Sunday, January 31, 2016

New report warns of ‘escalation’ in global persecution against non-believers

Posted: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 07:59

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has warned that worldwide "persecution of the non-religious has escalated" in the past year.

The 2015 "Freedom of Thought" report is the fourth annual study produced by IHEU that "records discrimination and persecution against humanists, atheists, and the non-religious, with a country-by-country assessment".

It found that "there has been a rise in extrajudicial violence" across the globe targeting secularists, atheists, humanists and critics of religion, and that in several states "harsher judicial sentences have been handed down for crimes such as 'blasphemy' and 'apostasy'."

The 2015 report highlights the "string of murders in Bangladesh" targeting secularists and non-believers, who were "hacked to death in machete assassinations. The victims were Avijit Roy, Washqiur Rahman Babu, Ananta Bijoy Das, Niladri Chatterjee, and most recently the publisher Faisal Arefin Dipon."

While these targeted murders have been "relatively well-reported", along with the case of Saudi secularist Raif Badawi, the Freedom of Thought report also highlights "less well-known cases, such as Egyptian student Sherif Gaber. In February this year, Gaber was sentenced to a year's hard labour for 'contempt of religion' (he had declared his atheism on Facebook) and for promoting 'debauchery' (he had challenged a lecturer who said that homosexuals should be 'killed in the streets'). Gaber went into hiding following the sentence this year."

Among many other examples, the report cites the case of another Egyptian student, Karim al-Banna, who was "arrested at an atheist cafe last November, and was this year handed a three-year jail term for 'insulting religion'."

IHEU have drawn attention to other under-reported stories, including the assassinations of three Indian rationalists in recent years, including two murders in 2015, and a spate of death sentences handed-out for apostasy in Saudi Arabia and Mauritania.

In one case in the Maldives, the report says that "the administrators of atheist Facebook pages were publicly identified, kidnapped by a 40-strong gang, compelled to 'recant' their atheism and hand over passwords to their accounts. Anti-atheist Facebook pages have forced many secular Maldivians offline throughout 2015."

The report notes positive developments in Iceland and Norway, both of which abolished blasphemy legislation in the course of 2015, but it paints a bleak picture of the global situation. IHEU say there is a "real and growing threat to non-religious people throughout the world, with people being imprisoned and murdered for expressing secular beliefs."

Bob Churchill, who edited the report and is IHEU's director of communications, said: "The world must recognise that to identify and speak out as non-religious is a basic human right, and the fact there are increasing numbers of people demanding recognition of this right is not a signal of moral decay but of a functioning, free society."

The National Secular Society is an affiliate of IHEU, which has recognised status at the United Nations as the umbrella organisation for non-religious, humanist and secularist groups. NSS campaigns manager, Stephen Evans, commented: "The world is seeing continuing struggle between secular democratic values and authoritarianism and theocracy. People of all faiths and none fall victim to those seeking to close down dissent, discussion and debate. This report is vital in setting out the full extent of discrimination and persecution faced by secularists and the non-religious; a topic that has, until now, been sadly neglected."

The Freedom of Thought Report 2015 can be downloaded here.

Friday, January 29, 2016

High Court rejects straight couple’s civil partnership challenge

High Court rejects straight couple’s civil partnership challenge
	A high court challenge to extend civil partnerships to opposite sex couples has failed.

Watch a politician completely shut down rape victim-blaming TV interview

Joseph Patrick McCormick
29^th January 2016, 1:15 PM

A New York City councilwoman has appeared on TV to shut down a conversation with a victim-blaming news anchor.
Speaking to CNN anchor Pamela Brown, NYC councilwoman Laurie Cumbo didn’t pull any punches when discussing the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old earlier in January.
Five have been arrested and charged in the rape, but at the time news outlets discussed allegations against the victim that she was drunk, and that she bit a policeman.
“There is a way that people respond to violence against women and it’s not appropriate. We feel that it needs to be stronger, it needs to be more effective,” Cumbo said.
“There needs to be legislation, there needs to be strategy, there needs to be implementation as well as enforcement. Every woman in the city of New York should feel safe whether they are coming home late at night, early in the morning, coming from a party, or going to work extremely late.”
She was then asked by Brown: “Law enforcement sources have told CNN that this alleged victim in this case was drunk, combative, and bit a police officer and that she initially refused treatment. What can you tell us about that?”
After which Cumbo totally shut down any victim-blaming.

