Times: US appeals ruling authorising gay marriage

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101014/world-news/us-appeals-ruling-authorising-gay-marriage
Thursday, 14th October 2010; AFP

The Obama Administration appealed a federal judge’s ruling giving the state of Massachusetts the right to authorise gay marriage.

In July, Boston-based US District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that the 1996 federal law known as the Defence of Marriage Act (Doma), which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, “imposes an unconstitutional condition on the receipt of federal funding”.

In its court filing, Justice Department lawyers said it was appealing the ruling and that its arguments would be presented in November.

Congress “has exceeded the scope of its authority” in passing the law, which limits marriage to men and women,”Judge Tauro wrote in his ruling.

The authority “to regulate marital status is a sovereign attribute of statehood” and not the federal government, he added.

The judge found that gay couples in Massachusetts, the first state to authorise gay marriage, must be granted the same rights as heterosexual couples when it comes to issues like health insurance.

Only six of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia – the US capital – currently allow gay marriage in the US.

Referenda on allowing gay marriage have been held in 31 US states, but all have failed to be approved.

[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]

Times: The horses have evidently bolted

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101012/opinion/the-horses-have-evidently-bolted

Tuesday, 12th October 2010 by Kenneth Zammit Tabona

One of the more horrendous modes of execution devised by man was to be sewn in a sack with a rabid dog and a snake and thrown into the sea. In a country like ours, where dogs are found hanged and burnt alive, such unspeakable tortures are but one step away. We are not the faithful law-abiding and, above all, God-fearing island nation we like to think we are. In us lies this sadistic streak that forms vicious gangs in Paceville that harass the unwary, sick minds that wantonly destroy public and private property and which are supported by an omertà that fosters and protects institutionalised corruption eating away at the core of Maltese society as we speak. We are not the people that welcomed St Paul in 60AD, described in the Acts of the Apostles as warm and kind.

We suffer from a deep rooted xenophobia that allows us to look the other way while immigrants drown.

We joined the EU and, yet, when, last week in Parliament, Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici was questioned about civil partnerships for same sex couples by Evarist Bartolo, the issue was curtly dismissed by Dr Mifsud Bonnici who said that what went on in Europe and, hence, the rest of the world, was of no relevance to Malta, which underlines the fact we live in an isolated hiatus where even the mere discussion of civil liberties is destined to be stillborn.

I am sure many will agree that being trapped in a marriage that has failed, irretrievably and irrevocably, is tantamount to being sewn up in a sack with a rabid dog and a snake.

This is why people simply separate and have been doing so for decades. We are so used to it that nobody bats an eyelid anymore. We have been cohabiting openly for decades and having babies out of wedlock too without much fuss.

People of the same sex have been living together for years. In fact, a close examination of our society reveals that, contrary to what one thinks, we are pretty tolerant and open. What then, one may ask, is causing all the hoohah about divorce? What is bringing all the reactionaries out of the closet?

The divorce issue is but the thin end of the wedge. Once it becomes part of our legal system it will pave the way for other issues, the lack of which relegates a great many of us to the rank of second-class citizens, to become law. Divorce, once enacted, will break the deadlock that keeps us in thrall to the moral diktats of one particular religion that, despite its protestations to the contrary, is constitutionally allowed to call the shots by those in whose interest it is to do so.

Malta is run by a very powerful elite, the membership requirements of which are to be white, openly Catholic, in a stable marriage with a woman with two to four children and, possibly, owning a dog too and maybe a lover hidden in the wings. Legally but not socially, all other variations and combinations on this blueprint are regarded with a jaundiced eye.

As time passes, this elite becomes smaller, more exclusive and fiercely defensive as are the big shots within the Curia like the Pro Vicar and the Judicial Vicar, both of whom have issued fatwas to all and sundry not to support divorce in any way under pain of mortal sin.

