Friday, February 22, 2013

Ecuador: Rafael Correa apologizes to the LGBT community in nationally televised reelection victory speech


Rafael Correa's landslide victory on Sunday for his third and final term as president of Ecuador did not come as much of a surprise to observers of the region nor the president himself. Correa took to the airwaves less than an hour after the polls closed to declare victory, thank voters, commit himself to strengthening the populist economic policies that have defined his presidency and dedicate his win to ailing Venezuelan president and ally Hugo Chávez.

What few international observers have noted is that Correa also used a few moments during the 40 minute televised speech to apologize to the Ecuadorean lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (Tip: Turn volume level down before watching this clip and turn YouTube annotations on for an onscreen translation).


My translation:
A few months ago I used a number of inappropriate words that were offensive to LGBT groups and for which I apologized in writing - and I stated I would apologize again after winning [the election] to make sure they knew I wasn't doing it simply for political gain.
Once again I'd like to express my apologies to those LGBT groups for some words that might have escaped me. Each one of us was born and grew up with stereotypes and stigmas and we have to fight against this type of - let's call it deformed - social upbringing, etcetera. But our commitment is to defend everyone's dignity and equality. We are diverse but never unequal.
And I was reminded of this by the leader of a GLBT group who I greatly admire a couple of days ago. You need a lot of courage to lead these type of movements. Let's offer them all our support and - on a personal basis - I offer my full respect and the effort and commitment to eliminate all types of discrimination in this country.
The incident in question occurred on July 28th of last year during one of the public semi-weekly marathon presentations Correa uses to "report back" to the Ecuadorean community - much like Fidel Castro and Chávez used to stage at the top of their game (Turn YouTube annotations on for an onscreen translation).


International human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch have long criticized Correa for using his presidential powers to browbeat antagonist media outlets and curtail the right to freedom of speech and in this particular excerpt from the latter part of a four hour presentation Correa goes against one of his favorite targets: El Comercio.

That Friday, the paper had published an article claiming the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee had turned down a request from the president to accompany the Ecuadorean Olympic team to London and be part of their contingent during the opening ceremonies.

In the clip Correa calls the report "slanderous" and a "barbarity" and denies ever considering attending the games. But what truly draws his ire is an online comment made by a reader on El Commercio's Facebook page calling the president a fag: "The fag thought that faggotry was part of the Olympic games and thought he could bring a gold medal in homosexuality - which is his strength... Degenerate fag."

Never mind Correa is holding El Comercio for comments made from a Facebook reader based in Spain. What outraged members of the LGBT community in Ecuador was the president's response: "If anyone knows this gentleman let me know. And I'll invite him and only him to tell me these vicious things face to face. To see who's the real fag."

On August 2nd, El Comercio shot back by publishing an open letter signed by a number of LGBT-rights leaders under the name of the GLBT Alliance.  The group said they were disgusted by the comments made by the Facebook member but even more disappointed that someone they had supported and considered a friend of the community had responded to homophobic insults with just as homophobic a response. A translated excerpt:
We regret that a "revolutionary" president and those who are close to the government are still bound backward notions which keep them from reaching the heights of statesmanship of the caliber of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Barack Obama, Jose Luis Zapatero or Francois Hollande who have chosen jump on the train of history and time to bet on behalf of the rights of citizens regardless of their sexuality. Respectfully, Mr. President, we believe the GLBT community of this country and particularly those who voted for you are waiting for you to acknowledge our existence and are deserving of an apology.
That led to Correa's first apology on his next marathon "report back" session on August 4th, a week after his homophobic rant.


A translated excerpt:
I trust you know that there has been no other [Ecuadorean] government that has fought to guarantee GLBT rights as this one has done. That's why we've had to confront fundamentalist and ultra-conservative groups and will continue to do so. But if the president committed a mistake and you consider it as such I have no problem in saying I am sorry. These apologies will also be expressed in writing to the four organizations that signed this statement posted in the social networks.
And because you know there will be bad faith journalists who'll argue I am doing this because the election season is near, ladies and gentlemen, if I decide to run and the Ecuadorean people give me the privilege of winning the election with their vote, the next day after winning the election I will reaffirm this apology. I am extremely sorry if I overreached, I sincerely am sorry if I offended you. I do not deny that I harbor prejudice and stigma inside of me because we have all grown up in this society.
I remember the apology when it was reported last summer and how it struck me as sincere and groundbreaking for a Latin American head of state.

