Rotten Fruit

Since the "ex-gay" industry recently lost one of its most famous cornerstones - a book written thirty years ago called "Homosexuality in Perspective", in which the founding principles of this multi-million dollar hate-industry were laid out using "case studies" - now revealed in a new book called "Masters of Sex" to have been wholly fictitious and falsified, fundamentalist gay-haters are now changing their rhetoric to suit circumstances.

Christian Is As Christian Does

All arguments aside about whether being gay is a sin or not - what about those Christians who take it upon themselves to persecute gay people? We could debate the issue of evidence and proof for a year, and for another year you could reject all evidence to show gay and trans people are as natural as heterosexual people, as well as rejecting all reasonable religious alternatives to the choice some make to hate - or to love us in the name of the same God many of us also love and who also loves us. But let us put that aside for a moment, and narrow it down to response.

How do you as Christians respond to other people?

Expecting Someone Smaller?

Many times I have engaged in debates with bigots, particularly Christian fundamentalists. Often, when cornered and outgunned by the weight of evidence and material presented to them - which they have of course denied - they resort to personal attacks and character assassination. Sometimes they will call efforts in defense of their victims "trashing other people's beliefs" - I find that rather ironic considering all the vicious things said about gay and trans people - and me - that have come out of their mouths, um - finger tips.

Out, Damned Spot!

Here in SA our Pride events are sponsored by the community, businesses and not councils or government. This means that while their funding is independent (and often hard to come by) all they require is the co-operation of the local authorities and that at least their financial eggs are not all in one basket, and the cancellation of one sponsor will usually not mean disaster.

Municipalities often just show us support through granting of permits, assistance with advertising or press releases and statements and so on. Mostly they realize how much revenue and tourism these events bring into their towns - one such instance saw a campaign by religious radicals to ban such an event thwarted, mainly due to the fondness of the residents for the festival - and also their fondness for the pink money it brings in - which exceeds their December holiday takings.

What Happened To IDAHO DAY In SA?

This year IDAHO day was celebrated widely by pink communities around the world, and on the eve of the 2009 IDAHO day, and France became the first country in the world to officially remove transgender issues from its list of mental illnesses, as homosexuality was globally in 1973. (This means that I am wonko everywhere in the world - except France. Did I mention I like France?) 

Sadly I noted nothing of the sort here in South Africa. No announcements, events, full page ads, radio interviews... nothing at all. Perhaps the bigger advocacy organizations here were too wrapped up in campaigning against racism or xenophobia? All jokes aside, I feel it is necessary in South Africa to mark such events - because believe it or not - we are not immune - nor are we untouched by the hand of homo and trans phobia.

True = False

There are many loving Christians out there who happen to love and befriend gay and trans people and support and accept them without seeing any kind of conflict of interests in this. They love God and they love their fellow human beings as they believe their God taught them to. These are people in whom one can believe you can see the nature of a loving father God shining through.

Considering this, isn't it somewhat ironic that there are people who claim to worship the same deity, read the same holy books and also claim to be Christians - who paradoxically hate gay people and try their level best to destroy them in the name of this same God? In the same breath many of these people also claim that others who show love and tolerance to gay people - or stand against their acts of hatred against them - cannot be "true" Christians... I find this rather an interesting proposal.

Don't you?

Get Your Own Life - This One's Mine!

It seems that there many instances where various versions of the bible - which is essentially no more than a compilation (incomplete, I might add) of other ancient "books" or codices - which have suffered the incompetence of numerous translation efforts, deliberate changes and omissions - and conspiracies by the Roman Catholic Church to conceal and even promote such inaccuracies. 

Most important of all are the efforts of modern American bible "authorities" which control the worldwide selection, publication and distribution of bible versions today resist the correction of such omissions, changes and other errors as "changing the word of God" - as if the flawed alterations in general use today are really the originals! It seems pretty clear to me that this is as a result of their desire to keep women - and gay and trans people oppressed as the "other" in society. Hmm. I wonder why? The almighty patriarchy hard at work, protecting its own selfish interests?