friends that are just as ready to shotgun a brew with me at 8 a.m. on gameday as they are to sit and listen to me lament about how shitty my day was. Surprisingly, brotherhood isn’t contingent upon sexual orientation!”

Maybe not in Harshbarger’s case. But there have been plenty of stories about fraternities rejecting pledges for being gay.

In October, the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity at the University of Texas was suspended after being accused of withholding membership from a rushee simply because he was gay. And last year, the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland was put on probationfor rejecting an applicant on the basis of his sexual orientation.

EUROPEAN UNION RULES ASYLUM SEEKER TESTS FOR HOMOSEXUALITY UNLAWFUL

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled that gay asylum seekers do not need to undergo a test to prove they are homosexual, reports Big News Network.

The ECJ had ruled last year that persecuted gay people from Africa have grounds for asylum.

Due to severe anti-gay laws in a number of African countries there has been an increase in the number of asylum seekers in the European Union (EU).

The decision came after three men failed in their attempts to seek asylum in the Netherlands after the Dutch court ruled they had not proved their sexuality.

The ECJ said determination of a refugee's sexuality must be in accord with EU law and cannot infringe on rights to privacy and dignity. The court added authorities can discuss sexual matters with asylum seekers but cannot ask about personal sexual practices or demand "medical tests" or recordings of sexual acts.

However, the court also found that although “the starting point in the process of assessment,” a mere declaration of homosexuality, is insufficient grounds for asylum.

In September, Egypt’s Forensic Medicine Authority found that nine men are “not homosexuals” after they had appeared in a recording of a “gay marriage”.

LGBT Russians Seeking Asylum in U.S. Face Significant Economic Hurdles

There has been a steady uptick of gay Russians seeking asylum here in the U.S. in light of increasing anti LGBT-sentiment in Russia. Facing extreme persecution and harassment in their home country, many queer Russians are faced with a difficult choice living under constant threat of physical harm or relocating to a country with which they have little to no relationship. While the U.S. can act as a pseudo-safe haven, those Russians that do decide to flee to the U.S. are often presented with a new set of economic problems.

Andrew Nasonov, a former journalist, fled to the U.S. with his now husband Igor Bazilevsky earlier this summer. Though the couple was able to legally marry after moving to Washington, D.C., staying financially stable and independent has proven to be difficult.

"It was hard to leave our relatives, friends, and parents behind in Russia,” Nasonov explained to the Associated Press. “We have nothing here, and in many ways are completely dependent on the assistance of the people who surround us."

While the United States will offer LGBT-identified individuals asylum, the government will not yet classify those granted asylum refugee status, which makes the official immigration process tough to navigate.

"There's no worse way to immigrate to the U.S. than the way these people are doing it," said Russian-American journalist and LGBT activist Masha Gessen. "You have nothing, and you have no right to work or public assistance. We've seen people end up on the streets."

Since 2012 the number of applications for asylum from queer Russians has increased by 34 percent according to the Department of Defense. While the U.S. is one of the more receptive western nations when it comes to granting asylum to endangered populations, each applicant is required to document and prove their circumstance on a case by case basis.

"It makes no sense because most of our arrivals have advanced degrees and speak good English," said Russian asylum advocate Larry Poltavtsev. "They're capable of being productive, paying taxes, but we are not letting them do those things while they're waiting."

Nurse destroys archbishop’s gay marriage stance with a stroke of her pen

A 65-year-old former nurse has delivered a withering telling off to the Archbishop of Westminster – England’s most senior Catholic – for his stance on gay marriage.

The woman, who now works with animals and lives in northern England, says she has been married for 30 years but gay marriage doesn’t threaten the status of her relationship whatsoever.

And she says Archbishop Vincent Nichols and his church have become obsessed with gay sex, ignoring the real problems of society – the economy, schools, hospitals and our children’s future.

She tells him the so-called ‘Princes of the Church’ should ditch the ‘silk, the gold, the Gucci shoes, the ridiculous tall hats’ in favor of a simple pilgrim’s staff and get on with helping real people.

And she says Jesus ‘appears to have happily shared meals with prostitutes, drunkards, lepers, Gentiles and I do not doubt with people of same-sex orientation’.

Nichols has campaigned vigorously against same-sex marriage but she warns him the church’s propaganda calling homosexuality ‘disordered’ and ‘evil’ makes it impossible for the LGBT faithful to feel at home in Catholicism.

She has requested to remain anonymous but asked GSN to share her letter. We understand that she has received a reply from Nichols, but it failed to address the substance of her comments.