To his credit, Correa has appointed an openly lesbian woman to his presidential cabinet who has made it a point to combat homophobic so called "ex-gay" religious-based clinics.  Correa also vowed to combat Ecuadorean homophobia in reaction to the brutal murder of Ecuadorean immigrant José Osvaldo Sucuzhañay in the United States. He backed a new Ecuadorean constitution adopted in 2008 which banned adoption rights for gays and lesbians but granted them civil union rights.

Critics say he continues to oppose marriage equality legislation based on religious beliefs and has not worked hard enough to enforce existing gender identity laws that protect transgender individuals from discrimination. In July a number of LGBT-rights activists who organized an anti-homophobia rally in Guayaquil criticized the way government forces shut them down.

I hope Correa's seemingly sincere efforts mean there is an openness to address these and other issues in his last term in office. If so, we more than welcome his reiterated apologies to the LGBT community.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Report: Puerto Rican Supreme Court reaffirms same-sex adoption ban


Puerto Rico's El Vocero is reporting that the island's Supreme Tribunal will be backing an adoption ban for same-sex couples in a 5-4 decision to be announced later today.

El Vocero says that the ruling comes after a Puerto Rican woman sought to adopt her lesbian partner's daughter.  A current law "bans the adoption of a minor if the biological mother doesn't give up her rights unless the couple consists of a man and a woman", according to the paper.

The women had argued that Article 138 of the Civil Code was unconstitutional because it banned adoptions by same-sex couples.

Puerto Rico's best known openly gay man has responded on Twitter.

"So sad," writes Ricky Martin, "I see this as turning our backs on childhood. So many orphans who want the warmth of 1 home."
Puerto Rican activist Pedro Julio Serrano also released a statement:
With this nefarious decision the Supreme Tribunal of Puerto Rico fails once again to live up to it's constitutional obligation to grant justice to those who go to the courts as a last recourse in search of equality.  This decision goes against the constitution. The Constitution is clear: All citizens should be protected equally and their dignity should not be violated.  This decision violates, threatens and challenges two of the highest protections in our Carta Magna. Once again the Supreme Tribunal has failed the people of Puerto Rico.
Serrano calls on the Puerto Rican legislature to right the wrong that the Court has committed.

UPDATE #1: El Nuevo Dia is reporting that they also got advance notice of the ruling. They say that the court determined that such a ban was valid because the island's constitution "does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation" and accepted arguments presented by the legislature that the "traditional family" composed of a father, a mother and their children "best protected the well-being of minors."

The paper says that the Court's president Federico Hernández Denton disagreed with the majority ruling and in a minority opinion said that the decision was unconstitutional.

Three other dissenting judges said that they did not believe the Civil Code prohibited these type of adoptions and that they would have preferred if the state recognized "second parent adoptions".

UPDATE #2: You can download a copy of the ruling here (Spanish-only)

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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Puerto Rican men give up Eagle Scout badges over Boy Scouts' discriminatory policies


Joining thousands of Boy Scouts in the United States who have turned in their merit badges and renounced their affiliation with the agency in protest of their discriminatory policies, three Puerto Rican men have followed suit and publicly renounced their Eagle Scout honors and badges.

In a statement addressed to the Puerto Rican chapter of the Boy Scouts of America and published today in El Vocero, the three former Boy Scouts - José Aníbal Herrero Acevedo, Juan Gabriel Marrero Delgado and Luis Salvador Herrero - urged the agency to change their ban on LGBT members.

