Putin: No Shower With A Gay Man In A Submarine

pinknews.co,uk reports: 

The Russian President (...) was speaking to filmmaker Oliver Stone for The Putin Interviews. In a discussion about the military, Stone had asked the leader: "If you’re taking a shower in a submarine with a man and you know he’s gay, do they have a problem with that?"

According to the Daily Beast, Putin responded: "Well, I prefer not to go to shower with him. Why provoke him? But you know, I’m a judo master and a SAMBO master as well."

He added: "I can tell you this, that as head of state today, I believe it’s my duty to uphold traditional values and family values. But why? Because same-sex marriages will not produce any children. God has decided, and we have to care about birth rates in our country. We have to reinforce families. But that doesn’t mean that there should be any persecution against anyone."

Putin is often hostile to Russia’s own LGBT community, signing the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law back in 2013.

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Interesting answer isn't it?

Notice how Vladimir "Little Father" Putin, expects every gay man to want and not be able to resist his luscious and delightful body, how he will be able to deal  with the assault with his athletic prowess in martial arts an combat sports. And he does it all because "God has decided." And to calm us gay and liberal westerners he concludes that this doesn't mean there should be "any persecution against anyone".

The last part sounds extremely fake coming from a man who legislated again "gay propaganda" and doesn't lift a finger or much less does anything else to control his Chechen henchmen in killing, maiming and abusing gay men. 

Stop Telling Women To Smile

It's International Women's Day again and time to honor women's advancement and reminding us all of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

As a gay man I may sometimes encounter homophobia and oppression in my life, but that is next to nothing compared to what women in our societies have to go through. 

The structural indoctrination and prevailing views teach us all from an early age - whether we are men or women, gay or straight - that women are worth less and less important than men. That a woman's place is to please, aid and support men everywhere and all the time. This gender discrimination leads to women being bought and sold like cattle, treated worse than animals, being underpaid, exploited, used and abused, maimed and killed at an incredible rate worldwide. 

We should use this day - atleast - to reflect upon this phenomenon and to consider how we as individuals, and as part of the societies we live in, can modify our ways of thinking and acting to change this horrific situation. One first step could be to do what the American artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh suggests, to stop telling women to smile.

"Stop Telling Women to Smile" is an art series by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh that started in Brooklyn in the fall of 2012. It is an ongoing, traveling series that will gradually include many cities and many women.

To find out more about the project and how you can get involved with it, have a look at the website. 

When the Games End

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, are coming to an end tomorrow. I am proud to say that I have been able to avoid it almost completely, the exception being listening to my co-workers discussions at lunches.

The reason for my personal boycott of these games are the state sanctioned heinous treatment of the LGBT community in Russia and the homophobic so called "Gay Propaganda" laws that the country has adopted with the full support of President Vladimir "Little Father" Putin.

"Stop the Hate" Photography by Tomais Ashdene

The eyes of the world have been focused on Russia during the months leading up to and during the games, which may very well have put a lid on some of the violence and outrages that would otherwise have occurred. Once the games have ended things may very well change to the worse. I am extremely worried for my LGBT brothers and sisters in Russia and for what may come in the near future.

Russia has a sad tradition of state sanctioned persecution against marginalized groups throughout it's history with pogroms, bullying and violence against Jews, Cossacks, Chechens to mention a few. Now the LGBT community is being used in the same way, to deflect anger and unrest in the population from rising against the regime and instead supplying the malcontents with an easy scapegoat to persecute without legal sanctions.

Of course I am aware that Russia is by no means the worst of the countries that are persecuting it's LGBT citizens, but I (wrongly) had higher expectations of Russia than for Uganda, Saudi Arabia and some other nations.

The Newest Olympic Sport

(via J.M.G.)

Fact vs. Fiction

I saw this on someones timeline on Facebook yesterday, but cannot remember whose.

The humble carpenter Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings have been completely distorted throughout history, especially for political purposes.

Jesus has been turned into a fictional character by those who most adamantly purport that he was the son of the almighty deity and claim to follow his teachings to the letter, the fundamentalist "born-again" Christian sects and their politicized branches.

Preachers of these sects and politicians of the Conservative and Christian Democratic parties all over the world and the Tea Party movement in the United States have through the ages used Jesus as a vessel to further all their bigoted and discriminatory inclinations and putrid purposes.

