October 16, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

Over the last two decades, I’ve had opportunity to at least sample what gay life is like in Latin America, Canada and Europe.  We have visited bars and other establishments in Mexico City and Monterrey, Toronto, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, etc.  We also traveled with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, and Berlin.  We’ve had a few beers in Prague, where gay life has been quite open for a long time.

Tonight I am writing from San Jose, Costa Rica, in a “gay hotel”– a place that probably could not have existed two decades ago.  It is run by an “expat” American and caters mostly but not exclusively to U.S. and Canadian tourists who, thanks to the internet, can find a place like the Colours Oasis Resort.

What I find most interesting is that “Ticos” (Costa Rica’s term for its own people) also come here from elsewhere in the country because they can be themselves, or vacation as lesbian or gay couples with relative openness.  I might add, in case you are curious, that this is a legitimate, well-run boutique-sized establishment where nudity is not an option and momentary sexual encounters are not part of the scene.

In addition to the safety for guests, this is an oasis for gay employees who can find jobs and futures without shame or fear.

Costa Rica is relatively “open” to gay people, but mostly in a “don’t ask don’t tell” sense.  A one-page essay inside the guest book of the hotel explains in English what is appropriate and what to expect.  But it is  heartening to see that the host/waiter in the restaurant and the cook in the kitchen can test out and strengthen their one-year relationship in the safety of this resort.

For LGBT people in the United States, worrying about safety in 2011 seems almost quaint.  But for Latin America, it is amazing progress.

What seems to be lacking, of course, is any reference to the Christian church.  Everyone mentions the church only as geographical reference point, such as a gay bar which is several blocks east and south of the Cathedral.  But when we asked one person whether he was Catholic, he smiled and said  “mas or menos.”  As with millions in the United States, the church continues to speak in a largely irrelevant manner to its own people, and by adulthood they drift away.

I am convinced this is not because the church is morally strict and people do not want to live up to that strictness.  It is because the church is not listening, does not walk with people in their real life experiences, and therefore has little which is relevant to say.

But although we have not located a worship service yet for Sunday morning, there is a small group of Lutheran missions in Costa Rica and a bishop who oversees the church.  It appears from the web that they are trying very much to be relevant with ministries for those with HIV/AIDS, refugees, the poor, etc.  Because the Lutheran church here is not the establishment church, it has much less to risk in ministering among the marginalized.  We can only hope that it would some day also recognize its mission to LGBT people in its midst.

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in International, "The Closet", LGBT Christian, Public Affairs, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »

June 20, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2011/06/un-adopts-groundbreaking-resolution-affirming-that-lgbt-rights-are-human-rights/

UN Adopts Groundbreaking Resolution Affirming that LGBT Rights are Human Rights

By Paul Guequierre • June 17th, 2011 at 10:34 am

The following post comes from Mark Bromley Chair of the Council for Global Equality:

For the First time, the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva has adopted a resolution expressing concern at acts of violence and discrimination committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The text calls on the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a global study outlining discriminatory laws, practices and acts of violence directed at LGBT individuals, with recommendations on how to put an end to such fundamental human rights abuses. The study will be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council next year. The resolution was tabled by South Africa and it enjoyed strong support from the United States and a broad coalition of voting states from all regions of the world. It was adopted in Geneva today by a vote of 23 countries in support, 19 against and 3 abstentions.

The United States was represented at the adoption by U.S. Ambassador Eileen Donahoe and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Baer. Baer noted the importance the United States placed on this vote, emphasizing that “this resolution confirms to millions of people around the world that every person – every human being on this planet – matters. As Secretary Clinton said, ‘Gay rights are human rights.’ So are the rights of religious minorities, the disabled and so many others who have been historically ignored or persecuted, not for what they do but for what they are. This is an important step in the quest for dignity for all. And I am proud that the U.S. is a part of it.”

This is the first official UN resolution to focus exclusively on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, and it is the first time that gender identity has ever been included in such a formal UN text. A vocal coalition of civil society advocates, coordinated by ARC International, also gathered in Geneva to push the UN to adopt the text. Those advocates, together with non-governmental leaders in South Africa, worked with the South African government to refine the text and then lobbied hard for its adoption. See the full text of the statement from the NGO coalition that supported the resolution here.

