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DR. GANDHI’S SERVICE AS A NATIONAL LEADER OF SOULFORCE, AND ESPECIALLY HIS PRESENCE AT THE 2000 PROTEST OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS GATHERING, SHOWS DR. GANDHI IS IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO THE CHURCH’S ‘FUNDAMENTAL MORAL PRINCIPLES’ WHEN IT COMES TO HOMOSEXUAL UNIONS AND THE ORDINATION OF ACTIVE HOMOSEXUALS

DR. GANDHI’S RECORD OF ASSOCIATION WITH SOULFORCE

Dr. Gandhi is a nationally known leader and “hero” of Soulforce, inc. Soulforce is an ecumenical group “committed to ending spiritual violence perpetuated by religious policies and teachings against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals” (Soulforce Mission Statement).

In 2000, Dr. Gandhi joined Soulforce to march on the United Methodist Church’s national gathering in Cleveland. This civil disobedience, which included attempting to hold a prayer vigil on the floor of the convention, led to the arrest of Dr. Ghandi and 185 others. Dr. Gandhi described the religious “discrimination” against gays as “oppression” that his grandfather would have opposed.

Before the protest march, he joined a Soulforce press conference. A Soulforce press release announcing the event said: ‚ÄúGandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi; Dr. Martin Luther King’s eldest daughter, Yolanda King; and notable civil rights leaders of the ’50s and ’60s will announce their opposition to the war against homosexuals being waged by the United Methodist Church and other Protestant and Catholic denominations at an historic press conference.‚Äù (emphasis added)

The local Akron Beacon Journal, reporting on the press conference, said, “‘Much of the discrimination against gays and lesbians is generated by the church. Religion is about reuniting people and bringing people together,’ said Gandhi, 66, of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Memphis. ‘Religion should be concerned with taking humanity toward salvation and God, but the church is very divisive on this issue.’ Gandhi and the other speakers urged people of faith to change policies that they view as discriminatory against homosexuals.”

According to a December 2000 article concerning Dr. Gandhi in OutSmart Magazine, the GLBT magazine for the Houston, Texas area, he had participated in six civil disobedience protests with Soulforce at that point.

Also in December of 2000, he participated in a rally with Soulforce, Equal Partners in Faith, and Dignity/USA “to protest the anti-gay teachings of the Catholic Church during the annual National Council of Catholic Bishops (NCCB)” meeting. The “Vigil Against Roman Catholic Injustice” included 280 protesters blocking the entrance to the basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in the Western Hemisphere. Police later arrested 104 people. The protestors sought radical departures from church teaching, including rewriting the Catechism.

In 2002, he was featured as the lead speaker attracting people to the “Journey to Justice” on a Soulforce promotional. He led a three-day training session on nonviolence at the Soulforce Institute of Nonviolent Social Change. The Journey was timed to target the Southern Baptist Convention’s national gathering, which Soulforce protested.

WHAT DOES SOULFORCE SAY ABOUT THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH?
All quotes are taken from Soulforce’s webpage, www.soulforce.org

FAQS: “What is the Primary Goal of Soulforce?
‚ĶThe Roman Catholic Church teaches that our orientation is “objectively disordered” and our acts of intimacy “intrinsically evil.” They teach that we should not marry, adopt, co-parent, teach children, coach youth or serve in the military. ‚Ķ We believe these teachings lead to discrimination, suffering, and death. Our goal is to confront and eventually replace these tragic untruths with the truth that we are God’s children, too, created, loved, and accepted by God exactly as we are.”

Also: “The Pope/Vatican and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) continue to make spiritually violent statements and policies against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, both politically and socially. These policies hurt people both inside and outside the church.”

‚Äú‚Ķthese acts continue to reflect a growing atmosphere of homophobia within our Church. To many of us, it would appear that the Catholic Church is bent on driving all its LGBT Catholics out of the Church, once and for all. But the Catholic Church’s support of the FMA [Federal Marriage Amendment], affects much more than just Catholics. The Catholic Church has often been in the forefront in the fight for justice for all God’s children. It deeply hurts us to watch as the Church leads a fight to discriminate against LGBTs.‚Äù

ANOTHER PRO-GAY ACTION BY DR. GHANDI

Dr. Gandhi offered advance praise for the book Shirt of Flame: The Secret Gay Art of War, calling it “An excellent book that promotes better understanding.”
Other endorsers included the executive director of Michigan’s Triangle Foundation, who said, ‚ÄúKo Imani has laid down a challenge to LGBT activists and it’s a very provocative challenge at that. The community envisioned could, as he suggests, lead a cultural shift far beyond the boundaries of the so-called ‘gay liberation movement.’ It’s a remarkable and revolutionary discipline, and one that Ko offers with grace, understanding and love.” Also endorsing the book were the author of Mindful Masturbation: Transforming Male Self-Pleasuring into a Spiritual Practice, the author of Gay Perspective: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us About the Nature of God and the Universe, and the editor of Whosoever Magazine for GLBT Christians.

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