STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE
Introduction
by Deborah Du Nann Winter and Dana C. Leighton
Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century
Direct violence is horrific, but its brutality usually gets our attention: we notice it, and often respond to it. Structural violence, however, is almost always invisible, embedded in ubiquitous social structures, normalized by stable institutions and regular experience. Structural violence occurs whenever people are disadvantaged by political, legal, economic, or cultural traditions. Because they are longstanding, structural inequities usually seem ordinary—the way things are and always have been. But structural violence produces suffering and death as often as direct violence does, though the damage is slower, more subtle, more common, and more difficult to repair. The chapters in this section teach us about some important but invisible forms of structural violence, and alert us to the powerful cultural mechanisms that create and maintain them over generations. Photo
Johan Galtung originally framed the term “structural violence” to mean any constraint on human potential caused by economic and political structures (1969). Unequal access to resources, to political power, to education, to health care, or to legal standing, are forms of structural violence. When inner-city children have inadequate schools while others do not, when gays and lesbians are fired for their sexual orientation, when laborers toil in inhumane conditions, when people of color endure environmental toxins in their neighborhoods, structural violence exists. Unfortunately, even those who are victims of structural violence often do not see the systematic ways in which their plight is choreographed by unequal and unfair distribution of society’s resources. Such is the insidiousness of structural violence…
Recognizing the operation of structural violence forces us to ask questions about how and why we tolerate it, questions that often have painful answers. The first chapter in this section, “Social Injustice,” by Susan Opotow, argues that our normal perceptual/cognitive processes lead us to care about people inside our scope of justice, but rarely care about those people outside. Injustice that would be instantaneously confronted if it occurred to someone we love or know is barely noticed if it occurs to strangers or those who are invisible or irrelevant to us. We do not seem to be able to open our minds and our hearts to everyone; moral exclusion is a product of our normal cognitive processes. But Opotow argues convincingly that we can reduce its nefarious effects by becoming aware of our distorted perceptions. Inclusionary thinking can be fostered by relationships, communication, and appreciation of diversity.
One outcome of exclusionary thinking is the belief that victims of violence must in some way deserve their plight. But certainly it is easy to see that young children do not deserve to be victims…
Read complete - Section II:
Winter, D. D., & Leighton, D. C. (2001). Structural violence. In D. J. Christie, R. V. Wagner, & D. D. Winter (Eds.), Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Peace Psychology Book
Psychologists For Social Responsibility
CHILDREN AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE
Milton Schwebel and Daniel J. Christie
Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century.
The reduction of direct violence requires not only interventions aimed at individuals, but also structural changes aimed at how societies operate, as Kostelny and Garbarino have outlined in their chapter. In this chapter, we examine the effects of structural violence on children. Structural violence is the unequal distribution of power and wealth within and between societies, and it has insidious effects on the health, intellectual development, education, and general welfare of millions of children. The cruelties of structural violence on children are often subtle, unspoken, unrecognized, and even normalized, regarded by many people as natural or “just the way things are.” This chapter focuses on how children suffer the cruel effects of structural violence, and why it has long-lasting consequences on their intellectual, social, and emotional development…
Read complete Chapter 10:
Christie, D. J., Wagner, R. V., & Winter, D. A. (Eds.). (2001). Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Peace Psychology Book
Psychologists For Social Responsibility
"Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights"
A conversation with author Kenji Yoshino about Yoshino's book.
April 20, 2006 – Charlie Rose
View video:
Groundbreaking Study Finds Family Acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Adolescents Protects Against Depression, Substance Abuse and Suicidal Behavior in Early Adulthood – by Caitlin Ryan, PhD, December 6, 2010 - FAMILY ACCEPTANCE PROJECT.
