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Post by Watchman on Feb 15, 2006 17:19:23 GMT -5
Gay Activists Ask Canada to Lower Age of Consent for Anal Sex, National Post Agrees By John-Henry Westen TORONTO, February 14, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Homosexual activists have long sought to distance themselves from pedophiles, however Canada's most prominent homosexual activist group has now demanded the lowering the age of consent for anal sex to 16 from 18. Surprisingly, Canada's National Post, regarded by some as a 'conservative' paper has come out in favour of the proposal. Reacting to the Conservative Government's plan to raise the age of consent for normal sex from 14 to 16, EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) has commenced a campaign to have the age of consent for anal sex lowered to 16 from 18. Laurie Arron, the director of advocacy for EGALE remarked to the Ottawa Citizen, "There's no reason to treat anal sex differently than other sexual acts except to stigmatize gay and bisexual men." However, that statement is categorically false, speaking strictly from a medical standpoint. Even those who support homosexual sex acts warn nonetheless that anal sex is a dangerous activity, regardless of genders involved. The sex info site of the University of California at Santa Barbara, which can in no way be described as opposed to homosexual activity, nonetheless points out that anal sex is a dangerous practice. Experts on sexual behaviour, or "sexperts" at the site refers to them, warn that anal sex is the most dangerous behaviour for transmission of HIV/AIDS and all other STDs since the anus is not designed for sexual activity as is the vagina. Moreover, the 'sexperts' warn that the practice also leads to fecal incontinence - loss of normal control of the sphincter muscles which leads to stool leaking from the rectum at unexpected times. As the website puts it: "Even when people use lots of lubrication during anal sex, there can be tearing of the tissue inside the anus . . . For this reason, anal sex is the riskiest form of sexual activity when it comes to the transmission of HIV/AIDS. "Tiny tears in the anal tissue are like giant superhighways for the HIV viruses, allowing them to get inside the body and enter the blood system. Anal tears provide an opening for all the other STDs as well. "It may be possible for repetitive anal sex to lead to weakening of the anal sphincter, which is the muscle that tightens after we defecate. Once weakened, feces can escape the anus against our will." (see the website www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/?article=faq&refid=125 WARNING: graphic sketches used to illustrate) Nevertheless, the National Post backed the EGALE request in an unsigned editorial Saturday February 11. The editorial titled, "Equalize the age of consent" said "Section 159 of the Criminal Code specifically bans anal intercourse between unmarried people under 18. This is plainly discriminatory, a prohibition intended to stigmatize homosexual or bisexual teenagers, suggesting that the nature of their sexual relationship requires special added protection. This is nonsense." (see the editorial - paid subscription required - www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/st... ) In response to the editorial, Jessica White West Vancouver, B.C. wrote a letter to the editor of the National Post. The published letter stated, "If both vaginal and anal intercourse were in accordance with natural law and did not discriminate in terms of consequences, this would be true. However, this is not the case with homosexual sex, as two people of the same sex do not have the required body parts to interact sexually and their intercourse can never be fruitful." White continued, "Furthermore, their sexual practices result in both physical and emotional damage, as is evidenced in numerous studies. More than 80% of AIDS cases in Canada are among homosexual or bisexual males; other diseases suffered either exclusively, or in larger percentages by the homosexual population, include: anal cancer, chlamydia trachomatis, cryptosporidium, giardia lamblia, herpes simplex virus, HPV, gonorrhea, viral hepatitis B and C, and syphilis." (c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com
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Post by Watchman on Mar 22, 2006 22:24:50 GMT -5
GENEVA (Reuters) - A global body representing gays and lesbians said on Monday it would seek to bring pressure on the United Nations for full recognition of their human rights at a conference in Geneva next week.
The Brussels-based International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) said the conference, held every two years in different locations, would be addressed by delegates from all continents, including countries where homosexuality is banned.
"How long can lesbian and gay rights be ignored at the U.N.? That is one of the key questions we will be addressing," said a spokesman for ILGA, Stephen Barris. "We will be discussing how we can get an official voice at last."
The conference will coincide with next week's planned session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, where last year a draft resolution on the gay rights issue presented by Brazil and backed by over 40 countries was dropped amid fierce opposition.
But the opening of the six-week annual session of the 53-nation Commission, due to be replaced this year by a new Human Rights Council, has already been postponed twice and diplomats said it may only meet for a few days at most.
The 2005 Brazilian draft -- designed to formally include freedom of sexual orientation among the human rights that the Commission was set up 50 years ago to defend -- was strongly condemned by Muslim and African countries.
In January, a U.N. committee in New York handling accreditation to the world body for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) rejected an application from ILGA without debate amid similar opposition.
