A statement from the mother of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
By Jennifer Vanasco, editor in chief, 365gay.com
Miriam Mercado gave this statement to the team organizing the weekend’s vigils:
“When my son told me he was gay, I told him, ‘Now, I love you more.’ I want to tell the world that hatred is not born with human beings, it is a seed that is planted by adults and is fostered creating a climate of intolerance and violence. We must change our ways and understand that anyone …could have been my son. And I want everybody to know that Jorge Steven was a very much loved son.”
Below, a heartbreaking video where Mercado thanks those who have supported her after the death of her son.
Corvino: The slippery slope of religious exemptions
By John Corvino, columnist, 365gay.com
This morning, I didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I wasn’t sick; just tired. But I had a full workday scheduled.
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared unto me and said, “Behold, today is a sacred day, and you must not work.” Sweet!
Okay, maybe I was dreaming. But as the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes pointed out, there’s no useful distinction between “I dreamed that God appeared to me” and “God appeared to me in a dream”—and if the latter is good enough for Biblical prophets, it’s good enough for me.
Before you render judgment, note that the angel added that my readers—this means you!—should take the day off too. Indeed, he presented me with platinum tablets (gold is so old-school) commanding that the day on which this column appears is sacred and must be honored with a Sabbath.
I’ve since lost the tablets, but trust me: that’s what they said.
Now, suppose you believe all of this, and suppose you phone your employer and tell him that you’re not coming in. He might try to fire you. But (assuming that other employees get accommodations for religious holidays) that’s religious discrimination! Tell him so.
He might counter that Corvinianism, as my followers like to call it, is not a valid religion. But why not? Because it’s new? All religions were new at one point. Mormonism is less than two centuries old. I have knickknacks that are older than that.
Moreover, if religious accommodation should vary according to the age of the religion, then many forms of paganism should get more deference than Christianity. Forget Christmas break. I want the Feast of the Unconquered Sun. (Oh wait—they’re the same. Bad example.)
I’m joking here to make a serious point: religious accommodation is a slippery part of the law. And those who cite it in the gay-rights debate need to start acknowledging that.
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World AIDS Day at AIDS Saskatoon
by Megan Morman
The theme for World AIDS Day 2009 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, recognizing these as fundamental human rights. Valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services, yet greater commitment is needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved. Millions of people continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of antiretroviral therapy are receiving it, and too many do not have access to adequate care services.
Here in Saskatoon as well we continue to confront quickly-rising HIV rates. Why not check out a few of this year's World AIDS Day events, which aim to illuminate HIV/AIDS in both its global and local contexts.
AIDS Awareness Week Condom Blitz
Friday, Nov. 27
Sponsored by AIDS Saskatoon, in conjunction with the Saskatoon Sexual Health Centre and the Saskatoon Health Region. Watch for our safer sex superheroes in 13 bars and nightclubs across the city. Volunteers will hand out free condoms from 9-11pm; head to Diva's later and make sure you tip the person who takes your coat -- AIDS Saskatoon volunteers will be working the coat check all weekend in exchange for donations.
Glimmers of Hope - World AIDS Day Party
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1:30-3:30pm in the 601 Outreach Centre
Come help us celebrate personal success stories! Cake will be served at 2pm.
Water Meets the Sky Screening
Tuesday, December 1, 5-7pm in Arts 241, U of S
AIDS Saskatoon short presentation on HIV/AIDS in Saskatoon, followed by a screening of the film Where the Water Meets the Sky. Room For Improvement Youth Development Inc, a student group on the U of S campus, sent 11 young people to film a documentary in East Africa highlighting specifically an orphanage in Rwanda while also visiting Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Where the Water Meets the Sky is the result. The presentation is at 5:15pm, followed by the film from 5:30 - 6:30pm. Hosted by Room For Improvement Youth Development Inc. See www.watermeetssky.com to view the trailer.
FIX: Story of an Addicted City
Thursday, December 3, 7-9pm Francis Morrison Library Theatre
Screening of the 2002 documentary by Nettie Wild. Follows drug users and harm reduction advocates as they battle for the opening of North America's first safe injection site in Vancouver's Lower East Side.
Caribbean Christmas
Sunday, December 6, 6pm-midnight, Odeon Event Centre
Join AIDS Saskatoon's Fundraising Committee for a Caribbean Christmas! This delectable dinner will include Caribbean chicken kabobs, green beans and Jamaican rice. There will be live music and drinks will be available for purchase. Plus, if you're still looking for that perfect Christmas gift for that special someone, check out the Silent Auction. We'll have all the fixins for a reggae good time! Tickets are $20, and available at AIDS Saskatoon's office (ask for Cathy), or from any AIDS Saskatoon Board Member.
Watch for AIDS Saskatoon all around the city -- including at Midtown Mall and the University of Saskatchewan.
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Why do we hate? Academics seek answer in new field
By The Associated Press
(Spokane, Washington) Why did the Nazis hate the Jews? Why did the Hutus hate the Tutsis?
Hate is everywhere, but the fundamental question of why one person can hate another has never been adequately studied, contends Jim Mohr of Gonzaga University, who is developing a new academic field of hate studies.
The goal is to explain a condition that has plagued humanity since one caveman looked askance at another.
“What makes hate tick?” Mohr, director of Gonzaga’s Institute for Action Against Hate, wondered. “How can we stop it?”
Gonzaga founded the institute a decade ago after some black law students received threatening letters. It has since started a Journal of Hate Studies, hosted a conference and offered its first class on hatred last spring.
The hope is that other universities will follow suit, said Ken Stern of the American Jewish Committee in New York, who has been involved in the effort. “We wanted to approach hate more intelligently,” he said.
Stern, who has spent 20 years battling anti-Semitism, said the need for hate studies became obvious when people started fighting groups like the Aryan Nations, which once flourished in this area. Opponents galvanized against the Aryans, but didn’t really know how best to fight them, Stern said.
“We were flying by the seat of our pants,” he said. “There was no testable theory.”
There is not even a good definition of hate, Stern contends.
Philosophers have offered numerous definitions: Rene Descartes said hate was the urge to withdraw from something that is thought bad. Aristotle saw hate as the incurable desire to annihilate an object.
In psychology, Sigmund Freud defined hate as an ego state that wishes to destroy the source of its unhappiness.
Gonzaga, a Jesuit university best known for its basketball team, offered a class on the subject taught by five professors from different disciplines.
Student Kayla De Los Reyes was in that class, and said the information both horrified her and gave her hope.
“Hate is something that is part of the human emotional makeup,” she said. “Everyone feels it at one point or another. You have to learn to control it.”
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La Press en Rose ©, 2009, The Wizard of 'OZ'
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