Prop 8 Defenders Have Standing?

November 17, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

This news item is just in from Lutherans Concerned/North America:

Today, November 17, the California Supreme Court handed down its decision that the proponents of Proposition 8 had the right to appeal the August 2010 decision of Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, U.S. District Court, that the law was unconstitutional.

This ruling answers the question asked of the California Supreme Court by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, when the proponents of Prop 8 submitted an appeal to the 9th Circuit following the refusal of the then Governor of California and the State Attorney General to appeal the decision of the District Court.

In its ruling the California Supreme Court said, “The inability of the official proponents of an initiative measure to appeal a trial court judgment invalidating the measure, when the public officials who ordinarily would file such an appeal decline to do so, would significantly undermine the initiative power.” The court was unanimous in its decision. The court said that it made this ruling solely on the issue of process, and not on the merits or issues of Proposition 8 itself.

Both sides of the action before the 9th Circuit have said that they fully expect the appeals court to accept and abide by the ruling of the California Supreme Court as to the standing of those bringing the appeal.

Though some LGBT advocacy groups have expressed disappointment with the California ruling, the lawyers who brought the original suit by two same-sex couples and are directly involved in the case before the 9th Circuit have expressed confidence. In press reports, Theodore Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General during the Bush administration, has said, “This frees up the 9th Circuit to go ahead and decide the constitutional issues on the merits. We’re anxious to get to a decision on the merits that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.”

The case has already been briefed and argued before the 9th Circuit; so, on that basis, the court could move to deliberation and decision. However, the proponents of Prop 8 have raised the issue of Judge Walker’s being in a long-term, same-gender relationship at the time of the trial and his ruling as grounds for overturning because of presumed bias. This argument was previously made to Chief U.S. District Judge James Wade and rejected earlier this year. His ruling has now been appealed to the 9th Circuit, as well.

The saga that is Prop 8 moves now to and through a 9th Circuit decision, since those who are unhappy with whatever the 9th Circuit says about the case will undoubtedly take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Phil Soucy
Director Communications LC/NA
communications@lcna.org

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, History, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Safe to be ourselves, to be relevant.

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 »

Touch us gently.

August 30, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

As many of readers of Indwelling Spirit may realize by now, I scribble little “Notes to Self” and don’t get back to them right away. They clutter my desk and brief case and bedside table. Sometimes, months later, these notes take some deciphering, and as I get back to this blog after many months of being overwhelmed by other responsibilities, I am evaluating some of my own scrawled notes:

 

Each of us probably remembers this feeling from a doctor or dentist visit: We have pain. The “spot” is very sensitive. We know that this needs the attention of a professional, perhaps even a specialist, but we brace ourselves against what might be careless or overzealous medical attention. “Please be gentle!” we scream under our breath just before we are touched, poked, probed —or drilled!

When someone tells me about a pain they are having, or their story of a recent doctor visit, I am thinking, “I know exactly how you feel,” because I have had similar experiences where a pain was deep or sharp and I found myself pleading for gentle treatment.

Spiritually, there is an important parallel here. We may be living with a lot of pain, spiritually. It takes awhile for it to build up to the point where we recognize its symptoms, or are ready to talk about it. Yet we are really reluctant to take our inner emotional/spiritual pain to a specialist—to a counselor, confessor, pastor or spiritual director.

Why do we avoid getting spiritual help when we are in pain?

I suspect that often the reason is that we don’t expect we will be treated gently, either by a counselor/pastor or by God. Many people have experienced so much judgmentalism, rejection, and threats of punishment from religious figures —and told they can expect the same from Almighty God!—that they avoid taking their spiritual symptoms to them.

All of us have been poked, probed, drilled, scolded, and pushed away at some point—at a very sensitive point in our lives—when what we really needed was a gentle touch or a hug, not a lecture, scolding, ultimatum or damnation.

Time and time again this has been especially true for LGBT people. We have symptoms of emotional and spiritual distress. We hurt. It has taken a lot of time for many of us to bring this pain to the surface, and to recognize the symptom of our deep discomfort. We’re not sure of ourselves let alone sure of our relationship to God.

