Nepal: Kathmandu, Luring Gays as Tourism Destination

KATHMANDU, March 24 - Life's pretty rough on gays and lesbians, more so while travelling. Even on a simple occasion like eating out, more often than not they are subjected to discrimination. For instance, waiters get nosy about their appearance and may even ask them about their sexual identity. Fortunately, thanks to Nepal's tourism and service industry, foreign gays and lesbians do not have to suffer like in other countries. In a break from the traditional mindset, some of the country's tour operators have now geared up to lure foreign gay and lesbian tourists. Earlier, this kind of travel used to be closeted. A number of restaurants, discos and hotels have been established in the country that cater to gay and lesbian couples. Employees in these establishments have been trained to behave better so that visiting couples get the respect they are looking for. Popular travel website utopia-asia.com has listed these various places where foreign gays and lesbians are treated differently. However, proprietors of these venues rarely open up regarding the service they provide. Another travel website -- www.visitnepal2011.com -- has come to the fore calling gays and lesbians to visit Nepal. This website has posted a separate section for gay/lesbian travel but does not disclose its travel features. Notably, according to Lonely Planet's website, some foreign gays and lesbians have been choosing the country as the most romantic rendezvous. Owing to the country's deep-rooted culture of respecting guests, scores of foreign gays and lesbians travel in the country every year without any hindrance, say travel operators. But this is a subject rarely discussed. "It is something that foreign guests are always treated in a good manner," says Jyoti Adhikari, President of Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, an umbrella organisation of more than 700 travel agencies in the country. "Compared to other western countries, foreign gays and lesbians are not discriminated against here." Adhikari admits that a large number of travellers have been visiting the country since years and no case of discrimination has come to the fore. "Some restaurants and hotels in Kathmandu offer good treatment to these couples," he informs. Likewise, Sunil Babu Pant, a lawmaker and president of Blue Diamond Society, an organisation that advocates the rights of gays and lesbians, also admits these tourists have never been discriminated in the country whereas Nepalis from the same community are always prone to harsh treatment. "With travel package for foreign gays and lesbians, local sexual minorities can get employment opportunity in the tourism sector," says Pant. "The government itself should take initiative in this regard." The Supreme Court in a landmark verdict recently said gays and lesbians were "natural" people. It directed the government to remove all discrimination against the community and ensure for them the rights enjoyed by all other citizens.

For more information visit:
http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/nepal-kathmandu-luring-gays-as-tourism-destination/

Getting to Know GLBT Poets: Marilyn Hacker

by selena

Something about white space on a page used to make my brain shut off, as if it was a warning: “Brace yourself, concentrate, this is going to be profound.” In retrospect, I think I blame the sparseness of poetry in my education. We read Shakespeare and Langston Hughes. No one ever suggested to me that poetry could be in a language I found familiar, could speak to experiences that resonated with me. I discovered that much later.

Here, on a screen, I think reading poems is that much more difficult. The white space doesn’t end with a binding or an edge, but with your email notifications, ads flashing in the sidebars, and the habit of reading on the web by scanning your eyes as you scroll down. I think poems should be read as if each line could be it’s own, and it’s the poet’s job to pull you on to find out what the next line offers. On the computer, capturing this amount of attention is even more of a challenge.

Despite these difficulties, I am starting this weekly snapshot of gay and lesbian poets because the legacy at that intersection of form and experience is so rich, it’s a crime to ignore it. Some of the most famous poets were gay: Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Adrienne Rich, Sappho, Frank O’Hara, Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop, Gertrude Stein, and the list goes on. And a much longer list of lesser known but exquisitely insightful gay poets have work that can offer us all of those emotions that come from encountering something you recognize, but that you’ve never heard put that brilliantly before.

To begin, here is something from Marilyn Hacker (b. 1942). Her work is striking because it is both incredibly playful, and strictly formal. In these selections from Taking Notice what reads like a free-verse musing on love is actually a meticulously crafted sonnet. This isn’t the kind of sonnet your English teacher taught you iambs with (Remember? da-DUH, da-DUH, da-DUH). This is the kind of sonnet that stuns you with how the form effortlessly reigns in the incisive, personal observations that drive these poems. Her poems are a chronicle of lesbian love like you’ve never read them before.

Here are three of the sonnets from Taking Notice:

7
If we talk, we’re too tired to make love; if we
make love, these days, there’s hardly time to talk.
We sit to share supper once, twice a week.
You’re red and white with cold; we’re brusque, scared, shy.
Difficult speech curdles the café au lait
next morning. In the short twelve hours between
we rubbed, laughed, tongued, exhorted, listened, came,
slept like packed spoons. Wrapped up against the next day
we trudge through slush as far as the downtown
subway, brush cold-tattered lips. You’re gone
to hunch sock-shod over your camera, while
I stare at a spiral notebook down six miles
north, indulging some rich weave of weeks where
we’d work, play, not cross-reference calendars.