She retorted: “I would say that that’s typical of just what I just spoke about. That individuals often talk about the woman. They rarely talk about the individuals who actually committed the rape. Those are the individuals that need to be focused on right now.”
“We shouldn’t talk about whether she was drunk, whether she was properly dressed, we shouldn’t talk about the time of the evening that it happened,” she continued. “That is too typical of the situation of how we discuss rape in this city, the nation, and really the world. We need to focus in this situation on those five individuals that committed this heinous crime, and what were the bad decisions that they made all throughout the day. Have they been drinking? Have they been smoking?”
It’s fair to say Brown looked a little taken aback after Cumbo’s response.

Teenager flies from Sheffield to Essex via Berlin because it is cheaper than getting the train

Jordan Cox said the 1,017 mile round trip to Germany was £7.72 cheaper than a direct train home

Caroline Mortimer
@cjmortimer
Thursday 28 January 2016

A cost-conscious teenager found the perfect way to save on his journey home - by booking a flight via Berlin.
Jordon Cox, 18, realised it would cost him £50 to travel from Sheffield to Shenfield in Essex by train but if he “went the extra 1,017 miles” he could fly via the German capital and save £7.72.
Blogging about his money saving adventure for MoneySavingExpert, Mr Cox said he knew it wasn’t the most environmentally friendly way to travel but it gave him the chance to save money and visit a city he had always wanted to go to.

He said: “I was teaching a class on couponing in Sheffield and I had booked a cheap train up there from Essex, but coming back home the cheapest one-way rail ticket was £47, so it needed some blue-sky thinking.
“It turned out that flying out from East Midlands Airport to Berlin, spending seven hours exploring the city and then flying to Stansted and getting the bus home was cheaper than a single train journey in England.
“But that’s not all, I also figured out I could buy a return train ticket to Berlin city centre, enjoy a free tour of a government building and lunch while I was out there and STILL save money.”
He broke down what he spent on his adventure:

Train from Sheffield to Derby: £4
Bus from Derby to East Midlands Airport: £4.20
Ryanair flight to Berlin: £11.83
Train from airport to Berlin city centre: £5
Currywurst sausage for lunch: £1.50
Ryanair flight to London Stansted: £9.54
Bus home to Hutton from Stansted Airport: £8

Total: £44.07
This is in comparison to the £47 train ride, a £2.99 sandwich and the £1.80 bus home at the other end - coming to £51.79 - if he took the train.
He said his technique would not suit everyone as it means an entire day of travelling but if “your focus is saving money and you fancy a little walk around a European city, it’s worth a look”.
The money saving blogger said on certain train routes it can often be cheaper to fly via Ireland or elsewhere in Europe than travelling directly.
He warned it would take "a bit of trial and error" so consumers needed to be wary about extra booking fees.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Tourism officials say religious freedom law cost Indianapolis convention business, millions in revenue

Posted 6:49 AM, January 26, 2016, by Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (Jan. 26, 2016) — Tourism officials say Indiana may have lost as much as $60 million in revenue after a dozen conventions picked cities other than Indianapolis amid the uproar over the state’s controversial religious objections law.
A document prepared by tourism group Visit Indy shows that the 12 out-of-state groups were surveyed and all said the controversial law played a role in their decisions to locate their events elsewhere.
The document was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its formal release Thursday.
The Republican-backed law garnered quick national backlash after it was signed by Gov. Mike Pence in March, with critics saying it sanctioned discrimination against gay people on religious grounds.
Some changes were made, but critics say the law doesn’t go far enough to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Meet The World's First Gay Mormon Superhero

"If my little comic can bring some small measure of comfort and pleasure to those who’ve felt marginalized by their faith because of their sexuality then I’ve hit a touchdown.

01/24/2016 09:06 am ET

JamesMichael Nichols Deputy Gay Voices Editor, The Huffington Post

James Neish

A game-changing comic book is offering a fresh take on the way religion and sexuality intersects with comic book culture.
Called Stripling Warrior, the project from So Super Duper Comics follows Sam Shepard, a happily out newlywed who receives a visit from an angel on his wedding night calling him, in the words of author Brian Andersen, to be "the hand of God on earth."
The series, illustrated by James Neish, is meant to be an exploration of the mythology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a queer lens.
"Basically, I wanted to mine the religious lore and mythology of the Mormon Church to empower a homosexual hero -- to show that a gay character is every bit as worthy in the eyes of God as any heterosexual one," Andersen told The Huffington Post.
Check out the the interview below to learn more about this project and to see a selection of illustrations from Stripling Warrior.

