Seeking a wider dialogue on queer migrations

Source: Feet in 2 Worlds

Camilo Godoy's photo series depicting an image of his boyfriend juxtaposed with an image taken in the same location after his boyfriend was deported

By Von Diaz & bull

I don’t often get the opportunity to share my reporting experiences in academic settings. Quite the opposite, actually. I’ve often heard academic scholars discount the work of journalists as theoretically unsound, or overly simplistic.

Last weekend, the Union of Political Science Students (UPSS) of the New School for Social Research hosted its annual graduate student conference, themed “Amplification and Resistance: Introducing Politics of the Globe.” I was invited to speak on the “Queer Migrations” panel, based on my reporting for Feet in Two Worlds.

My article was about Monica Alcota and Cristina Ojeda, a lesbian couple that may one day have to leave the U.S. because of immigration difficulties. Monica is an Argentinian immigrant who came to the U.S. to escape homophobia in her home country. Her visa expired years ago and in July 2009 she was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol when they randomly searched a Greyhound bus on which she was a passenger. She was subsequently detained for 3 months. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits Monica from applying for citizenship in the U.S. through her legal marriage to Cristina because they are a same-sex couple. If they were a heterosexual couple, Cristina could apply for citizenship for Monica, and her expired visa status could be pardoned.

People come to the U.S. for countless different reasons, but only heterosexuals have the option to remain in the country through marriage to a U.S. citizen. This has created a rather large population — as many as 35,000 according to one report from UCLA — of same-sex couples with immigrant partners who do not have equal access to citizenship through marriage.

I used Monica and Cristina’s case to tell a larger story about DOMA’s history, and how President Obama’s recent decision to challenge it’s constitutionality might have an immediate impact on LGBTQ immigrants who are legally married to — or plan to marry — U.S. citizens.

Read more »

In Nigeria, gays hope to restart a 'religious refuge'

Rev. Macauley at Uganda 'kill the gays bill' protest in London

Source: The Guardian

By Shyamantha Asokan

In Nigeria, religion is central to everyday life but many Christian churches exclude gay members.

When Ade's aunt learned he was gay, the then 16-year-old Nigerian was made to go through an exorcism to expel "the demon of homosexuality".

"The priest came to the house with candles, holy water and anointing oils. I had to kneel down, holding candles in my hands," recalls Ade, now 25, as he sits in a cafe in Lagos. He does not wish to reveal his full name. "He kept shouting 'Come out! Come out! Come out!' in a fevered voice.  I was allowed to go back to church after that but I had to pretend to be straight."

In a country where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, it is no surprise that many of Ade's friends - those who, like him, are both gay and religious - stay away from church altogether for fear of being outed.

However, an alternative could soon be at hand. Ade is helping to resurrect a religious refuge for himself and his friends. He is part of the team restarting House of Rainbow, the country's only gay church, which was forced to close in 2008 after a witch-hunt stirred by exposés in local newspapers.

The Rev Rowland Jide Macaulay, the gay minister who founded the church, is leading the comeback even though he remains in self-imposed exile in London.

"Religion is a backbone to life in Nigeria, so we all want to go to church," he says. "But we don't want to lie to God about who we are."

Macaulay first set up House of Rainbow in 2006, when he openly held Sunday services in a Lagos hotel hall decked out with rainbow flags. A public backlash culminated in members being beaten as they left church. Macaulay fled to the UK after death threats.

This year, he has recruited a small team that includes Ade as his local leader in Lagos. In his voluntary role, Ade started holding prayer sessions and Bible study groups at his house at the end of last month. A full church might be set up again if it is considered safe.

Read more »

Last gay Holocaust survivor receives France's top honour

Pic: Jean-Luc Romero

On Thursday 28 April the last known gay Holocaust survivor Rudolf Brazda received France's top honour Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour).

It was presented by Marie-José of Chombart Lauwe, a former resistance fighter and president of la Fondation pour la mémoire de la déportation (the Foundation for the memory of the deportation), during a speech to students at College Puteaux (in Hauts-de-Seine).

One of the college's students was quoted in Tetu as saying: "If we had not met, we would not know anything about all this. Now we have to talk about it to others for it to be known."

Philippe Couillet, president of Les Oublié(e)s de la Mémoire (the association which campaigns for recognition of the suffering of so-called 'pink triangles') gave the following speech:

(If you can help with the translation to English of the text please contact us.)

Read more »

UNHCR comes out against Czech 'gay test' on asylum seekers

By Paul Canning

The United Nations High Comission for Refugees (UNHCR) has spoken out against the Czech Republic's so called 'gay test' for LGB refugees.

The test is called 'phallometric testing'. Gay male asylum seekers - and according to De Spiegel at least one lesbian - are shown pornography and a machine is used to supposedly 'prove' whether of not they are gay.

LGBT Asylum News broke the news of its existence in December and it subsequently received largely bemused international media coverage.
 
UNHCR described the test as "intrusive and disproportionate" and that it "may amount to degrading treatment as prohibited by international legal standards". They said that instead an applicant’s sexual orientation "should be assessed based on his or her account who s/he is, how s/he lives in society and how s/he expresses who s/he is."
 
The organisation is developing guidance on how to assess such asylum claims. Several European countries have already developed guidance and NGOs have been pressing for an EU improvement in the treatment of LGBT asylum claims. This month the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for better guidance and also "guaranteeing that physical examinations fully respect human dignity and integrity".

The Czech government has responded to criticism by the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency saying it will continue making the test available to those who request it. NGOs fear that those who decline to request the test could be denied refugee protection, and that desperate asylum seekers will “opt” for the procedure in the attempt to avoid being deported to countries where they fear persecution.  UNHCR has now said it agrees: "they are subject to pressure as a failure to take the examination could have a negative effect on the final decision. In such circumstances, the criteria for informed consent cannot be said to be fulfilled."

Magda Faltova, of Czech group Association for Integration and Migration, said that LGBT refugees have signed paperwork without understanding what they were in for and under pressure to undergo the procedure.

"In no way was their consent informed. We had to explain it to them," she said. "And the question is what would have happened if they had not agreed."

