Queer in Immigration Detention

via HuffPost, by Jonathan Perez

There I stood in South Louisiana Correctional Center, hundreds of miles away from my home in sunny California. Immigration detention means the end of the line for most undocumented immigrants. But I was not worried when or if I would be released. In the first place, I went in there on purpose.

I also knew there were people organizing to get me out, including Dreamactivist, Immigrant Youth Coalition, and people from all over the country. It was part of a "silent action" challenging the Obama administration's immigration policy, which allegedly does not detain undocumented persons without criminal records. But there I was.

After dozens of civil disobedience actions, we learned that Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) would not detain us during public events.

We would simply get arrested and go undercover pretending to be the type of immigrant that they usually detain, and not the ones who know their rights and have connections to advocacy groups. But most importantly, we pretended to be afraid.

My home for the next 10 days would now be "Wolf 1," a pod with a dozen grown men from different parts of Latin America. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to adjust but I felt okay about it.

I was there because I needed to organize and help them out in any way I could. We created a team of a couple other detainees that were ready to organize a hunger strike.

We weren't sure exactly how or when it would happen, but we knew we needed a number of issues to focus our efforts around. In the meantime we began to take stories of people who were detained and connected them to their families and immigration attorneys.

We took on deportation cases for those that can be won, like people who have been here for more than ten years, have citizen children, no criminal record and even DREAM Act eligible youth.

But there was always a splinter in my mind, something that always told me to be careful. Although I was detained with a friend who supported me, I knew he could never understand fully what I felt, and much less what I was thinking.

Looking at all the sweating men exercising and running by me only made it harder to ignore. There was Jose from Honduras; he was a father of three and a super nice guy with hazel eyes. He was caught driving without a license, and "Secure Communities" kicked in when he was booked. He was debating whether or not to sign a voluntary removal to get to his family as soon as possible.

One day, I began to think that I maybe I could tell the guys the truth -- that they wouldn't see a problem, since I had gotten to know them and they trusted me. I was wrong!

Dead wrong. As we walked back to our pod after lunch, I noticed two other men just like me on the other side of the fence. I felt relief, and I was glad to know that I was not alone.

But then the taunting began. They were mocked, whistled at, and harassed by the other detainees. They were called names like, "putitas," 'maricones," "jotitas," etc., pretty much different ways of saying faggots. I was shocked at first, and then I became sad.

It took me to a place I had not been to in a long time. It felt like I was in elementary school or middle school again. I was forced to mask my identity with a tough exterior, and had to be careful of what I said and did.

We only saw them when they walked by on their way to their pod, and every time they were ridiculed with enthusiasm by detainees. Their gender expression was more "feminine" than mine.

They were openly queer, and so they became targets. Most people never realized, and therefore didn't make fun of me or hit me. They actually assumed I was just like them.

A few days later, I was transferred to "Wolf 2," an adjacent pod where the two queer men, along with seventy other men were housed. I was afraid.

For all of the times I claimed to be undocumented and unafraid, I was out of my element. But I saw one of the Queer guys walk by 70 beds with his head held up high, with such energy and pride, and it made me feel so ashamed.

Ashamed that I could not do what he did, to be out and proud in a place where everyday there was someone harassing you and trying to put you down.


Read the rest

South Africa Leads the Continent on Gay Rights

via theatlantic, by John Campbell

Unfortunately, much of sub-Saharan Africa is homophobic. Recent legislation, some proposed, some passed, condemns gay marriage and sometimes outlaws gay sexual activity.

Nigeria, Uganda, and Liberia all have such legislation pending or passed, often with the provision of draconian penalties. Such legislation appears to be very popular.

The exception is South Africa, with a constitution that provides among the most comprehensive protection of individual rights in the world.

Last week, a regional court magistrate sentenced four men convicted of murdering a 19-year old lesbian in 2006 to eighteen years in prison, with four years suspended. The sentencing was widely hailed by the human rights community.

The trial and sentencing took place in Khayelitsha, a grim township outside of Cape Town and an area of severe social deprivation.

Certainly there is homophobia in South Africa. The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, was quoted in the South African press as saying, "Traditionally, there were no people who engaged in same-sex relationships. There was nothing like that and, if you do it, you must know that you are rotten."

