01/07/2009
News Sent - 1st July 2009
In this week's e-mail newsletter: Equality Network News: STA Forum; National LGBT Forum; Equality Network and STA at Pride; Forums News: Pride Scotia: police join the march in uniform; Gay Football: Not Exclusive; ACPOS launches new diversity strategy; Scott Rennie leaves Brechin: says "always been a joy and privilege"; Discrimination and the churches; Talk Scotland Events: Glasgow: film screening to commemorate Stonewall Riots; Edinburgh: Film screening "Jesus of Montreal"; Edinburgh: LGBT Short Film Night; Edinburgh: Women Thinking Equality; Edinburgh: Police Surgery; Inverness: GirlZone; Dumfries: Mixed Bag Summer Festival 'BAGSTOCK'; EHRC Roadshows 2009; UK News: Pride London 4th July; Nottingham: The Role of the EU in UN Human Rights Reform; Pink Paper: the free newspaper's obituary; International: Netherlands: Mayor opposes homophobia; US: Stonewall Riots - then and now; Uganda: Anti-gay offensive on footballers; Working for All: PATH (Scotland): Housing Traineeship in Dundee; LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation: Equal Marriage campaign in Scotland; Ireland: Civil Partnership Bill published

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Equality Network News
STA Forum
The Scottish Transgender Alliance Forum is an opportunity for transgender people from across Scotland to meet each other, find out about the latest goings on in transgender equality work, share knowledge and discuss equality issues that matter to them.
The third STA Forum will take place in the Thistle Hotel, 36 Cambridge Street, Glasgow, G2 3HN on Saturday 4th July from 1pm to 4:30pm. It will discuss the UK Equality Bill and the development of a new Scottish LGBT Community website. There are also three small focus groups for participants to pick from:on trans experience of fertility treatment and how to make the NHS more trans-friendly (EHRC); on Transgender Media Representation and how to challenge negative portrayals of trans people (Jane Carnall); on Transphobic Hate Crime – concerns about reporting and ideas about how the justice system can help trans people (Tim Hopkins). To register as attending, please complete the online registration form by 3rd July 2009.
Or phone James Morton on 07840 570 202 to confirm you are attending.
www.scottishtrans.org

National LGBT Forum: "LGBT participation"
Wednesday 15th July, 5pm- 8pm, Central Scotland Police HQ, Randolphfield, Stirling, FK8 2HD. If you would like to attend contact Scott Cuthbertson on LGBTForum@equality-network.org.

Equality Network and STA at Pride
Our thanks for your generous support at Pride Scotia: we hope to raise the pink saltire again.


Forums News
Pride Scotia: police join the march in uniform
About 70 members of the Gay Police Association joined the Pride Scotia march in uniform this year. The Association's Scottish Co-ordinator, Chief Inspector David Lyle, said: "For a number of years now our members from all over the country have taken part in pride parades in England, but this year will be the first time that we have taken part in one in Scotland." (Edinburgh Evening News)

Gay Football: Not Exclusive
Aberdeen-based Stormers FC was formed in May 2008 with five players: around twenty people now attend the meetings, ages ranging from 18 to 49. This week they played their first match against Edinburgh-based HotScots FC, Scotland's only other gay football team. Anyone interested in joining either club should e-mail chairman@stormersfc.co.uk / mail@hotscotsfc.com. The Scottish Sun ran a startled story on "the only straight man in gay football", but neither club discriminates by sexual orientation. (Aberdeen Press and Journal)

ACPOS launches new diversity strategy
The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) last week launched a new strategy aimed at putting equality and diversity at the heart of daily policing. The ACPOS Equality and Diversity Strategy 2009-2011 is intended build on the successes of the previous strategy established in 2004. The new version describes a programme of activity and an approach to policing designed to meet the challenges of policing on the basis of four key commitments. (PoliceProfessional)

Scott Rennie leaves Brechin: says "always been a joy and privilege"
Scott Rennie had a congregation of over 300 people in Brechin Cathedral on 28th June as he conducted his last service in the town. “A big thank you to you all. I’ve been blessed with a very loving congregation. It has never been hard work to be your minister – it has always been a joy and a privilege.” His first sermon as the minister called to the Queens Cross church in Aberdeen will be on Sunday 5th July. (Aberdeen Press and Journal)

Discrimination and the churches
A discussion by Simon Sarmiento, the founder of the Thinking Anglicans on what constitutes "just discrimination" in the eyes of the religious leaders who object to the anti-discrimination provisions of the Equality Bill. (Ekklesia)
The Equality Bill 2008-9 and church responses to it. (Ekklesia)


Talk Scotland Events
Glasgow: film screening to commemorate Stonewall Riots
Thursday 2 July, FREE entry, film at 4.00pm, panel discussion at 6.00pm: 1995 film Stonewall.
Perceptions of Victimhood: A film screening and panel discussion to commemorate the Stonewall Riots
For more information about these events, or sh[OUT], phone 0141 287 3050.
www.glasgowmuseums.com

