22/07/2009
News Sent: 22nd July
In this week's e-mail newsletter: Equality Network News: Trans, Gender Variant and Intersex Fertility Services Survey; EveryOne IN: launch in Glasgow 28th August; Forums News: Sexual Offences Act receives Royal Assent; First civil partnership ceremony in the Western Isles; Talk Scotland Events: Glasgow LGBT Centre to re-open?; Aberdeen: Terrence Higgins Trust moves; Edinburgh: LGBT Community Summer Fete; Edinburgh/Livingston: Shakti Training on Domestic Abuse and BME Children and Young People; UK News: England: NHS fertility treatment unjustly denied; Torbay: Peter Tatchell praises Pride; International: Czech Republic: LGBT community regrets departure of Canadian Ambassador; Denmark: ORAM debuts at the World OutGames Human Rights Conference; Malta: Trans Rights Conference: Putting Trans Rights on the European Agenda; Malta: ILGA-Europe XIII Annual Conference; Europe: Questions about Tory alliance with Polish Party; Lifting the USA HIV ban; Working for All: Stonewall Cymru: Youth and Education; Stonewall Cymru: Volunteering Co-ordinator Officer; LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation: Equal Marriage in England and Wales: petition; Ireland: March for Marriage in Dublin
If you're interested in using the Equality Network's bulletin boards to share information about local and international news and events in your area, e-mail ENnews@equality-network.org by close of day Friday each week for inclusion in next week's mailing.
If you have a Facebook account, you can join the
Equality Network group. Regular news updates and writings on the wall. You can also follow LGBT News on Twitter:
EN_LGBTNews.
The boards at
equality-network.invisionzone.com are now available only for posting news and events. A community discussion board is under development. Please send material for inclusion on the boards and in the weekly e-bulletin by end of day Friday each week.
Editor's note: I will be in Montreal for two weeks from 3rd August, and there will be no LGBT News on 5th, 12th, or 19th August.
Equality Network News
Trans, Gender Variant and Intersex Fertility Services Survey
The
EHRC in Scotland are very keen to hear about the good and bad experiences of trans, gender variant and intersex people and their partners in relation to fertility treatment options and services and in particular NHS facilities. This includes infertility testing and fertility issues information provision, as well as services such as freezing and storing embryos, sperm or eggs and also donor insemination. Please complete this
short online survey if you or your partner identify as trans, gender variant or intersex and you have ever considered seeking any fertility services.
EveryOne IN: launch in Glasgow 28th August
EveryOne IN: Working towards Equality for Minority Ethnic Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in Scotland is the first research of its kind in Scotland and tackles a subject that has long been ignored or deemed “too controversial” to openly discuss. Funded by the Equality & Human Rights Commission and delivered in partnership by Equality Network and Black and Ethnic Minorities Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS), EveryOne IN details the findings from nine months research. E-mail Tim Cowen (timc@equality-network.org) for an invitation.
www.equality-network.org/minorityethniclgbt
Forums News
Sexual Offences Act receives Royal Assent
The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill received Royal Assent last week. The bill overhauls Scotland’s sexual offences law, and removes all the remaining discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill does not make major changes to what is illegal or legal, but it does restructure the law and introduce a clear definition of consent, which hopefully will help lead to more convictions of those who commit rape and sexual assault.
The Scottish Government > News releases
First civil partnership ceremony in the Western Isles
This week the
Stornoway Gazette announced the first “gay wedding” at the registrars' office in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, of the BBC Alba presenter Andrew Robertson to his long-term partner Craig Atkins. In nearly four years since civil partnership became law, this was the first such ceremony in the Western Isles region. A council spokesman said that this ceremony - and the first sailing of a ferry on the Sabbath - showed the islands were now in the 21st century. Several early news reports quoted a statement from the council in 2005 that they would allow civil partnership registration but ban ceremonies, but as Tim Hopkins noted in a letter published in the Herald, such discrimination would be unlawful. (
The Herald,
Aberdeen Press and Journal,
Scotland on Sunday)
Talk Scotland Events
Glasgow LGBT Centre to re-open?