But because of either our own experiences or those of friends, we avoid seeking counsel or guidance for our spiritual lives, because we cannot take any more harsh treatment. Some of us just go on living with the pain rather than seeking a specialist that can help clear it up, because of the risk of spiritual mistreatment or harm. The so-called Ex-Gay campaign, for example, has been unmasked as an effort that subjects gay people to immeasurable pain and mistreatment.

Often I try to explain to non-gay church people what the significant pastoral and spiritual issues are for LGBT people. Some of these people are sympathetic enough to recognize the prejudice and rejection that lesbian/gay people especially have experienced. But because they are in the sexual majority, not sexual minority, they do not fully understand or fully feel the pain that we talk about.

Yes, there are many other Christian people out there who are not sympathetic at all. They continue to finger the same few “clobber” passages in the Bible, and point to them with a sharpened index finger, like a doctor thumping on a medical manual at the possible diagnosis. And because they are so certain of their allegiance to God as they understand him, they almost aggressively attack the wounded or the hurting with this “immutable” word of the Lord. An old saying expresses this pretty well: The church is the only army that shoots its own wounded.

God does not approach us that way. If anything, God touches all who are in pain, all who have open wounds, more gently. God’s approach to our pain or suffering is an embrace, not a probe or poke or drill. From the Lutheran rite for Confession and Forgiveness (Summer 2011), “As tender as a parent to child, so gentile is God to us. As high as heaven is above the earth, so vast is God’s love for us. As far as east is from west, so far God removes our sin, renewing our lives in Jesus Christ.”

If we would simply look again at even a handful of the stories in the Gospels about how Jesus approached people in pain, we would clearly see this gentle approach: the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well (who had already been married 5 times), the rich young ruler, Nicodemus, Zaccheus, Thomas the Doubter, Judas Iscariot, the soldiers who crucified him, and the thief on the cross.

To be sure, Jesus often does challenge people to put greater trust and faith in him, or to turn their lives around (”Go, and sin no more”). But his spiritual approach is always gentle. I might even speculate that Jesus had heard of the Hippocratic Oath (5^th Century B.C.), to which this classic phrase is often traced: primum non nocere, “first, do no harm.” It certainly calls for reflection for those of us who are spiritual guides, counselors, confessors and pastors, and especially for those who are LGBT people of faith.

I have a definite sense of what God’s gentle touch means. (See my essay, “About Jesus,” for example.) Obviously, a lot of rock-hard conservative clergy and laity wouldn’t agree with me, and they can drill their forefinger into the pages of the Bible to “prove” it. But as I’ve said before, “God’s Word for us is always an invitation, not an ultimatum.” And you can quote me on that.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Fundamentalism, Bible & Interpretation, Doctrine, Gay Catechism, LGBT Christian, Living by Grace, Ex-Gay, Ministry, Coming Out, Spirituality, ELCA | Print | No Comments »

Justice delayed, again and again.

June 23, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

It is more than a mere “cliff-hanger,” that the New York state legislature went home for the night without voting once and for all on the same-sex marriage bill. It is justice denied.

William Gladstone, the 19^th century British politician is attributed with the quote “Justice delayed is justice denied” —something that politicians forever have simply ignored. But again tonight, the citizens of New York are being denied justice while the Neros of the Senate fiddled with funding and financing and pensions and economic matters over which the two major parties love to disagree.

It is becoming quite clear that the Republican lawmakers want the clock to run out on the legislative session (which was supposed to have adjourned last week) without having to take a vote either way on Governor Cuomo’s bill. The last count was that 31 of the necessary majority of 32 Senators would vote for it. The rest of them apparently don’t want to vote for it, and don’t want to identified as being against it either. So the bill could die again because justice was delayed.

This is our legal system in America, folks. This is our court system, too, because legislators (not judges) hold the cards on appointing judges. Dozens and dozens of federal benches sit empty because the U.S. Senate refuses to confirm the nominees—another political maneuver to deny justice by postponing it.

Lawsuits take years to work their way through the courts, because attorneys afford themselves all the time in the world (someone else is paying them by the hour at prices they set without any form of regulation) to argue over technicalities. All the time in the world is justice denied while justice is debated, deferred, derailed, in courtrooms full of detached parties. In California, neither the state courts nor the federal courts seems to be able to get to the core issues raised by the ludicrous manipulation of our voters’ initiative system to shove Proposition 8 into the state constitution. While New York Senators fiddle, no one is taking charge over the clearly unconstitutional denial of fundamental human rights for gay and lesbian people because they have to think about whether outside parties—who are not harmed in any way by my marriage or yours— have the legal standing to defend the proposition in court. If the legal issues about “standing” aren’t clear by now, is it unfair of the citizens to ask, “what the hell have you attorneys and judges and legislators been doing with your time for the last century or more?”

