LGBT asylum news (formally Save Mehdi Kazemi)

Uganda coalition speaks out on Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Image by erjkprunczyk via Flickr

Anti-Homosexuality or Anti-Human Rights Bill?

Statement from the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law

Hon. Bahati's Anti-Homosexuality Bill which was tabled in Parliament on October 14, 2009, and is currently before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament covers much more than the title alone proclaims. A much better title for this bill would have been the 'Anti Civil Society Bill, the 'Anti Public Health Bill,' or the 'Anti-Constitution Bill.' Perhaps more simply it should be called the Anti Human Rights Bill. As a matter of fact, this bill represents one of the most serious attacks to date on the 1995 Constitution and on the key human rights protections enshrined in the Constitution including:

* Article 20: Fundamental rights and freedoms are inherent and not granted by the State
* Article 21: Right to Equality and Freedom from discrimination
* Article 22: The Right to Life (the death penalty provisions)
* Article 27: The Right to Privacy
* Article 29: Right to freedom of conscience, expression, movement, religion, assembly and association (this includes freedom of speech, Academic freedom and media freedom)
* Article 30: Right to Education
* Article 32: Affirmative Action in favour of marginalised groups and
• Article 36 on the Rights of Minorities

Let us think for a moment of who-quite apart from the homosexuals it claims as its target-this bill puts at risk:

- any parent who does not denounce their lesbian daughter or gay son to the authorities: Failure to do so s/he will be fined Ush 5,000,000/= or put away for three years;

- any teacher who does not report a lesbian or gay pupil to the authorities within 24 hours: Failure to do so s/he will be fined Ush 5,000,000/= or put away for three years in prison;

- any landlord or landlady who happens to give housing to a suspected homosexual risks seven years of imprisonment;

- any Local Council I - V Chairperson or Executive member who does not denounce somebody accused of same-sex attraction or activity risks imprisonment or a heavy fine;

- any medical doctor who seeks to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS through working with what are known as most at risk populations, risks her or his career;

- all civil society leaders, whether in a Community Based Organisation, NGO, or academic institution; if their organisations seek to have a comprehensive position on sexual and reproductive health, they risk seeing their organisations closed down;

- any human rights activist who seeks to promote an understanding of the indivisibility and inalienability of human rights would be judged to be promoting homosexuals and homosexuality, and be punished accordingly;

- any religious leader who seeks to provide guidance and counselling to people who are unsure of their sexuality, would be regarded as promoting homosexuality and punished accordingly;

- any Member of Parliament or other public figure who is sent a pornographic article, picture or video will become vulnerable to blackmail and witch-hunts;

- any media house that publishes 'pornographic' materials risks losing its certificate of registration and the editor will be liable to seven years in jail;

- any internet café operator who fails to prevent a customer from accessing a pornographic website, or a dating site, could be accused of 'participating in the production, procuring, marketing, broadcasting, disseminating and publishing of pornographic materials for purposes of promoting homosexuality'; their business licence could be revoked and they themselves could land in prison.

- any Person alleged to be a homosexual is at risk of LIFE IMPRISONMENT and, in some circumstances, the DEATH PENALTY.

In short, this bill targets everybody, and involves everybody: it cannot be implemented without making every citizen spy on his or her neighbours. The last time this was done was in the Amin era, where everyone very quickly became an 'enemy of the state'. It amounts to a direct invasion of our homes, and will promote blackmail, false accusations and outright intimidation of certain members of the population. Do Ugandans really want to mimic the practices of the Khartoum regime? Have we already forgotten the sex police of Apartheid South Africa, who smashed their way into people's bedrooms in an attempt to prevent inter-racial sex?

As Civil Society organisations we condemn all predatory sexual acts (hetero or homosexual) that violate the rights of vulnerable sections of our society such as minors and people with disabilities. However, the Bill lumps "aggravated homosexuality" together with sexual acts between consenting adults in order to whip up sentiments of fear and hatred aimed at isolating sexual minorities. By so doing, the state fails in its duty to protect all its citizens without discrimination.

The bill also asserts Extra Territorial jurisdiction. In other words, all of the offences covered by the bill can be applied to a Ugandan citizen or permanent resident who allegedly commits them outside the country. Thus homosexuality and/or its 'promotion' are added to the very short list of offences which fall in the 'political offences' category. It joins treason, misprision of treason, and terrorism as offences subject to extra-territorial jurisdiction. Clearly, this is out of all proportion in relation to the gravity of the act.

On top of these day-to-day considerations about everybody's safety and security, let us consider what this bill will do for civil society organisations in Uganda which seek to have a critical voice and to engage in issues of global concern. One of the objectives of the bill is to prohibit the licensing of organizations which allegedly 'promote homosexuality.' Thus, for example, any organisation which talked about anal sex as part of a campaign of HIV prevention can be affected. Had this bill been in place earlier this year, no Ugandan could have participated in the World AIDS meeting held in Mexico to discuss HIV prevention.

And what about our standing in the eyes of the world? The Bill calls for Uganda to nullify any international treaties, protocols, declarations and conventions which are believed to be 'contradictory to the spirit and provisions' of the bill. In reality, this would involve Uganda withdrawing from:

* The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
* The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its protocols;
* The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
* The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women;
* The Convention on the Rights of the Child, and
• The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights

We note that Uganda is current Chair of the UN Security Council which operates with the UN Charter and UDHR as guiding principles. It is also current Chair of the Commonwealth and a signatory to the African Union's Constitutive Act which has as its premise the promotion and respect of human rights. In 2009 and 2010 it is hosting AU Summits. What will happen to Uganda's hard-won role on the global stage if it nullifies its international and regional humanrights commitments? Uganda cannot wish away core human rights principles of dignity, equality and non-discrimination, and all Ugandans will pay a heavy price if this bill is enacted.

We will have bargained away our hard-earned rights and freedoms as well as our right to challenge the State and hold it accountable for the protection of these rights. In sum, the Bahati Bill is profoundly unconstitutional. It is a major stumbling block to the development of a vibrant human rights movement in Uganda, and a serious threat to Uganda's developing democratic status. If passed, this law would not only prove difficult to implement, it would also consume resources and attention which would be better directed at more pressing issues of human rights abuse, corruption, electoral reform, domestic relations and freedom of the press.

Regardless of our personal moral beliefs and values, we the undersigned organisations are standing up in defence of Democracy, our Constitution and its enshrined principles of human dignity, equality, freedom and justice for all.

Kampala, 23 October 2009

* African Women's Development Fund (AWDF)
* Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA)
* Advocates for Public International Law in Uganda (APILU)
* Center for Land Economy and Rights of Women (CLEAR-Uganda)
* Centre for Women in Governance (CEWIGO)
* Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA)
* East & Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project
* Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-U)
* Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)
* Human Rights Awareness & Promotion Forum
* Human Rights & Peace Centre (HURIPEC), Faculty of Law, Makerere University
* Integrity Uganda
* International Refugee Rights Initiative
* Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW)
* MIFUMI Project
* National Association of Women's Organisations in Uganda (NAWOU)
* National Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (NACWOLA)
* Refugee Law Project (RLP), Faculty of Law, Makerere University
* National Guidance & Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NGEN+)
* Spectrum Uganda
* Uganda Feminist Forum
• Women's Organisation & Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA)

For further information please contact the coalition at kalendenator@gmail.com

It is nonsense to assert that being gay is un-African

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Source: Daily Nation

By MAKAU MUTUA

The gay marriage in London two weeks ago between Mr Daniel Chege and Mr Charles Ngengi has brought the vilest Kenyan homophobes out of the closet. Homophobic hatred is so viscerally irrational that it can only be explained by an un-interrogated moral, cultural, and religious certitude.

One common – but completely false – argument is that it is un-African to be gay. This is an absurdly vacuous claim that is internally illogical and utterly ahistorical. Most Kenyans are today indoctrinated by religious institutions, cultural guardians, and the moral police to be anti-gay. Rather than find someone to love, anti-gay crusaders find it convenient to find someone innocent to hate. Why has such a hatefully primitive and backward cosmology gone unchallenged?

Let me illustrate the seriousness of the problem by giving you a short human rights history of the last 50 years. Can you imagine a credible defence today for apartheid or the view that blacks are inferior to whites, and that the former exist solely to serve the latter?

How would you like to be declared illegal – or unworthy of existence – simply because you are black or African? Would you agree that all women and girls in your life – your mother, sister, wife, girlfriend, aunt, and grandmother – are inferior beings because of their female gender?

Do you think it is a good idea to declare Muslims superior to Christians? What about making the Akamba ineligible for constitutional protections? That is the human rights story in a nutshell. Modern democracy is not possible without two key interrelated principles – equal protection and anti-discrimination. Understand that it is “identity” that is afforded equal protection by insulating it from discrimination.

Historically, “identity” referred to your “state of being” – colour, sex, ethnicity, race, religion, language, marital status, national origin, political opinion, disability, and wealth or other social status.

But today “identity” is understood to include sexual orientation. That is why many countries explicitly prohibit discrimination against gays in social, political, and economic life. Others regard attacks on gays a hate crime. Civilised countries recognise gay marriages.

I have heard it said that being gay is “un-African.” Some Africans, who obviously know very little about the continent, have charged that there were no gays in Africa! The historical record, however, amply demonstrates that there were – and continues to be – gay Africans.

In fact, it is homophobia that is not necessarily home-grown. Much of the revulsion of homosexuality in Africa can be traced to Christianity and Islam, the two religious traditions that express homophobia in their doctrinal teachings. Before the arrival of these faiths, Africans appear to have been either agnostic about homosexuality or to have treated sexual orientation as a non-event. This may explain why there are no original gay epithets in African languages.

It is logical nonsense to assert that being gay is “un-African.” Does the assertion mean that it is not genetically possible to be African and gay? This hateful statement has as much basis in science as the assertion that whites are superior to blacks! Nor is there any cultural foundation for such an outrageous claim.

Culture is a dynamic phenomenon that it is neither static nor frozen in time. It is not possible to pigeonhole a biological impulse – such as sexual orientation – in a cultural box. In fact, available evidence suggests that all human societies – and Africa is no exception – have a minority population that is gay.

In most societies, gays are driven into the closet by social stigma and hate. Do you think there will be many gay Kenyans clamouring to “come out” after the furore and vitriol over Mr Ngengi’s marriage to Mr Chege? Isn’t it shocking that a deeply “religious” and “God-fearing’’ country like Kenya could be so hateful of an innocent minority population?

We should remember Pastor Martin Niemoller, an anti-communist who supported the rise of Adolf Hitler only to be disillusioned when the Nazi chief insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion. In a famous poem, the good pastor lamented his failure to speak out when Nazis came for the communists because he was not a communist.

He did not speak out when Nazis came for the socialists, trade unionists, or Jews because he was none of those. His silence over the persecution of others was his own undoing: “Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.” We must remember that we deny others their rights at our own peril. Gay Kenyans are being persecuted today but I can guarantee you that it will be another group tomorrow.

There is no evidence that gay Kenyans have been responsible for the plunder of the country. Kenya has been brought down to its knees by “macho” men and heterosexual women who purport to love God and country. How can love between two adults – of the same sex – be so terrifying to the majority?

The majority is not being asked to be gay, but only to let others seek their happiness in peace. Is that too much to ask as a right of full right of citizenship? It is the duty of every human rights activist to defend gay rights and demand their protection in the draft constitution.

Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the state University of New York at Buffalo Law School and Chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

More immigrants cite sexual orientation for asylum

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Source: The Associated Press

By Rusell Contreras

For weeks, Nathaniel Cunningham and his boyfriend secretly lived together in rural Jamaica. They showed no affection in public and rarely spoke to neighbors.

Then one morning, Cunningham picked up a local newspaper with a front-page story under the headline, "Homosexual Prostitutes Move into Residential Neighborhood." His address was listed below.

For days afterward, Cunningham said an angry mob gathered on his lawn hurling rocks and bricks and calling them "batty boys" — a Jamaican slang term for gay. Eventually, the pair grabbed what they could and fled on foot. Cunningham said neither he nor his boyfriend were prostitutes — the slur was just another example of the abuse gay men faced in Jamaica.

The story was one of many that Cunningham, now 32 and living in Worcester, recently shared with a federal immigration judge in his successful bid to win asylum in the United States. And it's similar to other stories cited by a small but growing number of other gay, lesbian and transgender asylum seekers who are using U.S. immigration courts to argue that their sexual orientation makes it too dangerous for them to return home.

"I had no choice," said Andre Azevedo, 39, a transgender man from Brazil who recently won asylum and now lives in New York. "Where I'm from, heterosexual men practice hate crimes against us like a sport, and the police do nothing to stop it."

Since 1994, sexual orientation has been grounds for asylum in the United States. That's when former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ruled in a case that persecution based on sexual orientation could be potential grounds for asylum.

Until recently, those grounds have been rarely used and such cases represent only a fraction of all asylum cases.

But now immigrant and gay activists say more asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean are citing sexual orientation as reasons for seeking asylum. Activists say the asylum seekers are escaping rape, persecution, violence, and threats of death from places where homosexuality is either outlawed or strongly, socially shunned.

Federal immigration law allows individuals asylum if they can prove a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin based upon race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Those applying for asylum are already in the United States, legally or illegally.

No one knows for sure just how many have sought asylum on sexual orientation grounds. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services doesn't keep data on asylum cases won on that basis.

Still, last year Immigration Equality, a New York-based nonprofit group that helps gay clients with immigration cases, successfully won 55 asylum cases using sexual orientation as grounds, a record for the organization, said the group's legal director Victoria Neilson. That's up from 30 wins in 2007 and 27 in 2006, Neilson said.

And a Worcester, Mass.-based nonprofit group, Lutheran Social Services, has recently won five cases and is looking to help others.

"I think more people are finding out that this is an option," said Lisa Laurel Weinberg, an attorney with the group.

However, not all cases for asylum based on sexual orientation have been successful. For example, a gay Brazilian man who was married in Massachusetts and whose American husband remains in the state was recently denied asylum by the Obama administration on humanitarian grounds, despite pleas from Sen. John Kerry. Genesio "Junior" Januario Oliveira had originally requested asylum because he was raped as a teenager, but an immigration judge denied the application, saying Oliveira repeatedly said in the hearing that he "was never physically harmed" by anyone in Brazil.

