All Out 4 Uganda

If you think it could work, chip in any amount to get started: https://www.allout.org/All-Out-4-Uganda.

Sergey Takes A Stand

All Out informs us:

Last Sunday Sergey Kondrashov was arrested in Saint Petersburg, Russia, for holding up a banner that read: “A dear family friend is lesbian. My wife and I love and respect her … and her family is just as equal as ours."

In just five days Sergey will go to court, where he could be fined and even thrown in jail for 15 days for violating Saint Petersburg's new "gay propaganda" law. With lawmakers in Russia's federal legislature (the Duma) looking to extend this "gay propaganda" law to the entire country - Sergey is taking a stand. He is asking Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to denounce the absurd anti-gay law that made him a criminal, and to do everything in his power to stop this unconstitutional law from spreading nationwide.

Sergey doesn't think of himself as an activist. He's just someone who thinks that all Russians - gay or straight - should be treated equal under the law. If you believe that it should never be illegal to defend the dignity of your friends and family who are gay, lesbian bi or trans - please stand with Sergey, and sign this petition to the Russian Prime Minister.

Sign the petition and stand with Sergey at All Out: Stand with Sergey in Russia
...

I, for one, know the benefits and the support that straight allies can give when homophobia raises it´s ugly face. I am so grateful for the support I have received and wish to pay it forward in supporting Sergey - and trying to get you to do so also. (Hell I would most likely have signed anyway, but that is just between you and me!)

Ban Ki-moon: "The Time Has Come"

It's not every day that a major world figure speaks out forcefully in defense of equality. But earlier this month, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did just that when he made an incredibly powerful speech at the U.N. in Geneva. But most people didn't even hear about it.

Why? After the speech, the media focused on a handful of delegates who stormed out of meeting in protest. Their story - that gay people should be denied human rights - is the one that dominated the day's news. But with your help, we're going to change that.

Our friends at the U.N. let us REMIX Ban Ki-moon, so we took his speech and created this video. We hope you like it! After you watch, please share with your friends and family, helping this inspiring message reach the audience it deserves.", from All Out; UN Secretary General Says "The Time Has Come" 

We have another straight ally, WTG Ban! 

A Message From Love

"Dear Bock (I edited the name from my first life one),

If you are a transgender person in Sweden wanting to change your legal gender, you are forced to undergo surgery that will render you permanently infertile and unable to have children in the future. That's right: in 2012, Swedish law still mandates forced sterilization in order to do something as simple as changing the gender on your driver's license.

Despite a massive push to repeal the law, including support from 90% of Swedish MPs, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stayed silent on the issue: allowing one small conservative party to block the change.

Right now a reform of the law is being debated in Sweden. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that finally convinces PM Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock. Will you take one minute to sign our urgent letter? RFSL, the Swedish federation for LGBT rights, will publicly deliver our signatures directly to the Prime Minister and demand that he intervene right now: www.allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization

Forced sterilization has a long and frightening history in Sweden. Beginning with programs in the 1930s that tried to eliminate certain "undesirable" traits in society by forcing individuals to be sterilized, Sweden has long grappled with the painful history of stripping from citizens what we now consider to be a basic human right. Even Prime Minister Reinfeldt has publicly called sterilization law a "dark chapter in Swedish history".

Now he has a chance to close that chapter for good. A reform of the law is ready to be presented directly to the Parliament - where 90% of MPs are in favor of banning forced sterilization - but without a push from the Prime Minister, the conservative KRISTDEMOKRATERNA party will use its seat in the government to block the change.

We know he is on our side: whether you are straight, gay, lesbian, bi or trans, will you take a moment to raise your voice and ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights?

Our friends at RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver your signatures directly to the Prime Minister's office.

www.allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization
Thank you for going All Out.

Best, Andre, Emmy, Erika, Flavia, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Oli, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out"

----

If you haven´t done so already I think it is time for you to sign the petition now! ... and Love is actually a Swedish male name, if you were wondering. It´s pronounced like the young man does in the beginning of the video.

Stop Forced Sterilization

In Sweden sex change is regulated by the "Act (1972:119) concerning the determination of sex in some cases", which includes both transsexuals and intersexuals.

The Swedish law today requires that any person who on the basis of transsexualism applies for sex change should be:

- Unmarried (i.e. unmarried, widowed, divorced and not  in a partnership)

- Swedish citizenship

- Eighteen years or older and

- Sterile

to be granted permission for new legal gender identity and gender corrective surgery.

The current requirement of sterility has by the Swedish National Board of Legal Council and the courts been interpreted as requiring that no viable reproductive cells from the person may be available.

An investigation on social care and assistance for transsexuals has, in its recommendations 2010, proposed a number of legislative changes among those that the requirement to be unmarried and sterile should be removed without being replaced with other requirements. As for the citizenship requirement it proposes that this should be replaced by a minimum level of domicile in the country of at least one year.

The Swedish government has so far refused to act on the recommendations of the investigation. The inaction on the governments part is due to the influence of the Christian Democratic Party, which is a part of the ruling so called "Alliance".

The Christian Democratic Party holds the The Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs under which this issue falls. Although there is an overwhelming majority in the Swedish parliament for the proposed changes (including the other three parties that make up the governing Alliance) the extremely socially conservative Christian Democrats have succeeded in deadlocking the government from taking any legislative action.

On Thursday we were reached by rumors that the government has reached an unofficial agreement between the four parties that form the Alliance to propose a renewed investigation on the issue of whether sterilization should still be mandatory. 

This unholy agreement was reached in spite of the fact that the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in a so-called issues paper entitled "Human Rights and Gender Identity" already in July of 2009, found that any requirement to undergo medical or surgical procedures to obtain a legal change of sex is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and suggested all Council members to stop the sterilization or forced treatment.

---

This issue doesn't affect many people but it is still a very important one. It is time for Sweden to change this anachronistic, heinous and discriminatory law, especially bearing in mind our earlier sordid history on forced sterilizations. 

All Out and RFSL (The Swedish National Organisation for Equal Rights of Homosexual, Bisexual and Transgendered persons) have joined forces to collect signatures for a change. Go there and sign the petition to tell the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and the others that it is time to move ahead for human rights, for human dignity and against the bigotry of the 4 % that vote for the Christian Democrats.

Please sign the petition here (url).