in words

Memorial for kari edwards

2007-03-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

You are invited to
a celebration

of the life and work of

kari edwards (1954-2006)

This event will celebrate kari's indomitable spirit and compassionate revelation of body and language. The tribute will focus on kari's considerable legacy and include, poetry, music, performance and presentations of visual art.

Friday, April 27, 2007 at 7:30 PM

San Francisco Campus of the California College of the Arts

1111 Eighth Street

San Francisco, CA 94107

This event will be co-sponsored by Small Press Traffic and the CCA MFA Writing Program

2006-12-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

My loving partner and publisher of this blog, kari edwards died on 12/2/06 her birthday. She touched many people with her writing and her blogs. Her presence in the world and on the internet will live on. Thanks

A Metis Birthday celebration turned into death ceremony, it may not be just an unfortunate tragedy

2006-11-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

On the eve of 25th November, Nima a Metii (cross-dressing effeminate male, age about 25 years), who celebrated her birthday with few friends and friend's of friends in kumarigal near Baudha in Kathmandu, died yesterday afternoon around 2 PM, 25th November, at the Teaching Hospital. The hospital told that Nima died with "methyl" that may have contained at the alcohol they drank in the 25th Night. Nima was rushed to the hospital just before 2 mp after started vomiting, the doctors at the emergency unit told that it was too late and Nima died soon after. Then at the evening other people who were at the party and drunk same alcohol started getting sick and rushed to the teaching hospital and were cared for methyl. They were treated by ethyl agent to neutralized methyl. 3 Metis were released yesterday after the treatment, 6 others were in serious condition and teaching hospital told us to look for other hospital as the condition may get worse and need ICU support.

It may look an unfortunate incident but after knowing that two children came and sold the "cheap and best" alcohol to the Métis that contained Methyl makes the case mysterious and may have linked with 24rd nights attack against Metis by 4 men who called themselves "Maoist" in Lazimpat, Katmandu, we came to know that the house owner in Lazimpat called the Durbar Marg Police station while Metis were looted by these 4 men but the police never turned up.

There was a police for a while, keeping Nima's blood report, disappeared after other metis started getting sick.

Blue Diamond Society and its branch offices and staffs also received few threat calls of burning down Blue Diamond Society's office in recent days.

This is a matter of grave concern and Métis are feeling extremely unsecured. We demand the police to take through investigation find the source of the Methyl alcohol that was sold to the Métis by two children.

We call your support and solidarity in this crisis.

Sunil Pant
Blue Diamond Society

Metis, victims (of political change?) in Nepal by Sunil Pant

2006-11-27T06:46:00.000-08:00

After the recent peace deal between the Nepal Government and Maoist, like every other Nepalese, Métis (cross dressing effeminate males) also were in expectation that their rights would be ensured and they would also enjoy freedom and safety. But the situation and hate crimes they faces from many angles everyday makes them believe that the situation for Métis has become far worse than before. Before, most of the violence against Métis were committed by Nepal police but recently many Métis were victimized by men who called themselves Maoist. On night of 24th November 2006, four men, tow of them were in combat dress came to the Métis room at Lazimpat where few Métis share a apartment building and the group of Métis were abused physically, verbally, beten badly, threatened not to become Métis anymore. Their mobile phones, money, jewelries were also looted. Those 4 men, who claimed themselves from Maoist party, told Métis to come and collect the phones at Maoist office either in Kalanki or in Kupondole.

Yesterday Blue Diamond Society contacted the Maoist valley operation in charge, Yadav. He came and talked with Métis and told the unfortunate incident last night was not carried out by Maoist as they don't do this kind of looting especially from the most poor and marginalized section of population. However, Yadev told at the meeting that this was not the only case that these kind of criminals carrying out using Maoist's Name and his party was also looking for these criminals. Many Métis told it could be a group of petty criminals who constantly need money for substance use or some kind of organized move to compromise the Maoist Credit amongst the general Neplai.

One of the looter some how dropped his photograph and Métis handed over the photo to Yadav. Yadav insured the Métis that their party would try their best to crack down these kind of criminals who are using their names.

In another incident, Police from Durbar Marg Police station arrested two Métis on the same night, no charge has been filed and it's already more than 36 hours. Two Métis, nick name Bagini and Rekha (age about 25, 24) were arrested from Durbar Marg, front of Royal Palace. They were taken to the Kamal Pokharai saying they don't have enough room to keep the Métis separate in Durbar Marg Police Station, then they were brought to Durbar Marg Police station yesterday. They were not given any food or drink yet. One of the police officer told they couldn't file the charge as it was Saturday that's they had no mandate to provide the Métis food or drinks. One of the police officer also told that they didn't know why these Metis were arrested as it was done by the Police Inspector who was also in charge of that Police station.

Blue Diamond Society is very concern of such violence and arrest from state and non state parties and demand thorough investigation over these incidents by the Police and Maoist and bring the perpetrators into justice. We also demand that government must bring law and policy that prohibits discriminations and hate crimes against Métis on the basis of sexual orientations and gender identities. This kind of violence and discrimination against Métis will be no longer tolerated and government must take immediate action to ensure the safety and freedom on minorities in Nepal.

*Rally among Discrimination of Transgender Kokila on 18th October 2006 -**Pondicherry,India.*

2006-11-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

One Transgender named Kokila age 32 was suffering from abdominalpain and was admitted in Female surgical emergency ward at G.H Pondicherry. She was advised to have an operation. She was also found that she was HIV positive. The nurses attending on kokila asked her to lift her saree show her "sex organ" – if male or female. Then she was allowed to sleep on the floor. She asked a blanket for her use and was scolded as "Transgender like you, can do without any comfort. And the doctor threw the case sheet in her face and she threw her out of the room cursing her and warning her never to step again into G.H.

Being a Transgender, Kokila is also a human like any others; shehas all rights in the society, to have proper treatment when in ill. The doctors who have to save lives behaved in this manner. Then how can one expect the general people to be kind to Aravanis.

"Sahodaran", a CBO working in the field of prevention forSTD\HIV\AIDS in Pondicherry conducted a massive rally on this issue to show the opposition to such insult and violation of rights and to show the unity of MSM people and the T.G of all over Tamil Nadu and Pondy. They invited all the organization all over Tamil Nadu and Pondy.

* *"FMSASHP" *Federation for Male Social And Sexual HealthProgramme* is formed at Trichy by the CBO`s in Tamil Nadu. It has nearly 21CBO`s as the members in it. Out of it 15 were registered and the remaining was in process. All over Tamil Nadu, the CBO is willing to show their opposition for this Kokila matter. They formed under FMSASHP and arranged a bus and took part in the rally on 18th Oct 2006, at Pondy. Nearly 13 CBO`s from FMSASHP participated in it. From this 13 CBO`s nearly 70 MSM people and Transgender participated and showed their protest against Pondy Government.

With regard to this issue the rally starts from in front of Forest Department on and passes thru Subbiah square – Anna Square – Anna Salai – Nehru Street – Mission Street – General Hospital and closing stage at Gandhi Thidal on 18th October 2006, between 11.30 am to 1.00 pm. About 350 MSM Peoples, Aravanis, CBOs, and NGOs participated from all over Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

They shouted slogans against Pondicherry Government and Hospital Officials to take immediate action. They also demanded their basic rights. The Inspector of Police Mr. Saravanan negotiated the mass. Mr. Ganesh, Project Manager, Sahodaran Pondy, explained the issue and their demands to the officials.

At the end of the rally Mr. Ganesh, Project Manager, Sahodaran Pondy, Mr. Jaya Kumar, Secretary, FMSASHP Trichy, Mr. Killivalavan Human Rights Activist, Pondy, Ms. Aasha Bharathi, Director, THAA Chennai, Ms.Priya Babu, Director, Sudar Foundation Kanchepuram, met the Chief Minister and handed over a memorandum. The Chief Minister Mr. Rengasamy took immediate action at the spot for immediate enquiry.

Organizations attended:

- THAA [CBO] Chennai
- Sudar Foundation [CBO] Kancheepuram
- Sahodaran [CBO] Chennai
- Sahodaran [CBO] Pondicherry
- Sahodaran [CBO] Karaikal
- Lotus [CBO] Kumbakonam
- MCDS [CBO] Chennai
- PNP+ [CBO] Pondicherry
- READ [NGO] Cuddalore
- Villupuram Aravanigal Association [CBO] Villupuram

*"FMSASHP" *

- SWAM [CBO] Chennai
- Snegyitham [CBO] Tiruchirapalli
- Naam [CBO] Dindigul
- Friends [CBO] Tanjore
- Nesam [CBO] Coimbatore
- Udayam [CBO] Pudukkotai
- MSMS [CBO] Erode
- Wheel [CBO] Karur
- Gokulam [CBO] Madurai
- Bright [CBO] Ramanadhapuram
- CARE [CBO] Theni
- ADAMS [CBO] Salem
- Pasam [CBO] Cuddalore

Mr. Jaya Kumar, secretary, snegyitham request every reader of this
email to send a response email to
sahodaran_pondy@ sifymail. com, snegyitham@yahoo. com.

As a solidarity measure,

Snegyitham,
A-53 Ground Floor,
Park View Road,
Anna Nagar, Tennur,
Tiruchirapalli- 620 017.
Tamil Nadu, India.
Ph: +91 (0) 431 2794719.

UN: New Report Says Violence Against Women Is a Human Rights Violation

2006-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Classification Obliges States to Punish Perpetrators and Prevent Abuse
 (New York, October 9, 2006) - The Center for Women's Global Leadership and Human Rights Watch welcomed a report issued by the United Nations today that classifies abuse against women - whether it happens in the home or elsewhere - as a human rights violation. As such, states are obliged by international human rights standards to hold perpetrators accountable.  The 140-page report, entitled "In-depth study on all forms of violence against women," which was issued by Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office, confirms that violence against women by spouses, family members and employers is a human rights violation, settling any outstanding debate on this issue. By squarely stating that it is, the report says that governments have an obligation to protect women whether the perpetrators are state or non-state actors.  "This report acknowledges for the first time from the highest levels of the United Nations what human and women's rights advocates have documented over the past few decades: violence against women is a massive human rights violation that is both a cause and a consequence of deeply ingrained inequality between men and women," said Charlotte Bunch, executive director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, and a member of the secretary-general's International Advisory Committee for the study.  The report describes promising practices in the fight against violence against women, but dismisses state efforts so far as mostly ineffective. Even with a sophisticated analysis of the problem and, in certain cases, strong laws related to this violence, most national-level responses have been inadequate, and have not eradicated the impunity perpetrators too often enjoy.  "The secretary-general's study conveys a very simple message," said LaShawn R. Jefferson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights Division. "The individual who carries out any form of violence against women has committed a crime. A government that does not develop, fund and implement all necessary laws and programs to prevent and to punish this violence violates international human rights law. Both the individual committing the violence and the government blithely letting it happen must be held responsible."  The study highlights the need for additional attention to violence suffered by women from marginalized groups (such as indigenous peoples or ethnic minorities). The report also draws attention to the problem of under-documentation of violence and control of women's bodies and sexuality as an insidious component of gender inequality. In addition, the study addresses violence in conflict situations, pertinent issues related to criminal justice systems, service provision for survivors, the need to work with men to address violence, and needs of women who are facing multiple forms of discrimination.  It is incumbent upon the next UN secretary-general to commit to advancing the specific recommendations set out in Kofi Annan's study, and it is imperative for human rights advocates to keep pressure on governments to fulfill their responsibility, said Human Rights Watch and the Center for Women's Global Leadership upon the launch of the report.  The report's recommendations are directed at member states and at various entities within the UN system, and include a call to document and register all forms of violence against women and to provide leadership at all levels in the condemnation and prevention of violence against women.  "What the secretary-general's study makes clear is that this violence is not inevitable: with sufficient political will, funding, and carefully developed and targeted programs, violence against women can be significantly reduced," said Bunch. "The issue now is, will governments and the United Nations make a firm commitment to act on the findings of this report?"  To read the UN report, "In-depth study on all forms of violence against women," please visit:  http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/violenceagainstwomenstudydoc.pdf   For more information, please contact:  At Center for Women's Global Leadership, Charlotte Bunch (English): +1-732-932-8782; or +1-732-642-5271 (mobile)  At Human Rights Watch, LaShawn R. Jefferson (English, Spanish): +1-212-216-1290; or +1-917-442-8256 (mobile)

LGBT HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN AT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

2006-10-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Arsham Parsi's speech in 2nd Session of United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva:

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Arsham Parsi. I am Secretary General of the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization. PGLO for the past four years has volunteered its efforts to paint an accurate picture of LGBTs’situaton in Iran. And we will spare no effort in the struggle to increase the basic human rights of Iranian LGBTs. Today, I have the immense responsibility of reporting the situation of Iranian LGBTs in but a few minutes. And, there is inevitably much that will be left unsaid. Our organization has prepared information packets that are available to you, and that you can study at your leisure to gain a better understanding of the living conditions and the hardships we face.

First of all let me thank the conveners of this gathering, and express my sincere appreciation to the organizers, who have provided us Iranian LGBTs with this opportunity, however brief, to express our concerns, and to demand our basic human rights after many years. But today is also an important day for us. Today is the anniversary of the first expression of the desire for freedom by Iranian LGBTs- the first time we raised our voices.

It was about three years ago we decided that since no one was hearing our voices, we should announce our existence and make our presence felt. Three years ago on October first, we asked our members, who numbered less than fifty at the time, to break their silence- to gather on a Yahoo chat room for a discussion, which we named “Celebration of Voices”.

Some twenty individuals did sign on, but no voices were heard. Our fear and apprehension were so high that we could not even speak amongst ourselves. No one dared to utter a word. But although our “celebration of voices” passed in silence, we did write to each other. This October first is the third anniversary of our “celebration of voices.” But now, we have a membership of more than five thousand, and millions can hear our voices.

Iranian LGBTs stand here in Geneva today, in the seat of Human rights in the world and can break their long silence. This is truly the celebration of our voices.

And I hope that our gathering will raise international voice demanding that any form of discrimination, persecution, abuse and murder of LGBTs is intolerable. I hope that we can send a message to Iranian LGBTs that they are not alone, and that they are part of a global family.

We want to say to Iranian families: “Do not drive your children away because they have a different sexual orientation- They need your support.”

We would like to say to all Iranians that the only difference between LGBTs and other Iranians is their sexual orientation- that human rights are for all, not the domain of only one group. We Iranians have to be united; to respect and defend each other's rights, if we are to achieve freedom and democracy. We want to ask, “If we do not recognize each other's rights, how can we fight for freedom and democracy?”

We in PGLO would like to tell the Iranian government that we, the LGBTs of Iran, solely because of our sexual orientation, are denied our civil rights; that we are not allowed to organize openly, or to assemble freely; that we are denied the right to register as an NGO. We would like to say that because of misinformation, we are even denied physical safety, and worst of all, because of anti-homosexual laws, we are forced into exile. But today we also recognize the rise of anti-Muslim stereotypes and racism in the West, and we condemn these racist expressions of Islamophobia. We condemn any portrayal of Islam as a lesser, violent religion. So we ask, not from the Western states, but from the Head of Islamic States, why the death penalty is applicable to LGBTs in nine countries, the majority of which are Islamic states. Therefore, we ask that if you believe Islam is not a religion of violence, then you must not consent to this travesty that is committed in the name of Islam in
silence. We ask you to defend the rights of LGBTs in your countries.

Today, we would also like to say to countries that have accepted and gave safety to our refugees in their lands, and to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee: “If Iranian LGBTs of leave their homeland, it is because they are persecuted and their rights are denied in Iran. By not properly supporting them and leaving then stranded in different countries, stateless and homeless, you also perpetuate the violation of their rights.”

We also want to tell the United Nations and its new Human Rights Council that the only words that define Iran today should not be “Uranium Enrichment.” LGBTs, ethnic and religious minorities, Iranian women and children, Iranian workers and political activists; each and every Iranian is under pressure today and defending their rights must be on the top priority of this honorable organization.

PGLO objects to the lack of civil rights in Iran, and demands that the systematic violation of human rights in Iran be effectively addressed. PGLO declares its readiness to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations which defend human rights, especially the rights of LGBTs, and will devote all its efforts in promoting peace and tolerance.

Finally PGLO asks all legal and civil rights organizations to coordinate their efforts in defense of human rights and the rights of LGBTs.

- Islamic republic of Iran’s Punishment code must decriminalize homosexuality.

- Homophobia should be fought against.

- The systematic denial of Human Rights in Iran should be ended.

- We are humans- Human Rights are our rights.

- Rights are never given, they are struggled for.

- Do not forget Iranian LGBTs.

- Do not leave us alone.

Communication Coordinator
Persian Gay & Lesbian Organization – PGLO
(Recently renamed Iranian Queer Organization – IRQO)

www.pglo.net

Uganda: Press Homophobia Raises Fears of Crackdown

2006-09-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

Government Campaign against Gay and Lesbian Community Escalates

(New York, September 8, 2006) – In a country where a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of life imprisonment, a Ugandan tabloid’s decision to publish the names of alleged homosexuals is a chilling development that could presage a government crackdown, Human Rights Watch said today. The lesbian and gay community in Uganda has long been stigmatized and harassed by government officials.

“For years, President Yoweri Museveni’s government routinely threatens and vilifies lesbians and gays, and subjects sexual-rights activists to harassment,” said Jessica Stern, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program of Human Rights Watch. “At a moment when sensational publicity has spread fear among a whole community, the authorities must exercise their responsibility to protect, not persecute.”

Human Rights Watch called on Ugandan authorities to:

* End a long campaign of homophobic statements by top officials, including President Museveni;
* Cease arrests under the sodomy laws and promptly repeal them; and
* Offer protection against violence and harassment to human rights defenders working to protect lesbian and gay rights.

On August 8, the tabloid paper Red Pepper published a list of first names, workplaces and other identifying information of 45 alleged homosexuals, all men. The paper claimed it was publishing the list “to show the nation … how fast the terrible vice known as sodomy is eating up our society.” The paper has since told civil society activists that it plans to publish a similar list of alleged lesbians.

Homophobic allegations in the Red Pepper have previously led to police action. In 2002, the tabloid ran banner headlines and photographs about an alleged wedding between two women. Kampala police promptly arrested the women in question. Although they were freed when an attorney intervened, they were jailed again and held for several days, allegedly for their own safety, after a mob threatened them. A Ugandan pastor who had counseled them was later forced to leave the country.

Same-sex sexual relations are criminalized in Uganda under a sodomy law inherited from British colonial rule. Section 140 of the Penal Code criminalizes “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Section 141 punishes “attempts” at carnal knowledge with a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment. Section 143 punishes acts of “gross indecency” with up to five years in prison. In both Britain and Uganda, these terms were long understood to describe consensual homosexual conduct between men.

Background

For close to two years, Human Rights Watch said, officials have regularly threatened and harassed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans. In October 2004, the country’s information minister, James Nsaba Buturo, ordered police to investigate and “take appropriate action against” a gay association allegedly organized at Uganda’s Makerere University.

State-owned media have repeatedly called for stronger measures against homosexual conduct. On July 6, 2005, a writer in the government-owned New Vision newspaper urged authorities to crack down on homosexuality, saying, “The police should visit the holes mentioned in the press, spy on the perverts, arrest and prosecute them. Relevant government departments must outlaw or restrict websites, magazines, newspapers and television channels promoting immorality – including homosexuality, lesbianism, pornography, etc.” Later that month, local government officers raided the home of Victor Mukasa, a lesbian activist and Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda. They seized documents and other materials, and arrested another lesbian activist and held her overnight.

On September 29, 2005, President Museveni signed into law a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The amendment says that “marriage is lawful only if entered into between a man and a woman,” and specifies that “it is unlawful for same-sex couples to marry.” A parliamentary spokesperson said at the time that criminal penalties for engaging in such marriages would be imposed later.

The government has also silenced discussion of gay and lesbian rights and lives. The Broadcasting Council, a board of government censors, fined a radio station 1.8 million shillings (more than US$1000) for hosting a lesbian and two gay men on a talk show, where they protested against discrimination and called for repeal of the sodomy laws. In February 2005, the Media Council – a state censorship board – banned a staging of the play, “The Vagina Monologues,” by the U.S. author Eve Ensler, because it “promotes illegal acts of unnatural sexual acts, homosexuality and prostitution.”

Men named in the Red Pepper’s August 8 article have reportedly already been threatened and harassed. Ugandan activists point out that, in a deeply patriarchal society, accusations against alleged lesbians could subject them to violence in the family and community. U.N. statistics in 2000 showed that 41 percent of Ugandan women had suffered domestic violence.

A March 2005 Human Rights Watch report on “abstinence-until-marriage” HIV programs in Uganda found these programs were denying young people accurate information on HIV transmission and on sexual health. These programs also intrinsically discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. With a legal ban in place against gay or lesbian relationships, the programs promote only permanent abstinence and are uniformly silent about safer sexual practices. Promoting abstinence until heterosexual marriage is the continuation of an outright denial by the Ugandan government that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people exist. In March 2002, while accepting an award for his country's HIV/AIDS prevention programs, President Museveni said simply, “We don't have homosexuals in Uganda.”

“Uganda’s once-successful HIV/AIDS prevention programs are already reeling from the impact of silence and bad science,” said Stern. “Driving vulnerable people underground can only hamper those programs further.”

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Jessica Stern: +1-212-216-1867

In New York, Scott Long: +1-212-216-1297
Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program,
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY USA 10118
tel. +01 (212) 216-1297
e-mail: longs@hrw.org

Nepal Interim Constitution, Will PLWHA, and other vulnerable communiteis have rights?

2006-08-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

Dear All

The Nepal's interim constitution have failed to ensure the rights of sexual minorities, gender minorities, PLWHA and Sex workers and provide any protection despite of our continuous lobbying and providing written recommendation to the drafting committee.

Now we its time we need to do more and we call for your support and solidarity.

Sunil Pant
Blue Dimaond Society

Comments/questions on the Interim constitution of Nepal Part 2, 3 and 11 Citizenship

Part 2
1. Every Nepali citizen shall have the rights to citizenship, and no one shall be deprived of the rights without proper reasons.

(comment: will Nepalese Gender minorities like Metis (effeminate cross dressing males and other trans-gender) will have right to citizenship as trans-gender person? As in the past many transgneder persons have been denied citizenship.)

Part 3

Fundamental Rights and Duties

1. Fundamental Rights

i. All citizens shall be equal before the law. No discrimination shall be made against any citizen on the grounds of ethnicity, class, gender, region, language, culture and ideology or conviction.

(Comments: No mention of sexual orientation, gender identity. health condition, profession etc.. marginalized groups like Sexual minorities, gender minorities, sex workers and people with health condition like HIV positive people thus are not protected against discrimination)

ii. Every citizen shall have freedom to express and publish opinions, establish associations and organizations, elect representatives and be elected, move across the country, assemble and carry on any occupation. No person shall be deprived of their personal liberty save in accordance with the law.

(Comment: will this article allow Sex workers to work freely with out prosecution and coercion? And will Metis (effeminate cross dressing males), homosexual males and females and transgender, PLWHA who are deprived from education, getting job, housing and brutally abused even walking in the public places be free from discrimination and such abuses ?)

iii. Education, health, shelter and employment shall be the birthrights of every citizen. (comment: will this ensure health care and treatment to every one including people with HIV and many other with specific health conditions? will Metis and other vulnerable/marginalized groups be able to go to school and get job? )

iv. Every citizen shall have the right against untouchability, social discrimination and exploitation.

v. Patriarchal exploitation of women in all forms shall end. Daughter shall have equal rights to parental property at par with son. Women shall be entitled full freedom in the issues of marriage, sale and purchase of properties, divorce or conception or abortion of pregnancy. Special rights shall be guaranteed for women in all sectors including their representation in state bodies.

(Comments: What about Metis (transgendered), their rights to property, marriage etc..)

Part 11

Constituent Assembly

1. As decided by the Interim Government, the elections to the Constituent Assembly shall be held within ayear from the date of enforcement of this Constitution.

2. Ensuring inclusive and proportionate representation, the Constituent Assembly shall have a total of 225 members, including ten each from the nine autonomous republic states totalling 90, 125 directly elected with one seat equivalent to 200,000 people as well as ten nominated from among experts and the endangered and marginalized ethnic groups.

3. Women, oppressed nationalities, dalits, the disabled etc. shall be included in the Constituent Assembly in proportion to their population. (Comment: Representation from Sexual Minorities and Gender Minorities and other vulnerable groups must be ensured!)

In Solidarity

Sunil Pant
Blue Diamond Society

A Message from Iran

2006-08-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

The following statement was distributed on August 6 by the editors of MAHA, the clandestine gay ‘zine in Iran. MAHA means “we” or “us” in Persian. Originally begun in 2004 as a newspaper after a crackdown on Iranian gay Web sites by the Tehran regime, MAHA is now distributed in PDF format to its subscribers. MAHA’s editors have been sources for Doug Ireland’s reporting on repression of LGBT people in that nation which has appeared in Gay City News:   We note some differences of opinion in the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement about how to best support LGBT people in Iran. We would like to express our view, and we believe that a great number of our readers share our opinion.

Iranian society has developed despite the oppression. The demand for democracy and human rights is growing in our country.

We believe that the human rights of Iranian women, students, workers, and LGBT people are not Western phenomenon but aspects of universal human rights and are important for human freedom, dignity, and fulfillment in Iran—and everywhere.
Despite all our difficulties and dangers, the Iranian LGBT community is getting more and more informed and is expressing its demand for human rights. We identify as LGBT people and want the same freedoms that LGBT people worldwide want.
Let no one claim there is not homophobic oppression in Iran. Every LGBT Iranian is at potential risk of arrest, imprisonment, flogging, and execution. Avoiding such a fate requires leading a double life and hiding one’s sexuality. Even though there are secret gay parties and magazines, we are all at risk. Great discretion is the only thing that keeps many of us from the jails of the authorities—and worse.

Any disagreement over the reason for the execution of Mahmoud and Ayaz in the city of Mashad last July does not alter the fact that the execution of men and women indulging in same-sex relations is mandatory in the penal code of Iran.
For the record, we believe the two teenagers were hanged because of their homosexuality. The authorities are well-known for pinning false charges on the victims they execute. We urge people to never take at face value the charges claimed by the courts and newspapers. They are not reliable. In late July 2006, for example, a BBC television programme in England exposed how the Iranian authorities made false allegations about Atefah Sahaaleh, who was executed in the city of Neka in 2004 for “crimes against chastity.” The Iranian courts even lied about her age, claiming she was 22 at the time of her execution. In fact, she was only 16—a minor, like Mahmoud and Ayaz.

We express our appreciation and admiration for the united efforts worldwide on July 19 in support of Iranian LGBT people, against homophobic oppression and all executions in Iran. These efforts gave us Iranian LGBTs hope and inspiration. It is good for our morale to know that people in other countries care about us and are pressing the Iranian authorities to halt their homophobic persecution.

Some prominent authorities here in Iran publicly condemned same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, following last year’s international protests against the Mashad hangings.

This shows that your protests are having an effect.

The authorities in Tehran are concerned about the bad publicity they are getting all over the world.

Please do not stop. International protests are effective and we urge all groups around the world to work together for the common good of LGBT Iranians.

There is growing activity by Iranian LGBTs, both inside and outside Iran, to enlighten people about sexual diversity and respect for individual sexual orientation. Our e-magazine is part of that process.

The Iranian LGBT community in exile plays an important role in the struggle for LGBT rights in Iran. We believe that unity and cooperation between all LGBT Iranian activists is vital and important and we advocate this unity.

LGBT rights are part of human rights and they will be achieved in Iran by a joint effort from all Iranians for a democratic and modern Iran. International support for the democracy struggle inside Iran, at every level, is laudable and helpful.
We express our strongest opposition to any military intervention or military action against our beloved country Iran. It will not help the democratic struggle here but only strengthen the position of the conservative religious hardliners. War would close down the opportunities for reform. The authorities would use the pretext of “national security” to suppress debate and dissent, including the work of LGBT Iranians.

Within our country, LGBTs need to make alliances with other oppressed sectors of the population who share our commitment to democracy and human rights. It would be a mistake to see LGBT rights as separate from the broader humanitarian struggle in Iran. Isolating our movement would keep it weak and marginal. LGBT rights should be a part of the mainstream Iranian democratic agenda.

We believe that Iranian LGBTs need support at every level, both nationally and internationally—from the U.N., the E.U. and national governments, and from human rights, non-governmental organizations, and LGBT organisations worldwide. We value your solidarity.

International pressure on the Iranian authorities regarding human rights and LGBT rights is effective and we welcome it.
Portraying homosexual rights in Iran only as a socio-cultural issue is harmful for our unity and the success of our struggle. It is our view that LGBT rights are about social, cultural, economic, legal, and political justice. One cannot fight for LGBT people but ignore discrimination in the law and the fact that the Iranian authorities have made sexual orientation a political issue by denouncing and outlawing same-sex relations, and by punishing LGBTs with imprisonment and violent abuse, including torture and hanging.

We do not agree that the LGBT issue in Iran is purely a cultural matter. LGBT rights are a political issue too. Achieving LGBT rights in Iran demands hard work, both socio-cultural and political—changing laws and institutions, as well as changing people’s values and attitudes.

Iranian homosexuals are oppressed by the authorities. But in some other Muslim countries, like Lebanon and Turkey, LGBT people are able to form their own organisations, organise conferences, and publish their information. This shows that greater liberalisation is possible in a Muslim country.

That is why we strongly believe that in the current situation, the central obstacles against homosexual rights in Iran are the anti-homosexual laws. That is why the removal of discrimination against LGBT people in the country’s penal code is vital. It would pave the way for a significant improvement of LGBT people’s lives by changing the law and removing the threat of arrest and other abuses.

We also need democratic, reform-minded people to lead the country and to secure changes in the education system and the media to combat homophobic prejudice and to promote understanding and acceptance of LGBT people.

Due to the current homophobic repression in Iran, we are unable to openly express our demand for LGBT human rights. That is why international LGBT pressure on the Iranian authorities, in solidarity with Iranian LGBT people, is most vital and welcome.

We thank you for your support.--The Editors of MAHA

Found at Gay City News

Louise Arbour: keynote address - MONTRÉAL, 26 JUILLET 2006

2006-07-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Participants, 

 While this normative, political, and social evolution unfolds, it is imperative to remain attentive and responsive to the plight of LGBT persons whose daily life is negatively affected by the current environment. 

 Let me turn then to the question of criminalization. Of the more than 80 countries that prohibit sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex, seven make homosexual activity punishable by death. Others prohibit gender reassignment surgery for transsexuals or require intersex persons to undergo such surgery against their will.  

 There is no doubt that these laws violate international human rights standards when the sanction is death or corporal punishment, since the sentence is grossly disproportionate to the offence and violates the right to life or to freedom from torture. But, regardless of what sanction is imposed, such laws can be said to violate the right to privacy, as the Human Rights Committee found in the Toonen case. The European Court of Human Rights also concluded that laws criminalizing homosexual activity violate this right.  

 The right to privacy is often defined as the right to be left alone. Cast in a more positive light, it reflects not simply a dichotomy between the public and the private sphere, but a genuine public interest in preserving a space in which the state must not intrude. It protects the family and the home, but most importantly those special and unique characteristics that define our existence, including our sexual identity. As such, this right is closely related to the protection of life, human dignity, and mental and physical integrity. 

 There is an obvious difference between criminal activities conducted in secret and activities that should not be penalized when conducted in private. The difference is reflected in the harm caused, or likely to result from that activity.  

 Many courts around the world have found that consenting adults who engage in same sex behavior do not infringe the rights of others and cause no harm that would justify the intervention of the State. For instance, the South African Constitutional Court found that: 

 “Outside of regulatory control, conduct that deviates from some publicly established norm is usually only punishable when it is violent, dishonest, treacherous or in some other way disturbing of the public peace or provocative of injury. In the case of male homosexuality however, the perceived deviance is punished simply because it is deviant. It is repressed for its perceived symbolism rather than because of its proven harm.”  

 There is a paradox in our attitude to privacy: some see no problem when a State, in the absence of any proven harm, tramples on privacy in cases of homosexuality, but find no contradiction when the same State is reluctant to violate the sanctity of the private sphere in instances of extraordinary harm, such as domestic violence against women and children, a scourge that blights the lives of many in every country of the world. 

 Striking a balanced approach to the right to privacy is made even more complicated by the fact that attitudes to privacy are often shaped by culture or religion, and thus by deeply held beliefs. It is therefore important to stress that freedom of religion is a right that also protects the freedom not to share in religious beliefs or be required to live by them.  

 Whether in authoritarian or in democratic states, laws tend to be designed to demand conformity to the norm. Harmless conduct that does not comply with the norm may therefore require either constitutional or other forms of overriding protection. Under the broad and ill-defined mantle of “culture” States may fail to recognize the diverse voices within their own communities, or may deliberately chose to suppress them. Such an approach stems from an ossified vision of culture, however, which ignores the indisputable transformation of social mores as well as the obligations to promote tolerance and respect for diversity required by human rights law as core aspects of the right to privacy.  

 In my view, respect for cultural diversity is insufficient to justify the existence of laws that violate the fundamental right to life, security and privacy by criminalizing harmless private relations between consenting adults. Even when such laws are not actively enforced, or worse when they are arbitrarily enforced, their mere existence fosters an atmosphere of fear, silence, and denial of identity in which LGBT persons are confined. I suggest that even when states assert a duty to promote moral, religious or cultural values, they must exercise considerable restraint in doing so through the use of the criminal justice system.  

 Neither the existence of national laws, nor the prevalence of custom can ever justify the abuse, attacks, torture and indeed killings that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons are subjected to because of who they are or are perceived to be. Because of the stigma attached to issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, violence against LGBT persons is frequently unreported, undocumented and goes ultimately unpunished. Rarely does it provoke public debate and outrage. This shameful silence is the ultimate rejection of the fundamental principle of universality of rights. 

 Impunity for crimes of violence against LGBT persons suggests that, in many societies, they are seen as less deserving of the protection of the law. In the final analysis, their lives are seen to be worth less, along with the lives of others whom society unjustly rejects because of their faults or flaws, real or imagined. In the face of that reality, the responsibility of the State to extend effective protection is, if anything, heightened.  

 States have a legal duty to investigate and prosecute all instances of violence and abuse with respect to every single person under their jurisdiction. Excluding LGBT individuals from these protections clearly violates international human rights law as well as the common standards of humanity that define us all.  

 As I conclude, let me comment on the role of human rights defenders. I recognize that many LGBT human rights organizations work in extremely difficult circumstances. They are denied freedom of association when the authorities shut them down, or otherwise prevent them from carrying out their work. They are physically attacked when they organize demonstrations to claim their rights. Many have even been killed for daring to speak about sexual orientation. They are denied access to important fora, including at the international level, where they should be able to have their voices heard.  

 And yet, despite these obstacles, you do and must continue to press for change at all levels. At the national level, it is largely through your legal advocacy that laws which discriminate against LGBT persons will be repealed and laws that offer better protection of their rights will be put in place. It is through your social organizing and education that stereotypes will be dispelled and attitudes changed.  

 Work at the international level is equally important, as the UN experts who monitor human rights at the behest of States can legitimize the demands of advocates and provide guidance to governments. I strongly encourage you to make greater use of the international human rights institutions, ultimately for the benefit of the greater number of rights-holders. 

 I also encourage human rights NGOs to include sexual orientation and gender identity in their agenda and to partner with LGBT NGOs to advocate better protection of human rights for everyone. Civil society will play an indispensable role in advancing the reach and scope of human rights law, towards the realization of a truly universal ideal. 

 I wish you success in your work over the next few days and beyond, and look forward to the outcome of this important event. I also wish, with you, for a better and fairer world. 

From: glbt napal) International civil society denounce UN meeting on AIDS as a failure

2006-06-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

Civil society groups from around the world denounced the final UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, released after marathon negotiations during the UN High Level meeting on AIDS this week.

“Once more we are disappointed at the failure to demonstrate real political leadership in the fight against the pandemic” said The Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican Archbishop of Capetown. “Even at this late stage, we call on the world’s political leaders to rise up and meet the challenges that the pandemic presents and to set ambitious targets at a national level to guarantee universal access to treatment, care, support and prevention.”

UN Member States refused to commit to hard targets on funding, prevention, care and treatment. They rejected frank acknowledgement that some of the today’s fastest growing HIV epidemics are happening among injecting and other drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men. “The final outcome document is pathetically weak. It is remarkable at this stage in the global epidemic that governments can not set the much needed targets nor can they can name in the document the very people that are most vulnerable” said Sisonke Msimang of the African Civil Society Coalition.