He was forced to return to Brazil in 2007.

Cunningham said he decided to file for asylum after working for a few years in the United States on a work visa. He conducted research online but couldn't find an immigration group to help him with the case. "One group said my case clashed with their Christian values," Cunningham said.

Many gay rights groups, he said, also had limited services for immigrants.

It wasn't until Cunningham connected with Jozefina Lantz, the director of immigrant services at Lutheran Social Services, that Cunningham gained support.

To win, however, Cunningham had to revisit painful moments of running from mobs in Jamaica. Even the police would point him out for persecution, he said. In successfully arguing Cunningham's case for asylum, Weinberg also said Jamaica's sodomy laws banning sex between men and "dancehall" music — whose lyrics often advocate violence against gays — made life for Cunningham unbearable.

Cunningham won asylum in January 2008.

During his asylum hearing, Azevedo had to recall violent episodes in Brazil when he and a group of transsexuals were attacked in bars. He recalled a transgender woman set on fire. Each time Azevedo said he went to police about an attack or a threat, the officers didn't even bother to file a report.

"I had such a horrific experience," said Azevedo, who was granted asylum in July. "I was always in fear of being raped, maybe even killed."

After winning their cases, both Cunningham and Azevedo have become advocates for other asylum-seekers by giving them counseling and directing them toward legal help.

In Worcester, for example, Cunningham has helped a Lebanese and three others Jamaicans win asylum with the legal help provided by the Lutheran Social Services' "LGBT Human Rights Protection Project." Another case, involving an Ugandan woman, is pending in the courts.

But while those who have been granted asylum are eager to help, Azevedo said many still haven't resolved the pain from the past and can't go back home to visit family — those who haven't disowned them.

Cunningham said he hasn't gotten over the fear that, at any moment, he may be forced to flee.

"I've never really owned furniture," Cunningham said. "You just never know."

Australian Senate turns its back on Ugandan gays

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:48:00 +0000

Source: Blaze

By Ron Hughes

A motion that would have seen the government putting pressure on Uganda to withdraw its recently-tabled Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been rejected by the Senate.

SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young moved that the Senate should condemn the criminalisation of homosexuality anywhere in the world.

She also moved that the Senate should “[call] on the Government to actively encourage the Ugandan Government to withdraw its Anti-Homosexuality Bill and respect the human rights of same-sex attracted people.”

On October 14 a bill was tabled in the Ugandan parliament that widened the legal definition of homosexual acts and introduced the death penalty for the new offence of “aggravated homosexuality”. Under the latter, anyone who had gay sex with either a disabled person or anyone under 18, or anyone with HIV who had sex with a person of the same gender, could be executed.

Senator Hanson-Young also called on the Senate to “recognise the universal human rights of same-sex attracted people to live their lives free from persecution on the basis of their sexuality.”

The motion was rejected.

“Freedom of sexuality and gender identity is a fundamental human right, yet unfortunately many Governments around the world fail to recognise this,” Hanson-Young told blaze. “The Ugandan Government’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill represents a hideous abuse of the human rights of same-sex attracted people. It should be condemned by the international community and I was appalled to see the Senate vote against my motion to condemn the criminality of homosexuality and call on the Ugandan Government to withdraw its Bill.”

“Australia could be playing a leadership role in promoting an end to persecution on the basis of sexuality, yet the Rudd Government seems intent on lagging behind,” Hanson-Young continued. “I will continue to pressure the Government to lift its game on this issue.”

UK government 'concerned' about Uganda's anti-gay law

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Source: pinknews.co.uk

The UK government has released a statement on the proposals in Uganda to execute people who have gay sex following condemnation of the bill from France and America.

The bill, currently before parliament in the African country, would create a new crime of "aggravated homosexuality".

Those convicted of having gay sex with disabled people and those under the 18 would face the death penalty.

The bill also imposes life imprisonment on those who have homosexual sex. Although this is already the case in Uganda, the new law widens the definition of the offence.

Other offence include promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house "for purposes of homosexuality".

In a statement given to PinkNews.co.uk, a spokeswoman from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are concerned by the introduction of a private member's bill on anti homosexuality in Uganda.
"Adoption of the bill could do serious damage to efforts to tackle HIV and its criminalisation of organisations that support homosexuality could, in theory, encompass most donor agencies and international NGOs.

"The UK, alongside our EU partners, has raised our concerns about the draft bill and LGBT rights more broadly with the government of Uganda, including with the prime minister and several other ministers, the Ugandan Human Rights Commission, and senior officials from the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"We will continue to track the passage of the bill and to lobby against its introduction."

This week, France's foreign ministry released a statement condemning the bill. It said: "France expresses deep concern regarding the bill currently before the Ugandan parliament.

"France reiterates its commitment to the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

In America, leana Ros-Lehtinen, (Republican, Miami), Tammy Baldwin, (Democrat, Wisconsin), Gary Ackerman, (Democrat, New York) and Howard Berman, (Democrat, California), have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning that it had severe implications for the freedom and safety of gay people.

France: Imminent Deportation of Merlin (Cameroon) and Tsaï (China)

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:55:00 +0000

Communiqué de presse inter associatif
Paris, le 5 novembre 2009

Deux homos menacés d’une expulsion imminente : la France doit leur assurer protection et leur permettre de faire valoir leurs droits à l’asile ou au séjour !

L’Ardhis, SOS homophobie, Act Up-Paris et l’Inter-LGBT demandent l’annulation des procédures d’expulsion et la régularisation de leur situation administrative.

Merlin, Camerounais de 30 ans fuyant les persécutions homophobes dont il était la cible, a été arrêté à Hendaye, tout juste une heure après avoir passé la frontière, et ce après un périple de plusieurs mois à travers l’Afrique et l’Espagne. Il envisageait de construire une nouvelle vie ici en France, un pays où il serait protégé ! Mais son dessein s’effondre. Son destin, s’il retourne dans son pays, est particulièrement sombre : au Cameroun, les actes homosexuels sont punissables d’un emprisonnement d’un à cinq ans et d’une amende de 20 000 à 200 000 francs CFA. Des arrestations et condamnations sont régulièrement prononcées au nom de cet article. Par ailleurs, la stigmatisation sociale et le chantage sont courants.

Nos associations rappellent que conformément à l’article 6 de la directive 2004/83/CE, le statut de réfugié, au titre de l’asile conventionnel ou de la protection subsidiaire, doit être accordé aux personnes LGBT ayant été ou risquant d’être persécutées par les pouvoirs publics de leur pays d’origine, ou par quelque autre acteur non étatique.

Dans le même centre de rétention se trouve Tsaï1, chinois de 37 ans, diplômé de lettres françaises et de gestion des entreprises à l’université de Nantes. Il est aujourd’hui professeur de chinois ; et vit en couple depuis huit ans à Pantin (93) avec un Français, Jean-Paul Marlet. Dans la suite de ses études de gestion, Tsaï travaillait en CDI pour une entreprise d’import-export de la région parisienne, mais son employeur a été « contraint » de le licencier parce qu’il ne s’était pas vu attribuer un titre de séjour « Salarié » après l’expiration de son titre de séjour « Etudiant », alors même que l’employeur le soutenait dans ses démarches. Il est ainsi entré dans l’irrégularité et est depuis obligé de travailler « au noir » pour gagner sa vie. Entre 2000 et ce jour, Monsieur Tsaï a ainsi établi sa vie privée et familiale sur notre sol et il exerce une activités prfessionnelle stable. Son retour forcé serait préjudiciable, tant pour lui que pour ses proches. Il a passé 10 ans de sa vie en France et sa vie est bien ici !

Pour chacun d’entre eux, l’expulsion vers leur pays d’origine les expose à la haine, aux persécutions, à des peines de prison du fait de leur homosexualité, qui détruirait la nouvelle vie qu’ils s’étaient employés à bâtir.

Nous rappelons qu’il est ordinairement difficile de faire la preuve rapide de persécutions ou de rejets subis dans son pays d’origine et que l’orientation sexuelle n’est pas quelque chose qui se « démontre » de façon évidente. Chaque situation nationale demande un travail d’information lent et difficile, afin de mettre à jour l’importance des risques encourus par les personnes homosexuelles ou transgenres. Pendant ce temps, des solutions d’accueil provisoire doivent être trouvées, de façon à fournir aux demandeurs d’asile et aux associations qui les accompagnent le temps de préparer des dossiers circonstanciés.

En décembre 2008, le gouvernement français, à l’instar de Rama Yade, alors secrétaire d’État des Droits de l’homme, a fait voter la dépénalisation de l’homosexualité et de l’identité de genre à l’Organisation des Nations Unies. Au regard de cette initiative, relevant de la lutte contre l’homophobie à un niveau international, nous attendons, pour le moins, que ce même gouvernement accorde le droit d’asile en France à des LGBT persécutés dans leur pays d’origine.

L’Ardhis, SOS homophobie, Act Up-Paris et l’Inter-LGBT demandent donc aujourd’hui la libération de Merlin et de Tsaï et ce :

* afin que la demande d’asile déposée par Merlin puisse être instruite sans urgence et qu’un éventuel recours devant la Cour Nationale du Droit d’Asile puisse être effectivement examiné
* afin que Tsaï puisse demander une régularisation de situation administrative arguant de sa situation de compagnon d’un Français depuis plus de 7 ans et qu’il fait preuve à ce jour de plus de 10 ans de présence sur notre territoire

Contacts Presse:

Audrey Grelombe pour Act Up Paris: 0625479136

audreygrelombe@yahoo.fr

Bartholomé Girard pour SOS Homophobie: 0628320250

bartholome.girard@sos-homophobie.org

Philippe Castel pour Inter LGBT: 0625768192

philippe.castel@inter-lgbt.org

Thomas Fouquet-Lapar pour Ardhis : 0619640391

ardhis@hotmail.fr

www.ardhis.org

www.actupparis.org

www.inter-lgbt.org

www.sos-homophobie.org

Nous appelons toutes personnes, physiques ou morales, à solliciter le préfet des Pyrénées Atlantiques (64). Les associations peuvent aussi écrire directement au ministère et à l’Elysée (demander nous les contacts : ardhis@hotmail.fr).

Une lettre-type vous est proposée:

Monsieur le Préfet,

Vous avez engagé deux procédures d’éloignement envers un ressortissant chinois et un ressortissant camerounais, sous les références d’Aprf suivantes: 09-64-00368 et 09-64-00371. Nous vous alertons que ces ressortissants étrangers sont des personnes vulnérables et qu’il est urgent que notre pays leur assure protection.

Merlin (prénom d’emprunt), Camerounais de 30 ans fuyant les persécutions homophobes dont il était la cible, a été arrêté à Hendaye, tout juste une heure après avoir passé la frontière et ce après un périple de plusieurs mois à travers l’Afrique et l’Espagne. Il envisageait de construire une nouvelle vie ici en France, un pays où il serait protégé ! Mais son dessein s’effondre. Son destin, s’il retourne dans son pays, est particulièrement sombre : au Cameroun, les actes homosexuels sont punissables d’un emprisonnement d’un à cinq ans et d’une amende de 20 000 à 200 000 francs CFA. Des arrestations et condamnations sont régulièrement prononcées au nom de cet article. Par ailleurs, la stigmatisation sociale et le chantage sont courantes. Nos associations rappellent que conformément à l’article 6 de la directive 2004/83/CE, le statut de réfugié, au titre de l’asile conventionnel ou de la protection subsidiaire, doit être accordé aux personnes LGBT ayant été ou risquant d’être persécutées par les pouvoirs publics de leur pays d’origine, ou par quelque autre acteur non étatique.

Dans le même centre de rétention se trouve Tsaï (prénom d’emprunt), chinois de 37 ans, diplômé de lettres françaises et de gestion des entreprises à l’université de Nantes. Il est aujourd’hui professeur de chinois ; il vit en couple depuis huit ans à Pantin (93) avec un Français, Jean Paul Marlet.

Dans la suite de ses études de gestion, Tsaï travaillait en CDI pour une entreprise d’import-export de la région parisienne, mais son employeur a été « contraint » de le licencier parce qu’il ne s’était pas vu attribué par la préfecture un titre de séjour « Salarié » après l’expiration de son titre de séjour « Etudiant », alors même que l’employeur le soutenait dans ses démarches. Il est ainsi entré dans l’irrégularité et est depuis obligé de travailler “au noir” pour gagner sa vie. Entre 2000 et ce jour, Tsaï a ainsi établi sa vie privée et familiale sur notre sol et il a développé une activité professionnelle stable. Son retour forçé serait préjudiciable, tant pour lui que pour ses proches. Il a passé 10 ans de sa vie en France et sa vie est bien ici !.

Nous vous demandons donc instamment de bien vouloir libérer ces deux personnes et leur permettre ainsi de continuer leurs démarches administratives :

· afin que la demande d’asile déposée par Merlin puissent être instruite sans urgence et qu’un éventuel recours devant la Cour Nationale du Droit d’Asile puisse être effectivement examiné

· afin que Tsaï puisse demander une régularisation de situation administrative sur le motif de sa situation de compagnon d’un Français depuis plus de 7 anzs et qu’il fait preuve à ce jour de plus de 10 ans de présence sur notre territoire

Nos associations s’engagent à les accompagner dans leurs démarches

Nous vous remercions de votre bienveillance et nous vous prions de croire, monsieur le Préfet, en notre plus haute considération.

Où adresser la lettre ?

dominique.schmitt@gironde.pref.gouv.fr

prefet@gironde.pref.gouv.fr

guesdong@club-internet.fr

philippe.rey@pyrenees-atlantiques.pref.gouv.fr

pierre.larroque-laborde@pyrenees-atlantiques.pref.gouv.fr

Fax secrétariat du préfet : 05 59 98 26 44,

Fax du bureau des étrangers : 05 59 98 26 42

Pour obtenir de l’aide, ecrivez a: ardhis-help@ardhis.org

Australia: Refugees Need Not Apply

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Image by .M. via Flickr

Source: GayNZ.com

By Craig Young

Australia's draconian refugee and asylum policies are back in the news. How do they affect lesbian/gay refugees and asylum seekers from oppressive countries of origin?

