09/12/2009
News Sent - 9th December 2009
In this week's e-mail newsletter: Equality Network News: Friends of the Equality Network, National LGBT Forum; Race, Religion and Belief, LGBT News - Winter Break; Forums News: International Human Rights Day; Glasgow Women's Library: Give a shelf to the woman you love!; Repeal of Section 28 praised as a radical achievement; Edinburgh hosts international LGBT conference; Talk Scotland Events: Edinburgh: Having a Healthy Christmas!; Fife: ACPOS LGBT Reference Group Biennial Conference; Glasgow: Single Outcome Agreement and Equalities; Edinburgh: Camp Christmas Classic Film Night; Inverness: Girlzone social lunch; Inverness: Highland LGBT Forum Pub Crawl; Edinburgh: Winter Concert / Drop in Xmas Party; Same-Sex Handholding (SSHH!) Our Silent Revolution; International Kiss a Member of the Same Sex Day; UK News: London: Protest Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill; London: Islamic New Year Prayer Event; International: India: Bollywood's first gay love scene; Iraq: Baghdad's night life falls foul of religious right; LGBT Families: Equal Marriage in Scotland; Ireland: launch of bereavement guide for same-sex partners
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Equality Network News
Friends of the Equality Network
We’re asking you to become Friends of the Equality Network. You can
give to us online, via a secure donations site designed for charities, or by filling in the standing order form
attached at this link. We receive generous funding for our projects, but like every other charity, our running costs exceed our project funding. We need your help to continue doing everything we already do, and to enable us to do more. If you will commit to giving us from £5 a month, we would like to give you an icon you can display on your Facebook page or website or your blog. Your name will be listed on the page
www.equality-network.org/friends (in whatever form you prefer: you can also opt to be an Unknown Friend) and your donations will be used to support our continuing work.
National LGBT Forum; Race, Religion and Belief
5:30-8:30pm,14th January 2010, Perth. This meeting of the forum will look at the topic of race, religion and belief. As well as a panel of speakers from ethnic minority, religious and LGBT communities, part of the forum will be a roundtable discussion on the topic. We’re looking for your ideas and suggestions on what areas you would like to see on the table for discussion.
LGBT News - Winter Break
Next week's LGBT News (16th December) will be the last of 2009. The next full LGBT News will go out on 20th January.
Forums News
International Human Rights Day
10th December 2009
LGBT rights are human rights
Glasgow Women's Library: Give a shelf to the woman you love!
GWL is working towards relocation to Glasgow's prestigious Mitchell Library, where it will relaunch as an accredited national resource in refurbished premises of excellence: a "Women's Library of Scotland". The
Women on the Shelf initiative has been set up to raise vital funds for this refurbishment. For £10 you can sponsor an individual book. Your dedication will be recorded with an Ex Libris in the new Library. For £100 anyone can sponsor a shelf and dedicate it to a woman of your choice, recorded forever in our new home. For £1,000 you can sponsor a Library section. The Library will have over 100 sections reflecting a range of issues focussing on women. Contact Sue John on 0141 552 8345 or sue.john@womenslibrary.org.uk for more information.
Repeal of Section 28 praised as a radical achievement
Writing in the Scotsman (
6th Dec) Iain Gray says "We must remember the radical achievements in our parliament's early years: the Land Reform Act; the Adults With Incapacity Act; the smoking ban; abolition of clause 2A (the Tories' "gay ban"). We blazed a trail for the rest of the UK to follow." (Parliament should listen to the people, not the political elite)
Edinburgh hosts international LGBT conference
The International Lesbian and Gay Youth Organisation General Assembly 2009 begins tomorrow (Thursday 10th December) Hosted by LGBT Youth Scotland and supported by the Scottish Government, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and Edinburgh City Council, delegates will spend two days discussing the most pressing issues facing LGBT young people. (
PinkPaper)
www.iglyo.com
Talk Scotland Events
Edinburgh: Having a Healthy Christmas!
6-7:30pm, Mon 14th Dec, LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. The final of the ‘Healthy Living’ workshops will advise you on how to keep healthy during the festive season. The day will explore the challenges around LGBT Community safety drawing on personal experiences, the early findings from a new Community Safety Survey and offer an opportunity to learn about and influence police policy through workshops and panel discussions.
Fife: ACPOS LGBT Reference Group Biennial Conference
10am-4pm, Thurs 17th Dec, Scottish Police College, Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine, Fife, FK10 4BE. Free transport from Stirling Rail Station will be provided.
Open to all interested in LGBT community safety in Scotland.
Glasgow: Single Outcome Agreement and Equalities
09:30-12:30, Thurs 17 Dec, Albany Learning & Conference Centre.
Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector is hosting a series of events looking at how the SOA impacts upon specific areas of voluntary and community sector work in the city. The next two events look at what the SOA will mean for organisations working in the fields of Younger People or Equalities These workshops will explore an outcome based planning approach and include lots of examples and participatory exercises. You will identify a range of potential activities and outputs which could deliver relevant strategic priorities. This particular event looks at how the Single Outcome Agreement will impact upon organisations that work in the Equalities field.
