UTV (Ulster Television) has reported that Human rights activists believe NI has been ‘left behind’ as Ireland approves gay marriage law
This law follows the historic referendum in May which saw Ireland become the first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote, with 62% of people voting Yes.
In reality what this means is that N Ireland remains the only part of Great Britain and Ireland which does not have equality on same-sex marriage.
Now we all realise that with our MLA’s being unable to agree on the budget, and with the current political disagreement over whether the IRA are still active and in some way part of Sinn Féin it is unrealistic to suppose that this inequality will get resolved soon. But, in the light of previous voting patterns at Stormont we as a community should not hold our breath for it would appear that the Unionist parties will continue to vote along their bias line, that SDLP will walk away and abstain even though the party line is supposed to be in favour, and Sinn Féin will say yes and make loud noise but not really get anywhere
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Further readidng:
Manchester Pride explores the hidden history of a rainbow city
An interactive project called OUT! will use crowdsourced recollections to celebrate Manchester’s LGBT community
A 1988 Gay Unity parade. Photograph: Manchester Libraries
From the notorious police raid on the Hulme fancy dress ball in 1880, to the pioneering North Western Committee for Homosexual Law Reform set up in 1964, Manchester’s LGBT community has a long and notable past. Now Manchester Pride is celebrating the city’s stories in an interactive project – and you can be part of it.
Launching online next month and called OUT!, the project will draw together documents, data and crowdsourced recollections to create a digital archive, interactive timeline and an evolving map of Manchester tagged with stories and footage.
“The objective is to allow people to explore the hidden archives and hidden histories that Manchester holds regarding Pride and regarding LGBT as a community,” explains Jake Welsh, managing director of e3creative, the design company developing the site.
Building on a heritage trail initiative from 2003, marked by 19 rainbow tiles at historically significant locations around the city, the interactive map allows users to digitally construct their own walking tours based on the geo-tagged stories. What’s more, the project encourages individuals to add their own memories to the map, from text to photographs, audio to video.
“By dropping pins, they can put their own story forward – so it might be their first coffee where they first held hands with their partner,” explains Daniel Jessop, project manager at Manchester Pride. Contributions can be made anonymously and kept private or shared with all.
The project will also see volunteers actively seeking out contributions from the LGBT community – including at Manchester Pride’s Big Weekend next month. “LGBT history in Manchester has often been recorded as a series of events and I think it’s important to record the culture, as well, that surrounds those events,” says Paul Wheatley, one of the project’s “pride pioneers” who will be helping to gather new media and oral histories, as well as collating material from a multitude of organisations and institutions. “Some of my friends have brilliant stories to tell and are real raconteurs about their experiences and their relationship with the history,” he says. “I think that I will be able to capture those experiences in stories whereas if they were approached by other people they might be more reluctant to give that up.” Creating an accurate and thorough record is also a priority, he adds.
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Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project will be open for contributions until next summer. But it isn’t only positive stories that will be recorded – as Wheatley explains: “Manchester’s LGBT community has been uniquely persecuted,” he says.
“In the late 70s, an obscure law was enforced resulting in police in gay bars holding a wooden rod between men who were dancing, to make sure they were far enough apart. Some years later, the police persecuted same-sex couples holding hands on Canal Street resulting in gay men and women lying down on the road to block their police vans.” Raising awareness of such events, he says, is crucial. “Those struggles are poorly documented and I hope this project will address that.”
Ultimately, Jessop hopes OUT! will not only showcase how far civil rights have come, but also challenge perceptions. “It’s Manchester Pride’s mission, but shared with the LGBT community, to make sure respect continues to be given and also respect for the past,” he says. “People are always aware of 1967 and decriminalisation, that is seen as the one date – but there is so much more to tell.”
The Lost Pink Triangles
An exhibition of Nazi persecution of homosexuals goes on display in NYC.
