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May 22nd, 2013
Sharon Ozzy Osbourne kiss on the red carpet after split reports
By Nardine Saad
May 21, 2013, 6:15 p.m.
Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne hit the red carpet together at a charity event over the weekend, and the reunion has many wondering whether the couple is officially back together.
“The Talk’s” Sharon Osbourne, who’s been married to the rocker since 1982, split with him last month because of his substance abuse issues and reports that he had fallen off the wagon.
Once tabloid articles on their relationship status hit a fever pitch, Ozzy, 64, said that he and Sharon were not divorcing by posting a candid Facebook post on the matter and that his drinking and substance abuse were taking a toll on the ones he loved the most. Soon afterward, Sharon admitted to their long-running struggles on her talk show.
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“Everybody knows he’s been struggling with this [substance abuse] his entire life and I never knew that he was using prescription drugs. I knew he was drinking occasionally, but I didn’t realize to the extent. It’s our business — we’re dealing with it; we’re not getting divorced,” she said. “However, am I happy? No. Am I upset? Yes I am — I’m devastated right now.”
The couple is said to have been living separately too, and Sharon reportedly said that she wouldn’t move back in with her husband until he proved he was clean and sober.
However, on Saturday night, the couple attended “An Evening With Women,” a benefit for the L.A. Gay Lesbian Center, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. They went to the event with daughter Kelly Osbourne of “Fashion Police” and are said to have met for lunch earlier in the day, according to TMZ, which reported that they got cozy over the meal.
Then, in front of tons of shutterbugs, Ozzy planted a huge kiss on his wife’s cheek as they were walking the red carpet, with Kelly looking on with glee.
According to Britain’s The Sun, assistants were spotted moving the Black Sabbath’s singer’s things back from his Beverly Hills home to Sharon’s mansion.
Whether or not they’ve reconciled, looks like these two are at least working on things together.
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nardine.saad@latimes.com
Follow Ministry of Gossip @LATcelebs.
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Article source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-mg-sharon-ozzy-osbourne-reunite-at-lgbt-event-20130521,0,2895585.story?track=rss
May 22nd, 2013
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of the Council of Europe demanded on Wednesday that Russia allow gay rallies, weighing in on what has become an increasingly divisive issue since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency.
As support for same-sex marriage increases in the West, Russia’s gays say they face shrinking freedoms and rising violence, and Russian lawmakers are considering a law that would ban gay “propaganda” around minors.
Activists and rights groups say the loose wording of the law could be used to clamp down on demonstrations by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people such as gay pride parades.
“Authorities have an obligation also to (ensure) that LGBT people can express their views and (hold) demonstrations,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe, of which Russia is a signatory.
“This is a fundamental principle in the European Convention on Human Rights,” he said.
An aggressive crowd shouted insults and threw smoke bombs over police barriers to break up a gay rally last week in St. Petersburg, forcing activists to escape in minibuses only minutes after the start of the demonstration.
Moscow authorities also rejected two requests this week by LGBT activists to hold rallies, agencies reported, though activists say they will carry out a demonstration in a central Moscow park on Saturday regardless of the city’s decision to ban it.
Attitudes towards gay people in Russia and former Soviet states are largely shaped by repressive Stalin-era policies, when sodomy was punishable by up to five years in jail.
President Vladimir Putin, who is looking to boost his support among conservative voters, has given the Orthodox Church a more public role as a moral authority as Russia experiences a religious revival since the fall of Communism.
Russian Orthodox church leader Patriarch Kirill told Jagland on Tuesday that his Church must remind people that homosexuality is a “sin before God”.
While the number of documented cases of violence against gays in Russia is low, rights group Sova, which tracks extremist violence, says attacks on gays rose sharply after discussion of the nationwide ban.
A 23-year-old man in the southern city of Volgograd was tortured and killed after revealing he was gay.
(Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/council-europe-head-says-russia-must-protect-lgbt-124351689.html
May 22nd, 2013
Champions of equality slammed Democratic members on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday after it succumbed to the pressure of rightwing threats by removing a crucial amendment to the immigration reform package that would have provided inclusion and protection of LGBT members of immigrant and binational families.
 Sen. Chuck Schumer, far right, speaks while flanked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, center, and committee chairman Patrick Leahy during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform and border security April 22 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Getty images) The overall bill was ultimately passed, but only after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the committee’s chairman, removed an amendment that included protections and equal legal status for families that include same-sex partners who are non-US citizens.
“I’m committed to ending that discrimination,” Leahy said before withdrawing the amendment which Republican lawmakers said would essentially kill the legislation either at the committee level or in the full Senate.
But LGBT activists, tired of their continued exclusion from equal treatment under the law, say the move is just another cave by the Democrats.
“Republicans came after LGBT families, and Democrats didn’t stand up,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of the Immigration Equality Action Fund which advocates on behalf of the LGBT community in immigration matters.
“There should be shame on both sides of the political aisle for lawmakers who worked to deny LGBT immigrant families a vote,” she said.
Though she acknowledge that both Sen. Leahy and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had voiced strong support for the amendment’s inclusion, Tiven said the Democratic leaders on the committee caved to bullying from the GOP and other regressive forces by accepting a “false choice” between LGBT families and immigration reform.
“Senators have lined up in recent months to proclaim their support for marriage equality and LGBT rights,” Tiven added. “Yet, given the first opportunity to put their vote where their talking point is, they failed. Our families need deeds, not words.”
According to Tiven’s groups, an estimated 36,000 couples are raising more than 25,000 children within the United States (with countless others living in forced exile) are unable to sponsor their spouse or partner for residency under current immigration law because of their sexual status.
Lavi Soloway, an immigration attorney and co-founder of the DOMA Project which focuses on immigration for binational LGBT couples, was scathing in his rebuke, putting focus on Schumer and Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) by calling Tuesday’s removal of the amendment a “betrayal” by Democrats.
“What’s worse,” Soloway wrote just ahead of the committee’s vote, “there was never any chance that either [Schumer or Feinstein] were planning to go to bat for us. So, for weeks, we endured gay bashing by Republicans over amendments that were doomed to failure in Committee because they lacked the support of cowardly Democrats. This was a foregone conclusion, and it cost us dearly.”
He continued:
Remember this when you are rejoicing about the seemingly inevitable momentum we are experiencing as one state after another passes Marriage Equality. Remember this when Facebook is filled with BREAKING NEWS telling you that 54 Senators have declared support for Marriage Equality. Remember this when staggering public polling results show support for marriage equality reaching new highs in places as far as Virginia, and with every demographic, including the oldest Americans. Certainly, this progress should be greeted with elation, but if our elected officials refuse to vote for our lives, for our equality, and for our future, our families will continue to be torn apart. Parents will continue to be separated from their children for years, couples will continue to be forced into exile or separated for many years, and foreign spouses and partners of lesbian and gay Americans will continue to be deported.
_________________________________________________________
Article source: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/22
May 22nd, 2013
Updated: The Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon approved a version of the immigration reform bill with no provision for same-sex couples. Read more here.
LGBT activists across the country are fuming over what appears to be the death knell for hopes of comprehensive immigration reform that included provisions for binational LGBT families.
Two Democratic senators among the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” currently considering comprehensive immigration reform have indicated that they will not vote for two amendments proposed by committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy that would allow married Americans to sponsor their foreign-born same-sex spouse for citizenship. Advocates for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform contend that California senator Dianne Feinstein and New York senator Chuck Schumer, both generally considered LGBT allies, have caved to Republican threats to derail immigration reform entirely if LGBT families are included.
The Associated Press reports that the White House may have pressured Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, to hold off on introducing his amendments, which were lauded as “brilliant” when they first caught headlines earlier this month. Washington reporter Chris Johnson tweeted that when Leahy was asked whether the White House asked him to delay introducing his LGBT amendments, the senator “gives an annoyed look and says nothing.”
Similarly, Schumer said he had no comment about the LGBT-inclusive amendments when Metro Weekly reporter Justin Snow asked him Tuesday.
President Obama signaled support for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform earlier this month, but the AP notes that he is unlikely to veto overarching immigration reform simply because it excludes LGBT Americans.
While initial hopes for inclusive immigration reform were high, leading activists in the fight to end the state-ordered separation of gay and lesbian couples predicted last month that any immigration reform that reached the president’s desk would likely exclude LGBT families.
“The most vulnerable members of our community relied on Senator Schumer and Senator Feinstein to stand up for us and end decades of catastrophic and irreparable harm to our families caused by DOMA and our exclusion from US immigration law,” writes Lavi Soloway, an immigration attorney and cofounder of the DOMA Project, in a scathing report. “After all [Schumer's] promises to fight for LGBT inclusion, he has signaled day after day that he won’t upset the bipartisan Gang of Eight applecart. Dianne Feinstein, who, 35 years ago, became Mayor of San Francisco after the assassination of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk, has once again failed to provide leadership when the going got tough.”
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/politics/2013/05/21/lgbt-inclusive-immigration-reform-good-dead-say-advocates
May 22nd, 2013
Acknowledging that it would jeopardize the passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill, a top ally of LGBT rights advocates will not call for a committee vote on an amendment that would include the spouses of LGBT individuals with the same standing as heterosexual couples in immigration law.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy announced “with a heavy heart” that he would withhold his amendment during the final hours of the committee’s negotiations on the immigration bill.
“I do not want to be the senator who asks Americans to choose between the love of their life and love of their country,” he said in his opening remarks on the amendment, for which gay rights advocates had heavily lobbied in the weeks leading up to the marathon markup session.
Republican members of the Gang of Eight had made clear in the days before the vote that the LGBT provisions – if included – would be a dealbreaker for GOP supporters of the delicate bipartisan compromise. But gay rights organizations said the inclusion of the protections for LGBT individuals is a crucial social justice issue.
The Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group, called opposition to Leahy’s proposal “deplorable” and vowed to keep up the fight on the Senate floor.
“We are extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people,” the organization said in a statement. “We will continue to work hard to include bi-national same-sex couples as the bill moves to the floor and remain committed to the underlying principles of inclusive and comprehensive immigration reform.”
Rachel Tiven, the president of immigrant advocacy group Immigration Equality, said “there should be shame on both sides of the political aisle” for the move.
“Despite widespread support from business, labor, faith, Latino and Asian-American advocates, Senators abandoned LGBT families without a vote,” she said.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Gang of Eight negotiators, affirmed that the amendment would fracture the “strong but fragile coalition” nurtured by the bipartisan group.
“When it comes to passing this immigration bill, to interject a redefinition of marriage would be a bridge too far,” he said.
Before Leahy announced the withholding of the amendment, Gang of Eight members Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer, both Democrats with strong records of supporting gay rights, each expressed anguish at the prospect of voting against the measure to preserve the chances of passage of the larger bill.
“I believe this is the wrong moment. This is the wrong bill,” said Durbin.
Schumer acknowledged that current immigration policy towards LGBT foreign nationals amounts to ”rank discrimination”
But, he added, ”I cannot support this amendment if it would bring down this bill.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said that she believes there is a “very good chance” that the Supreme Court will find the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional this summer, largely addressing the concerns of the LGBT community when it comes to protections for binational couples.
“I am for what Sen. Leahy is proposing,” she added. “I would just implore you to hold off on this amendment at this time.”
Article source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653369/s/2c39e42b/l/0Lfirstread0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C210C1840A460A50Eleahy0Ewithholds0Eamendment0Eto0Einclude0Elgbt0Ecouples0Ein0Eimmigration0Ereform0Dlite/story01.htm
May 21st, 2013
In response to a spate of recent antigay assaults in New York City, thousands of LGBT people, including elected officials, gathered in midtown Manhattan Monday to denounce the violence.
 Left: Out City Council speaker Christine Quinn (second left, with head turned) and DOMA plaintiff Edie Windsor (center, white hair) march with the NYC Anti-Violence Project on Monday.
Participants chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, homophobia’s got to go,” as they marched past several locations where gay men have been assaulted in recent weeks. Out City Council speaker Christine Quinn and DOMA plaintiff Edie Windsor joined the crowd calling for an end to the violence. LGBT and antiviolence organizations including GLAAD, the NYC Anti-Violence Project, the city’s LGBT Community Center, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced plans to participate in Monday’s rally, which began at 5:30 p.m
There’s been a disturbing increase in anti-LGBT violence in New York in recent weeks. On Saturday, Mark Carson, 32, was gunned down in Greenwich Village after being accosted by three men who yelled antigay slurs at him. After asking if Carson wanted “to die here,” the assailant allegedly shot Carson in the head. Carson later died at Beth Israel Hospital. Although the suspects initially fled, Elliot Morales, 33, was quickly taken into custody by police, who say they plan to charge the man with a hate crime.
Gay men have been attacked in five separate incidents over a three-week period in New York City. One attack occurred May 10 and another May 5, both near Madison Square Garden.
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/crime/2013/05/20/thousands-rally-against-anti-lgbt-violence-new-york-city
May 21st, 2013
Network with LGBT business pros and allies at the Memphis Gay Lesbian Community Center’s Business Professional Meet Greet on Thursday, May 23rd from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Hilton hotel.
The event is free and open to Memphis area employee resource groups, diversity and inclusion councils, business owners, entrepreneurs, LGBT Ally professionals, family and friends.
Dress code is business casual. Attendees are encouraged to bring business cards. There will be a cash bar with light snacks.
Go here to RSVP.
Professionals from AutoZone, Baker Donelson, Delta Airlines, FedEx, First Tennessee Bank, Harrah’s, Hilton Worldwide, International Paper, Medtronic, McDonald’s, Merck, Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare, Nike, ServiceMaster, Smith Nephew, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, city governments, local universities, non-profit organizations, and more are expected to attend.
Article source: http://www.memphisflyer.com/MemphisGaydar/archives/2013/05/21/lgbt-business-professional-meet-and-greet
May 21st, 2013
LGBT activists across the country are fuming over what appears to be the death-knell for hopes of comprehensive immigration reform that included provisions for binational LGBT families.
Two Democratic Senators among the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” currently considering comprehensive immigration reform have indicated that they will not vote for two amendments proposed by committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy that would allow married LGBT Americans to sponsor their foreign-born same-sex spouse for citizenship. Advocates for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform contend that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, both generally considered LGBT allies, have caved to Republican threats to derail immigration reform entirely if LGBT families are included.
The Associated Press reports that the White House may have pressured Sen. Patrick Leahy, a democrat from Vermont, to hold off on introducing his amendments, which were lauded as “brilliant” when they first caught headlines earlier this month. Washington reporter Chris Johnson tweeted that when Sen. Leahy was asked whether the White House asked him to delay introducing his LGBT amendments, the senator “gives and annoyed look and says nothing.”
