Young Adults 'Don't Want to be Defined by Gender, Orientation'

From USA Today - April 19, 2009

Young adults 'don't want to be defined by gender, orientation'

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

CHICAGO — Sexual orientation and sexual labels. Gender crossing and
gender bending. These aren't X-rated or adults-only topics but rather
subjects that young people talk about as they figure out where they
fit in, said a panel of experts at a weekend conference of the Council
on Contemporary Families here.

"Youth are saying they don't want to be defined by gender or
orientation," Chicago psychologist Braden Berkey told those attending
a panel on "Gender in the Next Generation" on the final day of the
conference Saturday.

Berkey is founding director of the Sexual Orientation and Gender
Institute at the Center on Halsted, which opened in 2007 to offer
support services and programming for the area's lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender community. He talked about the evolution of sexual and
gender labels and how young people today are trying to dissolve them.
He says the terms created in the early days, such as lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender, are giving way to other descriptions, such
as polygender or multisex. Young people, he says, reject narrow gender
definitions and say they don't want to be defined by their sexuality.

However, a presentation by sociologist Barbara Risman of the
University of Illinois at Chicago suggested that for the
middle-schoolers she's studied, attitudes about sexual orientation are
less open-minded, especially for boys. She says these boys fear the
label "gay."

Among boys, "homophobia in middle school is used to police gender," she says.

In-depth interviews with 43 students at an urban middle school in the
Southeast found vast differences between the sexes.

"Today, girls are free to do sports and be competitive. No one thought
they had to play dumb to get a boyfriend. The women's movement has
done great things for middle school girls," she says.

"It's another story with boys. I feel like we're in a time warp. We
have not dealt with men and masculinity in a serious enough way," she
says.

"Boys police each other. There's no room not to do anything not
traditionally masculine."

Risman says it's important not to generalize the findings to most
American children, but she says the fact that boys are labeled quickly
suggests that this is a developmental stage. The study, she adds, was
limited by many rules requiring parental permission for contact with
minors.

Risman says it's the stigma of homosexuality that looms among young
boys. Being emotional or caring too much about clothes or liking to
dance are reasons that boys give for describing someone as "girlish,"
she says.

Berkey suggests that we're living in a "post-gay world" where gay
celebrities can hawk products that traditionally have been marketed as
attractive to the opposite sex. He suggests that society has advanced
to the point that companies don't worry about anti-gay bias when
seeking spokespeople for products. As examples, he mentioned openly
gay actor Neil Patrick Harris as a spokesman for the traditionally
male Old Spice deodorant and lesbian talk show host Ellen DeGeneres,
who is a spokeswoman for Cover Girl cosmetics.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-04-19-family-conference_N.htm

Violence Flares at Protest Over Afghan Sex Law

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Afghan women carry a banner reading "We want a law, but democratic one," during a march against a new conservative marriage law in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday.

Women hit by stones at rally against law critics say legalizes marital rape
The Associated Press

Wed., April 15, 2009

KABUL - A group of some 1,000 Afghans swarmed a demonstration of 300 women protesting against a new conservative marriage law on Wednesday. The women were pelted with small stones as police struggled to keep the two groups apart.

The law, passed last month, says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse — a clause that critics say legalizes marital rape. It also regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home alone.

Women's rights activists scheduled a protest Wednesday attended by mostly young women. But the group was swamped by counter-protesters — both men and women — who shouted down the women's chants.

Some picked up gravel and stones and threw them at the women, while others shouted "Death to the slaves of the Christians!" Female police held hands around the group to create a protective barrier.

The government of President Hamid Karzai has said the Shiite family law is being reviewed by the Justice Department and will not be implemented in its current form. Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labeled it "abhorrent."

Foreigners accused of meddling
Though the law would apply only to the country's Shiites — 10 percent to 20 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people — it has sparked an uproar by activists who say it marks a return to Taliban-style oppression. The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, required women to wear all-covering burqas and banned them from leaving home without a male relative.

Shiite backers of the law say that foreigners are meddling in private Afghan affairs, and Wednesday's demonstrations brought some of the emotions surrounding the debate over the law to the surface.

"You are a dog! You are not a Shiite woman!" one man shouted to a young woman in a headscarf holding aloft a banner that said "We don't want Taliban law." The woman did not shout back at the man, but told him: "This is my land and my people."

