Friday, January 28, 2011

Death of a man

When I was growing up there was no outcry about violence perpetrated against gay or lesbian persons - and transgendered was not even a category.

As with slavery, and domestic violence against women, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures have long been used to justify violence against gay men and lesbian women. It is time to stop. Now.

It is time to say that 1. the scriptures are wrong, and wrongly used, to justify violence against any person or to segregate them and 2. it is wrong to assume these writings prove God does not look favorably on lgbt persons as God does on heterosexist men and women.

A man has been murdered in Uganda. A newspaper in Uganda some time ago ran headlines demanding the "outing" of gay men and hanging. Uganda is still considering a bill advancing past the criminalization of gay men to criminalizing anyone who does not report suspected family members, friends or neighbors for being gay and favoring the death of gay persons.

Read the latest story of murder of a gay man, an activist for civil liberties for gay people in Uganda. (Hat tip to Episcopal Cafe) Read also the response from the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Hat tip to Thinking Anglicans)

Words kill. Violent words engender violence. I you are worthy of love just as you are, so is your brother or sister. Period. Full stop.

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