“African governments have displayed a stunning degree of apathy, irresponsibility, and complete disrespect for any of the agreements they made in the last few months” said Leonard Okello, Head of HIV/AIDS for Action Aid International. “The negotiation processes was guided by trading political, economic and other interests of the big and powerful countries rather than the glaring facts and statistics of the global AIDS crisis, seventy percent of which is in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

African government delegations reneged on their promises in the 2006 Abuja Common position agreed to by African Heads of State. South Africa and Egypt, in particular, took a deliberate decision to oppose the setting of targets on prevention and treatment, despite the fact that both participated in the Abuja Summit that endorsed ambitious targets to be reached by 2010. “The continent that is most ravaged by AIDS has demonstrated a complete lack of leadership. It is a sad, sad day as an African to be represented by such poor leadership” said Omololu Faloubi of the African Civil Society Coalition.

But the African governments were not alone. The United States was particularly damaging to the prospects for a strong declaration. Throughout the negotiations they moved time and again to weaken language on HIV prevention, low-cost drugs and trade agreements and to eliminate commitments on targets for funding and treatment. “It’s death by diplomacy,” said Eric Sawyer, veteran activist and 25-year survivor of HIV/AIDS. “Hour after hour, my government fought for its own selfish interests rather than for the lives of millions dying needlessly around the globe”

There has however been a strong recognition in the declaration of the alarming feminization of the pandemic. Commitments were made to ensure that women can exercise their right to have control over their sexuality and to the goal of achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

This progress was undermined however by regressive governments. “Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and Gabon blocked efforts to recognize and act to empower girls to protect themselves from HIV infection” said Pinar Ilkkaracan, President of Women for Women’s Human Rights. “Their failure to commit to ensuring access to comprehensive sexuality education for young people, and promote and protect sexual rights will undermine the response to the HIV pandemic.”

This was compounded by the declaration failing to acknowledge that some of the today’s fastest growing HIV epidemics are happening among injecting and other drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men, despite strong support from the Rio Group of countries. For example, governments have ignored the needs of injecting drug users by not stating the need for substitution drug treatment, putting them at further risk. “Failing to fully address the needs of these groups, and particularly to counter stigma and discrimination by decriminalizing drug use and sexual behaviors, will render them more invisible and ultimately lead to even higher rates of HIV/AIDS” said Raminta Stuikyte of the Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network.

Again the US, along with other governments, ensured that the final declaration text contains a substantially weaker reference to the AIDS funding need. It now only acknowledges that more money is needed, rather than committing to raising the needed funds. An estimated $23 billion is needed per annum by 2010 in order to fund AIDS treatment, care, prevention and health infrastructure. “At this stage in the pandemic, we expected government commitment to close the global funding gap,” said Kieran Daly of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations. “Instead they have tried to let themselves off the hook.”

While there has been a failure of governments to face the realities of HIV/AIDS, civil society will be holding them to account. Civil society will hold governments to account to deliver on universal access. Civil society will make sure governments recognize and support vulnerable populations. The failure of governments to commit will not be accepted.

EDITORS NOTE: “Vulnerable populations” includes women and girls, youth, older people, men who have sex with men, injecting and other drug users, sex workers, transgenders, people living in poverty, prisoners, migrant laborers, orphans, people in conflict and post-conflict situations, indigenous peoples, refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as HIV/AIDS outreach workers and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Supporting organizations:
AAHUNG
ACT UP NY
Action Aid International
Advocates for Youth
AfriCASO
African Committee Services
AIDS Access Foundation
Aids Fonds
AIDS Foundation East-West
AIDS Law Project
AIDS Task Force, Africa Japan Forum
Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations
(APCASO)
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO)
Blue Diamond Society
CALCSICOVA (Cordinadora de Asociacia Ves de Lucha
Contra el SIDA de la Cournida Valenciana
Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Brasil)
Center for AIDS Rights, Thailand
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network
(CEEHRN)
CESIDA - Coodinadora Espanalu en Sida
Colectivo Juvenil Decide/ Bolivia
European AIDS Treatment Group
Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research (FIAR)
GAT-Grupo Portugues de Activistas Sobre Tratamentos de
VIH/SIDA
Gender AIDS Forum
Global AIDS Alliance
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS Eastern Africa
Region
Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+)
Health & Development Networks
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
HelpAge International
HIV Association Netherlands
Housing Works, Inc
ICW Latina
International Council of AIDS Service Organisations
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
International Women's AIDS Caucus & FEIM
International Working Group in Social Policies and
Sexuality
International Parenthood Planning Federation (IPPF)
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS/Nigeria)
Namibia Network of AIDS Service Organizsations
(NANASO)
National AIDS Trust (UK)
National Association of PLWHA in Namibia (Lironga
Eparu)
National Empowerment Network of PLWHA in Kenya
Nepal HIV/AIDS Alliance
New Ways
NNIWA
OSISA
Positive Action Movement, Nigeria
Positive Women's Network
Red Latinoamericana y Caribena de Jevenes pro la
Derecliora Sexuales y Reproduction (REDLAC)
Red Tra Sex
RED2002 (Spain)
RSMALC
Rutgers Nisso Group, The Netherlands
Sensoa V2W
SEICUS
Share - Net
Stop Aids Liberia
Student Global AIDS Campaign
Tenemos Sida (Spain)
Treatment Action Group (TAG)
Treatment Action Movement, Nigeria
UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and aids
Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office
United Nations Association in Canada
VSO
Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR)
World AIDS Campaign
World Population Foundation, Netherlands

from:(glbt-india) ARAVAANI [TRANSGENDER] MURDERED AT TIRUCHIRAPALLI, TAMIL NADU.

2006-05-29T04:03:00.000-07:00

Aravaani [Transgender] Ms. Sudha was murdered at Trichy Hotel last night. It is learned that Sudha, a beautiful young aravaani was taken by a man aged about 30 to the Nathan lodge, opposite to Raja theatre, Madurai Road, Trichy and had sex with her.

At the midnight the room was not opened for a long time and the door was locked outside, the hotel staff peeped through the window on suspicion and was shocked to witness Sudha dead, bleeding in the bed and the man who accompanied was escaped. It is known that he has given bogus address in the hotel. The hotel manager immediately reported this matter to Fort Police Station, Trichy. Inspector Mr. Ravichandran and Sub Inspector Mr. Thanislaas came over there with a team of police constables, made enquires and sent Sudha's body to The Govt. Hospital, Trichy for post-mortem.

Following this, when the news reached the President of South India Aravaanigal Rights And Rehabilitation Center, Ms. Mohana, she gathered all local aravaanis and went to Trichy Govt. Hospital to show their protest. On getting the news, Mr. Jayakumar, the Director of 'Synegyitham' a social welfare organization [CBO], Annanagar, Thennur, Trichy reached the Govt. Hospital with a team of staffs and others. Director Jayakumar passed on the issue to other Aravaanis’ Associations and Human rights commission. He gathered information and took Mr. Vincent Jaykumar, the reporter of the daily ' ‘Theekkair’ and reporters of other local news papers, to G.H. campus, Trichy.

By the mean time, the Aravaanis, the MSM people and others gathered at G.H., Trichy, shouted against the issue and prevented Sudha's postmortem, claiming that they are not given due respects, their feelings are not honoured aravaani in TamilNadu, where as they are regarded as Goddess in North India. They added that they are the 'third gender' of this world and have all the rights equal to a man or woman. They uttered that God has cursed ones and they are leading a sincere and honest life in spite of their poverty.

They lamented that there were two murders taken place recently in Trichy and Sudha is the third victim. They said that no proper action has been taken so far against the accused. They said that they lost their hope and think that; no action will be followed for Sudha’s murder also. Neither police nor the government bothered about them. The government must understand their feelings first, then only the public will realize, they added.

The protest lead up to 4.00 pm. By the mean time, two strangers arrived there saying that they were the brothers of Sudha, claiming the dead body. The aravaanis and other people gathered over and other social welfare organizations enquired them and quite them off to running on knowing that they are fraud.

Synegyitham Director Mr. Jayakumar and Director Mr. Sundersingh had consultation with a lawyer and counseled the gathering. Police and the leaders of the social welfare organizations negotiated the talk and compromised the situation. The President Mohana and Director Jayakumar and others came down and accepted to have postmortem of Sudha, with the condition that they will fall in agitation with all their associations and sangams on 29.05.06 if proper and immediate action is not taken against the accused.

At the end, by the late evening, as ritual aravaani Geetha, the mother of Sudha wore white saree, cut off her ‘Thaali’, broken her bangles and lamented. The whole gathering badly wept like anything. The body of Sudha was taken to Trichy cremation yard and the body was cremated at about 7.00 pm.

It is proposed to have “Darna” in front of the collector office on 31st may 2006. The Human Rights activist, social workers, aravanis [Transgender] and MSMs from all over TamilNadu and outside of Tamil Nadu are expected to participate in the ‘Darna’. Before that Mr. Jayakumar will be meeting the District Collector to enlighten this issue.

Please Circulate this mail videly and give your solidarity.,

In Solidarity....,,

Snegyitham,
A-53 Ground Floor,
Park View Road,
Anna Nagar, Tennur,
Tiruchirapalli-620 017.
South Tamil Nadu.
Ph: +91 (0) 431 2794719.
E-Mail: snegyitham@gmail.com
snegyitham_trichy@yahoo.com

BILBAO DECLARATION OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION WITH LGBT POPULATIONS

2006-04-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

PREAMBLE
We, the undersigned organizations, express our great concern for the situation that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans (understood as transvestite, transsexual and transgender) people suffer in most of the world. Concretely, we denounce that these populations' right to health, education, culture and work are adversely affected and that they continue to suffer hate crimes with impunity, intolerant aggressions, social rejection, discriminatory laws, police harassment and a lack of legal recognition and protection.

We denounce the special vulnerability of lesbians and trans people within LGBT populations.

We declare that the most fundamentalist, intolerant and anti-democratic elements of many state partisan structures and ecclesiastic hierarchies are those who instigate, endorse and promote actions that qualify as homophobia, lesbopobia and transphobia.

We affirm that not recognizing sexual and affective diversity as a human right contributes to maintaining this situation.

ARTICLE 1: HUMAN RIGHTS
Therefore, the undersigned strongly express that the right of every person to sexual-affective diversity and to his or her own gender identity is a human right.

ARTICLE 2: SOCIETY AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENCE ORGANISATIONS
We urge society in general and human rights defence organizations to involve themselves in the defence of LGBT people.

ARTICLE 3: PUBLIC POWERS
We call for the public powers to involve themselves in the active defence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people as a cooperative practice.

ARTICLE 4: COOPERATION WITH LGBT POPULATIONS IN ALL NGOS
We urge that those NGOs that carry out projects of international cooperation include among their priorities a perspective of sexual orientation and gender identity and avoid leaving these populations, which are in great risk of social exclusion, without support.

ARTICLE 5: RESOURCES OF PUBLIC POWERS ALLOCATED FOR LGBT POPULATIONS AND
DISTRIBUTED EQUITABLY
We call for the public powers of those countries that donate resources for cooperation in development to expressly include LGBT populations among their priorities, making equitable distributions of these resources.

ARTICLE 6: EXCHANGE AMONG EQUALS
We view cooperation in development as an exchange among equals and not as a capital transaction from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, but as a true interrelation of cultures.

ARTICLE 7: NECESSITIES EXPRESSED BY THE BENEFICIARIES
We believe that international cooperation must always originate from the necessities expressed by organisations from the Southern Hemisphere.

ARTICLE 8: AFFECTIVE-SEXUAL DIVERSITY AND GENDER
We affirm the importance of respect for the diversity among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people. We not only seek comparable rights, but also we defend the multiple possibilities of expressing affection, sexuality and gender identity.

ARTICLE 9: THE STRUGGLE AGAINST HIV/AIDS
We express our great concern for the difficulties that confront LGBT populations in accessing information regarding HIV/AIDS, methods of prevention and existing treatments. We denounce that in many cases it is not a problem of a lack of resources, but that those that do exist are not designated for LGBT populations because of stigma and prejudice.

ARTICLE 10: EQUALITY, DIGNITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Our struggle is for social equality and dignity. We not only struggle for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people, but for all human rights, social justice and the defence of the earth and natural space.

We struggle against economic exploitation, cultural plundering, ideologic homogenation and religious intolerance.

For this struggle we integrate ourselves into different social and citizen networks because our specific struggle is no different than any other inequality or injustice.

ARTICLE 11: COMMITMENT OF DONATING COUNTRIES
Those undersigned Northern Hemisphere organisations of this Declaration
commit to:

a) Put maximum effort into achieving funding, from private entities or public administrations, in order to develop projects of international cooperation with LGBT populations.

b) Urge other LGBT organisations and other NGOs to involve themselves in international cooperation with LGBT populations.

c) Designate at least 7.0 % of our budgets to international cooperation.

d) Work on the sensitisation of our citizens regarding the situation of LGBT populations in other parts of the world through education for development.

Approved by the plenary of the Third Conference of International Cooperation With LGBT Population in Bilbao, 19 March 2006. This text is opened to the accession of whatever organisation that identifies with its contents. Translated by: David Nelson.

Protest program by Blue Diamond Society against the current autocracy in Nepal.

2006-04-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

With the support from National and International communities and all the civil societies, minority groups, socially deprived/marginalized communities, political parties, business organizations and general public are involving and demonstrating against the current autocratic government and king to restore the absolute democracy. 'Blue Diamond Society'- family members and staffs would like to express our hearty solidarity and joins the protest/agitations for this historic Democratic movement in Nepal. Blue Diamond Society also would like to donate Rs. 10,000 for the treatment of the victims of brutal oppression by the state security force and Rs. 5000 from Blue Diamond Society's women-project for women attracted to women – “Mitini Nepal” strictly for the treatment of women victims during the agitation. Blue Diamond Society would like to announce the following activities to support to the ongoing protest.

- 2063/1/3 (19 April 2006) – Protest by wearing black hand bands symbolizing the protesting
againsgt autocracy, current governmnet of Nepal.

- 2063/1/7 (20 April 2006)- Participation in the protest rallies/agtitaion.

In solidarity

Sunil B Pant
Dircetor

(from) Office of the Representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama

2006-04-11T02:30:00.000-07:00

Found on LGBT-Inida

The Tibet Bureau

Office of the Representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama

"I am pleased to bring you greetings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion of the XXIII World Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

His Holiness welcomes the special attention given at this conference to religious tolerance and respect for diversity.

His Holiness is greatly concerned by reports of violence and discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and urges respect, tolerance, and the full recognition of human rights for all.

Finally, he expresses his best wishes for a successful conference." Geneva, 30 March 2006

13-year-old child allegedly murdered in Mahotari district, southwest from Kathmandu, Nepal after his father can't stop him from being a transgender.

2006-04-01T04:42:00.000-08:00

Thirteen-year-old Rupesh Mandal from Agileshore VDC, Mahotari studying is class 8 was found dead inside his room by his mother early in the morning of 30th March 2006. Tapeshore Mandel, father of Rupesh, abused him two months ago when he found that Rupesh had been visiting Blue Diamond Society's (BDS) Drop in centre in Janakpur (two hours from their village) with her transgender friend from the same village. He kicked her out of the family home. Later, Rupesh rejoined the family saying she would stop going to BDS. But his father continued to abuse and assault Rupesh in an attempt to stop her from being transgender. However, it was not possible for Rupesh to change from what she was.

Neighbours and other transgender stated that Rupesh's father called his son "hijra" and that if he didn't stop being "hijra" he would kill his son.

On 29th March 2006, Rupesh was again verbally abused by his father in front of his transgender friend. His father repeatedly talked about killing Rupesh.

The next morning, Rupesh was dead.

On hearing of the death, villagers rushed to the house and suggested to cremate Rupesh's body quickly before the police found out about the incident. Another Meti, a friend of Rupesh, heard the terrible news and ran to BDS office in Janakpur and called Pradip, the Coordinator, for help.

Pradip rushed to the scene and talked to villagers and to Rupesh's father who was saying "We had a quarrel last night and Rupesh took poison and killed himself". Pradip asked that the body not be cremated before the police had been informed. Police from Jaleshore VDC station arrived later that morning and took the body for post mortem. The post mortem report indicated that no poison had been taken but instead suggested that Rupesh had been suffocated.

BDS team and members are deeply shocked, sadden and terrified by this terrible incident involving a 13-year-old child just for being transgender.

BDS demands a proper investigation and justice so that such an incident may never be repeated again.

Sunil Pant
Blue Diamond Society

Other news in brief:
27 Metis (cross dressing affeminate males) arrested on

13 March has been released on bail on 29th March 2006.

3 Metis are still in detention and assaulted and beaten by police inside the police station at Hanuman Dhoka.

Police has prepared to charge on Public offence again and keeping for at least 10 days for investigation.

We're only a part of you

2006-03-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

As a tool for social change, the law must lead the way by shrugging off the baggage of Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises consensual homosexual sex, writes Vivek Divan

In June 2001, at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, proceedings were stalled by nations with particularly poor human rights records to prevent a gay organisation from addressing a Round Table on Human Rights and HIV/AIDS. Due to hectic lobbying by more enlightened country delegates and protests by NGO representatives, the initiative failed. The Indian government did us proud at that time when it stated on the floor of the house that men who have sex with men (MSM) face a heightened vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and any dialogue on the epidemic must allow their voice to be expressed and heard.

Apart from being the official line of the Indian government, the statement was significant in other ways. By implication it recognised certain aspects that human rights activists and marginalised sexualities have been trying to highlight for several years - that marginalised sexualities are very much a part of Indian society (and are not either some figment of the imagination or part of a larger "foreign conspiracy"); that they are a significant number (and not some few thousand sprinkled around the country) and that they are worthy of attention from a mature, considerate and humane society (and not to be ignored from, discarded by or left at the fringes of social and policy discourse).

Since then the Indian government has revealed its forked tongue by failing to back what it said in New York through its pronouncements in New Delhi. In a public interest constitutional challenge to the anti-sodomy law (Section 377, Indian Penal Code), the Government has opposed the law's removal. Section 377 is an archaic and alien provision, the legacy of Victorian England, which, inter alia, criminalises non-procreative consensual sex between adults, both homosexual and heterosexual. The case seeks a "reading down" of the law so that it continues to apply to non-consensual sex (including that which involves children) but excludes non-procreative, adult consensual sex (and thereby homosexual sex too) on the grounds that the law violates the individual's fundamental rights to equality, expression, privacy and health.

The Government's regressive response to this challenge essentially states that public opinion/morality and the current social context in India do not favour deletion of the law. It is worth asking on what basis the Government reaches this conclusion. Has it taken a poll? I wouldn't be surprised if Indians turned out to be rational and tolerant enough of the non-coercive sexual conduct of others, especially if they are informed that it could be their sons and daughters, brothers, sisters and friends who could be gay and whose sexual conduct would therefore be criminalised by Section 377.

And what is this "public morality" the Government refers to? Whose morality? Did it conclude that "public morality" required dowry or sati to be criminalised when legislating on those issues? And since when has democracy meant majoritarian rule and minority oppression?

The Government also states that homosexuality/sodomy is still an offence in a large number of countries. Here are some countries whose ideals the Indian government aspires to: Malawi, Myanmar, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, Somalia - evidently a much-coveted club of humanism and progress, which has a membership composed of several other countries of the same ilk.

Importantly, the Government's position flies in the face of recommendations of several of its own advisory bodies - the National Human Rights Commission, Planning Commission and Law Commission - all of whom have suggested the removal of Section 377. Moreover, its own agency, the National AIDS Control Organisation, funds and supports NGOs who distribute condoms and safe sex information to MSM. (Of course, this agency has shamelessly failed to bring this fact and the hindrance that Section 377 creates to its life-saving work to the notice of the court).

In this environment of fear, prejudice and hypocrisy, some facts need to be emphasised with respect to homosexuality and the law. Firstly, the law is used to oppress, abuse and exploit those who are homosexual or indulge in homosexual sex (as was made clear by the egregious manner in which trumped up charges were made under Section 377 against four allegedly gay men in Lucknow in January 2006). But homosexuals continue to indulge in sex with each other despite the law, although many fail to escape its draconian grasp.

Which leads us to the second fact - that same-sex attraction is an innate trait in a certain number of human beings (as has been conclusively shown by science and anthropology). It is unlikely that people would continue to indulge in sexual conduct that was severely sanctioned against by law and society if such conduct was not so inherent and at the core of their sense of being. We are not gluttons for punishment. Same-sex attraction's intrinsic nature should also remove the irrational fear that if sodomy were to be legalised, same-sex attraction would "spread" and jeopardise family structures. This has never been the case where the law has progressed. Let us face it: those who express same-sex attraction will continue to do so and those who do not, will not.

If homosexuals had the assurance of confidentiality, they would tell you how fundamental their attraction for persons of the same sex is and from where it emerged. Getting to know them would also reveal that homosexual orientation knows no era, class, caste, religion or geography. And that those with such orientation are not individuals afflicted by a disease, perversion or mental disorder but persons who productively contribute to the everyday life of this nation; be they cleaners, accountants, drivers, waiters, students, journalists, lawyers, artists, daily wage labourers, doctors or law enforcement personnel. That many homosexuals have been some of the foremost thinkers, leaders, artists and entrepreneurs of their time is also well known.

Yet, Section 377 exists and continues to be misused to harass and extort from those who are perceived to be homosexual or challenge gender stereotypes of appearance and demeanour. Undoubtedly social stigma contributes to the marginalisation of homosexuals, but criminalisation reinforces this inequity. This overall atmosphere leads to severe vulnerability by encouraging covert conduct that erodes the dignity of the individual and reinforces fear, trauma, shame and self-hate, often leading to duplicitous lives where homosexuals are forced into heterosexual marriages.

Fortunately, better understandings of self, more information on sexuality and the profound courage of many homosexuals are creating spaces, albeit slowly and against severe odds, in which persons with same-sex orientations are able to share their feelings with family and friends. This has engendered small but significant support structures. This growing atmosphere is bound to debunk myths and stereotypes about homosexuality and create healthy relationships within the family and in society at large. But as a tool for social change, the law must lead the way by shrugging off the outdated and unreasonable baggage of Section 377. Surely the objective of the rule of law and democracy is to protect the blameless outsider, the faultless oppressed.

It is incumbent on the Government to support such measures, especially if it purports to be the government of a progressive, inclusive and humane nation. By towing an uninformed and paranoid line, it fails to reflect the tolerance of its polity and seems eager to condemn its own homosexual citizens whose basic right to lead wholesome lives has been ignored for much too long. They have truth on their side and now they demand justice.

Divan is a human rights lawyer and gay activist

Found inthe Pioneer

From: The Hindu, The state of the union

2006-01-30T17:32:00.000-08:00

While sexual minorities are gaining acceptance all around the world, civil and marital rights are a faraway dream here, finds out RAKESH MEHAR

Last month, Amrut watched and cheered as Elton John and his long-time partner David Furnish celebrated their civil partnership, becoming the most famous benefactors of the United Kingdom's Civil Partnership Act that legalises same-sex unions. Later, he watched as Brokeback Mountain, a gay Western directed by Ang Lee, overcame controversies to win critical acclaim at the Golden Globe Awards. Just last week, he read on the Internet that DePaul University in Chicago, the largest Catholic University in the U.S., has launched a "Queer Studies" programme, despite Vatican's rabid anti-homosexuality stance. Sadly, he says, for him and thousands others of the sexual minorities in India, these events overseas only reflect the lack of change here.

Distant milestone

In India, say Amrut and others, civil and marital rights are a faraway dream that might not be realised for a decade or more. A far greater challenge that still blocks this path is Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises all forms of sexual orientation that don't conform to the normative heterosexist ideal. The presence of Section 377 creates a framework of harassment, in which sexual minorities live in a state of fear. There are a number of documented cases of violence and harassment on the basis of this law, the most recent being the entrapment and arrest of four men in Lucknow, on the basis of profiles of themselves they had posted on a website. However, for every case that is documented, scores of others go unnoticed, particularly those involving working-class sexual minorities.

According to Elavarthi Manohar, who works with Sangama, a sexuality minorities' rights group, the challenges multiply for working-class minorities because they do not possess safe spaces that those of the middle or upper middle class have access to. Moreover, most activist groups in the country are largely representative of English-speaking gays and lesbians, and working-class minorities often do not have a voice or a platform for their grievances.

Seeking normalcy

One of the primary realisations that members of sexual minorities hope for is that their relationships and lifestyles are as "normal" and subject to many of the same challenges that heterosexual relationships are subjected to. And it is this mainstreaming of alternative sexual orientations that they believe will take place with the legalisation of same-sex unions. As Bala, a senior management consultant, puts it: "Most people think gay lifestyles are all about sex. What they need to see is that we have the same emotional needs as heterosexual individuals. If that happens, then there will probably be greater understanding and acceptance."

A more practical aspect of legalised same-sex unions is that legal issues such as inheritance are then treated on the same level as heterosexual marriages. At present, many everyday benefits that heterosexuals take for granted aren't available to those of the sexual minorities. As one gay man in a long-term relationship put it: "We always worry about what happens if one of us falls sick or dies, or if we ever want to adopt a child and so on. In a marriage, you take all these things for granted." Mahesh, who works for an IT company, explains that he faces many of the same problems because his organisation doesn't have policies relating to same-sex partnerships. The easiest example is in the case of travel allowances. "Whenever my married colleagues travel, there are allowances for their spouses and families. However, I don't get any such benefits because the company claims they can't legally give them to me. In effect, I'm subsidising other people's marriages. It makes me feel like a second class citizen."

However, in demanding marital rights, there is also a conscious understanding of the fact that marriage as an institution also has its problems. Manohar explains that marriage as a unit supports certain kinds of oppression. He says that there is a need, therefore for the sexual minorities to find other viable relationship models.

Although some semblance of a sexual minorities' rights movement has begun to appear in most metros, the issue still fails to get the kind of visibility that other human rights issues have managed. Arvind Narrain, a lawyer with the Alternative Law Forum and a well-known activist for sexual minorities' rights, explains that part of the problem is the lack of understanding of the politics of sexuality. "It is still very difficult to talk about sexuality, because it is treated as an area of shame and fear. That makes it hard for the issue to gain visibility." A part of the blame also lies with the rights groups and the community at large, says Manohar. "Wherever sexuality minorities have won their rights, it's because people came out on the streets and fought for it. Here, that kind of activism hasn't happened on a large scale yet. There have been sporadic protests around the country, but no sustained movements."

The situation has improved over the years, however. Manohar explains that in a previous instance when four men in Lucknow were arrested on the basis of their sexual orientation, protests around the country began only after a month, and the detainees were kept in prison for close to six weeks. In the more recent arrest, however, a full report was made about the issue in three days, and protests began immediately, resulting in bail soon.

What many activists want to establish is that in asking for these rights, the sexual minorities aren't demanding special privileges. "We don't want special rights. We just want the right to not be subjected to special discrimination," explains one activist.

From: OpenSpace:Resource from LGBT Hindus: The Gay and Lesbian

2006-01-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hinduism and sexuality

Hindu texts have discussed variations in gender and sexuality for more than two millennia. Like the erotic sculptures on ancient Hindu temples at Khajuraho and Konarak, sacred texts in Sanskrit constitute irrefutable evidence that a whole range of sexual behaviour was known to ancient Hindus. Traditions of representing same-sex desire in literature and art continued in medieval Hinduism.

The sacred Hindu epics and the Puranas, compendia of devotional stories, depict gods, sages and heroes springing from ayoni sex. Ayoni sex never became a major topic of debate, nor was it categorized as an unspeakable crime. There is no evidence of anyone in India ever having been executed for same-sex relations.

Hindu scriptures contain many surprising examples of diversity in both sex and gender. Medieval texts narrate how the god Ayyappa was born of intercourse between the gods Shiva and Vishnu when the latter temporarily took a female form. A number of 14th-century texts in Sanskrit and Bengali (including the Krittivasa Ramayana, a devotional text still extremely popular today) narrate how hero-king Bhagiratha, who brought the sacred river Ganga from heaven to earth, was miraculously born to and raised by two co-widows, who made love together with divine blessing. These texts explain that his name Bhagiratha comes from the word bhaga (vulva), because he was born of two vulvas. Another sacred text, the fourth-century Kamasutra, emphasizes pleasure as the aim of intercourse. It categorizes men who desire other men as a "third nature." The text goes on to subdivide such men into masculine and feminine types and describes their lives and typical occupations (including flower sellers, masseurs and hairdressers). The Kamasutra also includes a detailed description of oral sex between men and refers to long-term unions between male partners. Hindu medical texts dating from the first century also provide taxonomies of gender and sexual variations, including same-sex desire.

Modern trends and views Hindu philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said that homosexuality, like heterosexuality, has been a fact for thousands of years, and that it becomes a problem only because humans focus too much on sex. When asked about homosexuality, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the international Art of Living movement, said, "Every individual has both male and female in them. Sometimes one dominates, sometimes other; it is all fluid."

Mathematician Shakuntala Devi, in her 1977 book The World of Homosexuals, interviewed Srinivasa Raghavachariar, head priest of the Srirangam temple. Raghavachariar said that same-sex partners must have been cross-sex partners in a former life. The sex may change, he said, but the soul retains its attachments; hence love impels them toward one another.

When, in 2002, Hindu scholar Ruth Vanita interviewed a Shaiva priest who had performed the marriage ceremony for two women, the priest said that having studied Hindu scriptures, he had concluded, "Marriage is a union of spirits. And the spirit is not male or female."

As Amara Dasa, founder of Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association, noted in Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex, several Gaudiya Vaishnava authorities emphasize that since everyone passes through various forms, genders and species in a series of lives, people should not judge each other by the material body but should view everyone equally on a spiritual plane and be compassionate, as God is.

Resource from LGBT Hindus: The Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association

Intellectuals defend homosexuality

2006-01-14T03:37:00.000-08:00

by
Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi
[ Saturday, January 14, 2006 02:17:29 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

LUCKNOW: The society has always looked at lesbianism and homosexuality with a jaundiced eye. But now those with such leanings have decided that they are not going to take things lying down.

They have taken their battle to the streets. Literally. And they have found active support among the intellectuals and the learned in this city of nawabs.

Ruth Vanita and Salim Kidwai, who co-authored the book 'Same Sex marriages in India', make plain their anger with the attitude of the police.

Recently the Lucknow police had arrested four men under Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, allegedly for indulging in unnatural sex. Vanita blames the society's attitude towards homosexuals and lesbians for the suicides committed by them.

Citing instances of these atrocities, Vanita informs,"in 1980, a joint suicide was committed by two women in Kerala. In 1987, two policewomen who married each other were suspended."

She argues that it is wrong to say that this is a Western concept. In fact, there have been cases where the families of the same sex couples have given their consent. "Like in 2001, two nurses in Bihar got married with the permission of the family," she adds.

It is the legal-religious aspect that rattles these intellectuals the most. Kidwai argues that Section 377 of IPC is a colonial legacy which should be shed. "These laws do not reflect Indian views or traditions.

Such laws are rightly being questioned," he says. He further adds, "the way the police implements Section 377 is problematic.

This is a weak case, as found by our fact-finding team, and will be overthrown. It only harasses the victims."

Vanita points out that she had talked to a lot of priests about these issues. "The priests who had conducted these marriages said these were allowed in Indian tradition," she informed.
She stated that Gandharva vivah, which was portrayed in the movie Parineeta recently, is mentioned in ancient texts, including Kamasutra. Here no priest is required and a mere exchange of garlands is enough.

Many NGOs have also voiced their concern on the issue. Says Tulika Srivastava of Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI),"Our agenda is to fight the moralistic and unconstitutional attitude of the police."

When TOI pointed out that Section 377 was a part of IPC and hence legal, Srivastava argued, "IPC does not represent the constitution.

Section 377 infringes on our Fundamental Rights." Jashodhara Dasgupta of Sahayog, said, "Britishers have themselves repealed such laws and allowed gay marriages like in the recent case of Elton John."

When contacted, SSP Lucknow, Ashutosh Pandey, defended the stand taken by the police. He said the police was only implementing the law of the land. "In India, gays are not respectable.

Under Section 377 a person can be given imprisonment upto 10 years, even if the act was committed with consent," he said.

He argued that in the US these acts are permissible and the NGOs and others were supporting gays because they get funding from foreign shores

http://queerindia.blogspot.com Blogs I read

Nitin Karani

From: [LGBTNepal] why hard To trust own brother

2006-01-13T18:27:00.000-08:00

you know two things we have one we have mind, brain work logically, we have heart soul it work sensatively. u can talk by mind or u can talk by soul depend upon you. I am one down of earth person. In my life so many desister happen. but i still keeping faith faith faith to lord. God say I have plan for prosperity not desister. dear so many fish in ocean u will hard to cach real dolfin...... city being so poluted. fresh n real friends hard to find... bellions of people. dear one day we all die. people shy and scred to be gay.. they just choose beautiful guy handsome guy. who drive car they need preaty bodey bulder. rich people say i am this n that in talk. but reality diffreant. if all gay doing like it. if most of guy doing like when we will get right??????? internet is vertual world. not use it for misused for gay homo, lesbian, streat, queer, what ever you preasnt either you are top, either you are master, either you are slave, either you are bottom either you are versitile, either you night qween, what ever. we are in asia. we know we have so many organization, we have so many help line, who is there they will try but job only 30 to 40 % every bodey need sucess, every bodey need fun every bodey need satisfication, who need fredom???????????? who need sare of their sorrow??????????? who need healp????????????? there is interwivew from human right, unisco,undp, so n so... there is so many seminar, there is so many table talk??????? there is so many meeting why not able to accept all idea?????? who able to invite you????????? who able to listen your voice.... either you are poor , either you are rich, we are all brother we are all sister we are all friends why looking face .... why hard to look heart?????? why cheating each other, why shy and hegiatate to tell fact n reality. yes we have presser of society, we have presser of culture, we have own family, job economic presser. if we dominate eachother. who listen our voice????????? so many book in market??????? who read it???????? so many web site?????? why we are not able to show posative for society???? why people missused gay website. why people think only sex game??????? why people think sex is trade?????? why forget love why forget love, why misunderstand, where is humanities,where is faith and support, where is courage??????

I say franctly here is very hard to trust one brother one friend to other friend. here is no humanities. either goverment falt or our falt. some time matti ariested, some time mattie hit the police. some time event in Nepal, some time voilance in lakhanow. May be soon some where ?????? why it happen why it happen????? why comersilize for our sexuality......???? why polish harashment always whose falt????????? we have no knowledge. or we are not get proper counsuling. or we just die for sex sex sex???????? what is reson behand???????

who ever you are Big posation or small posation?? either you are director of trust or organization please try to show real brother relation real humanities. please don't try to name and fame. every one start to take responsibility. what can i do from my side????????? any one will able to listen My voice?????? voice may be small but it sake the world. simple exeample of ant and elephant. one small ant able to kill the elephant.

[lgbt-india] Shahrukh is the new Ardhnarisvara

2005-10-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

““Metrosexuality is nothing but the concept of the ancient Ardhnarisvara, which has become the most important cultural signifier in recent times””

Masculine women, Feminine men, which is the rooster, which is the hen? Both, if you take the opinion of art historian, curator and author Dr. Alka Pandey who believes that gender is not about the body, the symbology of the Ardhnarisvara coming of age in contemporary society cannot be mistaken. ““With financial empowerment you can see the latent shakti in women coming to the fore. What else is all the talk about power dressing for women in the boardroom? Rohit Bal’’s male models sporting kohl and vermillion on their foreheads were nothing but an assertion of his homosexuality. Shah Rukh in the Lux ad sensuously soaping himself would have been sacrilege till sometime ago. Today’’s it’’s the current rage, everyone is talking about it. All this talk of metrosexuality is nothing but a synonym for the ancient concept of Ardhnarisvara coming into its own in a society which has learnt to rise above gender divides and understand that the ultimate is in attaining the divine balance between the male and female side which exists in every individuals.””

Drawing examples across cultures and civilizations, Dr. Pande delighted an enraptured audience at the Rajya Lalit Kala Kendra on Monday evening where she was delivering the RS Bisht memorial lecture on ““Creativity within Ardhnarisvara.”” A devout Shiva bhakt, Dr Pande feels her initial attaraction to this ancient symbol of the Ardhnarisvara draws inspiration from childhood. ““My father was a devout worshiper of Shakti that attracted me to study the Ardhnarisvara, Especially when I came across innumerable symbology associated with the form in the West. I began looking at sexuality and bisexuality and the binaries existing in us all the time.”” According to Dr. Pande the concepts of transvestism, cross dressing in bhakti, drama and arts all draw inferences from this concept. ““In contemporary terms it exists in the Yin and The Yang and you will find examples of it in Egyptian, Mayan, Shamanistic and other cultures across the world.”” The Ardhnarisvara thus has a global identity. ““When Beckham is hailed as a metrosexual for sporting bling and adorning himself with diamondsn it is an ode to this ideology which in modern terms has acquired the notions of metrosexuality and is the most important cultural signifier in recent times. At a particular level we are all transcending gender to evolve as a complete fusion of form and gender, an asexual, composite identity which takes us beyond desire and emotion. It’’s hard to take her away from her favourite subject but you can’t help ask the eminent art historian and curator her reaction to the whopping demanding the International market for Indian art?