My translation of their statement:
We have made the decision to renounce the Boy Scouts' highest honor to raise the alarm against an organization that refuses to accept members of the LGBT community as part of their membership. In Puerto Rico of the 21st century there is no room for intolerance, discrimination or homophobia and, as a result, we can no longer be part of an organization that promotes any of it.
Being a part of the Boy Scouts of America was a unique part of our lives and that's the reason we cannot simply stand with our arms crossed before an organization that has shut its doors to a significant part of the community.  We cannot continue wearing our Eagle Scout badges with pride unless the Boy Scouts eliminate their unjust policies and allow gays to openly participate in the organization.
The great experiences and memories of the time we spent in the troop last a lifetime and they must be available to everyone and not just a few. We call on other young Eagle Scouts from our troop and throughout Puerto Rico to join our efforts and to renounce their Eagle Scout rank until the Puerto Rican chapter of the Boy Scouts changes its discriminatory policy against the gay community.
The three men, currently in their 20's, were members of the same Guaynabo-based troop more than twenty years ago and have remained friends since then. Earlier today, Herrero took to Twitter to publicly announce their stand (in Spanish)...
Herrero also announced the launch of a Facebook page titled "No Discrimination in the Boy Scouts of Puerto Rico".

A certain someone preparing to fill a judge's seat in the Australian version of "The Voice" took notice. Ricky Martin thanked the three men in a tweet sent to his 8,000,000+ followers.
In October of 2012, the Georgia-based office of the national Boy Scouts of America released a public statement apologizing for 5,000 instances of sexual abuse committed against members of the Boy Scouts in Puerto Rico between the years of 1959 and 1988. The apology followed an Oregon court ruling that made the records public.

In July we took a look at the Boy Scouts in Latin America and their policy on LGBT members.  Surprisingly we only found out one Latin American country that banned gays from the Boy Scouts - Panama - and even they seemed to backtrack once the policy became public.

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Monday, February 04, 2013

Latin American online LGBT media pioneer Gabriel Oviedo has died


SentidoG: Gabriel Oviedo, the founder and chief editor of the online LGBT news site SentidoG, has passed away in Buenos Aires at the age of 38.  Oviedo had been hospitalized since December from undisclosed "health complications" and died Thursday night according to a statement posted on the website.

Since its initial launch at the end of 2001, SentidoG became a go to source for Spanish-language international LGBT news and quickly gained a readership well beyond the Argentine borders.

Last year SentidoG was officially designated by the Buenos Aires City Council as a "Social Site of Interest" and Oviedo received honors "for his journalistic work and for his commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans issues; as well as the dissemination of content that promoted rights for all and strengthened the fight against discrimination".

Cesar Cigliutti and other members of the Argentine Homosexual Community (CHA) who worked closely with Oviedo over the years and accompanied him on that special occasion released a brief statement mourning his loss and championing his work on behalf of the LGBT community.

The Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT), who are sometimes at odds with the CHA, also released their own statement.  "Gabriel's passing is an important loss for the movement, particularly for the drive and effort that led to the launch of one of the most important LGBT news portals in the world," said FALGBT president Esteban Paulón.

Controversy: In past years, Oviedo and SentidoG were not immune to controversy. While most of the site's content is original, Oviedo sometimes would post copyrighted content from other sites including material from the The Bilerico Project in the United States.

SentidoG's lax copyright policies led to confrontations with a rival Argentine LGBT news site called AG Magazine which broke out into the open in 2008 when their director Martín Peretti Sciolli accused Oviedo of stealing their material and their design.

The rough patch between both online publications seemed to have disappeared four years later when AG Magazine publicly congratulated Oviedo on SentidoG's and their 10th anniversary.

In his own words: During the decade that Oviedo spent at the helm of SentidoG, Argentina went from approving same-sex civil unions in 2002, to approving marriage equality in 2010 to passing the most progressive gender identity law in the world in 2012.

Last June he sat down with editors of the weekly Página/12 LGBT news supplement "Soy"and spoke of those ten years.

Oviedo said that SentidoG began as an online radio station with the idea of providing support for the civil union bill which was still in its infancy at the time and that it soon grew into something else.

He took the U.S. publication The Advocate as a reference and launched SentidoG. There were other sites such as Gay.com in Spanish and the monthly Argentine publication NX but he felt there was a need for a news site that provided content updated on a daily basis. "Today any jerk can launch a blog and believe it's a news network," he said.

Oviedo said that over the years he'd begun to characterize SentidoG's coverage as being queer rather than LGBT and argued he tried to stay away from the overt consumerist angle of other LGBT publications but admitted that what usually drew the most readers was sex and eroticism which is why they sometimes featured features such as "The Gods of Rugby".

