From Haaretz:

European Union foreign ministers are expected to officially call next week for the division of Jerusalem, to serve as the capitals of both Israel and Palestine. A draft document authored by the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, Sweden, and implying that the EU would recognise a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood, has been obtained by Haaretz

Why doesn’t Sweden give back Skåne to Denmark and Lapland to its native population? Or better yet, hand the old German and Dutch neighbourhoods of Stockholm back to Germany and the Netherlands? And what about all those Jewish towns in Europe that were confiscated by Christian Europeans during and after the Holocaust—when will they be handed back to the Jews who had nowhere to go but Israel?

No, it’s so much easier to write documents telling other people how to behave.

Today, people around the world remember those who have died of AIDS. It is a sad day. But World AIDS Day is also about the people living with HIV. And for HIV-positive people in Europe and America, the treatment available is doing miracles. In fact, some research suggests that HIV-positive people under successful treatment are no longer infectious, meaning they pose no risk of transmitting the virus.

Here are some facts and figures from the latest report from UNAIDS:

• Since the beginning of the epidemic, almost 60 million people have been infected with
• HIV and 25 million people have died of HIV-related causes.
• In 2008, some 33.4 million people lived with HIV, about 2.7 million were infected, and about 2 million people died of AIDS.
• In 2008, about 430 000 children were born with HIV, bringing the total number of children living with HIV to 2.1 million.
• Young people account for around 40% of all new adult (15+) HIV infections worldwide.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected and is home to 67% of all people living with HIV worldwide and 91% of all new infections among children.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, the epidemic has orphaned more than 14 million children.

“A Swedish man suspected of killing his 63-year-old wife has been exonerated after forensic analysis revealed the woman’s death had been was by an elk,” writes The Local.

I can’t stop wonder what made the police suspect the husband in the first place. Was it the fur under the woman’s fingernails?

No, I think the husband’s attorney is right, the investigators were simply too quick to assume that the man had killed his wife. This is far too common, I think. It is true that the killer is often a person close to the victim, but it is dangerous to assume this to always be the case. We should learn never to assume anything based on statistics.

Sweden sees to face resistance from France over a new EU document demanding Israel surrender eastern Jerusalem.

“Let us be clear the text is not an EU text; it is a Swedish proposal looking for agreement by the 27 EU members of the Council of Foreign Affairs next Tuesday,” French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot says to the Jerusalem Post.

Good. The world does not need more divided cities.

Bad news from New York:

The New York State Senate decisively rejected a bill on Wednesday that would have allowed gay couples to wed, providing a major victory for those who oppose same-sex marriage and underscoring the deep and passionate divisions surrounding the issue.

The 38-to-24 vote startled proponents of the bill and signaled that political momentum, at least right now, had shifted against same-sex marriage, even in heavily Democratic New York.

The senators who voted no had perhaps the most bizarre excuse I have heard, saying the public was “gripped by economic anxiety” and therefore not ready for marriage equality. Eh?

Apparently, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, is in private talks with leaders of the Ugandan Anglican Church over a proposed new law that would make some homosexual acts punishable by death.

Meanwhile, Anglican pastor Canon Byamugisha has said that he believes the new law would be state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans. He is right.

The Box Turtle Bulletin has more.

I have a thing for English punctuation, so when I find an online forum where gay men discuss the Oxford comma, I have to post a link to it.

By the way, I don’t care what The Economist’s style guide says on the matter, the last co-ordinating conjunction in a list should always have a comma. This is also the rule encouraged by Oxford University Press and all American dictionaries and style guides. Why so many Brits continue to ignore this excellent rule is beyond me.

The student movement that really deserved the Nobel Peace prize is taking to streets again, despite being brutally attacked by the police.

The new atheist movement likes to target children. The children of religious parents are said to be victims of abuse, and only a strict atheist upbringing could possibly respect the children’s human rights. Personally, I think this is the foremost proof that many secular humanists have turned atheism into a missionary religion. To make an informed choice, one must have access to information. And to think that small children are completely independent of the religious culture of their parents is naïve and stupid. The only way to separate the parents’ religion from the child is to physically separate children from their parents. That is what Stalin did when he set out to create a model, atheist society.

