person:dan littauer

Court grants Israel gay couple divorce for first time
An Israeli court has granted a divorce of a gay couple for the first time in the country’s history
03 December 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Professor Uzi Even and Amit Kama made legal history in Israel forcing the country’s ministry of interior to register them as divorced

A court has ordered the ministry of interior of Israel to register a gay couple as divorced after it continually rejected their requests.

Yesterday (2 November) a Ramat Gan family court approved the request of Uzi Even, a former Israeli member of parliament and professor at Tel Aviv University, and Amit Kama, who teaches communications at Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, to order Israel’s ministry of interior to register them as divorced.

Haaretz daily reported that the former couple were married in Canada over eight years ago, while marriage proceedings are open to any national, divorce is only reserved for Canadian nationals.

Marriage and divorce in Israel are under the jurisdiction of the religious courts: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian.

The former couple had no choice but to appeal to the Jewish court (rabbinical) which is vehemently opposed to gay issues, and simply ignored their repeated requests to open divorce proceedings.

They then appealed to the family court in the city of Ramat Gan against Israel’s ministry of interior, which claimed the rabbinical court was not given ‘enough time’.

The judge rejected the state’s arguments that only the rabbinical courts have the authority to dissolve marriage, and instructed Israel’s interior ministry to register the former lovers as divorced.

Judge Yehezkel Eliyue said he based his decision on a previous ruling of Israel’s high court of justice’s instruction to the state to register the marriages of five same-sex couples who were married Canada.

The court ruled: ‘Once the High Court of Justice ordered the registration of the marriage, the possibility cannot be considered that petitioners who have agreed to end their marriage should remain tied to each other.

‘This runs contrary to the rights and liberties of the individual; it goes against Basic Laws and the basic values of justice and equality’.

The judge further stated: ‘Under these circumstances the rabbinic court lacks the authority to hear the petition, and in any case is not the proper forum to discuss it’.

This is a legal breakthrough in Israel as it sets a legal precedent for both gay and straight couples who want to divorce after they got married in a civil court abroad.

Kama told Haaretz daily: ‘From my point of view, even if the state appeals and we have to keep going down this road, the verdict shows the beginning of the undermining of the rabbinate.

‘I am very happy that we may have made a breakthrough’, he said, adding that the decision could affect not only other same-sex couples but also straight couples.

Twelve men to be executed by Libyan militia for allegedly being gay « MasterAdrian’s Weblog
►http://masteradrian.com/2012/11/26/twelve-men-to-be-executed-by-libyan-militia-for-allegedly-being-gay

Twelve men to be executed by Libyan militia for allegedly being gay
An extremist Salafist militia in Libya captured twelve men promising to mutilate and kill them for allegedly being gay
25 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
A Libyan militia threatens to mutilate and kill 12 allegedly gay men

Twelve men face mutilation and execution for allegedly being gay after being captured by an extremist Libyan Islamist militia.

The twelve men were, apparently, having a private party in Ain Zara, a suburb of Tripoli, the country’s capital, when the militia captured them, late on Thursday night (22 November).

The group boasted by posting the pictures of the men on Facebook, describing them as the ‘third sex’ (a term used in the Arab Gulf area to denote ‘queers’) including one of the men who had a henna ‘tattoo’ on his back.

One of the pictures was accompanied by the Quranic call ‘there is no power but the power of Allah!’

At the time of writing, the picture of the men received 121 likes, 118 shares, and mainly violent comments such as ‘flog them hard!’, ‘let them see bullets!’, ‘free Libya! [I.e. From gays]’, ‘ride them like camels’ and so on.

Human Rights Watch Libya left a comment saying the organization hopes the men will not be treated inhumanely and called upon the militia to hand the men to the civil authorities (the comment received no likes).

The militia Facebook page entitled as the ‘special deterrence unit’ boasted that the men were captured doing the ‘practices of the people of Lot’ (I.e. Gay sex) and that they are to be mutilated and executed.

The militia also claim they have now become a legal part of the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

The group states its mission is to remove ‘corruption’, ‘vice’, alcoholic drinks and now gays from the streets of Libya.

Human Rights Watch Libya identified the group as the Al-Nawasi militia, who are considered to be extreme Salafists.

The militia has been previously been reported as being responsible for attacks against Sufi (moderate form of Islam) shrines and followers.

