excerpt: The Sexual Rights Initiative condemns the adoption of the 'Protection of the Family' resolution at the UN Human Rights Council’s 29th session. [...] While this serves to further polarise the HRC, it is heartening that the strength of the opposition to the resolution was considerable. How this resolution will now be used needs to be monitored closely. It is likely, for example, to be referenced in regressive positions taken on the Post-2015 development agenda.
The text of this resolution is extremely problematic in that amongst other concerns it sought to elevate the family as an institution in need of protection without acknowledging that families perpetuate patriarchal oppression, traditions and harmful practices, and that human rights abuses do occur within families (i.e., marital rape, child abuse, FGM, early and forced marriage, dowry related violence, so-called “honour” killings and other forms of domestic violence). Further, the core group continuously did not include in the text the recognition that various family forms exist, despite many delegations requesting them to do so. Without such recognition, it cannot be assured that the family-friendly and family-oriented public policies referred to in the resolution will address the needs of all family members in diverse families.
Barbados: UN chief concerned about HIV/AIDS approach in the region
With over a quarter of a million HIV-infected persons reportedly living in the Caribbean, visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is renewing a call for regional governments to make swift changes to legislation that promote discrimination as a measure to contain the spread of the mostly sexually transmitted virus which causes AIDS.
Addressing the launch of the Report of the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission that coincided with the 36th regular CARICOM Heads of Government Summit here, Ban noted that regional countries were struggling to address the epidemic with limited resources at their disposal.
“The epidemic is only made worse by laws and stigma. These are [impacting] our vulnerability to HIV infection and our answers to life saving achievements. They threaten both human rights and public health. We cannot tolerate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or on the basis of gender identity,” the UN chief said, also calling for the human rights of sex workers and persons who inject drugs.
“We can leave no one behind. AIDS can only end when we protect the human rights of all . . . We have to [correct] all kinds of societal ills including stigma, intolerance, discrimination and violence. To end this epidemic, we need gender equality. We need to protect the sexual and reproductive rights,” Ban emphasized. Read More
Italy: Sports magazine causes outrage over gay kiss on cover
A popular Italian sports magazine has faced a backlash from readers after featuring a gay rugby couple on its most recent cover. The 11 July edition of SportWeek features Giacomo and Stefano – a gay couple who also play together on gay-friendly amateur Rome squad Libera Rugby. The cover features the provocative headline, ‘Who’s afraid of a kiss?’. Judging by the reaction of many readers of the magazine, a lot of people.
“That’s absolutely disgusting,” tweeted one angry fan.
“You’re painfully conformist and ideological,” wrote another.
Arguably one of the most troubling comments was that which asked the magazine, “Tell me how I explain it to my 5 year old son.”
However, the cover also generated a lot of support on the magazine’s social media channel, with many, more liberal readers viewing the cover as a positive, long overdue challenge to the homophobia that often goes unchallenged in Italian sport. Read More
Sri Lanka: Equal Ground
Equal Ground presents a wholly homegrown composition "Nothing but Pride" was filmed entirely on location.
A music video of the song “Nothing but Pride” was launched at the Auditorium of the Goethe Institute in Colombo. In a country where homosexuality is still considered a crime, the song celebrates diversity and equality encouraging the LGBTIQ community to stand tall and proud, and the society to stop harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation. “Nothing but PRIDE” was written by Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, Executive Director of EQUAL GROUND, a Sri Lankan non-profit organization seeking human and political rights, the creation of a safe space for all LGBTIQ individuals and providing opportunities to promote mental well-being.
Former Australian footballer Lachlan Beaton shares agony of coming out in touching video
'Our political leaders can end this now. All it will take is a little bit of courage… courage to make #Equallove a right', he says in the video which appeals to Australian MPs to support marriage equality
Lachlan Beaton’s moving video in which the former Australian footballer revealed how his efforts to keep his sexual orientation a secret from his family and football club caused him engage in destructive habits for 12 years has made the press in Australia.
