I've just read this story from the Independent. The short version is Lance Corporal James Wharton of the Household Cavalry married his boyfriend on Saturday. A fellow Lance Corporal acted as his best man, both in dress uniform. The reception was then held within the Regimental barracks, after returning from their honeymoon they will be living as a couple within service accomodation. There were several warm quotes from Commanding Officers.

Obviously this is a heart warming story. But I thought I ought to share it with you because it shows how far our armed forces have come in just the last 10 years, quite incredible when you think about it.

(Baz, please correct me if I have got any of the military stuff/language wrong, and it shows there is hope for you yet )

I have just read this article, in the Telegraph. It concerns the effects of the recent House of Lords vote, to ammend the Equality Bill to allow for religious Civil Partnership ceremonies, on the Church of England. The article repeats a claim that vicars could be sued if they refuse to conduct Civil Partnership ceremonies. The article makes no attempt whatever to explain or question this claim. Surely, somebody at the Telegraph should have the number of a lawyer who could say whether there may be legal grounds for such litigation or whether it would be dismissed? Or am I asking too much of journalists?

I don't know if anyone has been following the story of the gay couple who have appealed to the European Court for permission to marry in their native Austria. I only heard about it at a lecture I attended on Tuesday evening. The case has been brewing for some time and our government has made representation to the court for the appeal to be turned down as I think is explained in the following from Hansard.

Quote:11.13 am

Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Why they are intervening before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Horst Schalk and Johann Kopf v Austria (Application No. 30141/04) to contend that same-sex relationships fall outside the ambit of family life for the purposes of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My Lords, the Government have intervened in the case of Schalk and Kopf v Austria primarily to support the proposition that Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights does not require same-sex couples to be allowed to marry. The noble Lord has raised an important technical issue about our observations in this case, for which I am grateful and upon which I am reflecting in consultation with my ministerial colleagues.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, I am grateful to hear that Ministers are considering the matter further. I have put the observations in the Library, so that those who want to can see exactly what the Government have said. It is not correct that they have confined their observations only to the right to marry. They have also said that the court should not develop its case law so that same-sex partners living in an enduring family relationship are protected by Articles 8 and 14 of the convention against sexual orientation discrimination in the enjoyment of the fundamental right to respect for family life. I have two questions. First, is that the Government’s aim because, if so, it seems bizarre? Secondly, in the light of our law’s recognition of civil partnership and recognition that for the purposes of adoption a couple includes two people of the same sex living as partners in an enduring family relationship, why on earth do the Government negatively seek to persuade the Strasbourg court that

10 July 2008 : Column 844

the convention does not require the creation of legal recognition of such relationships for same-sex couples, who cannot marry?

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the noble Lord raises important matters and I am sure that all noble Lords will wish to see the memorandum he has placed in the Library. The Government are very proud of the legislation introducing civil partnerships and we strongly encourage other countries to do likewise. However, we do not think it appropriate for other countries—many of which have very different social attitudes towards marriage and relationships—to be compelled to introduce similar systems. That was the principal aim of our intervention. We would be concerned if an interpretation suggested that Article 8 compelled legal registration of any family relationship. However, I assure the noble Lord that we are considering this point very carefully.

I had a friendship request recently on Facebook from a woman I didn't know particularly well, but who lived in the same village when her children and my children were growing up. I remember hearing that, when she and her husband split up, she had entered into a relationship with a woman, but as far as I was concerned it was just village gossip.

In her message she brought me up to date on her current circumstances and asked after my "dear lady wife", so I thought I'd explain a few coincidences. Since coming out to her a few weeks ago I have had no further messages from her. Maybe she'd heard a rumour and her curiosity has now been satisfied; no matter. I've had a few friends from the distant past who have gone horribly silent after I have revealed the changes in my situation. That's a bit more hurtful, but I guess it's inevitable considering the majority who have been supportive. It is certainly the case that I have found out who my friends are.

I thought this article in The Guardian was interesting. Some of the stories touched a chord with me and I could identify with many points made by the writer.

Quote:I'm not sure why we should be shocked when someone ends a marriage and comes out of the closet. A quick browse on the internet will reveal plenty of websites with names such as My Husband Is Gay and Gay Husbands/Straight Wives, with checklists for worried wives ...

But why should we have such illusions about marriage anyway? There are many things spouses choose to keep secret, and homosexuality is just one of them ...

There are three powerful bonds between people and, for better and for worse, they often operate separately, rather than together: sexual attraction, long-term attachment and romantic yearning ...

I'm not much interested in war films, yet one of the best movie I've seen for 2010 have the war in Afghanistan as their backdrop. Brothers are solid, somber, and timely film. I can say this movie took me completely by surprise with its unflinching look at the affects of war on families. Of course, the events in Brothers are taken to the nth degree, but it's still one of the most in-depth looks at the adjustment to life out of the war zone I've seen reflected on film in recent years. Tobey Maguire delivers a career-defining performance.Maguire displays an emotional range I haven't had a chance to see in the actor lately, and you can't take your eyes off of him when he's on the screen. His performance is that powerful and he definitely deserve an Oscar recognition for this. It's not a pretty tale it tells, but Brothers absolutely delivers a convincing, intense and powerful story of a family in conflict and the forgiveness and understanding needed to heal terrible wounds.

I'd not thought of the ex-gay sadists in quite this light ...

Quote:All too often, ineffective or dangerous remedies, no longer saleable in the West, are exported to Africa. The notion that homosexuality can be 'cured' is just one example.

Drug dumping – when unreliable, useless or dangerous pharmaceutical products are donated to countries in the South – can make bad situations worse. For instance, during emergency relief operations, “Expired drugs (at the time of their arrival) and drugs close to expiry still comprise a large proportion of donations from non-governmental organisations, corporations, pharmaceutical industries and associations,” as pointed out in a World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin in 2008 by Cristina P. Pinheiro.

Treatments now seldom used in the West may continue to be common in poorer countries. For instance, medicines effective against HIV but with dangerous, sometimes deadly, side-effects continued to be widely used in Africa years after they stopped being routinely administered to North American and European patients. Even when there are some benefits, it is questionable whether treatments no longer acceptable in the West should be regarded as good enough for people in other parts of the world.

Methods aimed at 'curing' homosexuality, which failed badly in the West, are now being peddled in Africa and elsewhere. And the discredited theories behind these methods are being used to try to justify harsh repression, for instance in Uganda, where parliament may pass a law inflicting life imprisonment on gays and lesbians, and jailing heterosexuals such as clergy, who do not inform on members of their congregations.

Quote:The debate over 'curing' gay and lesbian sexuality is sometimes portrayed as a source of tension between the 'liberal' West and the more socially conservative South. But much of the treatment of LGBT people in Europe and North America over the past eighty years or so has been far from liberal. It did however, become clear through bitter experience that attempts to change orientation were unlikely to succeed. Sooner or later, many of the Ugandans and others in the South who are keen to import such 'treatments' will find they do more harm than good. However, it is hard to estimate how many more people, both LGBT and heterosexual, will have had their lives wrecked.

Just occasionally I read something that I cannot believe is true, is from a reputable source.....

I dare say you will have heard of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the current legal challenge to Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage in the State of California. The challenge claims is that the ban on gay marriage is contary to the US Federal Constitution, and so if up held would lead to gay marriage in every state of the union and its recognition by the Federal Government.

This challenge is currently being head in the Federal District court in San Francisco by Judge Vaughn Walker. (Technically the hearings are over and we are waiting on judgement.) The San Francisco Chronicle claimed, on Sunday, that Judge Walker is gay, and had repeated that claim today. This seems to me rather implausible, could Judge Walker possibly believe that if he was publicly outed that people would think him impartial, could he possibly believe that it wouldn't come out and he could keep his private life private? Am I missing something here or ....?

Since we are going to have a general election in the next few months the views of party leaders ought to be scrutinised. Attitude has published Johann Hari's interviews with Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

Let's talk about sex: Johann Hari grills David Cameron over gay rights - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

is an interview with Mr Cameron in The Independent.

Quote:Is Cameron's reinvention convincing, in the flesh, and in the end? He is a former corporate PR man, so you would expect him to be able to deliver a convincing sales pitch – and he does. He does have some real progress to sell: he talks about getting the Tory conference to applaud gay marriage, and the selection of gay candidates, with passion. His defence of gay refugees and opposition to the blood donation ban went further than he has to politically. Yet there was enough evasion and dissembling in his answers to sow doubts. He didn't tell the truth about his own voting record, and he made ludicrously false statements about his anti-gay European allies. On the biggest obstacles facing gay people – the real, on-going violence – he had little to offer beyond words of condemnation.

David Cameron is a hazy cloud of charm and platitudes: no matter how hard you peer into him, you cannot find anything solid to focus on for long. There are flickers of apparently real pro-gay feeling, but they are soon followed by excuse-making for some of the most anti-gay politicians in Europe. Which is the real Cameron? On this issue, I suspect even he doesn't know. But over the next four years, we are all going to find out: the beaming lights of power will part this mysterious and contradictory fog.

I always thought that ex-gays were an American phenomenon, however today The Times has an article by an ex-gay about his new found heterosexuality. Its is interesting that unlike his American counterparts he does not seem particularly religious, but other than that I am still trying to decide what I think.

Would be interested to here your thoughts

The BBC is reporting that the Portuguese Parliament has voted in favour of gay marriage, specifically to remove references to gender within existing marriage legislation. Apparently this will then go to committee for detailed scrutiny, then back to parliament for a final vote and then to the Portuguese President for his signature. It is expected to pass these hurdles.