04/02/2009
News Sent - 4th February 2009: UK News / International
UK News: UK: UKBA advises gay Iraqi to avoid execution by "discretion"; Police: Rainbow flag for LGBT History Month causes controversy; International
Ireland: Homophobic verbal abuse and bullying rife; US: Promised repeal of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' delayed; Denmark: World Outgames
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UK News
UK: UKBA advises gay Iraqi to avoid execution by "discretion"
Iraq is one of nine countries in the world where consensual same-sex relationships are punishable by death. A gay asylum-seeker is scheduled to be returned to Iraq today. The UK Border Agency advises that he should "conduct such relationships in private on his return to Iraq", so that he can "express his sexuality, albeit in a more limited way than he could do elsewhere."
Iraqi LGBT says that more than 430 gay men have been murdered in Iraq since 2003, and that this man will be the seventh gay Iraqi asylum seeker to be forced to return. (
The Guardian)
Police: Rainbow flag for LGBT History Month causes controversy
London: A Limehouse police station which briefly displayed the rainbow flag, has been made to take it down at the orders of the new Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, after complaints in the Sun and the Daily Mail. Met rules state that only the Union flag and the force's own flag can fly from police buildings. (
wharf.co.uk,
ThisIsLondon)
Wales: The North Wales Police HQ raised a rainbow flag to mark
LGBT History Month, at a ceremony organised by the
Gay Police Association North Wales and backed by the
Association of Chief Police Officers and
Stonewall Cymru. (
BBC,
The Telegraph)
International
Ireland: Homophobic verbal abuse and bullying rife
A recent report (
Supporting LGBT Lives: A Study of the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People) says the vast majority of LGBT people surveyed in Ireland have been verbally abused or suffered harassment because of their sexual identity. One in four had been violently attacked. Over half had been bullied in school. But the report also shows many are resilient, drawing support from family or friends, and have gone on to lead happy and satisfying lives. The report was commissioned by the
BeLonG To Youth Service and the
Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen) and researched by the Children’s Research Centre in TCD and the School of Education at UCD. (
Irish Times,
Irish Health)
US: Promised repeal of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' delayed
The new Obama administration says that it will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more support in Congress before trying to overturn the ”don’t ask, don’t tell” regulation and allow LGBT people to serve openly in the military. A 1992 General Accounting Office report said the Defense Department expelled an average of 1,500 gay soldiers a year during the 1980s. A follow-up Government Accountability Office report in 2005 found that expulsions were briefly cut in half in 1994 and 1995, but climbed back to over 1,100 a year in the last three years of the Clinton administration. The numbers expelled have been halved during the Iraq war, but in 2006, over six hundred soldiers were expelled for being LGBT. (
Kansas City Star,
Boston Globe)
28 former US military chiefs collectively called for a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in December 2007. (
The Guardian)
Denmark: World Outgames
The 2nd World Outgames will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 25 July to 2 August 2009. Including tournaments in 38 different sports disciplines, a wide variety of cultural events, and a human rights conference addressing issues and concerns of the LGBT community.
www.copenhagen2009.org
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