Nazification Continues In Malaysia

Apr 202012
 


Kuala Lumpur – Last week, Bayan Baru MP Zahrain Mohamed Hashim attempted to table an emergency motion in Parliament to bar people who are LGBT from becoming MPs and senators. However, the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Pandikar Amin Mulia, rejected the motion as “insignificant”, citing Standing Orders 18(2) and 23(1).

A sexuality rights activist has challenged Zahrain to prove he is not gay, saying he should otherwise refrain from trying to lead a campaign against those with alternative sexual orientations.

Responding to Zahrain’s call for a ban on lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) from public office, Seksualiti Merdeka founder Pang Khee Teik said: “Why don’t he demonstrate and prove if he is LGBT first? How would we know, really?”

Pang said it was “not an impossible thing” for anyone to be gay. “We know a lot of LGBTs who have been pressured into a different life, marrying people of the opposite sex although they are gay. So how can you tell if anyone is gay or not?”

Pang also said he knew many “leaders of companies, civil societies and the civil service” who are homosexual or bisexual.

“They have contributed a lot to the country in realising the visions of democracy and diversity. Only the morally bankrupt can’t see this and is threatened by the honesty and transparency of the openly LGBT.”

Yesterday, Zahrain said Malaysians should not allow anyone who is LGBT to become prime minister or hold any other public office, in further indications that politicians in Malaysia are prepared to follow the beliefs of Adolf Hitler.

Some observers see the remark as targeting Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has rejected insinuations that he is gay or bisexual and who has twice been acquitted of charges of sodomy.

“Historically, sex is the easiest, dirtiest, and cheapest way to target a political opponent when you cannot challenge someone intelligently on merit and principles,” said Pang.

A disappointed Zahrain said he would get “friends” in the Senate, including those from the opposition parties, to raise the matter in the upper house.

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Gay Activist Murdered In Canada

Apr 202012
 


Toronto – In a crime that should never have happened, a local gay activist has been murdered by a man on a one-hour release from a mental institution.

On Tuesday, Raymond Taavel, 49, was beaten to death outside a local gay bar. A passerby discovered the activist lying in the road around 2:30am and called police. The witness told the authorities that a man fled the scene and the police quickly tracked him down, the Globe and Mail reported.

Andre Noel Denny, 32, was arrested in an alley not far from the scene. Police say that Taavel was assaulted when he tried to stop an argument between two men. Witnesses say anti-gay epithets were yelled.

The Nova Scotia government will conduct a joint review with health authorities over the release of Denny, who is being held in a psychiatric facility.

“The review will determine whether all relevant policies and procedures were followed and whether they were adequate,” said a news release from the Nova Scotia government.

Police say they were looking for the suspect earlier that day when he did not return to a local psychiatric facility after a one-hour leave. Denny’s lawyer says he should not have been given permission to leave.

Some believe that Taave’s murder was a hate crime. The local authorities would not confirm or deny the allegation, the Calgary Sun reported.

“We are exploring all possibilities with regards to motives,” Constable Brian Palmeter said.

It was reported by local media that Denny claimed self-defense in court and then gave the middle finger to news cameras and to people outside the courtroom. He was then sent back to the hospital where he will undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation to see if he can appear in court.

Denny faces a second-degree murder charge.

But for now, hundreds are mourning the loss of the prominent gay activist.

“I was quickly overcome with grief and sat at my desk crying for about five minutes before making way to the restroom to try and compose myself,” said Laurie Murray, who met Taavel when she came out of the closet in 2007. She said he gave her work despite having no experience and took her to parties where she met other members of the LGBT community and would always make (her) feel so safe.”

“Every time there was an issue in the community, Raymond would be there. He was relentless and he let you know what he wanted. He wouldn’t stop until he got it,” said Krista Snow, a former city councilor who now runs Pride.

The community also held a vigil in Taavel’s honor.

“We’ve lost a brave man to something so evil,” Lisa Brine, a friend of Taavel’s, told CTV Atlantic at the gathering.

