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Below you will find information on the Rainbow Sash
Movement. I have always been
an activist for Equality. It
may be the reason why I rail against all forms of injustice.
Part of our mission is to ensure equality for everyone.
So it is appropriate to post this commentary and provide this
information on this site.
What is below are not my own words, but express the
feelings I have and the reality of the human situation for those who are
queer – women, poor, people of color, and so on.
The words below that are italicized and are underlined are of
greater weight in my opinion than the others.
You may judge for your self and make your conclusions based on
your own consciousness of course.
If you to want to make a statement in silence you can
wear a Rainbow Sash on Pentecost Sunday (in
the Catholic Churches liturgical calendar that is May 27, 2007 this
year) in your faith community to express your disgust with disunity and
intolerance in our world. If
you are unable to make or purchase a rainbow sash e-mail a message to sashmovement@aol.com
that you are in need of a sash to make a statement in you faith
community and they will send you one.
It is not just the catholics who are having trouble
with this. As a nation we
are being lead to disunity over these issues as well.
Specifically with regards GLBT human rights issue it is splitting
every Christian sect except two. Yesterday
an Episcopal parish broke away from the church.
It is not limited to just the west or to Christians either.
Last year author Irshad Manji wrote about the treatment of
GLBT’s in Islam with her book “the Trouble with Islam Today”.
In the conservative Jewish sects the GLBT members are living out
their faith in fear and under cover as well.
Enjoy the information, Brightest Blessings &
Equality for all,
Chris
_______________________________________________________________
Homophobia and
injustice remain bitter fruits of our inhumanity to one another, but
through its ministry of social justice and solidarity, the Rainbow Sash
Movement (RSM) brings hope to many American Catholics who have been
marginalized, or alienated from the Church. The Catholic Bishops of the
Our Church cannot afford a shrill and shallow debate that distorts the
reality of the homosexual person and reduces the options of discussion
to either silence, or name calling. Instead we need a forthright
discussion that begins with an honest assessment of homosexuality and
acknowledges the mistakes that have been made and seek reconciliation.
The Central moral question is not
freedom of religion rather it is freedom from the oppression of
religion. No religious group should be allowed to deny any group of
American citizens their Constitutional Rights in the name of Freedom of
Religion.
The National Catholic Bishops Conference is at a crossroads. The Rainbow
Sash Movement has consistently voiced this concern. They must avoid two directions the first is intolerance, and the
second is homophobia. We continue to believe the current policy
of the Catholic Bishops on glbt human rights is to restrictive. Going
forward the Bishops must act with a constructive and informed realism
and must engage glbt people in any discussion of their human
rights. More immediately, our church must engage in serious and
civil dialogue in order to walk a difficult path toward a responsible
position that seeks to help glbt people and not do violence to them.
The spirituality of the Rainbow Sash Movement is
primarily an approach to God in response to God's invitation found in
Sacred Scripture: "Seek first the
Our spirituality flows from a belief in a God who comes to those who are
disposed to listening, who will preserver in seeking God even when it
seems pointless or boring. Our
spirituality is not a running from (obligations, tragedies, brokenness),
but running toward - seeking a meaning to the mystery of life in the
presence of the living God. To help us on our way we ask our members to
engage in daily prayer 3 times a day, morning, noon and evening. It is
only in prayer we will find justice, mercy, charity, love and patience.
Hosea cries out that our Father seeks mercy and love, and not the mere
adherence to the law (or man made laws). I wonder do we do the same
today by being controlled by dogmatic Nazi’s. The
debate today about Dogma in the Church is not so different in many ways
from the Pharisees’ almost violent adherence to the Law, and their
disdain for sinners. Today our Catholic Bishops are ready to crucify
anyone who gets in their way, anyone who does not agree with them –
whether their disagreement be from reason or ignorance. Unfortunately
the issue of ideal becomes far more important than the life and soul of
any individual.
We are continuously reminded in the Gospels that kingdom of heaven is
for the poor and the marginalized. One honestly expressed desire by a thief on a
cross stole heaven. Murderers, pimps, thieves, dictators and tyrants,
and yes, even self-righteous finger pointing bishops, corrupt
televangelists, presidents of countries large and small and even cranky
members of the Rainbow Sash Movement. Why would any block their way?
Our spirituality like our faith is never imposed. Each individual must
decide for him or herself whether they will welcome it into their lives.