14
And I shout at Iva, whine at you. Easily
we choose up for nuclear family,
with me the indirect, sniveling, put-upon
mother/wife, child’s villain, feminist heroine,
bore. On thick white plates the failed communication
congeals, Iva bawls in her room. You’re on
edge, worked out, fed up, could leave. Shakily
we stop. You wash dishes, drop one, it breaks. We
should laugh. We don’t. A potted plant crashed too.
Frowning I salvage the crushed roots, while you
deflect my scowl with yours. You leave a phone
message for your friend, while I read one
last picture book, permit a bedtime drink
to a nude child, who’s forgiven me—I think.

25
We work, play, don’t cross-reference calendars
here. Sun glids a scrub-oak hill; the fig tree
drops purple dry fruit on the cement
terrace that’s for the rest of August, ours,
where you project perspectives, blond head bent
to bid papers. I chart stratigraphy
of my desk, glimpse, in a pitcher, flowers
you brought, for our year, though we’re both diffident
to celebrate, I start letters, can’t write
what it’s like, face to face, learning to live
through four a.m. eruptions, when we fight
like bruised children we were. Can I believe
persistent love demands change, not forgive-
ness, accept the hard gift of your different sight?

http://thenewgay.net/2009/03/getting-to-know-glbt-poets-marilyn.html

Should Marriage Be Our Number One Priority?

It would be foolish to argue that same-sex marriage, engulfed in the firestorm of Prop 8, is not our national LGBT equal rights priority. The difficulty arises in the definition of "our" and, if I may be so bold, the assumption that a crowded acronym implies a people who are one and the same or a group that holds dear uniform desires.

Vocal activist Jasyme Cannick received the virtual equivalent of a beat down for not buying a one-way ticket on the gay marriage gravy train back in mid-2008. Her argument prompted a riot of offbeat comments on Advocate.com. She stood her ground. It was clear that the "us" in LGBT only appears when someone's counting heads. In her op-ed, Cannick wrote:

"I agree with the basic principle that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry each other. The way I see it, as long as we’re being taxed like everyone else in this country, we should be extended the same benefits, rights, and privileges as everyone else. That has never changed for me. What did change for me was my willingness to actively engage myself in a struggle that's been from the beginning, and continues to be, elitist."

It would seem that the LGBT gravy train, albeit packaged into one can, only feeds a few. An especially fitting perspective given our current economic climate. LGBT people are shy of rights, but our bellies fill with the butterflies of a free falling economy, much the same as our heterosexual counterparts.

We're losing jobs, homes, health care (if there was any at all), and businesses. Ask the many LGBT people living near or below the poverty line and our current national "situation" is of no surprise. Regular people who identify as LGBT–some getting by, some barely afloat– have concerns that directly affect their table.

According to the LGBT Poverty Report (2008) authored by M. V. Lee Badgett and colleagues at UCLA's Williams Institute, nearly twenty two percent of gay men live in low income families. Seven percent live in families below the U.S. Poverty Threshold. Strikingly high given the gay wealth misconception. A fair number of LGBT people are definitely on the track, but not necessary on the train.

Here we are swinging into Spring of 2009. The future of Prop 8 is still being decided before the California Supreme Court. And yet this question arises again, but on a different front: Should gay marriage be the number one priority?

This time, on the heals of same-sex marriage proceedings, Vermont's Republican Gov. Jim Douglas is urging state lawmakers to focus on stimulating the job market as opposed to "divisive" issues like same-sex marriage. A convenient ploy by Gov. Douglas, whom I'd be willing to gamble knows very little about LGBT poverty rates or the affects of same-sex marriage in general. Gov. Douglas' attempt to use pocketbooks to deflect from an otherwise valid issue of equal protections is unsettling. Yet, the Governor has a point.

Now, I'm all for same-sex marriage. Frankly, I find it demoralizing having to argue for a right that others hold so irresponsibly. But, there are pressing situations within our (there goes that word again) community that also need national attention. One issue being our poverty rates which are destined to skyrocket in this current economy.

Where Gov. Douglas falls flat is in his blatant disregard for same-sex marriage in general. Same-sex marriage may not be everyone's number one priority right now, but it is no less an issue that needs serious attention. Can not political leaders focus on more than one hot button issue at a time? If not, there's little hope for a recovered economy, equal marriage protections or any other priority regardless of its position on the list.

As Vermont House Speaker Shap Smith said of his fellow lawmakers, "Representatives are fully capable of multitasking."

Aren't we all, Mr. Speaker? Aren't we all?

Do All Gay Men Have Unprotected or Bareback Anal Sex?

By Ramon Johnson

Question: Do All Gay Men Have Unprotected or Bareback Anal Sex?

Answer: No. Barebacking or engaging in unprotected anal sex is an individual activity and cannot be applied to all gay men. Each gay man is their own individual.

There are a number of reasons some gay men may bareback, but often the circumstance, the individual and the situation play a large role in protected or unprotected encounters.