(More found below)
GAY YOUTH SUICIDE | BENEDICT XVI & BISHOPS Child Sexual Abuse Cover-ups – Negligence Protecting (1) Children & (2) LGBT Children | Family of Rutgers suicide victim lends name to bill – November 19, 2010 – CNN
Benedict XVI & Hierarchy CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE COVER-UPS
Despite outrage, little progress in church scandal
January 2, 2010, Duluth News Tribune
GAY CIVIL RIGHTS Depends on Continuous Education
“Attitude changes that result mostly from processing issue-relevant arguments (CENTRAL route) will show greater temporal persistence, greater prediction of behavior, and greater resistance to counter persuasion than attitude changes that result mostly from PERIPHERAL cues”
Two "Routes" to Persuasion - Petty and Cacioppo (1986a, 1986b)
Two "Routes" to Persuasion
Petty and Cacioppo (1986a, 1986b) state that there are two “routes” to persuasion: central and peripheral. The central route to persuasion consists of thoughtful consideration of the arguments (ideas, content) of the message. When a receiver is doing central processing, he or she is being an active participant in the process of persuasion. Central processing has two prerequisites: It can only occur when the receiver has both the motivation and the ability to think about the message and its topic. If the listener doesn’t care about the topic of the persuasive message, he or she will almost certainly lack the motivation to do central processing. On the other hand, if the listener is distracted or has trouble understanding the message, he or she will lack the ability to do central processing.
The peripheral route to persuasion occurs when the listener decides whether to agree with the message based on other cues besides the strength of the arguments or ideas in the message. For example, a listener may decide to agree with a message because the source appears to be an expert, or is attractive. The peripheral route also occurs when a listener is persuaded because he or she notices that a message has many arguments -- but lacks the ability or motivation to think about them individually. In other words, peripheral cues, like source expertise (credibility) or many arguments in one message, are a short-cut. I don’t want to or can’t think carefully about the ideas in this persuasive message, but it is a fair gamble to go ahead agree with the message if the source appears to be knowledgeable or if there are many arguments in support of the message. This route occurs when the auditor is unable or unwilling to engage in much thought on the message. Receivers engaged in peripheral processing are more passive than those doing central processing.
Why does it matter which “route” an audience member takes when hearing or watching or reading a persuasive message? A key prediction of the ELM is that attitudes which are changed through the central route to persuasion will have different effects from attitudes changed via the peripheral route. Petty and Cacioppo explain that “Attitude changes that result mostly from processing issue-relevant arguments (central route) will show greater temporal persistence, greater prediction of behavior, and greater resistance to counter persuasion than attitude changes that result mostly from peripheral cues” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986a, p. 21). It should be obvious that these are important outcomes: Surely in most cases, persuaders would very much want to know how to make attitude change last longer, have a greater influence on behavior, and be more resistant to change. However, even though central processing has advantages, receivers do not always oblige us by having the motivation and ability to think about the message. We need to understand both of these processes of persuasion because both of them occur in receivers.
Read complete research:
Communication Institute for Online Scholarship
CIOS's Electronic Encyclopedia of Communication
Persuasion
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance theory is based on three fundamental assumptions
1. Humans are sensitive to inconsistencies between actions and beliefs.
According to the theory, we all recognize, at some level, when we are acting in a way that is inconsistent with our beliefs/attitudes/opinions. In effect, there is a built in alarm that goes off when we notice such an inconsistency, whether we like it or not. For example, if you have a belief that it is wrong to cheat, yet you find yourself cheating on a test, you will notice and be affected by this inconsistency.
2. Recognition of this inconsistency will cause dissonance, and will motivate an individual to resolve the dissonance.
Once you recognize that you have violated one of your principles, according to this theory, you won’t just say "oh well". You will feel some sort of mental anguish about this. The degree of dissonance, of course, will vary with the importance of your belief/attitude/principle and with the degree of inconsistency between your behavior and this belief. In any case, according to the theory, the greater the dissonance the more you will be motivated to resolve it.
Read more:
Psychology World
Attitudes,
Attributions, and
Social Cognition
Cognitive Learning, Cognitive
Response to Persuasion, and Attitude Change
ANTHONY G. GREENWALD
Social Influence Theories
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
The Key Points:
People seek consistency in their lives.
People are sensitive to contradictions and inconsistencies.
Dissonance (discomfort, guilt, doubt) fosters attitude change.
A Constitutional Right to Gay Marriage?