Women protesting the law said many of their supporters had been blocked by men who refused to let them join the protest. Those who did make it shouted repeatedly that they were defending human rights by defending women's rights and that the law does not reflect the views of the Shiite community.

'We want our rights'
Fourteen-year-old Masuma Hasani said her whole family had come out to protest the law — both her parents and her younger sister who she held by the arm.

"I am concerned about my future with this law," she said. "We want our rights. We don't want women to just be used."

As the back-and-forth continued, another demonstration of Shiite women who said they support the law began.

"We don't want foreigners interfering in our lives. They are the enemy of Afghanistan," said 24-year-old Mariam Sajadi.

Sajadi is engaged, and said she plans to ask her husband's permission to leave the house as put forth in the law. She said other controversial articles — such as one giving the husband the right to demand sex from his wife every fourth day — have been misinterpreted by Westerners who are anti-Islam.

TOPSHOTS An Afghan Shiite woman, her face covered, listens to a speech by Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a top Shiite cleric, during a press conference in Kabul on April 11, 2009. Afghanistan's top Shiite cleric defended a new law said to oppress women and accused Western critics of the controversial legislation of "cultural invasion" and violating the democracy they introduced. Mohammad Asif Mohseni also rejected a ministry of justice review of the law ordered by President Hamid Karzai, saying any changes would violate a constitutional provision for Shiite's to have their own jurisprudence. 10:35 a.m. ET, 4/11/09

Afghan Law Does Not Allow Rape, Cleric Backer Says (But Starvation is OK)

Ayatollah Mohammed Asef Mohseni

From Reuters - April 16, 2009

By Emma Graham-Harrison

KABUL (Reuters) - A new Afghan law that has drawn Western condemnation for restricting women's rights does not allow marital rape as its critics claim, but lets men refuse to feed wives who deny them sex, the cleric behind it says.

Ayatollah Mohammed Asef Mohseni's Shi'ite personal status law sparked controversy abroad because of a provision that "a wife is obliged to fulfill the sexual desires of her husband."

This was read by some as an open door to marital rape, and together with clauses restricting women's freedom of movement denounced as reminiscent of harsh Taliban-era rules.

The law has been criticized by Western leaders with troops fighting in Afghanistan, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who called it "abhorrent."

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who signed the law last month, has since put it under review.

But Mohseni said the law -- which only applies to the 15 percent of Afghans who are Shi'a Muslims -- has been misinterpreted by critics. Its sexual clauses aimed only to ensure men's sexual needs were met within marriage, because Islam prohibited them seeking satisfaction with other women.

"Why should a man and woman get married if there is no need for a sexual relationship? Then they are like brother and sister," he told Reuters in an interview in his recently built central Kabul mosque and university complex.

A man and wife can negotiate how often it is reasonable to sleep together, based on his sex drive, and a woman has a right to refuse if she has a good reason, said the bearded cleric.

"It should not be compulsory for the wife to say yes all the time, because some men have more sexual desires than others," he said, adding that husbands should never force themselves on their wives and the law does not sanction that.

But women do have a duty to meet their husband's needs.

"If a woman says no, the man has the right not to feed her," Mohseni said. The law allows women to work, so they could theoretically refuse sex and support themselves, but in mainly rural Afghanistan most women are dependent on husbands.

The law is milder than the severe restrictions imposed by the Sunni Muslim Taliban, who banned all women and girls from any work or study, and from leaving the home without a male relative. But opponents still consider it a step backwards.

They also want to strike down a provision that says women can leave their home freely for work, education or medical care, but otherwise require their husband's permission to go out.

Mohseni said this was not a final word -- if women want more freedom of movement, they can ask for it to be included in their marriage contract: "If he says no, she can marry someone else."

But in Afghanistan most marriages are arranged and women's low social status would make it hard for most to refuse a union.

MAKE-UP ON DEMAND

Another measure in the law described as demeaning by rights groups is a requirement that women wear makeup if their husbands wish. The soft-spoken cleric said this was to protect relationships.

"When men venture outside they see lots of other women with makeup, but he comes home and finds his own wife with a dirty face," Mohseni said.

