David JS, “I believe the gay movement can play a part in liberalising the generally conservative Muslim subculture in Australia.” you are either naive, or blind. You have no hope of altering the islamic approach to gays. Muslin gays choose top be muslim, christian gays choose to be Christian, their problem.

Look how muslims treat women, disgusting, look the the amount of segregation there is within their culture. Look at how much compassion they have for those that are different, exclusion and death. Not much different to how the christians were not so long ago.

Don't rely on John Howard or any politician to stand up for this country, they sole aim is to make us slaves of a political and economic dictatorship. After all, they started this war, which allows them to remove our freedoms and take more and more control of our lives without any benefit to the people..

I note that some of the religious are complaining about the fear of child molestation by gays, but the facts are, that there have been very few incidence of child rape or abuse by gays, if any in this country.

The statistical facts show that a large proportion of the child molesters, come from within the christian church.

One of my closest friends, the head of a christian church was the first to provide a spiritual union for gays in Australia, in Perth back in the 70's. I have never seen a problem with that and never will. If gays wish to live within the same fantasy as the religious, then so be it and I wish them the best.

Just remember cobber, it wouldn't matter what you were in an islamic culture, if you ain't a submissive muslim, you have no rights and maybe only death to look forward to. They do a good job of killing each other, another common fault of the religious. Good article though, got em going.

I am not sure what you mean that gays do not commit sexual acts against boys? The majority of sexual acts committed on young boys in Church schools and boys groups were homosexual acts, [not hetrosexual] many of them by celebant Priests. Most of the long term sexual abuse cases that occupied the Police and Courts were homosexual acts. Does the Church have a case to remove homosexuality from its precinct? You can be sure it has, and will do!

A lifelong bond with a concenting adult partner may be their business, but it has impacts that affect society. The Muslim community recognise that and they will deal with it in their way - death. It may be hard, but they deal with drug runners in the same way.

Quote from Reasaon, "Simply look at the number of homosexual men in Sydney. If they were all child molesters, the numbers the police would have to deal with would be phenomenal."

Reason said,."In any case, the homosexual hurts no one – not even himself or herself."

The incidence of AIDS in Sydney is the highest in the Nation and increasing and over 80% of cases is found in gay men. A huge health problem - apparently they hurt no one. How about the drain on health budget? that is 10 times higher per head than of the hetrosexual population for viral sexually transmitted disease.

As a previous post suggested,perhaps the Gay community can do an Islamic Float for us all at the next Mardi Gra.Instead of nuns being the sex slaves we could have women in the hijab.I haven't seen them do a send up of paedophile priests or ministers though,perhaps this is too contentious.

Will they have the courage to send up Islam's homophobia and hypocracy?My bet is that they won't because of the possible violent backlash and will continue to pick on easy prey,whom they know won't react violently.

If the anti religious vilification laws of Victoria come to NSW,then a few more floats will disappear.

Do we want censorship for fear fo the potentially violent nature of another group?If any religion speaks truth and is the only way to reach god, it should surely withstands the rigors of ridicule and satire.

BOAZ_David claims
If Evangelical Christians are 'in power'.
The worst you should experience
a) adoption of children,
b) same sex marriage,
c) the teaching of Homosexual behavior as 'normal' in school curricula
I suggest you check out www.pink-triangle.org to see what really happens when Christians are in power?
Christians like to claim that somehow there form of mythology is the lesser of two evils.
If you choose the lesser evil; you still end up with evil.
EVERYONE has missed the main point of the article, ie; gay Muslims caught between outrage at homophobic comments of their leaders and the racist elements of Australian society, including the queer community.
How big a role does religion and culture play in homophobia?
Whilst many atrocities can be attributed to religious & cultural beliefs; you also find western, secular, Atheists can also be vehemently homophobic.
I tend to believe that homophobia, like racism, relates to a persons experiences or lack there of.
The mob mentality can also take control of a situation, very quickly, as we have seen repeatedly throughout the history of the world. Nazi Germany is a prime (Christian) example, but there are many others.
Legislation giving queers true and full equality in all areas of life is part of the answer, but there also needs to be education and this comes through our participation or interaction with the wider community and their reciprocation.
This includes us standing up to gay hate or vilification, simply telling the world that it is wrong.
To remain silent is to agree with the oppressor.
How many times have you heard (or uttered) the words "I don't like gays, but you're OK"? Change "gays" to straights, Muslims, Christians, Jews or even New Zealanders and you start to see how wrong the quote really is. It is ignorance, they don't realise that "you" are just like any other gay man or lesbian, with all the same qualities and problems as the rest of society.
Religion may give an excuse for acts of hatred; however it is never a justification. People of conscience realise this.