““It’’s a trend that’’s directly related to the buoyant economy. I see it stabilizing after a while. I think it is a very good sign for nurturing art from his region but we must remember that not everyone is a Tyeb Mehta who sells for 7.5crore. But I’’ll say this, Indian art has needed a better canvas for a while now and it is finally happening.

Indian Express

Nepal police bash transgenders in Kathmandu

2005-09-29T03:53:00.000-07:00

Threats to crush gay rights movement in Nepal
OutRage! urges protests to Nepali Embassies
London – 28 September 2005

Nepali police have continued their on-going brutality against gay people and metis (effeminate males), with a savage attack on a group of metis in the capital, Kathmandu, on 24 September.

The assault began with plainclothes police officers abusing and sexually harassing several metis who were socialising outside the Himalayan Java Café.

When the metis refused to have sex with the officers and resisted their violent abuse, they were beaten and arrested.

The UK LGBT human rights group OutRage! has been sent a news release about the assaults and arrests by its sister organisation in Nepal, the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), which campaigns for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Nepalese (see a copy of the BDS news release below).

“These assaults are a continuation of a long history of homophobic abuse and violence by sections of the Nepali police,” said Peter Tatchell of OutRage!, which is supporting the work of the BDS.

“We are concerned that LGBT people in Nepal have no legal redress against state violence, and that they get little support from mainstream human rights groups and political parties.

“It is particularly disturbing that the some senior Nepali police officers want to crackdown on the legitimate human rights work of the Blue Diamond Society.

“OutRage! urges LGBT people worldwide to support the struggle of our sisters and brothers in Nepal by protesting to the nearest Nepali Embassy and Ambassador (see details of UK Ambassador and contact information below).

“Protests should urge an end to police violence and sexual abuse of gay and meti people, action to protect the LGBT communities against discrimination and violence, and the prosecution police officers and others who victimise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” said Mr Tatchell.

Ambassador Prabal Rana
Embassy of Nepal
12a Kensingston Palace Gardens
London W8 4QU

The Royal Nepalese Embassy
2131 Leroy Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Tel: 202 667 4550, Fax: 202 667 5534
Email: info@nepalembassyusa.org

Phone: 020 7229 1594
Fax: 020 7792 9861
Email: rnelondon@btconnect.com

Further information:

Peter Tatchell, OutRage!: 020 7403 1790

Sunil B Pant, Blue Diamond Society, Kathmandu, Nepal:
Phone: +977 1 4443350, 4445147, Mobile: +977
9851067959, Fax: +977 1 4438600
Email: sunil@bds.org.np and cspsb@yahoo.com
Website: www.bds.org.np

Police brutality and threats to Blue Diamond Society

2005-09-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

On the night of September 24 2005, Thamel, the tourist area of Kathmandu, a number of Metis (effeminate males) and gay men were hanging around the streets next to Himalayan Java Café. As often happens, a few Policemen in civilian dress came to abuse the metis, trying to make some money and having free sex.

One policeman named Nava Raj Adhikari, started abusing a young meti, Puspa (21 years old), by burning his cigarette on her hands, forcefully putting his hand on her private parts and asking her to come with him for sex. Puspa refused and tried to avoid him but he became more violent and pulled her hair and slapped her. When the other metis saw the man (policeman) being heavy handed with Puspa, they rushed to help her.

Initially, the Metis were successful in chasing the policeman away. But after a while, the policeman, Nava Raj came back with more friends and started beating two other metis, Sanjaya (about 25 years old ) and Suntali (about 21 years old). Suntali was hit hard on the waist by a stone thrown by the policemen. Both Sanjaya and Suntali then ran away.

Then the policeman with more of his friends started beating other metis. The metis also threw stones back at the policemen. Two more Metis, Neema and Umesh, were injured and the policeman - Nava Raj - was also injured on his head. The policemen become more violent and started brutally chasing more metis.

Then they caught Kala Rai, a meti in her mid 20s. The policemen beat her with boots and fists and dragged her to the Durbar Marg Police Station, next to the Royal Palace. Nava Raj accused Kala Rai of hitting him with a stone.

Then more policemen from Durbar Marg were mobilized to abuse more metis. Three policemen in uniform came by a
taxi no 1816 to Thamel and beat another meti - Rabi. She was badly injured on her leg, hands and backside when the policemen beat her with sticks and boots. In Durbar Marg Police station, Kala Rai was kept for one day and asked to pay Nepali rupees 1800 to compensate the policeman, Nava Raj, otherwise, she was threatened to be jailed for 6 moths and to pay a fine up to Nepali rupees 28,000 on a public offence charge. Poor Kala Rai (who is living with her already compromised immune system), became scared and agreed to pay as much as she could. Yesterday evening, 25th September, she was released after she paid Nepali rupees 1000 with the support from BDS members.

During the day (25 the September 2005), Blue Diamond Society called the National Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Cell of the Nepal Police to come and monitor/report the case. Both of them refused by saying 'it seems to be a fight between a meti gang and a Police gang' and they couldn't get involved. FWLD's lawyer Rup Narayan Shrestha came to help at the Durbar Marg Police Station and suggested "It's better for Kala to compromise with the police as her position in this case is too weak and police can twist the case around to give Kala more trouble."

Last week, I was excited to send the Nepal draft LGBT Charter around the world for support and solidarity. However, I now realize that the draft Charter is not clear enough in its fundamental thinking - that is: "There is no rule of law in Nepal for sexual/gender minorities and there is no legal institution that is ready to stand with us whenever we are in crisis. Compromise seems to be the 'watchword' - but that leads nowhere in this situation.

We have recently been warned by a few 'friendly' junior Policemen who are partners of metis of the Nepal Police's policy against metis and Blue Diamond Society: "high level Police officials believe in cracking down on the root of this social and cultural pollution from society now, otherwise it will be ou of their hands."

Sunil B Pant
Blue Diamond Society
Kathmandu, Nepal
www.bds.org.np

Nepal LGBT Freedom Charter (From LGBT - Nepal_

2005-09-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

We, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of Nepal, recognize the importance of democracy, equality and human rights in our country. With the support of our human rights allies in Nepal and worldwide, we call for the following human rights reforms as part of the struggle for a free and democratic Nepal:

1) Comprehensive hate-crime laws to protect all Nepalese, including women, LGBTs and people with HIV

2) Strengthen and enforce the laws against incitement to violence and murder, including incitements to assault and kill LGBTs

3) Outlaw incitement to hatred against all vulnerable social groups, including women, the disabled, religious minorities, LGBTs and people with HIV

4) Police training in human rights issues, including challenging sexism and homophobia and ensuring police awareness of, and sensitivity to, women's, LGBT and HIV issues

5) The monitoring and recording of all hate crimes, including hate crimes against women and LGBTs

6) Education in human rights as part of the school curriculum, including understanding and respect for racial, religious, gender and sexual diversity

7) Awareness training in LGBT issues for all trainee medical staff and teachers to ensure sympathetic and non-discriminatory treatment for all patients and pupils, regardless of sexuality and HIV status

8) Legalisation of same-sex relations between consenting adults, to end the criminalisation and harassment of LGBT people.

9) Outlawing of the rape of a male/transgender to protect against sexual exploitation and harassment.

10) The legal right of Nepalese to form associations to promote understanding, acceptance and the human rights of LGBT people.

11) We condemn the repressive use of police and military power against the people of Nepal, including detention without trial, torture and the disappearance of dissenters.

12) We oppose the suppression of Nepali voluntary and civic associations, human rights activists, labour unions, and the press.

13) We call for a democratic government, which respects the human rights of all the people of Nepal.

In solidarity

Sunil B Pant
President
Blue Diamond Society

Discrimination against Metis in Butwal, Nepal from:[LGBTNepal]

2005-08-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

1.) A Meti (effeminate male) expelled from work place

After 3 years of work as a care taker (8 hours per day, making tea for the senior staff, cleaning the hospital and toilets, sheets and Dr's uniforms) at Universal college of Medical Science (A kind teaching hospital) in Rani Gaun, Bhairhwa, Nepal, Chhottki (Sahabuddhin Phakir, A Muslim Meti) was expelled a year and half ago after the hospital management find out about Chhottki being Meti. She used to earn 2100 Re per month (equivalent of 30US$).

After that her family also excluded her from home.

Now she is working with Blue Diamond Society's care and support center, Butwal, Nepal, Funded by Elton John Foundtaion.

2) Metis were abused and cheated by police in Butwal again.

Around early march 2005, A group of police from Elaka Police Station near Hat Bazzar, Butwal arrested 5 Metis, after Paradise Hotel called the police after the hotel staff found out that five people men were Metis (Bhumika, Kiran, Ajay, Bablu and Keshari). First the hotel tried to raise the hotel price for the Metis, When the Metis disagree with that the Hotel owner started shouting to the Metis with bad names and called the police.

When the police came to the hotel they didn't listen the Metis but arrested after they listened only to the Hotel owner. Then The Metis were forced to paid 500Rs to the hotel that was for nothing and Police took them to the Lumbini Zone Hospital for forensics and medial tests and took their personal details there.

Then the police took all the Metis to Elaka Police Station, Near Hat Bazzar, Butwal saying they would be released the next day. Then the police asked about Blue Diamond Society (BDS); how much money BDS receives from the donors and from where BDS get donations, How much money the Metis gets for Butwal project, etc!!!

The Police beat all the Metis while they were in the custody.

Then after two days in police custody the police asked 8000Rs (about 115 US$) for Bail money, no body had that much big money with them. Then Police spotted a Meti wearing a gold chain. Then the police arranged to exchange the gold chain with 8000RS and released all the Metis. The Metis were not given any receipt/paper of the Bail Money that charged by the police and no further legal procedures has been done since then.

The gold Chain, a Meti claimed, worth about 12000RS.

Blue Diamond Society is very concern of the discriminating, abuse, blackmailing and cheating by the Police and other parties and demand to an immediate end of such discrimination, abuse, blackmailing and cheating from all sides. We also demand an immediate and thorough investigation of the Police from Elaka Police Station, Butwal and of the Universal College of Medical Science, Butwal for the discriminatory and unjust act they have committed and bring the perpetrator to justice.

Sunil B Pant
Blue Diamond Society

Courts Still at Odds Over Transsexuals' Rights" by Dee McAree

2005-08-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

This morning's edition of *The National Law Journal* includes an article:
Courts Still at Odds Over Transsexuals' Rights" by Dee McAree.

A groundbreaking decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year opened doors for transsexuals to bring discrimination lawsuits against their employers, but some lower federal courts are still holding to older precedents that bar Title VII claims.

"District court judges are having a hard time with this," said Christopher Daley, a lawyer and director of the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco. "They are having a hard time feeling that they can really embrace the 6th Circuit ruling."

Traditionally, federal courts have denied that transsexuals are a protected class under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, based on a strict reading of how Congress intended the term "sex" to be applied. They hold to a line of cases that stem from a 1984 7th Circuit ruling, Ulane v. Eastern Airlines Inc., 742 F.2d 1081, which reinforced a narrow reading of Title VII.

The 6th Circuit, however, broke new ground in 2004 when it relied on a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, to find that transsexuals can be victims of sexual stereotyping. Price Waterhouse dealt with a woman passed over for promotion because she did not act as feminine as her employer required. In Smith v. City of Salem, No. 03-3399, the 6th Circuit said the same reasoning can apply to a transsexual firefighter who does not appear masculine enough.

Yet as recently as last month, a federal judge rejected the 6th Circuit decision in favor of older precedent.

Senior Judge David Sam of U.S. district court in Utah, which is within the 10th Circuit, rejected the employment discrimination claims of a transsexual bus driver.

"The Sixth Circuit, in two recent cases, has applied the Price Waterhouse rationale to transsexuals, and has concluded that Ulane and its progeny are no longer good law. ... This court disagrees," Sam wrote. Etsitty v. Utah Transit Authority, No. 2:04CV616 DS (D. Utah).

MAJOR IMPLICATIONS

Attorney Randi Barnabee of Smith Barnabee & Co. in Northfield, Ohio, who argued Smith, said she knew when she first read Price Waterhouse in law school that the case would have implications for transsexuals.

"I thought, 'This is the case that is going to change everything,' " said Barnabee. Discrimination against homosexuals or transsexuals is always triggered by the perception that they do not conform to either sex, she claimed. But there is still resistance from some federal courts that perceive lawsuits relying on Smith to be artful pleadings that are trying to circumvent Ulane, Barnabee said.

With an appeal in the Etsitty case headed for the 10th Circuit, lawyers
expect to see more clarity in the law.

"Either the circuits are going to get in line behind Smith or they are going to split," Daley said. If the circuits split, it may well be an issue headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, he added.

Many of the cases involving Title VII claims by transsexuals, like Etsitty,
involve restroom issues, where an employer fires a transsexual employee over concerns about which restroom will be used.

Lauren Scholnick of Strindberg Scholnick & Chamness, who is representing Utah plaintiff Krystal Etsitty, said that the restroom issue is only a pretext for the employers' discomfort with their employees' gender nonconformity.

"It's very clear after Price Waterhouse that employers have a duty to protect their employees [from discrimination based on sex-stereotyping]," Scholnick said. Defense lawyers have argued, with some success, that Smith creates another protected class for transsexuals and homosexuals, in opposition to Ulane.

Scott Hagen of Ray Quinney & Nebeker in Salt Lake City, who defended the Utah Transit Authority in Etsitty, declined to discuss the case while an appeal is still pending.

But in Etsitty, Sam sided with the defense argument that the Price Waterhouse scenario of a woman appearing too masculine is not analogous to the case of a man changing to the opposite sex.

Exclusive interview with gay activists in Iran on situation of gays, recent executions of gay teens and the future

2005-07-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

MAHA, Iran to all GLBT groups and individuals: "Thank you for your hard work and International engagement" Project GayRussia.Ru continues its investigation into the violent executions in Iran

Project GayRussia.Ru asked people to sign the letter to the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the Russian President Vladimir Putin against barbarism that took place in Iran, the execution of two young gays on 19 July 2005. The letters were sent last Saturday. When we ask people to support and join our actions and when we ourselves responded to the international appeal of the British gay group Outrage!, we also have the obligation to provide you with some follow up and further investigation into what happened. Here now we offer you the testimony of our contacts inside Iran. For their own safety, we will not publish their photo or contact details. But if you want to send a message to them please e-mail to contacts@gayrussia.ru and we will forward your message to Iran. Our contacts in Iran also collect information on the actions of support from different countries connected with the executions of teen gays. Please send us the information you published or campaig! ns you conducted locally or internationally. We will transfer everything to our contacts in Iran. After that they will be able to include all the information concerning support in the next issue of their electronic magazine. It will show to local Iranian gays and lesbians that they are not alone as they do not have much information from other sources! Write to us at contacts@gayrussia.ru

We conducted the interview with the publishers and distributors of MAHA, Iran's Homosexual E-Magazine in Persian (it also means "We" or "Us" in Persian language). They are located in Iran and they gladly answered to our questions about the situation of homosexuals in Iran as well as the perception of the recent event that sparked international outrage with Iranian policy.

GayRussia: Can you tell us a bit about the situation in Iran in terms of access to the information for sexual minorities? And also we would like to know about your own MAHA magazine.

MAHA: Last year, the Persian Internet operator company shut down 15 gay websites in Iran. To strike back and to provide information about GLBT rights in Iran, and to help to create a nationwide network for GLBT in the country, a few gays decided to start publishing a newspaper without a website, as they knew that the authority would close down their website, so they decided to publish a PDF format magazine and send it by email to their readers.

After 8 months of hard work, 8 issues and 4 supplements appeared, covering issues such as gay and family, depression among GLBT, a report about lesbians in Iran, etc. MAHA also publishes a separate supplement for gay aid and to help GLBT to find a friend. Today MAHA has two editors, one gay and one lesbian, and MAHA's readers are all over the country and even some Iranian GLBT in exile. Currently 600 subscribers receive our magazine and we know that more than 1000 people are reading it. This number is growing every day!

PGLO (Persian gays and lesbians organisation) is an Iranian GLBT organisation working from abroad. They publish a PDF format magazine and most important they send a weekly radio program by email to people inside Iran.

G.R.: Do you have any further details on what happened on July 19th except what was published in the international media?

MAHA: Unfortunately not much. The authorities try to give as little information as possible about issues which may cause international reaction. And as you may know there is already a worldwide reaction and protests against the execution of the two boys.

We know that the two boys (with the names of Mohammad Askari and Ayad Marhuni) belonged to Iran's Arab minority, which live in Khuzestan province, a province bordering Iraq. During the 8 years war between Iran and Iraq, the Arabs were forced to leave their home and some of them went to Mashhad in North East of Iran. The two boys were from one of these families.

We also know that the authorities have been giving conflicting messages. Some are denying that the boys were persecuted because of being gays and they put more emphasize on the boy's crime (allegedly they have raped a 13 years old boy), but according to the boys lawyer the boys had said that they did not know that such acts (sexual relations with the person of the same sex) were punished by execution. It shows that the boys were executed because of having same-sex intercourse.

The problem in Iran is that there is no harmonised authority in the country and one local authority sometimes makes a decision contrary to the other part of the country.

G.R.: Do you see a possible link with the killing and the result of the recent presidential elections?

MAHA: It's hard to say and it's too early to see such a link. We know that the newly elected president is a conservative hardliner, we know that while he was a mayor of Tehran he was very much against cultural activities (such culture activities that promote modern western life style). But we also know that he could not resist the democracy movement and NGO, as we would like to do as the desire for democracy, freedom and separation of religion from politics is indeed strong in Iran.

G.R.: Was this execution event reported in the media in Iran or not?

MAHA: Yes, it was reputed and even some of international reaction to the event was reported but as you can guess the media is controlled by the regime to a large extent.

However, inside Iran, there is a large number of NGO like children's rights, women's rights, human rights groups etc. but also Ms. Shirin Ebedadi (peace Noble prize winner) protested against the execution. The situation in Iran is so that no one can talk openly about GLBT rights so those who protested, they protested against execution of children (one of the boys was clearly under 18 years old). The other problem is the conflicting messages from authorities, so no one wants to defend someone who raped a young 13 years old boy, as authority claims now.

G.R.: What is the situation of gays in Iran? How can gays live in the atmosphere of constant fear?

MAHA: The GLBT situation in Iran has changed over the past 26 years. The regime does not systematically persecute gays anymore, there are still some gay websites, there are some parks and cinemas where everyone knows that these places are meeting places for gays, furthermore it is legal in Iran that transsexual applies for sex change and it is fully accepted by the government. There are some medias which sometimes (not often) write about such issues. Having said that, the Islamic law, according to which gays punishment is death is still in force but it is thought not much followed by the regime nowadays.

You may remember the Soviet days, there was not much info about homosexuality in your country, families and the society could not accept it and the regime did not allow GLBT to have their organisations or to spread info about the issue. The situation is pretty much the same in Iran today. But thanks to Internet and contact with the International community, people get the info and Iran society has changed a lot and support for GLBT rights is growing in Iran though we still have a long way to go.

In the recent elections there was a candidate who put "RESPECT FOR DIFFERENT LIFE STYLES" in his program. And it was something new. We do not know if he really meant gay life but we know that his front is not anti gay. In addition there is a famous political person, Mr. Akbar Ganji, who also openly talks about RESPECT FOR DIFFERENT LIFESTYLES. Add to that GLBT which is still in the beginning of its journey but it is young and determined to fight for GLBT rights. There are also opposition political groups in exile and some of them voiced their support for GLBT rights in their program.

So, on the whole, we are optimistic about the future as Iran's situation can not continue like that and people are pushing for reforms and changes.

G.R.: How do Iranian gays live knowing that they fear death penalty in their motherland and that in other countries same sex marriages are already allowed?

MAHA: Life is not easy, it is mixed with fear, uncertainty and self oppression. The biggest problem we are facing is that GLBT do not have info about their sexual desire. They simply can not find explanation to it. Why they feel as they feel (feeling for persons of the same sex), they do not know what it is. What it's called etc. but when they get the knowledge, then it is becoming much easier. Not all Iranians have access to the Internet, there are no gay bars or clubs, so creating a network of GLBT is very difficult. Bear in mind that after 8 months of publishing MAHA, still a great number of GLBT people have not got the news.

Many GLBT people are living with denial of their own sexuality, or they get married in hope to disguise and hide their deep homosexual desire or in hope to be cured of it.

G.R.: What can we do from abroad to help you?

MAHA: You have already done too much for us and we are very thankful for it. Iran's GLBT struggle is in its beginning and no doubt that we have a lot of challenges in front of us and there are a lot of obstacles we have to overcome. The authorities are not going to accept our right easily. And they may even take a hard stand against us. So we are indeed in need of International GLBT support. Please do keep an eye on Iran and demand a better life and respect for Iranian GLBT. Your support means a lot for us and gives us energy and encouragement. Despite the fact that you may not hear from Iran GLBT regarding your support, please rest assured that we hear about it and we welcome it but sometimes it is not easy to work and be in touch with our friends abroad. We would like to take the opportunity and via you say a big THANK YOU to ALL GLBT groups and individuals worldwide who are thinking of us and supporting us.

G.R.: Thank you very much for your answers in such a difficult time. We are here to support you and please do not hesitate to ask for any help you might need.

GayRussia.Ru, interview conducted by Nikolai Alekseev

From [lgbt-india] - a HIV+ Meti (effeminate male) has been denied medical testament

2005-07-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

Dear All

I am writing this letter with grave concern to inform you about a HIV+ Meti (effeminate male) who has been denied medical testament from the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, one of the major government hospitals in the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu. The Meti had previously been hospitalised in an Ayurvedic hospital after she had suffered from jaundice last month. While being treated, an x-ray report revealed that she had gallbladder stones. She was referred to the TU Teaching Hospital on 28 June 2005 and checked by Dr. Pradeep Baidhya and Dr. Y. P. Singh from Unit II B.

The doctors carried out an endoscopy and concluded that there was a 90% chance of her carrying stones inside her gallbladder. The doctors then suggested carrying out a PTC, but before this, they tested her for HIV. After they found the Meti was HIV+ they refused to do the PTC and provided no further follow up treatment for her.

I am now thinking what to do? Where on earth is the poor Meti to go to find a doctor who is prepared to treat her?

This is the reality of what is happening in one of the best hospitals in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital!! This not an isolated case. With HIV+ people it is still common practice in many hospitals and with doctors in Nepal. I am scared to think what is happening in other cities and rural areas of Nepal!!!!!

Sunil B Pant
Blue Diamond Society

Imam Feisal Speaks out against terrorist attacks in London

2005-07-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2005: 4:15 PM Eastern Stand Time : New York City
PRESS RELEASE

(New York. 7/7/05) - A prominent New York City Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf today decried this morning's terrorist attacks in London as "crimes against humanity."

In his statement, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said: The Holy Quran teaches us that "Whoever kills a human being...it is as if he has killed all humankind: and if he saves a human life, it is as if he has saved the lives of all humankind" Quran 5:32

We condemn the abuse of religion by fanatics whose sole purpose is to rouse hate. Nothing is as antithetical to all religion and especially to Islam, as the wanton violence wreaked by the recent attacks in London. We cry out against such violence, and seek to console those who have lost their loved ones and suffered from injuries.

Our voices are raised together to proclaim support for our British sisters and brothers who have experienced tragic loss of innocent life. We pray for a future that is replete with peace and love for all of humanity across the world.

Today also further emphasizes the need for greater efforts by Muslim leaders & thinkers to come together to present to the world the true essence of Islam as a religion of moderation and compassion. Just days ago, I attended a historic International Islamic Conference "True Islam and Its Role in Modern Society" in Amman, Jordan held under the auspices of His Majesty King Abdullah II. The goal of this conference was to put forth a constructive effort to unify two major branches of Islam, Sunni and Shi'ite, in standing against Islamic extremists.

In addition to gathering over 170 prominent scholars (representing all Madhahib or major schools of thought) from all parts of the Islamic world as well as America & Europe the conference succeeded in attaining the signatures of all attendees on a document that spoke against the practice of labeling others as apostates, whether Muslim or non-Muslim. It also set specific Islamic criteria for individuals to issue religious rulings (or fatwa). The document defined the qualifications for issuing fatwas, since the so-called fatwas justifying terrorism are all being issued outside of the established schools of religious law and are in clear violation of their common principles.

Imam Feisal is the Founder of ASMA: American Society for Muslim Advancement, an Islamic cultural and educational organization dedicated to building bridges between American Muslims and the American public: www.asmasociety.org and Co-Founder of The Cordoba Initiative, a multi faith organization whose mission is to heal the relationship between The Muslim World and America. www.cordobainitiative.org

CONTACT: Daisy Khan, 201 868 4060 or 212-
362-2242, E-Mail: daisy@asmasociety.org
Daanish Masood 917 492 8690, Fax: 917-492-8687 E-
Mail: dmasood@asmasociety.org
Address: 175 East 96th street, Suite 21T, NYC, NY 10128

CRIC Communiqué

2005-06-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

Originally published in Spanish by the CCRI-CG the EZLN

Communiqué from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee –
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
June 19, 2005

To the People of Mexico:
To the Peoples of the World:

Brothers and Sisters:

As of today, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has declared, throughout all rebel territory, a GENERAL RED ALERT

Based on this, we are informing you:

First - That at this time the closure is being carried out of the Caracoles and the Good Government Offices which are located in the zapatista communities of Oventik, La Realidad, Morelia and Roberto Barrios, as well as all the headquarters of the authorities of the different Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities.

Second - That also being carried out is the evacuation of the members of the different Good Government Juntas and the autonomous authorities, in order to place them in shelter. Now, and for an indefinite time period, they will be carrying out their work in a clandestine and nomadic manner. Both the projects as well as the autonomous government will continue functioning, although under different circumstances than they have been up
until now.

Third - That basic community health services will continue functioning in the different Caracoles. Civilians will be in charge of these services, and the CCRI-CG of the EZLN is distancing them from any of our future actions, and we are demanding that they be treated as civilians and with respect for their life, liberty and goods by government forces.

Fourth - That there has been a call-up of all members of our EZLN who have been engaged in social work in the zapatista communities and those of our regular troops who have been in their barracks. In a similar fashion, all broadcasts by Radio Insurgente, "The Voice of Those Without Voice", in FM and in short wave, have been suspended for an indefinite period of time.

Fifth - That, simultaneous with the publication of this communiqué, national and international civil societies who are working in peace camps and in community projects are being urged to leave rebel territory. Or, if they decide freely of their own volition, they remain on their own and at their own risk, gathered in the caracoles. In the case of minors, their departure is obligatory.

Sixth - That the EZLN announces the closing of the Zapatista Information Centre (CIZ), not without first thanking the civil societies who have participated in it, from the time of its creation until today. The CCRI-CG of the EZLN formally releases these persons from any responsibility for the future actions of the EZLN.

Seventh - That the EZLN releases from responsibility for any of our future actions all persons and civil, political, cultural, citizens and non-governmental organizations, solidarity committees and support groups who have been close to us since 1994. We thank all of those who have, sincerely and honestly, throughout these almost 12 years, supported the civil and peaceful struggle of the zapatista indigenous for the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture.

Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!

From the Mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General Command of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos

Mexico, in the sixth month of the year 2005.

From: LBGT Napal: Peer Educator beaten, Difficult to carry out HIV

2005-06-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

I am writing to express grave concern that our members and staff are continually abused physically. Yesterday one of our Meti (effeminate male) peer educator, 25, name "Burkunchhi" was beaten on his face on her way back home at Baudha, Chabahil , Katmandu on 16th June 2005 around 8PM.

While Burkunchhi was walking after her filed work, at Chabahil she was approached by 4 men, on a ordinary getup, asked her to come with them for sex, and took her to a near by isolated place. Burkunchhi refused to go with them further fearing to be raped. Suddenly one of the men hit her face by a stone while other started kicking her.

She fell down unconscious. When she wake up the 4 men were gone and she barely made home.

She came to Blue Diamond Society next morning, today, for support. She has been taken to the hospital and she is still in a critical condition, especially her left eye has been damaged badly, She has to be in the hospital for few days. She is bleeding while coughing.

This not the isolated case but a pattern of repeating atrocities against sexual minorities in Nepal. Blue Diamond Society denounce such kind of degrading cruel inhumane behavior and call your support to demand for an immediate end of such atrociteis so that we can carry HIV education programs smoothely.

Sunil B Pant
Blue Diamond Society

From: LGBTNepal -'After that I became a whore' : Rani

2005-04-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

This statement of Rani-16, a female sex worker of Thamel. Prior she worked as an employee in a massage parlor and was very honest to her work . While on her duty, police arrested her from the parlor where she used to support to her survival. They kept her at Hanuman Dhoka custody and they misbehave frequently. The incident was happened before two months.

"I was compelled to have sex with those policemen in side the custody day by day " she stated.

They used her sexually. "I was simply appointed for my sincere job and respected my work but I was sexually abused by those vultures repeatedly for 7 days. Till those days I was just a massage parlor worker. Nobody had shared my body. When they freed me I was penniless and had no money for bread. After that I forced to be a sex worker, a pure whore, that worked just for money" she said.When I asked about HIV/AIDS, she explained about not using condom in any sexual act till the day and also promised not using anything. She wants to spread AIDS among the police forced who made her a whore from a simple massage parlor worker." I want to spread the diseases among those groups who ruined my beautiful life" she determined herself.

This conversation was with a female sex worker while me attending a Meeting with one of BCC organization .She came to know that she was infected by STI.

From this conversation, we notice meties, many people, women and children compelled to be a sex worker from the same state own security forces. It is the tragedy of ours that the same Rakshak has became Vakshak in our country. It is the climax to raise voices against the same groups to protect ourselves. Otherwise lots of Ranis'will born in our country.

Thanks
Shiva
Human Right Defender

For Immediate Release: Nepal: Police Attack Transgender People

2005-04-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

Pattern of Police Abuse Highlights Broader Threat to Civil Society

(Geneva, April 19, 2005) -- Police in Kathmandu attacked a group of transgender people on Wednesday, underscoring the vulnerability of all Nepalese to police abuse since King Gyanendra seized direct power in February and suspended most civil liberties, Human Rights Watch said today.

On April 13—the Nepalese New Year’s Eve—police attacked 18 metis (a traditional term for biological males who dress and identify as women) who were walking toward a festival in Kathmandu. Nine were severely beaten with batons, gun butts, and sticks.

“This attack is only the latest of a string of police assaults in Nepal against transgender people,” said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. In a country where political and civil rights have been suspended, the violence sends a message that no one who looks or acts differently can feel safe.

Officers from the Durbar Marg police station attacked the metis at about 11 p.m., as they walked along the Kantipath road of Kathmandu. One of the victims was reportedly threatened at gunpoint, beaten in the stomach with the butt of a gun, and kicked repeatedly. Another suffered a broken hand. The inspector of the Durbar Marg station reportedly watched the beatings from inside a nearby police van. The Durbar Marg police station is directly outside the gates of the Royal Palace, an area heavily surrounded by armed police and military.

The metis attempted to report the incident at the station, but police refused them entry. They went to the Bir Hospital, where their injuries were treated and recorded.

The Blue Diamond Society, a Nepalese nongovernmental organization defending sexual rights and sexual health, has documented numerous such incidents. For instance, on the night of December 12, 15 policemen in the Jamal district of Kathmandu attacked two metis on the street. The assailants wore civilian clothes but reportedly showed police IDs. They took the victims to Tundhikel, a large open field in central Kathmandu, threatened them with guns, and beat and raped them.

On August 9, 39 metis who were members of the Blue Diamond Society were picked up in police raids in Kathmandu. They were held for more than two weeks in the Hanuman Dhoka police station, and denied adequate food or visitation rights. Several were beaten and raped.

The Blue Diamond Society’s very existence has been under attack since last year. On July 5, police dispersed a rally which the Society had organized to protest violence, beating several of the protesters. A week later, Justice Ram Prasad of Nepal’s Supreme Court acted on a petition received from a private lawyer, asking to ban the Blue Diamond Society on the grounds that it violated the prohibition of “unnatural sex” in Nepal’s criminal code.

Under international pressure, the Ministry of Home Affairs in August told the court it would not support banning the Blue Diamond Society, on the grounds that there is no specific law to take action against homosexuals” in Nepal. However, the court case remains open. Hearings on January 18 and March 18 were inconclusive; a new hearing is scheduled for May 10.

“The attempt to shut down the Blue Diamond Society was an early warning of the pattern that is now evident –to effect a comprehensive crackdown on civil society in Nepal,” said Long. “The government must restore civil liberties and respect everyone’s rights to freedom of expression and association.”

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Scott Long: +1 212 216 1297, +1 646 641
5655; Sam Zarifi: +1 212 216 1825

In Delhi, Tej Thapa: +91 98716 18834

From: [LGBTNepal] - Are we secure in this lawless country?

2005-04-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Previously I was pretty sure that in Nepal, at least, at Katmandu we are secure because it is Kingdom and lots of security forces and human right activists are here for our security. My that beliefs came to absurd when I saw the brutal cuts and wound of Roshani that caused due to brutal lathi charge and boot charge of security force at new-year eve-2062. Roshani who was one of the victim among 18, of that mishap that caused by security forces at Kantipath. Yesterday when she called me for dressing of that wounds and Massage, there I became unconscious after getting such a terrible wounds that I haven not seen yet in my whole life. In her body ,believe me, there is no space to past the massage cream –all cuts and swollen. She told me that police beat her so hard by Guns' Kurda, boot and LAthi of cane. She told me that there is deep pain in her cheast, neck, and lungs.The whole body was aching.

Later I came to know all details that they were there for New Year celebration. Police forces they attack upon them when police became unable to control the mass – especially the Modern girl with glamorous dresses and the junkie guys that make crowd at that place.To scare these groups, Police force attack upon the Métis brutally.

I want to ask question to all human right activists that it is justifiable? To attack upon the innocence and weak persons, groups to hide own weakness? Who gave them such right to make scapegoat to poor and innocence Métis?

In such lawless and brutal country how can we feel easy and secure? It is not only the problems of Métis but of all who are poor and weak, they can be victim of those NAMARDAS And it is the duty of all human right activist to raise hand against such kinds of atrocity hat the ruling class is doing.

I hope you will kindly co-operate with us to raise voice against such kind of brutality.
Shiva
Human rights Defender

OPINION-Time To Break Shackles

2005-04-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

Let antiquated laws go and same-sex lovers be allowed to live in dignity
SALEEM KIDWAI

"We are not living in the time of the inquisition," the poet Firaq Gorakhpuri told a homophobe in 1937, advising him to rid himself of his 'pedestrian prejudice'. It's time to remind ourselves of this advice, now that a plea to remove discrimination against millions of Indians has for the first time reached India's highest court. It is for the Supreme Court now to decide whether those who love people of their own sex will be allowed the basic right to live in dignity.

Recently, the Delhi High Court was asked to strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality.

The court dismissed the petition on technical grounds. A Special Leave Petition is now before the Supreme Court, which asks the government why the Delhi High Court should not be asked to reconsider the petition.

This is encouraging. The Supreme Court has shown it is ready to intervene in matters of citizen's rights. This is one occasion when it must. The rights of millions are at stake and a serious health crisis is being aggravated. Hopefully, the Indian government too will dump 'pedestrian prejudice' before it presents its opinion to the court. The last government told the high court that Indian society and culture did not accept homosexuality.

Could there be a better example of uninformed 'pedestrian prejudice'? On what did the government base its assertion? Did it counter the widely available evidence of tolerance? Or was it speaking on behalf of a moral brigade whose acts of harassment and vandalism attract so much media attention but no punishment?

And even if one were to accept society's disapproval as the basis of law, would the state cite the same reasons if asked for its views on inter-faith and inter-caste marriages?

The government must respond with urgency to the health issues raised by the petition. Perhaps it should re-brief itself with what AIDS activists have to say about Section 377. Homosexual and bisexual men are as vulnerable to hiv as heterosexuals. Lesbians are at least risk. But as long as male-male sexual intercourse is deemed criminal, ignorance will continue and the spread of hiv will increase. Even the most preliminary of statistics show that its occurrence is much wider than most people believe. hiv and AIDS are easily preventable but due to shame, guilt and fear, homosexual men in particular, fail to inform or protect themselves.

The law harms millions of Indians who are attracted to their own sex and benefits no one. The destructive effects of prejudice against same-sex love and the price society pays for it in terms of psychological health are well known. Many heterosexuals close to or related to gay people also suffer because of this prejudice. It forces many growing children to feel stigmatised, maladjusted, suicidal and incapable of realising their true potential. Parents seeking a 'cure' to this 'illness' find homophobic doctors who recommend horrific and highly questionable treatment for young adults, damaging them for life.