Too Soon to Declare Victory
August 4, 2010 – The New York Times
Kenji Yoshino is a professor at N.Y.U. School of Law and the author of "Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights."
Today's 136-page opinion in Perry v. Schwarzenegger is so thoughtful and thorough in its reasoning that it might seem like we have reached a tipping point in same-sex marriage litigation.
Much of that sense of inexorability, however, flows from Judge Walker's sharp distinction between (impermissible) religious grounds and (permissible) secular grounds for constitutional decision-making. Whether Perry remains good law will depend in part on the ability of the Ninth Circuit and ultimately the Supreme Court to make the same distinction. And whether the nation will ultimately embrace same-sex marriage will depend on whether the religious objections properly excluded from the courts can be overcome on their own terms.
One crucial passage in Judge Walker's opinion occurs early in the opinion: "A state's interest in an enactment must of course be secular in nature. The state does not have an interest in enforcing private moral or religious beliefs without an accompanying secular purpose." He continued: "Perhaps recognizing that Proposition 8 must advance a secular purpose to be constitutional, proponents abandoned previous arguments from the campaign that had asserted the moral superiority of opposite-sex couples."
This is the big difference between Prop. 8 in the streets and Prop. 8 in the courts. During the campaign for Prop. 8, religious support for the initiative could be seen everywhere -- from the millions of dollars contributed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to public condemnations of same-sex marriage from the Catholic Church, to protest signs citing to religious texts like Leviticus 18:22. Many religious organizations, of course, supported same-sex marriage. Yet the overwhelming impression was that religious belief constituted the core of the case against same-sex marriage…
Read complete article:
Barcelona to erect monument to gays and lesbians
December 31, 2010 – France24
AFP - The Spanish city of Barcelona will erect a monument to gays, lesbians and transgendered people who have been persecuted and repressed "throughout history", it announced Thursday.
The exact site of the pink, triangular stone monument has not yet been decided, but a spokesman for the city hall said the square outside the Sacred Heart, or Sagrada Familia, basilica "is one location that has been proposed".
Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the city's emblematic Antonio Gaudi-designed church last month as hundreds of gays and lesbians staged a mass "kiss-in" to protest the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality…
It said the inscription will read "In memory of the gays, lesbians and transsexual people who have suffered persecution and repression throughout history. Barcelona 2011."
Read complete article:
Hopes for gay-rights gains shift to courts
By Donovan Slack,
January 2, 2010 – The Boston Globe
WASHINGTON — Gay-rights activists, acknowledging they will lose momentum for their agenda in Congress when Republicans assume control of the House this week, are pinning their hopes for further gains in 2011 on a series of incremental measures and a host of federal court cases.
Last month’s historic repeal of the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military signaled an expanding political acceptance of fuller integration of gays into American life. Yet activists and observers caution against expecting anything as dramatic from the next Congress.
For instance, a legislative repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, is virtually out of the question in the near future because of the GOP’s rise to power in the House, advocates said.
“It’s frustrating. The repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was a tremendous victory, but there’s a great deal more to be done,’’ said Brian Moulton, chief legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.
Read complete article:
Despite outrage, little progress in church scandal
By: Robin Washington,
January 2, 2010, Duluth News Tribune
Difference Between Life & Death
Groundbreaking Study Finds Family Acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Adolescents Protects Against Depression, Substance Abuse and Suicidal Behavior in Early Adulthood – by Caitlin Ryan, PhD, December 6, 2010 - FAMILY ACCEPTANCE PROJECT. (Updated 1|2|11)
San Francisco, CA –– For the first time, researchers have established a clear link between accepting family attitudes and behaviors towards their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children and significantly decreased risk and better overall health in adulthood. The study shows that specific parental and caregiver behaviors -- such as advocating for their children when they are mistreated because of their LGBT identity or supporting their gender expression -- protect against depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in early adulthood. In addition, LGBT youth with highly accepting families have significantly higher levels of self-esteem and social support in young adulthood. The study is published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, a journal of the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses, in a peer-reviewed article titled “Family Acceptance in Adolescence and the Health of LGBT Young Adults.”Despite all the recent attention to health risks and disparities for lesbian, gay and bisexual youth, prior to this study, little was known about how families express acceptance and support for their LGBT children. Moreover, no prior research had examined the relationship between family acceptance of LGBT adolescents and health and mental health concerns in emerging adulthood.
