The Gaytheist Agenda

Today is IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia.

In 2008 there were 1,706 reported hate crimes against individuals who were targeted because of their sexual orientation.

Teens rejected by their families for being LGBT are 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide.

LGBT youth suffer substantially higher rates of substance abuse and mental illness as a direct result of homophobia.

LGBT people are told they should hide who they are to avoid inconveniencing those who choose to be intolerant.

Homophobia hurts. It even kills. And it’s completely unnecessary.

It’s time we put an end to homophobia once and for all.

 

Pat Condell takes on the sex abuse scandals and other atrocities in the Catholic Church. Video contains some mature content and will undoubtedly offend some believers.

Now in my personal opinion Satan would not be a Catholic. He would, if he existed, have far more taste than that….

 

A fascinating talk by Carolyn Steele.

This past week while rambling around the Internet I discovered three things I really wanted to share.

 
Empowering Spirits Foundation

Proud Hearts Reach Out
Join Us October 10th-11th!

The Empowering Spirits Foundation will hold its Proud Hearts Reach Out events in conjunction with Coming Out Day in numerous cities nationwide. The events are designed to allow LGBT individuals to work side-by-side with non-LGBT members of society in an effort to open up communication between both sides. ESF has partnered with MyOutSpirit.com and the various other organizations.
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Foundation Beyond Belief

Foundation Beyond Belief is a new 501c3 charitable and educational foundation created (1) to focus, encourage and demonstrate humanistic generosity, and (2) to support a nationwide education and support program for nontheistic parents.

The Foundation will highlight ten charitable organizations per quarter–one in each of ten areas (health, poverty, environment, education, human rights, and more). Members join the Foundation by signing up for a monthly automatic donation in the amount of their choice, then set up personal profiles to indicate how they would like their contribution distributed among the ten categories. Maybe you’d like to give 25 percent each to human rights, poverty, education, and the environment. We’ll distribute it accordingly. By year’s end, you will have helped support a dozen organizations in the areas you care most about.
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Carefully selected for impact and efficiency, the beneficiaries may be founded on any worldview so long as they do not engage in proselytizing. At the end of each quarter, 100 percent of the donations will be forwarded and a new slate of beneficiaries selected.
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The Devilfinder Search Engine

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DevilFinder Technology
With DevilFinder you can get at least 300 Total results from a single search query. How do we do this?, How is this possible??… Leave the thinking up to us. Just Relax and search all you want. With DevilFinder Technology anything is possible…

DevilFinder is Good for Websites
With DevilFinder search results your website is more likely to show up as opposed to being buried by google results due to the listing being in page number #8 or so. DevilFinder gives more exposure to low-ranking websites than other search engines out there!
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DevilFinder Does NOT Collect any Search Data from visitors.
We do not collect or track any information about what you searched for or where you clicked or go during your visit, unlike “Yahoo” or other popular search engines. No cookies or Javascript that invades your privacy. The only information we store is how many hits we get a month and any hacking attempts made on our servers.
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Let DevilFinder Send You To Hell
Now that you know who we are, Please let us send you to hell by searching for something. It could be anything like “Devil” or “Finder” or “Hell” or even “Evil”.

What is International Blasphemy Day? The basics:

International Blasphemy Day is not just a day. It is a movement to dismantle the wall which exists between religion and criticism.
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The objective of International Blasphemy Day is to open up all religious beliefs to the same level of free inquiry, discussion and criticism to which all other areas of academic interest are subjected.

Why September 30? The last day in September is the anniversary of the original publication of Danish cartoons in 2005 depicting the prophet Muhammad’s face. Any visual depiction of Muhammad is considered a grave offence under Islamic law.
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The newspapers which chose to publish these cartoons were in many cases blamed for the outpouring of violence which followed. This unfortunate yet inevitable sequence of events clearly demonstrated a dangerous misconception that had piggy-backed into the 21st century on the shoulders of ignorance, fear and apathy, that all religious beliefs and ideas deserve respect and are beyond criticism or satire.

International Blasphemy Day is a movement, not just a day, to remind the world that religion should never again be beyond open and honest discussion or reproach. Our future depends on it.