Similarly, Sen. Schumer said he had no comment about the LGBT-inclusive amendments when Metro Weekly reporter Justin Snow asked him Tuesday.
President Obama signaled support for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform earlier this month, but the AP notes that he is unlikely to veto overarching immigration reform simply because it excludes LGBT Americans.
While initial hopes for inclusive immigration reform were high, leading activists in the fight to end the state-ordered separation of gay and lesbian couples predicted last month that any immigration reform that reached the President’s desk would likely exclude LGBT families.
“The most vulnerable members of our community relied on Senator Schumer and Senator Feinstein to stand up for us and end decades of catastrophic and irreparable harm to our families caused by DOMA and our exclusion from US immigration law,” writes Lavi Soloway, an immigration attorney and cofounder of The DOMA Project in a scathing report. “After all [Sen. Schumer's] promises to fight for LGBT inclusion, he has signaled day after day that he won’t upset the bipartisan Gang of Eight applecart. Dianne Feinstein, who, 35 years ago, became Mayor of San Francisco after the assassination of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk, has once again failed to provide leadership when the going got tough.”
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/politics/2013/05/21/lgbt-inclusive-immigration-reform-good-dead-say-advocates
May 21st, 2013
 A US Airways executive told the Independence Business Alliance on Monday that Philadelphia’s largest airline was pursuing and seriously committed to diversity in its workforce.
Suzanne Boda, one of the three highest-ranking women at US Airways and the executive overseeing the airline’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employee group – called Spectrum – said that from chief executive officer Doug Parker down, US Airways was “proud of our commitment to diversity and inclusion. It’s part of our corporate fabric and the culture of who we are.”
She also reiterated the airline’s commitment to Philadelphia as a hub airport in its merger with American Airlines, expected to win regulatory approval by Sept. 30.
Boda, based in Philadelphia and senior vice president in charge of US Airways’ international and cargo operations, spoke at the annual luncheon of the Philadelphia area’s LGBT chamber of commerce at the Sofitel Hotel.
Since 2005, Boda said, US Airways has fostered 11 business resource, or employee, groups geared to ethnic, race, gender, and religious and other interests and affiliations among its 32,000 employees. The aim is to expand camaraderie among workers and networking in communities, provide education, awareness and professional growth, and assist US Airways’ recruitment and retention programs.
“The groups have become a very important part of our culture and helped to build a sense of community among our employees,” she said.
Boda came to US Airways, and Philadelphia, in January 2008 after 25 years at Northwest Airlines. With a team that includes Bob Ciminelli, who runs the Philadelphia hub operation, the airline has established a satellite headquarters at Philadelphia International Airport.
“Philadelphia is a very, very important hub for us in our system,” Boda said. “If you look at our route network, 34 percent of all US Airways flights pass through Philadelphia.”
Boda also oversees the airline’s professional women’s network group. She lives in Center City, and she and her husband also have a home in Phoenix and “a little ski place in Colorado.”
US Airways’ LGBT employee group has chapters in Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Charlotte and Winston-Salem, N.C., and about 270 members, she said. The group sponsors and participates in community events in hub cities, such as PrideDay, the LGBT parade and festival in June in Philadelphia, and “OutFest,” a national coming-out-day event, in October.
Parker spoke to the audience via video, saying US Airways holds itself “accountable for creating and maintaining an atmosphere” where employees and customers are treated fairly and equitably. “We work very hard to make sure our employees know their voice is heard and their leadership team is listening to, and acting on, their suggestions and concerns,” he said. “That includes insuring our workplace is free from harassment of any kind.”
Contact Linda Loyd at 215-854-2831 or lloyd@phillynews.com.
Article source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20130521_US_Airways_exec_to_LGBT_group__Diversity__part_of_our_corporate_fabric_.html
May 20th, 2013
Amid the unfolding jail scandal in Baltimore right now, there are two things relevant to the gay community that I want to bring up.
I’m not sure if there are any connections between the two, or if one affects the other. But viewed together, they do present some interesting questions.
First: Non-heterosexual inmates in jails and prisons across the country reported a far greater degree of sexual victimization in the last two years than their straight counterparts, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Justice last week.
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Second: The state’s powerful Black Guerrilla Family prison gang — which apparently held an astounding degree of power and control at the Baltimore City Detention Center until the FBI moved in recently — has a stated anti-gay stance.
The national statistics play out like this: Among the heterosexual population, 1.2 percent of state and federal prison inmates and 1.2 percent of jail inmates reported sexual victimization by another inmate.
Among those who reported their orientation as gay, lesbian, bisexual or “other” — which I assume includes the transgender community — 12.2 percent of prison inmates and 8.5 percent of jail inmates reported victimization by another inmate.
In prisons, that means LGBT inmates are victimized at 10 times the rate of straight inmates. In jails, that means LGBT inmates are victimized at seven times the rate of straight inmates.
With guards as the aggressors, 5.4 percent of LGBT prisoners reported victimization, compared to 2.1 percent of straight prisoners. Among jail inmates, 4.3 percent of LGBT inmates reported victimization by staff, compared to 1.7 percent of straight inmates.
Non-heterosexual inmates reported higher levels of victimization than heterosexual inmates in every demographic subgroup, according to the study.
Now, back to the BGF.
In Baltimore, we’ve been reporting heavily on the Baltimore City Detention Center and the alleged sexual activity between corrections officers and gang members there. Reported members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang were recently indicted by federal investigators for allegedly conspiring with 13 corrections officers to smuggle drugs and other contraband into the jail. The FBI says the scheme allowed them to gain widespread control of the facility.
According to a law-enforcement handbook on the BGF that I obtained through a records request in a separate case, the gang’s “constitution” is clear on what its rules are on homosexual activity:
“Article 23: We do not associate, nor participate in homosexual activity. Discipline may be severe,” the constitution reads.
Back up to “Article 5,” and you’ll find this: “Discipline comes in three forms: Fines — discipline for minor offenses; Beatdown — discipline for major offenses; Death — discipline for extreme violations.”
Last week, the Sun reported that the new Justice study found the Baltimore jail has the nation’s second-highest rate of sexual contact between jail staff and inmates. Almost 7 percent of inmates at the jail reported having had sexual contact with a staff member, the study found.
(The indictment also alleges that one inmate, Tavon White, got especially close to the officers — impregnating four, two of whom had his name tattooed on their bodies. The indictment alleges this sexual activity was consensual.)
A number of questions come to mind.
Is the BGF’s intolerance for gay behavior a deterrent to the same type of sexual targeting of gay inmates that’s apparently going on in facilities across the country? Or are gay inmates victimized in Maryland facilities at risk of being targeted a second time by the gang for “activity” in which they were an unwilling participant in the first place? Is there a double standard when the “homosexual activity” occurs during a show of power against a victim?
I don’t have the answers. But as the corrections department looks for ways to stop sexual activity in the jail and undo a legacy of power established by BGF inside its walls, it may want to consider the LGBT inmates who reside there as well, and whether they are at a heightened risk.
Article source: http://baltimore.feedsportal.com/c/34255/f/623016/s/2c29dee7/l/0L0Sbaltimoresun0N0Cnews0Cmaryland0Cbs0Egm0Egay0Einmate0Evictimization0H0A0H34624220Bstory0Dtrack0Frss/story01.htm
May 20th, 2013
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Stockholm Pride’s #GOWEST initiative has prompted a rise in the global
support of the LGBT community, making it a global trending topic with
celebrities and other influencers engaging in the conversation to push
Russia to reverse its stance on Gay Pride.
The groundbreaking advocacy initiative raises awareness and support for
the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender community in Russia after
a court decision, where Moscow City Hall enacted a hundred-year ban on
the LGBT annual parade held in the capital city of Russia. The Moscow
courts have stated that it is not open to any reconsideration until the
year 2112 at the earliest.
In order to raise awareness on the banning of Pride and the
discrimination and violation of rights in the LGBT community in Russia,
Stockholm Pride has invited Russians to #GOWEST and celebrate Pride in
Stockholm, Sweden, instead.
On the official website, gowest2013.com,
supporters can create a customized tweet invite to be translated into
Russian and transmitted from a randomly-selected city in Russia in
attempt to become a trending topic on Twitter in Russia.
On May 17, #GOWEST was a trending topic in the city of Nizhny Novgorod,
Russia, but the objective of Stockholm Pride’s campaign is much greater.
To trend globally, Stockholm Pride is requesting tweeters worldwide to
send a message of love and support from gowest2013.com and spread the
word about the movement.
Several celebrity personalities from around the world have joined the
cause, including Darren Hayes, Boy George, Sara and Tegan, Nicole
Fiorentino of the Smashing Pumpkins and Alexander Bard, among others.
Stockholm Pride is hoping tweeters from across the globe can send a
message of love and support from gowest2013.com and spread the word
about the movement.
The social media campaign was concepted in concert with MC Saatchi’s
Stockholm office.
For more information and to tweet your support for equality, please
visit: http://www.gowest2013.com/
Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stockholm-pride-launches-twitter-campaign-193300042.html
May 20th, 2013
The Hague, Netherlands (PRWEB) May 20, 2013
New global report reveals homophobic discrimination and violence is endemic in many countries around the world
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International LGBT2020 Homophobia Report reveals widespread homophobia, violence and harassment of LGBT people in countries all over the world
- Most LGBT people globally are not out at work due to fears of harassment and bullying
- Over half of LGBT people in most countries believe that there are issues of homophobia and transphobia in their own workplace
Sydney, Australia (OUTNOW) – May 20, 2013 — Data released from the world’s largest research program into the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people has revealed the extent to which LGBT people suffer harassment, discrimination, refusal of goods and services and violence because of their sexuality. The LGBT2020 study measures these data on a global scale for the very first time. The findings released in conjunction with IDAHO day (The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia http://www.dayagainsthomophobia.org  which is held annually on the 17 May, give the clearest picture to date about the widespread levels of harassment and discrimination that LGBT people face on a daily basis in countries right around the world.
The ‘Out Now Global LGBT2020 Homophobia Report’ http://www.outnowconsulting.com/media/1332/Idaho-discrimination-report-global-V7.pdf ; research was conducted by the world?s leading LGBT consulting firm Out Now Global http://www.outnowconsulting.com as part of the ‘Out Now Global LGBT2020 Study’. This groundbreaking project is the largest global research project into the lives of LGBT people that has ever been undertaken, and to date the LGBT2020 study has collected data in 12 languages from almost 100,000 LGBT respondents in 21 countries around the globe on a variety of topics, include workplace and discrimination issues. Countries sampled during 2012 for the LGBT2020 research report include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay.
The results highlight several key global trends for LGBT people among findings that are relatively consistent across the various countries tested, including the countries in the LGBT2020 study not included in this new report. These data reveal the prevalence of homophobia, which is still endemic and appears to be culturally ingrained in societies globally. The new ‘Out Now Global International LGBT2020 Homophobia Report’ highlights that discrimination, harassment and violence is occurring to LGBT people because of their sexuality all over the world, and shows that even in the most progressive western countries not everyone who identifies as being either LGB or T is able to be completely ‘out’ or open about their sexuality either at work, with friends or with family.
The research also reveals that more than 50% of respondents tested believe there are problems of varying degrees of severity for LGBT people in their own workplace. While these findings highlight the extent of discrimination and harassment of LGBT people they may only reveal part of the problem. The research shows that even in a country as socially progressive as the Netherlands for example, the percentage of LGBT people who are able to be out to everyone at work (65%), with family (77%) and with their friends (83%) is not total showing that issues in coming out are real and affect interpersonal relationships across society. This ability to be ‘out’ drops to just 17% (at work), 21% (with family) and 26% (with friends) in Japan, where cultural norms make it far more ‘unacceptable’ for LGBT people to be open about their sexuality or gender identity. The new LGBT2020 homophobia figures reveal the true lack of visibility for LGBT people in society, particularly in the workplace, where even in a country as reportedly accepting as the Netherlands – more than one in every three (35%) of all LGBT respondents feel that they are unable to completely be themselves with their colleagues at work. This lack of visibility because of reluctance amongst many LGBT people to come out about their sexuality or gender identity is explained by another finding of the research.
There is a very real threat that out and open LGBT people risk harassment, discrimination and violence – both verbal abuse and physical assaults – in the societies in which they live, all over the world due to their sexuality or gender identity. The ‘Out Now Global International LGBT2020 Homophobia Report’ shows that there is a particular lack of visibility (known as ‘being in the closet’) for LGBT people globally which is especially prevalent in certain countries including Japan, Turkey, Mexico, France and Brazil. With fewer visible ‘out’ LGBT people in these countries the actual levels of homophobia could be far higher than reported as people who feel unable to be out are often adopting this tactic as part of a strategy to minimise homophobic and transphobic incidents against themselves. There is a strong correlation with how out people are in a particular country in their places of work, with how well they feel LGBT people generally are treated in the workplace, indicating that countries where people are less likely to be out at work are also those countries where LGBT respondents feel LGBT people in the workplace are treated poorly. Issues of homophobia and transphobia are not defined by levels of development within nations.
The findings of the new ‘Out Now Global LGBT2020 Homophobia Report’ show that countries such as the USA, UK, Canada, France and Germany (amongst others) all have significant cultural issues affecting how open LGBT people can be in all levels of society, and respondents from these countries also report worryingly high levels of harassment, violence and discrimination which they suffer because of their sexuality or gender identity. In the USA for example, 59% of respondents believe that there are issues of concern to them regarding how LGBT people are currently treated while at work, which may go some way to explaining why only 44% of LGBT respondents from the USA are out to everyone in the workplace.
Similarly in the UK, only 52% of respondents said that they felt able to be ‘out to everyone’ at work, and 15% of respondents indicated that they had suffered harassment in the workplace during the past year. It appears that no matter where LGBT people live in the world today, too many still run very real daily risks of suffering harassment, bullying, violence and intimidation solely on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now Global was keen to add context to the research. “The findings of this ‘Out Now Global LGBT2020 Homophobia Report’ show that we have a long way to go in achieving a society which is truly welcoming and accepting of sexual and gender diversity,” Johnson said. “Out Now hopes this data goes some way to helping highlight the very real problems of homophobia and transphobia which many LGBT people encounter every day, in all parts of the world. Of course one of the most important things we say at Out Now is that averages mask diversity. There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ LGBT person. There are just individuals. At Out Now one of our touchstones is that ‘LGBT’ spells people. People around the world living diverse lives – yet all having at least one characteristic that unites them – being a member of the minority group within societies known as LGBT.”
Joel Bedos from the IDAHO Committee said, “The Out Now Global LGBT2020 Study will no doubt provide renewed momentum for companies to increase their commitment to Human Rights for all, irrespective of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression – not only within their companies, but within the societies at large that they live and work in. By supporting local LGBT advocates who work every day to fight against stigma and discrimination, companies are proving vital in implementing a core component of their broader corporate social responsibility.”
Media contact:
Darren Cooper, Out Now darren.cooper @ OutNowConsulting.com
About Out Now
http://www.outnowconsulting.com/media/1332/Idaho-discrimination-report-global-V7.pdf
Established in 1992, Out Now is the world’s leading LGBT marketing organization and has for two decades been relied upon by many of the world’s leading brands, organisations and tourism bodies for specialized gay and lesbian marketing insight and expertise. Services include research, training, strategy and communications. Out Now clients include IBM, Toyota, Citibank, German National Tourist Office, TUI, Lufthansa, Berlin Tourism Marketing, Vienna Tourist Board, Visit Manchester, Stockholm Visitors Board and Lloyds TSB Banking Group.
About IDAHO
http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/about/
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) was created in 2004 to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, social movements, the public and the media to this issue.
It is not one centralised campaign; rather it is a moment that everyone can take advantage of to take action.
The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.
The International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia is now celebrated in more than 100 countries, in all world regions and in places as diverse as Australia, Iran, Cameroon or Albania.
###
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Article source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10744380.htm
May 20th, 2013
Countries Must Repeal Laws That Discriminate Against LGBT
Individuals – UN Officials
New York, May 17 2013 -
Marking the International Day Against Homophobia, United
Nations officials today issued a call on Governments
worldwide to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) individuals, and strike laws that
discriminate against them.
“The fight against homophobia
is a core part of the broader battle for human rights for
all,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks to
the International Forum on the International Day Against
Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), held in The Hague, the
Netherlands.
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
promises a world that is free and equal, and we will only
honour that promise if everyone – without exception –
enjoys the protection they deserve.”
In his message,
which was delivered by the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Navi Pillay on Thursday, Mr. Ban called for more
public education to end negative stereotypes and underlined
Governments’ responsibility to the take the lead in
promoting greater understanding of the issue.
“We know
what needs to be done. Draconian laws used to criminalize
and punish LGBT people must be replaced by new laws that are
in harmony with universal human rights conventions and
protect everyone from discrimination on grounds of their
sexual orientation and gender identity.”
During the same
forum, Ms. Pillay stressed that while there has been
progress in recent years in overcoming homophobia “many
States are still reluctant to acknowledge the extent of
violence and discrimination meted out to those who are
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex.”
Ms.
Pillay highlighted three areas that require immediate
attention. The first is hate crimes, which “take place
with alarming regularity in all regions of the world,” and
range from bullying to physical assault, torture, kidnapping
and murder.
The second concern is the criminalization of
homosexuality. Some 76 countries continue to outlaw same sex
relationships, violating citizen’s right to privacy.
Penalties range from jail sentences to execution.
The
prevalence of discriminatory practices against LGBT is the
third area of concern, and Ms. Pillay noted that in many
countries, LGBT individuals lack legal protection by
national laws and in some instances States are actively
contributing to this type of discrimination.
In 2011, 85
States signed a statement expressing their concern at human
rights violations perpetrated against LGBT people, and the
UN Human Rights Council adopted the first ever resolution to
specifically address the issue.
Last year, the UN Human
Rights Office produced a guide to LGBT rights entitled
‘Born Free and Equal’ that sets out States’ core legal
obligations.
Administrator of the UN Development Programme
(UNDP) Helen Clark said
that in spite of recent progress, much remains to be done to
secure LGBT rights. She noted that UNDP is on the ground in
over 170 countries and territories, implementing programmes
focusing on the rights of all people to access important
services and live lives of dignity.
“Many of the people
we work with are excluded from development opportunities
specifically because of their sexual orientation or gender
expression, contributing to the staggering levels of
inequality around the world. Such inequalities impede
development progress for society as a whole.”
Miss Clark
added that through its work in human rights, access to
justice, and HIV law reform, UNDP is partnering with
Government, civil society and the LGBT community in many
countries to tackle these gross inequities.
To mark the
Day, OHCHR has released a video entitled ‘The
Riddle’ which asks: What exists in every corner of the
world but remains illegal in more than 70 countries? The
answer: Being gay, being lesbian, bisexual or
transgender.
Produced in collaboration with the Purpose
Foundation, ‘The Riddle’ was watched by more than 60,000
people within 24 hours of its release on YouTube.
While
not an officially observed UN day, the majority of which
have been established by the UN General Assembly or
designated by UN specialized agencies, the International Day
Against Homophobia has become an important day for millions
around the world to pause and remember the victims of
homophobic violence and discrimination, and to make the case
for genuine equality for LGBT people.
For more details go
to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
ENDS
© Scoop Media
Article source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1305/S00449/countries-must-repeal-laws-that-discriminate-against-lgbt.htm
May 20th, 2013
Thank you to Grace Coleman for renewing her listing on GayFriendlyBiz.com and our directory of lgbt friendly mental health providers. Grace provides professional counseling to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered as well as straight individuals and couples in the Long Beach, CA area. She specializes in relationship issues.
Check out her listing on GayFriendlyBiz.com
May 19th, 2013
Activists angry at the immigration stance of Florida senator Marco Rubio interrupted his speech at Saturday’s Hillsborough County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner in Tampa.
Rubio is part of the “Gang of 8″ working to craft immigration reform legislation, but the Republican has said he will harpoon any bill that includes provisions to assist LGBT binational couples.
“Include our families in immigration reform!” the activists screamed. “All families matter!” The protesters were affiliated with the advocacy group GetEqual, and included LGBT, Latino, and immigration rights activists.
Rubio, who many pundits believe has presidential ambitions, is hostile towards gay rights. He is trying to woo Latino voters, but it’s not clear that holding up immigration reform by throwing LGBT binational couples under the bus will help his reputation. Recent polls found that 64% of Latino voters support including same-sex binational couples in immigration reform.
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2013/05/19/gay-activists-interrupt-sen-rubios-speech
May 19th, 2013
Nairobi, Kenya – Barry’s parents were murdered, his children poisoned, and he has been repeatedly raped because of his sexuality.
“I think it would be better if I died,” said the 23-year-old, who declined to give his real name. “I just think about drinking poison because of all the problems I have.”
Barry is a transgender Burundian man, living in Kenya as a refugee.
“I talk like a woman, but I have been like this since I was small. I tell myself God made me like this,” he said, dressed in a diamante-studded black halter top with neatly braided hair that reaches his shoulders.
“When they beat me, I try to stop being gay. I can’t … It’s something in your heart.”
Like many Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersexual (LGBTI) people in the East Africa region, he does not define his sexuality according to Western categories. Gay is the term most people use for anyone who is not heterosexual.
In Burundi, as across most of Africa, same sex relations are illegal and homophobia is widespread.
When a work colleague in Burundi found out that Barry had slept with a man, he was chased by a mob, including police officers. He sought safety in his parents’ house, but another mob murdered them.
En route to Kenya with his wife and children, he was gang raped by four men. In a Kenyan refugee camp, he was beaten up and raped again, and his one- and four-year-old children were poisoned “so that they did not become gay like me”, he said.
Fortunately, his children survived, but in Nairobi, he is still not safe.
“If I go out, I will be killed,” he said.
Stigmatised and attacked
Kenya is a magnet for people fleeing persecution across the region – those escaping war in Somalia, the Sudans and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as political refugees from Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Its strong LGBTI movement also makes it slightly less dangerous for sexual minorities than neighbouring countries.
Still, homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison in Kenya. While no one has been convicted, the law makes it easy for police, neighbours and other refugees to blackmail, harass and kill sexual minorities.
A gay Somali refugee was doused in petrol and nearly set alight by a crowd of Somali youths before an older woman saved him, according to Human Rights First .
A gay refugee couple received threatening text messages saying, “you are recruiting our children to homosexuality and we will kill you”, a lawyer working with one of the men said.
“His partner was poisoned and he died … He [the surviving partner] got a text saying: ‘You are next.’”
With no one to protect them, LGBTI refugees try to remain invisible.
The majority do not know that persecution gives them grounds for international protection. LGBTI refugees can usually get fast-tracked for resettlement because their first country of asylum, Kenya, criminalises sex relations.
“They are scared to go and say [they are LGBTI] because the same homophobic attitude that is out there in the society is the same within the [refugee] agencies,” said the lawyer, who asked that she not be named for fear of a government crackdown on organisations aiding LGBTI people.
It took three months for Barry to tell the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) – which is responsible for granting refugee status – that he was transgender. Initially, he lied and said he was fleeing conflict in Burundi.
“I hid it from them [UNHCR]. I knew if they found out, they would chase me away,” he said. “Everyone who has found out that I am gay has tried to kill me and my family.”
It was only when he told the truth to refugee camp doctors, who were treating him for rectal bleeding and post-traumatic stress disorder, that he found out that he could claim asylum because of his sexuality.
Sex slaves
LGBTI refugees usually only seek help when they are desperate.
“Most of them end up in sex work and get infected, get AIDS and die without any form of assistance,” said the lawyer.
“They are really traumatised. Most of them will say … ‘I cannot understand why God made me the way he made me. I would wish that I die and wake up ‘normal.’”
Her organisation has rescued refugees who were being held as sex slaves.
“You will have sex with strangers, or anyone who is brought to you, and your host will make money out of it,” she said they are told.
Although there are many agencies assisting refugees in Kenya, hardly any focus on reaching out to LGBTI refugees.
In the last four years, the lawyer’s organisation has been contacted by about 200 LGBTI refugees. She believes there are hundreds more living in Kenya who could get help if they knew their rights.
The legal process often takes about two years, and her organisation only has two people working with LGBTI refugees. Only 45 have been resettled so far.
This article first appeared on the Thomson Reuters Foundation news service
Article source: http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/lgbt-refugees-risk-death-rape-kenya-151726933.html
May 18th, 2013
Couples from the LGBT community participated in a Kiss-In on Friday to mark International Anti-Homophobia Day.
The event, which saw LGBT Calgarians kiss in public, took place at Thomkins Park along 17th Avenue S.W.— a location that organizers say holds special importance for the community.
“[It] used to be a very dangerous place for gay and lesbian and bi and trans youth who would go to bars in the neighbourhood and then people who were homophobic would come and beat them up,” said Brett Aberle, who works with Calgary Outlink, the group hosting the event.
Last year, the city received 11 reports of assaults related to sexual orientation.
That’s nearly double the reports it received in 2011.
For some, the event marks a show of support that would have been inconceivable not that long ago.
“One was never sure, if one was being approached, if it was someone looking for a friend or looking for a victim,” said Bill Taylor, a participant with Gay Friends in Calgary.
For others, the Kiss-In marked an opportunity to let go of years of frustration.
“I see straight couples walking to work everyday [who] part and give each other a kiss,” said Calvin Campbell, who works with anti-hate crime group Pride at Work. “I’ve always been mad in the past. It’s not their fault … it’s time to let it go.”
It’s the first time the Kiss-In has been held in Calgary.
Canada’s first Kiss-In took place in 2003 but cities around the world have hosted them going back to the 1980s.
According to Statistics Canada, Calgary has the highest number of hate crimes out of all Canadian cities.
However, Aberle says that it’s difficult to really compare violence between cities.
“There’s a lot of folks that say that’s because we have a really high percentage of hate crimes that actually go reported, whereas in a lot of other places they go unreported,” Aberle said in an interview with CBC’s The Homestretch. “It’s hard to say if there’s more hate crimes against the LGBT community here than elsewhere or if they’re just getting reported more.”
While the numbers may be difficult to compare, participants say the fact that they could hold a Kiss-In on 17th Avenue is significant.
“I’ve heard lots of stories from elders in our community who say you couldn’t even walk down 17th Avenue alone in the 90s because there’d be bands of young, straight men in their pick-up trucks with baseball bats looking to beat up queers,” said Aberle.
“Nowadays, that’s definitely not the case … things have definitely got a lot better.”
Article source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/downtown-kiss-marks-anti-homophobia-day-181638086.html
May 18th, 2013
LGBT Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/lgbt), a new peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com), launching in fall 2013, presents a timely and in-depth perspective on several key controversies surrounding gender diagnoses. This month the American Psychiatric Association will publish the 5th version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). DSM-5 includes important revisions to the controversial diagnosis formerly known as Gender Identity Disorder (GID), in which an individual’s physical make-up does not align with his or her inner experience of gender. Some had argued that this diagnosis was not only stigmatizing but that it did not meet criteria for classifying it as a mental disorder. The DSM-5 Workgroup chose to retain the disorder classification but to change the name of the disorder to Gender Dysphoria to reduce the stigma associated with the diagnosis. The article “Controversies in Gender Diagnoses (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/lgbt.2013.1500)” by Jack Drescher, MD, is the first article to be published in LGBT Health, and is available free online on the LGBT Health (http://www.liebertpub.com/lgbt) website.
Article source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130518/LGBT-Health-journal-presents-in-depth-perspective-on-gender-diagnoses.aspx
May 18th, 2013
New York, May 18 : Marking the International Day Against Homophobia, United Nations officials Friday issued a call on Governments worldwide to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, and strike laws that discriminate against them.
“The fight against homophobia is a core part of the broader battle for human rights for all,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks to the International Forum on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), held in The Hague, the Netherlands.
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights promises a world that is free and equal, and we will only honour that promise if everyone – without exception – enjoys the protection they deserve.”
In his message, which was delivered by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay on Thursday, Ban called for more public education to end negative stereotypes and underlined Governments’ responsibility to the take the lead in promoting greater understanding of the issue.
“We know what needs to be done. Draconian laws used to criminalize and punish LGBT people must be replaced by new laws that are in harmony with universal human rights conventions and protect everyone from discrimination on grounds of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”
During the same forum, Pillay stressed that while there has been progress in recent years in overcoming homophobia “many States are still reluctant to acknowledge the extent of violence and discrimination meted out to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex.”
Pillay highlighted three areas that require immediate attention. The first is hate crimes, which “take place with alarming regularity in all regions of the world,” and range from bullying to physical assault, torture, kidnapping and murder.
The second concern is the criminalization of homosexuality. Some 76 countries continue to outlaw same sex relationships, violating citizen’s right to privacy. Penalties range from jail sentences to execution.
The prevalence of discriminatory practices against LGBT is the third area of concern, and Pillay noted that in many countries, LGBT individuals lack legal protection by national laws and in some instances States are actively contributing to this type of discrimination.
In 2011, 85 States signed a statement expressing their concern at human rights violations perpetrated against LGBT people, and the UN Human Rights Council adopted the first ever resolution to specifically address the issue.
Last year, the UN Human Rights Office produced a guide to LGBT rights entitled ‘Born Free and Equal’ that sets out States’ core legal obligations.
Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark said that in spite of recent progress, much remains to be done to secure LGBT rights. She noted that UNDP is on the ground in over 170 countries and territories, implementing programmes focusing on the rights of all people to access important services and live lives of dignity.
“Many of the people we work with are excluded from development opportunities specifically because of their sexual orientation or gender expression, contributing to the staggering levels of inequality around the world. Such inequalities impede development progress for society as a whole.”
Miss Clark added that through its work in human rights, access to justice, and HIV law reform, UNDP is partnering with Government, civil society and the LGBT community in many countries to tackle these gross inequities.
The Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Michel Sidibe said that if the HIV/AIDS epidemic is to be eliminated, there need to be greater efforts to ensure LGBT individuals are not prevented from receiving health services.
“If we are going to end AIDS we need the LGBT community more than ever,” Sidibe told reporters during a press conference at UN Headquarters in here.
“I am outraged that we still have to fight prejudice, stigma, discrimination, exclusion, criminalization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, not only in their homes, but in their streets, police stations and court rooms.
“It is unacceptable that only one in 10 gay men have access to life-saving HIV services. HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men is 19 times higher than in the general population.”
To mark the Day, OHCHR has released a video entitled ‘The Riddle’ which asks: What exists in every corner of the world but remains illegal in more than 70 countries? The answer: Being gay, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Produced in collaboration with the Purpose Foundation, ‘The Riddle’ was watched by more than 60,000 people within 24 hours of its release on YouTube.
While not an officially observed UN day, the majority of which have been established by the UN General Assembly or designated by UN specialized agencies, the International Day Against Homophobia has become an important day for millions around the world to pause and remember the victims of homophobic violence and discrimination, and to make the case for genuine equality for LGBT people.
–IBNS
Article source: http://www.newkerala.com/news/story/21435/countries-must-repeal-laws-discriminating-lgbt-individuals.html
May 18th, 2013
A week of drag shows, colorful marches and social and cultural events in Havana culminates Friday with celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia.
Hundreds of activists have taken part in the activities organized by a sex education center headed by first daughter Mariela Castro.
“Join (us) to educate families about their great social responsibility to ensure that there is no discrimination of any kind,” Castro said.
The schedule included a gala bash at the capital’s cavernous Karl Marx theater, with drag performers on stage with the popular musical group Los Van Van. Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel attended.
Gays were persecuted for decades after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, sometimes sent to grueling rural work camps along with others considered socially suspect by the Communist government.
But there has been a gradual shift away from macho attitudes, and Fidel Castro himself has publicly regretted the mistreatment of people seen as different.
Six years ago, Cuba’s health care system began providing gender reassignment surgery free of charge, and a proposal to legalize same-sex civil unions is being studied.
But Mariela Castro, Fidel’s niece and the daughter of current president Raul Castro, says more must be done to raise awareness about lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people.
Article source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/c/35229/f/654825/s/2c124609/l/0Labcnews0Bgo0N0CInternational0CwireStory0Cap0Ephotos0Ecubas0Elgbt0Ecommunity0Ecelebrates0E1920A4217/story01.htm
May 18th, 2013
 Enlarge image i
The Ruth Ellis Center helps about 5,000 young people each year.
Mercedes Mejia /Michigan Radio
![The Ruth Ellis Center helps about 5,000 young people each year.]()
The Ruth Ellis Center helps about 5,000 young people each year.
Mercedes Mejia /Michigan Radio
If you’re a homeless young adult, chances are good that you’re gay, bisexual or transgender. And if you live in the Detroit area, the Ruth Ellis Center is trying to reach you. The center, based in Highland Park, Mich., has taken an unorthodox approach to helping homeless LGBT youth — and it starts on the dance floor, specifically with the dance form known as “vogue.”
“It’s all about your wrists and your imagination,” says 21-year-old dancer Donnie Dawson. “You just have to make sure your hands are coordinated with your imagination.”
Donnie, a regular at the Ruth Ellis Center, advises that you pretend you’re holding a basketball, then mime with your hands the circular shape of the ball. Vogue dancing is sort of like break dancing meets ballet. But if you need a quick reference, think of Madonna’s 1990 hit “Vogue” in which she sings about a dance form created by poor and working-class blacks and Latinos in New York City’s gay community in the ’60s and ’70s. Today, vogue is still all about flipping, dipping and catwalking; it’s acrobatic, sexual and at times very feminine in its movements.
In a big upstairs room at the Ruth Ellis Center, the floor is vibrating — that’s how loud the house music is. Matthew Dawson, 22, is wearing sunglasses inside and dancing by himself in a corner.
“One of the emotions that I say I put into my vogue would maybe be anger,” he says. “I feel like I put it into vogue so I won’t have to put it into other things that are not very constructive.”
Matthew says that it wouldn’t be safe for him to dance like this in the outside world. And the same goes for the mostly black and LGBT kids dancing in this room with him.
LGBT Youth Fall Through The Cracks
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, about half a million youth and young adults under 24 have at one point been homeless for more than one week; and multiple sources, including The Williams Institute, report that between 40 and 60 percent of them are LGBT. Once a homeless kid hits the streets, he is at risk of getting involved with all kinds of bad things, regardless of whether he is gay or straight. That includes violence, sexual assault and being propositioned for prostitution, says Jessie Fullenkamp, director of drop-in services at the Ruth Ellis Center.
According to Fullenkamp, homeless LGBT kids have often been kicked out by their birth families and they sometimes face discrimination and hostility when they try to get help from formal organizations. That’s why a group of professionals created the Ruth Ellis Center.
“Attorneys, teachers, social workers … saw LGBTQ youth falling through cracks in all these systems — in our families, in our schools and job opportunities — and realized that we really needed to pay special attention to this community,” Fullenkamp says.
So the drop-in center always makes a space available for dancing.
“And then that’s kind of the hook that gets a lot of the youth in the door initially,” Fullenkamp says.
After that, the center can connect them with counseling, health services, tutoring and clean clothes. And these kids need the help: According to Fullenkamp, 65 percent of them have traded sex for money or drugs or food.
The Vogue Family Extends ‘Beyond Any Ballroom’
Vogue dancing isn’t just something that gets kids into the Ruth Ellis Center; it’s also its own complex world. In it, people form teams known as “houses.”
“And when that relationship is really close and really tight, it turns into a family … [that] extends far beyond any ballroom,” says Donnie Dawson. “If I’m stranded somewhere and I need some help, I can call you and you’ll be there.”
Donnie considers Lakyra Dawson, a 24-year-old transgender woman, his adopted gay mom. (Similarly, Lakyra and Matthew Dawson consider themselves adopted siblings.) Both Lakyra and Donnie are regulars at the center and he has taken her last name as his own. She has pushed Donnie and his adopted siblings to pursue their educations, in part because Lakyra dropped out of high school, ran away from home at 13 and spent 10 years on the streets.
“That’s a lot of things to know and see and do and experience,” Lakyra says. “So my mistakes, I use that as, you know, the rule book. Like don’t do this, stay away from that.”
Donnie says Lakyra has given him a lot of guidance about his education and life choices. “I call her Mama,” he says, “because the knowledge that I get from her is way far beyond gay life.”
The relationship is incredibly meaningful to Donnie because last year, his birth mother died.
About 4,600 young people came to the Ruth Ellis Center during its drop-in hours last year. Its staff says that providing a safe place to dance is a very intentional part of their strategy: The idea is that through dance, they can meet kids where they are, which is on the dance floor.
Article source: http://www.npr.org/2013/05/17/180326971/michigan-lgbt-youth-center-does-outreach-with-a-dance-hook?ft=1&f=2
May 17th, 2013
LGBT groups are crying foul after Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) launched a campaign Friday aimed at finding homes for a thousand of the nearly 4,000 children in Virginia’s foster care system.
The Family Equality Council and Equality Virginia are pointing out that McDonnell has previously restricted adoption and foster-care options by signing into law a so-called ”conscience clause” bill that allows state-licensed agencies to discriminate against prospective parents on sexual orientation and a variety of other factors.
A component of McDonnell’s new ”Virginia Adopts” initiative is the ”Campaign for 1,000,” a goal of placing 1,000 children in the state’s foster-care system with families across the commonwealth.
LGBT advocates point out, however, that McDonnell has already denied access to loving families through legislation he signed last year.
”Virginia is the worst in the county in placing children out of foster care,” Denise Brogan-Kator, senior legislative counsel for the Family Equality Council, said in a statement responding to the launch of Virginia Adopts. ”Hopefully, this campaign signals the Governor’s awareness of this fact, and will lead him to opening the way to adoption and foster care for more prospective parents in the Commonwealth. The only factor that should matter is the child’s best interest.”
McDonnell last year signed into law a ”conscience clause” bill that bolstered a 5-1 decision by the State Board of Social Services allowing adoption or foster care agencies to refuse to place children with particular adoptive or foster parents based their sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, disability, family status and political beliefs.
Under Virginia law, adoption is available only to opposite-sex married couples or single people, but not to unmarried couples, gay or straight. But the law McDonnell signed allows placement agencies to refuse consideration of potential adoptive or foster parents if doing so violates an agency’s written or stated religious or moral convictions, even if those agencies receive state funding.
”Governor McDonnell’s administration has continually put the special interests of certain agencies ahead of the best interests of all children in need of a loving family,” James Parrish, executive director of the nonpartisan LGBT rights group Equality Virginia, said in a statement critical of McDonnell’s record on adoption. ”Denying willing and qualified families makes no sense when the state itself admits it has more than 4,000 children in the foster care system.”
In addition to Parrish’s statement, Equality Virginia also sent an email to supporters asking them to take to social media and urge the governor to consider LGBT Virginians as prospective adoptive/foster parents. Supporters are asked to send messages to the campaign’s @VirginiaAdopts Twitter account using the hash tag to post their feelings on the Virginia Adopts Facebook page; and to contact the governor’s office directly.
”In announcing his adoption campaign, the governor said ‘every child deserves the security and love that a family provides,”’ said Rob Keeling, an adoptive father from Richmond, quoted in the statement released jointly by Equality Virginia and the Family Equality Council. ”As an adoptive dad, I fully agree. Thousands of parents in Virginia who are gay and lesbian would gladly provide a loving and secure home to kids in need, if Virginia dropped laws and policies that discriminate.”
”I am a proud father to one adopted son,” said Greg Greeley, of Arlington, also quoted in the statement. ”I know that my sexual orientation has nothing to do with my capability to parent or my capacity to care for my child. If the Governor allowed ALL loving, capable and qualified parents to foster or adopt, Virginia could solve that problem.”
A spokesman for McDonnell’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Article source: http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=8353
May 17th, 2013
Almost two-thirds of Europe’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community experience discrimination and physical violence, according to an EU report.
The report was published on Friday, which marks the International Day Against Homophobia.
“Fear, isolation and discrimination are everyday phenomena for the LGBT community in Europe,” Morten Kjaerum, the director of the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), wrote in the report.
The online survey questioned around 93,000 people in the EU’s 27 member states plus Croatia, which is to join the bloc in July.
Just over a quarter of the respondents said that they had been physically or verbally assaulted over the last five years.
The report said transgenders suffered particularly, with 28 percent saying they had been attacked or threatened more than three times in the last 12 months because of their sexuality.
Some respondents said that even in countries traditionally considered to be tolerant, attitudes were worsening.
“My situations of harassment/discrimination/violence are mainly random acts of verbal aggression,” a 27-year-old gay Belgian wrote.
“The situation is worse now than it was, for example, four years ago.”
In The Netherlands, the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage in 2001, almost 20 per cent of those taking part said they felt discriminated against when going to sport clubs or hospitals, looking for an apartment, going out at night, or dealing with banks.
The average figure across Europe was 32 percent, with the highest figures reported in Lithuania (42 per cent); Croatia (41 per cent); Bulgaria (40 per cent); and Romania (39 per cent).
LGBT students
Many said they were afraid to go to the police, including in France where the beating of a gay couple in April and pictures of the bloodied face of one of the victims spread across social media.
“[I am] reluctant to report anything that might indicate that I am gay, as I know [the police] just dismiss everything,” a 42-year-old Frenchman said.
And a 32-year-old Czech lesbian said: “For me, the most alarming discrimination experienced is in health.
“I feel strong enough to deal with street harassment now, but I feel upset about having to justify my lifestyle to every doctor.”
Two-thirds of respondents and three-quarters of gay men said they were afraid to show their sexuality in public.
The FRA report noted that discrimination often begins at school, where two-thirds of respondents hid their sexual orientation.
“Ten years later, I still consider being bullied at school the worst form of homophobic abuse I’ve ever been subjected to,” a gay Maltese man, 25, said.
The FRA said: “Member states must take care that LGBT students feel secure at school, given that that is where LGBT people’s negative experiences, social prejudice and exclusion often begins.”
The UN has launched its own education campaign, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reassuring the world’s LGBT community: “You are not alone”.
Article source: http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/eu-report-says-lgbt-face-discrimination-085940429.html
May 17th, 2013
The EU’s largest LGBT hate crime and discrimination survey ever conducted shows that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people cannot be themselves in their daily lives.
Many hide their identity and live in isolation or even fear. Others experience discrimination, and even violence, when being themselves, the survey carried out by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), shows.
“Everyone should feel free to be themselves at home, work, at school and in public – but clearly, LGBT people often don’t. Results from FRA’s survey show that fear, isolation and discrimination are common in Europe’s LGBT community,” FRA Director Morten Kjaerum said. “We need EU-wide action to break down the barriers, eliminate the hate and create a society where everyone can fully enjoy their rights, no matter what their sexual orientation or gender identity is.”
The survey found that two our of three LGBT respondents were hiding their gay identity at schools. At least 60% personally experienced negative comments or conduct at school because they were LGBT while over 80% in every EU Member State recall negative comments or bullying of LGBT youth at school.
35% of Maltese respondents reported feeling discriminated against in the last 12 months in areas other than employment, highlighting the need for the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation outside the field of employment.
In the field of education, 91% of Maltese respondents reported having heard negative comments or having seen negative conduct because a schoolmate was perceived to be LGBT during their schooling before the age of 18.
The Riddle: new anti-homophobia message from UN human rights office
19% of respondents felt discriminated against at work or when looking for a job, despite legal protection under EU law. This underlines the need for EU-wide action to counter the many obstacles LGBT people face to their basic rights in their everyday life. Other findings show:
- 26% of LGBT people who answered the survey had been attacked or threatened with violence in the last five years.
