News: Bill Against Same Sex Marriage Reintroduced to Nigerian Parliamnent
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Oct 01, 2011
News: Bill Against Same Sex Marriage Reintroduced to Nigerian Parliamnent
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(Nigeria) - The Nigerian parliament is once again dealing with a Bill prohibiting same sex marriage. This is the third attempt to pass such piece of legislation in Nigeria. We asked Davis Mac-Iyalla to provide us some more informations.
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Oct 01, 2011
News: Belgrade Pride banned: Members of the European Parliament express deep regret
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(Serbia) - The Serbian LGBT pride march Parada Ponosa, due to take place on Sunday in the capital, was banned today by the National Security Council. The Council announced it would forbid the pride march, as well as three far-right counter-protests that were planned tomorrow and Sunday.
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Oct 03, 2008
News: Saint Petersburg Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Cancelled
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(Russia) Gay and Lesbian Film Festival “Bok o Bok” which was supposed to take place in Saint Petersburg from today and last until Sunday finally did not open after Fire Department Inspectors closed the place due to problems with fire security. In a phone interview to Project GayRussia.Ru, Organiser of the festival Irina Sergeeva said that the clubs “The Place” and “Sochi” where the screenings of the films were supposed to take place, were closed due to fire security reasons.
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Jun 24, 2008
News: Arsham Parsi discusses sexuality, politics and refugees in SF
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(USA) - As part of Bibi's outreach to our communities, Bibi|SF will be hosting talks on various issues affecting queer South West Asian, North Africans (aka Middle-Easterners). Its first engagement is with Arsham Parsi of the IRanian Queer Organization on Thursday, June 26 at the SF LGBT Center.
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May 22, 2008
News: IDAHO Action in San Francisco To Support Russian Gays
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(USA) - Gay human rights activists in San Francisco staged a speak out at the Russian consulate on May 16, in conjunction with IDAHO events around the planet. Before showing up at the consulate, the group sent emails to the staff explaining their reason for coming -- to press the government to grant parade permits to Moscow's Gay pride event.
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May 19, 2008
News: Reform the Homophobic Asylum System
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(London) - Speaking at the London IDAHO event on 16 May, hosted by Amnesty International and the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association, Peter Tatchell of the LGBT human rights group OutRage! challenged the UK asylum policy.
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May 19, 2008
News: European Parliament Will Discuss a New EU Anti-Discrimination Directive
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(EU) - Tomorrow the members of the European Parliament will debate and vote on a resolution “Progress made in equal opportunities and non-discrimination in the EU”. The resolution is based on a report produced by Elisabeth Lynne, MEP, and adopted by the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on 17 April 2008. The draft resolution clearly urges the European Commission to stay committed to the Commission’s work plan for 2008 and to come out with a proposal for one ‘horizontal’ anti-discrimination directive covering all grounds of discrimination, including sexual orientation.
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May 13, 2008
News: Police in Moldova Watches As Homophobic Mob Assaults Gay Demonstrators
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(Moldova) - On Sunday, participants in the 7th Moldovan Pride were precluded from marching peacefully in support of anti-discrimination legislation and tolerance in the centre of Chisinau. Police did not guarantee the right to freedom of assembly. Large aggressive coordinated groups, including extremist religious groups, members of the neo-fascist movement “New Right”, and legionnaires blocked the bus with participants, forced the door, violently hit the windows, and attempted to remove the engine, while shouting “lets get them out and beat them up”.
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Apr 29, 2008
News: European Study on Transgender's Healthcare Is Published
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(EU) - ILGA-Europe and TransGender Europe published the first comprehensive report on the experiences of health care by Transgender people in European Union. This report is a result of the largest and most comprehensive data collection on transgender people's lived experienced to date.
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Apr 21, 2008
News: New Website Highlights Gay African Heroes
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(UK) - A new website highlighting African heroes and achievers has included three prominent Gay Africans. "Gay Africans make up a part of the landscape of the continent and any member of the Gay community who has achieved something of merit deserves a place on our site. We welcome the submission of their biographies," said the website's creator, Kadija Traoré Bush, who is of is Malian and Beninoise heritage.
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Apr 10, 2008
News: Barroso Urged to Keep His Word On Equal Rights
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(EU) - Within the next couple of months, the fate of an EU directive protecting against discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sexual orientation and religion/belief in all areas of life will be decided by the European Commission and the European Council. At the moment, there are signs that this directive will not include sexual orientation, age and religion/belief. ILGA-Europe is calling on everyone to join its campaign to ensure that a comprehensive new EU anti-discrimination directive which protects against discrimination on all grounds and in all areas of life is proposed and adopted.
