Good morning!

Another hero in Africa saving lives. From Think Progress.

Top Doctor Working To Contain Current Ebola Outbreak Is Now Infected With Ebola

Healthcare workers from Doctors Without Borders prepare isolation and treatment areas for their Ebola operations in Guinea

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/KJELL GUNNAR BERAAS, MSF

The world is in the midst of the worst Ebola outbreak in history, as the deadly virus has claimed more than 600 lives in three African countries and continues to overwhelm the medical staff tasked with containing its spread. This week, there’s yet another concerning update to the unfolding public health crisis: the top doctor fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone has himself been infected with the disease.

Sheik Umar Khan, a virologist who has treated more than 100 Ebola victims, has been on the front lines of the outbreak for the past several months. The Health Ministry in his home country of Sierra Leone hailed him as a national hero for helping prevent the spread of the virus, which kills up to 90 percent of people who become infected. Now, it’s his turn to receive treatment.

This week, Khan was transferred to a hospital run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders because he contracted Ebola. Reuters reports that his condition is unknown, but he is currently alive and receiving medical attention.

It’s unclear how Khan contracted the virus since, according to his colleagues, he was always careful about wearing protective clothing while he worked with Ebola patients. But in previous interviews, the doctor appeared to be acutely aware of his potential risk. “I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,” he told Reuters back in June, when he was healthy. “Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk.”

There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, considered to be one of the most dangerous viruses on the planet. The current outbreak is straining international health workers, who say they don’t have adequate resources to effectively combat the crisis in an impoverished area of the world that lacks an adequate health care infrastructure. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns the epidemic is out of control. But that group, which relies on donations from governments, may also be ill equipped to respond to it — WHO has been forced to cut its outbreak and emergency response budget in half because of dwindling contributions.

“To me, the situation in West Africa should be a wake-up call. This weakening of an institution on which we all depend on is in no one’s interest,” Dr. Scott Dowell, the head of global health security at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told NBC News. “In my view, there is no way the WHO can respond the way it needs to.”

Khan isn’t the only health care professional who’s recently contracted the dangerous disease. Some health providers have died after catching Ebola from their patients, including three nurses working alongside Khan at the same clinic. Sierra Leone’s Health Minister says she’ll do “anything and everything” in her power to ensure that Khan remains alive.

*****

Readers: I just read on the Huff Po last night that an U.S. aid worker contracted the Ebola virus and is being sent back to America to be treated. I HOPE that both he and Khan pull through. Sending them both healing thoughts.

Blog me.

Peace & Love…

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

The latest from CNN.

Israel finds Hamas are no longer amateur fighters

Gaza City (CNN) – Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza, which it says is intended to destroy Palestinian militants’ tunnels and stop rocket fire into Gaza, has entered its fifth day with the death toll mounting on both sides and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arriving in Egypt. CNN’s Ben Wedeman, a veteran Middle East correspondent, puts the incursion into perspective.

How does this incursion compare to previous ones by Israel into Gaza, in terms of military force?

Unlike 2008/09, this incursion seems to be focused on areas with high concentrations of people, initially focusing on the Gaza City neighborhood of Shaja’ia. In ’08/09 the focus was on areas where rockets were being fired, which were typically away from highly populated communities.

And of course at this stage, it’s unclear how many Palestinian casualties there have been in these locations. The people have been warned by the Israelis to leave these areas with phone messages, but while many have left, a significant proportion has stayed behind.

My impression is that Israel has mobilized a much larger military force than in 2008/09 and in 2012. This is part of the picture of the Israelis going into heavily populated areas — which is a much more dangerous operation, as can be seen by the deaths of at least 13 Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

Is Israel likely to achieve its objective of destroying the tunnels, and stopping the rocket strikes?

So far, Israel hasn’t been wildly successful in its stated mission. Since this started, Hamas has been using tunnels in an attempt to ambush and capture soldiers and continues to fire rockets at Israel, although the number fired has gone down. What we see is that as Israel’s capabilities have changed, so have Hamas’. Whenever Israel comes up with new tactics, Hamas and other factions seem to find new ways to counter them, such as by using longer-range rockets to fire at Israel, for example.

What is significant now is that Hamas fighters appear to be better trained, with a new set of skills that I don’t think Israel anticipated. One Israeli soldier who came out of Shaja’ia was quoted in an Israeli publication that Hamas is fighting like Hezbollah, which waged a successful guerrilla war against Israel’s occupation in the 1980s and 1990s, and inflicted high casualties on Israeli forces during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon.