I can get behind that 100%. I’ve said more than once that we need to shove religion and “faith” off their pedestals and disabuse ourselves of the notion that they should be protected from question or criticism. Some people believe they should be able to do as they please in the name of their “deeply held religious beliefs” and never have to be held accountable for it. That’s not only offensive but dangerous.

So how do you celebrate International Blasphemy Day? Blaspheme on your Blog. Blaspheme in a video you post online. Blaspheme in the public square. You can also enter the Center For Inquiry’s contest:

Some governments and institutions—and even some individuals—want to keep certain topics off limits. This is especially true with religion. In many places, discussions and questions about religion are discouraged, even punished. But how can we come to our own conclusions about religion if we can’t freely examine and discuss it?

To encourage free expression and to celebrate Blasphemy Day 2009 (September 30), CFI and its sister organization, the Council for Secular Humanism, are sponsoring a Blasphemy Contest.

Blasphemy: n. the act of denying or scoffing at God or God’s alleged attributes.

To enter, all you have to do is create a phrase, poem, or statement that would be or would have been considered blasphemous. Entries may take any form (haiku anyone?), but must be 20 words or less. The top 5 winners will receive CFI t-shirts with their submission printed on the shirt. In addition to the shirt, the first place winner will also receive a mug imprinted with the winning phrase, recognition in Free Inquiry magazine, general publicity, and, naturally, eternal damnation.

There is also, of course, a Facebook group for the event.

Now get out there and be blasphemous!

 

I know members of the RRRW don’t care. To them these individuals have it coming for “going against God’s design”. But to me it’s horrifying that at least 200 transgender people, an average of one every three days, have been killed worldwide in the past year and a half.

 

Sad, but probably not shocking. The European organization “Transgender Europe” has a new report out this week documenting worldwide violence against trans people, and the findings show an alarming increase in violence toward transgender people. Evidence presented by Transgender Europe tells the gruesome story: between January 2008 and June 2009, more than 200 trans people were murdered in the world.

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The cases have been reported from all six World regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The majority of cases have been reported from Latin America and North America. On these continents the majority of cases have been reported from Brazil (59) and the U.S.A. (16) for 2008 and from Brazil (23), Venezuela (20), and Guatemala (10) for the first six months of 2009. Moreover, the preliminary results show a total of 11 murdered trans people reported for Colombia followed by 5 for Honduras and 4 for Mexico and Venezuela for 2008, and 6 for Mexico and 3 for Argentina, and the Dominican Republic for the first six months of 2009.

In the United States, of course, we’re familiar with the face of violence toward trans folks. One has to look no further than Latiesha Green, or Angie Zapata, or Ebony Whitaker to see that for U.S. folks, this is happening in our own backyards.

Of course, what’s even more frightening about the Transgender Europe report is that the 200+ murders they’ve documented over the past year and a half are likely a lowball figure. It’s hard to collect accurate evidence on violence committed toward LGBT folks around the globe, since large amounts of violence go unreported.

The study itself is part of an ongoing campaign organized by Transgender Europe and the medical/health journal Liminalis, called The Trans Murder Monitoring Project. The goal of the project is to document trans violence throughout the globe, putting both names and faces to the epidemic.

 

How many innocent people have to die before something is done? Before we as a nation, and a world, say “enough”?

 

Given Obama’s latest blatant trashing of LGBT rights, and the fact that it is Pride Month, I thought it fitting to write about the Yobyakarta Principles, which “address a broad range of international human rights standards and their application to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity”. I discovered them through ZackFordBlogs.

Overview:

Preamble: The Preamble acknowledges human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, establishes the relevant legal framework, and provides definitions of key terms.

Rights to Universal Enjoyment of Human Rights, Non-Discrimination and Recognition before the Law: Principles 1 to 3 set out the principles of the universality of human rights and their application to all persons without discrimination, as well as the right of all people to recognition before the law.

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Rights to Human and Personal Security: Principles 4 to 11 address fundamental rights to life, freedom from violence and torture, privacy, access to justice and freedom from arbitrary detention.

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Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Principles 12 to 18 set out the importance of non-discrimination in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, including employment, accommodation, social security, education and health.

