Hare Krishnas Reject Boy George
Pop star Boy George has been blocked from becoming a fully-fledged member of the Hare Krishna movement because of his sexuality.
George was publicly a Hare Krishna follower during the eighties, when he was the lead singer of Culture Club, but was told by friends that he had to marry a woman in order to become a fully fledged member of the movement.
The troubled star, who has battled drug and alcohol problems and recently spent
time in prison for falsely imprisoning a rent boy, was said to be "pretty upset".
Hare Krishna member Marianne Elliot-Said, better known as Poly Styrene of punk
band X-Ray Spex, told the media: "George never became a practising Hare Krishna.
He was interested but they told him he couldn’t also be a practising homosexual."
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness says it accepts gay people,
but they have to be celibate or get married to a woman and have Krishna-following
children.
This is in line with the beliefs of the Hare Krishna movement which states that
sex and desire are not conducive to a spiritual existence and one should only
have sex in order to reproduce.
However, some leaders of the movement, such as Hridayananda dasa Goswami, openly
accept and support homosexuality and same-sex relationships.
Goswami gave his blessings in 2008 in a ceremony for a gay couple in Los Angeles.
According to Chakra, the Hare Krishna publication, he said: "Our love for each
other is a reflection of God's love for us. Thus, the perfection of every relationship
is to see God in each other."
