19/11/2009
News sent - 19th November 2009
In this week's e-mail newsletter: Equality Network News: National LGBT Skills Programme: Funding for an Equal Future; Forums News: Anti-Bullying Week: 16th-20th November 2009; Glasgow Youth Services Relocation; LGBT National Youth Council attend Parliament; Comic Relief: Funding for "Sport for Change"; Peter Tatchell and Bishop Holloway; Talk Scotland Events: Young Scot: Sounds Right; Edinburgh: Art Workshops Identity; Glasgow: Read out! Read In!; Edinburgh: Next Reclaim the Night Meeting; SCVO: Building our Future; Inverness: Swans of Scotland; Edinburgh: Development Day on Dating Violence; Dumfries and Galloway: Volunteer!; World AIDS Day: HIV Reality; UK News: Prime Minister records video message for World AIDS Day; Intersex: NHS claimed as pioneer; Stephen Fry wins gay humanist award; International: 16 Days of Activism against gender violence; Uganda: Anti-gay US group speaks out against Anti-Homosexuality Bill; US: Oldest LGBT newspaper closes down;
LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation: Are lesbians better at raising children?; Portugal: gay marriage soon
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www.scottishlgbt.org/Events
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Equality Network News
National LGBT Skills Programme: Funding an Equal Future
A one day training event for
LGBT organisations and groups on funding. The course is free to attend and there are 16 places available. Contact Scott@equality-network.org if you'd like to know more or want to book a place.
Forums News
Anti-Bullying Week: 16th-20th November 2009
www.antibullyingweek.co.uk
Speaking at the National Anti-Bullying Week Conference in Glasgow, Schools Minister Keith Brown said: "Bullying is never acceptable, which is why we must ensure that incidences are dealt with quickly and effectively. We must also work together to prevent bullying, as much as possible, from occurring in the first place."
Dundee MSP Joe FitzPatrick put forward a
parliamentary motion on Homophobic Bullying, proposing that the Parliament welcome Stonewall’s Education for All campaign, which aims to tackle homophobic bullying in schools; and notes with concern research that shows that 9 in 10 secondary school teachers and more than two in five primary school teachers report that their pupils currently experience homophobic bullying, name-calling or harassment.
To find out more about LGBT Youth Scotland's work at RespectME:
www.respectme.org.uk
To find out more about Stonewall's Anti-Bullying Week activities
www.stonewall.org.uk/antibullying
Scottish Anti-Bullying Steering (SABS)
this week launched a consultation that will run until 26th February 2010.
Glasgow Youth Services Relocation
The LGBT Youth Scotland services in Glasgow have relocated to a permanent new home, having been nomadic since the LGBT Centre in Glasgow closed in April this year.
Find out more about LGBT Youth Scotland's Glasgow Youth Services.
LGBT National Youth Council attend Parliament
On 26th November, the
LGBT NYC are attending Parliament, starting the day with a tour of the building, and then will watch First Minister’s questions in the chamber. In the afternoon members of the NYC have invited MSPs along to meet them and to find out more about what the LGBT NYC is and does. The event is sponsored by Aileen Campbell MSP. For more information about the NYC, email info@lgbtyouth.org.uk or
add them on bebo.
Comic Relief: Funding for "Sport for Change"
The funding programme
Sport for Change will open on 14th November 2010. The aim of the programme will be to understand more about how sport can play a part in delivering positive change within the lives of individuals and communities.
Peter Tatchell and Bishop Holloway
Peter Tatchell this week appeared at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, to speak with the former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway. This event was part of the Inspirations at NLS series. Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for LGBT rights since the early 1970s, and has earned worldwide recognition for his championing of a wide variety of causes. In 2001 he attempted a citizens’ arrest on Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe, and in May 2007 was assaulted by anti-gay rights protestors during a march in Moscow – although he has said previously that he is not deterred “one iota” from returning to Russia to protest. (
PinkNews,
DeadlineScotland)
Talk Scotland Events
Young Scot: Sounds Right
Thurs 26th Nov, 7pm-10pm, Edinburgh Corn Exchange. In recognition of 20 years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Young Scot have designed an event:
Sounds Right, to include a hunt for three talented young bands and the launch of the EHRC Young Brits at Art 2010 competition. Free and open to all 11–17 year-olds attending as part of a recognised youth group. Supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Email soundsright@youngscot.org, freephone Young Scot InfoLine on 0808 801 0338.
Edinburgh: Art Workshops Identity
1-5pm, Sun 22nd Nov,
LGBT Health and Wellbeing Centre, Edinburgh. "Who are you?" The second of the facilitated art workshops run by the Health and Wellbeing Centre, Edinburgh, gives you the chance to express your identity in any way you see fit!
Glasgow: Read out! Read In!
7pm to 9pm, Tues 24th Nov,
Glasgow Women’s Library. The launch of a new CCA project: A reading group led by Dr Jane Goldman focusing on her selection of starting points for Read Out! Read In! Feminist Lines of Flight in Art and Politics. E-mail hannah@cca-glasgow.com to reserve a place.
Edinburgh: Next Reclaim the Night Meeting
If you would like to be involved in the planning of the next Reclaim the Night march in Edinburgh, the next meeting will be held Tuesday 24th November at 6pm, in the lounge room of Teviot (Edinburgh uni student union, Bristo Square), on the second floor. The room is wheelchair accessible.
