Categories
- Apparel
- Aromatherapy
- Blog Board
- Books
- Clubbing
- Condoms
- Country Wide
- Dirty Diaries
- DVD
- Gaydar Info Blog
- Health Care
- Home Improvement
- Hot Bloggers
- Jewellery
- Kitchen
- Local Area
- Military Gay
- Military Members And Blogs
- Music
- Mutil Sex Items
- News
- News And Current Affairs
- News Board And Blogs
- Personal Care
- Puppy Blog Board
- Shaving And Hair Removal
- Shoes
- Sports And Leisure
- Uncategorized
- Watches
Peter Tatchell: The Queen s silence on gay rights excludes and disrespects gay people
She is a patron of hundreds of charities but none of them are gay ones. Never once has she visited or supported a gay charity. In truth, the Commonwealth Charter does not include any specific rejection of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
This was vetoed by the homophobic majority of member states. However, many Commonwealth Secretariat officials interpret the clause opposing discrimination on other grounds as including opposition to anti-gay discrimination. They inserted the catch-all phrase to circumvent the objections of anti-gay nations.
To secure that insertion was a long, tough battle. Since then, Commonwealth progress on LGBT equality has been slow. More than 40 of the 54 Commonwealth countries still criminalise homosexuality, mostly under laws imposed by Britain during the colonial era.
Six of these countries stipulate life imprisonment. Uganda is currently considering legislation that would introduce the death penalty for repeat gay offenders. While I doubt that Elizabeth II is a raging homophobe, she certainly doesn t appear to be gay-friendly.
Not once during her reign has she publicly acknowledged the existence of the LGBT community. While she has spoken approvingly of the UK s many races and faiths, for six decades she has ignored LGBT Britons. If she treated black and Asian Britons in the same way, she d be denounced as a racist.
Why the double standards? Regardless of whether these omissions are a reflection of the Queen s personal views or the result of advice from her courtiers, as monarch she bears ultimate responsibility. Her silence sends a signal of exclusion and disrespect.
Astonishingly, since she became Queen in 1952, the words gay and lesbian have never publicly passed her lips. There is no record of her ever speaking them. Even when she announced government plans for gay law reform in her Queen s Speeches, she did not use the words lesbian or gay.
Apparently, mentioning LGBT people is beneath the dignity of the monarch. The official British Monarchy website, which documents all the Queen s public statements and royal visits, includes no mention of the word gay or of any gay good causes. Type the word gay into the search facility and you get nothing.
The Queen visits lots of charities and welfare organisations. But never in 61 years has she visited a gay charity or welfare agency. She has, for example, ignored deserving gay charities like the Albert Kennedy Trust and Stonewall Housing, which support homeless LGBT youth.
Although she is a patron of many good causes, none of them are gay. When there are major tragedies involving the loss of life, the Queen often visits the site and the victims in hospital. This did not happen when neo-Nazi, David Copeland, bombed the Admiral Duncan gay pub in Soho, London, in 1999, killing three people and wounding 70 others.
At the time, it was the worst terrorist outrage in mainland Britain for many years. To most people s surprise, the Queen did not visit the bombed-out pub or the hospitalised victims. I have contacted the Queen s press office.
I asked them: Has the Queen ever uttered in public the words gay or lesbian? Did she use these words in any of her Queen s Speeches when announcing the government s gay equality laws? Has she ever acknowledged the existence of LGBT people in any public statement?
Has the Queen ever visited a gay charity or welfare agency? Is she the patron of any gay charitable organisation? The Queen s press office did not respond to my requests.
I rest my case. The monarchy is homophobic if not by conscious intent, then certainly by default. As head of state, the Queen is supposed to represent and embrace all British people, not just some.
How much longer will the LGBT community have to wait for royal recognition and acceptance? Peter Tatchell is director of the London-based human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, and coordinator of the Equal Love campaign. The views in this article are his own and not those of PinkNews.co.uk Discuss this Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter!
Sign up Continue reading
With friends like these
The back story to why they should have thought to ask such a question is a complex court case in Scotland, which has all the makings of a car c ... Continue reading
Chris Hemblade: 1971-2013
Hetalia File Archive: Just trying to clear up some confusion
There s a rumor saying that Himaruya once stated on his blog that England is gay and has a crush on America. ... Continue reading
US: City Council hopeful may lose place after allegations of using homophobic slurs
During the council meeting, Friedman said: I wouldn t bring this up if this was not a very long series of posts around the Internet on blog sites, on YouTube, that are extremely disturbing, that are racist, homophobic, misogynist, threatening and really beyond something that we as a city can afford to have associated with one of our commissioners. A user named Zareh Sinanyan, had been posting comments on Youtube, as well as other websites, including homophobic, Islamophobic and racist views, up until around five years ago, according to an email sent to at least three City Council members. The allegations arose after a Glendale Blog, sent screenshots of the comments to the council.
Some of the comments were posted in response to other users, however a Facebook comment from September 2012, allegedly left by the City Council hopeful, on the Armenian National Committee of America included a racial slur against mongolians. Another reads: Fuck you, fucking faggot. Name the place bitch.
Tell me where you are and I will be happy to meet you and shove a big tennis racquet up your vratsi ass. Most of the original comments had been removed from Facebook and YouTube. Both Friedman and Councilman Ara Najarian had moved to have the City Council consider taking the accused off the city Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee at Tuesday s meeting.