Gay Star News has, so far, not been able to independently verify the reports.

Speaking with Gay Star News, a Libyan LGBT activist nicknamed Khaleed stated: ‘We never had any gay nightclubs in Libya, so it is not uncommon for Libyans – straight, bisexual and gay men to party in a private space, drink, dance, have fun and sometimes even have sex.

‘That fact that they were captured by this extreme Salafist militia is very worrying.

‘The situation for LGBT people after the revolution generally improved, people can meet each other more easily than under the Qadaffi [Gadaffi] regime, although, of course we still have to be very discreet and careful.

‘Many of us fear that some of the militias [there are over 250 of them in the country], which are extreme Islamists who are very well armed and financed, will focus on the LGBT community and hunt us down.

‘The police is largely absent or powerless so Libyan civil society has a real problem; the militias often take the law onto their own hands.

‘That the Al Nawasi militia claims they are now part of the Ministry of Interior is very worrying; this move should be unacceptable to the public and to civil society groups.’

Twelve men to be executed by Libyan militia for allegedly being gay
An extremist Salafist militia in Libya captured twelve men promising to mutilate and kill them for allegedly being gay
25 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
A Libyan militia threatens to mutilate and kill 12 allegedly gay men

Twelve men face mutilation and execution for allegedly being gay after being captured by an extremist Libyan Islamist militia.

The twelve men were, apparently, having a private party in Ain Zara, a suburb of Tripoli, the country’s capital, when the militia captured them, late on Thursday night (22 November).

The group boasted by posting the pictures of the men on Facebook, describing them as the ‘third sex’ (a term used in the Arab Gulf area to denote ‘queers’) including one of the men who had a henna ‘tattoo’ on his back.

One of the pictures was accompanied by the Quranic call ’there is no power but the power of Allah!’

At the time of writing, the picture of the men received 121 likes, 118 shares, and mainly violent comments such as ‘flog them hard!’, ‘let them see bullets!’, ‘free Libya! [I.e. From gays]’, ‘ride them like camels’ and so on.

Human Rights Watch Libya left a comment saying the organization hopes the men will not be treated inhumanely and called upon the militia to hand the men to the civil authorities (the comment received no likes).

The militia Facebook page entitled as the ‘special deterrence unit’ boasted that the men were captured doing the ‘practices of the people of Lot’ (I.e. Gay sex) and that they are to be mutilated and executed.

The militia also claim they have now become a legal part of the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

The group states its mission is to remove ‘corruption’, ‘vice’, alcoholic drinks and now gays from the streets of Libya.

Human Rights Watch Libya identified the group as the Al-Nawasi militia, who are considered to be extreme Salafists.

The militia has been previously been reported as being responsible for attacks against Sufi (moderate form of Islam) shrines and followers.

Gay Star News has, so far, not been able to independently verify the reports.

Speaking with Gay Star News, a Libyan LGBT activist nicknamed Khaleed stated: ‘We never had any gay nightclubs in Libya, so it is not uncommon for Libyans - straight, bisexual and gay men to party in a private space, drink, dance, have fun and sometimes even have sex.

‘That fact that they were captured by this extreme Salafist militia is very worrying.

‘The situation for LGBT people after the revolution generally improved, people can meet each other more easily than under the Qadaffi [Gadaffi] regime, although, of course we still have to be very discreet and careful.

‘Many of us fear that some of the militias [there are over 250 of them in the country], which are extreme Islamists who are very well armed and financed, will focus on the LGBT community and hunt us down.

‘The police is largely absent or powerless so Libyan civil society has a real problem; the militias often take the law onto their own hands.

‘That the Al Nawasi militia claims they are now part of the Ministry of Interior is very worrying; this move should be unacceptable to the public and to civil society groups.’

’Confused’ Scots teen brutally killed gay barman
A Scottish teenager has admitted killing a gay barman who had tried to comfort him over his confused sexuality
08 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Stuart Walker was brutally killed by Roy Equierdo, who was confused about his sexuality

A teenager has admitted killing a gay barman who tried to comfort him about his sexuality.

Ryan Esquierdo, 19, strangled to death Stuart Walker, 28 and then set fire to his body on an industrial estate in Cumnock, Ayrshire, last October reported today STV.

Esquierdo was originally charged with murder, but the Crown accepted his plea to the lesser charge of culpable homicide after hearing he had suffered traumatic abuse as a child.

