May 17, 2005

The Liberty Line is a monthly e-communications update from the Liberty Education Forum. 

Liberty Education Forum Releases New White Paper

The Liberty Education Forum has an important new tool to help gain new allies in the fight for gay and lesbian civil rights.  Noted author Chandler Burr has written a new white paper for LEF.  "The Only Question that Matters: Do People Choose Their Sexual Orientation?"

Burr writes, "The answer to this question has an amazingly high correlation to support for gay and lesbian equality.  Case in point, a November 2004 poll by Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates asked about support for civil unions and gay marriage. 79% of people who think human beings are born with a sexual orientation support civil unions or civil marriage equality. Among those who believe being straight or gay is a choice, support for civil unions or civil marriage for gay people is only 22%." 

Burr's new white paper clearly demonstrates that we already know the answer to this question—people don't choose their sexual orientation.  This has important political implications and it's a powerful tool for achieving equality.  Convince more Republicans, conservative Democrats, and people of faith that being gay isn't a "lifestyle choice" and political equality will follow.  Click here to read Burr's new report.

Reaching the Heartland

"'We're no different than anyone else,' says Carrie, Heather's partner and the children's step-mom since the women's civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2002. 'Our family is the same as the one across the street. It's a little different makeup, but we deserve the same as everyone else.'"  Click here to read more about this story.

Keeping the Faith

Gay and Lesbian Groups Troubled By Selection of New Pope

Gay and lesbian groups are disappointed with the selection of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as the new Pope.  Reuters reports "Gay U.S. Catholics expressed disappointment with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope, saying the conservative theologian was almost certain to mean their continued estrangement from the mainstream church.  Ratzinger, 78, has been a flash point for controversy between liberal and conservative Catholics.  As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger in 1986 issued a Vatican denunciation of homosexuality and gay marriage.

"'Gay and lesbian Catholics are going to be very hurt by this election because Cardinal Ratzinger was the lighting rod for so much of the anger they felt under the previous pope,' said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the New Ways Ministry, after the German prelate was elected Pope Benedict XVI.  Click here to read more about this.

In 1986, Ratzinger wrote, "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder." Click here to read some quotes from Pope Benedict XVI. Click here to read more about the new Pope's record on gay and lesbian issues.

Spanish Cardinal Compares Gay Marriage to Nazism

"Gay rights groups in Spain reacted with anger recently after a Roman Catholic cardinal compared obedience to the legalization of same-sex marriage to the process that led to the creation of Nazi death camps, Agence France-Presse reports. "If you give obedience to the law priority over obedience to your conscience, that leads to Auschwitz," Cardinal Ricard Maria Carles, former archbishop of Barcelona, told a Spanish television station.  Last month, Spanish deputies approved a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry and adopt children. The bill is expected to become law and would make Spain the third European country after the Netherlands and Belgium to do so.  Click here to read more about this.

Meanwhile, several Spanish Catholic organizations countered the official position of the Spanish Catholic Church when they voiced their support for civil marriage equality. "Civil marriage is a judicial institution, a human construction that can and must evolve to adapt to new ways of understanding society," said a manifesto published by a Catholic group associated with the magazine Iglesia Viva (Living Church) and the religious information Web site Atrio. Click here to read more about this.

Hundreds Stand Up Against Anti-Gay Organization

Hundreds of people gathered in Colorado Springs for two days earlier this month to speak out against the anti-gay teachings of James Dobson and his organization, Focus on the Family.  The Washington Post reports, "The protesters gathered in front of the Focus on the Family campus, holding rainbow flags, multicolored balloons and signs reading 'God Loves Justice' and 'Love Thy Neighbor.' 'We are here to say, Jim, we love you enough to stop you from doing the damage you are doing to families across the nation,' said Mel White, executive director of Soulforce, a national interfaith organization that supports gay rights.'"

On the second day of the Soulforce gathering, three people were arrested for trespassing as they tried to deliver a letter to Focus founder James Dobson.  The Denver Post reports, "125 people from Soulforce - wearing T-shirts reading 'Justice Is a Family Thing!' - walked quietly to the threshold of Focus' property, stopped and held hands while Randi Reitan read a letter to Dobson that expressed her love for her gay son.  'As parents and Christians, we felt called to work for justice for all in the gay community, she said. 'People are taught to hate. People are taught to be intolerant. As Christians, we must teach God's love for all his beloved children by our love and our actions.'"

A Foundation of Faith

The Press Enterprise tells the story of one church's successful journey to inclusion for gay and lesbian people. "Ten years ago, the First Congregational Church UCC in Riverside, CA became the first United Church of Christ in the Inland area to declare itself an 'open and affirming' congregation that welcomed everyone regardless of race, sexual orientation or abilities.