A year earlier Oviedo had also sat down with Verónica Dema of La Nación who interviewed him for a blog she runs on LGBT issues called Boquitas Pintadas.  Dema asked Oviedo to share the high point and low point of his run at SentidoG, and she caught his response on camera:


The high point - Passage of the marriage equality law in 2010:
The story that was the most beautiful to me - because I lived through it while being there - was the passage of the marriage equality law.  I was outside [congress] in one of the tarps at the same instant the vote came in and it was a truly emotional moment. We truly crossed over to being legally recognized and it felt as if we had stepped out of the closet completely.
The low point - Having to report on hate crimes against the LGBT community:
It is always sad and it always saddens me when I have to report a hate crime - directly or indirectly. Directly when a hate crime takes actually place or indirectly when the State has exclusionary policies that lead some to commit suicide; that's a hate crime by omission. And Argentina has experienced tremendous change - particularly since last year. But when one stops to think - and I've discussed this with my friends - that only thirty years have passed since we went through an extremely bloody military coup in which people were taken away for - four hundred people were disappeared simply due to their sexual orientation - to think that twenty years after the coup ended you saw the passage of a marriage equality bill! For those people who survived it was truly an incredible story.
In a few words, that summarizes the improbable and moving path to equality for the Argentine LGBT community: From a repressive and bloody dictatorship to marriage equality and beyond.

When news broke of Oviedo's passing on Twitter last week, the response might have even surprised him.

From Argentina came reactions from SentidoG, CHA, FALGBT, AG Magazine, Peek G and renown journalist Osvaldo Bazan...
From the International LGBTI Association (ILGA) and All Out...
From Spain the online LGBT news site Dos Manzanas, the LGBT Statewide Federation (FALGBT) and FALGBT member Toni Poveda....
From Mexico, condolences from CODICE, Foro No Heterosexual, trans rights activists Patty Betancourt and Código Diverso producer Gabriel Gutierrez Garcia...
From Chile, the online lesbian magazine Rompiendo el Silencio...
From Ecuador, Proyecto Transgénero...
From Paraguay, SomosGay and LGBT rights activist Simón Cazal...
From the United States, trans rights activist Veronica Onassis...
And the reactions continue. A true testament to Gabriel's work and how far it reached.

As for the highlight of his journalist career, here is a video of the reaction outside congress when the marriage equality law passed.


Everyone breaks out into chants of "Equality! Equality! Equality!"
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Friday, January 25, 2013

As Obama salutes Stonewall, a Stonewall vet's life hangs in the balance

Stonewall legends Cristina Hayworth and Sylvia Rivera, circa 1998 (Photo by Luis Carle - Do not reproduce without permission)
We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall, just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone, to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.
- President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013
As in past occasions when president Barack Obama has mentioned or alluded to the gay community in one of his major speeches there has been some vigorous debate in the LGBT community as to its figurative and actual impact with some calling it a historic step and others pressing Obama to do more.

As a blogger, I usually stay away from what usually devolves into "debates" that end up being just as polarized as they began but one Facebook post from a long-time friend caught my eye.
Yes, the POTUS mentioned Stonewall. Yup, that's history-making in its own right & full of contradictions. While some will take this as "gay rights has arrived", I'm wondering what Sylvia, Marsha & Bob would say. I think they'd remind us that Stonewall was a rebellion... in the streets... started by homeless & street youth of different backgrounds, Black & Puerto Rican drag queens, and others whose stories are forgotten in the romanticized symbolism of what Stonewall has too often become. I think Sylvia would be proud that the President mentioned Stonewall, and she'd also tell us to get our a*#*! back on the streets.
The names mentioned here refer to Marsha P. Johnson, Bob Kohler and Sylvia Rivera, all Stonewall veterans and as invoked by Joo-Hyun Kang who had a close friendship with Bob and Sylvia.

I asked Joo-Hyun for permission to reprint her message here not only because she was so close to the three legendary figures but also because I was reminded of her words when I became aware of a terrible situation developing in Puerto Rico involving surviving Stonewall veteran Cristina Hayworth.

I have to say that before writing this post I had been planning to write a different post about Puerto Rico and what the November elections meant for the LGBT community in the island.  The governor's office and the office of the mayor of San Juan changed hands from legislators who kept any LGBT-friendly reforms for years to new legislators who campaigned on improving the life of LGBT people in the island and have started making efforts in that direction since taking office.