The last serious street fighting I saw in Gaza was in early 2008, and it was almost like it was “amateur hour,” with fighters in Gaza parading around with their weapons but not really able to stop the Israeli forces. Now it appears they’ve learned they must keep a much lower profile. They’ve developed what could be called commando tactics, and are taking full advantage of their knowledge of their turf.

How long do you believe this incursion will last? How soon before it realistically is better described as a war?

This is now a war, in my modest opinion — it’s gone beyond a mere incursion. Hamas shows no sign of backing down, and didn’t jump at Egypt’s cease-fire proposal. They want to show that they’re a military force to be reckoned with, and are in it for the long run.

Israel’s defense minister said it would take two or three days to destroy the tunnels. If this crisis is to end soon, Israel will have to pull back and Hamas needs to stop firing rockets. In Hamas’ opinion, they have achieved one of their objectives, which is to give Israel a bloody nose.

They claim to have captured an Israeli soldier — as yet this is unconfirmed — but if true, it would be a huge feather in their cap, in their own terms. When Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas in a June 2006 raid near the Israel-Gaza border, it took five years before he was freed, in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners — so, if true, this will be a huge bargaining chip for Hamas.

Will the death toll already suffered by Israel have a serious impact on public opinion in Israel?

Israelis are used to this sort of death toll from Hezbollah, but not from Hamas. I was on the streets of Gaza on Sunday night, when Palestinians celebrated the claims that an Israeli soldier had been captured.

Shortly afterwards, the guns on Israeli navy boats opened up. The immediate conclusion of everyone in the street was that this was Israel’s response to the capture of one of its soldiers.

How much effect will the pressure/condemnation from the United Nations (and in the off-mic remarks from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry) have?

I believe the U.N. remarks will have no effect in Gaza. There is a perception there that the U.N. “talks but doesn’t walk” — it’s toothless in other words. Hamas realizes it has few friends in the outside world.

The remarks of the White House last week though will not go down well in Israel, I believe. And the comments of John Kerry on Sunday — which left some wondering whether he was criticizing Israeli assurances that its ground offensive in Gaza would be limited — indicate American patience may be wearing thin. After one of his deputies mentioned the latest number of Palestinian casualties, Kerry was heard to say, “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation.”

It is estimated that 70% of the more than 500 Palestinians killed in Israel’s assault have been civilians. Washington has tied itself to Israel, and that country’s right to self-defense, therefore the U.S. is going to feel some responsibility. Americans support Israel rhetorically, but this high Palestinian death toll is very problematic for the U.S. This is why Kerry may be feeling uncomfortable — he spent almost a year trying to forge a Mideast peace deal, and what’s he got to show for it now?

*****

Blog me.

Darrel: I suppose you are correct. I’m just frustrated and angry that this is happening so much and not much is being done about it. And the thugs that act this way know that, so they basically get away with it. What about the recent where the man was killed after the cop held him in a chokehold (an illegal maneuver)? The man being choked repeatedly said, “Can’t breathe.” When does it stop? Thanks for commenting.

Steve: I was wondering how long it would be before I was called a man hater again. I’m not surprised when the tiny-dicked men get riled up and say that I am a man hater, because they can’t deal with their own inadequacies.

Let me say it again and perhaps it will seep into your thick head..I don’t hate men, I only hate the things that men do. It is the men that are abusive, raping and murdering women for doing nothing…for just being women…it is the men that hate women not because of anything we do, but just because we are women. If men didn’t do the horrific things they do to women, I wouldn’t have any reason to hate…Period.

PS With respect to your silly comment, about why women make less, read Trish’s comment…I think she’s onto something that probably applies to you.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning.

I hate to ruin anyone’s day but it is a story that I feel should be told, because these women will never live another day. Men are getting away with murdering women and labeling them prostitutes. And, even if they were prostitutes, no one has the right to murder them.

Warning: The photo is very graphic.

Who’s Murdering Baghdad’s Prostitutes?

BAGHDAD, Iraq — If the gunmen who carried out a mass killing Saturday night escape punishment it will be not only because the victims were prostitutes, all too often friendless and forgotten, but also because the government needs to keep the murderers on its side.Officially, Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior is still investigating the crime, but many Iraqis believe it’s clear who is responsible. They say the killing was carried out by members of a local Shia militia, religious extremists whose armed members both cooperate and compete with the government for control of the area where the killing occurred.WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW

Twenty-nine women, reported to be prostitutes, were executed inside the apartment where they worked in the Zayouna neighborhood on Baghdad’s east side. Two men also were found dead inside, one of them the reported pimp. Many of those killed had gunshot wounds to the head. Police found one woman’s body inside a cupboard where she had tried to hide. Photographs of the gruesome spectacle have circulated widely on the Internet.