"Some members who opposed the decision worried that it would become a church dominated by homosexuals, church leaders said. Others thought it unnecessary because they felt the downtown church already welcomed anyone who believed in Jesus Christ.

"A handful of people left the church.  But a decade later, First Congregational Church is filled with families, straight and gay. A previously aging congregation now ranges from toddlers to seniors. About 10 percent of members are gays and lesbians. But the biggest growth has been among straight families who say it's important to raise their children in a church that welcomes everyone, said the Rev. Jane Quandt, senior minister of the 133-year-old church.

"'It has been a very positive thing for gay and straight people," Quandt said. 'It's been very important to gay people ... to feel part of the mainstream of society. It has increased our racial diversity some. There are families who came here seeking a diverse environment.'" Click here to read more about this church.

Defending Freedom

Gays and Lesbians Should be Allowed to Serve Openly & Honestly

USA Today recently published an editorial encouraging members of Congress to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Armed Forces.  "Gays should be able to serve openly in the U.S. military, as well. If they engage in sexual harassment or misconduct, they should be punished — just as heterosexual soldiers are punished for harassment or misconduct. The current policy lacks common sense﾿.The supply of soldiers didn't dry up when the British army dropped its gay ban. And there's no reason to believe America's MTV generation would act any differently if Congress junked this archaic law."  Click here to read the entire commentary.  Click here to read the entire commentary.

Supreme Court Accepts a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Recruiting Suit

The Supreme Court agreed early this month to decide whether Congress can constitutionally withhold federal money from universities that show their support for gay rights by restricting access to campuses by military recruiters.  The New York Times reports, "The case is an appeal by the Bush administration from a federal court decision last November. That ruling barred enforcement of the measure, known as the Solomon Amendment, on the ground that it had the effect of coercing universities into endorsing the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' personnel policy.

"Ruling in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of law schools and law professors, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that because the Solomon Amendment required law schools to "propagate, accommodate and subsidize the military's expressive message" of disapproval of homosexuality despite the schools' commitment to nondiscrimination, the measure probably violated the schools' First Amendment rights.

"In ruling for the plaintiffs in the FAIR case, the Third Circuit took as its guidepost the Supreme Court's ruling in 2000 that the Boy Scouts could not be required to accept gay men as scoutmasters. 'Just as the Boy Scouts endeavored to inculcate youth with the Boy Scouts' values both expressively and by example, the law schools endeavor to inculcate their students with their chosen values by expression and example in the promulgation and enforcement of their nondiscrimination policies,' the appeals court panel said in its 2-to-1 decision."

Healthwatch

Many HIV-Positive Gay Men Unaware They're Infected

Reuters Health reports that U.S. health officials say that many young gay and bisexual men who are HIV-positive may not know they have the virus.  "Their study of more than 5,600 men between the ages of 15 and 29 found that more than three-quarters of those who tested positive for HIV were unaware they were infected.  Moreover, before being tested, a majority of these men thought themselves at low risk of having the AIDS virus, and half had had unprotected sex with another man during the previous 6 months.  The findings suggest that the HIV epidemic among young gay and bisexual men 'continues unabated,' in part because many are unaware of their infection, according to the study authors, led by Duncan A. MacKellar of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

"The high rate of unrecognized HIV infection seems to stem in part from a low rate of regular testing for the virus, MacKellar told Reuters Health.  Though many men in the study had undergone HIV testing in the past, few got themselves tested regularly. And only a minority of those who were unaware they were HIV-positive had been tested in the past year. It's recommended that people at high risk of HIV be tested for the virus and other sexually transmitted diseases at least once a year.  The reason for the lack of regular testing is unclear, but the fact that many men in the study believed they were at low risk for HIV may be one factor, according to MacKellar."

FDA Will Restrict Gay Sperm Donors

Gay.com reports, “The Food and Drug Administration is about to implement new rules recommending that any man who has engaged in homosexual sex in the previous five years be barred from serving as an anonymous sperm donor.  The FDA has rejected calls to scrap the provision, insisting that gay men collectively pose a higher-than-average risk of carrying the AIDS virus.  Critics accuse the FDA of stigmatizing all gay men rather than adopting a screening process that focuses on high-risk sexual behavior by any would-be donor, gay or straight.  ’Under these rules, a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex with HIV-positive prostitutes would be OK as a donor one year later, but a gay man in a monogamous, safe-sex relationship is not OK unless he's been celibate for five years,’ said Leland Traiman, director of a clinic in Alameda, CA that seeks gay sperm donors.

”Traiman said adequate safety assurances can be provided by testing a sperm donor at the time of the initial donation, then freezing the sperm for a six-month quarantine and testing the donor again to be sure there is no new sign of HIV or other infectious diseases.  Click here to read more about this.