Par Le National
© Roger-Luc Chayer / Le National


Les homosexuels sur le Net, des caméras partout aux Pays-Bas, Une religieuse "pour" l'homosexualité et union de la droite religieuse contre les gais...

 

AMSTERDAM (AFP),27/09/99 à 16:27

Pays-Bas: "Big Brother", ou le voyeurisme télévisé. A cent jours de l'an 2000, "Big Brother" a fait irruption sur les téléviseurs néerlandais. Il s'agit de la première émission-jeu à heure de grande écoute fondée sur le voyeurisme, reconnaissent volontiers ses producteurs. Tous les soirs, la chaîne privée Veronica entame juste avant le journal principal de la télévision publique la diffusion de 25 minutes de morceaux choisis dans la vie de captifs volontaires. Ces derniers --cinq hommes et quatre femmes de 20 à 44 ans au début du "jeu"-- ont été coupés pour cent jours de tout accès au monde extérieur, dans une maison avec jardin truffée de micros et caméras épiant leurs moindres faits et gestes. Après les éliminations ou départs volontaires, le dernier qui restera dans la maison-studio construite pour l'occasion près d'Amsterdam empochera pour le Nouvel An, la bagatelle de 250.000 florins (113.636 euros). L'émission a aussi son site internet (www.big-brother.nl), devenu en quelques jours le plus visité des Pays-Bas. On peut, quand il n'est pas saturé, y voir en direct les scènes filmées par quatre des 24 caméras installées, dont certaines à infra-rouge. Ce programme, dont le nom de "Grand Frère" est tiré du livre de George Orwell "1984" sur l'horreur d'un système totalitaire capable de tout voir et tout entendre, "Ça n'aurait pas été possible il y a dix ans. Il correspond à ce que l'on peut faire aujourd'hui dans notre société", dit le producteur Paul Roemer, de la société Endemol. Le mot d'ordre donné est de faire preuve de bonne humeur, mais ce "soap opéra réel" dégage plutôt un "ennui mortel", selon la plupart des téléspectateurs interrogés. Après plus d'un million de téléspectateurs, soit une part de marché de 28% le premier jour, l'audience est rapidement retombée. Endemol assure cependant que les télévisions étrangères se bousculent pour acheter les droits. L'Institut des psychologues des Pays-Bas a qualifié cette expérience d'"irresponsable". Selon son président, Henk van der Molen, "la dynamique de groupe et la privation complète d'intimité peuvent notamment conduire les participants à développer des troubles de personnalité". Les producteurs répondent qu'ils ont pris toutes les précautions nécessaires, avec à disposition 24 heures sur 24 un service médical et des psychologues. Les candidats ont été choisis parmi 2.500 personnes ayant répondu à une petite annonce: "Cent jours sans intimité. Pas de contact avec le monde extérieur. Des caméras partout, et une récompense de 250.000 florins. Etes-vous prêts à relever le défi?". Une des élues, la quadragénaire Karin, a confié qu'elle était surtout curieuse de voir comment son mari et ses quatre enfants allaient "se débrouiller" sans elle. Les producteurs ont mis quelques limites à leur voyeurisme. Ils ont assuré que les participants ne seraient "pas montrés dans des situations qui pourraient leur nuire par la suite". Pour l'instant, les images les plus osées à avoir été diffusées ont été des scènes de nu filmées de dos, ou de déshabillage s'arrêtant aux sous-vêtements. Hommes et femmes passent la nuit dans un dortoir séparé. Malgré ces garde-fous, la plus jeune des candidate, Tara, 20 ans, n'a tenu que 11 jours. Elle a annoncé dimanche qu'elle se retirait de l'émission pour cause de stress...

 

 

September 27, 1999 San Jose Mercury News.

Gay reverend preaches acceptance Rights group plans to meet with Falwell. The last time the Rev. Mel White, a gay-rights activist, set foot in an area church, he was with his evangelical Christian parents, who believed homosexuality was a sin. On Sunday, with mom and dad looking on proudly, the Santa Cruz native preached about a planned October meeting between gay-rights supporters and the Rev. Jerry Falwell. ``For me, the homecoming was having my parents here to hear me preach with tears in their eyes,'' said White, who now lives in Laguna Beach, where he founded Soulforce, an ecumenical group that aims to advance gay rights through the non-violent teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Much of White's effort is focused on encouraging churches and synagogues to welcome gays and lesbians into their congregations. White's talk Sunday, the last of three in the Bay Area, was at the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Jose. The Lutheran church offered space to the talk's sponsor, the Celebration of Faith, Praise and Worship Center, a San Jose gay Christian church. White, 59, told the 40 listeners that the only way to change the minds of those who are opposed to homosexuality is to talk to them. While not urging people to go public about being gay before they are ready, he said, ``Every day you stay in the closet, you miss the chance to change someone's heart.'' During his Bay Area visit, White discussed his plan to bring 200 supporters to Lynchburg, Va., on Oct. 23 and 24 to meet with Falwell and 200 of his supporters. The historic meeting at Falwell's Liberty University was arranged after a series of ``open letters'' from White to Falwell, which were posted on the Soulforce Web site, www.soulforce.org. The letters asked the Christian leader and outspoken critic of homosexual practices to soften what White describes as harmful anti-gay preaching and letter-writing campaigns. White and Falwell have worked together before. For many years White, a former seminary professor and pastor, was a confidant to leaders of the Christian right. He was even a ghost writer for several books, including Falwell's 1987 autobiography, ``Strength for the Journey.'' But in 1993, White, who had been married, announced he was gay. He said his efforts to deny his orientation included counseling, prayer and electric shock. White now lives with his partner of 15 years, Gary Nixon, with whom he co-founded Soulforce. He wrote about his struggle in the 1994 book ``Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America.'' After Falwell responded to White's June letter, the two met in August and agreed on the gathering. White says the idea behind the summit is to try to tone down the rhetoric on both sides of the debate. ``This country is racked by violent language that leads to violent actions,'' White said in an interview after his sermon. ``He (Falwell) has been threatened as much as I have.'' Although Falwell has committed to a meeting, he will not sway from his conviction that scripture condemns homosexuality, a Falwell spokesman said in a Sept. 5 New York Times article. White said Falwell and his supporters will host a dinner for White and fellow activists. The next day, the two groups will attend church together, after which White said parishioners will be asked to lunches and one-on-one talks with the gay-rights supporters. On Sunday, the Celebration of Faith, Praise and Worship Center presented him with a $4,500 donation toward the October summit. White said some of the money will go toward a $20,000 contribution to a Habitat for Humanity home in Lynchburg that his group will build with Falwell supporters. He said Falwell has committed $20,000 to the project as well. One of White's listeners, who asked not to be identified, said she believed his efforts will persuade more churches to accept gays and lesbians like herself. ``I think the religious right will decide that gay and lesbian people are Christians just as much as any one of them, and God loves them just as much as he loves his religious leaders,'' she said. ``Personally, it means that I could possibly go back into a church.''