"This is mentioned to encourage men to have more interest in a social and personal life with his wife."

Opponents of the law say it codifies traditional practices that are in fact not required by Islam.

Qazimiya Muhaqaq, professor of Political Science at Katib University and one of a group of women involved in a street demonstration against the law this week, told a news conference on Thursday the law makes women bow to their husbands.

"A woman and man must satisfy each other, it's natural, they are in a relationship. But this law states that whenever a man wants, the woman is obliged to satisfy her husband," she said.

Reuters asked Mohseni several times if he could detail the religious reasons for restricting women's movements, and requiring them to wear makeup, but he did not provide them.

Mohseni has been closely following the international debate about the law, condemning NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for his criticism and saying U.S. President Barack Obama had spoken in ignorance when he called it "abhorrent."

The cleric had hoped that after speaking about the law last week its critics would seek him out to get a better understanding of its contents, but said he was disappointed by them.

"After my press conference I was expecting a delegation from the West to come and meet me but they are just playing politics." "Without proper reading people make their own opinions about the law, which I really regret," he added.

Picture of the Week: Islam's Soft Revolution

Olivia Arthur / Magnum for TIME

Stylish
Hala dons a pink hijab for a date on Valentine's Day. Muslim women's attitudes about the appropriate amount of make-up to wear and the proper amount of hair to reveal vary widely.

Related Article.

Editorial: Killing of Gay Iraqis Shouldn't Be Ignored

From the Denver Post - April 12, 2009

Editorial

Killing of gay Iraqis shouldn't be ignored

We applaud Rep. Jared Polis for his efforts last week to shine the spotlight on the killings of homosexuals in Iraq.

By The Denver Post

Posted: 04/12/2009

The U.S. State Department must not stand idly by if the Iraqi government fails to protect basic human rights, even if the persecution stems from traditional cultural or religious beliefs.

We applaud Colorado Congressman Jared Polis for his efforts last week to shine the spotlight on the killings of homosexuals in Iraq, and to press the State Department to demand accountability from the Iraqi government.

The first openly gay man to be elected to the House, Polis has been investigating the treatment of gays in Iraq for several months, according to The Post's Michael Riley. His research led to the discovery of a transgender Iraqi man who told the congressman he had been arrested, beaten and raped by security forces with Iraq's Ministry of Interior.

Human-rights groups have passed information to Polis that claims another man was beaten into confessing he belonged to a gay-rights group and that the man had been sentenced to execution by an Iraqi court.

Polis, who toured Iraq last week, passed along a letter outlining his grim findings to State Department officials in Baghdad. He told Riley: "We will see whether the Iraqi government is serious about protecting the human rights of all Iraqis, and we can also see what role our own State Department can play in helping to protect this minority in Iraq."

The New York Times reported last week that the killings of gays had escalated. The paper reported a 2005 decree by the influential Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani that called for gays and lesbians to be killed "in the worst, most severe way of killing."

In the past two months, at least 25 men and boys were killed, usually by multiple gunshots, their bodies often left with signs in Arabic that declared: "pervert."

Meanwhile, Iraqis are murdered for many reasons, greatly complicating the situation on the ground. It's hard to imagine the country will have much stability or peace if it can't quell such things as religious killings and the so-called "honor killings" of women who may have had extramarital relations.

And, obviously, the freshman Colorado congressman's impact on such things is greatly limited.

But because of his position as an openly gay Democratic representative serving while his party controls Washington, Polis has a unique opportunity to press the issue. We hope he continues to encourage the State Department to act, and continues to talk about these issues often relegated to the shadows.

We realize our nation has its own issues to worry about when it comes to treatment of gays and lesbians. But we've lost and risked far too many of our troops to help establish and protect Iraq's new government to stand by and watch Iraqis, especially if their government is involved, murder their own in blatant defiance of basic human rights.

 

CHRISTOPHE SIMON /AFP /GETTY IMAGES
Baghdad, scene of attacks on homosexuals. Ali Hili, a spokesman for gay men in Iraq says: 'It is impossible to be gay and out. It is the most difficult thing to be in the country'

From the Independent in the UK - April 13, 2009

Iraqi leaders attacked over spate of homophobic murders

Dozens of young men and boys killed by death squads in Baghdad

By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor

Iraqi leaders are accused of turning a blind eye to a spate of murders of homosexuals after 25 young men and boys were killed in recent weeks.