The Huffington Post: What is your overarching vision for Stripling Warrior?Brian Andersen: My overarching vision and concept for Stripling Warrior is to tell a fun, sexy, perhaps provocative story by taking familiar superhero tropes and casting them into a comic book about an average guy who’s a gay Mormon superhero. Because everyone loves a gay Mormon, right? (Wait, what…they don’t?)
Basically, I wanted to mine the religious lore and mythology of the Mormon Church to empower a homosexual hero -- to show that a gay character is every bit as worthy in the eyes of God as any heterosexual one.
If I can tell an entertaining story that anyone can enjoy, whether you’re familiar with Mormonism or not, whether you’re homosexual or not, than I’ve done my job.
And if my little comic can bring some small measure of comfort and pleasure to those who’ve felt marginalized by their faith because of their sexuality then I’ve hit a touchdown.
It might be silly to think a comic book can accomplish this -- but I’m not opposed to being silly.

How does your identity shape and inform your work?My identity as a gay man, a Mormon, a husband, a father and a lifelong comic book geek informs all of my writing/creating in that I strive to be authentic and honest to my experiences.
Occasionally I’ve been criticized because some of my characters are deemed too “stereotypically homosexual.” That they act and talk too femme. Really? Can someone be too homosexual?
All I know is that I’m writing from a personal and heartfelt perspective. Yeah, I’m a queeny gay, what of it?
Since when did being a flamboyant homo become such a negative thing in our community? I don’t believe that “masc for masc” type dudes are the only acceptable type of gay superhero.
One of my main characters, Samuel Shepard, may have a fruity inner monologue, but that doesn’t take away from his ability to kick ass. Like me, Sam is many things and he can be both fully queened-out and totally butch at the same time. I’d love to see more “femme/masc” heroes out there! Who’s with me?!

Why do you think it's important to see this kind of queer representation in comic books?Representation matters because members of the LGBT community need to tell our stories. We need to own our narratives. For so long we’ve been defined by others -- our religious leaders, our political figures -- that we’re usually lumped in the “sinner” category. That somehow our rights don’t matter because we’re sinners and therefore not deserving of equality.
I refute that idea.
I don’t believe with who and how I have sex defines me as a person. I’m not a sinner because I’m married to a man. (I am a sinner in many other ways but that’s a tale for another time.)
Being LBGT is not something to be ashamed of. Just as gay sex is not something to be ashamed of. I felt it was important to show healthy homosexual sexual relationships -- both male and female -- in my story.
Gay sex won’t turn a heterosexual person to stone. And it isn’t quite the dark side of the force religious peeps make it out to be. It’s just as real as (boring) hetero sex.
Although much has changed in modern comics, I for one was sick of characters not being allowed to have sex, let alone be shown kissing. It took Northstar twenty or so freaking years before he had his first on panel same-sex smooch. That’s ridiculous!
The more my fellow LGBTs stand up and speak up, the more we will demand the respect we deserve as human beings. Who I sleep with does not make me less worthy, nor any less deserving of equality than anyone else. No matter what someone’s ecclesiastical leader tells them.
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.
What do you want people to take away from your work?I’d love to stimulate my readers by giving them a metaphorical comic book chubby -- or a geeky lady boner for the gals.
If I can help someone lose themselves in the book and forget the harsh realities of life for a moment, like reading an enjoyable comic book used to do for me as a four-eyed, brace-faced, pimp-ridden, closeted, dorky teen, than I’ve succeeded. I’ve run a three-pointer and a goal at the same time!
Also, I’d love for my readers to soak up the crazy amazing artwork from my artist James Neish. He’s so talented I can’t believe he’s lowered himself to work with me. He makes my clunky writing soar!
“Stripling Warrior” issue one and two are now available in both digital and print via www.sosuperduper.com. Issue three will be completed next month.

This Leaflet Is Being Spread Across Europe To Teach Refugees That Gay People Must Be Respected

By Linda January 27, 2016 Categories: Big Gay News, Top Headlines

GayStarNews reports that thousands of refugees have left their homes looking for a better life in many European countries, and with so many of them having fled the homophobic, racist and sexist regimes in Syria and Iraq, there is a wish to acclimate asylum seekers to a new way of life.
Read the full story from GayStarNews

'Boys Don’t Get Raped': 'American Crime' Is Smashing Damaging Myths About Sexual Assault

ABC's acclaimed drama is grappling with a plot that echoes in a Tennessee high school basketball team assault case.

Connor Jessup as Taylor, Angelique Rivera as Evy. Photo: Ryan Green/ABC American Crime 

Men get raped. They make up an estimated 14 percent of total victims, although we’re pretty intent to collectively pretend that’s not true. Occasionally, there’ll be a bit of tip-toeing around military sexual assault. Otherwise, the discussion is largely limited to prison rape jokes with few punch lines smarter than “Don’t drop the soap.” Male victims in any other context are made invisible. It’s as if we’ve come to believe rape is so inconceivable outside of jail or the Army that it simply doesn’t happen. So, what about when it does?