The High Court in Glasgow, Scotland was told today (8 November) Esquierdo a discussion with Walk about his confusion over his sexuality triggered in him an ‘uncontrollable rage’.

Esquierdo bit, punched and stamped on Walker before grabbing him by the throat and strangling him for around four minutes until he was dead.

The two only met by chance on the early hours of 22 October, when Walker, on his way home from a night out, found Esquierdo lying asleep on a wall and woke him up.

The two men then walked together to the Caponacre Industrial Estate, apparently on friendly terms.

Esquierdo had had a number of girlfreinds but his sexuality was ‘the subject of discussion by his friends’, Andrew Brown QC, prosecuting, told the court.

Brown stated that Walker ‘was only sympathetic with [Esquierdo’s] conflicted position’.

When the pair became intimate, Esquierdo panicked and began suffering ‘flashbacks’ to the abuse he suffered as a child.

Brown said that although the contact between the two men was consensual, Esquierdo flared up into ‘extreme and explosive violence.

‘The deceased would have had no warning or sense of what was going to happen.

‘There is (CCTV) footage which may be the accused setting fire to his jacket which he placed on the deceased’s body.’

Immediately after the killing Esquierdo texted his friend, Mary-Ann Dykes, who dashed to the scene where she found the teenager ‘a total wreck’ and Mr Walker’s body still burning.

Esquierdo initially told police that he discovered Walker body and that he had been attacked and set on fire by others, but a few days later he was detained and charged with murder.

The Crown accepted that he had diminished responsibility for the killing after psychologists reported he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Derek Ogg QC, defending, said the kiling was ‘not a gay hate crime’ but ‘far more complex than that.

‘I would like to place on record Ryan Esquierdo’s utter bafflement and horror that he could inflict such violence’.

Mr Brown told the court that Walker had been a ‘well liked figure’ within the local community and that his death had been ‘devastating’ to many.

Walker’s father died of a heart attack in February, three months after his son’s violent death.

Judge Rita Rae QC remanded Esquierdo in custody and deferred sentencing for reports until next month.

Walker’s family or friends, several of whom were present for the hearing, refused to make any comment afterwards.

Gay marriage upheld by Spain’s top court
Spain’s highest court upheld the country’s marriage equality law, rejecting an appeal filed by the ruling People’s Party
06 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Spain’s high court upheld marriage equality and rejected an appeal against it by the ruling conservative party

The Spanish constitutional court upheld the country’s legality of same-sex marriage, rejecting an appeal by the ruling conservative government that marriage can defined only as a union between man and woman.

Eight of the court’s eleven judges voted today (6 October) to dismiss an appeal filed by the conservative ruling Popular Party submitted shortly after Spain became the world’s third country to approve gay marriage.

The law, introduced by the former government of Socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in 2005, was challenged in court by the conservative People’s Party (PP).

The law also permits adoption and was guarantees same-sex couples equal marriage rights to heterosexual couples.
Spain’s minister of justice Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said the government would respect the decision and would not further challenge it.

Reacting to the news,Jesus Generelo, general secretary of the National LGBT Federation (FELGTB) told Reuters:
‘We’re very, very pleased and particularly that the decision was 8-3 and not a close 6-5.

‘I think it is clear that gay marriage is now a part of our society’.

Over 22,000 same-sex marriages have taken place in Spain since the law was introduced.

Conservative and Catholic groups criticised the court ruling. The Family Forum, which organised protests against same-sex marriage, demanded the government repeal the law.

In a statement it said: ‘If the PP hides behind this sentence to now accept the Zapatero law, it will be reneging on the public commitments it made in 2004 and 2005 and failing to defend the ideas of its core supporters in a politically cowardly way’.

Other conservative groups made similar criticism, Hazteoir.org, stated: ‘Making marriage the same as other types of union is a direct attack on the Spanish family.

‘This equal status, as well as the promotion of divorce, will cause damage to society in the short-term.’

Poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Spain’s population support marriage equality.

French government adopts gay marriage
The French cabinet has adopted today a bill for marriage equality which will be put to a parliamentary vote early next year
07 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
French cabinet adopts gay marriage, it will be put to a parliamentary vote early next year

France’s Socialist government adopted today (7 November) a draft bill to authorise gay marriage and adoption despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and others.

