SUNY Benefit Concert for Other Sheep in Uganda

SUNY (State University of New York) student Sam Colbert:  "You can’t affect change politically if you can’t affect change socially and vice versa."

 

by Rev. Stephen Parelli

Executive Director of Other Sheep

March 6, 2013

Bronx, New York

 

Sam Colbert, perfroming
at the  March 2, 2013
benefit concert.
Photo by Steve Parelli

On March 2, 2013, Rev. Steve Parelli and Jose Ortiz of Other Sheep were the honored guests of a benefit concert put on by the SUNY (State University of New York) Geneseo faculty and students, and guest artists Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus.

 

Sam Colbert, the SUNY student who led in organizing the event, in an interview with Geneseo’s student newspaper The Lamron, reported that the proceeds of the benefit concert will go towards Other Sheep’s book distribution in Uganda.  Other Sheep distributes The Children Are Free, a scholarly lay-person’s guide to what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality.

 

Colbert told The Lamron, “I think it’s a really interesting project because it’s targeting a social root of the issues. “  He added, “You can’t affect change politically if you can’t affect change socially and vice versa. I think it’s really important to change people’s minds on a social level.”
 

From the event poster, by
artwork designer Raymond Ferreira,
SUNY student

 

"We've made a lot of progress in the gay rights movement [in the United States]," Colbert told The Lamron.  "We don't really focus on international issues as much and I think it's still important . . . especially in countries where it's illegal to be gay . . . to focus our attention there."

 

Assistant professor of music Pamela Kurau, who performed at the concert, help Colbert with organizing the Saturday eveing 8 p.m. benefit concert.

 

Held in the Wadsworth Auditorium of the Geneseo SUNY (State University of New York) campus, the benfit concert was preceded by a 4:30 p.m. lecture, also held in the Wadsorth Auditorium, delivered by Luzau Balowa, chairperson of African Rights Activists Group, a Nevada/Washington DC based organization.  Balowa, according to The Lamron, was incarcerated in the Congo and in Uganda for his pro-LGBT activism.  

 

Equality Uganda at Geneseo SUNY.  Left to right:  Rev. Steve Parelli of
Other Sheep, assistant professor of music Pamela Kurau,
organizer of the event Sam Colbert, Jose Ortiz of Other Sheep,
and Luzau Balowa of African Rigts Activists Group

The two events, the Balowa lecture and the benefit concert for Other Sheep, were billed “Equality Uganda” and was sponsored by the Provost’s Office, Music Department, Women’s Studies Department, Office of International Programs, Black Student Union Pride, and Pride Alliance.

 

The SUNY Geneseo campus is situated in western New York state, south of Rochester.

 

 

Other Sheep Press Announcement: PRA joins Other Sheep in calling on Rick Warren to denounce Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill

BRONX, NEW YORK
October 29, 2009
by Rev. Stephen R. Parelli, Other Sheep Executive Director

Political Research Associates (PRA), in an eNews they released yesterday calling on "Rick Warren to Denounce Proposed Antigay Law in Uganda," effectively joins Other Sheep in calling on evangelicals to stop the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009. PRA reports: "In March 2008, U.S. evangelical leader Rick Warren told Ugandans that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right."

Other Sheep, in its eNews of October 19, called upon evangelicals Rick Warren (USA), John Stott (England), Douglas Carew (Kenya) and the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA) to accountability for their part in inducing inhumane and hateful attitudes of Africans towards homosexual Africans.

On January 6 and on October 19 of this year, Other Sheep reported that an article on homosexuality in Africa Bible Commentary, published by AEA and endorsed by Warren, Stott and Carew, says homosexuals "are worse than beasts" and should not be tolerated; homosexuals are "abnormal, unnatural and a perversion." The article also asserts: no view on the morality of homosexuality other than the evangelical view is to be given consideration; the common denominator of same-sex sex is coercive sex; and to be homosexual is sinful. Africa Bible Commentary, published in 2006, is a commentary on the Bible by 70 African evangelical Bible scholars. The featured article on "Homosexuality" is authored by evangelical Nigerian Tusufu Turaki.

Other Sheep is an ecumenical Christian ministry that works worldwide to empower LGBT people of faith. Other Sheep Uganda, a committee made up of Ugandan lay leaders, was organized in 2008 for the purpose of distributing literature on the topic "What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?"