The United States was an official co-sponsor of the resolution and worked with South Africa and other co-sponsors from Europe, Latin America and Asia to secure its passage. Under President Obama and with the leadership of Secretary of State Clinton, the United States has become a strong voice for LGBT rights at the United Nations. The Human Rights Campaign is a founding member of the Council for Global Equality whose mission is to bring together international human rights activists, foreign policy experts, LGBT leaders, philanthropists and corporate officials to encourage a clearer and stronger American voice on human rights concerns impacting LGBT communities around the world. You can find more information on the Council for Global Equality and their work on this action here.

— Dan Hooper

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May 23, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

Just weeks after the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. finally opened its doors to lesbian and gay clergy, today’s breaking news is that the Church of Scotland is doing the same.

The British Guardian reports the story, which also touches on the issue of same-sex marriage.

The Church of Scotland is the largest Protestant body in Scotland (although not large, only some 450,000 members). Since the Reformation four centuries ago, the Church of Scotland has been a part of the Reformed movement which is essentially Presbyterian in polity.

“The church’s general assembly, its law-making body, voted on Monday to lift that moratorium, officially allowing gay ministers to take on parishes for the first time since its formation 450 years ago.”

The story, however, dies not indicate whether the Church of Scotland voters were in any way influenced by the ratification of changes in policy in the PCUSA earlier this month.What is fascinating in the Guardian story are the competing predictions of potential disaster (before the vote was taken by the church’s general Assembly): the number of ministers and congregants who would leave the church if homosexual clergy are permitted, and the number of ministers and congregants who would leave the church if homosexual clergy are not permitted. It seems human nature cannot resist the making of polarizing threats.For the record, there were hundreds of clergy and thousands of believers in my own Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who never promised to leave or threatened anything for the decades it took to shift the thinking of the entire churchbody. Although we have certainly not won over every heart and mind, the scale tipped in favor of openness and tolerance in August 2009, and all efforts to rescind this new liberal policy have thus far failed miserably.

Although the Guardian story is too brief and vague, it notes that “In addition, the church has set up a commission to investigate the theological issues raised by the acceptance of gay clergy.” In contrast, the ELCA studied the issues almost to death, including the adoption of a comprehensive statement on Human Sexuality, before it recommended action two years ago.

We shall stay on the look-out for more information coming directly from the Church of Scotland.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Doctrine, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, International, Ecumenical Issues, LGBT Christian, Ministry, Coming Out, History, ELCA | Print | No Comments »

April 14, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

The news that the British ban on gay blood donation is being lifted is a mixed bag for us. The 365Gay.com story explains that the ban is being lifted because “the rule could be discriminatory and might breach equality legislation.”

My husband and I used to be serious blood donors (he more than I). When the AIDS pandemic hit and our blood was no longer wanted for fear we had HIV in our veins, we kept on donating for awhile by simply lying about never having sex with another male.

The truth was that we were entirely monogamous had had been for years, but that didn’t seem to matter to the rules governing the American Red Cross demand for our blood. It assumed that gay men were promiscuous or possibly had the virus, even at low levels, in our systems. America could not distinguish between monogamy and promiscuity.

Even now, the distinction in this British announcement is missing. According to journalist Andy Bloxham, “However, gay men will only be permitted to donate if they have not had sexual intercourse for a decade. Homosexuals who are or have recently been sexually active will continue to be barred from giving blood.”

Well I admit I have had sexual intercourse in the last decade. But the new policy apparently wouldn’t care that it has been with the same partner for the last three decades plus. And for the record, I have never had any STD in my lifetime. But I won’t be flying to Britain to be generous with my blood.

The real oddity of our own American blood policy (I haven’t looked into British law or policy) is that it seems to be crafted to give assurances to heterosexuals that they can’t get HIV from gay blood. Are we doing that for white supremacists to assure them they won’t ever be given a transfusion of African-American blood? Truthfully, assurances of purity really can’t be 100% ever.

Blood banks do not and cannot guarantee the purity of their blood supply. Although blood products are screened carefully, but HIV takes awhile to show itself in an infected person. You would think in the 30 years since this terrible pandemic began (June 1981) that blood-screening science would have improved as dramatically as the medicines to control HIV/AIDS.

