More protests against anti-gay Nigerian bill

By Paul Canning

Nigerian activists with Nigerian LGBTQI in Diaspora, friends and allies, and campaigners with AllOut.org rallied outside of the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations 5 December and delivered a petition with 60,000 signatures.

The Nigerian Senate has passed a bill that would make it a punishable offense—of up to 14-years in prison—for anybody to go to a gay bar, to work for or be involved with LGBT organizations, or to be in an openly gay relationship.

Anyone who doesn't report men or women living together - a 'gay marriage' in this bill - would also be punished. The bill (see copy below) appears to punish anyone supporting LGBT human rights, or even writing about gay people.

After passage through the Senate the bill goes through the House of Representatives before requiring the President's signature.

“Stop turning us into refugees,” Ifeanyi Orazulike, Director of the International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health (ICARH) said at Monday's rally.

“Instead of passing anti-gay laws, Nigeria needs to focus on repealing its sodomy laws, laws that were originally imposed by British colonialism."

The Consul-General of Nigeria to the UN, Mr Habib Habu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that was told that the protesters came around and left after a while without demanding to present their grievances to anyone.

"I learnt it's like people making a brief stop-over for a while. If they had requested for me, I would have received them," he said.

The bill has been publicly criticised by the businessman Richard Branson.

“All of us with influence in Nigeria must do what we can to stop this cruel law. I would urge educated Nigerians all over the world to do what they can to help fight this discrimination,” he wrote.

The small protests, as well as the large petition, have generated substantial media coverage in Nigeria.

As well, BBC News carried this video interview with Queer Alliance activist Rashidi Williams, who was one of the activists shouted down at the Nigerian Senate hearing last month.

An ongoing theme of the reports as well as comments in social media is the impact if the bill becomes law in generating refugees.

Speaking to This Day Live, bisexual Nigerian diaspora activist Yemisi Ilesanmi said:

"Criminalising same sex relationships makes us refugees; it turns us into asylum seekers in other countries. This also affects our beloved country as emigration causes brain drain." 

"Many talented Nigerians are living in Diaspora openly as gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. We contribute positively to the development of our country of residence but we are afraid to come live and contribute to the development of our motherland because of fear of victimisation. We visit home with trepidation because at home we have to live a life full of lies and deny who we are for us to be accepted.  Why do we want to keep subjecting our citizens to such psychological and emotional torture?" 

"Some Nigerian Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transsexuals and Intersex living in Diaspora are married to same sex partners or planning to do so.  Section 1(3) of this bill states that a valid same sex marriage entered into abroad would not be valid in Nigeria. This is unfair." 

"We as Nigerian LGBTIs living in Diaspora do not want to be isolated from our family members and childhood friends. Many of us grew up in Nigeria and are happy to call Nigeria our motherland. However, because of the misconception surrounding our sexual orientation, and the criminalisation of thereof, we are estranged from our loved ones. Families have been broken, friendship links cut off and hate fostered - all because of ignorance and misunderstanding." 

"Many Africans became intolerant of homosexuality and transsexuals only after foreign religions were imposed on them. In many African cultures, homosexuals and transsexuals were revered and worshipped as spirits of the gods. Sango, the god of thunder was often described as a beautiful man who dressed and accessorised and had his hair braided like a woman. Sango priests, all men, dress in women apparels when performing traditional rituals. Now tell me that is un-African!" 

"I am Proudly African and I am mystified whenever I am accused of "promoting and defending European sexual perversity" (whatever that means). In fact from various historical paintings on Ancient Africans walls, our ancestors enjoyed homosexual sex, affection and love and that was one reason Christian missionary colonisers immediately imported their sodomy laws into our constitutions; they imported homophobia because they thought our free loving ancestors were barbarians!" 

"Many claim Homosexuality is Alien to Africa. I am an African, I am bisexual, I was bisexual before I ever met any white person or stepped foot on European shore, so does that mean I am a fake African?"

• More photos from the rally

Nigeria Same Sex Marriage Bill-final

Read more »

Video: Queer Pride celebrated in Delhi and Bangalore

Picture by Aditya Bondyopadhyay

Some 2000 people joined the forth Delhi Queer Pride 27 November, the second since India's Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality.

Organized by the Delhi Queer Pride Committee, all permissions were taken from the Delhi Police to host this march, and the police provided security cover during the event with over 40 male and female police personnel present.

The march ended in Jantar Mantar with a reading of the 'Charter of Demands for LGBT Rights' and a 2 minute silence for those Hijra sisters who died in the recent Nand Nagri fire tragedy.

India TV News quoted Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, who recently participated in the fifth season of TV reality show ‘Big Boss’, saying:

“Most of those who died were prominent gurus. When parents shut their doors to a hijra child born in the family, it is these gurus who adopt them. They are like our parents. Many in my community have been orphaned.”

Delhi LGBT held a parade, titled 'Jashn-e-Azadi' (a celebration of freedom), in June on the second anniversary of the Supreme court decision to spread awareness about the problems faced by the community like forced marriages, discrimination at workplace, social stigma and ostracisation.


In Bangalore, 800 attended the Pride march 30 November, the culmination of a week-long festival organised by the Campaign for Sexualities Minorities Rights (CSMR).

The Hindu reported:

A highlight of Pride 2011 was that many new people participated, irrespective of their sexual orientation. “The garage sale [a fundraiser] and poster-making sessions brought the participation of several enthusiastic persons, some of them first-timers. And the pride march attracted techies who announced their support to the LGBT community with heart-warming placards. All these are positive signs that the LGBT community is slowly gaining acceptance,” said CSMR volunteer Sowmya Reddy

More video

Read more »

Video: Protest locks down Glasgow UKBA reporting centre

Source: NCADC

On Monday, NCADC joined the Unity protest in Glasgow against the resumption of dawn raids on asylum-seeking families in the city. Unity had called the protest after two lone parent mothers were raided the week before, including Nigerian mum Funke Olubiyi and her five year old son Joseph, residents of Govan.