We welcome all to take up the Rainbow Sash. Above all our spirituality
is to be found in the full reign of God as active and motivating action
of Love in the hearts of His children.
The Rainbow Sash Movement is committed to keeping GLBT Catholic
Laity focused on our fractured, and crumbling Church brought about the
the abuse scandal, the secrecy, the financial corruption, and the lack
of accountability. We will continue to support the sex abuse survivors,
and support our many priests of integrity through actions that are
grounded in love, hope, and charity. We will continue to call for
structural change in the Church. We also believe it is time to call for
financial disclosures from both Arch/dioceses and parishes. GLBT
Catholics must reclaim their baptismal responsibility and remember
the
We pray for healing in
our Church and a return to Jesus Christ, not a Magisterium out of touch
with "The Sense of the Faithful". There is a need to move
beyond the Church as a medieval structure not only to welcome GLBT
people, but women, and yes the divorced and remarried into full
communion. To be a faithful Catholic is to take your faith and live in
the real muddy world. Yes, we are all sinners and in need of change of
heart, not sexual orientation.
In today's reality the
Church is sign of disunity. We must work to bring the Church back
to the Unity that Christ speaks of. If we cannot get our own
house in order why bother with the Ecumenical Processes, in deed we will
be hypocrites.
Rainbow Sash Movement
The Rainbow Sash Movement is an organization of
gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender Catholics, with their families and
friends, who are publicly calling the Catholic Church to conversion of
heart around issues of human sexuality.
Members of the movement are committed to bringing the gifts, the witness
and the challenge of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people into
the heart of the church. Through our public, prayerful, visible presence
at the Eucharist and in the ongoing life of God's People, through our
work for justice, through speaking the truth of our lives and our
loving, we call the whole church to build with us a future of
liberation, reconciliation and joy for all people.
April 20, 2006
A Catholic Defense of Same Sex Marriage
By Professor Daniel C. Maguire
a Catholic Theologian teaching at
maguired@juno.com
The Catholic Church is beginning to rediscover what it once knew; that
not all persons are heterosexual, that many people are homosexual and
that this is just fine. In the past, the Church accepted homosexuality
more openly and even had liturgies to celebrate same sex unions.1
There was a recognition that different sexual orientations are clearly
part of God's plan for creation-some people are heterosexual and some
are homosexual-this is the way God made us and we have no right to
criticize God.
Wherever the human race is found we find persons of differing sexual
orientations. (We find the same thing in God's animal kingdom.) Human
history shows that some humans have same-sex attractions and unions and
others have opposite-sex attractions and unions. The desire to bond
lovingly and sexually with persons of the same sex or of the opposite
sex, is a fact of life, a fact of God's creation, and we have no right
to call it unholy. As the Acts of the Apostles says in the
Bible, we have no right to declare unclean anything that God has made (Acts
of the Apostles 10:15). To do so, in fact, is a sin.
Obviously not all Catholics have heard this message. Prejudice against homosexual persons is common. Theologians call this the sin of heterosexism, a sin like racism, anti-Semitism, and sexism. These are sins that condemn people for being what they are, not for what these people do. These sins of prejudice are cruel sins that condemn people no matter how good these people are. If people are not white or are not male or are not heterosexual, they are condemned, even if they are saints. This is what racism, sexism, and heterosexism do. If homosexual persons live out their reality and enter into beautiful, same-sex relationships full of love and commitment and fidelity, we condemn them. Even if their unions are more successful, more lasting, more exemplary than some heterosexual unions, we still condemn them. Surely that is unjust.
Years ago, the Catholic theologian Father Andre Guindon wrote: "Christian communities should begin to receive homosexuals in their midst as full-fledged brothers and sisters and as those to whom God also offers his love."2 Catholic theologian Mary Hunt asks: "What could possibly be wrong with loving, mutual, safe, consensual, community-building sexual relationships between committed male or female partners?"3
But, are same-sex unions really marriage?
All the religions of the world give marriage a very high place. Marriage can be defined as the unique and special form of committed friendship between sexually attracted persons. This definition does not say that the persons have to be heterosexually attracted. Persons attracted to a person of their same sex can still be married. Marriage is a supreme human good involving exclusive, committed, enduring, generous, and faithful love, and this kind of love is not something that only heterosexuals can achieve. (In fact, some heterosexuals are not very good at it. Theologian Mary Hunt points out that "In fact, heterosexual marriages end in divorce as often as in death." 4) Friendship and love and commitment are human virtues and gay and lesbian persons are human and fully capable of a healthy human committed love in marriage. We have no moral right to declare marriage off limits to persons whom God has made gay. We have no right to say that marriage, with all of its advantages and beauty, is a reward for being heterosexual.
