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10 Oct 2010

Anti-gay riots in Belgrade at Pride march

Thousands of police who were deployed to protect the Belgrades first Pride march since violence erupted ten years ago, fought running battles with anti-gay protestors. Rioting spread throughout the city, and up to 90 police officers were injured.

On Friday up to 10,000 bigots, fascists, ultra nationalists, skin-heads and assorted religious nuts took part in an anti-gay march. Depressing stuff.

Reports from The Irish Times and the BBC.

world | gay rights
Comments 3

05 Oct 2010

Appalling, horrifying, disgusting, and difficult to comprehend

A reader at the Central European University in Hungary sent me these incredibly disturbing and upsetting pictures of an anti-gay campaign being run in a newspaper in Uganda. Notice the strap-line in yellow on the headline: "Hang Them".

According to my on-line research, Rolling Stone (no relation to the US music magazine) is a relatively new tabloid in Uganda, and clearly it has decided to capitalise on the gay panic currently engulfing that country. The article, which is full of the most incredible hate, ignorance, misinformation and outrageous claims has to be read to be believed (I have transcribed the text from the larger photos I was sent). However, even more disturbingly, it then goes on to name gays and lesbians (I have removed the names), whom it claims are recruiting children, among other accusations, and promises to reveal more next week. It includes pictures of these people, and personal details such as descriptions, addresses, places of work, cars they drive. These people's lives are now in serious danger.

"This newspaper's research now shows that a deadly disease has rocked the gay community in Uganda with dozens whimpering in untold pain and facing death. Some are being secretly flown to the United States and Britain for anal surgery to bind shattered flesh.
Our research showed that most gays meet along Jinja Road based Mateos Bar in Kampala. They usually gather at this place on Fridays for meetings and recruitment. It's here that they assess the performance of their recruitment drives and initiate new members.
During these meetings, new members are given nick names they will use in gay circles. A source said Mateos meetings are meant to target campus students who usually hang at the nightspot.

Research also revealed that graduates are the biggest targets as they are desperate for opportunities of earning a living. They are promised jobs in gay organisations, education, sponsorships abroad, monthly allowances and connections to rich gays residing in United States, Norway, Canada and United Kingdom.

The new members are also provided with gay blue movies, a list of gay websites and telephone numbers of representatives of gay organisations. At the end of every month, gays usually gather at homes of gay organisation leaders especially at Xxxx Xxxxxx's mansion in Makindye. Xxxxx is said to be Xxxxxx Xxxxx's girlfriend. At Xxxxx's place, wine is popped and sometimes, gays engage in orgies. Kasha usually hangs out at Effendy's bar in Kampala. We have accessed secret videos of top citizens enjoying steamy gay sex.

This newspaper has also discovered that most secondary schools and tertiary institutions have been penetrated by gay activists to recruit kids. One Xxxxx Xxxxxx, a resident of Kampala, and Xxxxxx Xxxxx, are said to be behind this sinful project.

The curriculum has been altered to include gay-promoting ideals with the view of brainwashing kids towards bisexual orientation. An informer said so far 10,000 secondary students have been recruited while 1000,000 graduates have been enlisted in gay organisations.

But to combat a hostile state against them, gays have now resorted to spreading their propaganda across primary chools using debate and peer clubs, sports groups, and youth incentives.
The lead funders of gay organisations are Healthy Wise in Uganda (funded by Swedish activists), Pink Therapy... [more listed]

An insider said the organisations receive funding in billions which is now used to eat in to the moral fabric of kids."

The article then goes on to list whom they describe as the “Who is who in homo world”, including descriptions of them, job details, personal information, and in some cases addresses.

This is just so horrifying it's hard to comprehend. I can't even begin to imagine what life must be like for these people now. I'm not sure what even to suggest - what can one do? - but perhaps passing this on will help to rally some kind of response.

Please spread this story.

(and thanks to Bobby for sending me the pictures)

world | gay rights
Comments 19

10 Sep 2010

Californian judge rules that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is unconstitutional

One of the most remarkable things about the US, when viewed from Europe, is the huge role that the military plays in the national conscience, in a way that's difficult for an Irish person to grasp. One reason of course, is that the US armed services are huge and have rarely not been involved in a war to some extent somewhere around the world in the last century, but that only goes some way to explain it. After all, our neighbour Britain has similarly been involved in most of the same wars, and yet doesn't fetishize it's military in the same way. The reasons are historical and social, and deep.