The filibuster is another device with which everybody is familiar. It ought to be outlawed—absolutely and forever—but the bastards who filibuster are the bastards who write the laws, and do it to favor themselves rather than justice. But the filibuster is a blatant and intentional abuse of the democratic process to delay and therefore deny justice.

It isn’t that New York’s legislative “good night” this evening at 11:00 p.m. is so awful in and of itself. But it is simply one more nail in the coffin of democracy. What’s been holding up the vote for weeks? Republican lawmakers want to argue some more over whether there are enough legal protections for religious groups who don’t want to perform same-sex marriages. Was that an issue with Loving v. Virginia, that religious groups who didn’t believe that interracial marriage was moral wouldn’t be compelled to perform them? To my knowledge, no minister, rabbi, imam or other religious figure is ever compelled to preside over a marriage ceremony of any kind. We all have the freedom to say no. So the Republican misgivings about the bill in New York is an obvious stalling maneuver—to suggest that there are just too many unresolved issues to move forward. I’m not buying it.

—Dan Hooper

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

One vote away from a slender majority?

June 14, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

The New York Times is reporting this afternoon that the New York Senate is only one vote away from passing the bill that would legalize same-gender marriage in that state, making it the sixth state and the largest state to do so. It is important in the larger struggle for rights and recognition because it will come as a result of legislative action, not court opinion.

Lawmakers are fond of counting their chickens before they hatch, and the vote count stands at 31 out of 62 votes. Only one more is needed for passage by simple majority. Two Republican lawmakers are already behind the bill.

A Senate vote is likely to come up this week in the Senate. The lower house of the legislature has passed this bill twice before and is considered likely to pass it again if the Senate comes through. Governor Cuomo had introduced the bill in both houses simultaneously. If passed by both houses, the law would take effect in 30 days.

Catch the New York Times story here. The Human Rights Campaign, which has delivered 25,000 postcards to New York law makers in support of this bill, is also offering instantaneous voting results directly to your cell phone: “Be the first to find out the result! Text “NY” to 30644. You’ll join HRC’s Mobile Action Network – and we’ll let you know as soon as the vote tally is in.”

If the New York vote happens by Friday, it will make an interesting and bittersweet historical footnote in the struggle for marriage equality. It was on June 17, 2008 that the first same-gender marriages were performed in California (and the last ones were performed in early November when Proposition 8 passed on the general election ballot—by a slender majority).

— Pastor Dan Hooper

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

Is California education FAIR?

April 14, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

Mark Carlson of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy brought me up to speed on this. Senate Bill 48, introduced last December 13 by Senator Mark Leno (D–San Francisco) is the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which would amend the California Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and prohibit discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the State Board of Education.

Senator Leno is introducing this bill on the Senate floor on Thursday morning. Go to http://www.calchannel.com and click on Live Webcast, Senate Floor Session. It’s not exciting television viewing, but it’s useful if you want to see how our legislature actually conducts itself. If you really want to see change, get involved by contacting your representatives and sharing your views on matters of public policy. To make it easier, download the Pocket Directory of California State Government from the LOPP web site.

Leno, who is openly gay, has been a responsible proponent for legislation that would not only benefit LGBT citizens of California but contribute to a social and political environment of authenticity, justice and understanding between people of all sexual orientations.

SB 48, by the way, has already passed the Senate Education Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee.  And for more background on this bill and a lot of other important pending legislation, I recommend Equality California’s web site, www.eqca.org.

—Dan Hooper

Posted in LGBT Rights, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

They don’t want my blood.

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 »

Privilege behind the curtain.

February 26, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

   We’ve long known about those folks who think they are spiritual but don’t like “organized religion.” Now add the group of political conservatives who say they want what is best for the people but don’t want organized labor. In fact, many of the same conservatives have relentlessly ridiculed the sitting President for, among other things, having been a community organizer.

