Petras Grazulis, who proposed a 2010 law fining the promotion of homosexuality among minors in Lithuania, interrupted a press conference for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia tomorrow,15min.lt said.

Mr Grazulis disrupted the event, attended by LGBT rights advocates and ambassadors, asking: “How are homosexuals better than necrophiliacs or paedophiles?”

“I’m ashamed that the rotten West, coming from the European Union that is morally corrupted, propagates this to Lithuania and tells us how we should treat homosexuals. Gays should leave Lithuania, not dictate their terms to us.”

Vladimiras Simonko, of the Lithuanian Gay League, said Mr Grazulis had interrupted the press conference before.

He told 15min.lt: “The same thing happened in 2010, it happens in 2012, except that this time he does it among honourable guests, 11 ambassadors. I have no doubts that the circus will be repeated in 2013. This adds no credit to the Parliament. I’m ashamed to have such bigoted MPs.”

Complaining of “moral rottenness” being promoted in the Parliament, Mr Grazulis, an Order and Justice Party MP, continued: “It won’t be long before kleptomaniacs, drug addicts, necrophiliacs, or zoophiles start organizing their press conferences in the Parliament. There are many kinds of devildom – shall we give rights to them all? Could we have thought 10 years ago that things like that would be happening? In 10 years, they’ll be bringing goats to the Parliament.”

In 2007, Mr Grazulis was among the fifty percent of Lithuanian MPs polled who thought homosexuality was a perversion.

He said: “I support the position of the Church, there is no doubt about it. These people are indeed sick and perverted. They pose a threat to society because they molest children.”

The event in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius was organised by the Lithuania Gay League and social democratic MP Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė. Representatives from the Dutch and American embassies and Amnesty International attended to hear about human rights issues affecting the country’s LGBT community.

Source: Pink News

Religious activists disrupted what was dubbed the country’s first-ever march to mark the International Day Against Homophobia.

A fist fight broke out as radical Orthodox believers in central Tbilisi tried to block the progress of those taking part, demanding the event be stopped. Police intervened and people from both sides were detained.

Gay campaigners claim that hate speech against their community has been unleashed by radical nationalist and religious groups in Georgia.

Source: Euronews

Homophobia and transphobia are social disorders that cause people to act out against homosexuals and transsexuals. 

LGBT rights activists have done a variety of things to memorialize this day against this disease everywhere around the world.

In Iran, because of anti-homosexuality laws and oppressive conditions, there aren't many observable activities; however, LGBT activists have many actions for this day every year.

Last year, many of the LGBT rights activists distributed brochures and ads about this day in Tehran. The great We Are Everywhere campaignon Facebook was one of the human rights activist initiatives from the US, which received widespread support and involvement from many people.

This year, LGBT rights activists have launched the “Homophilia” campaign on Facebook.

Some homosexuals and transsexuals distributed educational brochures in Tehran, carried rainbow flags and banners, and flew colored balloons in order to create new social movements.
The pictures below were received from LGBT activists in Iran.

Download full album in a zip file here.

Persian Signs: No to Homophobia and Transphobia

Homophilia campaign gets the attention of many members of this social network just a few hours from its opening. The goal of this campaign that has been put on Facebook because of homophobia day is that, to join the LGBT to the society against all the struggling ways and do it in a peaceful way.

According to the information that has been said on the page of this campaign, it is supposed that people put pictures, voices and videos which contains peaceful messages and thanks to friends and companions and share their personal experiences about different kinds of sexual orientation. So we set an interview with the innovator of this campaign that you can read the elaborate information underneath.

Hello, please introduce yourself

Hello

I am one of the homosexuals who introduce and perform the idea of this campaign. I am a lesbian who is at the beginning of thirty and live in Iran. My friends and I have already tried to inform others in different circumstances that related to the LGBT previous years. Base on this idea we have done some works recently. But indeed when this idea came to my mind and so when I shared it with my friends, in my heart there was such an enthusiasm that I couldn’t doubt about it because this is a positive act that cause people have a closer relationship.

