by Melanie Nathan, Feb. 06, 2012, 10.20 am. After a long and thorough national search for a new deputy director, NCLR is announcing that they have found the perfect fit in Arcelia Hurtado, who is one of the nation’s leading civil rights attorneys. Hurtado will be joining NCLR staff in April as the new deputy … More National Center for Lesbian Rights NCLR hires New Deputy Director
The Anti-homosexuality Bill has become known as the Kill-The-Gays-Bill and has caused an international outcry. by Melanie Nathan, 02/04/2012 7:00 AM Uganda’s, Anti Homosexuality bill of 2009 is due for debate when parliament resumes business in Uganda next week, according to a source who made contact with me. This Bill includes the death penalty for … More Uganda Parliament to Debate Anti-Homosexuality Bill Next Week
Editor’s Advocacy Note: The Obama Administration has indicated via recent memo and speeches the strong support for International LGBT human rights. As an activist in this arena we implore upon the administration to not mince their words and to show action as well here on home turf! That would include protecting asylum seekers such as … More Deportation to Anti-Gay Uganda | Past and Future of Gay Detainee Joseph Bukombe
For White House Briefing:- Young leaders note, I encourage all concerned with LGBT rights in America and globally to consider the question of the criminalization of being gay as it impacts our LGBTI brothers and sisters and gender free persons on the continent of Africa…. Melanie Nathan by Melanie Nathan, 02/03/2012 Black History Month is … More Black History Month | NBJC Creating Change & LGBT White House Briefing
Hosts for New York Benefit by Melanie Nathan, 02/03/2012 Washington, D.C. – Today the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) announced that CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell will co-host the 17th annual New York Benefit. “Headlines & Headliners” will take place on Thursday, March 29, 2012, from 6:30-9:30pm at the Mitchell Gold … More NLGJA Benefit Hosts | Soledad O’Brien & Jane Velez-Mitchell
US subtle warnings… diplomacy reigns supreme as US supports the African Union events this past month.. By Melanie Nathan, February 02, 2012 US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns has concluded his week-long visit to Africa in Ethiopia, venue of the 18th African Union Summit, the US State Department said in a statement obtained by … More U.S. Deputy Sec. of State talks Human Rights to Uganda’s President Museveni
To include the 2008 Circumcision Plan The Ugandan government has launched a new HIV/AIDS prevention strategy and plan for the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV by 2015. The Program Manager at the AIDS Control Programme (ACP) Zainab Akol said under the plan, measures are to be adopted to include a more cost-effective … More Uganda Embarks Upon Aggressive HIV/AIDS Prevention Plan includes Circumcision
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has issued this important alert; and your comments are needed: Posted by Melanie Nathan, February 01, 2012 In 2014, thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS will have access to private insurance—many for the first time—thanks to the leadership of President Obama and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and to the … More AIDS ACTION ALERT | Protect the Health of All People Living with HIV/AIDS
Lesbian Murderers Receive 18 years and Magistrate sets hate crimes acknowledgment precedent by Melanie Nathan, February 01, 2012. A cheer rang out and the crowd sang and danced outside the Khayelitsha Courthouse, Cape Town, South Africa, the scene of over thirty postponements in a murder trial that shocked the world, taking five years to meter … More South Africa Lesbian Killers| Zoliswa Gets Justice at Last
HUD has officially announced publication of the final rule entitled Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today new regulations intended to ensure that HUD’s core housing programs are open to all eligible persons, regardless of … More HUD Announces LGBT Equal Access to Housing Guidelines
LGBT people in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have attacked a YouTube video ‘tutorial’ which may depict an attempt to scrub away the gay, under the guise of a title “Be Yourself.” However, from a Western point of view, is the tutorial a mockery of the process of curing homosexuality through a rendition of a … More United Arab Emirates LGBT | Scrub the Gay Away Video Mockery
Includes Other Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) | The report examines the progress and shortcomings of PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and the UNGASS reporting system, managed by UNAIDS, and draws on data collected from on-the-ground researchers in eight countries: China, Ethiopia, Guyana, India, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Viet Nam. NEW YORK, January 18, … More New HIV/AIDS Analysis | Failure to Address Pandemic Among Gay Men Imperils Goal of “AIDS-Free Generation”
Twitter announced that the company will now start to censor tweets on a country-by-country basis, allowing the popular microblogging site to comply with local governments’ request to remove, block certain content or users. … More Twitter to Start Censoring by Country | Impact on Gay LGBTI Activism
by Melanie Nathan, January 27, 2012 UPDATED Cape Town, January 28, 2012: The Flag Boys did it! The won best dressed couple – Imagine gay boys dressed in camp Zulu warrior garb, protesting Zulu King’s homophobic remarks, win best dressed couple at H&B Met Red Carpet event! Read our pre-event report …… South African gay … More South Africa Prestigious JB Met | Gay Activists to Protest Zulu King Hate Speech Dressed as Zulu Warriors
The eulogies effectively conveyed the message that EricJames had sought to impart, when he noted so succinctly in his final written words: “My pain is not caused because I am gay. My pain was caused by how I was treated because I am gay.” Never before had the sound of ‘Edge of Glory’ been so … More Teen Suicide Note | Excerpts from GAY U.S.A. the Movie, SDGLN and Huffington Post Gay Voices