Glasgay! is putting forward a bid to Glasgow City Council to take over the running of the LGBT Centre in Bell Street, which has been closed since the end of April 2009. They propose to re-open it as a hub for the LGBT communities in Glasgow and to run a new annual programme of health, well-being, social and community services in the Centre. To find out more or to support this bid, contact Roxanne Claxton, Project Development Officer/Associate Programmer for Glasgay!, at projects@glasgay.com / 0141 552 7575: their deadline for the bid is 31st July 2009.
www.glasgay.com /
www.glgbt.org.uk
Aberdeen: Terrence Higgins Trust moves
THT Scotland now have premises at: 246 George Street, Aberdeen, AB25 1HN. The premises have yet to be refurbished but THT say they should be ready by the second week in August at the latest: the new address should be used for any mail. THT invite LGBT/health organisations if they have any resources/leaflets that they wish THT to hold for reference please get in touch and let them know.
www.tht.org.uk/contactus/scotland/#aberdeen
Edinburgh: LGBT Community Summer Fete
Saturday 1st Aug, 1pm-6pm, at the LGBT Centre for Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street, Edinburgh. BBQ, raffle, fruit and veg stall hosted by the Edinburgh Community Food Initiative, bake sale, music, a petting zoo and more. Free entry, and all proceeds from stalls going to the LGBT Health and Wellbeing Centre.
Facebook event
www.lgbthealth.org.uk
Edinburgh/Livingston: Shakti Training - Domestic Abuse and BME Children and Young People
An opportunity for voluntary and statutory staff working with children and young people to gain greater understanding of how domestic and culture-based abuse (including forced marriage and "honour" violence) affects black minority ethnic (BME) children and young people;
All dates: 9.30am – 12.30pm
- 13th Aug: Norton Park, Edinburgh
- 10th Sept: LGBT Centre for Health & Wellbeing, Edinburgh
- 17th Sept: West Lothian House, Livingston
- 1st Oct: West Lothian House, Livingston
- 15th Oct: Woods Centre, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh
Delegate Fee - £5. For booking or for further information contact thilini@shaktiedinburgh.co.uk or phone Thilini on 0131 475 2399.
www.shaktiedinburgh.co.uk
UK News
England: NHS fertility treatment unjustly denied
A same-sex couple will receive IVF treatment on the NHS following a successful legal challenge. One of the women had polycystic ovarian syndrome, but the couple were denied NHS funding for IVF treatment on the basis that they were of the same sex. The Trust reversed its decision in June. Earlier this year Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS health board had revised their policy of requiring 12 months of unprotected heterosexual intercourse before IVF treatment, after a same-sex couple applied and were initially denied. (
Pink Paper)
Torbay: Peter Tatchell praises Pride
"It's been a great success. This first gay pride has established a blueprint from which the organisers can build something bigger and better in the future. I can foresee it being a big event in years to come. In every town or community where they hold an event like this it starts off quite small and builds. The combination of beautiful scenery here and the picturesque seaside town is a winning formula." The festival started on Thursday and was launched with the help of elected mayor Nick Bye. Richard Long, landlord at the Meadfoot Inn, said: "It has been a great few days and trade has been very good." (
Torbay Herald Express)
International
Czech Republic: LGBT community regrets departure of Canadian Ambassador
Representatives of the Czech LGBT community have expressed regret that the Canadian Ambassador to Prague, Michael Calcott, will leave his post in August. Ales Rumpel, head of the Mezipatra (Mezzanine) Czech Republic annual LGBT film festival, said: "He is one of the few diplomats who are open about the fact that he is gay. He and his partner were together at all official events." (
Prague Monitor,
Prague Post)
Denmark: ORAM debuts at the World OutGames Human Rights Conference
The newly-formed Organization for Refuge, Asylum, and Migration (ORAM)'s mission is "to advocate for refugees fleeing sexual or gender based violence." Neil Grungras, executive director of ORAM, will discuss “Struggle for Survival: Falling Between the Cracks of the International Refugee Protection Regime" on a panel at the
Copenhagen 2009 World OutGames Human Rights Conference (July 27-29 2009) on “LGBT Asylum-Seekers and Refugees". Co-presenters on the workshop will be Søren Laursen of the National Association for Gays and Lesbians of Denmark (LBL) and Nuno Ferreira of the University of Manchester (UK).