What’s your main goal and intention of making such a campaign?

We are at the threshold of anti-homophobia day that generally it is the day of fighting against any fears and act against LGBT community. In fact fighting against homophobia it is not the same as homophilia because when you open your heart for understanding and accepting others, in this case you will receive more than you expect. As a matter of fact our goal is that to share our personal experiences with others about those who don’t have the same sexual orientation.

So we invite all the people to say about their good experiences with others, with their written, voice, and video and anything that they are able to do. Indeed it is not just for LGBT people. We have lots of friends like heterosexual that if they  like to be present in this campaign they can say their experiences about the LGBT.in fact the people from different sexual orientation in LGBT community can talk about their first meeting and acquaintance. Indeed there is no limit. Actually our goal is to improve friendship according to differences.

We know that there were some who in our close society did this and could go beyond the differences and limitations and also be good friends for their LGBT friends.

As all of us know the international day against homophobia is a day of fighting against a social disease. So how did you reach to this positive idea instead of that negative one?

My reason for this idea is that to find people not also they weren’t sick but also their right behaviors could impress anyone, people who, however it is difficult for them that their loved one, friends and member of their families are different from others and they are more worried about that person rather than themselves, but with all these difficulties and cultural pressure and religion and different taboos, again they did their best to know them better and accept him/her with all these differences. Further, some of these homophiles have such an impressive social and personal role in others life that without them the way would be in danger, we can’t ignore this issue. Also there is ugliness all over but it is worthy to find the beauties.

As one of the custodians of this movement, what’s your evaluation of the future of the campaign?

It is less than one day that we put this page on Facebook. According to the time, it was a good welcome. I think this idea has the capacity to introduce in a broader way then Iran and finds its fans. Here the human talk about their loves and favors with all weak, fears and feelings that they have and this is the advantage of this campaign. Although, the facilities are not proper but, our intention is that not to limit ourselves to the Facebook and make a wider activities.

Thanks for your time that you shared with us. Further if you want to add more, you are welcome.

Thanks for your attention and kindness. I am hopeful for days which the human dignity become worthy of anything else and all of us live in a better world. 

Belgian news sources are reporting that the body of Ihsane Jarfi was discovered by two hikers after his disappearance on 22 April.

Ihsane Jarfi, 32, had been at a gay bar in Liège on the night he disappeared. Reports say he left the club and entered a Volkswagen Polo with other men. On Tuesday, his body was found in a field away from a road leading out of the city.

Tetu.com reports that one of the man who was present in the car subsequently used the victim’s phone to send a text message. When he was arrested, he gave the identities of the three other men who had left the bar with them. One is still being sought.

Nieuwsblad.be reports that Edouard Delruelle, adjunct-director of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism said the organisation would step forward as a civil party if the prosecutor recognises it as a homophobic hate crime.

Vincent Bonhomme, project coordinator at Arc-en-Ciel Wallonie said it would be the first death to be a result of homophobic violence under the 2003 Belgian law which made sexuality an aggravating factor for such offences.

He said: “We suspect the general population and the government underestimate homophobia and we demand the government provide us with a anti-discrimination plan. This probably isn’t the first homophobic murder, but it will be the first one to be officially labeled as such. Since 2006 public prosecutors and police are obliged to mention such motives.”

Two suspects said the deceased man was still alive when they left him in the field, having physically beaten him. RTL reported that they claimed the victim had made a sexual advance. The third suspect denies everything.

Tetu.com reported that the men had been charged with robbery, forcible confinement and assault causing death without intention, with homophobic intent possibly forming an aggravating factor.

Source: Pink News

The GMC has reminded doctors of their duty to avoid discrimination, after a survey of gay and bisexual men showed that their health needs are often neglected. Respondents reported higher than average levels of domestic abuse, mental ill health and use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, but said that services tended to focus purely on sexual health.

