Tag: LGBT rights

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Desmond Tutu: “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven”

Graphic via Memeographs

The United Nation’s has launched a global campaign for the LGBT rights during a meeting in South Africa.

At the launch announcement was Archbishop Desmond Tutu:

South Africa’s Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he will never worship a “homophobic God” and will rather go to hell.

The retired archbishop was speaking at the launch of a UN-backed campaign in South Africa to promote gay rights.

Archbishop Tutu said the campaign against homophobia was similar to the campaign waged against racism in South Africa. “I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level,” he added.

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OutFest Los Angeles – “Bridegroom” takes the Audience Award for documentary

“Bridegroom,” directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (creator of the TV series “Designing Women”), took the audience award for documentary feature at the LA LGBT film festival, OutFest Los Angeles. It previously won the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The film, based on a YouTube video that went viral, examines the subject of marriage equality through the tragic story of a young gay couple that never got to marry before one of them, Tom Bridegroom, died in 2011 after falling off the roof of an apartment building while taking pictures.

After his death, Bridegroom’s partner, Shane Bitney Crone, found that he had no rights when it came to dealing with the aftermath of Bridegroom’s death. A year later he posted a 10-minute video called “It Could Happen to You,” which eventually attracted 3.4-million views.

Here’s the trailer for the film:

(source)

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Colorado first grader wins right to use girl’s bathroom

Coy Mathis wins trangender lawsuit to use girl's bathtroom in Colorado

In Colorado, advocates won what is being hailed as a landmark decision in favor of transgender youth that could have a dramatic impact on future cases.

From the Advocate:

Coy Mathis was a first-grader enrolled at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, a suburb of Colorado Springs, last school year. Although Coy was assigned as male at birth, she has identified as female since she was 18 months old. Coy dresses in girls’ clothing, and teachers, classmates, and her family use female pronouns to refer to her.

But in December 2012, school officials told the Mathis family that Coy would no longer be allowed to use the girl’s bathroom at school, instead requiring her to use the boy’s bathroom, the staff bathroom, or a single-stall, gender-neutral facility on campus. As a result, the Mathises home-schooled Coy for the rest of the school year.

The Fountain-Fort Carson school district contended that because Coy has presumably male genitalia and is listed as male on her birth certificate, she should be legally required to use the boy’s restroom. But the Colorado Division of Civil Rights flatly denied that argument, calling the school’s treatment of Mathis discriminatory.

“Given the evolving research into the development of transgender persons, compartmentalizing a child as a boy or a girl solely based on their visible anatomy is a simplistic approach to a difficult and complex issue,” reads the lengthy decision. “The [school district], moreover, ignores federal and legal documents — more current than the Charging Party’s birth certificate — which undeniably state the Charging Party’s sex as female. The evidence, as such, is sufficient to demonstrate that the Charging Party is a girl and identifies as a girl.”

GLAAD heralded the announcement as a victory and noted that this decision is the first ruling in the nation contending that schools must allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“Schools should not discriminate against their students, and we are thrilled that Coy can return to school and put this behind her,” Kathryn Mathis, Coy’s mother, told GLAAD. “All we ever wanted was for Coy’s school to treat her the same as other little girls. We are extremely happy that she now will be treated equally.”

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President Obama mentions LGBT rights in G8 speech in Berlin

At the 14:18 mark:

“When we stand up for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and treat their love and their rights equally under the law, we defend our own liberty as well.

“We are more free when all people can pursue their own happiness. And as long as walls exist in our hearts to separate us from those who don’t look like us, or think like us, or worship as we do, then we’re going to have to work harder, together, to bring those walls of division down.” – President Obama, speaking at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate today during the G8 Summit.

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Puerto Rico approves wide ranging protections for LGBT community

Via press release from the National Lesbian & Gay Task Force

The Puerto Rican House of Representatives today approved a sweeping nondiscrimination bill that protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in employment, housing, governmental services, public accommodations and private entities.

Last week, the Senate approved the bill in a 15-11 vote and Gov. Alejandro García Padilla has vowed to sign the bill into law.

The House today also approved a bill to add protections for sexual orientation, marital status and gender identity to the domestic violence law. It now moves to the Senate.

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Map: Human rights for LGBT people in Europe

Click the pic to enlarge

ILGA Europe has released an updated map showing the state of human rights for LGBT people in Europe in May 2013.

The scale goes from dark green (full equality, respect of human rights) to dark red (gross violations of human rights, discrimination).

The United Kingdom received the highest rating of the 49 nations in the report, earning a 77% score, followed by Spain, France, Norway, Sweden and Portugal. Russia got the lowest score at 7%.

Ratings and graphs for individual nations can be downloaded here.

(via Towleroad)

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The Bravery Tapes – Eric and Juan

Eric and Juan are a gay binational couple featured in The Bravery Tapes, a project that profiles stories of human courage.

Via the Los Angeles Times:

For some same-sex couples, the issue is made even more complicated by our country’s immigration laws. In his video Op-Ed “Eric and Juan,” Jens Erik Gould introduces us to a same-sex couple who got married in 2008, during the brief time when gay marriage was legal in California. Though Eric and Juan have built a life together here, DOMA prevents Juan from applying for a green card through marriage. It is among the many federal benefits the two are denied.

“Juan has had so much adversity in his life,” Gould says. “Someone tried to kill him in Mexico because he was gay. Now, not only does he still experience discrimination for being gay in the U.S., he’s also living undocumented here. Many people in this situation hide in the shadows. But despite all the adversity and risk, he’s publicly fighting for what he believes in because he wants to be an example for his community.”

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March on Washington DC – 20 years ago this weekend

Twenty years ago, on April 25, 1993, tens of thousands of LGBT rights advocates flooded the National Mall in Washington, D.C., calling for government action on issues ranging from open military service to the repeal of sodomy laws, LGBT employment protections to increased funding for HIV/AIDS research and treatment.

I was living in NYC at the time, and in one of my rare spontaneous actions at that time of my life, I packed a bag and headed down to DC by myself. I had recently left the national tour of A CHORUS LINE, and the company was playing there at the National Theater. So I made plans to bunk with a buddy, and off I went.

The day of the march, I stepped out in the street and just started walking with thousands and thousands of people in support of LGBT rights. I stopped by the AIDS Quilt which was on display. I listened to speeches at the National Mall. I met people. I was complimented on my biceps – which to this day I never forgot 🙂

I remember thinking this would be “history” and I wanted to be there.

So I was.

The fight for equality continues in full force today, but 20 years later, it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. Check out a news clip from the 1993 march above.