Says UNHCR:

"Determining the credibility of the claim, including of the applicant’s sexual orientation, should be done through the refugee status determination interview, the use of country of origin information on the situation of sexual minorities in the country of origin (including on the criminalization of same sex relationships), the assistance of NGOs working with homosexuals in the country of origin and in the host country. Investing in the training of staff in the examination of asylum claims based on sexual orientation will also assist the credibility assessment. The use of practices, such as phallometry, are therefore unnecessary."

In Uk, adversarial asylum process deemed unjust

Hunger strike outside the headquarters of the UK Border Agency

Source: The Guardian

By Bernard Keenan

The ongoing protest by Iranian asylum seekers against the Home Office is an indictment of the failures of the current asylum system. While each case needs to be assessed individually, it also needs to be assessed fairly. Undoubtedly there are reasons why the men starving themselves in Croydon were refused asylum. The problem is how those reasons are arrived at. As the Refugee Council reported in November, the current system is not working.

First, a few statistics for those who imagine a horde of "bogus" claimants is overrunning the country. The UKBA statistics for asylum in 2010 reveal that overall, the number of applicants was down 15% on 2009, with 17,790 applications made for asylum last year. The UK therefore received around 7.5% of all applications for asylum in the 27 EU states last year, ranking 14th in terms of asylum applications per head of population. We are not being swamped by asylum seekers. Around 75% of asylum applications decided in 2010 by the Home Office were refused. Of those who appealed the refusal, 27% were allowed. Make of that what you will. What drives people to starve themselves to possible death is a sense of injustice about the process itself.

Read more »

In US, immigration activists fight deportation policy with social media

Image via CrunchBase

Source: Mashable

By Juan E. Gastelum

Walter Lara’s first tweet back in 2009 started with the words “I’m being deported.” Two years later, he lives in Miami, works legally, has a driver’s license and pays in-state tuition at Miami Dade College.

He is one of a few dozen young, undocumented immigrants who have avoided deportation and are now enjoying the benefits — even if only temporary — of being in the United States legally as a result of campaigns in which social media played a crucial role.

Social media platforms provide the means by which these youths, who call themselves Dreamers, can find each other without travelling or exposing their status. They appeal to supporters nationwide and petition en masse for extensions on deportation dates. They help garner the attention of politicians, lawyers and advocacy groups. And they get Dreamers’ stories out into the public sphere when the attention of the mass media is elsewhere.

Read more »

Action alert: In Malaysia, effeminate kids forced into 'sissy camp'

Source: allout.org

Last week, Malaysia rounded up 66 male students with “feminine qualities” and sent them off to get “fixed” at a government re-education camp.  These kids were taken out of school to be brainwashed out of a fear that they “could end up gay or transsexual”. 

Even worse, the Malaysian Prime Minister is refusing to act and shut down these “sissy camps”. 

Next week we have a major opportunity to let Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak know that the world is watching and he must shut down these camps immediately.  On May 6th, he will be in the media spotlight as he heads to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit hoping to build international credibility - and he needs to hear from us.

Will you join the growing chorus of Malaysians and people around the world demanding that the Prime Minister shut down these anti-gay boot camps?  If we can quickly get to 10,000 signatures, activists will deliver our letters directly to the Prime Minister at the summit next weekend.

• Take action here >  www.allout.org/malaysia

Malaysians have been up in arms since news leaked about the camp - and even some government officials are speaking out. The Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, has said the "boot camps" violate Malaysian law, and a broad coalition of civil society groups are demanding that the government shut them down.

Instead of responding to the overwhelming demand to shut down the re-education camps, the government has ignored criticism, and instead launched a public relations campaign to portray the camp as a wholesome outings.

Schools should be a safe space where children can learn and develop without fear of recrimination for being themselves, not a place to be "profiled" and sent away for re-education. Please sign the petition now, and activists will deliver our letters directly to the Prime Minister at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit next weekend.

Put your hands up (if you feel love)

Source: Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law

By S. Chelvan

Yes, this is the title to the third track of Kylie’s 2010 Aphrodite album. Yes, my favourite cocktail du jour at Balans, in Old Compton Street, is the Porn Star Martini (martini flavoured with vanilla and passion fruit juice served with a shot of champagne). And, yes, I do have my coterie of female friends (aka ‘Fag Hags’) who are assembled to discuss the joys (and faults) of the male of the species. So, on the afternoon of 7 July 2010, with 100 other activists at the University of Greenwich’s conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (“LGBTI”) asylum, entitled LGBTI Asylum: A Double Jeopardy?, I laughed with joy, as did everyone else, when I shared with the delegates Lord Rodger’s comments on gay men being entitled to go to a Kylie concert,² drink exotically coloured cocktails, and discuss ‘boys’ with their straight female mates. The inability of a straight man to ‘indulge openly in the mild flirtations which are an enjoyable part of heterosexual life’ [§ 77], provided the comparator,³ and an illustration of why the jurisprudence surrounding the ‘reasonably tolerable’ discretion test, which resulted in LGB asylum seekers being returned to their home countries to live a life of perpetual lies was so fundamentally flawed [§ 78]:

‘What is protected is the applicant’s right to live freely and openly as a gay man. That involves a wide spectrum of conduct, going well beyond conduct designed to attract sexual partners and maintain relationships with them. To illustrate the point with trivial stereotypical examples from British society: just as male heterosexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates.

Mutatis mutandis – and in many cases the adaptations would obviously be great – the same must apply to other societies. In other words, gay men are to be as free as their straight equivalents in the society concerned to live their lives in the way that is natural to them as gay men, without the fear of persecution.’

Read more »

Audio: Interview with Malawi LGBT, human rights leader

Interview with Gift Trapence, executive director of Centre for Development of People (CEDEP), Malawi

Related articles

• Malawi government threatens pro-LGBT groups, activists over foreign aid withdrawals (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Malawi, lesbianism is now illegal (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Malawi Religious Leaders Spurn HIV/AIDS Outreach to LGBT Community (boxturtlebulletin.com)

Uganda: MSM misleads again on 'kill the gays bill'

Ugandan MP David Bahati

By Paul Canning

An Associated Press story on developments in the Ugandan Parliament on the so-called 'kill the gays' bill is being widely misread as a 'victory' because its main proponent has supposedly 'conceded' the removal of the death penalty.

