By Cathy Kristofferson, May 08, 2013. Today, on Day Two of Caleb Orozco and the United Belize Advocacy Movement’s (UBIBAM) constitutional challenge of Belize’s Section 53 anti-sodomy law, lead attorney Christopher Smith‐Hamel SC, made his closing arguments. During his closing, he quoted Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Anglican humanitarian leader from South Africa: “’Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters […]
San Francisco to protest Pride’s cancellation of Bradley Manning honor
By Melanie Nathan, April 28, 2013. San Francisco, CA – Gay activists have called a protest against the San Francisco Pride Committee for withdrawing of Bradley Manning as an honorary Grand Marshal for this year’s Pride. Bradley Manning, widely known to be gay, had been selected to be one of the Grand Marshals of the […]
Exploitation of binational same-sex couples continues as Immigration Equality continues to fund raise on the back of its failure
The group raised $1,765,000 in 2011 of which $1,131,220 was used for salaries and compensation, and increased employees to 20 for what? By Melanie Nathan, April 26, 2013. Immigration Equality has failed binational same-sex couples and is now scrambling to stay relevant, with the audacity to create a exploitative lobby event, all leading of course […]
Boy Scouts Apartheid is bigotry not evolutionary
Apartheid in the Boy Scouts Movement is not the way to evolve By Cathy Kristofferson, April 21, 2013 I keep seeing articles and posts about how great it is that the Boy Scouts are now, once again, considering allowing gay scouts (an idea that was proposed and went down in flames not that long ago) […]
Immigration Equality begs on backs of binationals | Failed strategy has its remedy in death of DOMA
Begging for money to fund a failed strategy for immigration inclusiveness is a waste of time, money and resources | It is too late because even if UAFA is included in CIR, it will be the demise of DOMA that get binational spouses their green cards. Immigration Equality has always described itself as the preeminent […]
Scotus ruling on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum concern for human rights cases
By Melanie Nathan, April 17, 2013. The Supreme Court has ruled in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, a case that raised the question of whether corporations could be held accountable for human rights abuses and whether U.S. federal courts can hear claims arising from human rights violations committed abroad under the Alien Tort Statute. The […]
USAID announces LGBT Global Development Partnership
$11 million, four-year initiative to further LGBT equality worldwide By Cathy Kristofferson, April 08, 2013 Following the United Nations’ historic resolution endorsing LGBT human rights in 2011, President Obama issued a mandate to all agencies involved with foreign aid and development to “enhance their ongoing efforts with governments, citizens, civil society, and the private sector […]
South African Arts Academy guilty of human rights violations by claiming gay cure
By Melanie Nathan, April 09, 2013. In January we reported that an Arts School in Bloemfontein, South Africa, claimed in its prospectus that it could cure homosexual students. We reported that a “South African Christian arts academy, Creare Training Centre may be breaking the law by advertising that it can “cure” homosexual students, and that […]
LGBT Groups Challenge Medicare’s Refusal to Provide Healthcare to Transgender Patients
By Melanie Nathan, April 02, 2013. (Washington, D.C., March 29, 2013)—Last week, several national LGBT groups and a cooperating attorney filed an administrative challenge to Medicare’s ban on medically necessary healthcare for transgender patients. Medicare, which provides healthcare to Americans ages 65 and older and younger people with certain qualifying disabilities, currently prohibits all forms […]
Activists ‘seeing red’ over HRC antics at SCOTUS hearings
as the Human Rights Campaign exhibits their typical lack of inclusivity… By Cathy Kristofferson, March 29, 2013. During the SCOTUS trials the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) convinced many in the Facebook world to change their avatars to red. Following the hearings many activists are seeing a different red now that two incidents – insulting both the […]
LGBT activists should be fighting for Supreme Court Justice Scalia to recuse himself from DOMA and Prop 8 Cases
By Melanie Nathan, February 28, 2913. Based on this latest news, noting that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has vented his belief through his skeptical questions about a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, a cornerstone of the civil rights movement that brought an end to Jim Crow-era racial discrimination at the polls in […]
Canadian funding to anti-gay faith based organization in Uganda links to hate speech
