The local court reportedly said the officials did not have the authority to cancel the rally

A judge in St Petersburg has ruled that bans on gay events put in place by officials under city’s ‘gay propaganda’ legislation were unlawful, it has been reported.

Coming Out St Petersburg said the Smolninsky district court had handed down a decision yesterday saying the authorities lacked the competence to determine whether the events would amount to propaganda before they took place.

It also denied the officials’ standing to cancel events, saying they only had authority to suggest alternative times and places for rallies.

The two planned events were for the Day of Silence on 7 March and the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia on 17 May.

The group said the reasoning for the decision would be made public on 12 June.

(via Controversial family book in Erie schools - CBS4 - WHBF Quad Cities, IL-IA News Weather Sports)

It never ceases to amaze me how petty some parents can be in promoting their homophobia.

Q.

National Coalition of Anti-violence Programs annual report released showing an increase in the number of LGBTQH murders especially against people of colour and transgender women.

Full report at:
http://www.avp.org/ncavp.htm


(h/t thinkprogress.org for the graphic)

Q.

Outspoken advocate, author and Eagle Scout, Zach Wahls, today delivered more than 275,000 signatures to the Boy Scouts of America at its National Annual Meeting in Florida, calling on the group to end its long history of anti-gay discrimination and reinstate Ohio mom Jennifer Tyrrell, who was forcibly removed as den leader of her son’s Boy Scouts troop because she’s gay.

After delivering the signatures, Wahls met briefly with Deron Smith, Public Relation Director with the Boy Scouts of America’s national office.

“While today’s meeting was productive and thoughtful, the delivery of these petitions marks the beginning of this journey, not the end,” said Wahls. “I thought our dialogue today was an honest one, and I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation in the months ahead. We leave today one step closer to religious and personal freedom than when we arrived, and it’s hard to be anything but thrilled about that.”

This weekend, Zach will appear alongside Jennifer and her family at the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco.

“I am so grateful for the support I’ve received from Zach and from the thousands of scouts, scout leaders and former scouts who have signed my petition,” said Tyrrell. “If you look at the petition comments, and read through the thousands of entries left by current scouts and scout leaders, it’s clear that the energy within the Boy Scouts of America’s membership is there to change this policy. All it takes now is leadership.”

Since launching her Change.org petition calling on the Scouts to end its long history of discrimination, Jennifer has worked with GLAAD to share her story in national media, garnering support from celebrities including Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Ricky Martin, stars of Glee and more than a quarter million Americans. Actress and recording artist Kat Graham this week dedicated her musical performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to Tyrrell and gay scouts everywhere.

Iranian refugee who landed in Winnipeg is one of the lucky ones

By: Carol Sanders

Posted: 05/26/2012 1:00 

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS 

Horst Backe (from left), Hamed and Mark Rabnett. The Winnipeggers sponsored Hamed after communicating with him on Skype.

The president of Iran once infamously said there are no homosexuals in his country.

The truth is, anyone outed as gay in the Islamic theocracy might end up dead as a result.

Hamed is focusing on improving his English and acquiring his driver’s licence. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

Or as a refugee in Winnipeg, if they’re lucky — like 27-year-old Hamed, who arrived in March.

He was sponsored by a Group of Five connected to the Rainbow Resource Centre in Winnipeg.

“I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to me,” said the young man, who spent 17 months in Turkey waiting to come to Canada after he was outed.

“Being gay in Iran is not acceptable,” said Hamed in carefully chosen English. “If someone wants to hurt me or kill me, there is nobody to protect me.”

Even here in Canada, he’s worried about what could happen to him if homophobic fundamentalists discover his last name and track him down.

Read More

Kuwaiti media reports that 149 were arrested this weekend (19-20 May) for ‘immoral’ behavior, including four gay men and two transgender women.

Most reports alleged they were engaged in ‘prostitution’ although others labelled them as ‘fun seekers’.

Emirates 24/7 reported that most of the arrested were expatriates, from which ‘14 Arab women would be immediately deported while several gays and tomboys have been locked up pending trial’.

Emirates 24/7 further reported that the campaign involved hundreds of security agents covering several areas of Kuwait city. It quoted an unnamed police source stating that ‘the campaigns will intensify in the next period to end such illegal practices inside suspected apartments and houses’.

Arab Times stated that the campaign against the alleged ‘fun seekers’ was organised by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), under the supervision of Assistant Undersecretary for Security Affairs Major General Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalifa.

Speaking with Gay Star News transgender Kuwaiti activist, who we are not naming to protect her safety, stated ‘they call it “prostitution places” but in fact these were private parties in homes and apartments. It’s just drinking and partying maybe a bit more but not prostitution!’

She explained that ever since the Islamists have won a majority in the Kuwaiti Parliament last February such campaigns have intensified. She reported that an increasing number of check points have been put in place, targeting a wide range of behavior and people, including transgender people, gays, lesbians, people ‘drinking alcohol, couples, parties, and any “inappropriate” kind of clothing’.

Read More

(Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/ Associated Press ) - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, left, is flanked by Zimbabwes Justice Minister upon her arrival in Harare, Sunday, May, 20, 2012. Pillay is on a first ever mission by a UN Human Rights chief to Zimbabwe, at the invitation of the Government. Pillay is due to meet President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Legal Affairs and other ministers, as well as the Chief Justice, the President and Speaker of Parliament, and the Thematic Committee on Human Rights. Pillay will also meet with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and members of civil society in the country.