Irrational prejudice forces adults to live in secrecy and enter into marriages where the truth is never told. Unhappiness is built into a supposedly 'sacred' union. Women in these marriages are twice victimised because they are vulnerable to hiv through their closeted gay or bisexual spouses. Removing the law might also stop young women from committing joint suicides because they want to stay together and society, with the help of law, makes that difficult.

The law stigmatises homosexuals. Without it, it would be easier for them to deal with personal issues of self worth. Its removal would empower people to fight discrimination in health, employment or housing. To retain a law that is rarely used and yet causes so much harm makes no sense.Instead, the government should concentrate on making firm laws on rape and child abuse, both same sex and cross sex.

Section 377 is defunct yet dangerous. Cases of people charged under the section rarely come to court. Yet, it is widely used for harassment and blackmail, both material and sexual, very often by the police themselves. The government cannot prosecute people for being homosexual unless it turns vindictive. And society must not leave such weapons around for any future witch-hunts.

The law punishes certain acts that are a part of the sexual repertoire of both homosexuals and heterosexuals. However, it is used mostly against homosexuals and bisexuals. Technically, it could target heterosexuals too. Heterosexual married couples can be punished with rigorous imprisonment for oral or anal sex. It's time the government withdraws from the sexual life of consenting adults.

Homosexuals were first deemed criminals by a colonial government that has decriminalised them in its own country. We removed their statues; why cling to their destructive statutes? India is perceived as one of the leaders of the third world because it is a functioning and innovative democracy. It should take the lead in this matter too. This would give hope to activists not just in South Asia but also in the rest of the developing world.

The large band of dedicated activists who have energised this initiative must be prepared for the worst. Expectations were high. In fact, the sudden dismissal came as a huge disappointment. What if 'pedestrian prejudice' prevails again? The fight has been long and must continue.

People who resent discrimination but keep quiet must state their stake against this law. They have to stand up and be counted, for numbers matter in a democracy.

(Saleem Kidwai is a Lucknow-based writer and co-author of Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History.)

[LGBTNepal] Sexual Minorities: Fearing the Holocaust of Genocide In Nepal

2005-03-20T04:39:00.000-08:00

In Nepal, these days' sexual minorities fear the holocaust of genocide from governments and security forces since the emergency was announced from1st February. Security forces, these days, treating, especially, to sexual minorities as non-human beings-more than wild animals. They threat and make harass, rape, abuse sexually as well as psychologically.

The recent scenario, after holding the major power of country by security forces, are acting as superman that could do everything. There is no(thing?) to hold them.

In the name of maintaining security in society, they intentionally used to abuse sexual minorities-especially MSMs.The accident that took place, before one week at Kupandool Bridge proved that fact. While two METIES were returning form their office to their room vie taxi, the armed forced, while checking all vehicles at that bridge to Kupandool, let others to go, after checking but to these meties, to whom they knew already, and by force took them under the bridge and raped them turn by turn by 6 armed forced.They are so brutal and dirty that they forced them to suck their dirty .stinking penisas rotten meat,bad smelling asif never bath in their life. After fulfilling their passion and seizing their wallet too, they let them to go with threatening to not to disclose that entire event. Otherwise, if they disclose it, they will not let them to live easily.

So, after that, sexual minorities like us, are fearing the holocaust of genocide from the activates of governments and securities forces. They can do what ever they like. Some time threaten to cut hair or some time demand for sex .If refuse, threten to arrest on the charge of violating the social security and if accept, treate as if animals. So I would like to appeal to all Human right defender and social intellectuals groups to secure our social positions.

Thanks
Shiva
Human Right Defender.

The Antiwar Movement and the Iraqi Elections

2005-01-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

From: "Action Center" - via//; yoyolabs@hotmail.com
Subject: The Antiwar Movement and the Iraqi Elections
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 15:21:51 -0500

1) Election Under Occupation

The media theater called the Iraqi election is under way. U.S. television anchor people are broadcasting live from Baghdad, breathlessly describing the preparations for Sunday's display of so-called democracy.

It is important to emphasive the circumstances under which this election is being held. More than 150,000 U.S. troops occupy the country, patrolling the streets with guns trained on Iraqi civilians. Iraq is under a state of emergency, with expanded police powers and a curfew.

This is and election at gunpoint, which will be supervised by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. Negroponte built an impressive resume as a brutal enforcer of U.S. policy through murder, rape, and torture. Negroponte served as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985; a period during which Honduras was the launching pad from which the Reagan administration conducted its violent attacks on the people of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The U.S-backed atrocities, which were condemned by the International World Court in the Hague, included kidnappings, rape, torture and killing of suspected dissidents. Reports from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Honduras alleged that Negroponte oversaw the expansion of U.S training camp and military base on Honduran territory, where the U.S. trained Contra terrorists, and where the military secretly detained, tortured and executed Honduran suspected dissidents.

This is the person the Bush Administration would have us believe is going to bring democracy to Iraq.

Assisting him will be two US-funded organizations with long records of manipulating overseas elections on behalf of U.S. corporate interests, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI). These groups, both of which are tied to covert plans to install US-favored regimes overseas, are among organizations that have been given more than $80 million for political activities in Iraq.

Both organizations work closely with the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development, long used by the CIA for covert operations abroad. They were, for example, involved in orchestrating the failed coup and recall referendum in Venezuela in an attempt to remove the democratically elected and popular President Hugo Chavez.

This election is being conducted at gunpoint, administered by a war criminal, and stage-managed by CIA front companies. To pretend that this has anything to do with democracy is outrageous. The Iraqi people recognize this --among expatriates, 90 percent haven't even bothered to register to vote on Sunday.

What, then is the purpose of the phony election? It is actually directed at the U.S. public, which is growing increasingly disillusioned with the war. The sole intent of the election is to provide legitimacy for the occupation, to marginalize the resistance movement, and create an illusion of progress. The election, like the phony transfer of power, will change nothing on the ground in Iraq. On January 31, the day after the election, more than 150,000 U.S. troops will still occupy Iraq, the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib will still be full of Iraqi prisoners, and CIA employee Iyad Allawi will still be the U.S.-appointed dictator.

2) The Iraqi People Have Already Voted -- Against the Occupation

The Iraqi people have already expressed their will; they are overwhelmingly opposed to the occupation of their country. The majority of Iraqi people want the U.S. troops to leave and do not believe that the U.S. and Britain should be involved in holding elections in Iraq, according to several polls.

Many have already cast their ballot against colonial occupation by joining the nationwide uprising. The intelligence chief for the puppet regime in Iraq, General Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani, admitted that the resistance now numbers more than 200,000.

The resistance is made up of many difference forces, with different ideologies and goals. They are united by the determination to free their country from U.S. occupation.

The right of people to resist occupation by arms is a basic right recognized under international law and the Geneva Convention. The people of Iraq have a right to fight back against the occupation of their country, the torture of their people, and the bombing of their cities. They also have a right to expect the solidarity of all who oppose the criminal war. It is not the role of the antiwar movement to debate the ideology or tactics of the resistance; it is our job to stand in solidarity with them and do everything possible to assist them by working to end the occupation of their country.

3) What Next for the Antiwar Movement?

The phony elections will not silence the Iraqi resistance. It is important to remember that in the months since the last time the U.S. attempted to put an "Iraqi face" on the occupation, with the phony transfer of power and appointment of Iyad Allawi as puppet dictator, the resistance has spread and become more sophisticated and more entrenched.

As the resistance grows, we in the U.S. have an obligation not to be deterred by false elections or talk of "timetables." We must stand with the people of Iraq and take up their demand: the immediate, unconditional, and complete withdrawal of all U.S. occupation forces.

We must organize a united struggle to end the occupation. This is now more important than ever before. George W. Bush made it clear in his inauguration sermon that he intends to wage continual, global war. We must meet his call to war with renewed determination and unity.

The global antiwar movement has called for massive protests on the weekend of March 19-20. In the U.S., the Troops Out Now Coalition is organizing local and regional demonstrations to demand an end to the occupation, including a massive regional convergence on Central Park on March 19. The International Action Center, part of the Troops Out Now Coalition, calls upon all progressive and antiwar organizations to join us in the streets on March 19 & 20 to demand: "Troops Out Now!"

March 19
Troops Out Now!
March on Central Park in NYC!
Regional Demonstrations Across the U.S. & Worldwide

The International Action Center
mail to:iacenter@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org

INTERSEX & TRANS DEMANDS

2005-01-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

From:http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20050115141903683

INTERSEX LIST OF DEMANDS

Don't assume you know someone's sex based on how you perceive them or their gender.

Don't assume all women have a vagina, uterus, etc.

Don't assume all men have a penis, testes, etc.

Don't fetishize our bodies.

Don't use the word hermaphrodite to describe us unless we identify that way and give permission.

Don't feel sorry for us.

Respect our sex identification.

Don't exploit our existence to discredit biological determinism or other academic ideologies.

Know the difference between sex and gender.

Know the difference between intersexed and transgendered.

Don't ask us or try to picture what our genitals look like.

Don't ask us if we have sexual sensations.

Don't assume you have the right to know intimate details of our bodies. We have the right to privacy and safety like all other people.

Realize we have historically been mutilated, fetishized, and made into freak shows. Understand how this affects us and our safety.

Don't say "cool" or "weird" or treat us differently when we tell you we are intersexed.

Educate yourself!!! Read books on intersex.

Girl, woman, female; boy, man, male are not always interchangeable.

Don't assume all intersex people are queer.

Realize that not all people with intersex condition are out.

Realize that not all people with intersex conditions even know that they are intersexed.

Remember that we are 1 in 100, and that is not rare at all!!!

Don't call our conditions "disorders," "retardations," "abnormalities," etc.
Realize that bodies come in all different shapes, sizes and with different parts.
Realize how fucking strong we are to speak up about the medical abuse and victimization we have been through and that we deserve mad props.

Don't write us off as rare and unimportant. Don't put off educating yourself for other "more important" issues.

In situations such as gender caucuses, keep in mind that not all the people who identify as women have similar genitalia, etc. Understand that we have been taught that our bodies are "wrong" and "ugly" and that it reinforces this when people say they love being women because of their vagina, uterus, etc., this reinforces those feelings. Woman does not necessarily = female. Man does not necessarily = male.

TRANS/GENDER LIST OF DEMANDS
Don't assume someone's gender identity.

Don't constantly reference someone's gender identity in an attempt to seem OK with it. Likewise, don't think we care if you're OK with us or not. No one asked for your approval.

Don't trip up on pronouns- if you fuck up, simply correct yourself and go on.
Don't glamorize someone's gender identity or think it's "cool" or say that you're "into it."

Read trans/gender theory. Know the difference between: transgender, transsexual, gender fucking, gender blending/bending, gender vs. sex, binary gender, passing, transitioning, binding, tucking, packing/stuffing, third genders, drag queens/kings, androgyny, butch, femme, crossdressing, boi, MtF, FtM, tranny boys, tranny dykes, boydykes, transfags, etc., etc., etc.!!!

Know the difference between intersex and transgender. Think about how you would really feel if someone you loved transitioned. Think about your fears and why you have them.

Recognize your own transphobia.

Know about transitioning and surgery and hormones.

Don't just name yourself a "trans ally" one day.

Realize that some of us have struggled with our gender identity for a long time. Don't think that we just woke up one day and decided that we would identify as transgendered. So when we finally find a space that we're comfortable in (even if temporarily), don't co-opt that space or try to make it yours too.

Even if you think fucking with gender is hot, don't talk about it in an objectifying way.

Realize that it can be hard existing in in-between spaces and really know that trans oppression and transphobia exist. Know the fear of not being able to determine when you pass, the fear of being arrested/strip searched/thrown in the wrong holding cell, the threat of violence, the annoyance of having to "come out" about your gender identity constantly, etc.

Understand the privilege of feeling at home in your body, using a public bathroom, knowing which M/F box to check, having people assume your gender identity and them being right, etc.

Realize that there is a gender community and that the validation we receive from that community can be incomparable to what you could ever offer us and let us seek refuge there.

Recognize how class and race fit into these equations.

Recognize and respect someone's gender identity regardless of whether or not they choose to have surgery or take hormones. Similarly, don't judge someone for transitioning or not wanting to identify as "transgendered."

Don't think of a transgender identity as "political."

Don't partner with us out of some weird transitioning or coming out process for you. Don't ask us how we fuck.

Question your own gender! (But don't then tell me, "You know, I've never felt like a 'real man'/'real woman' either." -What this means is don't assume our experiences are the same.

Don't ask questions about someone trying to determine their "real gender."

Don't think that FtM are dealing with some kind of internalized sexism.

Don't assume our gender identity, render it invisible, or think it doesn't matter because of who we choose to partner with.

Don't label our gender or sexual identity for us. Recognize the difference between the two!

Don't think of our experiences and identities as monolithic.

Don't think we are a "recent emergence" that somehow came out of gender/queer theory and academia.
Realize that there are a variety of trans/gender expressions. Don't assume that people should express their gender similarly just because they both identify as transgendered. Likewise, don't judge someone because you think that their trans identity and gender expression conflict.

Think about the language you use to differentiate between trans and non-trans people and if it's even necessary to differentiate.
Don't assume trans people have a "shared experience" with people assigned the same gender.

Don't assume FtMs are "better" than other men, or MtFs are not "as good" as other women (especially in terms of sexism).

When doing introductions at a meeting, say the pronoun you prefer for that space along with your name, etc. (Facilitators should make sure this is done.)
Be sensitive to pronouns you use for someone when dealing with authority, police. Keep in mind that people's pronouns/gender identity may not always match up with their I.D.

Don't include us in your process of learning about intersex or trans issues unless we ask you about it.

Update on the Supreme Court Case in Nepal:

2005-01-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

From: Blue Diamond Society
Kathmandu
18th January 2005

Update on the Supreme Court Case in Nepal:

The case filed by a lawyer Mr. Achyut Prasad Kharel, against the government seeking directions that bans the activities of Blue Diamond Society was taken up for hearing today by the Honourable Supreme Court, but was then adjourned as it was the end of day and there would have been no time for a proper hearing. Mr. Rup Narain Shrestha [Advocate], from the FWLD attended the court on behalf of Blue Diamond Society as their lawyer. Mr. Aditya Bondyopadhyay, a Human Rights lawyer from New Delhi with expertise on issues of human rights of sexual minorities, who has been deputed by Naz Foundation International to assist the BDS and its legal team from FWLD in the case, was also present in the court.

Also present in the court were representatives of the German Embassy who had been directed by their Foreign Ministry to monitor the progress of the case as it has significant ramifications for the basic human rights of all sexual minorities in Nepal.

Statement from Blue Diamond Society on the case:

Nepal does not have any law that specifically criminalizes or prescribe sanctions against sexual minorities or homosexual persons. This is totally in consonance with the obligations of the International Human Rights Laws that are applicable to Nepal by virtue of its becoming party to the various Human Rights treaties like the ICCPR [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] and ICESCR [International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]. This position has also been upheld by the affidavits of the ministry of Home, the ministry of Law, and the CDO office, that has been filed in this case before the Honourable Supreme Court. Blue Diamond appreciates the position taken by the ministries in support of human rights of sexual minorities. Blue Diamond also has full faith in the honourable judiciary and hopes that the Honourable Supreme Court will also stand by the side of Human Rights, accept the positions expressed by the ministries, and dismiss what is essentially a medieval minded misguided petition by an anti progressive, homophobic individual.

Blue Diamond understands that should the Honourable Supreme Court find in favour of the petitioner in this case, then it becomes effective and applicable law against all sexual minorities in Nepal. However such a finding shall not be the end of the matter. Although it is unlikely that the Honourable Supreme Court will go against the grain of applicable Human Rights; in such an unfortunate eventuality, Blue Diamond shall take up the matter to the Committee on Human Rights [CHR] in Geneva.

It is significant to mention here that Nepal being a signatory to the optional protocol of ICCPR, any Nepali citizen who is aggrieved by any applicable law that violates their basic human rights can file a complaint before the CHR. In the past the CHR has deliberated on anti homosexual laws in the famous case of Toonen-Vs-Australia, where the CHR directed the Australian State of Tasmania to change its anti homosexual laws. Blue Diamond asserts that this ruling of CHR is applicable Human Rights Law and Standard in Nepal, and if it feels aggrieved at any stage that the human rights of sexual minorities are not protected in Nepal, then it shall surely approach the CHR with a complaint.

In the meantime Blue Diamond is taking all necessary steps with the help of its Lawyers from FWLD and the legal assistance provided by Aditya Bondyopadhyay from Naz Foundation International to provide adequate defence and contest to this misguided petition.

Sunil B Pant
Director
Blue Diamond Society

An Open Letter from Sam Hamill

2005-01-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

New Years Day, 2005

Dear Friends:

The war drags on. Fallujah has been destroyed in order to save it, shades of Vietnam. A man who presented the argument in favor of ignoring the Geneva accords, a man who would authorize torture, is now our Attorney General. More than 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, many times more wounded, homeless And American soldiers who have served their tours of duty are being post facto drafted to remain in combat.

We can look forward to Bushs new secretary of state continuing to who knows what? And there will be supreme and other high court appointments, and of course a Patriot Act II, with attendant incursions into our constitutional rights. Tax cuts for the rich? Permanent. The environment? The worst policies in our history. What a ghastly litany.

Four more years, indeed.

A number of organizations are encouraging January 20 demonstrations and teach-ins and contra-Bush celebrations around the world. I hope you will all join me in joining them.

Check out , www.turnyourbackonbush.com and please post any events scheduled for that day. The more we can reach out and work with other organizations, the broader the audience for poetry and the broader our message of peace.

Wed like to post a list of host organizations working in cooperation with Poets Against the War to make that day memorable.

As of January 1st, I am leaving Copper Canyon Press. Over the coming months, I will devote a lot more time to working with PAW board members to build a sound infrastructure and strengthen our organization.

Like kindred organizations in countries around the world, we have reminded millions of people of the noble traditions of poetry, of its role in every culture. I have seen time and again tears of gratitude in the eyes of the Italians, French, Lithuanians, etc, and have received innumerable messages of hope, support and kinship from all over the world. These people are grateful to be reminded that (at least) half of the U.S. objects to the direction this countrys taken, and that we are eager to listen to and work cooperatively with them so that all of our voices (and various positions) may be heard while we stand together.

In the ecology of the soul, thrift is ruinous. We look forward to a productive new year filled with mindful actions, generosity of spirit, heartfelt compassion, and of course a lot of good poetry.

This winter solstice I will close with a handful of poems by Soufie, who is 12 years old and lives in Tehran and likes haiku and wants to learn Japanese and live in Japan. The translations are by the Iranian editor Ali
Samavati (with a little help from me).

Namaste.

Sam Hamill
poetsagainstthewar.org

Susan Sontag and a Case of Curious Silence

2005-01-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

from andrewsullivan.com:

THE INNING OF SONTAG: I have to say I'm amazed at the fact that almost all the obituaries for Susan Sontag omitted her primary, longtime relationship with Annie Leibovitz, the photographer. Of 315 articles in Nexis, only 29 mention Leibovitz, and most of them referred merely to their joint projects. Leibovitz was unmentioned as a survivor in the NYT and Washington Post. It's striking how even allegedly liberal outlets routinely excise the homosexual dimension from many people's lives - even from someone dead. But perhaps it is reflective of Sontag's own notions of privacy and identity. She championed many causes in her day, but the gay civil rights movement was oddly not prominent among them.

MORE ON SONTAG: I'm not the only one to notice how the big media has essentially lied by omission about Susan Sontag's life. An op-ed in today's L.A. Times notes the following: An unauthorized biography written by Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock and published by W.W. Norton in 2000, reports that Sontag was, for seven years, the companion of the great American playwright Maria Irene Fornes (in Sontag's introduction to the collected works of Fornes, she writes about them living together). She also had a relationship with the renowned choreographer Lucinda Childs. And, most recently, Sontag lived, on and off, with Leibovitz.

Even Hitchens mentions only her ex-husband. Privacy? From a woman who detailed every aspect of her own illnesses? From someone whose best work is redolent with homosexual themes? But, of course, Sontag understood that her lesbianism might limit her appeal in a homophobic culture - even on the extreme left, where she comfortably lived for decades. That was her prerogative. But that's no reason for the media to perpetuate untruths after her death. And it's certainly reason to review her own record in confronting injustice. Just as she once defended the persecution of gay people in Castro's Cuba, she ducked one of the burning civil rights struggles of her time at home. But she was on the left. So no one criticized.

DE-GAYING SONTAG: Here's Daniel Okrent's defense of why the New York Times omitted the fact that Susan Sontag was a lesbian: Spurred by challenges and queries from several readers, I looked into the charge that The Times had willfully suppressed information about Susan Sontag's relationship with Annie Leibovitz. My inquiry indicates that the subject was in fact discussed before publication of the Sontag obituary, but that The Times could find no authoritative source who could confirm any details of a relationship. According to obituaries editor Chuck Strum, "It might have been helpful if The Times could have found a way to acknowledge the existence of a widespread impression that Susan Sontag and Annie Leibovitz were more than just casual friends. But absent any clarifying statements from either party over the years, and no such
corroboration from people close to her, we felt it was impossible to write anything conclusive about their relationship and remain fair to both of them." Ms. Leibovitz would not discuss the subject with The Times, and Ms. Sontag's son, David Rieff, declined to confirm any details about the relationship. Some might say that such safely accurate phrases as "Ms. Sontag had a long relationship with Annie Leibovitz" would have sufficed, but I think anything like that would not only bear the unpleasant aroma of euphemism, but would also seem leering or coy. Additionally, irrespective of the details of this
particular situation, it's fair to ask whether intimate information about the private lives of people who wish to keep those lives private is fair game for newspapers. I would personally hope not. The closet remains intact. Privacy? Sontag informed the world about her cancers and even an abortion. And her relationships with several women were not state secrets. Recall also that Sontag's career took off with her rightly celebrated essay on camp, an essay that she would had a hard time writing without intimate familiarity with gay
life and culture. The golden rule here is to ask what the NYT would have done if Sontag had lived with a man for a couple of decades on and off, and had written essays on various aspects of sex, love and heterosexuality. Do you think they would have never mentioned her actual love life? Or if she had had serious relationships with a variety of male artists and thinkers, some of whom had influenced her work. Would this be regarded as an invasion of her privacy? The question answers itself.

from the LA Times:

Susan Sontag and a Case of Curious Silence By Patrick Moore, Patrick Moore is the author of "Beyond Shame:Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality" (Beacon Press, 2004).

On Dec. 29, 2004, major gay and lesbian news organizations announced that "lesbian writer Susan Sontag" had died. In its obituary of Sontag, the New York Daily News wrote, "Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz had been her longtime companion."

On Dec. 29, 2004, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times reported Sontag's death on their front pages, with more stories inside. Yet neither paper mentioned Sontag's relationships with Leibovitz and other women.

It seems that editors at what are, arguably, the nation's most respected (and liberal) newspapers believe that one personal detail cannot be mentioned in even the most complete biographies — being a lesbian.

In a 1995 New Yorker profile, Sontag outed herself as bisexual, familiar code for "gay." Yet she remained quasi-closeted, speaking to interviewers in detail about her ex-husband without mentioning her long liaisons with some of America's most fascinating female artists.

An unauthorized biography written by Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock and published by W.W. Norton in 2000, reports that Sontag was, for seven years, the companion of the great American playwright Maria Irene Fornes (in Sontag's introduction to the collected works of Fornes, she writes about them living together). She also had a relationship with the renowned choreographer Lucinda Childs. And, most recently, Sontag lived, on and off, with Leibovitz.

Sontag's reticence is surely part of why the two Timeses neglected this part of her life. But she didn't deny these relationships. And given that obituaries typically cite their subjects' important relationships, shouldn't the two best newspapers in the country have reported at least her most recent one, with Leibovitz, as well as her marriage, which ended in 1958?

Some will ask why revealing Sontag's sexuality is relevant. As Charles McGrath wrote in his appreciation of Sontag in the New York Times, "Part of her appeal was her own glamour — the black outfits, the sultry voice, the trademark white stripe parting her long dark hair." Sontag was well aware of herself as a sexual being and used her image to transform herself from just another intellectual into a cultural icon. She may well have felt that her true sexuality would limit her impact in the male-dominated intellectual elite, while an omnisexual charisma opened doors.

More important, though, Sontag's lesbian relationships surely affected her work and our understanding of it. Two of Sontag's most famous essays dealt with issues associated with homosexuality: "Notes on Camp" and "AIDS and Its Metaphors."

The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times found ample room to discuss Sontag's cancer and subsequent mastectomy, which were not seen as lurid details but as necessary information in understanding the work of the author of "Illness as Metaphor." The papers also included extensive discussions of Sontag's schooling, her early family life, how she met her ex-husband, even her thoughts on driving in Los Angeles. However, her relationships with women and how they shaped her thoughts on gay culture and the larger world of outsiders
and outlaws (a Sontag fascination) were omitted.

There is, of course, a larger issue here: Continued silence about lesbians in American culture amounts to bias. Gay men seem to have settled into the role of finger-snapping designer/decorator/entertainers in the mass media. Meanwhile, most lesbians who achieve widespread fame — Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge and Rosie O'Donnell — have to remain in the closet until they have gained enough power to weather the coming-out storm. This model victimizes those who are out and proud from the very beginning.

The obituaries, remembrances and appreciations in New York and Los Angeles do anything but honor Sontag. They form a record that is, at best, incomplete and, at worst, knowingly false. But don't look for corrections, clarifications or apologies.

The New York writer and activist Sarah Schulman has been, ironically, described as "the lesbian Susan Sontag." Schulman told me recently that Sontag "never applied her massive intellectual gifts toward understanding her own condition as a lesbian, because to do so publicly would have subjected her to marginalization and dismissal."

Susan Sontag was a brilliant, provocative writer who had vital, loving relationships with some of the most fascinating and creative women of her day. I believe that her intellectual accomplishments are even more compelling when one understands how her sexuality informed
them.

Sontag was often quoted as saying, "Be serious, be passionate, wake up!" Let's hope that America's leading newspapers follow her advice.

Singular Heroic Efforts to Gay Legacies - Ulash Rana

2004-11-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

I heard somewhere that it is foolish to make a singular heroic effort in a war because you will surely be killed and your cause will be lost. Very logical indeed!

But just being what you are can be a singular feat of heroic effort for a gay person! But again, the above logic holds very true when the death of Matthew Sheperd comes back vividly into a lone gay persons mind.

Every normal day is a war for a gay person in which he/she stands alone against the normal society. Hence, singular heroic effort does apply to every single gay person who is out of the closet.

That singular heroic effort can be magnified several times fold for the visible group of gay men known as metas (male cross-dressers in Nepal). One of the despicable acts of human hate crimes that I came across was when I read Mr. Sunil Babu Pants (Chairman of the Blue Diamond Society) article, Gay Resolutionin the June 2004 Issue of the Wave Magazine in which he gave an earth shattering example about 2 metas being raped by more than 10 policemen and left to die, and worst no justice done to the offenders, who ironically were policemen, the enforcers of the law!

The basic foundation to a civilized society is a basic civil law applied to all. After all, nobody is above the law! Then again, there is no specific law under sexual harassments and criminal offense against homosexuals or people who express different sexuality or gender identity. What about general human rightsfor every human being as a rightful human being? Then again, a utopian thinking is a wishful thinking indeed!

At this day and age when gay marriages have become legal in many parts of the world like Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and many more, with the next step being the fight for equal social benefits for the spouse which only heterosexua married couples enjoy, fighting for a basic justice system seems totally ridiculously and absurdly frustrating, and implementation of which is again a total far cry from an amendment.

How can a change come to our unfair system? A singular heroic effort may sound foolish when all odds are against you, but it is definitely a great act of bravery, which is always commendable, and if not immediately, there will surely and ultimately be many more closely behind you or besides you arm-in-arm to support your cause. And a cause never gets lost, because a good cause and a right cause always leaves behind a legacy that can never be forgotten. When a legacy is born, the cause may take time to be realized, but realized it will inevitably. And Blue Diamond Society is one such legacy that is the result of one singular heroic effort some 3 years back by the heroic Mr. Sunil Babu Pant that has in the years since culminated into a collective effort for the rights and privileges of Nepalese gay people.

Just recently the Spanish government approved a bill to legalize gay marriages, which immediately filled mewith immense happiness for gay people there. Now matter where such positive reforms take place, it is only natural for a gay person of any nationality to be filled with hope and call for a resolution in his/her own country. The almost stagnant progress in our country in any section for reform, let alone the non-existent gay laws, means a call for a referendum. Then again, it sounds so alien and farfetched to the extent of ridiculousness.

Are we to be happy that there is no homosexual law in Nepal and that the Nepalese LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender) should be thankful that they have been favored by default? It is simply a case of turning a blind eye as is always to the labeled minorities, and in no way can such law substitute for the clear fundamental rights LGBTs should be entitled to. But when some people who contribute to the media like Mr. Bashu Dev Phulara states such backward remarks as: Any statements that purport to establish a homosexual lifestyle as an equally legitimate alternative lifestyle must be roundly condemned, in his article Should Homosexuality Be Legalized In Nepal? (Sept.28, 2004: thenepaldigest.org) with even several more appalling and outrageous forceful opinions under baseless grounds, I, a gay citizen of Nepal, feel totally infuriated because he hasnt understood what being gay really means, and when you dont understand the very core of homosexuality, your statement is baseless.

So the focus turns back to the society we live in, with the focus being to change its premature stereotyped perception of the gay people. What message should be portrayed to the society in order to dismiss homosexuality as a sin or a perversion? People should understand that homosexuality cannot be corrected. It is not a choice. It is a part of your core being that you were born with.

But, is the society starting to become more accepting? At least the general Spaniards definitely seem so, because the opinion poll conducted in late July this year showed that some two-thirds of Spaniards are in favor of gay marriages despite the spokesman for Spains Episcopal Conference insisted, It would impose on society a virus, something false, which will have negative consequences for social life.

And changes seem to be already coming in a positive way at least amongst the younger generation everywhere, thanks to the media in which Hollywood plays a pivotal role in shedding positive light on the portrayal of homosexuals and individuals of different gender identity. Who can escape the awe-inspiring effect Hollywood has on us? My very own straight friends who viewed homosexuals with stereotyped misconceptions changed their views after watching the movie Boys Dont Cry! Such liberal attitude Hollywood portrays has always helped people move in the forward direction.

There will always be the frowning Conservative Socialists, who value tradition above everything until one of their very own children turn out to be gay. But does accepting gay people really makes a person anti-traditionalist? I f so, has banishing slavery in the U.S. and all over the world really changed the core traditional values for the worst?

So hasnt the time come to change the inflexible views of the society, the conformist nature of the so-called traditionalists, and the whole herd of the conformist society who are merely the victims of social conditioning?

When I asked a Nepalese gay friend of mine whether he visits gay bars (which by the way arent present per se anywhere in Nepal), he said, I dont think I should be there. Then, when should he be there without it having to be a singular heroic effort or a personal gay legacy?

Call for Submissions - The Netherlands Transgender Filmfestival (NTGF)

2004-11-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

May 18-22, 2005
Amsterdam, the Netherlands

The Netherlands Transgender Filmfestival will be held for the fourth
time in Amsterdam in 2005. This bi-annual festival in 2003 was host of
international guests like Holly Woodlawn, Esben Esther Pirelli
Benestad, Barry Shils and Judith Halberstam. The NTGF 2003 was a
showcase of a broad range of non-Western films and documentaries on
transgender lives from around the world.

The Netherlands Transgender Filmfestival is now accepting submissions
of film and video that cover the wide range of diversity of the
transgender & genderqueer communities. We welcome works too that
question our societies' sense of gender norms and gender diversity in
innovative, funny and exciting manners.

You can download the submission form (PDF) from our website
http://www.transgenderfilmfestival.com

There is no entry fee.
The deadline for submissions is March 1st, 2005

Nederlands Transgender Filmfestival
Film Entry NTGF 2005
C/o T-Image Foundation
P.O. Box 15650
1001 ND, Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 (0)20 - 636 3727
Fax: +31 (0)20 - 636 3730
E-mail: contactus@transgenderfilmfestival.com
Website: www.transgenderfilmfestival.com

Kam Wai Kui
Festival Director

The Trans Project

2004-11-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

If you identify as transgendered, you have a sibling who does not identify as transgendered, and you and your sibling are 18 or over, you can help bring the voices and experiences of trans people into psychology.

My name is Rhonda Factor/RJ and I am a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Vermont. My doctoral dissertation is designed to illustrate the various ways we experience and express our gender identities. While as a group, there are many differences among us; we also share the experience of not identifying fully with the sex/gender to which we were assigned at birth. Our experiences are also similar to and different from individuals who do identify fully with the sex/gender to which they were assigned at birth. This project is also designed to explore these similarities and differences by comparing your experiences with those of your "conventionally gendered" siblings. The surveys administered to your siblings will simply be entitled "The Family Project" and will not focus on gender identity. In fact, that survey only asks about sex in the conventional way. Therefore, individuals will not be "outed" by sending a survey to their siblings. It is my hope that this project will contribute to a culture that understands, supports, and celebrates the varieties of our gender experiences.

Trans research should be community-based because of our specific sensitivities, understanding, experience, and consciousness. – Leslie Feinberg

This project was designed in collaboration with trans communities and trans researchers. Questions in areas of research important to trans people were developed through attendance at trans conferences, exploration of trans listservs, and consultation with trans individuals, mental health providers, and researchers. Interviews were conducted and questions based on the responses were incorporated into the questionnaire. Drafts of the questionnaire were shown to consultants and feedback was incorporated.

To participate:

Please email me the following information so I can mail the surveys to you and your sibling. If you would rather have your sibling's survey sent to you and then forward it yourself, let me know. In that case, I'd send you both surveys and would only need your sibling's first name.

I. Your Name

Your Address

Your Email

(Name your sibling knows you by if different from "your name" above)

II. Your Sibling's Name (If more than one, the one most likely to respond. If more than one likely to respond, the one closest in age.)

Your Sibling's Address

Your Sibling's Email

III. (If there is another sibling I can contact if the first one does not respond.)

Other Sibling's Name

Other Sibling's Address

Other Sibling's Email

Thanks again for helping to create a more trans-affirming culture.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.

Warmly,
Rhonda J. Factor/RJ

The Trans Project
Rhonda.Factor@uvm.edu

University of Vermont
John Dewey Hall
2 Colchester Avenue
Burlington, VT 05405

A Speech By Larry Kramer - THE TRAGEDY OF TODAY'S GAYS

2004-11-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

(A speech made at Cooper Union, New York on Sunday, November 7, 2004, presented by HIV Forum in conjunction with NYU's Office of LGBT Student Services, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, Callen-Lorde, and the Gill Foundation.

I think this has been the most difficult speech I have ever had to write and to deliver. It is a long speech. I pray you will bear with me until its end.

It is an attempt to give you some idea of who and what we are up against. It is also an attempt to discuss our ability to deal with these.

I recently learned about two dear friends, both exceptionally smart and talented and each in his own way a leader of our community. One, in his middle age, has sero-converted. The other, in his middle-age, has become hooked on crystal meth. Both of them are here with us tonight.

I love being gay. I love gay people. I think we're better than other people. I really do. I think we're smarter and more talented and more aware and I do, I do, I totally do. And I think we're more tuned in to what's happening, tuned into the moment, tuned into our emotions, and other people's emotions, and we're better friends. I really do think all these things.

To us it defies rational analysis that this incompetent dishonest man and his party should be re-elected. Or does it?

I hope we all realize that, as of November 2nd, gay rights are officially dead. And that from here on we are going to be led even closer to the guillotine. This past week almost 60 million of our so-called "fellow" Americans voted against us. Indeed 23% of self- identified gay people voted against us, too. That one I can't figure.

The absoluteness of what has happened is terrifying. On the gay marriage initiatives alone 2.6 million against us in Michigan. 3.2 million in Ohio. 1.1 million in Oklahoma, 2.2 million in Georgia. 1.2 million in Kentucky. George Bush won his Presidency of our country by selling our futures. Almost 60 million people whom we live and work with every day think we are immoral. "Moral values" was top of many lists of why people supported George Bush. Not Iraq. Not the economy. Not terrorism. "Moral values." In case you need a translation that means us. It is hard to stand up to so much hate. Which of course is just the way they want it. Please know that a huge portion of the population of the United States hates us. I don't mean dislike. I mean hate. You may not choose to call it hate, but I do. Not only because they refuse us certain marital rights but because they have also elected a congress that is overflowing with men and women who refuse us just about every other right to exist as well. "Moral values" is really a misnomer; it means just the reverse. It means they think we are immoral. And that we're dangerous and contaminated. How do you like being called immoral by some 60 million people? This is not just anti-gay. This is what Doug Ireland calls "homo hate" on the grandest scale. How do we stand up to 60 million people who have found a voice and a President who declares he has a mandate?