To me it is simple. Children are the responsibility of their parents until they are old enough to stand on their own feet. Then they can choose to keep or leave the faith (including atheism) they were brought up in. But until then, parents have a responsibility to teach their children about their background. This is also considered a child’s fundamental right according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Stephen Wang has written an article about this for The Times. “It’s a fantasy to imagine that children can be raised in a philosophically neutral environment without some dominant world-view,” he writes. That is my point exactly.

(Seen in the picture is a new poster campaign by the British Humanist Association.)

As from now, the hymen should be known as the vaginal corona.

“Step by step, we will bestow upon the citizens of Israel the laws of the Torah and we will turn Halakha into the binding law of the nation,” Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman said in a public meeting on Monday. He is now rightfully criticised by many Israelis who don’t want to see their country “Talibanised”.

Israeli shops and restaurants that decorate for Christmas might lose their kosher certification.

“The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee handed proponents of marriage equality an important first-round victory last night, approving a bill that could make New Jersey the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage,” 365 Gay reports.

A religious organisation in Uganda wants to cut ties with Sweden and other countries that oppose a new anti-gay bill now debated in parliament. From Afrol News:

The Inter-religious Council of Uganda (IRC) statement issued by the clerics have recommended that the government should think of cutting diplomatic ties with countries that are bent on forcing homosexuality on Ugandans.

The Bill proposes that a person convicted of homosexual in Uganda is liable to life imprisonment.

The strong stance of the clerics comes just a week after the Swedish government threatened to cut aid to Uganda if it continues to debate the proposed anti-gay law in the country.

Pressure has been mounting from donor countries including, Canada, UK, and Sweden to press Uganda to discard the proposed law intended to severely punish homosexuals.

If the law is approved by Ugandan’s parliament, any gay person found guilty of having a voluntary sexual relation will face fourteen years in prison. If the “crime” is repeated, he or she could be sentenced to death.

By accident, I found a channel on television that aired old children’s programmes just when the cookie monster sang this song. Now I can’t get it out of my head.

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Carl Bildt, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, wants to split Jerusalem in two. Barbara Sofer, a Jerusalemite, thinks it is a bad idea. Read her letter here.

British police are monitoring nursery-age children for signs of brainwashing by Islamist extremists, The Times reports. I think the picture says it all. What parent would have his or her child love a terrorist organisation that deliberately kills thousands of innocent people?

Annise Parker was elected mayor of Houston yesterday. “The win makes her the first openly gay or lesbian person elected mayor in one of the country’s 10 largest cities,” the Dallas Voice writes in a comment. “With a population of more than about 2,245,000, Houston is the nation’s fourth-largest city.”

I think we can expect a lot of moaning about “identity politics” from conservative commentators. But we should keep in mind that they only consider identity politics a problem when non-male, non-straight, and non-white people are elected to high office.

Israeli television runs a series of programmes targeting homophobia. As always, the comments section attracts the people who should pay the most attention to the topic.

This is quite funny.

I voted in favour of Sweden joining the euro in the 2003 referendum. The majority voted against, so Sweden kept its national currency. Now a new poll suggests people have changed their minds. If a referendum were held today, more people would vote in favour of a changeover. Personally, I would welcome a new referendum. But I realise that it will take at least another five years before I have a new opportunity to vote for the euro.

I’m working on an essay about Jewish nationhood. When looking for an article online, I came across Marc Chagall’s painting of Moses receiving the Torah from God at Mount Sinai. According to religious legend, this marked the birth of the Jewish nation. No matter what you think about the story of Moses and God’s Torah, it plays an important political role to this day.

Church of England priest John Richardson sees no problem with genocide if it protects Christians from treating gay people as equals to others.

Dave Rattigan has more.

This eighteenth century painting is made by an unknown artists. I don’t know why I like it, but I do.

BBC put the question to the audience of its radio programme “Africa, Have Your Say”. The majority of the callers seem to think gay people should be put to death.