Enter “American Crime.” The show’s second season explores a community wrapping its head around the sexual assault of a young man at a party for the school’s basketball team. The first two episodes quietly prod at the question of whether a man can be raped. The writers don’t so much ask if it can happen — of course, it can and does — as they dangle the incident in front of their characters, forcing them to grapple with it in various stages of societally induced delusion. In the third and most recent episode (the show airs Wednesdays on ABC), that conflict is explicitly driven to the foreground. As law enforcement makes the steps to classify the incident as a rape, we see perspectives shift from questioning tones and raised eyebrows to straight-up denial.

“It didn’t happen, because boys don’t get raped,” says Terri, the mother of a potential suspect. “First of all, boys don’t do that to other boys, and even if he could, the boys fight back.”

In the moment, she’s not just defending her son Kevin, who she’s learned for the first time may have been involved in the attack. Instead, she’s fiercely confident in her circular reasoning: It didn’t happen, because it doesn’t happen.

In the same moment, her husband, Michael, flies off in a rage, running into Kevin’s room and physically demanding answers. His otherwise calm and levelheaded disposition bursts under this new information. Terri protects herself by outright rejecting the possibility, while Michael is so terrified by it, he loses all control, as if he actually can’t handle the thought.

Meanwhile, the victim, Taylor, tells his therapist he was met with ridicule even when he reported his account to the police. “People lose their minds when something happens to a girl,” he says. “They have rights groups supporting them. They have lesbians out hating men. But a guy?”

“You really believe people don’t care when a male is violated?” comes the response.

“If I put a mattress on my back and carry it around, do you think they’re gonna put me on TV?” he spits back. “I just want it to be over.”

At the behest of his mother, Taylor is repeating and reliving what happened that night, although as viewers we still don’t have the full story. In a way, the audience is made to experience the unfolding of details along with the other parents and kids in the school. What exactly does rape mean for a young man? Why would other young men do that to him? Why would popular kids/athletes do that to him?

With a young woman, there would be no question as to cause. Certainly, “young woman gets raped” wouldn’t be enough of a premise for an entire season of a show. It’s almost too commonplace to be the entirety of anything other than an episode of “Law & Order.” The party setting alone would be enough to reduce the incident to the collateral damage of too much drinking and a sexy outfit. There would be a disgusting mess of victim blaming, which would be wrong and bad, but certainly no question of whether rape was possible to begin with. Taylor’s sexual assault is confounding to each new person who hears of the story. Their eyes harden a little at the news there was a rape; they’re outright confused when they hear it was a boy.

“American Crime” quickly becomes a portrait of larger cultural perceptions. The true mystery of the show is not “who raped Taylor,” but how the characters surrounding him manage to convince themselves he could never be raped in the first place. Given the intricacies of the stigma surrounding male victims, it’s not especially hard for them to ignore his story altogether. Consider the story currently unfolding at Ooltewah High in Tennessee. When a freshman basketball player was penetrated with a pool cue last month, officials responded by effectively pretending nothing happened. According to the Washington Post, an assistant coach witnessed the assault and failed to report it to authorities, allowing his team to continue to play.

The microcosm of “American Crime” likely informs and is shaped by horrific events like this, yet is no more steeped in patriarchal misconceptions of masculinity than our own disturbing reality. All the stigma and shame that female victims face is paradoxically compounded by the greater respect we grant male bodies. We accept that men get beaten or murdered, but rape — the total overpowering of one’s worth — is too much to process. And so, we origami it down to the smallest possible size and file it away as an impossibility, letting male victims languish in silence. Men don’t get raped, because men don’t get raped.

http://www.alternet.org/culture/boys-dont-get-raped-american-crime-smashing-damaging-myths-about-sexual-assault

Sexual Assault: The Accused Speak Out

BY Emily Shire

Young men accused—they claim unfairly—of college sexual assaults describe traumatic investigations, and the aftermath of shattered minds and lives.

Lawsuit Alleges Oregon Teacher Threatened to Kill Gay Student

Lawsuit Alleges Oregon Teacher Threatened to Kill Gay Student – VIDEO
Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 2.07.40 PM

The mother of an openly gay, special-needs student in Oregon is suing his high school, alleging that teachers bullied him and even threatened to kill him.
Shawna Dicintio alleges in a federal lawsuit...