The new Supreme Court, due any moment now, will erase us from the slate of everything possible in no time at all. Gay marriage? Forget it. Gay anything, forget it. Civil rights for gays? Equal protection for gays. Adoption rights? The only thing we are going to get from now on is years of increasing and escalating hate. Surely you must know this. Laws and regulations that now protect us will be repealed and rewritten. Please know all this. With the arrival of this second term of these hateful people we come even closer to our extinction. We should have seen it coming. We are all smart people. How could we not have been prepared?

They have not exactly been making a secret of their hate. This last campaign has seen examples of daily hate on TV and in the media that I do not believe the world has witnessed since Nazi Germany. I have been reading Ambassador Dodd's Diary; he was Roosevelt's ambassador to Germany in the 30's, and people are always popping in and out of his office proclaiming the most awful things out loud about Jews. It has been like that.

All Mary Cheyney is is a lesbian! Even her mother is hateful! That Cheney must be one ****ed-up kid to stick around that family. I hope she doesn't want to teach school. One of the reelected Congress persons vows to make it illegal for lesbians to teach school. I know many people look to me for answers. Perhaps that is why many of you are here. You want answers? We're living in pig**** and its up to each one of us to figure out how to get out of it. You must know that by now. Crystal meth is not an answer. You must know that by now. And quite frankly statistically it is only happening to so few of us that it is hard to get anyone worked up about that problem. Just as it hard to get worked up about a middle-aged man with brains who sero-converts. You want to kill yourself. Go kill yourself. I'm sorry. It takes hard work to behave like an adult. It takes discipline. You want it to be simple. It isn't simple. Yes it is. Grow up. Behave responsibly. Fight for your rights. Take care of yourself and each other. These are the answers. It takes courage to live. Are you living? Not so I can see it. Gay people are all but invisible to me now. I wish you weren't. But you are. And I look real hard.

No one likes to be told to grow up. It's insulting. But these are always the answers. They will always be the answers. The only answers. There will never be any other answers. Grow up. Behave responsibly. Fight for your rights. Take care of yourself and each other. Be proud of yourself. Be proud you are gay. I don't know why so many find all this so complicated. But then I am 69 years old and have less patience for the many problems I had myself when young. It is one of the privileges of getting old.

It is 25 years since 100,000 of us marched on Washington.

The Aids service organizations are all about to collapse. No money. And the problem is too big to handle anymore. We have not slowed this thing down at all. $100 billion we're spending on Iraq. This is a conscious choice by our "leaders" and by a large portion of the population of this country. They have in their infinite and never-ending cruelty decided this was the most effective thing to do with 100 billion dollars that might also end Aids, and a few other things like worldwide hunger. But the cabal doesn't care about these. People say well we can't take care of the rest of the world. That is so stupid. The rest of the world is us. We are so intertwined geopolitically that we cannot separate ourselves off into parts, into sections. Those days are over. If they ever were here. We have everything required to save the world except the will to do it. In a recent New Yorker piece Michael Specter writes that because of Aids Russia is on its way to disappearing. Disappearing. Imagine that. The immense knowledge we have learned about Aids has provided us with precious little more than that knowledge. HIV/AIDS is now the worst disaster in recorded human history. In parts of Africa 7,000 people are infecting each other each and every day. We who are here are idiots if we think this fact is not going to alter our lives mightily. If your company loses enough world markets, which it most certainly will, you are going to lose your job. You will not have health insurance, for a start. And for a finish. Economies are simply going to collapse. This is already happening.

In 1990, that is some nine years into what was happening, 46% of gay men in San Francisco were still ****ing without condoms. 60% of the syphilis in America today is in gay men. Excuse me, men who have sex with men.

Palm Springs has the highest number of syphilis cases in California. Palm Springs?

I do not want to hear each week how many more of you are becoming hooked on meth.

HIV infections are up as much as 40%.

You cannot continue to allow yourselves and each other to act and live like this!

One of these days the miraculous drugs we have to keep us alive are going to stop working. Our systems cannot process these extreme chemotherapies indefinitely. That is what we are on. We are on daily chemotherapy. No one wants to call it that. We call it the****tail. We are on chemotherapy! Chemotherapy either kills the disease or kills us! What are we going to do when they don't work any longer? Some 70 million people so far are expected to die. "July 3, 1981, Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals." When I first started yelling about whatever it was there were 41 cases. THERE ARE NOW OVER 70 MILLION WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED WITH HIV. Somebody up there is really listening, don't you think? There is no way that all infected people can be saved. No one ever says that out loud. Have you noticed? Somehow in some dream world we are going to get treatment into 70 million people. It is never going to happen. IT IS TOO LATE. We told them. But they didn't do anything. Did you notice? Nobody every does anything. I hope it's finally dawning on you that maybe they didn't and don't want to. So, in case you haven't noticed, we have lost the war against Aids. I thought I'd tell you that, too. I hope you might have noticed. I can't tell.

The President refuses to buy generic drugs for dying people. He is still saying he is waiting to hear if they are safe. These drugs have been approved. In some cases for several years. Does this sound like a President who wants to save anyone?

I do not understand why some of you believe that because we have drugs that deal with the virus more or less effectively that it is worth the gamble to have unprotected sex. These drugs are not easy to take. There are many side effects. Not life- but certainly comfort-threatening. I must allow at least one day out of every week or two to feel really ****ty, to have no sleep, to be constipated, to have diarrhea, to require blood tests and monitoring at hospitals or in doctors' offices, and to have the shakes. The shakes, which come often, are not useful with a mouse or reading a newspaper or with a lover in your arms. And I don't enjoy eating anymore. Keeping on weight is a constant problem. I have dry mouth. I get up six or seven times a night to pee. Many of the meds we are now taking are new meds and were approved quickly and side effects have a sneaky way of showing up after FDA approval, not before. I recently discovered that I was taking an FDA approved dose of Viread that has turned out to be five times the amount I actually need. We are all probably taking too much or too little of every single one of our drugs. Doctors don't want to test for this; tests are not readily available. You have to do a lot of homework yourselves on these drugs. Is a **** without a condom worth not being able to taste food? Obviously for too many of you it is.

My lover often sits on top of me to make me eat. The first time this happened I was in the hospital just after my liver transplant and I wouldn't eat and Dr. Fung said I had to eat, or else I would die, and I just couldn't eat (do you know how strange this is to someone who was always on a diet?). It was New Year's Eve. We were in beautiful downtown Pittsburgh. David had brought a hamper filled with my favorite dishes. And I could not eat anything. Furiously he crawled into bed with me, boots and all, and started to cry. "We haven't come this far for you to die because you won't eat," he screamed, tears streaming down his face. I will never forget that. I will never forget this man I love so much in bed with me with his snowy boots on starting slowly to spoon into me whatever he'd made and I trying so desperately hard to swallow it, looking at him, this man I love so much, doing this for me, both of us now bawling our eyes out and hugging each other in this strange bed in this strange town, wondering how we got here.

It's so wonderful being a gay person. I said that before. I'm going to say it again. I love being gay. And I love gay people. I think we're better than other people. I really do. I think we're smarter and more talented and more aware and I do, I do, I totally do. And I think we're more tuned in to what's happening, tuned into the moment, tuned into our emotions, and other people's emotions, and we're better friends. I really do think all of these things. And I try not to forget them.

Since the very first day of this plague we have been given, almost as if by some cosmic intentionality, American leaders who most assuredly wish us dead. There can no longer be any way to deny this fact. Each day brings more and more acts of hatred. Tell me it is not so. Tell me that the amount of good that is being attempted is not totally and intentionally overwhelmed by the evil. Point out to me how this is not so. I cannot see it. I have been unable to see it since July 3, 1981. I thought it was because it was a tricky virus. That is what we have been told. It's a very tricky virus. I hoped for a while. But we are being played for chumps and it has been so since July 3, 1981. And we never saw it.

We of course continue to be in our usual state of total denial and disarray. Whatever structure the gay world had, if we ever had one, is gone. Our organizations stink. Almost every single one of them. I cannot think of one single gay organization that despite the best will in the world is now anything but worthless to us. Oh maybe one or two. We have no power. Nobody listens to us. We have no access to power. The cabal disdains us totally. We are completely disposable. It is a horror show. There is not one single person in Washington who will get us or give us anything but **** and more ****. I'm sorry. This is where we are now. Nowhere. And you expect me to cry for you if you get hooked on meth or can't stop the circuit parties or the orgies. OK, I feel sorry for you. Does that change anything? I would say I feel sorry for myself, but I don't. I know I am fighting as hard as I can. I may not be getting anywhere but I am trying. It's exhausting and I have to do it every day, every single day, like taking my meds which if I stop I know my body will cease doing something or other. I have accidentally missed a few days of meds and boy do I know fast that was a mistake.

I fear for us as a people. Is that crazy? I am always being called crazy by somebody. I love being called crazy. That's a sign to me that I'm on the right track. Maybe it takes a crazy person to see into the future and see what's coming. Straight people say "my how much progress gay people are making. Isn't that Will and Grace wonderful." If it's so wonderful why am I scared to death? More and more I am filled with dread. That is my truth that I bring to you today. Larry is scared. Do you see what I see? I don't think so. Most gay people I see appear to me to act as if they're bored to death. Too much time on your hands, my mother would say. Hell, if you have time to get hooked on crystal and do your endless rounds of sex-seeking, you have too much time on your hands. Ah, you say, aren't we to have a little fun? Can't I get stoned and try barebacking one last time. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND! At this moment in our history, no, you cannot. Anyway, we had your fun and look what it got us into. And it is still getting us into. You kids want to die? Because that's what I sometimes think. Well, then, die. You cannot continue to allow yourselves and each other to act and live like this!

And by the way, when are you going to realize that for the rest of your lives, probably for the rest of life on earth, you are never going to be able to have sex with another person without a condom! Never! Every time you even so much as consider this I want you to hear my voice screaming like crazy in your ears. STOP! DON'T! NEVER! NO WAY, JOSE! Canadian scientists now warn that even partners who are both un-infected should practice safe sex. As I understand it, more and more new viruses and mutant viruses and partial viruses that are not understood are floating around. Are you ready for that one?

Does it ever occur to you how much you have been robbed by both your country and your behavior? America let the men who should have carved out a space for you in the social discourse, the development of your history and being, America let these men who should have been your role models die. So there is this big empty space in which you live. And you don't know where to go or how to fill it in. This is not my original thought but Michael Brown's of the NYU gay student organizations that helped to bring me here, who gave me this to think about. It is sad for a young gay person to feel this way. I had people to follow and many of you have not. No baton was passed to you. In a way you must start everything over. You must invent a world from which you can move forward from. This is both an extraordinarily exciting challenge and a terrifying one, one that can just as easily leave you by the wayside as make a new man of you. I say man because it is gay men who appear to have the greatest difficulty, it seems to me, in moving forward, getting off their particular dime.

Many of you deny the horrors of what happened to your predecessors. That is something I do not understand. Every moral code I know of requires respect for the dead. I often hear that many of you don't want to know about them or admit to them. You disdain anyone older who was there.

This is denial of a most destructive nature. You cannot move forward without accepting your past. I am going to say that again. We cannot move forward without accepting and understanding our past. We were as varied as you are. We were no different, really. We were very different from those who preceded us. We were the first free gay generation and we were murdered because of our freedom. And yes you were robbed of this freedom that for obvious reasons could not be passed on to you as your heritage. So instead of being understanding of all this, you condemn your predecessors to non-existence and flounder into a future that you seem unable to fashion into anything you can hold on to that gives you emotional sustenance. You refuse to be part of any community. But if you don't have any community you have no political strength. You are too busy denying and disassociating to know that. You do not seem able, it seems to me, to fashion your future. To discover what you want. You don't even ask what you want. You don't even ask what you need. Your needs are as mighty as needs always have been, but you don't ask what they are, which amazes me. How can you not have curiosity about your future as a gay person? Don't you want to go anywhere? Do you want to stay where you are? That is too bad if you do because we are about to enter a place more monstrously worse. You can deny that, as you deny those of us who went before you, but just know that down this path of your numerous denials lies your own continued destruction, the continuing destruction of gay people as gay people, which this cabal of haters I shall shortly describe, and its supporters, which are legion, are intent on accomplishing with increasingly ruthless vengeance. If you do not fight back you will be murdered in ways just as hideous as the ways in which we got murdered.

Every single president since 1981 has denied our existence and denied the existence of AIDS. And we let them get away with it. Oh a few thousand of us fought for the drugs that we got but many millions of us did nothing and of course an enormous number of them died. They died because they lost their health along their journey of non-involvement and their lack of responsibility to their brothers and sisters. Instead of learning from this lesson, you are repeating it. And you are acting like this with your health intact, many of you, which strikes me as even more perverse than what your dead predecessors did to destroy themselves.

Does it occur to you that we brought this plague of aids upon ourselves? I know I am getting into dangerous waters here but it is time. With the cabal breathing even more murderously down our backs it is time. And you are still doing it. You are still murdering each other. Please stop with all the generalizations and avoidance excuses gays have used since the beginning to ditch this responsibility for this fact. From the very first moment we were told in 1981 that the suspected cause was a virus, gay men have refused to accept our responsibility for choosing not to listen, and, starting in 1984, when we were told it definitely was a virus, this behavior turned murderous. Make whatever excuses you can to carry on living in your state of denial but this is the fact of the matter. I wish we could understand and take some responsibility for the fact that for some 30 years we have been murdering each other with great facility and that down deep inside of us, we knew what we were doing. Don't tell me you have never had sex without thinking down deep that there was more involved in what you were doing than just maintaining a hard-on.

I have recently gone through my diaries of the worst of the plague years. I saw day after day a notation of another friend's death. I listed all the ones I'd slept with. There were a couple hundred. Was it my sperm that killed them, that did the trick? It is no longer possible for me to avoid this question of myself. Have you ever wondered how many men you killed? I know I murdered some of them. I just know. You know how you sometimes know things? I know. Several hundred over a bunch of years, I have to have murdered some of them, planting in him the original seed. I have put this to several doctors. Mostly they refuse to discuss it, even if they are gay. Most doctors do not like to discuss sex or what we do or did. (I still have not heard a consensus on the true dangers of oral sex, for instance.) They play blind. God knows what they must be thinking when they examine us. Particularly if they aren't gay. One doctor answered me, it takes two to tango so you cannot take the responsibility alone. But in some cases it isn't so easy to answer so flippantly. The sweet young boy who didn't know anything and was in awe of me. I was the first man who ****ed him. I think I murdered him. The old boyfriend who did not want to go to bed with me and I made him. The man I let **** me because I was trying to make my then boyfriend, now lover, jealous. I know, by the way, that that other one is the one who infected me. You know how you sometime know things? I know he infected me. I tried to murder myself on that one. Has it never, ever occurred to you that not using a condom is tantamount to murder? I cannot believe you have never considered this. It is such a simple and intelligent thought to have. And we all should have had it from day one. Why didn't we? That has been haunting me for a while, that question. Why didn't we? It is incredibly selfish not to have at least thought that question at that moment, all those moments when we were playing Russian roulette.

From here on I am going to get even more complicated. I want you to pay attention. This is the most important part of this speech. Bill Moyers recently said this in a speech on October 20, 2004 at the Palace Hotel.

"For years now, the corporate, political, and religious right -- this is documented from 1971 on -- the religious and political right has been joined in an axis of influence whose purpose is to take back the gains of the democratic renewal in the 20th century and restore America to a rule of the elites that maintain their privilege and their power at the expense of everyone else. For years now, a small fraction of American households have been garnering an extreme concentration of wealth and income while large corporations and financial institutions have obtained unprecedented levels of economic and political power over daily life."

"Take note," Moyers continues. "The corporate, political, and religious conservatives are achieving a vast transformation of America that only they understand because they are its advocates, its architects, and its beneficiaries. In creating the greatest inequality in America since 1929, they have saddled our nation, our States, and our cities and counties with structural defects that will last until our children's children are ready for retirement, and they are systematically stripping government of all its functions, except rewarding the rich and waging war."

In other words, our country has been taken away from us by a cabal that includes all the people who hate us.

These people make the rules. They are rarely elected officials. They may or may not know each other. They have several things in common. They are very rich or have strong connections to money or power. They are in agreement on what they do not want. They believe fervently in their God. And that they are doing all this for Him. And they stay in constant touch.

I hope you realize that all these people Bill Moyers is talking about hate us. Thriller writers write better histories of our times than actual historians.

Anyway, it is done. What Moyers is talking about. It's already happened. On a scale of such magnitude that it is difficult to see how we can ever take it back. It's all in place now, this cabal of power. It almost doesn't make any difference who is president. You want to know why AIDS was allowed to happen. This is your answer. You want to know why gay people have no power and are unlikely to get any. This is your answer.

The top 1% of wealth holders control 39% of total household wealth. The richest 5% of households own 2/3 of the value of all stock owned in the our country.

The the top 1% have as many after-tax dollars to spend as the bottom 100 million.

The richest 20% of households received almost 50% of the national income, while the bottom 20% received only 3%.

At a time when 265 people in the United States were billionaires, 32 million people were living beneath the official poverty line. This inequality gap in the United States is the highest in the industrialized world.

"That drive," Moyers continues, "is succeeding with drastic consequences for an equitable access to public resources, the lifeblood of any democracy. From land, water, and natural resources, to media and the broadcast and digital spectrums, to scientific discovery and medical breakthroughs, and even to politics itself, a broad range of American democracy is undergoing a powerful shift in the direction of private control.

"We are experiencing a fanatical drive to dismantle the political institutions, the legal and statutory canons, and the intellectual and cultural frameworks that have shaped public responsibility for social harms arising from the excesses of private power." In 1971, Lewis Powell, a Richmond lawyer who called himself a centrist, was secretly commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Congress to write a confidential plan on how to take back America for the survival of the free enterprise system. Not democracy. Free enterprise. Barry Goldwater had lost, Nixon was about to implode, Vietnam had sucked the nation's soul dry, the cabal saw their world unraveling. They saw the women's movement, black civil rights. student war protests, the cold war. They saw the world as they knew it coming to an end. (We are not the first to feel our world crumbling and becoming powerless.)

This is what Lewis Powell wrote "Survival lies in organization, in careful long range planning, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing only available through joint effort and in the political power available only through united action."

This was the birth of what is now called the vast right wing conspiracy. It is known as the Powell Manifesto. You can google Lewis Powell (not the one who helped to assassinate Lincoln) and read it in its entirety.

Under the supervision of some of the richest families in America, that plan has been followed faithfully since 1971 and it has resulted in these past years of horror and the re-election of George Bush. Nine families and their foundations, all under the insistent goading of Joseph Coors, have financed much of this. The Bradley Foundation. The Smith Richardson Foundation. Four Scaife Family Foundations, The John M. Olin Foundation. The Castle Rock (or Coors) Foundation. Three Koch Family Foundations. The Earhart Foundation. The JM Foundation. The McKenna Foundation. From 1985 to 2001 alone they contributed $650 million to this conservative message campaign. They have helped to launch and gain financing for networks of newspapers and magazines. They have seen to it that hundreds of the most powerful think tanks have appeared, including the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, the American Enterprise, Cato, Manhattan, Hudson Institutes, and many more. There are now in place an ever growing number of well-funded student organizations at many colleges. There are legal advocacy foundations, such as the Center For Individual Rights and Judicial Watch. There are Leadership Institutes and Action Institutes and Institutes on Religion and Public Policy and Religion and Democracy. There is a heavily visible media participation Fox Television and Pat Robertson and Oliver North and Radio America and the Washington Times and Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, to name but a very few, including the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.

For the preparation of this manifesto, Lewis Powell was rewarded by Richard Nixon with a seat on the Supreme Court, where among other things he voted against gays in Bowers v. Hardwick, and against Black people in Bakke v. University of California.

It is vital for us to realize that this plan was written in 1971. The people it was written for did not go off then to a disco, or to the Pines or into therapy, or into drugs. They took this plan and they have executed it religiously every day and night for the next thirty-five years initially with some 400 million dollars and always from then until now with unending hours of backbreaking, grinding, unglamorous work, of civic engagements county by county across the entire expanse of America. They took the richest and most liberal nation in the history of civilization and turned it hard right into a classist, racist, homophobic imperial army of pirates. 30% of America now self-identify as conservative or extremely conservative. When Lewis Powell wrote his Manifesto that figure was less than 10%. And on the morning of November 3rd we wrung our hands and wondered why.

And we have a community that still cannot decide on what we want or what to do. We are completely inept at organizing ourselves and have a monstrously bad record of attempting unity.

The continuing existence of HIV is essential for the functioning of the totalitarianism under which gay people now live. It works out like this HIV allows "them" to sell us as sick. And that kills off our usefulness, both in our own minds, their thinking we are sick, and in the eyes of the world, everyone thinking we are sick. All of this obliterates the consciousness of those who should help us and don't. This liquidates and incinerates our individuality and our spontaneity, our abilities to fight back, to hold our oppressors to task. They want to keep HIV going as long as they can! Why haven't we seen that? The signs have always been there! But like everything else we couldn't believe them. No one could be as cruel as that. They want to make us superfluous. Their media, their newspapers, their networks will see to it that our good qualities are invisible. It should therefore come as no surprise that when HIV came along they, this cabal, facilitated its rapid deployment and continue to do so. Before even making the feeblest attempt to commence any miniscule response or inquiry into what their press was not reporting, which they most certainly knew about themselves, they waited until masses of us had all been exposed to the whatever it was. We on the other hand chose to not believe that the whatver it was was a virus until this was incontestably proved. But they knew what it was, or were willing to take the chance and hope that it was, and they just sat back and waited. Their wildest dreams then started to come true. The faggots were disappearing and they were doing it to themselves! I can locate no work of any urgency, or indeed much work at all on aids for most of the period between 1981- 1984. Oh many claim it, as many claim seeing cases many years earlier, which I also doubt, but I cannot locate whatever these are claiming. In those four years almost every gay man who had ****ed in America had been exposed to the virus.

And when they did start doing anything it was with such feebleness that it amounted to nothing for ten years. You can give me all kinds of reasons why it took so long but my research has convinced me that the actual scenario was completely intentional neglect. Oh perhaps not the doctors or the scientists. But they had no money. And they were not going to get any money. Or enough money. People upstairs were going to see to it that there would be no money. Let even more people get infected first. Blacks, junkies, prostitutes. Every color of skin but straight white. Every religion but Christian. Excuse me, white Christian. Then we'll throw them a few pennies to make it look like we're concerned.

The cabals Bill Moyers talked about have called all the shots in facilitating and accelerating the plague of aids. If scientists discovered something useful, it has rarely been available. I spoke earlier about the refusal of this president to allow already approved generic drugs out to a desperate Africa and elsewhere. Of that huge Congressional approval of many billions for HIV around the world that Bush brags about, something less that 2% has left Washington almost four years after its approval. Does this sound like a President and a government and a country that wants to help? I guess I have suspected behavior like this all along. But I never knew it in quite the way that I have now come to see it thanks to Bill Moyers intentionality is the only word to describe the genocidal treatment the world is drowning in. Much of the world, most assuredly including us, has been intentionally hung out to die. So far some 70 million of us. That is some manifesto Lewis Powell birthed. And all we have to do is keep ****ing each other without condoms and the rest of their "moral issues" will be dead. Do you seriously think they care about the continuing rise again of HIV infections? They are grateful for them. Do you think they care about a sudden plague of crystal? They thank us for our cooperation. And we thought for one brief second of time that we might even be allowed to marry the ones we love.

And while all this happened, even if we had enough suspicions to act, what did we do? We completely shrank from our duty of opposition. Those are Christopher Isherwood's words "the duty of opposition." But he was flagellating himself with these words. He fears that should he have to live face to face with a war in his backyard that he "would shrink from the duty of opposition." Marriage? Forget it. Non-discrimination laws? Forget them. Those that have been enacted will be rescinded or amended into toothlessness. Adoption? Equal rights? Forget everything. We are going to be erased into nothingness. They hate us so much and now they are in complete and utter power, the most dangerous situation in the world for the unwanteds to live under. And I no longer think it matters who is President. Clinton turned out to be as rotten for us as George Bush, either one.

Ok, keep putting your life in jeopardy. 110 of their drug companies certainly want you to do so. Keep dancing your asses off at circuit parties all over the world as you go down to the sea in ships that are made to intentionally capsize and take you down with them. Ok, keep being bored and crying for your poor selves. You ain't seen nothin' yet. With our complete cooperation they have already murdered several generations of us so far. They won't have to murder so many more of us to get their wish. Like Russia, we will disappear. That is what they want to do. Disappear us. And now they are able to officially do it. George Bush has his mandate. Can't you see all this! People high up there in their secret powwows don't want us here. Word has come down from on high get rid of the faggots once and for all. You think the law will protect us? Think again. Wait until you see the new Supreme Court.

You are here as a gay person because of certain events and certain people who lived and suffered and died before you. You must learn about them and not continually deny their existence and importance in our history, the history of gay people in America. You must learn about them! They have made your life possible! What kind of person doesn't want to learn about themselves? I don't know why but you don't want to. Most of our fellow gays don't read books about us. Or come to plays about us. What do you want to do? I don't know. And for all I can tell in talking to many of you, you don't know either. And this is very frightening. A large uncongealed mass of potentially superior beings doesn't know what to do with themselves or bother to learn their history. So they dance. So they drug. So they go on to the internet to find more sex. These are useful lives being wasted. Why is that? Why is there no useful creativity going on? Why is there no mental agility visible, no audible questioning discussions ... almost anything of importance? Don't you long for some involvement in the humanity that you belong to, for your place in the scheme of things? You don't know how to make entrance on these playing fields, is that it? I don't know what is wrong with us. I wish you could tell me. What do you do with yourselves all week long, seven days and nights a week, that amounts to anything really important? I can't see many of you as doing anything important, to give your lives meaning. Oh I can see lots of frocks on the runway but I can't see bodies inside of them, bodies with brains and concerned with anything but pretty and orgasms. What do you do to make your world, our world, a better place? A world that needs every bit of help it can get, our world, not their world. You don't seem able to connect with anyone beyond the basest ways. "Why can't we look at our bodies and see not just a sexual definition? Why can't we see in the body all that the body represents? Sexuality, yes. But also mortality, humanness, humaneness, innocence, purity, health, sickness, strength, consideration, responsibility, divinity. When did we rob our bodies of all the complexity they possess? Why do we refuse to see all that we are capable of? All the other things that make us full beings." That very beautiful paragraph was written by my friend, Jordan Roth, who is one day going to be a very fine writer if he just keeps at it.

Do you know you are taking the same crystal meth as Hitler? The stuff that was being used well into 1997, the government outlawed one of the ingredients and so the orignal process was resurrected, the one as used by the Nazis. It was first synthesized by the Germans in the early part of the 20th century. Hitler was a crystal addict. The new version is much more potent than the stuff you were taking before 1997, which is the main reason why it is so hard to break an addiction. Dr. Howard Grossman told me this bit of history. Maybe I shouldn't have told you about the Hitler part. To the more twisted among you it may be a turn-on.

I love being gay. I love gay people. I think we're better than other people. I really do. I think we're smarter and more talented and more aware and I do, I do, I totally do. I really do think all of these things. And I try very hard to remember all this. But I am finding that I am not so proud of being gay anymore. It's come over me slowly. As much as I love being gay and I love gay people I'm not proud of us right now. It's disappeared. I almost could say we've disappeared. But since you are here I can't quite say that. But that's how I feel.

I do not see us, don't you see? I do not see us! They are killing us. They are eradicating us from this earth. Little by little by little we are disappearing. I do not see us and I am beginning to see us less and less.

I have recently come to believe that gay men and women are tragic people. We are so wonderful but we are also so ****ed up. So blind. So ignorant in ways to look after ourselves. So uninterested in the Outside World that is subsuming us when we thought we were making them pretty and giving them songs to sing. So without agendas to utilize our wonderful-ness. We know who the enemy is and we just stand here letting them shoot us over and over again. WE STAND HERE AND LET THEM DO IT! All of the brains and abilities we have among us are useless. The smartest among us, our famous ones, our rich ones, seem to allow this most of all. The ones who should help us and speak up for us refuse that responsibility. We have enough rich gay men and lesbians to finance a takeover of the world but their brains and their money and their skills are not available to to help us. To lead us. To inspire us. To finance us. To be like Lewis Powell's Nine Families. That, too is tragic. To have so much money and to not to use it for brothers and sisters, for family, for our continuation here on earth. Why is that? Rockefeller tithed himself from his very first dollar, to go to his church for his salvation. Please, can we get word to every rich gay person to show up to help save us. We need our Nine Families desperately.

Public service how many religions demand this of their members? How much public service in behalf of your brothers and sisters, your family, have you performed recently? Don't tell me you don't know what to do. If you can find another ass to ****, and you seem endlessly inventive at accomplishing this, then you should be able to locate a more useful and responsible outlet.

For a few brief years we had some noble moments, of togetherness and anger and progress. Not many of us, mind you. If you are still alive, you know who you were and where you were during those worst years of our mass murder. You know what you did and what you didn't. And I know too. I know that most of you, should you still be alive, didn't do a goddamned thing. In fact, you were ashamed of us, many of you were. I remember that as well as I remember those who died. "Friends" crossing the street to avoid me because I was advising cooling it. I was actually told to not come back to Fire Island Pines. Lots of people come up to me now on the street and say, thank you for what you did for us. I do not consider that a compliment. My response quite often's been a curt Fuck You, why aren't you doing it too! I don't do anything that anyone else couldn't do. I just do it, and some 10 or 15,000 other people did it too then. And the rest of you sat on your asses. And, those of you who are still alive, know who you were and how little you did. Yes for one brief moment in time we got angry. Correction, a few of us got angry. Of all our many many millions of gay people in this country, about 10,000 of us or so got angry enough to accomplish something. We got drugs. We got aids care. We got enough so we could continue ****ing again. That in the end is what it amounted to. As soon as we got the drugs, you went right back to what got us into such trouble in the first place. WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? The cabal can't believe their good fortune.

How many gay people in America in those years of Aids? Ten million? Twenty million? Thirty million? How many of us are there now? We don't even know how many of us there are! Or how many we lost! And every time some statistical number is released by some faceless organization or government office, I always wonder how the **** do they know how many of us there are when we don't even know how many of us there are? And none of our so-called gay organizations ever bothers to find out. It would be nice to know, helpful to know. Don't you think?

You know, it isn't meant to be easy, life. I don't know why it isn't meant to be easy, but it just isn't, so we might as well get used to it and try to find things that give us a certain sense of pride. We must create ourselves as something we can live with. It takes energy, yes. Why are we so crippled intellectually? Oh, we study sexuality and gender stuff until it comes out of every university's asshole but we don't study history, who we were and where we came from and our roots, the wellsprings of our historical existence. We do not honor our dead as we do not honor ourselves. We continue without surcease to be and remain, endlessly, day after day, helpless victims. "In my country when they raise the bus fares, we burn the buses," a Brazilian journalist said to me as she watched a sparsely attended Act Up demonstration.

There is never one single hour that a disenfranchised minority does not have to fight to breathe and stay alive. The hate out there will never lessen. It only grows and grows, this hate. Most of you refuse to face this. I hate you for your doing that. I really do. I have no more patience for this kind of weakness. I know this is uncharitable of me. I don't care. I am too tired of fighting with so few troops. You are now dancing your own dance of death, you know. And I hate you for this, too. Grow up, I beg you. Oh, grow up.

Time goes by so fast. We are allotted so precious little of it on this earth. How sad that you use it so stupidly. Every minute that goes by is gone forever. You who have been given a new lease on life, the very gift of life itself, piss it away. It is so incomprehensible to me who has come so close to death a couple times. I find your inactivity and ingratitude and lack of imagination on how to act in emergencies incongruous, incomprehensible, insulting. And unacceptable. I could never understand during all those years of Aids why every single person facing death would not fight to save his own life. And I cannot understand now how, life having been given back to us again, again you treat your life with such contempt.

Yes, all that I have spoken of tonight is the stuff of tragedy. I wish we could truly look upon each other as brothers and sisters. It sounds corny I am told when I keep using terms like this. How can we be related I am asked dismissively. You do not know or want to know that we have been on this earth as long as anyone else and that we have as many available heroes and heroines as anyone else. Your family has been here a very long time and has an ancient and distinguished lineage. You must learn that Abraham Lincoln was gay and George Washington and Meriwether Lewis and so many others we are only just beginning to uncover. But they will not let gay history be taught in schools and universities. And we seem unable to teach ourselves. My own college, Yale, with $1 million of my own brother's money to do just this, will not teach what I call gay history, unencumbered with the prissy incomprehensible gobbledygook of gender studies and queer theory. Abraham Lincoln did not talk that language.

We richly deserve the government we have received. We do not even know who we are. And our enemies participate in their convictions every day of their lives. We only show up when we want to, which is not very often. But then perhaps you do not love being gay. Or think we are better than other people, and smarter and more talented and more tuned into what is happening, and are better friends. I leave the hardest topic we must face till last.

How do we fight as a united front when they don't approve of our "behavior" and when our behavior is inseparable from our beings? How do we fight as a united front when some of us won't or are unable to change certain behaviors that many of us have difficulty in supporting and defending ourselves? We've been so concerned about showing the world a united front. We feel the need to say that everything gay people do is good and it simply isn't so. We must have an honest discussion amongst ourselves about what's good and what isn't. This is of course the problem that has finally brought us down because we have refused to deal with it, and perhaps is one reason today's youngsters have difficulty in acknowledging our past. It is the unfaced devil in our closet, if you will, that we have refused to deal with and which, now, now that they have achieved their position of imperial power, will be used to hang us once and for all. To be crude about it, how do we market and sell our wishes and our needs as they have been able to package and sell their wants and needs so successfully for thirty-five years? How do we frame this issue? How do we claim the God that they have subsumed into their own ownership? It is inhuman to think that the only way we can get through to some safe other side is by policing each other and in so doing destroy whatever hope we have of getting along? If they have been able to convince this country that the Republicans are the party of the people, surely so many sons and daughters can be smart enough to find a way to sell our parents permission to co-exist. I do not know how to answer any of this. And I don't think anyone among us does either. To talk out loud about what our bodies have done and continue to do is asking for trouble from others of us. How do we admit our past, own it, and evolve from it and move on? For we must do this.

I know some of you will immediately jump up to act. I caution rushing off to form anything quite so fast until we decide how we want to deal with what I have raised tonight. I know many of you are prepared to tough it out and say to them, "**** you, I am what I am." And point out quite rightly that they have simply pushed us too far and, no matter what we have done and continue to do we simply cannot allow them to treat us this way any longer. We are human beings as much as they are, and their God is the same as our God and He simply cannot be allowed to be as punishing as they are requiring Him to be."

But this is perhaps too honest and reasonable to say to those who are not either. Reasoning like this has not worked for us in the past. But I sense that ignoring this question of responsibility for much that has murdered us will only please them more.

These are the problems we must confront as we go forward. If you are going to fight in a united way, which I am convinced is now the only way that can save us, we must find a platform that all of us can support without divisiveness and shame and guilt and all the other hateful weapons they will club us with.

And if we do want to go out and fight again in a united way we must ask ourselves are we able to replicate the kind of devotion and commitment and backbreaking thankless work and tactics that continues to bring them year after year into such positions of unlimited power. Thirty-five years of that? For thirty-five years the cabal I have spoken of has worked every single day and night to bring them their success. Quite frankly they deserve their victory and we deserve our loss.

I would like to quote this from a Baptist minister, Tom Ehrich, in Durham. By chance, I found it on a Christian website at 300 this afternoon. "It would be helpful if we started in silence and just listened to each other's voices. Whether we can muster such maturity amid toxic political attitudes remains to be seen. If we are to have a meaningful national discussion of moral issues, we will need to start with the sexual issues, not because they are the most important but because they are the fire engulfing the tower. Let's get it all on the table...

"And let's do so openly and boldly, without the code language that we often use in moral debates, without our usual cherry-picking of Scriptures, without our usual blistering indignation, without the bullying that elevates one's viewpoint into divine certainty." So we are being invited to this table whether we want to or not. We must be prepared.

I love being gay. I love gay people. I think we're better than other people. I really do. I think we're smarter and more talented and better friends. I do, I do, I totally do. I really do think all of these things.