Iran and Libya don’t want organized opposition. Scott Walker has now coerced the Wisconsin legislature to deny the right of state workers to collective bargaining. (If unions are outlawed, only outlaws will have unions?) It has become clear that the effort to break the back of organized labor is itself highly organized and well-funded.

What these things have in common is fear and loathing for anything organized. Better, they think, if everything which threatens their status quo remains disorganized.

But curiously, one organization that doesn’t seem to suffer the same criticism, at least from the people on the proverbial right, are corporations. Highly organized, armed with extraordinary international clout, fluid money and shadowy subsidiaries, a very controlled hierarchy and playing for high stakes, corporations are running my life from behind the velvet drapes of the Wizard of Oz. “Pay no attention to the corporation behind the curtain,” says the corporation behind the curtain.

Is there any doubt that Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker intended to keep a curtain drawn over his own prejudices until he was exposed by a prank caller? Is there any doubt that Hosni Mubarek or Moammar Gadhafi want to keep control shielded by a curtain of absolute authority from all public accountability. Is it any wonder that British Petroleum corporately winced at the exposure of its avarice and manipulation that contributed to that catastrophic Gulf oil spill?

It amazes me that the mental coprolites who think there is a conspiracy behind everything don’t want to look behind the curtain of their own privilege, made possible by the simple act of hurting and destroying other people.

This is not naivete here. I am well aware, for example, that the California Prison Guards Union is screwing both the inmates in California prisons and the people of California. In little more than a decade, the cost of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, which runs 33 state prisons, has jumped from $3.5 billion to $11 billion.

But by and large it is not the union lobbyists who are bankrupting state governments. It is not the corporate lobbyists either—at least on the surface. It is greed which is behind the curtain. Lobbyists make their living on funding politicians behind the curtain. Where is the public accountability if the public thinks it is really more comfortable and privileged as a result of corporations?

On my recent “vacation” to Florida, where the land is flat enough to be completely erased from the map by a high tide, people are in complete denial about global warming, for example. The ground of their denial is not that the science of permanent climate change is still hugely theoretical, but linked to the denial that anything could possible wash out their entitlement to a life of privilege, ease, comfort and high standard of living.

Probably more than anything, it is privilege which is behind the curtain: masculine privilege, white privilege, American (native-born not immigrant legal or otherwise) privilege. For all the conservative ranting about entitlements, our nation, our culture, our wonderful America is turned our national entitlement into a god at whose altar anyone, any minority, any cause, any just thing, many be slaughtered and sacrificed. We have met the enemy, says Pogo, and it is us.

—Dan Hooper

Posted in wingnuts, Bullying, Go figure!, Violence, Public Affairs, Environment, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Are anti-gay prejudices falling like dominoes?

February 23, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

Don’t hold your breath, but at least we’re seeing anti-gay legislation tumbling in our lifetimes.

After the U.S. Supreme Court (which has Supreme Clout) decriminalized consensual sex between same-gender couples in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, and now that the notorious “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law, used against sexual minorities in the armed forces, has been repealed, DOMA is the next big domino.

Jay Carney, White House spkesperson

Although Obama himself is still struggling with the legitimacy of our relationships, it is heartening to hear from NPR today that Attorney General Holder will no longer defend DOMA in court. Holder issued a well-reasoned statement Wednesday that again tilts the legal landscape in favor of sexual minorities, specifically, lesbian/gay couples:

After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.

Holder is very aware of the landscape. He has to also be aware that homophobic conservatives will not take this lying down. Speaking of DOMA, Holder says, “this Administration will no longer assert its constitutionality in court” and of course he speaks only for this Administration. If Republicans have their way —which is truly not certain even after last November’s surge for their party—the Obama Administration would be turned out in January 2013. If DOMA is not repealed by Congress (not likely, given the surge) during the coming months, today’s Justice Department decision not to defend DOMA will be yet another way for the conservatives to beat their drum in the 2012 campaign. Remember: the run for the Presidency is already underway, and begins to obsess the media a year before the election itself.

Wait 24 hours and see what the conservatives say about this news. (Speaker of the House John Boehner is already talking.)  But for today, it is great news.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in Homophobia, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Relentless change.

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

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Egypt: Revolution 2.0

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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A step to rectify the past.

February 12, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

It is wonderful to read that Hawaii may have finally said “welcome” to a community it had shunned a decade ago.

