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08 Dec 2011 - NPWJ News Digest on on LGBTI rights
Articles
Nigeria. Gay marriage crime bill passed
Star Observer, 07 Dec 2011
The Nigerian Senate has passed a controversial bill which would make same-sex marriage a serious crime while banning all advocacy and support for LGBTI people – putting at risk hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid.
The law would see same-sex couples who married jailed for up to 14 years, while anyone who aided or abetted in the wedding could be jailed for up to 10.
U.S. to Aid Gay Rights Abroad, Obama and Clinton Say
By Steven Lee Myers and Helene Cooper, The New York Times, 07 Dec 2011
The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that the United States would use all the tools of American diplomacy, including the potent enticement of foreign aid, to promote gay rights around the world.
In a memorandum issued by President Obama in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations that criminalize homosexual conduct, abuse gay men, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people, or ignore abuse against them.
"Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct," Mrs. Clinton said at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, "but in fact they are one and the same."
"It's Time" Ad Helps Gay Marriage Activism Go Viral
By Todd Elfmann, Policymic, 06 Dec 2011
An ad titled It’s Time released by GetUp!, an Australian grass-roots community advocacy organization, is refreshing and necessary in a time when four U.S. presidential candidates have signed a pledge against gay marriage.
The ad shows a love story from the perspective of a man. Only at the end of the advertisement does the viewer learn that this story is between two men. GetUp! was using the ad to lobby the controlling Australian Labor Party (ALP) to support gay marriage. It has become globally viral touching people with 3.5 million views and a movement to have the advertisement played in the U.S., possibly during the Super Bowl.
Major attack averted on Ethiopian LGBT?
By Paul Canning, LGBT Asylum News, 06 Dec 2011
A 'national embarrassment' for Ethiopia was averted after religious groups tried to disrupt the gay presence at a prestigious HIV/Aids conference.
The 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STIs) in Africa (ICASA) opened in Addis Ababa 4 December. Prior to the event, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (Amsher) had planned a pre-conference meeting for 200 people but when they turned up to the Jupiter hotel they were told the facilities were no longer available. This followed a loud campaign against their event by religious leaders in Ethiopia's media.
Report Details Abuse Against South African Lesbians
Julie Bolcer, Advocate.com, 05 Dec 2011
A report released Monday by Human Rights Watch paints a harrowing picture of the abuse suffered by poor lesbians, bisexual women and transgender men in South Africa, including the pervasive crime of "corrective rape."
The report, “We’ll Show You You’re a Woman,” documents the constant harassment and physical and sexual violence, often by friends and family, against lesbians, bisexual women and transgender women in the impoverished black townships.
Russian doctors perform sex change operation on toddler
Intersex in Australia, , 02 Dec 2011
A 2-year-old boy underwent a sex change operation in the southern Russian city of Rostov after doctors discovered that he had been born with a set of female chromosomes and reproductive organs.
“The child will develop as a girl, but will require constant monitoring by an endocrinologist,” said Vladimir Sizonov, head of the Urology Department at the Children’s Regional Hospital in Rostov. “There is even a slight possibility of getting pregnant in the future.”
“She will have to take hormones for the rest of her life,” the mother said, adding: “But I’m so happy that we’ve left this nightmare behind." The parents have decided to keep the child’s sex change a secret, worried that she will eventually be unhappy with their choice.
