2011 round up: Part two: The growth of international projects

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

By Paul Canning

I'll be rounding up the year in a series of posts - in which no doubt I've missed something, so please let me know what I've missed in the comments!

The growth of international projects

The May 17 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), initiated by the black gay French leader Louis-Georges Tin, exploded this year with events from Lebanon to Fiji - in all over 70 countries took part.

One highlight amongst many: the presence, the voice of Burmese LGBT at events in Thailand. The spread of participation also highlighted the gaps - such as most of the Middle East and North Africa and elsewhere in Africa - as well as the almost total absence of IDAHO events in the United States.

The 'It Gets Better' project tackling bullying of LGBT teens and suicide drew large (although almost completely partisan) participation in the US but extended beyond to Finland, Canada, the UK, the EU, Malaysia, South Africa and Sweden. Diaspora Middle Eastern gays produced videos. In other countries, like the Netherlands and the UK, their own anti-bullying projects were launched with state backing.

In Africa we've seen the growth of networks (and networking) such as via the now 831-member strong International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) African branch, headquartered in South Africa, as well as of other pan-African networks like Amsher, which focuses on HIV/AIDS projects for both gay men as well as men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). There was also new LGBT media in Africa: The news website Behind The Mask, again out of South Africa, grew with many new correspondents covering much of the continent. There are two new LGBTI magazines in Kenya, one online and another in print. In September Q-zine launched as "the pan-African voice for LGBTI and queer youth".

'Pride' and the rainbow flag became increasingly visible in India with marches seen both in new cities and more and bigger events in the biggest cities. 2011 saw increasing depictions and discussions of homosexuality in the Indian news media and by Bollywood.

The impact of international funding and organised training in Africa and elsewhere showed in more professional organising and in improved relationships with both civil society and with local media. A particular highlight is Kenya which now has scores of groups including ones in remote areas. International HIV/Aids funding began to recognise a requirement to fund gay/MSM local projects and to oppose the criminalisation of homosexuality because of its impact on HIV/Aids prevention, however 2012 will likely see a setback with the announcement of a funding crisis at the biggest funder, the Global Fund.

Organised religious support for LGBT rights in Africa also grew, particularly marked by the work of the group Other Sheep, and the international activism of Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, from Uganda.

The international LGBT-specific 'clictivism' project allout.org grew to over a million members, highlighting the core role of the Web and social media in LGBT activism everywhere, but also the flip-side of activism's susceptibility to monitoring and crackdown - as has been tried in Turkey.

Earlier this month the United States announced that it was embedding international LGBT human rights engagement throughout government, including creating a new fund for grass-roots projects and directing that anti-discrimination be encouraged from USAID contractors. This announcement builds on earlier efforts, mainly of some European governments like the Dutch, who announced this year the creation of a huge fund for MSM/gay HIV/Aids projects that will help isolated communities, mainly in Africa.

In a development which will have long term implications, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which covers Latin America and the Caribbean, set up an LGBT rights unit.

Related articles

• In West Africa, Nigerians to train LGBT advocates for the region (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• What preceded Hillary Clinton's UN speech? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: Envisioning LGBT Human Rights (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Burmese LGBT speak out at IDAHO event in Thailand

Image by rocor via Flickr

Source: The Irrawaddy

Anti-homophobia activists from Burma who attended an event in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 17 May said that gays and transsexuals in the country are subjected to systematic abuse and ill-treatment in their country.

The event, held to mark International Day Against Homophobia, attracted about 40 gay rights activists from Burma.

One of the attendees, Aunty Sein, told The Irrawaddy that the Burmese authorities openly discrimination against people based upon their sexual orientation.

“They extort money from us, bar us from public service, and even in hospitals, we are are badly discriminated against,” said the Rangoon-based makeup artist.

“Even though International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is being celebrated in over 140 countries around the world, we aren’t allowed to join with others in Burma. I therefore came to Chiang Mai for this event,” Sein said.

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia commemorates the World Health Organization's decision on May 17, 1997, to stop listing homosexuality as a mental illness or abnormality.

Aung Myo Min, the director of the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), noted that movies and videos in Burma do not show any respect toward homosexuals, but portray them as jokes and people of low social status. He said he would combat that attitude together with Burmese artists until it has been completely eliminated.

“If a homosexual person is cast in a movie, he or she just plays the role of a clown who is finally forced to return to his or her original sex. No one shows them any respect. We have to make this all change,” said Aung Myo Min.

He also said that homosexuals who gather from across the country to attend the Taung Pyone spirit festival and the Yadanar Cave festival in Mattaya Township, Mandalay Division, are often humiliated by the local authorities.

“Some homosexual revelers are forced to strip off their clothes and are verbally abused during the Taung Pyone festival,” he said.

Homosexuals are not only victims of discrimination and abuses in the community but also in their own families. Training and awareness-raising have been going on to empower them, said Naw Naw, a coordinator of HREIB.

Naw Naw said that “if a gay person goes out in female clothes, he will get yelled at and humiliated.”

