…The statement said that 'the background to the cancellation is the Malawian government's current lack of readiness for a constructive dialogue on various laws,' including one limiting press freedom, another expanding anti-gay laws to women, and curbs on judicial independence.
Kopp's cancellation of his visit comes fast on the heels of Berlin's decision to cut its development aid to Malawi by half (about 5bn Malawi Kwacha) because of concerns about new anti-media freedom and homo-phobic laws.
Photo
Britain, the US, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, France and Norway have also expressed similar concerns…
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Banning farts: more important than gay rights in Malawi
By James Creedon,
10/2/2011 – France24
INTERNATIONAL PAPERS, Thurs., 10/2/2011: Many US hospitals are banning smokers (not just smoking) in the workplace; Japan is cracking down on pornographic manga comics...and Malawi is seeking to ban public farting! Malawi's priorities are perhaps askew seeing as the US and Germany are withholding aid because of the country's refusal to repeal laws that criminalize homosexuality and gag the print press… Photo
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Peter Tatchell
Vatican blocks gay human rights vote at the UN.
Catechism reviles gays as "debased", disordered" and a "grave depravity".
LONDON – Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was confronted by gay rights protesters this morning (Sunday 4 April 2004) as the Palm Sunday procession entered Westminster Cathedral in London. The main doors of the Cathedral were picketed by six campaigners from the gay human rights group OutRage!.
Peter Tatchell remonstrated with the Cardinal on the Cathedral steps: “Your church protects paedophile priests, while persecuting gay people in loving relationships. You support legal discrimination against gay people and oppose gay equality and human rights”.
The Cardinal remained impassive and indifferent, as he and his aides pushed through the peaceful protesters.
The protesters were violently manhandled by clergy and congregants, with some being punched and knocked to the ground. Several congregants taunted the gay campaigners as “sick”, and “unnatural”, as they tore placards from their hands.
The placards read: “Vatican blocks gay human rights at UN”, “Catholics! Stop crucifying queers!”, and “Gays are not ‘intrinsically disordered’ – Shame on Catholic Catechism!”.
"We were protesting against the Vatican's blocking of a UN vote last week which would have condemned homophobic discrimination and the imprisonment, torture, murder of gay people", said Peter Tatchell of OutRage!...
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Gay church 'marriages' set to get the go-ahead13 February 2011 – BBC News
Ministers are expected to publish plans to enable same-sex couples to "marry" in church, the BBC has learned.
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is to propose lifting the ban on civil partnerships taking place in religious settings in England and Wales.
There are no plans to compel religious organisations to hold ceremonies and the Church of England has said it would not allow its churches to be used. Photo
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the change was "long overdue".
Civil partnerships ceremonies are currently entirely secular…
Equality Act
…The proposals were welcomed by gay rights campaigners but may raise the ire of many churchgoers.
Mr Tatchell said: "Permitting faith organisations to make their own decision on whether to conduct same-sex civil partnerships is the democratic and decent thing to do…
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Human Rights, Democracy, Global Justice, LGBTI Freedom
Read & learn more:
Gay couples may soon be able to tie the knot in church - by Barry Neild,February 13, 2011 – guardian.co.uk
Read more:
Benedict XVI UNSUBSTANTIATED Claims That
same-sex couples violates 'natural law'
Benedict XVI – MUST Provide Documentation
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Galileo & Gay Marriage 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
Gay rights groups attack iPhone confession app for Roman Catholics
by Jamie Doward and Gabriel Stargardter,
February 13, 2011 – guardian.co.uk
The launch of an iPhone app that guides Catholics through confession has prompted a furious response from gay rights groups, who accuse it of "promoting anti-gay spiritual abuse"…
…A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said it was a "useful tool to help people prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation". Among the questions users are asked is: "Have I been guilty of any homosexual activity?"
Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a group that campaigns on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people, accused the app of "helping to create neurotic individuals who are ashamed of who they are".
"This is cyber spiritual abuse that promotes backward ideas in a modern package," said Besen. "Gay Catholics don't need to confess, they need to come out of the closet and challenge anti-gay dogma. The false idea that being gay is something to be ashamed of has destroyed too many lives. This iPhone app is facilitating and furthering the harm."…
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Truth Wins Out
Non-profit organization that defends the GLBT community against anti-gay misinformation campaigns through media advocacy and university outreach.
Apple: Stand Strong Against Homophobia and Anti-Gay Discrimination
December 15, 2010 – Change.org News
Heard of the Manhattan Declaration? It's a document and campaign started by Watergate felon Chuck Colson to organize conservative religious leaders in opposition to same-sex marriage. Signers of the declaration, which include prominent conservatives from a broad swath of faiths, say that while they don't intend to inflict violence on LGBT people, they firmly believe that same-sex relationships are "sexually immoral," and that anti-gay activists ought to break laws, if necessary, to keep gays and lesbians from marrying.
Naturally, many people find the premise behind the Declaration offensive. Cloaked in a mantra of "Hey, we're not for discrimination, we're just for Christian principles," the Declaration gives religious cover for the type of stigmatization and anti-gay work that continues to allow LGBT people to be fired from their jobs, denied access at hospitals to see their partners, denied the chance to share health and insurance benefits, and denied the chance to have their relationships recognized…
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Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor
He is the former Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, as well as the former Director of Communications for Pax Christi USA, a national Catholic peace and justice organization…
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30 yrs Benedict XVI Silencing Homosexuality.
“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.” Emile Zola
What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
Luke 12:3
Andrew Sullivan/Atlantic – view video:
Related:
Acrobats perform for Pope Benedict XVI – msnbc.com – view video
Why Are These Men Slowly Stripping for the Pope?
By Chris Rovzar
New York Magazine
Read & view video:
FAMILY ACCEPTANCE of LGBT Youth Protects Against Suicide, Depression & Substance Abuse and Predicts Better Health & Self-Esteem
Caitlin Ryan, PhD
Iowa’s Catholic Bishops urge legislators to Discriminate Against Adults and Children Who Are Gay
Bishops Lack Substantiating Evidence To Support Claim, February 9, 2011
Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?
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
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
"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." Erik Erikson
…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6
Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children.
Kids are being hurt!!!