“At a time when the media and families are becoming acutely aware of the risk that many LGBT youth experience, our findings that family acceptance protects against suicidal thoughts and behaviors, depression and substance abuse offer a gateway to hope for LGBT youth and families that struggle with how to balance deeply held religious and personal values with love for their LGBT children,” said Caitlin Ryan, PhD, Director of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University. “I have worked on LGBT health and mental health for 35 years and putting our research into practice by developing a new model to help diverse families support their LGBT children is the most hopeful work I’ve ever done.”
Ann P. Haas, Ph.D., Director of Prevention Projects for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, noted, “With this new groundbreaking study, Ryan and her colleagues have provided the strongest evidence to date that acceptance and support from parents and caregivers promote well-being among LGBT youth and help protect them from depression and
suicidal behavior. These findings open the door to a whole new focus on how families can be helped to more fully engage in the kind of behaviors that reduce suicide risk in LGBT adolescents and young adults.”
“Times have changed,” said Stephen Russell, PhD, President Elect of the Society for Research on Adolescence and a consultant to the Family Acceptance Project. “More and more families want to be accepting of their children. Yet, many families still struggle when a child comes out as LGBT. It’s essential to have research like this to deeply understand the ways that families show their acceptance, so that we can identify how to support families.”
The study, authored by Dr. Caitlin Ryan and her team from the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, which shows that accepting behaviors of parents and caregivers towards their LGBT children are protective against mental health risks -- including suicidal behaviors -- has critical implications for changing how families relate to their LGBT children and how LGBT youth are served by a wide range of providers across disciplines and systems of care, including custodial care systems such as foster care. The study was funded by The California Endowment, a health foundation dedicated to expanding access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities…
Read complete report & more
found on the Family Acceptance Project™ website:
FAP Family Video Series
Helping diverse families understand how to support their LGBT children takes resources that touch the heart – like the sample video you see on this page. We are working to produce a series of 8 of these short documentary videos that show the journey from struggle to support of ethnically and religiously diverse families with LGBT children.
view video
Funding is needed to help complete this protect – together with your help the Family Acceptance Project™ will make a difference for the better for LGBT children, youth and families. Your generosity at this time in the lives of LGBT children and youth will be lasting throughout their lives including all the lives that will be touched by them. Dr. Caitlin Ryan explains on the Family Acceptance Project™ website the many ways that these videos will be used. Thank you for your kind consideration about making a donation to this life giving project for LGBT children and youth.
All Donations can be made directly on
Family Acceptance Project™ website:
The Family Acceptance Project™ is a multi-year project to study the experiences of LGBT youth and families. We will use our findings to help strengthen families and to develop training materials and interventions for health and mental health, and school-based providers, child welfare workers and family service workers. Photo
We're very resourceful in finding volunteers and donated services to make the best use of our limited resources. However, your individual or organizational contribution can make a significant difference in helping us carry out the project.
School Victimization of Gender-Nonconforming LGBT Youth Linked with Depression and Quality Of Life In Adulthood
Youth Development Current Trends
Dr. Caitlin Ryan and The Family Acceptance Projects’ Study of LGBT Youth
December 13, 2010
National Association of Social Workers
Related links:
Gay Covering - "Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights" - by Kenji Yoshino
"Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights"
A conversation with author Kenji Yoshino about Yoshino's book.