The Herald Sun reported that Beaton, who coached at Uni Blacks until his move to the US last month, is one of few footballers of any level to publicly come out as gay and ‘yet the statistics tell us his story of suffering is echoed across every community and sporting club.’ See more
Finland: The tear-jerker moment man with HIV breaks down in tears as he is hugged by strangers
Hey Bill Nye, 'Does Homosexuality Make Evolutionary Sense?' #tuesdayswithbill
An anonymous viewer asks Bill whether homosexuality makes sense from an evolutionary and genetic standpoint. Bill's response? Homosexuality exists across species and throughout nature. Bonobo monkeys, for example, exhibit homosexuality. And Bonobo monkeys aren't going anywhere anytime soon. In short, Bill says we should just live and let live. Read More
This weird and amazing video wants to encourage gay men to use condoms
An HIV charity and the NHS have produced a strange and amazing film to encourage men who have sex with men to use condoms when they have anal sex. The film, titled ‘That Awkard Moment’, was released last week, and hopes to use humour to encourage gay and bi men to talk about issues around using condoms and lube.
Created by the British Association for Sexual Health, HIV funded Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland and NHS Tayside, the film hopes to “help [men] overcome these issues with the facts in a fun, innovative and engaging way.” Read More
Puerto Rico: Swimmer on how life has changed since he sent out this tweet: ‘Yes… I AM GAY… Who cares?’
My name is Javier Ruisanchez and I'm 18. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, but I currently live in Northern Virginia. I just graduated from West Springfield High School. I have two sisters and I live with my mom. I've always been involved in sports. Baseball, volleyball, dancing, basketball – I've always been an athlete, but I didn’t discover my passion for swimming until I was 9. I made my first Junior National Team for Puerto Rice at age 11, so I fit into the world of swimming.
But I always felt the need to fit in with everyone else. I knew at an early age I was gay, but I was too scared to come out because I was afraid of bullying or how those around me would treat me. Read More
Australia: The importance of LGBTI indigenous inclusion
Does LGBTI solidarity exclude Indigenous people? Andrew Farrell urges non-Indigenous LGBTI people to look to inclusion: We live in a diverse system of social and cultural worlds, all of which are performed on Indigenous land. On a practical level, what can you — as non-Indigenous LGBTI people — do to support racially-diverse minorities?
As an Indigenous person first and foremost, I am obliged to be aware of the land I am standing on. As a queer-identified person, I have often felt that I have had to forfeit my cultural identity and its conventions in order to belong. Minority inclusion, awareness, and representation are important for mediating that space.
I shouldn’t have to adjust or calibrate my cultural identity in order to exist in the LGBTI community. The LGBTI community prides itself on being diverse. That diversity is not limited to our sexual and gendered identities.
US: What’s marriage equality got to do with intersex?
Professor and author Georgiann Davis describes the challenge many intersex people go through in discovering and identifying with a gender and how marriage plays a part. excerpt:
Intersex people have, consciously or not, been queering marriage long before activists were fighting for marriage equality. Some intersex people, encouraged by medical providers who wanted to make sure our gender identity aligned with the sex they surgically constructed, looked to heterosexual partnering to validate their gender identity.
As it was in my case, marriage was a path by which intersex people learned to accept themselves as “real” women, or in some cases “real” men, while also pleasing their parents, medical providers, and others in their lives by assuring them they made the correct medically unnecessary and irreversible surgical decisions.
When the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage was a constitutional right, my social media exploded with excitement. Many of my intersex friends from around the world also shared these celebrations. But marriage has historically functioned as a heteronormative institution, and one of the primary ways intersex people have validated their gender assignment and normalized their selves. So I wasn’t surprised that the marriage equality ruling also seemed to cause some uneasiness among a few, albeit a minority, of intersex people and parents of intersex children. Read More
Macedonia: Interview with Antonio Mihaylov: the LGBT community is at the margins of society in Macedonia
Antonio Mihajlov, president Subversive Fronts an association for a critical approach to gender and sexuality in Macedonian capital Skopje spoke in an interview about the position of the LGBT population in Macedonia. He discusses LGBT people's place in society and the government's position towards the community. He also discusses the impact of the current socio-political situation in the position of the LGBT population, same-sex marriage, and plans of LGBT activists for the future. Read More