ILGA, founded in 1978 and uniting 500 groups in dozens of countries, said the problems for gays and lesbians in African and Islamic countries would top the agenda next week. There will be delegates from both regions.
A special session would be held for activists and organisations "who seek to organise courageously in the Islamic world," a statement from the organisation said. But it indicated it would aim to avoid head-on confrontation.
"ILGA is aware of the increasing Islamophobia in the West and has always been careful to differentiate itself from those activists who failed to be sensitive on this issue," the statement declared.
Africa, it said, would be central to the conference, with special attention to developments in Nigeria -- where gays and lesbians are fiercely condemned both in the mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south.
Also attending will be representatives of the U.N.'s World Health Organisation for discussion on AIDS prevention, and of global labour union bodies for debates on discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace.
Reuters
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Post by Watchman on Jun 2, 2006 16:04:10 GMT -5
Gov't Agrees to Mandatory Homosexual Curriculum with No Opt-Out for Students or Parents
By Terry Vanderheyden and John-Henry Westen
VANCOUVER, June 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A homosexual teacher and his same-sex partner who launched a human rights complaint with the British Columbia government have settled with the Government of British Columbia. According to the homosexual activist who launched a human rights suit, homosexual issues will soon be a mandatory part of school curricula taught in classrooms throughout the province, without the ability of students or parents to opt out.
BC's Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Attorney-General agreed to review the province's curricula to ensure that the issue of homosexuality is included in all so-called 'social justice' discussions - such as those involving racial inequality and women's rights. The decision was the result of a settlement reached with Murray and Peter Corren, who launched their formal human rights complaint in 1999, which alleged "systemic sexual discrimination" in the classroom.
However, a key element in the Corren complaint was the attempt to ensure that the courses teaching positively about homosexuality are mandatory, and that neither students nor parents are able to opt-out. Speaking at the time of the launch of the human rights action, last July, the activists' legal council, Tim Timberg, said, "The second issue is there's an opting-out provision in the curriculum that where a subject is deemed to be sensitive, the school teachers are under an obligation to in advance advise parents that they'll be raising a sensitive issue in the classroom."
Coquitlam teacher Murray Corren told the Vancouver Sun today that the settlement will also make it more difficult for students and parents to opt out of lessons dealing with sexual orientation.
Attorney-General Wally Oppal said Wednesday that the province was indeed shaping a new 'social justice' course that will incorporate the homosexual issues. "I think it's a fair settlement," he claimed. "We listened to their [the Correns'] complaints and we decided there was some merit in what they were suggesting." Oppal added that he hoped British Columbians were a "mature enough society" to accept "that there is an understanding that there is a place for this in our curriculum."
A press release from the BC Government notes that in addition to revamping the provinces educational curriculum to ensure it "reflects inclusion" for the homosexual lifestyle, the province is commencing immediately to offer an elective grade 12 course on "justice and equality" which will address "sexual orientation.
Corinna Filion, spokesman for the Ministry of Education told LifeSiteNews.com that the agreement included provisions to bar some parents and students who had been opting for home education or other arrangements on topics of sexuality. While the province will still allow parents and students those alternative options when it comes to sex education (health and career courses), students will be forced to remain in classes dealing with sexual orientation outside of sexual education in spite of any objections students or their parents my have.
"For example in social studies if they are reading a book about same sex families . . . the policy (of allowing for alternative arrangements) would not apply," explained Filion.
A copy of the agreement was not available to reporters by press time.
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Post by Watchman on Jan 10, 2007 16:13:22 GMT -5
Schools will have to promote gay rights under new legislation
New gay rights laws will force schools to teach homosexual equality, one of the country's most respected judges warned yesterday.
Teachers who tell pupils homosexual sex is wrong will be guilty of breaking the law, former Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern said.
Lord Mackay claimed the Sexual Orientation Regulations mean schools could no longer instruct children in "the importance of marriage for family life" - one of the key platforms of current sex education.
Those schools that do so could be prosecuted for "harassment" against gay pupils, he said.
The rules were introduced in the New Year in Northern Ireland, which is being used as a test bed before the regulations come into force in England in April. Among the main points are:
• Discrimination and harassment on grounds of sexual orientation become unlawful.
• It becomes unlawful to refuse to supply goods or services to someone on grounds of sexual orientation.
• Schools, colleges and other education establishments may not turn down or discriminate against pupils on grounds of sexual orientation.
• Religious groups may restrict membership and supply of goods and services - but not if the organisation concerned is mainly commercial. This means churches which charge for use of their facilities must rent them out to gay groups.
• Private clubs with more than 25 members may not refuse membership to someone on grounds of sexual orientation.
Lord Mackay, 79, said the clauses on harassment "are very difficult to understand".