- 66% of respondents across all EU Member States were scared of holding hands in public with a same-sex partner.
- For gay and bisexual men respondents it was about 75%.
The survey also reveals that transgender people are the most affected among LGBT respondents to have personally felt discriminated against, particularly in employment and healthcare. About 30% said they were victims of violence or threats of violence more than three times in the year before the survey.
High levels of under-reporting of instances of discrimination and hate crime were also detected. This is despite 56% of respondents being aware of laws against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Half of all victims of violence and harassment felt that the police would do nothing. This pattern is not unique to the LGBT group researched. FRA found such under-reporting also in other groups, for instance, among members of ethnic minorities
Article source: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/world/fra-report-idaho-survey-20130517
May 17th, 2013
The marriage equality and LGBT rights stories continue to pour in. Here’s our recap of the rest of them today.
WATCH: FRENCH WAITRESS CELEBRATES PASSAGE OF MARRIAGE EQUALITY LAW
In France, a lesbian waitress’s excitement over passage of the marriage equality bill is captured on video. She Wired explains:
It was a glorious day on April 23, when French lawmakers voted marriage equality into law. And for one French diner waitress, that day became revelatory as she hopped on to a banquette and proclaimed her lesbianism before hungry customers. When I was a child I had a dream. Now I am an adult and I realize I am a lesbian,” the waitress shouted. “I can be MARRIED!”
THE SEVEN CRAZIEST THINGS ANTI-GAY FOLKS ARE SAYING
Queerty has collected some of the wackiest (and sadest) things our opponents are saying about us:
Titled “How They See Us,” it’s climbed its way to the top of the Scribd’s political category over the last few months. Here are a few of our favorite excerpts, emphasis ours throughout.
Homosexuality is “…one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love’” – Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel
See the rest at the link above.
LGBT RIGHTS ADVANCE IN PUERTO RICO
Two stories out of Puerto Rico – first, the Mayor of San Juan signed two executive orders. The Washington Blade reports:
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz ordered her city’s police department to apply the island’s current domestic violence laws with what the Primera Hora newspaper described as “the highest degree of respect” regardless of the reported victim’s sexual orientation. She also banned discrimination against San Juan municipal employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.
And the Puerto Rico Senate passed some LGBT legislation as well. The Blade reports:
The Puerto Rican Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in the U.S. territory. The 15-11 vote took place after lawmakers for several hours debated Senate Bill 238 that Sen. Ramon Nieves Perez introduced in January
MSNBC SPENT FAR MORE TIME ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY FIGHTS THAN FOX OR CNN
Following on the heels of the revelation that Fox News devoted about a minute, total, to the three recent US state fights on marriage equality, Equality on Trial looks at how long all three 24 hour news networks spent on the issue:
Of the three legislative victories, MSNBC mentioned marriage equality stories 35 times, CNN mentioned them 13 times and Fox made just three mentions. The duration of each network’s coverage differed dramatically, with MSNBC devoting substantially more time to the issue than the other two networks. For example, MSNBC devoted more than 10 minutes of time to Rhode Island’s marriage equality law, while CNN spent a little over a minute and Fox News only 16 seconds.
I gotta say, we watched our favorite shows on MSNBC for weeks to see something on the amazing progress being made. Rachel Maddow finally did a segment on Minnesota, but was absent on Rhode Island and Delaware. For three such epic victories back to back, MSNBC’s 37 minutes looks pretty dismal, and they were by far the best on the issue.
TEXAS CHRISTIAN GROUPS TRY TO INTIMIDATE SAN ANTONIO OVER DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS
It’s just shocking and offensive to me to see so-called Christian groups fighting tooth and nail to remove health benefits form gay and lesbian couples. Joe.My.God reports:
Two San Antonio-based Christian groups are threatening to sue the city in order to overturn insurance benefits granted to the partners of LGBT city employees. Pastor Gerald Ripley [left] of Voices for Marriage and Philip Sevilla of Texas Leadership Coalition made the request Wednesday with backing from a few sign-carrying supporters at City Hall. Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion April 29 stating cities that offer marriage benefits to employees’ same-sex partners are violating the Texas Constitution.
First of, how petty can you get? It’s not marriage, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you. And second… Christian? Seriously? I think they may have a surprise coming at the Pearly Gates.
GAY FORMER GOP CONGRESSMAN TO MARRY PARTNER
Arizona’s Jim Kolbe, out former republican congressman from Arizona, will marry his partner in Washington, DC. The Washington Blade reports:
Jim Kolbe, who represented Arizona in the U.S. House from 1985 to 2003, is set to marry Hector Alfonso, a Panamanian native who came to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship to pursue studies in special education and has been a teacher for two decades. The couple will marry at a private event at the Cosmos Club on Massachusetts Ave. in D.C. “Two decades ago, I could not have imagined such an event as this would be possible,” Kolbe told the Blade. “A decade ago I could not imagine that I would find someone I could be so compatible with that I would want to spend the rest of my life with that person. So, this is a very joyous day for both of us.”
Congratulations to the happy couple!
NEW COUNTRY SONG SUPPORTS MARRIAGE EQUALITY
The Huffington Post has the story of a new country song and video with a marriage equality theme:
Need a good country tune to hold you over until Dolly’s next album (or at least until the next episode of “Nashville”)? Then look no further than the new gay ditty “Two Men Who Do Si Do.” Written by Robert Gould and composed by Rob Arbelo, the song is accompanied by a cute animated video, courtesy of Alex Salsberg, and tells the story of two country boys who happen to like to dance together at the rodeo and hope to walk down the aisle together.
Article source: http://www.gayapolis.com/news/artdisplay-issues.php?artid=23627
May 17th, 2013
Leaders of a statewide gay-rights advocacy group reminded a gathering in Fresno’s Tower District on Thursday that equality for the LGBT community goes far beyond legalizing same-sex marriage.
John O’Connor, executive director of Equality California, said the LGBT-rights group, which has advocated for legalizing same-sex marriage, is not a single-issue organization and is pushing to advance equality on many fronts for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“The wind is at our backs and we need to get [same-sex] marriage out of the way to address other equality issues such as bullying, youth suicide, health care and discrimination,” he said.
O’Connor addressed numerous issues and let about 30 people who attended the Tower District forum know that LGBT-specific concerns, such as transgender and gender identity issues, are no longer neglected.
Several of the organization’s leaders also discussed new health insurance options through the Affordable Care Act, including Covered California, the statewide marketplace exchange for health insurance plans, and the expansion of Medi-Cal for low-income residents.
Article source: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/16/3302798/lgbt-issues-go-beyond-marriage.html
May 16th, 2013
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a non-profit public-private partnership focused on helping all digital citizens stay safer and more secure online, today announced a new collaboration initiative with the LGBT Technology Partnership to encourage greater awareness about cybersecurity and safety issues for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120911/DC71739LOGO)
The LGBT Technology Partnership works to provide a centralized, national presence for the many LGBT organizations and groups that are impacted by telecommunications, cable and technology policies. The organization also serves as a strong unified voice ensuring that policy implementation at the local, state and federal levels address the unique needs of the LGBT community.
While the NCSA has worked to educate all digital users about staying safe online for over a decade, the organization has increased its focus on more closely targeting specific populations with uniquely tailored awareness messages. This ongoing effort includes working with the LGBT Technology Partnership in creating an LGBT cyber education toolkit with fact sheets, tip sheets and posters that incorporate STOP. THINK. CONNECT. messaging.
The first tip sheet, “What LGBT Communities Should Know About Online Safety” is available at http://www.staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/resources/what-lgbt-communities-should-know-about-online-safety-tip-sheet. Both organizations will also hold a Twitter Chat about LGBT cyber safety issues on June 13th in honor of Internet Safety Month and LGBT Pride Month. For more information, visit www.stopthinkconnect.org/twitterchats. More information about joint NCSA/LGBT Technology Partnership efforts is available at: http://lgbttechpartnership.org/about-us/supporters/.
In addition to collaborating with the National Cyber Security Alliance, the LGBT Technology Partnership has also signed on as an official partner of STOP. THINK. CONNECT., the national cybersecurity education and awareness campaign. To learn more about the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Partner program, visit: http://www.stopthinkconnect.org/get-involved/partner-program/
“The Internet pervades our daily lives like never before and for specific populations such as the LGBT community, the Web is an integral tool to stay connected,” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. “Everyone with access to the Internet should be well educated about the importance of online safety and we believe that education and awareness is best received when it comes from a trusted a source. Our collaboration with the LGBT Technology Partnership allows for the dissemination of online safety and security practices via an organization with strong ties to their community. Since the LGBT community typically ranks among the earliest adopters of new technologies, it is critical that they have cutting edge information to make them safer and more secure online.”
“We are excited about our partnership with National Cyber Security Alliance and developing LGBT specific tips about staying safer online,” said Christopher Wood, co-founder of the LGBT Technology Partnership. “The LGBT Technology Partnership’s mission is to make sure LGBT communities are aware of the significant benefits but also the underlying challenges that come with the early adoption of new technologies. We are working with organizations like NSCA to make technological experiences safer for all communities.”
There is an increased need for ongoing cybersecurity education in LGBT communities through awareness initiatives. Past research has shown that an increased focus on cyber security awareness in the LGBT community is a necessity in a society where:
- 59 percent of gay men and 58 percent of lesbians are more likely to say they rely on technology to help manage their hectic lifestyles (“2012 LGBT Community Survey,” Community Marketing Inc.)
- 27 percent of gay men (mainly 18-29 year olds) and 18 percent of lesbians are early adopters of new technology products within their peer lifestyle networks (“2012 LGBT Community Survey,” Community Marketing Inc.)
- Smartphone ownership among gay and lesbian consumers is almost a third more than the national average, with 87 percent LGBT smartphone owners compared to a 62 percent national average of smartphone owners (“2012 LGBT Community Survey,” Community Marketing Inc.)
For more details about the new partnership or LGBT cyber education materials, visit: www.staysafeonline.org.
About The National Cyber Security Alliance
The National Cyber Security Alliance is a non-profit organization. Through collaboration with the government, corporate, non-profit and academic sectors, the mission of the NCSA is to educate and empower a digital citizenry to use the Internet securely and safely protecting themselves and the technology they use and the digital assets we all share. NCSA board members include: ADP, ATT, Bank of America, Comcast, EMC Corporation, ESET, Facebook, Google, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, PayPal, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Symantec, Trend Micro, Verizon and Visa. Visit www.staysafeonline.org for more information and join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/staysafeonline.
About LGBT Technology Partnership
The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Technology Partnership encourages the continued early adoption and use of cutting-edge, new and emerging technologies by providing information, education and strategic outreach for LGBT communities. We are a national, nonpartisan group of LGBT organizations and high technology companies whose mission is to engage with critical technology and public policy leaders for strategic discussion at all levels. The Partnership ensures that cable, telecommunications and high technology issues of specific concern to LGBT communities are addressed in public policy conversations. Visit www.LGBTTechPartnership.org for additional information, follow us on Twitter @LGBTTech and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LGBTTechPartnership. For press inquiries please call +1.703.594.9391 or visit www.LGBTTechPartnership.org/contact-us/press.
SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/national-cyber-security-alliance-lgbt-technology-partnership-launch-120000184.html
May 16th, 2013
A student group at San Diego State University for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is reportedly changing its name — but some are questioning whether the move is politically correct.
The university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Student Union (LGBTSU) will become the Queer Student Union beginning in the 2013-14 school year, Fox5SanDiego.com reports.
“We’re here and next year, we’re queer,” junior and president-elect Thomas Negron said.
Negron and the group’s president, Michael Manacop, said “queer” is the easiest way to encompass all of the gender and sexual identities on campus without getting too wordy. There’s a similar group at University of California, San Diego called the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning Intersex Association (LGBTQIA).
“We decided instead of just adding letters, however many letters there are, we should just have an umbrella term,” Manacob said.
It may not be a seamless transition, however, as some faculty members have expressed concerns over the name change when the story was first reported in The Daily Aztec, the university’s student-run newspaper.
“It doesn’t seem like something you’d want to be called,” sophomore Jake Neely said. “I was always taught not to use (certain) words and … that was definitely one of them that shouldn’t really be said in my house.”
Graduating senior Ashley Williams, meanwhile, said she didn’t have a problem with the change so long as it came from the group itself.
“We want people to talk about it,” Negron said. “We want people to be educated about the word. We want people to feel comfortable asking questions about it, because we don’t want people to feel that our organization is stigmatized in anyway.”
Click for more from Fox5SanDiego.com.
Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/16/lgbt-student-group-at-san-diego-state-university-renamed-queer-student-union/
May 16th, 2013
Senator Dianne Feinstein (Photo: Jane Philomen Cleland)
LGBT activists stepped up their pressure on Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) today as they lobby the powerful lawmaker to back immigration rights for bi-national same-sex couples.
At San Francisco City Hall this morning (Thursday, May 16) local leaders held a rally prior to a Board of Supervisors hearing on the matter. Gay Supervisors David Campos (District 9) and Scott Wiener (D8) are asking their colleagues to back a resolution that calls on Congress to include pro-LGBT language in the comprehensive immigration reform bill now before them.
“We cannot have comprehensive immigration reform if LGBT families are left out of that process,” said Campos, who chaired the hearing before the board’s neighborhood services and safety committee.
Campos singled out Feinstein and asked her to support the changes bi-national same-sex couples need in order to live freely and together in the states.
“She has a history of supporting LGBT rights. It is time for her to demonstrate consistency with that history,” said Campos.
Straight Supervisors John Avalos (D11) and Board President David Chiu (D3) are co-sponsors of the resolution. District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee asked to be named a co-sponsor of the resolution and voted to send it on to the full board at the hearing.
“I agree that we need to make those amendments and am a supporter of that,” said Yee.
LGBT immigration activists and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) are pressing to see that the Uniting American Families Act, which is designed to end discrimination of couples where one partner isn’t a U.S. citizen, be included in the final immigration reform bill sent to President Barack Obama, who has expressed support for the pro-LGBT language.
Leahy has sponsored the UAFA for more than a decade, and throughout that time, Feinstein has refused to co-sponsor the legislation. Earlier this month her spokesman Brian Weiss told the Bay Area Reporter that Feinstein is giving the UAFA language “serious thought.”
Several days later Politico reported Feinstein would support it under certain conditions, such as if it required gay couples to marry in the United States within 90 days in a state that allows same-sex unions.
“But I’m not for just accepting affidavits,” Feinstein reportedly said.