April 20, 2006 – Charlie Rose
View video:
Kenji Yoshino
Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law
New York University School of Law
40 Washington Square South, 501
New York, NY 10012
Suspect Symbols:
The Literary Argument For Heightened Scrutiny For Gays Photo
Kenji Yoshino
November 1996 | 96 Columbia Law Review 1753
Assimilationist bias in equal protection: the visibility presumption and the case of "don't ask, don't tell"
by Kenji Yoshino
The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 108, 487 (1998)
Gay Civil Rights Movement
The Relationship Between ASSIMILATION and DISCRIMINATION | COVERING
by Kenji Yoshino,
December 31, 2001 – The Yale Law Journal Online
THE GAY TIPPING POINT
by Kenji Yoshino, UCLA Law Review Vol. 57, Issue 5 (June 2010) | “PREJUDICE AGAINST DISCRETE AND INSULAR MINORITIES”
Other Writings
By Kenji Yoshino Photo
New Rules Affirm
Pope Benedict's Stance Against Gays
By Daniel Williams,
October 8, 2005 – The Washington Post
ROME, Oct. 8 -- In the first five months of Pope Benedict XVI's reign, stern opposition to homosexuality in and outside the Roman Catholic Church has quickly become a prime public message for the Vatican. Photo Spain Gay Angels
The new pontiff plans to issue guidelines that attempt to inhibit homosexuals from entering seminaries to train for the priesthood. Church inspectors have embarked on a tour of U.S. seminaries and, according to their working papers, are tasked to ask: "Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary? (This question must be answered.)"
Benedict also has energetically fought legal recognition of homosexual couples. Photo Britain Gay Angels
For the church and for Benedict, taking a public stance on homosexuality is not unusual. Church observers have noted that for the quarter-century before becoming pope, Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served as the Vatican's chief enforcer of orthodoxy, drafting official positions regarding homosexuality.
"No doctrinal chief has ever written and spoken about homosexuality as extensively as Ratzinger has, because homosexuals have never had the freedom to organize and demand recognition they enjoy today," wrote author John L. Allen Jr. in a biography of Benedict, published before he became pope.
His papacy's early focus on homosexuality is a reaction to outside events, some analysts have said: the spread of so-called civil unions or marriage rights to same-sex couples, and the disclosure of sexual abuse by priests. Vatican officials have largely blamed the abuse on homosexuality…
Some bishops note that the church already has prohibitions on homosexuals from entering the priesthood and suggest that a restatement will only make the church look intolerant, Vatican officials say…
Read complete report:
Related links:
Impending rules on gay priests create Catholic divide
by Charles Honey – October 8, 2005
The Grand Rapids Press
When the Rev. Martin Kurylowicz came out to his Sparta parish eight years ago, he said he had struggled for years with his homosexuality.
The Catholic priest says the struggle would be made harder for many others if the Vatican issues new rules that reportedly would ban gays from becoming priests…
…"I sizzled when I read it," said Kurylowicz, 55. "It's very hurtful, is what it is. In this day and age, there's no reason for it. It sends a message that there's something wrong with gays."
Kurylowicz said he spoke out then to raise awareness of violence against gays and teach others homosexuality is not a choice but an inborn trait. Church leaders still don't understand that and contribute to gays' poor self-esteem, he said…
…"Kids as young as 4 or 5 know they're different," said Kurylowicz, a psychotherapist… "They grow up with this pervasive guilt, which sabotages their growth and motivation." The result is thousands of dollars in therapy to accept their natural orientation, he said, adding, "Does the Vatican want to take that on, like the tobacco industry had to take on for the damage it caused consumers? "…
Read complete article:
by Charles Honey
Religion Editor
The Grand Rapids Press – Archives
President of the United States
United States Congress
United States Supreme Court
50 United States Governors
Dear -- --------,
My name is Fr. Marty Kurylowicz, a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan ordained June 16, 1979.
In March 1997, after attending a National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry that was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I learned that children as young as 4 and 5 years of age know that they are different. This feeling "different" is only identified in their adult years as being gay. However, the harmful influence of antigay social and religious norms -- in particular, for Catholics, the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings -- are severe and last throughout a child’s lifetime. The harmful effects are not isolated only to these children who grow up to be gay, but also affect their families, siblings, friends and anyone whom they might consider special in their lives. They are a prescribed societal sentence of implicit isolation, which place at risk of suicide so many innocent adolescents and young adults. They stifle an enormous amount of human potential in the world that otherwise could be put to use for finding cures for diseases, offering better ways of maintaining peace among people and improving the quality of life for everyone in the world.