Gay Syrian refugee's hope of new life tested by Dutch camps

Refugees Omar had long dreamt of escaping discrimination in Syria, and drawn by exuberant images of the Gay Pride march in Amsterdam he hoped to find a new life in the Dutch city after fleeing war at home. But four months after arriving in the Netherlands, the 20-year-old was shocked to find himself the victim of insults, taunts and intimidation from his fellow travelling companions.

"Coming to the Netherlands, which is the country of freedom and expressing yourself, and being bullied there as a gay person, it was completely crazy," he told AFP, speaking in English.
He is among more than 54,000 refugees who made it to the Netherlands in 2015, crossing by boat to Greece and then flying to Holland in September on a fake Spanish passport.
"It was surprising that those people, after making a long journey, tiring journey, after they get there, they’re still capable of bullying and harassing me," he said.
Omar's experience has not been unique, as gay refugees have found themselves caught between the conservative cultural outlook of refugee families, and the more tolerant Dutch attitude.
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage as far back as 2001, but acceptance of sexual diversity has not been the norm in Dutch refugee centres.
Intimidated, isolated
For Omar, a svelte law student from a well-off Syrian family with a carefully groomed five o'clock shadow and neatly coiffed hair, discovering that the asylum camps did not live up to his expectations was a shock.
"I read all these articles that said that the Netherlands is very tolerant towards gays and that Amsterdam is the capital of the LGBT community. I saw the images of Gay Pride," he said.
But he says he was insulted by other refugees. "They threatened to kill me, they told me I was the shame of the refugees, they pushed me in the queue to get coffee."
Intimidated and isolated, many like Omar didn't dare leave their rooms. He would spend hours there, headphones clamped to his ears.
"I was lucky that I wasn't physically attacked," said Omar, who has finally found shelter thanks to Lianda, a 25-year-old gay Dutch woman who offered him a room.
According to the COC, an association working to defend gay rights, some gay refugees have had even worse experiences including being sexually abused. The Dutch daily AD reported some had their clothes set on fire or beds smeared with food and faeces.

Another group Secret Garden revealed two gay refugees tried to commit suicide.
One man was so scared that he slept for a week in the woods surrounding the centre, AD said, before like Omar, he found a place to stay with a welcoming Dutch host.
Between mid-October and the end of December, the COC said it received 14 complaints of mistreatment or abuse of gay refugees, compared to usually one or two every few months.
"We think this is only the tip of the iceberg," said COC director, Koen van Dijk.
Most gays refuse to lodge official complaints or to speak out publicly, fearing reprisals or not knowing who to turn to.
Vulnerable
In a bid to protect them, the Amsterdam municipality opened up two safe houses from October to December for about a dozen people as an emergency measure.
The COC welcomed the move, while insisting it should only be a temporary step. Now those who were briefly accommodated in the safe houses have been re-lodged in centres more adapted to their needs.
Five have been placed in a separate wing of a smaller centre, where any abuse can be more easily spotted and dealt with.
The Dutch governmental organisation which receives and handles refugees, COA, has sought to educate other migrants about the need for tolerance.
In extreme cases the police can be called in, with COA considering gays a "vulnerable" group along with children or victims of domestic violence.
Omar believes he will only truly begin his new life, once he has been granted asylum. But he is already making new friends among Dutch society.
"I expected to meet people who would accept me the way I am, and I did," he said with a smile.
"Walking in the street hand-in-hand with your boyfriend without fearing what people will do, it's great."

Antigay Republican Lawmaker Caught Cruising Grindr For A Winter Cuddle Bud

Antigay Republican Lawmaker Caught Cruising Grindr For A Winter Cuddle Bud If you're a closeted right-wing lawmaker or religious leader cruising the grids of Grindr for some steamy side action (and we know there are lots of you out there), you should probably be careful who you're sending face pics to. Because while it may seem like you're on the cusp of securing a hot hook-up, you really have no idea who's... more

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

International Holocaust Remembrance Day - 27 January

MAY WE NEVER FORGET!

World marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/26/world-marks-international-holocaust-remembrance-day/79335156/

Nazi concentration camp badge:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp_badge

The gay Holocaust victims history forgot

27 January marks the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Its extent of torture is unparalleled in European history; unthinkable by any civilisation. What happened within the barbed gates of Auschwitz remains the deep shame of a now peaceful continent. The Nazi concentration camps were the abattoirs of humanity, making it their business to kill as quickly and mercilessly as possible.
Though it may be an impossible episode to comprehend, as the 71st anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation dawns on 27 January, comprehend it we must. It’s guys like us – if we’d been born in a different nation in a different time – who’d have seen first-hand the ugliest face of human oppression.
Exact estimates of deaths at Auschwitz are difficult to come by. The killings were so fast – the disabled, young and elderly were frequently killed immediately on arrival – that reliable registers don’t exist. It’s a figure upwards of one million.
The Jews, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, criminals and the politically outspoken were viewed by Nazis as incompatible with their Aryan race. So, too, were homosexuals. It was a declared aim of the Nazi regime to completely eradicate gay men.
More than 100,000 were arrested. Thousands upon thousands perished, either through gas chambers or by torture. By 2012, all known gay survivors had died. But other survivors of this human atrocity continue to walk among us. The horrors of Auschwitz are still alive.
Before Nazi rule, Berlin had been one of the most open cities in the world. Gay bars and dance halls had sprouted across metropolitan landscapes, and many gay men and women led open, contented lives.
“Today it’s hard to imagine what it was like in Berlin after the 1914-18 war,” recalled Heinz F, one gay survivor, then aged 94. “In Berlin those were the golden years.”
Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code had prohibited homosexual acts since 1871, but the Weimar Republic had seen a change in public attitudes. Though it technically remained illegal, the law had become semi-redundant. “We were free in the whole of Berlin, we could do what we wanted,” he recalled.
Dr Magnus Hirschfeld was a prominent physician at the time. A gay man himself, he founded the Institute of Sexology, considered to be the first organisation of the modern era to promote gay and trans rights, and campaigned for the repeal of Paragraph 175. He built up a library of books and historical documents on sexuality and the human form that, even to this day, is hardly rivalled.
The campaign had real momentum, and was backed by some 5,000 influential signatures – including that of Albert Einstein. Though the reform initially struggled, Hirschfeld continued to argue ardently for the change, resorting to what we would now know as ‘outing’: naming gay members of the government in a bid to expose their opposition as hypocritical. This controversial method saw the tide change among those with power, with a realistic prospect of some legal equality emerging by the late 1920s.
On 30 January, 1933, it all changed. Adolf Hitler became Chancellor with the strong support of German people and, within a month, had ordered the closing of all gay venues. Four days later, the Reichstag was burned to the ground. Communist opposition leaders blamed the partner of Ernst Röhm: one of Hitler’s closest allies in the Nazi party, and gay.
On 6 May, Hirschfeld’s extensive library was destroyed in retaliation. As they did with the Jews, the Nazis sought to eradicate any whisper of an alternative to their tyranny.
“There was an incredible atmosphere of fear,” the last gay survivor, Gad Beck, who died in 2012, recalled of those early Nazi months. “Things used to be happy and care free, but now they were being persecuted. It didn’t seem like persecution to me, since the bar was still open. But they said this bar is only open to round us up. They did this again later with the Jews. They’d let them keep their meeting places so they could snatch them up.”
Heinrich Himmler became obsessed with the idea that homosexuality was an infectious disease, endangering Hitler’s programme to increase the master race.
As the Nazis rounded up all those who didn’t fit their master race, gay men too were ferried into the harbours of death – some 15,000 labelled with pink triangles and sent to their likely end. Though they were small in number compared to other persecuted groups, a special barbarity was reserved for the pink triangles. Beatings, “extermination through labour” in the work quarries and cases of forced castration. They also suffered the homophobia of fellow inmates.
Rudolf Brazda, who died in 2011, recalled the disdain of being seen to have the pink triangle: “The other prisoners would say, ‘Oh looks, this one’s a fag.’”
Brazda had kept his silence until 2008, when a memorial for the gay victims of the Holocaust was unveiled and Berlin’s gay mayor marked their passing. Finally ready, he contacted the mayor to tell his story.
As a young man, Brazda led a happy and open life in Leipzig, Germany. In 1937, Brazda was arrested for ‘unnatural lewdness,’ and sentenced to six months incarceration after officers found love letters he’d written to his boyfriend.
Soon after, a more systematic, brutal persecution began. “The Nazi stormtroopers dragged us out by our hair,” Brazda recalled. “We gays were like hunted animals. Wherever I went with my companion the Nazis were always already there.”
Arrested again in 1941, he was this time sent to a concentration camp, given the number 7952, and made to sew a pink triangle on to the left breast of his camp uniform. “I didn’t understand what was happening but what could I do? Under Hitler you were powerless,” he recalled.
“I arrived in a very big room. There was a pool there. In that pool we had to undress, and we had to bathe, naked. It was called ‘disinfection.’ In that moment, an SS officer pushed my head under the disinfectant liquid. I still had my gold chain, with a cross. It was a gift from my boyfriend. He ripped it and asked if I was a churchgoer. Of course I didn’t answer.”
He was subject to forced labour and remained there for 32 months.
To win their release from the camps, some gay men were forced to undergo mutilation – frequently tantamount to murder – in so-called medical experiments by Nazi doctors, who insisted that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured. Hitler also ordered the death penalty for any SS officers found to have engaged in homosexual relations.
On 3 August, 2011, Rudolf Brazda died at the age of 98, in Bantzenheim, France. In the final years of his life, he continued to tell his story as a warning to future generations of what happens when we don’t respect differences. During these last years, he said: “If I finally speak, it’s for people to know what we, homosexuals, had to endure in Hitler’s days. It shouldn’t happen again.”
To find out more about the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust, please visit het.org.uk

