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Uganda Drops Anti-Gay Bill

Uganda has dropped - or shelved it's proposed anti-gay bill. Parliament closed yesterday after failing to implement it. Although Parliament has been extended to run on Monday and Tuesday, only administrative business will be carried out. Many, however, believe that public pressure scuppered the Bill's chances, especially the USA's description of the Bill as 'odioud'.

Read more here.

Joan Armatrading marries girlfriend

Singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading and her partner, artist Maggie Butler, had a civil partnership on 2 May in Shetland.

Armatrading began her music career in the 1970s and quickly gained a strong lesbian following with singles ‘Drop the Pilot’ and ‘Love and Affection’.

She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and two Brit awards, and she received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.

Read the full story in Lesbilicious, here.

40 years on: where are LGBT rights?

The 40 year anniversary of the founding of GLF in the UK on the LSE campus gave momentum to look back how LGBT rights have developed and become globalized in this period. The conference is an opportunity to engage in a discussion on the changing context of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) rights in the last 40 years. It is bringing together academics and activists involved in the development of the global LGBT movement. It will look at the historical context of the development of GLF and bring together current, and globalised, debates on sexuality, equality activism and needs.

The conference will consider the ways in which the rights context has impacted upon the lives of LGBT people both in the UK and in the global arena; What are the different ways of understanding strategies and technologies for sexuality rights in different contexts? What are the lessons to be learned from an internationalist perspective?

The conference will include a key note address, panel sessions and more open discussion based sessions. In addition, a 'witness seminar' methodology will include key contributors associated with the genesis of GLF in the UK in early 1970s.

Participants include:

Matt Cook Birkbeck College
Sonia Corrêa the founder of SOS-Corpo- Instituto Feminista para a Democracia (Brazil)
Vikram Doctor The Economic Times-India
Silvia Gallotti LSE Library
Joel Gustave Nana Executive Director African Men for Sexual Health and Rights(AMSHeR)
Sally Hines University of Leeds
Suhraiya Jivraj Oxford Brookes University
Katherine Johnson University of Brighton
Akshay Khanna Institute of Development Studies
Robert Kulpa Birkbeck College
Anthony Manion GALA Wits archives
Frank Mugisha Uganda Executive Director Ugandan Sexual Minorities Group
David Paternotte FNRS/Université libre de Bruxelles
Rahul Rao SOAS
Jeff Redding Saint Louise University Law School
Helen Sauntson University of Birmingham
Tamsila Tauqir Director of the Safra Project

The conference is open to all and free. However due to space restrictions prior registration is required. If you are planning to attend the conference please e-mail: m.h.seckinelgin@lse.ac.uk or Dianne Josephs d.e.josephs@lse.ac.uk to reserve your place.

40 years on: where are LGBT rights? Gay Liberation Front’s 40th anniversary Conference
London School of Economics
19-20 May 2011
Wolfson Theatre
New Academic Building
website

David Cairns MP Dies

David Cairns MP
1966-2011

David Cairns, the Labour MP for Inverclyde, has died at the age of 44 after a short illness.

Read an obituary in Pink News here.

David Cairns on wikipedia

Pride Sports encourages LGBT Sports participants to help shape sport in England

Last week, Pride Sports, the UK’s LGBT sports development organisation launches a campaign to ensure that the voices of LGBT people are heard in Sport England’s Satisfaction Survey. The Sports Council’s online survey, which yielded a response from 44,000 people, last year, helps to inform the development of sport across England, and ensures the delivery of a ‘lasting legacy’ from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The survey asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with a number of aspects of their sporting experience; social, physical environment, staff and volunteers, coaching and opportunities to progress. However, although the survey asks respondents about their age, gender and ethnic background, it does not ask the sexual orientation question or provide an opportunity for trans people to identify themselves.

Lou Englefield, one of Pride Sports Founding Directors explains, “The problem is, whilst Sport England fail to ask the sexual orientation question or provide an opportunity for trans people to identify themselves, the Sports Council has no way of identifying any trends which relate specifically to LGBT people and sport. For example, the survey could show that LGBT people are more than happy with their sporting experience. It could equally show that we are not.”

Pride Sports are therefore calling on LGBT people involved in sport to use the additional information box towards the end of the survey to identify as LGB or T and to state if they practice sport as part of an LGBT sports group. Lou continues,

“There are now over 100 LGBT sports and physical activity groups in England alone, new ones establishing themselves every year. But many of these are not affiliated to their sport’s National Governing Bodies and have no contact with County Sports Partnerships, which provide support for grass roots sport in England. It is time Sport England began to ask how satisfied we are with our sporting experience and to invest more in LGBT sport”

Pride Sports will be conducting its own survey of LGBT people and their experience of sport over the summer.

Church Schools in the Netherlands can fire gay and lesbian teachers

Gay teachers can be dismissed by religious schools if it can be shown that their homosexuality clashes with the ethos of the institution. The Dutch Interior Minister, Guusje Ter Horst, made this statement in a letter to parliament attempting to clear up uncertainty on the highly controversial issue.

Up to now religious school boards faced legal proceedings if they expelled homosexual teachers.

The law was unclear as two constitutional rights clashed: freedom of education and freedom of sexual orientation.

In her letter, Minister Ter Horst says schools are entitled to demand that their staff adhere to the school's principles.

In the case of strict Christian schools, this means they are entitled to reject applicants or sack teachers if their sexual orientation conflicts with the school's Christian values.

Read the full story, here.

Joanna Russ Dies

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Joanna Russ
1937-2011

The lesbian science fiction writer and critic, and author of The Female Man (1975), Joanna Russ, has died peacefully.

Read an obituary by Locus Magazine, here.

Islamic Cleric: "It's okay to be gay"

Muhsin Hendricks is an Islamic cleric and a gay man.

The South African runs a foundation called The Inner Circle, which helps Muslims, who are struggling to accept their sexuality. He is on tour and has gone the the Netherlands to spread a simple message: “It’s okay to be Muslim and gay!”

It’s a message not everyone agrees with and the reason why Mr Hendricks is no longer officially a cleric.

Read the full story, here:

Olympic Gymnast Comes Out

Dutch Olympic Gymnast Jeffrey Wammes has come out and asserted that he is gay in a special edition of Linda magazine dedicated to gay sports stars.

Wammes said:“There was already a lot of speculation about whether or not I fell for boys or girls. To me it has nothing to do with sport or how I perform. But when I was asked to do this, I made it clear straight away how things were and that’s that.”

Read the full story, here.