“Standing in the huge crowd on Gottingen Street seemed very surreal to me. It was a sea of faces of people I knew and people I didn’t. The mood of the crowd was obviously very sombre. I knew a lot of people there were feeling anger over what happened but it was clear that no one was going to let it take over. This was Raymond’s vigil and that simply was not Raymond’s way,” Murray said.

To remember the activist, Taavel’s family, friends and several members of the local community unfurled a 15-foot gay pride flag and sang “Amazing Grace.”

“When the pride flag was stretched across the road, we took over the street. Traffic stopped. I remember feeling as if the world was stopping to take notice,” Murray said. “I felt nothing but love last night and was thankful to be rid of the anger that had been building inside me all day.”

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Gay Diver Looks to Equality

Apr 192012
 


Sydney – As Australian diver Matthew Mitcham prepares to defend his Olympic title and live up to the expectations of him, he is still willing to carry the added weight of interest in his advocacy of gay rights.

“Ideally I would like one day for sexuality to be as unimportant and uninteresting as hair colour, or eye colour or even just gender in general. One day it will get to that. But until it is easy for sports people to come out without fear of persecution or fear of lost sponsorship income and stuff like that, or fear of being comfortable in the team environment, I don’t mind attention being brought to my sexuality in the hope that it might make other people feel more comfortable … in being comfortable enough about who they are in their sporting environment,” said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

However, That said, Mitcham’s main purpose in going to London will not be to champion a cause or belief, but to win a gold medal in an event in which he knows he will face some stiff competition.

But Mitcham, who won the 10-metre platform event at the 2008 Beijing Games shortly after revealing he was gay, realises that day is some time away – and that it won’t arrive before the start of the London Olympics, which yesterday ticked under the ’100 days to go’ mark.

As he prepares to defend his Olympic title and live up to the expectations on him, Mitcham is still willing to carry the added weight of interest in his advocacy of gay rights.

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Toronto Mayor Snubs Pride Again

Apr 192012
 


Toronto – Rob Ford, mayor of Canada’s largest city Toronto, won’t be coming out for the second year in a row as more than 1 million people gather in Toronto to celebrate gay Pride.

Ford confirmed Wednesday he will again be skipping Toronto’s Pride parade on July 1 because he is going to the cottage with his family for the holiday weekend.

“I’m not attending Pride,” Ford told reporters following an event at Metro Hall. “It is on Canada Day, I’m going up to the cottage with my family like I’ve done for as far as I can remember.”

Asked if he would attend any other Pride events during the 10-day festival, Ford didn’t rule it out but also didn’t commit to attending any. “We’ll see,” Ford said. “We’ll take it event by event.”

Ford ignited a firestorm of controversy last year when he became the first mega-city mayor to opt out of the Pride parade. Former mayors David Miller and Mel Lastman marched in the parade during their terms. The mayor’s firm refusal to attend this year’s parade sparked some outcry from his own executive committee.

“I’m disappointed right now,” said Councillor Michelle Berardinetti. “If he doesn’t at least come back and raise the (Pride) flag, I think it is disappointing for the City of Toronto.”

If he can’t do the flag raising, Berardinetti added she hopes Ford participates in at least one Pride event.
“It’s about inclusivity and there are so many things that Pride represents and I think that he has to at least participate in something,” she said.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said she hoped he would reconsider. “He asked for this job,” Wong-Tam said, adding the mayor represents a diverse city that includes the gay community. If Ford attended the parade or another event, Wong-Tam said he would be sending a message to the community that “you are important (and) I support you.”

“I would certainly love to see him there,” she said.

Councillor Doug Ford said he is encouraging his brother to attend a Pride event. “Always, always encouraging him … absolutely,” Ford said. But Ford couldn’t say why his brother didn’t attend one event last year and has yet to confirm he will attend an event this year. “I don’t know, I can’t answer that guys,” he said.

Missing Pride once may be understandable, but snubbing the city’s GLBT community twice in a row smacks of bigotry.

