21/04/2010
News Sent - 21st April 2010
In this week's e-mail newsletter: UK General Election 2010: check if you are registered to vote; My Gay Vote; Who's courting the trans vote?; LGBT NYC: Rock your Vote!; If you are a registered charity: Campaigning and political activity; Forums News: Lord Carey is bringing Christianity into disrepute, say critics; THT Aberdeen launches free HIV testing scheme; Inverness Presbytery debates openly-gay ministers; Ban on gay men donating blood; Talk Scotland Events: Sshh! Saturdays; IDAHO Campaign 2010: Religions, homophobia, transphobia; Gay Gordons Edinburgh; Inverness: Swans of Scotland; Festival Eradica: Trans and stammering; Edinburgh Trans Women Support Group; Inverness: Girlzone; Glasgow: Love Out of Bounds; Edinburgh: Love Is In The Air; UK News: Imaan meeting London; Reflecting diversity – the LGBT community and the media; Ugandan MP may be banned from UK; International: Uganda: Speaker insists Anti-Homosexuality Bill must be debated; Nepal: Equal marriage in the highest country in the world; India: First Mumbai Internation Queer Film Festival opens today; US: Obama can and can't on LGBT equality: LGBT Families: First same-sex parents named on birth certificate; US: DOMA prevents divorces, destroys lives
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Equality Network News
The Equality Network's project coordinators are working out our plans for the next year: watch this space for more information on events, policy, and other news from us all.
LGBT News is planned to continue throughout the year. Please send your news, events, consulations, and other material to ENnews@equality-network.org.
UK General Election 2010
The deadline for registering is past, but you can still check if you are registered to vote at the Electoral Commission website
www.aboutmyvote.co.uk
My Gay Vote
They want us to vote for them, but do they vote for us in Parliament?
This website shows the amount of support we have received from the Labour, Conservative, and LibDem parties on important LGBT issues.
Analysis: Who's courting the trans vote?
The
LGBT NYC is running a quick consultation to help them get a picture of whether LGBT young people in Scotland are going to vote, and what issues they would like to see debated during the election. If you are 26 or younger, please take a few minutes to fill in this survey and help the NYC to
Rock your Vote!
If you are a registered charity: Campaigning and political activity
The independent nature of the charitable sector is of fundamental importance to society, and is greatly valued by the public. The guiding principle of charity law in terms of campaigning, political activity and elections is that charities should be, and be seen to be, independent from party politics.
Campaigning and political activity
Forums News
Lord Carey is bringing Christianity into disrepute, say critics
Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has had his call for special legal provisions for Christians, and his warnings about "civil unrest", roundly rejected by lawyers, human rights advocates, commentators - and other Christians. Lord Carey, who is allying himself with a small but vocal group of hardline conservatives within the Church of England and among pressure groups, has claimed that there may be “civil unrest” if judges continue with what he described as “disturbing” and “dangerous” rulings in discrimination cases. His concern is that court rulings are increasingly undermining attempts to defend public discrimination against gay people and others on the grounds of religion, and because claims for special or different treatment by Christians, as distinct from others, are also being rejected. (
Ekklesia)
Lord Carey made the comments in a witness statement in an appeal brought last week by Gary McFarlane, a relationship counsellor from Bristol, who was sacked by Relate because he refused to provide sex therapy advice, as required by his job, to a gay couple. (
Guardian)
THT Aberdeen launches free HIV testing scheme
Sexual health and HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland (THT) has launched
free and confidential HIV, gonorrhoea and syphilis testing for people in Aberdeen. THT is urging people in the region to come along for a sexual health check up if they think they may have put themselves at risk. Testing is available every Thursday from 5-8pm at THT’s centre based at
246 George Street, AB25 1HN. The clinic is run on a first come, first served basis, so there’s no need to book an appointment.
Inverness Presbytery debates openly-gay ministers
The
Inverness Courier opines that the presbytery's debate on the ordination of openly-gay ministers should be open to the public. The special meeting to discuss this issue, following the homophobic row when Rev Scott Rennie was called by to take up a post as minister in Aberdeen, was planned to be held on 19th April. (
Herald)
Ban on gay men donating blood
There are two current public petitions on blood donor rules before the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee. At its next meeting on 4 May, it is expected that the Committee will further consider review of guidelines to allow healthy gay and bisexual men to donate blood. SaBTO, the UK committee that recommends the blood donation rules,
wrote to the Public Petitions Committee in March with an update of what they are doing. The letter says that following their meeting last July, "SaBTO is not satisfied that certain current deferral and exclusion criteria are consistent with estimates of risk", and following a public meeting in October 2009, they are forming a working group to look into the issue, which will report later in 2010. SaBTO will then decide, based on the working group report and related research, whether the rules should be changed.