Hawaii’s Supreme Court was the first in the nation to say, in the Baehr v. Miike case, that it was unconstitutional to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples.  But because it was so far ahead of its time, the backlash was severe, and the citizen’s voted it down.

Now the Hawaii Legislature is rectifying the small-minded mistake of a generation ago.  By a vote of 31 to 19, the House passed a Civil Unions bill already passed by the state Senate and set to be signed by the new governor.  (Is it any wonder that an Abercrombie would side with gay people? — probably concidence, I know.)  See the Advocate story here.

This is not likely to trigger a wave of romances going to Hawaii to get married, however.  LEgal marriage is not yet on the horizon.  Too bad, because it would be fun to stuff a piece of wedding cake in former Governor Linda Lingle’s mouth for vetoing the same bill a year ago.

— Dan Hooper

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

My life, my movement, my faith.

February 1, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

Associated Press is running an encouraging story today of new activism relating faith to the LGBT communities. Opening tomorrow in Minneapolis, the annual NGLTF conference will include working groups for people of color and people of faith in the movement for understanding and equality. NPR has the (print) story here. Also see: www.thetaskforce.org.

I am heartened to see that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is counted among the progressive denominations where the movement toward inclusivity and diversity means both ethnic/race issues and sexuality issues. As NPR notes, both the ELCA and the Episcopal Church now ordained openly gay pastors. Sadly, it did not mention that the United Church of Christ also does, and was the first protestant denomination to do so. (The ELCA is “in communion” with both the Episcopal Church and the UCC.)

People and cultures move at very different speeds, of course. We are all familiar with friends who grew up in a very conservative Christian environment —Baptist, Church of God or even Pentecostalists—who are resisting all conversations and studies which could lead to a more enlightened understanding of sexuality. the NPR story mentions a black gay activist who grew up in the Pentecostal fold who laments the distance or disconnect between the LGBT movement and the faith communities. Even more remote is the distance to Islam, as the NPR story notes.

At the bottom of this are the underlying assumptions that a life of faith—any faith—must be a life of conformity to a culturally-centered faith or belief system. That is tough even for Christians who primarily allegiance should be to following Jesus, not to following rules or social mores. Was not Jesus, after all, the ultimate role model for religious non-conformity?

I am living only one life, and I don’t have the opportunity to live two of them by different lights or guides and then compare notes. For better or worse, when I came to discern my sexuality, I decided to try to live the “me” I was dealt in life’s great card game, rather than to fake my life, live a lie, or destroy myself by alcohol, drugs or suicide. My life experience, as part of the LGBT movement, has deeply affected my faith. And while heterosexual conformist Christians may shudder at that thought, and where it might lead (the “slippery slope” of personal experiences and subjective theology), I am still faithful to the Christian faith and life.

As with ethnic and racial minorities, sexual minorities, and other marginalized people (think of those who have been bullied to death, for example) who have lived different lives from ours because of what life dealt to them, everyone needs to heard, everyone has a faith experience that, in some way, will enrich the faith of others.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

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We asked, and we got what we asked for.

December 18, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

This was never my fight, but it is emblematic of the struggle for all to be treated equally. According to the Human Rights Campaign this morning, the repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law has passed the U.S. Senate. It had passed the House already.

Breaking news: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal has just cleared its last congressional hurdle.

This discriminatory law will be relegated to the dustbin of history. This stain on our nation will be lifted forever. . . .

Today, America lived up to its highest ideals of freedom and equality. Today, our federal government recognized that ALL men and women have the right to openly serve the country they believe in. That it doesn’t matter who you are, or who you love – you are not a second-class citizen.

Think of the kids out there tonight, watching this on the news – kids who are bullied for being different, who live in fear daily that their parents will hate them if they find out the truth… Think of the relief, the empowerment, the sense of possibility they’ll feel, knowing that the U.S. military has said: if you’re lesbian or gay, you are worthy. We want you to join us, side by side, as equals.

Well HRC is a bit triumphalistic here. and it of course ties the “breaking news” to the same fund-raising appeal you find in every e-mail. But the true still sinks in. After the procedural, majority-only vote later this weekend, President Obama will sign the repeal bill into law.