Gay Marriage - “SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE” Does Not Give Churches Or Benedict XVI - The Freedom To Abuse Children or Adults. July 2010 - By Fr. Marty KurylowiczSEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about LOVE, being one with another human being - ATTACHMENT THEORY
“Auschwitz – Benedict XVI - Christmas 2008 - Brokeback Mountain” (NP)
“Auschwitz – Benedict XVI - Christmas 2008 - Brokeback Mountain” (NP)
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times. Photo
Difference Between Life & Death
Being “In” And Living “Out” Of The Closet
"Why, It Is A 'Gift' From God!!!" - Monastic Wisdom - Absolute Fright For Benedict XVI
March 1997 “Coming Out”
"$126,000.00 as reported by Bishop Walter Hurley, May 27, 2006 – The Grand Rapids Press"
By Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
I thought that love
It took your kisses to reveal
was just a word
They sang about in songs I heard
It took your kisses to revealThat I was wrong,
and
love is real
La Vie En Rose
Edith Piaf
Photo Kenji Yoshino discusses California same-sex marriage ruling
on
Charlie Rose, August 5, 2010
A discussion about Prop 8 which was overturned this week with Kenji Yoshino Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of law, Jesse Mckinley San Francisco bureau chief of "The New York Times" and Jeff Zeleny of "The New York Times"
View video interview:
Related links:
California Prop 8
The Best Argument Against Gay Marriage - And why it fails.
By Kenji Yoshino,
December 13, 2010 – Slate Magazine
In last week's arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the California same-sex marriage case, it was clear that the main secular argument for limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is the "common procreation" rationale. The idea is that marriage is properly limited to opposite-sex couples because they, and only they, can engage in procreation within their union. The lawyers defending California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, did not fully elaborate the argument—the New York Times editorial page called it a "tired, and thoroughly specious, assertion."
Now conservative blogs are celebrating—as "one of the best arguments" and "outstanding work"—the more fulsome defense of the common procreation argument made in a forthcoming article by Sherif Girgis, Robert P. George, and Ryan T. Anderson. Yet the article's more comprehensive elaboration of the argument reveals why the Proposition 8 defenders were right not to shine too bright a light on it. Closely examined, the common-procreation argument denigrates not only same-sex couples but several kinds of married opposite-sex couples…
Read complete report:Related links:
[Unsubstantiated] --- RELIGIOUS BELIEFS that gay and lesbian relationships are SINFUL or INFERIOR to heterosexual relationships HARM gays and lesbians.
Judge Vaughn Walker Ruling Photo
California Prop 8. August 4, 2010
NO EVIDENCE SUPPORTS THESE [homosexual] STEREOTYPES
Judge Vaughn Walker Ruling
California Prop 8. August 4, 2010
Related Links:
Critical Study Finds Direct Link - Between School Victimization Of Gender-Nonconforming Lgbt Youth With - Depression And Quality Of Life In Adulthood - by Dr. Caitlin Ryan – October 4, 2010 - Family Acceptance Project™ - San Francisco State University
GAY YOUTH SUICIDE | BENEDICT XVI & BISHOPS Child Sexual Abuse Cover-ups – Negligence Protecting (1) Children & (2) LGBT Children | Family of Rutgers suicide victim lends name to bill – November 19, 2010 – CNN
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee - unyielding force supporting - DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL Repeal Act of 2010 – ENDS discriminatory policy that “forces young men and women to lie,” – to lie – “about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”
"Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well-considered, and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child's spirit."
Homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah
by The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson
December 8, 2010 – The Washington Post
Gay marriage -> Restoring
"Hope of Love"
To Children In Early Childhood -> Marriage EqualityMarch 23, 2010 – by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Marriage Equality, like Galileo, is the truth about the facts of growing up gay. Marriage Equality will not become a reality until people learn that its most vital purpose is that it restores the “hope of love” to children in early childhood – essential to their development and well-being for life. Without Marriage Equality we teach children how to hate love and how to be mean and indifferent to people as adults. With all due respect, without Marriage Equality we would teach them in much the same way as has been shown by Benedict XVI and the hierarchy, especially in their lack of care and protection of children for decades.