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

‘It’s time to start impeaching judges’ for marriage equality

By LGBTQ Nation

· Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Last week, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said “it’s time to start impeaching” the Supreme Court justices who helped ensure that same-sex marriage became the law of the land; a ruling he calls an “illegal decision” in which the court decided to play God.
Talking with Floridian radio host Joyce Kaufman, Gohmert claimed — incorrectly — that church-state separation decisions in the ’50s and ’60s established that “you can’t talk about God in schools and public places.” He thinks the Supreme Court did something far more egregious with Obergefell:
“The Supreme Court said, ‘You know, we told you you couldn’t use ‘God,’ now here’s the new line: We’re God. We are your God. Forget what God, Moses, Jesus ever said, we are your God now, the five of us in the majority, you do as we tell you.’”
He then once again asked for Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan to be summarily impeached for their participation in the decision:
“We have two of them who had done same-sex marriages before they participated, they were disqualified, but they illegally participated, it’s an illegal decision, and it’s time to start impeaching judges and remove them from the Supreme Court.”
Meanwhile, Kaufman — sidestepping her chance to play devil’s advocate for the opportunity to be totally repulsive instead — said Ginsburg and Kagan should be disqualified for “being gay.”

This is child-abuse, right?

Go take a look at this:

https://www.facebook.com/178068365882182/videos/179954225693596/

It can be my judgement, but I qualify this as child abuse by a priest!

Your opinion?

Kim Davis Says God Chose Her To Block Gay Marriage

Kim Davis Says God Chose Her To Block Gay Marriage
Kentucky clerk Kim Davis said in an interview last week that it was a “joy to be chosen” by God to block gay marriage.
Davis is the elected clerk of Rowan County who last year defied a federal judge's ruling ordering her office to issue marriage licenses to all qualified couples. Davis refused, claiming that to issue such licenses to gay and lesbian couples would violate her conscience. Her unsuccessful attempt to keep her office from issuing such licenses turned her into a Christian celebrity.
While her office is complying with the law, Davis has not dropped her legal claims.
In an interview broadcast Friday, American Family Radio host Sandy Rios praised Davis for taking a stand on the issue.
“It's interesting to me how God chose you,” Rios said. “Not a Sunday school teacher. Not a Republican. Not the standard – this is like God, this is so like God. So he chose you.”
It's “a joy to be chosen,” Davis responded, “to make a stand and to defend my God's word. The infallible word of God.”
Rios agreed: “You were chosen, Kim. I know that. God picked you; plucked you out.”

Scottish parliament has to consider legalising incest due to loophole in the devolution agreement

Incest is currently punishable by up to two years in prison

The Scottish government will be forced to consider legalising incest because of a legal quirk.
On Tuesday the parliament’s petition committee will have to consider a request lodged on Scottish government’s e-petition’s site calling for the legalisation of incest where both parties “are consenting adults over the age of 21”.
The petition was submitted by a man named Richard Morris who lives in Australia.
Under the terms of devolution, the Scottish parliament has to consider all petitions if the propose a change in the law.
In the background information to his petition Mr Morris said the current block on ACI (Adult Consenting Incest) was based on “bigotry”.
He wrote: “Public fears, prejudice and bigotry about ACI are mostly due to ignorance created over many years mostly by the church and church-influenced governments and newspapers, in much the same way as public fears and bigotry about homosexuality were created.
“In general, societies have a tendency to target isolated individuals and to attack anything perceived to be different as a threat”.
He said the Scottish law on incest was “outdated” as public opinion towards sex and relationship was far more liberal than when it was last reviewed in 1981.
Mr Morris - who will not give evidence to the committee - claims to have written a book about incest and has sent letters to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Queen calling on them to do more to legalise consensual incest.
But the petition is unlikely to go any further, with Labour MSP Michael McMahon telling Buzzfeed: “I recognise the petition addresses a subject matter that many people find abhorrent. Speaking personally, I take a similar view”.
Incest typically carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison when both parties are consenting adults.