In fact, Australia's Refugee Review Tribunal's decision making processes are appallingly dysfunctional, chaotic and not even remotely based on best practice evidential quality, according to Sydney's Professor Jenni Millbank. In 2003, Professor Millbank authored a scathing report on the RRT, Burdened By Proof. The title is highly ironic, as well as wholly inapplicable. To state that the RRT has lack of transparency in decision making procedures would be a gross understatement. In some instances, 'information' about LGBT refugee and asylum seeker countries of origin was woefully out of date.

Understandably, she also questioned the use of the Spartacus International Gay Travel Guide (!) as an "authoritative" account of LGBT human rights in those societies. As noted in its title, this is a tourist booklet. It contains cursory information about local LGBT experiences and human rights standards, and is primarily oriented toward affluent gay male overseas tourists. It has even been used to jerry rig cases against lesbian applicants for refugee or asylum status, despite the absence of information about lesbians within it. It is certainly no substitute for the depth and breadth of LGBT human rights analyses from Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, yet has been used to trump those. In other cases, gay porn sites were consulted to provide distorted pictures of existence in the applicant's countries of origin.

In October 2008, Ali Humayan (Pakistan) described his experiences in privately run Villawood Detention Centre. He was fleeing sexual abuse and antigay religious prejudice in his country of origin and ended up in Villawood after appalling behaviour from the Department of Immigration and University of Canberra. He became hooked on heroin, provided by the guards at the facility. Although he eventually got out of the facility and his application for asylum was successful, he now has a methadone habit and is unemployed and in debt. Other former Villawood detainees and staff corroborate his story.

And yes, this is still happening. As the Daily Telegraph recently related, two Bangladeshi gay men arein the process of seekingasylum in Australia.While the couple offered to have sex before Australian immigration officials to prove their sexuality, they will have toappeal their case for protection visas for the fourth time in over a decade. The coupletold the Daily Telegraphthat they feareddeath if their latest bid for refugee status is once again refused at a hearing later this month.

It isn't the first time that concerns have been raised in this context. It is reported that a Federal Court judge recently criticised the Refugee Review Tribunal over this case, finding it was "deliberately biased" against the two applicants. Justice Spender found three previous tribunals had "twisted facts"to deny the men were gay, usingabsurd claims they were straight brothers. This was later refuted by DNA testing after anonymous phone call allegations.

While a first tribunal found they were indeed homosexual, it refused them entry on the grounds they could avoid persecution in Bangladesh if they werecloseted. The High Court overturned this verdict and upheld their appeal stating the gay couple faced a "real risk" of harm if they were deported back to Bangladesh.

Increasingly frustrated by the process, they offered the following in a submission: "We are prepared to have an adult witness view us engaged in an act of homosexual intercourse and then attest before you to that fact."

In 2007, the tribunal asked one of the two men an intrusive question: "if he and the second applicant have sex in the morning" and "if they used a lubricant." The older partner said he had been "too embarrassed to answer the personal questions", which was later used against him. Human rights lawyer Bruce Levet described the tribunal's conduct as "disgraceful" in the latter context and added: "I was ashamed to be a lawyer." The men had lived monogamously for 14 years and did not frequent gaypubs orparticipate in the localgay community. Mr Levet said they had "struggled" to convince the RRAT. He said the Commonwealth had resisted granting the asylum test case for fear of a wave of LGBT human rights refugees.

The pair live in southwest Sydney and fled Bangladesh in 1999 after they were stoned, kicked and punched during an antigay hate crime in their country of origin. Meanwhile, the Refugee ReviewTribunal have announced yet another appeal date.

Australia. Stupid one day, neanderthal the next.

Recommended:

"We'll have sex to prove we are gay, say Bangladesh refugees:" Daily Telegraph: 18.10.09: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/.../story-e6freuy9-1225787718526

"Welcome to Australia/ Refugee Tribunal or Kangaroo Court" DNA 108: October 2008: 95-98.

Botswana: Face-to-face with a gay couple

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Mmegi Online

By JERRY KAI-LEWIS

We see them everywhere, at the grocery stores, at restaurants, at school, nightclubs, even at church. They are musicians, actors, doctors, soldiers.

If it is not in the way they dress, its certainly in their gait or the way they talk. Not too long ago, they were not this bold or obvious. No one in Botswana was interested in taking up their fight. Today, although a bit more confident, they still live in shadows of the grey area of the Penal Code that makes them guilty of acting out their feelings in a physical. No longer ignored or left on the sidelines of 'regular society', someone is standing up for them.

Recently, BONELA(Botswana Network On Ethics And HIV/AIDS served the government with a statutory notice to sue and challenge the penal code that makes same-sex sex, and by default homosexuality, a criminal offence.

Over the weekend I was invited to the home of a gay friend. I was there together with his sons, a few heterosexual couples, their children and the host's partner. Using our friendship as a leeway, and after everyone was gone, I convinced them into doing an interview. With the BONELA taking up their fight, they thought it would only do right to join him, even from the sidelines. They , therefore, decided on the monikers Adam and Steve. I was actually surprised that they would suggest and agree to the names because in the US, it is a common joke that if God had wanted same-sex unions, he would have made them Adam and Steve, instead of Adam and Eve. The expression is actually anti - gay. But they liked it.

Mmegi: Why hide the fact that you are gay? All your friends and people who care to notice know that you are gay. Why not come out like normal couples?

STEVE: What is the definition of a normal couple? Your question, although it was not meant to be insulting or offensive, is actually part of the problem. Society see homosexual coupling as abnormal while heterosexual ones are normal. But who has the right to regulate how we feel or force all of us to live and feel under one bracket?

ADAM: I don't have a problem with coming out. As a matter of fact, my family and friends know about my sexual orientation. But you know that Batswana can be vindictive.

The law is not against being homosexual, it just says that same-sex intercourse is illegal.I know lots of so-called straight men and women, some of them in business and government, who indulge in same-sex intercourse. You don't have to be gay to have sex with someone of the same sex.

Mmegi: Were you born gay? When did you know you were gay?

ADAM: I lived as a normal boy until my late teens. I did it all, played sports and did all the things a boy was supposed to do. I started noticing that I was more keen on the male physique than the female. It took me until now to actually openly admit that. A lot of men go through this. Because they are scared of how their family, friends and colleagues would react.They hide behind that normal relationship until they end up hurting themselves, the women who love them and unfortunately the children born to them.

STEVE: I have always been a sissy boy. For as far back as I can remember, I have always been effeminate. I have always hung out with girls checking out boys. For me I know it is in my genetic make-up. It is like being a particular race, I was born this way, I didn't choose to be. Ok. I have a problem with people trying to equate the struggle for racial equality to the one for sexual orientation. I didn't one day decided to be black or realised I was; I have always been black.

Actually a lot of people are against that. I am not. Human rights are broad. Blacks around the world struggled for racial equality. Christians in predominantly Muslim or atheist countries are trying to get their religious orientation respected. Here in Botswana, some tribes are in a struggle to get their languages recognised. These are all struggles for human rights, under which the struggle for sexual freedom falls. So I don't have a problem seeing the fights for racial, religious, tribal or sexual rights as being one and the same.

Mmegi: Why do you think society is so afraid of homosexual relationships?

ADAM: In the words of a famous friend: people are afraid of the unknown. We live in a patriarchal and extremely macho world where men have set rules on how to behave. Like for example, why is it that the majority of societies that allow for a man to marry as many women as he can afford don't allow the women the same rights?

STEVE: Because some ancient guy before the wheel and the drum decided that it should be so. But today, almost all the countries that have laws against same-sex relationships and marriages are against it for religious reasons. The Sodom and Gomorrah complex is still with us. And most of these people cannot look at their own cultures and say it is against our customs. No, it is against some Jewish, Christian or Muslim rule book.

Mmegi: Say you get the right to come out in the open, get married and adopt children.Will you not be sending a confusing message to a child who is not inherently homosexual but is living with homosexual parents?

STEVE: Do abusive or alcoholic parents send confusing messages to their kids? If this is really about the message we send and the influence we have over kids, what kind of message do you think drug abusing adults send their kids? How about promiscuous adults and people like paedophiles? Straight people are more of a threat to their children than gay folks.

Look at the mess heterosexual people have made of the world. First Eve ate the apple, then it was wrong to be of another race, all the wars, hatred and isms. Do you think homosexual people influenced them? We will not have any more of a good or bad influence on kids than straight people have had since we left the Garden of Eden.

Mmegi: So far the fight for the rights of homosexuals in Botswana is being fronted by BONELA. But in other countries, homosexuals are in the forefront of the struggle. Why are you people not fighting openly in Botswana? Is the gay community in open hiding?

ADAM: I like the open hiding part! We are here and a lot of very powerful people are gay.Their families, friends and colleagues know that they are gay but we find ourselves in a place where people are not really open to or accepting of gay people doing what straight people do, especially in public. Even you. You may not have a problem with us being gay but if we were to start kissing and fondling each other in front of you, you might take offence. For as liberal as you might want to think you are, you have been oriented to see love expressed in a certain way. Botswana is a largely conservative society, even among young people. Some go as far as being vindictive. For us to come out would first take a legal acceptance of who we are. Working on changing the minds of Batswana would take a while.

STEVE: But we are ready for that; we can wait. You can change a law but to change people's attitudes takes time. We have waited for a long time to be recognised as any other person or couple. We deserve the protection of the laws of this country just like any other couple out there. Imagine if one of us dies, the other cannot claim the dead person's property. But mind you, the late person would have wanted the surviving partner to inherit his or her property. But with the laws of this land not recognising us, that won't be possible.

Mmegi: So what do you expect from us 'normal" people? Do you expect us to just have you over for a braai and hang out with you?

STEVE: I can care less about your braais and social networks. I just don't expect you to harass me because I am a homosexual. I don't want to be denied the same things I am entitled to because I am different from you.

Mmegi: Many straight people I know say that they will not hang out with or have a gay friend because they think that deep down, the gay friend would be nursing some crush on them. Is this true?

ADAM: That's the most absurd reason for not having a gay friend. But it is also the reason for people being violent toward gay folks. Are you attracted to every woman you see? Even if you admire them, do you always go and propose them? It is stupid for straight guys to think that because I am gay I have to find all of them attractive.

STEVE: As our friend I respect your orientation like you respect ours. I cannot disrespect you by coming on to you. I think most guys won't mind having a gay friend, they are just too concerned that their friends would think that they are either gay too or heading that way.

Mmegi: Should any sensible gay person try to go to church or mosque without changing his or her orientation?

STEVE: I believe in God. I have a hard time believing that I am the result of a bunch of chemical and biological mistakes. I don't believe that God has a problem with me being gay. He created me. He knew I was going to be gay. Why should he now turn around and say that me being the me that he created me to be is punishable by death? Like I said, some ancient men managed to get those ridiculous stories in the scriptures.

ADAM: In the Arab world, it is a common practice for men to have sex with other men.The reason for this is that women won't have pre-marital sex for fear of being killed for dishonouring the family's name. So, the men, before they get married, will start their sexual experience with other men. This is a common practice. But they are not gay.

And I believe that these are the gung-ho ones who would be the first to throw the stone. Religious people are hypocrites. They are the reason for most of the isms we have in the world today. Yet they hide behind their scriptures while deep down, they burn in sin.

STEVE: This debate is not new. The first story on homosexuals I came across was in Sodom and Gomorrah. We are far from those biblical days. Should gays have the same rights as straight people? Some would say the answer is a matter of morality. Racism, colonialism, the holocaust, apartheid, the two world wars were all justified by some sort of morality. I am convinced that our struggle is the final frontier in the struggle for human rights. Time will have to tell which way Botswana swings when the dust settles after the BONELA case.

Human Rights Watch: Iran prepares to execute gay teens

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Human Rights Watch

Iran: Revoke Death Sentences for Juvenile Offenders
Three Men Await Execution for Alleged Homosexual Conduct When Children

Iran should immediately halt the planned executions of three men under charges of male homosexual conduct allegedly committed when they were children, Human Rights Watch said today.

Mehdi P., from Tabriz; Moshen G., from Shiraz; and Nemat Safavi, from Ardebil, were accused in separate cases of committing homosexual acts when they were under age 18. No date has been set for their execution yet, but the lawyer representing two of the men fears that it could happen any day.

"Killing people for what they did as children is wrong and repellent, and killing them for alleged homosexual conduct is just as wrong and repellent," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The Iranian government has flouted its most basic human rights obligations in allowing these cruel death sentences."

Mehdi P. and Moshen G. denied the charges, and no witnesses testified against them. Safavi was arrested at the age of 16 in 2006, and tried by a court in Ardebil, where he is being held.

The courts sentenced all three to death despite the requirement in Iran's shari'a-based criminal code that sexual offenses require a confession repeated four times or the testimony of four male witnesses. However, the code allows judges to use their "knowledge" in determining guilt where no such evidence is available, a dangerously elastic provision. Judges relied on such discretionary "knowledge" to sentence Mehdi P. and Moshen G. No information is available on the source of evidence for the third judgment.

Iran leads the world in executing juvenile offenders - at least seven in 2008, and at least three so far in 2009. The execution of another juvenile offender, Safar Angooti, who was charged with murder, was scheduled for October 21 but postponed at the last minute for a month. In February, the United Nations General Assembly called on Iran to abolish the execution of persons who were under age 18 at the time of their offense.

The juvenile death penalty is prohibited in international law, and the prohibition is absolute. Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) specifically prohibit capital punishment of persons under 18 at the time of the offense. These provisions reflect the reality that children are different from adults, and lack the experience, judgment, maturity, and restraint of an adult. Iran ratified the ICCPR in 1975 and the CRC in 1994.

Lavat - consummated sexual activity between males, whether penetrative or not - is punishable by execution in Iranian law. Article 111 of the Code of Islamic Punishments or Penal Code states that "Lavat is punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will." Tafkhiz - the rubbing together of thighs or buttocks or other forms of non-penetrative "foreplay" between men - is punishable by one hundred lashes for each partner, according to Articles 121-122 of the Penal Code. Recidivism is punishable by death on the fourth conviction.