‘This is an important step towards the equality of rights,’ said Minister of Family Affairs Dominique Bertinnoti to AFP.

The French president Francois Hollande, made the issue a key part of his electoral platform, stating it was an advance ‘for all of society’.

Bertinnoti rejected criticism from religious and conservative groups that the move would ‘destroy’ the family, saying: ‘On the contrary it is a legal protection’.

The bill, will be introduced for a vote in early 2013 in the parliament, has attracted strong critique from religious and conservative groups without fully addressing the demands of France’s LGBT community.

The text of the bill stipulates: ‘marriage is contracted by two persons of different sex or same-sex’, the bill also grants the right for adoption for gay couples.

The text of the draft bill also stipulates the use of the words ‘parent/s’ replacing the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’.

However, as previously noted by LGBT rights groups, the bill does not provide medically assisted procreation (MAP) for lesbian couples and would be ‘addressed’ by the government in a ‘future family law’, which was not specified.

In other words, France will continue to prevent lesbian couples from using artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization to conceive. This in contrast to heterosexual couples who have access to assisted reproduction as long as they can prove they’ve been together for two years.

French lesbian couples who manage to have babies together will therefore not be allowed to list both parents’ names on their children’s birth certificates

The French prime-minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, suggested that the text might evolve during the parliamentary hearings, scheduled to begin late January.

With more than a month’s delay, the French government objective is to pass the law before the end of the first half of 2013.

Members of the ruling Socialist party stated that amendments will be filed to address MAP, and other issues such as the legal status of a step-parent.

These amendments would partially meet the criticism levelled at the French government made by, Inter-LGBT, the main French LGBT rights group.

LGBT rights groups have previously pointed out that MAP had been promised by François Holland during his election campaign.

LGBT rights groups are planning to hold a protest for MAP this evening in Paris.

French shrinks sign a petition supporting gay marriage | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/french-psychoanalysts-sign-petition-supporting-gay-marriage061112

French shrinks sign a petition supporting gay marriage
Hundreds of France’s leading psychoanalysts signed a petition supporting gay marriage and adoption
06 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Over 560 psychoanalysts have signed a petition in favour of gay marriage in France

Over 560 psychoanalysts have signed a petition in favour of gay marriage in France.

The petition stated that there is nothing in psychoanalysis that opposes either marriage or adoption by same sex couples.

‘This evolution in our civil code has finally put France out of touch with nine European countries, thirteen countries around the world and nine American states’, said Laurence Croix, a psychoanalyst and one of the authors of the petition, quoted by RFI.

He also stated: ‘for a long time, since we started seeing [as psychoanalysts] children of gay couples, [its clear] they have no particular pathology, … the same as children brought up by heterosexual couples.’

But what can worry us as clinicians is the shame they [children] can endure, at school or elsewhere…

Thanks to this law project they have, at last, the possibility that the exist [and recognized] in our society.

As psychoanalysts we know how the symbolic importance of such a procedure is important and beneficial.

Olivier Douville, who co-author of the petition, and is the director of the journal Clinical Psychology said: ‘You can search all the advances of psychoanalytic theory and you will not find the slightest argument for stigmatizing homosexuality.

‘I happened to receive children adopted by same-sex couples [as clients], and I did not find that they were suffering more than others.

‘Marriage guarantees certain rights to the child, and on this point I think that children of same-sex couples should enjoy the same rights as the children of heterosexual couples’

Douville also warned against conservative psychoanalysts and stated that ‘psychoanalysis cannot be used as a way to oppose a law that is connected to the equality of rights’.

The petition explains that psychoanalysis should not be used for either moral or guidance [about gay marriage and adoption] purposes.

Those who signed the petition also noted from their own clinical experience of treatment of same sex couples with children that this type of parenting ‘is not any more disruptive than other environments’.

Amongst those who signed the petition is Nicole Ankin, the director of the Sigmund Freud University.

The French government will present its draft bill on gay marriage later this week on Wednesday (7 November).

Jamaica man savagely attacked by mob for allegedly having gay sex | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/jamaica-man-savagely-attacked-mob-allegedly-having-gay-sex021112

Jamaica man savagely attacked by mob for allegedly having gay sex
Two young men are reported to have been caught trying to have gay sex in a Jamaican university, one escaped the other was beaten by a cheering mob and security officers who were suppose to protect him
02 November 2012 | By Dan Littauer
A young gay man was beaten by security officers of a Jamaican university with the crowd cheering in the background

Two young men were attacked and brutally beaten by a mob of onlookers, and security officers of a Jamaican university.