Dr. Hunt also points out how unfair it would be to say that heterosexual Catholics have seven sacraments but homosexual Catholics only have six if marriage is denied them. Who could imagine God creating people who are gay and then denying them the right to express their sincere and honest love in the holy sacrament of matrimony!
But what of the objections to same-sex unions?
St. Thomas Aquinas always said that it is important to know the objections to any teaching that you accept. When you face those objections you can come to know your own position better.
OBJECTIONS
Objection #1 The Bible says all homosexual activity is evil and sinful.
First of all, this is true. There are objections to same-sex unions
in the Bible. However, many things in the Bible simply describe how
people lived when the Bible was written. Not everything that the Bible
tells us is something we could or should do today. For example, the
Bible (Leviticus 25:44-46) tells us that we may buy and own slaves and
"use them permanently" and will them to our children when we
die! In the past, people who did not know how to interpret the Bible
used these texts to justify slavery in Latin America and in
The Bible also forbids eating shell fish (Leviticus 11:9-10) but we
do not feel we should obey that today.
The Bible also says that wives should obey their husbands as if their
husbands were God (Ephesians 5:22-24) and that wives should be
"subjects to their husbands in everything." This made women
slaves to their husbands and for along time people justified male
control of women by using these Bible texts. The Church then learned
that these texts described the way life was lived at that
time but did not prescribe that we should live that way.
They found better ideals in the same Bible and used them to correct
these texts. Thus interpreters of the Bible went to Galatians 3:28 and
there found the liberating ideal that "all persons [male and
female]are one person in Christ Jesus," and that therefore no
hostile divisions should be made between male and female, with neither
one dominating the other.
When we come to the biblical texts on homosexuality we see right away
that we could never treat them as rules for our day. The book of
Leviticus says that anyone who has sex with someone of the same sex
"shall be put to death: their blood shall be on their own
heads"(20:13).
The Catholic Church today condemns capital punishment and even conservative Catholics and other Christians who condemn all homosexual relationships do not call for the death penalty for gays and lesbians.
Obviously, there are many moral questions that are not answered in the Bible. Homosexuality is one of them. What Catholic and other Christian and Jewish scholars do is to take the main principles of justice, compassion, respect and love for persons as God created (both heterosexuals and homosexuals are created in God's image) and apply these principles to today's moral issues such as homosexuality and same-sex marriage. That is why Catholic and other Christian and Jewish theologians defend same sex marriages today. They say that denying all homosexual persons the expression of their sexuality is unjust and sinful.
Do all Catholics and other Christians agree on same-sex marriage? No. Just as some Christians see all war as immoral and become pacifists, some others say there can be a "just war." Christians, including Catholics, have learned to live with these differences and to respect one another and live together anyhow. Catholics are now beginning to practice the same tolerance regarding homosexuality.
Objection #2: The Catholic hierarchy condemns all homosexual sex.
That is true. When Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he issued a teaching that said: "Respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions."5 Undoubtedly that is still the position of the pope. The question is how Catholics should evaluate the pope's position.
The Church consists of more than the pope and the bishops. In
Catholicism there are three sources of truth, (or three "magisteria"):
the hierarchy, the theologians, and the wisdom
and experience of the laity (called in Latin sensus fidelium).
In Catholic history, each of these sources of truth has at times been
right and each of them has at times been wrong. So, for example, for
many centuries the bishops, popes, and theologians taught that it was a
mortal sin to take any interest on a loan, even one half of one percent
interest. After a while, the laity, through their own experience with
lending money, decided that a little interest was reasonable and fair to
compensate the lender. Too much interest was wrong but a little interest
as payment for the use of your money was reasonable and moral. In other
words, the laity disagreed with the hierarchy and the theologians, and
the laity was right. A hundred years after the laity made a decision on
interest and acted on it, some theologians said they agreed; a hundred
years later, the
At other times in history, the hierarchy and theologians taught that slavery was moral and that anti-Semitism was not a sin. Obviously they were wrong and they eventually were corrected.
