Published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursday, June 12, 1997

Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer

Thursday, June 12, 1997 (San Francisco Chronicle)

Gay Buddhists and human rights activists emerged from a private meeting with the Dalai Lama yesterday and said they were heartened by the Tibetan leader's willingness to re-examine traditional Buddhist teachings on homosexuality.

The meeting at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel was called in response to gay concerns over the Dalai Lama's recent comments that homosexual relations among Buddhists constitute _sexual misconduct."

Eva Herzer, president of the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, said the Dalai Lama was _characteristically open and nonjudgmental."

_As head of state of an occupied country and as a celibate religious leader, I think he has not spent much time considering issues of sexuality, gay rights and homophobia," she said.

Herzer and others at the meeting said the Dalai Lama agreed to further discussions on whether traditional Buddhist sexual prohibitions _may be specific to a particular cultural and historical context."

Jose Ignacio Cabezon, a former Buddhist monk and professor of philosophy at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, said he was _heartened and encouraged by the dialogue."

_As a gay Buddhist," he said, _I am grateful for this opportunity."

K.T. Shedrup Gyatso, spiritual director of the San Jose Tibetan Temple, said he attended the session as _an openly gay, celibate, fully ordained Buddhist monk."

_I can now go back to my temple and tell our gay, lesbian and bisexual members that they are still Buddhists, that they are still welcome, and that they are as well- equipped for the Buddhist path as anyone else."

In a prepared statement, the official spokesman for the Dalai Lama said the Tibetan spiritual leader looks forward to _further study and discussion on human sexuality."

_His Holiness was greatly concerned by reports made available to him regarding violence and discrimination against gay and lesbian people," said Dawa Tsering of the Office of Tibet in New York.

_His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation," Tsering said.

The Dalai Lama concludes his four-day visit to the Bay Area today with an address at the University of California at Berkeley.