JULY 06 2015 5:00 AM ET
A traveling exhibition produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933–1945,” is now on view at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.The show tells the story of Nazi persecution of homosexuals during World War II: Hitler’s genocide resulted in the death of 6 million Jews and millions of other people, with an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 sent to concentration camps because of their sexual orientations — the vast majority of them being gay men.
The story of these victims, commonly known as the Pink Triangles, has begun attracting attention relatively recently. Despite noted works like the play Bent, which was adapted into a film starring Clive Owen in 1997, and memoirs by former camp prisoners Gad Beck and Pierre Seel, gay stories have largely failed to become part of mainstream Holocaust narratives.
“The exhibition explores why homosexual behavior was identified as a danger to Nazi society and how the Nazi regime attempted to eliminate it,” says exhibition curator Edward Phillips.
“The Nazis believed it was possible to ‘cure’ homosexual behavior through labor and ‘re-education.’ ” Phillips says. “Their efforts to eradicate homosexuality left gay men subject to imprisonment, castration, institutionalization, and deportation to concentration camps.”
Between 1933 and 1945, more than 100,000 gay men were arrested for violating Nazi Germany’s ban on homosexuality. The exhibition includes personal accounts, photographs, and detailed information spanning this dark period of LGBT history.
MJHNYC.org, through October 2, 2015.
Op-ed: Remembering LGBT History Didn’t Begin With Stonewall
BY SIMON COPLAND MAY 19 2015 8:30 AM ET
The long arc of gay history means there will be wins — like the story of Victorian-era cross-dressers Fanny and Stella — and losses, like Russia’s growing intolerance.
Fanny and Stella (Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton) in 1868
Maybe you’ve heard of the pioneering trans* activists Fanny and Stella, who were charged for indecency in Victorian Britain 25 years before Oscar Wilde. Maybe you haven’t? Up until the announcement of a new play based on their lives by writer Glenn Chandler — appropriately named Fanny & Stella — I certainly had not. Yet, reading about them, it has become clear how important they were, and how tragic it is that most of us probably don’t know who they are.
Chandler’s play is now being performed in London. It follows the story of cross-dressing gays Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton, a.k.a. Fanny and Stella, who were arrested in 1870 for wearing women’s clothes to a play and charged with “conspiring to incite others to commit unnatural offences.” After a trial that attracted huge publicity, the two were acquitted — partly because doctors who inspected the men couldn’t prove they had anal sex. Both Fanny and Stella, who performed throughout London in men’s and women’s clothing, hoped their success in court would be a catalyst for change in the antigay laws of the time (sadly, it wasn’t).
The play is exciting. The retelling of queer history is important. Yet at the same time I cannot help but be disappointed at my lack of knowledge of these two pioneers as well as many others of their time. I suspect I am not the only one. When it comes to remembering queer history we’re pretty bad at it.
I’m not talking here about our modern history. The stories of the past 40 years, from the Stonewall Riots to Harvey Milk to the AIDS crisis to the growth of the marriage equality movement, are largely imprinted on our collective memory. Yet that seems to be the limit of it. Queer history is often written as if it started June 28, 1969, the date of Stonewall.
Yet, our story goes much deeper than that. A quick look and you can find some amazing things. What about Oscar Wilde, who was not as lucky as Fanny and Stella, and was sentenced to hard labor for “gross indecency”? Or how about Magnus Hirschfeld, a gay, Jewish, left-wing occasional transvestite, who developed the Berlin Institute of Sexual Research in 1919? Hirschfeld had to flee Germany in the 1930s, watching as his entire library was set alight.
These sorts of stories run throughout our history. Stories of pioneers and campaigners, and of movements that changed our society for the better. Our history is far deeper and more varied than just what’s happened in the last 40 years.
This is really important. Through pointing to the heroes and heroines of our past we can draw greater connections to our modern struggle. Just as Joan of Arc and the women of the suffragist movement have become important modern feminist icons, so should Fanny and Stella, Wilde and Hirschfeld (among many others!) become icons of the queer movement.
More than that, understanding this history is essential to ensuring the continued progression of LGBTIQ rights. In recent years we have begun to talk as though the march of queer liberation is “inevitable.” But what if it wasn’t as simple as that?