But, the acceptability of homophobia in South Africa appears to be low. Following outcry, the Zulu Royal Household issued a public statement saying that the king was a victim of a "reckless translation" of his remarks from Zulu to English.

The household spokesman said, "At no stage did His Majesty condemn gay relations or same sex relations."

Meanwhile, in Uganda, where a particularly draconian piece of anti-gay legislation is working its way through parliament again, former South African president Thabo Mbeki said publicly that what consenting adults do in private "is really not the matter of law."

He also recalled that the apartheid regime in South Africa had prohibited sexual relations across the color line, and that it provided the police with the authorization "to raid peoples' bedrooms."


Read the rest

Illinois Amendment would add Gender Identity to Hate Crime Law

via Chicago Phoenix, by Tony Merevick

Illinois Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy (14th Dristrict) introduced an amendment to the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961, which would add protections for gender identity, military status and immigration status to the state’s hate crimes law.

HB4725, filed in the General Assembly Feb. 3, is the result of efforts among Illinois lawmakers and local LGBT activists, including members of The Civil Rights Agenda, who authored the bill.

“As a member organization of the LGBTQ Immigration Coalition and as an organization that works with many transgender individuals that have experienced crimes motivated by hate and discrimination, as well as an organization that fought for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and is committed to the needs of LGBT service members and veterans, we recognized that hate crimes protection in Illinois must be expanded,” said TCRA Executive Director, Anthony Martinez.

“One of my personal goals as an activist in the LGBT community is to ensure the expansion of trans rights in Illinois and throughout the nation,” Martinez told Chicago Phoenix.

Transgender women make up 44 percent of all LGBT murder victims, according to a July 2011 study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

The study also found a 13 percent increase in anti-LGBT hate crimes in 2010, and suggests that many more go unreported. More than half of survivors of hate crimes did not report it to the police, said the same study.

“Many of the transgender folks who come to us, especially transgender women, say that they don’t feel comfortable reporting an assault because they think they are either going to face police harassment,” said Martinez.

“Or they are not going to be seen as a victim but as the person who brought on the attack.”
In addition, the NCAVP study found that over 60 percent of victims say they were met by “indifference, abusive or deterrent” when reporting a hate crime.

This response was most common among transgender people of color, according to the study.

If the amendment is passed, crimes against victims because of their gender identity, military status or immigration status will be, “accorded weight in favor of imposing a term of imprisonment or may be considered by the court as reasons to impose a more severe sentence,” according to the bill summary.

Rick Garcia, a longtime local activist, played a vital role in developing the new legislation. Months ago, Garcia approached June Latrobe, the public policy director at Illinois Gender Advocates, about whether or not gender idenity was included in the Illinois Hate Crimes Act.

After further discussions with Rocco Claps, the director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, they approached newly-appointed Rep. Cassidy with a plan for an amendment, according to Garcia.


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'Gay Rights are Human Rights'

via boxturtlebulletin, by Jim Burroway

A video appeared on YouTube yesterday showing Kenya’s Chief Justice Willy Mutunga declaring that “gay rights are human rights.” The remarks were delivered on September 8, 2011 at a groundbreaking ceremony for FIDA Uganda, a Ugandan organization of Women Lawyers. FIDA Uganda was among the organizations which denounced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

The Chief Justice’s speech in Uganda is interesting for three reasons. First, his call for recognizing that “gay rights are human rights” actually pre-dates an identical declaration from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by two full months.

Secondly, the woman wearing lavender you see seating herself at the beginning of the video is Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, who played an important role in reviving the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in October.

And finally, Uganda and Kenya close neighbors, sharing a common history as part of Britian’s East African colonies, and they maintain extensive political and economic ties.

Much of Uganda’s imports and exports flow through the Kenyan port of Mombasa, and the two countries are part of a larger emerging common market, the East African Community.

The situation for LGBT people in Kenya is generally much better than in Uganda, although there have been instances of mob violence against suspected gay people in recent years.

Mutunga has an interesting history. In the early 1980s as a student, he was politically active against Kenyan president/dictator Daniel Arap Moi, which led to his detention and exile to Canada.

When Kenya turned to multi-party elections in 1991, he returned home and became part of Kenya’s “Young Turks, advocating for human rights in the country.