In addition, Article 123 of the Penal Code further provides that "If two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity," each one will receive 99 lashes. Articles 127 to 134 stipulate that the punishment for sexual intercourse between women is 100 lashes and if the offense is repeated three times, the punishment is execution.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that nations that have not abolished the death penalty must only impose it for the "most serious crimes." The Human Rights Committee, which authoritatively interprets the covenant, has said that should mean the death penalty should be a "quite exceptional measure." In its 1994 landmark decision in the case of Toonen v. Australia, the Human Rights Committee held that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct violate the rights to privacy and protection from discrimination.

In 2008, the Deputy Attorney General of Iran announced that Iranian judicial authorities would ban the juvenile death penalty for non-murder-related offenses, effective immediately, pending parliamentary approval.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its cruel and inhumane nature. Human rights principles and protections are founded upon respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person. These principles cannot be reconciled with the death penalty, a form of punishment that is unique in its cruelty and finality. The intrinsic fallibility of all criminal justice systems assures that even when full due process of law is respected, innocent persons may be executed.

"These three death sentences violate promises the Iranian government has repeatedly made, to the international community and to its own people, to stop executing people for crimes they committed as children," Whitson said.

Malaysia: Outwrite

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Source: Time

By John Krich

Despite its modern veneer, Muslim-majority Malaysia is a country where it is still illegal — as opposed to merely irreligious — for men of any faith to engage in consensual sex with one another. (Lesbianism is not criminalized but the subject of a religious prohibition, or fatwa.) Kuala Lumpur may boast its share of gay and lesbian bars, and casual visitors can spot scores of transsexuals staffing cafés and department stores. But any open discussion of homosexuality, especially in writing, remains the domain of an enlightened, often foreign-educated few.

Body 2 Body is out, in both senses of the word, to change all that. This self-labeled "queer anthology" claims to be the first of its kind in the country. Edited by two prominent arts activists, it grew from stories and essays posted on an Internet discussion group meant to counter a 2003 government attempt to reform "soft" (effeminate) male undergraduates. But documentary filmmaker Amir Muhammad, whose adventurous sideline Matahari Books publishes the title alongside a number of outspoken political satires, says that submissions soared during the wave of social optimism that followed opposition gains in the 2008 elections

The 23 contributions eventually selected for publication run the usual gamut of topics, from coming out to first love to poking fun at social strictures ("What Do Gay People Eat?" by Brian Gomez is an effective evocation of parental anxieties). The editors might have employed a firmer hand in weeding out the overly chatty and amateurish fare that obscures some surprisingly well-crafted tales. Yet literary heft is not the issue here so much as bolstering the presence of Malaysia's gay and lesbian community, for whom the publication of Body 2 Body represents a courageous advance.

According to Amir, sales have been robust despite none of the country's review outlets, mainstream or alternative, acknowledging the thin, suggestively packaged volume's existence. That is sad, since there's not much here that reflects badly on the nation. In fact, there are plenty of intriguingly universal themes. Intended or not, Body 2 Body will leave readers feeling that the quest for identity is what unites and bedevils all Malaysians, straight or gay.

Trinidad: ’Civil rights for gays, lesbians 'in the mail'

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:37:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Trinidad + Tobago Guardian

By Christopher K Starr

An unexpected document appeared in my mailbox the other day. It was from my old French professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, an outstanding teacher. Given his dress, manner and bachelorhood, we were fairly sure he played for the pink team, but in those days that sort of thing was seldom discussed. He isn’t a bachelor any more. The document was a nicely engraved announcement that he had just married his boyfriend. Well, I thought, this has some juicy shock value, so I showed the announcement to several UWI colleagues. Their response surprised me. “Yeah, so the guy’s got married. Congratulations. What of it?” That sort of attitude, right here in the English-speaking Caribbean. A few days later I was having lunch in a little eatery off the Eastern Main Road when Ellen DeGeneres’ show came on the television. The manager indicated Ellen to me and remarked, “She married a lady.” “That shows good taste,” I quipped. “I’ve married a few ladies, myself.”

I fully expected the manager to retort sharply, “But that’s natural, you and a woman. Two women marrying each other is just plain disgraceful!” But she just looked thoughtful, as if I had made a cogent point or at least that it was no big deal. In the decades since I did French at Carleton, the gay liberation movement has appeared and become generally accepted in much of the world. This trend is not equally well developed in all countries, but it is worldwide, and it will not be reversed. T&T society has its own special features, to be sure, but we do not stand apart from global trends, including this one. On the face of it, our laws would seem to be those of a very homophobic society. The Sexual Offences Act provides for long prison terms for same-sex intimacy among consenting adults. And the Immigration Act lists homosexuals among the “prohibited classes,” on the same line with prostitutes and pimps (http://www.immigration.gov.tt/documentlibrary/downloads/13/Imm%20Act%20&..., see page 12).

However, as anyone who has lived here for a few days can attest, there is a big difference between legal theory and practice. There is next to no enforcement of that part of the Sexual Offences Act, and I am not aware that anyone has been denied entry for being gay or lesbian. This latter point came forcefully to public attention at the time of Elton John’s visit to Tobago in 2007. Sir Elton makes no secret of his sexual orientation, and the Immigration Act as I read it states that he must be excluded. (Some people tell me the law gives the Government considerable leeway, but that must be in the fine print.) Archdeacon Philip Isaac of the Church of England cracked wise that Sir Elton must be barred because of the risk that he would tempt local people into homosexuality, and he certainly had the law on his side. The law was studiously ignored, though, and the concert went ahead. Whether there followed a spike in homosexuality in Tobago is, alas, not yet on public record. The reason these laws are not enforced is not obscure.

They are badly out of touch with present societal norms. Aside from a few grandstanding churchmen, nobody much cares which way Sir Elton swings, or fears that he will corrupt the youth. And most of us know gays and lesbians who do not hide who they are. (Note: The Sexual Offences Act does not make it illegal to be gay, just to do gay; same difference.) Why, then, do these laws, a lingering embarrassment to today’s society, remain? What would it take for the government to recognise that they are unjust and not respected, and simply repeal them? An uncharitable—and entirely plausible—answer is that it would take some parliamentary backbone. After all, not everyone in T&T is favourably disposed to full civil rights for gays and lesbians, and there are few votes to be lost by leaving the laws on the books. Even so, one should not make too much of the homophobic tendency among us. As we all know, there are countries in which it is truly hazardous to be gay.

Ours is not one of them. Homophobia is rather like racism in T&T. Afro- and Indo-Trinidadians have a persistent dislike for each other—as an outsider to both communities, I am seen as neutral, so that both groups let their bigotry show in my presence—but this does not translate into hate crimes, and the notion of a race riot is utterly un-Trinidadian. Similarly, one hears some very mean talk about “fudge-packers” and such, but physical gay-bashing is almost unknown here. This is not to suggest that non-violent homophobia is something benign that we can just laugh off. It explains some unfortunate things that would seem at first glance to have no particular connection. Many men, for example, feel obliged to play it tough so as not to be regarded as gay. And I suspect that the dreadful problem of violence against women has roots in the same thing. What better way to show that you are a real man and not gay than to beat your wife? Extending the definition of marriage to embrace same-sex couples is not the whole of gay liberation.

It is not even, in my view, a key element, really just a matter of tying up a loose end. However, it is today the signature issue in the broad area of sexual politics. And that is why the bland response to my old professor’s and Ellen DeGeneres’ marriages tells us something important about our society. Civil rights for gays and lesbians will come to these islands. They are in the mail. They won’t be here this year, possibly not for many more years. And when the law finally catches up with the broader society and you read in the paper that it is illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation and that same-sex couples have the same rights to marriage as the rest of us, I know exactly what a great many of you will say. “It took such a long time, but now I really wonder what all the fuss was about.”

Christopher K Starr, now Senior Lecturer in Entomology at UWI, is a lifelong activist against war and imperialism and for civil rights.

Turkey: Struggle against Homo/transphobic Discrimination in Professional Life

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Source: bianet

LGTB organization Kaos GL held a "LGB Employees Meeting" in Ankara to draw attention to the discrimination of homosexual and bisexual people in professional life. One of the most urgent problems is the rejection of applications because of a person's sexual identity.

What do lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees experience in job interviews? What kind of treatment are they exposed to? Which problems do they have to expect when they start working? What are the similarities and differences for LGB workers who had and did not have their coming out yet? What kind of problems arise in military and civil surroundings?

The Turkish LGTB organization Kaos GL called for a "LGB Employees Meeting" with employed and unemployed participants in Ankara to highlight the answers to the above questions.

Education: LGB workers experience the most difficult period after high school graduation when they enter university and after university graduation when choosing a profession. A large number of homosexual and bisexual graduates heads for professional fields perceived as "homosexual professions" even if they lack expertise and desire for these professions. On top of the list are professions such as interior architecture, advertising, film industry and fashion.

Job application: Some problems are widely spread in the private and public sector for LGB job applicants. The most urgent ones are listed as follows:

* It can be a reason not to be hired if a person "appears to be homosexual" or without declaring it is "supposed to be homosexual" in the job interview. Therefore, many LGB applicants are forced to give a heterosexual impression by matching their appearance according to the general picture regarding clothes or body language.

* It is problematic for all males not to join the military service. However, homosexuals who obtain a report of psychological disorder are directly disqualified from military service

* Checks on the private life on an applicant are done for some public sectors in particular. They enter the private environment and asked the people around for infromation about the applicant. If the people asked give information about any problems regarding the sexual identity of the person, he can be prevented from working in these public sectors.

* Additionally there is a 2-year period for civil service posts to decide whether the candidate "is suitable for the civil service or not". During this period of time the applicant has to live in accordance with social norms and public morality.

* When applying to a magazine, publishing house or newspaper for example, the applicant cannot mention in his CV that he contributed to a magazine such as Kaos GL out of concern to reveal his homosexuality.

* For applications in the academic sector previous work experience in the LGBT field can be a reason for not being hired.

* Furthermore, it can create problems in the job application to come out openly as homosexual.

According to the experiences of the participants in Ankara, "Even if an LGB person has the suitable features and physical or academic qualifications, the applicant might not get the job because of the employer's or human recourses department's homophobic attitude, their political ideas and/or moral perceptions".

LGB people who jumped the hurdle of application and became employed experience further problems regarding their sexual orientation.

Participants of the LGB Workers Meeting explained that they cannot live their sexual identity openly in the public sector at all and seldomly in the private sector. They are experiencing the following problems:

* Problems in social life and isolation is created by heterosexually dominated social structures and the per se perception of everybody being heterosexual.

* The "doubt of homosexuality" can be an obstacle to promotion. This can also be in the way of being exiled to another position or city.

* When the spouse, child of fiancée of a heterosexual person gets sick, the person can take a day off whereas a homosexual or bisexual person's partner gets sick, he or she cannot take a day off.

* Mobbing politics are applied in public to people whose sexual orientation comes out. The purpose is to make the person resign due to this attitude so the company does not have to pay compensation.

* The martial status has influence on the distribution of work fields in the company. Work related to late working hours or travelling is generally allocated to single persons. Whereas heterosexual single people get away from this situation by marriage, LGB employees in Turkey are experiencing this problem permanently since they have no legal basis to marry their partner.

The situation for transvestites and transsexuals is even more difficult because they are not being invited to job interviews in the first place.

Transsexuals Complain at Prime Ministry about Police Violence

By Bawer Çakir

About 80 people gathered in Ankara upon the call of the Pink Life Transgender Association. Despite police resistance they managed to hand their petition for redress to the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Ministry. The petition is concerned with police violence against transvestites and transsexuals and rights violations occurring in the Act on Misdemeanour.

Members of the Pink Life LGBTT Association handed a petition to the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Ministry considering grievances in the "Act on Misdemeanour". According to this law arbitrary police fines for transvestites and transsexuals have been abolished. The petition draws attention to the fact that nevertheless, the police goes to their houses with orders of confiscation and fines, arbitrarily arrests and detains transvestites and transsexuals and closes down their homes.

Supporters of the Pink Life LGBTT Association gathered on Ankara's popular Yüksel Avenue before they submitted their petition on 23 October. In the petition they asked, "How much longer will the injustice against us continue, which is acted out by the police force of the Ankara Public Security branch staff, the Esat Police Station, the Kavaklıdere Police Station, the Anafartalar Police Station and the Karşıyaka Police Station? How many more of our homes will be closed by the Ankara Governorship?"

Demands: stop violence and arbitrary applications

The transvestites and transsexuals participating in the protest had printed their demands on the t-shirts they were wearing, including slogans such as "Get your hands off my body, police", "'transphobia' kills", "We want work" and "Stop Misdemeanour Law".

Participant Buse Kılıçkaya read from the petition, "As citizens we cannot benefit from any civil rights because of the pressure applied by the state politics. Every day we are being exposed to more violation of rights".

Furthermore, the petition mentions violations like police raids at houses of transvestites and transsexuals, arbitrary police applications, fines under the pretence of the Misdemeanour Law, arbitrary arrests and violence.

Police tried to prevent submission of the petition

After the group had read out their demands, they wanted to walk to the Prime Ministry to submit their petition. As reported to bianet by Kaos GL spokesman Barış Sulu, the police tried to prevent the group from entering the Prime Ministry by setting up barricades.

Later on Pink Life members Kılıçkaya, Fulden Aras and Sevgi Yıldırım entered the Prime Ministry as representatives of the association and went to Human Rights Chairman Mehmet Yılmaz Küçük's office. In the meantime Küçük had agreed that the group could come one by one to hand in their demands. However, the police did not allow this for some more time.

Finally, the participants of the protest were allowed to go to Küçük's office in groups of five to hand in their requests.

"Public Morality" Disturbed by LTGB organization

By Bawer Çakir

The governorship filed a closure case against the Black Pink Triangle association in Izmir under charges of "opposing the public morality and the Turkish family structure". The first hearing is scheduled for February next year.

The Siyah Pembe Üçgen ('Black Pink Triangle') LTGB association is facing a closure trial on the grounds of "running contrary to the public morality and the Turkish family structure". The first hearing will take place on 19 February 2010. The association is the 5th LTGB organization established in Turkey after Kaos GL, Bursa Gökkuşağı ('Bursa Rainbow'), Pembe Hayat ('Pink Life') and Lambdaistanbul.