Mgr Arthur Said Pullicino's homily during Mass marking the start of the forensic year reads more like a diatribe warning that anyone who in any way advocates or supports the introduction of divorce in Malta is committing a grave sin.

The Judicial Vicar went one step further by exhorting the Maltese judiciary to be conscientious objectors and desist from taking part in divorce proceedings should divorce legislation be enacted, which is a direct challenge to what will then be civil law, which our judiciary is constitutionally bound to uphold.

What the Judicial Vicar wants is for the law courts and, hence, Parliament to be an extension of the Curia rendering the President to the role of chief fund-raiser for a Church that has now openly declared itself to be in financial difficulties. What's next? A Church tax?

The fundamental freedoms of a secular society are simply not there to defend. They have not been conceived, let alone born. In a country that does not allow condoms to be sold on campus, presumably because students are strictly chaste, enactment of these laws is deemed to be unnecessary and the occasion of sin. Therefore, like the proverbial ostrich, the government argues that it is against divorce because it wants to strengthen the institution of marriage, which is rather like closing the stable door after the horses have bolted. The same government feels it can keep people happy by implementing cohabitation laws, which, in all truth, engender legal loopholes the size of Etna's crater.

Cohabitation, in my opinion, is a far greater social evil than divorce and yet, unsurprisingly, the elite have kept mum about it, which convinces me all the more that the objection to divorce has nothing to do with morality, Christian or otherwise, but is all about the retention of power at all costs and nothing else.

[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]

MaltaToday: Gay applicant turned down by Air Malta over 'nonchalant attitude', improper dress

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/gay-applicant-turned-down-by-air-malta-over-nonchalant-attitude-improper-dress

Tuesday, October 12, 2010; By Rachel Zammit Cutajar

Ombudsman turns down complaint by gay employee who claimed discrimination in Air Malta pilots' training selection.

This was one of the selected cases from the Annual Report of 2009 issued by the Office of the Ombudsman.

An Air Malta employee lodged a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman that he was subjected to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation when he was not selected for ab initio pilot training.

The complainant was aggrieved by this decision because besides the qualifications he possessed in engineering, he had also been employed with the airline in the engineering department for several years and he was also in possession of a private pilot's licence.

His application to the training course was declined in January 2007 in favour of other candidates even though he claimed he was the best qualified for the job. When he sought an explanation he found that he was turned down by the selection board for two reasons. The first was that he was "improperly dressed" and that he was "over-confident and nonchalant" during his interview.

During his investigations, the Ombudsman found that the panel of management pilots unanimously rejected the complainant's application because of his "nonchalant" and "over-relaxed attitude" in comparison to the business-like attitude of the other candidates. "They expressed surprise at the allegation of discrimination, especially since they were unaware of the candidate's sexual orientation at the time of the interview," the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman turned down the complaint, claiming there was no clear evidence to sustain the complainant was subjected to discrimination due to his sexual orientation. "There was no reason to doubt the declaration of the selection board that they were unaware of the complainant's sexual orientation at the time of the interview."

[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on MaltaToday's website.]

Times: Life - Cyberbullying pushes people over the edge

http://www.timesofmalta.com/life/view/20101010/features/cyberbullying-pushes-people-over-the-edge
Published 10.10.10; 15:53; AFP

[Click here to watch the video.]

The shocking death of a college freshman in the United States has cast a spotlight on new and vicious forms of harassment which harness the invasive and omnipresent reach of the Internet.

Eighteen-year-old Tyler Clementi leapt to his death from a New York bridge last week after his sex encounter with another man was broadcast over the Internet, allegedly by fellow students.

Sophisticated technology, social networking sites and a culture of tell-all disclosure have combined to fuel a new level of cyberbullying -- often targeting homosexual youngsters.

[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]

Times: Recognition of same-sex relationships

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101010/letters/recognition-of-same-sex-relationships
Sunday, 10th October 2010; Bernard Muscat, Malta Gay Rights Movement, Mosta

Mr J. Bonett Balzan (The Sunday Times, October 3) heaved a sigh of relief when acknowledging that the official visit of German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle did not involve also accommodating his male partner.