Listen to the programme here.

Update: BBC faces hard criticism after the programme.

“Suggesting that the state-sponsored murder of gay people is OK as a legitimate topic for debate is deeply offensive,” says Lynne Featherstone of the Liberal Democrats.

“We should be looking at what is going on in Uganda with abhorrence. We should be condemning it, and the BBC should be condemning it,” says Eric Joyce of the Labour Party. “Instead it seems to have thought it appropriate to come up with something that suggests it’s a subject for discussion.”

In a public letter, programme editor David Stead tries to explain:

The editors of the BBC Africa Have Your Say programme thought long and hard about using this question which prompted a lot of internal debate.

We agree that it is a stark and challenging question, but think that it accurately focuses on and illustrates the real issue at stake.

If Uganda’s democratically elected MPs vote to proceed with the Anti-Homosexuality Bill this week they will bring onto the statute book legislation that could condemn people to death for some homosexual activities.

I wonder if there is any other group of people that could possibly be discussed in these terms. Imagine a programme questioning your right to live!

In a resolution, the European Parliament strongly condemns the anti-gay bill that the Ugandan parliament is set to vote on tomorrow. If the bill is approved, the new law will not only prohibit homosexual sex (already illegal under existing Ugandan law) but open for courts to sentence gays and lesbians to death.

The resolution:

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the international human rights obligations and instruments, including those contained in the UN conventions on human rights and in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, guaranteeing human rights and fundamental freedoms and prohibiting discrimination,

–   having regard to the Cotonou Agreement and the human rights clauses contained therein, in particular Article 9,

–   having regard to Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Article 19 of the EC Treaty, which commit the EU, and the Member States, to upholding human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide means to fight discrimination and human rights violations at European level,

–   having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Article 21 thereof, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation,

–   having regard to all EU activities to fight homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation,

–   having regard to its previous resolutions on homophobia, protection of minorities and anti-discrimination policies, in particular that of 18 January 2006 on homophobia in Europe, that of 15 June 2006 on the increase in racist and homophobic violence in Europe, and that of 26 April 2007 on homophobia in Europe,

–   having regard to the meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) held in Luanda on 28 November 2009,

–   having regard to the ACP-EU JPA resolution of 3 December 2009 on social and cultural integration and participation of young people,

–   having regard to Rule 122(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.   whereas on 25 September 2009 David Bahati MP tabled the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009’ in the Ugandan Parliament,

B.   whereas the bill proposes to introduce harsher penalties to criminalise homosexuality and punish those alleged to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) with life imprisonment or the death penalty,

C.   whereas the bill includes a provision that could lead to the imprisonment for up to three years of anyone, including heterosexual people, who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or who supports the human rights of people who are,

D.   whereas the bill provides for Uganda to nullify any of its international or regional commitments that it deems to be in contradiction with the provisions of the bill,

E.   whereas the bill has already been condemned by European Commissioner De Gucht, the British, French and Swedish governments, President Obama and the chair and vice-chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives,

F.   whereas the proposed law has been denounced by non-governmental organisations around the world and in Uganda itself as a major obstacle to fighting HIV-Aids in the homosexual community,

G.   whereas in Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality is legal in only 13 countries and a punishable offence in 38 countries, with Mauritania, Sudan and northern Nigeria also stipulating the death penalty for homosexuality, and whereas the adoption of such a law in Uganda could have spill-over effects in other African countries, where persons are or could be persecuted because of their sexual orientation,

1.   Underlines that sexual orientation is a matter falling within the remit of the individual right to privacy as guaranteed by international human rights law, according to which equality and non‑discrimination should be promoted, whilst freedom of expression should be guaranteed; in this context, condemns the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009’;

2.   Calls, therefore, on the Ugandan authorities not to approve the bill and to review their laws so as to decriminalise homosexuality;

3.   Reminds the Ugandan Government of its obligations under international law and under the Cotonou Agreement, which calls for universal human rights to be respected;

4.   Recalls statements by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee that a state cannot, through its domestic law, negate its international human rights obligations;