Of greater concern is that America can’t seem to convince our youth that getting HIV/AIDS is a serious health problem, even while the older generations still fear getting it from blood transfusions. We have much work to do, for example, to educate people who engage in risky behavior. (Keep your eye on www.HollywoodRemembers.org).

I still believe that donating blood is a worthy cause and that it saves lives. As a generous person, I would still donate blood, but they don’t want it. Even as the science of blood purity struggles to improve itself, I don’t see American homophobia declining rapidly enough or law and public policy keeping pace with the change of either. And although our national blood supply is amazingly safe, too much bigotry still seems to flow in America’s veins.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in Homophobia, International, Sex, HIV and AIDS, Health, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

February 25, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

This last link (”not in Iran“) from the previous blog, February 24, 2011, is a very thoughtful piece from 2007 that analyzes the complex forces with Iranian and other Islamic societies. I had not read all of it when I posted the link, but now I have.  Its author, Martin Beck Matustik, who came of age intellectually in then-Czechoslovakia, compares contemporary Islamist Iran to the sheer force of Soviet power in the 1980s, which also tried to hold back every change with all force.

It should be no secret that I stand against violence in all forms, and cannot support the death penalty. More basic, I oppose all forms of religious terror, whether sanctioned by civil law, fundamentalist law, schoolyard bullying, or the pathetic but relentless terror inflicted by Fred Phelps and his mentally deranged ilk.

A friend of mine in the LGBTQ movement here in Los Angeles (with whom I am long overdue to “do lunch”) raised the issue with me that: our society, which talks the talk of protecting its children from violence and abuse, is doing nothing to free any children from religiously-grounded domestic terrorism and abuse in homophobic families. Truthfully, it is equally as chilling as a hanging in Iran to realize that America tolerates another “deathstyle” for homosexual teenagers: suicide.

What are we doing to stop this wave of death (which fundamentalism seems to find more acceptable than abortion)? What am I doing? What are you doing? How can we do more than weep for those who are dying, and reach out to our own neighbors’ kids to turn them from all self-destructive behaviors, show them the way of life, and the joy of being the persons that God has created us?

Certainly, the volunteers of the Trevor Project, the It Gets Better Project, and other anti-suicide efforts are huge in trying to intercept a life spiraling down to death. But it should be Job One for Christians intercept all messages of hate (including self-hate), rejection, and violence wherever they are coming from — and especially when they are being spewed out by homophobes claiming to love Jesus. Christians are not following Jesus when we simply say, “tsk, tsk, how sad” where spiritual/emotional or physical violence is inflicted on others in the name of God. It is the ultimate misuse of religious faith to resign ourselves to the evils around us which harms countless people, especially the young.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Family, Bullying, International, wingnuts, Violence, Fundamentalism, Homophobia, LGBT Christian | Print | No Comments »

February 24, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

We easily forget what a terrible cost is paid by individuals who do not hide in fear. Thanks, Michael, for sending me the link on Facebook to this tragic news story. Two Iranian teen boys were hanged for the crime of homosexuality—identified only as M.A. and A.M. but photographed just before their deaths.

This brutal act of course is also meant to shame and intimidate not only all gay people in Iran but also the families of these young guys.

While we are reveling in the news of emerging freedom in Egypt, and the promise of the fall of other despotic regimes, blood is being shed. Lives are being lost in the struggle in Libya. Iraqis are still killing Iraqis because of a millennium-old rivalry. the rest of the Mideast will not see another Velvet Revolution. Definitely not in Iran. And Iran is worse than Libya because it has great strength and more power to hurt greater numbers of people.

I can’t help thinking, of course, that in brutally killing boys, Iran’s obsession with maintaining the purity of Islam as they see it is their way of saying, “WE WILL NOT let anything Western influence our view of reality.”

Ultimately it will not work. Over time, medieval Islam will change or crumble, just like the medieval West has changed—some crumbling, some destroyed through revolution, some adapting and reinterpreting its traditions.

But in the meantime, countless thousands of people will bleed and die. No matter how reasoned my own mental analysis of these moral, cultural and historic issues might be, I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that Allah is pleased with the torture, blood, pain and death of people. Capital punishment is barbaric, no matter where instituted and for what “crime.”

From the Beirut.Indymedia.org article: “According to the website Age of Consent, which monitors such laws around the world, in Iran “Homosexuality is illegal, those charged with love-making are given a choice of four deathstyles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword, or dropped from the highest perch.”