This is sadly overdue for a nation which believes in due process and equal protection. Yes, there are shrill voices in the Marines, etc., that don’t want “open” homosexuals in their ranks. According to a chum who used to be a military chaplain, it is not true a quarter of the U.S. Marines are really gay. It’s much closer to half, he told me. Is our nation any safer, or is morale any higher, when people are secretive? We have been over this ground many times, of the dangers and inherent climate of catastrophe that develops when people are deeply closeted and then don’t develop the self-respect or good judgment to avoid “slipping.” Men and women who are out to themselves and others, and have learned to feel self-esteem, are better judges of how to behave that the closeted and fearful who have never developed the friendships or done the emotional and mental homework of working through their sexuality.

I don’t know where to track this quote originally, but a couple of months ago it was none other than Lady Gaga who commented that cohesion and morale in the military would improve not by kicking out the gay and lesbian people but by kicking out the homophobes! She’s pretty much on target there.

If you are a letter-writer or e-mail writer, send your representatives in congress a big thank-you for their courageous votes (if they voted courageously). If your senator or congressman voted against repeal, please act accordingly.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in Bullying, Homophobia, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »

Pastor Jay Wiesner received to ELCA roster.

December 10, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

LC/NA Celebrates the ELCA Reception to the Clergy Roster of Pastor Jay Wiesner, an Openly Gay Philadelphia Pastor

Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA) celebrates the upcoming reception of Pastor Jay Wiesner onto the clergy roster by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Sunday, December 12.

He will be received as clergy during a Service of Reception presided over by Bishop Claire Burkat, ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, held during the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service at the University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation (www.uniluphila.org), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pastor Anita Hill, a pastor at St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also recently similarly received onto the clergy roster, will preach.

Pastor Jay Wiesner had been ordained “extraordinarily” in 2004. “Extraordinary” in this context means the ordination was outside of the usual practices of the ELCA. As a result, the ELCA did not recognize his ordination at the time it occurred. At this Service of Reception, the ELCA recognizes that ordination and the ministries Pastor Wiesner has done over time.

Pastor Wiesner completed his seminary training in 2002, but, because he was in disagreement with the then policy that imposed celibacy in a life lived without a partner, he was denied ordination by the ELCA. In 2004, Bethany Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, called him as Pastor of Outreach Ministry and ordained him, an act of ecclesiastic disobedience at the time. In September 2008, he was called by University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation as pastor, also an act of ecclesiastic disobedience.

His reception onto the roster of clergy is one of the results of the decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to eliminate the policy that had since 1989 precluded service as ministers by those in a lifelong, committed same-gender relationship. Though not in such a relationship, Pastor Wiesner had disagreed with the previous policy precluding even the possibility of it.

Emily Eastwood, Executive Director, Lutherans Concerned/North America, said “The prophetic witness of Bethany Lutheran, Minneapolis and University Lutheran, Philadelphia is coming true. We give thanks for Jay and the congregations who courageously called him in the face of policies precluding his service. We applaud the Southeast Pennsylvania Synod and its bishop for their visible support for the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. While our struggle is not ended, this day leaves an indelible exclamation point in history. This day justice has prevailed, not just for one, but symbolically for all LGBT people.”

Pastor Jay Wiesner said, “This day has been a long time coming and something I have been praying for before I was even ordained in 2004. Both Bethany Lutheran Church and University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation have risked their standing in the greater Church to be a prophetic witness and for that I am truly blessed and grateful.”

Jay is originally from New Ulm, a small town of German descent in southwestern Minnesota. He graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota with a BA in religion. After college, he attended Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. During his senior year, he publicly came out to the faculty and students at Wartburg and left to take some time off. He finished his Master of Divinity degree in 2002 and immediately began work at Bethany Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as Pastoral Minister of Outreach. He was called and ordained by Bethany on July 25, 2004. He served that congregation from 2002-2008.

Since September 2008, Pastor Wiesner has served as pastor of University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation, an ELCA congregation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (www.uniluphila.org)

Pastor Wiesner is also pastoral director of The Naming Project. The Naming Project is a faith-based youth group serving youth of all sexual and gender identities. The primary focus is to provide a place for youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning to learn, grow, and share their experiences. In this way The Naming Project is a space in which youth can comfortably discuss faith and who they understand themselves to be–whether that be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender…or straight.

Phil Soucy
Communications staff
communications@lcna.org

Posted in Living by Grace, PRAYERS, Ministry, ELCA, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »