by Melanie Nathan, February 01, 2012.

First Cape Town Task Force Meeting on Corrective Rape

A cheer rang out and the crowd sang and danced outside the Khayelitsha Courthouse, the scene of over thirty postponements in a murder trial that shocked the world, taking five years to meter out basic Justice. The four men convicted of Zoliswa Nkonyana’s killing in October last year, were no longer joking in the dock, a scene I had personally witnessed back in March 2011 when I spent a day at the Township trial.

The four South African men have been sentenced to 18 years in jail for stabbing and stoning to death the 19-year-old lesbian, who the court found, killed Ms. Nkonyana because she was living openly as a lesbian.

Although the South African constitution protects people on the grounds of sexual orientation  and gender identity, there is no hate crimes legislation, per se, and  homophobia is widespread.

The sentence was applauded by local activists because usually in such cases only 14-15 years are metered out.  The fact that the magistrate concluded that Ms. Nkonyana was killed for being a lesbian could make a huge impact on the current Task Force against Hate crimes which was established in Cape Town last year, pursuant to my visit to parliament with Ndumie Funda and Luleke Sizwe, where we presented the Ministry of Justice with a Change.org petition and reforms against so called corrective rape.

This is the first time a court has said the sentence was influenced by the fact that the victim was killed because she was a lesbian. For years activists have been calling on the state to be tougher on people who kill or attack people because of their sexual orientation. Finally this case sets the  precedent!

More than 30 lesbians (known) have been killed in the past 10 years because of their sexuality and the so-called practice of “corrective rape” also appears to be on the increase, according to gay activists.

The accused Lubabalo Ntlabathi, Sicelo Mase, Luyanda Londzi and Mbulelo Damba – who were convicted in October – were each given 18 years, and back in March seemed to think their trial was a joke, as they laughed back and forth with members of the public sitting in the gallery.

Large crowds of lesbian protestors from Luleki Sizwe and Freegender Groups showed up to every trial date, dancing in the courtyard and screaming slogans for justice.

Five other accused were acquitted  in a stoning and murder said to have been commited by more than twelve men. The family of Ms Nkonyana indicated that they welcomed the sentence, but still remain fearful of reprisal by family of the accused which far outweighed their presence in the Court over the past years.

“They did not accept responsibility for what they did and we are happy that when we asked for a lengthy jail term, the magistrate agreed to that,” stepfather Mr Mandini told South Africa’s Sowetan newspaper.

Ms Nkonyana was stoned and stabbed nine times in February 2006, close to her home in Khayelitsha.

The magistrate said it was clear the motive for the killing was hatred and homophobia – and Wednesday’s sentence was meant to send out a signal that violence based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated, the South African Press Association reports.

Lesbians are often subjected to “corrective rape” by men who think this will “cure” them of their homosexuality. Three years ago, a man was sentenced to life in prison and another to 32 years for the gang rape, robbery and murder of Eudy Simelane, a lesbian activist who had been on the national football team.

Melanie Nathan-  nathan@privatecourts.com

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 sexual orientation or gender identity.

The final rule, published as Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs – Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, makes the following provisions:

• Requires owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing, or housing whose financing is insured by HUD, to make housing available without regard to the sexual orientation or gender identity of an applicant for, or occupant of, the dwelling, whether renter- or owner-occupied.  HUD will institute this policy in its rental assistance and homeownership programs, which include the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance programs, community development programs, and public and assisted housing programs.
• Prohibits lenders from using sexual orientation or gender identity as a basis to determine a borrower’s eligibility for FHA-insured mortgage financing.  FHA’s current regulations provide that a mortgage lender’s determination of the adequacy of a borrower’s income “shall be made in a uniform manner without regard to” specified prohibited grounds.  The rule will add actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity to the prohibited grounds to ensure FHA-approved lenders do not deny or otherwise alter the terms of mortgages on the basis of irrelevant criteria.
• Clarifies that all otherwise eligible families, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, will have the opportunity to participate in HUD programs. In the majority of HUD’s rental and homeownership programs the term “family” already has a broad scope, and includes a single person and families with or without children.  HUD’s rule clarifies that otherwise eligible families may not be excluded because one or more members of the family may be an LGBT individual, have an LGBT relationship, or be perceived to be such an individual or in such relationship.
• Prohibits owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing or housing insured by HUD from asking about an applicant or occupant’s sexual orientation and gender identity for the purpose of determining eligibility or otherwise making housing available. In response to comments on the proposed rule, HUD has clarified this final rule to state that this provision does not prohibit voluntary and anonymous reporting of sexual orientation or gender identity pursuant to state, local, or federal data collection requirements.