It is refreshing to sometimes remember the carpenter as he actually was, according to the testimonials in the New Testament. It is, however, sad that I as an atheist should need to remind the "true-believers" of the facts about their deity. They have utterly misused the man and his teachings.

If it were not for Christians I would most likely be a follower myself, but of the man not the deity

India: Government Asks For Court Review

Through Joe Jervis at J.M.G. I see that the BBC News website (url to full article)  today has this encouraging news.

"The Indian government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to review its decision to reinstate a 153-year-old law that criminalises homosexuality.

The government asked the court to review its order saying it believed it "violated the principle of equality".  There has been outrage over the ruling seen as a huge blow to gay rights. There have been street protests and many activists and even government ministers have criticised it. The Supreme Court order on 11 December overturned a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court ruling which had decriminalised gay sex.

In its ruling, the Delhi High Court had described Section 377 - the colonial-era law which says a same-sex relationship is an "unnatural offence" and punishable by a 10-year jail term - as discriminatory and said gay sex between consenting adults should not be treated as a crime.
But the Supreme Court said it was up to parliament to change the law and the courts did not have the mandate to rule on it.

"The government has filed the review petition on Section 377 in the Supreme Court today. Let's hope the right to personal choices is preserved," Law Minister Kapil Sibal tweeted on Friday.

In its petition filed in the Supreme Court, the government says "the position of the central government on this issue has been that the Delhi High Court verdict... is correct".

The Supreme Court's earlier order was widely criticised in India. The president of the ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi described it as "an archaic, unjust law" and Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the ruling had taken India "back to 1860".

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Let's maintain our support for our Indian brothers and sisters up and keep hoping that something good comes out of this.

Mark the Day

This was indeed a day to remember!

Oh, a federal judge in Utah also struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.

District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby in his decision said: "Few questions are as politically charged in the current climate. This observation isespecially true where, as here, the state electorate has taken democratic action to participate in a popular referendum on this issue. It is only under exceptional circumstances that a court interferes with such action. But the legal issues presented in this lawsuit do not depend onwhether Utah’s laws were the result of its legislature or a referendum, or whether the laws passed by the widest or smallest of margins. The question presented here depends instead on the Constitution itself, and on the interpretation of that document contained in binding precedent from the Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Applying the law as it is required to do, the court holds that Utah’s prohibition on same-sex marriage conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process under the law. The State’s current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for norational reason. Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional."

Poor Judgement

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) contains a statute (Section 377. Unnatural offences.) which states "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."

Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

Although the law was introduced in 1860 under the colonial days of British rule, to criminalize and prevent homosexual acts, it also strikes at the insertion of a penis in any human orifice except a vagina, thus even consensual heterosexual acts such as fellatio and anal, nasal and auditory canal penetration are punishable under this law. (I am not sure if armpits or cleavages can rightly be defined as human orifices, but I wouldn't risk it!)

According to reports the law has rarely—if ever—been used to prosecute anyone for consensual sex, it has however often been used by the police to harass homosexuals.

The High Court of Delhi, in 2009 found (Kaushal v. Naz Foundation) the statute to be unconstitutional insofar as it criminalized consensual adult sex acts in private. The high court stated that the law violated "the Indian constitution, which states that every citizen has equal opportunity of life and is equal before law."

The high court's decision was appealed to the Supreme Court of India by a wide variety of fundamentalist religious groups (Muslim, Christian and Hindu).

Dishon'ble Mr Justice G. S. Singhvi

Dishon'ble Mr Justice S. J. Mukhopadhaya

The Supreme Court (Hon'ble Messrs Justices S. J. Mukhopadhaya and G. S. Singhvi)  delivered it's long awaited decision on the matter this week, (the decision in extenso) in which it set aside the high court's decision and upheld the constitutional validity of Section 377 of IPC. The justices, however, kindly suggested "that the parliaments should debate and decide on the matter."

Homosexuality is thereby yet again a punishable offence in India, as well as fellatio and heterosexual anal intercourse. 

This decision is in my opinion anachronistic, discriminatory, bigoted and cowardly as it completely bypasses the human rights issues concerned in the case. Gay rights are human rights, the sooner it gets into the bigots minds that we do not choose our sexual identity but are born that way the better. The LGBT community deserves the same protection under the law as any other disenfranchised or minority group, what is so difficult to comprehend about that?

