Volunteer Opportunity: The Self-Help Alliance Rainbow Group's last meeting will be at the end of this month (January). They are looking for a volunteer or two to continue facilitating these meetings. If you are interested, or would like more information, please contact: guelph@self-help.ca or call 519.763.4014
Ex-gay Leader Admits Changing Sexuality is Unlikely
By Natasha Barsotti
The head of a Florida-based, ex-gay Christian organization, which for decades has promoted a message of “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ,” told an Orlando conference that the majority of people he has met are still gay.
“I would say the majority, meaning 99.9 percent of them, have not experienced a change in their orientation or have gotten to a place where they could say that they could never be tempted, or are not tempted in some way or experience some level of same-sex attraction,” Alan Chambers told a Gay Christian Network (GCN) conference on Jan 6.
Chambers’ statement is a marked departure from one he made during an April 2004 University of California same-sex marriage debate, in which he claimed he was “one of tens of thousands of people whom have successfully changed their sexual orientation.” The statement is posted on the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) website.
“Change is possible and I am living proof. I used to be homosexual and today I am not,” Chambers said in that statement.
“To be clear,” he continued, “I did not choose my same-sex attractions nor did I willfully adopt a homosexual orientation, but my response to both, my behaviors, were a choice.”
At this month’s conference, however, Chambers clearly distanced himself from his organization’s longstanding “Change is possible” mantra. For the rest of the story, go here.
Challenging Publicly Funded Catholic Education in Ontario
By Andrea Houston
Ontario Catholic students fighting for equality in schools are closely watching a constitutional challenge against the publicly funded Catholic education system that was recently launched by a Toronto woman.
Reva Landau, a non-practising lawyer, filed the case with the attorney general in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice in December. She says the Supreme Court should take another look at its previous decisions.
Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school system is the relic of a deal that was struck with Quebec at confederation. Quebec no longer funds religious schools.
“So the other party [Quebec] has withdrawn from the great historic compromise,” says Landau. “The argument to continue funding the separate school board is gone. I think this should be reconsidered because it is so out of tune with the way things are today. The Charter of Rights says there should be no discrimination.”
Landau says giving aid to one religious institution that is not equally available to others violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
She says there is also “appalling” inequity and “blatant discrimination” in the Catholic board’s hiring practices for teachers. For the rest of the story, go here.
Condoms in Porn: AIDS Group Vows to Take Fight to L.A. County
For years, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein has sought to persuade elected officials to protect the health of porn actors by forcing adult film companies to require condom use.
This week, Weinstein celebrated his first major victory after the Los Angeles City Council voted to require condom use as a condition of getting film permits in the city. Now Weinstein wants to take his fight to Los Angeles County.
"This is a case study in the power of persistence," Weinstein said in an interview. He noted that the concept of allowing drug users to exchange needles, once seen as untouchable, finally gained acceptance as a way to protect people from HIV.
Weinstein has pushed state legislators and the County Board of Supervisors to back mandatory condom use, but has received little support. No state lawmakers have been willing to sponsor legislation, Weinstein said, and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said in 2010 that the state, not the county Department of Public Health, should be dealing with the matter.
Weinstein also lost a court battle to compel the county public health agency to take a stronger position on condom use. For the rest of the story, go here.