However the report - headline: 'No death penalty provision in Uganda anti-gay bill' - is inaccurate, because as Box Turtle Bulletin notes:

"The penalty has not been officially dropped. This is merely a statement of concession that [proponent, Ugandan MP David] Bahati is reiterating, one that he has made many times before. The bill itself remains unchanged."

(Bahati told US Network News host Rachel Maddow in December that he was willing to drop the death penalty.)

The bill would still contain a penalty of lifetime imprisonment for homosexuality. Anyone who doesn't report a homosexual within 24 hours faces three years imprisonment. And the clauses which cover supposed 'advocacy of homosexuality' could conceivably lead to both lawyers defending gay people or parliamentarians proposing changes to the law facing charges. Any landlord renting to gay people could be accused of running a brothel.

After the government made their clearest indication yet that they wanted the bill killed, Bahati's supporters, such as the infamous Pastor Martin Ssempa, have been running a well-funded national campaign in support of the bill which has included the presentation to parliament of a two-million strong petition. They have paid enormous sums of money by Ugandan standards to gay people to hurl false accusations and pose as “ex-gays.”

Ssempa has also blamed the failure to pass the bill on international pressure on Uganda. This has included a ratcheting up of threats to Uganda's aid.

Despite previously acknowledging his connections with powerful US evangelicals, including politicians, Bahati, in recent conversations with Melanie Nathan of American lesbian website LezGetReal, is now reacting strongly against clear evidence of US evangelical inspiration for his bill, describing it as "a conspiracy theory". He told LezgetReal that this would give "pro-Gay Americans license to believe that now Americans have the right to interfere in Uganda’s sovereign laws on the subject of criminalizing homosexuality."

"He says that the belief that the Bill stemmed from the American Evangelicals gives pro gay lobby the grounds they need to attack the [Anti-Homosexuality Bill - AHB] and interfere in Uganda’s sovereignty," LezgetReal wrote. "He says that these people are lying and that it has nothing to do with the American Evangelicals."

"This is perhaps the “red herring” now offered by Bahati, as he is gearing us towards the failure of AHB and stepping up the ante for his internal fight within his own Party, in a voracious attempt to save the AHB and the specifics it adds to the criminalization of homosexuality in Uganda."

It remains unclear whether the Parliament will actually vote on the bill before it closes May 12. The chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has made a number of opaque statements - however Uganda observer Warren Throckmorton noted that the quotes from him in the AP story does suggest that he intends to get the bill a vote.

"Given the information, I have been getting from close to the Cabinet, this will not be viewed favorably by the ruling party," Throckmorton wrote. "An alternative view is that a focus on homosexuality might take the minds of the people off of the recent riots and arrests of opposition party leaders."

In response to the pressure for the bill, governmental sources have said that some provisions could be shifted to other bills - a Penal Code Act and a Sex Offenses Bill - where, says Box Turtle Bulletin, "they stand a better chance of passing with little notice."

Certainly little notice from the mainstream media (MSM), if past experience is anything to go by.

Update: Has Moscow Pride finally won government approval? Not yet

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

GayRussia.ru have issued a statement acknowledging that Moscow Pride has not been approved by Moscow authorities.

Following an earlier press statement by them, media outlets reported the supposed approval. However, as we republished yesterday UK Gay News had noted a report from Interfax-Religion which said that no permission has been granted.

The new GayRussia.ru statement says that Lyudmila Shvetsova, the deputy Mayor of Moscow, is still considering the application, which was submitted April 12.

It says that she told Interfax:

"Their appeal has been addressed to me. Work is being done in line with a procedure existing in the Moscow city administration. We are studying these proposals, and they will receive an answer within due time. I have not given any answers yet".

The statement says that for the event to go ahead it needs a green light both from both the city hall and the Regional Security department.

It says that Interfax has quoted a "voice" from the department saying that "they [the organizers] have not received permission. And they are not likely to get it, even under the guise of a cultural and educational action."

Nikolai Alekseev, Moscow Pride Chief Organizer, said:

"Welcome to Russian politics. I would not be surprised that the City Hall used this trick to tell us that our application was approved in order to check the reaction of the public opinion prior to make up their mind. Well, the good news is that there was no harsh and violent reaction. No one went in the streets to protest. Moscow is not burning today. We can simply see that no one cares. Discussion whether the Pride can or cannot be allowed is nonsense as Russia has no longer any legal basis to forbid it."

However he wrote on his Facebook page that "I think the final dot will come pretty soon..."

Last month Russia lost its appeal against a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) finding for the Moscow Pride organisers in their long fight against the ban on the event. Alekseev said that the organisers have written to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe asking for the support of the organization in implementing the ECHR decision.

Moscow Pride Co-Organizer Nikolai Baev said:

"After this Court decision that we won against Russia in the banning of our Prides, the Council of Europe must stand firm on our side in helping us to have the decision implemented for this year. We feel lonely.."

"Russia will not show itself as a democratic state only by letting the Pride go or not, but that being said, President Medvedev has a unique chance in his hands to give a signal which will be watched and discussed beyond Kremlin," said Alekseev.

The Moscow Pride organisers said that if the event is banned, despite the ECHR's decision, they will organize an event next year on March 13 to collide with the Russian Presidential elections.

"As one of the last discriminated social group in Russia on the issue of freedom of assembly, there is no better forum than the Presidential election to raise this issue" said Nikolai Alekseev.

They suggest that the 2012 timing will attract media attention which "might not please Kremlin".

Former star Cameroonian gay football player scores US asylum

Gaston (fourth from left) and former team colleagues

Source: Seattle Gay News

by Shaun Knittel

Gaston Dissake, 29, has never known life without soccer. For as long as he can remember, the soccer field has been where he found freedom.

Unfortunately for Gaston, an openly Gay man in the oppressive African nation of Cameroon, freedom stopped whenever he left the field. After years of police beatings, attacks from former teammates, and threats on his life, Gaston fled to seek asylum in the U.S., which eventually led him to Seattle and gave him a taste of the civil freedom that he only previously got on the field.