"I think it could well mean that people who teach in a school, in particular in an advanced class, that homosexuality is wrong ... would be guilty of of breaching these provisions," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
He said the laws went beyond an attempt to end discrimination against gays, saying: "This is different. It makes the practice of homosexuality something to which a person is not entitled to object to if he or she provides goods or services."
Christian protesters were joined by Muslims and Jews outside Parliament on Tuesday night as peers debated the laws.
Christian groups say the rules would force churches to accept bookings from gay groups in their parish halls. Christian printers would also be compelled to accept orders for material promoting gay events, they say.
However, the first openly gay Cabinet minister, former culture secretary Chris Smith, made a passionate defence of the rules.
The now Lord Smith suggested the protesters were arguing for "the right to discriminate and the right to harass".
He told peers: "My Christianity is about being inclusive, not being exclusive. It's about being accepting of others, it's about celebrating the differences between all the wonderful people that God created in this crazy world of ours."
The High Court in Belfast is to hear a challenge to the laws, in particular the harassment clauses, in March.
Comment Add your comment | View all Reader comments (17)
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Clare, Derbyshire; if as you claim that as school pupils are under the age of consent, they shouldn't discuss homosexuality then by the same token they shouldn't discuss heterosexuality either should they?
Sorry, but this head-in-the-sand attitude helps nobody. It should be dealt with in the same way as all sex education. Give facts and advice - this is not "promotion".
- Clare, Exeter
This is already the case in Scotland, our wonderful Scottish Parliament (composed of mostly numpties or wannabe numpties) has already seen to that. They are now talking about introducing sex education in primary schools! For any anglers out there, they have just banned live-bait fishing, they are not sure if this includes worms and maggots! Despicable numpties!
- Drew, Castle Douglas,, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway.
I don't think homosexuality should even be an issue in schools, given that (unless its a 6th form) most of the pupils are under the age of consent, whatever their orientation. I think schools are there to provide an education, so should, at several stages, give sex education to pupils, with the aim of preventing unwanted pregnancies and STDs, but beyond that they should not pass comment on homosexuality, either promoting it or deriding it. There is no place for that in a school.
- Clare, Derbys
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Post by Watchman on Jan 31, 2007 15:54:52 GMT -5
Beastiality Film Called "Beautiful", "Elegant"
Documentary on bestiality premieres at Sundance Film Festival
By Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times
PARK CITY, Utah -- "Zoo" is a documentary about what director Robinson Devor accurately characterizes as "the last taboo, on the boundary of something comprehensible." But remarkably, an elegant, eerily lyrical film has resulted.
"Zoo," premiering before a rapt audience Saturday night at Sundance, manages to be a poetic film about a forbidden subject, a perfect marriage between a cool and contemplative director (the little-seen "Police Beat") and potentially incendiary subject matter: sex between men and animals. Not graphic in the least, this strange and strangely beautiful film combines audio interviews (two of the three men involved did not want to appear on camera) with elegiac visual re-creations intended to conjure up the mood and spirit of situations. The director himself puts it best: "I aestheticized the sleaze right out of it."
Devor and his writing partner, Charles Mudede, live in Seattle and were stunned, as were many in the state, by a story that broke in 2005 about a local man who died after having sex with an Arabian stallion. Though bestiality is not illegal in Washington, the subsequent revelation of the existence of an Internet-based zoophile community (the men refer to themselves as "zoos," hence the title) was a shock.
Though there was the inevitable tabloid fuss, what Devor called "the prurient spectacle," the filmmaker was also "shocked that nobody did an in-depth look at this, that there was no investigative reporting rounding the story out with the psychology involved. I thought, 'This is an opportunity.' "
Though "Zoo" is intent on allowing these men to be heard, Devor's intention was not polemical. "I'm not in there wrestling with the legal or animal cruelty issues," he said. Rather, he envisioned a film like his others: "I count on the natural world pulling my films through. I thought the marriage of this completely strange mind-set and the beauty of the natural world could be something interesting."
In introducing "Zoo" at Sundance, Devor called it "a difficult film and a difficult film to make."
He added: "A lot of people looked at me as if I was an exploitative person, dredging up something for profit, and that bothered me. I was certainly asked many times, often with a wrinkled brow, 'Why are you making this film?' It was something I did resent; I thought artists had the opportunity to explore anything."
In the end, Devor ended up agreeing with the Roman writer Terence, who said "I consider nothing human alien to me."
"It happens," the filmmaker said, "so it's part of who we are."
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Post by berean on Feb 3, 2007 14:23:52 GMT -5
Luke 17: 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. 31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
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Post by Watchman on Feb 9, 2007 11:12:55 GMT -5
Amsterdam Gay Pride To Include Boat For Under-16s
Amsterdam's mayor has reportedly changed his mind and allowed the city's upcoming Gay Pride festival to include a canal boat for 11 to 16 year-olds.