You can read her letter here:

Dear Archbishop,

I listened to your letter of Sunday 3 February in which you asked us as a matter of urgency to either send a postcard provided or write to our local MP to request him to vote against the government’s proposed legislation to legalize same-sex marriage. I came out of the church with two thoughts and one resolve. Firstly I thought ‘Lord pity and help any gay person sitting listening to that letter’ not a word a charity or understanding did it contain. Secondly I thought or asked ‘Where in that is the love of Christ for all humankind?’ My resolve was not to contact my MP.

That decision was not made because of the tone of your letter however. I do not find it at all easy or even possible to uphold the church’s teaching on homosexuality. Among gay people of my acquaintance are those who have a deep spiritual life, to have one’s sexual orientation, an orientation that one is born with, described as an ‘objective disorder’ and to hear homosexual acts described as ‘intrinsically evil’ surely makes it almost impossible to feel at home or welcome in the church. It is utterly unrealistic to expect homosexual people to live celibate lives (We all know that many priests find this very difficult and sometimes impossible). The revelations of clerical sex abuse have led many of us to look with a very critical eye on the so-called celibate life and to realize that it has all to often lead to warped and destructive behavior.

To return to same-sex marriage, can it be abhorrent that two people of the same sex would wish to experience that emotional and physical closeness that marriage offers? We believe that God is love and so it must follow that in every loving and committed relationship God must be present – or does this, in your understanding, only apply in heterosexual relationships? Is heterosexuality more valued by God and by the church than homosexuality? You are, I suppose, aware that there are more than a few homosexual men in the priesthood and that nowadays heterosexual men are much less willing to embrace the celibate life. Is the good work done by such men less valuable in the eyes of this church? If so is it further evidence of its dysfunctional state?

I am 65 years of age and have been married for almost 30 years. I would so have appreciated an explanation from you or any of the hierarchy exactly how my long and happy marriage will be threatened by the union of gay couples. When I meet people in my day to day existence they talk about the economic climate (bad), lack of employment (bad), uncertain future for their children (bad), state of schools, hospitals (bad) – never ever has anybody expressed concern about a threat to their marriage by the proposed legalizing of same-sex marriage. You, the church, claim that marriage is the bedrock of society and indeed it is but you also seem to consider it so fragile that allowing a few gay people access to it will endanger it forever. Here the implicit homophobia cannot be ignored.

Sadly you still think your pronouncements will be accepted without question by a meek credulous herd. You have spent far too much time telling us just how sinful we are while drawing veils of respectability over your own grievous wrongdoings.

I sometimes despair of this church, this institution. It seems to me in my reading of the Gospels that Jesus had no problem whatsoever with those who were considered outsiders or exceptions. He appears to have happily shared meals with prostitutes, drunkards, lepers, Gentiles and I do not doubt with people of same-sex orientation since such an orientation has existed since time began. The church seems much happier with its version of order over compassion and love towards the so-called exceptions. It has an appalling history of excluding and torturing those who do not think or subscribe to its definition of ‘right’.

The world is facing disaster on all levels and this church, when not obsessing about matters sexual, spends an inordinate amount of time on pointless activities such as changing the liturgy back to a correct translation of the original Latin – a language not spoken by Jesus but spoken by the oppressors of his time and country. Do you imagine that this obsession with precisely translated texts will win you a single new adherent? To me, you (particularly but not exclusively the hierarchy) appear to be a frightened group of men preoccupied with titles, clothing and other religious externals. You seem, with some wonderful and brave exceptions, to pay only lip service to ecumenism and matters of social justice. I would love to see the so-called ‘Princes of the Church’ (Where did all these triumphant, utterly anti-Gospel titles you award yourselves come from?) get rid of the silk, the gold, the Gucci shoes, the ridiculous tall hats, croziers, fancy soutanes etc etc and substitute bare heads and a simple pilgrim’s staff on all liturgical occasions and that might be taken as a small outward sign of your inner acceptance of fundamental Gospel values.

I seem to have digressed somewhat but to return to where I started, same-sex marriage. I will always be unsure of the validity of any principle or opinion that makes one act in an unkind or intolerant way. Toleration, of course, has its limits, I want you to cry out against injustice and cruelty. Explain to me please exactly how marriage will be ‘changed forever’ by the proposed new laws, specifically tell me how my marriage will be threatened.

I admit that I am not very well versed on biblical texts and I know that there are those who can find a text to confirm any prejudice without having to resort to any sort of reasonable debate but surely if we accept one piece of scripture (Lev 18:22) which declares homosexuality to be an abomination, to judge what is right or wrong, we must accept them all. Following this logic we are therefore forbidden to wear garments made of two different kinds of thread (Lev 19:19), men must never have their hair trimmed especially around the temples (Lev 19:27). According to Lev 25:44 I may possess slaves provided they are purchased from neighboring nations, not sure if this applies to non-members of the EU! As for organizing the stoning of transgressors – well, a logistical nightmare!

