08/04/2009
News Sent - 8th April 2009
In this week's e-mail newsletter: A Day In Hand: IDAHO UK 2009: Sunday 17th May; Forums News: Young Scotland Programme: a free place for someone from your organisation?; Writers wanted for Lesbilicious; Scottish Police Chiefs support diversity; Bishop asks: Are religions the biggest obstacle to LGBT equality?; Europe: Sign for more women in decision making!; Talk Scotland: LGBT Youth Scotland Annual Conference; Moray: Big Deal; Glasgow: Drawn Out & Painted Pink; Musselburgh: ‘A Peace of Art’: April 2009; Scottish Green Party National Conference; UK News: Tony Blair questions Catholic homophobia; International: Historic moment for LGBT rights in the European Parliament; US: Deportation of lesbian mother; LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation: Sweden approves same-sex marriage; US: Iowa, Vermont, and Washington D.C.
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.
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.
A Day In Hand: IDAHO UK 2009: Sunday 17th May
On the weekend of Sunday 17th May,
A Day In Hand will organise one of the biggest same-sex hand holding events in the world,
IDAHO is the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, founded by Louis Georges Tin in 2005. Campaigns and Inititives take place on or around 17th May every year to combat prejudice against LGBT people. May 17th is chosen because it marks the anniversary of the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of mental diseases.
Moscow Pride 2009 is set to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest, the weekend of Sun 17th May, as well as with IDAHO. With the eyes of the world focussed on Moscow, LGBT people and their friends and families will parade with Pride and be joined by those attending the Eurovision Song Contest in an event of International solidarity with Russian LGBT. (
Facebook)
If you plan an event, big or small, to mark IDAHO, send it to the UK-wide calendar of events at the IDAHO UK website:
www.idaho.org.uk
This year the IDAHO theme is
End Transphobia: Respect Gender Identity. Please
sign the petition to support this campaign.
Forums News
Young Scotland Programme: a free place for someone from your organisation?
If you have a young person between the ages of 18 and 32 on your staff or working for your organisation as a volunteer, they may be eligible to apply for a free place on the forthcoming Young Scotland Programme organised by the Institute of Contemporary Scotland. The summer course of the Young Scotland Programme will be held in, Stranraer, Tuesday 2 June - Saturday 6 June. All expenses covered except for travel to and from the venue.
For information about the
Young Scotland Programme, please click on the link.
Scottish Police Chiefs support diversity
A new booklet outlining police commitment to diversity has been put together by The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) in order to respectfully recognise Scotland’s diverse populace.
Ian Latimer, chair of ACPOS' Equality and Diversity committee, said: “Scotland’s communities have changed significantly, and continue to change. It is important to provide guidance and support to staff and ensure that they can more effectively meet the needs of our diverse communities”.
Scottish Conservative MP Bill Aitken claimed the booklet was created for those “living in a politically correct bubble". (
Pink News)
Are religions the biggest obstacle to LGBT equality?
Bishop Robinson of New Hampshire, at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion's annual Currie Lecture in Law and Religion,said "Let's be honest, most of the discrimination ... has come at the hands of religious people, and the greatest single hindrance to the achievement of full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people can be laid at the doorstep of the three Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam." Robinson has been open about his homosexuality since the 1980s and has been in a committed relationship with his partner for two decades, and has been at the centre of a near-global controversy over his sexual orientation since his investiture as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003. But his dual commitments as a Christian and a citizen, he says, compel him to work toward social justice for all. He quoted Harvey Milk, the gay San Francisco politician assassinated in 1978, who once said: "Coming out is the most political thing you can do." (
Ekklesia)
Europe: Sign for more women in decision making!
European Women’s Lobby 50/50 Campaign: No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality! If you agree that women and men should be equally represented in all European Union institutions,
support the 50/50 Campaign.
Talk Scotland Events
LGBT Youth Scotland Annual Conference
The team at LGBT Youth Scotland would like to clarify that the Dundee: inCLuDe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Young People national conference event (listed in last week's LGBT news) actually took place in 2008. Apologies - but this misinformation was sent to the Equality Network due to an IT error at LGBT Youth Scotland. For information about 2009's national conference, please visit
www.lgbtyouth.org.uk, and register to the email newsletter.
www.lgbtyouth.org.uk
Moray: Big Deal
Big Deal is the Moray LGBT group for under 26's, meeting every month in Elgin. A chance to get together and meet new people and take part in social activities.
www.bebo.com/morayyouth
Glasgow: Drawn Out & Painted Pink
Kate Charlesworth & David Shenton, two of the best-known British lesbian and gay cartoonists, exhibit their work at the
Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GoMA), April 9th - June 7th
Musselburgh: ‘A Peace of Art’: April 2009
Standing Up to Hatred: exhibition opens at the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, on 8th April 2009.
