12 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — MARCH 1999 somoiro foundation of Vermont is pleased to announceour 1999 Granting Process Timeline: April 1 — letters of intent due in E. May 10 — final applications due for selected candidates July 1 — final recipients notified Guidelines: Samara Foundation of Vermont awards grants to organizations or projects that primarily serve the needs of Vermont's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. Organizations requesting funds must be non—profit, i.e. have a section 501(c)(3) tax exempt status or have an organization ‘with such status willing to serve as their fiscal agent, as indicated in a letter attesting to that relationship. Applications for either general operating support, specific project support, or start—up costs will be considered. ‘ Please contact Samara Foundation of Vermont to receive a copy of theocompletej granting guidelines and application materials. 5% ~. Our Mission Th‘eSamara Foundation of Vermont is a charitable foundation whose mission is to support and strengthen Vermont's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities today and build an endowment for tomorrow. ' u srunrwnu On Gay History In A Nutshell BY CHARLES EMOND would have you believe, not a single one of the ten commandments given to Moses prohibits same-sex activity! In fact when Moses brought them down to the Israelites from Mount Sinai (Exodus:19), he found them worshiping Baal in the form of a golden calf. Remember Baal? He was one of the homoerotic gods of the Canaanites. This made Moses so mad that he smashed the tablets. Maybe he thought that there should have been an eleventh command- ment! Anyway, let’s take a look at all the ref- erences to homosexualityin the Hebrew Bible. There are actually only two such references: the Holiness Code of Leviticus and the Story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis (which I’ll tackle next month). Now, these references make up about two pages altogether— a pretty small part of my Hebrew’Bible (Old Testament), which runs more than 1000 pages in length. Once again, the impression given by the Bible thumpers is one of continu- ous condemnation from cover to cover. 0 ontrary to what the Christian Right " Not so! Making It in the Desert The ancient Hebrews who produced the book were trying very hard to create a name for themselves out there in the desert. As a small, underpopulated tribe, they were concerned about increasing their numbers. One way to do this was to prohibit same-sex activity, which, as we well know, does not produce kids! This might account in part for the Levitical prohibition. ’ Also, their ‘vision thing’ was based on the idea that they were singled out by God » — a ‘chosen people.’ They needed to make this obvious to all comers, so they started on the purity kick. One of the first things to go was the homoerotic temple worship that they’d been just fine with ‘before the Babylonian exile in 700 BC! It’s also thought that, during their cap- tivity in Egypt, they might have been on the receiving end of the ancient Egyptian custom of punitive sodomy. According to The Church and the Homosexual, Egyptians had the custom of sodomizing male prisoners after a battle as a symbol of punishment and domination (and the best our army can come up with is “Don’t ask, Don’t tell?’’). Anyway, this just might have affected the Hebrews’ sense of dig- nity enough to change their thinking on the whole idea. The Abomination Thing The Holiness Code of Leviticus is not used at all today, — except for two verses (18:22 and 20:13) often worked into your typical Sunday semen in Utah: “Thou shalt not lie with man as thou would with a woman; it is an abomination.” What they neglect to tell you is that this is from a long list of ‘abominations’ nobody cares about anymore. To begin with, the word “abomina- tion,” used in the King James version, is a poor translation! According to Boswell, a clearer translation is “you may go astray because of it.” This would certain- ly be true if you were cruising the nearest oasis while your wife was waiting back at the tent. What Mr. Preacher also neglects to mention is that this Holiness Code com- mands you not to eat shrimp, lobster, oys- ters, rare steak, or sausages. It dictates that if you sleep with another man’s wife, both of you must be put to death. It says that you can’t get tattoos or read your horoscope. If you are a farmer, there are a whole load of restrictions —— every single one of which is broken by every farmer in America today. A ' Another ‘abomination’ is the wearing of fabrics woven of more than one type of fiber. Yet another rule prohibited cutting your hair or beard. Where would we be Mr. Preacher neglects to mention that this Holiness Code commands you not to eat shrimp,‘ lobster, oysters, rare steak, or sausages. today if they enforced these? (No, you may not use these verses to establish a local brarichof the fashion police!) Circumcision? . . The ritual purity demanded by the Levitical code, though. still a distinctive characteristic of some Jewish society today, was put aside for Christians at the Council of Jerusalem in 49 AD. The rea- son‘? It was thought that your typical Roman or Greek convert to Christianity would quit if he had to follow it. Another part of the Code required circumcision (before the invention of anestheticsl). And they wondered why it was hard to get con- verts in the early days! Leviticus was pret- ty much ignored by early Christian writers. You ask why fundamentalists selected just these two ‘abominations’ and ignored all the rest? Well, they werejust following a long established Christian custom. When you think that something might be good or bad in your society, first preach on it and then look into the Bible to try to find references that might prove it to be the word of God. Hey, it works every time! Next month: Leave those angels alone! For more information on the subject of the Bible and Homosexuality, get The Good Book, Peter J. Gomes, 1996. This preacher to Harvard University recently came out as a gay man. He eloquently tackles a number of other issues and his book should be required reading for every Christian! V Charlie Emond has a bachelor ’s degree, from Queen ’s College and master is degrees from Dartmouth and -Keene State. he teaches college history courses in Springfield, VT, including one he de13elopea'.' Hidden From History: Homosexuality in Western Civilization.