Something like that is now going on regarding homosexuality. Many
Catholic theologians agree now with Protestant and Jewish theologians
that same sex unions can be moral, healthy, and holy.6
Many Catholic people are living in same sex unions and adopting
children and still practicing their Catholic faith. Many priests realize
this and welcome these couples to Communion at Mass and even have
private liturgical celebrations of their unions. Bishop Walter Sullivan
of
Obviously, then, Catholic teaching is in transition on this subject and Catholics are free to let their consciences decide either for or against same sex marriages. Both views-for or against homosexual marriage-are at home in the Catholic world and neither one of them can be called more orthodox or more official or more Catholic than the other.
Is the pope then wrong? I would join many other Catholic theologians in saying that he is definitely wrong and he will be corrected some day by one of his successors and by the rest of the church as previous popes who permitted slavery etc. were corrected. This is the way of the Church. After all, Pope Benedict also teaches that a spouse whose partner is HIV positive is still not permitted to use a condom for protection. This is obviously wrong and some bishops have even come out and said so. Almost all Catholic theologians say the pope is wrong on that point.
There is a clear distinction to be made between "
In an old Catholic teaching called Probabilism we find the answer for
Catholics. When there is a debate on a moral issue (in this case same
sex unions), where there are good reasons and good authorities on both
sides of the debate, Catholics are free to make up their own minds.8
This means that Catholic same-sex couples are perfectly free to practice
their Catholic faith, receive the sacraments, and never feel that God
forbids their union-or that their faithful, sexual union is anything but
holy.
The view that homosexual people are condemned to involuntary celibacy
for life is as cruel as it is absurd. Jesus said of celibacy: "Let
those accept it who can" (Matthew 19:12). Voluntary celibacy for a
good cause is something some can do but it is seen as a special talent,
a special gift that not all have. The
Objection # 3: Homosexuality is a mental illness.
Some psychiatrists in the past did think homosexuality was an illness. That is no longer the case and it is an insult to homosexual people to keep repeating that old and outmoded theory. Studies of gay couples indicate that they tend "to appear as well adjusted as heterosexuals, or occasionally, even more so."11
Objection # 4: Children will be damaged unless they grow up in a home with a mother and a father.
This is not true. Psychologist Charlotte Patterson, among many others, has done extensive research on children of lesbian and gay parents. Her conclusion is that this does not present problems and does not lead to any higher rates of homosexual children.12 Theologian Mary Hunt writes: "Many lesbian and gay families have adopted children, welcoming them with love and affection, reasoning that a child's life with one parent or two parents of the same sex is far better than languishing in an institution or, worse, dying from neglect."13
Objection #5: Homosexuality is unnatural because it is never found in animals.
This is untrue. In his extensive study, Biological Exuberance:
Animal Homosexuality and National Diversity, biologist Bruce
Bagemihl shows that homosexuality is part of our evolutionary heritage
as primates. He reports that more than 450 species regularly engage in a
wide range of same-sex activities ranging from copulation to long-term
bonding.14
CONCLUSION
Homosexuality is not a sin. Heterosexism (prejudice against people who are homosexual) is a sin. It is a serious sin because it violates justice, truth, and love. It also distorts the true meaning of sex and thus also harms everyone, including heterosexuals.
It's what you do with your homosexuality or your heterosexuality that
determines morality. Homosexuality like heterosexuality is morally
neutral. As Catholic philosophers Daniel Dombrowski and Robert Deltete
from the
Sexuality is a gift to be cherished. We have no right to deny it to those whom God has made gay. As theologian Kelly Brown Douglas says, we have to create "a church and community where non-heterosexual persons are able to love themselves and those whom they choose to love without social, political or ecclesiastical penalty" so that they may enjoy life and enjoy sex with gratitude that life is so full of goodness and enriching variety.17
1. John Boswell, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern
2. Andre Guindon, The Sexual Language: An Essay in Moral
Theology (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1977), 370.
3. Mary Hunt, "Eradicating the Sin of
Heterosexism," forthcoming in Heterosexism: Roots and Cures in
World Religions, ed. Daniel C. Maguire.
4. Ibid.
5. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
"Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to
Unions between Homosexual Persons," June 3, 2003.
6. See Robert Nugent, ed., Challenge to Love: Catholic
Views of Homosexuality (New York: Crossroad, 1983). Daniel C. Maguire,
"Catholic Ethics in the Post-Infallible Church," in The Moral
Revolution: A Christian Humanist Vision (San Francisco: Harper &
Row, 1986).
7. See Challenge to Love: Catholic Views of
Homosexuality.