The LGBT community in India have been struck a terrible blow as it cannot be expected of the utterly fractionated parliaments to proceed in this matter, especially considering the widespread homophobia in Indian society and the upcoming elections next year.

Chanakya Sethi, a graduate student at Yale Law School, summarizes my reaction well when he writes on Slate.com, "The majority passes a law that the minority believes discriminates against it. The minority goes to court seeking relief from the majority. But because the minority group constitutes a 'minuscule fraction of the country’s population,' the court will defer to the will of the legislature—that is, to the will of the majority."

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As a reaction to the decision a “Global Day of Rage” is being organized with a string of worldwide protests that will take place tomorrow, Sunday December 15, 2013.

Events will be held in major cities like Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Cambridge, London, Boston, Sydney, Toronto, see the organizers Facebook page for information on other locations.

Urgent Appeal

This is an appeal from All Out that I choose to share with you and ask you to support!

"In 5 days the United Nations is set to elect Russia to the most powerful human rights body in the world. That's right – in Russia, lesbian, gay, bi and trans people are being arrested... shot... humiliated...and now Russian leaders will be in charge of global human rights?!

All Out members aren't going to let that happen without a fight. Russia's expecting to breeze through the vote and they haven't planned for anyone opposing this sham process.

But, if we can get to 500,000 signatures by Monday, we'll deliver our petition straight to the UN offices of every member country so they'll know the whole world is watching this vote. We're already over 385,346, so we know we can get there fast. Tell world leaders that they can't quietly let Russia get away with the anti-gay crackdown AND lead on human rights. Sign now:

https://www.allout.org/russia-attacks

Before running for the Human Rights Council, Russia published a pledge that claims they ban "any form of restriction on the rights of citizens on social, racial, gender, ethnic, linguistic, religious or any other grounds." But those words don't match what's actually happening in the country – Russian authorities are failing to protect people from discrimination and violence and to take action even in the most blatant cases. Check it out:"

FIRED for coming out at work

ATTACKED by thugs this week at a meeting of LGBT activists

BULLIED by an extremist hate group who has claimed hundreds of victims

TORTURED for being gay

BEATEN at a Pride parade

Straight and DETAINED for standing up for LGBT rights...

More On NOH8

My dear friend Blanche Argus, with the blog Blanche´s Arena, asks what the NOH8 Campaign is all about. I am grateful to Blanche for asking the question outright because it gives me the opportunity to explain.

The video above should answer some of her, and others, questions but I will nonetheless say a few things more.

The campaign first started out as a grassroot reaction when Proposition 8 was passed into law by a ballot measure in California, U.S.A. The proposition added an amendment to the California Constitution whereby "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.". Same-sex marriages were thus effectively outlawed in California. The NOH8 Campaign has since developed into a silent photographic protest against homophobia and discriminatory legislation all over the world.

An infamous Swedish Internet-troll in a comment to Blanche´s post makes the interpretation that the campaign suggests that we shut down communication by covering our mouths with duct tape. I am guessing she must´ve failed miserably in the courses on "investigative journalism".

Contrary to the troll´s  stupid assumption, the symbolism of the manifestation should of course - as most reasonable people will understand - rather be interpreted as "you may try to shut us up but be will not be silenced". The campaign makes use of the well known adage that "a picture is worth more than a thousand words" which refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image.

For more information you should visit the website NOH8. Campaign.

The Immoral Elite

"Tintin in Congo"

The past week we had a storm among the narrow minded Swedish "cultural elite".

The cause of the uproar was that Behrang Miri, the artistic director of the children and youth section at Kulturhuset of Stockholm (The Culture House), decided to move the Tintin books by Remi Hergè from the children and youth section to the adult section.

Miri´s reason for doing so, was that the Tintin books reflect racist and discriminating caricatures from a colonialistic perspective. In his view the fact that the books have lately been provided with a preface explaining that they are written during a time with other values ​​is not enough. In his opinion this was not something children should be exposed to alone.

Thw news of the move made the so called "cultural elite" of Sweden explode on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and you name it. These ethnic Swedes and other Westerners cried "censorship" at the top of their lungs and took upon themselves the right to tell those who are subjected to demeaning and insulting depictions and characterisations how, when and at what they could rightfully react. They should be ashamed of their words and actions in this bruhaha and are themselves part of the problem and not of the solution. Stupid twats!