It is a little-known story that the Soviet Union — now one of the most homophobic nations on earth — was at the forefront of gay rights in the early 20th century. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, all offenses related to homosexuality were removed from the criminal code (well before this happened in much of the Western world). In fact, if you look even further into Russian history you will see a very tolerant approach to homosexuality. This is a very different picture from the one we see in Russia now. After a decade of sweeping changes for LGBT rights in developed nations, Russia turned quickly against queer people. Suddenly all the progress was lost.
Here is the true importance of understanding our history. If we see history only through the lens of the past 40 years in the U.S., it is easy to paint a picture of constant progress. It is why so many are bewildered by the actions of Russia — how could a country turn on gays like this in the 21st century?
But if you take a longer view you realize our story is more complex. It is one of constant struggle — a story of progress being followed by setbacks, only to be met with resistance once again. This is not to make us depressed about the gains we’ve made but to ensure we collectively protect ourselves from returning to this fate. If we understand our history better, we don’t let ourselves lose the progress we’ve made.
Speaking about Fanny and Stella, playwright Glenn Chandler stated, “The sad thing is that they really thought their case would change things, they thought a change in the law was coming, but then in two decades we have the Oscar Wilde trial and it takes another two centuries for change to come.”
Chandler points out that Victorian society actually became more conservative in the years following their trial. If Fanny and Stella’s case was held in the era of Oscar Wilde, there is every chance they could have ended up behind bars. The progress they hoped for vanished before their eyes. We are making great progress, but the past shows us this can be reversed in a hearbeat. Knowing our history can help us stop that from happening.
Southern Rites: A Reminder of the Parallels of Prejudice
Editorial: Yesterday a judge decided that a bakery had shown prejudice against a gay man by taking his order and payment for a cake, and then calling him back some days later to state that they couldn’t fulfil his order because it was against their Christian principles to promote ‘gay marriage equality’. The gay man did not seek to have this action in the courts, at no time as has been stated, did he seek to ‘set-up’ the bakery (Loose Women/Janet Street-Porter).
It is obvious from the comments made by our politicians following the judgement, that they cannot separate church from state. The links between church and state in the UK are, nowadays, mostly a formality and the governance of the UK is relatively secular, although the Lords Spiritual have a significant influence when they vote as a bloc on certain issues, notably abortion and euthanasia.
As Slugger O’Toole penned, “…When it comes to separating Church from State I believe that many of our Unionist politicians are out of step with the views of the majority of Unionist voters….”
The following article on prejudice in the Southern States of the USA, show how legislation and political statements don’t remove prejudice, only a concerted action by all involved with a recognition of everyone’s equal rights will enable a balanced, forwarding looking society.
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MAY 18 2015 6:00 AM ET
A new documentary about racial tensions in rural Georgia reminds us what all types of bigotry have in common.
Sha’von Patterson holds a photo of himself and his older brother, Justin, as children. The new documentary Southern Rites addresses Justin’s violent death and its consequences.
Sha’von Patterson holds a photo of himself and his older brother, Justin, as children. The new documentary Southern Rites addresses Justin’s violent death and its consequences.
Over the past year, events in Baltimore, New York, and Ferguson, Mo., have provided ample evidence that America’s racial problems are far from solved. A new HBO documentary drives the point home as well — and its director is quick to note parallels between racism and anti-LGBT bigotry.
“It’s all about discrimination and civil rights — it’s all connected,” says Gillian Laub, whose directorial debut,Southern Rites, premieres tonight on the cable channel. And all prejudice, she notes, is about fear of the unknown.
Laub has spent most of her career as a photographer; one of her earlier projects was a multimedia piece called “Becoming Nikki,” about a 10-year-old transgender girl, commissioned by Peoplemagazine in 2013. Another project was documenting the racially segregated proms at Montgomery County High School in rural Georgia, and that’s what gave rise to Southern Rites.