Gay Star News have received unconfirmed perliminary reports from Jamaica that yesterday evening (1 November) two young men were caught having sex in the toilets at the University of Technology (U-Tech) Jamaica.

According to the reports, they were spotted and captured by a mob.

Apparently the two young men tried to escape, however one was caught and brought to the security office of U-Tech where he beaten by the campus security officers, who were supposed to protect him from the mob hurling anti-gay abuse at him.

Reports suggest he may have also suffered violence prior to that by a mob of students and onlookers.

During the video some of the campus security officers were brutally beating the young man while onlookers cheered and laughed at him, some calling to ‘kill the batty-boy’.

From the video it seems the young man has been taken into police custody, while the other has managed to escape.

Dionne Jackson Miller, a Jamaican journalist commented on her Facebook page about the incident: ‘I am sad and sickened tonight.

‘Security guards at one of our universities beating up a young man because he was allegedly found engaging in homosexual acts.

‘I also continue to wonder at my friends with their heads deep in the sand insisting that we are not a homophobic society. Really? This young man is hit and kicked by a "security “guard” while excited crowds gather outside.

‘And for those who will wilfully twist my words - you are adept at that - this has nothing to do with approval of or belief in a lifestyle.

‘This is about a society that winks at barbarism and turns its head away insisting it is not happening, apparently all the reports of abuse are made up!!! And you wonder why we are seen as homophobic?’

Maurice Tomilson, a Jamaican lawyer and leading LGBT rights advocate, also condemned the incident saying the beating was ‘savage’.

‘I taught at UTech until this August and one of my former LGBT students wrote me in a panic. He is scared to return to the campus because of the strong anti-gay sentiments.

‘The Jamaican religious right keeps claiming all attacks are gay on gay violence. They even have the police saying this foolishness.

‘While the Jamaican government refuses to show leadership on the issue of human rights of LGBT people.’

Gay Star News is investigating the incident and will publish more details as soon as they become available.

Watch the video here:

New Zealand politicians join protest likening gays to animals | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/new-zealand-politicians-join-protest-likening-gays-animals281012

New Zealand politicians join protest likening gays to animals
Two New Zealand politicians took part in anti-gay marriage protest in South Auckland
28 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
New Zealand MPs Su’a William and Sio Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi praticipated in a protest likening gays to animals

Two New Zealand members of parliament (MPs), Kanwaljit S Bakshi and Su’a William Sio, have participated in a protest against marriage-equality that included people with placards likening gay people to animals.

Protestors in South Auckland, New Zealand yesterday (27 October), carried handwritten placards saying ‘lesbi/gay copy ... animals’ as well as saying any MPs who supported the bill to legalise same-sex marriage were mentally ill.

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, of the National Party, is a member of the parliamentary select committee that will consider public submissions for and against the Marriage Amendment Bill.

Labour’s Su’a William Sio, caused an uproar in his party when he claimed Labour would lose Pacific Island votes if the party acted to legalised gay marriage.

Busloads of Tongan Christians arrived in South Auckland, a poor neighbourhood of New Zealand’s largest city, and Sio’s constituency.

The New Zealand Herald quoted protester Aisea Kaifa who addressed the crowd and stated that New Zealand should learn from the lessons of Sodom and Gomorrah.

While a Mana Party member Kereama Pene also addressed the crowd and ended his speech with a reference to ‘Adam and Steve’, which was met with applause and laughter.

Bakshi and Sio also addressed the audience stating they oppose same-sex marriage receiving applause.

As Bakshi sat on stage, speaker Alani Taione from the Tonga Development Society criticized MPs who supported the marriage amendment bill and referred to the New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key as ‘John Gay’.

Bakshi later told the New Zealand Herald ‘You can see the sentiments of the people ... they are 100 per cent against this amendment’. He said that other MPs should change their minds and vote against marriage equality and that ‘most ethnic MPs opposed gay marriage’.

Sio, addressed protestors and stated ‘Many New Zealanders will say: “What’s the big deal?”

‘You and I don’t necessarily have to defend that, because you and I have a perspective that is perhaps beyond most people’s perspective.’