NCADC walked to the protest with refugees and volunteers from Govan and Craigton Integration Network, and supporters from No Borders North East, up from Newcastle for the day. At Brand Street we met our friends from Unity, Justice and Peace Scotland and Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees.

The protest had begun at 7am, when three activists chained themselves to the gates of the reporting centre, while one scaled a scaffolding tripod, blocking the gates and making sure that no dawn raid vans would leave the UKBA car park that day. They were soon joined by about 100 or so supporters, including many asylum seekers who spoke of the fear they feel every time they have to report, and now the fear of being raided at home.

There was music and drumming and singing of African and Scottish songs and hymns. After a couple of hours the three chained to the gates were removed, but the man on the tripod stayed in the air for an impressive 10 hours, finally coming down at 5 o'clock.

The point had been made, and the media coverage helped spread the word: people in Glasgow still believe that dragging mothers and children from their beds to detention and deportation is totally unacceptable. The practice was stopped in Glasgow in 2006, following a long campaign of protests, direct action, campaigning and lobbying. It appears that a new campaign is starting in the city.

Related articles

• In UK: Border hostilities: Passport to the media-policy merry-go-round (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: Very brief gay pride parade in Minsk, Belarus

Source: svabodavideo

Demo location

Source: naviny.by

Gay activists staged a gay pride march in Minsk’s remote neighborhood Shabany on Saturday 22 October evening in defiance of the city authorities’ ban.

Some 20 people marched 40 meters along a busy road in the southeastern neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, holding up rainbow flags and chanting “For Belarus without homophobia!”

The march lasted some 10 minutes. No policemen could be seen nearby.

Syarhey Androsenka, one of the organizers of the march, told reporters at the scene that he was not ashamed to be gay. Gay people should have the same rights as other citizens of Belarus and should not be subjected to discrimination, he said.

“As you can see, the march has not disturbed a single driver or pedestrian,” Mr. Androsenka added.

The organizers initially wanted to stage the march in the Sosny neighborhood located nearby.

Ihar Karpenka, deputy chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, said in his reply to the organizers` application for permission that the proposed venue is less than 50 meters away from facilities that are of vital importance to the local community. The official claimed that the march would cause disruption to "pedestrian and even vehicle traffic."

The 2011 Minsk Gay Pride Parade kicked off in the Belarusian capital city on October 11. Music concerts are to be held within its framework on Saturday evening and Sunday.

Related articles

• Belarus gay activist says British company fired him because he is gay (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Belarus bans Pride again, as mysterious homophobic leaflet appears in Minsk (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Serbia's election campaign "played role in canceling of gay parade"

Pic: Jonathan Davis

By Paul Canning

A week after the Serbian government announced that Belgrade Pride Parade was banned following threats of mass, violent counter-demonstrations organised by nationalists and fanatical Christian Orthodox supporters, four prominent Belgrade-based journalists took part in a talk show organised by the liberal, independent channel B92.

All of them agreed that the ban was about politics and upcoming elections.

The Editor of Novi Standard, Željko Cvijanović, pointed out that a large majority of Serbians oppose the Parade. According to a study by the World Values Survey (WVS) and the Gallup Balkan Monitor, Serbians are the most prejudiced against LGBT in South-Eastern Europe - 80% oppose 'all forms of expression of homosexual orientation'.

Writing for riskandforecast.com, Political Capital explains why:

"Economic backwardness, gaping social/economic inequality, the post-Communist legacy and religion are major factors and strong predictors of hostility towards homosexuals."

Said Cvijanović of the 2011 Parade ban:

"The citizens have defeated their political class, which for the first time in the past three years demonstrated that it was afraid of the citizens, and I think that's a victory of sorts."

Political Capital says that that political class' attitude to homophobia is a major stumbling block on the road to the European Union.

"Accordingly, when trying to navigate down that road the governing political elite must demonstrate its tolerance of sexual minorities, while the public in these very same countries is fanatically and often aggressively intolerant of homosexuals, of their “exhibitionist” parades and rejects the extension of civil rights. However, this often limits the political elite’s scope for action on this issue and leads to a unique double-talk. Politicians are required to show open-mindedness to the outside to demonstrate having done their “homework” on rights issues while, fearing a popular backlash (reflected at the polls), internally they handle the issue more gingerly."

The Editor of the liberal weekly news magazine Vreme, Dragoljub Žarković, noted that the society was "only capable of organizing itself when some minority group needed to be belittled and threated to be beaten".

"Where's serious rebellion - a rebellion of the citizens against bad living?" Žarković asked. "They're not standing up against the low standard, against being left without apartments, ripped off by the banks, against living worse each day, instead, we're standing up against what - a tiny group of 300 to 400 people who would probably have taken a completely peaceful walk."

Editor of the weekly NIN, Nebojša Spaić. noted that:

"One of the reasons for canceling the Pride Parade was what is appearing in other socials segments and in other ways, and that is the utter inability of the authorities to deal with any real problem, and constant manufacturing of balloons of media lies and Potemkin villages, while the essential problem of this government is that it has no substance, no ideology."

[A 'Potemkin village, based on the Stalinist trick for Western visitors in the 1930s, is 'an impressive facade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition'.]