He continued to work in human rights positions throughout most of the next two decades. After Kenya reorganized under a new constitution following the disputed 2007 which broke down into nationwide violence, Mutunga was named to the country’s new High Court in 2011.

We have fought and succeeded in demanding our rights of movement and association  although we can’t take them for granted.

We should see less of the workshopping in hotels, less of the flipcharts and the [?], as we now move to the countrysides and make sure our people own and protect the human rights and social justice messages.

The other frontier of marginalization is the gay rights movement. Gay rights are human rights. Here I’m simply confining my statement to the context of human rights and social justice paradigm, and avoiding the controversy that exists in our constitutions and various legislation. As far as I know, human rights principles that we work on, do not allow us to implement human rights selectively.

We need clarity on this issue within the human rights movement in East Africa, if we are to face the challenges that are spearheaded by powerful political and religious forces in our midst.

I find the arguments made by some of our human rights activists, the so-called “moral arguments” simply rationalizations for using human rights principles opportunistically and selectively.

We need to bring together the opposing viewpoints in the movement of this issue for final and conclusive debate.

I thank the FIDA movement, membership, leadership, and its national, regional and global network for the honor bestowed on me. I’m very proud of this honor and I will never take it for granted.

Read the rest

UN Secretary Calls Out African Homophobia

via Advocate, by Neal Broverman

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged African nations to end government-sanctioned discrimination and violence against LGBT people.

Speaking at the African Union summit on Sunday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ban Ki-Moon called the discrimination a violation of the UN's universal declaration of human rights.

"One form of discrimination ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long has been discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity," he said, according to Agence France Presse.

"Confronting these discriminations is a challenge, but we must not give up on the ideas of the universal declaration of human rights."

The U.S. and the U.K. have begun pressuring some African nations, with threats of reduced aid, to reign in some of their virulent antigay policies.


Read the rest

Gay Men Being Trafficked in Kenya

via Advocate, by Diane Anderson-Minshall

Gay and bisexual men in Kenya are being lured into sex trafficking rings in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, according to a new report in African LGBT magazine, Identity.

Identity magazine says that the men attending Kenyatta University are particularly targeted, offered jobs as airline attendants or office workers,and given visas and passports (thanks to officials who've been bribed to help facilitate the travel arrangements).

Some of the men have reported violent sadistic sexual abuse at the hands of their captors.

Many countries, including Qatar, have no anti-trafficking legislation and remain on the U.S. Department of State watch lists for showing no progress in identifying victims of trafficking and prosecuting the perpetrators.

While Kenya did pass anti-trafficking legislation last year, homosexuality is still illegal in both the Arab states as well as Kenya, so the men are unable to report abuse to police.


Read the rest

UN First LGBT Report Cites Human Rights Violations

via Queerty, by Evan Mulvihill

It’s been a good year for making strides toward international gay rights, all things considered.

Hillary Clinton made a great speech before the UN in Geneva championing gay rights as synonymous with human rights last week.

And today, more progress, as the world’s top governing body has released its first-ever report on the status of human rights (full PDF here).

After reviewing reports of the violence and oppression that LGBT people have endured in various corners of the globe, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that,”a pattern of human rights violations emerges that demands a response… Further action is now needed, especially at the national level, if individuals are to be better protected from such human rights violations in future.”

And what are they going to do about it? Well, the High Commissioner recommends that UN states “investigate promptly all reported killings and other serious incidents of violence perpetrated against individuals because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity… and hold perpetrators accountable, and establish systems for the recording and reporting of such incidents.”

We’d prefer that he mandated such actions, but we’ll take incremental steps forward over big steps backward any day.

Now how do we get the nations that were not quite tickled pink by Clintons speech to read the damned report?


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Ugandan LGBT Activist Assassinated

Beyond words.

via Justice for Gay Africans Society

The news today that David Kato, a staunch and prominent Human Rights activist in Uganda is a big threat and raises newer fears. David dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of gay African people in Uganda right up to his death earlier today.

Information available stated that a man came in a vehicle, went into his house, hit him [twice] on the head and went back into his car and left. An undoubtedly hate crime. Could we argue that this isnt inspired by homophobia? David died on the way to the hospital.