Gaston's story is one of a man who risked all so that he could be free to be himself. He is ready to embrace a Gay community he only read about or saw on TV. Above all, he wants desperately to get back into soccer.

In his home of Cameroon, a country of west-central Africa with over 18 million citizens, association football (soccer) dominates the male culture. Amateur football clubs abound, organized along ethnic lines or under corporate sponsors. The Cameroon national football team has been one of the most successful in the world since its strong showing in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Within that world, Gaston Dissake was a star.

Gaston and I talked over coffee on a rainy afternoon in a café in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. He is polite and soft-spoken, and communicates well, despite his limited knowledge of English. He has a great smile and his face lights up when he talks about his favorite sport.

'I was a well-known soccer player and coach in my country,' he told Seattle Gay News. 'I've played many other sports - tennis, basketball - but soccer has always been my life.'

Gaston told me that, after many years of professional play and minor-league coaching, he became a free agent, playing for teams that needed a player for tournaments. He traveled throughout the African continent, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

In 2003, he explained, 'My life changed forever.'

Read more »

Video: In Russia, investigation finds racism and abuse in asylum centres

Source: BBC

A BBC investigation into Russia's treatment of asylum seekers has found disturbing evidence of neglect, abuse, and overt racial discrimination by officials. Our Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford reports.

Most people who come to Russia seeking political asylum arrive at the international airports in Moscow and St Petersburg, or cross the country's southern borders.

Ochyor, where the Federal Migration Service has set up Russia's only centre for destitute asylum seekers, is in the northern Ural mountains.

To get there from Moscow you have to fly more than 1,000km (600 miles) east to Perm, and then drive for almost two hours. Or you can travel for 1,300 km (800 miles) on the Trans-Siberian railway.

The centre is a collection of mobile homes on a small hill half an hour's walk from the town centre. Ochyor is a historic but run-down place where jobs are hard to come by.

It is not only the isolation of their accommodation that the asylum seekers complain about. They describe a regime of neglect and even fear.

"We asked for asylum and we are being persecuted," says Benjamin N'Guessan from Ivory Coast.

"We were persecuted in our own countries and we are being persecuted here."

Read more »

Has Moscow Pride finally won government approval?

Arrest of Nikolai Alekseev at via Wikipedia

Source: UK Gay News

By Andy Harley

UPDATE

The Moscow city authorities have given the go ahead to this year’s Moscow Gay Pride, it was announced this morning.

But according to Interfax-Religion, no permission has been granted.  The news agency is reporting that an un-named source at the Moscow Regional Security Department said: “They have not received permission ... And they are not likely to get it.”

The Russian-language Gazeta is reporting that permission has been granted.

Moscow Pride is due to be staged as a “cultural and educational public campaign” on Saturday May 28 in the city between 13:00 and 15:00.

“We welcome the historic decision by the city authorities,” Nikolai Alekseev, organizer of Moscow Pride, said this morning, prior to the Interfax report.

“Now the government must provide adequate security for participants in the event, in accordance with the decision of the Court [European Court of Human Rights].

Application to stage the event was made to City Hall and the police on April 12, the day after the European Court of Human Rights rejected “an appeal” by Russia to its previous ruling in the case Alekseev vs Russia that the banning of Moscow Gay Prides in 2006, 2007 and 2008 contravened the European Human Rights Convention.

Mr. Alekseev revealed this morning that the Moscow authorities had asked the organisers to limit the number of participants to 500.  This was agreed, he added.

“The aim of the event will provide the public with objective information about the history of homosexuality in relation to culture and science, the contribution of famous gay people in culture and art, as well as the role of well-known figures of culture and art to protect the rights of LGBT people,” Mr. Alekseev said.

The five previous attempts to stage a Gay Pride in Moscow resulted in bans by the then Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov.  He infamously described Pride as “satanic gatherings”.

Last October, Sergei Sobyanin was appointed Mayor of Moscow following the dismissal of Luzhkov.

Related articles

• In Belarus, LGBT "are not going to surrender" (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Last gay Holocaust survivor to receives France's top honour

Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur

By Paul Canning

The last known survivor of the Nazi holocaust of homosexuals is to be awarded France's top honour, Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), on the recommendation of French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

97 year old Rudolf Brazda spent nearly three years at the Buchenwald concentration camp. His prisoner uniform was branded with the distinctive pink triangle. The award was announced 66 years to the day that he finally left Buchenwald.

Philippe Couillet, president of Les Oublié(e)s de la Mémoire (the association which campaigns for recognition of the suffering of so-called 'pink triangles'), said Brazda's award "marks a further step in the recognition of the deportation of homosexuals" and rewards his bravery in speaking publicly about his experience.

Brazda's life has been documented in a new book 'Das Glück kam immer zu mir' ("Happiness always came to me," which is sort of his motto as he believes he survived through unbroken humor and optimism). Author Alexander Zinn. filmed his research and interviews, as well as Brazda's shattering return to Buchenwald, for a new documentary, which he hopes should come out this year.

It was only in 2008 that Brazda's story first came to light. After hearing of the unveiling of the Berlin moment to the 'pink triangles', he decided to tell his story. He has previously received the gold medals of the cities of Toulouse and Nancy

In spite of his old age, and health permitting, Brazda is determined to continue speaking out about his past, in the hope that younger generations remain vigilant in the face of present day behaviour and thoughts similar to those which led to the persecutions endured by homosexuals during the Nazi era. 

Brazda will receive his award Thursday 28 April during a speech to students at College Puteaux (in Hauts-de-Seine). It will be presented to him by Marie-José of Chombart Lauwe, a former resistance fighter who was deported to the Ravensbrück work camp and who is now president of la Fondation pour la mémoire de la déportation (the Foundation for the memory of the deportation).

HT: Têtu

Related articles

• Last gay Holocaust survivor celebrated in book, documentary (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Video: the last gay Holocaust survivor (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Paper: Moving representations: Queer refugee subjectivities and the law

Thesis by Australian student Senthorun Sunil Raj. It won the 2011 honours thesis prize from The Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA).