Journalists Union head Ljiljana Smajlović said that, unlike last year when the Parade took place in the midst of a mass riot and injuries to 100 policeman and Serbia was praised by EU governments as a result, this year the government had an eye on elections.

"This year the authorities decided it was more profitable to let the U.S. embassy and Brussels get angry, but to avoid irritating that majority," she said.

Related articles

• Serbia: Belgrade's Gay Pride Parade Banned (globalvoicesonline.org)
• Audio: The Sisyphean task of Belgrade's gay pride march (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Why Syrian LGBT people should join the revolution

Image by ElvertBarnes via Flickr

By Sami Hamwi, Syria Editor of Gay Middle East

Seven months ago, most Syrian gay men I know were either neutral or pro-Assad. While many have decided later to be on the side of the revolution, some, surprisingly, still believe that this regime is the best for them. However, hope now is in lesbians who have more resilience to fight against this oppressive regime.

I have witnessed over the years how this regime was everything but tolerant when it comes to LGBT people.

• 1980’s and 1990’s were almost the same for gay men in Syria. Back then, only the lucky ones had land phones. Telecommunications in Syria were an image of the 1960’s communications in most other countries. I still remember the angry voice of the centralist when I used to call my grandmother, who actually was related to us somehow! Those difficulties worked side by side with the paranoia most gay Arabs have to limit any possibility of regular inter-gay relationships or friendships.

• 1995 marked my first tries to explore cruising areas. I was often harassed by policemen and/or secret police, who have always tried to intimidate young people to fulfill their sick needs of control.

• In 1996, I was asked several times by secret police for my ID, and told not to sit or go to certain places at certain hours i.e. “not to cruise during peak cruising hours”, if I want to avoid “social humiliation” as they eloquently said.

• In 1998, I personally witnessed a raid on a park in Aleppo. It was horrifying… People were beaten and dragged to police cars. I remember thinking that I have to run in order not to be identified as a “regular cruiser”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only raid I have witnessed.

• In 2001, nearly a year after Bashar al-Assad became the current illegitimate president of Syria, raids were made on hammams and cruising areas in Damascus and Aleppo. Police and secret police raided gay places and parties for the next 9 years. Some raids were more regular and reoccurring to form real campaigns targeting gay people in the years of 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2010.

• In 2010, when gay life in Syria started to take some kind of a shape and form, police started their most vicious campaign targeting hammams, cruising areas, and gay parties. More than 35 men were arrested in a single gay party and were exposed to their families and communities. The lucky ones managed to escape to other countries, and the rest were left to face the social punishment.

Lesbians are highly persecuted by family members if they tried to express their sexuality in any form. The regime’s claims about women being equal to men before the law are mere lies to anyone who knows how the Syrian society functions. I personally know someone who was literally sold to an older man as a “wife”, while in fact she is more like a servant to him and to his family only because she told her older sister “I am attracted only to girls, I cannot imagine myself with a man”.

I remember the day when former Tunisian president Bin Ali fled Tunisia to be the day that brought back my long lost dream of living in free Syria. While I was surrounded by people like me at work, who have always dreamt of a free country, some of my gay friends shocked me with their ignorance of what had been happening to us, gay people, in Syria, and with their little remembrance of what has been happening to gay people over the last decade. Most of them have always known my political views and some of them stopped or at least avoided being in contact with me.

It is a fact that this revolution had reshaped my social relationships. For example, my uncles have become in real enmity with me because most of them do not want the change to reach Syria. However, this doesn’t change the fact that I had never been in good terms with them even before this revolution started.

The last seven months have also revolutionised my homophobic friends’ views on homosexuality with more gays and lesbians joining our group of activists. I preferred to keep my sexuality hidden from them for years, and at some points I regretted it, especially now when I hear the words “gay” and “lesbian” spoken with lesser hate and more acceptance. Nevertheless, I still find it too soon to dream of acceptance by those people who I admire for their courage because homophobic jokes and statements are still being made in the absence of other LGBT people. Yet, it is a dream this revolution has revived as well as many other long lost dreams.

Gay people of Syria should follow the lead of Syrian lesbians who have been fighting for freedom. It is the time for dreams, even though the most desired dream is yet to be accomplished.

Related articles

• The Guardian tells stories of LGBT from Africa, Middle East (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: New photography show in London portrays gay Iraqi refugees in Syria (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Syria: Death Toll Rises To 2,900 According To UN (huffingtonpost.com)

Video: pro-LGBT rally in Moscow attacked by fascists

Source: GraniRu

By Paul Canning

A protest rally held in Moscow by a group of activists representing the LGBT, women's, anti-fascist and left-wing movements, ended in a violent confrontation with neo-Nazi groups on Saturday, 1 October.

According to Margaret, a member of the Raduga Association (Moscow), and a participant in the rally the goal of the event was to protest against chauvinistic populism as the trend of the current election campaign involving stigmatisation and appeals for discrimination of the more vulnerable segments of the society.

There is a draft bill restricting women's right to abortion in Russia's parliament and 'gay propaganda' is now illegal in two regions.

The protest was sanctioned by the Moscow government, fascist groups had widely announced their intention to gather at the same place and “bathe in blood” the perceived “enemies of the Russian people”.

One organiser was immediately arrested by the police solely for carrying a (yet unfolded) poster saying “Say No to Discrimination on the Basis of Gender and Sexual Orientation.”

Pic: Zuban_leb, socialistworld.ru

The fascist and Orthodox group, which included several elderly men and women holding Orthodox icons and images of Russia's last emperor Nicholas, tried to pelt the protesters with tomatoes but police held them back.

One older counter-protester said:

“We wanted to see these demons, these beast in the flesh, for ourselves. It is because of them that God will punish the holy Russia and its people. They want to exterminate the holy nation of Russ.”

Younger fascists chanted calls to beat, torture and exterminate gays - incitement which met with little reaction on the part of the police.

 The main slogans of the protesters were: “We stand for the freedom of choice!”, “Free and Safe Motherhood – Children that are Loved and Needed – Happy Families”, “If you say embryo is human, why are women not human for you?” But when gay rights was mentioned police began grabbing people from the rally.

After it was finally decided to curtail the event ahead of scheduled time, to prevent more protesters from being arrested, the activists had to be convoyed by the police to the metro station, surrounded by a raging crowd (see video). The police counteracted attempts by several able-bodied men to punch and kick young women, but several people later complained of bruises and minor injuries.

The main organiser of the repeatedly banned Moscow Pride, Nicolas Alexeyev, noted inaccurate reports of the rally as "First Gay Pride was authorized in Moscow".

"To date, the only LGBT event allowed in Moscow which was applied took place last year in front of the office of Swiss Air Lines."

This followed the bizarre and unexplained abduction of Alexeyev last year, which he claimed the airline abetted.

Alexeyev pointed out that reports of Russian authorities allowing gay events have been used before by Russia to claim they are not banned.

At the last appearance of Russia at the Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Committee, Russia was asked why they kept banning LGBT public events.

"We do not ban them, there was a gay pride authorized in St. Petersberg" answered the Russian delegation.

Except, says Alexeyev, that what the delegation was referring to as a gay pride event was instead a rainbow 'flash mob' which was not authorised because no one had asked for permission.

"At this time, no LGBT public action had ever been authorized," he adds.

By contrast, Moscow authorities have allowed numerous 'death to gays' rallies.

• Video of the rally speakers (in Russian)

Related articles

• A(nother) day in the life of homophobic Russia (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: In Russia, activists look forward to 'gay century' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Analysis: Balkan far right using attacks on gay pride for political gain

Image via Wikipedia

Source: riskandforecast.com

By Political Capital

The study of so-called radical rightist ideologies and politicians is receiving increasing public attention throughout Europe. In this context it is important to identify the diversity and internal divisions of these political movements.

In many respects the differences and similarities can be accurately described based on geographic location. Taking this model as a working hypothesis, in the coming months Political Capital will present the striking differences of the Western and Eastern versions of far right ideologies, with special emphasis on the social context, as well as the issues and topics constituting the organizational building blocks of the far right.

In our first study we analyze the position of the far right in respect to the gay rights movement with a special focus on Balkan countries aspiring to enter the European Union.

Fault lines running east and west

The massacre committed by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway appears to represent a watershed in thinking about far-right ideologies. Since the attack there has been a growing consensus among the European public the in the past decade Western decision-makers have been excessively preoccupied with Islam radicalism while they overlooked threats posed by the proliferation of extremist right-wing ideologies. Presumably, this is related to the relative integration of the radical right in Northern and West Europe; parties promoting such ideas have accommodated to democratic political institutions. In contrast, some countries in Southern and most in Eastern Europe present an altogether different picture.

In essence, the ideologies of the far right in the West and the East are essentially the inverses of each other. The Western and Eastern versions are both characterized by neo-populism, i.e., giving simplistic and provocative answers to socially divisive issues. However, those in the East are often also ‘neo-Fascists’ in the sense that in their self-definition and symbols they find inspiration in the political legacy of totalitarian regimes active in their respective countries between the two world wars.

The far right in Western Europe is characterized by shrill Islamophobia while it is not anti-Semitic, in contrast to the East European version that is strongly anti-Jewish for the most part and often pro-Muslim (see Hungarian Jobbik). When it comes to the state and the economy, most far-right movements in the West are neo-liberals, while their East European counterparts are advocates of a strong state. They also show significant differences when it comes to their attitudes toward minorities.

Discriminating policies of Westerners can be described as the intolerance of the tolerant (Cas Mudde), i.e., they are hostile to immigrants rejecting liberal values and violating the rights of, for instance, women and gays. While Breivik himself, according to his book, is rather hostile to gays, the organizations he refers to are typically more ‘homophile’ than homophobe.

In contrast, East Europeans are fundamentally intolerant of minorities, where the rejection of sexual minorities in but one typical case in point. In South-Eastern Europe most centrist parties are also hostile or ambivalent when it comes to this issue. Obviously this is a reflection of the social environment; in these countries the public is profoundly hostile to gays, demonstrated by its rejection of considering their public presence and rights as a public issue and the frequent atrocities accompanying gay parades.

The recognition of gay rights: tensions between internal and external requirements

Read more »

Belgrade Gay Pride banned

By Paul Canning

Update 2 October: About 30 LGBT activists held a flashmob yesterday, stopping traffic for a few minutes on a main Belgrade street holding a 'Ljubav. Normalno' ('Love. Normal') banner. They were protected by riot police who have been deployed onto Belgrade streets yesterday and today.

Those opposed to the Gay Pride march are declaring a "a victory of family values" and a "victory of Serbian patriots."

Serbian politicians have reacted angrily to comment that they had capitulated to violent anti-gay forces. Human and Minority Rights Minister Milan Marković told B92:

“It’s far from the truth that the state has capitulated and that hooligans are more powerful than the state, that’s complete nonsense.”

Serbian parliament Speaker Slavica Đukić-Dejanović says Serbia has met all the conditions for the EU candidate status, expected 12 October, as bans on Pride marches were not 'set as a condition for other countries on their EU paths either'. There are other reasons why Serbia's EU bid may stay on hold, but, wrote The Economist:

"Its ban makes it look feeble and unwilling to stand up to threats from violent extremists. If the government can’t even ensure a peaceful Gay Pride march in its capital, goes the logic, how can it be ready to join the EU?"

Interior Minister Dačić said that when informed of the decision to ban all gatherings, including the Pride march, Western diplomats 'understood'. Western embassies were reportedly on a hit list for those planning to riot.

Update: The March has been banned. Interior Minister Dačić said:

“Police cannot support holding of all this gatherings for security reasons, because there will be clashes, victims, blood and we will end up a huge chaos.”

B92 said that police security assessments showed that extremists were planning on creating disturbances in several parts of Belgrade in order to weaken police forces, burning down ruling coalition parties’ headquarters.

Early reaction from Members of the European Parliament is not good. Ulrike Lunacek MEP, Co-President of the LGBT Intergroup of the parliament and substitute member of the South Eastern Europe delegation, reacted:

“I deeply regret that Serbian citizens will not be able to march for tolerance, acceptance and equality on Sunday. Serbian authorities have a duty to care for everyone’s safety, but it is profoundly disturbing that the leadership of a country seeking EU candidate status and membership—supported by a majority in the European Parliament—feel incapable of providing such safety for all citizens.”

“The government has to be much, much stricter towards extremists whipping up violence in the country . A society that cannot express itself for fear of violence is not a free, democratic society.”

Jelko Kacin MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia’s accession and member of the LGBT Intergroup, and who is in Belgrade for the march, added:

“The decision to ban Pride Parade is a sovereign decision of the Serbian Government and the National Security Council. I receive such a decision with deep regret; as a matter of fact, it deprives citizens of the constitutional and legal right to free expression and peaceful assembly. A state seeking to access the EU must guarantee the human rights of its citizens.” 

ILGA-Europe said it "will bring it to the attention of the relevant officials of the European institutions to take further actions."

"This is a defeat for all citizens of Serbia: today, it's the gays, tomorrow, God knows which minority group," organiser Goran Miletic told reporters.

--

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and the Mayor of Belgrade are calling for the cancellation of Sunday's Gay Pride march in Belgrade.

Numerous far-right, nationalist, fascist and Orthodox groups are planning counter-demonstrations and police have discovered that one right-wing group is using the codename "Belgrade in flames" for their operation against Gay Pride.

The 2010 parade attracted 600 people - and 20,000 opponents, who rioted resulting in many arrests and injuries. Numerous Facebook groups were set up with memberships in the tens of thousands which threatened to murder gays and their supporters. The leader of the nationalist organization Obraz, Mladen Obradovic, received a prison sentence for organising the violent counter demonstrations but this hasn't happened and he is organising counter demonstrations for Sunday.

The Police Union has also called for the gay pride march and counter-demonstrations to all be banned - over 100 of their members were injured last year.

According to SAPA:

The authorities can ban a scheduled public gathering up to 12 hours before it is due to start. The Daily Press wrote: “Chances are strong that Dačić will ban the parade and all other events” - those being four anti-gay demonstrations also planned for the weekend.

Pride Parade Organizing Committee member Goran Miletić told B92:

“The Pride Parade Organizing Committee will not call off the parade and believes that Mayor Đilas’ statement is completely shocking, bearing in mind that he put an equal sign between all the events announced for the weekend. I have to remind you that the announced rallies are those of the organizations that organized violence last year and whose leaders were convicted of the violence.”

According to a post on the march organisers website a 'secret meeting' was held at the German Embassy in Belgrade where it was agreed that the march should go ahead "at all costs"

"The meeting was attended by the ambassadors of Western countries, the top of the Serbian Interior Ministry, representatives of OSCE and the LGBT population, and similar meetings in previous days have been held in the British and the Polish Embassy."

An American attending the march told us that:

"Groups of neo-nazis and fascist extremists can already be seen at the airport and walking the streets of Beograd."

Related articles

• Audio: The Sisyphean task of Belgrade's gay pride march (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Audio: The Sisyphean task of Belgrade's gay pride march

Pic: Jonathan Davis

By Paul Canning

Last year, writing for the Serbian news website Vreme, Predrag Azdejković compared the organisers of Belgrade's gay pride parade to Sisyphus.

"They have been trying to organize the parade since 2001, but its stone rolls downhill every time. The organizers, like Sisyphus, cannot give up so they return to the bottom of the hill and start rolling the stone back to the top, hoping to succeed every time. Unlike Sisyphus, who was punished by gods to roll it uphill, the gay parade's organizers chose the punishment willingly, and, believe me, organizing a gay parade in Serbia is a punishment indeed."

The 2010 parade attacted 600 people - and 20,000 opponents, who rioted resulting in many arrests and injuries. Numerous Facebook groups were set up with memberships in the tens of thousands which threatened to murder gays and their supporters. The leader of the nationalist organization Obraz, Mladen Obradovic, received a prison sentence for organising the violent counter demonstrations

The 2010 parade followed the cancellation the previous year, which was seen as the State giving in to threats. It had the support of Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and Human and Minority Rights Minister Svetozar Čiplić, as well as by the majority of parliamentary parties in Serbia.

The first Belgrade Pride parade, in 2001, ended with dozens of marchers injured by marauding nationalists, skinheads and football fans.

Organising committee member Goran Miletić said:

“I believe that police can secure the gathering [this year] so everything would go well. The state has showed that it can protect all the citizens, which is visible in matches. The parade is not a threat to security.”

Police have discovered that one right-wing group is using the codename "Belgrade in flames" for their operation against Gay Pride.

Politicians including the Belgrade Mayor have tried to get the 2011 parade called off because they know the same opponents will be out in force. But Serbia as well as Croatia - where a pride march suffered a vicious attack in Split 11 June - are candidates for the expansion of the European Union, and politicians know that their treatment of LGBT people and facilitating a safe gay pride parade is a crucial factor in whether they will be admitted.

One exception is United Serbia (JS) leader Dragan Marković Palma who was forced to clarify that his party had never called for violence and bloodshed but that they will never support Gay Pride because “Serbia has more important things to do”.

This was Marković’s response to Gay-Straight Alliance NGO’s announcement that they will file a lawsuit against him “for homophobia, discrimination and violation of equality”.

Marković said that:

“homosexuality was considered a disease 20 years ago, not according to Dragan Marković Palma, but according to the World Health Organization, but it was taken off the disease list under pressure from powerful lobbies”.

Read more »

Voice of LGBT asylum seekers raised at Manchester Pride

By Alice Nicolay

On Saturday 27 August, Freedom from Torture joined Manchester Pride Parade for the first time ever!

Teaming up with the Lesbian Immigration Support Group (LISG), we joined the Parade in celebrating Manchester Pride’s 21st birthday as well as giving a voice to asylum seekers and refugees who do not have the freedom to express their sexual identity in their own country. We joined Pride to highlight that many asylum seekers are still at risk of persecution if returned to their countries because of their sexual identity.

• Read more about our campaign work for LGBT asylum seekers.

Over 30 Freedom from Torture and Lesbian Immigration Support Group supporters joined us to highlight the difficulties faced by LGBT asylum seekers coming into the UK.

We marched with banners in hand and chants including ‘Free Sexuality, Stop the Brutality’ and ‘There’s no excuse, for human rights abuse.’ We even got some of the crowd to chant along with us!

It was a great day for all of us, the sun even came out at the last minute, and we are already putting our heads together to come up with ideas for next year’s Parade.

Related articles

• Audio: Interview with an Ugandan asylum seeker (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Ugandan activist inspires in Northern Ireland

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera opening Foyle Pride, Derry, Northern Ireland

By Michael Carchrie Campbell

You are facing arrest at any time, there are death threats published in newspapers concerning you, you are forced to move home frequently as it is unsafe not to do so, and all because of those that you love.

This is the sad, unfortunate, and unacceptable life that 25 August’s speaker at the Amnesty International Belfast Pride Lecture 2011 faces every day of her life in her own country. She says:

"I love my country, I want to live in it. There is nowhere else I want to live."

But it seems that many in the Parliament of her country do not want her there. We were shown many photographs of protests across her country against ‘same-sex marriage’ and ‘sodomy’. We, here in Belfast, could almost hear the ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy‘ campaign of the now Lord Bannside resounding back at us through another medium.

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera was inspirational when she talked of the struggle for freedoms that we in Northern Ireland and across Europe tend to take for granted.

She talked about how it is important for her security and of all the gay community to be ensured:

"We need to be careful – we’re better activists alive than dead."

Read more »

Video: In Russia, activists look forward to 'gay century'

Source: Russia Today



Russian gay rights activists have planned their demonstrations for the next hundred years and have sent applications to the city authorities. They say the aim is to expose what they call the “absurdity” of the laws which the authorities use to deny them the right to conduct their events.

The legal loophole the activists are trying to exploit stipulates that applications to hold a demonstration should be filed to local authorities no less than 45 days before the event. The law does not prohibit filing requests earlier.

The gay community, thus, had every right to submit their requests “to help mass cultural and educational activities from 2012 to 2112.” All the events are to take place on Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow, right next to the Kremlin.

The dates chosen for Gay Pride parades in 2012 are March 4, coinciding with the first round of presidential elections, and May 27, the anniversary of the ban on criminal prosecution against homosexuals in Russia. Up to 2112, the gay community is planning to hold demonstrations every Saturday around May 27.

According to Russian law, the authorities’ answer can be expected to follow in two weeks. So far, no official comments on the issue have been released.

“I think they will try to look for ways to ban it without looking stupid,” LGBT activist and lawyer Nikolay Alekseev told RT. “But in this situation it would be really hard not to look stupid."

"I’m really looking forward to such headlines as ‘Moscow authorities ban Gay Pride parades for 100 years.’ The entire world will be laughing at this, including the judges from the European Court. The Council of Europe will have to take steps to pressurize the Moscow authorities into allowing such an event to take place.”

The last attempted gay pride effort was dispersed by police in Moscow on May 28. More than 60 people, both supporters of LGBT rights and their opponents, were detained.

Russian gay rights activists have been applying for permission to hold a parade in Moscow for several years without success. Former mayor Yury Luzhkov was an outspoken critic of gay marches, branding them on one occasion “satanic.”

With Luzhkov replaced by Sergey Sobyanin, the LGBT community said they hoped for change. The new mayor, however, deemed such events in the capital “unnecessary.”

The bans have always been warmly supported by the Russian Orthodox Church. The authorities are entitled to ban any propaganda based on its potential moral damage to the people, church officials say.

In July 2011, Russia has paid 30,000 euros in compensation to gay activists over Moscow's decision to ban so-called pride marches.

The fine was issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the decision to repeatedly ban gay pride parades in 2006, 2007 and 2008 was unlawful.

Related articles

• In Russia, Moscow Pride has changed attitudes for the better (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

In Serbia, politicians accused of inciting violence against LGBT

Dragan Marković Palma

Source: B92

United Serbia (JS) leader Dragan Marković Palma says his party has never called for violence and bloodshed but that they will never support gay Pride Parade.

He has announced that he will ask the Serbian government not to allow holding of the parade because “Serbia has more important things to do”.

This was Marković’s response to Gay-Straight Alliance NGO’s announcement that they will file a lawsuit against him “for homophobia, discrimination and violation of equality”.

In a written statement, the JS leader said that his party would never support something unnatural and something that was not even accepted by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and other religious organizations in Serbia”.

He stressed that “homosexuality was considered a disease 20 years ago, not according to Dragan Marković Palma, but according to the World Health Organization, but it was taken off the disease list under pressure from powerful lobbies”.

Marković repeated that his party was advocating a healthy family that included children being born in a marriage between a man and a woman and not to be children in “surrogate families” in which “two persons of the same sex would play mom and dad and only have different hair color. They will wear the same clothes and shave beard and mustache”.

“The JS is fighting against the birth rate decline, helping families and children with various activities because all of us are family people who advocate marriages in which children will not be deprived of possibility to have different-sex parents,” he pointed out, adding that “only this can be a healthy future of Serbia, instead of homosexuality”.

The Jagodina mayor said that the difference between the JS and others was “that we are not ‘hypocrites’ who think one thing and say the other and that we will never say we support the Pride Parade, as gay population calls it, or ‘Shame Parade’ as we call it.”

Bearing in mind that Serbia has better things to do and that now is not the time to shift the entire public’s attention to the “shame parade”, the JS “calls on the government not to allow it to be held in Belgrade”, Marković said in the written statement.

“The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) believes that taking part in the gay Pride Parade is a personal choice of every individual,“ said SNS Presidency member Zorana Mihajlović.

“Everybody has the right to take part in it or not. That's a personal thing of every citizen of this country,“ she stressed.

The SNS official added that the SNS believed that there were much more serious problems that should be dealt with than the issue of the Pride Parade.

Mihajlović said that it was police’s responsibility to worry about security, including security at the Pride Parade, adding that this was the case in every country.

Related articles

• Serbian government displays rainbow flag for LGBT Pride Day (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

In Liverpool, one young gay refugee shows his Pride

Zac Daily outside the Liver Building

Last Saturday, Liverpool held its second official Pride Festival. Over 40,000 attended - twice last year's number.

Amongst those there was 'Zac Daily', a young gay refugee from the Middle East.

Here 'Zac Daily' talks of his joy at attending this out'n'proud event:

"The 6th of August was the second Liverpool Gay Pride Festival — a day without fearing for being who you are, not what you have become."

"The day started full of excitement and happiness. I was thinking 'what is going to happen?' It's really strange for a person who comes from a different culture, used to always hiding his sexuality, that I am going to walk for the second time in a big gay festival."

"The first time was crazy. I was so nervous and wondering what people were going to think about me. I spent a long time thinking about what to wear in the march, but someone told me that I am going to be 'the angel of the Armistead centre' (The Armistead centre is a NHS Liverpool Community Health service for LGBT)."

"I was so happy and thinking how amazing I am going to be! I was thinking to write again something on my chest saying 'Summer of Gay Love', as the theme is 'Summer of love'."

"The march started and I was so excited, shouting and waving the rainbow flag: The best flag I have ever seen in my life, full of colour, it's shining around the Pier Head in Liverpool. I couldn’t express how proud I am. I just want to say it loud! 'You talking about human being. You talking about people who is trying to be themselves.'"

"I was so annoyed that we saw six or seven people holding signs against us. It is just crazy - because of them people kill themselves, because of them people hate themselves, because of them people don’t accept themselves. We are in 2011! When is that bullying and hate going to stop?"

"Being gay is an issue for some people and I learned that you should not be scared of who you are. Don’t be scared to lose your friends or family. A person who loves you inside will stick by you. Be honest with yourself and you will see how amazing you are. I am living my own life and enjoying every bit of it - and the best thing I’ve ever learned from Liverpool is to be proud of who I am."

Video: At Stockholm Pride, Kurdish LGBT march

Source: TheTornerose

Video: In Yorkshire, David Kato remembered at Pride event

Source: DanSidley



Saturday's Gay Pride event in the northern English city of York was dedicated to Ugandan gay activist David Kato, who was a student at York University's Centre for Applied Human Rights in 2009 and 2010. Kato was beaten to death in January in his own home near Kampala, Uganda.

Mayor David Horton and MP Hugh Bayley release the balloons

The city's Lord Mayor Susan Galloway David Horton and MP Hugh Bayley joined in a minute's silence followed by a mass release of rainbow coloured balloons to commemorate Kato's life and work.

MP Hugh Bayley, who launched the balloons, said:

“David Kato was very brave to campaign for equal rights for homosexuals in Uganda."

"He made many friends in York during his time at the university, and they were appalled and devastated when he was murdered shortly after he returned to his own country. I hope his shocking death will prompt the Ugandan Parliament to step back from passing laws which victimise and discriminate against gay men and women.”

Dan Sidley, chairman of York Pride 2011, said:

“We are determined to use Pride 2011 and the tragic murder of David Kato to spread the message that there is still much to be done to eradicate hate and violence against the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.”

Kato was well known in the LGBT community of York. He was murdered in his own home in January of this year, shortly after winning a court case against a newspaper in Uganda which had published his name and photograph identifying him as homosexual and calling for him to be executed.

David's murder was immediately decried by U.S President Barack Obama, U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the European Union. "I am deeply saddened to learn of the murder," President Obama said. "David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate. He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom."

Lena Barrett, the fellowship scheme manager at the University's Centre for Human Rights, said Mr Kato met her family during his visit to York and described him as “a wonderful human being”. She received an email from him 24 hours before he was killed, voicing his fears about his safety. She said:

“At the start of January, David was celebrating a major success. He had persuaded a Ugandan court to issue an injunction against a local newspaper which had demanded that he and other identified gay activists were killed."

“Almost exactly a year ago, David arrived at the Centre to undertake a protective fellowship, designed to support human rights defenders at risk. He wanted support in his fight against the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which threatened the death penalty for “repeat offenders”."

“He had a great sense of mischief and loved to shock with scurrilous stories.” 

She said when he returned home, his bags were “overflowing with presents” and said: “The world is poorer for his loss.”

Related articles

• David Kato: Lawyer Demands Speedy Trial in Letter to High Court Registrar (mask.org.za)
• Tributes to David Kato - former CAHR defender killed in Uganda (york.ac.uk)

Stockholm Pride 2011 hosts African activists

Miles Tanhira

Source: Svenska Dagbladet

By Tobias Brandel

[Via Google Translate]

With the achievement of LGBT rights in Sweden, Stockholm Pride has turned its gaze abroad - this year it is holding an international solidarity, event and has invited a dozen African activists to come here - at the risk of their own lives.

In Mugabe's Zimbabwe homosexuality is regarded as a Western disease. And the regime hates the Western world. State Homophobia gives carte blanche to those who want to harass homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people, says Miles Tanhira of the Zimbabwean LGBT organization GALCK.

"It's hard enough to live under a dictatorship, but to be a LGBT person makes it worse. Apartheid Opponent Steve Biko said that the oppressed seek to become the oppressor. People under a harsh government always finds a weaker person to subdue, in our case, vulnerable minorities such as LGBT people."

Miles Tanhira says that he risks becoming a target by doing this interview, conducted via the Internet. Last year, police stormed GALZ premises and arrested several people.

"Right now Zimbabwe is on the development of a new constitution and a stream of politicians use the gay issue in order to dupe people and take attention from the real issues. The media makes fun of LGBT people, and some artists have been squawking. As if that were not enough, there is the influence of American conservative churches on homophobia."

Stockholm Pride, together with RFSL and a number of Swedish embassies invited a dozen activists from countries where homosexuality is criminalised. Here they will meet with politicians and participating in panel discussions and networking.

Chan Mubanga, trans-rights activist from Zambia, is another of those who come here.

"There is a window to see what's out there, with decriminalization, gay marriage and cultural tolerance. I also hope to learn from other activists about how they challenged their governments, and I will lobby the international community to put pressure on African leaders to protect sexual minorities," he says in a chat when SvD get in touch with him on Facebook.

This year there is a presidential election in Zambia, and Chan Mubanga notes that both the ruling party and opposition uses the hatred against LGBT people in their campaigns. State-controlled media and charismatic church leaders constantly demonize homosexuality.

"The hatred is fueled by the draconian laws that the British left behind. Homosexuality was a crime only when the Christian missionaries came - and a false idea that homosexuality is 'un-African'," he says.

Read more »

LGBT refugees from Bermuda join London Pride march

By Paul Canning

A small group of Bermudians marched behind the banner 'LGBT refugees: Bermuda: No better time for full human rights and equality' at London Pride yesterday.

They were joined by a renowned Bermudian personality, the drag queen Mark Anderson – aka 'Sybil Barrington'.

Anderson told BerNews before leaving:

“My reason to do this, is because I’m fighting for every Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender person who was born yesterday, today and will be tomorrow here in Bermuda, that they will not grow up with the hateful prejudices, which I experienced most of my life. I am also fighting for those who live a clandestine gay lifestyle in our country.”

In 2006, the government attempted to ban Anderson from participating in a parade, stating that he contradicted local mores and sensitivities.

The group's organisers said that they were marching:

"In solidarity with those of us who are still on the island and still fighting for our inclusion in the Bermuda Human Rights Act."

25 May scores of LGBT supporters turned out to a human rights rally outside Parliament to oppose discrimination.

Homosexuality is legal in Bermuda, but the country has long held a reputation for being anti-gay and discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and gender identity is legal. The Bermuda's Human Rights Commission has repeatedly recommended that this be changed.

Bermudians have tried to appeal to the British Parliament regarding LGBT discrimination, prompting the Foreign Affairs Committee to recommend that the British government should take steps to extend human rights in the British overseas territories (BOT), for which the UK is ultimately responsible. Bermuda's human rights in general do not have a favourable reputation; In mid-2008, Bermuda was the only BOT to refuse to join a four-year human rights initiative organised by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Resource: Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators. Event: PGLL at London Pride 2011

PGLL @ Pride 2010

Source: Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators

Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators is proud to announce that we will again be at this year's Gay and Lesbian pride in London on Saturday 2 July, raising awareness for LGBTs for those whom are living in such homophobic disasters as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Pakistan.

• time to meet :12 noon
• place: Piccadilly circuses

• For more information please contact pgll2010@aol.com.(Maani)

We assist LGBT Asylum seekers and Refugees who are native Persian speakers such as Afghans, Tajiks and Iranians in the UK.

Help we have given includes:

• Receiving Legal requirement, e.g finding convenient lawyer or Solicitors.
• Assisting with Education e.g finding suitable or local College or school for studying English and learn the English language.
• Assisting with communication such as contact with their designated organisation e.g Home Office, National Asylum Support service (NASS), Asylum Registration card (ARC).
• Assisting with filling necessary forms such as Housing, Hospital, Home office, Job centre, Educational etc.
• Health: register the Client (LGBT Asylum) with their local General Practitioner (GP)

The Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators (PGLL) is an asylum and refugee support group organization in the UK that advocates for civil and human rights for Persian speaker such as Afghan, Tajikistan, and Iranian LGBT asylum seekers.

Read more »