Such is the life of gay people across many African countries and such is the ease with which anyone can attack them. For this assailant in Uganda, he had the boldness to do this horrible crime in broad daylight at 1pm [as reported] because he has the confidence that rarely would anyone care? Yes, after all, he is ‘cleansing the land’

Read the rest.

Read coverage from Human Rights Watch.

Read President Obama's statement on the murder.

Read statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Fears for safety of Ugandan lesbian due to be deported

A lesbian woman due to be deported from Britain to Uganda has been told by a Ugandan MP that she must "repent or reform" when she returns home.

The politician, David Bahati, intervened in the case of Brenda Namigadde, due to be deported on Friday, saying he would drop a clause making homosexuality punishable by death in a bill he introduced to the Ugandan parliament.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender campaigners were sceptical of his pledge to drop the death penalty, and said that Bahatia's intervention meant Namigadde was in "desperate trouble" if deported.

Gay sex is a criminal offence in Uganda punishable by a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Bahati told the Guardian: "Brenda is welcome in Uganda if she will abandon or repent her behaviour. Here in Uganda, homosexuality is not a human right. It is behaviour that is learned and it can be unlearned. We wouldn't want Brenda to be painting a wrong picture of Uganda, that we are harassing homosexuals."

Asked what would happen if she did not "repent" he said: "If she is caught in illegal practices she will be punished. If she comes to promote homosexuality, if she is caught in the act, if she is caught in illegal acts, she will be punished. I would be surprised, if she was promoting homosexuality, if she were not arrested."

His bill, currently in committee stage, would impose life imprisonment for consenting adults who have gay sex, and the death penalty for people with HIV, "serial" homosexuals and those who have sex with under-18s, if it became law.

Bahati said he was "willing to drop the death penalty" because of international concerns, but "key clauses", including life imprisonment for gay people or gay marriage, imprisonment for the "promotion" of homosexuality and for those who fail to report an offence under the act, would remain. He was "confident" the bill would be passed following elections in the country next month, he said.

Speaking from Yarl's Wood detention centre, Namigadde, 29, who fled Uganda in 2003 after being threatened and her house destroyed over her relationship with her Canadian partner, said: "I'll be tortured or killed if I'm sent back to Uganda. They've put people like me to death there. Most of my friends in Uganda have disappeared."

Her initial asylum claim was rejected in part on the basis that there was not sufficient evidence that she is a lesbian.

Namigadde's lawyer, Alex Oringa, from Cardinal Solicitors, who submitted a fresh asylum claim on Monday, said he was "very worried" for her safety. "The moment she arrives at Entebbe airport she will be arrested. They will detain her and you never know what happens in detention. They think she has humiliated the Ugandan government."

Gay rights groups, including AllOut, a US-based gay right group and LGBT Asylum news, have petitioned Theresa May, the home secretary, to grant Namigadde asylum.

The UK Border Agency, said: "Ms Namigadde's case has been carefully considered by both the UK Border Agency and the courts and she has been found not to have a right to remain here. She has submitted further representations and these will be reviewed by the UK Border Agency prior to any removal."

Read the original article here.

U.S. Falls Behind Other Nations on LGBT Issues

A high-level US government delegation defended the country’s human rights record before the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva on November 5. The Council for Global Equality submitted a report to the US government and to the UN to emphasize the lack of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. The Council is pleased that during the meeting today, known as the “Universal Periodic Review,” the US government freely admitted that the US civil rights record is incomplete and that LGBT Americans are among those who are still fighting to achieve full equality. Read the full press release.

NYT: In Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda

via NYT, by Erik Eckholm

 Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian students are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their antiharassment rules with early lessons in tolerance, explaining that some children have “two moms” or will grow up to love members of the same sex.

But such efforts to teach acceptance of homosexuality, which have gained urgency after several well-publicized suicides by gay teenagers, are provoking new culture wars in some communities.

Read the rest.

Ready to kick it open?

Today is National Coming Out Day

Are you ready to kick that closet door open?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Five Best Quotes for Full LGBT Equality

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family. And of course they are part of the African family.

