Hateful hands across the world

Hateful hands across the world

In the face of growing tolerance and acceptance of GLBT people around the globe, homophobic groups are reaching out to each other and forging links like never before.

A conference held two weeks ago in London, with the awkward title, Sex and the City: Redeeming Sex Today -“ A Judaeo-Christian Conference for All, is illustrative of the trend.

Billed as ideal for clergy, rabbis, psychologists, therapists, educators and others concerned about the plethora of sexual issues confronting us in today’s society, the focus of the conference was those struggling with unwanted SSA (same-sex attraction), or in less politically correct terminology, ex-gays.

The stars of the conference were a gaggle of quack experts flown in from the United States, but the organisers, Anglican Mainstream, have their roots firmly in the British Commonwealth.

Anglican Mainstream is the anti-gay, anti-female ordination wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, drawing most of its membership from the Anglican churches of the developing world -” particularly in Africa where clergy walk hand-in-hand with government in persecuting gay men and lesbians.

So often Sydney Archbishop, Peter Jensen, is the white face of the movement, but the real power players are men like Peter Akinola and Henry Orombi, the heads of the Anglican Churches of Nigeria and Uganda, who see homosexuality as a disgusting Western import come to pollute both cultures and minds.

The theories their pet experts spout are so outdated they’re almost funny. In 2009 they’re still rattling out the 1950s line that homosexuality is a result of a damaged relationship with a same-gender parent, locked in with the notion that being gay goes hand-in-hand with effeminacy. If you can teach those sissies to man up and kick a football around they’ll suddenly start loving vagina -” ask Ian Roberts.

When asked to explain why the rest of psychiatry has not only moved on, but dismissed these notions as baseless and potentially harmful, they resort to conspiracy theories. In this they have much in common with their African friends.

With the event attracting the condemnation of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and attracting roughly as many protesters as participants inside, the conference seems to have done more harm than good for the ex-gay movement in the UK.

However expect to see more such conferences in the developing world where such quacks and their dog-collar-wearing supporters can still find fertile ground.

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9 responses to “Hateful hands across the world”

  1. Far from ‘shutting me up’, I’ve just had a very hectic week.
    Given the nature of what you wrote, I’d like to give it some thought, do a bit of research, take it on the chin where criticism is due, and if the diary clears a bit, continue the dialogue.
    In christian love,
    Simon.

  2. That shut them up!

    Good on you Andrew!, your coloumn is the most usefull one on this site (always bringing up/writing about issues that matter)

    Cheers

  3. Rev. John Richardson, Anglican Mainstream may not be made up entirely of anti-female ordination Anglicans, but you cannot deny that it is their home in the Church.

    Rev. Simon Smallwood, I would like to know how Anglican Mainstream UK and Peter Jensen can as Christians justify allying themselves with men who’s support for the state sanctioned persecution of gay men (Orombi and Akinola) is well documented (I have myself attempted to put that question to Jensen multiple times without ever receiving an answer).

    The Anglican Church in Nigeria supports the arrest and imprisonment of gay men and has been instrumental in the campaign for new laws in that country that would make simply being gay or offering any assistance or advocacy on behalf of gays a crime- it would even jail heterosexual guests at same-sex marriages occurring outside Nigeria!

    The Anglican Church in Uganda supports the punishment of homosexuality with life imprisonment and has also lent support to the introduction of new legislation there that parallels the Nigerian legislation in many ways (for example, it would make simply identifying as a gay or lesbian person a jailable offence).

    Other African churches in the Anglican Mainstream/GAFCON faction are engaged in similar campaigns.

    The actions of these Governments with the support of the Anglican Churches of both countries constitute nothing less than an attempt at a pogrom against African gays.

    The notion that gay men and lesbians are homosexual because of damaged or abusive relationships with their same gendered parent (this is what is claimed by your American imports) is incredibly offensive to the families of the many, many, gays and lesbians who have had, and continue to have positive and healthy relationships with their same gendered parent.

    It is also offensive to the many heterosexuals who have suffered through damaged or abusive relationships at the hands of parents by calling their sexuality into question.

    These issues are only the “most difficult of our day” for those who have a Bible where their brain should be.

    The only ones suffering very real blows in this debate are African gays.

  4. The so-called Anglican Mainstream is certainly driven by a pathetic sense of victimhood. I checked out John Richardson’s website and my point is clearly confirmed. What is also pathetic is this ignorant assumption on the part of the “Anglican Mainstream” is that the Bible is useful as a guide to issues around sexuality. The Bible is seriously outdated. Would Richardson use the Bible as a guide for medical practice? If not, why use it to inform you about sexual orientation? And incidentally, show me in the Bible where the term “heterosexuality” even appears (let alone is privileged).

  5. If you only listened to the sort of language that Anglican Mainstream UK and Peter Jensen used and compared it to your own inflammatory article, you’d find it is far from hateful or phobic. These are men and women seeking to grapple intelligently, humbly, compassionately and courageously with some of the hottest and most difficult issues of our day for them and for the gay community. For sure, we disagree strongly on these issues, but working through them without coming to blows is not helped by your inaccurate and disingenuous reporting.

  6. Anglican Mainstream is not “anti-female ordination”. It includes people and dioceses from both points of view. Nor, as it happens, is it driven by hate.