8. On Probabilism and homosexual marriagae, see Daniel
C. Maguire, "The Morality of Homosexual Marriage," in The
Moral Revolution, 98-102.
9. See Walter M. Abbott, ed., The Documents of
10. Ibid., 71-72.
11. Alan P. Bell and Martin S. Weinberg,
Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1978) 208. See also Isaiah Crawford and Brian D.
Zamboni, "Informing the Debate on Homosexuality: The Behavioral
Science and the Church," in Patricia Beattie Jung and Joseph Andrew
Coray, eds., Sexual Diversity and Catholicism: Toward the Development of
Moral Theology (
12. See "Lesbian and Gay Parenting: A Resource for
Psychologists," http://www.apa.org/pi/parent.hyml Accessed August
15, 2005.
13. Mary Hunt, "Eradicating the Sin of
Heterosexism."
14. Bruce Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance: Animal
Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (New York: St. Martin's Press,
1999).
15. Daniel A. Dombrowski and Robert Deltete, A Brief,
Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion (
16. See Christina L.H. Traina, "Papal Ideals,
Marital Realities: One View from the Ground," in Sexual Diversity
and Catholicism: Toward the Development of Moral Theology, ed. Patricia
Beattie Jung and Joseph Andrew Coray (
17.Kelly Brown Douglas, "Heterosexism/Homophobia
and the Black Church Community," in Daniel C. Maguire, ed.,
Heterosexism: Roots and Cures in World Religions, forthcoming.
For finalists in the other categories check Lambda's website: http://www.lambdali
terary.org/ awards/current_ finalists. html
Michelle
& Kristanna in love!
Kristanna Loken doesn't want to keep quiet about her
relationship with sexy star Michelle Rodriguez. Who would?
An Advocate.com exclusive posted November
15, 2006
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As we sat downstairs in her Los Angeles home, upcoming Advocate cover girl Kristanna Loken—the smoldering star of Terminator 3—found an adorable way of letting us know that she’s involved with her equally sexy BloodRayne costar Michelle Rodriguez.
At first Loken, 27—who has a recurring role as lover of Shane (Katherine Moennig) on Showtime’s The L Word this season—affirmed that she’s in a relationship but wouldn’t specify the name or gender.
Then we mentioned the tantalizing stories Loken has told in past interviews about getting tight with Rodriguez when they filmed BloodRayne in Romania. Here’s what happened next.
What about all the
stuff that was said about you and Michelle on the shoot?
[Laughs, then takes a deep breath] There is the $64,000 question.
Um…I don’t even know how to answer that.
It seems like you
both had a lot of fun partying.
Uh-huh. [Smiles, doesn’t say anything]
OK, your silence
says volumes. [Both laugh]
Just don’t look upstairs, OK?
Ooh, OK. You don’t
want me to print that?
You can print it. [Laughs again] The very hot housekeeper. No, just
joking.
Michelle & Kristanna in love! Exclusive Advocate.com
Rodriguez, 28, star of Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious, Blue Crush, and TV’s Lost, is filming in Seattle. Her representative declined to comment. The Advocate wishes these two vital young stars all the best.
Look for comments in the November 21st issue of The Advocate.
Michelle & Kristanna in love! Exclusive Advocate.com
PRESS RELEASE FROM BiACT Bi-Award 2006 posthumously
granted to researcher /
bi-activist Fritz Klein The Bi-Award 2006 has been granted posthumously to researcher/bi-activist Fritz Klein by the National Bisexual Network (LNBi). The award was presented during the notorious Autumn Party Nijmegen, organised by the local bi-organisation Gobi and the national bi-organisation LNBi. The award was presented Luc Houtkamp, LNBi's president to Ron Fox, bi author, researcher, and activist, who accepted the award on behalf of Klein's partner Tom Reise. According to the National Bisexual Network (LNBi), the Bi-Award is granted annually to a Dutch person who has made an extraordinary contribution in the area of bisexuality. This was the first year, in recognition of the work of Fritz Klein that the award was granted to someone from outside the Netherlands. Dr. Fritz Klein (USA), who died on May 24, 2006 at the age of 73, was an exceptional researcher in the field of bisexuality. With his Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (KSOG) - a model of sexual orientation which leaves the either/or binary thinking of hetero/homo behind - he developed a vision which has for ever changed thinking about sexuality, gender, and sexual orientation. He created a multidimensional and inclusive basis for the scientific study of bisexuality. Fritz Klein, with his organization, the Bisexual Foundation, and his website <http://www.bisexual .org/> www.bisexual.org was a committed activist as well. His 1978 book "The Bisexual Option" (published in 1979 in Dutch as "De biseksuele keuze") continues to be a standard work on bisexuality (republished in a second edition in 1993), supporting people with bisexual feelings all over the world. Apart from the fact that Fritz maintained a very special relationship with our country, his efforts have had a tremendous effect on the emancipation of the Dutch bisexual community. These are the reasons why LNBi decided this year to grant the Bi-Award posthumously to Fritz Klein. More information on Fritz Klein you find at: http://www.bisexual.org/en/fritz.php and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Klein Information on the Klein Grid you find at: http://www.bisexual.org/en/klein/index.php More information on the LNBi you find at: http://www.lnbi.nl
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission - http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/
Introduction to the Asylum Documentation Program
Introduction
Since 1990, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
has been documenting worldwide human rights abuses based on sexual
orientation, gender identity, and HIV status. Up to date, IGLHRC’s
Asylum Documentation Program (ADP), based in San Francisco, has assisted
over 6,600 people worldwide.
