GAY TRUTH

A little more than six months before the nation elects its president, the Republican Party still has no leader. The coming convention is proving to be one of the most up-in-the-air, contested political events in recent memory. But behind the scenes, a battle of much greater import for the future of our nation is brewing. A powerful group of well-financed Republican leaders are pushing for change in the GOP official national platform, to support homosexual "marriage." Politico reports   that some of the wealthiest Republican financiers have been bankrolling the American Unity Fund, which is fighting a well-organized lobbying effort to influence convention delegates who will draw up the platform. Billionaires Paul Singer , Dan Loeb, Seth Klarman and Cliff Asness back the American Unity Fund, with its “army of volunteers spread out across the country.” In January's Republican National Committee meeting, American Unity Fund staffers met with influential part

An academic paid with government money to independently evaluate the controversial Safe Schools Coalition anti-bullying program is the co-chair of a gay and transgender organisation that was promoted in the school material. University of Sydney academic Cristyn Davies is one of the researchers undertaking a $270,000 evaluation of the ­program. She is also the co-chair of Twenty10, a counselling service for young gay and transgender people. Access to the Twenty10 service was promoted on the Safe Schools materials through the All of Us resource. Liberal MP George Christensen , who is hostile towards Safe Schools, this month said in parliament that one of the biggest concerns he had with the program was the links to outside resources such as Twenty10. “The safe Schools All of Us teaching resource directs students to the LGBT organisation Twenty10. On the 19th of January this year, Twenty10 held a ­hands- on workshop for youth on sex toys and sadomasochistic practices,” Mr Christense

A Safe Schools national symposium was told by the program ’s Victorian co-ordinator, Roz Ward, that schools could ­ignore concerns raised about the agenda. “When people do complain then school leadership can very calmly and graciously say, ‘You know what? We’re doing it anyway, tough luck’!” she told more than 300 attendees.  Leaked video footage from the event, which emerged at the weekend, also appears to confirm what critics of the program have long suspected: that it was more about promoting radical political ideas around sexuality and gender than preventing schoolyard bullying . “(It’s) not about celebrating diversity; not about stopping bullying,” Ms Ward said. “(It’s) about gender and sexual diversity. About same-sex ­attractive, about being transgender , about being lesbian, gay, ­bisexual — say the words — transgender, ­intersex. Not just, ‘Be nice to everyone; everyone’s great’.”  Safe Schools project manager Joel Radcliffe, a fellow academic at La Trobe Universi

The Obama Administration is making noises about cutting North Carolina off from federal funding after last month’s legislative move by the governor and some state lawmakers to protect the state’s residents’ privacy and safety. Administration officials announced Friday they were reviewing whether the   Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act   overturning a Charlotte city ordinance allowing men to use women’s restrooms and showers should result in the federal government withholding funding for schools, highways and housing, to the tune of billions of dollars. Experts have indicated that such an extreme step was not likely, at least not right away, according to The Charlotte Observer , but the administration’s review is sending a message to North Carolina that there could be consequences for its new law. After a statewide outcry against the Charlotte ordinance, the state’s General Assembly passed HB2 in a   special session   March 23, with Governor Pat McCrory signing i

If J.J. Abrams , the director of   Star Wars: The Force Awakens , has his way with future scripts, expect homosexual characters. Abrams was hosting a pre- Academy Awards event at his production company Bad Robot when asked about prospects for homosexual characters. He responded, “Of course, of course. When I talk about inclusivity it’s not excluding gay characters. It’s about inclusivity. So of course.” Abrams like everyone else in Hollywood was talking about inclusivity in response to all this year’s nominees for acting Oscars being white (though largely unnoticed was the prominence of gay or transgender storylines). On the larger issue of color—or lack thereof—Abrams had told the   Daily Beast ,  “It’s shameful. We all need to do better to represent this world. It’s something that is important to me, and is something that we’re focusing on at Bad Robot.” Speculation immediately began about the close relationship between two leading male characters, Poe (Oscar Isaac) an

In the realm of international human rights law, major conflicts are developing today between freedom of conscience and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) policies. In these conflicts, much more is at stake than the rights of religious people. Everyone who cares about human rights for all—LGBT or not—should be concerned about the resolution of these conflicts, for the continued viability of the entire human rights framework hinges on their outcome. Conscience occupies a place of paramount importance in international human rights law for at least two reasons. First, our endowment with conscience and reason is the foundation of the human rights system. Second, conscience has also been the engine of human rights activism—from the abolition of slavery to the condemnation of genocide. Because the architects of the modern international human rights system had a high view of conscience, both as evidence of human dignity and as a faculty for discerning moral truth, they i

 “ Speak softly and carry a big stick ” summed up American President Theodore Roosevelt ’s foreign policy in the early years of the 20th century. “Wrap yourself in a rainbow and carry a big stick” is becoming US foreign policy in the early years of the 21st century. The latest example of the United States forcing LGBT views upon smaller countries who depend on American aid and trade comes from the Dominican Republic . In 2013 President Obama appointed Wally Brewster Ambassador to the Caribbean nation of 10 million people. Mr Brewster, a top LGBT fundraiser for the President, took up residence with his husband, Bob Satawake. Both men had been gay rights activists back in the US. They have brought a reforming zeal to the Dominican Republic. This week the  New York Times ran a  profile  of Mr Brewster, painting him as a benevolent tutor in human rights for a benighted, largely-Catholic nation. It closed with a note of gratitude to the ambassador from a young gay man: “I ha