Bully, a documentary, opens on March 30th.

I watched a very heart-warming and yet chilling documentary last night. Dear Zachary tells the story of Andrew Bagby, a young doctor who was killed by his ex-girlfriend. She turns up pregnant in court and his parents fight to gain custody of their soon-to-be-born grandchild.

This film is a visual letter to that child, Zachary, about his father from the perspective of dozens of his closest friends, family and co-workers. It also covers in great detail the legal battles and the love his grandparents had for him.

Well done, poignant and thought-provoking about the impact that a life — and death — can have on so many.

Not sure entirely how I feel about yesterday’s killing of Osama bin Laden by US troops and the CIA, but am somewhat gladdened that this facet of the attacks on September 11, 2001 is behind us.

I was happy to see President Obama stand up from the political mire and make a decision that for probably only a brief moment, reunited the American people.

Will it end “the war on terror”? Hardly.

I’m not sure ultimately what it solves or resolves and I suspect that from small things will come even greater tragedies.

I started reading about this over the last couple of weeks and “the old grey lady” has now added her take.

Mine? It does get better.

Campaign Offers Help to Gay Youths

The New York Times

“Middle school was the worst,” Calvin Stowell says in a YouTube video he uploaded on Oct. 1.

Homophobia was rampant. Bullies were “pretty relentless,” he says, recalling that on his first day there, a girl walked up to him and asked, “Are you a faggot? No offense.” Eventually his parents pulled him out of the school.

Looking directly at the camera, Mr. Stowell, now 22, then says three words that he wants isolated gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers to hear: “It got better.”
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The funny thing is, we are sometimes not that far from these irrational fears and attitudes in this country.

Police arrest five ‘gay’ Kenyans

(BBC) – Police in Mtwapa, just north of the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa, say they have arrested five men whom they accuse of being homosexuals.

District officer George Matandura said two of the men had been found with wedding rings, attempting to get married, in Kikambala beach resort.

The other three men were handed to the police by members of the public; two of them had reportedly been beaten.
(more…)

I just found out that this site had been hacked and that after a minute or two on here, it would automatically redirect the viewer to another site.

Believe me, I fixed this as soon as I could. It involved changing of passwords, overwriting the header.php file (which is where the code actually was performing the redirect) and deleting the sorry sack of shit who had somehow set himself up as an Admin (WTF, WordPress?!?).

I always have the latest, most secure version (2.9.1 as of this writing), so this is upsetting, to say the least.

This story continues into the new year, which does not bode well.

While the three US-based ‘evangelists’ disavow actually advocating the killing of gay people, there seems to have been no concerted effort on their part to undo this evil they have introduced into Uganda.

Is there no end to the to the real evil that man does?

After U.S. Visit, Uganda Weighs Death for Gays
By Jeffrey Gettleman | The New York Times

KAMPALA, Uganda — Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks.

The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.
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Rachel Maddow has addressed this on her MSNBC show the last couple of nights. This article from the Huffington Post spells out the details.

Uganda Considering Death Penalty For Gays

Katherine Houreld & Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda — Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.

Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa’s gay community is becoming more vocal.

“It’s a question of visibility,” said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay. “When we come out and ask for our rights, they pass laws against us.”

The legislation has drawn global attention from activists across the spectrum of views on gay issues. The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual. However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.

Gay rights activists say the legislation is likely to pass. But the bill is still being debated and could undergo changes before a vote, which has not yet been set.

The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. “Serial offenders” also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.
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