Even more shameful is the fact that the direction of the Kulturhus, instead of backing their artistic director in his decision, caved in to the outcries and pressure from their buddies and cronies and moved the books back. Ignorant racist bastards!

Madge in Saint Petersburg

(Via J.M.G..)

Respect!

Pride Divided - Updated

The purpose of the LGBT Pride Festivals are several, but I would believe the main reasons are

• to manifest our existence and increase our visibility as a social group, 
• to promote the struggle for full and equal rights,
• to condemn discrimination and bullying and last but not least
• to build community and to celebrate our diversity together and with our straight allies.

I have heard that there are about 1,000,000 or less active users in SecondLife. With the varying time zones about 80,000 residents are in-world at the same time.

Let´s - for the sake of this discussion - assume that the residents belonging to the LGBT-group amounts to about 10 % of the total amount of residents, which would mean that there are about 100,000 active LGBT-users of which 8,000 are in-world at the same time.

The question I would like to ask is: "Do we really need more than one Pride Festival in SecondLife?"

Of course I realize that an argument could be made that the more Pride Festivals there are the prouder we are, but to me that argument is totally absurd.

One of the main reasons with celebrating a Pride Festival is to build community and to celebrate our diversity, to get to know each other across the national divisions, the language divisions and the time zone divisions, not to mention getting Lesbians and Gays to attend the same festival.

To me it seems totally absurd and counterproductive to the causes we claim we are promoting if we all have our own festivals with a few weeks in-between, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transsexuals, Transgendered, Francophone, German speaking, Spanish speaking, English speaking, Americans, Euros, Australians and New Zealanders,  the Gay Archipelago and Second Pride.

ADDENDUMI have no objections to all these different subgroups celebrating their variety of Pride all year long if they wish, or leading up to one big main event. By all means go ahead and do that, but once a year we should all come together to one event, to show our strength in numbers and conviction, to show support for the greater causes and each others struggles and to rub shoulders, meet, discuss and talk and party

I get very sad and upset when such an important event for the gay community as celebrating Pride suffers because of petty rivalry between people who should know better. 

Either we have the same agenda or we don´t, and if we don´t we should stop pretending we have anything that unites us. Let´s get our act together and show we can unite for the good of us all! 

Russia to Silence All LGBT People

Homophobic Russian twat Vladimir Putin

All Out today informs us that

"The party led by Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin is pushing discriminatory legislation against lesbian, bi, gay and trans people that could eliminate their freedom to speak publicly and assemble.

Russia is a signatory to numerous international human rights treaties - including the European Convention on Human Rights. We call on you to urgently speak out and hold Russia accountable to its treaty obligations - and stand with LGBT Russians whose ability to speak for themselves is under attack."

Lawmakers in Saint Petersburg could pass a bill tomorrow that will crush freedom of expression for Russians and make LGBT people invisible. But leaders around the world can help stop it.

Sign the petition here!

If this bill passes Russia will clearly demonstrate how far behind they are when it comes to human rights and democracy! I hold Vladimir Putin personally responsible for this and I hope the leaders of the democratic countries see him for the antidemocratic dictator that he is.

Thanks to my dear friend Zigadena Gabardini for pointing this out to me.

UPDATE (from All Out) "February 8th: This morning, St. Petersburg legislators passed the 2nd reading of the outrageous "propaganda" bill that will silence millions of Russian LGBT voices. Our friend Polina reports that we still have time to call our world leaders -- the final vote will come next week. Call your foreign affairs office now, and spread the word HERE."

Russia to Silence All LGBT People

Homophobic Russian twat Vladimir Putin

All Out today informs us that

"The party led by Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin is pushing discriminatory legislation against lesbian, bi, gay and trans people that could eliminate their freedom to speak publicly and assemble.

Russia is a signatory to numerous international human rights treaties - including the European Convention on Human Rights. We call on you to urgently speak out and hold Russia accountable to its treaty obligations - and stand with LGBT Russians whose ability to speak for themselves is under attack."

Lawmakers in Saint Petersburg could pass a bill tomorrow that will crush freedom of expression for Russians and make LGBT people invisible. But leaders around the world can help stop it.

Sign the petition here!

If this bill passes Russia will clearly demonstrate how far behind they are when it comes to human rights and democracy! I hold Vladimir Putin personally responsible for this and I hope the leaders of the democratic countries see him for the antidemocratic dictator that he is.