Heaven forbid Malta would ever have to bow so low as to consider same-sex partners of foreign dignitaries, or of anyone at all for that matter, as equal to any opposite-sex partners they may have!

As with most people building a flimsy case against same-sex relationships, Mr Bonnett Balzan takes the Church as his standard-bearer and blindly repeats its admonishments on the matter. We are told Pope Benedict said that “the Church cannot approve alternative models of the family”.

That is unfortunate, albeit hardly surprising – but lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are not looking at the Church to bless their relationships, and neither are most other people, really.

Recognition of human relationships is a yarn for thestate to untangle – not for religions to choose to approve or disapprove of.

Moreover, the arguments about alternative family forms “weakening the principles of marriage” are as old as they are stale and baseless.

I suspect that Mr Bonett Balzan’s assumptions on same-sex relationships do not stem from real-life experiences, but from repeated traditions that human beings find so hard to challenge.

So if a few decades ago, gay people were looked upon as weird and were thought of as being repulsive to think of – let alone to consider befriending and accepting as equal – then those same outdated beliefs may persist today because they have not been actively challenged.

It is clearly much easier to fall in line with traditional beliefs than to try to build one’s own.

Another important point was overlooked in Mr Bonett Balzan’s letter. By opposing equal rights for same-sex couples, one is not protecting marriage.

Recognition of same-sex couples is not yet a reality in Malta, but a number of so-called ‘traditional marriages’ are still sadly disintegrating. Surely nobody can be so naïve, or so delusory to themselves and others, as to assume that traditional relationships are suffering because of the recognition of same-sex ones!

As to his reference to homosexual people in the Nazi regime, Mr Bonett Balzan should know that gay people were also one of the favourite targets of the Nazis. It is estimated that around 15,000 men died in concentration camps, with their only charge being that of being gay.

Gay inmates were forced to wear a pink triangle on their jackets to distinguish them from other detainees. The link of the colour pink with the gay community persists to this day, although very few are aware of its gruesome origins.

Mr Bonett Balzan’s haste to throw mud at LGBT people also has him accuse them of ‘flaunting’ their sexuality. That is just about as ridiculous as if I were to accuse a colleague of mine of flaunting his left-handedness when he signs a document.

There is nothing to flaunt. LGBT people live their lives regularly, just like their peers and siblings who are straight, with the only difference being that they have to struggle daily to be accepted as equal. The problem, in reality, is not same-sex attraction. It is the lies we have been taught about it.

Finally, if I feel like holding my partner’s hand – perhaps while walking shoulder to shoulder with my own brother as he holds his girlfriend’s – I will very well do so.

I apologise if I don’t rush to ask Mr Bonett Balzan for his righteous approval. He may choose to stare in astonishment, cover his eyes or scurry away in horror – but that’s his call.

If the thought of two adults in a committed and loving relationship makes him shudder, then that is very, very sad indeed.

[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]

NCR: Catholics face 'mutiny' over teachings on gay marriage

http://ncronline.org/news/justice/catholics-face-mutiny-over-teachings-gay-marriage
National Catholic Reporter (NCR)
Oct. 04, 201;By Daniel Burke, Religion News Service

Members of the Knights of Columbus arrive at a rally in support of California's Proposition 8 at a football stadium in San Diego Nov. 1, 2009. (CNS photo/Mike Blake, Reuters)

WASHINGTON -- For 13 years, Fr. Joseph Palacios lived, prayed, and studied with the Jesuits. But he left the Roman Catholic order in 2005 because he would not profess a vow of obedience to the pope.

“I felt that I could still be a Catholic priest,” Palacios said, “but I could not deal with that kind of scrutiny and command from the top.”

Now, the 59-year-old priest and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Catholic university, is again at odds with the church’s hierarchy, this time on one of its signature issues: the definition of marriage.