Archbishop, we have grasped the principles of evolution, stopped burning witches and holding heresy trials, discounted the flat earth theory. Do you now think we could move the debate about equal human rights for people of same-sex orientation and also the status of women in the church on by a few millennia please?

REPORTS SHOW LGBT PEOPLE LIVING UNDER ISIS CONTROL IN IRAQ ARE 'AT IMMINENT RISK OF DEATH'

Two publications released yesterday report that LGBT people in Iraq are experiencing levels of persecution that puts many at imminent risk of death, reports the Washington Blade.

The reports by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), international women’s human rights group MADRE and the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) show that while the conflict in Iraq has placed hundreds of thousands of citizens at risk of serious human rights abuses, LGBT individuals continue to be among the least protected of all groups.

A briefing paper entitled When Coming Out is a Death Sentence, documents violence and serious human rights abuses against LGBT individuals perpetrated by relatives, tribal factions and Islamist militias and vigilantes.

The briefing concludes that LGBT Iraqis are among the least protected groups in terms of the escalating threats to safety because their persecutors range widely across society-at-large; they have little to no protection from family, community or government; their physical appearance may put them at risk in public; they face hostility in refugee circumstances; and their movement has been curtailed by the conflict.

Though little concrete information is known about the situation for LGBT people in the areas controlled by ISIS, it is known that the group prescribes death for individuals engaged in same-sex activities.

Jessica Stern, executive director of IGLHRC, said:

“LGBT Iraqis are in a desperate situation that demands action. Many Iraqis face violence and serious human rights abuses but LGBT Iraqis, reviled across large segments of society, have none of the protection that can come from families, tribes and the community-at-large. Now, many LGBT Iraqis literally must hide to protect themselves. Exposure can mean death in the chaos of present-day Iraq.”

Yifat Susskind, executive director of MADRE, added:

“Human rights advocates, in Iraq and across the world, are banding together to sound the alarm. Respect for all human rights, indivisible and universal, demands that we stand up for LGBT people who are in grave danger now. This struggle, to defend all who are targeted for their gender and sexuality, is central to securing human rights for all people.”

IGLHRC, MADRE and OWFI have made recommendations for how foreign embassies, relief organizations, donor countries and others can protect lives.

These recommendations include:

• Pushing the Iraqi government to lift the prohibition on civil society organizations operating shelters for those fleeing violence and increase resettlement spaces for LGBT individuals.
• Expediting appeals for gay and transgender people who want to leave the country.
• Monitoring reports of ongoing violence against gay Iraqis with the goal of urgently expanding protections.
• Holding militias accountable for harassment and abuse of individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Salvation Army Should Apologize to LGBT People

The Salvation Army, like most American Christian denominations, is struggling with how to reconcile their religious doctrine with the growing acceptance of LGBT civil rights.

When founder William Booth started his ministry in 1852, he focused on the outcasts of society - thieves, prostitutes, drunkards, and the destitute. As the church grew, it spread internationally and retained its focus on serving the less fortunate - or at least some of them.

The evangelical church has come under fire for their history of blatant discrimination against LGBT people, but the group claims they are slowly changing their policies to be more inclusive. Change comes slowly to organized religion.

A small and short lived effort to draw attention to the Salvation Army's discriminatory policies was launched over a decade ago, but slowly petered out as the LGBT community shifted their focus to marriage equality and private sector employment protections. In 2010 I kicked the campaign back into gear with a short article that updated the Army's history of prejudice and inequality toward LGBT people.

In 2011, I rewrote the piece in a longer form and shared my own history of being turned away from a Salvation Army homeless shelter during a particularly rough period in my life. I told readers "Why You Shouldn't Donate to the Salvation Army Bell Ringers" if you care about LGBT people and encouraged folks to donate to other charities instead. The article went viral and I found myself dubbed "The Red Kettle Menace" in a New York Times story on Christmas Eve.

The real story, however, lies in what happened after Christmas.

They Feel Sorry

I met with Salvation Army Major George Hood and Communications Director Jennifer Byrd in January of 2012 to discuss our differences. We'd lobbed volleys at each other through various media sources for two years, but connecting in person was always something I'd wanted to do. You can't solve anything with a one-sided conversation.

Saudi Arabia: Gay man jailed for three years over naked photos

A gay man in Saudi Arabia has been jailed for three years, for engaging in ‘immoral acts’ by taking naked photos of himself.

The man – whose name has not been made available – was convicted by a court after he was found with naked selfies on his phone – which he had allegedly sent to other men via social media.

Gulf News reports that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice claims the man had also offered to have anal sex.

He was found guilty by the court in Dammam, and sentenced to three years behind bars, with a fine of 100,000 Saudi riyal ($26651.74).

Homosexuality and cross-dressing are both expressly criminalized in Saudi Arabia, where the gay community faces regular raids from the religious police.