Stonewall had responses from 6861 gay and bisexual men from across Britain to its health survey, the largest ever conducted. This showed that a third of gay and bisexual men who have accessed healthcare services in the past year have had a negative experience related to their sexual orientation; and a third of gay and bisexual men are not out to their GP or healthcare professionals – they are more likely to be out to their manager, colleagues, family and friends than their GP.

Unmet health needs are common among gay and bisexual men. In the past year, 3% of gay men and 5% of bisexual men had attempted suicide, compared with 0.4% of men generally. One in six gay and bisexual men aged 16-24 have harmed themselves in the past year.

The survey also showed that:

• Only one in ten gay and bisexual men have ever discussed prostate or bowel cancer with a healthcare professional and only 3% have ever discussed lung cancer
• Only one in ten have ever discussed heart disease with a healthcare professional, and only one in five have ever discussed high blood pressure or high cholesterol
• Two-thirds of gay and bisexual men have smoked at some time in their life compared with half of men in general
• 42% of gay and bisexual men drink alcohol on three or more days a week compared with 35% of men in general
• Half of gay and bisexual men have taken drugs in the past year, compared with one in eight men in general
• One in four gay and bisexual men have never been tested for any sexually transmitted infection, and three in ten have never had an HIV test
• Only a quarter said that healthcare workers had given them information relevant to their sexual orientation
• Half of the men surveyed had experienced domestic abuse from a family member or partner, compared with 17% of men in general.

Stonewall’s chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “Britain’s 1.8 million gay and bisexual men are being let down by health services which often see homosexuality and bisexuality purely as sexual health issues. As a result hundreds of thousands of gay and bisexual men are in dire need of better support from health professionals.”

The GMC’s chief executive Niall Dickson (pictured) said: “This survey highlights examples of poor treatment and care experienced by gay and bisexual men from doctors and other health professionals. Instances such as these are completely unacceptable.

Our core guidance, Good Medical Practice makes it absolutely clear that doctors must never discriminate unfairly against patients.”

The GMC has produced with Stonewall an information leaflet that explains to lesbian, gay and bisexual patients what they should expect from their doctor.

Source: On Medica

Ivan Kharchenko spent 12 days in the Marshak rehab facility before he was broken out by his supporters who staged an improvised siege of the facility, activist Dmitry Aleshkovsky Tweeted on early Wednesday.

Kharchenko publicly admitted his homosexuality at his 16th birthday earlier this year, Novaya Gazeta reported.

The news did not shock his classmates, but devastated some of his relatives, the report said. His grandmother tricked Kharchenko into going to a “witch” who unsuccessfully attempted to exorcize the “spirit of homosexuality” from him.

Failing magic, his father ordered the teenager to go to the drug clinic and left him there, allegedly against his will, Novaya Gazeta said.

“I’d rather have you disabled or a vegetable than gay,” the boy’s father was cited as saying by Ekho Moskvy radio.

The formal reason for hospitalization was Kharchenko’s alleged drug abuse and alcoholism, but medics failed to confirm the allegations about his bad habits, lawyer Violetta Volkova said, Ekho Moskvy reported.

Kharchenko was so drugged he was forgetting his friends’ names, Novaya Gazeta said.

However, he managed to put up an “I love you” banner, apparently addressed to his boyfriend, on his window in the rehab, though it was promptly taken down by staff, BBC Russian Service said.

Activists, spearheaded by Aleshkovsky and opposition leader Ilya Ponomaryov, a State Duma deputy with A Just Russia, staged a campaign in Kharchenko’s defense outside the clinic, insisting his placement in the rehab without his consent amounted to kidnapping.

Kharchenko was released on late Tuesday and spent the night at his mother’s, who mounted no strong objections to him being gay, Novaya Gazeta said. His grandmother refused to take him in.

Law enforcements will hold a check into Kharchenko’s hospitalization, the report said.