In recent years, Catholic bishops have used their moral influence and deep pockets to push for bans on same-sex unions in states from California to Maine.

But a new corps of increasingly vocal Catholics is urging a “mutiny” against the hierarchy, in the words of one activist, particularly on gay marriage and related matters.

For example, on Sept. 14, Palacios and other advocates launched Catholics for Equality, a group that aims to persuade believers in the “movable middle” to defy the bishops and support civil rights for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

Similarly, on Wednesday, Sept. 29 four Catholic groups with a combined 112 years of activism on gay issues announced the formation of Equally Blessed, a coalition dedicated to providing a voice for “faithful, pro-equality” Catholics.

Also this week, a mailing of 400,000 DVDs sent to every registered Catholic family in Minnesota, explaining the church’s position on marriage sparked a “Return the DVD” campaign; a Catholic artist pledged to make a sculpture with discarded discs.

The “defense of marriage” is a top priority for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, which formed a special committee last year to promote church teachings through mailings, videos, and political activism. The committee’s $418,000 annual budget will be bankrolled by the Knights of Columbus through 2011.

“Much of the public discussion has been focused on rights,” said Andrew Lichtenwalner, a program specialist for the bishops’ marriage committee. “What the bishops are doing is teaching about the unique meaning and purpose of marriage, which has been missing from the conversation.”

Palacios, who teaches sociology at Georgetown, says surveys show Catholics “are more accepting of LGBT people than any other Christian group.” He cited a May 2010 Gallup Poll in which 62 percent of Catholics said gay and lesbian relationship are “morally acceptable” -- a 16 percent increase from just four years ago.

Other polls show Catholics are more ambivalent about gay marriage and adoption by gay couples, both of which the bishops oppose.

Catholic gay-rights supporters have been emboldened by the example of nuns who bucked the bishops by supporting the health-care overhaul Congress passed last March, said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, one of the groups involved in Equally Blessed.

“People are using that as a touchstone,” he said. “They see that the nuns were courageous and they feel like they can be courageous. Courage is contagious.”

But one man’s courage is another’s heresy, and the bishops are keen to quell dissent within the church.

The artist who suggested the DVD sculpture has been suspended from her artist-in-residence job at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Groups such as New Ways have been deemed inauthentic Catholics. Last week, the bishops’ doctrine committee issued a sharp, point-by-point rebuke of a book by two theologians that challenged church teaching on sexuality. Priests who support gay marriage have been silenced or removed from ministry.

Palacios, who is openly gay, says he knows the risks and has been careful not to give the impression that he speaks for the church. He said he rarely wears a cleric’s collar in public, and his biographies on the websites of Georgetown and Catholics for Equality omit references to his ordination. Palacios also said he is not advocating against church dogma -- just its political positions on gay issues.

But Catholic leaders say there is no wiggle room between the two, and Palacios is shirking his priestly duties.

“The role of a priest is to help people understand more deeply the teachings of the church,” said Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington, where Palacios works, “not to simply move with the winds of secular culture.”

As is common practice in the church, Palacios was given priestly faculties -—sanction to perform the sacraments -- when he moved to Washington from Los Angeles, where he was ordained, Gibbs said. Gibbs said she raised questions with Los Angeles officials last year after Palacios testified in favor of gay marriage before Washington’s city council.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said of Palacios’ advocacy: “We are now aware of it and are assessing his participation” in Catholics for Equality.

Georgetown University, which has been criticized for employing a priest who advocates against church teachings, said Palacios was hired to teach part-time on the merits of his credentials, “not based on any affiliation he may have with external organizations that is conducted in a personal capacity.”