Many gay men practice safer sex. As with any group of individuals or community, safer sex practices should always be practiced and encouraged.

Why some gay men bareback?

1. Increased Apathy Over the Transmission of HIV. Some believe the myth that, as a gay man, contracting HIV is nevitable or unavoidable or that the virus can been controlled with advanced HIV medications. HIV is still alive and well and should not be thought of as a long-term illness. Remember, there is no cure for HIV or AIDS and HIV medications do not protect you from the virus.
   
   
2. Anxiety Over Contracting HIV. There are instances of some men either deliberately transmitting the virus or willingly receiving HIV. The terms gift giver and bug chaser are sometimes used to describe these men, respectively. It's theorized that bug chasers willingly attempt to contract HIV due to an overwhelming anxiety over catching the virus. A bug chaser may believe it is just a matter of time before they are infected. This is a false belief. Many gay men live long and healthy lives without contracting HIV.
   
   
3. Both Partners Are Already HIV Positive. Some HIV positive men believe that since they already have the virus there is no need to have protected sex with another HIV positive man. However, HIV positive men run the risk of reinfection, which occurs when a person living with HIV gets infected a second time while having unprotected sex with another HIV infected person.
   
   
4. Some "Live for the Moment." There are always those that either adopt or already possess fearless "live for the moment" mentalities–accepting whatever consequences may result from their actions. Sure, sex without a condom may increase sensation or be more spontaneous, but the benefits far outweigh the risk of contracting an STD or HIV. A moment of pleasure can lead to a lifetime of illness. It's also important to note that one medication in a HIV med regimen (which usually includes more than one pill) can cost in excess of $800 a month.
   
   
5. Low Self-Esteem. A person with lower self-esteem can often run the risk of following the direction of a more confident sex partner. Protect your health, even if your partner claims that he can't get erect with a condom on or urges you to have unprotected sex for just a while. Also, keep your own self-confidence in perspective. Thinking you may lose a chance to be with a great guy or that you'll ruin a sensual moment will only put you at increased risk of contracting an STD or HIV. Part of him respecting you and part of you respecting yourself is protecting your health.
   
   
6. Drug Use. Using drugs like ecstasy, viagra or crystal meth can impair judgment and has been shown to increase the chances of having unprotected sex. The moment of a drug high may seem unforgettable, but majority of men remember little, including the sex, after coming down. Don't be caught in a situation where you have to remember an encounter that may have given you an unforgettable disease.
   

What are the negative effects of barebacking?

1. You Can Contract STDs. Barebacking can dramatically increase the chances of contracting HIV and other STDs like syphilis. Some STD's can lead to live changing conditions and eventually death. Protect yourself, even if a guy tells you he's HIV and STD negative.
2. You Can Infect Your Partner. It's never the season for giving when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases. If you do have an STD, you can play a great part in efforts to control viruses and diseases by playing safe.
3. You Put Your Life in the Hands of Another Person. And sometimes that other person is a stranger. Your body is your temple. A few moments of pleasure is not worth a lifetime of pain or suffering. Play safe!

With sex comes the responsibility to protect yourself and others. Discuss your sexual history and HIV status and get tested before having sex. Safer sex should still be practiced even after this discussion.

RADICAL FAERIES

Radical faeries (also faeries and faes) are a loosely affiliated worldwide network of queer people seeking to "reject hetero-imitation" and redefine gay identity; many are also pagans or members of counterculture movements. The Faeries trace the origin of their movement's name to a "Spiritual Conference for Radical Faeries" called in 1979 by Harry Hay, John Burnside, Don Kilhefner, and Mitch Walker in Benson, Arizona. Originally consisting of gay men, the movement has spread throughout the world over the past decades since, in tandem with the larger gay rights movement, challenging the commercialization and patriarchal aspects of modern gay life while celebrating pagan constructs and rituals, and adapting rural living and environmentally sustainable concepts to modern technologies as part of human creative expression.

Faeries tend to be fiercely independent, anti-establishment and community-focused. Some embody a feminized ideal, while others embody a fluid spectrum of gender expression -- feminine to masculine and all points between -- as a path towards transcending the limits of human social conditioning.

Radical Faeries vary greatly from region to region and often commune at large gatherings timed with the seasons and solar system, especially the Equinox and Solstice.

The first Radical Faeries group was started in 1979 by Harry Hay, his long-time partner John Burnside, Don Kilhefner, and Mitch Walker. A central tenet of the group is that there is no single definition of faerie — Faerie is a self-assumed identity.

