LAS
LUNAS, N.M. -- An openly
gay New Mexico high school student who spoke out
against bullying died Tuesday after his family removed
him from life support following a suicide attempt over the weekend.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon -- Eric Ohena Lembembe, a prominent LGBT rights advocate and journalist was found dead at his home in Yaoundà ©, Cameroon on Monday evening.
London,
ENG - Legislation to introduce same-sex
marriage is expected to complete its passage through the House of Commons on
Tuesday, with the first weddings under the law to take place in England and
Wales next summer.
ALBANY,
N.Y. -- Major League Baseball says
it will bolster its policies against harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation, according
to a new agreement provided to The Associated Press on Monday.
Both the Christian Right and Progressive Christians started the week out with
good news, but what was hope for one side, was despair for the other. The
horrible death (bludgeoned and burned) of Eric Lembembe, Cameroon's prominent
gay activist gladdened the hearts of people like Scott Lively (instigator of
Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill), reassuring them that Africa, at
least, was theirs for the saving; it also struck fear in the hearts of the LGBT
community in Africa.
"Today comes the crushing news, via Human
Rights Watch, that LGBTI activist Eric Ohena Lembembe has been tortured and
killed, and that the headquarters of Alternatives-Cameroon, the HIV services
organization featured in the documentary as a refuge for so many people, has
been burned down."
The suicide of one teen in New Mexico probably delighted
Tony Perkins of the Family
Research Council, since the note left on Twitter seems to prove his premise
that all gays suffer from depression:
Carlos Vigil, 17, posted
this on Twitter:
"I'm sorry to those who I offended
over the years. I'm blind to see that I, as a human being, suck. I'm an
individual who is doing an injustice to the world and it's time for me to
leave. Please don't ever feel sorry for me, or cry -- because I had an
opportunity at life and that opportunity is over. I'm sorry that I wasn't able
to love someone or have someone love me. I guess it's best though, because now
I leave no pain onto anyone. The kids in school are right, I am a loser, a
freak, and a f*g and in no way is that acceptable for people to deal with. I'm
sorry for not being a person that would make someone proud.
I'm free now. Xoxo.
Carlos"
But hope was born out of the despair of Carlos' family who pleaded
for America to "STOP THE BULLYING!"
Also leading to Perkins' despair must be the knowledge that Queen Elizabeth II
is set to give "royal assent" to a bill for same-sex marriage in the
United Kingdom. The bill will give marriage equality a boost overseas.
And the greatest of American traditions - Major League Baseball - has agreed to
beef up enforcement of its non-discrimination policies.
When Hope Outweighs Despair
The levels of hope and despair in America (especially concerning the LGBT
community) have fluctuated wildly in the last decade: Iraq, Obama, recession,
gay rights, gun control, created hope and despair on both sides of the
socio-political scene, one man's despair, being the other man's hope. It's all
oddly balanced, but it's a tenuous balance we wish we wouldn't have to endure:
oh, for the day when hope outweighs despair. But that day will come only when
all men are equal and accepted for who they are.
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