"Validating asylum claims on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation rely on discerning what constitutes sexuality and a ‘well founded fear’ of persecution. However, the way these questions assume relevance and are interpreted in asylum law is fraught with epistemological challenges. Authenticating refugees on the basis of sexuality relies on suturing narratives of ‘functioning’ sexuality as causally related to specific incidents of persecution. Emotion, desire and feeling are obscured by a culturally coded administrative method of verification, a narrative process which produces a caricatured, ethnocentric and over determined legal trope of the gay or lesbian asylum seeker. Refugee subjectivity becomes mute within the colonising space in which it seeks asylum. Responding to this, my thesis will examine how and why the queer refugee remains grounded in these narratives of fixed identity."

"Moving beyond such a parochial legal imaginary, I will consider the possibilities of conceiving queer refugee experiences through relational representations and affect. Developing the scope of current debates in asylum law, my thesis will revise how the queer refugee body is constructed in legal and administrative narratives. Using the trope of the ‘queer refugee body’, I reconsider the causal relationship between sexual subjectivity and persecution."

"While the ‘queer refugee body’ has no legal currency in international law, I use it as an
analytic term to encompass bodies that experience persecution framed in terms of their (perceived) ‘queerness’. Queerness as it relates to refugees is not necessarily confined to a universal or fixed sexual identity or identification. Rather, representations of the queer refugee subject must focus on how an asylum seeker experiences and negotiates sexual attachments, spaces, emotions, displacements and violence in both relational and affective terms."

Moving representations: Queer refugee subjectivities and the law

In Cameroon, three more arrests for homosexuality

By Paul Canning

Cameroonian LGBT activists are reporting the arrest of three men for homosexuality.

According to a press release by Alternatives-Cameroon and ADEFHO the three were arrested April 17 by the police in the 8th district of Douala, Cameroon's largest city.

Abubakar Silliki and Yannick Mbezele met to discuss a difference over money. Disagreeing they went to the local police station for mediation but once in the police station, Mbezele accused Siliki of promising him 30, 000 CFA (c€45) after having sex. Police then arrested the two and they were put in jail. A friend Ytembeng Pascal worried by their disappearanc went to the police and was also arrested and imprisoned on the basis of his "very feminine identity" and being "an accomplice of the couple".

After two days the three were released after Alice Nkom, Lawyer and President of ADEFHO, was able to convince a prosecutor of the illegality of their arrest, however their prosecution for homosexuality will continue.

The recently released US State Department report on human rights in Cameroon says that individuals incarcerated in Douala's New Bell Prison for homosexual acts suffered discrimination and violence from other inmates. A report by IGLHRC last year said that police and prison officers routinely abuse detainees they suspect of same-sex sexual relationships. Nkom and others defending LGBT have come under sustained attack, including threats by state officials of possible arrest and with violence from segments of civil society.

In late January 2011, a young gay man, Serges T., was nearly burned alive by a mob in Douala .

HT: ILGA

In Belarus, LGBT "are not going to surrender"

Sergey Yenin

Source: GayRussia/UK Gay News

Fighting for democracy is a real challenge in Belarus, to say the least. Fighting especially for gay rights is even more difficult. In a country where homophobia is widespread, LGBT activists hardly get any support to their cause. Despite the risk it creates for their safety, they still believe that if being visible is a risk, it is also the only chance to change things.

Last year, the first Gay Pride to be held in Minsk was marred with violence from the police and 11 participants were arrested.

In January, a group of activists formed IDAHO Belarus, a local branch of the French-based LGBT NGO. A month later, they scored their first success with the organisation of the first ‘gay-labelled’ rally sanctioned in Minsk.

Hazard, or change of attitude?

The group is still struggling to get their organisation registered by the government – and some of its members have been pressured to spy for the notorious KGB, the local secret service.

In less than a month, they still plan to hold the first Equality Festival which will include a March to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17.

The co-chair of IDAHO Belarus, Sergey Yenin – a young Belarusian activist  who was ‘sacked’ from his university over political activism and arrested at last year’s Minsk Slavic Pride rally, answers our questions.

Q: Only one month after you formed IDAHO Belarus, the City Hall authorised your first rally for gay rights while all previous attempts were banned. Can you tell us more about it?

Read more »

Colombia: censorship, discrimination and corruption on LGBT issues in government

Denuncian homofobia en Colombia

Source: ILGA/Escuela de formación feminista

[Google translation]

The Attorney General's Office did not allow publication of all material generated for the defense of the rights of LGBTI people and especially failed to sign a draft circular to all the prosecution in which just reminded Principles Dignity, Equality and Discrimination, under the International Law of Human Rights (ILHR).

Since last year the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Colombia, Alejandro Ordonez Maldonado, condemned the work rights Daniel Antonio Human Sastoque ahead Coronado, adviser of the Group of Sexual Minorities Ethnic Affairs and the Prosecutor for the Prevention in the Field of Human Rights and Ethnic Affairs in the implementation of Preventive Action No. 04 of 2010 "Strengthening the Role Preventive PGN on LGBTI population Rights (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex)" and, contrary to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Colombia and the Colombian State's international obligations on human rights, assigned roles in the Ontario Regional Office in order to remove it from advocacy and defense of the rights of LGBTI people nationwide, arbitrary decision was not motivated because previous studies lacked the staffing to justify their removal.

The Attorney General's Office did not allow the publication on the website of the entity of all the material generated for the defense of the rights of LGBTI people and especially failed to sign a draft circular to all the Public Ministry ( municipal and district ombudsmen, Ombudsman and Attorney General's Office) in which just remember the principles of Dignity, Equality and Discrimination, n under International Law Human Rights (ILHR), the title also has the LGBTI population of all rights under the Constitution and Human Rights Instruments ratified and approved by the Colombian State and the obligation to comply with the Resolution on Human Rights Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity issued by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Read more »

Botswana: 'tolerant President and intolerant churches'

Pro-gay poster: "Mother if you knew I was gay, would you have stopped loving me?"

Source: GlobalGayz.com

By Richard Ammon

Botswana is both modern urban and simple rural, rich and poor, prosperous and challenged, with both an anti-gay law and a playful assertive gay community the breathes freely. It's a huge country with elephants, deserts, paved roads, a tolerant President and intolerant churches, a big university and various gay-friendly venues, lots of out, young and bold LGBTs. The progressive gay organization LeGaBiBo is suing the government to decriminalize homosexuality.

By coincidence I arrived in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, on a quiet yet historic day of human rights in Botswana: for the first time ever a law suit was filed against the government of Botswana claiming that the existing law criminalizing homosexual behavior (not 'being' homosexual) is unconstitutional.

The suit was jointly filed by LeGaBiBo gay organization (Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana) and a Botswana human rights organization, Bonela (Botswana Network on Ethics, Laws and HIV/AIDS)who have been planning the submission for months. At the press conference the director of Bonela described how the law unfairly discriminates against a certain portion of citizens and is therefore against the constitutional guarantee of equal rights.

In their joint press release they stated: "Homosexuality has been in African culture since time immemorial; it is actually homophobia that is ‘un African’. it was the European colonialists and preachers who imported the hatred against same sex behaviour. They brought the criminal categorization of that behaviour. The acts were indigenous. The name and the crime were imported. The sex laws that some politicians now defend are themselves colonial impositions. Individual identity and individual sexuality are constructed on basic humanness, ‘botho’ (respect and good manners) the self and the inherent right to be 'authentic' - not coerced or imposed by majority culture or religion as suggested by many conservative traditionalists and religious fundamentalists.

"Sexual orientation is essentially a private and personal issue. Unfortunately it has become a public political tool for power and influence in Botswana, misused by politicians, legal authorities and clergy as puppet issue to advocate for  an irrational anti-gay status quo; the result is discrimination, prejudice and hate - definitely un-African values."

It was a powerful moment and an impressive start to my visit to this big country with modern cities, aggressive LGBT activists and a the huge Kalahari desert.

Read more »

Burma's gay population want Thai-style acceptance

Source: AFP

By Rob Bryan

Tin Soe was just four when he realised he was different to other boys in his neighbourhood, but growing up in conservative and army-ruled Myanmar, he struggled to be accepted as gay by his relatives.

"My granddad's sister said that if I became a monk my sexuality would change. So I was a monk for three months, but my sexuality never changed," the 30-year-old said, asking for his real name to be withheld.

A repressive mix of totalitarian politics, religious views and reserved social mores has kept many gay people in the closet in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Gay men have developed their own language as a "gaylingual" code to both signify and conceal their sexuality, said Tin Soe, who now works on HIV/AIDs prevention in Yangon.

"We want to be secret and we don't want to let other people know what we are saying. We twist the pronunciation."

It's a world away from neighbouring Thailand, where a lively gay and transsexual scene is a largely accepted part of society, which - like Myanmar - is mainly Buddhist.

Read more »

In Venezuela, some hope for end to police harassment of LGBT?

Yonathan Matheus

Source: www.unes.edu.ve

[Google translation]

For the Human Rights Defender gender diverse community, Yonathan Matheus, stories of abuse by the old police model, are not stories, are actually very close, which is embodied in the face of many street sex workers Libertador and yours.

To overcome the old police model is necessary for those who have suffered, explain their peculiarities and among all people build new ways to exercise police functions

In many opportunities to talk about the abuses committed by the old police model, it can become an issue anecdotal, can be thought they are prepared to scare stories. This "reach" that trivializes a very serious problem occurs when those violations to the dignity no face.

For the Human Rights Defender gender diverse community, Yonathan Matheus, stories of abuse by the old police model, are not stories, are actually very close, which is embodied in the face of many street sex workers Libertador and yours.

"I have had several brushes with police officers, one for the work they do, which is care work transsexual people working in public road, another by my sexual orientation when I go to the places we frequent as a collective, where socializing, comes, often, the police and confiscate any reason in a disrespectful manner."

With regard to his work, during a round of provision of condoms and information material on the capital's busy street a group of police officers stopped him and threatened to kill him, Matheus has become for some of these representatives of the old police model an uncomfortable presence for their struggle for human rights of this vulnerable group.

Read more »

Malawi government threatens pro-LGBT groups, activists over foreign aid withdrawals

Mwakasungula (left), Trapence (right)

By Paul Canning

Threats to Malawi's foreign aid over its treatment of LGBT people are leading to attacks on civil society organisations.

This week Malawi's Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Dr. George Chaponda said that recent withdrawals of foreign aid by various countries were the fault of two NGO leaders: Human Rights Consultative Commitee (HRCC) chairperson Undule Mwakasungula and executive director of Centre for Development of People (CEDEP) Gift Trapence. Both organisations actively support LGBT rights.

“The country is suffering because of the conduct of some leaders of the civil society. Those people are not patriotic. Some donors have withdrawn their aid and everybody is suffering. More than half of salaries for Ministry of Health come from the donors,” he said.

Chaponda's comments followed the state-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) broadcasting a claim by the Minister of Information and Civic Education Symon Vuwa Kaunda to have "discovered" that Danish groups were funding the NGOs with US$700,000 "to propagate same sex rights in the country for a period of three years."

In an MBC editorial comment, read by the station’s news analyst Mzati Mkolokosa, MBC called on Malawians to 'fight against such activists' saying they are 'not patriotic'.

“They don’t know how much our forefathers suffered to get ourselves decolonized. We are not yet free up to date, yet someone wants to sell us back to the colonialists. Perhaps they haven’t studied global politics and need to be decolonized themselves. But let’s fight against them before they succeed in handing us over to the colonialists,” MBC said.

Chaponda said that his 'discovery' vindicated what the country’s President Bingu wa Mutharika has said: that some NGOs are "being used by external forces to destabilize the government."

“These are the people who are being used as agents from the government’s enemies,” Chaponda said.

Maravi Post columnist Raphael Tentani says that this follows Ntaba claiming that the HRCC was "operating illegally."

"All this was because Mwakasungula and Company had the audacity of reporting President Bingu wa Mutharika and his DPP-led government to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Geneva, Switzerland. The rights body had quite a bagful of worries they wanted the world to be aware of. These included the recent call to arms to "protect me in the streets", the auctioning of freedom with some bizarre price tag on the right to peaceful assembly and discrimination against minority groups, notably gays and lesbians."