The Faeries were a contributing influence to John Cameron Mitchell's film Shortbus.^[1]

The Radical Faerie movement started in the United States among gay men during the 1970s sexual revolution. Radical Faerie communities are generally inspired by aboriginal, native or traditional spiritualities, especially those that incorporate queer sensibilities. The Radical Faeries use heart circle (a form of talking circle with an emphasis on talking "from the heart"), communal living, consensus decision-making, dance, drag, pagan ritual, drumming, sex, magic, and intimacy to "examine what it means to be a whole human who is also a queer person".^{[citation needed]}

In the beginning, the movement consisted only of gay men.^[2] However, Radical Faeries today embody a wide range of genders and sexual orientations, and most sanctuaries are open to all.^[3] Radical Faerie communities practice "queer-themed spirituality" associated with radical politics, paganism or neopaganism, feminism, gender liberation, and may encompass any and all religions or a lack of them.

History

In 1979, Harry Hay, his partner John Burnside, Don Kilhefner and Mitch Walker, veterans of various phases of gay liberation, issued the call to a "Spiritual Conference of Radical Faeries."^[4] Those who responded to the call showed up at an ashram in Benson, Arizona over Labor Day weekend (September 1). Hay introduced the idea of merging spirituality into gay liberation, recognizing the isolation and disconnectedness that gay men grow up with as a spiritual wound needing spiritual healing. The goal of the co-creators of the Radical Faerie movement was to make this spiritual healing possible through various means.

Some Radical Faeries ask what kind of society emerges if queerfolk are together by themselves, set apart in order to investigate the inner voice in a completely Gay culture. Such seeking led to Faerie Gatherings lasting from a day or two to a week or more where new and spontaneous ways of relating could emerge.

In keeping with the hippie, neopagan, ecology, and eco-feminist trends of the time, gatherings were held out-of-doors in natural settings. To this end, distinct Radical Faerie communities have created sanctuaries in many rural settings.

Philosophy

No Radical Faerie dogma or doctrine exists per se. The identity of Radical Faerie is never conferred upon a person. The individual claims their Radical Faerie nature in an on-going act of self-discovery and self-actualization. It can be as challenging to define "Radical Faerie" as it is to define "Human Being," as ultimately those aspects of life that hold meaning are experienced, rarely to be mediated effectively through description.

Some Radical Faeries hold that the queer soul is linked with the natural world, that queerfolk are called by the good goddess to be gatekeepers to the spirit world. As a sign of this spirit connection, many Radical Faeries take a ritual name, known as a faerie name. This tradition is inspired by the Native American "Medicine Name" tradition, where a shaman gives spiritually significant individuals a medicine name. In many Native American traditions, a shaman bestows medicine names upon initiates; one does not choose it. The faerie name tradition is similar, though Radical Faeries usually choose their own faerie name(s).

The magical and "radical humanist" views of Arthur Evans, specifically his work Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture (1978) have been seen by some faeries as influential to the movement.^[5]

In an article published in White Crane on the subject of "Fairies", early Faerie, Mitch Walker emphasizes the queer cultural significance of the Faeries. Proposing that the Faeries represent the first spiritual movement to be both "gay centered and gay engendered", where gayness is central to the idea, rather than in addition to, or incidental to a pre-existing spiritual tradition. Arguing that for the Radical Faerie exploration of the "gay spirit" is central, and that it is itself the source of spirituality, wisdom and initiation. Stating that, "Because of its indigenous, gay-centered nature, the Radical Faerie movement pioneers a new seriousness about gayness, its depth and potential, thereby heralding a new stage in the meaning of Gay Liberation."^[4]

Faerie gatherings

Faerie gatherings are a space "between the worlds." Generally, Radical Faeries celebrate the 8 pagan holidays of the year: Samhain (Halloween), Yule (winter solstice), Imbolc (Candlemas), Ostara (vernal equinox), Beltane (May Day), Litha (summer solstice), Lughnasadh (Lammas), Mabon (autumnal equinox). Gatherings are frequently held in connection with these holidays. A ritual at gathering may include candles, fires, prayers, chanting, dancing, streamers, bedizened drag queens, ritual music, mud pits, sweat lodges, fire dances, drumming, running through the woods naked, Sufi twirling, and spiral dancing. Nudity at ritual is common, and inspiration from Aboriginal America.

Heart Circle is a central tool of the Radical Faerie way of life, and arose from the ideal of consensus. Heart Circle is informed by a theoretical opposition to hierarchy, from radical politics, and from Hay's idea of "subject-SUBJECT Consciousness" (capitalized by Hay for added emphasis). It includes aspects of various therapy, human-potential, and consciousness-raising groups. Each day at gatherings, this group process forms for discussion, emotional processing, and emotional healing. Heart Circle is a place to share thoughts and feelings, to heal, to make decisions, and to develop a deeper understanding of what it means to be a queer person. It can also be a place of confrontation, of unflinching examination of one's deepest beliefs, understandings, and faults. Disagreement – rooted in the "contrarian" tradition of some Plains Indian Tribes - is a Radical Faerie first principle.

Informality, acceptance, and flamboyance of dress (and undress) are the norm at gatherings, which are held across the world. Traditionally, these have been rural affairs, though some urban gatherings take place, such as the Vancouver Green Body Gathering, held in Canada each year.

