QUITO, ECUADOR – Ecuador will investigate and act forcefully against any clinics found to be trying to force homosexuals to change their sexual orientation, a Health Ministry official said Thursday.
Gay rights activists in the South American country say four clinics that engaged in coercive practices, three in the capital, have been shut down in recent months but that others still to operate clandestinely.
“Sadly, authorities have not yet taken the corrective measures necessary to regulate the work of clinics that offer ‘de-homosexualization’ treatment,’” said Efrain Soria, director of Fundacion Equidad, an anti-discrimination group.
Health Ministry official David Troya told The Associated Press the agency will deal firmly and drastically with any clinics that offer such treatments, which have been denounced by critics as abusive.
Newly named Health Minister Carina Vance, who studied at the University of California and has publicly defended gay rights, is hiring someone to work exclusively on the issue, said Troya, an adviser to Vance.
“We are going to take the necessary measures in a firm and drastic manner as regards this subject,” he said.
The ministry is “clear and emphatic” that in line with the World Health Organization findings, “homosexuality is not an illness and that as such a cure can’t be suggested, so that whoever offers treatments is deceiving people and acting illegally,” Troya said.
Paola Concha told the AP that her family sent her in 2006 to a clinic to “cure” her of homosexuality.
“I received physical and verbal aggression during the 18 months I was interned in one of these centers,” she said. “Nearly daily they beat me, and many times I was handcuffed to a pipe.”
Concha said the women’s ward of the clinic where she was held was later closed. She said other women who were “treated” along with her are afraid to go public with their stories.
Troya said the few clinics offering “de-homosexualizion treatment” that were shuttered by authorities were closed not because they offered such services but for other reasons, such as failing to meet sanitary standards.
Soria, the anti-discrimination activist, said complaints had been filed in courts against all of the closed clinics.
He said the clinics running “de-homosexualization” programs camouflage themselves by advertising that they treat such disorders as substance abuse.
from The Associated Press

After promising to create a base of operations on the moon if elected, Republican Presidential Candidate and Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, is now comparing same-sex marriage to paganism.
For those of you who are unsure of the antiquated term, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a pagan is one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods, an irreligious or hedonistic person.
This latest revelation came about after the thrice married Gingrich took part in a mass conference call involving a large number of Florida’s evangelical and religious right-wing, conservative voters.
The New Civil Rights Movement quoted Gingrich as saying, “It’s pretty simple: marriage is between a man and a woman. This is a historic doctrine driven deep into the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and it’s a perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism. The effort to create alternatives to marriage between a man and a woman are perfectly natural pagan behaviors, but they are a fundamental violation of our civilization.”
Mr. Gingrich was invited to participate in the conference call Wednesday involving more than 125,000 Florida evangelicals, including 2,400 pastors from around the Sunshine State. The reason why, perhaps, Gingrich participated in the phone call could be contributed to the fact that as many as a third of the votes to be cast in next Tuesday’s Florida primary may come from evangelicals.
In South Carolina last week, where born-again and evangelical voters represented two-thirds of the vote, Gingrich more than doubled Republican rival candidate Mitt Romney’s totals with 44 percent of the evangelical vote to 21 percent for Romney, despite questions raised about the former Speaker’s private life, extra-marital affairs and multiple marriages, as reported by the Washington Times.
This, despite Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne, who publicly announced last week just before the South Carolina primary that her husband had asked her to participate in an “open marriage” while still carrying on an affair with his now third wife, Callista.
When asked if his third wife would make a good First Lady during a debate, Gingrich said he would be “thrilled to hang out with her at the White House,” adding she’s artistic and plays the French Horn.
Just last month, the Huffington Post reported that Gingrich defended marriage between a man and a woman to Iowa conservatives when asked to sign a marriage vow pledge by influential Iowa social conservative, Bob Vander Plaats.
According to the Family Leader’s “Marriage Vow” pledge, Gingrich wrote:
I appreciate the opportunity to affirm my strong support of the mission of the Family Leader by solemnly vowing to defend and strengthen the family through the following actions I would take as President of the United States. As President, I will vigorously enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted under my leadership as Speaker of the House, and ensure compliance with its provisions, especially in the military. I will also aggressively defend the constitutionality of DOMA in federal and state courts. I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification. I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman. I will support all efforts to reform promptly any uneconomic or anti-marriage aspects of welfare and tax policy. I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others.
Unlike the fiery South Carolina debate where observers gave Gingrich the thumbs-up, political pundits on both sides agree Gingrich suffered from a lack-luster, “flat” performance during Thursday’s CNN debate where he once again tried to blast the media for digging up dirt from his past, however this time, he was swiftly shot down.
When CNN Moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Gingrich whether he was happy with Romney’s disclosure of some of his tax returns, Gingrich recoiled, “This is a nonsense question,” and went on to argue, “I’m perfectly happy to say that in an interview on some TV show, but this is a national debate, where you have a chance to get the four of us to talk about a whole range of issues.”
Romney’s on-key response, “Wouldn’t it be nice if people didn’t make accusations somewhere else that they weren’t willing to defend here?
According to CNN, with just four days to go before the Florida primary, a new poll indicates Mitt Romney has opened up a nine point lead over Newt Gingrich.
A Quinnipiac University survey released Friday morning found 38 percent of likely Florida Republican primary voters as saying they would back the former Massachusetts Governor for their party’s presidential nomination, with 29 percent supporting the former House Speaker.
from The New Jersey Newsroom
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Katie O’Malley

