Same-sex kiss-in protest in Soho

The John Snow pub in Soho was almost the scene of a same sex kiss in protest yesterday. The Sam Smiths hostelry caused outrage among the gay community when two men were allegedly ejected for kissing whilst sitting at a table.

But when the well organised protesters - who numbered about a thousand - turned up to kiss inside the pub, they found the doors were locked. The protesters carried out their kiss-in outside and the pub lost a day's takings.

The Guardian has a report and a video, here. Pictures are available on flickr, here.

Leeds Comprehensive used Sport to Stamp out Homophobia

A Leeds Secondary schools claims to have Stamped out Homophobia with the help of Pride Sports. Prince Henry's in Otley ran an anti-homophobia campaign that eradicated homophobic language as a part of 'tackling all forms of discrimination and promoting equality for all'.

According to assistant head Chris Lillington it was the students who wanted to take on homophobia and the PE Department were the first to take up the gudgel. Chris, who spoke of his school with pride at the LGBT History Month Pre-Launch at Twickenham last November, also said that Pride Sport's Lou Englefield and LGBT History Month patron Sir Ian McKellen visited the school to support their work.

Read the full article, which comes from the newsletter of the National Children's Football Alliance, here.

Make football homophobia-free. Tatchell demands new anti-homophobia in football DVD

"The Football Association (FA) needs to give a much stronger lead in tackling homophobia," said Peter Tatchell of the human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

He was a keynote speaker in London on Monday 21 March at the Leading the Way conference organised by the football anti-racism, equality and diversity campaign, Kick It Out.

Other keynote speakers included former professional footballer Paul Elliott and Simone Pound, Head of Equality at the Professional Footballers' Association.

"The FA's paper policies are now rather good but these formal policies need to be translated into stronger and more visible initiatives to make the beautiful game welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people," Mr Tatchell told the conference.

"The FA should impose big fines and match suspensions on players, managers and other football staff who use anti-gay insults. Money talks. The threat of financial losses - and the denial of the right to play - would be a strong deterrent to homophobia.

"Severe punishment is justified in cases of serious homophobia but the real solution is public education to change hearts and minds.

"The FA should secure the agreement of all clubs to feature anti-homophobia
messages in their match programmes, on tickets and on billboards inside and outside football grounds.

"I have long urged the FA to make a MTV-style video against homophobia, with big-name stars like David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Wayne Rooney and others. I'd like to see the video have a strong, joyful music track by a leading contemporary singer like Tinie Tempah.

"The aim is to produce a feel-good, happy-vibe video and get it shown on MTV, YouTube, in schools, at junior football clubs and on giant screens at premier league games before matches and during half-time.

"Such a video would have a huge, positive public impact. It would be a world first. No other football governing body has produced such a video. It would bring the FA great prestige and acclaim, get global media coverage and thereby raise awareness and help tackle homophobia internationally," said Mr Tatchell.

Clementi Honoured with Scholarship

A national scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students has created a scholarship in memory of Tyler Clementi.

The Point Foundation said Wednesday it is honoring Clementi's memory and furthering efforts to end the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth through the scholarship.

Read the full story on My Central Jersey, here.

Baynham Killers Found Guilty

The killers of Ian Baynham have been found guilty of manslaughter.

Ruby Thomas, 18, of Lichfield, Staffs, and Joel Alexander, 20, of Thornton Heath, southeast London, beat and kicked Ian Baynham, 62, and stamped on his head in a homophobic assault, causing such injury that he died 18 days later. The attack took place in late September 2009, and shocked the nation as it took place in Trafalgar Square and was carried out by teenagers.

Thomas was heard to have shouted "F**king f*gg*ts at Baynham and his partner before the attack. The two will be sentences in the new year. Rachael Burke, 18, of Upper Norwood, southeast London, was found guilty of affray at an earlier trial.

For more details, see:
- The Trafalgar Square killers: two found guilty of attack that left gay man dead, The Guardian
- Public schoolgirl who turned killer: Drunk teen's homophobic attack on stranger in Trafalgar Square, The Daily Mail
- Gay hate 'alive and, sometimes, kicking' , BBC News

Rugby League launches anti-homophobia guidance

The Rugby Football league has published a guide to combat homophobia in the sport. The guide, entitled Guidance for Rugby League Clubs – Challenging anti gay (homophobic) abuse and behaviour (pdf - 3.1Mb), was recently launched in Parliament to widespread critical acclaim.

It was produced with the support and contributions of Stonewall and Pride Sports as well as the Rugby League Ground Safety Officers Association and a numbers of club representatives from both the professional and community game. The guidance has been produced with the intention of providing practical information and recommendations that are relevant to Rugby League.

