The Coalition “Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities” has once again prepared an annual report about the state of the sexual and reproductive rights of the marginalized communities. The report represents a result of the annual monitoring of the politics, media, legislation and public appearances of the relevant political actors in Macedonia in the year 2012.

The report also includes an analysis and a display of the state with many cases of violation of the human rights of the marginalized communities documented throughout the year by the members of the Coalition.

The promotion of this years report will take place in the Journalists club, this Thursday at 11:00 h. The report will be presented by Zarko Trajanoski (the author of the report), Irena Cvetkovic (project coordinator of the Coalition) and Slavco Dimitrov (executive director of the Coalition).

We will be highly honored by Your presence.

The coalition team

The coalition”Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities” and LGBT United in cooperation LGBTI Support Center and LesFem are honored to announce the Pride Week which will take place from 22

The Pride week will have several evens, debates and film screenings connected to different issues which affect LGBT people in Macedonia.

June 22^nd, Saturday

18:00 h. LGBTI Support center (Old Bazaar)

Screening of short videos about trans people in Macedonia and discussion on the topic Health righsts of the transgender persons

June 24^th Monday,

13:00 h. Hotal Arka

Discussion with the representatives from the parliament, institutions and civil organizations on the topic: Discrimination and hate speech based on sexual orientation and gender identity

June 25^th Tuesday

18:00 h. club GEM

Screening of the film How to survive a plague

June 26^th, Wednesday

18:00 h, Club GEM

Lesbian family night

June 27^th, Thursday

Closing party

The program is not in its final form. The organizer holds the right to change the program. You will be informed in time about the eventual program changes.

Russia has just passed a new anti-gay law makes it illegal even to say the word “gay”.  People in Russia standing up against the crackdown are urging All Out members to keep growing the petition to help draw the attention of world leaders and the media. 

Crisis in Russia: two brutal murders for being gay within weeks as the Russian government bans Pride marches and pushes a new anti-gay law.

Russian people struggling against the crackdown are calling for help. They need international pressure and media attention. Can you help by signing the petition?

“TO PRESIDENT PUTIN, RUSSIAN POLITICIANS AND ALL WORLD LEADERS:

We stand with citizens across Russia who are calling on their government to stop the crackdown against lesbian, gay, bi and trans people that is fuelling anti-gay violence. 

We urge leaders around the world and within Russia to work to eliminate all anti-gay laws and protect all citizens from violence and discrimination in Russia.”

You can sign the petition here.

There were no incidents as the crowds carrying flags and banners and guarded by police gathered and then marched through the centre of Croatia’s capital, Zagreb.

“This pride parade is not directed against others, not even against those who hate us and view us as second-rate citizens,” an organizer Marko Jurcic said.

Croatia’s foreign minister and prime minister’s wife joined the march in a sign of support.

An anti-gay group in Croatia has gathered more than 700,000 signatures in support of a referendum to have the country’s constitution define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Zeljka Markic, a representative of the group, said “the aim is for the citizens to have a say over how to define the question of marriage and family.”

The dispute over gay rights has divided Croatia just weeks before it becomes 28th member of the European Union. The country has taken steps to improve gay rights, but issues such as same-sex marriage remain highly sensitive in the staunchly Catholic nation.

The Catholic Church in Croatia also has clashed with the liberal government over the introduction of sex education in schools, which was suspended months later by the country’s top court.

In neighbouring Slovenia, President Borut Pahor led the gay pride march in the capital of Ljubljana, the first president of this tiny Alpine nation to do so. Hundreds attended the gathering on a bright, sunny day, walking through the city centre. There were no incidents reported.

In Germany, some 1,500 people took part in a “Christopher Street Day” parade in the northern city of Oldenburg. Participants there celebrated a recent verdict by Germany’s top court ruling that gay couples in civil unions should receive the same tax benefits as heterosexual married couples.

Source: CTV News

There’s a bill up for consideration in Scotland to criminalise the purchase of sex. It’s part of an international wave of laws that purport to “help” people in the sex trade by arresting their source of income – their customers. Rhoda Grant MSP has now released the results of her public consultation on the bill, including mentions of a rousing endorsement from Amnesty International. Only: Amnesty International hasn’t taken any position on the bill, and in fact has demanded this endorsement be withdrawn. They don’t want to be associated with a law that stands to do great harm to sex workers

These kinds of laws, variously called the “Nordic model” or “end demand”, claim that by arresting and prosecuting men who hire sex workers, they are taking a more woman-friendly or even feminist approach to sex work. In truth, using the police in this way creates fear and a greater potential for violence for sex workers: customers are reluctant to participate in negotiations around fees and safer sex, for fear of risking arrest, and sex workers find their power on the job even further curtailed. Never mind that the enforcers of “end demand” are the police, who sex workers the world over report present are a far greater threat of violence to them than customers. These laws pass because lawmakers ignore sex workers. Rhoda Grant’s bill is following the same pattern.

This controversy over Amnesty’s supposed endorsement, while upsetting to sex workers and advocates when first discovered, is actually an opportunity to question this entire bill’s premise. The endorsement, which was submitted by a local chapter of Amnesty International called Paisley Branch, is careful to state it “does not reflect the policy of Amnesty UK”, though it is represented numerous times in Grant’s consultation summary as an Amnesty International endorsement. But this Amnesty chapter has in fact defied Amnesty International in supporting Grant’s bill, which senior staff at Amnesty must now publicly resolve or risk being misunderstood as supporting such a criminalisation of sex workers.

First, they’ve had to explain how this chapter has gone rogue. “Every group has to work within Amnesty’s policy,” explains Marianne Mollmann, a senior policy advisor with Amnesty International’s headquarters in London. “I work for the International Secretariat, who has asked Amnesty UK to demand this group withdraw their support.”