Today marks Archbishop Desmond Tutu's last official day as someone publicly engaged in human rights work. The good bishop, who has been pushing for equality among races, genders and sexual orientations for decades, is set to retire today, capping off a legendary career that has made him a worldwide icon for peace and justice.

Though Archbishop Desmond Tutu may be most closely associated with ending apartheid and championing racial justice and reconciliation in South Africa, the Archbishop has become a leading supporter of full LGBT equality in recent years. Commenting on his Tutu's retirement, even U.S. President Barack Obama noted the work that the Archbishop has done to benefit LGBT rights worldwide.

Read the rest...

Mark S. King - Sex while HIV Positive: The New Criminals

Mark S. King (My Fabulous Disease) interviews Sean Strub of the Positive Justice Project regarding the criminalization of HIV, and how these laws actually undermine HIV prevention, create an illusion of safety, and place a disproportionate burden on the poz person. Importantly, some of the cases that have resulted in convictions dealt with non-disclosure of status, and NOT  unsafe sex or the transmission of HIV. Sean tells Mark that  a quarter of criminal prosecutions in the U.S. involve things like spitting, which carries NO risk of HIV transmission.

Watch and listen for more of this very interesting conversation.

The Ball Moves Forward - Angels in America

[love Frank Rich so much]

To appreciate how much and how unexpectedly our country can change, look no further than the life and times of Judith Dunnington Peabody, who died on July 25 at 80 in her apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York. 

Excerpt:

None of this means that full equality for gay Americans is a done deal. Even if it were, that would be scant consolation to the latest minority groups to enter the pantheon of American scapegoats, Hispanic immigrants and Muslims. We are still a young, imperfect, unfinished country. As a young black man working as a nurse in a 1980s AIDS clinic memorably says in Tony Kushner’s epic drama “Angels in America”: “The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word ‘free’ to a note so high nobody can reach it.” 

Read the rest.

"That's not judicial activism. That's judicial responsibility (bitch!)"

I gotta say, after your appearance today, I don’t understand how you ever lost a case in the supreme court, sir.



This morning (Sunday), Ted Olson — the conservative lawyer who represented President Bush in Bush v. Gore — appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss his recent victory in overturning Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California. Throughout the interview, host Chris Wallace attempted to trip up his guest with a series of familiar Republican talking points, all of which Olson repudiated.

Read more on The Wonk Room, and watch the video!

Hillary Lovin' on the Gays

Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights.



Worth watching… Hillary Clinton addressed State dept. workers and others yesterday to mark Pride. In her speech she speaks extensively (and passionately) on international LGBT issues.

NYT: With AIDS, Time to Get Beyond Blame

We cannot experience illness 
without casting around for blame. 
 
via NYT, by Abigail Zuger, M.D.

You don’t hear much about AIDS in America anymore. The few new headlines are reserved for dispatches from the developing world, where the dying young still make good old-fashioned heart-wrenching copy.

But AIDS endures right here in the U.S.A.: our outpatient clinics are bursting at the seams, and new cases show up daily. A million domestic stories are languishing untold, but they are not the operatic tragedies we have grown used to.

Instead, as illustrated by last week’s report about a Florida athlete indicted on charges of willfully transmitting H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, these are nuanced and complicated fables, with morals that extend beyond the disease itself.

Read the rest.

E. Patrick Johnson: Justice is "Being our complete self" in the world

Professor E. Patrick Johnson addresses the question, "What is justice for the Black Gay Man?" at the "Justice for All?" community forum sponsored by the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus LifeLube's Project CRYSP, Communities of Color Collaborative and Test Positive Aware Network, in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Thursday, January 28th, at The University Center.




More on this forum (including news articles), and other forums involving Project CRYSP can be found here, on LifeLube.

Check out the Keith Boykin clip, from the same forum.

Keith Boykin: Justice is hindered by "Internalized Oppression"

In this video, renowned TV Host/Author/Speaker Keith Boykin addresses the question, "What is justice for the Black Gay Man?" at the "Justice for All?" community forum sponsored by the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus, LifeLube's Project CRYSP, Communities of Color Collaborative and Test Positive Aware Network, in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Thursday, January 28th, at The University Center.

E. Patrick Johnson clip, same forum.

More on this forum (including news articles), and other forums involving Project CRYSP can be found here, on LifeLube.