Other actions HUD has taken for LGBT Americans include:

• HUD conducted the first-ever national study of discrimination against members of the LGBT community in the rental and sale of housing.  Every ten years, HUD does a study of the impact of housing discrimination on the basis of race and color.  HUD undertook this important research in 1977, 1989 and 2000 and is currently undertaking this study again. It is believed that LGBT individuals and families may remain silent because in many local jurisdictions, they may have little or no legal recourse. While there are no national assessments of LGBT housing discrimination, there are state and local studies that have shown evidence of this sort of bias. For example, a 2007 report by Michigan’s Fair Housing Centersfound that nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently when attempting to buy or rent a home.
• HUD currently requires its recipients of discretionary funds to comply with local and state non-discrimination laws that cover sexual orientation or gender identity.
• In 2011 HUD issued new guidance that treats discrimination based on gender nonconformity or sex stereotyping as sex discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, and instructs HUD staff to inform individuals filing complaints about state and local agencies that have LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination laws.
• The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in rental, sales and lending on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability and familial status. Approximately 20 states, and the District of Columbia, and more than 150 cities, towns and counties across the nation have additional protections that specifically prohibit such discrimination against LGBT individuals. Under the guidance issued in June 2010, HUD will, as appropriate, retain its jurisdiction over complaints filed by LGBT individuals or families but also jointly investigate or refer matters to those state, district and local governments with other legal protections.
• HUD, HHS and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) hosted the first ever federal government summit addressing issues for LGBT seniors in December 2011.

View the final rule here.

However, from a Western point of view, is the tutorial a mockery of the process of curing homosexuality through a rendition of a silly‘scrub clean’ scene or is it a mocking way of suggesting that homosexuals ought to be scrubbed clean of their sexuality? Either way it is unpleasant, stereotyping and quite flatly in very poor taste! Here is an attempt to analyze it from a local perspective and to show how it impacts locals.

According to Dan Littauer, Executive Editor of Gay Middle East, says “Be Yourself” a six-minute ‘tutorial’   has shocked the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of the UAE when it was posted a little more than a week ago on YouTube.

He notes, the video depicts five young men as the starring characters: Rashid Al-Muaini, Majid Al-Muaini, Ali Al-Ghaithi, Jamel Al-Ghaithi and Mohammad Eissa. The scene is set in a typical suburban neighbourhood of one of the UAE cities (most likely Ajman), where the five meet.

Two are in a traditional Emirati dress of Kandura and Kiffayeh greeted by a visibly shy effeminate man with long hair, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, who says ‘Hi guys’ in a high pitched voice, proceeding to shake their hands in a stereotypical camp manner, while playing with his hair.

He is portrayed by contrasting two young men dressed in western clothes, who pass-by and greet in a ‘brotherly’ macho-like manner:

The effeminate man acts shy and embarrassed when he is invited by two men in traditional garb, to come inside the next door villa.

Once in the living room, the effeminate man is told that he needs to change his personality. One of the traditional-dressed men asks: ‘will you change it or not?’ He questions ‘yes but how;’ and is then told ‘leave it to us’.

They proceed to teach the effeminate young man how to mimic masculine gestures. Later he is given a ‘make-over’ where his hands and face are violently scrubbed with scouring cloths, and then his nails and hair are cut.

After the make-over, and looking stereotypically straight, the man gets a slap when he is about leave for saying ‘bye guys’ in his high pitch voice, and he is then told: ‘Thicken your voice!’

In the concluding scene all five characters meet up again. The effeminate man seems less distinguished by his looks. His friends seem happy and proud of what they did and finish by thanking Allah, who helped bring about the change’.

Littauer, an expert in LGBT Middle Eastern issues and well sourced for his BLOG at GME, speaks of the impact
While the title and video may look paradoxical even laughably ludicrous it nevertheless touches upon some profound issues relevant to LGBT people from the UAE. I discuss these with three LGBT rights activists from a group called “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transexual Rights UAE.”