About IGLHRC's Asylum Documentation Program
The Asylum Documentation Program (ADP) provides support to worldwide
claims for political asylum made by those who fear persecution based on
sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV/AIDS status. This is achieved
through providing documentation (country packets) on human rights abuses
perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people,
and those living with HIV/AIDS to their lawyers/advocates, and
occasionally to other interested parties. On a limited basis, the Asylum
Documentation Program may also provide contact information for immigration
advocates who have handled sexual orientation cases.
As part of IGLHRC's ongoing commitment to disseminate information
pertaining to the human rights status of LGBT people worldwide, IGLHRC and
asylumlaw.org have teamed up to create an online library of the ASYLUM
DOCUMENTATION PROGRAM (ADP) of IGLHRC. This library, comprised of country
packets, is available to all interested individuals and institutions free
of charge. All you have to do is register with Asylumlaw.org, a free
website, to gain access to the information. (see instructions below on how
to access a country packet online).
Definition of Country Packet
A country packet may contain some or most of the following types of
documentation:
• Written decisions from successful court cases (U.S. and foreign
tribunals)
• Authoritative declarations on the human rights status of sexual
minorities in a particular country
• Advisory opinions from representatives of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• Affidavits and/or declarations from country condition experts
• Affidavits or declarations from granted asylum seekers
• Newspaper and/or magazine articles
• Articles published on the Internet by reputable sources
• Reports or books by organizations or researchers on related topics
In order to make our country packets most useful to the public, we
regularly update the documentation in the country packets. Also as we
continue digitalizing our archives, more information and country packets
will be added to this virtual library.
The Purpose of Country Packets
IGLHRC's country packets are an invaluable tool for those seeking asylum
based on sexual orientation or HIV status or other type of immigration
remedies. Our country packets enable asylum seekers or their legal
advocates to provide the immigration authorities with proof of human
rights abuses in their country of origin. Our information is also critical
to researchers, members of academia, and journalist investigating
world-wide persecution of LGBT people and those living with HIV/AIDS.
IGLHRC’s country conditions library that begun in 1990 is the world's
most complete LGBT documentation library of its kind in the world.
Note: Most of the existing country packets are currently in the
form of one single PDF file. In the future, we plan to add updated
documentation for each country as individual files. This will give our
user the ability to download the document(s) most relevant to their case.
Eventually all country packets in our online library will be comprised of
individual documents.
Limits
The list of the countries for which we have country packets DOES NOT
represent all the countries in the world where there is persecution based
on sexual orientation, gender identity and/or HIV/AIDS status. This list,
for the most part, represents countries for which the Asylum Documentation
Program of IGLHRC has received requests for documentation since 1990.
Every day in countries throughout the world, the fundamental rights of
lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people living with
HIV/AIDS are violated. These abuses include: murder, incarceration, forced
psychiatric "treatment," torture, arbitrary arrest and
detention, denial of the freedoms of association, self-expression, press
and movement, denial of the right to seek refuge/asylum, immigration
restrictions, forced marriage, the revocation of parental rights and
numerous other forms of discrimination. Due to our limited resources,
IGLHRC is not in a position to track all instances of human rights abuse
in all countries.
Disclaimer
IGLHRC makes every effort to ascertain the accuracy of the items contained
in this site which are products of its own research. Nevertheless, some
information contained on this site is based on research by third parties
unconnected with IGLHRC. Accordingly, IGLHRC or AsylumLaw.org cannot
assume any responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained in
this site obtained by third parties.
