Washington Post: The year of ‘enormous rage': Number of hate groups rose by 14 percent in 2015
Time: Inside the Investigation into Child Sexual Abuse at Sovereign Grace Ministries
Religion News Service: African countries clamp down on churches tied to ‘miracle cures’
Gay Star News: Cameroon gay people plead with Pope to save them from his priests
Showing posts with label Cameroon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cameroon. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
News Tidbits
Associated Press: UN to Grill Vatican Again on Clergy Sex Abuse
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana House votes 27-66 to keep unconstitutional anti-sodomy law on the books
KATU News: Students protest Day of Silence with anti-gay T-shirts
Al Jazeera America: Residents protest against Church of Wells
Huffington Post: Homosexuality Is The Result Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, According To Richard Land
Ms. Magazine: Virginia Bishops Advocate More Abortion Restrictions for Poor Women
WLTX 19: State Senator Compares Planned Parenthood to Hitler
Star Observer: Vigil highlights the trauma of ex-gay practices in Australia
Channel 4 News: Controversial 'witch hunter' Helen Ukpabio comes to London
Washington Post: Planned anti-gay rally in Ethiopia is cancelled
NPR: Pray Or Prey? Cameroon's Pentecostal Churches Face Crackdown
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana House votes 27-66 to keep unconstitutional anti-sodomy law on the books
KATU News: Students protest Day of Silence with anti-gay T-shirts
Al Jazeera America: Residents protest against Church of Wells
Huffington Post: Homosexuality Is The Result Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, According To Richard Land
Ms. Magazine: Virginia Bishops Advocate More Abortion Restrictions for Poor Women
WLTX 19: State Senator Compares Planned Parenthood to Hitler
Star Observer: Vigil highlights the trauma of ex-gay practices in Australia
Channel 4 News: Controversial 'witch hunter' Helen Ukpabio comes to London
Washington Post: Planned anti-gay rally in Ethiopia is cancelled
NPR: Pray Or Prey? Cameroon's Pentecostal Churches Face Crackdown
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
News Tidbits
Dallas Voice: Anti-bill would cut funding for Texas school districts that offer domestic partner benefits
Dallas Voice: Robert Jeffress reaffirms anti-gay stance after Tebow controversy
Aljazeera: The rise of Europe's far-right voices
The Telegraph: Christian group challenges ban on gay poster campaign
Irish Independent: Get thee behind me, Satan: The secret world of Irish exorcists
New York Times: Germany: Morning-After Pill Allowed for the Victims of Rape, Bishops Say
Tribune 242: Bahamas Bishop: Gays Had Bad Childhood
AllAfrica: Liberia: Clergy Exclaims Against Gay Rights Advocates
Interfax: Ten Commandments Party Established in Russia
Gay Star News: Cameroon must uphold anti-gay law to 'protect' the world, say Catholic lawyers
Gay Star News: Ex-gay advocate says pro-gay school groups are like Nazi skinheads and KKK
Dallas Voice: Robert Jeffress reaffirms anti-gay stance after Tebow controversy
Aljazeera: The rise of Europe's far-right voices
The Telegraph: Christian group challenges ban on gay poster campaign
Irish Independent: Get thee behind me, Satan: The secret world of Irish exorcists
New York Times: Germany: Morning-After Pill Allowed for the Victims of Rape, Bishops Say
Tribune 242: Bahamas Bishop: Gays Had Bad Childhood
AllAfrica: Liberia: Clergy Exclaims Against Gay Rights Advocates
Interfax: Ten Commandments Party Established in Russia
Gay Star News: Cameroon must uphold anti-gay law to 'protect' the world, say Catholic lawyers
Gay Star News: Ex-gay advocate says pro-gay school groups are like Nazi skinheads and KKK
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Religious Right Around the Globe: Cameroon's "World Day Against Homosexuality"
The Cameroonian Youth Rally (Rassemblement de la Jeunesse Camerounaise or RJC) chose August 21st as Cameroon's "World Day Against Homosexuality". According to Gaystar News and Identity Kenya, August 21st marks the anniversary of the murder of Narcisse Olivier Djomo Pokam, whom the RJC alleged was murdered by gays in 2006. Identity Kenya quotes the RJC as defending its anti-gay stance as a reflection of “the law of the Republic of Cameroon, the Holy Bible, the need to preserve the human species."
Cameroon's Catholic archbishop has recently added fuel to Cameroon's homophobic fires. According to Bikyamasr, Archbishop of Yaoundé Simon-Victor Tonyé Bakot claimed that homosexuality is “opposed to the idea of human reproduction” and “shameful, a disrespectful criticism of God who has chosen to create man and woman.”
Fortunately, observers have frowned on RJC's efforts. For example, LGBTQ rights group AllOut has called on Cameroon president Paul Biya to condemn the event and decriminalize homosexuality, according to Pink News.
76 Crimes quotes Jules Eloundou, president of Humanity First Cameroon, as casting doubt on the RJC's Biblical pretensions. “I doubt very much that this group’s spokesman is familiar with the Bible that he brandished as he described his fight against homosexuality,” Eloundou said, adding that RJC spokesman Sismondi Barlev Bidjocka “knows little about African cultures, the laws of the Republic and even less about homosexuality”. 76 Crimes also quotes Marc Lambert Lamba, a Humanity First Cameroon supporter, as saying that religion promotes peace and love, "not hatred, barbarism and war."