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Apr 06, 2008
News: Olympic Torch Ambushed in London
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(UK) - The bus bearing the Olympic torch was today ambushed outside Selfridges department store in Oxford Street, London, by Gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of OutRage! Mr Tatchell ran in front of the bus carrying the Olympic flame. He held up a placard which read: "Free Tibet, Free Hu Jia." He shouted the same words as he ran along in front of the bus. The police wrestled Mr Tatchell to the ground, which delayed the bus briefly while he was removed to pavement. After questioning, he was later released without charge.
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Apr 01, 2008
News: European Court of Justice Rules in Favour of Gay Pensioneers
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(EU) - European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg delivered its judgement in a landmark case on pension rights for registered same-sex partners (case of Tadao Maruko v. Versorgungswerk der deutschen Bühnen). The facts of the case are as follows: Mr. Maruko lived with his partner in a registered partnership. After his partner died the VddB, the pension scheme for German theatres, refused to pay him a survivor’s pension as such pensions were provided only for married partners. Mr. Maruko sued the VddB, and the Bavarian Administrative CourtMunich referred the case to the ECJ for interpretation of the 2000/78/EC Directive which established a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation.
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Mar 14, 2008
News: Anti-Gay Propaganda on British TV
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(UK) - George Galloway MP is accused of mouthing "the propaganda of the Iranian dictatorship" after he claimed on the Channel 5 TV talk show The Wright Stuff this morning that the boyfriend of Gay asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for sex crimes (see full transcript below). The criticism comes from the Gay human rights group, OutRage!.
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Mar 09, 2008
News: Gay Refugee at Risk of Deportation to Iran
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(Netherlands) - Mehdi Kazemi, a Gay asylum applicant from Iran, is in detention in the Netherlands. He is fighting attempts by the Dutch government to return him to the UK. Mehdi fled Britain and sought asylum in the Netherlands because the British government wants to deport him back to Iran. The Home Office bid to deport an Iranian Gay asylum seeker will put him at risk of arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution.
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Mar 02, 2008
News: 'Apolytical' Gay Flash-Mob in Moscow
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(Russia) - Russian Gay group "LGBT Rights" reports that it organized a flash-mob on February 23 (the 'Army Day' celebrated in the Russian Federation.) The participants marched through the Arbat street, waving rainbow flags and shouting 'Woman is a soldier, too! Equality knows no borders!' along with patriotic slogans. The action was apparently an attempt to confront the 'ordinary Russians' with homosexuality and transport a positive message to the fellow citizens without provoking a hostile response.
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Mar 02, 2008
News: Safety Concerns Highlighted in New Study
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(Australia) - A new report reveals a steady undercurrent of hostility during and after large-scale Gay and Lesbian events. The University of Newcastle's Cultural Institutions and Practices Research Centre report titled "When the Glitter Settles: safety and hostility at and around gay and lesbian public events", shows 40 per cent of people attending these events had witnessed abusive or violent behaviour.
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Feb 26, 2008
News: Europe Must Stop Deportation of Iranian Queers
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(EU) - He lived a marginalized and terrorized life as an Iranian homosexual in Iran; the burden of such a life became so strenuous that he finally left Iran for the UK with a student visa. Mehdi Kazemi is another Iranian Gay refugee who left his home country with the hope of securing a more dignified life for himself in the West; and yet he is another young refugee who sees his hopes for safety and human dignity fading in the face of European governments’ lack of respect for even the most basic human rights. The European governments claim to be the champions of human rights and democracy and condemn Iran frequently for its violation of human rights; and yet they willingly pave the road for the government of Iran to go ahead with its human rights abuses, and arrest and execute an identified Iranian Gay. Today, they sentence Mehdi to torture and possible death by deporting him to Iran, and tomorrow they issue statements commending this violent and unlawful act of execution.
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Feb 21, 2008
News: Different Families, Same Love - Conference on LGBT Families in Europe
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(EU) - On 4-6 March 2008, ILGA-Europe, in partnership with Informational centre LEGEBITRA, a Slovene LGBT organisation, organises a conference on LGBT families in Europe. This conference is a contribution to the current Slovene Presidency of the European Union and aims at drawing attention to the lack of recognition and existing discrimination against LGBT families at European level.