Comments from LGBT Community in UAE
Abdullah, 24 from Abu-Dhabi, founder of the group commented: “The video signifies the level of challenge, we, the UAE LGBT community, have ahead of us. We don’t merely have to change the views of the government but also society itself. It angers me no end, but it also saddens me, this video would have been devastating if my 16-year-old self had watched it.”

“As a sixteen year old, I can still hear echoes in my mind of mom yelling at me no to flail my hand too much when I speak, which only lead to me being robotic and stiff, feeling I must keep both hands down when I speak, something that took a long time to get over.

“My mom would also shout at me for using English terms like ‘guys’ in her presence because it emulated the westerners and was a direct ‘attack’ to the Arabic language and my [masculine] mannerisms.”
Abdullah speaks how his parents would force him to get a to “a crew cut” so his hair won’t look like a “a western propaganda” fag, something that deeply humiliated and angered him.

He recounts how his parents refused to buy him Jeans and T shirts because it made him “act girly,” telling him instead he must wear the “traditional Emirati dress.” The video “brought flashbacks to me how on endless hot Friday afternoons I was forced to observe how men interact, or how they drink coffee by my father, so that I should emulate to make him proud.”

Abdullah sadly recalls: “I was banned from hanging out with my sisters too much because my parents alleged they were turning me into a woman,” finally his father rejected and gave up on him, choosing one of Abdullah’s brothers to “make him proud.”

“No wonder I tend to be angry and passionate with LGBT rights and equality in general,” he reflects, but that is objectively, he insists, much of the social reality in his country. “In the UAE, men are required to act in a away that reflects the Bedouin tribe which we are descended from.” In contrast, “many view homosexuality as a western invention and not a very good one”.

This Abdullah says is exemplified by the representation in the movie of the “effeminate guy” who is lured into the villa for a “straight makeover”, having his gayness being scrubbed away and the issue “fixed” with giving him “a ‘positive’ role model (having mentioned in the first part of the video how he has no brothers to properly emulate). They proceed to demonstrate to him how to properly sit and not to flail with his hands.”

Fatima, a 31 year old secretary from Abu-Dhabi points out more issues with the representation of the ‘effeminate gay character’: “the director, having chosen this particular young man and his looks to play the deviant, gender-confused homosexual is openly insulting every gay man on earth.

“Well of course it’s typical to have young, macho-wannabe boys chasing a ball in the street, god forbid the director shoots the film in a library or a study room that could really harm the image of what a real Arabic man is supposed to be doing in his free time.”

“Well of course it’s typical to have a femme  gay man to represent the entire population of homosexual men in the region, assume that gay people are not being themselves, they just spend their lives pretending to be someone else for, I don’t know, attention? And yes, it is very typical to have a homosexual “cured” with a firm rub and a neat haircut, oh and if he shows signs of relapse, just slap him back to his senses.” “The message of this video is ugly, hurtful and very dangerous.” Fatima finally states “I hope whoever came up with this sick idea gets a visit from a gay cupid. Ha!”

Ali, 25 year old law student from Dubai was outraged by the video: “I found ‘Be yourself’ extremely offensive. When I read the title, I was thinking ‘Wow, finally some of these people have actually learnt something! Perhaps we can have a go at acceptance!’, only to discover a video filled with prejudice.”
“I was gutted at the confidence in the faces of the actors on the fact that they CAN treat homosexuality just like that.”   I want to address this “to all of those who think they can treat homosexuality by grooming, abusing and hurting:  “Are you proud to be homophobic people? Leading people into an illusion that being gay is all about flapping your hands and having a girly voice?”

According to Littauer, the UAE is a federation of seven emirates where punishment for homosexuality can include prison, fines, deportation, flogging and death. Each emirate has different harsh laws regarding homosexuality, from up to 10 years in prison in Dubai to 14 in Abu-Dhabi, while Article 354 of the Federal Penal Code may even prescribe a death sentence for ‘consensual sodomy’.

Meanwhile psychologists and psychiatrists in the UAE regard “gender atypical behavior” as a psychological disturbance that while being gay as an illness to be ‘cured’ with hormonal ‘treatments’, despite global clinical guidance to the contrary.