 

 

D'après Yahoo (V.A.)

Buchanan Wimps Out In Interview Candidate Bails On Gay Hosts At KFI. Anybody who knew Pat Buchanan as a child, a teen, or an adult knows that the guy never used to back down from a fight. Pat even spent time in the poky as a youth for throwing down with a cop. Well, that all seems to be in the past. It became obvious the other day that, in presidential candidate Pat Buchanan's old age, the estrogen seems to be kicking in big time. As I drove on the congested freeway Wednesday afternoon in Southern California, I was tuned to KFI/Los Angeles, L.A.'s top-rated talk station. All of a sudden, I heard the voice of former macho CNN Crossfire man-on-the-right Pat Buchanan on the Karel & Andrew show on KFI! As those of you familiar with the local radio scene are aware, Karel & Andrew are an openly gay couple. For those of you familiar with right-wing politicians, Buchanan doesn't seem all that crazy about homosexuals. Seems as though Buchanan made the mistake of his life getting into a sparring match with two gay guys! When the crossfire of jabs and hooks started snapping, it was pansy Buchanan who lisped a lame fairy tale about having to leave, grabbed his purse, and found an excuse to throw in the towel ala Roberta Duran. No mas, no mas! As RadioDigest.com subsequently found out, Karel & Andrew, KFI's unambiguously gay spousal afternoon-drive talk team, were lucky to even get the very short interview with the presidential hopeful Buchanan. According to my KF-eyes, earlier in the week, when the Buchanan for President staff got word that an afternoon-drive radio talk show in Los Angeles was interested in having Pat on as a guest, the answer was, "Yes! Of course!"

 

 

BALTIMORE (AP)

A nun ordered by the Vatican to cease her ministry to gay and lesbian Roman Catholics says she will obey but will work within the church to have the order reversed. Sister Jeannine Gramick said in a statement that she believes it ``more beneficial'' to minister to homosexuals with the church's blessing than without it. She called on fellow Roman Catholics to ``help me find creative, collaborative ways to lift the burden of this directive from my shoulders.'' Ms. Gramick, 57, and the Rev. Robert Nugent, the founders of New Ways Ministry in Mount Rainier, were summoned to Rome in July and ordered to stop their work. The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Nugent and Ms. Gramick ``have caused confusion among the Roman Catholic people and have harmed the community of the church.'' It called their teachings ``erroneous and dangerous.'' Nugent said in late July he would stop ministering to homosexuals. But Ms. Gramick had refused to talk about the decision, saying she was ``anguished and deeply troubled.'' She took a month's leave from her ministerial commitments to decide whether she would obey the Vatican. Ms. Gramick called the church's decision ``unfair'' and said she wants to ``pursue the call I still feel to minister to lesbian and gay people,'' The Washington Post reported today. Nugent met Ms. Gramick founded the New Ways Ministry in 1977 to ``promote justice and reconciliation of gays and lesbians.'' Their efforts led to seminars as well as books and pamphlets on homosexuality and the church. In 1988, Nugent and Ms. Gramick were told their case was being investigated by the church. While the church teaches that homosexual acts are evil, it also says that homosexuals should be treated with ``respect, compassion and sensitivity.'' Gay rights groups have said the two repeatedly refused to condemn homosexual acts as evil and instead strove for reconciliation for gays with the church.

 

 

D'après Adventice.

Les internautes homosexuels seront plus de 17 millions en 2005. D'ici 2005, la population des internautes homosexuels devrait atteindre 17,1 millions en progression de 86 % par rapport aux chiffres de 1999 (9,2 millions). L'étude réalisée par le cabinet Computer Economics précise que les Américains resteront majoritaires, mais la proportion du reste du globe devrait croître de manière très importante. "Les hommes et femmes du marketing sur le Net ont besoin d'y voir clair. Or les gays représentent un segment du marché non négligeable et qui ne peut être simplement agrégé à l'ensemble des internautes" explique l'un des responsables du cabinet. Les foyers homosexuels constituent depuis longtemps une cible de choix en marketing dans l'économie "réelle", ce qui se prolongera dans le cybercommerce ; rarement avec enfant et plutôt dépensiers, souvent prescripteurs "de mode", ils disposent en outre de revenus plus important (en 1996, une étude concernant les gays américains leur attribuait des revenus de 41 % supérieurs à la moyenne nationale).