Category Archives: Politics
Are We on the Right Side of History?
A gay activist waves a gay pride American flag outside the Supreme Court on March 26 | Reuters
By Michael Toumayan
FLArmenians Guest Contributor
In a landmark ruling for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights, the Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law signed by then President Bill Clinton blocking federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In a separate case, the court ruled that it could not take up a challenge to Proposition 8, the California law that banned same-sex marriage in that state. That decision means that marriage equality will once again be legal in California.
This is a watershed moment in the fight for equality with the Supreme Court delivering justice to millions of Americans and to the thousands of LGBT Armenian-Americans who have been denied their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Yet it is increasingly clear that we now have two Americas – one where our relationships are recognized and we are protected from discrimination in 13 States and the District of Columbia, and another that has yet to feel the effects of our progress and LGBT people remain second-class citizens, including in the State of Florida.
Sadly, we find many LGBT Armenian-Americans living under this same pretext for far too long – in an America that celebrates and protects who we are as Armenians and the other in our community centers and churches that marginalize and stigmatize LGBT Armenians for whom they love. No one should choose between who they are and whom they love.
I recognize that there are deeply held views on this issue and deeply fierce opposition by the Armenian Church hierarchy. But we cannot pretend to be a nation seeking restorative justice and recognition of our painful history and add the word “but” if we are truly genuine in our collective quest for justice for all.
This is a debate about equal rights under the law. It is about freedom from discrimination and stigmatization the way we were once discriminated and stigmatized as Christians in the Ottoman Empire. It is about the legal protections and responsibilities, and more than 1,100 rights, obligations and benefits afforded by the legal institution of marriage that, prior to the DOMA ruling, were denied to same-sex Armenian American couples. It is also about real people: your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and neighbors. And finally, it is about witnessing and reflecting the love and commitment between two people.
Given our 1,700 years of Christian heritage, I’d like to sum up the whole law in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Galatians 5:15.
For if truly we, as the Armenian nation, are on a quest to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice for all, then surely we must stand on the right side of history by resisting all forms of bigotry and dedicating ourselves to the advancement of social justice and human dignity of both the living and the deceased.
And if truly we belong to the body of our Lord Jesus Christ through the One, Holy, Catholic (Universal) and Apostolic Church, then surely we are commanded to love, treat with respect and defend our LGBT Armenian sisters and brothers and any other marginalized groups both in the U.S. and in our beloved Hairenik (fatherland), no matter what your Biblical conviction is on homosexuality. This we know as absolute: Christ’s ministry was inclusive and he said that if we commit hate in our hearts we have committed murder – thus, we should take discrimination, hate-talk and the bullying of any marginalized group very seriously. If our tragic history hasn’t taught us anything, then I do not know what will. To learn more specifics on how the Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Prop 8 might affect you, please visit www.hrc.org/SCOTUS.
Michael Toumayan is a program assistant at the Human Rights Campaign and an independent political commentator on the Caucasus and Middle East. A graduate of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, he holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution and mediation from Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel. He can be reached at michael.toumayan@hrc.org.
Pope Francis Armenian Genocide Comment Angers Turkish Government
By Alexandra Ward
Newsmax Media, Florida
Pope Francis intends to visit Armenia in 2015 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the pontiff told a delegation last week.
The pontiff also referred to the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as “the first genocide of the 20th century.”
At events commemorating the killings’ 91st anniversary in 2006, while he was still a cardinal in Argentina, he said the mass killings were the “gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey.”
This article originally appeared on www.Newsmax.com and is available in its entirety here. It is reprinted with the expressed written consent of Newsmax Media, Inc.
Mysterious Muslim Charter School Hires Broward Democrat Chairman As Lobbyist
By Red Broward
A proposed Broward charter school with ties to Fethullah Gulen, the mysterious Islamic cleric, hired Broward Democrat Chairman Mitchell Ceasar as its lobbyist before the Broward County School Board. Known as “Gulen Schools,” followers of Gulen have built thousands of charter schools all over the world. Last May, CBS News 60 Minutes television program documented the growing Gulen school movement in the United States. 60 Minutes said Gulen, living in seclusion in the Poconos mountains, appears only via video webcasts. Gulen, a Turkish citizen, was accused of treason by calling for an Islamic coup of the Turkish government. The report mentioned classified emails released by Wikileaks which disclosed some in the Turkish government see Gulen as a “political leader such as Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.”
Fetullah Gulen
The 60 Minutes report covered accusations that Gulen schools abuse U.S. immigration laws by bringing in thousands of Turkish citizens to teach math and science at the charter schools. An official with a Texas charter school group called the claim “not sure” saying Turkish citizens are brought over because of a lack of “qualified” American teachers. But 60 Minutes found that visa applications for Gulen teachers listed them as “English teachers.” Oops! Some American teachers claim Gulen teachers are forced to give a portion of their salaries back to the Gulen movement.
Paging the Broward Teachers Union!
Dating back to 2007, Gulen followers, under the name of Riverside Science Inc., have been trying to open a charter school in Broward County. Their first try, Riverside Science Academy, failed after school officials were unable to secure a lease. Just before the start of the 2012-13 school year, the group’s second try, “Broward Math And Science School,” was denied the right to open a Margate campus. CBS 4 News reported, “The district said each school failed to submit documentation of certain provisions they had to meet before the July 20th deadline. The schools in question were given several reminders of the deadline and notified that ‘Failure to provide the required documents within the specific timeframe terminated the charter agreement.’”
So like any other business seeking government influence, Riverside Science Inc. decided they needed a lobbyist. According to Broward Schools lobbyist records, the group hired Mitchell Ceasar in December 2012.
Caesar, a Plantation attorney, is also the chairman of the Broward Democrat Executive Committee.
Sure, local Republicans and Tea Party groups will be quick to blast Caesar for helping the controversial Gulen followers. However, even liberals may find fault with the Gulen schools.
The New York Times reported on State of Georgia audits which found Gulen charter schools funneled money and contracts to other Gulen followers. “The audit, released Tuesday by the Fulton County Schools near Atlanta, found the schools made purchases like T-shirts, teacher training and video production services from organizations with connections to school officials or Gulen followers. Those included more than $500,000 in contracts since January 2010 with the Grace Institute, a foundation whose board has included school leaders. In some cases the awards skirted bidding requirements, the audit said.”
Why is Mitch Caesar so eager to help followers of a shadowy Muslim cleric funnel taxpayer dollars to Turkey and who knows where? Broward school dollars should be spent in Broward, not in the Poconos mountains or Turkey.
This story originally appeared on The Daily Broward and is reprinted with the permission of the author.
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