Abdullah told GME: ‘Homosexuality has always been a part of the Arabian world, it existed in poetry and writings that are found in Islam and even predate it. Not to mention it’s a natural part of humanity.’

But stereotyping of LGBT people and the idea that non-conforming sexuality is westernized or can be changed are rampant. “We want to change that, so that another 16 year old or the impressionable LGBT youth, wouldn’t have to go through what others, including myself, before them did.”

Attempts were made by GME to contact the director of the Video, but they have yet to receive a response.

The Making of the Video may set more light on the topic   …….

Does it not seem like a bunch of stupid young men trying to be funny? Do they have any idea about how this hurts others?  East or West -You be the judge!

NEW YORK, January 18, 2012—Funding to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS consistently fails to reach programs designed to control the disease among gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), according to a new analysis released Wednesday by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR) at Johns Hopkins University. The report finds that resources dedicated to addressing the epidemic among MSM are grossly insufficient, and that funding intended for this population is often diverted away from MSM-related services.

Despite Obama Administration leadership in setting bold new targets to tackle global AIDS and highlight the human rights of MSM and other sexual minorities, U.S. government aid intended to prevent and treat HIV infection among MSM continues to encounter obstacles throughout the world.

The new report, “Achieving an AIDS-Free Generation for Gay Men and Other MSM,” provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of HIV-related funding and programming for this population. Focusing on eight countries, the report finds that national governments have failed to adequately tackle the epidemic among MSM. The findings are especially dire in countries that criminalize MSM. In those settings, governments spend fewer resources on HIV-related health services for MSM, do less to track and understand the epidemic, and are more likely to repurpose donor funds intended to fight the epidemic among MSM.

International efforts such as the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have made great strides against the global epidemic, including more recent efforts to reach MSM. Yet these and other donors typically fail to collect and analyze basic information about the epidemic among MSM. In settings where MSM are persecuted, this lack of data is often used to justify under-funding and marginalization.

“These data show an astonishing lack of support for MSM populations around the world, but most especially in countries where MSM are criminalized and persecuted,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. “Gay men and other MSM pioneered the global response to HIV in developed countries and have contributed significantly to the development of programs globally. However, they have been mostly excluded from these very services and programs in the developing world. This report lays out concrete steps that donors and national governments should take without delay to address the pandemic among 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. Using a standardized evaluation tool, civil society consultants studied the funding and implementation of MSM-related programming. Each consultant uncovered a range of issues related to funding allocations and service delivery, providing an in-depth view of the challenges facing MSM and their access to HIV treatment, care, and prevention services.

Among their findings:

• With few exceptions, MSM are deprioritized and marginalized by HIV programs regardless of epidemic type or disease burden. For example, this analysis found that in Guyana, funding for MSM programs dropped 96% between initial proposal and final budget.
• Epidemiological surveillance of MSM in many countries is woefully inadequate to determine the true burden of HIV among MSM. This makes it much more difficult for international monitors, including UNGASS, to assess the needs of MSM in each country, and further complicates allocation and monitoring by donors.
• In countries where homosexuality is criminalized, such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, many MSM forgo seeking medical care out of fear of government-sanctioned punishment. Despite billions of dollars in funding for HIV programs, both countries continue to make international headlines for persecution and violence against MSM.
• Efforts to streamline donor bureaucracy are being undertaken without consideration of their impact on vulnerable populations. Consolidated funding streams, broad health systems investments, and reduced reporting requirements may ultimately undercut efforts to direct money to more effective interventions.

In addition to the eight country reports, the overall report also includes recommendations for national governments, PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and UNGASS.

“For the first time, we have specific data to help us understand why MSM are omitted from national HIV/AIDS surveillance systems and are subsequently excluded from HIV/AIDS services in countries that rely on foreign assistance from international donors,” said Stefan Baral, associate director of the CPHHR at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “As an international community, we must take these data and work with donors and governments to better address the needs of gay men and other MSM throughout the world. We will never create an ‘AIDS-free generation’ if we don’t get the epidemic under control among MSM.”

SEE FUL REPORT AT  amfARsite
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $325 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

About the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University -The Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins focuses on using the scientific tools of public health to address the health and rights of populations in need. The Center is active in Asia, Africa, and the Former Soviet Union and works with sexual minorities, people who use drugs, and refugees and displaced communities in conflict.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Tweets  – @melanienathan1

Antiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART. The American National Institutes of Health and other organizations recommend offering antiretroviral treatment to all patients with AIDS.  Because of the complexity of selecting and following a regimen, the severity of the side-effects and the importance of compliance to prevent viral resistance, such organizations emphasize the importance of involving patients in therapy choices, and recommend analyzing the risks and the potential benefits to patients with low viral loads. 

There are different classes of antiretroviral drugs that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle.

The new research paper:-

Long-term exposure to combination antiretroviral therapy and risk of death from specific causes: no evidence for any previously unidentified increased risk due to antiretroviral therapy.

Kowalska JD, Reekie J, Mocroft A, Reiss P, Ledergerber B, Gatell J, d’Arminio Monforte A, Phillips A, Lundgren JD, Kirk O; for the EuroSIDA study group.

Abstract -

BACKGROUND:
Despite the known substantial benefits of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), cumulative adverse effects could still limit the overall long-term treatment benefit. Therefore we investigated changes in the rate of death with increasing exposure to cART.

METHODS:
A total of 12 069 patients were followed from baseline, which was defined as the time of starting cART or enrolment into EuroSIDA whichever occurred later, until death or 6 months after last follow-up visit. Incidence rates of death were calculated per 1000 person-years of follow-up (PYFU) and stratified by time of exposure to cART (≥3 antiretrovirals): less than 2, 2-3.99, 4-5.99, 6-7.99 and more than 8 years. Duration of cART exposure was the cumulative time actually receiving cART. Poisson regression models were fitted for each cause of death separately.

RESULTS:
A total of 1297 patients died during 70 613 PYFU [incidence rate 18.3 per 1000 PYFU, 95% confidence interval (CI) 17.4-19.4], 413 due to AIDS (5.85, 95% CI 5.28-6.41) and 884 due to non-AIDS-related cause (12.5, 95% CI 11.7-13.3). After adjustment for confounding variables, including baseline CD4 cell count and HIV RNA, there was a significant decrease in the rate of all-cause and AIDS-related death between 2 and 3.99 years and longer exposure time. In the first 2 years on cART the risk of non-AIDS death was significantly lower, but no significant difference in the rate of non-AIDS-related deaths between 2 and 3.99 years and longer exposure to cART was observed.

CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, we found no evidence of an increased risk of both all-cause and non-AIDS-related deaths with long-term cumulative cART exposure.

PMID: 22112597

SOURCE- http://www.aidstruth.org/new-research/2012/new-research-finds-no-evidence-increased-risk-all-cause-and-non-aids-death-long

OBLOGDEE site informs, reports but does not endorse nor guarantees accuracy of  any research. We encourage readers to conduct their own background investigation of research providers.

NOTE JAN-26-12  Join amfAR, The IDSA Center for Global Health Policy, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for a briefing discussing combination prevention approaches.  It will take place on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 from 12-1 pm in the Kennedy Caucus Room (Senate Russel 325).  The entrance is at the corner of Deleware Ave. & Constitution Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20002.  Lunch will be provided.  Please RSVP to rsvp.policyofficer@amfar.org.

ALSO SEE:

Huge March Timed for 2012 AIDS Conference in Washington D.C.

AIDS MARCH planned as precursor to AIDS Conference 2012.  By Melanie Nathan, Jan 01, 2012

In July 2012, more than 20,000 HIV advocates will come to Washington, D.C., for the International AIDS Conference. Before the opening ceremonies, AHF and over a thousand organizations from 78 countries are marching to remind governments around the world to keep the promise on AIDS.

The biennial International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is a chance to assess where we are, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt, and collectively chart a course forward.

Read more….

This Thursday 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.

Gay Middle East fears this will mean censorship of LGBT Tweets in the Middle East and North Africa. Previously, Twitter only blocked tweets and accounts globally.

GAY MIDDLE EAST and OBLOGDEEOBLOGDA will join the protest on the 28.1.12 and NOT TWEET for 24 hours. 

WE URGE YOU TO DO THE SAME.

“Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world,” Twitter wrote in a blog post . “We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.”