Open LGBT lifestyle became a hot topic in Russia after St. Petersburg legislators banned in March propaganda of such lifestyle to minors.

The vaguely-worded piece of legislation was denounced as homophobic propaganda by LGBT activists in Russia and beyond, but a bill proposing to spread the ban nationwide was later introduced into the State Duma and is pending review.

Ninety-four percent of Russians said they have never encountered gay propaganda, but 86 percent still support a ban on it, according to a poll by state-run VTsIOM earlier this month.

About 60 percent of some 750 callers at Ekho Moskvy said their offspring being gay would be a “tragedy” for them, the liberal radio reported.

Source: RIA

Asked by Guardian reporter Tamasin Ford if she’d sign a bill decriminalizing homosexual acts, Sirleaf replies, “No, we like ourselves just the way we are.

“We have certain traditional values in our society that we’d like to preserve,” she continues.

Until this interview Sirleaf’s views on gay rights were not widely known. Considered a progressive by the international community, she had largely been silent on gay issues.

The video came as a shock to Stephanie Horton. A Liberian living in the United States, Horton, the founder of Seabreeze, a journal of Liberian writing, didn’t really consider herself an activist until recently.

But this year, as the anti-gay rhetoric in Liberia became more heated, Horton decided to take a stand. Using the international attention generated by Liberia’s 2011 Nobel Peace Prize win, Horton decided to write an open letter to Leymah Gbowee, the Liberian woman who shared the prize with Sirleaf and Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman.

Before winning the Nobel and becoming a YouTube sensation for the lively wit she displayed during a taping of The Daily Show, Gbowee was best known in the West as the star of Abigail Disney’s harrowing documentary about the Liberian women’s movement’s attempts to stop the civil war there.

In her letter, Horton challenges Gbowee, who has taken no public stance on gay issues, to use her celebrity as a leader on human rights to stand up for the gay community in Liberia. The most passed-around portion of Horton’s letter, posted on dozens of blogs about Africa and gay rights, cites this passage:

“LGBT Liberians live in fear, disempowered and daily imperiled. The war for them has not ended. Their lives are defined by danger and violence, persecution, hate speech and threats, discrimination and harassment. They are stigmatized, publicly rejected and almost completely abandoned by government. Their vulnerability affects all areas of their lives from every quarter — church, school, employers, landlords, media, street mobs, rapists, predators, political actors, opinion leaders, family.”

In Horton’s memory, pre-war Monrovia was not a dangerous place to be gay. As long as you were “private” about your sexuality it was largely tolerated. Among the capital city’s Christian elite, gays “were known for throwing the best parties.” In the hinterland, depending on one’s traditional practices, there was a level of acceptance for both homosexuality and gender switching. Zoes, the traditional priests who led secret societies, according to Horton, were not homophobic. Even the iconic images of the Liberian war, rebel soldiers fighting in wigs and women’s dresses, was “all part of the culture.”

“But going through war,” says Horton, “things happen in the mind.”

Being gay in Liberia is illegal: “voluntary sodomy” is punishable by up to a year in jail. However, the US State Department’s annual Human Rights Report found no instances of the law being used in recent years and no reported instances of violence against gays.

But in recent months the issue is everywhere: in newspapers, on campuses and debated on many of Liberia’s raucous call-in radio talk shows. In early April, the anti-gay group Movement Against Gays in Liberia (MOGAL) distributed leaflets with a “hit list” of supporters of gay rights in the West African country.

Meanwhile, legislators have introduced two new bills that would make homosexual acts punishable by jail time or worse. One bill, known as the “Kill the Gays Bill,” was drafted by Senator Jewel Taylor, wife of former dictator Charles Taylor, and calls for a minimum of 10 years in jail and a maximum of the death sentence for engaging in homosexual acts.

The catalyst for recent events was Hillary Clinton’s now famous speech in Geneva to mark the UN’s Human Rights Day in which she declared gay rights to be human rights and outlined steps she was taking as secretary of state to use US foreign policy to promote the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities.