Written on the door of the building was the warning: “This is the fate of any prostitution.” The carnage and the inscription are read by Iraqis as a militia’s show of power, declaring authority in the area, and warning locals that what the militia deem moral crimes can be punished with summary execution.

No one will name the group responsible for the slaughter but privately Iraqis say that it was likely carried out by Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-backed Shia militia group that operates openly in Zayouna. There is no proof that it is responsible for the killing Saturday, but few Iraqis doubt that it is capable of such violence.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which means “League of the Righteous,” began as an arm of the Mahdi Army, Iraq’s largest Shia militia led by the militant religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr, but it split from the group in 2008. Since the U.S. military’s withdrawal in 2011, Asaib Ahl al-Haq has become a powerful force in Iraq, with a small but dangerous army of devoted fighters and influence inside the national government. In neighborhoods like Zayouna, Iraqis live under the authority and at the whim of such men. And few are more vulnerable than women sex workers.

“Everyone knew it was prostitutes there; the militia killed them,” said one Iraqi vendor selling water on the street only a block from where the massacre took place. He could or would not say what militia was responsible for the crime and asked not to be identified out of fear for his safety. “The same ones who killed them used to visit,” the vendor said. How he would know this is unclear, but it’s a common view of what happened.

Qain Zuhair, a teacher who has worked with many young Iraqis, also believes that a militia was responsible for the killing and that the group’s morality police take a selective approach to enforcement. “They are conflicted,” he said. “The same men who killed the prostitutes also went to visit them. They love the prostitutes, then they kill them.”

More From Iraq: Baghdad’s Shia Militia Plans for War on ISIS

Similar murders have taken place in Zayouna in the past. Two separate shootings killed 15 people, among them several prostitutes, in May 2013. Stores selling alcohol, which is legal in Iraq but forbidden under Islamic law, also have been targets of violence in the area.

Hanaa Edwar, head of the Iraqi Al-Amal Association, an NGO in Baghdad, suggests this was not only a heinous crime but also a challenge to the government’s already weak ability to set and uphold the law. “The militias try to replace the rule of the law,” she said. “The armed groups are trying to replace the security forces. This is a horrible thing for the country.”

Across Baghdad, militias operate as local authorities both alongside official forces and independent of the government’s reach. On the city’s streets and highways, bearded militia members in irregular uniforms and black SUVs travel in convoys mixed in with Iraqi soldiers driving Humvees. They move throughout the city.

Historically, militias have had a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the Baghdad government—battling against it in some areas while sharing power in others. But in Iraq’s latest war against the ferocious Sunni jihadists known by the acronym ISIS, or Islamic State, hostilities among Shia gunmen and the government have given way to alliances of necessity.

The government has promised to investigate, but Hanaa Edwar doesn’t believe it. This is a country at war. Atrocities have become common, and the government’s ability and willingness to bring justice in the courts is rare. The police are investigating? “They always say this,” she says. “It’s just: blah blah blah. After they say this, it’s forgotten.”

*****

Readers: This is a horrible, sick and sad story. I wouldn’t go as far to say the men “love them.” If they did they wouldn’t have killed them. It’s more like they used them, and when they were done, they killed them, tossing them aside like trash to be forgotten.

What is the solution? Blog me.

The next few days are very full so I HOPE you don’t mind that I will not be commenting much. As always, your comments are appreciated. Thanks for being here.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

This is literally a Flap Your Lips Friday kind of write. Only in Paris!

From Artfido:

NSFW: Performance Artist Reenacts the Painting ‘The Origin Of The World’

Following on from our previous post where a performance artist was restrained, force-fed and injected with cosmetics in a high street shop window as part of a hard-hitting protest against animal testing (see HERE), another performance artist has gone to great lengths to make a point.

Background: if you’ve ever gazed into the beautiful void that is Gustav Courbet’s “The Origin of the World”, you’re probably familiar with just how provocative (and NSFW) the painting is.

As the title cleverly references, it is a portrait of the female genitalia, through which all human beings enter into life. Combining the romance of realism and the lustful voyeurism of erotic art, it’s, well, heavy stuff.

So, you can only imagine what would happen if someone – let’s say, a daring performance artist – attempted to reenact the racy anatomic still life from 1866… in front of an audience of museum patrons assembled at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay to see Courbet’s masterpiece face-to-face.

Une artiste expose son sexe sous «L’origine du… by quoi2news

According to Le Monde, the racy act took place on May 29 at the Musée d’Orsay’s Room 20. De Robertis entered the room in a gold sequin dress and proceeded to expose her own “L’Origine du monde” to a crowd of unsuspecting security guards and applauding gallery goers. The artist was eventually taken away by police and, as Artnet reports, the museum and two of its guards subsequently filed sexual exhibitionism complaints against the bold woman.

“This is a typical case of disrespecting the museum’s rules, whether for a performance or not,” the Musée d’Orsay’s administration said in a statement published in Artnet. “No request for authorization was filed with us. And even if it had been, it’s not certain we would have accepted it as that may have upset our visitors.”

De Robertis feels differently. “If you ignore the context, you could construe this performance as an act of exhibitionism, but what I did was not an impulsive act,” she explained to Luxemburger Wort. “There is a gap in art history, the absent point of view of the object of the gaze. In his realist painting, the painter shows the open legs, but the vagina remains closed. He does not reveal the hole, that is to say, the eye. I am not showing my vagina, but I am revealing what we do not see in the painting, the eye of the vagina, the black hole, this concealed eye, this chasm, which, beyond the flesh, refers to infinity, to the origin of the origin.”

To be fair, de Robertis claims she’s performed “Mirror of Origin” more than once in the Paris museum, without causing hysteria. And it’s not the first time that an avid student of art history has opted to demonstrate the sincerest form of flattery by imitating a famous work of art. Just last year, a 26-year-old known as Arthur G stripped down to his birthday suit in front of the Musée d’Orsay’s parade of male nudes, “Masculin/Masculin.”

As the Guerrilla Girls pointed out in the 1990s, less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art section of New York’s Metropolitan Museum were women, but 85% of the nudes were female. Does it take a nude performance artist disrupting a casual day of museum revelry to make the world notice? Let us know your thoughts on de Robertis’ performance in the comments.

♥V♥A♥J♥A♥Y♥J♥A♥Y♥

Readers: Well? Let the flapping begin. Oh yeah…it already has. :)

Blog me.

Happy Friday!!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Although the 44th year of San Francisco Pride officially began yesterday, the festivities started quite some time before. The LGBT community in San Francisco knows how to partē! And the celebration is not just here in our beloved San Francisco. In fact the Gay Pride Rainbow Flag is flying all across the world. Thanks to our awesome president Obama, he has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global.

Here’s the write from Ctv News.

Obama flying the flag for gay rights worldwide

A U.S. flag is raised alongside a pride flag on the U.S. Embassy a day before the Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, June 12, 2014

WARSAW, Poland — U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the U.S. gay rights revolution global, using American embassies across the world to promote a cause that still divides his own country.

Sometimes U.S. advice and encouragement is condemned as unacceptable meddling. And sometimes it can seem to backfire, increasing the pressure on those it is meant to help.

With gay pride parades taking place in many cities across the world this weekend, the U.S. role will be more visible than ever. Diplomats will take part in parades and some embassies will fly the rainbow flag along with the Stars and Stripes.

The United States sent five openly gay ambassadors abroad last year, with a sixth nominee, to Vietnam, now awaiting Senate confirmation. American diplomats are working to support gay rights in countries such as Poland, where prejudice remains deep, and to oppose violence and other abuse in countries like Nigeria and Russia, where gays face life-threatening risks.

“It is incredible. I am amazed by what the U.S. is doing to help us,” said Mariusz Kurc, the editor of a Polish gay advocacy magazine, Replika, which has received some U.S. funding and other help. “We are used to struggling and not finding any support.”

Former President George W. Bush supported AIDS prevention efforts globally, but it was the Obama administration that launched the push to make lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights an international issue. The watershed moment came in December 2011, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the United Nations in Geneva and proclaimed LGBT rights “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.”

Since then, embassies have been opening their doors to gay rights activists, hosting events and supporting local advocacy work. The State Department has since spent $12 million on the efforts in over 50 countries through the Global Equality Fund, an initiative launched to fund the new work.

Just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Defence of Marriage Act last June, consular posts also began issuing immigrant visas to the same-sex spouses of gay Americans.

One beneficiary was Jake Lees, a 27-year-old Englishman who had been forced to spend long periods apart from his American partner, Austin Armacost, since they met six years ago. In May Lees was issued a fiance visa at the U.S. Embassy in London. The couple married two weeks ago and are now starting a new life together in Franklin, Indiana, as they wait for Lees’ green card.

“I felt like the officers at the embassy treated us the way they would treat a heterosexual couple,” said Armacost, a 26-year-old fitness and nutrition instructor. “It’s a mind-boggling change after gay couples were treated like legal strangers for the first three centuries of our country’s history.”

Some conservative American groups are outraged by the policy. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, calls it “a slap in the face to the majority of Americans,” given that American voters have rejected same-sex marriage in a number of state referendums.

“This is taking a flawed view of what it means to be a human being — male and female — and trying to impose that on countries throughout the world,” Brown said. “The administration would like people to believe that this is simply ‘live and let live.’ No, this is coercion in its worst possible form.”

The American efforts are tailored to local conditions, said Scott Busby, the deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the State Department. Ambassadors can decide individually whether to hoist the rainbow flag, as embassies in Tel Aviv, London and Prague have done, or show support in other ways.

While some gay rights activists say support from the U.S. and other Western countries adds moral legitimacy to their cause, it can also cause a backlash.

Rauda Morcos, a prominent Palestinian lesbian activist, said local communities, particularly in the Middle East, have to find their own ways of asserting themselves. She criticized the U.S. and Western efforts in general to help gay communities elsewhere as patronizing.

“It is a colonial approach,” she said. “In cases where it was tried, it didn’t help local communities and maybe made things even worse.”

An extreme case has been Uganda, which in February passed a law making gay sex punishable by a life sentence. In enacting the bill, President Yoweri Museveni said he wanted to deter the West from “promoting” gay rights in Africa, a continent where homosexuals face severe discrimination and even attacks. In response, the U.S. imposed sanctions and Secretary of State John Kerry compared the policies to the anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has waged an assault on what he considers the encroachment of decadent Western values and the government last year banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors,” making it a crime to hold gay rights rallies or to openly discuss homosexuality in content accessible to children. Afraid for their security, some Russian gay advocates try to keep their contacts with Western officials quiet.

The official U.S. delegation to the recent Winter Olympics in Russia included three openly gay athletes. Soon after that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow opened its basketball court for the Open Games, an LGBT sporting event which had been denied access to many of the venues it had counted on. The U.S. Embassy also operates a website where Russian gay and lesbians can publish their personal stories.

Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, praised the U.S. policy but said there have been missteps along the way, citing a 2011 U.S. embassy gathering in Pakistan that prompted a group of religious and political leaders to accuse the U.S. of “cultural terrorism.”

And in Senegal a year ago, President Macky Sall bluntly rebuked the visiting Obama for urging African leaders to end discrimination against gays. Sall said his country was neither homophobic nor ready to legalize homosexuality, and in an apparent jab at the U.S., he noted Senegal abolished capital punishment years ago.

“The response in the local press was voluminous praise of the Senegalese president, maybe not actually for his stance on LGBT rights, but for effectively asserting Senegal’s sovereignty, yet the two became intertwined,” Stern said.

Busby, the State Department official, denied that increased harassment by governments is ever the consequence of U.S. advocacy, instead describing it as “a cynical reaction taken by leaders to advance their own political standing.”

In some countries, like Poland, the U.S. efforts are a catalyst for change.

The embassy there financed a 2012 visit to Warsaw by Dennis and Judy Shepard, the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student who was tortured and murdered in 1998.

A group of parents who heard their story were so shaken by the Shepards’ tragedy that they founded a parental advocacy group, Akceptacja, which is fighting homophobia. The parents are now reaching out to their lawmakers personally, in what advocates say is the conscious adoption of an American strategy of families of gays and lesbians appealing to the hearts of officials.

“The killing of Matthew Shepard represents the fear I have that my son could be hurt for being gay,” said Tamara Uliasz, 60, one of the group’s founders. “I realized that what happened in Wyoming could happen here.”

♥♥♥♥♥

Readers: I applaud Obama…And as usual there are some who are against this. Thoughts? Blog me.

So hey, back to the celebration…If you’re feeling a little envious that perhaps you’ve missed out on so much fun, no worries it’s not too late to indulge in the celebration –  today is the Pride Parade, and if you haven’t been, it is something to see.

Check out their website for details. If you attend, head out early – 1 million people are expected to join in on the celebration. Now that is a party! It should be a beautiful day around the bay  - Have fun!!

xox

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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