The guidance provides useful strategies to challenging homophobia, from the`causal’ use of the term`gay’ to refer to anything negative to homophobic abuse directed at individuals in both the club setting as well as match days. There are a number of useful stand alone pages which can be used and disseminated as summaries of good practice and flowcharts of possible actions.

Although this guidance has been produced specifically for Rugby League it could easily be adapted to suit other sports (please acknowledge the RFL if you do so). As a first of its kind in any sport this guidance is intended to evolve over time and, as such, the RFL would welcome any examples of good practice or case studies where a club has successfully challenged homophobia or has experienced particular challenges.

It can be downloaded from the LGBTHM website (see link above) or from the RFL website here.

Pansy Project Wins Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medal

The Pansy Project has won a Gold Medal at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and has been named Best Conceptual Garden 2010.

An initiative by artist Paul Harfleet, the project marks the site of homophobic abuse by planting pansies. Each location is photographed and named after the abuse received; image above left "You Queer Cunt!" planted for Scally Dandan, Manchester.

The winning garden is a first time collaboration with garden designer and brother of the artist Tom Harfleet. Together they have designed a confrontational 'shattered' structure made of slabs of concrete placed at various gradients and under-planted with a total of four thousand pansies. This is intended to metaphorically reflect the disruptive nature of homophobic hate crime on contemporary society.

Paul Harfleet said if his award: "We're all thrilled and slightly overwhelmed. The response by the public visiting the show has been amazing."

The Hampton Court Palace Flower show runs until Sunday.

The Pansy Project
Flower power fights homophobia, the Guardian -7 July 2010

(picture courtesy of the Project)

Amaechi on Sports People Coming Out

In a remarkably clear and astute article, former US basketball player and LGBT History Month patron John Amaechi explains why coming out is still such a problem for any professional sportsperson.

In the hard-hitting article, Amaechi acknowledges the role of homophobic chants from the football crowds as being a barrier towards players asserting their sexual orientation, but he firmly puts the blame for the homophobia that is endemic in the sporting world at the door of the owners, directors and managers of sports teams and event organisers, as well as the media.

You can read the full article on John's blog here.

South African Lesbian Football Team Offers Sanctuary

Many people see South Africa, with its famously liberal constitution, as a bastion of sexual freedom on the continent.

But in some townships, gay women in particular experience homophobic abuse, rape and murder.

The BBC's Andrew Harding has been finding out how football has given one group of gay women sanctuary in South Africa; watch his 2min11 report here.

Moscow Pride Goes Ahead

Moscow Pride went ahead this year, despite its ban by the Mayor. After hoodwinking the authorities with a number of red herrings, a few hundred marchers went ahead with a fifteen minute Pride march and demonstration in a Moscow thoroughfare. They were joined by Peter Tatchell as they chanted "No to homophobia!"

Protest for Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga

You probably have heard about the perceived gay couple in Malawi (Tiwonge identifies as female) who have just been sentenced to 14 years in jail simply for being in love. This is a protest to support them. Come along to the protest in London and bring your friends.

Date: Saturday, 29 May 2010
Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: outside the Malawi High Commission London
70 Winnington Road, London N2 0TX
Facebook event

ILGA Publishes 2010 Global Report on State-Sponsored Homophobia

ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association has published the 4th edition of its report and maps on state-sponsored homophobia based on research by Daniel Ottosson.

The report is a collection of legislation criminalising consensual sexual acts between persons of the same sex in private over the age of consent.

The good news is that 1/6 of the LGBTI world population is now freer, thanks to a change in legislation in India. However 76 countries around the world still consider homosexuality illegal, five of them punish homosexual acts with death.

The report can be downloaded from the ILGA website here.

Catch up TV: Homophobia in the UK and Boy George Biopic

In case you missed them:

Last week, as part of it's Tonight series of programmes, ITV1 broadcast a show highlighting the true face of homophobia in the UK today. Presented by LGBT History Month patron and rugby star Gareth Thomas, the broadcast included filming public reaction to a gay couple walking through Wigan high street holding hands and asking football fans attending a Man. City v. Stoke match how they would feel about a gay player on their team. Gareth also talked to school pupils about the negative connotations of the generalised use of the word to mean dysfunctional and challenged them to think about what it's like to be gay or to have a gay friend in school.

In more harrowing scenes, a victim of homophobic bullying was interviewed anonymously and the mother of gay hate murder victim Jody Dubrowski talked about the attack. It also included footage of an interview with the late John Fashanu.
Although the transmission was focussed on gay men and created a grim picture of what it is like to be young and gay, it clearly busted the myth that young LGB people have true equality and that our lives are just fine now. The programme is available online here for the next month or so.