SCVO: Building our Future
From 10:15am, Wed 25th Nov, Glasgow City Chambers, George Square, Glasgow, G2 1DU. Policy makers are increasingly recognising the voluntary sector's contribution to building equalities and human rights in Scotland. This
SCVO conference will provide space for the voluntary sector to articulate its own vision for building equalities in our society over the next 5 years, and to identify priority actions to deliver this. Contact Helen Swatton 0141 225 8019. Following from the conference, SCVO will hold its Members Briefing and AGM from 3.30pm. This event is open to all SCVO members. At 5.30pm SCVO is hosting a drinks reception and evening lecture delivered by Alan Miller, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. The Evening Lecture is open to everyone.
Inverness: Swans of Scotland
7-9pm, 26th Nov, at the Beaufort Hotel in Inverness. The regular group meeting for trans people in Inverness.
Edinburgh: Development Day on Dating Violence
11am - 4pm, Friday 27th Nov, SWA Offices, 2nd Floor, 132 Rose Street, Edinburgh. This session is aimed at policy makers who wish to explore effective ways of mainstreaming work around young people's experiences of abuse in intimate relationships into policy and practice. Email emma.Sutherland@scottishwomensaid.org.uk
Dumfries and Galloway: Volunteer!
Dumfries and Galloway Community Volunteers are holding two events for people who want to get involved in community organisations locally: Thurs 3rd Dec (6.30pm-8.30pm) Sanquhar Town Hall, Church Road, Sanquhar; Sat 5th Dec (11am-2pm) OASIS Youth Centre, Newall Terrace, Dumfries.
www.dgcommunityvolunteers.co.uk
World AIDS Day: HIV Reality
What are you doing to commemorate
World AIDS Day? If you are organising an event on or around 1st December for WAD, add it to the National LGBT Forum events calendar.
UK News
Prime Minister records video message for World AIDS Day
Gordon Brown has recorded a video message for World AIDS Day. In the message, Brown paid tribute to the LGBT community in the 1980s, which led the way on HIV and AIDS campaigning. (
PinkNews,
Pink Paper)
Ian McKellen and National Anti-Bullying Week
As part of National Anti-Bullying Week, Stonewall has launched another national ad campaign – this time on the buses. 3,500 bus interior panels in England, Scotland and Wales will display the pupil-devised slogan to the campaign ‘Some people are gay. Get over it!’ Ian McKellen recently visited a Birmingham secondary school to highlight the issue of homophobic bullying. (
Pink Paper)
Intersex: NHS claimed as pioneer
The NHS is claimed to be the first health service in the world to begin treating intersex babies on the assumption that they should not automatically be operated on. (
PinkNews)
Helen Rumbelow in
The Times: "When I ask Sophia, in my blundering way, which sex she is, genetically, she replies: 'Genetically, I am me.'"
Stephen Fry wins gay humanist award
Andrew Copson, Chair of
GALHA, presenting the award, said: “Both as a public figure and in his professional career as an actor, writer, comedian and broadcaster, Stephen has exemplified the best of humanism. His thirst for knowledge backed by intellectual rigour, laced with wit, erudition, moral seriousness, compassion and a willingness to go against the grain if he has to, are all qualities that humanists prize and promote.” (
Pink Paper)
International
16 Days of Activism against gender violence
Commit • Act • Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!
The 16 Days begin on 25th November, the International Day Against Violence Against Women and run to 10th December International Human Rights Day. (
Rutgers,
Engender)
Uganda: Anti-gay US group speaks out against Anti-Homosexuality Bill
In Uganda, being gay is already illegal, but the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, introduced in October, would expand the punishment to include life imprisonment, and some cases would constitute a capital offence. US group Exodus International, which believes that homosexuality is "not what God intended", sent a letter to Uganda's president saying this legislation would make their mission to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality "a difficult if not impossible task to carry out." This week the Executive Council of the Anglican Church of Canada voted unanimously to oppose the Bill as a “fundamental violation of human rights” and Christian groups in Britain opposing the Bill include Accepting Evangelicals, Changing Attitude, Courage, Ekklesia, Fulcrum, Inclusive Church and the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM). (
Ekklesia)
US: Oldest LGBT newspaper closes down
This week after 40 years of chronicling the LGBT community in the US capital and elsewhere, the Washington Blade ceased operation. The
Washington Post editorial yesterday said: "The Blade's importance to our area cannot be overstated. From the HIV/AIDS epidemic to hate crimes to the drive for marriage equality, the paper reported stories that the mainstream press initially didn't or wouldn't cover." The staff of the now-shuttered Washington Blade plans to publish a revived edition this week, investigating who killed the gay weekly newspaper. (
Miami Herald,
PinkNews)
LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation
Are lesbians better at raising children?
Stephen Scott, director of research at the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, has said his research shows children from lesbian couples do better in life than the offspring of heterosexual couples. (
Pink Paper,
Times)
Portugal: gay marriage soon
The new Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates will pass a measure to make marriage legal for same-sex couples as soon as the new Socialist Party government is formed. Anti-gay groups within the Socialist Party are demanding that the freedom to be marry should be voted on by referendum. (
Pink Paper,
The-News-Net)
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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