Read more »

At Trinidad airport, transgender Belizean told 'go stand in a corner'

Mia Quetzal

Source: Trinidad Express

By Joel Julien

A transgender person from Belize, who was on the way to a regional conference being held in this country, has claimed discrimination by immigration officers at the Piarco International Airport.

Mia Quetzal, a Belizean and regional coordinator of the Caribbean Regional Tran in Action was invited to attend an United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) meeting held in this country 12-13 April.

Quetzal arrived at Piarco International Airport around 4 p.m. on COPA Airlines 411 11 April.

Quetzal was wearing female garments at the time.

When Quetzal's passport was checked, immigration officers questioned why she was listed as a male.

"I am indeed male," Quetzal told the immigration officer.

Quetzal was told to "go stand in a corner" for more than an hour and a half before she was able to leave the airport.

The issue of the alleged discrimination meted out to Quetzal was aired on the Belize national television 7 News on 13 April.

"Recently, we've seen a lot of regional news about friction between Jamaica and Barbados. It's because Jamaican females claim they are being sexually harassed and accused of illicit activity by Barbadian Immigration authorities," the 7 News coverage stated.

"It's become a big deal, because as Caricom member states, Jamaicans should move freely into Barbados or any other Caricom country. And that's how it should be for Belizeans as well. But now, one Belizean gay activist group claims that a Belizean transgender person was sexually discriminated against at Piarco International Airport in Trinidad," the news programme stated.

Caleb Orozco, the executive president of the United Belize Advocacy Movement, has described the incident as "deliberate humiliation".

"This person had her documents together. She changed her picture to present how she looks in person, she had the correct name. Yet she was treated like a dog," Orozco stated in a letter yesterday.

"For us to simply allow another Belizean to be humiliated in another Caricom country is not only a disgrace but an insult to our national sovereignty," Orozco stated.

Colin Robinson, the spokesman for the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) of Trinidad and Tobago, described the incident as an "embarrassment to the country".

"It's an embarrassment to the country. Clearly unprofessional no need to shame and embarrass people for who they are," Robinson said in a telephone interview yesterday.

"My hope is that it will spur the Ministry of National Security to improve sensitivity to other Caricom nationals. Our hope is it is an opportunity for education for sexual and gender diversity and that the immigration officials appropriate training to deal with the issue," he said.

"The Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) needs to figure out if we want to be a first class nation or an international embarrassment," Robinson said.

Calls to Chief Immigration Officer Andy Edwards for a comment on the issue proved futile up to presstime.

Related articles

• In Trinidad and Tobago LGBT advocate for rights (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Persecution claims of Caribbean LGBT asylum seekers 'not exaggerated' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

International pressure on anti-gay laws in Africa must not stop

The Musevenis and Obamas

Source: The Guardian

By Paul Canning

When the Ugandan government announced that the anti-homosexuality bill was on hold, those pushing it immediately blamed international pressure on President Yoweri Museveni. Pastor Martin Ssempa said that the bill was "being deliberately killed largely by the undemocratic threats of western nations".

He has a point. A campaign delivered half a million signatures to Museveni, various governments lobbied, the Germans said they'd cut aid, and now the US Congress has amended financial legislation (with bipartisan support) that would cut aid to countries deemed to be persecuting gay people. Introducing the legislation, congressman Barney Frank highlighted Uganda and noted that "the US has a fairly influential voice in the development area".

Timothy Geithner, the US treasury secretary, has now said in a letter to Frank that his Treasury department "will continue to instruct the US executive directors at each of the MDBs [multilateral development banks] to seek to channel MDB resources away from those countries whose governments engage in a pattern of gross violations of human rights".

Pressure is also mounting from Europe. The European parliament passed a resolution in December "reminding" Africa that "the EU is responsible for more than half of development aid and remains Africa's most important trading partner" and that "in all actions conducted under the terms of various partnerships" that sexual orientation is a protected category of non-discrimination.

How financial pressure will play out remains to be seen. This month massive US funding for improving Malawi's power supply network went through despite that country criminalising lesbians.

Someone blinked regarding Malawi but there is undoubtedly more pressure on governments who repress gay people than ever before. Germany didn't blink and did cut Malawi aid.

Like Uganda, moves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to criminalise gay people have also stalled – again diplomats have raised their concerns. But now there's a backlash.

In Uganda, Ssempa presented a two-million-signature petition to parliament on 7 April demanding that the anti-gay bill be passed (and damn the consequences). In Cameroon there is a huge fuss over European Union funding for a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) advocacy group.

Read more »

Iranian and gay: silent or in exile

BBC interview with 'Farrokh', a gay Iranian teacher and activist in exile in Turkey.



Source: hairypersiangay

I am an Iranian Gay. I am in the closet. I want to inform the other people, specially from middle east, about the gay people. We were born this way! Please, treat us as other str8 persons! We are the same as others, sexual orientation is just one part of each personality!



This video was produced to mark the The Day of Silence, 16 April, which originated with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) in the US as an annual day of action to protest the bullying and harassment of LGBT students and their supporters.

In UK, asylum seeker housing budget slashed

Image by dannyfowler via Flickr

Source: Inside Housing

The UK Border Agency is to slash the amount of money it spends on providing housing for asylum seekers by 17 per cent next year.

The UKBA was forced to reveal its plans following a freedom of information request submitted by Inside Housing. The agency’s provisional spending on accommodation in 2010/11 is £164 million. Its budget for 2011/12 is £135.5 million.

The FOI request also revealed the UKBA is making the savings by slashing the number of contracts it holds with accommodation providers from 28 to 22 - a drop of 21 per cent. And some providers have had their contracts extended for 12 months, but face being axed next year.

The UKBA will run a full tendering process for 2012/13 contracts during 2011 through its COMPASS project, to replace current contracts and further reduce costs.

Several of the axed contracts were held by local authorities, while many of its contracts with private providers were left in place. A deal with a consortium of seven councils in the north - NECARS - has been dropped leaving private company Jomast the sole provider in the region.

Pete Widlinsci, information and communications manager at charity North of England Refugee Service, said:

‘We have no problems with the private sector providing accommodation but there needs to be a mix of providers.’ This was because it provided greater competition and kept councils in direct touch with issues affecting asylum seekers, he added.