Muslim political party formed in Australia, called 'BEST PARTY of ALLAH in AUSTRALIA'. They applied for registration in ACT monday, 5 September 2005.He has more than 100 members so far for the federal system (he needs 500 members).

Founder and President Kurt Kennedy, from Vietnam says he converted to Islam after reading the Qur'an.

Kennedy says that members must support the teachings of Allah and that the wants to see the laws of Allah - known in some countries as Sharia law - introduced.

"(Koranic law) isn't inconsistent with the best laws we have in Australia," Mr Kennedy told AAP. "We want leaders who believe in Allah and will legislate accordingly for the laws that Allah prefers for our personal lives."
Mr. Kurt Kennedy a 2004 candidate for the elections to the ACT Legislative Assembly. Since forming the BEST PARTY and has been recruiting members with the help of other members.

Their website and media reports
The use of Allah is interesting because most 'moderate' Muslims try and use the name 'God' to make Islam more compatible with Australia and to remove some of the feeling of differences between religions.
The website is at http://freedom.homemail.com.au/ - click on the various sections once in the site...

There are sections on
Media Release

"We acknowledge that as Australian citizens, we will abide by its civil laws and the rule of law. And as Believers in Allah we also have a commitment to the rule of Allah's laws in our personal lives", said Mr. Kennedy, "These laws are found in the Noble Qur'an and on the whole are not inconsistent with the best laws that Australian parliaments has to offer."

This is an achievable goal, as there are nearly 500,000 (and ever growing) Believers in Australia - enough to immediately elect at least four BEST PARTY members into the Australian Parliament House."
"You will not have any difficulty imagining one day, the BEST PARTY will control the majority in Parliament House".

"Membership to the BEST PARTY is free and is open to Believers and supporters of Believers, even if they are non-Believers.

Constitution "Best Party Of Allah"

"You [Believers] are the BEST of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin al-ma'ruf (i.e. the doing of good deeds) and forbid al-munkar (polytheism, disbelief and bad deeds), and you believe in Allah."

'Membership'
Believers and non-believers.

You may join the Best Party if you are a citizen of any age and you:

(a) are Believer;

(b) become Believer declare to two Life Members: "I declare there is no deity except Allah; and I declare Muhammad is a Prophet of Allah"; or

(c) you declare to at least two Life Members that:

you are interested in learning what is in the Noble Qur'an;
you are interested in how it can be applied to society in practice.

All Believers are entitled to become Life Members who can revoke their membership at will.

Those who are not yet Believers can become Ordinary Members who can revoke their membership at will and such membership is terminable at the discretion of the Secretary.

All members are committed to strive in the path of Allah by continuous campaigning and contesting in all available elections.

Members can be expelled if they "shows a lack of confidence in: (a) the clear messages of the Noble Qur'an; (b) the unity of Allah; or (c) the prophethood of Muhammad.

On Australian Government Policies they say
1. There is no such thing as terrorism created by men. There are just people killing each other for fear, greed and revenge. See how Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded and occupied because they were weak countries with substantial resources? The invaders gave the reason for invasion based on a fear of emerging Islamic militancy but were actually based on greed for oil and greed for markets.
They quote the Qur'an - for example....

WE SHALL CAST TERROR INTO THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO DISBELIEVE, BECAUSE THEY JOINED OTHERS IN WORSHIP WITH ALLAH, FOR WHICH HE HAD SENT NO AUTHORITY; THEIR ABODE WILL BE THE FIRE AND HOW EVIL IS THE ABODE OF THE ZALIMUN (POLYTHEISTS AND WRONG�DOERS). [Chapter 003 - AL-IMRÂN. Verse 151.