Laub, who is based in New York City, had been photographing the separate proms for several years, and in 2009, The New York Times Magazine published her photo essay on the subject. National outrage led the school to finally have an integrated prom for all students. Laub continued to travel to Montgomery County; “I thought I was going back to kind of show the prom in transition,” she says. But she found far more than that, exposing continued racial tensions.
Norman Neesmith, a white resident of neighboring Toombs County, was arrested in January 2011 for shooting and killing Justin Patterson, a 22-year-old black man Laub had photographed at a prom years earlier. Neesmith’s 18-year-old great-niece, Danielle, whom he had raised after her mother abandoned her, and a friend of hers had invited Patterson and his brother Sha’von to the Neesmith home, apparently for sexual encounters. Neesmith was sleeping when the young men arrived, but he woke up, confronted them, and a fight ensued, ending in Justin’s death.
While Neesmith was facing trial in 2012, Calvin Burns, the well-respected police chief of Mount Vernon, the Montgomery County seat, was seeking election as county sheriff, hoping to become the first African-American to hold the post. Juxtaposing these two stories, Southern Rites explores the role of race in the region, making it clear that bigotry against black residents has not been erased.
It also makes clear that the situation is complicated; as much as Norman Neesmith may incite viewers to anger, it would be an oversimplification to say he’s a hopelessly racist villain. For one thing, Danielle, whom he says he loves deeply, is part African-American. “I think he’s a complicated and flawed human being, like most of us,” Laub says of Neesmith. “He’s very nuanced.”
Laub, a straight woman who is a passionate LGBT ally, notes that she’s met some Montgomery County residents who are facing homophobia along with racism. The prom king at one year’s black prom, she says, came out to her and asked what he should do with his life, as he felt there was no place for him as a black gay man in rural Georgia. But he’s still there and actually doing well, she says.
A recurring theme in her work, she says, is “trying to bring out people’s truth,” whether it’s the story of the “incredibly brave” transgender girl Nikki or race relations in the Deep South. Her next project will take her back to transgender issues; it’s a film about trans people in the military, who still face discharge if their status becomes known. Laub adds that she can’t provide any details just yet.
Meanwhile, as Southern Rites premieres, a companion photo and video exhibit has just opened at New York City’s Benrubi Gallery, where it runs through June 27. There is also a companion photo book, and Laub will give a lecture before a special screening of the film at Dartmouth College May 26.
Laub stresses that while the film, which has John Legend as an executive producer and features a song by him, deals with serious and pressing issues, it’s not all downbeat. For instance, several scenes show teens of all races having fun together and saying how ridiculous they found the idea of segregated proms. “I do want to note the progress there has been and that there is hope,” she says.
Southern Rites premieres tonight at 9 Eastern on HBO; check your local listings. For more information about the film, the exhibit, and related events, go to SouthernRitesProject.com.Watch a trailer for the film below.
Minister’s vow on gay blood ban
Northern Ireland’s new health minister has said he will be guided by science and patient safety when deciding whether to lift the ban on blood donations from gay men.
The prohibition was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in 2011 and replaced with rules allowing them to donate a year after their last sexual encounter with another man.
Former DUP health minister Edwin Poots kept the lifetime deferral in operation in Northern Ireland, citing “blood safety” issues.
Current minister Simon Hamilton said: “I will be guided by the science and medical evidence.
“There is an emerging body of evidence…I will monitor that, I will examine it, I will look at it carefully.”
He added: “This is a matter of patient safety. We must have an assurance.”
Mr Poots lost a judicial challenge to his ban and inferred he would not get a fair hearing from a court should he appeal against the decision.
Responsibility rests with the UK Health Secretary and an appeal has been taken to try establish authority in Northern Ireland, Mr Hamilton said.
In 2013 a judge said Stormont’s health minister did not have the power to keep an “irrational” lifetime ban on gay men giving blood in Northern Ireland.
The High Court also found that Mr Poots had breached the ministerial code by failing to take the issue before the Stormont Executive.