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Rights to Expression, Opinion and Association: Principles 19 to 21 emphasise the importance of the freedom to express oneself, one’s identity and one’s sexuality, without State interference based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including the rights to participate peaceably in public assemblies and events and otherwise associate in community with others.

Example:
· A peaceful gathering to promote equality on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity was banned by authorities, and participants were harassed and intimidated by police and extremist nationalists shouting slogans such as “Let’s get the fags” and “We’ll do to you what Hitler did with Jews” (report of the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia & related intolerance).

Freedom of Movement and Asylum: Principles 22 and 23 highlight the rights of persons to seek asylum from persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

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Rights of Participation in Cultural and Family Life: Principles 24 to 26 address the rights of persons to participate in family life, public affairs and the cultural life of their community, without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Example:
· States have an obligation not to discriminate between different-sex and same-sex relationships in allocating partnership benefits such as survivors’ pensions (decision of the UN Human Rights Committee).

Rights of Human Rights Defenders: Principle 27 recognises the right to defend and promote human rights without discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the obligation of States to ensure the protection of human rights defenders working in these areas.

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Rights of Redress and Accountability: Principles 28 and 29 affirm the importance of holding rights violators accountable, and ensuring appropriate redress for those who face rights violations.

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Additional Recommendations: The Principles set out 16 additional recommendations to national human rights institutions, professional bodies, funders, NGOs, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN agencies, treaty bodies, Special Procedures, and others.

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Read about the Yogyakarta Principles in detail.

LGBT rights are human rights, and they are civil rights. They are not “one issue”, a “pet issue” or something to be dismissed. They are long overdue and there are no legitimate excuses for denying them. Ever.

 

Ironic that the people who spend the most time screaming “Won’t somebody please think of the Children” are the ones who treat them the worst. But it’s true. I’ve said more than once that they don’t actually care about children–theirs or anybody else’s. To them children are property to do with as they see fit, mold into carbon-copies of themselves, use as political tools, use as weapons against others, etc. Behind all of this is RRRW religion. Richard Collins of End Hereditary Religion delves into the connection between religion and child abuse.

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Actually, I don’t sleep so well at night and I obviously have not researched the entire history of the human race but you have brought up an important point. What historians tell us about the lives of children past takes a strong stomach to digest. It is a tale of almost casual acceptance of infanticide, murder, rape, slavery, sexual abuse and abandonment. Was this a result of religion? Certainly as far as Christianity goes some of it definitely was and remains so today. The proximate cause: the insidious dogma of original sin and the idea that babies are corrupt the moment they leave their mothers womb. Christian apologists skip over the toxic portions of their bible and vigorously try to downplay them, but original sin is a defining feature of most Christian sects.
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Today progressive forces are working around the world to put an end to child battering. Who opposes this? In the main, Christians. And please don’t shuck this off on “bad” Christians. The reason parents (and teachers in 20 states) batter their children so freely is contained in the bible which is the common source of guidance for all believers in Christianity. Given holy direction means some parents batter their children with absolutely no sense of guilt, indeed some are proud to announce they are following their Lord. Ruthless twisted people like James Dobson must share the blame.

If religion is to be regarded as such a positive force in human lives, and if our holy books offer the best moral guidance humanity can conceive of, and if these holy books have been around for centuries, why was wanton cruelty extensively visited on children in the past? Historically, religion was far more prevalent as a means of social control than it is now. I mean, if you were so incautious as to say you did not believe, the establishment would cook your a**. Priests carefully attended to those who did not show up on Sundays (maybe they still do). Given these facts, why didn’t the holy books exert the beneficial power modern adherents extravagantly claim for them now? Indeed, examine the world around us today and you will see children pressed into military service, abandoned on the streets, sold into slavery, sexually abused, and murdered with impunity. In the midst of golden temples to religion stocked to the rafters with holy books.
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ust last month the Ryan Commission in Ireland released their report. Anyone with a heart is horrified by the details provided in this report. How such despicable treatment of vulnerable children could exist for decades in Catholic institutions should make us all stop and demand some answers. The horrors meted out by Irish Catholic institutions bears witness to what happens when a system has power over people and that system is not answerable to those people. Moreover, when that powerful system refuses to hear the cries of children. Bad Christians? No, I say bad systems. There is undniable evidence the children tried to escape and tried to get help. Their cries were ignored. Why? Will some practicing Christian please tell me why the cries of the children were ignored? What systemic problem in religion allowed this to happen in modern times.
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Bill Donohue has already explained why the abuse in Ireland went ignored for so long. Most of it wasn’t “real abuse” you see–only rape constitutes actual abuse. And anyway most of those children were “miscreants” so they deserved whatever they got.

