Category: World

Northern Ireland Marriage Equality launches large scale social media campaign

NORTHERN IRELAND — The YesEquality Northern Ireland Marriage Equality campaign launched a large scale social media campaign action today.
The campaign is primarily supported by Northern Ireland based The Gay Say, LGBT Rights NI and the international anti-homophobia and suicide prevention group Stop-Homophobia.com.
The campaign has amassed huge amounts of support from individuals, celebrities, activist groups, charities, campaigners and businesses located across NI and throughout the world.
The social media project is operating through the popular “crowdspeaking” service Thunderclap, which was first used by The White House under the Obama administration to campaign against gun violence in the US.
Thunderclap enables the organizers to coordinate a massive social media campaign that will simultaneously post over 2,300 messages and reach over 7.4 million people.
The message going out is as follows:
“Northern Ireland; it’s time for equality! #MarriageEqualityNI”.
By bringing attention to the MarriageEqualityNI campaign hashtag, organizers hope to highlight the issue of marriage equality to voters across Northern Ireland and to an international audience in order to further strengthen campaign efforts.
Danny Toner speaking on behalf of the The Gay Say said: “The #MarriageEqualityNI Thunderclap Project is currently set to reach over 7.4 million people and support has increased beyond our expectations, with hundreds of supporters joining every day. Social reach for the campaign is now higher than the population of Ireland, North and South.
“We are calling on as many people as possible to join this campaign and use social media for the common good. Together we can show voters how important this issue is by reaching out to the vast numbers of people online.
“There are many people in Northern Ireland from all sections of our community who support Marriage Equality and we feel that the upcoming Assembly elections offer an unmissable opportunity to stand up for LGBT rights.
“We have been asking people to use their vote wisely, vote for candidates who support equality for everyone and make a stand against homophobia.”

Short URL: http://lgbtweekly.com/?p=77855

UK health care organizations unite against conversion therapy

Major U.K. organizations have been working against Conversion Therapy for a number of years, publishing a Memorandum of Understanding against the practice (2015) and updating the document to warn against conversion therapy in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation (including asexuality).

Aware of concerns regarding the future of Conversion Therapy in the USA, and pleased that Malta has banned the practice and that Taiwan has drafted legislation to ban the practice, the organizations are publicizing the following statement in solidarity with like- minded health care organizations in the USA.

“We the undersigned UK organizations wish to state that the practice of conversion therapy has no place in the modern world. It is unethical and harmful and not supported by evidence.

Conversion Therapy is the term for therapy that assumes certain sexual orientations or gender identities are inferior to others, and seeks to change or suppress them on that basis.

Sexual orientations and gender identities are not mental health disorders, although exclusion, stigma and prejudice may precipitate mental health issues for any person subjected to these abuses. Anyone accessing therapeutic help should be able to do so without fear of judgement or the threat of being pressured to change a fundamental aspect of who they are.”

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

The British Psychoanalytic Council

The British Psychological Society

The College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists

GLADD – The Association of LGBT Doctors and Dentists

The National Counselling Society

National Health Service Scotland

Pink Therapy

The Royal College of General Practitioners

The Scottish Government

Stonewall

The UK Council for Psychotherapy

Janet Weisz, Chair of the Memorandum of Understanding group, and chief executive of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, said: “We have always been clear that sexual orientation and gender identities are not mental health disorders. Any therapy that claims to change these is not only unethical but it’s also potentially harmful.

“Therefore, this practice has no place in the modern psychotherapy profession. The public must know that they can access therapeutic help without fear of judgment.

“It is great to see so many parts of the psychological and medical profession both in the UK and abroad uniting on this key issue.”

Helen Morgan, chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council, said: “Forcing a particular view or prejudice upon a patient has no place in therapy and all competent therapists will implicitly understand and appreciate this.

“Psychotherapy aims to liberate people so they can live fuller, more meaningful and more satisfying lives – and patients meeting a psychotherapist should be able to assume that this is always the case in therapy.

“I am pleased to support moves against conversion therapy and I would urge professional colleagues – wherever they may be – to do the same.”

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The Royal College of General Practitioners is proud to support this statement. As medical professionals, we are highly trained to treat our patients regardless of their sexual orientation – not because of it.

“Being gay or trans is not a disease, it is not a mental illness and it doesn’t need a cure. Any proclamations to the contrary risk causing harm to our gay and trans patients’ physical and mental health and wellbeing, as well as perpetuating discrimination in society.”

Peter Kinderman, president of the British Psychological Society, said: “The British Psychological Society is very proud to endorse, support, and stand by this statement. I am proud to live in a country that is able to celebrate the full range of loving human relationships and to offer each one of us equality under the law. Many of us have experienced a great deal of persecution and discrimination as a result of our sexual orientation, and our role must be to combat such prejudice, not to add to it. When people are distressed, for whatever reason, we have a duty to reach out and help. But that must not entail regarding our sexual orientation as any form of pathology. I am very happy to be a party to this statement, and I hope it goes some way to contribution to a more caring and equitable society.”

Dr. Andrew Reeves, chair of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, said: “BACP strongly believes that anyone seeking therapeutic help, regardless of their gender and sexual diversity, should have access to unbiased and informed therapists who provide ethically skilled therapy. We agree that there is no place in our society for conversion therapy, which is unethical, harmful and not supported by evidence.”