(Of course the US fetishizes all the "uniformed services" to a much greater extent than we do - firemen, police, park rangers... I'm sure somewhere out there some sociology student has examined that, and no doubt gay pornography made for good reference material)

So from our perspective, it can sometimes be difficult to grasp exactly how big a deal the issue of gays in the military is for Americans, and the American gay community in particular. Which is why the fact that a federal judge has ruled that the "DADT" policy is unconstitutional is a really big deal. No doubt the fact that it was a Californian judge will bring out the right wingers complaining about meddling liberal judges etc.

Interestingly, the judge ruled that not only is the ban on gays in the military unconstitutional, but also that it harms the effectiveness of the forces, saying that it had a "direct and deleterious effect''. She also pointed out that troops suspected of being gay were allowed to finish their deployments abroad, with investigations and discharges not occurring until their return, demonstrating "that the policy is not necessary."

usa | military | gay rights
Comments 0

08 Sep 2010

Standing up for their gay parents

The Irish Times talks to the children of gay parents about the legal loopholes that leave them without basic rights afforded to the children of straight parents.

gay rights
Comments 2

02 Sep 2010

Britain: a "selfish, hedonistic wasteland" and the "geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death"

According to a senior advisor to the Archbishop of Westminster, speaking just weeks before the Pope's visit to England. And guess who's to blame? Go on, I'll give you one guess.

Bingo! The gays! And abortion and the commercialisation of sex. Our usual bedfellows.

"Whether we like it or not, as British citizens and residents of this country - and whether we are even prepared as Catholics to accept this reality and all it implies - the fact is that historically, and continuing right now, Britain, and in particular London, has been and is the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death," he said.

"Our laws and lawmakers for over 50 years have been the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking - more than even those places where Catholics suffer open persecution."

"Britain in particular, with its ever-increasing commercialisation of sex, not to mention its permissive laws advancing the 'gay' agenda, is such a wasteland."

Reports in the Guardian and the Independent with reaction from gay rights campaigners and others.

How utterly laughable. What kind of deluded lunatic looks around the world - at countries that torture and murder their citizens, where the systematic rape of women is used as a weapon, where women are bought and sold as chattels, where gay kids are hung in public, where dissidents are imprisoned and murdered - and then decides that civilized, democratic, gardening Britain is the epicentre of the "culture of death"?

Joan Smith, also in the Independent, comes to the defense of modern Britain.

I woke up as usual yesterday in the "geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death" - and very pleasant it was. I fed the cats, read the papers and carried an espresso into the back garden, congratulating myself on being a citizen of a country that doesn't stone women to death, hang gay men from cranes or murder people who change their religion. I mean, how great is that? I love living in the "selfish, hedonistic wasteland" that is London - both quotes come from one Edmund Adamus, who is apparently a senior British Catholic and an adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster - and I just wish more nations would follow our example.

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing religious bigots running down this country. For all its faults - crap public transport, Nick Clegg popping up everywhere and a national obsession with Simon Cowell - Britain is still one of the most civilised places in the world to live. It's not Iran, where prisoners are subjected to rape and mock executions; it isn't Saudi Arabia either, despite Mr Adamus's downright peculiar belief that we're more anti-Catholic than the Chinese or the Saudis. (Might I suggest he tries walking along a street in Riyadh carrying a crucifix and a Bible?) The Catholic Church has picked up this habit of dissing secular culture from hardline Muslims, who dislike pretty much the same things: gay relationships, equal rights for women and the freedom to mock religion.

Read the rest.

religion poisons everything | uk | gay rights
Comments 3

31 Aug 2010

Castro accepts responsibility for the persecution of gays in Cuba

Like a lot of people, I had a rather rose-tinted view of Castro and the Cuban revolution growing up. Until, that is, I read Before Night Falls, the powerful and harrowing autobiography of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. (It was later made into a movie starring Javier Bardem - and Johnny Depp in drag). Quite apart from the horrific treatment of homosexuals and people living with HIV/AIDS, the book also brings home the bald fact that Cuba is essentially an open prison.

However, in recent years, thanks mostly to the efforts of Castro's neice Mariela Castro, Cuba has made great advances in it's treatment of the LGBT community. And now, in an interview with a Mexican journalist, Castro himself has acknowledged that post-revolutionary Cuba's persecution of gay people was "a great injustice", and that "If anyone is responsible, it is me".