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Feb 03, 2008
News: Gays in Jamaica in Fear of Mob Attacks
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(Jamaica) - A homophobic mob attack in Jamaica that left one man severely injured and another missing and feared dead shows yet again that authorities must take urgent action against violence and hatred, Human Rights Watch said today. This incident is the latest in a string of homophobic mob violence over the last year, including an attack on mourners in a church.
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Jan 29, 2008
News: First They Came for the Gays
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(EU) - One day last month, I gave a talk in Rome about how the supposedly liberal ideology of multiculturalism has made possible the spread in Europe of the highly illiberal ideology of fundamentalist Islam, with all its brutality and – among other things – violent homophobia. When I returned to my hotel, I phoned my partner back home in Oslo only to learn that moments earlier he had been confronted at a bus stop by two Muslim youths, one of whom had asked if he was Gay, started to pull out a knife, then kicked him as he got on the bus, which had pulled up at just the right moment. If the bus hadn’t come when it did, the encounter could have been much worse.
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Jan 22, 2008
News: European Court of Human Rights Affirms Adoption Rights for Gay People
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(EU) - Today the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgement in a case of E.B. v France and said that exclusion of individuals from the application process for adoption of children simply because of their sexual orientation is discriminatory and is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. ILGA-Europe, FIDH (Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme), APGL (Association des Parents et futurs Parents Gays et Lesbiens) and the BAAF (British Association for Adoption and Fostering) were granted permission to take part in the proceedings as third parties.
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Jan 18, 2008
News: Mike Huckabee's Comments On Homosexuality Embarrassing
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(USA) - Mike Huckabee was condemned by 'Truth Wins Out' for comments to BeliefNet that compared homosexuality to bestiality. Huckabee showed a lack of character, by pandering to the lowest common denominator in his quest to win the South Carolina primary, according to 'Truth Wins Out'.
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Jan 09, 2008
News: HIV Funding for Gay Men Still in Doubt
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(UK) - “The 36% cut in NHS funding for HIV prevention work among Gay men in London has not been reversed,” said Gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of OutRage! “None of the local NHS trusts have said they will reinstate the cuts. “There have been some private assurances that funding will be restored but no official or public announcement. Moreover, these assurances are based solely on a recommendation that local NHS trusts reverse the reduction in funding. But the local trusts are semi-autonomous and under no obligation to implement the recommendations.
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Dec 05, 2007
News: Young Man Executed in Iran
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(Iran) - The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has learned today that despite an order by the Iranian Chief Justice to nullify his death sentence, Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Kermanshah Central Prison at 5 a.m. this morning, Iranian time. Neither Mr. Mouloodzadeh's family or his lawyer were told about the execution until after it occurred. IGLHRC is still investigating the facts in this case.
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Dec 03, 2007
News: Relationships Register for Gays in Victoria
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(Australia) - Victorian human rights group, Civil Union Action (CUA), has welcomed the Victorian Government's announcement today to introduce new legislation in Parliament this week for a relationships register, but said the register should include equal substantive rights and the option for official ceremonies. MLA for Prahran, Tony Lupton, made the announcement via press release today. Mr Lupton chaired the working group that recently reported to the State Government on relationship recognition.
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Dec 02, 2007
News: Russian Gay Activists Arrested at Polling Station
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(Russia) - Nikolai Alekseev and 12 fellow Gays and Lesbians have been arrested this morning at 10am in Moscow while they attempted to vote at the "District Electoral Commission N° 165". They came to the place at 9.30 am. Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow who banned the last 2 gays prides, was planning to vote in the same place later in the day. Representatives of Gayrussia.ru reported that the police ‘suddenly broke into the place and took all the activists who were quietly voting.’ However, Lenta.ru reported that Nikolai Alekseev was arrested when he wrote ‘No to homophobes, no to Luzhkov’ on his ballot paper and started to demonstrate the bulletin to journalists. In Putin’s ‘guided democracy,’ spoiling the ballot papers is a silent form of protest by many: opposition leader Garry Kasparov has been reported writing ‘Another Russia’ over his ballot paper.