On Sunday, BBC2 showed Worried about the Boy, a bio-pic of George O' Dowde's career with Culture Club, starting from 1982. The programme, which focusses on Boy George's affair with drummer John Moss, revives the queer culture of '80's London, with Stevie Strange's Blitz nightclub and the infamous Malcolm McLaren and Marilyn, as well as the onslaught of AIDS and the casual use of hard drugs.

The programme is available on iPlayer here until Sunday.

Teachers' Union launches homophobia surveys on IDAHO

The National Union of Teachers revealed the extent of homophobia in our schools on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Monday, May 17th.

The Prevalence of Homophobia surveys, which have been carried out in schools in the north west over the past 2 years, involve asking teachers about their experience of homophobia. The Oldham survey, for example, revealed that 98.8% of teachers had seen a homophobic incident, 57% had been on the receiving end of homophobia and 70% want teacher training on how to deal with homophobia.

Oldham NUT's Equalities Officer Jeff Evans, who began the surveys, said: "Why do we allow this child abuse to take place under our noses? Homophobia in our classrooms has become the elephant in the room."

There will be a series of launches to publicise the findings of these surveys in Liverpool, Salford and Oldham. For times and places, go to out sister site www.schools-out.org.uk.

US Parents Lobby against Homopobic hate Crime

Parents of gays and lesbians, teachers and activists carrying photos of hate crime murder victims including Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard will demonstrate in front of the White House on Wednesday 28 October from noon to 2 p.m. prior to the President signing the Matthew Shepard Amendment. The amendment adds gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disabilities to the federal hate crimes act.

The demonstration is organised by Equality Forum, an international LGBT civil rights organisation with an educational focus.

According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, there were 29 hate crime murders of LGBT Americans among the 2,424 LGBT hate crimes in 2008. Since 1998, when Matthew Shepard was murdered, there have been over 16,000 hate crime victims, on average, about 1,450 LGBT hate crimes per year.

“Homophobia has fueled carnage since Matthew Shepard’s murder 11 years ago,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director of Equality Forum. “The Matthew Shepard Amendment is the beginning not the end in recognising, addressing and eliminating homophobia in our schools, workplaces, neighborhoods and culture.”

“We applaud those in Congress and President Obama who support the Matthew Shepard Amendment,” stated Susan Wheeler of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, the mother of James Wheeler. “My son took his life after being repeatedly harassed in high school. He was surrounded in the locker room and urinated on. Jim never recovered from that humiliation.”

“We demonstrate as a reminder of the over 16,000 hate crime victims since Matthew’s brutal murder,” stated Michael and Barbara Klinman of Havertown, Pennsylvania, who are parents of a gay son. “These crimes are intended to intimidate the LGBT community and their ferocity impacts the soul of America.”

“As we carry the photos of murder victims of LGBT hate crimes, we stand-in for those whose lives have been silenced,” stated Carol Watchler, GLSEN Central New Jersey Co-Chair. “We demonstrate because we are concerned about the safety of youth. We want to ensure that gay and lesbian children are not hate crime statistics and can live without fear of homophobic violence.”

Suspects Bailed after Homophobic Attack in Liverpool

Six teenagers have been arrested over a homophobic attack on an off-duty police officer that left him fighting for his life, police said.

Two 15-year-old boys were detained on Monday evening over the weekend assault on James Parkes in Liverpool city centre, and are being questioned by detectives.

Four other boys also arrested on Monday have been released on police bail pending further inquiries, Merseyside Police said.
Mr Parkes, 22, received multiple skull, eye socket and cheekbone fractures on Sunday night after being set upon by a gang in Stanley Street as he walked with friends.

He was admitted to hospital with critical injuries and remains in a serious but stable condition.

The two 15-year-olds arrested on Monday night were from the Kirkdale area of Merseyside, police said. The four others released - two 15-year-old boys, one boy aged 14 and a 17-year-old - were from the same area.

Pc Parkes was a Police Community Support Officer on Merseyside for a couple of years before joining the Merseyside force in May.

Police are scanning CCTV footage of the area as part of their investigation. Detective Chief Inspector Tim Keelan appealed for witnesses to come forward.

He said: "We are treating the assault as a homophobic hate crime and this incident shows there are still some people who have not learnt that crimes of this type are completely unacceptable. People who commit hate crimes can expect the full attention of the police and we will not rest until the offenders are brought to justice."

Merseyside Police said it has also stepped up high visibility patrols in the area to help reassure the public.

The latest attack comes just over a year after the murder of Liverpool teenager Michael Causer. It is also a month to the day since Ian Baynham was murdered in an attack by a gang of teenagers in Trafalgar Square.

A vigil in reaction to the attack will take place on Sunday 1st November at 8 pm on Stanley Street in Liverpool.