Thanks to my dear friend Zigadena Gabardini for pointing this out to me.

UPDATE (from All Out) "February 8th: This morning, St. Petersburg legislators passed the 2nd reading of the outrageous "propaganda" bill that will silence millions of Russian LGBT voices. Our friend Polina reports that we still have time to call our world leaders -- the final vote will come next week. Call your foreign affairs office now, and spread the word HERE."

Ruling on Prop. 8 Today

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a ruling that Proposition 8 in California was unconstitutional by banning same-sex marriages. With this ruling (by 2-1) the Court of Appeal upheld the previous ruling by judge Vaughn R. Walker on August 4, 2010.

The ruling today was stayed in anticipation of an appeal, so same-sex marriages will not resume yet.

It is expected that the ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Read more about this story on Eddi Haskell´s Second Life (url) and Joe.My.God.

A Worthy Cause

(via J.M.G.)

If you wish to support the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) you can make a donation here.

This should be interesting to follow, in both the case 40 years ago and in the new case the discrimination is based "solely by the gender of her spouse".

To the Women of the World

The fact that a minority group of less than half of the worlds population is actively and systematically oppressing and depriving the majority group of their full and equal rights is a mass-discrimination that never ceases to amaze me.

The fact also that men get away with this again and again and yet again is totally bewildering to me and so is the fact that this no longer seems to be an issue in society of today or even among many women. After all it is our mothers, daughters and sisters that are being constantly deprived, abused, raped, mutilated, murdered, bought and sold like cattle and systematically underpaid, exploited and humiliated.

We need a change and the change will certainly not come from the men. So women of the World get your act together and unite! Only you can do it and we need you to do it for a better future for all human beings with full and equal rights for all.


Hell yes, you can do it!

Oh yeah and have a Happy International Womens Day...

Ban Against Niqāb Is Discrimination

The Swedish Ombudsman against discrimination (DO), Mrs. Katri Linna, this week finally published her long-awaited ruling in a case where a Swedish school wished to ban a student for wearing a niqāb.

A general ban on students to attend classes wearing the niqāb is contrary to the Discrimination Act, the ombudsman found. 
 
The notifier in this case is a young Muslim woman who, for religious reasons, wears the niqāb, a garment that hides the face except the eyes. In January 2009 she began a one-year child caring education at a school in Stockholm. The school has a policy that forbids students from wearing clothing that covers the face. The woman was told she could not attend the program as long as she wore the niqāb. She then made a complaint to the DO.

Stockholm City justified its ban by the educational and social reasons and the need to identify persons who are in school. When the woman reported the school to the DO the school agreed that she would be allowed to remain in education until the DO reached a decision on the matter.

"Since A, despite the ban has been attending training, it is not obvious that there is a disadvantage according to the anti-discrimination law. The issue addressed in the case concerns a limited number of women and in the few cases where the matter has been raised it seems the schools have been able to find practical solutions in accordance with the anti-discrimination law's intentions.

DO therefore chooses not to pursue the matter to court for judicial review.As ombudsman against discrimination, I am worried about the acrimony and the simplifications that have characterized the debate about the niqab. Many have wished to exclude women who wear it from participating in training courses, from the perspective that the niqab is an expression of women's oppression and must be fought.

The protection of everyone's basic rights is one of the foundations of our democracy. Unlike other countries who through prohibitions or commands seek to direct  the citizens into a particular religious or non-religious direction, Sweden has chosen to uphold the democratic principle of the individuals free will to express or not to express their religious beliefs.

As ombudsman against discrimination I choose the principle to protect all womens and mens equal rights and opportunities and I do so based on the framework set by Parliament for our society.

To exclude women wearing the niqab from education does not promote their or other women's equality.

Disrespect towards women is expressed in many ways in all cultures, such as through the sexualization of women's bodies, or by referring women to manage home and children. But such expressions cannot be eliminated by isolating individual women from basic arenas in society.

I believe instead that education can be a platform for women to continue to develop and shape their own choices. Education is the basis for access to employment and thus access to a social context outside the home and the opportunity to support themselves. Education is a key to the closed doors that still exclude women and slow the progression towards full equality.

This long-term effort should include all women, regardless of their religious belief and choice of clothing."