According to the ANP news agency, the mayor, Job Cohen, had blocked the plans in late January, saying it was too risky.
A 14-year-old Danny Hoekzema came up with the idea and has conducted an Internet campaign to drum up support for his campaign, and says he has already found around 10 participants for the 30-place boat.
Gay Pride organizers had said that it would be kept well away from more "provocative" boats parading along the Dutch's city's canals and that the youngsters would be joined by their parents on board.
Copyright AFP 2005 AFP
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Post by Watchman on Feb 15, 2007 11:45:21 GMT -5
Use of the Words 'Natural Family' Ruled Hate Speech, Appeal Hearing UnderwayDecision against employees could silence debate about homosexuality and related issues in entire Western United States OAKLAND, California, February 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Thursday morning, in a special session being held at the Stanford University Law School campus a critical First Amendment case is being argued before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case deals squarely with the issue of whether Christians have a right to use neutral language in the workplace to talk about same-sex marriage and other issues at the forefront of national debate. Attorneys Scott Lively and Richard D. Ackerman will be arguing the case before the Ninth Circuit on behalf of an African- American Christian woman who was threatened with termination at her job with the City of Oakland. The City of Oakland claims that references to the "natural family, marriage and family values" constitute hate speech which is scary to city workers. The Ninth Circuit panel of judges includes two women and one man. Back in February of 2005, United States District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled the city of Oakland had a right to bar two employees from posting a Good News Employee Association flier promoting traditional family values on an office bulletin board. According to the lawsuit, gay and lesbian city workers had already been using the city's e-mail, bulletin board, and written communications systems for promoting their views to other workers, including the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs, Regina Rederford and Robin Christy posted the flier in response to an e-mail to city employees announcing formation of a gay and lesbian employee association. The two responded with a promotion of their own -- the start of an informal group that respects "the natural family, marriage and family values." But supervisors Robert Bobb, then city manager, and Joyce Hicks, then deputy director of the Community and Economic Development Agency, ordered removal of the flier, stating it contained "statements of a homophobic nature" and promoted "sexual- orientation-based harassment," even though it made no absolutely no mention of homosexuality. A July 2003 lawsuit by Rederford and Christy claimed the city's anti-discrimination policy "promotes homosexuality" and "openly denounces Christian values." U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker dismissed the case in February 2005, ruling the two women did not have their First Amendment rights violated and that federal anti-discrimination protections afforded to gender, race, and religion did not apply to the women plaintiffs. City Attorney John Russo said in a previous statement the city "will fight vigorously to defend the policies and practices which protect employees from any form of discrimination." Attorneys for the plaintiffs say they fail to see how it is that mere references to "the natural family, marriage and family values" can amount to discrimination when such words could have just as easily been used by same-sex marriage advocates in describing related issues. Messrs. Lively and Ackerman said the case is significant, because a decision against the employees could silence debate about homosexuality and related issues in the entire Western United States since the Ninth Circuit controls a large region of the United States and its rulings are binding on millions of employees whose speech is subject to punishment by employers who promote agendas that defy Judeo- Christian values. The flier in question was posted Jan. 3, 2003, on an employee bulletin board where a variety of political and sexually oriented causes are promoted. Titled, "Preserve Our Workplace with Integrity," the entire text said: Good News Employee Associations is a forum for people of Faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect for the Natural Family, Marriage and Family values. If you would like to be a part of preserving integrity in the Workplace call Regina Rederford @xxx-xxxx or Robin Christy @xxx-xxxx The flyer was removed the same day, however, by order of Hicks. In a memo announcing a newly revised workplace anti-discrimination policy, Hicks noted recent incidents of employees "inappropriately posting materials" in violation of that policy. At the time she noted, "Specifically, flyers were placed in public view which contained statements of a homophobic nature and were determined to promote sexual orientation- based harassment." Attorney Richard Ackerman says, "This case has the potential to make a horrible judicial edict that suggests that the only thoughts and words allowed in a public workplace are those that support the homosexual agenda. The city of Oakland has interpreted this district court's ruling to mean that Christianity has no place in our society and should be subject to punishment. I want to believe that our Supreme Court will ultimately decide this case on the values and instructions set forth in motion by the nations Founders." Richard Ackerman, whose public-interest law firm Ackerman,Cowles & Lindsley represents the two women, said this case has drained significant financial and time resources because of the fight put up by the City of Oakland in defending its aggressive censorship of the plaintiffs. The case is also being funded by the Pro-Family Law Center and Abiding Truth Ministries. For more information contact Ackerman and Lively's law firm: www.livelyackerman.com/
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