Sanctuaries

Radical Faerie sanctuaries — rural land or urban buildings where Faeries have come together to live a communal life — now exist in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Bibliography

• Hay, Harry; Will Roscoe (ed.) (1996). Radically Gay: Gay Liberation in the Words of its Founder. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-7080-7.
• Evans, Arthur (1978). Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture. Fag Rag Books. ISBN 0915480018.
• Timmons, Stuart (1990). The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement. Alyson Publications. ISBN 1-55583-175-3.
• Thompson, Mark (2005). Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning. Lethe Press/White Crane Books. ISBN 1590210247.

Press

• RFD: A Country Journal for Queer Folk Everywhere
• White Crane, a journal of Gay Wisdom & Culture, is edited by Radical Faeries and has included many articles by and about Radical Faerie consciousness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Faeries

US Endorses UN Gay Rights Text

By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration on Wednesday formally endorsed a U.N. statement calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.

The move was the administration's latest in reversing Bush-era decisions that have been heavily criticized by human rights and other groups. The United States was the only western nation not to sign onto the declaration when it came up at the U.N. General Assembly in December.

"The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world," Wood told reporters. "As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the administration would endorse the statement.

Gay rights groups hailed the move.

"The administration's leadership on this issue will be a powerful rebuke of an earlier Bush administration position that sought to deny the universal application of human rights protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals," said Mark Bromley of the Council for Global Equality, which promotes equal rights for homosexuals.

"This is long past overdue and we are encouraged by the signal it sends that the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will now be considered human rights," said Rea Carey, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Human rights groups had criticized the Bush administration when it refused to sign the statement when it was presented at the United Nations on Dec. 19. U.S. officials said then that the U.S. opposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but that parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.

According to negotiators, the Bush team had concerns that those sections could commit the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In some states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.

But Wood said a "careful interagency review" by the Obama administration had concluded that "supporting this statement commits us to no legal obligations."

When it was voted on in December, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration, which backers called an historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with anti-gay discrimination. It was endorsed by all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia and Mexico.

But 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality - and in several, homosexual acts can be punished by execution. More than 50 nations, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, opposed the declaration.

Some Islamic countries said at the time that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest. The declaration was also opposed by the Vatican.

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Nina Flowers ... majestic androgynous extravaganza

Moscow Police Chief Says Gay Pride Is Unacceptable

Organizers to ask Eurovision participants to wear Slavic Pride pins during the show

By Nicolas Alexeyev

MOSCOW, March 8, 2009 – Moscow’s police chief, Vladimir Pronin, has said gay pride parades in the capital are “unacceptable”.

“It’s unacceptable – gay pride parades shouldn’t be allowed,” he told the Russian news agency Interfax on Friday.

“No one will dare to do it, such “brave-heart” will be torn to shreds,” he added.

“The West can say we’re bad guys, but our people will see it is right. Our country is patriarchal, that’s sums it up,” he stressed.

“I positively agree with the Church, with the Patriarch, politicians, especially with [Mayor] Luzhkov, who are convinced that man and woman should love each other. It is established by God and nature,” the police chief said.

Mr Pronin, as head of Moscow Police reports directly to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, practically, his nomination has to be validated by the Mayor of Moscow.

This is not the first statement of Mr Pronin against freedom of assembly for LGBT people in Moscow.

GayRussia obtained a copy of a letter that Mr Pronin sent to Yuri Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow, in which the Police head confirms that his services are watching the Moscow Pride organizers in order to prevent their actions.

In the letter dated April 30th 2007, Mr Pronin told Mr Luzhkov: “Units of GUVD in Moscow are constantly controlling mass public actions in the city, monitoring media and Internet with the aim to take measures of preventive character and non-admission of illegal actions on the part of representatives of sexual minorities”.

However, Moscow Pride organizers are not particularly concerned by the statement of the Police head.

“Mr Pronin already showed his in competency last year when his services were unable to prevent us unveiling a banner directed against the Mayor, right opposite his office,” said Nikolai Alekseev.

Mr Alekseev was speaking from Minsk where he held a third preparation seminar with local activists. This year Moscow Pride is a joint project of Russian Belarusian activists branded as the “Slavic Pride”.

“The statement of Mr Pronin only attracts more media attention to the Slavic Pride which is good in the framework of the Eurovision,” added Nikolai Baev.

“The world already knows about the systematic breach of human rights by Moscow officials. This is nothing new,” he added.

This year, Moscow Pride will take place on May 16th, the day of the Eurovision song contest final.

Pride organisers said today that they are in contact with participants of the show, asking them to wear the Slavic Pride pin’s while performing live during the show.

Organisers vowed that their fight for freedom of assembly goes much further than among the LGBT community.

“We believe this is the best way for those who support democratic values in Europe and who take part in the show to bring support to human rights campaigners in Russia,” said Mr. Alekseev.

