Hi

[alankhoo92002]

Hi,
I'm Alan, now in New York City. I am happy that Soulforce is having an on-line forum. I am concerned with the seemingly growing homophobic influence of the religious right in this country and in Asia. A forum like this would help like-minded people to network with each other.

Originally from Asia, I am particularly concerned of the development of LGBT rights in Asia. Over the past few years, some homophobic "reparative therapy/transformation ministries" have been spreading in Asia, capitalising on ignorance (about LGBT issues) and homophobic environment in some of the countries. It is still a commonly propaged misconception that "homosexuality is a Western culture", "that all religions are against homosexuality" and that "acceptance of homosexuality is not consistent with "Eastern values"".

On the other hand, people are now getting more critical about violence associated with religion. This would be an opportune time to spread the message of non-violence and to combat spiritual violence against LGBT people.

I hope this forum would help the work for freedom for LGBT people to spread through the world.

Sincerely,

Alan

[keltic63]

Hi alan. thanks for bringing the influence of the Asian culture to the forum. I don't know much, but it will be interesting to hear about it.

[Jamie McDaniel]

Originally Posted by alankhoo92002

I am concerned with the seemingly growing homophobic influence of the religious right in this country and in Asia.

Yes, good point. We've got quite a struggle here in America, but we also need to be mindful of fundamentalism in other nations and how it affects gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people who happened to be born in those parts of the world.

Originally Posted by alankhoo92002

I hope this forum would help the work for freedom for LGBT people to spread through the world.

I like how you added that last part to the Soulforce tagline.

[Ellen]

Yes, I'd like to hear more about what's happening in other parts of the world with the LGBT community. We're so focused on what's going on here-- but I think we could learn a lot by seeing how other cultures approach the problem of bigotry.