Gay groups claim the Iraqi government is giving tacit support to the death squads targeting young homosexuals who venture outdoors.

In an unusual move, Amnesty International will today write to the Iraqi President, Nouri al-Maliki, demanding "urgent and concerted action" by his government to stop the killings. Amnesty said the murders appear to have been carried out by militiamen and relatives of the victims, after being incited by religious leaders. Homosexuality has always been taboo in the country, but a surge of killings followed religious leaders' sermons condemning "deviancy".

The violence came after the improved security situation briefly encouraged some gay men to start meeting discreetly in public. This led to furious condemnation from clerics who have called for homosexuality – which can lead to a prison sentence of seven years – to be eradicated from Iraqi society.

Most of the killings have taken place in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, controlled by ultra-conservative Shi'ite militia. Murders have also been reported in Basra, Najaf and Karbala.

The bodies of four gay men, each bearing a sign with the Arabic word for "pervert" on their chests, were discovered in Sadr City three weeks ago. Following the discovery of another two corpses six days later, an unnamed official in the city told Reuters: "They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honour."

No arrests have been made. Ali Hili, the London spokesman for Iraqi LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) said it had received reports of at least 63 killings in the last four months. He told The Independent: "Since mid-December we've been getting lots of reports about mass arrests and raids on houses, cafes, barbers shops." He claimed police and the Ministry of the Interior were behind some of the murders.

"Most of the people who are arrested are found dead, with signs of torture and burns. We believe a war has been launched by the Iraqi Government and its establishment against gay people."

Mr Hili said homosexuals in the country were forced to live in hiding for fear of abduction and death. Some had managed to escape to the west, with another 20 preparing to flee Iraq.

He said: "It's impossible to be gay and out ... It's the most difficult thing to be in Iraq. People visit each other's houses, they meet in places where it's safe ... for the most effeminate cases, we advise them not to go out at all."

Amnesty's letter to Mr Al-Maliki protests over his government's failure to condemn the killings publicly or to investigate the murders adequately. It also points to statements by police which appear to condone, or even encourage, the targeting of gay men, and calls for officers who incite homophobic attacks to be "held to account and either prosecuted or disciplined and removed from office".

Niall Couper, a spokesperson from Amnesty International, said: "The gay community in Iraq deserves protection and that means their leaders needs to stand up for them. Amnesty International is calling on Nouri al-Maliki to condemn all attacks on members of the gay community, publicly, unreservedly and in the strongest terms possible."

The letter reminds the Iraqi government that it is bound by international treaties stipulating "all human beings are equal in dignity and rights".

Hasan: Our optimism after the fall of Saddam has turned to despair

Comment

My boyfriend was killed by the police because of his sexuality. Policemen came to his house, 10 minutes away from mine, put him in a police car, arrested and killed him. They told his parents it was because of his job. He was working for Iraqi LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender). For six months I didn't go out, I didn't do anything – just grieved for him. He was killed because of who he is.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, we – the gay community – were very optimistic. We thought that we would live in a democracy and felt safe with US troops around. So we started to print leaflets that promoted freedom for gay and lesbian people.

But members of our group started being arrested for it. The leaflets weren't political, they were just spreading gay rights.

We have the right to exist and be who we are, but this offended the government. The leaflets had our email addresses and telephone numbers, so the government and the militias came to find out who was distributing the leaflets.

In 2004, the situation got much worse. People began to be killed in the streets, burnt alive and mutilated for being gay. We were a target for the government and militias. I fled to the UK; I feel very safe here but get emails every day about more killings in Iraq. And the problem is that the UK Government doesn't allow us to stay with refugee status even though Iraq is one of the most dangerous places on earth for homosexuals and a war is being waged by the parts of the Iraqi government on gay people. In the UK, I can't work or study because I've been denied the right to asylum, but my only option is to go back to Iraq, face my family and my community and be killed.

Four members of our organisation have already been deported. I am fighting for my right to stay by re-applying for asylum with the help of Iraqi LGBT. Otherwise, I have no future. On Thursday, we will protest outside the Home Office to highlight the homophobic killings. I wish someone would listen and help us; this has been going on in Iraq for years and no one cares.