5.   Is extremely concerned that international donors, non-governmental organisations and humanitarian organisations would have to reconsider or cease their activities in certain fields should the bill pass into law;

6.   Rejects firmly any moves to introduce the death penalty;

7.   Calls on the Council and Commission to make urgent representations to the Ugandan authorities and, should the bill pass into law and breaches of international human rights law take place, reconsider their involvement with Uganda, including by proposing another venue for the Rome Statute Review Conference scheduled for 31 May 2010;

8.   Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to analyse the situation in third countries in relation to executions, criminalisation or discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and to take concerted international action to promote respect for human rights in those countries through appropriate means, including working in partnership with local NGOs;

9.   Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the President of the Republic of Uganda and the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament

In the latest issue of Swedish gay magazine QX, Olympic athlete Peter Häggström comes out. Today, I read in The Times that British rugby star Gareth Thomas do the same. If this openness is a new trend in sports, it’s a welcome one.

Since I came out in the early 1990s, it has bothered me that gay sportsmen feel they have to hide and lie about their private life. I remember one case the most. It was in 1994 and Sweden’s national football team was at its top. One of the top players was bisexual, and quite a few people knew he had a long-term relationship with a man. But in interviews he went on about this imaginary girlfriend of his. It was embarrassing to watch him humiliate himself in the media when we knew his “girlfriend” was a man.

Anyhow, I welcome the brave decision by Häggström and Thomas and hope it’s a new trend. Keeping one’s private life private is one thing, but lying about what is perhaps the most important thing in life is not good for anyone.

The first snow fell over Malmö on Friday. Now the city has come to a halt due to the snow in the streets. It rarely snows in this part of Sweden, so many people that normally drive their cars prefer to take the bus or walk. I took this picture with my iPhone when I walked through the city centre yesterday. It’s difficult to tell from the picture, but the city was strangely calm and quiet, and the air felt cleaner than it normally does. Perhaps fewer cars in the city is not such a bad idea?

Like most people, I was taught that the Bible condemns homosexuality. So when I understood that I was gay and could do nothing about it, I figured I had nothing to gain from studying the Bible. Many years later, something drew me to study philosophy of religion, Judaism, and re-read the Books of Moses. To my surprise I realised that the strong condemnation everybody seems to take for granted could be read as two quite harmless instructions to gay and bisexual Jews. In short, a man should not treat his male lover as a woman, and he should not sleep with men while in a serious relationship with a woman.

In Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Andrew Sachs, director of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, reviews a new book entitled Torah Queeries. I have not yet read the book, but I have followed the Jewish Mosaic website for quite some time and think Rabbi Sachs is right in his favourable review.

Lawmakers in Mexico City have become the first in South America to legalise same-sex marriage.

Jim Burroway of the Box Turtle Bulletin has a new disturbing article about the anti-homosexuality bill that is being voted on in the Ugandan parliament any day now. Homophobic pastors in Uganda have written a letter complaining about American pastor Rick Warren. They don’t like that he spoke up against sentencing gay people to death for the crime of loving another human being.

The letter is written by Martin Ssempa—probably the most evil homophobe on the planet—and contains several disturbing passages that all seek to legitimise inhuman treatment of gay people.

In a no-nonsense list, Jim Burroway sums up what the bill is about:

• Expanding the definitions for homosexual acts, making conviction easier. Current law requires evidence of penetration. The new law would expand the definition of homosexual activity to “touch(ing) another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.” Touching itself is defined as “touching—(a) with any part of the body; (b) with anything else; (c) through anything; and in particular includes touching amounting to penetration of any sexual organ—anus or mouth.
• Affirming Uganda’s lifetime imprisonment for those convicted of homosexuality.
• Defining a new crime of “aggravated homosexuality” for those who engage in sex with someone under the age of 18, who are HIV-positive, who is a “repeat offender” (so broadly defined as to include anyone who has had a relationship with more than one person, or who had sex with the same person more than once), or who had sex with a disabled person (consensual or not). The penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is death by hanging.
• Requiring anyone arrested on suspicion of homosexuality to undergo HIV testing to determine the individual’s qualification for prosecution of “aggravated homosexuality.”
• Criminalizing “attempted homosexuality” with imprisonment of seven years.
• Criminalizing all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of LGBT citizens in Uganda with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years.
• Criminalizing the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.
• Adding a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.
• Penalizing landlords and hotel owners with five to seven years imprisonment for renting to LGBT people.
• Adding an extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.
• Voiding all international treaties, agreements and human rights obligations which conflict with this bill.