How to Access A Country Packet online
The country packet is downloadable for free, courtesy of Asylumlaw.org.
You can find the full list of countries for which we have digital
documentation available on asylumlaw.org.
To access country packets, go to www.asylumlaw.org.
On the homepage of that website, you will find a navigation bar at the top
of the page. Click on “Legal Tools.” Then, from the “Country or
Theme” scroll down menu select the last option, “Sexual minorities
& HIV status.” Once you are on the “Sexual Minorities & HIV
status” page, you will be on the section of the asylumlaw.org website
that is maintained by IGLHRC. You may click on any of the options,
including “Organizations” and “Other Relevant Documents/Reports. “
To access country/theme packets, click on “Packets by Theme” or
“Packets, by Country of Origin,” located at the bottom of the page.
Please note that IGLHRC’s Asylum documents are accessible without
registering with Asylumlaw.org, however if you are an immigration
attorney, we encourage you to register with the website to gain access to
other sections. The registration is free and it may take a short time
before Asylumlaw.org approves your membership. Once you are approved as a
member, you can use your log-in name and password to access our country
packets as well as other parts of Asylumlaw.org.
If you do not see the country for which you are seeking information on
this list, please contact the Asylum Documentation Program at asylum@iglhrc.org,
or call 415-398-2759. We may have more country packets that have not yet
been posted. Please note that our Asylum Documentation Program library is
constantly being updated. Please visit us again in the future as we will
continue to update other country packets and post new ones on the website.
Other Informational document packets available Online
In addition to the country packets, we also offer three thematic packets
that may compliment a particular case on different topics. You can find
the following informational packets online at:
http://www.asylumlaw.org/legal_tools/index.cfm?category=282&countryID=233
Our Thematic Packets include:
1. Islamic World Country Packet: This packet illustrates the
difficult juncture between Islam and homosexuality and the impact it may
have on LGBT people and those living with HIV/AIDS in different countries.
2. Lesbian Issues Packet: This packet was created to further
support the asylum claims of lesbians, who because they are women, may
face other types of issues not shared with homosexual men.
3. Transgender Issues Packet: This packet has been put together to
assist immigration attorneys and asylum-seekers in front of an immigration
judge or immigration authority who may be unfamiliar with transgender
issues.
Support our Work!
IGLHRC and the Asylum Documentation Program have made every effort to keep
this library free of charge to potential asylum seekers, immigration
attorneys, paralegals, law students, researchers and others. Your donation
will enable us to expand our resources and help other people who need our
support. You can make a donation online at this address:
http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/content.php?type=10&id=1
Submitting New Information about LGBT Human Rights Violations
We always welcome new information that points to any government’s human
rights violations or persecution toward LGBT people and those with
HIV/AIDS.
If you have information you would like to share about worldwide human
rights violations against LGBT people or those living with HIV/AIDS,
please send it, preferably as a PDF file, to asylum@iglhrc.org. You can
also submit a URL link to the webpage where we can find the information,
or if you prefer, simply snail mail us the article.
The ADP will review your submissions and if we find the information
relevant and reliable, we will add it to our online library. Your
contribution to the library will be greatly appreciated by other visitors
to our site.
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission - Human Rights For Everyone. Everywhere.
"Bi of the Storm" from Lution. Check out the review of this new GLBT pride shop on Allen St.
|
GAY PRIDE FLAGS
 | Rainbow Flag |
| Original Rainbow Flag |
| AIDS Flag |
| Leather Pride Flags |
| Bear Flag |
The rainbow flag has become one of the most widely used and recognized symbols of the gay pride movement. The concept of the rainbow is hardly a new one. Rainbows have used since ancient times in all kinds of cultures- Greek, African, Native American and Celtic, to name only a few. Even Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition has made use of the rainbow has a freedom symbol.