“The fight for Moscow Pride is very symptomatic of the fight for Human Rights values in this country,” he added.

To date, Russian authorities have banned over 167 events LGBT events. GayRussia indicated that all these bans have been or are in the process to be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.

Moscow Pride organisers indicated that they will release their plans for May at the end of March.

GayRussia.Ru

Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World

Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World (2003) - John Scagliotti
Year: 2003
Genre: Documentary
Director: John Scagliotti
Duration: 62 min
Country USA
Actors: Janeane Garofalo

While the hitherto unthinkable notion of legal gay marriage now looks possible in the U.S. and other Western nations are even further ahead in gay rights, docu "Dangerous Living" reminds viewers that homosexuality is still a reason for persecution through much of the developing world. Geographical sweep here prevents in-depth scrutiny of any one nation. But while "After Stonewall" helmer John Scagliotti's assemblage is just workmanlike and at times seems cluttered, peek at gay activism in far-flung places proves fascinating and educational. Extensive gay fest travel should spur select tube sales.

Narrative hook is recurrent focus on the May 2001 police raid on the Queen Boat Disco in Cairo. Arrested foreigners were released, but 52 of the Egyptian men arrested were charged with "debauchery." Simply for dancing together on the floating venue's known "gay night," the men's names were made public, and many were sentenced to as much as five years' hard labor.
Worldwide outcry may eventually help soften treatment of gays in Egypt, where homosexual acts (though not the more recent, Western notion of a homosexual "identity") in fact have been historically tolerated so long as they were not discussed. Several of the "Cairo 52" have since fled the country.

Even worse horror stories are related from other nations. Honduran activist Dilcia Molina was not at home when six soldiers arrived to "rape the lesbian out of" her; they settled instead for beating and cutting her children.

Police violence, death threats, flogging, castration, et al., are among other genuine fears of gays in Samoa, India, and elsewhere; interviewees hail from everywhere from Namibia to Pakistan and Vietnam. Picture isn't entirely bleak, however: Thailand's leading kickboxer is a beloved male-to-female transsexual, for instance. And participants raise the interesting point that the global dissemination of positive gay images via TV, film and especially the Internet has lit an unstoppable fire of gay self-knowledge in places previously too isolated to be impacted by liberal Western attitudes

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Turkey: Ebru Soykan, Member of Lambda Istanbul and Transgender Activist, Murdered

Turkey: Transgender Activist Murdered

Government Should Prosecute Violence, Prohibit Discrimination

(New York, March 13, 2009) – The killing of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist, on March 10, 2009, shows a continuing climate of violence based on gender identity that authorities should urgently take steps to combat, Human Rights Watch said today. News reports and members of a Turkish human rights group said that an assailant stabbed and killed Ebru, 28, in her home in the center of Istanbul.

Members of Lambda Istanbul, which works for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and transsexual (LGBTT) people, told Human Rights Watch that in the last month Ebru had asked the Prosecutor’s Office for protection from the man who had beaten her on several occasions and threatened to kill her. Lambda Istanbul was told that a few weeks ago police detained the man but released him two hours later. The same man is under police custody as the murder suspect.

“The Turkish police have a duty to respond to all credible threats of violence, whoever the victim,” said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch. “Investigating violence against LGBT people, prosecuting suspects, and passing effective legislation to ensure equality are all critical to ensuring that these murderous abuses end.”

This is the second killing of a member of Lambda Istanbul in the past year. In July 2008, an unknown person shot and killed 26-year-old Ahmet Yildiz as he was leaving a café near the Bosporus. No one has been charged with this crime.

Members of Lambda Istanbul described Ebru as a leading figure in the organization, who worked to end police harassment and ill treatment of transgender people in Taksim, a central area in Istanbul. The LGBTT Platform for Human Rights, a coalition of several LGBTT organizations in Turkey, held a vigil on March 12, 2009 in front of Ebru’s home.

In 2007, Lambda Istanbul twice submitted a file of 146 cases they had documented to the Istanbul Provincial Human Rights Board, many dealing with reports of violence against transgender people, including cases of violence by the police. Several of these cases had been reported to the police. The then-deputy governor of Istanbul told Lambda Istanbul that the governor’s office had found no records of these allegations and complaints in the police districts involved.

“Until an anti-discrimination law is in place to protect the LGBT community and the police take seriously their duty to protect everyone, these murders will continue,” said Cano Nieto. “Turkey cannot continue to ignore its obligations when lives are at stake.”

The European Court of Human Rights has held that Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to life, requires police forces to take reasonable steps to protect a person when they receive credible information that there is a risk to that person’s life.

A May 2008 Human Rights Watch report on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Turkey, “We Need a Law for Liberation,” documents the long and continuing history of violence and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity there. A subsequent December 2008 report specifically documents police violence in the country and features cases of harassment and abuses against transgender people in Istanbul.