The ex-minister maintained the ban in Northern Ireland on the basis of ensuring public safety. But a gay man granted anonymity due to his perceived vulnerability launched a judicial review challenge to Mr Poots’ position.
The judge heard claims that the minister had displayed apparent bias that went beyond religious beliefs and into the realms of prejudice.
Sinn Fein Stormont assembly member Caitriona Ruane told Mr Hamilton it was an equality issue.
“I was glad to hear him say, however, that he will be guided by science and medical evidence, which is to be welcomed given the fact that his two predecessors based their stance on faith.
“The minister now needs to stand up and signal his intent to overturn this discriminatory ban.”
ILGA – New report shows homosexual criminalizing countries dropping from 92 to 76 in last decade
By John Mack Freeman
A new study from ILGA shows that the number of countires that criminalize homosexuality has dropped from 92 to 76 from 2005 to 2015. Some of the top sheet results include:
A new study from ILGA shows that the number of countires that criminalize homosexuality has dropped from 92 to 76 from 2005 to 2015. Some of the top sheet results include:
- there are 117 countries (UN Members) where same sex sexual acts between adults in private are legal. Mozambique and Palau have decriminalised same-sex acts in 2014 and Lesotho in 2010.
- there are 76 countries where same-sex sexual acts are still illegal. Chad introduced a new Penal Code in 2014, punishing anyone who has sex with persons of the same sex.
- In relation to death penalty, eight States officially legislate for it, but only five (Mauritania, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) actually implement it, but a sixth State, Iraq, although not in the civil code, clearly has judges and militias throughout the country that issue the death sentence for same-sex sexual behaviours. Further, some provinces in Nigeria and Somalia officially implement the death penalty. We are also aware that in the Daesh(ISIS/ISIL)-held areas the death penalty is implemented (although a non-State actor, it is listed in the report). Brunei Darussalam is due to activate the death penalty for same sex sexual acts in 2016, but it seems likely that like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Qatar although it is on the statute, it will not be implemented.
- Regarding the recent legal practice, emerging from Russian provinces first in 2006, to criminalise the ‘propaganda of homosexuality’, it is with some relief that we note that in fact to date only four countries actually appear to have adopted this on their statute books: Algeria, Lithuania, Nigeria and Russia.
- Discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation is now prohibited in 63 countries, including Chile (2012), Samoa (2013), Namibia (2004) and city of Buenos Aires in Argentina (2015).
- A total of 7 countries have a constitutional prohibition to discrimination based on sexual orientation, including Mexico (2011) and Virgin Islands (2007) – associate of the United Kingdom
- Hate crimes based on sexual orientation are considered an aggravating circumstance in 34 countries. Laws in this respect have been identified in several European countries, including Andorra (2005), parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013), Iceland (2004), Kosovo (2013), Lithuania (2009), Montenegro (2010), Norway (1994), Serbia (2012), Slovakia (2013), Slovenia (2008).
- Incitement of hatred based on sexual orientation is prohibited in 31 countries. Austria has introduced such law in 2011, Hungary in 2013, Montenegro in 2010 and Switzerland in 2015.
- Marriage is open for same-sex couples in 18 countries, including in Luxembourg and Slovenia, both in 2015. The state of Coahuila in Mexico and 19 further states in the United States of America have passed same-sex marriage laws in 2014, bringing the total number of states legislating for marriage equality to 37 (plus the District of Columbia). Finland approved a marriage equality law in 2015 that will come into force in 2017, while Estonia approved a similar law in 2014, to come into force in 2016.
- Joint adoption by same-sex couples is legal in 19 countries. It was legalised in Luxemburg and Malta in 2014, and in Austria , Ireland and Slovenia in 2015.
Stockport Academy Tackles Homophobia
Editorial: When will homophobia be stopped in our schools in Northern Ireland. When will Stormont and our politicians come together to fight homophobia. We have just had an election, it will be interesting to see if they stand by the Friday Agreement on Human Rights.
The following article was republished from Gay Times
Students produce moving video in light of Anti-Homophobia Week
Students at the Stockport Academy have made a moving drama piece to coincide with Anti-Homophobia Week.
