Fridae

And now Donna Summer is also contemporary again, because of her death. :(

Comment no. 8: "If they cannot UNITE the Gay and Lesbian society, which is what they should be trying to do, and if all they can do is QUARREL and BITCH and divide the gay and lesbian community, in my humble opinion, they should resign and let other more mature-behaving people (gays and lesbians, of course) take over!" What I see happening is a plurality of views being expressed which is ultimately a good thing. Is there a point to appear united when in fact the groups do not agree on the spokesperson? I can see the same question being posed to any LGBT community in any country. Should LGBTs accept the support of any politician or public figure who is "supportive" of LGBTs but have objectionable views on other matters of importance? I think we should agree to disagree if that's the case and not be silent just to appear united as a community.

it was a really hot day on Sat when I was there, but it was nice to see ppl actually come down n supporting the event. let's hope for a bigger crowd next year!

I agree Asian Dream 2.

wow! what a cool event! ^^

Classier way (and better image-wise) than the embarrassing route George Michael took.

She did attend the event, I wuz there! :)

I think she should have just avoided countries like Jakarta and Malaysia. Modern Muslim uses common sense. Where else those who are born to be Muslim are force not to think but rather to follow that is where the real problem arises. She did a great job and as human we all have our own right to say how we feel and what we think. Not everyone will agree with how an individual will think or express one self. Neither will god, Muslim world have changed tremendously, to what is actually written in the Al-Quran to what the leaders of the Muslim world dictates it tobe. Muslim only encourage both male and female to do what they believe in but now so many countries like Pakistan decline educations to Muslim women. Which is wrong becuase that's not the Mulims way of teaching... Well I guess every religion will have thier pro and cons to what one believes and to what one have been told to do.

I totally admire and applaud her courage to try to change things especially given the the personal price. Bashing a religion doesn't change a thing; not to forget there likely are gay Muslims reading this thread, how are those negative/hateful comments helpful to anyone?

This is yet another example when they said that sometimes, some of the worst enemies of Gays are Gays themselves - some of them seem to have the tendency of ripping off and dismantling years of efforts to achieve what they have done for Gay Rights and Gay Acceptance . They do this by a lot of BITCHING and quarelling amongst themselves, tearing each other apart over relatively minor issues. Why are some of these gay (and lesbian) people like that ? Why can't they be more patient and focus on the "BIGGER PICTURE", ie, the long term acceptance of others for gays and lesbians by others, and for them to be treated in society as equals? We, gays and lesbians, are far from achieving that especially in places like Hong Kong, and yet, these so-called Gay Representatives in our society are tearing each other apart already instead of trying to work out their differences. These gay groups organizers ought to be ashamed of themselves . If they cannot UNITE the Gay and Lesbian society, which is what they should be trying to do, and if all they can do is QUARREL and BITCH and divide the gay and lesbian community, in my humble opinion, they should resign and let other more mature-behaving people (gays and lesbians, of course) take over!

Nobody will fit anyone's bill 100%. Can't we all just....get along?

My final point: Irshad Manji is a phenomenal inspiration. As a non-Muslim, I empathise with other non-Muslims' angst about the role of Islam in the league of global communities (indeed, a concern I suspect I share with many Muslims themselves). At the same time, as a person whose heart is tethered to the callings of justice for us all, I am truly inspired by the amazing voices of Muslims who draw power from their faith to advance the interests of our common humanity. I look forward to learning more about Manji, and to reading her books.

I like nightingale's words: "It is not religion itself that is the issue. It is the religious group that poses the problem - the way the group interprets their religion." I would add, we can create enemies out of the little material we are exposed to... For example, some Muslim extremists, likely exposed to very few gay people in person, may envision gay people as sex-crazed, disease-ridden, family-destroying, selfish hedonists (with some element of truth to this statement, though CLEARLY not the case for a majority of us). It is understandable why so many gay people are legitimately pissed off about this mischaracterisation... So similarly, many of us on this forum envision Muslims as delusional, psychopathic, violent, irrational, abusive, etc. etc... There are obviously elements of truth to this... though it would be equally irrational to not consider why some people would, in turn, be legitimately pissed off about this (mis)characterisation. And frankly, there are way too many examples of NON-religious people also behaving in delusional, psychopathic, violent, irrational, and abusive ways to think that these are characteristics that are either unique to Islam, or that Islam has some special power on its own in producing these in its adherents.

Incidentally, my original criticism of bashing Muslims was directed at denseaus' words, not andy370's... ...though yours are clearly not exempt from this criticism either.

@andy370 I'm not interested in being roped into a debate about: 1. The merits of Islam OR 2. The faults of Islam There are no doubt many faults of Islam. Both non-Muslims as well as many Muslims themselves understand this to be true. The issue here has to do with adopting the mentality of hatred toward groups of people who share views different from ourselves. When Muslims do this, we are, understandably, up in arms. How DARE they silence us. How CAN we keep silent at their bullying? So similarly, I state: When we do this toward groups of religious people, not all of whom are fundamentalist, and indeed, many of whom are committed to justice, well inspired by their own religious convictions, then how DARE we silence them by bashing them in turn? I will defend the right of people to make blatantly ignorant statements. Whether they are Muslim fundamentalists or anti-Muslim. I'm not interested in silencing your critique. Like you, I am simply invested in "pointing out some of the faults" of fundamentalist, ill-conceived views conveyed through a particular method of argument which involves presumptuous denunciation of entire groups of people who we do not fully understand. As it is true for anti-gay Muslim fundamentalists, so it is true for anti-Muslim gay secular fundamentalists.

At nenihs84 post #5. Firstly, this is not a debate about peace. Islam is not a peaceful religion by any stretch of the imagination. Futher, I hardly think that my pointing out of some of the faults of Islam could be considered to be "bashing" them. Indeed "bashing" is what many Islamic faithful do when confronted with anything which questions them. They cannot accept that they should be in any way held to critical scrutiny and many who have dome so have suffered jihad, bashing, and execution by them. Your taking exception to me pointing out some faults of Islamic adherents is indeed a concrete example of the mentality of many Muslims. Your reaction is doubly relevant and even more amazing when you consider the subtitle of this article "Silence empowers bullies". Your comment is a subtle attempt to silence my critique and that sir, identifies you as a bully.

any muslim that does not support here view shoul be stonned to death as islam does for us lgbt religions are hate gays are love

islam is apartied i cannot restep this doctrin of hate ever no one understands religious books no evidence of gods mekes religious people delusional religiongs bring now more hate than good and have been dismissed in nodern society as myths