And I passionately and desperately want all my brothers and sisters to stay alive and well and on this earth as long as they want theirs to.Can we all help each other to reach this goal?
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(Note I would like to acknowledge the help of my friend Rodger McFarlane, my lover David Webster, and my editor, Will Schwalbe in preparing this speech. I am grateful to Rodger and the Gill Foundation for educating me about Lewis Powell and the Powell Manifesto, about which I had been previously ignorant. Thanks too to Bill Moyers for his extraordinary speech which is quoted here
without permission. LK)

The Beautiful Sister: An interview with Yasmene Jabar

2004-11-13T04:26:00.000-08:00

Originally published in Huriyah: A Magizine for Queer Muslims

Most of us can't imagine what it is like to be born in the wrong body. All of us have experienced the confusion of childhood ... when you are not sure what your gender really is. You are a child. So, most of us go through it and we find our genders and our bodies go together. And then there are those who find themselves in a different world. Yasmene Jabar was part of the latter. Now, after what seems like a lifetime to her, she lives in the right world she always knew existed for her, as all of us. And, although she fought for that world so persistently, she is happy. So what does she do next? She turns around and makes every Transsexual feel they belong. A wonderful woman, indeed. I was honored to be able to talk to her about her life journey. I hope you get to see the woman Yasmene is from this interview.

AFDHERE JAMA: I will start with your name. Tell me the story behind it.

YASMENE JABAR: Well the name "Yasmene" was stuck on me while I was married to my Syrian husband. He gave me the nickname because he said I was his flower, and then all his friends started calling me that. Later, I used it as my professional name when I was a Photographer, and for any other business purpose but it is not my legal name of which is private and has nothing to do with my professional and public persona.

You were born on a farm in North Carolina. Talk about that.

I lived a very charmed life for the most part. I knew I was different very early so I spent most of my time to myself on the farm. I learned to love nature and animals, and I spend many hours in the woods pretending to be a Princess or something. I did not trust most people, and especially the boys in school because they were always tormenting me for being different. My family were very close and sort of Mayberryish like in the Andy Griffith Show.

Do you remember the first time you remember feeling "Hey, I'm a girl!"

I always felt I was a girl, and when I realized I was not was when my life took a bad turn. I always played dress-up with my cousins, and played with dolls. When I went visiting anybody with my mother when I was little, I always ended up in the closets dressing up in women's hats and shoes. I loved it. I dressed up so often when I was little that everybody knew about it and most people had photos of me dressed up and thought it was soooo cute. "Don't he look just like a girl," they would say, "sooo pretty." I ate all that talk up and kept wishing I was a girl.

Tell me about your life, growing up in a boy's body.

When I became a teenager was when the torment really began. I began to have sexual desires for males but not as a homosexual male but like a girl is sexually attracted to a boy. I thought more of having my hand held or kissing than actual sex. I never had any kind of sexual relations with any male while I was in school because I did not want the shame that would go with it. But still they called me queer and some even claimed I had oral sex with them when I had not. I never let myself be alone at any time with any of them so it was impossibility. I had all the feelings the other girls had but could not express them. I wanted to be a cheerleader or be a part of their groups and clubs but of course I could not. I was hormonally intersexed, meaning my body produced more female hormones than male so my body did not change. I never produced facial hair or body hair, my voice did not change and my organs did not fully develop, but my body did grow tall and large, which made me look like a tall big girl. All of this made for a very lonely teenage life with no friends and no social interaction. All I could think of was the time I could leave home and become a real girl.

So you did know you could become a girl when/if you wanted to?

I had learned very early about Christine Jorgenson and also read about others like Canary Cohn, even a girl from North Carolina was in the News for having had a Sex Change so I knew what I was going to do, but just how I was going to get there was still a question that needed lots of answers.

How did you start finding those answers?

Back then without internet it was hard to find out anything, I remember reading a little ad in the back of a Play Boy Magazine about Michael Salem's TV Boutique, so I wrote to them and got a list of books and publications they offered, one was written by Dr. Harry Benjamin about the Transsexual and the other was a list of Pamphlets put out by The Erickson Foundation which helped Transsexuals, so I had a very basic understanding of my condition by the time I was fourteen years old. By the time I got my license to drive a car, I was going out dressed as a girl-- just going shopping, to the movies or out to eat. Sometimes I would talk a cousin into going with me so I would not be alone, at first it was scary but I got used to it quickly and to the fact that I passed as female better than I did as male. People treated me differently, I was now a real person and my life was beginning to open up for me.

You left home very young. How old were you and where did you go?

I left home two months after my eighteenth birthday. I had already been going out to Drag Clubs in Charlotte North Carolina about 25 miles away from the farm where I lived. I will never forget the first time I ever went to a club where Female Impersonators where accepted. It was a valentine's party in 1975 and I was amazed at the beautiful women who were not women. Some turned out later to be Drag Queens while others were Transsexuals like myself, but it was like an awakening for me and I started making friends and plans to move to the big city as soon as I could. I moved to Charlotte a few months later, doing odd jobs at first dressed in what we called plop drag, I was not actually dressed as a girl but wearing unisex clothing and already looking like a girl.

Did people know you were in a boy's body?

Most people thought I was a girl. I started taking female hormones at the same time purchased from a black market pharmacy where you'd put down your money on the counter and Jack would give you your monthly bottle of hormones. He later was arrested and went to jail but he helped many girls who could not have started any other way. I know he helped me. By the time he was arrested I had already had my Sexual Reassignment Surgery.

Tell me about life after you left home?

Soon after I started taking hormones, I began working at a Female Impersonators Club in Charlotte named Orleans. The club was run by an older woman named Olean who always wore a long blonde wig, and false eyelashes and lots of makeup, who looked more like a drag queen than the real drag queens. I started out just doing shows once in a while then I was hired to be a part of their House Show and worked regular. I became well known during that time, not for my talent but because of my looks. I looked like a real woman and since the crowd was a mix of straight and gay I went over very well to the audience.

You are one of the few transsexual women I know who had the privilege of having a sex change at a such a young age at a time when it was neither as popular nor as accepted as today. How old were you, how much did it cost and how did you come up with the money?

I was making enough money to live but not enough to save money for my surgery. So, while I was visiting with a Transsexual friend who had worked as a call girl in Charleston, South Carolina, she talked to me about going into that kind of business to make my money. I really had no desire to get mixed up in that lifestyle so I told her I would think about it. I talked to my mother telling her how badly I needed to borrow the money for my surgery, she said I should work and make the money myself. That I would feel I had accomplished something by doing it myself. I told her in what way I thought I could make the money and she said you do what you have to do, and don't worry about what you have to do, just do what you must. After that I went for an interview with Vogue Massage Parlor in Charlotte, and got the Job. But the catch was that the owner did not know I was a Transsexual as she ran a very classy house and all her girls were expected to be top of the line. So I was honored to get hired but at the same time scared to death about it. Buy that fall I had the money for my Breast Implants which I did out patient and was back to work within a week, and within one year I was able to fly to Dr. Stanley Biber for my final Surgery. When I come back I went to my parents farm to get well and never went back to work as a call girl. I was twenty years old when I had my surgeries. My Breast Surgery cost $1,000 and my Vaginal Surgery cost $2,500. But today's prices start at about $10,000 just for Vaginal.

In your twenties, you met an Arab man. I know you ended up marrying him, divorcing him and leaving him behind. Tell me more about that, and how you met and what kind of life you guys shared.

When I met my Arab Husband Mo, we were both in Collage, he was studying Computer Science, and I was studying Art. We met at a Party at the School, a dance I think. He came up to me with the famous line of "I saw you when you came into the room, and you are the most beautiful women here." That's all it took. We started dating, fell in love and spend seven up and down years together. Our marriage started off very good, we had a good time together as a couple, we went out a lot and he introduce me to a lot of his friends, and family during that time, I thought it would last for ever. He was a handsome ladies man, however. He was a good and loving man, but he had a weakness for other women and that is what caused our marriage to break apart. When I first found out about his cheating I was in shock and I tried to work things out in my mind for several years before I divorced him. When trust is broken, it's hard to mend it, especially when you are young. But during that time I learned to love Middle Eastern life, I met so many wonderful people, some Muslim and some not, so when we divorced I felt like a big part of my life was over, not just my marriage but my life itself.

Tell me about your current Arab husband. How did you two meet?

I met my current husband Ali who is from Jordan on the Internet. We met and became friends over a four-year time frame. At first we were both involved with other people in real life so we were nothing but chat friends, but over time it became more. Finally he sent me a ticket to go visit him in Germany where he had been living for 16 years, during that visit he asked me to marry him. We spent another year apart while I took care of business and he finished his degree then we went to Jordan together where we had a Traditional Muslim Wedding. By the way he knew about my past from the first, but his family do not know of my past, and he feels it's not anybody's business as I am completely female in every way.

You became a Muslimah, was there pressure from your husband's side for you to convert?

I did not become Muslim for my husband. I was Muslim when I met him already. I accept Allah as the only God and Mohammad as his Prophet.

Alhamdulillah! You now live in the Arab world. Tell me about that.

Well, the worst part is having to cover your head on a hot day in Jordan, so I stay inside during the day and only venture out during the evening when it's cooler. The people are great here. So friendly and the families are very close. Of course, the women will ask you very personal questions. I have been asked why I have no children, and will Ali and I have children, so I just say only Allah knows the answer to these questions. Women don't enjoy the freedom that they do in the West, I miss being able to just drive where I want to go when I need to go, but I'm getting used to it. I have a good husband who treats me with love and respect. I would not take aMillion Dollars for him; he will be with me for my life long.

You have been living your life as a complete woman for some years now. How does it feel to be able to be who you are when you know there are so many men and women out there trapped in the wrong bodies who do not have the means -- financially and otherwise -- to be who they are?

I feel privileged to be where I am in my life, I had my surgery twenty-eight years ago this year and I thank Allah that I have had such a good life after my surgery. Before my SRS, I had no life at all but now the sky is the limit.

Speaking of knowing, you have set up the well-respected International Transsexual Sisterhood, which helps so many transsexual souls around the world. Tell me more about how you got involved in activism?

I have never considered myself an Activist, only that I have a motherly instinct. I wish to help those who need help to find their way. It's like I want to supply a safe home for those who need some comfort. I began with my first support Web Site Cafe Trans Arabi because I could find no such support on the internet for the Trans girls in the Middle East. All I could find was Porno and sex sites but no support to help them find their way with dignity. The other groups simply evolved from that first group to expand and offer support and information and most important fellowship to TS girls around the world.

The Trans Eastern Conference (TEC) is scheduled to take place in Turkey early 2005. Tell me more about this!

TEC is the world's First Transsexual Conference to ever be held in an Islamic Country, and it is being produced by TEA Trans Eastern Association. The Conference will have a focus on the hardships of Transsexuals who find themselves in the restricted Muslim World, to help them with Answers to their questions and give them support while they make their own choices as what to do with their lives. They should have all the information provided to them in a safe environment so they can think clearly as to what is right for them. We hope to have some notable Trans professionals on hand during the Conference such as Dr. Lynn Conway of USA, Christine Burns of UK, Dr. Fatemeh Javaheri of Iran, Adnan Hossain of Bangladesh and Demet Demir of Turkey. For more information your readers can check out the conference's website.

What is next for you?

Who knows? If this event explodes and my cover is blown here in Jordan my husband and myself just might have to relocate to another country, maybe back to the States, but I am sure I will remain active in helping the Transsexual in what ever way or means that comes to hand.

In every interview that I do, I ask this last question; if you had the power to change something about you, what would it be and why?

I wish I had finished my education instead of giving it up for marriage. I would feel I had a better foundation to do the things I need to do. But life is a learning tool so we never stop learning.

Yasmene, darling, it has been a wonderful experience getting to know you. Thank you for letting me talk to you about all of this!

Thank you so much for you time to interview me for your publication. I wish you much luck in your future.

Yasmene Jabar can be contacted through The Sisterhood website at the-sisterhood.net. Those of you interested in learning more about the TEC conference in Turkey for 2005, please visit the TEA website at www.the-sisterhood.net/tea or send e-mail to tec@huriyahmag.com

Genderblast Conference

2004-11-12T06:07:00.000-08:00

From: Aidan Kotler
Executive Director, Youth Gender Project

::Please forward Widely!::

Youth Gender Project is looking for volunteers to help make Genderblast Conference happen!

We need YOU! Were looking for volunteers of all ages, genders and abilities.

Help support the trans, gender-variant and questioning youth community!

Volunteers make the conference happen!
(Conference details below.)

What youll get:
*Free admission to Genderblast Conference (Non-volunteers: free for youth; sliding scale for adults)

*A CrimethInc Gender Subversion Kit poster

*An invite to the fabulous Genderblast Volunteer Appreciation Party

*Our undying gratitude and appreciation!

We need volunteers for:

*Set Up: Help set up in the morning before the conference. This will include putting up signs, making sure everything is in place, etc.

*Movers: People with a car/truck who can help transport food, supplies, etc., from our office and other places to the conference site.

*Helpers: go along with movers and help with lifting and carrying.

*Registration: Greet, register and check in conference attendees.

*Info Table: Command station for the conference: Answer questions, greet and check in latecomers.

*Presenter/Performer Check-In: Meet the stars! Greet, register and check in performers, presenters and speakers

*Runners: Run small errands around the site as needed. (Running not required!)

*Lunch set up / clean up: Help set up and clean up lunch.

*Classroom Cleaners: Clean up classrooms after the conference.

*Clean Up Dance Party: Steering Committee member Jacob Richards is hosting a Cleanup Dance Party. If you choose not to attend the Day of Remembrance, stay and listen to dance music while you help clean up! *Security: Work in pairs - one pair is stationed in the registration area/auditorium; the other pair is roaming, looking in on workshops to ensure that everything is running smoothly. For the most part, security people are just there as insurance, being visible and maybe looking a bit looking intimidating. (Wearing leather wouldnt hurt!;-) Other tasks might include: interrupting vandalism of school property, interrupting theft of school/organizers/participants property, interrupting behavior that disrupts workshops, speakers or performances, de-escalating potentially disruptive or physical disputes among attendees, or breaking up any disputes that become physical. We don't expect a lot of this stuff to come up, but security people should be able to deal with those issues if they arise.

**CONTACT: If you can help out, please contact Aidan at (aidan@youthgenderproject.org), or (415) 865-5625,
ASAP! Please include your phone number. Thanks!

Volunteer Shifts

Friday 11/19/2004
12 pm -8 pm Last-Minute Conference Prep Work (at YGP
office) (4 people)Conference packets, food prep
4pm - 8pm Movers: 2 cars, 1 helper each (4 people)

Saturday 11/20/2004
7 am - 9am Set Up (6 people)
7am - 10 am Movers: 2 cars, 1 helper each (4 people)
8:30 - 10:15 Registration (6 people)
8:30 - 10:30 Info Table (2 people)
8:30 - 10:30 Security (4 people)
8:30 - 10:30 Volunteer / Performer Check-In (2 people)
8:30 - 10:30 Runners (2 people)
10:30 - 12:30 Info Table (2 people)
10:30 - 12:30 Security (4 people)
10:30 - 12:30 Runners (2 people)
10:45 - 1:30 Lunch set up / clean up (4 people)
12:30 - 2:30 Info Table (2 people)
12:30 - 2:30 Security (4 people)
12:30 - 2:30 Runners (2 people)
2:30 - 4:30 Info Table (2 people)
2:30 - 4:30 Security (4 people)
2:30 - 4:30 Runners (2 people)
4:30 - 6:00 Info Table (2 people)
4:30 - 7:00 Security (4 people)
4:30 - 5:30 Classroom Cleaners (5 people)
5:30 - 7:30 Clean Up / Dance (6 people)

Sunday 11/21/2004
2:00 - 6:00 Movers: 2 cars, 1 helper each (4 people)

::Please Forward Widely!::

GENDERBLAST CONFERENCE & TRANSLATE OPEN MIC

Youth Gender Project presents

Genderblast V: Gender Variety Makes a Better Society!

our 5th annual conference for and by transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, gender-variant and gender-questioning youth 25 and under, and our allies of all ages and genders. (Adult Allies Welcome!)

When: Saturday, November 20, 2004, 9am-5:30pm
Where: Everett Middle School
450 Church St. (at 16th St.), San Francisco, CA

*Performers include: rock performer Shawna Virago, hip-hop artists Katastrophe and Jaycub Perez, drag queen Precious Moments, writer Meliza Banales, and the Ambassadors of San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus.

*Keynote Speaker: Human Rights Commissioner Cecilia Chung.

*Workshops include: Trans Patient Advocacy, Trans Ally 101, Self-Defense, BDSM/Leather/Kink Panel, Anti-Racism for White Folks, Sex work, Junk Queer Youth Film Festival, & Traditional Native American Gender Diversity

**FREE for youth 25 and under!**

(Everett is accessible by MUNI J & 22 lines; within 4 blocks of 14, 26, 33, 49, F, K, L, M & N lines, and
16th Street Mission BART.)

Volunteers needed! Please email aidan@youthgenderproject.org or call our office (below) with your name and phone number if you can help out.

For more information, please call our office at (415) 865-5625, or email genderblast@youthgenderproject.org.

....and wait, there's more:

Translate Kicks Off Genderblast!!

Calling all spoken word artists, poets, the musically inclined, and your friends and allies!!!

Youth Gender Project Presents: TRANSLATE: A trans youth open mic

A space for trans/qenderqueer youth (25 and under) to express themselves through poetry, spoken word, music
or other similar performances. All Allies are welcome to attend.

FREE COFFEE!!

November 19th, 2004
Sign up starts at 6:45pm/show is 7-9pm
Threedollarbill Café @ The LGBT Center
1800 Market St. San Francisco

For more information contact Brooklynne or Courtney at
415-865-5625 or email:
Brooklynne@youthgenderproject.org

Youth Gender Project is a youth-led organization working to empower and advocate for trans, gender-variant and questioning (TGQ) youth. We address the challenges facing TGQ youth primarily in the San Francisco Bay area by creating, implementing and collaborating on programs to meet the needs of our community, and by educating those who work with us.

KERALA GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPY FOR HIV-INFECTED

2004-10-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

(from: lgbt-india)

Dear Friends,

The Government of Kerala on Wednesday launched its ambitious scheme of providing free anti-retroviral therapy to HIV-infected persons.

This is the first time in the country that a State Government is taking an initiative to launch free treatment for the HIV-infected, using its own funds.

The Government is investing Rs. 1.65 crores for buying the drugs, which will be made available to patients through the five Medical College Hospitals in the State.

Inaugurating the programme, the Health Minister, K. K. Ramachandran, said that steps would be taken to make the drugs available through district hospitals also, once the programme took off. He pointed out that despite being a highly literate society; the people here continue to discriminate against HIV-infected persons.

The anti-retroviral drugs will help those infected with HIV to lead near-normal lives for a long time, Mr. Ramachandran said.

Three-drug regimen

The therapy, which includes a three-drug regimen, will be handled by the General Medicine departments in medical colleges. Persons, who have confirmed their HIV positive status through tests at the Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centres, can register their names at the General Medicine department. Not all those who are HIV-infected require anti-retroviral therapy. Doctors can decide on therapy for a patient only after measuring the plasma viral load and CD4 lymphocyte count in blood.
The former is an indication of the magnitude of the viral load, while CD4 indicates the extent of damage that has been caused to the immune system.

Life-long treatment

According to the estimates of Kerala State Aids Control Society (KSACS), the number of those who require drugs in the State would come to around 1,500. The treatment costs for one person would come to nearly Rs. 1,000 a month.

As the treatment is a life-long affair and cannot be discontinued, patients will have to undergo counseling and awareness classes before the treatment is started. Patients would also be apprised of the possible side-effects of the drugs before beginning the treatment.

Those who spoke at the inaugural session included E. K. Bharat Bhushan, Principal Secretary (Health) and the Project Director, KSACS; K. Shailaja, Additional Director of Health Services, the president of Council of People living with HIV/AIDS, O. Joseph, among others. K. Mohan Kumar, MLA, presided.

Comments from the Human Rights Angle

Though government of India announced in 2003 December that it would provide ARV treatment to 100,000 children, mothers, and others who need it in six high-prevalence states beginning April 1, 2004, it has not been implemented
so far in other states except in Delhi. It had begun administering treatment to small numbers of people living with AIDS in a few areas. We welcome this development. In addition to ARV medicines, people with HIV/AIDS have a desperate need for other basic medical care, which our public health system has failed to provide to the marginalized (Eg: Sabira). It is very important that people already facing discrimination, such as sex workers, children of sex workers, street children and tribal
populations, are not discriminated against in the administration of the anti retroviral program, and that testing is done and drugs provided in such a way that does not reveal to the rest of the community that a person is HIV-positive, thus exposing her or him to discrimination. If the program is successful, more people will be tested, learn their status, and be treated: more HIV-positive children may well be living in our communities, schools, health care facilities, and orphanages.Thus, it is
crucial that the Kerala government immediately put into place protections against discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS. (Courtesy to the Hindu and HRW)

Love
subhash

SEX WORKER'S FORUM KERALA
FIRM-ANASOOYA
T.C.14/1514,Beatrice Mansion
Thycaud Post, Thiruvananthapuram-695 014, Kerala, India.

Obituary of Paulo Longo

2004-10-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

From: lgbt-india

Paulo Longo, 40, worked to promote the human rights of sex workers

Paulo Henrique Longo, co-founder of the Network of Sex Work Projects, died of a heart attack at his home in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, October 8, 2004. He had suffered from diabetes and its complications for twenty years.

He was an influential leader in the fight for human rights for gay people and sex workers in Brazil and around the world. Mr. Longo was instrumental in the emerging gay rights movement in Brazil. He wrote a regular column addressing gay rights for the Brazilian press. Mr. Longo was an ex-prostitute who co-founded the Network of Sex Work Pro! jects. The Network began as an informal association that has since grown in influence. At the time of his death, Mr. Longo was the coordinator of the Network. Mr. Longo was known for his eloquence and his talent for oratory, as well as tact and diplomacy that did not cloud sensitive issues related to prostitution. He was co-author with his wife, Cheryl Overs, of Making Sex Work Safe, a handbook for offering services to sex workers.

Mr. Longo advocated for the rights of sex workers in many international forums, including AIDS Conferences and UN meetings on public health and human rights. In an interview at the most recent AIDS Conference this past July, Mr. Longo emphasized the importance of the participation of sex workers in determining policies addressing sex work. We are most of us sex workers ourselves, or we have personal experiences with the sex industry. The slogan of the NSWP is Sex workers are part of the solution. We strongly believe that we who have been affe! cted by the issues can contribute more than people from the outside. Of course we recognize the contributions of others, from technicians, health care professionals, social workers, but believe that we hold the solutions within ourselves.

Mr. Longo discussed the rise of his strong convictions in a 2003 interview. "In 1988," he recalls, "I was training at a public hospital and I was asked by a local NGO to help a researcher do a study of rent boys in Rio." A year later, when Longo saw the so-called results in a British medical journal, he reacted with horror: "They were saying that 43 percent of Brazilian male sex workers were infected with HIV -- but I knew that this study only tested 33 people, eight of whom were zeropositive." The boys, whether infected or not, were never told about their results. Longo was discovering a pattern of unethical research: "Getting the blood of boys and women on the streets, everywhere in the world. Never giving them the results. That's when I ! started to get more politically involved."

Mr. Longo continued his efforts to improve research ethics throughout his career. He supported Cambodian sex workers' protests of unethical practices in a recent study in Cambodia. Mr. Longo brought his ethical standards to his own research over the past three years as the principal investigator on a study of community development among sex workers in Rio de Janeiro. Sex workers were intricately involved in designing the methodology of this study and conducting the research.

Mr. Longo is survived by his wife, Cheryl Overs, of Brighton, UK, a brother, and his mother, in Rio de Janeiro.

Contact: Melissa Ditmore, Network of Sex Work Projects, rights@nswp.org,or Prostitutes of New York, +1 212 713 5678

Sabira a Sex worker Passed away of AIDS

2004-10-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

From: lgbt-india

Obituary of Sabira
14th October 2004

We take this opportunity to announce the death of Sabira.Sabira, 45, was a sex worker and worked to promote the health and human rights of sex workers in her locality, Kozhikode, Kerala.

Sabira is one of the first women in Kerala to declare that "I AM A SEX WORKER" in a public meeting held in the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.Unfortunately she died of AIDS at Santhi Nagar Colony, Kozhikode, last week. She has been an active member of the Vanitha Society, a Sex workers' society in Kozhikode.

Sabira spoke in her own unique style at the SOORYA FESTIVAL 2001 organized by one of Asia's largest cultural groups SOORYA.She was beaten and severely tortured by the police while she was working as a peer educator at CSRD a PSH project in Kozhikode.She underwent such severe pain and was admitted to the hospital where it was detected that she had a serious infection at the braest.She complained to the National Human Rights Commission. The commission ordered for an enquiry and a member of the commission visited her for fact-finding. That was the first incident in Kerala that National Human Rights Commission ordering for an enquiry based on a sex workers' complaint.

Sabira was an active member of Kerala sex worker's Forum also. She had attended National Sex workers Conference held in Kolkotta organized by DMSC and the Festival of Pleasure,Thiruvananthapuram organized by SWFK and NNSW.She also attended a secretariat Dharna organized by Sex Workers Forum Kerala against police brutality towards Sex workers working in AIDS prevention programs.Sabira attended other meetings held for peer educators in AIDS Prevention in Pune and Delhi.

Sabira is survived by her two Sons, Calicut, Kerala.

Subhash T.V

SEX WORKER'S FORUM KERALA
FIRM-ANASOOYA
T.C.14/1514,Beatrice Mansion
Thycaud Post, Thiruvananthapuram-695 014, Kerala, India.
Tel: ++91-471-2324060, ++ 91-9447389517

First pro-trans decision in the United States IGLHRC

2004-10-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

Human Rights Spanish Network

The Civil Rights Law of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of amendment XIV prohibits employment discrimination against transsexuals. The U.S. Third Court of Appeals for the sixth Circuit, which covers Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio , recently defined this. Legal background Federal Courts of Appeals for different circuits are – after the United States Supreme Court – the highest Federal authority regarding federal legal cases. In addition, either federal civil rights laws or Michigan 's civil rights laws include discrimination due to gender identity or expression, which is the one that affects the transgendered community. Likewise, the Civil Rights Law of 1962 is a law that deals with sexual employment discrimination and it is applicable for the State as well as for private employers. Lastly, the Equal Protection Clause of amendment XIV of the US Constitution is used in cases where a group of people has been discriminated by the government. After effects If this decision holds up in future appeals, it could result in the useless efforts by transgendered rights activists that want gender identity to be included in the Employment Non Discrimination Act, which has Federal coverage and is still pending approval. The Civil Rights Law of 1962 gives more protection than ENDA, which demands that an employer have a certain minimum number of employees to be reached under their instructions and that allows employers to use religion as a defense if they are accused of discrimination.

The Smith case: First verdict Jimmie Smith, who was born a male, had a successful job history with the Salem Fire Department in Ohio . He was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and started his transition from male to female gender. After he informed his immediate supervisors about the transition, they met with municipal authorities to discuss a plan that would allow them to fire Smith. The Salem Security Director, who attended that meeting, told Smith about the plan and smith contacted his attorney who in turn talked to the mayor and warned him about the legal ramifications the city would suffer if they continued with the plan. Four days later, the Chief of the fire department suspended Smith because of an alleged violation Smith had committed against the municipality or Fire Department, this accusation was later found to be unfounded. Smith file a suit charging them with “sexual discrimination” in violation of the Civil Rights Law of 1964 and Equal Protection Clause of amendment XIV of the US Constitution. The Municipality requested that the accusation be dismissed and the Federal District Court agreed, Smith appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the three-judge panel reversed that decision. The Court held that employment discrimination based on gender stereotypes, meaning, the fact that an employee does not fit gender stereotypes accepted by employers or co-workers, violates the Civil Rights Law of 1964. The Court also explained that since the government of Salem is a municipality and Smith is a public employee, the sexual discrimination that she suffered violated the Equal Protection Clause and that the Municipality had taken measures against Smith when they suspended her after her attorney spoke with the Mayor. This is the first verdict by a Federal Appeals Court that states that transgendered people who have been discriminated against at work can sue their employers because of sexual discrimination on the job. According to this theory, it would also be possible for gay and lesbian employees to sue their employers under the Civil Rights Law protection.

Brutal Murder of Fanny Ann Eddy, Lesbian and Gay Activist from Sierra Leone

2004-10-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

From: lgbt-india

Fanny Ann Viola Eddy, the courageous lesbian and gay activist from Sierra Leone, and founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLAGA), has been brutally murdered last Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Assailants entered the office of SLLAGA at night when nobody was in the entire building, and after apparently raping and stabbing her head with a sharp object, finally broke her neck. The lesbian and gay community of Sierra Leone is in deep shock and totally frightened by this event.

Fanny Ann is survived by a son of about ten years.

Fanny Ann worked as an activist in both Sierra Leone and in southern Africa. I knew her from three visits to Sierra Leone in the last two years, in which I regularly met with the SLLAGA members, who were wresting with how to grow their organization in a hostile environment. I met her again at the recent All Africa Symposium on Human Rights in Johannesburg, where she was elected to the interim steering committee of the All Africa Rights Initiative. She was extremely courageous, a fighter, and very hard working. She and her contribution to lesbian and gay rights in Africa will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

I am devastated, and express my deepest sympathy to her son and family,
SLLAGA
and all her friends.

Hans Binswanger

Senior Advisor, Africa Region
World Bank

thank you Queer day

2004-10-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

I want to personally acknowledge the folkz at Queerday.com, (a queer news source that inspired me to action, thank you) for creating an opening for a dialogue, though virtual, non-the-less a dialogue.

In their original listing of Richfield teen charged with attempted murder
, Queerday headlined it as "Gay sexual encounter leads to shooting; 16 year old arrested," and then went on to reiterated pretty much verbatim some of the thoughtlessness of news article ..

I sent off a curt note, along with my a letter to the editor.. . they have since changed the head line Sexual encounter leads to shooting; 16-year-old arrested and rewrote the lead in paragraph... so thank you..

they also mentioned my note I sent them and though that was not necessary, I want to thank you (them) for that...

but my point being, this is an example of how we can grow as a community... tempers may flare, but it is always with the intention of making a difference and working for a more humane world..

thank you Queer day thank you
kari

a letter to the editor...

2004-10-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

below is a letter I wrote in response to Richfield teen charged with attempted murderand here

Please send a letter to Dear Editor, about this thoughtless reporting

Dear Editor,

Concerning your article on October 2, 2004, by Pat Doyle, "Richfield teen charged with attempted murder"

There seems to be some major acts of ignorance and thoughtlessness in this article by Pat Doyle.

1. the victim who Pat Doyle labeled "a transvestite prostitute," who supposedly got it from "Police and court records," which goes on to state this individual, this female had a criminal record for "prostitution and loitering and received a stayed jail sentence in July for prostitution."

So, the question would be, what do the police in your community know of the difference between; transgender, transvestite and transsexual. I would take it none! And is it the reporters place to defer all knowledge and reporting to the police in labeling humans. it is a known fact that police are aggressive in their labeling, and that is backed by criminal code and pathological behavior models that are usually outdate, not an understanding of the diversity of humanity. basicly are to you labeled a "bad" person, so they can arrest you. not how to understand individuals.

and I am sure you know in most cases, many Transfemales cannot afford surgery or can get good jobs; they are reduced to prostitution, just like the history of woman in society. and just because this individual may or may not have had a penis does not make them a transvestite or male.

also, your are speaking here of a victim, who you further victimize by using overt prejudicial and discriminatory language. Is there a reason to know a history of some one who was shot, or is it you slight of hand, back handed way of justify it? very poor journalism.

2. the victim was 19, the alleged shooter was 16, what makes one a man and one a boy?

or is it in this case, more apprehensible for a "man" to be cross-dressed, or to be transgender, then a boy. the way you wrote this creates a vast power differential i.e, boy over man... it sound like "the boy" had to protect himself from the terrible deviant prostitute with a criminal record." come on, there's only three years apart in age...

please, clean up your reporting, get some training on gender diversity, and stop victimizing females.

kari edwards
San Francisco, CA

A thoughtful response to discrmination

2004-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

FInal update: Discrimination against trans person on Folsom weekend

Location SF Bay Area From Ren Davis Phoenix, with her/his permission:

~ Please forward to Reverend Michel St. Germain and as may be deemed
appropriate. Thank you. ~

Dear Reverend Michel St. Germain,
& To Whom It May Concern,

This letter is sent to you as a formal apology for the inappropriate treatment I mistakenly caused you to experience while attending the Revels of Venus fundraiser this previous Sunday, September 26, 2004 at the Cherry Bar, 917 Folsom, San Francisco, CA. I clearly understand that it was wrong to make you feel unwelcome and to have caused you to leave said event.

In an effort to acknowledge my error of judgment and make a gesture of amends, please be assured that this circumstance will not be repeated. In addition, you have my word that neither you nor any persons of any self-identified gender preference will be prevented from any event that I may be the producer of in the future. More over, I personally will see to your complimentary entrance of any such event, should you so choose to attend.

Sincerely,
Ren Davis Phoenix
Executive Director
Leather Dyke Family, Charity Events

ASHOK'S RESPONSE TO ARTICLE "Society's not in a gay mood"

2004-09-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

From: lgbt-india

Sir,

It is distressing to read Dominic Emmanuel's ridiculous homophobic article dripping with self-righteous superciliousness laced with camoflaged Christian compassion for his homosexual fellow creatures.

Firstly, the Naz Petition was dismissed on technical grounds and the allegedly learned judges did not even hear out the arguments asked for from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the Union Health Ministry as requested for by the previous bench hearing the petition.

So the glee with which Emmanuel greets the 'rejection' is not just factually incorrect but will be short-lived because we homosexuals will fight it with all our might, come what may.

May I contradict his pulpit pomposity point-by-point?

Firstly, none of us "chooses to be gay" just as nobody chooses to write with his left hand. In a homophobic society where you could be even killed for just being homosexual (as in some Islamic/Christian countries), nobody in his right sense will "choose" to be gay.

It's shocking that Emmanuel knows so little about modern clinical psychology or sexuality and has been given space to defame and make derogatory statements about a community under so much stress by comparing us to murderers,the corrupt and people who wish to bring sati back.

He opens himself to legal proceedings and trying to create unrest between communities based on his hate-speech.

Secondly, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the American Psychiatrist Association (APA), the World Association of Sexologists (WAS) and scores of other professional organisations associated with sexual and mental health now term homosexuality as a "sexual orientation" and not even a mental abberation or "un-natural tendency", as he so delicately puts it.

Thirdly, I find it quite revealing that Emmanuel selectively points out only two examples of places where homosexuality occurs: he mentions male/female boarding schools and defence forces. Has he forgotten the third one? The Roman Catholic Church? The USA's most learned commentator Andrew Sullivan has openly written that you cannot get admission into Catholic orders if you are NOT homosexual. I heartily advice Emmanuel to go to his website (andrewsullivan.com) and read it to reveal the not-so-secret goings on in the Catholic Church.

I am personally counseling numerous Catholic priests who are gay AND HIV positivr and have no support,counseling or help from this self-proclaimed religious nut-house called the Catholic Church.

Fourthly, I have always been making fun of our great BJP-wallahs and the VHP/Banjrang Dal lunatics that Section 377 of the IPC was introduced by a Christian administrator Babington Macaulay, who brought it with him to India as baggage from his home country called 'Great' Britain, where it was introduced into the British Criminal Code from Eclestial Law. Precisely from the King James Bible.

Interestingly,King James,a rampaging homosexual was murdered by his wife after being caught with his male lovers: He could use some of Emmanuel's Christian compassion as his wife got him impaled on a hot rod.

Fifth Point: It is ridiculous that a country with a Hindu majority populace is being governed by a Christian religious treatise, a point to be noted with India having hardly 4 per cent Christian population. This is not just anti-secular but a distinctly undemocratic act, as Emmanuel will agree.

Sixth Point: Emmanuel may also be saddened to know that even Great Britain -- where this law originated -- has now removed it and so have very 'Catholic countries' like Spain and France, a country his head-priest, the Pope has called "Eldest Daughter of the Church".

Obviously, nobody is listening to dear Emmanuel, which paradoxically means "happy tidings" in Latin (!!!)

Seventh Point: We homosexals and others 'sinners' are least concerned with the "quick fixes" the Church is so against. Afterall, the quick fixes are pretty quick while hiding the scandals of gay priests -- there is a letter written by the Church to its various branches in the USA which says such things must not be revealed to the press and public.

The rampant pedophilia in Catholic institutions is a well known fact even in India where such cases have been quickly hushed up by an ever-willing English press which obliges the Church with its coverups; it is only the language press which exposes these incidents in India.

Eighth Point: What exactly does Emmanuel mean by "false allegations that the Church must stop interfering into what happens in people's bedrooms"?

Does this mean the Church has a 'right' to interfere in telling us what we do sexually? Whatever makes Emmanuel think that hetero-normativity is a "sublime and fundamental truth" when his very own Church is staffed by single men who refuse to copulate and are maintained by a dictat of compulsary celibacy?