Vigil Against Hate Crime - 30 October

On Friday 25th September 2009, Ian Baynham, 62, and his friend were subjected to homophobic abuse in Trafalgar Square, London. When Ian challenged this unacceptable behaviour he was assaulted by three youths: two women and a man. He later died of his injuries on 13th October.

On Sunday 25 Ocotber, James Parkes, 22, an off-duty trainee police officer, was set upon by a group of up to 20 teenagers in the heart of the gay quarter of Liverpool. James was with his partner, another man and a woman when he was attacked. One of his companions was punched in the face. James is now fighting for his life with multiple skull fractures and other injuries.

Ian and James are sadly not alone; They are two among thousands of people who have been victims of hate crime.

People from all communities are invited to come together on Friday 30th October to stand up and say that Hate Crime is unacceptable and that we will no longer tolerate it.

The yigil, which has received high-profile support and will be hosted by Sandi Toksvig, will include speakers from a wide cross section of the community, and musical contributions from a mass choir bringing together members of the LGBT choir of London, Brighton and Hove, Birmingham and Manchester as well as the London Gay Symphonic Winds.

Those unable to attend the event in person, wherever they are in the world, are invited to light candles of hope and observe the two minutes silence, preferably at 9pm GMT.

The vigil, in Trafalgar Square, will start at 8pm and will last 2 hours.

A website (www.17-24-30.com) and Facebook event have been created for the occasion as well as a Twitter account.

Donations can be made here on PayPal or via a dedicated bank account (Sort Code 40-03-22 Account 41446843).

Volunteers to help organise are also welcome.

A Day In Hand launches same-sex hand holding Saturdays

Sshh! Saturdays will then occur on the last Saturday of every month as a way of encouraging and inspiring LGBT people to take responsibility for their equality and live their lives without fear or restraint. Everyone is invited to lock hands: gay or straight, all faiths, genders, races, abilities, single or in a relationship. Celebrities such as Brian Paddick, Boy George, Paul Burston, Michael Cashman MEP, Mayor Boris Johnson, 4 Poofs and a Piano, and activists Peter Tatchell and Cleve Jones (Harvey Milk’s aide) have already endorsed the A Day In Hand campaign

The first ever international same-sex hand holding (Sshh!) Saturday will take place on September 26th. On this day, same-sex couples and friends all over the world are encouraged to hold hands in public to support the visibility of lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) people.

The first same-sex hand holding Saturday is dedicated to the victims of the recent shootings at a Gay & Lesbian centre in Tel Aviv and those of the ongoing atrocities being committed in Iraq.

People taking part are encouraged to have their photo taken holding hands and send them to yourstories@adayinhand.com for inclusion on the Day in Hand website.

David Watkins says, “Sshh! Saturdays aim to ultimately create safer spaces for LGBT people. As the idea of Sshh! Saturdays grow in popularity and spread across the world, the last Saturday of every month will become a day of support for LGBT people who want to show their commitment in public.”

For more information, visit www.adayinhand.com

4 Poofs and a Piano recreating the Beatles famous hand-holding LP cover in Abbey Road.

Michael Causer’s Murder to Be Remembered this Weekend

To mark the first anniversary of the murder of Michael Causer, there will be a respectful gathering to remember all victims of persecution on Sunday August 2nd, at the Memorial Stone, in St Johns Gardens (behind St. Georges Hall), Liverpool.

People are meeting at 12.00 noon. At 12.30, one year on from the exact moment of Michael's death, there will be a minute's silence, and friends and family are invited to speak about Michael, and what he meant to them.

Afterwards, while some will probably go to the bars in the gay quarter, a Music on the Waterfront event will take place at the Pier Head which could very well be the weekend and venue for Liverpool Pride 2010.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon (1 to 4pm) is an afternoon of jazzy bluesy niceness produced by some of Liverpool's finest players, supported by world music performers. For more information about Music on the Waterfront, please visit Liverpool Council's website here.

Drop Charges against Russian Art Curators

In Moscow, Yury Samodurov, a human rights activist, and Andrey Erofeev, a museum curator, are facing criminal prosecution for organizing an exhibition entitled "Forbidden Art 2006" at the Andrei Sakharov Museum.

In June 2007, an ultranationalist religious organization, Narodnyj Sobor, submitted a formal complaint about the exhibition to the public prosecutor's office, which brought charges against Samodurov and Erofeev for inciting religious and ethnic hatred under article 282 of the Penal Code.

The two men could be sentenced to up to five years imprisonment. The Tagansky District Court in Moscow is scheduled to resume hearing the case behind closed doors on June 5, 2009.

To sign the petition calling for their freedom go to http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Art