The comments raised concerns among LGBT immigration activists, as only a handful of states currently allow same-sex couples to marry.
“I’m glad that Senator Feinstein has finally pledged to support the inclusion of married, bi-national LGBT couples in the immigration reform bill, however, unless she also supports extending these same protections to couples in civil unions and domestic partnerships, many Californians will be left out,” stated Out4Immigration founder Amos Lim, who lives in San Francisco. “We want her to know that all LGBT families, including those who have been barred from marriage, should be included in the immigration reform bill.”
A number of couples impacted by the anti-gay immigration laws spoke out at the hearing this morning. Among them was Judy Rickard, a longtime outspoken immigration activist recently recognized by the White House. She applied for a green card for her wife, UK-born Karin Bogliolo, 72, in January 2012.
“It has not been denied but has been under further review for eight months now,” said Rickard, noting that she and her wife are unable to leave the country and are “prisoners of love” in the U.S.
Another speaker, Out4Immigration organizer Erik Schnabel, spoke about how he and his undocumented partner of 9 years, who is from the Philippines, have had to move and pick up their lives several times due to the anti-gay immigration laws.
“We want to urge our senior Senator Feinstein to support the Leahy amendment and not only for married couples, but for people in domestic partnerships and civil unions,” he said. “California is not a marriage equality state.”
Following the hearing a number of activists then marched to Feinstein’s nearby offices to deliver to her a petition signed by more than 6,000 people urging her to back the UAFA amendments.
“Senator Feinstein’s decision to support an amendment that does not protect bi-national same-sex couples in California and other states that do not have marriage equality will put an undue financial burden on many LGBT couples who are unable to get married,” stated Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez of GetEqual. “The ability of same-sex families to stay together and be free from the fear of deportation should not be dependent on their paychecks or their ability to travel to another state.”
Article source: http://ebar.com/blogs/lgbt-activists-press-feinstein-on-immigration-reform/
May 16th, 2013
SAN DIEGO – A college student group is changing its name to be more inclusive, but it has some wondering whether it’s politically correct.
Members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Student Union at San Diego State University are dropping the LGBTSU acronym and going by the Queer Student Union.
“We’re here and next year, we’re queer,” junior and president-elect Thomas Negron said
 A move to be more inclusive, President Michael Manacop and Negron said “queer” is the easiest way to encompass all of the gender and sexual identities on campus without getting too wordy.
There’s a similar group at University of California, San Diego called the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning Intersex Association [LGBTQIA].
“We decided instead of just adding letters, however many letters there are, we should just have an umbrella term,” Manacob said.
It may not be a seamless transition.
Some older faculty members expressed concerns over the name change when the story was first reported in the Daily Aztec.
“It doesn’t seem like something you’d want to be called,” sophomore Jake Neely said. “I was always taught not to use (certain) words and… that was definitely one of them that shouldn’t really be said in my house.”
“If they’re changing it themselves, then I don’t see a problem in it,” graduating senior Ashley Williams said.
Queer is commonly used to identify grass roots political campaigns and academic programs focusing on the LGBT community.
“We want people to talk about it,” Negron said. “We want people to be educated about the word. We want people to feel comfortable asking questions about it, because we don’t want people to feel that our organization is stigmatized in anyway.”
Article source: http://fox5sandiego.com/2013/05/15/lgbt-student-group-changes-name/
May 16th, 2013
In Ventura County, there is a vulnerable population that is being underserved and underrepresented within the community. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is struggling to find positive resources that cater to the specific needs of the population, in particular to youth of transitional ages (16-25). Over the recent years, California has made significant progress in addressing and highlighting the issues and the disadvantages that face the LGBT community, but there is still much more ground to gain. In a time when gay rights are such a hot topic in the public media and have become so common, youth are coming to terms with their orientation at a much younger age. Although they have reached a difficult level of self-acceptance and are ready to face the world comfortable in their own skins, the world may not be quite ready to receive them with open arms. One out of three LGBT youth will be kicked out of his or her home due to non-acceptance by a parent or guardian. It is believed that 25 percent of homeless youth on the streets are LGBT.
Ever since the closure of the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance in June of 2011, Ventura County has struggled to rebuild the important services that were once available to the LGBT population. The Ventura County Rainbow Alliance offered mental health services, free rapid HIV/AIDS testing, ran support groups for youth as well as adults, ran food pantries and encouraged positive community involvement; but most importantly, it provided a safe space for youth to interact among their peers without fear of judgment or ridicule. Since then, there have been no new programs developed to cater to the individual needs of LGBT youth. LGBT youth need to feel connected to something and to be a part of something great, especially those who have been displaced by their own families. Members of the LGBT community would much rather interact with someone with a lifestyle similar to theirs, particularly with those familiar with the coming-out process.
The struggles that questioning youth encounter throughout different stages of their lives are very unique and challenging. The coming-out process can be difficult, which is only the beginning of the social obstacles that one must overcome. Community resources are needed to support youth who are questioning their orientation; it can be a trying time for a young person. A minor relies solely on the guardian for basic needs and survival (food, water, shelter, clothing, health care, etc.); therefore, without that support, the youth does not have many options and could fall victim to a number of disparities possible disparities (homelessness, prostitution, substance abuse, self-injurious behavior, suicide). LGBT youth are in need of unique and tailored services to address the specific issues and struggles they face in the community. It seems that in order to receive services (financial assistance, access to food pantries, mental health services), the youth must belong to some at risk population or system (foster system, child welfare, probation), as if the struggles attached to sexual orientation were not enough.
LBGT youth are at high risk of discrimination and prejudices, and without proper support they can face true disadvantages in their lives. LGBT youth are looking for a place to belong; and without any positive resources or allies, it is easy for them to get lost and become susceptible to negative influences. It is extremely important to increase awareness about the lack of support services that are available to LGBT youth and to broadcast the need for them in Ventura County. Currently, there is no legislation or policy that protects the rights to access services and resources for the LGBT community; and even if there were, Ventura County has none available that caters to the very individualized and critical needs of the LGBT community. It would be beneficial to bring back the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance to the community because it provided a multitude of services, in one concentrated location, that were tailored to the LGBT community. It is important to reach out and show support for the community, maybe attend the local Ventura County Pride Weekend (August 23-25) at Mission Park in Ventura to gain some insight and knowledge on how to better support the LGBT community. LGBT transitional-aged youth are in desperate need of support and resources in order to feel comfortable and safe with their orientation, as well as to develop positive networks that will assist them to live positive, healthy lives.
Ruben Ramirez is University of Southern California graduate student in professional social work, as well as a Ventura County resident. This opinion piece has appeared in other periodicals in Ventura County.
Article source: http://www.vcreporter.com/cms/story/detail/lgbt_youth_in_need_of_tailored_community_resources/10873/
May 15th, 2013
LGBT students honored at UI’s 13th annual ‘Rainbow Graduation’
BY HILLARY ROSENCRANTS | MAY 15, 2013 5:00 AM
Twenty-five LGBTQ students were recognized at the University of Iowa’s 13th-annual Rainbow Graduation on Tuesday, and the community took the opportunity to honor the graduates and recent strides made at the UI.
Students were honored in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber with a brief description of their accomplishments, rainbow cords, and a handshake. Among the graduates were John Paul Horn, the student keynote speaker at the ceremony, and Jake Christensen, the 2013 recipient of the Catalyst Award.
Officials also announced several scholarships were also announced, including the UI’s 2013 recipients of the Matthew Shepard Scholarship, an Iowa-based scholarship that awards up to $40,000 to motivated LGBTQ students over the course of their education. Nadia Loeppke and Samuel Pitt won the awards at the UI this year.
Georgina Dodge, a recent recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, University of California-Irvine, spoke about the future for the graduates.
“I remember how happy I was when I graduated, but I also remember feeling a little let down,” said Dodge, the UI’s chief diversity officer. “There’s always and inevitably some degree of regret as we move to one stage of our lives to another.”
One would never sense the regret based on the atmosphere of Rainbow Graduation, however — spirits were high as LGBTQ students and graduates performed both original piano compositions and a piece of performance poetry.
Christensen, in particular, was recognized for his achievements, having been at the forefront in the inclusion of sexual-identity and orientation questions in the UI’s admissions application.
“I would say that you should do your best to do something that matters to you,” Christensen said. “Be patient, and above all, be persistent.”
Christensen’s speech was followed by a speech from Kim Marra, a UI professor of American studies and theater.
Marra is particularly proud of the UI’s dedication to making LGBTQ students feel welcome.
“When LGBTQ people of my generation were going to college in the 1970s, a rainbow graduation was impossible — even unimaginable,” Marra said, who also faced extreme opposition from her mother when announcing her sexuality.
The UI has long been recognized for its acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, pioneering a human-rights policy that recognizes gender identity and sexual orientation as protected categories.
Likewise, the university received widespread media attention for its 1992 hiring of Pat Cain and Jean Love, a high-profile lesbian couple, as professors at the law school.
Horn, who moved to the UI for college after growing up in Bakersfield, Calif., found that acceptance has been much more widespread in Iowa.
“I was tired of feeling like I had to live two separate lives — young professional me and gay me,” Horn said. “I’ve never felt like I had to hide part of myself here.”
In today’s issue:
Article source: http://www.dailyiowan.com/2013/05/15/Metro/33352.html
May 15th, 2013
A group of Toronto city councillors will file a motion on 28 May to cut the grant to Toronto LGBT Pride unless the organisers agree to ban the participation of a pro-Palestinian activist group, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA). They also want to ban the use of the phrase ‘Israeli apartheid’.
The funding cut of $123,807 would jeopardise the future of Toronto Pride, just four week’s before the annual one million-strong downtown parade and a year before it is due to host the global lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) festival, WorldPride 2014.
According to Toronto journalist Andrea Houston, the move to withdraw city money from Toronto Pride is being spearheaded by councillors David Shiner and James Pasternak – the latter is seeking to have the phrase “Israeli apartheid” banned.
This proposed ban is supported by Anita Bromberg, from the Jewish human rights organisation, B’nai Brith. She added that there is no place for such language because Pride is not political: “This is a city-wide celebration. I am deeply offended.”
Francisco Alvarez, co-chair of Pride Toronto, says Pasternak and his colleagues are wrong to suggest that by allowing QuAIA to participate in the parade they are endorsing its viewpoint and should face financial penalisation.
“That is just not true,” he says. “We do not hold any view with regard to the Israel/Palestine conflict at all. We simply provide a platform for groups that are organized within our community to express their views, as long as they conform with the laws of the land … It sounds to me that, since we won’t reject QuAIA, [Pasternak] is making a link that we are supporting their perspective. We support them as a community group. We support other groups as well.”
Another councillor, Frank Di Giorgio, told Canada’s leading LGBT news magazine, Xtra!, that the dispute is one of “competing rights.”
“The message that [QuAIA] sends out … I believe in protecting rights, but I draw the line when you start protecting one right that infringes on another right. Then you have to look at it in closer detail … I suspect we will try and use sanctions if we have to, like, for example, not providing funding if they don’t fall in line.”
The co-chair of Queer Ontario, Nick Mulé, believes councillors Di Giorgio and Pasternak are more interested in censorship opinions than protecting rights. It’s inaccurate to describe the dispute as one of “competing rights,” he argues, because the right to religious freedom doesn’t mean the right to suppress other people’s viewpoints.
“They are trying to shut down dialogue and infringe on freedom of expression,” he says. “QuAIA is not a people-hating group. Their message is a critical analysis of political policy. If we don’t have the freedom to critique policy, then we are really in trouble as a society.”
I agree. I am amazed that in a supposedly liberal democracy like Canada the country’s main Pride parade can be threatened with the removal of city funding because some councillors disagree with one organisation and one slogan.
Their demand for a ban is straightforward censorship. It’s a direct attack on free speech and the right to protest – and, some people might say, borderline blackmail.
Pride parades should be open to all individuals and organisations that support LGBT human rights. There should be no political vetting, unless the participants are homophobic, incite violence or oppose the human rights of others.
Lots of people may disagree with QuAIA and even find their rhetoric offensive. But in a democracy they have as much right to free speech as pro-Israeli groups. The main issue is not whether QuAIA is justified in its criticisms of Israeli policy but whether it has a right to freedom of expression.
QuAIA does not support violence against Jews or Israelis. It is merely protesting against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the abusive, humiliating subjugation of the Palestinian people by Israeli soldiers and extremist settlers. This occupation and mistreatment hurts both straight and LGBT Palestinians, which makes it a legitimate concern for LGBT people everywhere who care for universal human rights.
I was proud to march with Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in the 2011 New York LGBT Pride parade. I found them passionate, idealistic and humanitarian. There were no anti-Semitic chants. They want a homeland for the Palestinians. They support a just cause: the human rights of LGBT and straight Palestinians.
Although many people find the apartheid accusation offensive, in the occupied territories Israel has an apartheid-style system of separate settlements and separate roads for Jews and non-Jews. Palestinians have their own segregated check-points and border-crossings, plus a separation wall which, whatever its supposed justification, divides two peoples based primarily on their ethnicity.
While pro-Israelis reject the apartheid analogy, it has been echoed by the Nobel peace laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He says the Israeli system in the occupied territories segregates two peoples and involves many different laws that discriminate against Palestinians, either by intention or default.
Some people question why the fate of the Palestinians concerns me. Well, I am a human rights defender who believes in the principle of universal human rights. To me, human rights are for everyone, including Israelis and Palestinians, whether gay or straight.
Human rights are about more than gay rights. I am not a gayist. I never judge any government or people solely on their stance on LGBT issues. It is important to consider all aspects of human tights, not just gay ones. By any standards, LGBT and straight Palestinians are being denied human rights by Israel, as well as by their own regimes.
Israel is gay-friendly. Very commendably, it has good equality laws for LGBT people: the best in the Middle East. Indeed, vastly better than the surrounding homophobic Arab tyrannies.
But there is a downside too. Although Israel likes to use its gay rights record to project a liberal image to the outside world, it refuses asylum to Palestinians fleeing homophobic and transphobic persecution.
The truth is that Israel’s LGBT-friendly democracy is, to a considerable extent, based on the conquest of the Palestinian people. No amount of progressive LGBT policies can justify Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, the building of illegal new settlements and the on-going seizure of Palestinian farms and houses. Moreover, some of the victims of these Israeli expropriations are gay Palestinians.
LGBT equality in a society based on the dispossession of the Palestinian people is not true liberation; it colludes with oppression. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid are right to expose the tainted rainbow flag that flies over Israel.
