Placing Blame

Leading bigots and gay-haters in SA are of the informed opinion that SA's gay movement do not do what the gay movement in the USA does yet - asserting that America's movement is 40 years ahead of us, but that we are learning and catching up.

They may have something there. In SA our leading groups are often silent except to bicker among themselves and try to prevent newer groups from stealing their limelight while they themselves are doing nothing to benefit the pink community. While you may see similar destructive behavior in the UK of late, you certainly do not see this idiocy in the USA. And lastly to disagree with our learned friends, SA has a growing online activist community which is part of the rapidly growing "Stonewall 2.0" movement which sprung into existence in response to the debacle in the USA - now called "Proposition HATE".

Milk Review

Tuesday night I went to watch the new movie "MILK" at Uptown theaters in Port Elizabeth, accompanied by my girlfriend Tuuli and my mom. Although we had already seen this movie on a pc, we decided to see it on the big screen as they say, and to support Uptown for supporting us. 

Uptown is the ONLY theater in Port Elizabeth even showing Milk. When we approached Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor about the matter, it was before we were aware of the Uptown feature. Needless to say, Nu Metro made some half-hearted excuse about there not being a demand for it, while Ster Kinekor never bothered to reply.

What It's All About

It's been a hectic day. Really hectic. Thought I was going to spend the day in my jammies and slippers watching TV or something, instead I spent yet another day racing around town to attend meetings and other sundry sideshows. Anyways, got another meeting tonight at 5:30 and I am already exhausted. And I'm supposed to be on leave so I can recover from my really hectic work schedule which seems to be following me relentlessly and not taking no for an answer.

At least next week I will be out of town for my second week of leave - in a place where there is no internet signal. I'm even thinking of leaving my phone off! Sounds more like heaven every time I think of it.

The Upside Of Down

Many anti-gay persecutors have the opinion that most scientific and medical evidence that proves gay and trans people are born as naturally as heterosexuals, is based on someone's opinion and not "hard-core facts". 

 

"Hard-core facts"? Do they mean like the bible? Or the rantings of people who foam at the mouth while inciting hatred against an inoffensive and un-threatening portion of society? Some "facts". 

 

At least scientists can show actual demonstrable evidence to substantiate their facts.

They back-pedal from the accusations that they hate gay and trans people - arguing that they "love gay people", but "hate their sin" and try to show that pink community are "being hated in the wrong way" - how is there ever a "right" way to hate people?  

 

HATE is never right. 

 

And I have yet to understand the difference between hating somebody and hating somebody for what he or she is.

Body Count

Some nice people who insist that they don't hate gay people, but rather that they "love gay people enough to point out their faults" at the same time paradoxically insist that the disputable OT biblical law that states gay people should be murdered for "defying god" in being born gay, should be made part of our countries judicial system. This is part of what is known these days as the Dominionist or Reconstructionist movement - or "Kingdom Now Theology". Virtually every religious grouping which uses the word "transformation" this or that in their literature is part of this movement today. They are increasingly gaining power, increasingly involving themselves in politics, their sights set firmly on putting their religious dogma in the driving seat of government, no matter what anybody else thinks or feels about it.

The No-man's-land Of Spiritual Warfare

I object to liars tarnishing the name of gay people, reducing them to "deviants who choose to sin" and who "can change" - in turn helping to make life even harder for them.

I assure you, gay-hating pulpit-pilots could never be as sad as I am when I see inequity and deceit peddled as truth and used to destroy the lives of innocent people because of idiotic superstitions and childish spite. People who believe this rubbish should be ashamed - and as a former Christian I am ashamed of and for them.

Hate Is Not A Religion

It is not a new thing in the world for people to call and campaign for the death penalty for gay people 'as punishment' for being gay, although it certainly is fairly new on the political scene in South Africa.

 

Previously, cooler heads had always prevailed, and the notion of state-sanctioned murder was generally supported for capital crimes, like murder - and occasionally, wished upon rapists and the like. However, recently, there's been an emerging trend where religious extremists have grown more vocal about their hatred for 'the other' and began to vocalize their desire for those whom they despise to be put to death for simply being born gay or transgender.

This is a disturbing new trend among Christians, even those fanatical fundamentalists or literalists who for years restricted their efforts to pressing religious and social institutions and pressurizing government into making life as difficult for anyone who dared to deviate from the cisgender norms they held so dear. 

 

Their hatred for those who differ from themselves overflows and overrules common sense, logic and compassion for fellow human beings, and I can only attribute its arrival here to the heavy influence of the American religious right groupings who have overrun the US Republican Party, using the gay community as a scapegoat and rallying point to try and institute a theocracy in that country over the past 8 years - and certainly the dangers of mixing religion with politics can be seen in this. For many years, right wing fundamentalist "missionaries" have been coming to SA and assisting these groups under the guise of "church planting". The same has happened in other African countries, such as Uganda - and, well, we can see the culmination of those efforts for what they've delivered - in the form of the "Kill the Gays Bill".

To Do List 2009

The Christian fundamentalist hate groups and political parties got their asses kicked at the polls in this year, so after that it seems pretty much smooth sailing for the short term. 

 

However, since things are now looking somewhat brighter than they did up to the 22nd of April, I have made a short list of things I would to do or see in the near future. Call it a wish list if you like, but oh well, here it is:

Gay Marriage Killed The Dinosaurs!

I was most interested to hear that a group of Muslims had challenged the marriage laws of SA on the grounds that their Muslim marriages (or more to the point, divorces) were not legally recognized. 

 

More power to them, but how can this be? Easily, as it turns out. After all, this is South Africa, where a lot of inequalities existed - and still exist to this very day.

 

It seems that (gender issues aside) only civil unions and Christian marriages are legally recognized, making all other forms of marriage illegitimate.

What a surprise.

Lessons Learned - Or Not

The yearly Sexpo in Cape Town has once again drawn the ire of fundamentalist Christians in the city, notably one little group calling itself the "Christian Action Network" (CAN), whose spokesman Taryn Hodgson, once again laid into the organizers and those supporting the Sexpo with all the might and thunder she could muster.

Some may remember this group as the one whose leader (Peter Hammond) along with another member of this group, co-authored a hate-filled book called 'the Pink Agenda' - which was no more than a piece of homophobic propaganda filled with hysterical fearmongering and junk-science not worth the paper it was printed on, intended to incite hatred against the pink community in SA. 

 

Back in 2001 this made national headlines - but more recently this group has been reduced to taking on other issues vital to the South African Christian extremist, issues of such import as abortion, and "blasphemy" in the media, and people watching (boring) soft porn on late night TV in the privacy of their own homes - and who can forget their main grudge, that their god has been left out of the Constitution and consequently, the government. 

Boo hoo.