Short URL: http://lgbtweekly.com/?p=76893

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender in Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the world’s least tolerant countries when it comes to homosexuality. Being gay is illegal in the Islamic republic and carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Gay men are often accused of bringing shame to their families and commonly face violence – sometimes even murder.

Gay-focused apps like Grindr, Scruff, and ManJam.

VICE News went to Pakistan to unravel the country’s underground gay scene and examine the ways that technology is being used to achieve sexual freedom.

Date: 2017-08-07 16:30:00
Duration: 00:16:21

Tanzania bans HIV/AIDS outreach programs that serve LGBT people

Tanzania has banned HIV/AIDS outreach programs in the latest in the country’s discriminatory laws against the LGBT community.

Out reports that this ban comes just months after Justice Minister Harrison Mwakyembe announced a plan to end pro-LGBT charities. Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu also announced a ban on personal lubricants because it “encourages homosexuality.”

The Washington Post reported that Tanzania’s actions appear to mark the first time that a country has suspended parts of the United States’ hugely successful foreign HIV/AIDS initiative in an attempt to crack down on the gay community.

Short URL: http://lgbtweekly.com/?p=75730

Transsexual life in jail and on the street

More than one-third of transsexuals inmates in US jails and prisons report sexual assault. When the San Francisco sheriff announced a plan to implement changes for transsexual people in the county jail, film-maker Nick Leader went out to meet the inmates who would benefit. What people have been in a community of.

Video Date: 2016-03-30 11:30:00
Video Duration: 00:08:53

Gay Couple Come Out On Television

A gay couple have taken to the Italia’s Got Talent stage to come out to their fathers while showcasing a contemporary dance that has moved all four judges.

Roberto and Umberto told judges that they had come out to their mothers already but their fathers did not know their true sexuality.

They went on to explain they had been dance partners for two years and until now had only felt comfortable telling their mothers they were gay.

The moving performance has earned the couple a spot in the upcoming finals.

Italy is one of the few remaining countries that has not yet embraced same-sex marriage.

Lesbian fitness guru Jillian Michaels proposes to her longtime girlfriend

Fitness guru and reality TV star, Jillian Michaels is getting married, finally!

The star of her show Just Jillian, which takes a look inside the ‘uber-successful celebrity’s’ life, proposed to her longtime girlfriend Heidi Rhodes on the final episode of her series.

Michaels put together a highly emotional video which showed the couples life together including their two children Lukensia, 5, and Phoenix, 3.

As part of the video Michaels proposed and said:

“I know I’m an asshole all the time, but if you’ll continue to put up with me, I would like you to marry me.”

The two have been together since 2009 and it is understood while Rhoades has been wanting to tie the knot for years, Michaels took a lot longer to come around to the idea

Gay News Network AU

‘Hang in there’: Labor MP Tim Watts tells LGBT youth that change is coming

Labor MP Tim Watts has told LGBT youth that change is coming and to “hang in there”.

Speaking in the House of Representatives, Watts took to the box to say the past two weeks have been “depressing”.

“After a particularly depressing fortnight spent debating the merits of the Safe Schools anti-homophobic bullying program in this place, I’d like to tell any young LGBTI Australians out there listening not to despair,” he said.

“Change is coming, painfully slowly I know, but hang in there,”

Watts speech comes after the Turnbull government ordered a review of the Safe Schools program that aims to stop bullying in schools based on sexual orientation.

Those that campaigned a review into the program include Senator Cory Bernardi, who said it was “about intimidating and bullying kids into conforming to what is the homosexual agenda”, but Watts said this is just wrong.

“Newsflash Cory – it’s a sexuality, not an ideology.”

It comes as Labor Senator Joe Bullock announced he will leave parliament over the party’s same-sex marriage policy.

Aged 60, Bullock made the announcement on Tuesday night, saying he had long been against same-sex marriage and could not remain a Labor parliamentarian, given that the party will remove its members’ ability to vote with their conscience on the issue in 2019.

“Instinctively I know if your job requires you to do [that] which you believe to be wrong, there’s only one course of action: resign,” he said.

“As a member of the party, I’m free to disagree with the party policy, to lobby for change, and to encourage people to join the party with a view to achieving that end,”

“As a Labor Senator, it’s my job to tell voters that it doesn’t matter that Labor will outlaw the conscience vote on homosexual marriage, and to recommend a vote for Labor without reservation.

“That’s the job description of a Labor Senator. It’s a job which I can’t do.”

Watts has also questioned why Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has not called out those that say homophobic statements.

“The PM owes it to the LGBTI kids around Australia to tell the dinosaurs of his backbench that they are wrong – and to do it now.”

Gay News Network AU

Indonesia bans gay emojis

The Indonesian government is in the process of banning gay-themed emojis on social media platforms.

Indonesia’s popular messaging app LINE has already eliminated same-sex couple emojis a tthe behest of the government and other social media may soon follow suit.

The Japanese-Korean company who developed the LINE app have even posted an apology to Facebook for the ‘offending emoticons’.

“LINE regrets the incidents of some stickers which are considered sensitive by many people,” the statement read. “We ask for your understanding because at the moment we are working on this issue to remove the stickers.”

Ismail Cawidu, spokesman for the Communication and Information Ministry told AFP that LINE was not the only social media platform to be targeted.

The Indonesian government contacted companies with similar emojis, including Twitter and Facebook, asking them to remove them or face a blanket ban

“Such contents are not allowed in Indonesia based on our cultural law and the religious norms and the operators must respect that,” Cawidu told AFP.