Edinburgh: Film screening "Jesus of Montreal"
Thursday 2 July, 7pm-9:30pm, MCC Edinburgh, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge.
The first night of our new Faith and Film group starts with Jesus of Montreal (cert 18.). Film this week, discussion evening Thursday 9th July at 7pm. For more information contact faithandfilm@mccedinburgh.org Facebook event.
www.mccedinburgh.com

Edinburgh: LGBT Short Film Night
Friday 3 July, 6pm-9pm. "Great shorts on a Friday" at the LGBT Centre for Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street, Edinburgh Facebook event.
www.lgbthealth.org.uk

Edinburgh: Women Thinking Equality
Monday 6 July, 7pm, £10 per head (£5 to Engender). The Raj, 87-91a Henderson Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6ED. Engender is launching the publication of their Women Thinking Equality discussion papers - the results of a series of unique discussions between women of all equality strands. "Please join us for a Fundraising Dinner at The Raj, Edinburgh. Hear about the outcomes of our Women Thinking Equality project. Enjoy a fantastic Indian Buffet. Collect your Women Thinking Equality pack and support Engender's work.... all for only £10." RSVP karen@engender.org.uk or call 0131 558 9596 by Friday 3rd July.
www.engender.org.uk

Edinburgh: Police Surgery
Monday 6 July, 6.30-7.30pm, Lothian and Borders Police run a drop-in police session "to give you a chance to seek advice, raise any concerns you have around safety issues, report incidents, or make any comments on policing in your area in a friendly informal setting". You can also use this session to make remote reports of any incidents. This provides you with an anonymous way to report of to give information to help the police fight hate crimes.
www.lgbthealth.org.uk

Inverness: GirlZone
Friday 17 July, GirlZone lunch from 12.30pm - 2pm in the restaurant upstairs in Debenhams (take the lift to the very top floor in the Eastgate shopping centre, don't go to the cafe on the ground floor!) GirlZone is a friendly, informal social group for all ages. For more details, contact Joanne at girlzone@gay-ness.org.uk
www,gay-ness.org.uk/girlzone.html

Dumfries:Mixed Bag Summer Festival: 'BAGSTOCK'
Friday 31st July, 8pm-2am, QOS Lounge, Palmerston Park, Dumfries.
"Complete with festival 'tent', hippie vibe and great music, so be sure to come along in yer dancin' wellies for THE Queer Party in South West Scotland!"
www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/get-involved/dumfries/mixed-bag.htm

EHRC Roadshows 2009
The Equality and Human Rights Commission's Scotland Legal Team is visiting a series of locations to host a lunch and afternoon Information Session. The event is for advice-giving organisations, as well as frontline representatives of voluntary, community and educational organisations who give advice or assistance directly to the public.
The event is FREE but spaces are limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. If unsure whether this would be relevant to your work, feel free to contact James Andrew on 0141 228 5917 / David Reilly on 0141 228 5967 to discuss.
A confirmed agenda will be sent out closer to the time: suggestions on the most relevant equality issues are welcomed. Email or phone with your thoughts. Email roadshow@equalityhumanrights.com if you wish to attend and ask for a booking form.

• Rutherglen: Town Hall – 12th August 2009
• Dunfermline: Vine Venue - 20th August 2009
• Skye: Aros Venue – 14th September 2009
• Dumfries: Cairndale Hotel – 16th September 2009
• Dundee: West Park – 27th October 2009

www.equalityhumanrights.com


UK News

Pride London 4th July
Baker Street at 1pm through Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square: fair and music festival from 3pm plus street party in Soho. David Cameron, who had accepted an invitation to speak, yesterday pulled out, claiming a conflicting event in his constituency. (Pink News)
www.pridelondon.org
Alice-Azania Jarvis, writing in The Independent, says this year's Pride in London is "rapidly becoming the most contentious in the event's history"
Downing Street says the Prime Minister cannot join the march, citing "security considerations", but Sarah Brown intends to march after she and Gordon Brown host a pre-Pride reception in Downing Street. (PinkNews) Peter Tatchell, who is not invited to the Downing Street reception, is interviewed on UK Gay News and Homovision.
FTM London are hosting a breakfast at the Segafredo Cafe on the corner of Dorset Street and Baker Street from 10.30 am till 12 noon (Segafredo Zanetti Espresso, 72 Baker Street, W1U 6TA).
Trans London are organising a picnic for after the parade.
London House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence invite the LGBTQS community to St Anne's churchyard in Soho for 4.30pm, "to join them in remembering those who have gone before us and fought for the many privileges we enjoy today." Candles will be lit as a mark of respect for those who have suffered as a result of HIV/AIDS. Facebook event
www.londonsisters.org

Nottingham: The Role of the EU in UN Human Rights Reform
The 10th Annual Conference of the Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI), Partnerships and Reform for Human Rights Protection, will take place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September in Nottingham (UK). It will take place in the framework of COST Action IS0702. There is an open invitation to attend and it is not necessary to be associated with an AHRI or COST institution. Registration details and all conference information can be found at the Human Rights Law Centre website.