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Nov 30, 2007
News: Russian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Film Festival to Open in 2008
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Saint Petersburg, Russia (PRWEB) November 30, 2007 -- In Fall 2008, Russia will host Side by Side ("Bok o Bok"), its first international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender film festival. Taking place in Saint Petersburg, the festival will run from 2-5 October, 2008, with films and events at the historic Dom Kino House of Cinema, one of Europe's premier venues for quality world cinema. The event, which is expected to draw visitors from over 30 countries as well as major international sponsors, will give film enthusiasts of all persuasions the opportunity to enjoy the very best in contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cinema. Over 4 days, Side by Side will showcase work from around the world including feature films, innovative independent films, documentaries, experimental and short films.
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Nov 25, 2007
News: Ugandan Gays Refused Space to Speak at CHOGM
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(Uganda) - East African Gay people came in peace to CHOGM to speak and were met by violent police officers. Ugandan and Kenyan Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) speakers scheduled to give their addresses at the CHOGM Speaker’s Corner in Uganda today left after facing violence from the police and waiting for seven hours to be given entrance to the People’s Space. The People’s Space was designed „to provide opportunities to share in the diversity and richness of the Commonwealth people” and was specifically designated as a space open to all people. It was intended to give people „renewed energy to facilitate social change with a clear sense of building the future together.” The discrimination and violence carried out by police at the People’s Space today is an affront to basic human rights in Uganda.
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Nov 19, 2007
News: 4th Equality March in Poznan
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(Poland) - This year’s traditional Equality March in Poznan took place on 17 November. The march started at Adam Mickiewicz Square in the center of Poznan. Right before the march the organizers received the Grizzly Award 2006 "for pioneering efforts for homo culture and solidarity in the face of exceptionally ferocious homophobia and for carrying out the successful festival in the face of threats and shadows of last year's violence". The award was handed over by Bill Schiller, the president of International Les Gay Cultural Network.
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Nov 15, 2007
News: Execution in Iran Halted
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(Iran) - The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has learned that the Iranian Chief Justice, Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, has nullified the impending death sentence of Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh, a 21-year old Iranian citizen found guilty of multiple counts of anal rape (ighab), allegedly committed when he was 13 years old. The Iranian Chief Justice described the death sentence to be in violation of Islamic teachings, the religious decrees of high-ranking Shiite clerics, and the law of the land.
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Nov 12, 2007
News: Jamaica - Homophobia, Murder Music and Free Speech
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(UK) - Is Jamaica is the most homophobic country in the world? Does Jamaican reggae/dancehall murder music contribute to anti-Gay violence? Should concerts by murder music singers be cancelled? Stop Murder Music campaigners, Dennis Carney of the Black Gay Men’s Advisory Group, and Brett Lock of the Gay human rights group OutRage!, discuss with Peter Tatchell on doughty.gdbtv.com.
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Nov 06, 2007
News: Three Gay Safe Houses in Iraq Forced to Close
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(Iraq) - Three out of five Gay safe houses in Iraq are closing down, due to a lack of funds to pay their rent and utility bills. The refuges were set up two years ago, to provide a place of safety for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Iraqis who have fled homophobic threats and attempts to kill them by religious fundamentalists and death squads. Previous appeals for solidarity didn't yield sufficient funding, leaving the activists desperate on how to bring the ends together to maintain the project.
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Nov 06, 2007
News: ILGA Welcomes New Executive Director
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(Belgium) - Trevor Cook joins the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) as new Executive Director made possible through the financial contribution of development agency HIVOS. ILGA is also supported by Oxfam Novib, SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and IBM, whose support has enabled the organization to grow.
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Nov 01, 2007
News: Abolish Capital Punishment in Iran
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(Iran) - Makwan Moloudzadeh, a 21 year old Iranian now faces the threat of execution. His crime is his sexuality, which is illegal under the Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many have been executed for sexual crimes such as extramarital and homosexual sex acts. Due to the legal processes and procedures of the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its complete lack of transparency, it is extremely difficult to access the documents, witnesses, testimonies, and other facts pertinent to the files of those accused, as a result of which it is almost impossible to verify the confessions, complaints, evidence, and verdicts.
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Oct 30, 2007
News: Results of the ILGA-Europe Annual Conference 2007
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(Lithuania) - Delegates of ILGA-Europe annual conference experience first-hand discrimination and resistance in Vilnius, but are united and determined to work together for Europe of equality and respect. Over the weekend, almost 200 delegates from all over Europe gathered in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for the 11th ILGA-Europe’s Annual Conference. While the public event to display rainbow flag during the conference was banned by the Mayor of Vilnius and there was a demonstration against the conference, the delegates are determined to fight prejudice, discrimination and injustice.