The Rainbow Flag as we know it today was developed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. At the time, there was a need for a gay symbol which could be used year after year for the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Baker took inspiration from many sources, from the hippies movement to the black civil rights movement, and came up with a flag with eight stripes. Color has always played an important power in the gay right movement- Victorian England symbolized homosexuality with the color green, lavender became popular in the 1960s, and and pink from the pink triangle has caught on as well- and the colors of the gay flag were no different. Baker explained that his colors each stood for a different aspect of gay and lesbian life:
| Hot pink for sexuality, |
| Red for life, |
| Orange for healing, |
| Yellow for the sun, |
| Green for nature, |
| Blue for art, |
| Indigo for harmony, |
| Violet for spirit. |
Baker himself and thirty other volunteers hand-stitched and hand-dyed to large prototype flags for the 1978 parade. It was an immediate hit. However, when Baker took his design to the San Francisco Flag Co. to have it mass-produced for the 1979 parade, he had to remove the hot pink stripe. Baker had hand-dyed the color, and unfortunately pink was not a commercially available color.
Later that year, when the city's first
openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated, the 1979 Pride Parade
Committee found in Baker's flag the perfect symbol for the entire gay
community to unite under in protest of this tragedy. The committee got rid of
the indigo stripe to make the colors evenly divisible along the parade route:
red, orange, and yellow on one side of the street; green, blue, and purple on
the other. (This version also conforms to traditional color theory- the three
primary colors and three secondary colors in art- rather than the spectrum of
light colors of R O Y G B I V. Thus, today's six-color flag was born and
displayed during the 1979 Pride Parade.
The
flag quickly caught on like wildfire in cities across the country. It was even
officially recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers. In 1989
the flag was given international recognition when West Hollywood resident John
Stout successfully sued his landlords after they tried to prohibit him from
hanging the flag from his apartment balcony. At New York's Stonewall 25 Parade
in 1994, a gigantic 30-foot wide, one mile long rainbow flag was carried
through the parade route by over 10,000 volunteers.
As with any symbol, the varieties that the
rainbow flag currently comes in are limitless. Shown here as the American flag
version featuring the stars-and-stripes motif, the flag with triangle, and the
flag with the lambda
symbol incorporated. It also went on to inspire freedom rings- six metal rings
in each of the flag's six colors on a chain, usually worn as a necklace,
bracelet or keychain. Incidentally, the flag has also been an amazing
fun-raising tool for the Gay Rights Movement. When large rainbow flags were
first carried along parade routes with the carriers at the corners and along
the sides, they found that people along the parade route with throw change
into convenient valley created in the flag's center. At first, some 
people in the gay community took offense to this- they didn't want people to
feel that they were pitiable and in need of charity. But movements cannot
exist on spirit alone, so many organizations took to this occurrence with
enthusiasm and the practice continues to this day.
I personally dig the rainbow flag because it endorses gay rights without making a statement about the person- it's an all-purpose symbol which can be used by anyone regardless of their own sexual orientation This aspect has also made the rainbow flag useful for displaying in businesses which are "gay friendly," but which may not necessarily be owned or operated by a gay or bisexual person. This kind of equality and all- inclusiveness is what the gay rights movement strives for
See also: HCN.
The gay community has been one of the hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. A San Francisco group suggested a modification to the traditional rainbow flag by adding a black stripe to the bottom of it to commemorate everyone who we've lost to the AIDS virus over the years. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, a well-decorated Vietnam War Veteran who is dying of AIDS, proposed that when a cure for AIDS was found, all of the black stripes should be removed from these flags and ceremoniously burned in Washington D.C.
See also: AIDS info
The Leather Pride Flag was created by artist
Tony DeBlase and was first displayed on May 28, 1989 at the Chicago Mr.
Leather contest. It stands as a symbol for the leather community- people who
are into leather, sado-masochism, bondage, domination, uniforms, rubber and
other kind of sexual fetishes. This flag is most often found in the gay
community, but it encompasses all orientations.
Another Leather Pride Flag which hasn't
gained quite as much popularity is a modified rainbow flag in which the purple
stripe is replaced by a black stripe. This variety though is easily confused
with the Victory
Over AIDS Flag
"Bear" is an affectionate term used for a gay man with an abundance of body hair, especially on his face and chest. Bears also tend to be a bit older and chubbier, but this is a convenient stereotype. The Bear Pride Flag symbolizes this group. It was developed by a Seattle bear bar named Spags. The blue stripes represents the sky and the green stripe represent the earth. In between these two are all the bears of the world- white for polar bears, black for black bears, and brown for brown bears. The yellow paw print is the sun, representing the spirit. While this is the most widely seen bear symbol, it is not really official. Bear groups tend to develop their own individual flags and symbols to represent them.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Symbols
Below is a great site for queer spiritual men. If there is one for womyn I have not found it and would be happy to hear that there is one to add to our Links page.
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