"We have a formal system that protects everybody to be able to express themselves, but again we haven’t educated people to understand that being orientated sexually in a particular way is not a crime, is not a disease," former World Bank director and anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele is quoted as saying. "It’s not something you can cure. It is how God created us." 

Ramphele, a vocal critic of the African National Congress (ANC), has called the ruling party "corrupt" and "unaccountable" and says it has failed to improve the lives of impoverished blacks, the Mail & Guardian reports. 

Ramphele, who earlier this week launched her new platform, Agang, from the Sotho word for "build," says her goal is to defeat the ANC in the 2014 election. 

Asked how realistic her chances are of breaking the bond people have with the ANC, Ramphele says she feels people will vote for an alternative to a party that doesn't deliver on its promises. She notes that between seven and 10 million eligible voters didn’t vote in the 2009 election.

She plans to target women, young people and rural areas.

Others feel Ramphele's approach to South Africa's problems will not differ from that of other political parties.

Ramphele was a founder of the Black Consciousness Movement with anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, has a doctorate in social anthropology, and was reportedly the first black woman to run a South African university.

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — The New York Times reports that Britain's most senior Catholic leader has resigned in the midst of allegations of "inappropriate acts" with priests and will not be attending the conclave to select a new pope.

According to the UK's Guardian, three priests and a former priest submitted statements to the Vatican indicating that Cardinal Keith O'Brien, a vocal opponent of gay rights, engaged in the alleged behaviour "stretching back 30 years." The report says the first allegation against O'Brien dates back to 1980. That complainant, who is now married, was a seminarian at St Andrew's College, where O'Brien allegedly "made an inappropriate approach after night prayers."

Other complainants' statements also spoke to "unwanted behaviour" or "inappropriate contact." 

The statements were submitted the week before Pope Benedict XVI's Feb 11 resignation, according to the report, which says the four were reluctant to bring the allegations forward and were concerned the church would ignore their complaints. They reportedly want the conclave that elects the new pope to be "clean" and called for O'Brien's resignation. According to canon law, no cardinal who is eligible to vote can be prevented from doing so.

O'Brien reportedly submitted his resignation months ago, but the timing of the announcement, following the allegations of impropriety, suggests that the Vatican put pressure on the cardinal to stay away from the conclave, The New York Times says.

There were mixed reactions to the announcement. Some were upset that the cardinal had been brought down by unnamed accusers whose allegations have not been tested in a tribunal or court. Others expressed little sympathy for a cleric whose anti-gay comments offended, and according to one commenter, "potentially perpetuated prejudice."

In his annual message of peace in December, Benedict said that attempts to grant gay unions the same status as marriage between men and women "actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society."  

In a recent interview with BBC Scotland, O'Brien echoed the pope's sentiments about gay marriage but said he felt priests should be allowed to get married if they wish to.

"For example, the celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry -- Jesus didn't say that," O'Brien, who was the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said. "There was a time when priests got married, and of course, we know at the present time in some branches of the church -- in some branches of the Catholic church -- priests can get married, so that is obviously not of divine origin, and it could get discussed again." 

The announcement of O'Brien's resignation comes in the wake of a story in the Italian daily La Repubblica that claims Benedict's recent resignation is linked in part to a report that there is a "network of gay prelates" in the Vatican. That report, a 300-page dossier compiled by three cardinals, describes a church divided by a number of "factions," including one in which individuals are "united by sexual orientation." 

Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi has said neither he nor the cardinals would "make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter."

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Blogsite Blabbeando reports that Ecuador's newly reelected president, Rafael Correa, has apologized for using language that was "offensive" to the queer community.

Blabbeando's Andrés Duque says Correa's apology was included in a televised election victory and provides a translation of his comments:

"A few months ago I used a number of inappropriate words that were offensive to LGBT groups and for which I apologized in writing - and I stated I would apologize again after winning [the election] to make sure they knew I wasn't doing it simply for political gain," Correa is quoted as saying.

"Once again I'd like to express my apologies to those LGBT groups for some words that might have escaped me. Each one of us was born and grew up with stereotypes and stigmas and we have to fight against this type of - let's call it deformed - social upbringing, et cetera. But our commitment is to defend everyone's dignity and equality. We are diverse but never unequal. 

"And I was reminded of this by the leader of a GLBT group who I greatly admire a couple of days ago. You need a lot of courage to lead these type of movements. Let's offer them all our support and - on a personal basis - I offer my full respect and the effort and commitment to eliminate all types of discrimination in this country."

Blabbeando notes that the incident to which Correa was referring occurred last July during an address used to "report back" to the Ecuadorean people.

In response to an online comment calling him a fag, Correa said he'd like to invite "this gentleman" to tell him these "vicious things face to face to see who is the real fag." 

A number of queer community leaders signed a letter that was published in the media condemning not only the online comments, but Correa's response to them, Blabbeando notes.

The letter states in part the group's regret that a "revolutionary" president and those in government are still captive to "backward notions" and called on Correa to apologize.

Correa first apologized for his remarks in August last year and then more recently in his victory speech. 

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — A Federal Court of Australia judge has ruled against a challenge to the country's ban on same-sex marriage, saying it doesn't amount to discrimination based on sex.

Justice Jayne Jagot's ruling upheld an Australian Human Rights Commission decision to terminate gay rights activist Simon Margan's case, in which he sought an order directing the states of New South Wales and Queensland to register same-sex marriages, according to Bloomberg.

Gay Star News reports that Margan's complaint spoke to the "unlawful discrimination" queer people face "based on sex and marital status by reason of the inability of those persons to register same sex marriages."   

Australia's Marriage Act defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, Jagot says in her ruling. “A man cannot enter into the state of marriage as defined with another man just as a woman cannot enter into the state of marriage with another woman,” she writes. “The redress for these circumstances lies in the political and not the legal arena.”

"If our courts feel powerless to remove discrimination the majority of Australians oppose then it's up to politicians to act," Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome is quoted as saying. "This issue has become a test of the capacity of Australia's democratic institutions to respond to popular and overdue reform."

Last year, Australian lawmakers, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard, voted against a bill that sought to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Landing image: Lonely Planet

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica has published a report saying that Pope Benedict XVI's recent resignation is linked in part to a report that there is a "network of gay prelates" in the Vatican, according to the UK's Guardian.

The Guardian, which notes that claims of a gay network in the Vatican are not new, cites the newspaper account as saying some Vatican officials were under the "external influence" of laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature," an indication that blackmail was involved.

Three cardinals are reported to have compiled the 300-page dossier containing the allegations that are part of an inquiry into the so-called Vatileaks matter involving the pope's butler, who was arrested and charged last May with stealing and leaking papal correspondence.

La Repubblica claims that the cardinals described a church divided by a number of "factions," including one in which individuals were "united by sexual orientation," The Independent adds. 

The inquiry was headed by Cardinal Julián Herranz Casado and assisted by Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko, who once headed the Vatican's department for missionaries, The Guardian says.

Another Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, also referred to the cardinals' report after the pope announced his resignation earlier this month, saying its contents are "disturbing," The Guardian adds.

Vatican spokesperson Father Federico Lombardi is quoted as saying that "neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this."