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Oct 26, 2007
News: Annual Conference of ILGA-Europe in Vilnius
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(Lithuania) - On 25-28 October 2007, almost 200 delegates from all over Europe gather in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for the 11th ILGA-Europe's Annual Conference. While the Conference goes ahead, the Rainbow Flag public event planned by the Lithuanian hosts during the conference was banned by the Mayor of Vilnius. A legal challenge of the ban has been already initiated.
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Oct 23, 2007
News: Singer Donnie McClurkin's Divisive Rhetoric Defies Obama's Pledge
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(USA) - Truth Wins Out called on the democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama to immediately distance his campaign from "ex-Gay" preacher and gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. Obama is scheduled to tour South Carolina with the controversial singer, even though McClurkin's mean-spirited rhetoric runs counter to the senator's conciliatory efforts, says TWO.
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Oct 21, 2007
News: Gibraltar Govt Lacks Consensual Good Faith
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(Gibraltar) - Gibraltar's Gay and human rights organisation Equality Rights Group GGR stated today: "Following last week's announcement by Michael Cashman MEP, the Gibraltar Government's recent statement following Downing Street's agreement to intervene on the age of consent issue in Gibraltar is a sad case of psychological denial and desperate face-saving." It was reacting to a press statement by the Rock's Government repudiating a report published by the group last week regarding announcements that Gordon Brown had determined to take action on the age of consent in Gibraltar (16 for heterosexuals and 18 for Gay men).
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Oct 17, 2007
News: Situation of Gay People in Georgia and Azerbaijan
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(EU) - Georgia and Azerbaijan must stop discrimination and incitement to hatred and put in place an inclusive anti-discrimination law in line with Council of Europe and EU standards if they aspire to EU membership. This is according to the joint ILGA-Europe and COC Netherlands reports on the position of Gay people in the two South Caucasian countries. The comprehensive reports are the result of a joint fact-finding mission and reflect the vulnerable social and legal situation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders. They also reflect the position of national authorities and international organisations. Finally, the reports give a particular focus to lesbian and bisexual women and transgender people and give examples of human rights violations on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Oct 10, 2007
News: World Day against Death Penalty
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Today is World Day against Death Penalty. This is also the first European Day against Death Penalty as proclaimed by the Council of Europe on 27 September 2007. The Council of Europe is the only region of the world de facto free from the death penalty as all its members have either abolished the death penalty or instituted a moratorium on executions. Belarus (outside the CoE) is the only country that still has the death penalty actively on its books. The death penalty is still carried out in other regions of the world and in seven countries the death penalty is applied for Gay people for the crimes of love.
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Oct 08, 2007
News: Council of Europe Must Distance Itself from Patriarch Alexy
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(EU) - ILGA-Europe is very concerned that the Council of Europe has allowed itself to be used as a platform for an attack on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia. Responding to a question following an address to the Parliamentary Assembly on 2nd October, the Christian fundamentalist leader justified his opposition to the Moscow Gay pride march on the basis that it was "propaganda for sin". Homosexuality was "an illness and a distortion of the human personality" comparable to kleptomania. His comments were met with applause by many of the Assembly members present, although some walked out in protest.
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Oct 07, 2007
News: Nepalese Supreme Court Hears Petition against the Government
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(Nepal) - Supreme Court of Nepal yesterday has heard the writ petition filed against the government of Nepal by Blue Diamond Society and three other organizations on 5th September 2007 , demanding to protect and defend LGBTIQ rights . The writ petition was heard by Honorable Judge Balaram K.C.and Honorable Judge Pawan Kumar Ojha. Advocates Bhuwan Prasad Nirula, Hari Phuyal, Prem Rai, Sharmila Dhakal and Rupe Narayan Srestha pleaded the case on behalf of the petitioners. Advocate Bhuwan Prasad Nirula highlighted on the institutional structure of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), its role on protecting rights of Gays, Lesbians and Metis and the problems faced by them. He effectively dealt on the queries of the bench about BDS and the concerned people.
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Oct 04, 2007
News: Donna Rose Resigns from HRC Board Over ENDA
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(USA) - Donna Rose, a post-op Transsexual woman, has resigned from the Board of Human Rights Council in protest to the HRC's position on ENDA, the proposed US anti-discrimination law. In what appears a disgusting political horse trade, the bill has been recently modified in a way excluding Transgenders, with whole consent of the "leading" Gay US politicians. Donna Rose is a US-wide recognized speaker, educator, and advocate on transgender and transsexual issues. On HRC, she served as the co-Chair for Diversity, and on the HRC Business Council. The GRD publishes her entire statement below.