Once twitter starts to censor, it will alert its users  by replacing the text of the post with a grayed-out tweet treading , “This Tweet from @username has been withheld in: Country. Learn more.”

“We are very concerned about this new development,” said Dan Littauer, Executive Editor for Gay Middle East, “twitter has an enormous impact in spreading news and media, especially regarding Human Rights, including LGBT rights across the world and in particular the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).”

“Twitter has been essential, for example, in helping the Arab Spring protests and also spread of information regarding LGBT issues in MENA.  Users within the state where censorship is about to occur will not be able to co-ordinate protests or actions.”

“Furthermore,” reiterated Littauer, “many users in this region rely on tweets to inform them about already blocked sites, such as ours, for example in Saudi Arabia.  This allows the twitter users to use technology to bypass the censorship.  This means that if LGBT related tweets and users will be censored across some or all of the MENA countries it will make it so much harder to communicate and even know about censorship itself in that country.  This is a very dangerous precedent.”

Twitter did not explain clearly how this decision was arrived at and why, but members of Gay Middle East wonder if this is partly related to the SOPA and PIPA initiatives as well as the recent acquisition of a stake in Twitter’s company by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Shamil, Gay Middle East Editor of Saudi Arabia and the UAE remarked “just like any purchase by a person of power within the Kingdom, investor pressure could be brought to bear on a myriad of issues at anytime, where restrictions could be made to apply in the Kingdom itself, which already has censorship. This could result in some influence on blocking Gay, lesbian, LGBT tweets, but only in the Kingdom itself. “  It remains to be seen if this will happen and in which countries across MENA.

Littauer notes blocking of the use of the word “gay”  and associated LGBT terms via BING – the Microsoft flagship search engine, a Company in which the Saudi family has an investment-  has been a practice by the Kingdom and other Arab countries. “There was a possibility that such restrictions could arise due to the increased presence of such a political figure, as it may have been the case with Microsoft,” speculated Littauer.

On the O-BLOG-DEE-O-BLOG-DA we speculated at the time of the interest purchase  by the Saudi Prince in Twitter  that it “Could Impact Gay Tweets within Kingdom,  December 19, 2011 Melanie Nathan  “Although Liberal in relation to other members of the Saudi Royal Family, what does Saudi prince Twitter Purchase mean for Gay World.”

“Tomorrow” (28.1.12) stated Littauer, “we will join the global protest and not tweet for a 24hours. ”  “We will announce this very soon using our twitter account by a tweet using the hashtags #j28 #TwitterBlackout.”

The Next Web  has written how to get around this new censorship.

Earlier Article http://oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-investment-in-twitter-could-impact-gay-tweets-within-kingdom/

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 activists Flag Boys, Huge and Henry, are set to go Zulu gay.  The exhibitionist activists, designers and promoters of the South African Gay Flag are protesting the Zulu King for his anti-same-sex relationship remarks, by attending a prestigious South African horse racing event, dressed as camp Zulu Warriors.

The prestigious J&B Met, a televised premiere horse racing event, held at the Kennilworth Racecourse in Cape Town, draws fifty thousand fans to South Africa’s elite day of high fashion and glamor.  The GAY Flag Boys, who will strut the VIP red carpet dressed as GAY Zulu warriors, are set to top even the most risky of ‘fashionista,’ of the day.

This year’s theme, coincidentally, happens to be ‘Made Different,’ which calls on attendees to challenge the status quo and to break the rules of fashion; our Flag Boys are doing much more they are challenging the Zulu King and the remarks he made against the South African Constitution.

Gays and Lesbians in KwaZulu-Natal and the rest of South Africa are still angry at King Goodwill Zwelithini for his flagrant homophobic remarks, which recently created a local firestorm. The Cape Town based LGBTI community will not allow the matter to rest until the King apologizes and retracts his condemnation of same-sex relationships.

The Met is a gathering of the rich and famous, the “groovers and movers,” as the web promo notes; “the fashion junkies and the thousands who seek to enjoy the intensity of life. It’s the running of the 35th J&B Met on 28th January.”

“People are encouraged to go over the top: “make your outfit from something truly different, wear what traditionally should not be worn, but whatever you do, make sure you do it differently. The J&B Met 2011 was a year of massive outfits, oversized accessories and gigantic personalities,” notes the organizer’s webpage.