What happens to that "sublime and fundemental truth" if I were to say that homosexuals too can have children or adopt them. Besides, it might pain Emmanuel no end to know that a majority of homosexuals I have counseled are not just married to women but put them at high risk to both STIs and HIV.

Does Emmanuel know that the highest risk that Indian women face is being married to men: the NACO website clearly reveals that over 80 per cent of Indian women who are HIV positive have had no other partner besides their husbands.

So will Emmanuel then advice Indian women to become lesbian or nuns to boot to escape being infected and dying from various STIs and HIV/AIDS?

Nineth Point: I will request readers to disallow Emmanuel's allegation about Freud. Nowhere did Freud ever suggest that homosexuals could be 'changed' through counseling. Obviously, the Church has done a great deal of "re-writing" Freud and this needs to be condemned. I suggest he re-read Freud because many of us are quite uptodate with Freud's theories, out-dated though they are in the present context.

Emmanuel completely misquotes the Naz Petition when he says that "Naz concedes too that homosexual relations are highly vulnerable to the spread of HIV".

The correct position is that "unprotected sex" of any kind -- heterosexual or homosexual -- makes one vulnerable to STIs, various viruses like Herpes, Hep-B/C and HIV/AIDS.

It is a shame that the Roman Catholic Church refuses to recognise that condoms are the ONLY protection for millions of women vulnerable to these infections.

The Church is thus complicit in the infections and must be condemned for its stand against the use of condoms in sexual relations even within marriage and thus condemning innocent women to illness and death.

Finally, may I confide in your readers that the Roman Catholic Church is in good company. It was the Church and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC)which opposed the recent Brazilian resolution at the UN to make "sexual orientation" a basic right for political prisoners to be recognised as such.

I am sure Emmanuel will also agree to the OIC's member countries flogging thieves, amputating limbs and stoning to death 'sinners' and such people all in the right spirit and, of course, without a "quick fix".

Afterall you are known by the company you keep, Emmanuel.

Good tidings indeed!!!

Ashok Row Kavi
chair-person
Humsafar Trust

Call for contributions to SCRIPTS

2004-09-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is the last call for SCRIPTS. The deadline for submissions has been extended to 7th Oct 2004. Looking forward to your contributions.

Call for contributions to SCRIPTS, the queer zine by Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action Issue No. 6 "Body, Appearance and Identity"

Dear Friends,

It is that time of the year again when our rain drenched bodies begin to get out of the somnolence they had been creeping to and we sit up and realise that September is upon us, will indeed have soon passed us over if we did not get up and seize the day and all that sort of stuff. To get to where we are going: it is the time when we open our shop for the second time this year for contributions for the next issue of SCRIPTS, the magazine which we are very fond of and committed to!

So, dear friends, the next issue of SCRIPTS is scheduled to be out in the latter half of October and we take great pleasure in inviting your musings, writings, poetry, fiction, letters, snippets, drawings, cartoons, doodles and scribbles, artwork, photographs, sketches, anything in a printable format that you would like to share with some of the rest of the world.

This will be the sixth issue of the magazine and in this issue we are especially keen to invite contributions that, in diverse forms and degrees, explore, explode, confuse, and engage with our ideas, experiences and lived realities of our bodies, appearances and identities.

We invite you to share work on the experiences of living in our bodies, our rational theorizing around it, our passionate explorations, the boundaries that exist, their movement, transformations and changes, our relationships with our own bodies and that of the world around us, anything that you wish to share or have a conversation about. Send us material on our interface with the world through our appearances – the mix-ups, the missed opportunities, the humour and the trauma of it. Pieces that deal with our confusions, realities, shifts and transformations of identities, the chosen identities, the labels, the non-labels, our constant pull and push within and without them.

We invite work from all, however you may identify or choose not to – QUEER, GAY, LESBIAN, TRANSGENDER, BISEXUAL, KOTHI, EUNUCH, QUEEN, DRAG KING, HIJRA,…. Everybody is welcome to submit their work. You don't have to identify in any category. Only the work needs to reflect any of these sensibilities!

From this issue on, we especially invite submissions in Indian languages other than English. We would like to reserve at least 20% of the pages of each issue for different languages and thus invite you to send us original works with English or Hindi translations. We have a small editorial team, which absolutely refuses to edit any of your submissions but will be part of selecting the pieces for the issue. We are here to make sure that a variety of issues, genres, styles and outrageousness are represented in this issue.

Guidelines for Submissions

For Literary submissions: Poetry, prose, essays, letters, scribbles, fiction – all are welcome. Submissions must be sent by email as text, or as word document attachments. We welcome hand written works to be directly submitted as such. You can send us hand-written documents by post mail or scan them and send them to us as TIFF files. Submissions must not exceed 1000 words.

*We are especially seeking literary contributions in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu or any other regional languages. We would, in fact, like to reserve 20% of the pages of this issue towards work in Indian languages other than English. Works will be printed in their original language. Where ever possible please send us an English translation transcript along, especially if you would like it printed along with the original language piece.

*Safety. Many people may not feel comfortable or safe publishing their writings under their names. If you so wish we will be willing to publish your work under your pseudonym as well. If there are any other precautions that you would like us to take, kindly alert us of the same.

For Visual arts submissions: Photographs, sketches, drawings, paintings, doodles – are all welcome. Kindly send us your work scanned as TIFF files in high resolution by e-mail, burnt on CD-R's, as Xeroxes or copies by post-mail. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL ARTWORKS.
*Safety. Again please specify under which name the artworks should be printed.

What other info do we need from you?

*Kindly send in your submissions clearly marked with the name of the writer/artist. In case of Visual arts submissions, we encourage you to send a brief write up along with the work if you would like to give it some background. *Do send us a very brief 2 line Bio which we can publish at the end of the book as a note on contributors. Again, if for issues of anonymity and safely you chose not to send this to us, we will understand. *Some kind of postal address so we can send you a copy of the printed zine.

What we can do in return for your precious contributions? *Copyright for all accepted contributions will remain with the
authors. We do not reserve any right to place any of the accepted material for any other publication without the prior written
permission of the authors/artists.

*Accepted submissions will not be paid for, but all contributors are guaranteed a wide motley readership. All contributors whose work has been accepted for publication will receive ONE free copy of the zine.

Where and When to send your Contributions:
Last date for submission: 30th September, 2004
Please send all material to:
labia_India@yahoo.com
shalswrit@yahoo.co.uk
Postal address:
LABIA/Stree Sangam
P. O. Box No. 16613
Matunga, Bombay 400 019.

Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action (LABIA), formerly known as Street Sangam, is an autonomous, non-funded collective of lesbian, transgender and bisexual women. LABIA is a campaign and activist group with a focus on queer and feminist activism. We have been in existence in Bombay since 1995. Our activities have included networking with individual queer women as well as queer groups in India and in other countries, campaigning for the rights of peoples and communities of marginalised genders and sexualities with other like minded groups, and organising jointly with the struggles of other marginalised groups, feminist and people's movements. LABIA intends to further this activism and sees SCRIPTS as a vibrant space for multiple conversations of queer/feminist/activist/creative voices.

Discrimination against trans person on Folsom weekend

2004-09-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Discrimination against trans person on Folsom weekend
Location SF Bay Area

A genderqueer person was asked to leave at the Revels of Venus event (Sunday) at the Cherry Bar on Folsom weekend for not being "trans enough" according to event promoter Ren Davis Phoenix.

The event was billed as dyke and trans inclusive. Rev. Michael, who identifies as genderqueer and is male bodied, was there with the person who calls him her wife. They both identify as genderqueer in some way - in fact, the night before (Saturday) they hosted an art show all about their relationship and their identities as trans.

Event promoter Ren Davis Phoenix asked Michael to leave the event after saying that he is not genderqueer since he is not presenting as female. Ren also pointed to several other people including myself, my wife Turtle, my friend Joli(e) and declared us all to be trans but not him since he is male bodied.

According to Ren's profile at www.dykedaddydiva-sf.org/about.html s/he is a "self-identified transgendered, female bodied person beyond specific M/F preferences" yet while s/he organized this event as dyke and trans inclusive, s/he decided that Michael, a male bodied person who identifies beyond specific M/F preferences was not "trans enough" to remain at the event.

Please distribute widely. You can reach Ren Davis Phoenix at redsphx(at)aol(dot)com

Max & Turtle

************
From Rev. Michel, with his permission.

Original post: sanfrancisco.tribe.net

*************

The following is my account of Sunday night, as it is posted for the Screwup list on Tribe:

This Sunday I was the unfortunate target of discrimination when I accompanied a group of friends to a Revels of Venus event at The Cherry Bar. The event was billed in it s flyers as being for leather women and trans people and I was admitted at the door because I am genderqueer
(I think genderfluid is perhaps more appropriate for me) despite the fact that I am male bodied and bearded. I was also not going unaccompanied, and would like to think that the group of queer women and genderqueers I was with could be considered as vouching for my character.

The show of the event was over when we arrived, which was fine with me as I mostly wanted to have a nice cocktail or two with friends. I was quite happy to stay by the bar and chat with all of the people I knew, and I was having a very mellow and pleasant time. My behavior could, at no time, be described as offensive or inappropriate in any possible way.

At some point about a half hour after we had arrived I and two others were asked by someone to come outside for a moment. The person identified themselves as Ren Davis Phoenix, the promoter of the event. S/he was terse, and said something to the effect of either you are the most convincing transman I have ever seen, or you don t belong here. I assured Ren that I was male and not trying to pass as a transman, but that I was most certainly a part of the trans community. No amount of my trying to explain mattered one iota. Once s/he heard I was born male and was not transitioning to female she did not want to hear anything more. I was told I had to leave, as I was not female or a female-appearing transperson. Men were not allowed, unless they were FTM. My genderqueer-ness was not enough, and it did not matter how well behaved I had been or how many women and transfolk (and Cherry Bar staff for that matter) vouched for me.

I was in near tears, but at this point I was willing to leave. I support the concept of safe spaces for women, and according to Ren complaints were being brought to her about me being there from women inside. Who wants to make anyone uncomfortable just by being present? Not me. To be totally honest, I wanted to take my too-male-appearing self home and just forget about what had just happened.

The manager of The Cherry Bar, John, introduced himself to me and wanted me to know that he was appalled at what Ren was doing. We chatted for a while out front while my companions went to say good-bye to our friends inside. During the course of this conversation he made the decision that he did not want me to leave. He asked my friends and I to please all come back inside and have a drink on the house. John said that he did not want to see any sort of discrimination occur at Cherry Bar. We accepted.

When Ren came by where we were (at the bar by the entry) and saw me enjoying a drink I was removed from the bar yet again. This time s/he and John had a long private talk away from me and when she came back she was abusive. When my friends and passers-by came to my defense she became enraged. I actually thought things might come to blows between her and one of my companions. He s a man! He s got a cock! He doesn t belong in there! and words to that effect were screamed by Ren over and over. It was an ugly and traumatizing scene. In the end we were all sent packing, and even now (two days later) I just can t quite shake the awful feeling it left me with.

**About me**
My name is Reverend Michel St. Germain. I am a documentary photographer and I have had the pleasure of documenting and promoting the visibility the queer and trans communities in San Francisco over the past few years. You ll find me happily snapping photos of all the myriad of talent that graces events like Gender Pirates, Karma, Wicked Messenger: A Variant Cabaret, Fresh Meat, Drag Up Knock Down, Transfusion (a now defunct trans wrestling club), and many others, though I am most know for my rabid documentation of Trannyshack. I also have lent support to PiSSR (People In Support Of Safe Restrooms), Harvey Milk Inst., Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center, Community United Against Violence, and the Youth Gender Project.

Physically, I look rather bear-ish. I am a large bellied, beared, kilt wearing (or chaps if I am on my motorcycle), big booted person. My bearing is much more nelly than my appearance, and let s face it- I am a big ole queen. I am also told I have a cuddly appearance. Despite my man-ish appearance I do not necessarily consider myself male. As I mentioned above I am genderfluid. Though I do not wish to transition to female physically I feel my gender is much more female than my appearance. I identify must more strongly with female gender than male, though my sense of gender does seem to evolve and develop fluidly. I am genderqueer.

** About Ren Davis Phoenix **
You can find info about Ren at www.dykedaddydiva-sf.org/about.html. One of my companions (Max Joire) of the evening in question had an interesting comment regarding Ren ealier in an email I received this morning:

According to Ren's profile at www.dykedaddydiva-sf.org/about.html s/he is a "self-identified transgendered, female bodied person beyond specific M/F preferences" yet while s/he organized this event as dyke and trans inclusive, s/he decided that Michel, a male bodied person who identifies beyond specific M/F preferences was not "trans enough" to remain at the event.

Ren Davis Phoenix can be reached at redsphx@aol.com. If you would like to comment on this issue or would like to see real trans-inclusive policy at Ren s events in the future please do let him/her know how you feel

Also, please distribute this as you see fit. Discussion on issues like this is very important to our communities.

Something Bad Has Begun

2004-09-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Something Bad Has Begun
(originally published Sep 28, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times)

by Yusuf Islam

I was flying to Nashville last week with my 21-year-old daughter to explore some new musical ideas with a record label there. Ironically, I was trying to remain low-profile because of the speculation that it might have raised in the music world about a return of "the Cat." Media attention was the last thing I wanted. But it seems God wanted otherwise.

Toward the end of our journey from London to Washington, the plane was diverted. The captain announced something about "heavy traffic." After landing in Bangor, Maine, six tall, blue-uniformed officers boarded and surrounded me and my daughter.

"Is your name Yusuf Islam?" they asked.

"Yes," I confirmed.

"Do you mind coming with us and answering a few questions?"

At that point my heart stopped, and my daughter's face turned aspirin-white. This was the start of the nightmare.

Three FBI agents escorted me away from my daughter and asked me questions. At first, it sounded like they might have me mixed up with somebody else, as they repeated the spelling of my name.

"No. Y-u-s-u-f," I carefully spelled out. The agents looked a bit puzzled.

As they continued asking questions, some of their queries were obviously not related to me, so I thought this must be a matter of simple mistaken identity. Whether it was a mix-up or not remained unclear because they weren't under any obligation to give me a reason; the green visa waiver form I had so neatly filled in earlier had effectively denied me any right to appeal or answers. It was only when an immigration official read out to me a legal reference number that he mentioned some implication with "terrorism" — no further details necessary.

The most upsetting thing was being separated from my daughter for 33 hours — not knowing how she was or when and where we might be united. Because my phone was confiscated, I couldn't contact my family.

God almighty! Is this the same planet I'd taken off from? I was devastated. The unbelievable thing is that only two months earlier, I had been having meetings in Washington with top officials from the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to talk about my charity work. Even further back, one month after the attack on the World Trade Center, I was in New York meeting Peter Gabriel and Hillary Rodham Clinton at the World Economic Forum!

Had I changed that much? No. Actually, it's the indiscriminate procedure of profiling that's changed. I am a victim of an unjust and arbitrary system, hastily imposed, that serves only to belittle America's image as a defender of the civil liberties that so many dearly struggled and died for over the centuries.

Need I say that any form of terrorism or violence is the antithesis of everything I love and stand for? Anyone who knows me will attest to this. I have spent my life in the search for peace and understanding, and that was mirrored clearly in my music. Since becoming a Muslim, I have devoted my life to education, charity and helping children around the world.

Consistently I have condemned the attacks of 9/11, stating that the slaughter of innocents, the taking of hostages and coldblooded killing of women and children have nothing do with the teachings of Islam. I've openly and publicly repudiated the actions of groups that resort to such acts of inhumanity — whatever their names. Any allegations to the contrary are fabricated. The Koran equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of all of humanity.

Ever since I embraced Islam in 1977, people have regularly tried to link me with things I have nothing to do with. Take the Salman Rushdie case as an example, or the regurgitating of the accusation that I support groups like Hamas.

I am a man of peace, and I denounce all forms of terrorism and injustice; it is simply outrageous for anyone to suggest otherwise. The fact that I have sympathy for ordinary people in the world who are suffering from occupation, tyranny, poverty or war is human and has nothing to do with politics or terrorism.

Thank God my daughter and I were relieved of our ordeal and delivered home safely. I also thank all those who prayed for me and supported me through this dark episode; I have never harbored any ill will toward people of God's great Earth anywhere — and wish the reverse was also true.

(Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, was deported to Britain last week after being refused entry into the United States.)

Homosexual victim exposes the Delhi press

2004-09-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Homosexual victim exposes the Delhi press

In the case of a double murder in Delhi, it is the "dark underbelly" of print journalism rather than homosexuality that needs to be examined
Aniruddha Dutta

"Double Murder Outs Delhi's Gay Culture": On 14 August, Pushkin Chandra, the 38-year old son of a retired IAS officer and himself an USAID employee, was found dead along with his friend Kuldip, at the former's residence in Anand Lok, Delhi. They had returned from a party given by Pushkin's friend, Uffe Gartner, along two other men. Pornographic tapes of men engaged in same-sex activity were recovered from the site. Pushkin's car and several other belongings were missing. From then till the suspects were eventually arrested about two weeks later, the spotlight of the media rarely wavered from the case. If this seems astonishing in a city where murders are a dime a dozen - there were several other murders and at least one suicide reported around this period - the reasons are soon evident. The victims of the crime were homosexual. The murders opened up one whole tabooed area to the media, and it was clear that coverage would sell. From that very first day, when few fa! cts were available and the police was still very much in the dark, the media focus was relentlessly on a 'gay culture' which it portrayed as a source of endless sleaze. There was endless speculation regarding not only the sexual lives of the victims but also those of homosexual people in general. So the area of concern seemed not to be the fact that two young men had tragically died - but rather, as the Hindustan Times proclaimed in the headline announcing the crime - that the "double murder" outed "Delhi's gay culture."

What this article seeks to show is that it was not the murders which outed gay culture, but the media which did so - using the pretence of investigative journalism to paint a sordid picture around homosexuality which revealed not the truth but prejudice. The TOI stated, "Investigations into the Pushkin Chandra murder are throwing considerable light on the capital's dark underbelly."

But it is the dark underbelly of print journalism that needs to be documented, as do the rare, brighter, exceptions.

'Gay abandon': The articles that dealt with the case itself talked endlessly about Pushkin's lifestyle and even that of his friends. Articles such as "Courting strangers and danger," (HT, 19 August) and "A Reckless life behind a ruthless murder?" (The Hindu, 20 August) were based mainly on conjecture and the focus shifted from available facts to a whole area of activity which were causally linked to the crime - pornography, parties, and multiple partners led to sexual jealousy, revenge, and blackmail, and these must have led to the murders. The responsibility for the crime seemed to belong to the victim's fecklessness alone: "Pushkin Chandra led a dangerous other life. after work. Pushkin hooked onto a network of strangers who emerged from the shadows of lanes and parks. ("Courting strangers and danger", HT.) Devesh K. Pandey wrote in the Hindu, 20 August: "Pushkin Chandra... had lately become easy target for anyone nursing an evil des! ign against him----he apparently did not care much about the background of the young men he would allegedly pick up for company at random." While this was definitely a factor that precipitated the murders, the connection made was generalized ("anyone nursing an evil design") and relegated the blame to the victim's lifestyle and not the criminals who committed the crime.

However, the slips committed by the police were glossed over. Only one article dealt with the fact that Pushkin's stolen car was taken across Delhi on Independence Day without the police knowing, in spite of the security arrangements ("Pushkin car recovery reveals chinks in cops' armour", TOI, 22 August).

Most significantly, the preoccupation with lifestyle did not stop with only the men concerned. It was linked to the fact of them being gay: for example, lavish parties, smuggling in boys, etc. were described as 'gay abandon' (HT, 18 August.) From here, the case became an opportunity to stereotype an entire section of people.

Heterosexist Voyeurism: Therefore it is not surprising to note that an amazing number of articles completely dispensed with the case, and dealt with what they claimed to be 'homosexual' lifestyle. "Coming out is easier, but it's usually about sex" said the headline an HT article on the 15th. It spoke of people "checking each other out" on the net using webcams, then arranging to meet. It aimed to give insights into gay lingo and habits: "a typical conversation involves questions like 'asl?' and 'top or bottom?'. Age, sex, and location (asl) is a standard opening (to a dialogue over the net) while dominant partners refer to themselves as 'tops'." One could add that 'asl' is a standard opening line for even heterosexuals wooing over the net. Another article in the HT, 17 August, documented the spaces available for homosexuals to interact: from "websites and chat rooms" to "secure networks/established 'social' circles." The arti! cle was titled "Risque business", giving an air of illicitness to perfectly consensual activity. "Top and bottom are words that say it all" from the HT, 17 August, shifted focus on same-sex massage parlours and male prostitutes. One wonders if none of these practices had its counterparts within heterosexuals.

Obviously, such reporting had no insight to offer regarding the case, except to sensationalize homosexuality itself and satisfy the voyeurism of the mainly heterosexual reading public. One only has to look at the sheer number of such articles to show the extent of voyeurism- two in the HT on 15 August, two in the same paper on the 17th.

Linking homosexuality to crime: This was the next level to the stereotyping, of course. There were two main ways this was done. The sexual habits of all same-sex desiring people were generalised, and implicated as factors which would lead to such crimes. The use of the subhead "Gay Murder", in various articles in the TOI, HT and The Statesman, itself suggested this. The Hindustan Times, specifically, used graphics to represent homosexuality, with two signs representing maleness juxtaposed and the caption of "Dangerous Liaisons". This would accompany all their reports on the case. This could be interpreted to mean that even if gay people were victims, they invited crime in the way all of them apparently lived.

The second way was more direct - to portray the 'gay community' as active perpetrators. "Darkness at dusk for gays" (HT, 15 August), spoke about cruising areas which were "haunts for quick and illegal sexual gratification at night". "At Nehru Park, feminine men, wearing cheap clothes, are known to solicit customers. most of their customers, again closet gays, know where to find and use them." The use of suggestive language like "darkness" hinted at crime without offering facts - the phrase "find and use them" clearly suggested exploitation without, again, offering evidence.

Sometimes the reporting verged on slander. Sachin Parashar quoted some anonymous sources to say that "Pushkin was part of a homosexual syndicate which went out of its way to rope in fresh members," ("Gay murders tip of sordid sleazeberg," TOI, 17 August). This extremely serious charge wasn't substantiated by facts discovered subsequently. Another piece entitled "Gay community grows in city' (HT, August 16th) quoted a survey of the State AIDS Control Society which linked growing numbers of homosexuals to growing instances of HIV/AIDS (As if heterosexuals are immune to it or do not take-part in 'high-risk' practices.) Worst of all, the articles quoted the survey to link homosexual activity to child abuse: "The survey found the city's 35,000 street children made easy prey." No details or statistics from this survey were provided in the article. One wonders, what about little girls, even babies raped every other day by heterosexual men?

Space for self-representation: However, some articles did bother to look at the situation that gay people face in their day-today lives, and gave voice to activists who were speaking up against the generalizing and slander. "It's about life under constant scrutiny", said the title of a Times of India article dated 17th August. This article quoted Shaleen Rakesh, a gay-rights activist, speaking on the media's portrayal of the gay community: "It is not just about libidos. We all want to be in a healthy, loving relationship. Don't straight men look for sex?" Specifically about the Pushkin murder, it quoted 'another gay' saying "they are incessantly talking of the porn tapes (that) were discovered at his place. It is disrespectful to make such a deal out of this just because he was gay. We read about men killing their wives and raping their daughters. So why don't we label all heterosexuals as being crazy about their heads?" The writer of the articl! e followed this sentence up with his/her comment: "Point to ponder."

Another article in the Hindu, dated 19th August, recorded the voices of various activists: "'Different' people flay media bias." "Concerned over the 'stereotypical' reporting by sections of the media on the gay community after the recent murders, the activists are worried that it might have an adverse effect on a community that is struggling to stay alive."

The newsweekly, Outlook, also had a feature on 25 August entitled "The Nowhere Men" which looked at the position of gay men in society and their problems, and had an accompanying box that dealt with the reasons why homosexual men are prone to crime and blackmail, locating it not in their lifestyle but their social vulnerability. Homosexuals are prone to social ostracism and abuse, hence often lead closeted lives and are susceptible to blackmail regarding their sexual identity.

Spaces undercut: Unlike this sympathetic stance, some articles which seemed to be anti-homophobic actually distanced themselves from the opinions expressed within. Witness this in the HT article dated 21st August, which had the title "On Balance: Sensationalizing Alternate Sexuality". The article is prefaced by the leader "This is how a member of the community feels," which will obviously distance a 'non-member' from the article. The same page of the paper carried a report on the case accompanied by the graphic stating 'Dangerous Liaisons" - continuing the sensationalism that the other article bemoans.

Another article from the Hindu, "Prejudices out of the Closet" (19 August) was strange in the way it veered from concern for homosexuals to support for an anti-homosexuality law. It began with sympathy and consternation: "His (Pushkin's) alleged promiscuity has sought to be palmed off as the characteristic of the entire invisible minority. Many such stories have been clubbed under a convenient but absolutely obnoxious subhead of 'gay murder'" The same article, however, targeted ads for same-sex body massages. It lamented how the police are not able to curb such activity in spite of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which renders same-sex activity between consenting adults illegal. Besides this tacit support for an overbearing, archaic law, the article problematized the media treatment of the case only when it came to other newspapers, with an implicit moral superiority regarding their own stand. "Some of the largest selling newspapers in th! e capital have gone to town talking about the 'gay murders' in the capital. Many have speculated about his predilection, others shamelessly talked about his weakness for variety when it comes to personal matters." The fact is that even the Hindu, at least on one instance, "shamelessly talked about his.personal matters", viz. "A reckless life behind a ruthless murder?" on 20 August.

Brunch, the Hindustan Times Sunday Magazine, ran a cover story on 29 August which claimed to be a "first person account of what it's like to grow up homosexual in India". It was written by a gay man who was candid and comfortable about his sexuality. The article was titled "Glad to be gay?" - note the question mark. The piece portrayed homosexuality as a completely normal way of life; but it was accompanied by a box titled "Oh Boy" which advised the reader what to do if he was gay. One of the instructions reveals the way in which limiting representations of homosexuals are sustained: the person should "Get a red T-shirt, tight black pants and music by Cher."

A new visibility? Let us return now to the case. The eventual arrest of the three suspects revealed that it was neither sexual jealousy nor blackmail that had led to the crime - it was a highly peculiar and unique situation which developed when two men who had initially consented to be with Pushkin took offence at his insistence that photographs be taken of the sexual acts. So though lifestyle was a factor (he picked up men unknown to him), it was not the definitive factor. Even if it was proved to be the case, it could never be the occasion to extend it to a very DIVerse group of people encompassed by the term 'homosexual'. In doing so, the media completely ignored its responsibility as a guardian of public opinion. There were exceptions to the rule, of course, but as a whole the media showed little concern about how it might affect an already sensitive, marginalized section.

In conclusion - how did the case alter or influence the media's general perception of homosexuality? In the past, references have tended to revolve around controversies that took root elsewhere - films like Fire or Girlfriend that irked the Hindu right-wing, or the debates surrounding gay marriage that became important during the run-up to the U.S. elections. This seems to be the first time that the print media became so directly involved, and a new level of visibility was reached. Does this mean that it will be easier in the future to bring up such issues in newspapers? It does seem so - looking at articles like "Glad to be gay?" (Brunch, 29 August) and "Still 'nay' to gays?" (Delhi Times, TOI, 18 August), which might have been unimaginable in their frank treatment of the area, some time ago. But as Nina Martyris suggested in the TOI, 21 August, visibility is a "two-edged sword": which means that the more visible homosexuality is in the media, ! the more visible is the "metro's latent homophobia". A lot more activism, a lot more awareness, is needed to change that. Not to mention - a more sensitized and responsible media.

Aniruddha Dutta is a student of literature at St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. Contact: anirdutt@gmail.com

There are no short cuts to queer utopia: Sodomy, law and social change-- Arvind Narrain

2004-09-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

There are no short cuts to queer utopia: Sodomy, law and social change-- Arvind Narrain

from:lines
via
[lgbt-india]

Introduction

Law stands linked to justice in our very imagination of social change. Perhaps nothing illustrates this process better than the persistent championing of legal reform as the end point of emancipatory change by many social movements. There has been an over juridification of social struggle, converting what is a wider social project into a narrow legal project. This process of envisaging law reform as the end point of social struggle has its hazards particularly due to the undemocratic and secretive way in which the legal process works.

The point of this article is to draw attention to the limitations of law in the particular context of sodomy law reform in India so that we are better able to locate law reform as a part of a wider and more meaningful process of social and political change. To do this article will strive to understand what is the meaning of Sec 377 of the Indian Penal Code for India's sexual minorities and critically examine the way law reform has worked in bringing about social change and address what could be the role that law reform ( a la sec 377) could play in a newly emerging political movement centering around sexuality.

Sec 377 as violent social exclusion

Ever since the emergence of the queer articulation in the Indian context a lot of effort has gone into focusing on Sec 377 as the locus of oppression of the diverse groups which make up India's sexuality minorities.

Sec 377 which was drafted in 1860 by Lord Macaulay as a part of the colonial project of regulating and controlling the Indian subject reads:

Unnatural sexual offences: - Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment ... which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanation - Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.
The study of the use of Sec 377 reveals that it has hardly been used to prosecute cases consensual adult male sexual relationships. Rather the main use of Sec 377 has been to prosecute cases of child sexual abuse. [1]

However it needs to be noted that use cannot be seen purely in terms of reported decisions. There are possibly many trial court decisions in which Sec 377 has been used. Even leaving that aside, documentation in India, through reports such as the PUCL Report on Human Rights Violations Against sexuality minorities demonstrates that Sec 377 becomes the basis for routine and continuous violence against sexual minorities at the level of the street and the police station by the police. The report in fact goes on to note that the police engage in practices of illegal detention, sexual abuse and harassment, extortion and outing of queer people to their families, which are all forms of violence practiced against sexuality minorities.[2]

While these are indeed important effects of Sec 377, one needs to understand the constitutive role that Sec 377 plays in making possible the above mentioned forms of violence. What one needs to do when analyzing the role Sec 377 plays is to go beyond the idea of 'enforcement of law'   and look more closely at what is the socially constitutive role that law plays. The questions one needs to address are whether the law constitutes a form of social reality, whether it legitimizes violence against sexual minorities or does the law go one step further and permeate social discourse and condition the very minds of common people?[3]

The impact of Sec 377 is far beyond the so called 'enforcement' principle. Foucault used the analogy of the panoptic to put forward the idea that the law is not external to you, but rather internal to you. You behave in a certain way because you have internalized the prohibition of the law. The real danger of Sec 377 lies in the fact that it permeates different social settings including the medical establishment, media, family, and the state. Thus it becomes a part of ordinary conversations and ultimately a part of the very social fabric in workplaces, families, hospitals and the popular press. To take thre eexamples:

*   this emerges strongly in an interview with the Chairman of the National Human Rights Comission, (NHRC). On being asked why the NHRC refused to admit the case of a person who was treated for his homosexuality with the objective of 'converting' him to heterosexuality, the response of the Chairman was to note that, 'To talk of homosexual rights is okay in other countries but there was little you could do when the law in India, Sec 377 was against it. Youadvised that one should strive to get rid of the law but nothing could be done till it was repealed. This opinion seems to be buttressed by other reported opinions within the NHRC. As one source within the NHRC put it, "homosexuality is an offence under IPC, isn't it? So, do you want us to take cognizance of something that is an offence?'[4]

*  Similarly in an interview with a Police Officer conducted by the PUCL Team it was noted that 'as regards the nature of homosexuality, Mr Hegde was quite clear that it was an animal like behaviour.'[5]

* In another interview with a doctor who practices aversion therapy to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals noted, '"Sodomy is illegal in India." (Dr. S) [6]

Thus what is clear is the existence of Sec 377 legitimises the doctors willingness to treat homosexuals for being homosexual. The very existence of Sec 377 goes beyond the question of the enforcement of the law and crystallizes the deep societal repugnance towards homosexuality by considering it perverted ,animal like behavior. If we have people in law enforcement, medical practice and the judiciary treating homosexuals as people without rights, the power of the societal mindset comes from the law. Thus Sec 377 functions as a condemnation of India's sexual minorities be it gays, lesbians, kothis and hijras. It is not anymore a narrow technical legal issue of the gender neutral prohibition of sodomy( it applies equally to heterosexuals and homosexuals) but instead embodies and enacts a wider societal condemnation of sexual minorities. Sec 377 is thus not just a law, but a worldview which remains entrenched in legal structures, medical discourses, family discourses and media discourses and perhaps most strongly in the 'common sense' understanding of people. It is in this light that the challenge to Sec 377 must be framed.

Law Reform as backroom politics: Some experiences

Once we are clear that Sec 377 does indeed form a key part of a discriminatory worldview against sexual minorities, the next question is as to how does one tackle the problem posed by Sec 377. As noted earlier, many social movements see the reform of the law as an end point of their social struggles with all activism being geared towards bringing about a change in the law. In this context the experience of law reform by the feminist movement in India as well as the experience of anti sodomy law reform in the USA and Sri Lanka will be examined to see what light they can shed on anti sodomy law reform in India.

Law reform in India - The feminist engagement

The feminist movement in India has had an sustained engagement with the question of law reform with many of the demands of the women's movement being posited in terms of reform of the law.

Flavia Agnes in her study of the womens' movement's engagement with law reform notes that in the context of the women's movement, demands for law reform have often resulted in laws which end up further marginalizing the women and making prosecution that much more difficult.

She gives the example of rape law reform and concludes that, 'the campaign against rape is a classic example of the impact of public pressure on the judiciary. More favourable judgements were delivered before the amendment, during the peak period of the campaign, than during the post-amendment period when they have been consistently regressive. Perhaps public pressure is a better safeguard to ensure justice than ineffective enactments.'[7]

What is being articulated is a notion wherein law reform by itself is not the solution. The movement underlying legal demand remains crucialto bringing about the desired social change. In fact the over reliance on law as an end point of social activism might need to be seriously questioned.

As Flavia puts it, 'This view is only strengthened by the experiences of the women's movement in India, which at least at its inception granted the State the role of a benign patriarch which will deliver goods. Two decades down the line, there is a growing realisation within the women's movement that the plethora of legal interventions has not really changed the ground reality in very substantial terms.'[8]

Though Flavia's articulated this concern is the last decade ,even today it remains a crucial question for the feminist movement to take on board. The recent experience with the attempt at law reform around the issue of domestic violence is telling. While there was an excellent draft prepared by the Lawyers Collective on domestic violence, when the bill went to the state, the state came out with its own draft which in effect was a legitimisation of domestic violence by the man provided the violence was in defence of his private property. Regardless of the final outcome of this process, the signs are clear, one must be wary about approaching the state to change the law , because what you get might be the very opposite of what you asked for, as the example of anti sodomy law reform from Sri Lanka illustrates.

Sodomy law reform as politics: From Sri Lanka to the USA

Two countries illustrate well the dangers and opportunities presented by sodomy law reform. The Sri Lankan case is illustrative of the dangers of trying to force change from above, while the USA example illustrates the social context in which law reform succeeds.

a) Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a similar provision to Sec 377 in its Penal Code. The changes to the Penal Code were recommended in the context of the need for amendments to the law to protect the victims of incest, marital rape, sexual harassment and the exploitation of children. Though gay rights groups and human rights activists such as the late Neelan Thiruchelvam clearly opposed the continued operation of Sec 365A of the Penal Code arguing that the provsion was archaic, the amendment
broadened the ambit of acts considered criminal under the law. The term 'man' was changed to 'person' and 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' became act of 'gross indecency with any person.' Thus, a provision which did not apply to lesbians in its colonial avatar was actually expanded to include lesbians in the wake of this reform rather than ceasing to apply to gay men.

What the Sri Lankan story tells us very clearly are about the hazards of law reform in a context where there is no movement. Nandita Haksar could very well have been speaking about the Sri Lankan case when she noted, "[A]n alternative to a movement cannot be a petition. I strongly feel we should resort to the law only when the movement is strong enough to carry the law reform forward. In almost all such cases a legal battle should only supplement the political battle outside the courts. If the legal battle is allowed to take precedence over the political one the law is easily used by the state to subvert the political battle's objectives."[9]

b) USA

The US Supreme Court in a 1986 decision , Bowers vs Hardwick [10] decided that the anti sodomy law of the state of Georgia does not violate the constitutionally protected right to privacy. In 2003 the same US Supreme Court in Lawrence vs Texas,[11] struck down the anti sodomy law on the same ground that it does indeed violate the constitutionally protected right to privacy. The question to be answered is what enabled a conservative US Supreme Court to strike down the anti sodomy law in 2003, expressly overruling its 1986 decision?