The Pitfalls of funding Faith Based Organizations without doing your research first By Cathy Kristofferson, February 12, 2013. It has come to light that the Canadian government, through its Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) spearheaded by Minister Julian Fantino, has been funding an anti-gay Evangelical organization – Crossroads Christian Communications – to the tune of […]
Atlanta area gay community’s inspiring project to save homeless queer youth
Lost-n-Found – A do it yourself homeless queer youth shelter By Cathy Kristofferson, January 29, 2013. Update Feb. 7 2013: Creating Change ’13 Conference session handout. In the fall of 2011 I saw posts online about a new queer youth shelter opening in Atlanta. Local homeless queer youth were being turned away from shelters and […]
Uganda’s Brave Gay Youth reach out to the World for help
Help Youth on Rock Find a Home and a Safe house by Melanie Nathan, January 27, 2013. I reported the unlawful arrest of a young leader from the human rights group in Uganda, Youth on Rock Foundation (YRF), around New Year’s Eve, after the break in at SMUG’s offices, where computers containing sensitive information were […]
Christian Evangelical Right sets up American Style foothold in Brazil
““The U.S. is a chosen country, an evangelical country, and if Americans don’t take God out of there, God won’t leave.”” By Jandira Queiroz, on January 26, 2013 Jandira Queiroz is a research fellow at Political Research Associates and a longtime reproductive and LGBTQ rights advocate in Brazil. From a modest building in a central […]
David Kato Remembered | a Hero then and a Hero now
On January 26, 2011 the world received the shocking news of the murder of one of Uganda’s brave LGBTI warriors, a hero then and still a hero now. By Melanie Nathan, January 25, 2013. David Kato was born to the Kisule clan in its ancestral village of Nakawala, Namataba, Mukono District, in Uganda. The younger […]
Malaysia Should End Discriminatory Laws Against Gay People
By Evelyn Dent, January 22, 2013. Late last year, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. stating that the country should put an end to discriminatory and human-rights-violating government policies that criminalize members of the LGBT community. Under Malaysian law, it is still illegal to engage in […]
San Francisco Help LGBT Homeless Youth on MLK Day of Service
Help LGBT Homeless Youth on MLK – Day of Service, 1/21/13 At HRC and Larkin Street Youth Services, we believe that we have a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of our LGBT youth, who make up 40 percent of homeless and at-risk youth. In our first year participating in MLK Day of Service, […]
Homeless queer youth | the Massachusetts Special Commission
Can Massachusetts be a case study to improve the odds for homeless queer youth? By Cathy Kristofferson, January 09, 2013. The epidemic of homeless queer youth is an issue I’ve followed and advocated for because to me our youth are the most vulnerable among us. They are empowered by our successes and are coming out younger and […]
UN Watch Calls for Removal of HRW Board member citing Anti-Semitic Remarks
By Melanie Nathan, December 30, 2012. Amongst its many human rights related missions, Human Rights Watch works for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people’s rights, with activists representing a multiplicity of identities and issues. According to their LGBT mission statement they “document and expose abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity worldwide – including […]
Ugandan LGBT Organization SMUG Office Robbed and Vandalized during Xmas
By Melanie Nathan, Dec 28, 2012. SMUG, the LGBTI organization led by Frank Magishu, had its offices broken into and vandalized with almost all office property stolen during the Xmas holiday. It is unknown at this time if the motivation behind the attack was homophobic persecution. However given the anti-gay climate in Uganda and the […]
Why we must attend the SMUG v. Scott Lively Lawsuit in Court January 7, 2013
Sexual Minorities Uganda v. Scott Lively – why you should care, why you should go! By Cathy Kristofferson, December 23, 2012. On Monday January 7th 2013 in Federal Court Springfield, opening oral arguments will be heard for the motion to dismiss the case of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) v. Scott Lively. This is not the […]
Scott Lively’s Year of the Smear 2012
By Melanie Nathan, December 23, 2012. Scott Lively, the fervently homophobic anti-gay Pastor, currently being sued by the CCR for his direct involvement on persecuting the Ugandan LGBT community. is playing the victim card, yet again. In a post on his blog which he entitles “Year of the Smear,” Lively reveals his wounds. Yes indeed […]
Melanie Nathan’s Annual Do Donate and Do Not Donate 2012
By Melanie Nathan, December 21, 2012. As the year comes to a conclusion the ‘send me your money e-mails ‘ are stacking up – and I must admit many of them annoy me, especially the ones that piggy back the work of others, asking for donations in the name of some obscure couch advocacy adventure, […]
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