Bakshi and Sio have previously expressed objections to a private member’s bill by Labour MP Louisa Wall which proposed, in July 2012, defining marriage to be inclusive regardless of gender.

The bill passed its first reading on 29 August 2012, 80 votes in favor to 40 opposed (with one abstention, and was sent to a parliamentary select committee for closer scrutiny and public input, of which Bakshi is a a member.

The committee is required to report back to the House by 28 February 2013.

Polls conducted in May 2012 indicating 63 percent of New Zealand voters support support same-sex marriage.

Google employees speak out for gay marriage | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/google-employee-speak-out-video-gay-marriage261012

Google employees speak out for gay marriage
Google launched a video in support of marriage equality featuring its employees
26 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Google launched a video in support of marriage equality featuring its employees

Google released a short video this week featuring several of the company’s employees speaking out in favor of marriage equality.

The video, titled “Googlers Supporting Marriage Equality,” was as part of a partnership between Google and The Four, a campaign group working to promote marriage equality in the four US states where the issue will put to a referendum during election day — Washington, Maryland, Minnesota and Maine.

The video features several Google employees, some of whom are gay, explaining why they support marriage equality.

‘I support marriage equality, as well as many of my friends and colleagues here at Google,’ says Julio, a YouTube employee in the video’s introduction.

A gay Google employee said on the video: ‘My partner and I are actually engaged, and finding a way to get married right now is kind of tough.’

A lesbian Google employee stated: ‘Every time I fill out a medical insurance form, I have to check single’.

A gay employee said: ‘If you’re in Washington, Main, Minnesota or Maryland now you have the chance to negate fear and prejudice.’

‘Civil rights should never be up for a vote. But the fact that it is means we have to get people behind the cause as much as possible’, said another.

The Four campaign was founded by gay rights and progressive political activists Brain Ellner, Ryan Davis and Andre Banks.

Blue State Digital, a new media firm with ties to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, designed the group’s website.

The video follows a worldwide campaign by Google launched this year to advocate marriage equality rights in countries where it has offices.

Taiwanese media also reported yesterday that Google will be joning the Pride parade in Taipei for the second consecutive year and is urging its staff to participate. It will be sending cheerleaders and offering “free hugs”.

Other major technology companies, including eBay, Amazon and Microsoft, have also supported marriage equality.

Catholic Church: Scotland gay marriage bullies children as Nazis | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/catholic-church-scotland-gay-marriage-bullies-children-nazis101012

Catholic Church: Scotland gay marriage bullies children as Nazis
The Catholic Church has alleged that children are bullied and branded as Nazis if they oppose marriage equality in Scotland
10 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
John Deighan, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Scotland said children are bullied and manipulated by the “equality lobby” over same-sex marriage

The Catholic Church has claimed that school children as young as 12 who disagree with marriage equality in Scotland have been branded as ‘Nazis’ and ‘bigots’.

John Deighan, the Roman Catholic Church’s parliamentary officer in Scotland, claimed that the Catholic Church and children are being victimized because of the planned Scottish marriage equality bill which is due to be put to the vote early next year.

He stated: ‘I know, for example, of children in Scotland, including my own 12-year-old child, who have been branded as “Nazis” and “bigots” because they have dared to disagree with the idea of same-sex marriage.’

Deighan made these comments in the European parliament in Brussels during a recent meeting of the EU’s most right wing parties, the group of European conservatives and reformists and the group of the European People’s Party.

Deighan warned the meeting that LGBT campaign groups, such as the Equality Network and Stonewall subject anyone who opposes their views to ‘intense levels of hostility.

‘People are increasingly being subjected to manipulation by what I would call the equality lobby.

‘This is a blatant attempt to manipulate the ideas and views of people, including school children, so that they become more intolerant of the Catholic message.’

Deighan also alleged that it is ‘very difficult’ to persuade politicians in Scotland to speak out marriage equality because ‘they are afraid that in doing so they will jeopardise their careers’.

A 2011 survey by the Scottish Youth Parliament showed 74% of young people actually support marriage equality.

While Stonewall Scotland poll conducted by YouGov poll published in late June this year showed two-thirds (65%) of the general public in Scotland support for marriage equality.