I'll at least give him points for taking responsibility. That's certainly refreshing!

Read the full interview HERE. It's a translation, and reads a little oddly.

"Yes", he remembers, "it was a time of great injustice. A great injustice!", he repeats emphatically, "no matter who did it. If it was us who did it, us... I am trying to define my responsibility in all that because, of course, I don't hold that type of prejudice."

It is known that among his oldest of friends, there are homosexuals.

But then, how was that hatred against the 'different' established?

He believes all was the result of a spontaneous reaction in the revolutionary ranks, which came from tradition.

"In earlier Cuba blacks were not the only ones discriminated against; women were also discriminated and, of course, homosexuals...

"Yes, yes. But not in the Cuba of the 'new' morality, the pride of those revolutionaries on the inside and on the outside..."

Who, then, was directly or indirectly responsible for not putting a stop to what was happening in Cuban society? The Party? Because the Communist Party of Cuba still does not 'explicitly' ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"No" says Fidel, "If someone is responsible, it's me..."

world | gay rights | people
Comments 0

28 Jul 2010

Yet another study the anti-gay hysterics will have to studiously ignore

Another study showing that the sexuality of kids parents makes absolutely no difference to whether they turn out happy and well adjusted or not. Not that the opponents of gay parents will care. They don't believe in empirical research.

This is the first study of gay and lesbian parents to compare parental reports on adopted children's behavior and development with evaluations by outside caregivers. A major criticism of past research has been that it relies on self-reported data from parents (and, fair enough, we know parents don't always offer the most accurate evaluations of their offspring).

But now we have this fine bit of research that looks at kids adopted at birth by 27 lesbian couples, 29 gay male couples and 50 heterosexual couples. Parents, teachers and caregivers evaluated the preschoolers in terms of behavioral adjustment and gender development. The outcome: "Regardless of whether they had one mother and one father, two mothers, or two fathers, children were thriving" and showed "no significant differences ... on measures of internalizing, externalizing, or total behavior problems." It's also true that "most boys exhibited behavior typical of other same-aged boys, and most girls exhibited behavior typical of other same-aged girls."

gay rights
Comments 0

15 Jul 2010

Kylie, fancy cocktails, and fellas, cited in UK gay asylum ruling

Last week the UK's Supreme Court unanimously allowed appeals from two men from Iran and the Cameroon against their deportation, overturning a previous ruling that they could be deported because they could avoid persecution if they hid their sexuality and behaved discretely. (The Irish government has also taken this approach)

What caught my eye however was the ruling of one of the judges. While it could certainly be argued (as he says himself) that his example is stereotypical (even border-line homophobic) I actually think it's refreshingly honest! And lets be honest, there are plenty of stereotypical gays around, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Another member of the court, Lord Rodger, said normal behaviour of gay people must be protected just as it was for heterosexual people. "What is protected is the applicant's right to live freely and openly as a gay man. To illustrate the point with trivial stereotypical examples from British society: just as male heterosexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates."

gay rights
Comments 3

13 Jul 2010

Africa's Last Taboo

If you missed the Dispatches documentary Africa's Last Taboo on Channel4, about the increasing persecution of gay people in Africa, you can watch it HERE. (Well, if you're in Britain or Ireland you can. Not sure if it's viewable in the rest of the world)

It's shocking, depressing, disturbing, sad, and angering, though the resilience and courage of some of the gay men featured is also inspiring. Watch it and be reminded how lucky we are, and how awful people, and religion, can be.

On a related note, our government thinks it's fine to deport gay men back to this kind of persecution because they can "practice discretion" and not be persecuted. That it as depressing as what happens to them in Africa. 

world | gay rights | religion poisons everything
Comments 1

30 Jun 2010

Final Dáil stage for CP bill tomorrow

The Civil Partnership Bill has it's final Dáil stage tomorrow when the amended bill will be debated and voted on. If passed by the Dáil, it will then go to the Seanad. The debate/vote is scheduled for 5pm, to finish by 9pm.

You can listen to the debate live HERE (choose Dáil Eireann)

As the final stages approach, the homophobes and religious nuts are ratcheting up their campaign against the bill. This was the scene outside the Dáil today, and there'll be more of them there tomorrow, as will members of the gay community to add balance and sanity.

(pics Karl Hayden)

And on a related note, the Irish Times ran a rebuttal to this nonsense today.

Partnership is a civil entity - not a religious one

civil partnership | gay rights
Comments 6