As a matter of fact, just after the elections my friend Yoryie Irizarry wrote a post for 80 Grados in which he named the biggest losers of the election other than former governor Luis Fortuño: The Pentecostal Council Fraternity and pastors Anibal Heredia, Wanda Rolón and Jorge Raschke who used their once formidable ties to past administrations to block any attempt to improve the lives of LGBT individuals in the island under the guise that to do so would be to offer "special rights" to gays and lesbians and would be akin to surrendering to the "gay agenda".

Raschke
Reverend Raschke in particular ratcheted up the incendiary homophobic language calling the University of Puerto Rico "The Sodom and Gomorrah University" in 2005 after the institution decided to offer health care coverage to same-sex partners of their employees and he blamed Hurricane Katrina on the moral failings of society.  He has also actively lobbied for a same-sex marriage ban in the island and for the elimination of any measure that would protect the LGBT community from discrimination.

Most recently Raschke riled against transgender individuals. A translated excerpt from a July 7th interview with Puerto Rico's El Vocero:
'Transformism' is a behavior that goes against nature. You can call it art or whatever you want but when it becomes a behavioral pattern it's not simply art.  It's a behavior that goes against what the Bible says: "A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing"...
While we must not think less of anyone, one can disapprove of that which goes against the entire framework of christian ethics. This is something that is spiritually incorrect, that should not exist, but that doesn't mean we have to treat a person badly.
The clearest example, of which all of Puerto Rico is aware, is Cristina Hayworth. She says I am the only minister who has kissed her - to be clear: not on the mouth!  One thing is the sin and the behavior and another is a human being.
Finally, when asked if the Catholic Church had a position on whether a transgender person would go to heaven or hell, Raschke replied that anyone who accepted Christ, confessed their sins and rejected them still had a chance to go to heaven. In other words, unless you stop identifying as transgender and repent for having done so, you are going to hell.

Then THIS happened on a Puerto Rican television show called Dando Candela on Wednesday:


His political influence long-diminished, Raschke still provides great incendiary quotes on anything LGBT-related and the inclusive nature of Obama's inauguration was no exception.  Predictably he said it was part of the gay "agenda" he had warned everyone against and deemed it "nothing more than seeing those warnings become a reality."

He also warned newly elected governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla and newly elected San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín to heed the power of a "militant community" of "thousands of catholic, evangelical and pentecostal citizens who did not vote for this."

In other words, same old, same old. Nobody would have taken notice if it wasn't for what came next.

Invoking Cristina Hayworth's name once again, the reverend made sure to use the opportunity to highlight a recent anti-abortion rally he organized and then expressed shock at the state in which he found Cristina when he bumped into her after the rally. "It broke my soul," he said.

Serrano
Using the pronoun 'he" instead of 'her' Raschke said he had known Cristina long before she entered into the transgender "lifestyle" and blamed the LGBT community in Puerto Rico - and LGBT-rights advocate Pedro Julio Serrano in particular - for abandoning her.

That is no coincidence: Pedro Julio founded the LGBT-rights organization Puerto Rico Para Tod@s on September 24 of 2003 as a direct response to Raschke and his ultra-homophobic "Clamor to God" annual political lobby gatherings in San Juan.

Opportunistically, Raschke then bemoaned not having enough resources to offer Cristina more than a car ride to the abandoned building she called a home and said he was trying to get in touch with the "one or two" surviving Stonewall veterans in New York City to see if they could take care of her.

The news spread like wildfire yesterday and quickly became a referendum against Pedro Julio and the Puerto Rican LGBT community's inability to care for their own. Never mind that Raschke has devoted his entire life to denying the very government services that someone like Cristina is in dire need of having access to in order to survive.

The interview struck a nerve not only among Raschke followers but also among Pedro Julio's critics - including a few members of the Puerto Rican LGBT community who are now standing for Raschke.

Raschke himself took notice and suddenly decided he could do a bit more than drive Cristina to an abandoned building and dropping her off. He called the same Dando Candela reporter to give him an all-access exclusive the next day and made sure he was on camera as he offered Cristina shelter... while making sure he fielded other media calls as you'll see in this video...