Monday, January 25, 2016

IOC Relaxes Guidelines On Transgender Athletes

IOC Relaxes Guidelines On Transgender Athletes
Transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in the Olympics and other international events without undergoing sex reassignment surgery, according to new guidelines adopted by the IOC.

Rod Liddle Says Poppers Are God's Way Of Telling Gays Their Sex Is 'Perverse'

The Best Productivity App Is Already On Your Phone. You Just Don't Know It Yet.

The Best Productivity App Is Already On Your Phone. You Just Don't Know It Yet.
Let us explain. Read more.

Ted Cruz Welcomes Endorsement of Gay-Hating, God-Sent-Nazis Preacher

Posted: 25 Jan 2016 11:10 AM PST

Extremist minister Mike Bickle also says Hitler was doing God's work, and Oprah Winfrey is a forerunner of the Antichrist.

Portugal's President Vetoes Adoption Rights for Gay Couples

Portugal's President Vetoes Adoption Rights for Gay Couples
Posted: 25 Jan 2016 12:10 PM PST

The Socialist majority in Parliament will try to override President Anibal Cavaco Silva's veto.

NHL Team Wraps Sticks in Pride Tape for LGBT Inclusion

Posted: 25 Jan 2016 12:38 PM PST

The Edmonton Oilers have become the first hockey team to show off the rainbow adhesive in support of diversity.

Forty-Two Years Ago Today: The Worst Mass Murder Of Gay People In US History

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/6/24/1396297/-Forty-Two-Years-Ago-Today-The-Worst-Mass-Murder-Of-Gay-People-In-US-History

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Forty-Two Years Ago Today: The Worst Mass Murder Of Gay People In US History

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Sunday, January 24, 2016

Realistic Zombie Head Coffee Mugs Are A Real Eye-Opener

The best part of waking up is Folgers in your hideous monster cup.

01/21/2016 02:25 pm ET

Elyse Wanshel Trends Writer, The Huffington Post

If you feel like the walking dead in the morning and yearn for something warm and flesh, er, fresh, to feel awake, we have got the perfect coffee mug for you.
Now you can drink your morning brew from a disturbingly realistic-looking zombie mug.

Kevin “Turkey” Merck is the braaaaaaiiiins behind the mug. He is a pottery artist who has been throwing clay on wheels for the past 15 years. He likes creating a lot of horror and monster sculptures, but snail-paced, cranium-cravers are special.
“Zombies are by far my favorite monsters to work on, primarily because the of the forms,” Merck told The Huffington Post. “Textures and color choices for zombies are nearly endless.”

His coffee mug creations are impressively detailed and his pieces are inspired by work done by makeup artist Lon Chaney and the makeup development team on the movie “World War Z.”

The mugs have a lot of intricate details.

“The 'clicking teeth' zombie that Brad Pitt encounters in the lab while testing his 'terminally ill camouflage' theory -- that dude freaked me out,” he said. “And I loved the subtle details of that makeup.”

The attention to detail can be see all over the mug.

He’s also a huge fan of the show "The Walking Dead" and its special effects makeup artist, Kevin Wasner.

“His work is amazing! I had the opportunity to meet him last year,” he said. “Having lunch and chatting about his makeups and life in general, was definitely the highlight of my career. To top it all off he bought one of my zombie mugs for his collection!”

Details added after Merck "bulks" the original form out.

One of Merck’s pieces costs $220, but if that price makes you gasp, the passion that goes into Merck’s process may change your mind -- each mug is hand built from the ground up.

Painted details are added between firings,

First, Merck turns the initial form on a wheel. Once it begins to stiffen and can hold some extra weight, he “bulks” it out with more clay. Once the primary form is complete, he uses his hands and sculpting tools to carve away any excess clay, adding details.

After the sculpting is complete, he sprays on glaze, adds highlights and pops in kiln for 24 hours of firing and cooling. A second and sometimes third round of firing and cooling typically occurs.
All in all the non-toxic mugs, which are fully functional and dishwasher and microwave safe, take a long time to make.
“I've spent anywhere from four to 30 hours on a mug,” Merck said. “The entire process can take up to a month or more.”

Though it’s seems like a pain, creating this creepy cups is a labor of love for Merck.
“When I learned how to work with clay I became obsessed with the possibilities and I haven't looked back since.”
Though the cups are currently sold out, Merck's website notes that the "Slow Joe" mug will see a limited release in February.
Also on HuffPost: