IGLYO on Dialogue by IGLYO International LGBTQ Youth & Student Organisation

IGLYO on

dialogue Issue 21 路 spring 2013

www.iglyo.com

ARTŪRS SABUROVS • Introduction

introduction

eople naturally seek ways to express themselves. Often cultures, social norms, religions and traditions regulate behavior and expression. Clear rules help us to fear less, as there is less of the unpredicted, chaotic and disorderly, which we think might harm us. LGBTQ and other people belonging to the rainbow family often find it hard to be able to not only express themselves but find a place for their identity within a society. For others to understand the true uniqueness of everyone, especially the LGBTQs, there is a need for dialogue. IGLYO’s Working Group on the Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue has sought to facilitate conversations between the LGBT communities that often might not have the chance to meet otherwise. The Working Group has so far organized an international conference titled “Keep the Faith” and now offers their assistance with this publication as almost a continuation of the good work initiated at the conference, several of contributors to this publication participated in the conference as well.

ialogue, first of all, is listening. Here is a collection of articles and an interview, which provides for just that – for you to read and listen to stories from Albania, Israel, Georgia, United States, United Kingdom, Belize and elsewhere. These are stories of people, human beings, who have analyzed social behaviors, have had deeply personal experiences of healing, aha moments, struggled to have a voice in a deeply prejudiced and hostile environment, explored their feelings and tried to define their identities. Please listen to these stories. These people want to have a dialogue with you. Too often their voices have been silenced in situations of discussions among unequal partners. I wish for everyone, especially those with deep prejudice, to read these stories, recognize the validity of the emotions and feelings represented in these stories and, hopefully, arrive at a better place for themselves. A place where understanding, humanity and respect rule over violence, strict norms and fear for diversity. I was particularly touched by the story of healing, which was experienced in a special way. I hope that people, who perhaps accidentally find this publication, experience some sort of healing and gain strength and optimism. Enjoy the diversity, the formats and language characteristics of these wonderful essays for they all tell stories of special, strong, intellectual and unique people.

Artūrs Saburovs Member of the Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Working Group of IGLYO

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contents

ENIDA BOGDANI

EMILY DAINA ŠARAS

COLE PARKER

YONI FORSYTH

CALEB OROZCO

ANGEL COLLIE

My Faith, My Sexuality, My Life

Faith, Family, and Feminism

Healing and Loss

A New Chapter in Jewish Dialogue on LGBTQ Issues

Intercultural Dialogue and LGBTQ Youth Work

A Beautiful Mosaic

ENIDA BOGDANI • My Faith, My Sexuality, My Life

My Faith, My Sexuality,

My Life Learning to Live in a Multicultural World

ENIDA BOGDANI

Albania

Life is an experience

I expected to be a human

where we exist in a reality with several options already selected on our behalf. Take for instance family – you do not get to choose your family – it just happens. You are lucky or unlucky depending on the options served.

being with all the options and variables that are entitled to me, but gender and culture set some other expectations for me. Through education and self-education I noticed that concepts became relative and sometimes it is really difficult even to draw a line between the right and wrong. The more you think you know, the more difficult it becomes to accept intolerance, to tolerate injustice and the less you accept to be what is expected. Even though you

Most of the time you do not foresee the person you are going to become. What kind of expectations do you have about yourself? Did you fulfill all your expectations or did these expectations change during the journey?

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”Having a liking or romantic feeling for someone of your gender does not disqualify anyone from having faith in a certain God.”

expected that with education you would understand the reasons why, why all these expectations are hovering over your head, why you do not recognize yourself in any of them and why it becomes more complicated the more you know – the more your mind opens the smaller the world gets.

Revolution is a word that I decline to use, because I am talking about a common sense. Dialogue is common sense, we engage in conversations where we are involved in listening and talking to others and having something to say, and understanding the fellow dialoguer. We cannot dialogue with expectations; we need to dialogue with people and with what they represent. And through this common sense we ought to break our expectations

– that in fact are prejudices and judgmental thoughts of the unknown and unfamiliar to us.

Being gendered does not imply being disabled of your certain abilities. Having a liking or romantic feeling for someone of your gender does not disqualify anyone from having faith in a certain God. Although we were born in certain cultures, societies, religious communities to certain families, relatives and in any political regime sometimes even we, as the experts of our realities, cannot control or know with whom we might happen to dialogue and what world will be known to us. Reality has always been colorful with various cultures, practices and religions and so on. It is the perception that nowadays we are finally speaking of sexuality as well; however that perception is

ENIDA BOGDANI • My Faith, My Sexuality, My Life wrong – sexuality has always been on the table as the basic concept for reproduction or a component for the institution of marriage. The world today is talking about sexuality as a right. But we all belong to a reality that has shaped our identities. It must be difficult if your identity is put to conflict because different parts of it are not engaged in a dialogue. Do you have to be either LGBT or religious? While I would rather know why someone needs to choose between a freedom of believing in something and the power to exhaust her/his sexual rights?

The world we live in today is full of colors and finally we are being officially aware of all the differences and the diversity that exists out there in the open. It is challenging to be confined in one’s reality since there is so much going on. If I chose to make my reality with its culture and religion just slightly different – who is there to stop me?! And I am not arguing on the costs of this decision and the impact in my life. If I have taken this into account who would be there to stop me and why wouldn't there be anyone there to support me, or even just understand me. It is about rights, I have a right to believe in what I see fit, I have a right to be in love without being confined by genders, and above

all it is what I want. And I would expect from a fellow comrade to understand my point of view or at least to dialogue with me and not to pose existential questions such as “God and sexuality”.

Life is an experience where what matters most is the decisions you take during the critical moments of your existence. It is said that a person belongs to one identity. My mom says we as human beings are all survivors and the most adaptable animal on the planet. Reality teaches us that inherited truths like culture and religion are hard to fight or even to invite in a conversation. And I am not saying we should all be fighters and throw ourselves in a race against the fight with the windmills. I am saying that we should start respecting and understanding the diversity within our own realities – not all people belonging to sexual minorities are the same. We are a colorful part of this world as we all might belong to different realities with other colors and shapes. Regardless of where I was born, to the family I was born in the country I happened to exist with the political regime it has – I have my own right to be religious or not, to have a faith or not and to exercise my sexual right. In the end we get only one chance to live!

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Faith, Family, and Feminism A Conversation with Activist Maryam Saghir

There is a very special spirit that unfailingly arises each time international youth activists gather: it is empowering, enlightening, and enthusiastic, it is reassuring and comforting, and it is brave enough to push participants to new levels of mutual understanding and enlightenment. Our intensive experience this past November at IGLYO’s Keep the Faith con ference in Brussels, Belg ium was marked by the presence of this transformative spirit as we worked together to create a unique LGBTQ youth environment focused on inter-

religious and inter-cultural dialogue.

Imagine a sunlit room full of activists at play within a Theatre of the Oppressed exercise, in which participants improvise situations that mirror oppression experienced in reallife situations. During this exercise, participants were enacting a scene of discrimination in the classroom. Though the morning sun continued to shine through the windows, the room’s atmosphere grew darker as bodies began to move in agitation and voices began to shout in caco phonous desperation. With

EMILY DAINA ŠARAS

USA / Hungary

EMILY DAINA ŠARAS • Faith, Family and Feminism

”Contrary to popular belief, Islam and thus Muslim countries were so accepting of gays and lesbians that the West referred to them as homo-tolerant. ”

each passing moment, it was becoming increasingly difficult for participants to discern whether we were engaged in a game in a safe space, or whether that safety was being breached by real insults, frustration, and even anger.

Breaking through this pandemonium was a calm and quiet action that forever changed my perception of prayer: a young queer activist, Maryam Saghir, spontaneously stood at the front of the stage and led her peers in a Muslim prayer. Such an action might be seen as shocking to some, since it is forbidden for a woman to lead prayer in a

mixed-gender setting in Islamic tradition. However, all of us present in the room immediately understood the peace brought about by her prayer as a metaphor for the peace, harmony, and acceptance we are striving for through our promotion of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.

I was so inspired by Mar yam’s prayer and greater work as a student activist that I wanted to discuss her experiences in activism and how she understands her identities – unfortunately considered by some to be conflictual – as both Muslim and queer. Not only was I inspired by Maryam’s

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story – I was surprised to learn more about Maryam’s prayer at the IGLYO conference and the significance of that moment in her own life.

Emily: Thinking back to that special moment during the conference – was there anything happening behind the scenes that we in the audience might not have been aware of ? – The controversial aspect of this session was that people were jumping to become the voice and face of the oppressor, and not many people were able to offer solutions. I encouraged others to join me in a classroom protest for visibility. Along with other actions, I invited the class to participate in a prayer session led by a Muslim woman. In a room which had rather quickly descended into chaos the silence was deafening. Reflecting back on the conference, the most fundamentally important and indeed life- changing and life-reaffirming moment was when I was asked by a Muslim brother, Yusef from Imaan, to lead prayers. At first I was hesitant because I had never even prayed with

men, due to cultural segregation which has infiltrated religious practice. I ended up leading mixed-sex, inter-cultural and inter-religious prayer session with a congregation that identified as LGBT+. In all of this, brother Yusef showed me the importance of men in our desire for gender equality, especially within cultural and religious spaces. If he had not have asked me to lead our personal prayers, I would not have suggested myself leading them at all. What has it been like growing up as a Muslim queer woman in England? Has it been a difficult experience coming out to your family and friends within the Muslim community? – I fit into all the liberation categories; I define as Black, disabled, queer and a woman. Add my religion to the mix and I’m as diverse as they come in terms of my background! My mum found it difficult to comprehend particularly because she does not know of any other queer Muslims within the community. Almost two years now after having come out to my mum, she is starting to slowly

10 EMILY DAINA ŠARAS • Faith, Family and Feminism

accept it. It took me years to get to grips with my own sexuality so I only expect the same from her. As for the rest of my family, some of them found out through a Student Union election video in which I mentioned my sexuality. We have never had a direct conversation or any conversation regarding sexuality, or specifically, my sexuality. The reaction from my Muslim friends was difficult, they reacted differently. Though accepting of me, they all still viewed it as a sin. These pressures lasted for a few years and were arguably the most difficult years of my life. As difficult as my journey through my culture, religion and sexuality was and will continue to be throughout my life, I acknowledge that I am privileged, even considering I carry so many labels and identities associated with depression. However, I’m surrounded by friends and activist allies. When I contrast this to my counterparts around the world the realities for them are often in stark contrast. Many countries around the world

still have the death penalty for homosexuality. It is for those reasons that I acknowledge my privilege and am thankful for the safe environment that I live in because my life is not at risk. I also had a difficult time coming out to my Catholic family – it was a process for me that took several years. My parents have been very accepting and supportive of me, and I feel very lucky and blessed in this way. However, I know that it hasn’t been the same positive experience for many of my friends. In part due to my frustration with the politics surrounding Catholicism, I’ve distanced myself from my faith. Though I may no longer be religious, I do regret that I’ve become less spiritual over time as a result of not feeling as if I belong within the Catholic Church. Do you still feel a strong religious conviction, despite the homophobia present within some Muslim communities? – History shows us that the homophobia within some Muslim countries wasn’t always there. Contrary to popular belief, Islam and thus

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Muslim countries were so accepting of gays and lesbians that the West referred to them as homo-tolerant. The anti-sodomy laws that you see in place in many countries around the world were actually imposed by the British Empire. However, fast-forward a few hundred years and unfortunately, mainstream Islam is seen as homophobic due to the colonial heritage and impact of Western imperialism which makes life that much harder for queer people of colour particularly within the diaspora who have to contend with ”fitting in” to their surroundings as well as the challenges of multiple-discrimination which they face. In terms of my personal relationship with my religion that has been an interesting journey ridden with self-doubt and guilt. For a long time I felt that queer sexualities and divergent gender identities – basically anything thing fitted outside the realms of the binary was not tolerated or accepted within in Islam. I made a decision to renounce my faith, but later I realised just how detrimen-

tal this psyche was for me – I always knew I that believed in Allah and in Islam. As I’ve gotten to know you over the past few months, I’ve learned that we both share a passion for feminist epistemology and queer theory. Is there space for these dialogues within the Muslim tradition? – There is a revived movement within Islam of queer Muslims telling their own stories and sharing their ideas and politics firstly within their own circles but wider into the local religious communities as well as the society at large. In terms of my own experience, my deepening of the courage of my convictions has often been supporting of my Muslim friends who not only support what I stand for but advocate it too. It’s incredibly powerful when you have friends supporting you – but particularly for me, when they are religious. Times really are changing as Muslims, as well as heterosexual Muslims supporting their fellow LGBT sisters and brothers, continue to fight for unity, justice, respect and above all, love.

12 COLE • Healing and Loss

Healing and

Loss COLE PARKER

USA

I was raised in the Episcopal Church, and no matter how developed my theological critique may be or become, no matter how many Buddhist lectures I attend, no matter how much I might try to deny it, it will always be home. The familiar cadence of that ancient liturgy, the smell of centuries worth of incense imbedded in the mortar of old churches and cathedrals, the feeling of carefully embroidered kneelers imprinting patterns upon my shins, the taste of the Euchar istic elements mingling in my mouth, the sound of that old soprano who lost her sense of pitch years ago but still belts out every hymn with passion and fervor … these are the sensations of a place that I will forever return to.

That’s not to say, of course, that I will always be welcome there. As a queer, gender-nonconforming, antiracist, anti-capitalist leftist, the historical precedence is one of exclusion and, at times, persecution. In the past decade the Episcopal Church of the USA has taken significant steps toward being more explicitly welcoming of folks like me, but it would be

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”In this miniature version of church, I found myself feeling at home once again, comforted despite the inherent complexities of a tradition that I no longer ascribe to. ” foolish to assume that true inclusion can be legislated or that healing can happen overnight. New rules don’t erase old hurts. My grandfather is a retired Episcopal priest. He is a kind and gentle man, and over the course of his 96 years he has done a great deal of good. In his role as an ordained minister, he was especially active in various healing ministries, and on occasion he used that platform to speak out against homosexuality, propagating his conviction that gay and lesbian people are deviant and in need of healing.

Much of my activism is focused on disputing this commonly held belief. I’ve traveled around the United States, speaking at dozens of conservative Christian schools and institutions; I’ve helped coordinate advocacy campaigns for LGBTQ inclusion in the Mennonite Church; I’ve had

countless conversations with church leaders and Christian academics. Throughout this journey, I have been mocked for my identity, scorned for my beliefs, and on a few occasions I’ve even been arrested for my convictions. Despite all this, I have endeavored to be relentless in my efforts to speak truth to power.

Except for when it comes to my family.

When my grandmother has asked me if I’m dating anyone, I’ve quickly changed the subject; when my cousins post homophobic things on Facebook, I choose not to engage them; and when my grandfather suggested that the AIDS epidemic was a clear indicator of God’s condemnation of homosexuality, I remained silent in my pain. It was in this place of

14 COLE • Healing and Loss pain that I was introduced to the work of Dr. David Anderson Hooker, Associate Professor at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice & Peace building. In a lecture on trauma and healing, he suggested that the first step toward healing is loss – that loss requires a shift in our identity (e.g. from oppressor to ally or from victim to survivor).

Though I typically think of myself as a fairly optimistic person, when I thought about how this approach to healing might apply to the pain I ex perience with my own family, I couldn’t make the leap. Were I to ever confront the homo phobia, transphobia, and heterosexism that plagues my family tree, the only loss that I could foresee was a loss of relationship – not the loss of pain.

With this idea weighing heavily on my heart and mind, I took a trip out to Springfield, Massachusetts for a visit with my grandparents during my winter holiday. I was greeted at the door with hugs and kisses, and Grandy was delighted with the loaf of homemade honey wheat bread that I’d brought along – fresh out of my oven that morning.

I’d arrived a bit earlier than expected, and Grampa – then 94 – was on his way out the door to take communion to a nearby neighbor who was ill and unable to attend mass regularly. He invited me to come along, so instead of diving into the Scrabble game that had already been set out in anticipation of my arrival, I kept my coat on and leaned against the kitchen counter, watching as he carefully prepared his traveling communion kit. Grandy was already cutting into the bread I’d brought, so rather than including the usual stale wafers, he opted to pack some of the real stuff.

When we arrived at Ms. Henderson’s apartment, she commented that I was as handsome as my grandfather was in his younger years. I flinched, but fortunately Grampa didn’t seem to notice (or else his weak hearing saved us all from an otherwise awkward situation). We then sat down at her tiny kitchen table, lit a candle, and began to recite the Eucharistic Prayer together.

Though it’s been years since I attended church re gularly, the words of this ancient sacrament still tumble out of my mouth without any conscious effort. In unison, Ms.

IGLYO ON Dialogue Henderson and I responded to my grandfather’s weathered voice, all three of us reciting the liturgy from memory. In this miniature version of church, I found myself feeling at home once again, comforted despite the inherent complexities of a tradition that I no longer ascribe to.

Moving through the pray ers, it eventually came time for the elements – the bread and the wine – to be blessed and shared. Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, tears began streaming down my face as I watched my grandfather bless, break, and distribute the bread. In observing this simple act that I’ve witnessed a thousand times, something happened inside of me. I realized in that moment that he had just taken something that was from me and of me and had called it holy.

In a profound and un expected way, that moment brought me to a place of healing. Grampa didn’t apologize or take back any of the hurtful things he’d said; he didn’t ask me about my relationship or offer to preside over some future commitment ceremony; he didn’t do any of the things that I expected my heart would need in order for me to forgive

him. But in the simple act of sharing this sacred meal together – and in letting go of what I thought I needed for reconciliation to take place – I found healing.

For some, it may be true that healing will necessitate a relinquishing of power or anger or hatred or fear. For me in this instance, it was more critical that I let go of my vision of what healing would require.

As we continue in our efforts toward acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ people in our families, in our communities, and throughout the world, the need for healing will always be a driving force for our work, and it must not be ignored. In some instances, our pain will be soothed in more conventional ways – through acknowledgment of wrongdoing, in honest apologies, by way of formal recognition and appreciation. I believe, however, that there are countless more opportunities for us to be healed, if only we’re willing and able to let go of the belief that we know exactly what our hearts require.

Lest we ever forget the capacity of our hearts, we need only remember the strength of our love for one another.

16 YONI FORSYTH • A New Chapter

A New Chapter Jewish Dialogue on LGBTQ Issues In celebrating 15 years of the cult-classic film The Big Lebowski the news in Israel was filled with the famous quote, shouted out during a heated movie exchange between a Je wish convert and his bowling partner, of “Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax … You’re goddamn right I’m living in the f-ing past!” There are few peoples so fixated with their past as the

Jewish nation. Hebrew is the only modern language ever to be resurrected, Jews still flock to live in their religious ancestors’ homeland, and practices such as abstaining from pork and circumcision for one’s male children are still practiced thousands of years after they were first mandated. This would lead to the natural thought that Jews, like all peoples harking to past glories, would be ill-suited

YONI FORSYTH

Israel

IGLYO ON Dialogue to such quick changes such as the women’s liberation in the religious sphere (recently curtailed by the Church of England Synod) or LGBTQ rights (under pain of death across much of Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean). This, however, could not be further from the truth.

high numbers in the judiciary, philosophy and politics. In the 19th century the focus of Social Democracy captured the hearts and minds of many Jews, in the 20th century it was the Russian revolution and Communism and now in the 21st century it is human rights.

Jews, secular and religious,

The Reform, Conservative

have often been at the forefront of liberation movements and continue to this day to not only vote overwhelmingly for liberal, left-of-centre parties but also heavily fund them. The fact that Mitt Romney’s main backer was a Jew, the husband of an Israeli, was newsworthy and bizarre for many in the tribe. But what leads Jews to such positions, why are Jews proportionally more likely to be members of a charity, political movement or protest group? I believe the answer is the Jewish tradition of arguing. Or perhaps more diplomatically put; dialogue. Jewish men would traditionally spend many hours of their day in houses of higher learning arguing with a partner over Jewish Law. This practice (Havrutah) has given rise to the saying “two Jews, three opinions” and has spurred Jews on to disproportionately

and Reconstructionist movements within Judaism (which account for an overwhelming majority of diaspora Jews) all back forms of gay marriage, LGBT ordination and new definitions of “family”. In Israel the secular public (again a huge majority) have consistently backed LGBTQ legislation, sent a trans-woman to the Eurovision (twice) and are hugely proud of Tel Aviv’s fast new image as the gayest destination in the world. This has left the Orthodox movement singled out in its obstinance to recognize a change in attitudes, religious practice and spir itual connection. Bound by a strict interpretation of Jewish Law the Orthodox establishment still refrain from using hot water on the Sabbath, drinking wine that has been opened by a non-Jew and allowing women to read the Bible at the Western Wall. Nevertheless, in

18 YONI FORSYTH • A New Chapter

the last few years it is fair to say that where there is a will there is a way and many in the Orthodox world have the will to open up their movement for LGBT people.

There are already a number of Orthodox synagogues around the world open to gay people and their families. In Tel Aviv a certain community now has more gay couples with children than it does room to fit them all and there is a regular meeting of LGBTQ Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, the nation’s capital and spiritual centre.

These past few months have also seen seismic changes within the Orthodox community; the direct result of endless meetings, petitioning and dialogue with the relevant figures. The latest headline grabber has been the declaration by one of the most eminent (and fiercely conservative) religious leaders that engaging in homosexual acts is akin to breaking the Sabbath. To many this may

seem absurd, or even confusing, but in the world of Jewish Law this is huge. The Rabbi was not saying that homosexual acts are not sinful, nor was he recommending them, endorsing them or even ignoring them (some thing which some have tried to do), rather he has written a judicial statement to the tune of gay sex being akin to ripping paper on Saturdays, turning on your lights on a Friday night, or using a solid bar of soap when washing up after Shabbos dinner. This is not to make light of those acts, something which Orthodox Jews would believe that you must seek forgiveness for, but it certainly takes the hateful sting out of anti-gay legislation in the religious world. It also beings the gay community out of the dark places and puts them on a sinful par with the rest of Israeli society who chose to shop on the weekends, go to the cinema on Friday nights and have never set foot in a synagogue. In the more public sphere the pictures of ultra-rightist

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member of Israeli parliament, Moshe Feiglin, meeting in the gay community centre in Tel Aviv are still doing the rounds. Feiglin, who is best known for his opposition to a two state solution, was in the gay community centre to discuss with the community their views on Israeli society and their place in it. Feiglin, who is Orthodox, left the meeting declaring it “almost historic” and stated that while not “the spokesman for gays and lesbians... [he is] the champion of freedom and human rights”. While Feiglin, who is a backer of ‘traditional marriage’, said he would never vote for marriage or surrogacy rights for lesbian or gay couples he did say that he would introduce legislation aimed at breaking the discrimination against LGBTQ students and charities. Many people would have written off Feiglin; his views on religion are as clear as his yarmulke. And yet through the slow and challenging process of dialogue, letter writing, and

op-eds in the popular news it is obvious that he will not be the first politician to come and meet with the community and familiarize themselves with the discrimination they encounter.

Dialogue is the driving force behind both Israeli politics and civil society, changing the face of the only liberal democracy in the region. In coming out into the mainstream and arguing its rights for marriage, family life and recognition the LGBTQ community of Israel are joining a long list of minority groups that are afforded considerable exposure and understanding. For this sort of progress to continue, and at the rate that it has so far been advancing, the community would do well to keep on their path of action, holding prayer sessions for women at the Western Wall, demonstrating in Jerusalem during Pride Week and maintaining a constant conversation with the more conservative elements of society.

20 CALEB OROZCO • Intercultural Dialogue and LGBTQ Youth Work

Intercultural Dialogue and LGBTQ Youth Work Challenges and Opportunities According to the national census conducted in 2010, population of Belize is relatively young – 44.1% are below the age of 24. The data also reveals that those without a father or mother stand at 2.5% and 1.1%, and those between aged 15 and 17 were 26.2% and 29.1%, respectively. The LGBT youth are also among the young people of the country. There is a need to use an integrated approach to health and human rights education to harness the potential and extend

the needed life skills to young LGBT people. When the “United Belize Advocacy Moment” started its work in 2006, it sought to address health issues related to HIV for men who have sex with men. Fast forward to 2012 – our work has become complicated with unexpected challenges when working with young people. The first realization is that our young males have a tendency for cutting themselves. This self-harm comes on top of

CALEB OROZCO

Belize

IGLYO ON Dialogue HIV vulnerability, inadequate family support, lack of access to prevention commodities, and poor exposure to health information at school.

Opponents representing the Christian right are all undermining the efforts to address these issues both formally and professionally. To name a specific example from the opposing side, Louis Wade, of Belize Action voices opposition to section 53 of the current ‘Health and Family Life Education’ teacher’s resource manual [a teaching document that includes language of tolerance and understanding toward HIV, gender and sexuality issues].

There is also mounting pres sure from the Christian right media “PLUSTV” against the manual re leased in 2012. Some viewers from the Christian Rights media house “PLUSTV” wrote in on the issue. One quote captures the feeling of cultivated attitudes around health and diversity issues: Congrats on the show and especially on the subject. This is an all-out attack on our morality and Godly doctrine. Sodom and Gomorrah is sneaking in! Belize will pay the price if that ever happens. Just look at USA – they are our biggest example of the misuse of our free agency under God. Thus transforming a nation into

a perverse wicked people in other words we are under attack from Satan. If he is so bold to go out and open to do all these suggestions we must openly speak out and stop that. Not just be passive but defenders of all what is righteous. Thanks for your work. The challenge of addressing sexual health education in a church state system does not stop there as one viewer wrote: It is a shame and disgrace what they are doing to our children. They are turning our little boys into batty men. It is not right.

The reality is that the manual is divided by four sections: The first: “My Personal, Family, and Community Values,” the second: “Effective Communication and Problem Solving Skills,” the third, “Managing Relationships,” the fourth: “Just As I Am!” The manual has nothing to do with making children into “battyman.” Our response to the challenge was working with the Sexual and Reproductive Health Provider in the country “Belize Family Life Association” to mobilize a coalition of civil society organizations. We were concerned about the regression of health education back into the dark ages. We agreed on talking points and the lead of the organization “Young Women’s Christian Association” to review

22 CALEB OROZCO • Intercultural Dialogue and LGBTQ Youth Work the manual, working along with UNFPA [UN Population Fund]. Comments and news articles were reviewed and the manual of concern was circulated for analysis. Work is currently ongoing in the Ministry of Education National Education Council to address the concerns brought up. With regards to accusation that we are seeking to teach children perversion and making them gay, we are able to team up with “GO-Joven Belize,” a sexual and reproductive health education group. We were also able to network with school counselors who said that while we may not be able to go into scho ols, we could work to share the knowledge with counselors and they can address sexual health well-being issues. Discussions are ongoing to ensure follow-up action occurs as most counselors work in the church state school system.

With regards to our broader LGBT human right work, we have sought to get mothers and relatives to tell their stories of why they support their gay relative in a short documentary. We felt it was important that we make the issue of LGBT human rights a family issue in 2013. We have continued to provide prevention commodities, as well as continuing our education efforts online and offline at

parties, at dinners, via peers, the organization’s page and to document young people’s plight in our internal and external documentation processes. The process is not complete yet. We are advocating for sexual rights recognition at civil society meetings and at our National AIDS Commission, and we promote the Yogyakarta Principles whenever we hold workshops in private homes.

While the evangelicals have triggered the suspension of the health and family life education, there are still opportunities. We have the space to argue for the inclusion of a diversity module into the manual. Conducting training with school counselors allows us to build an institutional dialogue and a track record that allows for the well-being of young people to be addressed without stigma attached to our work. The current opposition is allowing families to see the issue in a new light, and we have the public space to argue that LGBT issues are a family matter.

Only time will tell how the public responds to our effort and how dignity and rights issues will be approached especially when addressing health issues for young people in Belize. Our efforts are motivated by our motto, “We are one! In Dignity and Rights!”

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A Beautiful Mosaic Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue

Sitting in an open-air café on a busy street in Kampala I look across the room to see a poster hanging with a simple motto: “connected we can do anything.” It strikes me and I ask myself if I believe in it. A second later a young boy walks in wearing a shirt with from a Baptist Church in Hendersonville, NC. I am on the other side of the world and, in this café in Uganda is a t-shirt made for a con gregation thousands of miles away at a place I call home.

I’m blown away by the sense of connectedness to the global community that I feel in this interaction. I don’t want to overlook the obvious in equalities that would result in a young Ugandan boy wearing a second hand t-shirt, likely donated to the Red Cross after it didn’t sell at a church yard sale, but it does speak to how connected we truly are.

In this interaction I am once again connected to my own state as the birth-

ANGEL COLLIE

USA

ANGEL COLLIE • A Beautiful Mosaic

place of the simple peanutfarmer-turned-President, named Jimmy Carter, who once famously said, “We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” I love this quote because it gets to the heart of the rich opportunities and experiences intercultural and inter religious dialogue provides. And yet, I think it leaves something out when it fails to acknowledge the beliefs, yearnings, hopes, and dreams we all share. It is all of these things together that construct the mosaic into a beautiful picture. Our differences blend together beautiful tiles of our selves, while our similarities and points of connection bind us all together in the beautiful journey we all share.

I think back to last November in Brussels, when a group of young queer activist, deeply committed to inclusion

within their faith traditions, came together to have intercultural and interreligious dialogue. I see this mosaic of difference, held together by our common desires for peace, united in one beautiful picture of unity.

It is not that I’m painting a utopian view of dialogue and difference. Indeed, mistakes happen from all sides. Looking back to the imagery of a mosaic – the tiles even in their brokenness – come together to make something beautiful. And this gives me hope. In our attempts at bridging the gaps and having interreligious and intercultural dialogue, sometimes we are coming into it from our places of broken relationships, often imposed from outside forces much stronger than our individual selves. When we come into these conversations it is important that we come in with a certain disposition. We first have to accept ourselves, and the fact

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”We know that there is power, strength, and beauty in our diversity.”

that there is much we will not know. And then, we must be willing to ask questions and seek to understand. We all get it wrong sometimes and very often fail to truly hear or understand. It is a reality of this type of dialogue. What is important is that we remember that we have these conversations because we believe in – and envision a world where - we can be fully authentic to our beliefs and ourselves. We believe we can create meaningful relationship and partnerships across our differences. And we know that there is power, strength, and beauty in our diversity.

It helps when we come to conversation humbly with an open mind, a desire to learn, and a willingness to share. Then, and only then, can

interreligious and intercultural dialogue really begin. We must not come to the conversation to convince, convert, or denounce, but hoping to see what our collective mosaic picture may look like piece by piece and in whole.

Through interreligious and intercultural friendships we have found many places of connection where we can work together on issues we are deeply passionate about. For example, one of my good friends is pro-life and I am pro-choice. However we learned that we both deeply care about the reproductive health and quality information that empowers individuals to access resources that help them prevent unwanted pregnancies or STDs. Even in this deeply divided issue we

26 ANGEL COLLIE • A Beautiful Mosaic

found points where we shared deeply held convictions and could work within the different circles we had access to create lasting change than each one of us could not have done alone. Overtime, my friend has developed a better understanding of my cause, as I have his.

In queer communities, of dialogue that happens in which interreligious and intercultural dialogues are important. For too long societies have asked that queer people lead lives separated from their faith. We come out and are often told to get out or bound to special rules and regulations. We can stay if we promise not to express ourselves fully or stir things up. We can stay hidden in our silence and clothed in undergarments of shame. Our gender identities aren’t affirmed in many of our faith traditions serving as barriers for living the calls our beliefs put on our lives. We are asked to not share our

gifts and talents because they are seen as “unfit” for the service of God.

On the other hand, it’s hard to be out of the closet about being a person of faith in Queer communities. It’s understandable with the violence imposed on queer folks in the name of faith that many would assume they going to peg me as that weird Christian guy judging their nights out at the bar or the ways in which they express their love. Perhaps, they think of the violence, oppression, and war brought on in the name of religion. Perhaps, at a vulnerable time they were excluded from their own faith communities of origin. Hospitalized, sometimes shocked, told you are sick and that your creator or divine hates you? Maybe they remember when a sacred text was used as justification for socalled sacred morality. These are barriers often preventing community and bridge building with people of faith many

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who desire to be great allies if given a chance.

More importantly, our longing for human connection, relationship, and sometimes even survival calls us to climb out of our boxes and reach our hand out across difference. In the complexity and contradictions we are unique, we hold on to a different truth. We can always share and learn with the other. At the end of the day, it’s most important to remember that we are just humans with much more in common through our most basic need for love, connection, and subsistence. Just as our beliefs are important and sacred to us, they too are to others. In our desire for love, connection, and acceptance, we can share more of ourselves and experiences with one another to make this complex mosaic a beautiful picture, made whole not only by the places where our tiles touch, and also the gaps in between.

IGLYO 17 Rue de la Charité 1210, Brussels Belgium WWW.IGLYO.COM CONTRIBUTORS Enida Bogdani, Angel Collie, Yoni Forsyth, Caleb Orozco, Cole Parker, Maryam Saghir, Emily Daina Šaras. DESIGN Hilda Forss http://www.hildablue.com/design

This publication is published with support of the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity PROGRESS (2007-2013), the Council of Europe European Youth Foundation and the Government of the Netherlands. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission, Council of Europe or the Government of the Netherlands.