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Sep 26, 2007
News: Ahmadinejad's Official Website Omits Parts of His Speech
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(Iran) - Upon monitoring the Iranian press reaction to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech and comments at the Monday forum hosted by Columbia University, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) discovered an odd disparity. The English version of the President’s official website (www.president.ir) provides a full and complete transcript of his speech and the Question & Answer segment where he claimed that homosexuality does not exist in Iran. However, the Persian-language transcript has excised both the question about treatment of lesbians and gay men in Iran and President Ahmadinejad’s soon to be legendary response.
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Sep 25, 2007
News: Activists Condemn Denial of Iranian Gays by President Ahmadinejad
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(USA) - During a controversial talk at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum on Monday, Iranian President Dr. Mahmood Ahmadinejad denied the existence of homosexuality in Iran: “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. … We don’t have that in our country,” he claimed answering a question about the rights of Gay people in Iran. The reactions to this claim were a mixture of disbelief, anger and warnings not to join into militarist hystery.
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Sep 24, 2007
News: US College Students: Campus Climate Chilly on Gender
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(USA) - The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) today announced findings of its first US-wide campus climate survey focusing on how Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender students are treated because of their gender identity and expression. Some 651 students from across the USA responded to the 2007 Survey, many sharing personal experiences of feeling unsafe or excluded because they didn't meet expectations for masculinity or femininity.
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Sep 24, 2007
News: Arsham Parsi Spoke at Gozar Panel in Toronto
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(Canada) - Arsham Parsi, Executive Director of the Iranian Queer Organization, delivered a speech at Gozar Panel 'Silenced Voices' in Toronto on 16 September. He spoke of stonings and executions of Gay people in Iran, of the injustice and inequity, and manifold problems Iranian Gays face in exile. Sadly, many refugees are confronted by almost the same situation they met inside Iran since they are pressured by the Iranian diaspora community to live in a social ghetto. The GRD publishes here the transcription of the speech in its full length.
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Sep 24, 2007
News: GLAAD Publishes Its "Where We Are On TV" Survey
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(USA) - With the start of the 2007-2008 television season, the number of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender characters on scripted network television in USA continues to decline, according to the research of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The analysis shows that, inspite improved quality, with only 7 characters, the LGBT representations will equate only 1.1% of all series regular characters in the 2007-08 broadcast television schedule, a drop in numbers from 9 characters (1.3%) in 2006, respectively 10 (1.4%) in 2005.
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Sep 22, 2007
News: 15,000 Marriage Petitions Delivered to California Governor
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(USA) - Equality California submitted some 15,000 petitions to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to sign the law that would recognize marriages of Gay couples. Exactly 14,766 Californians have signed EQCA's online petition supporting AB 43, the recently-passed marriage legislation that is on its way to the Schwarzenegger’s office. Gov. Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto the bill.
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Sep 21, 2007
News: Lesbian Woman Sentenced to Jail for Taking Care of Her Child
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(USA) - The American Civil Liberties Union urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss a county judge's contempt order and jail sentence against a Lesbian mother. Earlier this year, Wilkinson County Judge John Lee Parrott ordered that the child Elizabeth Hadaway hopes to adopt be taken away for three months because Hadaway is a Lesbian, and now Hadaway is battling an order from the same judge that she spend as many as ten days in jail.
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Sep 20, 2007
News: Iraqi Gays Win Asylum in UK
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(UK) - Two Iraqi Gays have been granted asylum in the UK, in a court ruling overturning a previous decision of British authorities to deport them. The two men have survived attempted assassinations by Shia Islamist death squads in Iraq and were seeking refuge in United Kingdom, but their initial applications for asylum had been turned down by the Home Office, despite compelling evidence of anti-Gay persecution and threats to kill them. With the support of the Gay human rights groups OutRage! and Iraqi LGBT both men appealed against the refusal of asylum and won.
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Sep 20, 2007
News: Conference of European Pride Organisers in Stockholm
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(Sweden) - By tradition EPOA, European Pride Organisers Association, holds its annual meeting in the city that is hosting the next Europride. Pride festival organisers from the whole of Europe come to Stockholm for the weekend in order to, among other things, choose who will arrange Europride 2010. Delegates come from Spain, Germany, Iceland, Switzerland, Poland and several other european countries.