In an election on 2 April, both Najarian and Friedman are seeking re-election, and are among 12 candidates, including Sinanyan, running for three seats. Sinanyan was appointed to the committee in November 2009 by Najarian and he served as chairman between 2009 and 2011. Friedman and Najarian declined to comment on the case ahead of Tuesday s meeting.
A spokesman for the council said that some people believed the comments were placed there as a cruel hoax . Scott Lowe, a blogger who reported the images, said that it appeared the posts were made anonymously, but that when Sinanyan linked his YouTube and Google+ accounts, the site retroactively connected his name to all comments made prior. He said the comments were removed this week, as emails began circulating.
The agenda for Tuesday s meeting read: City staff has not verified and does not and cannot represent that these posts or any other posts were made by Mr. Sinanyan. The accused s campaign director, Elen Asatryan, said: Since the City Council has chosen to place this on its agenda, he will address those concerns on Tuesday.
Several local leaders have pulled out from supporting Sinanyan, until it is proven that he did not write the comments. They include Representative Adam Schiff, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, and City Councilman Paul Krekorian. Krekorian wrote to Sinanyan on Friday to say that he was withdrawing his support.
He said: While I very much hope that the facts will demonstrate that you have no connection to these vile comments, until such time I cannot even impliedly lend my support to intolerant viewpoints and language that are contrary to everything I believe. On the campaign Facebook page for Sinanyan, his supporters have referred to these allegations as a smear campaign . Unfortunately it has become a common practice in this town that if you cannot beat an individual and/or when you feel that you have no possible chance against a candidate of Zareh s caliber, start spreading lies and rumors in order to distract people from the real issues, posted Sam Manoukian, a current member of Glendale s Civil Service Commission.
I promise you that we will diligently work to find out who is behind this smear campaign and hold them responsible for their actions.
Discuss this Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter!
Sign up Continue reading
WATCH: Richard Simmons Sings in WeHo Andrew Christian Store
Simmons doesn t do anything off camera, and we re so thankful for that, because this video pure LOL gold especially when he claims to be shopping for his accountant and attorney. Oh, Richard! You crack us up.
WATCH: Continue reading
UPDATE: The Curia and Vatican Inc.
Roman Catholic priests in Scotland were out of control sexually under the leadership of the disgraced Cardinal Keith O Brien, the Church s former adviser on child abuse claims.
Obviously ... Continue reading
US: Family file lawsuit against school for barring their trans daughter from using girls bathroom
After seeking medical advice they learned Coy had gender dysphoria, and followed the recommendations of doctors who told them she should be allowed to live as a girl. At first this recommendation was also supported by Eagle Elementary, who registered Coy as a female student and allowed her to use the girl s bathrooms while in Kindergarten. However, in December 2012 the school told Coy s parents she would no longer be allowed to use the girls bathrooms and would have to use facilities in the nurses offices, teachers bathrooms, or boys bathrooms instead.
Coy is not sick, she is not an adult, and she is not a boy, her parents responded. They took Coy out of Eagle Elementary for homeschooling and in February lodged an official complaint against the school. Eagle Elementary has rejected calls to mediate over their treatment of Coy, prompting her parents to file a civil rights lawsuit.
If the school separates her from all her classmates to use the bathroom, they are singling her out for mistreatment, and teaching her classmates that it s okay to discriminate. We are saddened that her school will not even come to the table to talk about this issue, they said. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) have pointed out that Colorado s laws prohibit discrimination against transgender pupils.
They said: We are shocked that her school will not even meet to talk about this so that Coy can quickly return to school. Nothing should be more important to a school than ensuring that students can attend safely and without discrimination. TLDEF Director Michael Silverman added: For many transgender people, discrimination is a daily part of life.
Unfortunately for Coy, it has started very early. The school have said that their decision took into account not only Coy, but other students in the building, their parents and the future impact a boy with male genitals using a girls bathroom would have as Coy grew older . Kathryn Mathis has dismissed the school s response, saying they should not discriminate against Coy based on speculations.
Her body development is none of their business. That is up to her and her doctors in the future, she said. Right now we need to be protecting a 6-year-old, not a middle-schooler or a high-schooler.
The case will now be investigated by the Civil Rights Division (CRD), a regulatory agency in Colorado. The CRD will have 180 days to investigate before making a ruling, which can then be appealed by the party that is ruled against. From there the case will be referred to the courts.
Discuss this Get the latest LGBT headlines in your inbox with our free daily newsletter!
Sign up Continue reading
Liberace: King Of Gonzo!
We do it. Cut. There s a long pause.
And then you just hear Steven Soderbergh go, Well I have no notes.
If the UK "release" for this HBO TV movie means it just gets stuck on Sky Atlantic I is gonna be so mad. Continue reading
US: FBI to investigate killing of Mississippi gay mayoral candidate Marco McMillian as a possible hate crime
The agency will assess evidence to determine whether federal prosecution is appropriate, Deborah Madden, an FBI public affairs specialist, said in a statement on Thursday. Marco McMillian, 33, was found on Wednesday 27 February near the Mississippi River west of Clarksdale, the city where he was running for mayor on a platform of helping the poor and fighting crime. Police charged Lawrence Reed, 22, from Shelby, Mississippi, in connection with murder soon after the body was discovered.
Last weekend, in a statement, McMillian s family said the victim had been beaten, dragged and burned. Mississippi s hate crimes law covers acts motivated by bias against a victim s race but not sexual orientation. However, a federal hate crimes law covers bias against sexual orientation and local and state agencies can seek assistance to pursue a federal hate crime under the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
The Act was introduced in 2009 as is named after murdered gay teenager Matthew Shepard.
Discuss this Continue reading