Siyah Pembe Üçgen member Hülya Sur argued, "The prosecutor's request to close down our association is a violation of the civic rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals (LGBTT). If the establishment of an association is a constitutional right and if the prosecutor wants to deprive a part of this right from the citizens, then we can speak of constitutional inequality".

Once more the reason is "public morality"

Association member and joint attorney Elif Ceylan Özsoy talked to bianet about the establishment of the association and the launched court case.

"As the Siyah Pembe Üçgen LGBTT Association we presented our regulatory statute and the necessary documents to the Izmir Provincial Association Directorate on 20 February. The directorate was supposed to examine our regulatory statute and to inform us in written form about the approval or the provision of lacking documents within 60 days. We did not receive any information within this period of time".

Özsoy continues, "I called the Directorate and they said 'It was sent to the Ankara Association Office Presidency for examination and we still did not receive an answer from them'. So I called Ankara. They informed me that the request had not reached them yet. We faxed an application to the directorate in Izmir to speed up the process. Another 60 days had passed but there was still no written response".

An answer was received on 26 May. The directorate requested to amend article 2 from the regulatory statute because it allegedly opposed article 43 on public morality and protection of the family; furthermore, a couple of lacking signatures had to be provided.

Özsoy indicated that their regulatory statute was not any different form the other LGBTT organizations in Turkey. They completed the missing signatures and sent it back without further amendments of the relevant article.

"This article is included in the regulatory statute of the 4 other LGBTT organizations as well and it is entered in their registries accordingly. We stated that this request was opposing the state's principle of equality. Additionally, we reminded the fact that the Court of Appeals had rejected a closure request in the case of Lambdaistanbul, which had been filed on the grounds of opposing the article on public morality and protection of the family. We declared that we were not going to make the referring modifications".

According to information from Özsoy, upon this response the governor applied to the Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office on account of the Izmir Provincial Association Directorate for closing down the Siyah Pembe Üçgen Association. Prosecutor on duty Sami Dündar opened a court case on 16 October on the grounds of completing the deficiencies as notified within 30 days according to article 60/2 of the Anti-Terror Law.

"This case is the result of communication problems of the judiciary"

Hülya Sur claims, "Has somebody got a scale for evaluating citizenship? So let them feel comfortable and exclude LGBTT people from citizenship".

The association member sees a communication problem within the judiciary since another closure case has been opened against an LGBTT organization despite the fact that the court of appeals decreed against the closure of Lambdaistanbul.

Anglican (and other) responses (and none) to Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Source: The Changing Attitude Blog

By Colin Coward

You would have expected the Anglican Church in Uganda, those responsible for implementing Anglican Communion policy and those with supportive links to Uganda to have issued strong statements condemning the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Lesbian and gay Ugandans now face the very real danger of being subjected to draconian legislation and more intense public vilification. Changing Attitude is in contact with a number of lesbian and gay Ugandan Anglicans who are terrified by the prospect.

On behalf of Inclusive Church and Changing Attitude, Giles Goddard joined me in writing to the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Uganda and the bishops of Bristol, Sodor and Man and Winchester, the three English dioceses linked to Uganda. The letters have just been posted so no replies have yet been received.

We reminded them that Lambeth 1988 passed resolution 33:3b) urging the church to speak out against capital punishment and Lambeth 1998 1:10 committed the Communion to “listen pastorally to the experience of homosexual persons and ... to assure them that they are loved by God...” and to “minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn the irrational fear of homosexuals...”.

We urged the Primate of Uganda to speak out against the proposed legislation, to argue for the protection of lesbian and gay people in Uganda and respond faithfully the commitments made by the Lambeth Conference.

Archbishops and Bishops have been devastatingly silent so far. Last Friday we emailed the leadership teams of Fulcrum, Reform, Anglican Mainstream and the Church Society. asking them if they would join Changing Attitude and Inclusive Church in signing an open letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Uganda and the Bishops of Guildford, Winchester and Sodor and Man about the proposed anti-homosexual legislation. We hoped that despite our differences we are all committed to oppose anything which further criminalizes LGBT people or puts them at risk of violence rather than legislating for their protection. We did not receive a single reply from the 40 people emailed.

Some urge me to be patient and understand why it might be so difficult for these organizations to respond to a CA/IC initiative and issue a joint public statement about Uganda. Other pro-LGBT Christian advocates are appalled by the failure of the Ugandan Church and the Communion to respond. The Church of Uganda, so swift to call for compliance with the moratoria, ignores Lambeth 1:10’s condemnation of homophobia, condemning prejuidce which would have a far more devastating impact on the safety and sanctity of individual lives. American right wing evangelicals have been complicit in helping create the Ugandan legislation.

Other Sheep, an ecumenical Christian ministry working in Uganda to empower LGBT people of faith, on October 19 called on evangelicals Rick Warren (USA), John Stott (England), Douglas Carew (Kenya) and the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA) to accountability for their part in inducing inhumane and hateful attitudes of Africans towards homosexual Africans.

Other Sheep reported that an article on homosexuality in Africa Bible Commentary, published by AEA and endorsed by Warren, Stott and Carew, says homosexuals "are worse than beasts" and should not be tolerated; homosexuals are "abnormal, unnatural and a perversion." The article also asserts: no view on the morality of homosexuality other than the evangelical view is to be given consideration; the common denominator of same-sex sex is coercive sex; and to be homosexual is sinful. Africa Bible Commentary, published in 2006, is a commentary on the Bible by 70 African evangelical Bible scholars. The article on Homosexuality is written by evangelical Nigerian Tusufu Turaki.

Political Research Associates (PRA), a progressive think tank devoted to supporting movements building a more just and inclusive democratic society, called on Rick Warren to denounce the proposed antigay law in Uganda. In March 2008, U.S. evangelical leader Rick Warren told Ugandans that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. Kapya Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia, has just completed a report for PRA, to be released in mid-November, investigating the US right-wing evangelicals' outreach in Africa and related efforts to destabilize mainline Protestant denominations and their LGBT rights programs and policies in the United States.

Anglican niceness and cowardice is at its worst when it remains silent when confronted with legislation which is in contravention of Anglican policy and will criminalise and dehumanize a group of people recognized as requiring equality in western society. When will Anglican leaders find the courage to denounce the Ugandan legislation?

France slams Uganda's anti-gay draft law

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Source: AFP

France has joined the United States in publicly condemning Uganda's proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would vastly strengthen the country's anti-gay laws.

"France expresses deep concern regarding the bill currently before the Ugandan parliament," the French foreign ministry said in a statement sent to AFP in Kampala on Monday.

"France reiterates its commitment to the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

In an opinion piece published in Uganda's Observer newspaper on Monday, the author of the bill, lawmaker David Bahati, argued that "homosexuality is not a human right".

"The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a nice piece of legislation. It aims at holding the integrity of Ugandans high in the sky," Bahati argued.

"The fact that the moral fabric of America and Europe has been put under siege by the supporters of this creeping evil of homosexuality should not suggest that we follow suit."

Also on Monday, Human Rights Watch reported that four members of the US House of Representatives have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the bill, arguing that its passage would undermine the effectiveness of American taxpayer funds spent in Uganda to help curb HIV and AIDS.

"This egregious bill represents one of the most extreme anti-equality measures ever proposed in any country," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a letter, co-signed by three other lawmakers.

Last year, the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) spending in Uganda amounted to almost $US300 million ($A334 million), around 2.6 per cent of the Ugandan economy, Ros-Lehtinen noted.

"We believe the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would undermine the substantial US contribution to Uganda through PEPFAR and raise serious questions about the effectiveness of this global health investment," she wrote.

Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo said last week that Uganda has no intention of heeding the advice of foreigners on the issue of homosexuality.

Uganda’s toothless battle on gays / Clergy: Jail gays, don’t hang them

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:31:00 +0000

Source: The Monitor

By Rodney Muhumuza

Efforts behind a proposed law against homosexuality run counter to the Uganda Police’s interest in the offence, official records show.

The annual crime reports from 2007 and 2008 are silent on homosexuality, a felony under the Penal Code Act, suggesting the incidents are so rare that the authorities are not concerned enough to tally the complaints.

Asked to provide statistics on cases of homosexuality, several police officers said such figures were not readily available. “I actually don’t have the figures,” said Grace Akullo, the Criminal Investigations Directorate officer under whose docket homosexuality falls.

Crime against ‘nature’

The authorities insist homosexuality, which is called “a crime against the law of nature” under the Penal Code Act, is difficult to investigate, as there must be a willing complainant. In recent times, the publicity around some sodomy cases, including those involving pastors in the Pentecostal community, has fed the anti-gay sentiment that makes the proposed law seem relevant.

However, in the absence of reliable facts and figures on the activities of alleged gay recruiters, there is little evidence to suggest that homosexuality threatens the mainstream culture in Uganda.

It emerged that Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, who sponsored the legislation, never sought the police’s input before producing a document that prescribes the death penalty for the offence of “aggravated homosexuality”. Mr Bahati defended his work in an interview on Wednesday, saying that even one case of sodomy was enough to warrant such a law. “We are not in a hate campaign,” Mr Bahati said. “We are trying as much as we can to protect the traditional heterosexual family. It is under threat. Anybody who says it is minor underestimates the damage being done.”

Yesterday, at a press conference in Kampala, Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo renewed his warning against the gays, insisting the country was “under siege”. He provided no details. “We don’t believe that human civilisation can be defended by having anal sex,” Dr Buturo said. “I am telling these people to leave us alone….We are not joking.”

The proposed law would “make Uganda a leader” in efforts against gay culture in Africa, Dr Buturo said. “On the issue of homosexuality, let them forget [about human rights],” he said. “The government has started biting.”

Death penalty

Homosexuality remains a taboo subject in many African societies. If passed in its current state, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (2009), condemned by rights groups, would make Uganda one of the most dangerous places for gay people.

For example, the proposed law prescribes the death penalty if the “offender is a person in authority over the person against whom the offence is committed”. It also proposes a seven-year jail term for someone who “attempts” to commit homosexuality.

Appearing before a committee of Parliament on Wednesday, religious leaders expressed support for the proposed law but refused to endorse the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”. Yesterday, Dr Buturo said the government “may have to change” that part of the proposed law.

Clergy: Jail gays, don’t hang them

Source: The Monitor

By Sheila Naturinda

Homosexuals should not be killed but instead imprisoned for life, religious leaders have suggested.

Making their input in the Anti-homosexuality Bill 2009 yesterday, the clergy said the clause on death as a penalty for homosexuality be scrapped.

“If you kill the people, to whom will the message go? We need to have imprisonment for life if the person is still alive,” said Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, the provincial secretary of the Church of Uganda.

The group, which also comprised Dr Joseph Kakembo of the Seventh Day Adventist church, Dr Joseph Sserwadda, the head of Pentecostal churches, Prof. Peter Matovu, the Orthodox vicar general of the Orthodox and Sheikh Ali Mohammed, representing the mufti, however, made it clear that they support the Bill, because “homosexuality is an evil and is anti-godly”.

The Bill tabled before Parliament on October 15, by Mr David Bahati [Ndorwa East], and Mr Obua Benson [Moroto], seeks to prohibit any form of sexual relations between same sex people.

Parliament yesterday begun public debates on the Bill, conducted by the committee on presidential affairs.

Comment on this article

Mrs R Bansah said at 10/29/2009, 07:24
Who are these very ignorant people? Yes it is dispeakable and wrong, but there is nothing you can do about the existance of homosexuality amongst men and women is rife and it is always going to be, you homophobic people! It is agaist their human rights, for you to decide to put them in jail for the rest of their lives it is purnishment enough that they're who they're! Come on stop being so ignorant

nakitende said at 10/29/2009, 10:20
Uganda has compromised alot and now as seen above we are willing to reduce it to life in prison .Now it is what it is zero tolerence for homo behavoiur .Iam wondering if any non supporters of this bill would be excited at the sodomization of there child or would they attend a marriage and kwanjula of john and john INFACT CAN SOME ONE TELL ME ABOUT THE POSITIVE OUT COME OF SODOMY .Iam a medical consultant who has taken care of these people on the extreme end whose anal area is oozing all the time from the weakened muscles(incase this is a positive outcome). so how positive is this? talk about rights whose right is this?THE right to sodomize a child or the right to spread hiv .On hiv the heterosexuals that spread it should also be put to jail.Bahati longlive longlive uganda longlive our morals,longlive our christian values.

davie said at 10/29/2009, 13:46
its also against human rights to support activities that are irritating others ,so put that in mind if it were your son would you sit back and look on cause its thier rights,come on some things ,I YOU KNOW THAT IN THAT SHRUB THERE IS ALWAYS A LION, AND THERE ALWAYS OTHER BIBLICAL WAYS OF HOW TO REACH HOME,THEN I SHOULD YOU USE SUCH A ROUT, ANYWAY HANGING OR life IMPRISONMENT WOULD BE FAIR BECAUSE IN THE COMING GENERATIONS WILL FAIR THAT .SO Mrs. R BANSAH be parenta

Dee Tate said at 10/29/2009, 13:59
If they wish to act and react out of their ignorance based on personal or religious views.Why not jail all those who would cheat on their spouse?For they commit the ultimate betrayal,lieing and deceiving another.

Those who would cheat demonstrate they have little or no moral values for another.Same for pedophiles but in their case intimate relations aren't consentual.

Which would clergy say is worse and what the consequences should be for them as well?
Remember God doesn't favor one sinner over another.So,who will judge in Gods place?

wodgot said at 10/29/2009, 16:43
Prominent farmers in Uganda like President Yuweri Museveni can help me and Mrs R Bansah answer this question; Is it possible for a bull to bear a calf with a another bull?

I ask this question because the purpose of marriage is to start a family and bear children which scienfically is impossible without opposite electrons.

Mr Wakka Abdala said at 10/29/2009, 19:21
I support you all the way, if you put a death penality on corruption too.

Nyambura said at 10/29/2009, 23:57
Mrs. R. Bansah,

There is nothing we can do about it!!!!!! What a shame!! There is something we can do about it. Either to hang them or jail for life. We cant sit and watch when morals are degenerating in our society. Are you part of them? Do you want to see your children/ grandchildren become one?

