Malaysia: ‘Gay imam’ sparks debate on Twitter

This week’s curator for the @twt_LGBT Twitter account has raised more eyebrows than usual. Claiming himself to be a “gay imam”, the curator, who only refers himself as “Adik”, said that he anted to share his life story and experiences in being a homosexual Muslim in Malaysia.

“Saya nak kongsi hidup sebagai seorang imam yang gay (I would like to share my life as a gay imam),” he tweeted.

Aside from sharing his experiences, Adik also invoked several arguments and connotations on Islamic teachings in aspects of homosexuality and his opinion on what it was to be a gay Muslim. The social media discussion has snowballed into a heated debate with netizens taking on both sides of the matter. 

Read more via the Rakyat Post
 

Kenya: After anti-gay sermons, anti-gay rape and arson

Four men attacked a gay street vendor, raped him, and set his home on fire in West Kenya.

Erik Wasike, 28, an openly gay hawker of vests, socks, sweets and soft drinks, was abducted by the four unidentified men in Bungoma town in west Kenya.The men set Wasike’s house ablaze, destroying it and his furniture. They tied him up and left him unconscious in Lwakhakha village, he said. 

After the rape he was hospitalized for two weeks and needed corrective surgery at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu.

Wasike said his attackers accused him of spreading “the gay gospel” and luring many people into a “demonic denomination.” About three months ago, many Bungoma clergymen launched a preaching campaign against homosexuality, terming it un-Christian, satanic and un-African. Read more via 76 Crimes 

African gays make simple request to pope: preach tolerance

African gays who often face persecution in the streets and sometimes prosecution in courts have a simple plea for Pope Francis ahead of his first visit to the continent: bring a message of tolerance even if you will not bless our sexuality.

Francis traveled to Kenya and Uganda, where many conservative Christians bristle at the idea of the West forcing its morality on them, especially when it comes to gays and lesbians. He also visited conflict-torn Central African Republic.

"I would like the Pope to at least make people know that being LGBT is not a curse," said Jackson Mukasa, 20, a Ugandan in Kampala who was imprisoned last year on suspicion of committing homosexual acts, before charges were dropped for lack of evidence.  Read more via Reuters 

Slovenia to put gay marriage to popular vote

Slovenians are going to hold a referendum on 20 December to decide whether to implement gay marriage legislation in the central European country. In March, gay marriage bill was passed but opponents backed by the Catholic Church have forced a referendum in an attempt to repeal the law.

The Slovenian constitutional court gave the green light for the referendum. Under Slovenian law, if a group can gather 40,000 signatures on a petition within a month, they can seek a referendum on new legislation.  If more than a third of the electorate take part and deliver a majority vote against the law, it will be scrapped.  Read more via West Info 

Tokyo to Taipei, a growing acceptance for LGBT people

When it come to homosexuality, the Confucian cultures of East Asia can be quite conservative, though they don't share the religious or moral objections of Judeo-Christian-Islamic countries. But across a region becoming steadily more urban and cosmopolitan, LGBT communities are experiencing a changes in attitudes and a greater legal recognition that echoes the trend in the West towards much greater acceptance of equality. 

Last weekend some 80,000 people from around East Asia converged on Taipei for the Oct. 31 Taiwan Pride parade, the biggest such event in the region. It was followed by a record 10,000 marchers in the Hong Kong Pride Parade. In Japan, that same November evening saw the broadcast of “Transit Girls,” the first TV drama here about a lesbian couple.

To be sure, for many LGBTs in a region imbued with the Confucian ideals of filial respect and saving face, the toughest battles remain within families. Still, the overall shift seems clear across this diverse region, and is partly due to the influence of the West, including the legalization of same-sex marriage in the US and Ireland. Local media portrayed these changes as a progressive trend that the rest of the world will inevitably follow.  Read more via Christian Science Monitor

Ireland: Hozier calls Pope Francis' LGBT position 'lip service' that 'should have been said 100 years ago'

On the back of Hozier's runaway hit "Take Me to Church," the Irish-born singer-songwriter has become one of music's most outspoken critics of institutionalized homophobia. In an interview Monday with Larry King Now guest host Kelly Osbourne, Hozier took the Catholic Church and Russia to task on their practices of discrimination against the LGBTQ community. 

Speaking about the Catholic Church and Pope Francis' popularity, he said, "This is one of the paradoxes and weird hypocrisy of that organization [Catholic Church]. The pope came here last year and said, 'Who am I to judge with regards to somebody's sexual orientation?' I think it is important to differentiate between lip service towards something and actually making change. I think it is hopeful, but saying this in 2015, 'Who am I to judge?' is something that should have been said 100 years ago." Read more

Scotland: Group pushes mandatory LGBT education in public schools; proposal seen as 'Trojan horse' to indoctrinate pupils

An LGBT group called Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) is campaigning for public school children to "learn about homosexual, bisexual and transgender issues." The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has backed the promotion of LGBT History Month last April. "This includes making it compulsory for all schools' sex education policies to include a positive portrayal of same-sex relationships, promoting LGBT History Month in all schools, and encouraging schools to develop a curriculum that is inclusive of LGBT issues," said Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT.