Horton was so moved by the speech she cried, but at the same time it gave her an uneasy feeling. “America has beautiful rhetoric,” she says, “and I think her commitment is genuine. But I can’t take any Western politician seriously. It’s all political. We know in Africa that they have arbitrary application standards. It’s hard to miss when you’re on the receiving end.”

And indeed, many Liberians took the speech as an admission that the US was meddling in internal politics: pushing a pro-West, pro-homosexual, “colonial” agenda. Last October, British Prime Minister David Cameron provoked a similar backlash when he said he’d cut British aid budgets to countries that persecute homosexuals.

It is commonly argued that homosexuality is at odds with “traditional” African culture. Leaders such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe have called homosexuality a Western invention. There are many country-specific cases that dispel this myth, the least of which is that many countries, more than 30 in sub-Saharan Africa, continue to enforce laws created by colonial regimes outlawing homosexuality and “sodomy” — laws that have since been abandoned in the European countries that created them.

When Sirleaf says, “We like ourselves just the way we are,” it’s a signal to constituents that she will not rock the boat. On the other hand, there’s no indication she will support a law that condemns gays to death.

Liberia is not the first African country to engage in this debate. Horton blames politicized Christianity, which she believes unites recent legal attacks on gays in countries as diverse as Uganda, Malawi,Nigeria and Liberia, countries on opposite sides of the continent but connected, Horton believes, by “a new virulently homophobic religion.” It’s a kind of Christianity pushed by adherents in the West that is finding fertile ground in places with quickly growing church populations and corrupt lawmakers.

Horton is not alone in this belief. In Massachusetts, where non-citizens can sue Americans for violations of international law, the human rights organization Sexual Minorities Uganda is suing American pastor Scott Lively, accusing the evangelist of “helping spread propaganda and violence” against gays in Uganda for his alleged role in helping draft that country’s harsh anti-gay law.

Both the UK and the United States have now said they will consider a country’s treatment of sexual minorities when allocating aid. But what about Canada?

According to a spokesperson in the office of Bev Oda, minister for international cooperation, “Canada takes human rights, including the persecution of LGTBQ individuals, into consideration when determining the most effective distribution of aid.”

When asked what that means in specific cases, the spokesperson says, “I can’t speculate on hypothetical developments, but I assure you, Minister Oda will continue to consider the human rights situation, including the rights of LGBTQ individuals, when distributing Canadian aid.”

Meanwhile, Horton doesn’t know if Gbowee personally read her letter, but her sources in Liberia tell her it was widely read there. Though it has received plenty of attention both internationally and in Liberia, Horton has yet to hear any official response.

Source: Xtra

An Italian politician has launched an unprecedented attack against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens of the Mediterranean country.

Romano La Russa, the secretary of security for the Lombardy region, said: ‘Gays are ill. If everyone becomes gay, our society will disappear. We need couples made of men and women: only straight couples can procreate.’

La Russa is also the brother of the former national defense secretary Ignazio La Russa. Both are in the PDL party, the movement founded by the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The Lombard regional assembly refused to censor him and his speech. La Russa firstly spoke in a radio programme, then repeated his speech in the assembly.

He added: ‘Sometimes gays are arrogant and they flaunt their sexual behaviour. Gay prides are offensive to straight citizens. We have to listen to those psychologists who try to cure homosexuality.’

La Russa’s words are exceptional even for Italian politics which is often homophobic.

Ivan Scalfarotto, deputy leader of the left-wing party PD, replied: ‘Italian right-wing politicians have lost their morality. PDL has got to hide its national problems and that is why the attack against LGBT citizens has consolidated their support.’

The Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, has recently spoken against homophobia.

Stefano Zamponi, a Lombard politician of the Italia dei Valori Party (Italy of Values) said: ‘What La Russa expressed is against the European laws and is against Napolitano’s speech.’

Source: Gay Star News