Peter Tatchell was a founding member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK) in 1982. He has repeatedly condemned human rights abuses by Israel and the Palestinians, particularly by the Hamas regime in Gaza. More information about his human rights campaigns: www.PeterTatchell.net
Article source: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/israel-row-bid-defund-toronto-lgbt-pride-straightforward-censorship
May 15th, 2013
CHICAGO, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — According to recent research, gay males and lesbians place different levels of importance on gay-oriented marketing activities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are vulnerable to pervasive discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, education, and medical care due to a lack of legal protection. In contrast to the public sphere, over the past decade, many corporations have shown an increasing willingness to move ahead of public policy in affording equal rights to LGBT employees. In additional to creating internal corporate policies that seek to avoid discrimination and provide equal benefits for LGBT employees, many corporations have recognized the attractiveness of the LGBT population as a consumer market and spend billions of dollars each year targeting members of the LGBT population in the marketplace.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111102/DC96044LOGO)
The LGBT consumer marketing is currently estimated to have an overall buying power of over $835 billion. While corporations can be quickly labeled as pursuing the “gay dollar,” the social visibility gained from corporate attention may be seen by some LGBT individuals as pivotal to the fight for societal rights. Hence, many LGBT consumers embrace the power of their spending by rewarding companies that are considered “gay-friendly” in terms of their corporate policies and their marketing activities. The most commonly employed “gay-friendly” activities include the provision of domestic partner benefits, corporate financial support of gay causes, company identification as gay-friendly in its marketing communications, and advertising in both gay and mainstream media.
However, despite some ardent claims from agencies specializing in reaching the LGBT consumer of the efficacy of “gay-friendly” corporate activities, to date, the topic has received little attention in the academic literature. As a result, companies that are interested in targeting LGBT consumers have little to guide their expenditure decisions among a variety of gay-oriented corporate activities, both internal and external. Given the noteworthy amount that corporations are spending on LGBT promotional activity, this research is designed to clarify the relative value of such expenditures to gay consumers when assessing a company’s gay-friendliness. The analysis appears in the Spring 2013 special issue of the American Marketing Association‘s Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
.
According to author Gillian Oakenfull, Associate Professor of Marketing at Miami University, this research identifies important market differences between gay males and lesbians, based on demographics and social identity, that can better inform corporations’ promotional expenditure and segmentation decisions when approaching the gay consumer market.
The findings of this research suggest that it is important that companies avoid a treatment of gay consumers as a group with monolithic preferences and perceptions. An individual’s sex and identity with the gay community have a significant impact on perceptions of the gay-friendliness of various corporate activities.
About the AMA
About the American Marketing Association:
The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the professional association for individuals and organizations who are leading the practice, teaching, and development of marketing worldwide. Learn more at marketingpower.com.
Contact: Gillian Oakenfull – jppm@ama.org, 312.542.9029
SOURCE American Marketing Association
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/lgbt-consumers-look-companies-fill-void-public-policy-140700109.html
May 14th, 2013
Sexual minorities in Moldova start today the Festival “Rainbow over the Dniester”. The event will be organized during six days and will conclude with a parade of the LGBT community.
The festival of the LGBT community aroused dissatisfaction of church representatives. The Bishop of Balti and Falesti Markel called on Christians and priests to participate in a counter-action.
The Moldovan Metropolitan Church condemns the events organized by the LGBT community. A press release states that all peaceful and legal means to stand against the indecent behavior will be used.
Moldova.ORG
Article source: http://social.moldova.org/news/lgbt-festival-rainbow-over-nistru-starts-today-236828-eng.html
May 14th, 2013
Falmouth High School student Saer McCliment is one of six recipients of the 2013 Elsie Frank Scholarship Award from Greater Boston PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) for her work on LGBT issues. Here, she speaks with The Bulletin.
Describe your coming out experience at Falmouth High School and how you were received by both your peers and educators.
While I’ve been openly queer for years, I came out as transgender in the eleventh grade. I went to my GSA advisor, Mrs. Thompson, and asked her to email my teachers and inform them of my pronoun and name change to Saer. It went better than I ever could have expected; my teachers were incredibly accepting and accommodating. I was more nervous about my peers’ reaction, but I was surprised when even the people I had a history of not getting on well with accepted me and respected my transgender status.
How have you helped create greater support and acceptance of LGBT youth?
I’ve been actively involved with my school’s Gay-Straight Alliance for three years, and have worked with other local LGBT advocacy groups in fundraising and awareness endeavors. Earlier in the year, I spoke to seventh-graders about my experiences as a queer and transgender student, which was incredibly rewarding. I also run a blog dedicated to LGBT resources and advocacy.
What do you see as the greatest issues facing LGBT youth today?
I don’t really think LGBT identities can be grouped for having any one sole issue, and I say this from having come out as both LGB and T. I was far more scared to come out as transgender than I was to come out as queer, because there’s more stigma surrounding transgender issues than there is around queer issues. In recent years, there’s been several successful pushes for the inclusion and acceptance of non-heterosexual orientations, so the LGB community has come a great way. There simply hasn’t been the same level of acceptance for transgender identities, and the fact that the transgender community has been left behind is what I view as the greatest problem today. I hope that this is something that I personally can help rectify through more public outreach and education.
What would you like to say the person who is still struggling with his or her sexual orientation?
To someone struggling with labeling their sexuality, I would tell them that there’s no rush. In this society, there’s a lot of pressure to know who you are as soon as possible, to be able to put a name to everything about yourself. You don’t need to know exactly what the term for your orientation is right away; you can be undecided for as long as you want, or try out a few terms and just see how they fit. Your orientation cannot be judged or defined by anyone but you, and you only need a label if you want one.
Article source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/falmouth/news/x438179900/Meet-Falmouth-LGBT-student-activist-Saer-McCliment?rssfeed=true
May 14th, 2013
RightWingWatch reports that Mission America’s conservative radio show host Linda Harvey is claiming LGBT news sites and blogs “that are sympathetic to the social and political goals of the homosexual movement” can deceive children into thinking they are gay.
In her latest program, she warned parents that “homosexual-themed pornography is extremely accessible to young people if they ever visit any websites covering the gay agenda as news” and “if they … visit these sites some will experience sexual feelings and mistake these for the pervasive fiction of some inborn gay identity.”
In a classic case of antigay fearmongering, Harvey also claimed “Hollywood and even the top leaders in our country are all busy selling homosexuality to kids” and this message has the ability to “stir feelings in a young person that were not in play before.”
Listen to Harvey’s commentary on the dangers of LGBT news sites in the clip below.
Full transcript via RightWingWatch:
I’ve gotten calls over the years from parents who are brokenhearted because a young son or daughter has revealed a homosexual preference. My role is not to be a psychologist but I try to share some resources with parents who are coping with such a tough situation and they often share with me that pornography played a part, particularly with boys, in convincing them to believe they are gay. But usually by the time this comes out the feelings and fantasies have been nurtured for years. It seems to me that in the present climate where schools, Hollywood and even the top leaders in our country are all busy selling homosexuality to kids that we have to watch those other deceptive influences that can chime in on top of all this to stir feelings in a young person that were not in play before.
Internet pornography can be the kerosene on an already simmering fire of adolescent hormones and confusion, and these feelings can bring them to precisely the wrong conclusion. Manipulating feelings in the wrong direction is what pornography does anyway. Homosexual-themed pornography is extremely accessible to young people if they ever visit any websites covering the gay agenda as news. For instance, if your child was during a report on same-sex marriage just researching the political issue and visiting sites that are sympathetic to the social and political goals of the homosexual movement may quickly bring them in touch with explicit images because many of the homosexual news blogs have soft-porn gay dating sites or worse as ads. So what is the reaction of your son or daughter to such graphic images?
If they feel a curiosity it may start a process of wondering if they could be homosexual. This is not true of course but the really tragic thing is they are not likely to share this question with you the parent, it just seems too personal. If they follow up and visit these sites some will experience sexual feelings and mistake these for the pervasive fiction of some inborn gay identity. After all, isn’t this the message that kids get everywhere that ‘some of you are destined for homosexuality and there is nothing you can do about it so just go with it and be proud’? All of this, of course, is a lie. Adolescents will feel sexual feelings because they are in puberty and erotic images can evoke in an often unhealthy way a human sexual response.
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/politics/2013/05/13/linda-harvey-claims-lgbt-news-sites-make-kids-gay
May 13th, 2013
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Article source: http://www.gayapolis.com/news/artdisplay-issues.php?artid=23546
May 13th, 2013
LGBT activists said Monday that St. Petersburg authorities have sanctioned a gay rights rally, despite the city’s highly publicized law against “homosexual propaganda.”
Activists with the Vykhod organization said in a statement that the rally would be held on May 17 on the central Field of Mars park to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. On May 17, 1990, the World Heath Organization officially excluded homosexuality from its list of psychiatric illnesses.
“We think that it’s especially important to remind [people] that homosexuality is a perfectly normal sexual orientation,” Vykhod activist Olga Lenkova said in the statement posted on the organization’s website.
St. Petersburg officials had not confirmed that the rally had been sanctioned as of early Monday afternoon. In February 2012, the city’s legislature passed a bill imposing fines for promoting homosexual behavior among minors that was subsequently censured by international stars and foreign governments.
A federal bill to the same effect is soon to be heard in a second reading after being overwhelmingly passed in January.
Every year since 2006, Moscow authorities have refused permission for LGBT activists to hold a gay pride parade.
On Monday, activists applied for official permission to hold their parade on May 25, saying they would take to the streets irrespective of whether authorities grant permission.
Related articles:
Article source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/st-pete-officials-sanction-gay-rights-rally-activists-say/479822.html
May 12th, 2013
The end of the week produced a laundry list of canceled TV shows, getting rid of several LGBT characters from the major networks.
In addition to New Normal and Happy Endings being canceled, as reported Friday, NBC has canceled the comedy Go On, as well as musical drama Smash. On ABC, Malibu Country which co-starred Lily Tomlin, will not be coming back for another season.
Other shows like ABC’s Don’t Trust The B—– in Apt. 23, created by openly gay writer Nahnatchka Kahn, and The CW’s 90210, Emily Owens, M.D., and The L.A. Complex were also canceled this year. Long-running NBC comedy The Office, will air its season finale May 16.
This season’s record number of LGBT characters, which is tallied annually by GLAAD, may be markedly reduced depending on the approximately 40 shows that have been picked up across the networks for this fall. A poll by the Hollywood Reporter in November showed that the high number of gay characters on television has helped make LGBT issues more acceptable to mainstream television viewers.
Actor and GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz told The Hollywood Reporter it’s in the networks’ best interest to continue to greenlight shows with LGBT characters.
“The sheer number of characters who will no longer be on the air means diversity on television is once again at risk,” Cruz said. “Following a season with the highest recorded number of LGBT characters, these cancellations mean networks have to make a concerted effort to ensure the 2013-2014 season truly reflects the diversity of their audience.”
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/television/2013/05/12/tv-several-lgbt-characters-missing-next-season
May 12th, 2013
LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) – Manchester City 0 Wigan Athletic 1 – FA Cup final result at Wembley Stadium Scorer: Ben Watson 90 Red card: Pablo Zabaleta, Manchester City 84th Halftime: 0-0; Att: 86,254 Lineups: Manchester City: 1-Joe Hart; 5-Pablo Zabaleta, 33-Matija Nastasic, 4-Vincent Kompany, 22-Gael Clichy; 21-David Silva, 42-Yaya Toure; 18-Gareth Barry (10-Edin Dzeko 90+1), 32-Carlos Tevez (17-Jack Rodwell 69), 8-Samir Nasri (7-James Milner 54), 16-Sergio Aguero Wigan Athletic: 1-Joel Robles; 17-Emmerson Boyce, 3-Antolin Alcaraz, 33-Paul Scharner, 18-Roger Espinoza; 16-James McArthur, …
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-anti-lgbt-legislators-fear-moms-video-002739387.html
May 11th, 2013
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Article source: http://www.scotsman.com/trade-union-hosts-lgbt-meeting-in-glasgow-1-2926377
May 10th, 2013
Thom Cardwell, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocate and activist, was the keynote speaker May 9 as a part of Pride Week, hosted by Drexel’s Foundation of Undergraduates for Sexual Equality. Cardwell visited Drexel to share his life story and experience working in QFest and LGBT media.
Cardwell introduced the latest project that he is working on with his partner, James Duggan, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first organized gay protest in the United States. The project, which will launch in 2015, will focus on the evolution of LGBT movements in Philadelphia from the beginning to the present day.
The exhibit will have a supplementary book to accompany it. Currently, Cardwell and Duggan are looking for curators, writers and artists to volunteer and assist with the project. Pictures, personal narratives and articles from the LGBT movement will be used to demonstrate the progress made over the last 50 years.
“The LGBT Civil Rights Movement … started in the City of Brotherly Love and sisterly affection in the cradle of liberty,” Cardwell said. “We’ll also be very responsive … because in our country, in the corporate world in Philadelphia, there are a lot of corporations that have LGBT employee groups such as TD Bank, Comcast, GlaxoSmithKline, etc.”
Cardwell also brought up the issue of different cultures within schools. He said, “A number of years ago, I spoke at the first Pride Day at Community College of Philadelphia, and I didn’t know that much about the school. Two faculty came to me and told me they weren’t out as school professors. They didn’t feel comfortable enough in the environment.”
From that perspective, Cardwell asked the students how comfortable they feel in the LGBT community at Drexel and if the school is LGBT friendly.
Kate Wisniewski, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, said that the engineering school is dominated by straight males. “Going off is not great; it’s not terrible, either.”
Maureen Nolan, a junior studying communication and the president of FUSE, said, “Our community at Drexel is phenomenal, very progressive, I think.” She introduced that there is an LGBTQA professional staff network at Drexel and the I-Forum for people with diverse backgrounds.
To add on to that, Kenny Wittwer, a sophomore sociology major at Temple University and a former Drexel student, said, “There’s a big disconnect between how progressive our community is — and how intersectional and inclusive of all identities it is -—versus Drexel’s University policies, which haven’t quite caught up. FUSE is really the only resource for queer students.”
As a 68-year-old LGBT activist who has witnessed changes in the LGBT rights movement, Cardwell brought his concern of prejudice and mentoring to the table: “If we were going to become mentors, what would you want from us? What can we do?”
“I honestly think that the whole concept of mentoring is … not something I’m familiar with or really ever had,” Wittwer said.
Wittwer said he hopes to learn from other generations “so that this generation won’t make the same mistakes that the previous generation has made or just to make sure we are on the right path.”
“I think the further I progress in my career or whatever path I choose to take, being out and proud is something that I will do,” Nolan said.