L-Orizzont: Adozzjoni minn LGBT

http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=66643
5.10.10 minn GABI CALLEJA, MGRM

Sur Editur,

F’artiklu ppublikat fis-27 ta’ Settembru, 2010, Kevin Mercieca ttratta s-suġġett tal-adozzjoni tat-tfal minn persuni LGBT. Għamel diversi asserzjonijiet fosthom li fa­mil­ja fejn il-koppja hi tal-istess sess ma tikkostitwix amb­jent normali, kif ukoll li dawn il-familji jkollhom effett negattiv fuq it-tfal. Ir-riċerka qiegħda dejjem turi li dak li qal is-Sur Mercieca, fil-verità, mhux minnu. Il-fatt hu li tfal li jitt­rab­bew f’familji fejn il-koppja hi tal-istess sess jiżviluppaw bl-istess mod ta’ tfal imrobbijin minn koppja eterosesswali. Għalkemm fa­mil­ji fejn il-ġeni­tu­ri tal-istess sess mhumiex daq­shekk komuni, ma jfissirx li l-ambjent ta’ darhom mhux­ nor­mali u lanqas li wliedhom se jkunu b’xi mod żvan­taġġ­ja­ti.

Punti importanti li qajjimt waqt il-programm “Sfera” li għalih irrefera s-Sur Mercieca hu li dawn il-familji diġà jeżistu. Persuni LGBT m’għan­d­­hom bżonn tal-ebda leġiż­lazz­joni biex isiru ġenituri. Hi dejjem deċiż­joni tal-individwu jew tal-koppja, hekk kif inhi għal persuni jew koppji eterosesswali. L-ebda stat ma jista’ jinnega din il-possibilità liċ-ċittadini LGBT mingħajr ma jikser id-drittijiet fundamentali tal-bniedem. Il-kwistjoni tal-adozz­joni, l-aktar dik li nsejħu ‘second parent adoption’ hi għalhekk bżonn li toħ­roġ minn din ir-realtà. La l-Istat ma jistax jisterilizza lil kull persuna LGBT li tixtieq li jkollha t-tfal jew li joħroġ ‘care order’ fuq tfal imwelldin lil ġenituri LGBT sempliċement għax huma LGBT, l-unika soluzzjoni li verament tħa­res l-interessi tat-tfal f’din iċ-ċirkostanza hi li l-Istat jirrikonoxxi l-persuni li qed irabbu lil dawn it-tfal. Din tin­volvi li l-ġenitur mhux bijo­lo­ġi­ku, ikun jista’ jadotta t-tfal tal-‘partner’.

Liġi bħal din hi importanti biex tħares il-jeddijiet ta’ dawn it-tfal, kemm fil-ħajja ta’ kuljum kif ukoll f’okkaż­jonijiet straordinarji. Pere­żem­p­ju jekk it-tfal jiġu bżonn kura medika waqt li l-ġenitur bijoloġiku jinsab imsiefer; jew anke sempliċement biex iku­nu jistgħu jiġbru t-tfal mill-is­ko­la u jattendu attivitajiet mar­butin mal-edukazzjoni tat-tfal. Fil-każ li jkunu ma jifil­ħux, il-ġenitur mhux bijoloġiku ma jkunx intitolat għal Urgent Family Leave, għad-detriment tat-tifel jew it-tifla.

Għalhekk, waqt li kul­ħadd għandu dritt għal opinjoni, jekk verament nemmnu li l-interess tat-tfal jiġi l-ewwel, allura l-adozzjoni tat-tfal minn persuni LGBT hi sempliċement konsegwenza naturali tal-eżistenza ta’ dawn il-fa­milji, bl-ebda mod kon­­­tro­vers­ja­li, u li din il-leġiż­lazz­jo­ni għandha tiddaħħal illum qabel għada.

Change: After suicides, Mormon leader rants against gays

email: mail@change.org
7.10.10

Stand up to Mormon leaders who spread LGBT intolerance

Dear Member,

The recent suicides of several gay teenagers have made national headlines. Yet this is the moment – of all moments – that a top Mormon leader decides to broadcast a verbal rampage against gays to millions of viewers.