Here is a taped session of a victim responding to the the Ryan Commission:

Will Kott did the transcript and has this to say:

“A question is asked about the Ryan Commission report on child abuse within institutions run by the religious orders in Ireland. After the panel had spoken the questioner responded and his response…well see for yourself.

Michael O’Brien Transcript

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Goal

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The proposed goal for the 2009 Campaign is to make the general population and, more specifically, ethno-cultural communities of all backgrounds more aware of gay and lesbian issues, and sexual diversity. Ethno-cultural communities occupy an increasingly significant place in our societies. What’s more, contributions by these communities are invaluable to our country.
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Keeping in mind how homosexuality is a universal fact and that borders cannot be forced on it, the 2009 Campaign is aimed towards helping these people to become integrated within their host society and to make ethno-cultural communities aware of sexual diversity issues. In addition, LGBT people and their communities will benefit from their own community’s improved openness toward their issues.

Homophobia

Similar to racism, xenophobia or anti-semitism, homophobia is also a form of discrimination.

Homophobia is a negative attitude or feeling, an aversion toward gay men and lesbians or toward homosexuality in general.

Homophobia surfaces as hatred, disparagement, hostility, and rejection of people considered to be gay or lesbian and of things associated with them, especially against people whose appearance and behaviour do not fit male or female gender stereotypes.

Manifestations of Homophobia

Both on a conscious or sub-conscious level, homophobia surfaces in various ways and can even be internalised.

* Homophobic Attitudes
Feelings or convictions that gays and lesbians are abnormal or sick’
* Homophobia-inspired Heterosexism
The false belief that everybody is heterosexual and that only heterosexuality is acceptable and legitimate’ This belief is based on the idea that the majority sets the norm’
* Homophobic Language
The use of vocabulary and expressions that can span from jokes to insults’
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* Institutionalised/Systemic Homophobia
The built-in institutional practice of putting gays and lesbians at a disadvantage’
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* Condoned (passive) Homophobia
Silence or lack of response to acts of homophobic language or behaviour that call for someone to intervene and put an end to them’
* Homophobic Violence
An extreme display of homophobia that leads to violence and can range from verbal assault to hate crimes’

Homophobia also takes the form of anti-gay legislation like bans on same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, opposition to the addition of LGBT people to existing hate-crimes legislation and the continued insistence that bigotry/discrimination towards LGBT people constitutes “religious freedom”. For more information on this critical worldwide problem and means to combat it click the banner.

 

Today is Blogging Against Disablism Day.

This is the day where all around the world. Disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we’ve made.

As frequent readers of TGA may know, I worked for two decades in Human Services with adults who had a variety of disability diagnoses. I also have numerous family members with disabilities. I’m a strong advocate for the rights of people with disabilities and detest all forms of discrimination against them.

I’ve seen many forms of discrimination against people with disabilities, or disablism. Just a few of them include:

*Presuming the disability diagnosis defined the individual/putting the label first instead of seeing the person before the disability.
*Talking to a family member or caregiver rather than the individual based on the assumption that the individual cannot speak for themselves and/or cannot understand.
*Assuming the individual is incompetent rather than presuming competence just as one would with a person who doesn’t have a disability label.
*Ignoring the individual’s expressed desires and needs based on the presumption that they’re “too disabled” to really understand anything.
*Treating the individual as a perpetual child regardless of their chronological age.

For more information: Queers United has a wonderful list of links for the LGBT disabled community and Diary of a Goldfish provides dozens of links to other BAD and disability related posts.