Cass Sunstien notes that the 'the decision was possible only because of the ludicrously poor fit between the sodomy prohibition and the society in which the justices live. And if I am correct, Lawrence will have broad implications only if and to the extent that those broad implications receive general public support. For example, the Supreme Court may or may not read Lawrence to require state to recognize gay and lesbian marriages. But if it does so, it will be following public opinion and not leading it. Political and social change was a precondition for Lawrence, whose future reach will depend on the nature and extent of that change.'[12]

Sunstien's argument is that the answer lies in the dramatic change in public opinion since the days of Bowers. It is difficult to find public sympathy with an archaic statute which criminalizes sodomy. It is not to say that public opinion is uniformly sympathetic to gays and lesbians in the USA, but merely to note that while gay marriage , and gays in the military might be issues on which US society is split, the anti sodomy law has lost its public force. Of course this remarkable shift in public opinion has been the result of the sustained advocacy of the gay and lesbian movement in the USA. Perhaps a fascinating vignette which captures the nature of change is the fact that in the Bowers court none of the judges knew anyone who was gay or lesbian where as in the Lawrence court , even the most conservative judge knew someone who was gay or lesbian. This would have naturally had its impact on the decision which was delivered.

Further the point about law reform which emerges through Sunstien's analysis is that in the context of sexuality, law fails to deliver justice until and unless there has been preceding work in building a movement. It is only the impact of the movement which results in a momentous decision such as Lawrence vs Texas. Sunstien speculates, that if the US Supreme 'Court had held in 1980, that the due process clause requires states to recognize same sex marriage, it would (in my view) have been responding to the right conception of liberty. But it would undoubtedly have produced a large scale social backlash, and very likely a constitutional amendment, that would have made same sex marriage impossible.'[13]

Sec 377 : Whither now?

The question to be answered is in the context of the above discussion is, how then can we approach the question of the reform of sec 377 in the Indian context. The feminist experience with law reform in India along with the analysis of the experience in Sri Lanka and the USA with respect to anti-sodomy law reform leads us to the conclusion that law by itself is not an answer. It is clear that any petition can only be supplementary to the movement. The petition should be a part of a wider socio -political struggle.[14]

This conclusion is further buttressed when we consider that in its response to the Sec 377 petition filed by Naz Foundation, the Government Affidavit literally buried any notion that the state might respond to the carefully calibrated submission. ( reading down not repeal , decriminalize private consensual sexual activity between adults ) in a sane and reasonable manner. It seriously questions the notion that if the queer rights movement makes 'reasonable', 'sane'
demands the Government would see the sense of it and acquiesce to the reading down of Sec 377. In fact what the Government's response indicates is a virulent homophobia which is willing to give no quarter to the emerging queer rights movement.

The Government response indicates that it sees itself as articulating and reflecting public morality, protecting women and children and keeping closed the flood gates of delinquent behavior. The protection and defence of Sec 377 emerges as a key Governmental concern and the Government significantly enhances its public role as the guardian of societal morality. Perhaps one should read this response as being a part and parcel of the Hindu right's ideology which is based on demonising and stigmatising difference, be it religious or sexual in nature. The Affidavit signals the Hindu Right's deep and unremitting hostility to queer people who have always been defined as 'aliens' and threats to Indian culture and values. As the Affidavit notes, 'objectively speaking there is no such tolerance to practice of homosexuality/lesbianism in the Indian society.'

The Government's response outlines the fact that 'change from above' is not an option in sensitive issues such as sexuality. Lobbying for change is not only not going to work ,but more importantly it might be a totally misplaced strategy. The question to be answered is that if one sees that there is no necessary link between law and justice and if experiences documented above with the process of legal change demonstrate that it is important be sceptical of the law's ability to
deliver justice then what is the way forward ?

Does one take the line that the legal space needs to be vacated and one needs to concentrate on building the political struggle ? Or are there ways of working with the existing petition making it an instrument of socio-political change? It is contended that the law remains an important site of struggle, but one needs to locate legal change as a necessary part of a wider socio-political change. The premise of change with respect to sexuality is as much a change in societal mores as it is about legal change. If that is indeed the case, then there should be a campaign to repeal Sec 377 with the petition forming one part of the proposed change.

If this analysis holds the only way forward is to mobilize and convert the petition from a narrow legal struggle to a wider political struggle which takes on board the concerns of the queer community. The petition should be the peg on which on hangs a campaign whose objective is to question the homophobic resilience of Sec 377 in the structures of media, medical establishment and in public opinion. The legal outcome should not be the focus of the campaign but rather the process of questioning itself. This of course flows from the understanding that since Sec 377 is not purely a legal issue, the way we tackle it cannot be through the court room alone. One cannot expect judges to decide on Sec 377, positively if we have not started a process of public education about queer rights. If we want the courts to give us a decision like Lawrence vs Texas , then there is no way out of the difficult process of building a campaign based on queer visibility.

_____

[1] Alok Gupta, The History and Trends in the Application of the Anti-Sodomy Law in the Indian Courts, The Lawyers Collective, Vol 16, No.7,p.9.

[2] http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Gender/2003/sexual-minorities.htm

[3] For a powerful analysis of the constitutive role that law plays in producing a regime in which gays and lesbians are ultimately encouraged to police themselves and the way in which sodomy laws function as symbolic statements and as threats of criminal punishment and disempower lesbians and gays in a range of contexts. See Ryan Goodman, Beyond the Enforcment Principle, California Law Review Vol 89:643 2003. 643

[4] Arvind Narrain , Queer: Dispised sexuality, law and social change, Books for Change, Bangalore , 2003. p. 120.

[5] http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Gender/2003/sexual-minorities.htm

[6] Vinay Chandran et. al, Its not my job to tell you that its okay to be gay , ( on file with the author)

[7] Flavia Agnes, "Protecting Women against Violence?: Review of a Decade of Legislation, 1980-1989", in State and Politics in India (Partha Chatterjee, ed.), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1997,p.523.

[8] Ibid. ,p. 522.

[9] Nandita Haksar, "Human Rights Lawyering: A Feminist Perspective" in Engendering Law (Anita Dhanda et al., eds.), Eastern Book Company,
Lucknow, 1999, p.87.

[10] 478 U.S. 186(1986)

[11] 123 S. Ct. 2472 (2003)

[12] Cass Sunstien, What did Lawrence hold ? Of Autonomy, Desuetude,
Sexuality, and Marriage,

[13] Ibid. p22.

[14] There is a petition filed in the Delhi High Court by Naz Foundation making the case that Sec 377 violates the constitutionally guaranteed protection of equality, ,privacy and freedom of expression and asking the court to read down Sec 377 so as to exclude consensual adult sex in private from the framework of Sec 377. The dilemmas which are inherent in a legal strategy which is not simultaneously a political strategy emerge strongly as police violence is about the public space where as the legal remedy specifically asks for decriminalizing same sex acts in private.

Austria: Enduring Persecution of Gay Men

2004-09-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

Almost Exclusive Enforcement Against Gay Men

Platform Against Art. 209 calls for repeal of the substitute for the anti-homosexual Art. 209

Austrian Minister of Justice, Karin Miklautsch, in replying to a parliamentary question announced that the substitute provision for anti-homosexual Art. 209 Criminal Code, repealed in 2002, while being gender-neutral in wording, still is enforced nearly exclusively against same-sex relations.

More than three quarters (78%) of all cases brought to court in the first half of 2004 concerned homosexual relations. All of the persons carcerated under that law were homosexual men.

One man has even been convicted despite the fact that the court did not know anything about his partners; the court did not the nature (!) or the amount of the remuneration nor did it know how “immediate inducement” (see Art. 207b par. 3 below) did take place; it did not even know the identity or the age (!) of the adolescents. The Minister of Justice – despite having been specifically asked for – refused to reveal how the court, on this basis, could come to a conviction, what reasons
it has given for the conviction.

The Minister also revealed that criminal proceedings again and again are instigated without reasonable suspicion for an illegal contact. Sexual contacts with adolescents between 14 and 18 alone (without more) suffice for the prosecutors to ask for criminal investigations to find out whether one of the offences enshrined in Art. 207b might have been committed. That is as criminal investigations would take place for each sexual contact to clear whether it is rape or not.

The government always has emphasized that it did not want to criminalize consensual sexual acts but only certain constellations of abuse, in which the will of a juvenile is overridden by unacceptable means. Critics however feared that relations with adolescents would be put under a general suspicion of criminality and that the sole fact of a sexual contact would give rise to criminal investigations. Exactly that is taking place now. An outraging example being the case where the
prosecutor initiated court proceedings on the ground of an ad in which a person searched for adolescent partners; so on the ground of completely legal behaviour.

The European Parliament in 2003 called on Austria to enforce Art. 207b without discrimination (Resolution on Fundamental Rights in the EU, 04.09.2003, par. 79).

“The plan of the government turned out as quite successful: the justice system has accepted the substitute provision for Art. 209 as substitute in the true sense of the word”, says Dr. Helmut Graupner, spokesperson for “Platform Against Art. 209”, “We are calling for the repeal of the law and we ask the Minister of Justice to, at least order the prosecutors to enforce the offence on the basis of the law”.

The interdenominational and supra-partisan Platform Against Article 209 comprises more than 30 organisations that joined in the fight against the discriminatory supplemental minimum age of 18 years for homosexual relationships between men only (in addition to the general age of consent of 14 for heterosexuals, lesbians and gays alike), as set forth in article Art. 209 of the Criminal Code. Nearly all associations of the homosexual movement, but also general organizations are members of the Platform, like AIDS-help-organisations, the Ombudspersons for Children and Adolescents of the States of Vienna and Tyrol, the Austrian National Student Union, the National Association of Probation, the Austrian Society for Sexual Research, and many others more. After the repeal of Art. 209 the Platform works for the release of all prisoners, for the deletion of all verdicts from criminal records and for just satisfaction of all victims of Art. 209. In addition it monitors the enforcement of the new Art. 209-substitute-provision, Art. 207b Criminal Code.

Reply of the Minister of Justice (full text):

Art. 207b Criminal Code contains three offences. Paragraph 1 makes it an offence to engage in sexual contact with a persons under 16 which for certain reasons is not mature enough to understand the meaning of what is going on or to act in accordance with such understanding provided that the offender practices upon the person’s lacking maturity and his
own superiority based on age. Paragraph 2 makes in an offence to engage in sexual contact with a person under 16 by practicing on a position of constraint. Paragraph 3 makes it an offence to immediately induce a person under 18 against remuneration.

More information:
Platform Against Art. 209: +43/1/876 30 61, 0676/3094737, HYPERLINK
"mailto:office@paragraph209.at"office@paragraph209.at, HYPERLINK
"http://www.paragraph209.at/"www.paragraph209.at

International Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights: Strategies for Change

2004-09-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

We are excited to announce a conference entitled "International Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights: Strategies for Change". ARC International is working in collaboration with with the Liu Institute for Global Issues to present this conference that will take place from December 9th to the 13th, 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland. (A brief description of both sponsoring organizations is below.)

We hope to be able to accommodate approximately 50 participants comprised of stakeholders in the international arena from all geographic regions, particularly those with experience at the CHR or similar UN fora. We invite you to apply by September 30th, 2004 using the form below.

Building on a smaller consultation held in Rio de Janeiro last year, and taking into consideration feedback from participants at the 60th session of the UNCHR, the goals of this Dialogue are to:

* Develop agreed-upon principles for working together (based upon CHRevaluation) and some basic structure, e.g. working groups;
* Carry out some CHR-specific training;
* Engage with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights;
* Identify strategies and concrete follow-up re: Brazilian resolution; some engagement with Brazil and key missions;
* Raise awareness of other CHR resolutions & identify lobbying priorities;
* Some engagement with Special Rapporteurs;
* Raise awareness of other international entry-points, e.g. International Criminal Court, UN Committees, Human Rights Committee, etc;
* Explore faith-based responses to human right issues;
* Identify regional priorities, and some engagement with key funders to assist in advancing those priorities.

In terms of funding, we are hoping to assist all selected delegates from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to attend this conference. "Assisting" might mean direct funding through us, for which we have received monies from the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), or facilitating individual delegates to approach their own regional funding sources. We are still in the process of fundraising for conference activities and interpretation/translation,
and any assistance that individuals and organizations can provide, including letters of support, would be most appreciated.

As we confirm participants, speakers and venues we will send out more comprehensive information.

Sincerely,

Kim Vance, ARC International
John Fisher, ARC International
Robert Adamson, Liu Institute for Global Issue, Global Justice Program

APPLICATION FORM

1. What is your name and city/country of residence?

2. What is your organisational affiliation(s)?

3. What is the primary focus of your or your organisation's work (e.g. human rights, women's rights, sexual and reproductive rights, lgbt, faith-based, labour, youth, etc.)?

4. We are seeking funding to enable the Dialogue to take place, as much as possible, in both English and Spanish. Please indicate whether you will be able to participate in either of these languages. If so, which do you prefer? If not, what other language(s) can you communicate in?

5. Why do you wish to participate? What do you feel you would bring to the Dialogue? What do you feel you would get out of it?

6. What international knowledge or experience do you possess (e.g. World Conferences, CHR attendance, regional conferences etc)? Please explain.

7. What regional/domestic knowledge or experience do you have (e.g. mobilising national networks, influencing governments, local activism or regional networking)? Please explain.

8. Please describe any ways in which your participation will help ensure a diverse and representative consultation (e.g. are you a member of a racialised/indigenous group, person with a disability, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersex person, etc)?

9. Do you have experience working on sexual orientation or gender identity issues? Please summarise.

10. There will be a registration fee of US$200/Euros 175 to help cover the costs of the Dialogue. Do you require funding assistance to attend? If so, please indicate whether you need support in paying for airfare, accommodation, a registration fee reduction or waiver and/or per diem meal allowance, and briefly explain why you or your organisation need financial support to attend.

11. Do you have any special or accessibility needs (e.g. dietary restrictions, wheelchair access, assistance with childcare etc) that you would like us to consider when planning this conference?

12. Is there any other information you would like to include?

Please apply by September 30 to arc@arc-international.net For more information, contact above e-mail address or phone Kim at 1-416-238-7981.

This conference opportunity is being facilitated by ARC International and the Liu Institute for Global Issues. ARC International (www.arc-international.net) is a project-driven organization designed to make a contribution to the development of a strategic international LGBT human rights agenda. ARC works cooperatively with existing domestic and
international organizations active on LGBT and related issues to foster the development of networks, positive communications and access to international human rights mechanisms through the development of resources.

The Liu Institute for Global Issues (www.ligi.ubc.ca), based at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, pursues interdisciplinary and policy-related research and advocacy on global public policy issues related to
human security. Its research agenda embraces international relations, human security, peace and disarmament, global public opinion and democratization, the environment, conflict and development, and global health and international justice issues.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

2004-09-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

Did you guys hear about the marriage of one of our closest gay friends?! More than surprising or shocking it’s sad. Sad that someone like him should go and do this… someone who shares with me the same adoptive ‘mama’, Rakshaben; someone who was very close to Bombay Dost-Humsafar parivar; someone who years ago co-founded a group for young gay men along with me, his own boyfriend, ‘U’ (who incidentally has been dreamy-eyed about gay marriage and adoption for as long as I can remember) and mine, as well as two other friends; someone who has been closely involved with the virtual gay community; someone who even came out to his dad as a teenager!

I do not know the details, why M did this, but he very well knew what we at BD-HST say often: no one’s holding a gun to your temple and forcing you to get married. Yes, I know he belongs to a North Indian clan that’s just as famous for its conservative attitude as its kanjoosi. And I refuse to believe that he would have done it just so that he is not disinherited of his family fortunes. More than 10 years of being a self-identified gay man, 10 years of telling your father that you do not feel attracted to women but to men, 10 years of interaction with gay men who are highly politicized, a lifetime of loving men…and at the end, this! I just do not understand why he got married…why? why?!

The appeal of 'queer theory' has outstripped anyone's sense of what exactly it means - Michael Warner

2004-09-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Queer Theory
Annamarie Jagose
© all rights reserved

The appeal of 'queer theory' has outstripped anyone's sense of what exactly it means
By Michael Warner

A response to this piece has been received from C.W.Young

Once the term 'queer' was, at best, slang for homosexual, at worst, a term of homophobic abuse. In recent years 'queer' has come to be used differently, sometimes as an umbrella term for a coalition of culturally marginal sexual self-identifications and at other times to describe a nascent theoretical model which has developed out of more traditional lesbian and gay studies. The rapid development and consolidation of lesbian and gay studies in universities in the 1990s is paralleled by an increasing deployment of the term 'queer'. As queer is unaligned with any specific identity category, it has the potential to be annexed profitably to any number of discussions. In the history of disciplinary formations, lesbian and gay studies is itself a relatively recent construction, and queer theory can be seen as its latest institutional transformation.

Broadly speaking, queer describes those gestures or analytical models which dramatise incoherencies in the allegedly stable relations between chromosomal sex, gender and sexual desire. Resisting that model of stability--which claims heterosexuality as its origin, when it is more properly its effect--queer focuses on mismatches between sex, gender and desire. Institutionally, queer has been associated most prominently with lesbian and gay subjects, but its analytic framework also includes such topics as cross-dressing, hermaphroditism, gender ambiguity and gender-corrective surgery. Whether as transvestite performance or academic deconstruction, queer locates and exploits the incoherencies in those three terms which stabilise heterosexuality. Demonstrating the impossibility of any 'natural' sexuality, it calls into question even such apparently unproblematic terms as 'man' and 'woman'.

The recent intervention of this confrontational word 'queer' in altogether politer academic discourses suggests that traditional models have been ruptured. Yet its appearance also marks a continuity. Queer theory's debunking of stable sexes, genders and sexualities develops out of a specifically lesbian and gay reworking of the post-structuralist figuring of identity as a constellation of multiple and unstable positions. Queer is not always seen, however, as an acceptable elaboration of or shorthand for 'lesbian and gay'. Although many theorists welcome queer as 'another discursive horizon, another way of thinking the sexual' (de Lauretis, 1991:iv), others question its efficacy. 1 The most commonly voiced anxieties are provoked by such issues as whether a generic masculinity may be reinstalled at the heart of the ostensibly gender-neutral queer; whether queer's transcendent disregard for dominant systems of gender fails to consider the material conditions of the west in the late twentieth century; whether queer simply replicates, with a kind of historical amnesia, the stances and demands of an earlier gay liberation; and whether, because its constituency is almost unlimited, queer includes identificatory categories whose politics are less progressive than those of the lesbian and gay populations with which they are aligned.

Whatever ambivalences structure queer, there is no doubt that its recent redeployment is making a substantial impact on lesbian and gay studies. Yet, almost as soon as queer established market dominance as a diacritical term, and certainly before consolidating itself in any easy vernacular sense, some theorists are already suggesting that its moment had passed and that 'queer politics may, by now, have outlived its political usefulness'. 2 Does queer become defunct the moment it is an intelligible and widely disseminated term? Teresa de Lauretis, the theorist often credited with inaugurating the phrase 'queer theory', abandoned it barely three years later, on the grounds that it had been taken over by those mainstream forces and institutions it was coined to resist.

Explaining her choice of terminology in The Practice of Love: Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire (1994), de Lauretis writes: "As for 'queer theory', my insistent specification lesbian may well be taken as a taking of distance from what, since I proposed it as a working hypothesis for lesbian and gay studies in this very journal (differences , 3.2), has very quickly become a conceptually vacuous creature of the publishing industry'. 3 Distancing herself from her earlier advocacy of queer, de Lauretis now represents it as devoid of the political or critical acumen she once thought it promised.

In some quarters and in some enunciations, no doubt, queer does little more than function as shorthand for the unwieldy lesbian and gay, or offer itself as a new solidification of identity, by kitting out more fashionably an otherwise unreconstructed sexual essentialism. Certainly, 'its sudden and often uncritical adoption has at times foreclosed what is potentially most significant--and necessary--about the term' 4 . Queer retains, however, a conceptually unique potential as a necessarily unfixed site of engagement and contestation. Admittedly not discernible in every mobilisation of queer, this constitutes an alternative to de Lauretis's narrative of disillusionment. Judith Butler does not try to anticipate exactly how queer will continue to challenge normative structures and discourses. On the contrary, she argues that what makes queer so efficacious is the way in which it understands the effects of its interventions are not singular and therefore cannot be anticipated in advance. Butler understands, as de Lauretis did when initially promoting queer over lesbian and gay, that the conservative effects of identity classifications lie in their ability to naturalise themselves as self-evident descriptive categories. She argues that if queer is to avoid simply replicating the normative claims of earlier lesbian and gay formations, it must be conceived as a category in constant formation:

[It] will have to remain that which is, in the present, never fully owned, but always and only redeployed, twisted, queered from a prior usage and in the direction of urgent and expanding political purposes, and perhaps also yielded in favor of terms that do that political work more effectively. 5

In stressing the partial, flexible and responsive nature of queer, Butler offers a corrective to those naturalised and seemingly self-evident categories of identification that constitute traditional formations of identity politics. She specifies the ways in which the logic of identity politics--which is to gather together similar subjects so that they can achieve shared aims by mobilising a minority-rights discourse--is far from natural or self-evident.

In the sense that Butler outlines the queer project--that is, to the extent that she argues there can't be one--queer may be thought of as activating an identity politics so attuned to the constraining effects of naming, of delineating a foundational category which precedes and underwrites political intervention, that it may better be understood as promoting a non-identity--or even anti-identity--politics. If a potentially infinite coalition of sexual identities, practices, discourses and sites might be identified as queer, what it betokens is not so much liberal pluralism as a negotiation of the very concept of identity itself. For queer is, in part, a response to perceived limitations in the liberationist and identity-conscious politics of the gay and lesbian feminist movements. The rhetoric of both has been structured predominantly around self-recognition, community and shared identity; inevitably, if inadvertently, both movements have also resulted in exclusions, delegitimation,
and a false sense of universality. The discursive proliferation of queer has been enabled in part by the knowledge that identities are fictitious--that is, produced by and productive of material effects but nevertheless arbitrary, contingent and ideologically motivated.

Unlike those identity categories labelled lesbian or gay, queer has developed out of the theorising of often unexamined constraints in traditional identity politics. Consequently, queer has been produced largely outside the registers of recognition, truthfulness and self-identity.

Queer, then, is an identity category that has no interest in consolidating or even stabilising itself. It maintains its critique of identity-focused movements by understanding that even the formation of its own coalitional and negotiated constituencies may well result in exclusionary and reifying effects far in excess of those intended.

Acknowledging the inevitable violence of identity politics and having no stake in its own hegemony, queer is less an identity than a critique of identity. But it is in no position to imagine itself outside that circuit of problems energised by identity politics. Instead of defending itself against those criticisms that its operations inevitably attract, queer allows such criticisms to shape its--for now unimaginable--future directions. 'The term', writes Butler, 'will be revised, dispelled, rendered obsolete to the extent that it yields to the demands which resist the term precisely because of the exclusions by which it is mobilized'. The mobilisation of queer--no less than the critique of it--foregrounds the conditions of political representation: its intentions and effects, its resistance to and recovery by the existing networks of power.

For Halperin, as for Butler, queer is a way of pointing ahead without knowing for certain what to point at. "'Queer" ... does not designate a class of already objectified pathologies or perversions', writes Halperin 6 ; "rather, it describes a horizon of possibility whose precise extent and heterogenous scope cannot in principle be delimited in advance". Queer is always an identity under construction, a site of permanent becoming: "utopic in its negativity, queer theory curves endlessly toward a realization that its realization remains impossible" 7 . The extent to which different theorists have emphasised the unknown potential of queer suggests that its most enabling characteristic may well be its potential for looking forward without anticipating the future. Instead of theorising queer in terms of its opposition to identity politics, it is more accurate to represent it as ceaselessly interrogating both the preconditions of identity and its effects. Queer is not outside the magnetic
field of identity. Like some postmodern architecture, it turns identity inside out, and displays its supports exoskeletally. If the dialogue between queer and more traditional identity formations is sometimes fraught--which it is--that is not because they have nothing in common. Rather, lesbian and gay faith in the authenticity or even political efficacy of identity categories and the queer suspension of all such classifications energise each other, offering in the 1990s--and who can say beyond?--the ambivalent reassurance of an unimaginable future.

Annamarie Jagose is a Senior Lecturer in English at Melbourne University. This piece is extracted with permission from her new book, Queer Theory, University of Melbourne Press, 1996.

See the discussion on Global Queer in emuse and Dennis Altman's target essay On Global Queering

A response to this piece has been received from C.W.Young

References

1. de Lauretis, Teresa (1991) 'Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities', differences: a Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 3, 2, pp.iii-xviii

2. Halperin, David (1995) Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography, New York: Oxford University Press.

3. de Lauretis, Teresa (1994a) 'Habit Changes' differences: AJournal of Feminist Cultural Studies 6, 2-3, pp. 296-313.

4. Phillips, David (1994) 'What's So Queer Here? Photography at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras', Eyeline 26, pp. 16-19.

5. Butler, Judith (1993a) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex', New York: Routledge.

6. Halperin, David (1995) Saint Foucault: Towards A Gay Hagiography, New York: Oxford University Press.

7. Eldeman, Lee (1995) 'Queer Thory: Unstating Desire', GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 2, 4, pp. 343-6

2004-09-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

NEW DRAFT EU CONSITUTIONAL TREATY

After months of negotiations, EU Heads of State and Governments reached a historic agreement on the EU's first ever Constitution on 18 June. The final text pre-serves the great majority of the draft text proposed by the Conven-tion but the price of the agreement was the en-trenchment of unanimity in some areas such as tax, for-eign and security policy and in any future review of the Constitution.

From an LGBT perspective the key elements are:

Non-discrimination and equality are included both in the values and the objectives (PART I)

The draft constitution includes the Charter of Funda-mental Rights of the Union (PART II )

Article III-3 (new) – horizontal clause: "In defining and implementing the policies and activities referred to in this Part,
the Union shall aim to combat discrimina-tion based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or be-lief, disability, age or sexual orientation."

Article III-8 (ex Article 13 TEC) – legislation requires unanimity in Council:

1. Without prejudice to the other provisions of the Constitution and within the limits of the powers assigned by it to
the Union, a European law or framework law of the Council may establish the measures needed to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The Council shall act unanimously after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament.

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Euro-pean laws or framework laws may establish ba-sic principles for Union incentive measures and define such incentive measures, to support ac-tion taken by Member States in order to contrib-ute to the achievement of the objectives referred to in paragraph 1, excluding any harmonisation of their laws and regulations."

The Constitution is now due to be ratified by the 25 Member States over the next two years. With referenda due to take place in at least 9 member states (Denmark, Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg will hold a referendum on the Constitution; Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Bel-gium, France and others could do so as well), the entire project is still highly vulnerable to rejection if not ratified in any one Member State.

Taking a step forward

2004-09-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

Dear All

The Government of India, especially the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has commissioned the Humsafar Trust to write a position paper on the status of gay men, MSM and other sexual minorities in India as a first step towards a comprehensive policy document that will help in health programs across the country with a special focus on STI control and HIV/AIDS.

Last year and early into this year the Humsafar Trust completed two major tasks set for it. It was asked to help write up a comprehensive counseling manual for sexual minorities in Voluntary Confidential Counseling Testing Centres (VCCTCs) across India, This task was completed after a panel of psychiatrists and academics helped polish the preliminary manual started/written up by the Humsafar Trust. This manual was then extended further to include help in counseling other
sexual minorities and marginalised groups like victims of sexual assault, prison populations and vulnerable youth. This too was completed early this year.

The present work is generic in nature in that it has a set format for all vulnerable groups across the board starting with women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, female sex workers and finally gay men, MSM and sexual minorities. The work is quite difficult as it has to be backed up by evidence, both through epidemiological data and sociological insights
in each case. However, thanks to friends all over the country, the first draft has been completed and written up in close collaboration with the Humsafar Trust's outreach and advocacy staff and looks quite comprehensive for the record.

Just as an aside, it has been observed that even a week after the Delhi High Court judgement threw out the PIL filed by the Naz (India) Foundation in the Delhi High Court, it doesn't seem to have occured to anybody that there is practivally no discourse, discussion or dialogue, on any lgbt list that I've been on, on the subject. Maybe the criminalisation of homosexuality in India doesn't seem to be of much concern to the emerging LGBT communities/identities in India. Or
maybe there are other concerns which seem to have been prioritised.

Be what it may, our position paper is ready and it has had to mention that the gay communty or MSM don't really care much about Section 377 or HIV/AIDS. That has been observed and noted. Thank you all for the
insights.

Ashok Row Kavi
Chair,
The Humsafar Trust
Mumbai Metro
India

2004-09-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

The petition challenging the anti-sodomy law in India, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was dismissed by the Delhi High Court, by the bench comprising Chief Justice BC Patel and Justice BD Ahmed, today, i.e. 2 September 2004.

The petition had been admitted on 15.1.2003, meaning thereby that the petition had to be fully heard on merits. Notice had also been issued to the Attorney General in view of the constitutional importance of the issue. However, two of the Respondents to the petition, i.e. the Delhi State AIDS Control Society (DSACS) and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) had not filed their affidavits despite the order of 15.1.2003.

Today, when the matter was taken up as the last item just before the Court rose at approximately 4.15 pm, the advocate for the Petitioner, Trideep Pais, pointed out that the two Respondents, DSACS and NACO, had not filed their affidavits despite the order of the court dated 15.1.2003. The Court in turn asked whether there was any case or FIR filed against the
Petitioner, i.e. NAZ Foundation (India) Trust, under S.377 of the IPC, to which the advocate mentioned that there was none. The Court dismissed the petition on the ground that since there was no FIR, there was no cause of action for the petition. The exact court order is not yet available.

We feel that the order of the Delhi High Court is not correct as:

1. The petition was already admitted which meant that it had to be argued and heard fully on the merits of the case and it could not be dismissed on the preliminary point viz., cause of action not existing. 2. Notice had been issued to the Attorney General, which meant that the court felt earlier that the constitutional validity of S.377 was a matter of import that had to be gone into by the court. This also fortifies the argument that the matter had to be argued on merits. 3. It is settled law that an apprehension of violation of fundamental rights, i.e. the likelihood of an arrest under S.377, itself is a ground for approaching the High Court or the Supreme Court and constitutes a cause of action. Actual arrest or registration of an FIR is not necessary. 4. A public interest petition can be filed bona fide by public spirited citizens, in this case NAZ Foundation, when others are unable or incapable of approaching the court, in this case MSM who do not feel confident of approaching the court themselves.

At this time we feel that there are certain options possible like a Review Petition before the Delhi High Court or a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court (a follow-up email explaining these options will be put on the list-serve in the next couple of days). However, we would appreciate any inputs from all those concerned to decide the best course of action to be
taken.

We feel extremely dejected at this juncture but also feel that this is a time to regroup and renew efforts around S.377. It would be useful if this list-serve space could be used as one in which further discussion takes place. We would be keen to see what follow-up is possible so that all of us can brainstorm further. We look forward to getting feedback from all of you
on this list-serve and also via email at aidslaw@lawyerscollective.org or nazindia@bol.net.in.

In solidarity,

Naz Foundation (India) Trust & Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

Baina beach demolitions: What about the sex worker’s right to shelter? By Rakesh Shukla

2004-09-02T03:18:00.000-07:00

Acting on orders by the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court, around 250 huts belonging to sex workers, on Goa’s Baina beach, were bulldozed in an effort to ‘clean up’ Goa. ‘Operation Monsoon Demolition’ appears to have been based on the assumption that sex workers have no right to shelter

This year, the rains that bring joy to millions of people in India brought only grief to the residents of Baina beach in Goa. Carrying an order by the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court, for the identification and demolition of 250 huts being used by sex workers, the state government set about bulldozing hundreds of hutments right in the midst of heavy rains lashing the area.

The rationale: The restoration of an ‘unspoilt Goa’ by cleansing it of the ‘sin’ of prostitution.

The huts are the homes of women who have been living here for the past 40 years. They have valid ration cards, voter identity cards, electricity bills and tax receipts as proof of their being bonafide residents of Baina; their children attend schools in the area. In fact, many children born in Baina are, today, vote-casting adults. Now, attempts are being made to class them as ‘outsiders’ from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and send them back once their homes have been demolished.

Using the ‘outsider’ bogey as the cause of all ills and whipping up chauvinism is a populist strategy often used by unscrupulous politicians. Like the Shiv Sena campaign ‘Maharashtra for Maharashtrians’ in the ’60s-’70s, there have been similar campaigns all over the country including Goa. Displaying remarkable foresight, the Constitution of India -- under Articles 19 (1) (d) and (e) -- specifically guarantees, as a fundamental right, the right ‘to move throughout the territory of India’ and the right ‘to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India’.

Labelled as ‘loose’, ‘immoral’ and ‘sinful women’ who lure decent men away from their wives and families, women in prostitution are at the very bottom rung of the social ladder. They stand lower even than that epitome of exploitation -- the worker. In fact, attempts to get them the higher status of ‘worker’ are reflected in the term ‘sex worker’ instead of prostitute.

The application of the law to this community is swayed entirely by people’s moral condemnation of prostitutes and their work. The right to a roof over one’s head, that is, the basic right to shelter and a life of self-respect and dignity, is an undeniable part of the right to life and liberty as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. Yet, in a settlement of hundreds of hutments, it was the homes of women in prostitution that the high court ordered demolished.

Social attitudes seem to cut across institutions and influence the legislature, executive and the judiciary. In 1997, John Emanuel Vaz, the then MLA of the area, led a morcha demanding a ‘cleanup’ of the red-light area. The Goa government, exploiting sizable support from society for the demolition of the sex workers’ homes, went ahead and tore down a large number of structures including bars, shops, contract workers’ homes, even those of lower-level municipal staff workers. The prime land being cleared probably meshed in nicely with larger plans to privatise and expand Vasco port, and invitations to big business and corporations including multinationals to build hotels and tourist resorts in the area. Officially, however, sanction for ‘Operation Monsoon Demolition’ remains the assumption that sex workers have no right to shelter, and that it is okay to destroy their homes.

Ashwini Kumar, secretary at the department of women and child development, government of Goa, describes the demolitions as a “righteous, neutral and unique action of protecting the rights of women”. Women in prostitution are obviously to be denied even their basic identity as ‘women’, and violations of the rights of ‘fallen’ women are to be projected as a protection of the rights of ‘pure’ women. Prostitution cannot be abolished from society by demolishing houses and rendering women homeless.

When the first settlements came up at Baina, in 1964, the then chairman of the municipality, Y D Chowgule, was of the opinion that since there was a port nearby, prostitution was inevitable. Officials of the Mormugao Port Trust, possibly more grounded in reality and less hypocritical than top-echelon bureaucrats, believed that no one could stop a sailor from visiting a red-light area after having spent months at sea. They accepted that, as in Amsterdam, Antwerp or Hamburg, red-light areas were an inevitable part of every port in the world. The only difference was that prostitution has been legalised in Europe, so there is greater medical regulation. In India, the health of women in prostitution is largely ignored. In fact moral condemnation and social prejudice, leading to practices like coercive blood tests, result in women in prostitution having minimal access to public health services.

Coloured by this prejudice and steeped in righteousness, even in the light of scientific evidence by the World Health Organisation and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) that driving sex work underground proves counterproductive in the fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS, Ashwini Kumar asserts that the “continuation of the flesh trade at Baina was a potential source for the spread of HIV/AIDS”. Evictions do not stop prostitution, they only serve to scatter the trade and make it more difficult to implement measures like distributing condoms to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The stigmatising attitude of society with respect to the rights of sex workers gets translated into other areas of the law as well. The law with regard to assault, grievous hurt, rape and kidnapping makes no distinction and is uniformly applicable regardless of the victim’s identity. However, such lofty principles dwell only in the ivory tower pontifications on human rights in judicial pronouncements. In reality, ‘non-persons’ like sex workers are fair game to be beaten, raped and sodomised with no fallout for the perpetrator. Incidents involving violence towards sex workers/prostitutes generally do not even merit public attention. Last year, a prostitute from G B Road in Delhi was kidnapped by a policeman, taken across the border and so severely raped, beaten and brutalised that the case did surface in the media. Despite this, no action was taken against the perpetrator.

Recently, Kokila, a hijra(transsexual woman) sex worker was raped, beaten and brutalised by a group of men in Bangalore. Instead of lodging a first information report (FIR), the police chained her naked in lockup, tortured, humiliated and sexually abused her. At the initiative of SANGAMA, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in the area, human rights activists staged a dharna at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Bangalore’s M G Road. Later, a protest rally was taken to the chief minister’s residence to demand the arrest of the culprits. The four policemen identified have not been prosecuted.

The message is loud and clear: You can beat, rape and sodomise ‘perverts’ like sex workers, hijras and other marginalised communities in complete violation of their guaranteed fundamental rights of life, liberty and shelter.

--Rakesh Shukla is a Supreme Court advocate

www.infochangeindia.org Baina beach demolitions: What about the sex worker’s right to shelter?