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SAS Is Favourite GLBT Airline

Apr 182012
 


New York – Scandinavian Airlines was named Favorite airline at the EDGE Awards after 70,000 online votes had been cast. The annual competition features a number of categories within travel, lifestyle and entertainment, and is organized by one of the leading LGBT media houses in the US, Edge Media.

SAS edged out other LGBT-friendly airlines such as Air New Zealand, American Airlines, JetBlue, LAN Airlines and Virgin America/Virgin Atlantic to win the coveted title as Favorite airline. In 2010, SAS launched what became one of that year’s most successful global media campaigns, Love is in the air, which concluded with the world’s first gay and lesbian weddings in the air on a flight between Stockholm and New York. Late last year, SAS created a gay video version of its popular SAS Crew Guide concept featuring Anton Hysén, the young Swedish footballer player who came out last year and currently the favorite to win “Dancing with the Stars” in Sweden.

“This is a major honor for SAS. In less than two years we have gone from being more or less invisible in the global LGBT travel market, an extremely loyal customer group with high spending on travel, to now be perceived as one of the world’s most LGBT-friendly airlines. To be named Favorite airline by LGBT travelers in the US in competition with other major global airlines that have been targeting the LGBT travel market for decades show that our commitment is timely and highly appreciated,” says Anders Lindström, PR Director, SAS.

SAS has won several awards for its focus on LGBT travelers in the last year and a half, including a Flightglobal Webbies Awards for Online Campaign of the Year and named Innovator of the Year by IGLTA (International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association), as well as being short-listed for Sweden’s PR of the Year Award 2011. For more information on SAS’ LGBT focus, please visit www.flysas.com/gay.

Besides SAS, Stockholm also won an EDGE Awards as Favorite LGBT-friendly city. Stockholm has worked actively to position itself as an LGBT-friendly destination since 2005, when the Stockholm Gay and Lesbian Network, of which SAS is a member, was founded. SAS also partners with VisitSweden in the US, which promotes Sweden as a leading LGBT destination.

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Taiwan Gays High Suicide Risk

Apr 182012
 


Taipei – Nearly 20 percent of homosexuals in Taiwan have attempted suicide due to discrimination, a survey showed on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the island’s reputation as a liberal haven for gays.

About 30 percent have considered taking their own lives, and of these 18 percent have actually tried to kill themselves, according to the survey sponsored by Gender/Sexuality Rights Association of Taiwan and other groups.

“Taiwan is not that open towards homosexuality,” said Wang Ping, secretary general of the association.

Taiwan is the host of Asia’s biggest gay pride parade, attracting tens of thousands every year, and last August saw a mass same-sex wedding, but the new survey suggests homophobic attitudes still linger.

Fifty-eight percent of the 2,785 gay, lesbian and bisexual people who were interviewed for the survey earlier this month said they had been targets of verbal harassment, physical violence and sexual abuse.

Most of the attempted suicides occurred during adolescence, as did the majority of the reported instances of harassment, indicating a lack of education about homosexuality at schools, said Wang.

“The campus can be very unfriendly. It’s common that gay students are excluded and ridiculed so they feel lonely and under stress,” she said.

Last year, Taiwan’s education ministry was forced to drop plans to incorporate homosexuality education into the curriculum due to strong opposition by some Christian groups.

Gay rights organisations have warned that discrimination against gays remains serious in Taiwan, and around 50,000 people took to the streets of the capital Taipei in the wake of a series of anti-gay incidents last year.

Among them was a much-publicised medical dispute involving five patients receiving organs from an HIV positive donor, who was homosexual, due to a hospital’s mistake.

The incident led to some suggestions that homosexuals should be banned from donating blood and organs, which sparked an outcry from gay rights groups.

Compared with other Asian nations, Taiwan is becoming more open-minded towards homosexuality, although the acceptance is still much lower than the United State and Europe, according to some surveys.

The respondents in the new survey were aged 24 years on average, with the youngest just 14 years old.