Edinburgh: Camp Christmas Classic Film Night
6-9pm, Fri 18th Dec, LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. Celebrating the camp classics and Christmas with mince pies and festive log thrown in.
Inverness: Girlzone social lunch
12:30-2pm, Fri 18th Dec, Wetherspoons, Church St, Inverness. All LGBT women welcome. If you are new, just look for the blue box.
Inverness: Highland LGBT Forum Pub Crawl
Sat 19th Dec. Starts at 8pm in Bar One (corner of Academy Street and Baron Taylor's) and move on from there around 9pm to try out various places across town to find a pub for a regular LGBT night.
www.gay-ness.org.uk
Edinburgh: Winter Concert / Drop in Xmas Party
The LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing celebrates with a Winter Concert at 4-7pm, Sun 20th Dec, and a Drop-In Xmas Party in the Hub, 6-8pm, Mon 21st Dec, at the Centre 9 Howe Street, EH3, Edinburgh,
www.lgbthealth.org.uk
Same-Sex Handholding (SSHH!) Our Silent Revolution
26th December 2009
www.adayinhand.com
International Kiss a Member of the Same Sex Day
1st January 2010
Facebook event
UK News
London: Protest Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Thursday 10 December, 12-2pm, Ugandan High Commission, 58-59 Trafalgar Sq, Charing X, London, WC2N 5DX. On International Human Rights Day, Sexual Minorities Uganda (
SMUG) has called for worldwide protests against the Anti-Homsexuality Bill currently being debated by the Ugandan parliament. Under this proposed new law, gay Ugandans will face execution for certain homosexual acts. See details of the legislation here (
PDF)
Imaan and SMUG urge everyone who can't attend the protest to lobby your MP and MEP: to ask them to write to the Ugandan High Commissioner, Joan Rwabyomere, urging the legislation to be dropped. You can email your MP and MEP
here. You can also email the Ugandan High Commissioner, Joan Rwabyomere, yourself: info@ugandahighcommission.co.uk (
SW Radio Africa)
Petition to Save Lives in Uganda
London: Islamic New Year Prayer Event
Saturday 19th December. As part of celebrating the Islamic New Year, Imaan will be taking members down to the Islamic Centre, 10 Berwick Street, London, W1F 0PH, for a prayer session in the afternoon. If you would like to attend, or would like more details please email Lina, Imaan’s Events Officer on: lina@imaan.org.uk or Pav, Imaan’s Chair on: pav@imaan.org.uk. In the evening, there will be a meeting for those colleagues interested in continuing discussions from October’s annual general meeting to help develop Imaan’s Constitution. The meeting will take place from 7-9pm on Sat 19 December in central London. The venue still has to be confirmed and will be announced in due course. For more details email Lina or Pav. To network with other LGBT Muslims, friends, families and supporters, join the
Imaan Forum.
www.imaan.org.uk
International
India: Bollywood's first gay love scene
"I Am Omar", one of four short stories which make up the Bollywood's film I Am, focuses on male sex workers and homophobic police officers. In one scene, actors Rahul Bose and Arjun Mathur are seen embracing in a public place. They are seen by a police officer who begins to harass them. The film is set in the context of Section 377, the colonial-era law which still bans same-gender sexual activity across much of India. Colin Firth, in a recent interview about his role as a gay college professor in Hollywood's "A Single Man", said : "If you''re a straight actor who takes on the role of a gay man, it''s obviously not the same as being one in this business. I think there are still some constraints against being openly gay. It is to do with whatever sexual taboos are in place. In Hollywood, I know that some actors are far more circumspect about keeping that secret hidden. There are not a lot of openly gay leading men." (
PinkNews,
India Times)
Iraq: Baghdad's night life falls foul of religious right
"The raids came just before midnight at the start of Eid al-Adha, the four holiest days on the Islamic calendar, hundreds of Iraqi police and soldiers stormed each of Baghdad's 300 or so nightclubs. Officers from the most elite units stood outside as soldiers slapped owners' faces, scattered their patrons and dancing girls, ripped down posters advertising upcoming acts, and ordered alcohol removed from the shelves." (
The Guardian) Facebook Group:
SOS: Support Iraqi LGBT
LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation
Equal Marriage in Scotland
MSPs John Wilson and Robin Harper, members of the Public Petitions Committee, propose that the issues raised by the petitions for equal marriage and equal civil partnership should be examined by an ad hoc committee set up with representatives of Government, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and representatives of interested parties, to meet with the petitioners to discuss fully the issues and concerns with regard to the ban on same-sex couples marrying in Scotland.
The Official Report of the part of last Tuesday's Public Petitions Committee meeting discussing the marriage petitions.
The two equal marriage campaigns:
Equal Marriage Scotland /
Petition for Same-Sex Marriage
The Equality Network's position on equal marriage and civil partnership:
www.equality-network.org/marriage
Ireland: launch of bereavement guide for same-sex partners
A bereavement guide for gay and lesbian couples was launched by the Irish Hospice Foundation and the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen) last night. A recent study by the hospice foundation found that healthcare professionals were sometimes complicit in reinforcing the partner’s invisibility. (
Independent,
Irish Times)
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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