Letters to the PPC on this issue have been placed in the record, including letters from the NUS Donation Not Discrimination Campaign, Terrence Higgins Trust, the Equality Network, and the LGBT Network (the Petitioner).
Talk Scotland Events
Sshh! Saturdays
Saturday 24th April
This campaign's aim is to INSPIRE and SUPPORT same-sex couples who want to hold their partner's hand in public.
Pride Scotia 2010:
Saturday 26th June, Edinburgh
Glasgow Pride 2010:
Saturday 17th July
IDAHO Campaign 2010: Religions, homophobia, transphobia
The
International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia is
Monday 17th May.
The theme of this year's campaign is an appeal to the other voices who exist everywhere within religions, objecting to the use of religious arguments to justify hatred and rejection and sometimes even violence, crimes and bloodshed. The objective is to expose and oppose the negative impact of religious fundamentalist discourses and to give visibility and promotion to voices who are working for inclusion, tolerance and peace. "Join the voices that call upon religious leaders to stop fuelling homophobia and transphobia and to act for universal Human Rights for all people."
Sign the appeal to religions here
To celebrate IDAHO 2010, LGBT Youth Scotland is hosting two performances of Jeffrey Solomon's highly acclaimed play
Mother/Son in two venues in Fife, on 16th/17th May.
Gay Gordons Edinburgh
7.30pm to 9.30pm, 26th April (every Monday from 12th April to 19th July, except May bank holidays) at the Quaker Meeting House on Victoria Terrace. "If you haven't been for a while, come and join us again. We are still regularly getting between 30 and 40 dancers per week and it must be the friendliest group in Edinburgh." Email info@gaygordonsedinburgh.co.uk.
www.gaygordonsedinburgh.co.uk
Inverness: Swans of Scotland
The Swans of Scotland regular group meeting is on the last Thursday of the month -
29th April 7-9pm at the Beaufort Hotel in Inverness. Check
their web site for event details.
Festival Eradica: Trans and stammering
Some live performances of short stage scripts by Cam Lauder, dealing with issues ranging from being trans to stammering, staged at The Argyle Bar (at 15-17 Argyle Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1JJ) at 6pm on Friday 30th April & Sunday 2nd May 2010, as part of The
Festival Eradica Programme. Tickets are £4/£3 concessions. For further details, ticket information and bookings, email or call David Roberts on: edgeeradica@yahoo.co.uk or: 07776242582. Theatre, music, poetry, rehearsed readings and workshops in invisible theatre.
Festival Eradica on Facebook
Edinburgh Trans Women Support Group
Sat 1st May, 7:30-9:30pm at the Edinburgh LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing.
The group aims to provide support for transsexual women but may be useful to transgender women who live life as women full-time or part-time. The group provides an opportunity to meet in a casual, relaxed and safe environment. It provides help and support through general discussions relating to transition issues or life living as a woman.
www.edinburghtranswomen.org.uk
Inverness: Girlzone
Saturday 1st May, 1-2pm. Girlzone lunch from 1pm at Wetherspoons in Church Street. Look for the blue box or contact
GirlZone if you wish to be met in advance.
Glasgow: Love Out of Bounds
A new storytelling project run by OurStory Scotland, funded by the Scottish Arts Council. Love Out of Bounds brings together LGBT people and people from minority ethnic groups to tell of their experiences of love: to find some common ground between LGBT people and people from minority ethnic communities in telling our stories. Some of our participants will of course be both from the LGBT community and from a minority ethnic community. The next meeting of the project will be at
2pm on Saturday 8th May in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. Travel is reimbursed. For more information please contact Jaime Valentine at info@ourstoryscotland.org.uk.
www.ourstoryscotland.org.uk
Edinburgh: Love Is In The Air
Loud & Proud Concert,
8 May 2010, at Edinburgh's George Square Theatre. Scotland's only LGBT choir, invites you to join them. Performing a cappella, Loud & Proud offers an eclectic and entertaining programme sung with energy, joy, and enthusiasm, including songs by Abba, Diana Ross, Peggy Seeger, Rufus Wainwright and U2.
www.loudandproudchoir.org
UK News
Imaan meeting London
Saturday 24 April 2010, 3pm to 5pm, Positive East, 159 Mile End Road, London E1 4AQ. Refreshments provided – contributions of soft-drinks and food are most welcome. Deadline for
events officer election is 23rd April.
