'Gays Are a Lost Cause' Says Moderate Muslim

"Gallup conducted telephone and face-to-face interviews with 500 Muslims in the UK, France and Germany.
"The most dramatic contrast was found in attitudes towards homosexuality," the study said. "None of the 500 British Muslims interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable."
Remarkable. They couldn't find a single British Muslim who would come out publicly in support of homosexuals. Not one."

Attitude from Brainwashed Convert to Islam

Europe's Gay Leaders: Out at The Top
TIME: When Iceland installed Johanna Sigurdardottir as Prime Minister last February, newspapers around the globe printed variations of the same headline: ICELAND APPOINTS WORLD'S FIRST GAY LEADER. Everywhere, that is, except Iceland. The Icelandic media didn't mention Sigurdardottir's sexuality for days, and only then to point out that the foreign press had taken an interest in their new head of state — a 67-year-old former flight attendant turned politician whom voters had consistently rated Iceland's most trustworthy politician. Sure, she was gay and had entered a civil partnership with another woman in 2002. But Icelanders hardly seemed to notice. "The media silence echoed the sentiment of the public. Nobody cared about her sexual orientation," says Margret Bjornsdottir, the director of the Institute for Public Administration and Politics at the University of Iceland. "Being gay is a nonissue here. It's considered unremarkable."

Buoyed by liberal attitudes such as those, politicians across Western Europe are stepping out of the closet and into their country's highest political offices. Eleven openly gay men and women now serve in the British Parliament, including two in the Cabinet. Last June, Nicolas Sarkozy appointed Frédéric Mitterrand, a gay television presenter, to the post of Minister of Culture. Paris' Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, tipped by some to contest the 2012 presidential race, is gay. And Guido Westerwelle, chairman of Germany's Free Democratic Party, has just become his country's Foreign Minister, joining a gay élite that includes the mayors of Berlin and Hamburg, Germany's two largest cities. Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's mayor, says coming out ahead of the 2001 mayoral race while under pressure from tabloids strengthened his campaign. "My confession might have contributed to my popularity," he says. "Many people appreciate honesty."

That's a far cry from the climate in most of the U.S., where — despite the recent election of Annise Parker, a gay woman, as mayor of Houston, America's fourth largest city — honesty can still end a gay politician's career. Openly gay politicians such as San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk began winning seats in U.S. cities with large gay populations in the 1970s. Progress has since slowed, says David Rayside, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. He believes that the relative strength of incumbency in the U.S. creates a barrier to the corridors of power, as does "the strength of religious conservatives." Of the 511,000 elected offices in the U.S. — from local school boards way up to President — openly gay men and women occupy just 450 of them, according to the U.S.-based Victory Fund, an organization that offers financial support to gay political candidates. No openly gay person has ever sat in the Senate, and only three hold seats in the House of Representatives.

The gap between the U.S. and Europe doesn't just exist at the top: 49% of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center in 2007 believed that society should "accept" homosexuality. Contrast that with attitudes in Europe where more than 80% of French, Germans and Spaniards had such a view. Only Catholic and conservative Poles felt as uncomfortable with the idea as Americans. Denis Dison, a spokesman for the Victory Fund, says those attitudes can make it difficult for gay people to campaign — let alone obtain office. "In places where the climate isn't friendly, it's hard for them to even go into a town hall meeting or public forum because they get such nasty questions." The European Difference >>> William Lee Adams | Monday, January 18, 2010

Comment: Reflections on Yom Kippur and Homosexuality within Judaism
PINK NEWS: PinkNews.co.uk founder Benjamin Cohen reflects back on yesterday's Jewish festival of Yom Kippur and what it means for an openly gay Jew.

Two years ago, I wrote about my experiences in Synagogue over Yom Kippur, the day of atonement when according to Judaism, all men and women are judged and God decides whether to write them into the book of life for the following year, who will die at his allotted time and who before. It's also the day that God decides who will have a good year and who will have a year of struggle. As I left yesterday's service, I felt that it would be apt to update the original article.

As I sat in Synagogue yesterday during Yom Kippur I once again regretted that I'm still an attendee of the United Synagogue.
The United Synagogue is Britain's largest Jewish community and represents what it defines as "modern Orthodoxy", a centre ground which aims to embrace modernity with a traditional slant.

Despite their orthodox claims, the majority of those who belong to the movement are certainly not orthodox in the strictest sense of the word. They may attend synagogue regularly but they'll often watch television and drive on Shabbat (the Sabbath) something which is banned.

But in terms of morality, particularly sexual morality, those Rabbis in charge of the synagogues have failed to recognise the strides forward both society as a whole and the Jewish community in particular have made in the past few years.

Many of my parent's friends are clearly subscribers to the modern orthodox doctrines; strictly keeping Kosher, refraining from all forms of work on the Sabbath (even switching a light on) and attend Synagogue at least once a week. But all have accepted my sexuality, one even saying that I was "silly to have thought they would have behaved otherwise."

Yet as I sat in the Yom Kippur service yesterday afternoon, I was reminded that the movement still has a long way to go. The Torah reading for the afternoon was from Leviticus, particularly those verses concerning forbidden sexual relationships. >>> Benjamin Cohen | Tuesday, September 29, 2009

In Search of Europe: Austria
BBC: Many Austrians are deeply suspicious of the EU, the BBC's Jonny Dymond reports, as he tours the continent ahead of next month's European elections.

Austria is a big central European paradox. Its language links it to Germany. Its culture links it to Italy. Its former empire links it to Hungary, the western Balkans, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is difficult to imagine a place more plugged into Europe.

And it is difficult to find anyone with a good word to say about the EU.

Down in the 10th district of Vienna the fast food joints rub shoulders with cheap jewellery stores and mobile phone shops. It's a working class area with a high immigrant population.

At an outside table in a cafe in a market, Horst Glasner and Hans Bubnik are settling into a fairly liquid lunch. As they drink white wine they bite into fat pickled cucumbers sold from a barrel at a stall a few metres away. Both men are retired.

Neither have anything but contempt for the EU.

"We have a bit of a problem with the whole thing," says Horst. "The problem is that the EU is not honest. They cheat on us a lot. This is the big problem."

"The problem is that everything has become more expensive," says Hans. "Since we joined the EU everything has been a third more expensive."

Horst finds another problem.

"Every country is in a different situation. The EU must look at the individual conditions. And this is the big problem." >>> Jonny Dymond | Friday, May 29, 2009

More Than Three-quarters of Britons Want to See Jobless Immigrants Forced to Leave UK
MAIL Online: More than three-quarters of Britons believe jobless immigrants should be asked to leave the UK, according to a new poll.

The finding will raise fears that the far-Right BNP could prosper in the recession as unemployment rises.

In addition, more than half of the adults in Britain who took part in the FT/Harris survey opposed the right for citizens from other European Union countries to work here.

Outspoken immigration minister Phil Woolas admitted that the Government, despite years of tough talking on immigration, had yet to convince many voters that it had properly tightened Britain's borders. >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, March 16, 2009

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