lgbtqi

HELEM: A Case Study of the First Legal, Above-Ground LGBT Organization in the MENA Region

The Ministry of Public Health - National Aids Control Program (Lebanon), in coordination with the World Health Organization and UNAIDS and financed through a World Bank Grant: Institutional Development Fund, a Case Study on Helem as "the First Legal, Above-Ground LGBT Organization in the MENA Region. (Download the study here)

Helem is the first and only above-ground LGBT organization in the MENA region. Founded in 2004 and based in Beirut, Lebanon, Helem is a rights-based organization that focuses on advocating and lobbying for the legal and social rights of people with alternative sexuality. Helem seeks an end to the criminalization of, stigmatization and discrimination against MSM and all LGBT individuals.

Buck Angel's new series sharing his perspective on gender and sexuality, with the accompaniment of a sign language interpreter. Show #2 Buck reads his first email on the show.

Is there any way that I can sufficiently thank Chai Feldblum?

Last week Barack Obama appointed Chai Feldblum as the first open lesbian to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her Georgetown Law professor biography page lists some of her outstanding and diverse credentials in the realm of fighting discrimination:

"J.D. Harvard... A former law clerk for First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Frank M. Coffin, and Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Professor Feldblum has been a leading advocate and scholar in the areas of disability rights, health and welfare rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, and workplace issues.  She played a leading role in the drafting and negotiating of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. She has also helped draft and negotiate the Employment Nondiscrimination Act and various medical privacy bills and regulations."

oct. 10th - THIS SATURDAY
10:30 a.m. to midnight
ida noyes hall, 1212 e 59th st.

a FREE one-day convergence of artists, activists, students, kinksters, queers, and awesome kids to discuss, dress up, explore intersectionality, make art, share skills, and dance hard.

there will be FREE vegan-friendly lunch & dinner for participants!

Choose among 20 workshops led by students, faculty, kinksters, artists, and more. Some titles include:

Trans Inclusion within Gay/Lesbian/Feminist communities
Do Cylons Have Rights?
Criminal (In)Justice and the Prison System
Radical Collaboration: Photography, Political Resistance, and Genderplay
BDSM As Bio-Political Resistance
Erotica Writing

By IGLHRC

IGLHRC expresses grave concern about ongoing detentions in Uganda based on charges of homosexuality, and calls for the dismissal of a bill that would severely curtail the rights of sexual minorities and their defenders.

Since March, a number of alarming instances of anti-LGBT persecution in the East African nation of Uganda have seriously eroded the country's already fragile commitment to tolerance and human rights.  Article 145a of the Penal Code Act of 1950 criminalizes "carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature" – a charge used to prosecute, persecute and blackmail LGBT people with the threat of life imprisonment.  Members of this country's Parliament are now considering an even harsher law in the form of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, introduced last week by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati.

Abiola Abrams

photo by JC, Stark-Arts

Friday, November 6, 2009 6:30 TO 9:30 PM

VISIONS OF SEXUAL FREEDOM

NEW YORK CITY
SEXBLOGGERS
2010 CALENDAR

BURLESQUE…..SWAG…..SEXY BLOGGERS….RAFFLE

Celebrate the release of our Limited Edition 2010 Calendar

Meet your favorite sex bloggers and the hot photographers who shot them, get a free gift bag and maybe win an amazing raffle prize donated by on of our many sponsors and supporters.

Support Sex Work Awareness with a $20 calendar purchase.

FREE ADMISSION
Friday, November 6, 2009
6:30 – 9:30 PM

Fontana’s
105 Eldridge Street
New York, NY

By Zofeen T. Ebrahim [SOP Newswire]

Karachi (Women`s Feature Service) - "In their greed to gain our votes the politicians are now willing to listen to our demands," said Sapna, 24, a transgender, dressed in a fitted printed woman`s shalwar kameez (Pakistani dress) with a scarf slung around her neck. Her freshly shaved and slightly made-up face barely hid the telltale stubble.  

Hailing the Pakistan Supreme Court`s (SC) landmark ruling in July, that gives transgenders citizenship rights, Sapna said it was a step long in coming but one that is in the right direction.  

"They are citizens of Pakistan and enjoy the same protection guaranteed under Article Four (rights of individuals to be dealt with in accordance of law) and Article Nine (security of person) of the Constitution," ruled a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. 

Sapna is happy with the ruling but is under no delusions. She knows all too well that a simple order on the part of the apex court will not make much of a difference to the way people perceive the estimated 80,000 transgenders in Pakistan; that they will continue to remain as misfits in a monochromatic and increasingly intolerant society. This order, incidentally, comes in the wake of another historic ruling from across the border. In June, the Delhi High Court struck down Section 377 of the CrPC, which had criminalised gay relationships in India. 

But for now, nothing can dampen Sapna`s spirit. "We have finally been heard!" she said, excitedly.  

By Reshmi Sengupta [The Telegraph]

Rituparno Ghosh on the explorations of the third sex through Chapal Bhaduri, Roop and... Rituparno

The camera is ready.  The stage is set. Kaushik Ganguly, the director of Arekti Premer Golpo, has sent a crew member to fetch his film’s “heroine”, Rituparno Ghosh, from the vanity van. “Just wait and watch. Rituda will walk in like Rekha!” Kaushik smiles.

Wearing a bun and a girlie fringe framing his face, Rituparno strolls into the sets of Aarekti Premer Golpo in soft, measured steps, with the poise and fragility of a shy woman being followed by a dozen male eyes. He is dressed as a young Chapal Bhaduri, the jatra artiste known for playing female roles. Hours before, he was parading the sets as Roop, the gay filmmaker and protagonist of Aarekti Premer Golpo, in jeans, kurta, kohl-lined eyes and manicured nails.

The demonstration took place outside the current UN negotiations in Bangkok in an attempt to put much-needed pressure on the delegates to think ‘gender smart’.

“Women from around the world today rallied in front of the UN building in Bangkok, reminding delegates negotiating the post-2012 deal that there can be no climate justice without gender justice,” said Christina Chan, Senior Policy Analyst for CARE International and stresses, that currently the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the only legally binding agreement resulting from the1992 Earth Summit that does not incorporate gender equity.

Women constitute the majority of the world’s poor. They often lack the resources and assets they need to build their resilience to a changing climate such as land, credit, access to support services, new technologies and a place in decision-making bodies.

“The result of women’s vulnerability becomes all too visible when climate disasters occur. More women are injured or killed during hurricanes, floods and cyclones. They are less likely to hear official warnings and to be able to swim or to escape quickly, especially if carrying young children. They are also less mobile then men, confined to their homes,” said Chan, but stressed that poor women serve as important agents of change and play a key role in helping their families and communities adapt to climate change. She explained that in developing countries, women are often the main providers of the most essential livelihood sources; water, food and fuel. As a result, they possess knowledge on effective and innovative solutions to the growing problems associated with a changing climate.

However, according to CARE the world’s poor women often lack access to information and opportunity to feed their knowledge and experience into community, national and global level adaptation and mitigation strategies.

“This jeopardises larger processes of reducing climate change and its impacts. Well designed, top-down approaches to adaptation can play a role in reducing vulnerability to climate change; yet they may fail to address the particular needs and concerns of women,” said Chan from CARE and underlines: “The global deal must prioritise the needs of the most vulnerable people, and ensure that they have a voice in shaping the world's response to climate change. Women are especially vulnerable. Their lives and livelihoods hang on this deal.”

(Source: CARE International)