Imaan will also discuss participation in London Pride 2010 and Fazal Mahmood, Imaan’s returning officer, will confirm his report on the elections, and new trustee-posts. For any further information or assistance, contact Tawseef (Tawseef@imaan.org.uk) or Royston (Royston@imaan.org.uk)
www.imaan.org.uk
Reflecting diversity – the LGBT community and the media
1:45-5:30pm Wednesday 7th July 2010, Central London
Speakers include Peter Tatchell, and Oona King (Head of Diversity, Channel 4). There will be a presentation on findings from the consultation on the BBC's portrayal of LGB Audiences, asking if BBC license fee represents good value for money for these communities and if LGBT people are sufficiently represented across all BBC content.
Agenda for the day
Westminster Media Forum -
Book online
Ugandan MP may be banned from UK
Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop the Anti-Homosexuality Bill now before the Ugandan Parliament. A senior British government source said the issue could turn into a "major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down". (
Guardian,
Pink News)
International
Uganda: Speaker insists Anti-Homosexuality Bill must be debated
The Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, said last week that no international protest, including a resolution passed in the US Senate, would force the Parliament to give in to western pressure and withdraw Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s Bill, which imposes the death penalty for homosexuality and jail sentences for concealing the identity of LGBT people from the police. Mr Bahati said that he would not waiver in his pursuit for the Bill’s enactment. (
Daily Monitor,
Guardian)
Nepal: Equal marriage in the highest country in the world
Legal recognition of same-sex marriage is working its way through Nepal's parliament after a Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that ordered the Government to safeguard the rights of “sexual minorities”. “Before that, people did not know if it was natural or unnatural, legal or illegal,” says Sunil Babu Pant, Nepal’s leading gay rights activist and the only openly gap MP in South Asia. (
Times) Sunil Pant, described as "Nepal's rainbow revolutionary", founded Nepal's
Blue Diamond Society to bring effective political and legal change to the lives of LGBTI people in Nepal. (
Fridae)
India: First Mumbai Internation Queer Film Festival opens today
The first
Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival will be held from 22 to 25 April in a span of which 110 queer films from 25 countries will be screened. All the films screened will highlight gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters and stories, exploring issues, dilemmas, joys and sorrows that make up queer experiences and expressions in India and globally. Bollywood Actress and gay rights activist Celina Jaitley spoke at a press conference in India marking the start of the Gay Film Festival called Kashish -
video at BBC.
US: Obama can and can't on LGBT equality
On Monday night, during a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Barbara Boxer, President Obama was heckled by gay rights protesters who are unhappy that the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has yet to been repealed despite administration promises to do so. (
CBS) The next day (Tuesday 20th April) six LGBT service members were arrested after handcuffing themselves to the White House fence to protest the failure to repeal DADT. (
Advocate)
Last week, Obama ordered hospitals to recognise gay families for purposes of visitation rights and medical powers of attorney, and prohibited hospitals from denying visitation privileges on the basis of gender identity. (
PinkPaper)
LGBT Families
First same-sex parents named on birth certificate
A lesbian couple who had a child through sperm donation have become the first gay couple to both be named on their child's birth certificate.Natalie Woods, 38, and Elizabeth Knowles, 47, from Brighton, are the first to take advantage of new legislation granting gay parents the right. (
PinkNews)
US: DOMA prevents divorces, destroys lives
Two examples of how Obama's failure to repeal the federal law allowing states to refuse to recognise the validity of same-sex marriages, has caused real damage to same-sex couples:
- Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is appealing two divorces of same-sex couples, on the grounds that "protecting the traditional definition of marriage" means doing the same for divorce. (Telegraph)
- In Sonoma County, California, county officials separated an elderly couple and sold their worldly possessions despite the measures the men had taken to protect their relationship. (NCLR)
And a grassroots effort to force a November 2010 ballot-box vote on repealing Proposition 8, the Californian legislation banning recognition of same-sex marriage, failed to collect enough voter signatures by the 12 April deadline to get the measure on the ballot. (
Pink Paper)
The Equality Network’s website for information on all aspects of LGBT family law – including civil partnership, cohabitation, having children, breaking up – is
www.lgbtfamilies.org
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