Julius Nowangye said at 10/30/2009, 00:42
I am scared , killing homosexuals is also to the extreme and again giving them a life sentence will give them chance to spread their habits to their fellow inmates. May be they get gazetted, moved around uganda condemning their acts and then set free so to stop any 'malpractices'

Raphael said at 10/30/2009, 02:13
We are becoming a ridicule on the world scene. Come on, learned men and women of our Ugandan Parliament, death penalty, nor life imprisonment, can never be the way to go. Do not mistake me, I am not a gay. Just expressing a point of concern here. There are various ways of helping such people who are in our society than death penalty or even imprisonment of any length. This is not justice, and it does not take us any where. I think we are facing a bigger problem with thieves, including the prominent ones who are in the government than the same sex problem.

Uganda: A call to action

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:35:00 +0000

Dear Partners, Allies and Friends,

As you already know, the "Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009." was recently tabled before the Parliament of Uganda. The Bill's provisions are draconian and among them are;

. Any person alleged to be homosexual would be at risk of life imprisonment or in some circumstances the death penalty;

. Any parent who does not denounce their lesbian daughter or gay son to the authorities would face fines of $ 2,650.00 or three years in prison;

. Any teacher who does not report a lesbian or gay pupil to the authorities within 24 hours would face the same penalties;

. And any landlord or landlady who happens to give housing to a suspected homosexual would risk 7 years of imprisonment.

. Similarly, the Bill threatens to punish or ruin the reputation of anyone who works with the gay or lesbian population, such as medical doctors working on HIV/AIDS, civil society leaders active in the fields of sexual and reproductive health, hence further undermining public health efforts to combat the spread of HIV;

. All of the offences covered by the Bill as drafted can be applied to a Ugandan citizen who allegedly commits them - even outside Uganda!

The existing law has already been employed in an arbitrary way, and the Bill will just exacerbate that effect. There is a continued increase in campaigns of violence and unwarranted arrests of homosexuals. There are eight ongoing cases in various courts. Four accused persons are unable to meet the harsh bail conditions set against them. As a result, Brian Pande died in Mbale Hospital on 13th September, 2009 as he awaited trial.

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) calls upon you our partner, ally and/or friend to action. Denounce this bill through a protest at a Ugandan Diplomatic Mission in your country on November 9th 2009, where applicable.

Urge the Government of Uganda to reject this Bill in its entirety.

Thank you for standing in solidarity with the Uganda LGBTI community.

For more information, please contact:

Frank Mugisha
Email:fmugisha@sexualminoritiesuganda.org
Telephone: + 256 772 616 062

Valetine Kalende
Email: vkalende@faruganda.org
Telephone: +256 752 324 249

.................................................

Frank Mugisha
Chairperson
Sexual Minorities Uganda - SMUG
P.O. Box 70208, Clock Tower
Kampala, Uganda. EA
Email:fmugisha@sexualminoritiesuganda.org
Alter:frankmugisha@gmail.com
Telephone: +256 312 294 859
Mobile: + 256 772 616 062
Website: www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org

Cape of fear and gay loathing

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Source: Mail & Guardian

It is nearly four years since 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyane was stoned to death by a Khayelitsha gang because of her sexual orientation. With her murder trial set to resume in November, township-based members of Cape Town's gay community have told the Mail & Guardian that they still live in fear.

Mpumeza Runeyi is a 26-year-old lesbian who, like Nkonyane, grew up in Khayelitsha. She was forced to move out after life became "hell". Now she works at the HIV/Aids unit of the Cape Peninsular University of Technology, where she says her colleagues are supportive.

Runeyi became attracted to women when she was 18. Although she tried to be discreet, word quickly spread in the township that she was a lesbian. A group of men monitored her every move and camped outside her house. They would knock on the door at 3am, threatening to rape her and "teach her how to be a real woman".

Eventually she realised she had to leave the place she had always called home and start a new life. Now she lives in the relative safety of Muizenberg.

But the nightmare is far from over. Two months ago Runeyi was attacked on a train as she travelled back to Khayelitsha with her partner to visit family. Although the two women "never even held hands", male passengers started to yell insults when her partner sat on the floor of the crowded carriage and leaned against Runeyi's legs, instead of "sitting on a man's lap".

One man pulled out a Bible and accused the women of being "bewitched". "We feared they might do something bad to us, so we kept quiet and alighted at the next station," says Runeyi.

She says that such harassment is part of daily life for lesbians in Khayelitsha. Many prefer to stay silent and "live with the pain" -- even when they are repeatedly gang raped. Police investigations take so long that the victims fear they will be murdered before the cases reach court. Often the rapists are their own neighbours.

Many of Runeyi's friends seek escape through drugs and alcohol which, ironically, makes them more vulnerable to attacks.

"Dudu" (not her real name) has survived a gang rape and a stabbing, but says the worst trauma came from her mother's rejection.

"I didn't hide from her. I told her about my sexual orientation and she told me to choose whether to go on with 'my stupid thing' or forget calling her mother."

Dudu's mother is now dead. Her father is an elderly diabetic. "I don't want to admit that I am a lesbian because it might kill him," she says.

It's not only township lesbians who continue to suffer because of their sexuality. In Mbekwezi, near Paarl, the M&G met Xolani Mvula. It's a while since he was last attacked for being gay, but the scars on his face tell of his journey.

Mvula is doubly vulnerable because he is also disabled. He points to a scar on his lower lip.

"I was beaten up while I was walking with two gay friends. Fortunately, they managed to run away, but I couldn't," he says.

Mvula decided to go for circumcision after he was ridiculed as a "coward" by other township men.

"When word got around that I was going for it [circumcision], men gathered in large numbers to see if I am different," he recalls. After his five-week stint in the bush, many in the community expected he would marry but he refused to deny his sexual orientation.

Instead, Mvula decided to become a community volunteer, hoping this would encourage others to accept him. He says attitudes are slowly changing. Once there were only three openly gay men in Mbekweni township. Today there are more than 20.

But "the hate experience hasn't gone completely". That's why Mvula and his friends will be closely watching the Nkonyane trial when it resumes on November 13.

Iran prepares to execute a young man accused of sodomy

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Source: Tetu

By Blaise Gauquelin

(Google translation)

Nemat Safavi was 16 when Iranian police arrested him. Convicted of sodomy, was sentenced to death and still awaiting his execution.

Reportedly, Iran is preparing once again to execute a young man arrested while he was a minor. Nemat Safavi, who was convicted of having practiced "sex acts that are not admitted, was sentenced by the court of Ardabil in Iranian Azerbaijan, the death penalty. Detained for over three years, he now expects that the supreme court approves the sentence and no information is given by the justice of his fate.

Iran has signed two international treaties on the protection of children. The country has pledged not to execute any citizen minor when the facts repprochés. Nemat Safavi is part of the list maintained by Amnesty minors tried and awaiting execution in Iran. The European Parliament, the UN, the Nobel Peace Shirin Ebadi urged Iran to end juvenile executions in vain.

Two other young men disappeared

Furthermore, in February 2008, two young men, ages 18 and 19, were arrested under the same conditions and in the same region. Identified as the Loghman Hamzeh-for and Hamze Tchave initially, these two Iranians have since given most of their new friends.

L'Iran s'apprête à exécuter un jeune homme accusé de sodomie

Par Blaise Gauquelin

Nemat Safavi avait 16 ans lorsque la police iranienne l'a arrêté. Reconnu coupable d'acte de sodomie, il a été condamné à mort et attend toujours son exécution.

Selon nos informations, l'Iran s'apprête une nouvelle fois à exécuter un jeune homme arrêté alors qu'il était mineur. Nemat Safavi, reconnu coupable d'avoir pratiqué «des actes sexuels qui ne sont pas admis», a été condamné par le tribunal d'Ardabil, en Azerbaidjan iranien, à la peine de mort. Détenu depuis plus de trois ans, il attend désormais que la cour suprême valide la sentence et aucune information n'est donnée par la justice sur son sort.

L'Iran a signé deux traités internationaux portant sur la protection de l'enfance. Le pays s'est engagé à ne plus exécuter aucun citoyen mineur au moment des faits repprochés. Nemat Safavi fait partie de la liste tenue à jour par Amnesty des mineurs jugés et en attente d'exécution en Iran. Le Parlement européen, l'Onu, la prix Nobel de la Paix Chirine Ebadi ont demandé à l'Iran de mettre fin aux exécutions de mineurs, en vain.

Deux autres jeunes hommes disparus
Par ailleurs, en février 2008, deux jeunes hommes, âgés de 18 et 19 ans, ont été arrêtés dans les mêmes conditions et dans la même région. Identifiés sous le nom de Loghman Hamzeh-pour et de Hamze Tchavi dans un premier temps, ces deux Iraniens n'ont, depuis, plus donné de nouvelles à leurs amis.

Statement by Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees

Nemat Safavi, 21 years old, has been sentenced to death by the juvenile court in Ardebil, a city northwest Iran.

Queers in Iran are put to death and persecution by their government, simply for being who they are.

Now more than ever we need your help.

According to the Human Rights Activist Group in Iran, Nemat was detained by Iranian authorities when he was 16 years old because of his homosexual acts (Lavat). He was sentenced to death after being tried in the court of Ardebil. Mr. Safavi spent time since his arrest in a 'rectification and education' centre, and is now being kept in the division of youths in an Ardebil prison.

A final determination of Nemat's fate will be made by Iran's Supreme Court. However, these sentences frequently stand as decided.

Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees calls on all human rights organizations to take up this urgent cause. We ask that people write, fax, call, or email to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and any LGBT and/or international organizations to support Nemat and vigorously oppose his execution and the laws against homosexuals.

Your donation to IRQR helps us pursue every legal avenue to save the lives of people like Nemat Safavi. The fight is far from over.

Please, donate now: http://irqr.net/donation.htm

Kenya: Chege and Ngengi; the accidental gay rights trailblazers

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:05:00 +0000

Source: The Nation

After the Sunday Nation broke the story of the gay wedding of Kenyans Daniel Chege and Charles Ngengi in London, hardly any other subject could get attention on call-ins into FM stations, the Kenyan blogosphere, and in Nairobi pub conversations.

Chege and Ngegi are the first Kenyan gay couple known to have publicly wedded. Chege has been in a previous gay partnership that broke up.

Most of the comments were, predictably, critical—and some downright hostile. By almost a ration of 10 to 1, Kenyans thought what Chege and Ngegi had done was disgraceful, a shame upon the country, their families, an affront to God and good old African values.

But then something that no one seems to have paid attention to happened. In a follow-up, KTN TV station went to the village of Chege’s parents, and in one scene that has proved particularly controversial, stopped a very elderly relative of Chege along the village path, flashed the photo of the gay couple, and wanted to know her views.

SMS messages and Tweets started flying even as the programme aired. By a ratio of, again, 10 to 1 most Kenyans felt that KTN had crossed the line in the way it treated Chege’s and Ngegi’s rural relatives. One remarkable collection of this anger was on Stockskenya.com, whose users abandoned their usually staid conversation on finance and business issues, and plunged into the more dramatic world of privacy and sex.

This reaction was surprising, because what KTN did would have passed off as good, aggressive reporting if it had been any other story. As far as most people are concerned, Chege and Ngengi went too far to break a taboo. But the fact that so many people also seemed turned off by a follow-up of the story that went beyond the couple to their relatives, suggested that Chege and Ngengi have broken a psychological barrier.

Going forward, discussions of gay issues will probably be less difficult. And, I suspect, the next story of another Kenyan gay couple is unlikely to attract as much attention. The novelty, or shock factor, around gay relationships in Kenya – and indeed people in the know say Kenya has East Africa’s largest gay community – has cracked considerably.

Chege and Ngengi never intended it that way. After all, they refused to speak to the BBC about their wedding, and their only other comment has been a plea to the media and the public to leave their families alone.

However, if eventually Kenya comes to hold a more tolerant public attitude toward gay people, history will show that Chege and Ngengi were the ones who opened public minds. They could be the accidental trailblazers for gay rights in Kenya and, who knows, maybe East Africa.

Source: Molisa Nykale

Perverse pleasure at other people’s pain

The article below is re/posted as a response to the Kenyan gay wedding post & the ”living the gay life” article in Pulse Magazine.

This is particularly for y’all who ain’t on the continent, to get a better idea of the interconnectedness of the backlash that we face. For example, after that badly written, homo/transphobic article was published….Living the Gay Life, by Shirley Genga and Matilda Nzioki, one of the people who was photographed has had to flee home. who knows the fate of the other folks photographed?

And, after the sensationalist and unethical manner that KTN followed up on the families of the men who got married in the UK, a cousin of theirs has been beaten up, and the poor granma can’t move around……….we’re getting distracted and exploited in our negative focus on these issues. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it many times, we got much bigger issues to deal with corruption, poverty, the impunity of our leaders, bringing the perpertrators of post election violence to justice, the list, as any Kenyan will tell you, is long…….but here’s what Ruth has to say…..

Ruth lumembe, Thursday October 22, Daily Nation

I watched a news “scoop” on a TV channel the other night in utter dismay. Energetic reporters, professional colleagues of mine, literally waylaid an elderly woman on the road, having taken it upon themselves to break the no doubt devastating news that her son “was married by” another man.

Waving the newspaper picture in her face, they assaulted her with questions: “Do you know this man? Is this man your son? Can you positively identify him?” At first, the 70-plus-year-old couldn’t get what they were saying — she could barely even recognise her son, expressing surprise at how much he had aged (he must have left home a while ago because the papers reported that he is 39).

After a few minutes, a neighbour was called in to explain the situation to her. Still, the concept that her son had married another man refused to stick and the only thing she could say was that if she had the means, she would get on a plane and go and ensure the man who had done this to her son was “thrown in” (jail).

Picture a rural woman going about her daily chores, which include taking care of her 80-plus-year-old frail husband. She probably believes her son is very busy making a decent living in the UK, but will no doubt return one day to take over the running of the homestead. After all, parents don’t live forever. That is why she has been struggling to build a modest house for the next head of the home.

Suddenly, while minding her own business, she is accosted by strangers waving cameras and microphones and telling her something her mind cannot comprehend. How can a man marry another? That goes against everything she has ever believed, so it must be that her son is the victim here. It doesn’t matter that things look very consensual between the couple in the picture.