Rev. David Robertson, moderator of the Free Church of Scotland said an LGBT education would violate the human rights of Christian parents: "Human rights legislation says that 'the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions. The petitioner's demand for statutory teaching of such topics without provision for parents and pupils who disagree is in direct conflict with this legislation," he said.

Robertson warned that the aim of the proposal is indoctrination: "We believe that the real object of the petition is to indoctrinate school pupils with one particular perspective on moral and sexual ethics and one which is contrary to mainstream Christianity. We believe this is a Trojan horse to impose an ideological perspective on all pupils, whether they want it or not," he said. Read More via Christian Today 

US: Reform Jewish Movement Passes Transgender Rights Resolution

The organization that represents 900 American synagogues in the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest branch of Judaism in the United States, passed a historic resolution on transgender rights Thursday at the movement’s biennial conference in Orlando, Florida. It is the most comprehensive and extensive set of guidelines for transgender rights adopted by any major religious organization.

Some 5,000 reform Jews attended the Union for Reform Judaism biennial meeting where they approved the resolution that calls for Jewish congregations and camps to institute gender-neutral bathrooms, gender-neutral language, and arrange gender issues training for teachers and staff at religious schools. The resolution passed on a voice vote without opposition, and applause followed the the results of the vote. Read more via IBT

Church of Norway votes in favor of gay marriage

The General Synod of the Church of Norway, the largest Christian denomination in the Scandinavian country, has voted in favor of accepting same-sex marriage, and will be offering the service to gay couples in the future.

Church of Norway chairman Sturla Stålsett said that the Synod's decision is "historical," The Nordic Page reported. The decision still allows individual priests and other church staff to decide whether they want to participate in ceremonies for gay people, however.

Breitbart noted that the vote from the country's 12 bishops was unanimous, but will first need to be ratified by the Synod next spring before it becomes official. It opens the door for the first gay weddings to take place in Church of Norway churches by 2017. Read more via Christian Post

Pope Francis warns bishops against turning people away who do not fit 'scheduled faith'

Pope Francis has warned Catholic bishops against turning away from people who do not fit their "scheduled faith", a day after a divisive synod on the Church's attitude to sex, love and marriage ended in stalemate. Bishops submitted a report to the Pope that fudges the key issue of whether divorced and remarried believers should be allowed to play a full role in the Church, reflecting a stalemate in the battle between the conservative and liberal wings.

The document includes only one brief article on the Church's approach to gay believers, framing the question in terms of how priests can help support families who have "persons with homosexual tendencies" in their midst. The emphasis contrasted sharply with first drafts last year which spoke of recognising the value of loving same-sex relationships, to the outrage of those opposed to any dilution of Church teaching that homosexuality amounts to a kind of disorder.

Pope Francis is free to ignore or implement the document, which leaves him room for manoeuvre should he wish to defy his conservative opponents and push on with his attempt to make the Church more relevant and more welcoming towards believers who find themselves in breach of its rules.

"We are able to walk with the people of God, but we already have our schedule for the journey, where everything is listed: we know where to go and how long it will take, everyone must respect our rhythm and every problem is a bother," he said. Instead he pointed to the Gospel story of Jesus healing the blind man Bartimaeus as evidence that God "wants to include above all those kept on the fringes who are crying out to him".  Read more via Australia Broadcasting Corp 

Justin Welby launches ‘last throw of the dice’ to avert worldwide Anglican split

The Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to gamble his legacy on a high-stakes plan to overhaul the 80 million-strong worldwide Anglican church in what he sees as a “last throw of the dice” to avert a permanent split over issues such as homosexuality.

The Most Rev Justin Welby has invited the heads of all the other Anglican churches – some of whom have not spoken directly to each other for more than a decade amid a deep liberal-conservative split – to a make-or-break meeting in Canterbury in January.

He wants them not only to acknowledge the rift but effectively formalise it by scaling the Anglican Communion back into a loosely linked organisation – a step aides liken to “moving into separate bedrooms” rather than full-scale divorce. But he is understood to fear that the confrontation will trigger an angry walk-out by traditionalist archbishops, particularly from Africa, which in turn could lead to “large chunks” of the Church of England itself breaking away. Read More via Telegraph

US: Mormon Church bars same-sex couples and their children

Children of same-sex couples will not be able to join the Mormon Church until they turn 18 — and only if they move out of their parents’ homes, disavow all same-sex relationships and receive approval from the church’s top leadership as part of a new policy adopted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In addition, Mormons in same-sex marriages will be considered apostates and subject to excommunication, a more rigid approach than the church has taken in the past. Before the change, bishops and congregational leaders had more discretion in whether or how far to discipline Mormons in same-sex marriages. 

Some liberal Mormons expressed outrage online at the new policies. Jana Riess, a columnist with Religion News Service, said she was livid that children born to those living out of wedlock, as well as rapists and murderers, can be baptized and blessed, but not children of monogamous same-sex couples.   Read more via the New York Times