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 Tutu Speaks Out On Gay
Civil Rights
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: April 9, 2008 - 3:00 pm ET
(San Francisco, California) Archbishop Desmond
Tutu told an international LGBT human rights group that it has been impossible
to keep quiet "when people were frequently hounded...vilified, molested and
even killed as targets of homophobia...for something they did not choose-their
sexual orientation."
Tutu was in San Francisco to receive the
Outspoken award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
The presentation was made as part of the organization's A Celebration of Courage
human rights ceremony on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at Grace Cathedral in San
Francisco.
In his 30-minute address Tutu said that in the
face of this ongoing persecution LGBT people were "compassionate, caring,
self-sacrificing and refusing to be embittered."
Tutu spoke critically of the worldwide Anglican
Church, apologizing for the way it has ostracized LGBT people, and for making
them feel as if God had made a mistake by creating them to be who they
are.
"How sad it is," he said, "That
the Church should be so obsessed with this particular issue of human sexuality
when God's children are facing massive problems-- poverty, disease, corruption,
conflict..."
Tutu also spoke on human rights in China, saying
he would pray for that country to do the right thing, use its clout to bring
positive change in Tibet, Burma and Sudan, and improve its own human rights
record.
He suggested that world leaders boycott the
opening ceremony of the Olympic games to protest China's record on human rights.
He praised the US Congress and the First Lady in particular for being "on
the side of angels" for their work on Burma.
A crowd of about 500 were in the church for his
address.
The Outspoken award recognizes Tutu's leadership
as a global ally of the LGBT community. His outspokenness has contributed
substantially to advancing the rights and understanding of LGBT people
everywhere the IGLHRC said.
The presentation happened to coincide with the
arrival of the Olympic Torch in San Francisco where civil rights activists were
mounting protests.
"When IGLHRC invited Archbishop Tutu to come
to San Francisco to accept its Outspoken Award, we had no idea that our event
would coincide with such a momentous time in the history of human rights
activism," said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC's executive director.
"The Archbishop's speech at this unique
historical moment affirms that human rights apply to each and every human
being-in South Africa, in the United States, in China, and around the world.
Activists and governments alike should heed the Archbishop's words. He is a
moral luminary whose inclusive approach to human rights advocacy paves the way
for a better world."
Since 1990 the IGLHRC has documented and fought
human rights abuses faced by LGBT people and groups around the world.
In 1984, Tutu received a Nobel Peace Prize to
recognize his extraordinary contributions to the struggle against apartheid.
He was elected Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985,
and promoted to Archbishop of Cape Town the following year. As Archbishop, he
became a principal mediator and conciliator in the transition to democracy in
South Africa. In 1995, President Nelson Mandela appointed him Chairman of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body set up to probe gross human rights
violations that occurred under apartheid.
Archbishop Tutu has vocally challenged
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In a 2004 article in The
Times of London, he condemned persecution on the basis of sexual orientation,
comparing it to apartheid.
"We struggled against apartheid in South
Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being
blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about-our very
skins," he wrote. "It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a
given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not
also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our
churches and faith groups."
©365Gay.com 2008
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