In these reports, Human Rights Watch called on Turkey to pass legislation protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

For more of Human Rights Watch’s work on Turkey, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/europecentral-asia/turkey

For more of Human Rights Watch’s work on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/lgbt-rights

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Juliana Cano Nieto (English, Spanish): +1-646-407-0020 (mobile)

In Istanbul, Emma Sinclair-Webb (English, Turkish): +90-538-972- 4486 (mobile)

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For more information visit:

http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/turkey-ebru-soykan-member-of-lambda-istanbul-and-transgender-activist-murdered/

Read it and weep: Oldest gay NY bookstore to close

Oscar Wilde Bookshop owner Kim Brinster says "tough times" are the reason for the Manhattan store's closing on March 29. She says the city once supported three gay and lesbian bookstores.

In an e-mail message Tuesday, Brinster thanked customers for being part of "a great global community."

She says the Greenwich Village shop was a worldwide destination, with foreign tourists accounting for about two-thirds of its customers.

But she says business has been hurt by the decline in the euro's value and by large chain bookstores and the Internet.

Babi Badalov seeking asylum in France

L'appel à l'aide de Babi Badalov, demandeur d'asile gay
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France must protect those persecuted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity

While the European Commission recalls the duty of Member States to provide asylum to LGBT people at risk and that the current President of France has pledged during the election campaign to ensure this right, the Inter-LGBT ARDHIS and the International Solidarity LGBT recall the need for France to improve reception and study of cases of people seeking asylum because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Recently questioned by MPs on a Euro Cypriot decision to expel an Iranian homosexual asylum seeker, the European Commission reaffirmed the obligation for Member States to "guarantee a refugee status to persons who are the subject of 'well-founded fear of persecution because of their membership in a particular social group, including a group with a characteristic sexual orientation'. "

During his election campaign, the future President of France, did not say anything else. Responding to the magazine Tetu in April 2007, he said: "if you are persecuted for your sexual orientation, you must have the right of asylum", and added: "The criteria used by OFPRA must be able to move on this point. And he concluded, "Being persecuted for sexuality, it is shocking and unacceptable. France needs to endorse this position every time a homosexual was tortured because he is gay."

Nice words!

The French is more raw. After an initial application for asylum in April 2006, rejected by OFPRA then by the Refugee Appeals Commission in May 2007, after a request for review last fall rejected in late December and early January brought a young Egyptian man arrested during an identity check very close to the deportation to his home country in early February. It is ultimately a medical decision that enabled him to remain in France and to be released. His fight to be regulated is not finished, however. It remains to convince the French authorities, which often confuse the fight against irregular immigration and the right of asylum.

Beyond this case, they are probably dozens of others each year who escape the vigilance of the support associations and are delivered to the arbitrariness of return to a real danger in their country of origin.

That is why the Inter-LGBT, the International Solidarity and ARDHIS strongly support LGBT people seeking asylum in France to escape persecution, state or private, which they may suffer or incur because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. They call on France to show great caution in treating such cases.

In case of homophobic, transphobic or lesbophobic persecution, the evidence is often very difficult to provide. Gay and transsexuals sometimes prefer discretion on the real reason for their request for protection in case they are forced to return to their country of origin and even to prevent compatriots already present in France learning of their sexuality. This requires that confidentiality is ensured, but also gives people the time to bring their story, and probably better training of OFPRA to LGBT issues.

The Inter-LGBT, the ARDHIS and Solidarité Internationale LGBT denounce the notion of safe country of origin and the priority review procedure associated with it. In the list of fifteen countries established by OFPRA on 12 June 2006, five penalize homosexual relations between consenting adults.

They ask that the temporary residence permit and temporary allocation waiting is automatically issued to asylum seekers, irrespective of the nature of the procedure (primary applicant or review reopening person from a country says "safe") to take into account the specific issues and difficulties in providing evidence of persecution.

In accordance with Article 6 of Directive 2004/83/EC, refugee status, under the conventional asylum or subsidiary protection, should be given to LGBT people who have been or risk being persecuted by the public authorities in their countries of origin (or some other non-state actor).

For the Inter-LGBT, the ARDHIS and LGBT International Solidarity, the effective protection of LGBT people seeking asylum would show the real commitment of France to the fight against homophobia, lesbophobia and transphobia in the world.

Il me faut du temps

Gay-il me faut du temps
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Iraq’s Queer Underground Railroad: A Secret Network of Safe Houses and Escape Routes Is Saving Gay Iraqis From Execution by Islamist Death Squads

By Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner and Green Party parliamentary candidate for Oxford East.

In the bad old days of slavery in the United States, there was the “Underground Railroad” - a clandestine network of secret routes and safe houses - which spirited thousands of southern slaves to freedom in the north.