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Sep 19, 2007
News: TWO Receives $40,000 Grant From The Arcus Foundation
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(USA) - Truth Wins Out expressed gratitude to the Arcus Foundation for rewarding the organization with a $40,000 grant that will greatly help in the efforts to counter the ex-Gay industry. The gift was from The Arcus Gay & Lesbian Fund, which seeks to advance social justice by supporting efforts to promote human rights and policy change for equal rights for members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community.
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Sep 19, 2007
News: Yet Another Proposal to Cut Down HIV Infections
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(USA) - Researchers on the University of Pittsburgh have suggested giving antiretroviral drug tenofovir to uninfected individuals in order to protect them from HIV infection. The medicine has been tested on monkeys and proved to be very effective against a version of the HI virus. Tenofovir is a drug which is already used in AIDS treatment, and now it is reportedly being tested in humans for the specific purpose of preventive tratment. The US researchers claimed the suggested strategy of prescribing HIV medicine to healthy people could significantly inhibit the spread of HIV in Africa.
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Sep 18, 2007
News: No Marriage Equality For Gay Couples In Maryland
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(USA) - The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, ruled that Gay couples do not have a constitutional right to marriage equality. The decision reversed a lower-court ruling that Maryland's ban on marriage for Gay couples violated the states Equal Rights Amendment. "This is a setback in the fight for equality, but we remain confident that, ultimately, same-sex couples in Maryland who form committed relationships and build loving families will receive the same protections that the state provides to married opposite-sex couples," said Joe Solmonese of Human Rights Campaign.
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Sep 18, 2007
News: Californian Gays Will Rally For Equal Marriage
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(USA) - Equality California (EQCA), Marriage Equality USA (MEUSA) and other allied organizations are staging rallies in over a dozen cities throughout California to show the Governor Schwarzenegger that the will of the people supports equality. The groups also urge him ‘to be a hero’, not do a veto sequel but rather sign the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act recently passed by Californian lawmakers. The rallies are sheduled for Tuesday, 18 September.
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Sep 15, 2007
News: Aubrey Sarvis Is SLDN's New Executive Director
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(USA) - The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) determined Aubrey Sarvis to be the new Executive Director of the organization. Sarvis succeeds C. Dixon Osburn, who stepped down in April. Sarvis will officially take on his position on October 1, 2007. Founded in 1993, SLDN is a US organization dedicated to eradication discrimination against and harassment of military personnel targeted by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and similar forms of intolerance. Sarvis was choosen following an extensive US-wide search by SLDN’s Board of Directors. In accepting the appointment, Sarvis said, “I am humbled and honored to stand side by side with America’s Gay service members, and to help them achieve the full measure of dignity and equality they deserve.”
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Sep 13, 2007
News: Gay Chicago Honours Its Heroes for 2007
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(USA) - The Chicago Commission on Human Relations' Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues has named the 2007 list of individuals and organizations for inclusion in the only known government-sponsored hall of fame that honors members of the LGBT communities, announced Commission Chairperson Clarence N. Wood. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of his death, former Mayor Harold Washington will be honored as a "Friend of the Community."
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Sep 12, 2007
News: Gay-Straight Alliances Help Gay Youth to Survive School
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(USA) - Gay-Straight Alliances help make schools safer for all students and likely play an essential role in mitigating the negative impact of bullying and harassment on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students, according to a research brief released today by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. As of today, 3,612 GSAs are registered with GLSEN from every US state, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. Gay-Straight Alliances are student clubs that seek to improve school climate by addressing and reducing anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in school.
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Sep 12, 2007
News: Activists Call for Action to Support Gay People in Nicaragua
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(Nicaragua) - Human rights groups across the world have called for action to remind the government and the parliament of Nicaragua of their obligations to respect inalienable rights of Gay people. Amnesty International has declared 13 September 2007 the worldwide day of action to remove the article 204 of the Nicaraguan Penal Code, which reads: "Anyone who induces, promotes, propagandizes or practices in scandalous form sexual inter-course between persons of the same sex commits the crime of sodomy and shall incur 1 to 3 years’ imprison-ment". Gay organizations and individuals are urged to write letters to Nicaragua embassies and stage protest demonstrations.
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Sep 12, 2007
News: Lesbian Refugee Released from UK Detention
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(UK) - The Friends of Pegah Campaign from Sheffield has released informations that the ordeal of Pegah Emambakhsh has found an end so far. Pegah was granted bail and she is finally out of Yarls Wood Detention Centre and back with people who will love and care for her. The Court of Appeal has also agreed to hear her case. The group believes that the case will be listed within the next couple of weeks and a decision will be made within the next few months.
