Students across Northern Ireland and throughout these islands are free to assemble in their student unions without fear of arrest for sedition. Sadly, this is not so in the case of students in Swaziland. Former President of the Swaziland National … Continue reading NUS calls for Maxwell’s release in Swaziland
Last week many of us were reading on friends’ blogs, Facebook pages, walls, letters in the press, and so on about the nearing execution of Troy Davis in the United States of America. This week, we hear practically nothing about the impending execution of Yousef Nadarkhani. I knew nothing of it until a friend The Rev. Marcus Walker posted an article on Facebook… so read on for the horror. Christian Solidarity calls for action on behalf of Yousef Nadarkhani Christian Solidarity Worldwide is urgently calling for action on behalf of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani who faces execution after refusing to renounce … Continue reading Urgent action required: Yousef Nadarkhani: guilty of apostasy because of ancestry, not because of previous belief
So HM’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department has decided to ban all marches in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring London Boroughs for a period of 30 days. Why is this felt necessary? Because the Metropolitan Police applied for this ban as they consider that it would result in serious public disorder and that placing restrictions or conditions on such a march – for example its duration, location and size – would not be enough to prevent the disorder Will this really make a difference? And with it all marches are banned because the … Continue reading Is banning all marches really justified? Why not learn from N.Ireland?
Michael tells of the struggle for freedom in Uganda following a talk by Ugandan LGBT activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera in Belfast last night. (originally posted on Lib Dems in NI) Continue reading blogged elsewhere: an email can keep you going…
Yesterday I was up at Stormont for the Unite against Hate awards ceremony hosted by MLAs Basil McCrea, Conall McDevitt, and Chris Lyttle in the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings. There were many awards to various different organisations who have supported the Unite against Hate campaign in diverse ways, including The Rainbow Project and Outburst. We were treated to some live music by Joe Echo who sang Imagine. This was truly inspirational and was much better than Nuala McKeever‘s jokes that just went on and on, and were somewhat lacking. Tim McGarry would’ve been better – but we’d had him last … Continue reading Hate. We say no. So should you.
Some of us are very lucky, at worst we may get abuse shouted at us in the street. But in Uganda, you can end up dead as a result of fighting for your human rights. David Kato, Uganadan gay activist and ‘grandfather of the kuchus‘ (as gay people in Uganda call themselves) led the campaign for gay rights in Uganda for more than ten years. For his beliefs he was gaoled. Only three weeks ago he won a case against a newspaper that called for him to be hanged. On Wednesday he appears to have been murdered for his beliefs: … Continue reading ‘When you plant a seed, before it dies it won’t produce’ – prophetic words from David Kato
With the decision reached in the European Court of Human Rights in the A, B, and C case of three Irish women who challenged the constitutional protection for children before birth, there is a grave danger that the Houses of the Oireachtas will feel that they must change the law in Éire. John Smeaton of the Society for Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) says that this would be wrong, and he is urging the people of Ireland to resist pressure from the ECHR to change.
The court rejected the legal arguments of the first two women, but said that the third woman’s right to a private life under article 8 of the European Convention had been violated by a failure of the Irish state to make her rights regarding abortion* accessible to her. The court claimed that the Irish Constitution gives women a right to abortion under the Constitution Continue reading “Ireland urged to resist warped court decision on abortion”
Today I want to pay tribute to a friend of mine, without whom, much of the voluntary work that I do within the LGBT sector in Northern Ireland would have been well nigh impossible. In fact, it is possible, unlikely though it may seem nowadays, that all of us who are gay could still be criminalised within the confines of Northern Ireland. Continue reading “Without him, I may be in gaol…”
Readers may be interested in the statement on the Justin Campaign website regarding the FIFA decision on the World Cup in 2018 and 2022.
The Justin Campaign is deeply concerned by FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively. Both of these countries have extremely poor records on the issue of LGBT rights. Continue reading “Remember Justin Fashanu? FIFA should.”
The FIFA World Cup is not coming to England. No, it is going to Russia in 2018, and to Qatar in 2022? Is there much for me to celebrate in this?
ILGA-Europe’s Annual Conference adopted a declaration against homophobic/transphobic attack in Russia
Declaration of the 14th ILGA-Europe conference with regard to attack on LGBT activists in Russia*
On October 30, in Tomsk three activists of the local branch of the Russian LGBT Network were attacked while disctributing leaflets to people in the streets with the call or tolerance toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. They were attacked by a group of nine people in the masks. In the results of harsh beating all three activists were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. We draw a particular attention to the fact that the attack took place very close to the police station, but the police officers did not interfere. Continue reading “updated: FIFA wants LGBT fans to put themselves at risk”
Gyronny Herald 