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Court Overturns Police Ban on Pride March

Apr 172012
 


Budapest – The Budapest municipal court last week allowed Hungary’s annual Budapest gay march to take place at its original place and time, overruling the police in a decision that highlights continued controversy over gay rights in Hungary.

The Hungarian arm of Amnesty International, civil rights group Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, and organizations of homosexual activists welcomed the court’s decision. The organization expect some 1,500 people to show up at the march on July 7.

As in recent years, the police refused to grant permission for Budapest Pride, saying the march would restrict commuters’ right to free movement. The court said, however, that traffic can be diverted from a road that otherwise frequently hosts marathons and bicycle rides.

Some organizations and a parliamentary opposition party in Hungary have said the march should be banned because it would set “a bad example” for children. Radical Jobbik party last week submitted an amended proposal of its original bill aimed at protecting “public morals and the mental health of the young generations” from homosexuality, transsexuality, transvestitism, bisexuality, and pedophilia, said MP Adam Mirkoczki, the bill’s proponent. The amendment seeks to outlaw “promotion of sexual deviations.” Several regions of Russia have similar legislation in place.

The governing Fidesz party last year passed a new constitution for Hungary, enacted on January 1, defining marriage as “a relationship between a man and a woman.” The wording is identical to the Polish constitution of 1997. Polish conservative leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski referred to that definition of marriage in 2010 to claim that even same-sex civil unions, which the Polish ruling Civic Platform party has said it would consider introducing, would violate the constitution.

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Mr Gay World To Promote GLBT Rights

Apr 162012
 


Auckland – Newly crowned Mr Gay World is hoping to use his newfound fame to dispel stereotypes and promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Andreas Derleth, who prefers to be called Andy, beat 22 other contestants for the title at the fourth annual Mr Gay World competition in Johannesburg, South Africa, two weeks ago.

“I was very surprised and very proud. We won the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and now we’ve won Mr Gay World. I think it’s a huge honour,” he said.

As part of his prize package, which includes swimwear, cosmetics and jewellery, Derleth was also awarded a $25,000 allowance to travel the world during his term.

And it’s money he’s hoping to put to good use because he wants to erase “the image of us [gay men] running around with handbags”.

“The role of Mr Gay World is to stand up for gay and human rights, which I’m very into. I want to use this to raise public awareness about gay rights and promote acceptance. There are still countries which have the death penalty if you’re gay.”

The 33-year-old comes from Germany but immigrated to New Zealand in 2008. He’s now a permanent resident and lives in Torbay with his partner Tom Linn, with whom he entered into a civil union last year on 11/11/11.

Derleth, who works as an operations project manager at Warehouse Stationery, was encouraged by Linn and a multitude of friends to enter Mr Gay New Zealand in February. That victory put him in the running for the world title.

Linn said although he had “reservations” about how his partner would fare, he was “quite impressed” with the preparation Derleth had put in before heading to South Africa.

“At first when we looked at the other contestants’ videos, I though he was up against very tough competition because they all had experience with public performance, and I don’t think Andy had done something like that before,” he said.

“But he learnt all the contestants’ names from the pictures the organisers sent before he went and put in a lot of preparation. I said to him ‘you better win after all this’.”

As well as taking to the stage to compete in swimwear and formal categories, Derleth has to take a written exam on the history of the LGBT rights movement as well as work with a local charity in Johannesburg.

“[The Mr Gay World contestants] were constantly judged on our behaviour toward each other, our personal grooming, we had to write an exam on LGBT rights history, we had a sports challenge,” said Derleth.

“We also had to work with a charity – that was a truly amazing experience. We saw these kids who were orphaned from aids and we gave them books and read to them. It was a truly amazing experience.”

Derleth now has his work cut out for him as he prepares to travel the world to promote his cause. And although he said there was plenty of acceptance in New Zealand for the gay community, tolerance still needed to be promoted.
“You will get some people who say things about gay people around young people and that behaviour possibly makes it hard for people to come out. We need to see people embracing it and not scaring them away.”

“There are many cases where young people are scared to come out, so I want to encourage them to get in touch with Rainbow Youth or organisations like that. You hear so many stories of young people who commit suicide and then you don’t know the reason why. It then comes out later that they were gay and they can’t deal with it.”