www.oraminternational.org
Malta: Trans Rights Conference: Putting Trans Rights on the European Agenda
28th Oct 2009. Focusing on the European Institutions and their programmes to tackle discrimination of transgender people during the coming years. Both the Council of Europe and the European Union have been invited. (
Gender Spectrum UK)
Malta: ILGA-Europe XIII Annual Conference
29 Oct to 1 Nov 2009. Theme "Overcoming Religious and Cultural Barriers to LGBT Equality". You can register and aplly for a scholarship process via the
ILGA Europe website.
Europe: Questions about Tory alliance with Polish Party
The new European Conservatives and Reformists alliance in the European Parliament, with the two largest groups the UK Conservative MEPs and the Polish Law and Justice (PiS) MEPs, is raising questions both in Poland and in the UK.
- Witold Gadomski, Polish journalist and deputy to the Polish Parliament, in Gazeta Wyborcza: "The Law and Justice's alliance with Britain's Conservative Party may be one of those 'brilliant' moves on the part of the PiS that are eventually going to turn into a disaster."
- Joan Smith in the Independent on David Cameron's association with right-wing Polish politician Michal Kaminski.
Lifting the USA HIV ban
The ban on non-US citizens entering the US if they are HIV+ has now been implemented for 22 years. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are proposing the removal of the ban: the proposal is in its final hurdle of public comment (
CDC website) which ends August 17. Anyone can comment on this proposal, including non-US citizens.
An attempt in the early 1990s to lift the ban failed because of fears of contamination.
Tom Duane, New York State Senator, speaking about his personal experience of AIDS in the early 80s and the stigma still attached to HIV in the present day:
President Barack Obama said this week to the NAACP: "Discrimination must not stand. Not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America." (
Detroit News)
Working for All
Stonewall Cymru: Youth and Education Officer
To develop and lead the Education for All campaign and youth work for Stonewall Cymru. Permanent, full-time (£20,000 pa), starting October 2009.
Stonewall Cymru: Volunteering Co-ordinator
To develop and implement Stonewall Cymru’s volunt+eering strategies. Temporary post, funded by the WCVA Volunteering in Wales fund, until end of March 2010, 2 days p/w (£8,000 pa).
Both posts are based at either the Cardiff or Penmaenmawr offices. Contact liz.morgan@stonewallcymru.org.uk or eleanor.hicks@stonewallcymru.org.uk for more information or a copy of the application pack by email or post. Deadline 10th August. Interviews 17th/18th August in Cardiff.
English:
www.stonewallcymru.org.uk/jobscymru
Welsh:
www.stonewallcymru.org.uk/cyfleodd
LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation
Equal Marriage in England and Wales: petition
A petition has been lodged at the 10 Downing Street website to support equal marriage regardless of sexual orientation: extending the rights of same-sex couples to become legally married as in legal in Canada, Belgium, five states of the USA, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain and South Africa: and equal access to civil partnerships for mixed-sex couples. Because marriage law is devolved, this petition would not directly affect same-sex couples in Scotland: two petitions have already been brought before the Scottish Parliament this year for equality in marriage and civil partnership in Scotland.
petitions.number10.gov.uk/Gay-Marriage
Ireland: March for Marriage in Dublin
The next NOISE protest is MARCH FOR MARRIAGE in Dublin on Sunday 9th August 2009, gathering at City Hall on Dame Street, ending with a rally at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on St Stephen's Green.
lgbtnoise.ie/?p=92
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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