We have obtained advance photos of our protestors and judging by them they are bound to fit in – and let us hope be notice, given the nature of the day’s extremes.

The King or his representatives have yet to apologize for his reported slur against the South African and Zulu Gay community; instead the royal household spun the issue, blaming an inaccurate translation of the speech, which only exacerbated the anger, causing the broader South African LGBTI community to view it as a cowardly attempt at denial.

Working in the framework of a united South Africa, the King owes an apology to his Zulu LGBTI community as well as all South Africans.

The King made his comments during a speech commemorating the Battle of Isandlwana near Dundee in the presence of South African President Jacob Zuma, who has taken an oath to uphold the South African Constitution, one which recognizes full equality under the law for same-sex relationships. The President stood silent after the remarks and did issue a timid statement thereafter, which was barely a reprimand.

His comments were widely understood by those present to mean that the monarch believed that homosexuality was not part of Zulu culture and that it was “rotten”.

A recorded extract of the speech includes the audience laughing, as the monarch talks about people being banished in the olden days from society.

“If you are one of the people I am talking about, people who have sex with people of their own sex, a man who sexually harasses another man, a woman who sexually harasses another woman, you are rotten,” he was reported as saying.

In a joint statement, Zulu royal family spokesperson Prince Mbonisi Zulu and Premier Zweli Mkhize’s spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya, denied that the monarch had condemned same-sex relationships in his speech, blaming the translation.  However, after an extract was played to several Zulu linguists the consensus was that the King was indeed condemning same-sex relationships.

Nonhlanhla Mkhize of the KZN Gay Centre said the organization was “disturbed and hurt” by the king’s comments, but preferred to engage the Royal family on the matter, rather than take it to the Equality Court or to the SA Human Rights Commission.

The monarch’s comments could be dangerous to gays and lesbians “because of the stature of the king as a leader and father, ” said Mkhize.

The SA Human Rights Commission, which monitors and indicts against Hate Speech, which is illegal in South Africa, said it would be writing to the King to establish whether he had in fact made such statements and if he had to immediately retract them:-

“In the context of the growing levels of hate crimes against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed (LGBTI), the commission finds such utterances to be inflammatory. If it is indeed accurate that His Majesty, the Zulu king, made the utterances as reported, they constitute hate speech, are dehumanizing and are a violation of the constitutional right of LGBTI people to equality and freedom.”

“The king should use his powerful position not to dehumanize and discriminate certain people on the basis of their sexual orientation but to uphold the Constitution and promote tolerance and diversity,” the commission said.

In Just a few hours The Flag Boys will be on that RED VIP Carpet and on the cat walk at the J&B Met and we have a taste of the dress-up pictures to show in advance of the event.  If you are in SA this ought to be quite a statement at a place where spectacle is the order of the day! Please watch this on television tonight and show your support for a retraction and apology by the Zulu King!

UPDATED:  The SA FLAG BOYS were a big hit at the H&B Met, Kennilworth Cape Town, nominated for best dressed couple, while protesting homophobic remarks of Zulu King Goodwill! The TV coverage ensured their message spread beyond the 50,000 attendees and into the homes of South Africans and the world as they watched the premier horse racing event’s coverage of a day of fashion and glamor.

Never before had the sound of ‘Edge of Glory’ been so inconceivable; EricJames Borges chose Lady Gaga, and not only for the echo that would pave his heavenly journey but as a benefactor, leaving the last of his life’s dealings to his icon. Five hundred dollars would go to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, $500 to the Trevor Project, $521.56  to the Human Rights Campaign and almost $2,500 to his rescuer, Jennifer McGuire for her upcoming same-sex wedding.  “I want it to go where it deserves; to life, love and equality.”

His parents tortured him by not protecting him from the extensive bullying.  His parents tortured him through their relentless, extremist religious teachings.  His parents tortured him with shame and intolerance and emotional and physical abuse that most of us can’t even begin to imagine.  And yes, I blame them, and not just a little, but for a majority percentage… His parents killed him.”

All the love and support in the world would not be enough to save EricJames from the gushing wound of his childhood and the piercing gashes of his preceding teen years.

Read the full Articles by Clicking on the Screen shots on the left.

