Bishop Mark Hansen washing the feet of HIV-positive women to show humility and to repent the church's former sins towards HIV-infected groups.
This took place at the ecumenical AIDS
pre-conference in Mexico, where Bishop Mark S. Hanson, President of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, washed the feet of Sophie Dilmitis and Herlyn Uiras, as part of a session on stigma and
discrimination against HIV-positive and AIDS-infected.
"We must show remorse"
Hanson said that only after washing the women's feet, could he initiate his speech with his
integrity intact. "I am totally convinced that we – the church leaders – and everybody in the ecclesiastical society, who have disgraced people with AIDS, must begin to show signs of remorse
in public. If we don't, I am afraid that people will not trust us in the future."
Male heterosexual leaders must be ready to talk openly and vulnerably about their own sexuality in stead of the
sexuality among gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transvestites, Hanson said. The human sexuality must not become an issue which defines or splits the church, as it is Jesus' good Gospel which defines the
church.
Homophobia obstructs HIV prevention
Besides, Bishop Hanson and many others at the conference mentioned homophobia as one of the big problems in HIV prevention. In spite of this positive
step there is still a long way to go.
At the pre-conference gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transvestites held a meeting, where they produced a strong statement. The statement praises the generally
positive and including atmosphere at the conference, where sexual orientation and love between people of the same sex and transsexuality for the first time have been very obvious in the debates at the
pre-conference.
At the same time the group stresses that many challenges are still outstanding. People with another sexual orientation are often spoken of as "them" compared to "us", as if all
categories were not represented among us. There has been no open statement from any of the panellists regarding sexual orientation, and none of the workshops had the item on the agenda.
Among other
the statement recommends:
Religious leaders should be more inclusive
Everybody must assume responsibility for the language used so it does not offend anyone
We must
include positive announcements regarding sexuality and make space for positive dialogue
We must include persons with another sexual orientation in future planning groups.
All in
all it was a good and constructive pre-conference which proves that many religious leaders have come a lot closer to an active and constructive engagement regarding fighting discrimination and
stigmatization – including discrimination of people with other sexual orientation. At the same time, they are also beginning to address other areas which are very difficult to handle for churches
and other religious institutions, not least gender inequality, which strongly contributes to maintain the large extent worldwide of the AIDS pandemic.
Religious leaders who seriously start dealing
with these sensitive issues contribute to ensure that the religious institutions become part of the solution – and not part of the problem in relation to the spreading of HIV.
See broad-cast from the pre-conference on EAA website hereGay men and HIV on the
agenda
Jorge Saavedra,
leader of Mexico's national HIV/AIDS Programme
The main AIDS conference has also increased focus on sex between men. At the opening of the conference most of the keynote speakers
mentioned homophobia as one of the most important areas to address. As Dr. Jorge Saavedra from Mexico said Tuesday at the plenary session: "Finally a plenary session dedicated to men who have sex with
men!".
We have advanced since Toronto, but still have a lot to do, not least by convincing the leaders in Africa into recognizing that homosexuality and HIV must be addressed as well, in order to put
a stop to the infection. Far too many African homosexuals are being discriminated and criminalized and have to hide their sexual orientation in an atmosphere which does not include them actively and
positively in the national AIDS-activities. It is about time to hold the international AIDS-conference in Africa again and it is regrettable that four years must pass before the continent most
severely affected by AIDS may once again provide the framework for this event.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Georgian women living in Bulgaria attend a prayer in Bachkovo monastery, some 160km (99miles) east of the capital Sofia August 21, 2008, during prayer for the victims in the conflict with ...