In an email written for Amnesty UK, Mollmann went further:

…though we do not take a detailed position or engage in campaigning on this issue, any public stance would, at a minimum, have to be in line with international human rights standards. In this case, this means:

1. No criminalisation of the sex worker herself or himself.

2. No criminalisation of consensual sex between adults.

3. No conflating trafficking and sex work (trafficking has a very specific definition in international law, which does not equal sex work).

Prior to this directive, Amnesty UK contacted the Paisley Branch, asking them to withdraw the submission, or, if they wished, to resubmit it with all reference to Amnesty removed. The Paisley Branch responded that they refused to withdraw support for the sex work criminalisation bill.

Since, Amnesty has also instructed the bill’s originators in the Scottish parliament that the Paisley Branch’s submission is not representative, eroding any appearance of a respected human rights organisation signing on to such a dangerous bill. “To reduce any scope for confusion, our office in Scotland has reiterated to Rhoda Grant’s office and the Scottish Parliament Bill’s Office that the submission does not reflect the views of Amnesty International and should in no way be interpreted as representative of the position of the organisation,” says Amnesty UK’s head of nations and regions Patrick Corrigan.

Author: Wendy Lyon

Source:New Statesman

Преку дваесет актвисти за геј права беа приведени за време на протестите против законот за криминализација на ширењето на хомосексулана „пропаганда“ во Русија.

Учесниците на протестот против законот се судрија со христијанските активисти пред руската Дума во Москва по спроведувањето на „протестот со бакнување“.

Со законот се предвидуваат парични или построги казни при учеството во „пропагирање на нетрадиционалите сексуални ориентации“ помеѓу малолетници.

„Ширењето на информации помеѓу деца со цел на формирање на нетрадиционално сексуално однесување, сугерирањето дека таквото однесување е привлечно и давањето погрешни изјави за општествено еднаквата природа на традиционалните и нетрадиционалните интимни врски“ може да биде санкционирано со затворска казна.

Со законот, кој е поддржан од Кремлин, исто така ќе се забранат геј протестите и ќе стане прекшок да се тврди дека интимните истополни врски се еднакви со „традиционалните“, односно хетеросексуалните.

Геј активситите на протестот беа во значително помал број од подржувачите на законот кои во група од двеста до триста луѓе пееја православни молитви и скандира „Русија не е Содома“.

Сергеј Железњак, законодавец од вледачката партија „Обединета Русија“, изјави: „Русија е земја со традиционални вредности во која деведесет проценти од населението ја подджуваат забраната на хомосексуланата пропаганда дисеминирана помеѓу малолетници“.

Парламентарката Велена Мизулина додаде: „Традиционалните сексуални врски се врските помеѓу маж и жена и претставуваат услов за оддржувањето и развојот на мултиетничкиот руски народ. Токму овие врски треба да бидат заштитени од страна на државата“.

Законот се очекува да биде усвоен од страна на долниот дом на парламентот и покрај критиките дека ќе предизвика хомофобични насилство и дека ги занемарува основите слободи на граѓаните.

„И онака постои голем притисок и насислтво врз геј луѓето и со овој закон тоа едноставно ќе продолжи, а веројатно ситуацијата ќе стане и потешка. Јас можеби не сум геј, но дојдов за да се борам за моето право и правото на другите луѓе да ја љубат личноста кои самите ја одбрале“ – за Ројтерс изјави осумнаесет годишната Викторија Алјасова.

Активистите велат дека насилството врз хомосексуалците е зачесетено откако претседателот Владимир Путин се врати на власт.

Руските власти соопштија дека убиствата на две лица кои се случија пред неколку недели биле со хомофобични мотиви.

Новиот закон се толкува како дел од напорите да се промовираат руски традиционални вредности наспроти западниот либерализам кој Кремлин и Руската Православна Црква го сметаат за корпумпирачки за руската младина и како допринос за протестите против режимот на Путин.

Доколку како што се очекува Думата го усвои законот по неговото трето читање, тој ќе биде пратен во сенатот пред да биде потпишан од страна на Путин. Првото читање беше усвоено минатиот јануари со триста и деведсет гласови „за“ наспроти еден „против“.

Извор: ИБТ Тајмс 

The rally was one of several across Canada and comes days before a June 13 Supreme Court hearing on the federal government’s appeal of an Ontario Superior Court ruling that would make brothels legal.

The battle to reform prostitution laws began four years ago as a constitutional challenge brought by three women.

One of them, Terri-Jean Bedford, argues sex workers should be allowed to protect themselves legally.

“In all other professions in Canada there are health and safety laws in place,” Bedford said. “Why not here?”

The Supreme Court of Canada is also scheduled to hear from sex-trade workers on a current ban on soliciting.

Chanelle Gallant works with Maggie’s: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project. She said they were surprised that of the 21 intervenors granted status to speak at the hearing, not many represented the sex trade.

“So we see organizations that have sort of a moral stake in sex work, but what we don’t see are a lot of people who are directly impacted by the legislation,” Gallant said.

While there is no solid figure for the number of people working in Toronto’s sex industry — spanning from exotic dancers to Web-cammers — she said there were likely thousands.

It’s not just about sex workers, according to Bedford. It’s about freedom.

“We have every right to protect ourselves, we have every right to have sex with who we want, when we want, wherever we want,” she said. “And what’s the government going to do, hire bedroom police and start spying on each other now? Make a report that if Mrs. Jones has more than one visitor a week, we want to know?”

Current laws don’t allow sex workers to communicate, but screening clients is important to their safety, Bedford said.

“They need to know that they don’t have a serial killer, they need to ask pertinent questions,” she said.

Source: Sun News