Primary school pupils from Meadow Primary School in Haddington have been working with Edinburgh photographer Leah Robb and poet/writer Dr Colin Will from Dunbar on a series of 6 creative workshops exploring ‘Stand Up To Hatred’, the key theme of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2009. Their work created a photography exhibition annotated with pieces of creative writing by the school pupils and entitled ‘A Peace of Art’. The Exhibition opens in the Brunton Theatre on the 8th of April before moving to Brunton Hall, Musselburgh and then to the Prestongrange Museum in East Lothian until October 2009 to link up with East Lothian Council’s Museums Service Transatlantic Slave Trade Exhibition. For more information about this project please contact Helen Duncan, Cultural Co-ordinator on 0131 653 52 67 or email hduncan@eastlothian.gov.uk
Scottish Green Party National Conference
30th October - 1st November, in Easterbrook Hall at the Crichton, Dumfries. The conference theme will be “Green – the Colour of Money” and sessions will focus on the Green New Deal and the importance of investing now in the Green economy of the future. To register your interest (no commitment at this stage) in exhibiting or advertising at this event, or for more details, email Alis Ballance at conference@scottishgreens.org.uk or phone : 07979 707231
UK News
Tony Blair questions Catholic homophobia
In an interview with
Attitude, America's oldest LGBT publication, Tony Blair has this month questioned the Pope's attitude towards homosexuality, arguing that religious leaders must start "rethinking" the issue. Tony Blair, who converted to Catholicism after resigning as UK prime minister in 2007, told the gay magazine Attitude that views had to keep "evolving". (
BBC)
International
Historic moment for LGBT rights in the European Parliament
The Report on "Rights of EU citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States" calls on Member States to recognize the freedom of movement of all Union citizens (including same-sex partners) without imposing the recognition of same-sex marriages.
The other report backed the European Commission's Equality Treatment Directive proposal, which will outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, disability, age and religion in social protection and health care, social benefits, education and access to goods and services, including housing. The Parliament also believes the directive should cover multiple discrimination, based on two or more grounds. Michael Cashman of the European Parliament's
Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights welcomed these reports, saying "When extremism is on the rise throughout Europe, we must speak out for those who suffer inequality, harassment and outright discrimination every single day! Now it is up to the Council to once and for all end the hierarchy of discrimination in Europe and affirm that all Europeans must be equally protected.
US: Deportation of lesbian mother
A couple who were married in San Francisco in 2004, when San Francisco issued marriage licenses in defiance of state law, have been threatened with deportation. The ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages prevents the American from sponsoring Filipino partner of 23 years for immigration. The stay in implementing the deportation order was issued by the Department of Homeland Security. It will be in effect until April 22 so that she can file an appeal. Across the country, 37,000 couples face circumstances similar to that of this couple. The Uniting American Families Act was re-introduced in Congress last month that would allow Americans in a same-sex relationship to sponsor their “permanent partners” for legal residency in the United States. This bill is supported by the White House. (
365gay)
Working for All
Writers wanted for Lesbilicious
Lesbilicious, a UK news website for lesbian/bisexual women, is recruiting for four writers who will each have a monthly column on Lesbilicious. "We are looking for writers who can write in an engaging and entertaining manner about their own experiences. The purpose of the columns is to give Lesbilicious readers an intimate insight into four different lives. While the columns don’t have to necessarily focus on sexuality, we do request that all writers identify as women and LGBT."
www.lesbilicious.co.uk/books-art/write-for-lesbilicious
LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation
Sweden approves same-sex marriage
Six of the seven parties in Swedish parliament have backed a proposal to introduce a gender-neutral marriage law. The proposal passed at the start of April with a 261 to 22 vote and 16 abstentions. This will make Sweden the 8th country in the world to legislate same-sex marriage (the first seven are Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, and, as of this month, 4 out of 49 states in the US). (
Pink News)
US: Iowa, Vermont, and Washington D.C.
In the same week, Iowa's Supreme Court decided that the state's ban on same-sex marriages could not be justified, the Vermont Legislature passed a bill making same-sex marriage legal, and the District of Columbia Council unanimously approved a bill to recognise same-sex marriages that have been performed in areas where they are legal. The first same-sex marriages in Iowa will be performed on 24th April. New York State also recognises same-sex marriage; and with Massachusetts and Connecticut, there are now four states in the US where same-sex couples can marry. California's Supreme Court is still considering the status of the same-sex marriages performed before the passage of Proposition 8 last November banned same-sex marriage in that state. Nine other state legislatures have this year announced they will debate legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry. (
New York 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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