Pray for God’s eternal compassion for these young men and countless others.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in International, Violence, Fundamentalism, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

February 20, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

Just finished reading Ken Auletta’s remarkable book Googled. It was the subtitle that prodded me to buy it: “The End of the World as We Know It.” The author provides more detailed analysis of business models and plans, and insider interviews with “old media” execs, etc., than I cared for, but the portrait he presents is of a young, courageous and even recklessly idealistic company that has taken the world by storm.

Google’s commitment to make all human information available to anyone globally is a bit over the top, except that they are succeeding in doing exactly that. Technologically, there are almost no roadblocks. Legally and culturally, there are plenty of them.

You may remember that China has been a particular thorn in the side for Google, having hacked into Chinese dissidents’ G-Mail accounts, and blocked information that could help today’s revolutionaries know what’s going on.

But the technology and profit sides of Google are utterly amazing. There are estimates for example that some 20 million books have been published throughout history. Google has already scanned and indexed between 7 and 10 million of them. Little more than 12 years ago, Google was a crazy idea of two Stanford University buddies. Today it employees 20,000 people and those buddies are each worth more than $12 billion, even after being beat up by the recession.

Auletta’s book will overwhelm you with facts and statistics. Probably the best part is his repeated reference to Google as a huge wave, in his way of analyzing who is riding the wave, who is being sucked under and who is being flattened.

The world we knew as recently as the 90s is gone forever. Get used to it. The world of the 00s is going bye-bye. Brace yourself for continuous, relentless change.

—Dan Hooper

Posted in International, History, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

February 12, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

The most amazing part of last night’s fascinating story on Anderson Cooper 360 was the connection to Google and Facebook.

Wael Ghonim is the Google employee—executive they said—who was arrested in Egypt and held for twelve days, apparently blindfolded and without knowledge of what was going on or what would become of him.  He credits Facebook with a seminal role in launching the Egyptian revolution. (For a little fun, check Ghonim’s Facebook page.)

According to The Faster Times, “A quote from  Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who launched the Facebook page said to have sparked the original protest, has been making the rounds online: “`If you want to liberate a country, give them the Internet.’”

            In a New Yorker article last fall, Malcolm Gladwell seems to counter Ghonim’s view.  I have blogged several times about Gladwell’s insights, but I think this time his reasoning is simply trumped b y reality.

If  Ghonim’s analysis turns out to be true, it does not bode well for the future of dictatorial or totalitarian regimes, or perhaps even merely unpopular governments.  Yes, despots will continue to try to block access to web sites that are unflattering, or to cut off the entire internet, as Mubarik was about to do. 

But the people vastly outnumber even the most evil and corrupt leadership, if they will sand up to oppression and are willing to put themselves on the front line.  But the “front lines” in this 21^st century may very well be electronic.  Eventually, the internet will be so pervasive that it cannot be blocked.  And the will to be free, coupled with the will to know, will put the internet’s worldwide role in the limelight for communicating change.   

So, if Egypt can do this, why not Iran?  If Iran, why not … China?  Indeed, why not these United States of America?  Have we not had our share of unpopular regimes?  Probably the only thing that has saved us from such a course of history, especially at the end of the “W” era is that Mr. Bush relinquished power as his predecessors have always done.  It is this civil exit from power and authority that is the only thing which genuinely confirms the vitality of our democratic institutions.

— Dan Hooper

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December 20, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

You gotta love it. You know that same-sex marriage is being normalized (no matter what the Family Research Center says) when it gets commercialized. SAS offered the world’s first in-flight gay marriage ceremonies earlier this month as part of its “Love is in the Air” advertising campaign.

Here’s the international twist: On SAS flight SK903 from Stockholm to New York, a lesbian couple and a gay couple exchanged vows (legal in Sweden and wherever Swedish marriages are legally recognized): a German gay couple and a Polish lesbian couple. Germany and Poland do not allow same-sex marriage, but there isn’t a heckuva lot they could do to stop these, short of an anti-gay hijacking of the flight.

The story and the photos are all gushy and cute on 365Gay.com.

And since the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden said OK to gay marriage more than a year ago, the flight must have truly been blessed.

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in International, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »