The British Muslim Who Founded a Controversial Gay-Friendly Mosque

Dr. Taj Hargey is a radical, but also a fundamentalist. He points out, Islam is about the Qur'an, and it is from the Qur'an that he will preach, ignoring all the other footnotes beloved of modern clerics. All of that stuff, he says, has no pertinence to the Qur'an: It's a book that rejects violence, doesn't mention the burqa, embraces a role for women, and doesn't explicitly ban images of Muhammad or encourage Muslims to murder satirical cartoonists.

Hargey took part of his salary as an Oxford don and started his own mosque in South Africa late last year. The place of worship, he says—unlike most around the world—is both gay-friendly and woman-friendly. Which is exactly why he's not getting on so well within the local community of sects, imams, and governing councils. His "Open Mosque" in Cape Town has been firebombed three times since it commenced operations in September. "They also tried to drive a 4x4 through the doors... but for me, right now, the project is about holding on," he tells me. Read More

Pope Francis Reported To Have Met With Transgender Man At The Vatican

Pope Francis reportedly held a private audience with a transgender man, in what would be a first for his papal record. Diego Neria Lejárraga, who underwent sex-reassignment surgery and was rejected by his religious community, claims he reached out to the Pope in December and received a call from the pontiff on Christmas Eve. Lejárraga and his fiancee say they met with Pope Francis in his Vatican residence.

The Press Office of the Holy See says there is no information about the alleged meeting. Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director of New Ways Ministry which advocates for LGBT Catholics, said he wondered at the Vatican's silence on the reported meeting. 

"The Vatican's reluctance to verify the meeting is another indication of why I don't think their attitude can yet be called 'acceptance,'" said DeBernardo. Read More

Former highest-ranking U.S. cardinal blames ‘feminization’ for the Catholic Church’s problems

Cardinal Raymond Burke became the highest-ranking American in the Vatican during the tenure of former Pope Benedict on the strength of unabashed conservatism. But as soon as Pope Francis arrived on the scene, that same conservatism turned divisive when Burke criticized Francis’s progressive policies. Notably, Cardinal Burke led the dispute against Pope Francis's more inclusive language towards LGBT people before he was removed from duty. 

Now Burke is making headlines again with a published manifesto that blames women and the 'feminization' of the church for the problems in the Catholic church. Read More

Taiwan's Wei-Ming 'Rabbit' Temple Draws Gay Community

Wei-ming temple is a house of Taoist worship with a twist - almost all of its congregants are gay. The shrine, down a narrow alleyway in a bustling district of New Taipei City, is dedicated to a deity who has watched over homosexuals for four centuries.

"In Chinese history, 'rabbit' was a derogatory term for homosexuals," said Lu Wei-ming, who founded the temple in 2006, at a time gays were excluded from most religious ceremonies. Lu, who has taken a vow of celibacy and declined to answer questions about his sexuality, said he wanted to create a welcoming environment for a flock that had long been ostracized.

"This was a group with no one to look after them, and I wanted to fill that void," said the 28-year-old priest, adding that Wei-ming is the world's only shrine for homosexuals. Read More

Barbados Reverend challenges: Extend love to homosexuals

Stop judging and getting “bogged down in the whole hell and damnation thing” and extend love to the homosexual community. That is the message an Anglican priest, Reverend Davidson Bowen, is sending to the church. 

The clergyman’s view on the controversial matter comes amid calls by members of Barbados’ lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community for more recognition, including the passage of gender-neutral legislation. Reverend Bowen acknowledged the sensitivity surrounding the issue, but stressed that people who do not support homosexuality should also be respected.  Read More

Asylum seeker must prove he is gay to stay in the UK

A man who is seeking asylum in the UK has told how he must “prove” his claim to be gay in order to remain in his Leicester home.  John Ssenkindu fears he could be jailed for life or killed if he is forced to return to Uganda – a country with notoriously homophobic laws.

In 2013, more than 20,000 people applied for asylum in the UK. Of those cases, a total of 283 people did so on the grounds they were gay or bisexual and faced persecution. Of those cases, 113 people were granted asylum. People who were refused leave to remain in the UK tended to be from countries where the Home Office believed they could live “discreetly” or because officials did not believe the applicants’ claims about their sexual orientation. Read More

Serbian transgender army officer was forced to retire, says rights group

A rights group has accused Serbia’s defence ministry of discrimination over the forced retirement of a veteran officer whose transgender identity was deemed a threat to the reputation of the army.

The Balkan country, which aspires to one day join the European Union, is under pressure to promote greater tolerance for minorities within a strongly conservative society. Read More