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND – Moving swiftly to stem potential damage to same-sex marriage legislation in Maryland, first lady Katie O’Malley said Friday she regretted her choice of words at a national conference when she said gay marriage legislation in the state failed last year because “there were some cowards that prevented it from passing.”
Her comments, which were first reported by The Associated Press on Thursday evening, were the talk of the statehouse Friday, as some lawmakers from both parties did not appreciate being referred to as cowards for their political views.
“I let my feelings get the better of me,” the first lady said in a statement. “I deeply respect that there are strongly held and differing views on marriage equality in Maryland, but hope that our state’s elected officials will come together to fairly address this important issue for our families and children.”
O’Malley gave a welcoming speech at the 24th National Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality in Baltimore on Thursday night. Before a crowd, she talked about gay marriage legislation that passed the state Senate but stalled in the House of Delegates last year, when the measure was sent back to committee without a vote due to insufficient support.
She said the bill’s failure to advance “brought tears to my eyes when it happened.”
“We didn’t expect the things that happened to the House of Delegates to occur, but sadly they did, and there were some cowards that prevented it from passing,” O’Malley said.
It’s unclear how much damage may have been done by the remark.
Delegate Curt Anderson, a Democrat who chairs the Baltimore City delegation in Annapolis, described the comment as a distraction in a sensitive debate.
“I don’t think anybody on our delegation likes the comment, and they’re thankful that she has retracted it,” Anderson said.
Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, D-Baltimore, said he understood that the first lady takes the issue very seriously, and he believes her statement expressing regret will mend some fences. However, he noted that the comments were not helpful to drawing people who are on the fence.
“I think it’s going to cause a distraction,” McFadden said, “but in the final analysis, individuals will vote their conscience.”
Delegate Don Dwyer, an Anne Arundel County Republican who strongly opposes the legislation, said one Democratic lawmaker approached him Friday morning to sign on to his proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as strictly between a man and woman. Dwyer said he believed the first lady’s remark has hurt the same-sex marriage bill’s chances.
“Obviously, they think it’s hurt them, too,” Dwyer said. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have issued a retraction.”
Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, has made same-sex marriage legislation a priority this legislative session in what could be a very close vote in the House. His aides have worked carefully to draft legislation that will put an emphasis on protecting religious freedom in hopes of winning over not only a handful of delegates, but also members of the public. That’s because it’s widely believed a same-sex marriage bill, if passed, will be petitioned to the ballot for voters to decide in November.
In the first lady’s speech at the conference, she also focused on the importance of passing a bill for the sake of children who grow up in same-sex households, and she reiterated that point in her statement on Friday. The governor also has underscored the point.
During her speech Thursday night, O’Malley, who is a judge in Baltimore District Court, said she did not believe that religion should pay a role in the laws of the state.
“We’re all very diverse, and that’s what makes us so strong, but religion should never play a part in what the laws of our state are, and that’s what we’re trying to convey to religious leaders who are opponents of the bill that believe that for some reason — for some reason — religion has some role to play in this, and quite frankly we believe that it doesn’t,” the first lady said. “We believe that this is a civil rights issue — very, very much strongly believe in that.”
For the most part, Katie O’Malley, who keeps busy with her work as a judge, has avoided the political fray in Annapolis since her husband became governor in 2007. However, she does occasionally champion issues, such as reducing school bullying.
Her predecessor, Kendel Ehrlich, also ended up backtracking from a highly publicized comment she made at a domestic violence prevention conference, when she said she would “shoot” pop singer Britney Spears if she had the opportunity for sending a poor message to young girls. In 2003, she talked during a radio program about the need for “educating our women to get as much schooling as possible, to not become dependent on anyone else.”
A spokeswoman for Ehrlich at the time said she made “an inadvertent figure of speech.”
from The Associated Press

TENNESSEE – State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) is making national headlines for an interview he gave on Sirius XM radio.
On the Michelangelo Signorile Show, the Knoxville senator said that homosexuality is harmful and that the HIV epidemic came from a single gay airline employee having sexual relations with a monkey.
He explained that he believes that HIV was started by the homosexual community.
“My understanding… is that virtually, if not completely impossible, to contract AIDS outside of blood transfusions through heterosexual sex. It’s virtually impossible,” Senator Campfield said on the show.
The Knox County Health Department Director, Dr. Martha Buchanan, and AIDS educator Wayne Smith both said his comments have been proven false. Smith called them “archaic.”
“It increases the confusion and the fear when people are giving the wrong information. People need to know the facts and understand the facts,” Dr. Buchanan said.
“It’s hard to believe that anybody could say those things, believe those things to be true when we know they’re not. Especially an elected official,” said Smith.
10News sat down with the senator where he confirmed his statements, but said it was taken out of context. He said that he acknowledges that heterosexuals can contract the virus. He meant that certain groups are at much higher risk for AIDS.
“A lot of people trying to gloss over and say it’s an every person disease but really it’s just those high risk people that are most likely to contract or spread that disease The odds of a regular man getting it from a regular woman are very low,” he said.
We asked, “What do you mean by ‘regular?’”
He said, “someone who is not from Africa, someone who is not a homosexual, someone who is not an IV drug user, someone who is not sleeping with someone who is one of those things.”
Senator Campfield sees nothing wrong with his answers.
“I didn’t say I was a gay/AIDS historian. I didn’t say I know the facts backwards and forwards I just said what I’ve heard and the facts back me up,” he said.
AIDS Educator Wayne Smith says the facts do not back him up. He’s taught classes to take away the stigma of the disease for 15 years and calls Campfield’s comments a setback.
“Until things like this happen, then I get in this mode where I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress,” Smith said.
Dr. Buchanan said anyone having unprotected sex can contract HIV.
“In other countries where the virus is much more prevalent, you see just as many cases in heterosexuals as you do in homosexuals,” she said.
While the virus did originate in a monkey, the CDC and World Health Organization confirm people contracted the virus through hunting.
Sen. Campfield went on the radio program to talk about his also controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill which would make It illegal for teachers to talk about homosexuality to students.
from WBIR 10

Margaret Court

AUSTRALIA – Amid a growing backlash over her opposition to same-sex marriage, the three-time Wimbledon champion told The Sunday Mail “many, many” gay and lesbian people she knew of had “been abused” and this had led to their sexual orientation.
Court, a senior minister at Perth’s Victory Life Centre, has already sparked fury among gay and equal rights activists for recent comments, including that the push for gay marriage was trying “to legitimise what God calls abominable sexual practices”.
Mental health advocate Chris Tanti accused her of “spreading misery” and putting young gay people at risk of suicide with what he called her anti-gay comments, amid calls for her name to be removed from centre court at Melbourne Park.
But Court said: “We get them (homosexuals) in (at church) and you’ll find that many, many of them have been abused”. When asked if she felt such abuse led people to homosexuality, Court said: “Yes. You look at a lot of them, that’s happened.”
She would not be drawn on whether she felt same-sex abuse was specifically to blame, saying, “We’ll start another can of worms if I start talking on all this.”
Peter Rosengren, editor of the Catholic Church’s The Record newspaper, batted away her claims, saying he had “never heard of any scientific study” linking abuse and homosexuality, and that “everyone has to be respected”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Court also said:
“The word of God is our TV guide to life. It’s not the fear book, it’s a love book and it tells us how to live our lives.”
“I would have won six Wimbledons not three . . . if I’d known what I know now from the scriptures, on the area of the mind.”
Many migrants expected Australians “to change our laws to embrace what they have and I don’t feel that’s right”.
“Christianity is a way forward” for Aboriginal people.
Court also said she did not regret speaking out against same-sex marriage. “I say what God says and that’s why I’ve spoken out,” she said. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman.
“I have a right as a minister to say that. You look at the decline in the world today. I think it’s so important for values and morals and righteousness to come forth like never before.”
from The Herald Sun
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Related Post:

Martina Navratilova Makes Her Point On Margaret Court’s Anti-Gay Comments

Margaret Court Defends Her Views On Gay Marriage

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