DISMISSING HER BEFUDDLEMENT, the reporters, hot on the trail of a big story, get her to lead them home, where they meet her husband. He too, is ambushed with the news. He doesn’t say much, and in the end hangs his head in silence. A relative comes out to see what all the fuss is about, and after a few minutes, chases away the reporters.

(I almost cheer.) Undeterred, the news team moves to a shopping centre and interviews the people about the “bride”, in effect breaking the news that one of their own is a self-confessed homosexual who has gone ahead to get married to his same-sex partner in public.

On looking at the picture, some confirm that yes, that is the man they remember from years gone by. Others are only too eager to say to the cameras that actually, come to think of it, the man did come across as being a little too girlish. All the while, I’m trying to imagine just how much the lives of the couple have been changed in a matter of an hour or so.

Suddenly, the old woman cannot go to the market as she normally would. Or to church, or to her monthly women’s chama, or even borrow salt from her neighbour of many years. Suddenly, she and her husband are the object of finger-pointing and whispering from people she once called friends.

Suddenly, her son’s situation is a public “shame” through no doing of her own. What is it that makes us cash in on another’s vulnerability? Is it the responsibility of a parent to decide what a 40-year-old does with his life? This is not just about my professional colleagues; as a nation, we have become insensitive and courtesy, respect for privacy and for elders no longer matter. We call our politicians insensitive. Are we any different?

Ms Lubembe is an editor with the Nation

Religious settler comes to aid of gay Palestinian

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Source: Ynet news

By Roni Shaked

Such a remarkable story could only happen in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A young gay Palestinian man, who is in grave, life-threatening danger and cannot return to his home with his Israeli partner, was saved by a stranger who came to his aid – a religious West Bank settler.

The Palestinian, T., and the Israeli, Doron, became a couple 10 years ago. Eight years ago, they drafted a marriage agreement between them, but this did not help on the bureaucratic side. T. is tormented: The State has yet to authorize family unification with Doron. As a result, he has yet to receive permanent authorization to live in Israel. He does not have health insurance, a bank account, or a drivers' license. Nor can he take out a mortgage.

"We live in a difficult reality," said Doron on Tuesday. "It's been many years that they are checking him out, but he hasn't done anything wrong. T. is a goody-two-shoes."

Recently, T.'s father, who lives in a West Bank village, fell ill, and his son wanted to go visit him. Because going to the village is life-threatening for him because residents there are not willing to accept his sexual orientation, a father-son meeting was held outside of the village.

About ten days ago, T. entered the West Bank via one of the checkpoints. His sick father, accompanied by his mother, waited for him a short distance from the checkpoint. It was an emotional meeting. The family members finally got to see one another and T. gave them a sum of money that he had been saving for them.

However, following the brief meeting, all started to go wrong. T. started making his way back to Israel, but was surprised to discover at the checkpoint that he was not allowed re-entry. Even though he is currently under consideration for family unification and despite the fact that a yearly temporary residence permit was authorized for him, it was decided not to allow him back into Israel for security considerations.

T. found himself in an impossible situation: he was not allowed to return to his home in Israel, but returning to his parents' home in the village would put his life in danger. Left with no other choice, he turned to the only person he knew in the area who could help him – a religious settler who has known him for some years. The man decided to give asylum to T. even though he knew it would not be looked upon favorably in the settlement.

So, this is how it came to be that T., a gay Palestinian, has been hiding out in the home of a religious Jewish family in a settlement.

Looking for a reason

"I can't go back to my home in Israel; I can't enter the village. The only option left for me is to hide out in a settlement, in a home that accepts me in a humane way," said T. on Tuesday.

T. has been trying to get back home for the past 10 days: "They took my residence permit. At first they told me, 'It got lost. Come back tomorrow and we'll find it.' Later they said to me: 'You need to submit a new application for a permit.' On Tuesday they said: 'Go to the Palestinian District Coordinating Office and ask them for a permit.'

"On Wednesday, they asked me to show up in Palestinian court and to bring a declaration that the permit was lost. I brought them all the documentation, but every day they say, 'Come back tomorrow.' I already don't know where to put myself. Every day I arrive at the checkpoint, wait many long hours, and when my turn finally comes up, they tell me, 'Go home.' I'm lucky that they have agreed to host me in the settlement."

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has already contacted the defense establishment and other government officials on the issue, but has failed to receive a clear explanation on the reason for T.'s detainment. Following questions submitted to the defense establishment, T. was summoned for a hearing to establish whether he can be allowed to return to Israel.

"They are intentionally endangering his life," said Doron on Tuesday. "A few years ago, he was arrested by the Palestinian Shin Bet, tortured for two weeks, and now my country is causing me terrible anxiety. He has been in Israel since the age of 13. He grew up within the Israeli reality. Anyone who brings a foreign woman is sorted out with family unification. But we – who live a normative life and don't impose any burden on the State, work, pay taxes – experience this suffering all the time. Ultimately, I ask for a little understanding, a little humanity, a little emotion."

T. also asked for help: "My situation is unusual. I can't return to my village. All I want is to return home."

The Defense Ministry reported that the reason for barring T.'s entry into Israel is security-based.

Meretz MK wants Israel to give gay Palestinians sanctuary

MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) called on the Palestinian Authority to halt the persecution of homosexuals within its territory, and said Israel should provide gay Palestinian refugees with sanctuary.

The Meretz MK wants Arab nations to sign an international declaration outlawing criminal prohibition of homosexuality. He added that Israel should also "improve its attitude towards religious gays".

Representatives from various nations signed a declaration against the outlawing of homosexuality at the end of the conference.

Horowitz also called on the international community to support Israel's efforts towards tolerance and openness. "Come and take part in our Gay Pride Parade, come and experience life in Israel," he told those present.

To Ynet he said, "I gave a speech at the opening of the conference and won raging applause. Many have invited me to visit their countries." Horowitz added that the representatives present at the conference included a few from Arab countries "where homosexuals are persecuted".

"It was nice to meet these people and to think that at least in this field, Israel is kind of a positive role model. I told of our struggle, what we have achieved, and what we would like to achieve in Israel," Horowitz said.

"I said Arab countries must stop persecuting gays and that Israel should support Palestinian homosexuals who flee because they fear for their lives. We need to give them sanctuary in certain cases."

Misery follows the 'jungle camp' raid

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:53:00 +0000

By Jean Lambert

Looking over this desolate landscape, it is hard to believe that just a month ago this was the site of Calais's migrant "jungle" camp. Save for the odd lone shoe or broken radio this area, where trees and bracken once provided refuge, has been cleared and ploughed into a muddy wasteland.

With the media looking on, the resident migrants were dramatically removed by the French authorities last month. Knowing of the impending raid, many had dispersed in advance, some of whom are now living on the streets in Paris. Of those who were detained, some were deported and others were later released. Weeks later, hundreds have returned to Calais, where they are again sleeping rough and surviving on food handouts.

I visited Calais and the Sangatte refugee centre, a facility run by the Red Cross to provide shelter and food, 10 years ago. I was told at the time that it encouraged migrants. Nicolas Sarkozy, then the interior minister of France, demanded its destruction in 2002 and with it, hopefully, the problem.

A decade later and many criticisms of the French authorities made then are still valid. The UNHCR is currently operating on the streets as there is no refugee centre, and while permission has been granted to use a building to process asylum seekers, its provision is a continuing cause for dispute between the authorities involved.

There has been increased and targeted police harassment, with young men saying they have been picked up and held overnight in cells then dropped miles from Calais to find their way back alone.

And it is very difficult for the migrants, a large proportion of whom have travelled overland from Afghanistan, to find information on asylum in any language other than French. When I visited Sangatte with fellow Green MEPs, we tried to remedy this situation by producing a booklet on asylum procedures in six languages. I have heard that this is still in circulation today.

While the French want to deter mass migration to Calais, it's clear that people will continue to pass through it to reach the UK for the foreseeable future. We now need to address the immediate humanitarian situation.

A centre to provide basic amenities – such as showers, drinking water, medical care and overnight shelter – is the most urgent need, since these people are extremely vulnerable. Many are under 18 and therefore legally classified as children. Despite fears, tighter laws on immigration to the UK mean that a camp of a similar size to Sangatte is unlikely to ever rematerialise. A separate office should also be set up where people can find information as well as lodge and follow their asylum claim through the system. One man I met had his papers to prove he was a legitimate refugee, but he was still without accommodation and the stability necessary to pursue language courses or work. Providing these centres could help people like him move on with their lives and would ensure that those under 18 are identified and protected.

Current EU legislation requires that asylum seekers are dealt with in the first safe country they enter, although national asylum standards vary hugely. As well as having connections to the UK, many want to wait until they arrive here to apply because our system functions relatively well.

The EU is trying to address this by upgrading all national systems to the same high standard. This would mean that no matter where someone applies for asylum their claim would be assessed by the same criteria and their reasons for wishing to settle in a certain country could be taken into account, if they are allowed to stay. The proposed European Asylum Support Office is designed to assist this improvement.

Along with colleagues in the European parliament, I have also called for a new status for those who are not eligible for asylum, but who cannot be returned to their country of origin – for instance if that country is in conflict, or indeed if the supposed country of origin won't accept them. Unable to return home or work or claim benefits, they can be left destitute and fall into the hands of gangs and illegal activity. Awarding them a legal status could give them leave to remain temporarily and the chance to earn a basic living.

What is clear is that until the conditions of their countries of origin are improved people will continue to arrive in the EU, in search of security, work, education and a better life. France's tactics for dealing with migrants have failed to solve the problems in Calais; indeed their approach has hindered the process of registering and monitoring people's movements. Now they must ensure that internationally agreed asylum and human rights are upheld, and with developments in European legislation I hope that long-term solutions can be found.

Arab winds of change

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:32:00 +0000

Image by openDemocracy via Flickr

Source: The Guardian

By Brian Whitaker

"Women, bloggers and gays lead change in the Arab world." That is the headline of an article by Octavia Nasr for CNN's blog AC360°. "Several new lines are being drawn in the Middle East's desert sand simultaneously," she writes. "If they continue to be drawn at this rate longer and thicker, it's hard to foresee any governments, censors or jails being able to stop them."

Though Nasr sounds a bit overexcited about the existence of a feminist mag in Arabic in which "no one dares to advertise" and a few other developments which are interesting straws in the wind but scarcely signs of an imminent revolution, I think she has a point. If asked where change is likely to come from in the Arab countries, I would not put much faith in "reformist" politicians and opposition parties – they're mostly no-hopers – but I would definitely put feminists, gay men, lesbians and bloggers very high on my list.

It's important not to exaggerate what they are actually achieving at the moment, but let's consider their potential as challengers of the status quo and drivers of change. The "Arab problem" is mostly perceived in terms of the regimes: the lack of democracy, authoritarian rulers who trample over people's rights, and so on. That was the perception of the Bush administration in particular and it led to the simplistic idea that regime change was the solution.

It's now very clear (as I explain in my new book, What's Really Wrong With the Middle East) that this was a mistake. You can overthrow dictators, you can force countries to have elections and you can even insist on voting procedures that are reasonably fair, but that doesn't bring freedom unless it forms part of a much bigger social transformation.

What has emerged in Iraq, for example, is not so much a model for the rest of the Middle East (as originally intended by Bush and the neocons) but a model of it. As the smoke drifts away, Iraq is emerging as a fairly typical Arab state with most of their usual negative characteristics – a government with authoritarian aspirations, institutionalised corruption and nepotism, pervasive social discrimination and a rentier economy that produces little besides oil – plus, for good measure, resurgent tribalism and sectarianism.

Arab regimes, by and large, are products of the societies they govern and it is often the society, as much as the government itself, that stands in the way of progress. In Kuwait, for instance, it was not the hereditary emir who resisted granting votes to women, but reactionary elements in the elected parliament – and there are plenty of similar examples.

Khaled Diab, an Egyptian who contributes regularly to Cif, summed it up pithily when he told me: "Egypt has a million Mubaraks." In other words, the Mubarak way of doing things is not confined to the country's president; it is found throughout Egyptian society, in business and in families too. The Arab family as traditionally conceived – patriarchal and authoritarian, suppressing individuality and imposing conformity, protecting its members so long as they comply with its wishes – is a microcosm of the Arab state.

Changing the power structures within families (and in many parts of the Arab world this is already happening) will also gradually change the way people view other power structures that replicate those of the traditional family, whether in schools and universities, the workplace, or in government. This is where women come in. In an Arab context, demanding the same rights as men is a first step towards change. Asserting their rights doesn't mean that all women have to be activists for feminism. Even something as simple as going out to work – if enough people do it – can start to make a difference.

Contrary to popular opinion, most human rights abuses in the Arab countries are perpetrated by society rather than regimes. Yes, ordinary people are oppressed by their rulers, but they are also participants themselves in a system of oppression that includes systematic denial of rights on a grand scale.

In these highly stratified societies, people are discriminated for and against largely according to accidents of birth: by gender, by family, by tribe, by sect. Women, as the largest disadvantaged group, can play a major role in overcoming this and helping smaller disadvantaged groups to do the same. Once the equality principle is accepted for women it becomes easier to apply it to others.

Discrimination against gay people has only begun to be challenged in the Arab countries during the last few years. In a patriarchal system, where masculinity is highly prized, any deviation from the sexual "norms" and expected gender roles is not only subversive but is regarded as extremely threatening. The vigilante killings in Iraq are the nastiest example – not just of men who are thought to be gay, but others who simply don't dress and behave "as men should".

The third group driving change are the bloggers. A recent survey found 35,000 people blogging in Arabic, plus countless others who use Facebook, Twitter, etc, to communicate over the internet. There has been much debate about the extent to which this is reshaping public discourse and undermining censorship, but that is not really the main significance of blogging and the internet in the Middle East. The traditional "ideal" of an Arab society is one that is strictly ordered, where everyone knows their place and nobody speaks out of turn. Basically, you do what is required of you and no more. You keep your head down, don't make waves and let those who supposedly know better get on with running things.

The point about bloggers is that they want none of that. They are engaged, they are alive, and they'll speak out of turn as much as they like. Put all these elements together and you can see how, sooner or later, the edifice could start to crumble.