Today, 200 years later in Iraq, a modern version of the underground railroad is saving the lives of gay people who are fleeing Islamist death squads. It is providing safe houses in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, and is smuggling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to neighbouring countries, where it helps them apply for United Nations humanitarian protection. This secret network, coordinated by Iraqi LGBT exiles in London, is saving dozens of lives. http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in 2003 ended the tyrannical Baathist dictatorship. But it also destroyed a secular state, created chaos and lawlessness and allowed the flourishing of religious fundamentalism. The result has been an Islamist-inspired homophobic terror campaign against LGBT Iraqis.

You can watch these two short videos, which show the terror of queer life in “democratic” Iraq herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ajSopj95CU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROUBqSkhO9U

This campaign of terror is sanctioned, some say orchestrated, by Iraq’s leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2005, he issued a fatwa urging the killing of LGBT people in the “worst, most severe way” possible. http://www.petertatchell.net/international/sistani.htm

This is the same al-Sistani who was praised by President Bush as a “leading moderate.” The British government concurred. We hosted him for medical treatment. He was anti-Saddam, so the West backed him, even after he issued his murderous religious edicts.

Although the general security situation has improved in Iraq, for LGBT people it has deteriorated sharply. Systematic assassinations of queers are being orchestrated by police and security agents in the Ministry of the Interior, many of whom are former members of the Iranian-backed Badr Corps militia.

Queers are being shot dead in their homes, streets and workplaces. Even suspected gay children are being murdered. http://www.petertatchell.net/international/ahmed.htm

The killers claim to be doing these assassinations at the behest of the “democratic” Iraqi government, in order to eradicate what they see as immoral, unIslamic behaviour.

This programme of targeted murders has one aim, according to the death squads: the total eradication of all queers from Iraq. It is, in effect, a form of sexual cleansing. The killers boast that most “sodomites” have already been eliminated. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2007/03/iraqs_homophobic_terror.html http://www.petertatchell.net/international/islamistdeathsquadshuntinggayiraqis.htm

The Ministry of the Interior is, of course, a key ministry in the UK and US-backed, government of Iraq. Some democracy! In fact, there is no democracy or human rights at all for Iraqi queers. If the government in Baghdad is not actively encouraging the mass killing of LGBT people, it is definitely allowing rogue police and Islamists to do so.

To protect against this terror and save lives, Iraqi LGBT has created its underground queer railroad, complete with safe houses and escape routes.

“Since establishing the safe houses project in 2006 we have provided refuge for dozens of gay people who were being hunted by death squads,” reports Ali Hili, coordinator of Iraqi LGBT.

“We have also assisted people to escape from Iraq to neighbouring countries, where we have established resettlement projects. Our efforts have got gay refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and we’ve already moved some of them a third safer country, in Europe or North America. These lucky ones are now beginning to rebuild their lives,” said Mr Hili.

K is a 33 year old architect who escaped to Amman in Jordan. He now helps run the Iraqi LGBT support group there; aiding other LGBT refugees from Iraq. So far, seven out of 23 Iraqi LGBT refugees who have been smuggled to Jordan have had their applications for asylum approved by the UNHCR and been able to secure asylum in countries like the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

This heroic work is not without its risks and sacrifices. Many of the underground activists have been assassinated, in a series of grisly homophobic and transphobic murders: http://www.petertatchell.net/international/sexualcleansing.htm

Two lesbians who ran the safe house in the city of Najaf were butchered, together with a young boy they had rescued from the sex industry. Last summer, the coordinator of a Baghdad safe house, Bashar, was gunned to death in his local barber’s shop by an Islamist hit squad. Previously, five gay activists who organised another Baghdad safe house were massacred. http://www.petertatchell.net/international/fivegayactivists.htm

The lack of funds is a perpetual problem. Three of the five safe houses in Baghdad had to close last year because of a lack of donations to keep them running. Two of the houses have since been reopened but it is a constant struggle to fund them. Money is needed to pay rent, electricity and food bills for the 10-12 LGBT refugees who are crammed into each house.

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For reference:

(1) The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/25/iraq-gay-rights

(2) http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/iraq-s-queer-underground-railroad/

US Christians Accused of Exporting Anti-Gay Message to Africa

A conference in Uganda which begins today has been condemned by human rights groups.

The 3-day seminar in Kampala, which opens today, features several American speakers known for their efforts to dehumanise LGBT people and for their belief that homosexuality can be "cured."

The speakers include Scott Lively, Don Schmierer, and Caleb Lee Brundidge—leading voices in the crusade by religious extremists to roll back basic human rights for LGBT people in the United States.

IGLHRC said that Brundidge is affiliated with Extreme Prophetic Ministry in Phoenix, Arizona. Schmierer is on the board of the so-called "ex-gay" organization Exodus International. Lively is well known for his belief that the Nazi Holocaust never happened.

"The American religious right is finally showing its hand and revealing the depth of its support for homophobia in Africa," said IGLHRC's Executive Director Cary Alan Johnson.
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For further information check :

http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/us-christians-accused-of-exporting-anti-gay-message-to-africa/