Pink Paper: the free newspaper's obituary
Tris Reid-Smith, the newspaper's editor, said: "It was never a problem with readership, we're doing really well with that, better than we can deliver on. I don't think advertisers have fully latched on to the power of the gay market. Look at the average banking advert and there's always the stereotypical heterosexual family with a Volvo and a garden. They never try to reach out to new customers." The Pink Paper will now be expanding their online edition and providing a free e-mail news bulletin on Friday: www.pinkpaper.com. (Independent)


International
Netherlands: Mayor opposes homophobia
Ahmed Marcouch, Mayor of Slotervaart since 2006, has been promoting action against homophobia and homophobic hate-crime in this Amsterdam suburb, supporting the opening of an LGBT cultural centre, LGBT associations to give briefings at schools, and the council will take measures to teach mothers in immigrant households about LGBT rights in the Netherlands. The mayor, a former spokesman for Amsterdam's mosques, has organised debates on the topic in mosques to press home his message: "I always say: your freedom to be an orthodox Muslim is the same as that of a homosexual to be homosexual. Freedom is guaranteed in the constitution" of the Netherlands." (France24)

US: Stonewall Riots - then and now
In an unprecedented White House gathering of LGBT leaders and activists on Monday 29th June, President Obama strongly affirmed his commitment to enacting equality legislation and overturning discriminatory laws and policies. The Director of the Human Rights Campaign responded: "President Obama's remarks today were welcomed and appreciated and, as he stated, it is the actions to advance equality - not simply the words - that will be the true marker by which this White House will be judged." (People's Weekly World)

• Forty years on, the BBC's Philippa Thomas talked to one of the rioters, Martin Boyce, about his memories of the night it started. (BBC)
• Johann Hari in the Independent: "It is now 40 years since the start of a riot for freedom in a small tavern in New York City – and the riot has never stopped. It is spreading slowly across the world, to every continent, to Mumbai and Shanghai and Dubai. Everywhere it goes, it wins, in time." (Independent)
• A modern-day Stonewall in a Texas bar: police attacked gay men at 1am on Sunday 28th June 2009. (Star-Telegram) Facebook Group: Rainbow Lounge Raid
• A panel of New York National Guard officers has recommended that an Iraq war veteran who was openly gay must leave the service, his supporters said on Tuesday 30th June. (CNN) President Obama claimed he wished to end the practice of expelling openly-LGBT people from the military, but LGBT activists say he has done nothing while over 200 soldiers have been given a dishonorable discharge for their sexual orientation since his inauguration. (SLDN)

Uganda: Anti-gay offensive on footballers
Bobby Williamson, the former Rangers and West Bromwich star who is now head coach of the Ugandan national squad, has been asked to take part in an anti-sodomy offensive in Uganda, this time targeted at Ugandan football. (Scotsman) The Ugandan football association, FUFA, are persisting with their efforts despite the fact that Uganda could be expelled from FIFA if their actions do not fall in line with the pro-inclusion policies of the sport’s global governing body. (DeadlineScotland) Last year in Uganda three Ugandan LGBT and HIV/AIDS activists, Pepe Julian Onziema, Valentine Kalende and Usaam Mukwaya, were arrested by the Uganda Police Force at the HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting in Kampala, where they were peacefully protesting against statements made by a Ugandan Government official that no funds would be directed toward HIV programmes benefiting to men who have sex with men (AFRol.com, ProtectionOnline), one of many violent incidents directed at LGBT Ugandans over the past several years. (ILGA)


Working for All

PATH (Scotland): Housing Traineeship in Dundee
PATH offers Positive Action Training Schemes which have been specifically designed to redress the under-representation of black and minority ethnic communities in employment in Scottish Housing. (This scheme is promoted under section 37 of the 1976 Race Relations Act and is currently supported by The Scottish Government and Local Authorities and Housing Associations across Scotland.) Bield Housing Association in Dundee offers a 3 year paid traineeship with an emphasis on social care and working with elderly people. £9,500 - £12,000 per year. Closing date 21 July 2009.
For further information and to register your interest for future Housing Traineeship see: PathScotland/Training


LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation

Equal Marriage campaign in Scotland
The Scottish campaign for the right to same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partnership was taking signatures for the petition at Pride Scotia. You can also sign their petition at the Scottish Parliament website.
www.equalmarriage.org.uk

Ireland: Civil Partnership Bill published
The Irish Civil Partnership Bill was published yesterday by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern. Civil partnership in Ireland will allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnership and allow them to enjoy the same statutory protection as married couples across a wide range of areas. (Irish Times) However, it stops short of marriage. Rights and obligations include the protection of a shared home, pension rights, the right to succession and equality with married couples of treatment under the tax and social welfare codes. Kieran Rose, Chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, said Dermot Ahern and the Government were to be congratulated on bringing forward the reform. However, concerns remained about issues of legal support and recognition of “the many children being parented by same-sex couples”. (Irish Times)
“Pride and Prejudice” was the theme of the Dublin Pride parade with many wearing half a tuxedo or half a wedding dress to symbolise the “half measures” offered in the Bill. (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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