Ugandan LGBTI activists are holding a day of remembrance and services for brother David Kato , the outspoken LGBTI activist who was brutally murdered last year. Kato known to be the most vocal gay rights advocate in Uganda, a country where homophobia is so severe that Parliament is considering a bill to execute gay people. … More One year Memorial in Uganda for our Murdered Comrade David Kato
OAKLAND – California, and a night of poetry, music, and celebration. This event will be featuring local lgbtiqqaa poets of color, and will be dedicated to the poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Interweave and GLBT Historical Society is bringing this important event to Oakland and judging by the program and participants it promises to be … More Oakland | An Evening Dedicated to Lesbian Poets of the Harlem Renaissance
Posted by Melanie Nathan, January 20, 2012 District Court Rules that “Arriving Aliens” May Not Be Subjected to Prolonged Detention Without a Hearing To Determine Whether Detention Is Justified SAN DIEGO — A district court today ruled that the Department of Homeland Security may not detain an immigrant for a prolonged period without proving that … More Unprecedented Ruling on Immigrants’ Right | Freedom from Arbitrary Detention
By Melanie Nathan: I am calling on President Jacob Zuma to condemn homophobic remarks on Center stage in harsher terms; his feeble attempt at reprimand does not make leadership grade! Johannesburg – Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini has criticized people who engage in same sex relationships, labelling them as “rotten”, according to a newspaper report … More Zulu King Homophobic Remarks insult to his Gay Ancestor Shaka Zulu
by Melanie Nathan, January 22, 2012 In Liberia where same-sex relationships are outlawed and sodomy criminalized with fines, a Liberian pro-Gay group, “Movement in Defence of Gay and Lesbian Rights” came under physical assault when promoting LGBT rights. The group’s leaders, LeRoy Archie Pon-pon and Abraham Kamara, apparently escaped death last week at the hands … More Liberian Gays Assaulted | African Press and The Anti-Gay Attacks
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has hit out at Ndorwa West MP David Bahati’s anti-gay Bill, telling a public audience in Kampala that what two consenting adults do in private “is really not the matter of law.” by Melanie Nathan Finally, a South African leader has spoken out publicly and forcefully against the Anti-Homosexuality … More Uganda | Visiting South African Mbeki Slams Bahati’s Kill-The-Gays Bill
by Charles Zambia, Guest Writer “Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in Zambia live in constant fear of detention, discrimination in education, employment, housing, and access to services, and extortion – all buttressed by the existence of sections 155 – 157 of the Penal Code and the lack of specific legal protections for LGBT people under Zambian … More Gay Zambia | Constitutional Recognition of Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation
“The police may well be indifferent and unmotivated to solve the murders because of the men’s sexual orientation….” SOUTH AFRICA – On 17 December 2011, 39-year-old activist and television presenter Jason Wessenaar was found stabbed to death in his home in Pretoria. The killing occurred in the early morning hours as neighbors heard screams for … More South Africa Gay Men Murders | Possible Serial Killer Ignored by Police
Open marriage and divorce seems to be what Newt Gingrich thinks marriage is about. The old news is now well documented, Newt Gingrich, who while engaged in an affair with Callista, so insensitively asked his ex-wife Marianne for a divorce, over the phone while she was attending her mother’s 84th birthday. The would be Republican … More Newt Gingrich Defecated on Traditional Marriage
PRETORIA – The Aids and Rights Alliance of Southern Africa (Arasa) addressed a meeting of Human Rights Defender organizations to discuss human rights issues with a focus on LGBTI issues and how to improve resources for health and responses to homophobia. The two day meeting, in Pretoria, South Africa, began today and brings together human … More LGBTI South Africa | Human Rights Conference Deals with Homophobia and Health Issues
by Melanie Nathan, January 17, 2012 British tennis player Laura Robson defied the Court by wearing a rainbow colored hair band in Melbourne on Monday in support of gay and lesbian rights during her match at the Australian Open. There may well be a lot more to what was meant as a gesture of solidarity … More Australian Open | Laura Robson’s Rainbow Hairband Defies Margaret’s Court
Asylum for LGBTI refugees is fraught with hurdles. Canada has been viewed as a country that provides some measure of promise and hope; but now the Canadian government is proposing changes to regulations pertaining to refugee sponsorship, which could have a dramatic impact on LGBTI applications for asylum. The Department of Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) … More LGBTI Refugees hurt if Canada changes Refugee Sponsorship Program
By Guests Dan Littauer and Sami Hamwi, 13.01.2012 Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) As British Prime Minister, David Cameron visits Saudi Arabia today, activists report the plight of a man arrested by the religious police who may face corporal punishment. Activists are concerned for the safety of a 30-year-old man arrested by the religious … More Saudi Man Arrested for Gay Dating via Facebook
Raised in an extremist Christian household, assaulted in classroom with a teacher present, EricJames Borges, 19, was repeatedly bullied, tormented, terrorized, for the duration of his childhood and teen years. He came out with the video “it Gets better” below, yet he could not live through the pain. EricJames committed suicide yesterday! “Disgusting, perverted, unnatural … More Suicide of Gay Anti Bullying Activist EricJames Borges
The South African LGBT community is in an uproar about Riekert Botha, a radio evangelical from South Africa who has been spewing anti-gay comments at the expense of the South African taxpayer. South Africa, which has a fully inclusive constitution outlaws discrimination against LGBTI people and have anti-hate speech laws to protect groups against hate … More SABC Allows use of Airwaves to Attract Listeners to Pastor’s Anti- LGBTI Agenda
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