Suicide Prevention and Resources can be found at end of SDGLN Article.

http://www.sdgln.com/news/2012/01/26/bullied-gay-teen-suicide-note-insight-ericjames-borges-death-19

Borges’ “extremist religious” parents, who kicked their son out of their home after allegedly performing an exorcism on him, did not attend the memorial, Nathan noted in her report.

Borges’ passing left friends and acquaintances confused, particularly as the budding filmmaker had produced an “It Gets Better” video in support of LGBT youth just one month earlier. Jennifer McGuire, with whom Borges lived after being kicked out of his own home, is quoted as saying, “By the time he got to us — his real family — he was so injured and so wounded that the triage we provided wasn’t enough.”

Read Nathan’s poignant full report on the note and the memorials here.

by Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@melanienathan1
All Rights Reserved© 2012

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.  Mr. Kato had received a stream of death threats, his friends said last year.

In 2010, Rolling Stone Tabloid,  a Ugandan newspaper ran an antigay diatribe with Mr. Kato’s picture on the front page under a banner urging, “Hang Them.”  Kato took the tabloid to court and won his case , with the court ordering an injunction and fines against Rolling Stone publication.

Months later, Mr. Kato was beaten to death with a hammer and the perpetrator has been convicted.  Although the confessed murderer has been sentenced, many speculate that Kato was set up by authorities. Police officials were quick to chalk up the motive to robbery, but members of the small and increasingly besieged gay community in Uganda suspect otherwise.

“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009,” Val Kalende, the chairwoman of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, said in a statement at the time. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood.”

Today, January 26  Mleuben Maccarthy from the newly established St. Paul’s Voice Center in Uganda who is attending today’s event told me, “we cant wait for our rights which KATO was fighting for.”

Today’s memorial is open and will be held at Emerald Hotel Bomb road – Kampala Uganda.  Thursday 26. 01.2012 from 0900 AM.

Comrade David Kato R.I.P.

See Video of memorial held in Castro one year ago featuring Melanie Nathan and Michael Petrelis

Interweave and GLBT Historical Society is bringing this important event to Oakland and judging by the program and participants it promises to be excellent.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the “New Negro Movement”, named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke. Though it was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, many French-speaking black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in Paris were also influenced by the Harlem Renaissance.

One such performer, Gladys Bentley (August 12, 1907 – January 18, 1960) was an American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance.

Bentley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of American George L. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote. She appeared at Harry Hansberry’s “Clam House” on 133rd Street, one of New York City‘s most notorious gay speakeasies,^[1] in the 1920s, and headlined in the early thirties at Harlem’s Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. She dressed in men’s clothes (including a signature tuxedo and top hat), played piano, and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling voice while flirting outrageously with women in the audience.

On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as “America’s Greatest Sepia Piano Player”, and the “Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs”. She was frequently harassed for wearing men’s clothing. She claimed that she had married a white woman in Atlantic City.

Bentley was openly lesbian during her early career, but during the McCarthy Era, she started wearing dresses, married a man (who later denied that they ever married), and studied to be a minister, claiming to have been “cured” by taking female hormones.  She died, aged 52, from pneumonia in 1960.

Fictional characters based on Bentley appeared in Carl Van Vechten‘s Parties, Clement Woods’s Deep River, and Blair Niles’s Strange Brother. She recorded for the OKeh, Victor, Excelsior, and Flame labels.

PROGRAM:

A Love Supreme

Performers include:

Potluck                    Gather for food and community

Four Directions       Zemaya

Poetry                      Talibah Barker

Poetry                      Marvin K. White

Song                         Zach Hodges

Poetry                      Ron Weissberg

Song                         Linda Hodges

Poetry                      Sauda Burch

Poetry                      Randall Wright

Poetry                      Jezebel Deliah X

Music                       Regina Wells

Poetry                      Bushmama

Poetry                      Rasheedah Sabeen Shakir

Drum/Poetry           Jaynie Lara

 MC: Jaki Lee

ALSO on the program:

Tiye Yayu Square-Levias, Ava Square-Levias, Bushmama, Griot Noir, Deborah Marks,  Taku Ronsman, Stephanie Thames, Rasheedah Sabeen,  Shakir

 The program begins with a potluck at 6pm. Please email randallwright90@gmail.com or jakilee63@yahoo.com for further information.