Derleth is also hoping to pick up sponsors along the way to promote the Mr Gay New Zealand contest, which has largely been funded by 2011 title holder Aaron Comis.

“It’s important for the community that we keep running this competition in the years to come,” he said.

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US Women Assault Gay Man

Apr 152012
 


Lexington – Two women in the US state of Kentucky have pleaded guilty to helping kidnap and assault a gay man in the first US federal case to use a hate-crime law that protects against attacks motivated by sexual orientation.

Mable Ashley Jenkins and Alexis LeeAnn Jenkins, both 19, pleaded guilty this week to aiding and abetting the kidnapping and hate-crime assault against a man in a southeastern Kentucky park last year. The US District Court in London unsealed the guilty pleas Friday, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s office in Lexington.

Two men, cousins David Jason Jenkins, 37, of Cumberland, and Anthony Ray Jenkins, 20, of Partridge, have been indicted on charges of kidnapping, assault and violating the hate-crime law. All four defendants are facing a maximum sentence of life in prison for the April 4, 2011, attack on Kevin Pennington at Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan County.

Mable and Alexis Jenkins are scheduled to be sentenced in August. Alexis Jenkins is married to Anthony Jenkins, and Mable Jenkins is his sister.

The men have a trial date set for June 18. Kyle Edelen, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment Friday on whether Mable and Alexis Jenkins would testify against the men at trial.

Federal prosecutors say this is the nation’s first federal case charging a violation of the sexual orientation section of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was passed in 2009. The women’s guilty pleas were the first convictions under that section of the law.

David and Anthony Jenkins have pleaded not guilty to all charges, and David Jenkins’ lawyer has called the hate-crime component of the case “just flat wrong.”

Pennington suffered injuries to his back, face, neck and ear in the mountaintop Appalachian park attack.

Pennington was invited by Mable and Alexis Jenkins to go on an evening drive, but once he saw David and Anthony Jenkins in the truck, he asked to be taken home, according to an FBI affidavit. At one point the truck stopped in front of a downed tree, and Anthony and David Jenkins pulled Pennington out of the truck and attacked him, the affidavit said.

The men hit him and kicked him while “making anti-homosexual statements,” it continued.

Pennington escaped, ran to a ranger station, broke a window to get inside and called police.

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First Open Gay MP Retires

Apr 142012
 


Sydney – Australia’s first openly gay Member of Parliament, and leader of the country’s Green Party, is to retire from politics.

He will handover the leadership of the Greens party to his deputy Christine Milne and will step down from his senate seat in June.

Senator Brown, 67, said in a statement: ‘I am sad to leave but happy to go. It is good knowing that the Greens have such a depth of talent and experience lined up for leadership – I could only dream about that a decade ago.’

During Brown’s 16 year leadership of the Greens they have gone from a small minority party with 2.4% of the vote in the 1996 federal election to 13% of the vote in the 2010 federal election. They won a seat in each of Australia’s six states, a first for a minority party.

The Greens now hold the balance of power in the Senate, with nine senators. And the first Greens MP in the House of Representatives, Adam Bandt, holds a powerful position supporting Labor’s minority government.

Brown started in politics in Tasmania in the 1970s as part of the grassroots environmental movement. He was a member of United Tasmania Group, Australia’s first green party, and was always open about being gay.

In his statement Brown said that he wanted to return to those green roots in retirement. He said: “I look forward to fresh green pursuits including writing, photography, music, occasional talks, bushwalking, and getting out with Paul to see Miranda Gibson who has been perched for 120 days 60 metres high, in defence of a giant tree facing destruction in central Tasmania”.

Paul Thomas is his partner, a fellow activist and farmer who Brown met in 1996.

Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome said: “Bob Brown’s charm, erudition, bravery and compassion, and most of all his pride in being gay in face of deep prejudice, have made him a beacon for three generations of gay and lesbian people in Tasmania and across the nation.”

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