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Sep 12, 2007
News: HIV Infections Among Youngsters Raising in New York
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(USA) - HIV infection is on the rise among young Gay and Bisexual men in New York City, according to preliminary research data from the US Health Department. New HIV diagnoses among Gay and Bisexual men under age 30 have grown by 33% in the past six years from 374 in 2001 to almost 500 in 2006. New diagnoses have doubled for the youngsters aged 13 to 19, while declining by 22% among older men. The under-30 group now accounts for 44% of all new diagnoses among Gay and Bisexual men in New York City, up from 31% in 2001.
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Sep 11, 2007
News: ILGA-Europe Welcomes Judgement by European Court of Human Rights
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(EU) - The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued a Transgender-friendly judgment in the case against Lithuania. The Court said that while Lithuanian law had recognised the right of a transsexual person to change their gender and their civil status, the gap in the law regulating full gender reassignment surgery created an impediment for the transsexual person to complete this process. Therefore Lithuania violated Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, where the right to respect of family and private life is guaranteed.
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Sep 11, 2007
News: First Ever Queer Lion Awarded in Venice
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(Italy) - Ed Radtke's film Speed of Life won the Queer Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, a new prize for the best film that accurately portrays Gay themes or characters. Lyrical and raw, The Speed Of Life tells the story of Sammer (Jeremy Allen White), a 13 year old Gay boy who escapes the streets of New York City by stealing video cameras from tourists. The kid and his friends retreat to their working class neighborhood to quickly change the cameras for cash, but Sammer always keeps the tapes.
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Sep 11, 2007
News: California Governor Urged to Sign the Equal Marriage Bill
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(USA) - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger must sign the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act to ensure basic human rights to all citizens of California, Human Rights Watch urged in a letter to the governor. The legislation grants full marriage equality for same-sex couples, within the limitations of the restrictive federal legislation. Schwarzenegger had vetoed a similar bill when passed by California's legislature 2005.
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Sep 10, 2007
News: Harvey Milk to be played by Sean Penn
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(USA) - Sean Penn will play Gay politician Harvey Milk in director Gus Van Sant's biopic of the popular public official. The movie will start production in San Francisco in December this year. A story in the Hollywood Reporter also claims that Matt Damon will play Dan White, who shot the San Francisco city supervisor and Mayor George Moscone in 1978. The assassin, Dan White, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Outrage over the mild verdict led to the White Night Riots in San Francisco. White committed suicide in 1985 after serving five years of his seven-year sentence.
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Sep 10, 2007
News: US Homophobe Scott Lively Tours Russia
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(Russia) - Scott Lively, president of "Defend the Family," arrived in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk today. Lively will speak in the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture in Krasnoyarsk on September 13, presumably promoting his anti-Gay bias to a willing auditory. Lively is author of the pseudo-historian book "The Pink Swastika," which is suggesting that homosexuals are the ones to be blamed for the Nazi regime in Germany. In Krasnoyarsk Lively, who was referred by the Russian media as an “American human rights activist” representing a “human rights organization,” will keep a few lectures for students, probably on applied homophobia. He himself reportedly intends "to inform young people about real reasons of homosexuality" and the results of “medical research” in this field.
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Sep 08, 2007
News: Protests in Berlin to Save Iranian Lesbian From Deportation
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(Germany) - An Iranian lesbian seeking asylum in Germany is to be deported, according to a recent decision by German authorities. Homosexuality is punishable by death is Iran. A protest vigil organized by the German Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) and attended by about 50 people was held today outside the Ministry for the Interior and Sports. The Iranian woman had sought asylum in Germany because of the imminent danger of execution in Iran. Authorities did not believe her, and, according to the newspaper TAZ, she is now to be deported to Turkey. A possible reprieve may come from the Commission for Cases of Hardship, however any resulting finding would be a mere recommendation.
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Sep 08, 2007
News: IGLHRC Asks to Submit Nominations for the 2008 Felipa Award
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(USA) - The Felipa Award honors an organization or an individual whose work has made a significant contribution toward securing the full enjoyment of 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, anywhere in the world. The award commemorates Felipa de Souza, a woman who was convicted and tortured in Brazil by the Portuguese Inquisition in 1591 for having sexual relationships with other women.
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