Hasan, 26, is gay. He moved to the UK nine months ago from his home in Babel province, south of Baghdad, after receiving death threats. His boyfriend was killed because of his sexuality.

African Slang for HIV/AIDS Undermine Prevention / Education Efforts

Elsewhere: African Slang for H.I.V./AIDS - Schott's Vocab Blog - NYTimes.com

April 11, 2009, 7:02 am

Elsewhere: African Slang for H.I.V./AIDS

Pejorative terms ("the worm") and euphemisms ("standing on a nail") may be undermining African efforts to promote candid and caring discussion of H.I.V. and AIDS.

In a fascinating June 2008 article, IRIN/PlusNews reported that "while many communities struggled to break the silence about H.I.V. and AIDS formally, informal or slang terms for the epidemic were proliferating." These terms, PlusNews observed, are "almost uniformly negative" and reinforce the stigma of the disease.

Below are some examples of African H.I.V./AIDS slang terms, from IRIN/PlusNews articles published in June 2008, November 2008 and April 2009.

Amesimamia Msumari | "Standing on a nail"; euphemism for being skinny … referring to AIDS-related weight loss. (Tanzania, Kiswahili.)

Ato Nai Ise | "Five and three" (5 + 3 = 8, and "eight" sounds like "AIDS"). (Nigeria, Igbo.)

Ba Mo Tshwarisiye Noga | "They threw a snake at him/her" – (refers to H.I.V.; the shock when someone discovers his or her status). (South Africa, Sepulana.)

Departure Lounge | An H.I.V.-infected person is in the departure lounge awaiting death. (Zimbabwe.)

F.T.T. | "Failure to thrive" (adapted from the medical phrase, now used to describe H.I.V.-positive children). (Zimbabwe.)

Ka-Onde-Onde | "Thing that makes you thinner and thinner." (Zambia, Nyanja.)

Kabari Salama Aalaiku | "Excuse me, grave." (Nigeria, Hausa.)

Kaleza | "Razor blade" (Refers to a person being thin as a result of AIDS-related weight loss). (Zambia, Bemba.)

Kukanyaga Miwaya | Contracting H.I.V. is like "stepping on a live wire." (Tanzania, Kiswahili.)

Ogopa | "Fear" – a word used by young men to describe H.I.V.-positive women. (Kenya, Kiswahili.)

Omukithi Gwo Paive | "The disease of the present." (Namibia, Oshiwambo.)

Onale Jwa Radio | "He/she has the disease talked about on the radio" (radio is the primary method of disseminating H.I.V./AIDS knowledge). (Botswana, Setswana.)

Pisar Na Mina | Contracting H.I.V. is like having "stepped on a landmine." (Angola, Portuguese.)

Tewo Zamani | "Sickness of this generation." (Nigeria, Hausa.)

Tracker | If you are suspected of being H.I.V. positive people say God is tracking you, like the popular southern African service that tracks and recovers stolen vehicles. (South Africa,)

Udlala Ilotto | "Playing the lotto" / ubambe ilotto – "won the lotto" (said of someone suspected of being H.I.V. positive; Lotto is the national lottery). (South Africa, Isixhosa and Isizulu.)

HRC Press Release: Harry Knox to Join Advocacy Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

 

Human Rights Campaign's Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox to Join Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

4/6/2009 - from the Human Rights Campaign

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced today that HRC Foundation Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox will join the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, an interfaith council of religious and secular leaders and scholars.  The council will be comprised of 25 members, each appointed to serve a one-year term.
 
"I am humbled by the invitation to join President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships," said Harry Knox, director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Religion and Faith Program.  "I hope this council will draw upon the richness of our unique perspectives to advise the president on policies that will improve the lives of all the people we have been called to serve.  The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is eager to help the Administration achieve its goals around economic recovery and fighting poverty; fatherhood and healthy families; inter-religious dialogue; care for the environment; and global poverty, health and development. And, of course, we will support the President in living up to his promise that government has no place in funding bigotry against any group of people."
 
President Barack Obama signed an executive order on February 5 to establish the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Led by Joshua Dubois, the office was created to allow religious and community leaders to make policy recommendations to the President's Cabinet Secretaries and each of the eleven agency offices for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships.