Berkman Center for Internet and Society: Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent

US HIV travel and immigration ban repeal: The Inside Story

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:04:00 +0000

White House announces end to HIV travel ban

Source: Washington Post

By Garance Franke-Ruta

President Obama called the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals a decision "rooted in fear rather than fact" and announced the end of the rule-making process lifting the ban.

The president signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the White House Friday and also spoke of the new rules, which have been under development more more than a year. "We are finishing the job," the president said.

The regulations are the final procedural step in ending the ban, and will be published Monday in the Federal Register, to be followed by the standard 60-day waiting period prior to implementation.

A ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by individuals with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was first established by the Reagan-era U.S. Public Health Service and then given further support when Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) added HIV to the travel-exclusion list in a move that was ultimately passed unanimously by the Senate in 1987.

A 1990-1991 effort to overturn the regulatory ban failed in the face of outcry and lobbying from conservative groups and bureaucratic turf disputes. The ban was upheld in 1993 when Congress added it to U.S. immigration laws.

The Senate finally voted to overturn the ban as part of approving legislation reauthorizing funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in 2008, and President Bush signed it into law on July 30 of that year. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and then-Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) led the process in the Senate.

"This really proves that immigration laws that exclude families and stigmatize individuals are destined to fail," said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a group that has mobilized more than 20,000 comments in support of ending the ban.

"The climate has really changed," she said, attributing the end of the ban to a diminishment in "misinformation about HIV and AIDS."

The lifting of the ban removes one of the last vestiges of early U.S. AIDS policy. "We're thrilled that the ban has been lifted based on science, reason, and human rights. Our hope is that this decision reflects a commitment to adopting more evidence-based policies when confronting the AIDS epidemic and developing a comprehensive national AIDS strategy," said Kevin Robert Frost, CEO of amFAR, an AIDS research foundation.

Until today's announcement, the U.S. was one of only 7 countries with laws that bar entry of people with HIV, the group noted.

Latest Anti-Gay Surge in Turkey Against Another LGBT Organization

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:19:00 +0000

Source: Kaos GL

Black Pink Triangle Association in Izmir is the fifth LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) organization that faces closure threat from the Turkish government. The first hearing will take place on February 19, 2010. The reason for closure threat is once again being against the law and morality.

According to the information provided to the association, the Governors Office of the City of Izmir is demanding closure of the Black Pink Triangle Association.

Black Pink Triangle Association members stated that: "The prosecutor's demand for closure of our association is clearly a violation of civil rights. Establishing an organization a constitutional right and they want to take that right from us.

When Black Pink Triangle Association was founded on February 20, 2009, all the necessary legal documentation was filed to the Governors Office.

On May 26, 2009 the association received a notification from Governors Office requesting the organization to correct some of the mistakes on the application form. However the Governors Office also demanded correction of some of the founding statues of Black Pink Triangle Association claiming that the associations objections are against Turkish "moral values and family structure.

Although the mistakes in the application form were corrected, the Association refused to change the statues as per Governors request. They also stated that Kaos GL (an LGBT organization in Ankara) and Lambda Istanbul (an LGBT organization in Istanbul) have exact same statues and after long legal battles they were able to exist as legal and legitimate institutions.

On October 16, 2009, following the receipt of Black Pink Triangle Associations response, Governors Office filed a lawsuit against them and demanded closure of the institution.

Black Pink Triangle Associations lawyer Ceylan Elif Ozsoy stated to Kaos GL that she found the action disturbing. She also pointed out the similar actions were taken against Kaos GL, Pink Life and Lambda Istanbul organizations and they failed.

Turkish authorities have targeted other LGBT organizations in the past as well:

In September 2005, the Ankara Governors Office accused the Ankara-based group KAOS-GL of establishing an organization that is against the laws and principles of morality. Similarly, the Ankara Governors Office attempted in July 2006 to close the human rights group Pembe Hayat (Pink Life), which works with transgender people, claiming to prosecutors that the association opposed morality and family structure. In both cases, prosecutors dropped the charges.

In December 2006, the Ankara-based editor of Kaos GL, Turkey's only magazine for LGBT people, 29-year-old gay activist Umut Guner, was indicted under a vague statute banning "obscene" material, and faced up to three years in prison. Authorities seized the magazine's entire press run. Guner was acquitted later.

In another series of legal attacks on LGBT organizations and publications in Turkey, on May 29, 2008 a court in Istanbul, the nation's largest city, ordered the dissolution of Lambda Istanbul. Founded in 1993, the group is Turkey's oldest LGBT organization, and has organized Gay Pride marches in that city every year since 2003. On January 2009, the 7th Judicial Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned the ruling of Istanbul's 3rd Civil Court of First Instance, which had decided to close down the Lambda Istanbul Association for a violation of general morals.

--
Kaos GL is a LGBT organization and a legally registered non-governmental organization that publishes a bi-monthly magazine to completely cover Turkey. Please refer any questions to: news@kaosgl.com and refer to the web site for information: http://news.kaosgl.com/

Why more binational couples are leaving their homelands for Canada

paulcanning1@gmail.com (Paul Canning) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Xtra

By Noreen Fagan

I walked with purpose, my boots hitting the floor in a tempo that echoed my urgency. My mouth was dry and anxiety had sunk into the creases on my face. My family walked behind me, no one daring to talk in case my composure collapsed. I knew where to go and what to do. In my hand — now sweaty — I gripped an unassuming brown envelope that carried my family’s future in it. Our Canadian immigration papers.

It was just after midnight in early March 2007. We were walking down a wide hallway from the plane into Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, towards a glass window with signs directing new immigrants inside. We entered the room and went to the last counter that was open, handed our papers over to a small woman who, in a matter of fact way, stamped our papers, took our photographs and confirmed our permanent resident status before shuffling us toward customs. Like it was nothing.

It didn’t register right away that we were basically home free. Less than an hour later we walked out of the airport. We were tired but exhilarated — the relief was palpable. Only then could I let myself breathe. We hugged: me, my partner Tamara and our two boys. But it was Sebastian, our eldest son, who stirred up the emotion in all of us when he stopped and, referring back to the immigration officer said, “Mum, I like this country. That was the first time we have ever been called a family.”

Walking out of the airport that night, stamped papers in hand, was the last step on a journey that began when I first came out as a lesbian in Lusaka, Zambia in 1993. At 30 years old, I left a seven-year marriage and, with two young sons, embraced my sexual orientation in a country where proven incidents of homosexual conduct could land you in jail for up to 40 years.

It was then that I began my search for a place that my family could call home. It was a journey that, when I met my partner Tamara, turned epic. It took us from Zambia via the United States to Canada.

My partner is American and I am Zambian. We have been together for 12 years and have raised two sons — we are a family in our eyes, in our friends’ eyes, in the eyes of the Canadian government — but not according to the Zambian or United States governments. There, we have no status and no chance of living as a couple or a family.

“We considered a marriage between Noreen and my gay brother but what kind of a message is that to give your children?” says Tam when people ask her about other options. “Trying to teach them tolerance and pride, telling them there is nothing to be ashamed of — but, you need to lie to the social workers, your teachers, just about everyone.”

When it came down to it, living in the US was a short-term answer to a lifelong commitment. My sons and I moved there from Zambia in 2000 knowing that the chances of living there permanently depended heavily on the political climate. After four years of living together in the US, with no recognition as a couple or a family in sight, we applied to immigrate to Canada — something we later learned is a common strategy for binational same-sex couples.

The decision was wrought with emotion. Tam was devastated that she would have to leave the US, her family and her job. In turn, I was angry that, as a queer couple, we had to pay a high price for living in the US — higher taxes because Tam was considered a single person, $20,000 a year in university fees in order to keep my student visa. There was no possibility of socking away any money with a family of four living on one salary and with no idea of what the future held.

In the end, it was the boys’ future and our desire to see them in a welcoming environment that caused us to buckle down and start the lengthy application process. We spent months completing paperwork and pooling family funds. After the application was in, we waited anxiously for two years until we were finally accepted as permanent residents of Canada.

By Aug 11, 2008, we were ready to finally move. We packed the last of our things in a minivan and headed off to Canada, leaving behind our friends and our community in Carrboro, North Carolina. It was one of the hardest things that I have ever done — to leave friends who had become like family to us. Leaving them was, and still is, a harsh reminder of the sacrifices we have made in order to be accepted as a family. Though we’re certainly not the only ones.

According to a 2006 US census report, there are approximately 35,800 binational queer couples in America. Unlike heterosexual couples, who have both social recognition and the legal option to marry, these queer couples will be looking at ways to remain together. American immigration activists have come to recommend that families with one US partner and one international partner move to Canada. Groups like Immigration Equality now offer resources for queer Americans seeking to take the plunge.

For many of these queer couples, leaving their home country is a difficult step but, for Glen Tig and Chitpol Siddihivarn, it was more than that — it was a personal disaster.

Tig and Siddihivarn met in 2000 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Siddihivarn came from Thailand on a visiting scholar’s visa to complete his PhD in oral biology. After two years of living together, they realized they had no reliable way of staying together in the US and applied to immigrate to Canada.

Tig and Siddihivarn became permanent residents of Canada in 2003 but continued living in the US so that Siddihivarn could finish his doctoral work at the University of North Carolina. When Siddihivarn went to the American consulate in Toronto to request a final extension to his student visa, his passport was taken
and his visa cancelled.

This catapulted the couple into six months of chaos. Instead of having six months to plan their move — as they first anticipated — they had mere weeks.

The timing of the move and the move itself cost them both emotionally and financially. Tig was undergoing medical procedures in North Carolina to treat an aggressive form of bladder cancer, and his mother was coping with a life-threatening illness. She died while they were in Canada and Siddihivarn was not able to cross the border to pay his respects or to support Tig through her funeral.

“When we were cast out, all hell broke loose on many, many fronts,” says Tig. “We were dealing with the PhD limitation, we were dealing with finances, we were dealing with cancer, death, all of it. Shockwaves of that are still going on.”

The unexpected expenses that came with the move nearly ruined them financially — they sold their house, emptied every bank account, ran up credit card debt, borrowed money from friends and sold land they had hoped to build on in the future. None of these expenses would have been incurred if they were a heterosexual couple.

“It is specifically related to being gay. It is specifically related to not having another option available to us that straight people have available to them,” says Tig.

The US government doesn’t recognize any gay couples as couples (even for those married in one of the six US states where it’s legal). In contrast, Canada recognized gay common-law partnerships in 2000 and same-sex marriage in 2005. Canada also has a (relatively) liberal immigration policy.

For Tig and Siddihivarn, their first months in Toronto were enlightening. As new immigrants, they got driver’s licenses, OHIP cards and social insurance numbers, rented an apartment and opened bank accounts — all openly as
a couple, without anyone questioning
their relationship.

“We were treated with so much ordinariness, there were no people looking away with their eyes, there was no gulping,” says Tig. “Everybody just assumed that we were a couple.”

Tig and Siddihivarn adjusted to the “ordinariness” of being a gay couple in Canada — they became citizens in 2007 and married in 2008. They have since moved to Vancouver and Siddihivarn is doing his residency at UBC. Tig still travels back to North Carolina where he continues with his private therapy practice. However, in their private lives, they prefer to keep the story of their immigration exodus to themselves.

“Gay people don’t understand it, straight people don’t understand it,” says Tig. “It’s just beyond belief that, for our segment of the population, the liberties, freedoms and acknowledgment we get here are so profoundly significant, and the problems of being forced to leave the country you are born into are so disturbing.”

There are only 19 countries in the world — including Canada — that have queer-friendly immigration laws. South of the border, in a country that professes to be a leader in human rights, the majority of Americans cannot fathom the immigration problems that queer couples have to face.

“I guess I have been shocked at people’s ignorance,” says Susan Jessup, a US citizen looking to make Canada her new home. “I was ignorant too before I was put into this situation. Some [people] get that Canada is this gay haven, but other people don’t understand.”

Susan Jessup and Adi Shimoni have been together for four years. They are looking to move to Canada as a way out of their immigration quagmire. Shimoni, an Israeli, came to the US to complete her Master’s degree in occupational therapy and then transferred her status to a work visa. Although she and Jessup have hired multiple lawyers and sought new jobs in the US, Shimoni’s visa is only valid for six years. She has one year left before she is required to leave the country.

Initially, Shimoni explored the option of getting a green card through her employer, The Children’s Developmental Services Agency (CDSA). The CDSA agreed to sponsor her and contributed US$2500 towards the application. However, one of the requirements for obtaining a green card is that the applicant shows he or she has extraordinary skills and makes the prevailing wage set by the federal government. Shimoni’s income fell just below the stipulated amount and, because of budget cuts, the organization was unwilling to commit to writing a letter stating they would increase Shimoni’s wage by US$2000 annually.

“They [the CDSA] were unwilling to see it as an immigration issue,” says Jessup. “They could not get past the fact that it looked like a salary increase.”

With the unexpected obstacle in their way, they did what many binational queer couples in the US do — looked for other alternatives, chose what sacrifices to make and decided how to move on together.

Fed up with their lives being on hold, and willing to take the jump, Shimoni and Jessup have started their application to immigrate to Canada.

“Our whole lives have been uprooted, and we don’t want to walk through this process again,” says Jessup. “I have never lived in another country, so for me that will be a whole new experience. I am scared — I am 42 years old and I feel that I am going to be starting all over again.”

For Shimoni and Jessup, the immigration application will be relatively straightforward — they are both skilled professionals and meet Canada’s immigration requirements.

But for other gay couples wanting to come to Canada the process may be harder. Since November 2008, applicants have had to meet tough new prerequisites before their application will even be considered.

The immigration process is long, hard and the outcome uncertain. But for so many of us who have gone through it and been accepted, it means a new lease on life — a new beginning.

Despite the nightmare of uprooting our lives, for us, at least it was worth it. It is just over one year since we arrived in Canada. Sebastian is in university and our youngest son is in his last year of high school. Tam kept her job in the US and telecommutes from home when she is not travelling. I know where I am going, what I am doing and I walk towards my future with a purpose. I am happy — we are in a place we call home and on a journey to rebuild and establish ourselves in a new community.