The Scottish government has consistently stated that the proposed marriage equality law will ensure churches, and individuals within them, do not have to conduct same-sex marriages if they do not agree with them.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman previously stated: ‘The Scottish Government is committed to a Scotland that is fair and equal and that is why we intend to proceed with plans to allow same-sex marriage and religious ceremonies for civil partnerships. All views have been taken into account in coming to this decision.

‘Our next consultation, due later this year, will seek views on protections in areas such as religious freedom, education and freedom of speech.’

French mayor says gay marriage would lead to polygamy, incest and paedophilia | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/french-mayor-says-gay-marriage-would-lead-polygamy-incest-and-paedophil

French mayor says gay marriage would lead to polygamy, incest and paedophilia
Mayor of the 8th borough of Paris warned that France’s proposed marriage equality bill would lead to taboos like incest and paedophilia being legalised. His words were sharply criticized
03 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
François Lebel stated that gay marriage could open the door to polygamy, incest and paedophilia

The mayor of Paris’s 8th borough (arrondissement), François Lebel, stated, in his official municipal publication, that France’s upcoming legalization of same-sex marriage could open the door to polygamy, incest and paedophilia.

Quoted in the French daily Libération

Jamaica to teach kids to be straight, not gay | Gay Star News
►http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/jamaica-teach-kids-be-straight-not-gay021012

Jamaica to teach kids to be straight, not gay
Jamaica’s minister of education says schools should promote heterosexual relationships, but not gay
02 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Ronald Thwaites, Jamaica’s education minister, says only heterosexual relationships should be promoted in schools, not gay ones

Jamaica minister of education Ronald Thwaites said that the ’homosexual lifestyle’ would not be promoted in the education system.

The decision follows an announcement by the minister last month to withdraw and to revise the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curriculum for public schools as the teaching manual mentioned homosexuality.

Thwaites emphasised the importance of the HFLE curriculum but said only heterosexual relationships would be promoted in the education system, while expressing tolerance for those who chose alternative lifestyles.

‘I wish to make it quite clear that in the rewrite of that particular aspect of it, however it came to be, we are not going to be promoting homosexuality in this country. We’re just not going to do it.

‘We are going to promote healthy heterosexual relationships, but with a tolerance and compassion for those who adopt a different lifestyle. There is a difference between grooming and conditioning, and being tolerant; and that distinction is quite possible for us to craft’, quoted in the daily Jamaica Observer.

Last month Thwaites ordered the withdrawal and a revision of the sections of the HLFE manual to be used in grades seven to nine, following a media storm about it touching upon the subject of homosexuality.

Thwaites promised to have the ‘offending sections’ rewritten and back in schools in two months.

Some of the questions in the manual asked if teenagers had anal sex; whether they ever thought they were gay; knew their HIV status and if they had multiple partners.

The daily Jamaica Observer reported that some education experts said the questions pertinent as some adolescents were having sex from an early age and were indulging in anal sex.

They also said the manual, funded in part by international agencies, had undergone extensive review among teachers and guidance counsellors.

Thwaits however insisted that some of the questions should not be asked and only heterosexual lifestyles should be promoted.

‘It was totally unacceptable that that material should even have been issued.

‘The important thing is that we balance an appropriate exposure of sexuality and of human relationships to young people, but in an instance where you are not promoting and advancing a particular lifestyle which many consider to be inappropriate.’

The minister also thanked a number of churches and concerned groups which placed a full-page advertisement in the Jamaica Observer on Monday (1 Otcober) expressing grave concern about the curriculum and supporting his decision to have the offending parts withdrawn and rewritten.

Speaking with Gay Star News, Maurice Tomilson, Jamaican lawyer and leading LGBT rights advocate commented: ‘Jamaica’s minister of education, Roman Catholic Deacon Ronald Thwaites, has finally shown his true colours. He flatly rejects established scientific evidence that homosexuality is naturally occurring in 450 species in nature (including humans) and also wants Jamaican students to remain ignorant of that fact.

‘His claim to be in support of tolerance is hollow, when he clearly states that the only “healthy” relationship is a heterosexual one.

‘Thanks to his now stated policy of exclusion, LGBT students will continue to be denied accurate information on how to negotiate issues of sexuality.

‘These students will also continue enduring horrific acts of bullying and abuse by their homophobic classmates who will remain ignorant about homosexuality.