The short video is called Everybody’s Disapproval and is set to Hozier’s song Take Me To Church.
The emotive piece is shot in black and white, recreating and reinterpreting scenes from Hozier’s original video. It features both a young gay and lesbian couple being the victims of homophobic abuse.
Their short video concludes with a few statements and statistics to reinforce the overall message. “End homophobia today.”
The Academy is renowned for their zero tolerance to bullying and has previously received the Diana Award in 2014 for their campaign work in anti-bullying.
Words Tom Richardson, @tom20richardson
17 Years After Matthew Shepard’s Murder, Laramie Passes LGBT Protections
MAY 14 2015 4:45 PM ET
In 1998 gay college student Matthew Shepard as brutally beaten and left for dead on a fence like this one near Laramie.The town where Matthew Shepard became the victim of a deadly antigay hate crime in 1998 — Laramie, Wyo., — has become the first municipality in the state to adopt an LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination law.
The Laramie City Council passed the ordinance last night by a vote of 7-2, the Associated Press reports. It bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations, and it sets up a process for filing discrimination complaints, which the city will then investigate. The ordinance will go into effect by the end of this month.
“What a day for Wyoming, and what a day for the city that became synonymous with Matthew Shepard’s murder to now step up and do this right thing,” Jeran Artery, head of the LGBT rights group Wyoming Equality, told the AP. “And I would really encourage other communities across the state to follow Laramie’s lead.”
Efforts to enact a similar law on a statewide basis have failed repeatedly, most recently inFebruary. “I’m thrilled that Laramie’s [adopting an antidiscrimination law], at the same time sort of saddened that the state of Wyoming can’t see fit to do that as well,” Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother, told the AP. “Maybe the rest of Wyoming will understand this is about fellow human beings and not something that’s other than what they are.”
Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, was beaten and left for dead on a fence on the outskirts of town by two men he met in a bar. He died a few days later at a hospital in Colorado. His death became a rallying point for LGBT rights activists, and federal hate-crimes law bears his name as well as that of James Byrd Jr., an African-American murdered in a racially motivated attack in Texas, also in 1998.
Judy Shepard, a longtime Wyoming resident, said her son’s murder doesn’t indicate that Wyoming residents are generally homophobic, but acting more quickly on hate-crimes law could have improved the state’s reputation. “I feel like if Wyoming had done more to open the door to acceptance, that kind of reputation would have disappeared very quickly,” she told the AP. “Instead of taking advantage of the moment, they just sort of turned around and ran.”
State Rep. Kendall Kroeker, who voted against the statewide antidiscrimination bill, objected to the crime being brought into the discussion. “The Matt Shepard case was a tragedy, but I don’t see how an antidiscrimination ordinance would have stopped somebody from committing that heinous crime,” he told the news service. Kroeker was also one of several Wyoming legislators who signed onto a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject marriage equality, claiming it would interfere with citizens’ free speech rights.
The two Laramie council members who voted against the local antidiscrimination ordinance said they worried it would interfere with religious freedom, the AP reports. “Enactment of this ordinance will result in discrimination complaints filed against business owners who are simply trying to run their business consistent with their faith,” said one of them, Joe Vitale.
Irish Gay Marriage Vote: Bring Your Family With You
By The Gay UK, Apr 18 2015 06:47PM
A recent poll in Ireland found that 76% of adults believe that that same–sex couples should have a right to marry, now they just have to get them to the Polling Stations on May 22 to vote YES on the national referendum o marriage equality.
YouTube
The Irish LGBT advocacy group BeLonG To Youth Services has produced a touching ad to make sure people get out and vote … We defy anyone to watch this and not start to get watery eyes.
If the referendum passes, (or hopefully ‘when’) the following line will be added to the country’s constitution: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”
Share this video with anyone you know who may know an Irish voter.
If the referendum passes, (or hopefully ‘when’) the following line will be added to the country’s constitution: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”
Share this video with anyone you know who may know an Irish voter.
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