Quote Of The Day - Desmond Tutu

"It isn’t that it’s questionable when you speak up for the right of people with different sexual orientation. People took some part of us and used it to discriminate against us. In our case, it was our ethnicity; it’s precisely the same thing for sexual orientation. People are killed because they’re gay. I don’t think, 'What do I want to do today? I want to speak up on gay rights.' No. It’s God catching me by my neck." - Desmond Tutu, quoted by Charisma.

Zimbabwe President Denounces Tutu

"Archbishop Tutu said it is nice to be gay, yet he has a wife, he should have begun by getting himself a man for a woman. When you are a bishop and cannot interpret the Bible, you should resign and give it to those who can. We will not compromise our tradition and tolerate homosexuality. I want to urge parents to be careful with your teenage children who are 17 years and older not to be swayed into this act as children are easily persuaded to accept it. During creation, God made Adam and saw that he was lonely, and he created Eve out of Adam’s rib and not another man. Animals are better off as they know who to mate with. Everyone knows what to do, even animals know which animal to mate with, goats know where to go, and cows know where to go too. We see donkeys all the time on top of each other, why can’t you humans do the same?” - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, reacting to Tutu's declaration that he would not want to go to a homophobic heaven. (Via Pink News)

Quote Of The Day - Desmond Tutu

Yesterday I reported that the United Nation's had launched a global campaign for the LGBT rights during a meeting in South Africa.  At the launch announcement was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

South Africa's Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he will never worship a "homophobic God" and will rather go to hell. The retired archbishop was speaking at the launch of a UN-backed campaign in South Africa to promote gay rights. Archbishop Tutu said the campaign against homophobia was similar to the campaign waged against racism in South Africa. "I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level," he added.

(Image via Memeographs)

Quote Of The Day - Desmond Tutu

"The then leaders of the United States [Mr Bush] and Great Britain [Mr Blair] fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand - with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us. The question is not whether Saddam Hussein was good or bad or how many of his people he massacred. The point is that Mr Bush and Mr Blair should not have allowed themselves to stoop to his immoral level." - Desmond Tutu, calling for Bush and Blair to by tried for war crimes.

Friendly Voices - Desmond Tutu

"Uganda's parliament is debating legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and more discriminatory legislation has been debated in Rwanda and Burundi. These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa. Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear.

"And they are living in hiding -- away from care, away from the protection the state should offer to every citizen and away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, especially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. That this pandering to intolerance is being done by politicians looking for scapegoats for their failures is not surprising. But it is a great wrong. An even larger offense is that it is being done in the name of God. Show me where Christ said "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God." - Desmond Tutu, in an editorial published in today's Washington Post.

And what has Pope Palpatine said about Uganda? NOTHING.

Gay Group Honors Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu will receive the 2008 Outspoken Award from the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The executive director of the IGLHRC, Paula Ettelbrick, says, "Archbishop Tutu's vision of a world in which human rights are respected has always explicitly included LGBT people, despite the fierce opposition he has faced from his peers and colleagues. He has challenged political apartheid in South Africa and continues to challenge spiritual apartheid within his religious community." The award will be bestowed in San Francisco on April 8th, where IBM will also be honored for its work in support of the IGLHRC in Latin America.

Friendly Voices - Desmond Tutu

"As a moral leader we know that you do not wish to see Uganda citizens suffer unnecessarily, and we are therefore asking you to call an end to the witch hunt against the most vulnerable in your community.

"We are particularly concerned that members of your government have called for criminal action against people solely because of whom they love and have censored and silenced attempts by LGBT people to speak on their own behalf. These actions only promote fear, profound isolation and invisibility." - From a letter to Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, cosigned by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and over 120 other Christian and Jewish leaders.

Homosexual sex in Uganda is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Connecticut Anglicans: We Rather Pray In A Bank Than Allow Gays

A Connecticut Anglican church congregation has decided abandon their historic building, valued at over $7M, rather than continue to be associated with recent liberal stances of their denomination, including the recent ordination of Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop. The building is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, not the local congregation.

It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go "further in a church that continued in a false gospel," the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church.

One of the "Connecticut six," the half-dozen churches in the state diocese that disagree with national leadership on departure of scripture, including the appointment of a gay bishop, the congregation will trade its historic building on the town green for a free community room at the Thomaston Savings Bank around the corner.

The church was founded in 1764 as part of the Church of England. In case you haven't been following along, the Anglican Church is tearing itself apart nationwide over the gay issue, with many congregations opting to leave.

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said last month that he was "saddened and ashamed" of his church's "obsession" with homosexuality. Tutu: "Our world is facing problems -- poverty, HIV and AIDS -- a devastating pandemic, and conflict. God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another. In the face of all of that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality. If God as they say is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."