 

In a joint statement Monday, 36 groups said they will boycott a meeting with her arranged by Mugabe’s justice ministry at the Harare Parliament building scheduled Tuesday. The groups said bogus organizations, some even the perpetrators of injustice, were invited to “ambush” the rights defenders’ talks with Pillay.

Earlier, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said he told Pillay that claims of state sponsored torture were untrue, and the allegations must be investigated.

“There is no state sponsored violence, these are all lies. We told her that there are no torture chambers in Zimbabwe,” he said.

He said that Zimbabwe will arrest same sex partners found committing illegal homosexual acts.

“We made it clear that in our law homosexual activities are criminalized and that any person who commits homosexual activities will be arrested,” he told reporters after meeting with Pillay in Harare

Read More

So sad, and the fact that the official didn’t know what ‘homophobia’ was proves the need for a pride march.

Q.

The Pacific island nation of Fiji was due to celebrate it’s first ever march for gay rights today, but the IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) event was cancelled at the last minute by police.

Oceania Pride, the organisers of the march said that they received a permit last month but the police told them this morning that tonight’s march would have to be cancelled.

‘They said we cannot march today because they did not realise they had given a permit for gays to march,’ said Roshika Deo, a trustee of Oceania Pride.

The organisers were also told the police had received orders from the Ministry of Defence to cancel the march for IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia).

Deo said the official who approved the permit did not know what homophobia meant. She said that despite this discrimination against LGBT people is rife in Fiji: ‘You pick up the newspaper and you read a lot of letters where there’s a lot of homophobia and transphobia’.

The march was to be Fiji’s first public LGBT rights event, after homosexuality was decriminalised in Fiji in 2010 and the Drodrolagi [Rainbow] Movement held a packed-out panel discussion for IDAHO last year.

The 1997 constitution of Fiji prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation, but following a military coup in 2006 that constitution was suspended in 2009. Since the coup Fiji residents’ freedom of speech, press, assembly and association has been ‘aggressively curtailed’, according to Human Rights Watch.

YEREVAN (A.W.)—A homemade bomb this month targeted a bar, called “DIY,” which is seen as a haven for “free thinkers” and welcomes the often-shunned gay community of Yerevan. The hate crime, which happened just two days after the parliamentary elections, has given way to controversy, as ARF MPs Artsvik Minasyan and Hrayr Karapetyan reportedly posted the one million dram (approximately USD 2,500) bail to free the assailants.

A homemade bomb targeted a bar, DIY, that is seen as a haven for “free thinkers” and welcoming towards the often-shunned gay community of Yerevan.

The attackers, Iranian-Armenian brothers Hampig and Mgrdich (also referred to as Arame) Khapazian, are said to have targeted bar owner Tsomak Oganesova for her activism in the LGBT community, and her participation in a Gay Pride Parade in Turkey.

No one happened to be at the bar at the time of the attack, which happened during the early morning hours on May 8. However, substantial damage was reported to the walls and furniture, which were burned from the bomb.

In an interview with Panorama news agency, Minasyan said, “I consider [Oganesova’s] types—I don’t want to sound offensive—destructive to Armenian society.”

Read More

The event takes place the day before IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia

An event launching a report on the way the internet affects LGBT life in Iran will be hosted in London this week, days after it was announced that the country was to execute four men on sodomy charges.

According to a Human Rights Activist News Agency report last week, four men from the Iranian town of Choram were sentenced to death by hanging.

The British non-profit organisation Small Media has released a report, ‘LGBT Republic of Iran: An Online Reality?’, looking at how the internet is used by Iran’s gay and transgender citizens and the danger of online entrapment, which can be read online here.

At the event in London’s Shoreditch on Wednesday evening, on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia, Small Media’s Director of Operations, Dr Bronwen Robertson will present an overview of the report’s findings.

The event will also include a music performance from Iranian guitarist Ramtin Montazemi, a Q&A panel of Iranian experts moderated by the Guardian’s Brian Whitaker, a poetry reading of work by Iranian LGBT literary activists, a short video screening about LGBT asylum seekers in Turkey, and video messages from LGBT Iranians enduring the repression of the Iranian government.

Read More

The first LGBT rights event in Albania, a bicycle ride, was attacked by explosives yesterday.

In a video of the incident, six explosions and a hate-filled shout is clearly audible, but the brave activists cycle on along a central boulevard in capital Tirana.

The organisers said some youths had jumped out and thrown explosives at them, they were thankful to the police for protecting them and that they were not scared off their mission.

‘This is just the beginning,’ said Xheni Karaj, executive director of The Alliance Against Discrimination of LGBT, one of the organisations involved in the bicycle ride. ‘We will continue with other activities.’

The event was sponsored by EcoVolis, who not only provided the bicycles, but gave the event public commercial endorsement.

The group, that include Albanian organisation Pro LGBT, are now planning more activities: an open forum with students in the town of Vlora and an exhibition of portraits of LGBT people in Tirana.

‘It’s important that the LGBT community now start to break the wall of fear and the silence,’ said Karaj.

Video (T/W for language, violence)

http://youtu.be/PojSw-ozP1k