I watched this when it was first uploaded and while I loved the general message even if I didn’t necessarily agree with some things like him and his former partner praying to change. Then, I thought about it and it really is his story and his life. The message is powerful.
October 2, 2012
Born Free and Equal
From the UN:
The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has released a 60-page booklet on sexual orientation and gender identity in international human rights law. The publication, “Born Free and Equal,” sets out the source and scope of State obligations to protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people under international human rights law. Drawing on almost two decades’ worth of UN research, guidance and jurisprudence, the booklet focuses on five core areas where State action is urgently required: protecting people from homophobic violence; preventing torture; decriminalizing homosexuality; prohibiting discrimination; and safeguarding freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
“The case for extending the same rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender (LGBT) persons as those enjoyed by everyone else is neither radical nor complicated. It rests on two fundamental principles that underpin international human rights law: equality and non-discrimination. The opening words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are unequivocal: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”Nevertheless, deeply embedded homophobic attitudes, often combined with alack of adequate legal protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, expose many LGBT people of all ages and in all regions of the world to egregious violations of their human rights. They are discriminated against in the labour market, in schools and in hospitals, andmistreated and disowned by their own families. On the streets of towns and citiesaround the world, they are singled out for physical attack – beaten, sexuallyassaulted, tortured and killed. And in some 76 countries, discriminatory lawscriminalize private, consensual same-sex relationships – exposing individualsto the risk of arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.”
May 17, 2012
LGBT Rights Continue To Remain in the Headlines in T&T
Contribution made by Senator Corinne Baptiste-McKnight in Senate in response to a Clause in the Children Bill that criminalized same sex intimacy among youth. Give that woman an award! ( Via Nadine Agard)
I want to come immediately to what I know is going to be very controversial, but as I stand here, I feel I have a duty to everyone here, and to everyone outside there, to do it. We are living through an age where bullying is rampant in our school system. A lot of the bullying takes place, boy upon boy, a lot of it is taking place because one of them is thought or suspected of being gay. Now we cannot as adults come here, under the guise of representing a country, and behave as if we live in the only country in the world where there are no homosexuals, no gays, no lesbians, and no transvestites. My God, you only have to be in Curepe at too late an hour, and you do not know which is female from which is male because all of them are dressed in high heels, lipstick, and have a lot hair. What happen, are we not making laws for them too?I want us to think because a lot of you have children, and your children arrive on earth and they are called male or female, what if one of your children is unhappy in his or her skin, uncomfortable in their given sexuality, and that child is not able to come to either parent, and unburden? What if that child has no adult in its life to whom the child can turn for comfort, even when the child is being persecuted at school for this? I would hate to think that the 31 of us in here are so homophobic, that we would shut our eyes to seeing an infant, a child, suffer through no fault of his or her own.We have got to open our eyes and face the facts. [Crosstalk] What is that? Excuse me? No, we have to talk in public about this because there are people out there who are hurting. There are children, there are parents who are waiting for approval to deal with their gay children, and we have to send them the message that it is all right to deal with their gay children, not have them closeting the children because they would be persecuted, and prosecuted. I really want to propose that this “(c)” be removed from every subclause in 20.
January 4, 2012
Excellent video – The Story of Human Rights
Via I AM EQUAL
Really good video explaining the history of human rights and how each of us has a role in ensuring we all have dignity and justice.
January 2, 2012
Sean Chapin – I’m Married And I Know It
I really like the usually subversive Sean Chapin’s newest music video – a take on ”Sexy And I Know It” by LMFAO. After seeing ’8: The Mormon Proposition’ I understand how upset a lot of Californians must be. They really need a scenario like here in Canada where the Supreme Court determines that marriage disparity is unconstitutional and then all the states would fall like dominoes. It is inevitable, so the forces against all people having equal rights to love and marry who they choose will lose no matter how much they fight to forestall it. Heteronormativity is the new racism.
When I walk down the aisle, this is what I see – everybody stops and they staring at me. I got rainbows on my ring and I ain’t afraid to show it… (this is a gay marriage thang).
Parody of “Sexy And I Know It” by LMFAO about marriage equality for gay and straight couples.
Check out Sean’s channel here – he really is a tireless fighter.