‘Thanks to this Minister, yet another generation of Jamaicans will never know what our national motto “Out of Many, One People” truly means. They will therefore be ill-equipped to function in modern pluralistic societies.’

Obama has made FBI and CIA gay, says family activist
Camenker, a US family rights and pro-life activist said the FBI and CIA have gone gay and that a terrorist movement de-listed homosexuality as a mental illness
03 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
Brian Camenker, a US family rights activist said the FBI and CIA have ’gone gay’

According to Brian Camenker a family rights and pro-life activist the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) became gay and a threat to the family.

He also said that an ‘extreme terrorist movement’ was behind the removal of homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses.

Appearing on the Voice of Christian Youth America program Crosstalk, with host Jim Schneider, Camenker head of the MassResistance organization said: ‘It’s unbelievable. ... They have started a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender program on their careers website and they apparently have even gone from there to embracing the gay agenda, having a gay advisory committee, welcoming homosexuals as FBI agents, getting involved with pride events, but more than that going to gay pride events and encouraging homosexual activists to report hate crimes and working with them against pro-family groups.

‘…It is very, very frightening to see. The FBI is very powerful and they can do a lot of damage if they are out to get you.

‘We’ve seen that in the schools, we’ve seen that all over the place. We’re really scared about the FBI being this out homosexual organization.’

According to Camenker even the CIA isn’t ‘safe’ anymore from the ‘gay agenda. In the old days you thought of the CIA as being this internal spy organization but now what they are doing is they are actually participating in these activities [like gay pride events]’.

Camenker went on to lament that gays are no longer banned from serving in the CIA but instead the agency is participating in the ‘gay agenda’ adding: ‘Man, this is really, really, really bad.’

Camenker argued on the MassResistance website that: ‘The US military and State Department aren’t the only branches of the US government to “go gay”.

‘Since the Obama Administration took control, the FBI and CIA, the two main federal law enforcement and surveillance organizations, have fully embraced the homosexual and transgender movements, and appear to be poised to crack down on pro-family groups and citizens who are critical.’

Camenker regards Barack Obama as ‘more aggressive at pushing the radical homosexual and transgender agendas than anyone could possibly have imagined.

‘The fact that the mainstream media (and most of the conservative media) is almost completely silent about this gives him even more cover to continue. In a second term, it would unquestionably get even worse.’

Camenker is also concerned that the Republican candidate Mitt Romney has been recruited into the ‘gay agenda’ saying: ‘When Romney announced to a national audience that he would support ‘gay rights’ and in effect be the most pro-homosexual Republican president ever, that didn’t give us much confidence.’

Towards the end of the program on VCY Camenker criticized California’s new law limiting the practice of harmful and discredited sexual orientation conversion therapy on minors. He claimed that ‘an extreme terrorist movement in the medical community’ was behind the removal of homosexuality from mental illness listing.

He also claimed that conversion therapy works as ‘there is a whole world of ex-gays around’.

He warned that the new California law will be especially bad for ‘these kids who have been preyed upon by the homosexual movement’ and that homosexuality for them should be seen as ‘just a fad.’

Springsteen stars in gay marriage campaign
Bruce Springsteen, aka the Boss, features in a social media campaign for marriage equality
03 October 2012 | By Dan Littauer
The Boss says support gay marriage!

Bruce Springsteen has been an advocate for gay rights for a while, but now ‘The Boss’ is starring in a social media campaign for marriage equality.

The 63-year-old rock star is featured in a new campaign by The Four 2012, focusing on passing same-sex marriage bills in the US states of Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington this November.

The adds quotes former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine description of marriage equality as ‘a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.’

Springsteen comments: ‘I couldn’t agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.’

The quote is actually taken from a blog note by Springsteen in 2009 although he agreed to have it used for the campaign.

USA Today reported that Newark’s, New Jersey, mayor Cory Booker retweeted the Springsteen add, with the message: ‘Yes, Bruce truly Rocks!’.

Brian Ellner, co-founder of The Four 2012, described to the USA Today the social media campaign as ’"Facebook and Twitter meet Rock the Vote for gay marriage." The idea is to create digital content every day before the election so people understand the four ballot initiatives and what’s at stake.’

The campaign has now gone viral with thousands of people posting the picture on Facebook and retweeting the ad on twitter.

According to a GALLUP poll 50% of US citizens support same-sex marriage, while 48% remain opposed.