Galileo
facing the Roman Inquisition - Read more
Biblical quotes used to Condemn GalileoEcclesiastes 1:5 (New International Version)
5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
Ecclesiastes 1:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again.
1 Chronicles 16:30 (New International Version)
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
1 Chronicles 16:30 (New American Standard Bible)
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Psalm 93:1 (New International Version)
1 The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed in majesty
and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Psalm 93:1 (New American Standard Bible)
1 The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Psalm 96:10 (New International Version)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Psalm 96:10 (New American Standard Bible)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity."
Psalm 104:5 (New International Version)5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.
Psalm 104:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5 He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.
Read more:
AUTHORITARIAN ≠ AUTHORITATIVE – June 27, 2009 | Pope described as …"so averse to anything intellectual that everyone has to play dense and ignorant to gain his favor"-- The Trial of Galileo - by Douglas O. Linder (2002) | Benedict XVI UNSUBSTANTIATED Antigay Teachings
"If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Mt 6:23 | Benedict XVI – "Light of the World" | Hitler – "Mein Kampf" | NARCISSISTIC BULLY | WORLD REMAINS SILENT
Photo
Gay Marriage - WITCH HUNTS ->The Crucible (1996) -> McCarthyism 1940’s -1950’s, -> Benedict XVI 2005 Photo
30 years of Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s - Directives To Hierarchy – To make - THREATS, SILENCE, HARM AND DISPOSAL of Catholic Personnel Supportive of LGBT Adults and Children Photo
The Truth Will Make Us Free:
A Queer Year in Review
by Rev. Patrick S. Cheng, Ph.D.,
December 28, 2010 – The Huffington Post
Anti-gay Christians love to quote John 8:32, which says that "the truth will make you free." According to them, if only lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people would simply accept the truths of the Christian faith, we would discover the error of our ways, repent of our sins and miraculously change our misdirected sexual orientations and/or gender identities.
As an openly-gay theologian, ordained Christian minister and seminary professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I agree that the truth will make us free. However, the anti-gay Christians have it backwards. As the groundbreaking events of 2010 have demonstrated, it is actually the truth of the fundamental goodness of LGBT people and our lives that will make us free. Ironically, this truth also will free anti-gay Christians of their own heterosexist prejudices and theological blind spots.
What were some of the truths about the goodness of LGBT people and our lives that were demonstrated in 2010? In August, the first fully-litigated U.S. federal court trial about same-sex marriage concluded that there was no rational basis for prohibiting LGBT people from entering into civil marriage. The trial court struck down California Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that stripped LGBT people in California of the right to marry. Judge Vaughn R. Walker's ruling demonstrated the truth that LGBT civil marriages are grounded in the same ethical values of love, mutual caring and commitment as non-LGBT civil marriages.
…
What if the warning of Romans 1:18-21 against the "ungodliness" and "wickedness" of those who "suppress the truth" -- and those whose "senseless minds" are "darkened" -- actually referred to those anti-gay Christians who fail to acknowledge the truth and empirical evidence about the fundamental goodness and loving nature of LGBT people and our relationships?
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Patrick S. Cheng is a theologian, seminary professor, and ordained minister. He is the Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He holds a Ph.D., M.Phil., and M.A. in systematic theology from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He also holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Yale College.
Patrick is an ordained minister with the Metropolitan Community Churches, an LGBT-affirming Christian denomination that is open to all people. He is the coordinator of Queer Asian Spirit, an organization dedicated to the spiritual and religious lives of LGBT people of Asian descent around the world and their allies. Patrick lives with his husband of nearly two decades, Michael. His website is www.patrickcheng.net.
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This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. - William Shakespeare
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. - Luke 6:40-42 Photo
What you cannot do is accept injustice.
From Hitler – or anyone.
You must make the injustice visible – be prepared to die like a soldier to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
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