Boyd K. Packer, the second-highest leader in the Mormon Church, said in a sermon broadcast to millions this week that same-sex attraction is "impure and unnatural" and can be overcome, and that same-sex unions are morally wrong.

Do we need more proof than the suicides of teens as young as 13 that words like these can do unimaginable damage?

We cannot stay silent. By speaking out together, we can show the Mormon Church hierarchy that it has literally risked the lives of children by inciting their tormentors. And we can ensure that the young people who heard this sermon know that it is scientifically wrong and profoundly misguided.

We can’t let Mr. Packer’s statements stand uncontested. Add your name to the open letter to Boyd Packer and let him know his lies carry real consequences.

Speaking before 20,000 people and broadcasting to millions more, Packer said same-sex unions are "against God's law and nature" – and that the church hierarchy would continue to support marriage bans like Proposition 8 (which was funded largely by Mormons).

Comments like these are exactly what makes young LGBT kids think there's no way out but suicide – that their parents will reject them, that their communities will shun them, and that living openly will bring pain or violence – that even God looks on their very identity as a sin to be "overcome."

And these lies fuel the bullying, harassment, and violence that plague our schools.

Packer's lies have been disproven over and over again by science and by the spiritual experience of Americans who know their LGBT neighbors and care about them. We know sexual orientation cannot and should not be changed and that two people falling in love is beautiful, not evil.

Help us speak out so young people understand the truth – and so that Mormon leaders know that spreading this poison puts lives at risk.

Thank you for helping take a stand for the truth.

- The Change.org Team

Chandelier: New Gay Bar in Malta

A new Gay Bar will open on the 9th October 2010:

Chandelier

Dance Bar Paceville

Dress to impress or stay out
Stars of the opening night: Lee(uk) & Chunky
Doors open at 10pm - 4am
Visit their Facebook page for more information


[Click on image to enlarge.]

Times: Defending marriage and the family (1)

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101003/letters/defending-marriage-and-the-family-1
Sunday, 3rd October 2010 by J. Bonett Balzan, St Julian’s

Recently, Guido Westerwelle, the German Foreign Minister, who has a male partner, was in Malta on a short official visit. Thankfully we were not asked to host his partner too.

At around the same time, the weekly English edition of L’Osservatore Romano carried an address by Pope Benedict XVI to the new Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, titled ‘The Church cannot approve alternative models of the family’.

The Pope did not mince his words, and among others mentioned several German heroes who in Nazi Germany stood up to the regime’s ideology (an ideology in a state which wanted to impose itself as the religion of the people and in which homosexuality among its top leaders was not rare).

Benedict XVI said: “The Church sees with concern the growing endeavour to eliminate the Christian concept of marriage and family from society’s conscience. Marriage is manifested as a lasting union of love between a man and a woman, which also always aspires to the transmission of life.

“One of its conditions is the willingness of the spouses to refer to each other forever. This requires a certain maturity of the person and a fundamental existential and social attitude: a ‘culture of the person’, as ...John Paul II once said... In the preparation and guidance of the married couples it is necessary to create the basic conditions to sustain and develop this culture.

“At the same time, we must be aware that the success of marriages depends on all of us and on the personal culture of each individual citizen. In this regard, the Church cannot approve legislative initiatives that entail a re-evaluation of alternative models to married and family life.”

Benedict XVI clarified that these ‘alternative’ models of the family “contribute to weakening the principles of natural law and hence to the relativisation of all legislation, as well as to the confusion about values in society.”

A strong argument expounded by the Pope is that “it is a principle... that the human being should be protected precisely in situations of weakness; the human person always takes priority over other aims”.

I find it surprising that while on one hand the Church is being vilified because a very small number of priests abused their position of trust, not openly but secretly, at the same time some of the accusers do not hold back from scandalising whole societies by flaunting their homosexuality as if such actions do not harm those below the age of consent.

[Click on the hyperlink above to view the comments on the Times' website.]