You remember James Loney.  He was a Christian aid worker who was held hostage in Iraq by insurgents and freed by Coalition forces.  He is from Canada.  And he's gay.  A fact his family and partner kept quiet for fear for his safety while imprisoned. 

So he's freed by the troops and returned to Canada where his partner can end what could only be hellacious agony born in solitude without the "comfort" other spouses can seek from public support. 

And he finds that his summer camp program has been de-funded by the Canadian Knights of Columbus b/c the curriculum might promote homosexuality to kids according to Loney.

The good Knights deny this was their agenda.  

In an interview with the Toronto Star KC official Jack Clancey said Loney's allegations were "out of left field."

"We closed down that leadership camp because we needed to review the way we were going and the curriculum that we were teaching," Clancey told the Star

But of course.  The timing, and the fact that the Knights support anti-gay marriage amendments EVERYWHERE has nothing to do with it.  Its just business. 

Just Catholic bigotry as usual.

However, some in the LGBTQ community aren't that thrilled with Loney.  Particularly as he was engaged in "missionary" work in the first place.  From the UK-Ireland edition of gay.com comes this perspective:

While Loney has obviously suffered trauma at the hands of his kidnappers, it's not hard to question his presence in Iraq, preaching Christianity on behalf of an unashamedly homophobic organization.

Aside from putting his own life at risk, Loney undoubtedly endangered the lives of beleaguered US soldiers, already overworked with insurgencies and bomb threats.

It?s also highly unlikely that war-torn Iraqi citizens are in need of God-bothering missionaries attempting to convert them as gore and missiles rain from the sky.

Loney seems to have learned little form the experience as he?s considering the possibility of joining a Christian Peacemakers Team project in Colombia or the Palestinian territory next year.

He acknowledged his experience in Iraq could make it a lot more difficult, but seems oblivious to the inherent selfishness of such an act.

h/t Good As You

During an early June interview with Al-Jazeera, Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, a leading Muslim scholar, emphasized that homosexuals are perverts who deserve punishment.  In his mind, that's not open to debate.

He does concede, however, that there is debate over the best method to murder homosexuals:

The same punishment as any sexual pervert - the same as the fornicator.

The schools of thought disagree about the punishment. Some say they should be punished like fornicators, and then we distinguish between married and unmarried men, and between married and unmarried women. Some say both should be punished the same way. Some say we should throw them from a high place, like God did with the people of Sodom. Some say we should burn them, and so on. There is disagreement.

The important thing is to treat this act as a crime.

Ah.  Democracy is action?  This is interesting:

Qaradawi is controversial: among Muslims he is widely considered a moderate conservative, while many Western critics regard him as dangerously radical or as a supporter of violence. Some Muslim opponents see him as lax and influenced by Western ideas.

So tossing and burning are the moderate, Western influenced suggestions? 

SheikAl-Qaradhawi attributes the electoral (or perhaps political) victories of George Bush to American perversion.

Kerry, who ran against Bush, was supported by homosexuals and nudists. But it was Bush who won [the elections], because he is Christian, right-wing, tenacious, and unyielding. In other words, the religious overcame the perverted. So we cannot blame all Americans and Westerners.

But unfortunately, because the Westerners - Americans and others - want to flatter these people on account of the elections, a disaster occurs. In order to succeed and win the elections, he flatters these people, rather than saying to them: No, you are sinning against yourselves, against society, and against humanity. This is forbidden. Instead of leveling with them, people flatter them to win their votes. This is the disaster that has befallen humanity.

Well, I suppose its a step forward to be linked with nudists instead of pedophiles and animal abusers.  Still, I don't get where Bush and his religious whackos are "flattering" us -- how is amending the Constitution of the United States to make us permanent second class citizens flattery?  I think its pretty consistent with telling us we are sinning against ourselves, society and humanity.  Especially since they are telling us that in order to win votes ...

When I spoke with Mary Cheney on KDKA last week, I asked her what she is doing to help the homosexuals in Iraq.  She acted stunned that she could do anything (ahem) and pointed out that homosexuals have bigger issues to worry about than gay rights. 

Like worrying about tossed off a building or set on fire? 

Activists and politicians are planning to march through Warsaw today (Saturday) as a show of solidarity for homosexuals throughout Eastern Europe.  365gay.com reports that gays are under increasing pressure from the left and right in Poland where communists and Catholics alike are exerting tremendous societal pressure to suppress homosexual activism.

Gay rights groups say they've suffered even more of a setback since the election victory last fall of Law and Justice, a conservative party whose leaders have openly denounced homosexuality. A new coalition formed last month has also raised concerns because it includes a right-wing party, League of Polish Families, with a youth wing that has attacked gay pride parades in Poland in recent years.

The group, All-Polish Youth, said Thursday it was canceling plans to rally this Saturday in hopes of preventing a "physical confrontation with leftist fundamentalists."

A member of the League, Wojciech Wierzejski, also caused a stir in past weeks for asking the interior and justice ministers to investigate gay rights groups to determine whether pedophiles and drug dealers were financing them.

In April, dozens of people were injured when youth from the League of Polish Families attacked a peaceful parade. 

Human rights monitors indicate that this latest in a series of clashes between homosexuals and those who would sanction discrimination is a reflection of a larger clash between the East and West.

Organizers expect a large showing of support from activists and politicians throughout Europe.

Saturday's march is expected to draw supporters from throughout Europe, including lawmakers from Germany and Sweden who are mobilizing in reaction to recent violence against gays in the region. A week earlier in Bucharest, Romania, passers-by threw plastic bottles and shouted anti-gay slogans at a gay rights demonstration.

During a march in Moscow on May 27, gay rights activists were pummeled by right-wing protesters and detained by police when they rallied in defiance of a city ban. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said gay parades "may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia."

Several politicians from throughout Europe are also mobilizing to support gay rights. Members of Germany's Greens party plan to travel to Warsaw to take part in the march, including Volker Beck, who was beaten by nationalist youths during the Moscow rally, as well as Renate Kuenast and Claudia Roth.

The Campaign Against Homophobia said lawmakers from Sweden, France and the Netherlands would also attend in a sign of solidarity.

"This isn't just about gays and lesbians anymore," Biedron, the leader, said in an interview. "This march will be a big demonstration against fundamentalism and the violation of human rights."