We want to tip our hat, or skull cap, to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who has fought against apartheid and for social justice. Last night the Archbishop attended A Celebration of Courage, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s (IGLHRC’s) annual gala awards ceremony at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He was presented with an OUTSPOKEN Award for “his leadership as a global ally of the LGBTI community whose outspokenness has contributed substantially to advancing the rights and understanding of LGBTI* people everywhere.”The Nobel Prize winning Archbishop is no stranger to awards or to giving speeches. But this was Tutu’s “first time” addressing people at an LGBTI event. Tutu “condemn[ed] the persecution of LGBTI people, apologize[d] on behalf of his Church for ostracizing gay people,” and explained he could not remain silent “when people were frequently hounded…vilified, molested and even killed as targets of homophobia…for something they did not choose-their sexual orientation.” Tutu also gave the LGBTI community props for being “compassionate, caring, self-sacrificing and refusing to be embittered.” And he criticized The Church for being “so obsessed with this particular issue of human sexuality when God’s children are facing massive problems–poverty, disease, corruption, conflict…”

Inspired by Tutu’s words of compassion? and check out the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) a non-profit which fights for the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, and/or HIV status. Also by visiting Desmond Tutu’s amazing Hands That Shape Humanity, an online exhibit that displays pictures of “people who have lived exceptional lives, and have in different ways touched on people’s lives through their art or politics” including Anita Roddick, Carlos Santana, Gillian Anderson, Marion Jones, Gary Kasparov, Lennox Lewis, Isabel Allende, Shimon Peres, Jane Campion, Chinua Achebe, Nadine Gordimer, FW de Klerk, Paolo Coelho, Paul Theroux, Johan Lomu and Marc Quinn, Nadine Gordimer, Cesaria Evora, and Natascha McElhone.

*I stands for Intersex. I have to admit I had to google this.