Good news from Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni says he might veto the bill that would allow courts to sentence gay people to death.

Meanwhile in America, five top Republicans condemn the Ugandan bill and urge the president to veto it.

I now got myself a Twitter account. I don’t intend to use it for anything but promoting this blog. But if you’re one of those fans of Twitter, now you can follow me there, too.

I wish my readers a happy holiday. I will spend the next few days finishing some writing before my annual New Year’s trip to Amsterdam. The blog will rest for a week. I figure most of you will do other things than read blogs anyhow.

Someone put a Christmas tree in front of the house where I live. I snapped a photo of it last night. Not the best picture, but it’s not really the best tree either. Up close, it looks like it’s been through a lot.

I went to Copenhagen last night. The city was deserted—on a Friday night! I had to walk several blocks before I found an open bar.

I realise Christmas is the reason people stayed at home, but to see a big city go silent like that made me think of horror movies. It was a bit like New York in I Am Legend with Will Smith running around in empty streets trying to kill monsters that lurk in the dark buildings.

Christmas is scary.

Women wearing tallits when they pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem are being called “Nazis” by the ultra-Orthodox and are arrested by the police. A rabbi compares this to what happened to religious people in communist Soviet Union. He does have a point.

Considering Sweden has a population of 9.4 million people, this is quite impressive.

“Opposition sources in Iran say that at least four protesters have been shot dead in violent clashes between anti-government crowds and police,” BBC reports.

I hope the protesters can overturn the Iranian dictatorship. That would be liberation not only for the Iranian people but a chance for peace and stability in the whole region. Iran is the number one reason Hamas and other terrorist organisations can continue to launch missiles into civilian areas inside Israel. Get rid of the weapons from Iran and the peace process has a chance to recover.

With a democratic government in Tehran, we might even have a solution to the looming nuclear threat.

A new Swedish website informs about the Palestinian terror that led to the Gaza war a year ago. For eight years, Israeli civilians had to live with daily rocket attacks. The Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas launched thousands of missiles from schools and residential areas in the Gaza Strip.

I have friends who live only a few kilometres from Gaza. I know about their sleepless nights and their fear of being killed. Unfortunately, people in Sweden and elsewhere are only too eager to ignore the pain and suffering of the Israelis. So I welcome the new website, named “2922 sämnlösa nätter” after the number of nights the Israelis put up with Hamas’s terror before answering the fire.

Visit the website here.

The climate activists in Washington would say at least three thousand or so:

The total number of climate lobbyists working for all those interest groups, new and old, stands at about 2,780—five for every member of Congress. That’s 400 percent more than when lawmakers first considered a nationwide greenhouse gas emissions reduction program six years ago. If they all want a place at the Senate’s table, there had better be plenty of chairs.

I think we could halt global warming just by making the lobbyists carpool.

A disturbing video shows the brutality of Iran’s regime.

A year ago, I wrote down my New Year’s resolutions. I must now shamefully admit that I failed on both my promises.

Firstly, I promised myself that I would begin to write the book I have been thinking about for so long. I haven’t. Instead, I have focused on academic writing. But the book fantasies are still present, and I will try to do something about them in the future.

Secondly, I promised, “I will go to the gym for exercise at least three times a week, and I will avoid eating sweet and fattening food I know is bad for me.” Well, I have been to the gym quite a few times in 2009, but nothing like three times a week. And unhealthy food is still popular in my house. I realise that I must better myself.

Oh well, now I have learned that New Year’s resolutions are not for me. Now it’s time to prepare for tonight’s festivities.

Happy New Year!