Along that line, Rebecca Reyman, a senior studying civil engineering, wanted to learn from the experience of older mentors. “The biggest part that a mentor could give this new generation would be just stories or experience,” she said.
Cardwell shared the challenge of himself coming out. In an interview with a magazine, a journalist asked when he knew he was gay. “Five years old and I really felt that [be]cause I always felt different when I was growing up,” he said.
He was officially out at the age of 15. At that time, Cardwell was on a bandstand in a boys’ school in Delaware County, Pa., and dancing was not much of a masculine activity. Therefore, people started spreading rumors, and Cardwell received negative reactions and was bullied by peers.
“So then I just finally told people, ‘Yeah, I am. What’s the big deal?’” Cardwell admitted it was a very difficult lifestyle to lead.
Cardwell recounted how being gay in college meant he was “underground.” In Philadelphia back then, LGBT dance clubs and bars were hidden.
Cardwell decided to pursue his graduate education in Manhattan in the mid-1960s. “I knew I could be out in New York,” he said.
He followed a career path in education and got a job as an assistant headmaster of a private boarding school in New Hampshire.
“Then I had to go back in the closet, and I had two lives. When I was at the school, I was ‘flamboyant,’ as people said,” Cardwell said. But when he was not at school, he had his true identity. “[It was] a bit challenging to deal with when I think about it now,” he said.
After 12 years he left the boarding school and worked at a day school in central New Jersey, where he was able to come out to those around him. The head of that middle school decided to repaint teachers’ homerooms, and they painted Cardwell’s room lavender.
“That was how I came out at my school, at least to the administration. I looked at [my room] fondly.”
Cardwell is serving as the publisher and editor-at-large at QUEERtimes.net, a nonprofit news website about LGBT topics, and he is the developmental director at the Philadelphia Cinema Alliance. He also produces QFest, the Philadelphia International Gay Lesbian Film Festival, and works on pride events in festivals in various cities.
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- Website launches on LGBT sports issues
- Film speaks for Drill monkeys
- Queerview | Are we “playing the victim”?
- Activist aims to reduce global hunger
Article source: http://thetriangle.org/2013/05/10/lgbt-activist-speaks-at-pride-week/
May 10th, 2013
Cuban LGBT activist confronted homophobia on two shores
Ada Bello holds a photograph of herself and fellow pioneers in the fight for LGBT rights. They stand at the Historical plaque marking the first protests for this cause, which started in Philadelphia in 1966. Photo: David Cruz/AL DÍA
PHILADELPHIA — For Ada Bello, a 79-year-old LGBT rights activist, growing up on the island of Cuba was “terrible” due to the risk of being identified as a lesbian. So in 1959, when Bello was in her 20s, she emigrated to the United States, where she became one of the early pioneers of the LGBT rights movement in Philadelphia.
“Your behavior was enough for them [the Cuban government] to take legal action against you,” said Bello, remembering her youth on the island. “Even though men were the most affected, women had less freedom.”
The consequences of being identified as a lesbian in Cuba were serious. For some families, it was an affront to their honor strangement.
“I didn’t feel any remorse for being a lesbian, but I knew I was going to have to live my life in the shadows,” Bello said. “So I decided the only solution was to leave the country.”
In Cuba, Bello knew two or three other gay women. At least she thought they were gay, “because in many cases they wouldn’t even confide in each other, out of fear” – no doubt a scenario that is difficult to imagine today.
As a young woman, Bello moved from Matanzas, a town where everyone knew each other and gossiped, to Havana. She soon discovered that the university community there was just as small as the city where she grew up.
Just before the revolution, in the midst of conflicts between students in Havana and the police, the university shut its doors. When Fidel Castro assumed power shortly thereafter, it didn’t make much of a difference for her or for other gay people on the island – at least at first.
“But then they started to persecute people they considered to be a threat to society,” said Bello. “That included homosexuals.”
Those who were identified in the raids were confined to labor camps.
“When the world learned this was happening, there was a lot of pressure on the Cuban government,” said Bello, recalling the impact of the Spanish documentary “Improper Conduct” had; it exposed the persecution of homosexuals and intellectuals in Castro’s Cuba during the beginning of the Cuban revolution.
“That was a very important moment. The practice started to change,” said Bello.
By then, Bello had already left Cuba and was attending college in the United States. At that time, getting accepted at an American university was reason enough to be allowed to leave the island.
“When I got to Louisiana I found I had a lot more freedom because no one knew me, and I had a lot more privacy than I did with my family in Cuba,” said Bello. “I was near New Orleans, a big city with gay and lesbian bars.”
After graduating with a major in chemistry, she went to work, always being discreet, afraid that if she were discovered she could lose her job.
The American South, which at first had offered her so much freedom, eventually seemed too small for her and in 1962 she moved to Philadelphia, where she would become a true pioneer in the movement for gay rights.
In the City of Brotherly Love, Bello was a founding member in 1967 of the local chapter of the organization known as Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), which led a year later to the creation of the Homophile Action League (HAL).
“We held peaceful protests against the raids the police were conducting on gay and lesbian bars. They were arresting the customers at night and weren’t letting them go until the morning,” said Bello. “We challenged the police and they realized that there was a group of people that was watching what they were doing and they couldn’t just act unjustly.”
From 1966 to 1968, on the Fourth of July in front of Independence Hall, the first demonstrations for the rights of the LGBT community were held in Philadelphia. Bello participated in the last of these.
A year later the Stonewall riots broke out in New York, a series of violent demonstrations by the gay community against police raids, considered to be the most important events that led to the LGBT liberation movement and the struggle for gay rights.
After helping to organize the first gay rights march in the Big Apple in 1970, HAL organized LGBT conferences until the organization disbanded in 1972.
“After Stonewall, the methodology was different. It was no longer a question of covert action, but of integrating into the political process, and that required another type of structure,” said Bello.
She later joined different organizations in Philadelphia, such as the William Way Center and the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force — which was responsible for the inclusion of the protection of homosexuals in a local ordinance in 1983. It previously protected only against discrimination based on race or religion.
Today, one of the streets where police used to carry out raids on the LGBT community in Philadelphia is named after Barbara Gittings, one of the activists Bello worked with in the struggle.
Bello later shifted her focus to her career, but she didn’t give up her activism.
“When I came to the United States from Cuba, I thought I had arrived in paradise, that I’d found a lot of freedom,” Bello said. “Then I saw all the battles that had to be fought, and that led me to activism.”
Although there is still a long way to go toward equality for the civil rights of the LGBT community, Bello believes that in her 79 years she has seen major changes both in the United States and in her native Cuba.
“In those days, it seemed like it was going to take an eternity, but the speed of the change has been incredible,” Bello said. “Back then we were fighting because they considered us criminals. Now we are fighting for marriage equality, and we have to keep fighting so we don’t return to the past.”
*This article was translated from it’s Spanish version, “Luchando en el paraíso por los derechos LGBT”, by Elena Shore, from New America Media.
Article source: http://www.pontealdia.com/primer-plano/fighting-for-lgbt-rights-in-paradise.html
May 10th, 2013
A group representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people in New Orleans delivered a letter to NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas on Thursday asking him to hold a public meeting regarding changes to the Police Department’s “stop and frisk” policies. The group, Break Out, claims the NOPD’s draft LGBT policy does not go far enough.
Break Out director Wesley Ware said the draft policy — which the NOPD gave to Break Out on the condition that it would not be made public — does not provide a way to track bias-based stops or community complaints.
Ware said the group is also unhappy that the draft policy lacks specific training requirements for officers on LGBT issues and has not yet been shared with the local independent police monitor or the U.S. Department of Justice, which has criticized the NOPD’s tactics as biased. The NOPD’s pending consent decree with the DOJ mandates reforms to ensure constitutional policing.
“Discriminatory policing practices affect young black men riding their bikes through the 4th District, undocumented Latino workers driving home down Elysian Fields, black transgender women walking to the store on Broad Street, and so many more New Orleanians,” Break Out wrote in the letter to Serpas.
Before delivering the letter, Break Out and members of other groups held a protest outside NOPD headquarters. About 75 people took part, the groups said.
Remi Braden, an NOPD spokeswoman, said she had not read the letter to Serpas but that the department is open to holding a meeting with the group.
“We would hope that your organization will continue to work with our policy development team and the City Attorney’s Office in our common goal of developing a model LGBT strategy,” Serpas wrote in a May 6 letter to Break Out.
Article source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/05/lgbt_group_urges_public_meetin.html
May 10th, 2013
The Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce will hold its Madison area launch event at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Plan B nightclub, 924 Williamson St.
The event will include remarks from the organization’s executive director, Jason Rae.
The Wisconsin LGBT Chamber is an organization of LGBT-owned and allied businesses, corporations and professionals that offers networking opportunities, business development efforts within the LGBT community and educational programming to its members.
Article source: http://host.madison.com/business/d8278c3c-44c4-582e-aaec-a44d7c3f93ce.html
May 10th, 2013
SAN DIEGO (CBS  – LGBT students at San Diego State University that are about to graduate celebrated early Wednesday at a special Lavender Graduation on campus.
More than 30 students were honored during the ceremony.
SDSU Women’s Studies Professor Susan Cayleff explains why the university holds a Lavender Graduation for LGBT students:
“Because too often at their important life moments, LGBT people cannot be out with their families. And so at a very critical moment in life when you want to be celebrating, there’s a sense of hiding. So this event actually lets people be celebrated as wonderful whole people.”
Students taking part in Wednesday’s event will also participate in regular commencement ceremonies next week.
Article source: http://www.cbs8.com/story/22210539/lavender-graduation-celebrates-sdsu-lgbt-students
May 9th, 2013
9 May 2013 | By Emily Twinch
Two lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender homelessness charities merged yesterday to offer accommodation across the north and London.
The Albert Kennedy Trust and Outpost Housing say together they can ‘help meet rising demand and sustain vital services for young people’.
Outpost will now be named AKT Outpost and will continue to operate in the north east for LGBT young people at risk of homelessness.
The AKT will continue to offer a range of services, including supported lodgings and other specialist housing schemes to LGBT young people, in the north west and London.
AKT chief executive Tim Sigsworth said: ‘AKT and Outpost have a lot in common and by coming together we hope to continue and enhance the level of help and support that LGBT young people at risk of homelessness receive across the north east, north west and in London.
‘Despite ten years of progressive legislation which has enabled young LGBT people to feel more confident to come out at an early age – the reality is that when they do they are still greeted with the same level of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia at home or school experienced 24 years ago when AKT was established by foster carer Cath Hall.’
He said the charity was now seeing a 30 per cent increase in demand for its services across the country.
‘By sharing our knowledge, expertise and some of our running costs with Outpost we can ensure every penny possible goes directly to support the growing numbers of young people who need our help,’ he added.
Chair of Outpost Housing Jim McElderry said: ‘Outpost has received tremendous support in recent years from local funders such as Newcastle Council and the Northern Rock Foundation but we know if we are going to be able to protect and develop housing support services for LGBT young people in the north east we need to do more.
‘This merger opens up new funding opportunities for us and means we can now be part of a national campaign for LGBT young people without losing our local identity.’
Article source: http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/care/lgbt-charities-merge-to-improve-services/6526880.article
May 9th, 2013
Today, Here TV unveiled its all new YouTube paid subscription channel which allows viewers around the world to access 100 episodes of original programming (with more being added each month) anywhere, anytime, in high definition through TVs, computers and mobile devices for a monthly or yearly subscription fee.
This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking gay television network Here TV (which is owned by Here Media, the parent company of The Advocate). In that decade, Here TV not only featured contemporary LGBT films and documentaries but also created some great original scripted and reality TV programming with its own uniquely queer and trans sensibilities. So to celebrate their decade of LGBT-focused work, we rounded up ten Here TV shows that best reflect the network’s finest programming and diversity — both in terms of LGBT people and the many styles through which we confront our shared experiences.
1. Dante’s Cove
 Although we’ve seen a number of queer horror films released over the years, we’d never seen an entire LGBT horror television series before the 2005 premiere of Dante’s Cove.
While the show primarily focuses on Kevin and Toby — a young couple who find themselves imperiled by the island’s dark forces — it also featured an entire cast of lesbian, gay, and bisexual characters (many played by fan favorites Jenny Shimizu, Thea Gill, Erin Cummings, Michelle Wolff and Tracy Scoggins ). There’s unabashed love scenes between boys and between girls (think full-frontal) and an evolving storyline that took on witchy ways of life long before American Horror Story: Coven, gaining it a devoted fanbase who still clamor for the show to return. (Hint: Rumors have continued to swirl that there may be a sixth season coming up still.)
Below you can watch the trailer for Dante’s Cove season one:
Below you can watch the trailer for Dante’s Cove season three:
Article source: http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/television/2013/05/09/watch-10-here-tv-shows-changed-our-view-lgbt-life
May 9th, 2013
MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – St. Petersburg prosecutors have notified an international LGBT film festival, Side by Side, that they are violating Russia’s law on “foreign agents,” the event’s organizers said on Wednesday.
Russia passed a law last November requiring all NGOs engaged in political activity, and receiving finance from abroad, to register as a “foreign agent.” Critics say the term has overtones of spying and treason to many Russians, an allegation rejected by the law’s author, United Russia lawmaker Alexander Sidyakin.
“On 6th May, 2013, the Side by Side LGBT Film Festival, received a ruling from the local prosecutor accusing the organization of violating Article 19.7 of the administrative code relating to the conduct of non-commercial organizations and their status as ‘foreign agents’,” reads an English-language statement posted on the festival’s website.
It says the Side by Side LGBT Film Festival offices were visited by inspectors from various Russian institutions, including the Ministry of Justice, tax service and police in recent weeks. The inspections were carried out as part of nationwide checks into various NGOs.
After the checks, the prosecutors decided that the organization had violated the law on two occasions: by publishing a brochure “The Worldwide LGBT Movement: Local Practices to Global Politics” and by taking part in a social awareness campaign against the recently adopted bill banning “gay propaganda” among minors.
Festival organizer Gulya Sultanova said the prosecutors’ notification was compiled with numerous irregularities.
“Clearly, the document was put together quickly and carelessly and there are glaring errors in regards to dates mentioned – this is a very important moment. They are focusing on content and citing activities that were made prior to 21 November, 2012 when the law concerning ‘foreign agents’ actually came into force,” the statement quotes the organizer as saying.
A magistrates’ court is to hear the case in late May.
Article source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/860/f/517308/s/2baaf181/l/0Len0Brian0Bru0Crussia0C20A130A50A80C1810A3330A60CLGBT0EFilm0EFestival0EFaces0EProsecution0Eunder0EForeign0EAgent0ELaw0Bhtml/story01.htm
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