Dave Stamp, project manager at Birmingham-based advice service Asylum Support and Immigration Resource Team, said he believed the UKBA had based its selection of providers mainly on cost.

Read more »

Antiguan dignitary criticises government's LGBT rights stand

Source: Antigua Observer

Human Rights Activist Sir Clare Roberts has told [the Antigua & Barbuda] government it should have taken the lead in the local fight to reduce stigma and discrimination against persons of a different sexual orientation by signing a recent United Nations statement on Gay Rights.

“Government has to set the trend. It can’t just follow the sentiments of the populace; you have to do the right thing and lead people in the right direction. I suspect Antigua did not sign because it would not make for good domestic coverage,” he surmised.

The former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was referring to the agreement which 85 states signed last month, committing them to taking steps to end violence, criminal sanctions and related human rights violations linked to sexual orientation or gender identity.

He is disappointed that Antigua & Barbuda is not a signatory, noting that increasingly the human rights record of countries are being put on the front burner and are guiding bilateral relations.

“It’s being looked at more and more in terms of trade, loans from the World Bank but I’m not sure that in this particular instance not signing the statement will have that great an impact on Antigua’s relationship with other countries,” Sir Clare said.

He lamented the fact that the Antigua & Barbuda public is growing more intolerant of the rights of gays, lesbians and trans-sexuals but dismissed as “melodramatic” suggestions that they are unsafe here.

“I am not aware of violent incidents against gays here. I think it is to be a little melodramatic in Antigua to say gays are in fear of their lives. The intolerance has not reached the level of, say, Jamaica where people have been killed just for their sexual orientation,” the human rights activist said.

The US State Department’s 2010 Human Rights Report on Antigua & Barbuda stated that some gays and lesbians said they feared being open about their lifestyle would result in possible violence.

Sir Clare added that the answer is “education, education, education, in whatever form, because the intolerance is growing. You just have to listen to the talk-shows. People have to be educated as to human rights and the rights of others.”

Related articles

• US State Dept human rights report picks up LGBT asylum issues in UK (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: binational same-sex couples torn apart in USA

Source: alloutorg



Because they are gay, Josh can't sponsor Henry's visa to stay in the US even though they are legally married in the state of Connecticut. No one deserves to be taken away from the ones they love. On May 6th, Henry faces deportation to Venezuela. If we don't act, their family may be torn apart. The head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano has the power to stop the deportations, but it will take a massive public outcry to force her to stand up for Josh and Henry - and the 36,000 other families who face a similar fate. Sign the petition to keep Josh and Henry together: http://www.allout.org/tornapart

Source: MSNBC



Judy Rickard took an early retirement and a reduced pension so she could be assured of more time with her partner, a British citizen whose stays in the U.S. are limited to six months.

Read more »

UNHCR official calls for 'step up' on protection for LGBT refugees

Vincent Cochetel

Source: UNHCR

By Dasha Smith

A senior UNHCR official has called for stepped up efforts to protect the thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers persecuted every year for their sexual orientation and gender identity.

"We, along with the rest of the international community, must renew efforts to protect this vulnerable group," said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR's representative in the United States, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex refugees and asylum-seekers in countries of first asylum and resettlement countries.

Cochetel, addressing a Washington conference organized by the US-based Human Rights First organization, added that their lack of resources and access to safety must be a concern for everyone.

The recent three-day meeting brought together civil society groups, US government officials and UNHCR staff to discuss protection issues, best practices and the challenges faced by this vulnerable group of forcibly displaced people.

They heard about specific cases of abuse, including the story of a young Somali asylum-seeker who was kidnapped in Kenya and repeatedly raped. When the man finally managed to escape, he resorted to commercial sex work just to keep alive. His case was put forward as an example of where protection systems were failing to help people being persecuted due to sexual orientation and gender identity.

East Africa is one of many regions where homosexual conduct is condemned and criminalized – sometimes resulting in the death penalty. Many refugees are deprived of employment and housing, isolated from the rest of the community and in dire need of assistance.

Delegates heard that 75 countries in the world criminalize consensual same-sex relations, including the death penalty in seven of them. But in many other countries, prejudice against homosexuals is deeply entrenched and can lead to persecution and abuse.

Read more »

International Day Against Homophobia events announced

The Intentional Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) has announced more events to take place on or around May17.

Fighting so-called 'reparative' therapies, aiming at "curing" sexual and gender diversity, is emerging as a theme.

A coalition of groups from Latin America and the Caribbean has launched a campaign called "Cures that kill". First signatories include the Brazilian Federal Council of Psychology, Mariela Castro and the Mayor of Lima.

• Read the full appeal and sign the petition

In Peru a week long programme in Lima includes a national seminar on 'reparative' therapies.

In Italy, Catholics will hold a Vigil of Prayer for the victims of homophobia.

The Latin Americans are seeking support from the international community and the wider public.

The IDAHO Committee has an online "As I Am" campaign which aims to "celebrate our individualities and to honor the collective spirit that binds us all, connecting us to universal, inalienable and interconnected human rights that all people share". It has invited submissions of creative videos, artwork, or written statements "about respecting a person for ALL of who they are".

May 17, the 20 national editions of the free daily METRO, read by 17 million people, will be edited by Lady Gaga. There is a contest for Gaga assistants.

Turkish LGBT group KAOS GL will launch a regional network against homophobia, as part of the sixth international IDAHO conference in Ankara. They said:

"The Conference for Middle East and Balkan Countries’ Homosexuals was a dream when we declared our foundation 16 years ago and shaped our liberation perspective. Liberation and survival struggles of LGBT in our region has always been a constant consideration for Kaos GL, one of the first LGBT organisations in Turkey. The reflections of all ethnic, religious and cultural diversity seen in the Middle Eastern, Caucasus and Balkan countries exist in Turkey’s society. Kaos GL has strived for this diversity to represent and express itself in the LGBT movement since its foundation."

"Homophobia is institutionalised in civil society and the public area by blending racism and nationalism in the countries of this region, including Turkey. Institutionalised homophobia integrates into historical animosities between the countries of our region and increases existing alienation between peoples. It is the LGBT organisations and the regional network between these organisations that will have to resist homophobic and sexist reflections of racist and nationalist policies in our region."

Read more »