To learn more about the Religion & Faith Program at the Human Rights Campaign, visit: www.hrc.org/religion.
 
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

HRC's Religion & Faith Director Joins Obama's Faith Council

HRC's Knox Added to Obama's Faith Council

By Kerry Eleveld - from the Advocate

The Human Rights Campaign's Harry Knox was appointed Monday to serve
on President Obama's 25-member advisory council for the White House
Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Tony Dungy, a former NFL coach and antigay activist who was reportedly
being considered for the council, did not make the cut. A White House
spokesperson said Dungy declined the opportunity due to scheduling
conflicts.

The council will include two gay men. Fred Davie, executive director
of the New York–based Public/Private Ventures, was one of 15 people
the president originally named to the advisory council. Davie
supported Obama's candidacy and served in an advisory capacity to his
campaign.

The council most certainly includes a mix of theology, ranging from
progressive to conservative. On the right are people who have promoted
antigay policies such as Frank Page, past president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, which has close ties to Exodus International.

Beyond Knox and Davie, Rabbi David Saperstein of the Reform Jewish
Movement is also a pro-LGBT ally.

And then there are the people in between.

"We have many friends on the council and a few surprising friends on
the evangelical side that are trying to be openhearted and that have
reached out to me and others about LGBT issues in recent weeks and
months," says Knox, director of HRC's Religion and Faith Program. "And
we have some folks that we are going to look forward to talking with
because they haven't always been friends," he adds.

Knox points to Joel Hunter of the Florida-based Northland Church as an
evangelical who is open to conversation. Hunter was forced to step
down as president of the Christian Coalition when he suggested the
group should expand their focus to explore the issues of poverty, the
environment, reproductive choice, and even sexuality.

"Joel Hunter has taken real risks at home with his own folks to begin
to talk about hate-crimes protections for LGB folks -- he's not yet
there on transgender issues -- but he has signed off on Third Way's
document calling for hate-crimes and employment protections for LGB
folks."

One key concern for LGBT people is that federal funds given to
faith-based organizations not be used to hire people to the exclusion
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

"I'm certainly interested in helping the president live up to his
promise to us that no tax money will be used to discriminate," Knox
said.

He also expressed interest in whether the council would continue the
practice of using abstinence-only education as a criterion for
receiving federal funds.

"I hope the president and the council will stay consistent with their
desire to reduce the need for abortion," Knox said, "and, of course,
that includes promoting comprehensive sex education that is
age-appropriate, and it means access to all health services for all
women at all times, and it means access to contraception."

Knox said he looked forward to his first briefing on the council's
mandates, which was to take place Monday evening, and he was hopeful
about the progress that could be made among the council's diverse
representation.

"I think the president is saying to us all -- everyone in the country
-- that it's time to sit down and really talk and work through to
solutions within the progressive and liberal frameworks that he
believes in," he said, "and those are surely fully inclusive of LGBT
people and protecting our rights and the right to choose."

According to a White House press release, the full 25-person council includes:
Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco
New York , NY

Anju Bhargava, Founder, Asian Indian Women of America
New Jersey

Bishop Charles Blake, Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ
Los Angeles, CA

Noel Castellanos, CEO, Christian Community Development Association
Chicago, IL

The Rev. Peg Chemberlin, President-Elect, National Council of Churches USA
Minneapolis, MN

Dr. Arturo Chavez, President & CEO, Mexican American Catholic College
San Antonio , TX

Fred Davie, Senior Adviser, Public/Private Ventures
New York , NY

Nathan Diament, Director of Public Policy, Orthodox Jewish Union
Washington, DC

Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Longwood, FL

Harry Knox, Director, Religion and Faith Program, Human Rights Campaign
Washington, DC

Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District,
African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN

Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies
Washington, DC

Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH

Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC

Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
Chicago, IL

Anthony Picarello, General Counsel , United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops
Washington, DC

Nancy Ratzan, Board Chair, National Council of Jewish Women
Miami, FL

Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for
Religion and Public Affairs
Winston-Salem , NC

Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center
of Reform Judaism
Washington , DC

Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia , PA

Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria , VA

Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue , WA

Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big
Brothers / Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia , PA

Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
"Washington , DC

Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Disciples of
Christ (Christian Church)
Indianapolis, IN