Gaystar News quotes Alice N'Kom, a pro-LGBTQ Cameroonian attorney, as arguing that homophobia does not reflect African values. "These anti-gay proponents say they are protecting our “traditional values.” But we want to tell them that hate and homophobia are not African values," she said. N'Kom has spoken out before against homophobia in Cameroon, lamenting the violence and imprisonment endured by gays or those suspected of being gay.
Sadly, this is not the first time the Cameroonian Youth Rally has promoted homophobia. According to Human Rights Watch, a representative of the RJC arrived with a group of men at an human rights workshop in Yaoundé in April. The workshop, organized by three groups -- Adolescents against AIDS, Association pour la Défense de Homosexuel-le-s, and Collective des Familles des Enfants Homosexuel-le-s -- was scheduled to discuss LGBTQ human rights. Human Rights Watch reports that the RJC representative demanded that attendees leave the meeting, after which police and civilian authorities dispersed those in attendance. Activist Stéphane Koche was arrested, detained for several hours, and eventually released without charge. Furthermore, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) reports that a Yaoundé gathering on May 19th to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia was met with vicious beatings and robberies by local thugs.
The RJC's "World Day Against Homosexuality" comes against a backdrop of virulent homophobia in Cameroon. According to Gaystar News, section 347 of Cameroon's penal code criminalizes same-sex sexual activity with prison terms and fines. Amnesty International lists Cameroon among countries with particularly egregious treatment of LGBTQ persons, while a 2010 Human Rights Watch report describes Cameroon's homophobic violence and persecution. IGLA has monitored arrests of LGBTQ persons in Cameroon and legal developments that further disadvantage LGBTQs.
"World Day Against Homosexuality", undergirded by a toxic interpretation of the Bible, serves as another reminder of the dangers of religious homophobia. Bigotry, fueled by religious fundamentalism, has heaped suffering onto Cameroon's LGBTQ community. As the Cameroonian LGBTQ community and its allies struggle for their human rights, we must remember that nothing short of worldwide equality for LGBTQ persons will do.
Cameroon's Catholic archbishop has recently added fuel to Cameroon's homophobic fires. According to Bikyamasr, Archbishop of Yaoundé Simon-Victor Tonyé Bakot claimed that homosexuality is “opposed to the idea of human reproduction” and “shameful, a disrespectful criticism of God who has chosen to create man and woman.”
Fortunately, observers have frowned on RJC's efforts. For example, LGBTQ rights group AllOut has called on Cameroon president Paul Biya to condemn the event and decriminalize homosexuality, according to Pink News.
76 Crimes quotes Jules Eloundou, president of Humanity First Cameroon, as casting doubt on the RJC's Biblical pretensions. “I doubt very much that this group’s spokesman is familiar with the Bible that he brandished as he described his fight against homosexuality,” Eloundou said, adding that RJC spokesman Sismondi Barlev Bidjocka “knows little about African cultures, the laws of the Republic and even less about homosexuality”. 76 Crimes also quotes Marc Lambert Lamba, a Humanity First Cameroon supporter, as saying that religion promotes peace and love, "not hatred, barbarism and war."
Gaystar News quotes Alice N'Kom, a pro-LGBTQ Cameroonian attorney, as arguing that homophobia does not reflect African values. "These anti-gay proponents say they are protecting our “traditional values.” But we want to tell them that hate and homophobia are not African values," she said. N'Kom has spoken out before against homophobia in Cameroon, lamenting the violence and imprisonment endured by gays or those suspected of being gay.
Sadly, this is not the first time the Cameroonian Youth Rally has promoted homophobia. According to Human Rights Watch, a representative of the RJC arrived with a group of men at an human rights workshop in Yaoundé in April. The workshop, organized by three groups -- Adolescents against AIDS, Association pour la Défense de Homosexuel-le-s, and Collective des Familles des Enfants Homosexuel-le-s -- was scheduled to discuss LGBTQ human rights. Human Rights Watch reports that the RJC representative demanded that attendees leave the meeting, after which police and civilian authorities dispersed those in attendance. Activist Stéphane Koche was arrested, detained for several hours, and eventually released without charge. Furthermore, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) reports that a Yaoundé gathering on May 19th to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia was met with vicious beatings and robberies by local thugs.
The RJC's "World Day Against Homosexuality" comes against a backdrop of virulent homophobia in Cameroon. According to Gaystar News, section 347 of Cameroon's penal code criminalizes same-sex sexual activity with prison terms and fines. Amnesty International lists Cameroon among countries with particularly egregious treatment of LGBTQ persons, while a 2010 Human Rights Watch report describes Cameroon's homophobic violence and persecution. IGLA has monitored arrests of LGBTQ persons in Cameroon and legal developments that further disadvantage LGBTQs.
"World Day Against Homosexuality", undergirded by a toxic interpretation of the Bible, serves as another reminder of the dangers of religious homophobia. Bigotry, fueled by religious fundamentalism, has heaped suffering onto Cameroon's LGBTQ community. As the Cameroonian LGBTQ community and its allies struggle for their human rights, we must remember that nothing short of worldwide equality for LGBTQ persons will do.
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