Nicely done video by the folks at the HRC.
December 12, 2011
I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus
So my favorite family in the world Depfox has uploaded another video. Seriously, this is an indictment of all the traditional ideas of family. Two amazing guys and their amazing kids proceeding with their lives. Except – Prop 8 says they are 2nd class citizens.
I think not.
November 22, 2011
Wonderful LGBT campaign from Argentina.
Thanks to Blabbeando as usual.
A year ago, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to grant same-sex couples full marriage rights. Before this year is over, the Argentinean congress might very well pass a groundbreaking transgender-rights law extending health care protections to transgender individuals and making it easier for trans folk to change their ID’s to better reflect their gender identity without requiring proof of gender reassignment surgery.
Getting to this point has certainly taken years of work by Argentinean LGBT organizations, activists, advocates and allies. It has also inspired some pretty amazing television and online video ads.
Read the rest and see the series of videos from Blabbeando here.
In case the Argentine situation confuses anyone here is a link.
February 23, 2011
Ministerial conference on same sex marriage postponed.
The press conference on same sex marriage scheduled by Trinidad & Tobago’s Minister of Planning, Social & Economic Restructuring and Gender Affairs has been postponed as “further research” is needed. Might have something to do with putting the cart before the horse as T&T still has ( seldom enforced) anti-sodomy laws.
Release from the ministry today.
February 23, 2011
Trinidad Express – Where does government stand on equality?
The Trinidad Express, which has been providing daily coverage of LGBT issues in T&T for the past week,has now devoted an entire editorial to equality. It should be noted that of the three national dailies it is the only one that has taken this issue on board and made it a priority.
“For failure to admit sexual orientation as a ground of discrimination, T&T has been lagging behind the rest of the progressive world which has long been taking this development in stride. Some clarification is due on where this government stands: whether with the scripture-quoting homophobia identified with big names in reggae culture, or with the enlightened consensus holding that all human beings should be treated equally. The clarification is especially necessary in light of the fact that gay rights appeared to be immediately opposed by a Government Senator-Minister invoking, not only religion, but not even his own religion.
Read the rest here.
Interesting that the great majority of comments thus far are positive.
February 21, 2011
The Trinidad Express continues its coverage
The Trinidad Express is continuing its relentless coverage of the call for national legislation to be amended so as to provide equal rights and protection for the LGBT community. This comes on the heels of several other articles and a poll asking readers to vote on the issue.
“THE decriminalisation of homosexuality should have nothing to do with religion, says Dr Gabrielle Hosein, lecturer at the Institute for Gender and Developmental Studies at the University of the West Indies in St Augustine.
Hosein said while religious organisations are ready to hold their own positions based on religious texts, those religious positions should not be applied to persons who do not share those religious views.
“We are living in a multicultural society, so we need to live in a society where the views of different persons are not necessarily imposed on others,” Hosein said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Her comments came one day after Colin Robinson, spokesman for the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO), called on the Government to adopt a policy of equality for all, inclusive of those in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community.
February 19, 2011
Interesting result from a disturbing question.
Latest poll results @7pm T&T time
There has been a lot of media discussion in Trinidad & Tobago over the last week on the matter of LGBT rights and even ( rather amazingly) same-sex marriage. This is a result of a debate in the senate on an unrelated matter (the Statutory Authorities Amendment Bill) that took a surprising turn when some senators brought up the subject saying the discussion could lead to same-sex marriage. Since the debate was specifically about people who are NOT married that was patently ridiculous but Government Senator and Minister of Planning, Mary King took the matter and ran with it indicating that LGBT matters should be discussed in the future. Local LGBT groups, most notably CAISO, have leveraged the discussion through the media and are getting a great deal of local and regional mileage.
Having interviewed both Minister King and Colin Robinson of CAISO in the last week I can report that the matter is definitely building up some momentum. The question is what will this momentum lead to? The current government hinted on the campaign trail that the matter of equality could be dealt with by a referendum – a suggestion so patently silly it is surprising anyone was misguided enough to bring it up. When human rights are involved it usually requires a government willing to ignore a fear of political fallout and do the moral thing. No one in their right mind would suggest that a referendum be held to give Catholics or left handed people equal rights.
In any case, the Trinidad Express has noted the debate and is conducting a referendum of their own by posting a poll asking “Do you support calls for the government to grant equal rights to members of the gay community?” This being the developing world and part of the highly homophobic English Caribbean one would have expected a bloodbath. While members and friends of the LGBT community might certainly leverage the internet to add to the ‘yes’ votes – the same opportunity is available to those who think that all people should not have equality. Being a loud and generally boisterous group it would have been likely that the anti-equality forces, buoyed by sheer numbers would have dominated the poll. Strangely, this has not been the case. The current result has been holding at 56% ‘yes’ to 46% ‘no .
There may be mitigating factors given that more educated people may be more likely to take the poll, or that large numbers of anti-equality folks may not have internet access or do not bother to read the online papers. There is also another possibility – maybe a large portion of the population actually really does feel that all citizens are entitled to protection under the law. Yes, it is depressing that so many people have voted ‘no’, but in the context of this part of the world it is still encouraging that they are in the minority.
Will anything come of the current discussion in terms of changing the current legislation? The government would need balls to make such changes and in this country no government so far has had anything even close to that.
For background on Trinidad & Tobago’s current laws that omit protection based on sexual orientation have a gander at Lisa Allen-Agostini’s excellent blog post “About those gay rights” here.
Keep an eye on the poll here.
January 11, 2011
Ricky Martin’s New Video
Via Towleroad
Ricky Martin’s newest video marking a rather different approach to his music and a strong personal statement about his new openness. It probably won’t be his biggest selling song but it is worth a watch.
