Four-Leaf Clover - Mary Pinkoski

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Four-Leaf Clover Poem by MARY PINKOSKI

Four Leaf Clover as a Symbol of Gay Rights in Uruguay

I’m sipping iced coffee at a Brooklyn café with Diego Palma, a 27-year-old Uruguay native living in New York. On the other side of the hemisphere, an open letter he wrote last week has shaken up the Uruguayan establishment and helped usher in the four-leaf clover as a new symbol of diversity and equality. Move over pink triangle and rainbow flag, you have company.

It started Thursday when Mercedes Rovira, the head of Uruguay’s top university, Universidad de Montevideo, told the Busqueda newspaper that homosexuality is "an anomaly," like a four-leaf clover, and sexual orientation "obviously plays" a part in hiring decisions at the school. 

Predictably, an explosion of outrage followed on social media while Palma, a former student and teacher at the university, published his views in an open letter to Rovira. He sent it out through the blogsphere, Twitter and Facebook, and it quickly went viral. 

"If like you said, homosexuality is like 'finding a four-leaf clover,' he wrote, "the Universidad de Montevideo has had, does have and will always have lots of luck…The next time you walk down the halls of the university you now lead, take a look around and you will find students, professors and staff that are offended by your comments."

The letter racked up 7,000 views in two days (sizable for a country with a smaller population than Los Angeles). It was published in the top newspapers, and was read on every Uruguayan evening news broadcast. 

By Saturday, Rovira accepted the university’s request for her resignation.

"I didn’t know it was going to get this big," Palma says. "When people speak their mind—at the same time—I think the message becomes more powerful."

Soon people hopped offline and took to the streets. On Friday a crowd of some 300 people, gay and straight, marched to the university carrying four-leaf clovers, kissing, and dancing to Lady Gaga to protest the comments. A bunch more changed their Facebook profile picture to a four-leaf clover.

There are now talks of using the clover as the logo for the new marriage equality law that’s working its way through Uruguay’s parliament, news sites report. "I think it's gonna stick," Palma says. (Same-sex unions are allowed in the country, but the government is expected to vote on the full equality law next month.)

As the most secular South American country, Uruguay has a history of being forward-thinking. It was the first to legalize divorce and allow women the right to vote, and has made headlines recently for considering legalizing marijuana sales. But Universidad de Montevideo is affiliated with the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, and though the institution's framework stipulates nondiscrimination and encourages free thinking, many of its staff live strictly by the values of the church.

At the request of the Ministry of Education (the education arm of the Uruguayan government), the university condemned the offensive remarks, and Rovira herself wrote a letter back to Palma, denying that sexual preference plays a role in hiring decisions, but admitting "today I understand it was not appropriate to speak of anomaly."

But if it's true that being gay hampers your chance of being hired, the practice isn't just prejudiced; it's illegal. The former dean went to court Wednesday to explain the remarks, and an investigation is underway to see if discriminatory hiring practices are widespread at the university, Busqueda reports. 

Meanwhile, Palma's inbox has been flooded over the last week with hundreds of emails and comments. He sent me one of his favorites:

I am 14 years old and after reading your letter I decided to get in touch with you. Honestly, I have never been in favor of homosexuality but I feel great respect for you now. I think we need more four-leaf clovers like you. I hope more people support your letter because it is worth spreading.

The fast and overwhelmingly positive public response we saw last week is encouraging, Palma says—hopefully, it'll make the road easier for future equality laws. 

"I saw this as opportunity to say, ok, I'm not gonna stay silent this time. And also, because I feel it's our responsibility as young people—a new generation—to make the change happen," he says. "I think in the future we're gonna see the pace of change, because of social media, increase. I think we’re seeing it already."

(The full letter is on his blog in Spanish or here in English.)

Photo via (cc) Flickr user AlexisLouise

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How a Four Leaf Clover as a Symbol of Gay Rights in Uruguay

Grace Notes: Big difference between prayers and superstitions

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By Lorraine V. Murray

For the AJC

Every so often, I get a chain email that contains a prayer, and then the admonition that I should forward the prayer to 10 or 15 friends, and sit back and wait for something wonderful to happen.

I always delete it.

There’s a huge difference between prayers and superstitions. Superstitions involve doing something -- whether it’s carrying a rabbit’s foot or sending out chain letters -- and then expecting definite results.

But it’s dangerous to believe prepackaged formulas will produce predictable blessings in our lives.

This notion is the premise of “The Prayer of Jabez,” in which author Bruce Wilkinson claims there is a certain prayer found in the Old Testament that God will always answer.

Religion can deteriorate into superstition, when folks believe that if they do X, Y and Z, they can force God’s hand. After all, God isn’t a slot machine, and you can’t deposit your prayers and then wait for the big payoff.

It is superstitious, for example, to think God will keep you from getting in a car accident because you’re toting your Bible in the glove compartment or wearing a cross around your neck. You might as well depend on a four-leaf clover or a lucky penny.

There’s nothing wrong with wearing a crucifix or carrying a prayer book with you, but they aren’t amulets, charged with some secret power to protect you.

And tithing to the church can be a good thing, but some people do so because they think it will ensure God’s blessings. This sounds suspiciously like knocking on wood to ward off evil.

“I went to church and said my prayers, but my life still caved in,” says the disappointed person who thought religion was as straightforward as following the directions in a recipe.

Truth be told, when it comes to God, there are no magical fixes.

We may spend years dutifully obeying the Ten Commandments, praying fervently and doing good works. And still we may lose our spouse, our job and our own health.

As the story of Job reveals, there may be sound reasons, which only God knows, for why we must confront the things we dread.

Reading Scripture, praying and attending services, as many well-meaning people do, are all wonderful practices. Still, there is something deep and mysterious that must underpin all the trappings.

It’s a sincere heart that surrenders entirely to God. A heart that realizes God never promised that if we followed a certain formula, we would be guaranteed an easy life.

As for me, I pray for a heart that keeps me centered on God. And I pray to fully accept that God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly in the way we envision.

But he will give us the grace to endure whatever comes.

Lorraine Murray’s most recent books are “The Abbess of Andalusia,” a biography of Flannery O’Connor, and “Death of a Liturgist,” a fun-filled mystery set at a fictional parish in Decatur. Her email is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com.

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