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26 Jan 2012 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights
Articles
President of the European Parliament and MEPs pledge support for LGBT rights
By ILGA Europe, 26 Jan 2012
Members of the European Parliament marked the middle of their five-year mandate by taking part in a gathering for the rights of LGBT people. ILGA-Europe and the LGBT Intergroup in the European Parliament jointly organised a two-day event to reminding MEPs of political priorities to uphold LGBT people’s rights in the EU.
After the event, a total of 184 Members of the European Parliament had signed ILGA-Europe’s Be Bothered Pledge, a 10-point manifesto first launched during the 2009 European elections. Signatories from 23 Member States and six different political groups committed to upholding the rights of LGBT people in their votes.
Support for the LGBT Intergroup in the European Parliament also increased. Several MEPs joined the Parliament’s second largest intergroup, with 127 members from 22 Member States and 5 political groups.
Tunisian LGBT Community: A “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Situation
By Farah Samti, Tunisia Live, 25 Jan 2012
The socio-political upheaval Tunisia has undergone since the revolution has led many Tunisians to question their place within this new society – Tunisia’s often unquestioned homosexual community is no exception to this uncertainty.
While the fall of Ben Ali has afforded a greater space to free expression, not all Tunisian homosexuals are convinced things are headed in the right direction.
Stoufa, a 54 year-old homosexual hairdresser and designer, said that there was a time in Tunisia when people had enough exposure to homosexuality that they were not taken aback by it. However, he says that attitudes towards homosexuality have changed considerably over the years.
Social networks and online support groups represent a refuge for the LGBT community – particularly to teenagers questioning their sexuality (for instance the Tunisia’s Gay Day Magazine, launched in March 2011, is the first online Tunisian magazine for the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) community in the Middle East and North Africa. A blog, Facebook page and Twitter account have been established for the magazine in an effort to interact with Tunisian homosexuals across a number of mediums).
Liberia: Gov't Asked to End “Discrimination Against Gay and Lesbian Liberians and Legalize Equality for All”
By Stephanie C. Horton, AllAfrica, 25 Jan 2012
On Friday, 13 January 2012, a University of Liberia gay rights student activist and his supporters were stoned by other students on the University of Liberia campus. Among countless other acts of violence against gays, this was one of the most recent based solely on an individual's sexual orientation and claim to full citizenship.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "gay rights are human rights" speech before the United Nation's human rights group in Geneva on 6 December 2011 is what seems to have ignited this bitter and sometimes sadistic public debate in Liberia. The impression that the US will use foreign aid to promote gay and lesbian rights has unleashed a vicious torrent of homophobia.
Thundering from their pulpits, some Christian ministers have equated homosexuality with immorality. Lawmakers allegedly have aggressively been threatened on the streets for so much as whispering about gay rights.
South Africa investigates 'gay slur' King Zwelithini
By BBC NEWS, 24 Jan 2012
South Africa's Human Rights Commission is investigating reports that Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini called gay people "rotten" during a speech.
The rights group says it has obtained transcripts of the speech to look into the matter. The royal household has denied that the king made any homophobic comments - and has blamed "reckless translation". South Africa's Times newspaper, which first carried the story, told the BBC it stands by its translation.
South Africa's constitution specifically forbids discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation - but homophobia is widespread and gay people complain they are often attacked.
Tajikistan: LGBT Community Stuck in the Shadows
By Eurasianet, 23 Jan 2012
There’s a reason Tajikistan’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) remains one of the most closed and secretive parts of Tajik society.
Homophobia is widespread thanks to “traditional attitudes and the strong influence of Islam,” says Kiromiddin Gulov, director of Equal Opportunities, a local NGO established in 2009 to help Tajikistan’s LGBT community with legal, medical and moral support. “The population at large does not tolerate or accept LGBT people in general. There are some people who are friends or communicate with the LGBT community, but they are very few.”
Many Tajiks believe that homosexuality is “a sin and that such people should be killed or isolated,” Gulov explained. Others see it as a disease to be cured: “There are examples where families treated young people through the expulsion of evil spirits and reading verses from the Koran.”
“Homosexuality is contrary to nature,” said an official from the Ministry of Health, who spoke to EurasiaNet.org on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to the press.
New age or new fears for gay Egypt?
BY MOHAMED ABDELKHALEK, Gay Star News, 23 Jan 2012
On 25 January last year, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protested in the streets asking for democracy. After two weeks of intense pressure President Hosni Mubarak resigned on 11 February. And the military, which had allied itself to the protestors, took charge of the country, promising to give control to an elected parliament and new president within six months.
Now, after parliamentary elections during December and January that have seen the highest turn-out in the history of Egypt, the new parliament is sitting today for the first time (23 January). But does this mean that a new democratic liberal country is starting? Does it mean more rights are on the horizon for minorities, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Egypt?
Unfortunately, early indications suggest that LGBT rights may even suffer in the new Egypt. The results of the parliamentary votes were as follows, about 46% to Freedom and Justice party (generally thought of as the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, who can be considered as moderate Islamists), 24% to Al-Nour party (a Salafi Islamist party that can be considered as extremists), 15% to different liberal parties, and the rest (5%) is distributed to small parties and individuals with different backgrounds including Islamist, liberals and people from the former regime.
Anti-gay Bill doesn’t make sense, Mbeki says
By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO, Daily Monitor, 22 Jan 2012
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has hit out at Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s anti-gay Bill, telling a public audience in Kampala that what two consenting adults do in private “is really not the matter of law.” The visiting former head of state’s comments will come as a boost to the crusaders of gay rights in Uganda. Mr Mbeki, a guest of the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), issued the comments during a three-hour public question and answer session on Thursday evening debating post-cold war Africa and why the continent is reliant on external interventions in dealing with local issues.
Mr Bahati’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, first tabled in the 8th Parliament, is currently collecting dust on the shelves of the 9th Parliament following wide international uproar in large part for a clause that seeks to hand down the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality, including the spreading of HIV/Aids.
