| Permalink Archive for the 'Around the World' Category
Pride Around the World
June 7, 2007 | 
Around the World, Cool Links
It’s Pride month! I’m going to be providing sign language interpreting services at Capital Pride on Sunday, but there’s a lot more going on around the world. Latvia’s gay pride celebration was held recently, but unfortunately Moscow does not have one - those attempting to plan one were arrested recently. Pride celebrations have already passed in Warsaw and São Paulo. I noticed that three Pride events around the world make reference to Christopher Street - Berlin’s Christopher Street Day, Zurich’s Christopher Street Day, and Christopher Street West in Los Angeles - but New York City’s Heritage of Pride festival doesn’t mention it at all! (There is a march to the vicinity, though.) If you want to learn more about Pride festivals around the world, check out InterPride - it’s fun to read about the different festivities!
Pakistan Rules on Transgender Couple
May 31, 2007 | Around the World, Uncategorized
This truly amazes me. A court in Pakistan has decided that if a transman has not had bottom surgery, he is still a woman. This is surprising to me mostly because the decision meant that a lesbian couple ended up in jail - whereas if he HAD had the bottom surgery, he would be a man, and their relationship would be legitimate (or so I gather). Good grief.
South African Culture vs. Policy
May 30, 2007 | Around the World, Uncategorized
Last November, South Africa became the first country in Africa - and the fifth in the world - to legalize gay marriage. The measure received an overwhelming vote in Congress, with 230 ayes to 41 nays. But even though same sex couples can legally get married in South Africa, culture still dictates otherwise. South Africa is not immune to the anti-gay sentiments permeating Africa as a whole. In most countries on the continent, gay activity is not only illegal, but is the cause of widespread abuse and mistreatment of those who are even suspected to be homosexual. I wonder if this is perhaps based in part on the stigma of HIV/AIDS in Africa, whether some people believe that if it weren’t for gay people, the disease wouldn’t be devastating all of Africa.
Lesbian Palestinians
April 3, 2007 | Around the World, News Reports
Brenda Gazzar has written an article about Palestinian lesbians in Israel, including an interview with the founder of Aswat, which is the only group of its kind there. I was surprised to read that an Arab community leader said “we do not oppose their personal choice” - I had thought lesbianism was a punishable offense in Islamic culture. He went on to add that what he opposes is the publicizing of the issue, and I guess that makes sense. But really I was just surprised that he wasn’t supporting punishment for being lesbian.
I noticed a line in the article that mentioned the group started as an online forum, but I can’t find it - I suppose I don’t know how to search for Arabic or Hebrew sites!
Religion Panel Clips
March 7, 2007 | Around the World
I received an e-mail from MKPR, a New York-based public relations firm that represents a number of organizations in the queer domain, including FabFemme, which hosts events for lesbian and bisexual women.
The e-mail told me about a recent panel at Sundance that put clergy together with queer directors and actors for a discussion. The panel, which was hosted by Queer Lounge (a site for gay film festival attendees), featured actress Judith Light - remember her from Who’s the Boss? There are two clips online from the panel:
Check ‘em out, if only to see how little Judith Light has changed in recent years! It’s also nice to see Chrissie Gephardt’s parents talk about their daughter, as shown in the first clip.
Sisters
September 6, 2006 | Around the World, News Reports
An interesting twist from Great Britain: Sisters demand same-sex couple rights. Two elderly sisters are taking the British government to the European Court of Human Rights, saying that they are being discriminated against because they are single. They’ve been trying since 1976 to get inheritance law changed, because as of now if either of them dies the other will have to pay taxes.
My instinctive response is “no way” - benefits like these are for married/domestic partnerships, not just anybody. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is. If the sisters get what they want, the whole of inheritance law can basically be written off because relatives will just say to the court that they deserve the same thing. Unless a system is established to prove a symbiotic relationship (call it co-dependent if you will), I don’t think this is going to fly.