The Burmese authorities reportedly use two laws to repress gays - one banning “suspicious behavior” and Act 377, which bars homosexual intercourse. If a gay person is stopped by the police late at night, they could be charged under either law, resulting in extortion and abuse.

“We advocate revoking Act 377, which is the main legal tool for oppression of the homosexual community,” said Naw Naw.

A case that occurred last year highlighted the need to change the legal status of homosexuals in Burma, said Naw Naw. It involved a young gay man who sold betel nut near Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon. The 18-year-old man was gang-raped by a group of policemen after he was detained for failing to pay money that the police demanded.

“He was raped by nine policemen through the whole night, but no legal action was ever taken against the perpetrators,” said Naw Naw.

The ceremony in Chiang Mai was attended by people from Rangoon, Mandalay, Moulmein, Meiktila and other parts of Burma, as well as people from Thailand, the Philippines, the US and Europe.

Although gays are still looked down on by many in Burma, more homosexual couples can be seen in public these days, said attendees from Rangoon.

Related articles

• Burma's gay population want Thai-style acceptance (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Southeast Asian LGBT organise, come together, demand their rights

ASEAN flag image via Wikipedia  

Statement of the first ASEAN Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) People’s Caucus

From May 2 to May 5, 2011 over forty lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenders, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) activists representing 8 out of ten Southeast Asian countries came together in a historic assembly for the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] People’s Forum to tell their governments that the status quo is not acceptable and that the recognition, promotion, and protection of LGBTIQ rights is long overdue.

ASEAN is the cradle of the Yogyakarta Principles, a landmark articulation of internationally recognized human rights instruments in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and yet LGBTIQs in ASEAN countries consistently face criminalization, persecution, discrimination and abuse because of who they are.

In Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Burma, authorities arrest, detain and persecute individuals because of colonial laws that criminalize their sexual orientation or gender identity. In other ASEAN countries, certain laws are abused with impunity to harass or persecute individuals whose sexuality or gender is deemed unacceptable, immoral, or unnatural: anti-prostitution, anti-trafficking, or anti-pornography laws in Indonesia and the Philippines are applied to conduct illegal raids in gay establishments or to nab transgenders, oftentimes subjecting them to humiliation and extortion. The anti-kidnapping law in the Philippines is likewise used to forcibly break apart lesbian couples living under consensual and legitimate relationships.

We are part of the people of ASEAN, and yet across the region we are treated as criminals and as second class citizens.

Instead of representing the interests of all citizens, many governments and state institutions become instruments of religious and sectarian prejudice. In Surabaya, Indonesia, the police was complicit in an attack by an intolerant religious group against the participants of an international LGBTIQ conference.

A climate of stigma and discrimination prevails in most, if not all, ASEAN countries. From Vietnam to Brunei Darussalam, social stigma persists. Sexual orientations and gender identities outside heterosexuality and patriarchal gender norms are considered as a sickness that can be corrected through rape, reparative camps like in Besut, Malaysia, only one of several camps in the country, and other damaging psycho-social measures.

Access to basic services, from health to education, is denied on the basis of one’s presumed or actual sexual orientation or gender identity. Stigma has contributed to the steep rise in HIV infection among at-risk populations like men who have sex with men and transgenders, making it difficult for preventive interventions to reach them.

But our movements are growing. In various parts of the region, pride is unraveling and we will not take exclusion sitting down. LGBTIQ activists and organizations continue to actively engage government institutions, mass media, and civil society for equal rights and basic fairness. It is in this spirit of pride and dignity that we are reclaiming our rightful space in our respective countries and demand our governments to:

• Immediately repeal laws that directly and indirectly criminalize SOGI, recognize LGBTIQ rights as human rights, and harmonize national laws, policies and practices with the Yogyakarta Principles.
• Establish national level mechanisms and review existing regional human rights instruments (e.g. AICHR, ACWC) to include the promotion and protection of the equal rights of all people regardless of SOGI with the active engagement of the LGBTIQ community.
• Depathologize SOGI and promote psychosocial well-being of people of diverse SOGI in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, and ensure equal access to health and social services.

We will not be silenced by prejudice. For a people-centered ASEAN, LGBTIQ rights now!

The ASEAN LGBTIQ Caucus:

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Video: Malaysia is CANING asylum seekers

Source: ABC Radio Australia

WARNING: This video contains images which may disturb



By Gavin Fang

Amnesty International has accused Malaysia of human rights violations against asylum seekers as it cracks down on people smuggling.

Refugees in Malaysia face detention and caning, and Amnesty says Australia which provides money and training to the country's maritime police is complicit in the ill-treatment.

Malaysia is a key transit country and asylum seekers are known to hide in the coastal villages before heading south by boat towards Indonesia and Australia.

Commander Khoo Teng Chuan of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency says the Malacca Straits, off Port Klang, are a key location in people smuggling.

"This is one of the areas where they will bring the people out," he said.

"So basically what the boat will do, [it] will come here, embark the illegal migrants and then they will leave from here."

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