I thought twice about including that clip because I find it extremely exploitative and painful but I also think it exposes Raschke's shameful use of Cristina's plight for his own self-serving "agenda".

As for Cristina, Pedro Julio says that LGBT activists in Puerto Rico have been aware of her plight but have chosen to offer assistance without calling television cameras to record her current situation. He also says that newly elected San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín is aware of the situation and has committed herself to helping her out.

He also says that he is aware of the current shelter she has been referred to tonight and is confident that they will treat her with appropriate care.

Cristina Hayworth was one of the founders of the first 2003 LGBT pride parade in Puerto Rico. In 1999 as a member of the Stonewall Veteran's Association she received an honorary distinction by then New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Despite Rashcke's assertions LGBT advocates and organizations in the island have organized a fundraising drive on behalf of Cristina. You can check their Facebook page here and their website here.

Reverend Raschke is also busy preparing himself for his next event. A rally against LGBT families is scheduled for February 28th.
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Thursday, January 24, 2013

The surprising connection between Ricky Martin and Orlando Cruz

Backstage, Evita: Steven A. Toledo, Pedro Julio Serrano, Ricky Martin and and Orlando Cruz (via Twitter)
With less than a week to go until his last performance as Ché in the current Broadway revival of "Evita", Ricky Martin welcomed some very special guests backstage at the Marquis Theater on Friday night.

In a photo tweeted after the performance Ricky has his arms around Steven A. Toledo and Pedro Julio Serrano on his right and boxer Orlando "El Fenómeno" Cruz on his left.

Ricky, of course, remains the top Latino celebrity to ever come out after declaring himself a "proud homosexual man" in 2010 while Orlando recently sent shock-waves through the boxing world after coming out in October of last year.  It made him the first professional boxer to ever come out while still competing in the sport and has deservedly earned him the cover of this month's The Advocate.

The two men also happen to be from Puerto Rico which brings us to long-time Puerto Rican LGBT-rights advocate Pedro Julio Serrano.

Months before Ricky came out, he surprised many when he released a statement in solidarity of a series of demonstrations asking the Puerto Rican government for justice in the brutal killing of a young gay man named Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado. The crime shook the island and I also believe it was also a catalyst for Ricky's decision to come out. And, indeed, one of the first things he did after telling the world he was gay was to reach out to one of the leaders behind the demonstrations: Pedro Julio.

The two have become friends and have met a few times since then. Ricky has also often used his powerful social media presence to support actions begun by Pedro Julio as well as defend him when Pedro Julio has come under attack from homophobic elements in the island.

Similarly, months before he announced he was gay, Orlando reached out to Pedro Julio for guidance on the possible reactions and repercussions of taking such a step.  In interview after interview Orlando has shown himself to be a thoughtful, extraordinary and exemplary gay role model. Just as if he had been out all his life.  And he often takes time to say he owes a great deal to Pedro Julio and the advice he provided.

For those of us who know, love and admire Pedro Julio and his soon-to-be husband Steven, we know that the admiration that Ricky and Orlando have expressed towards him is well-deserved.

It's a testament to Pedro Julio's work and the unexpected hearts he has touched during his lifetime and that's the reason I love this photo so much.
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Thursday, January 17, 2013

We Are Jamaicans: A campaign against homophobia by Jamaicans for Jamaicans


I am probably jumping the gun here but I just stumbled onto this beautiful new campaign against homophobia in Jamaica.  I spotted it through a tweet sent by the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) this morning.  There is no link to a project page, just a description of the project on their YouTube site:
We Are Jamaicans is a campaign for Jamaicans, whether gay or straight, to share their experiences and perspectives about LGBT human rights. This in an effort to promote greater understanding and help change minds and hearts of Jamaicans about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We Are Jamaicans is funded with the kind support of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) through its Global Fund Vulnerablised Project. The videos were recorded and edited by Maya Wilkinson.
There are five videos in the series so far. In the first one J-FLAG's own Director Dane Lewis says "I want to just be free to be me"...


In the second one Alexis Goffe says he was constantly harassed as being gay during high-school even though he wasn't and explains the reasons why now as an adult he has decided to stand up and speak out against LGBT discrimination. "Now, if you call me gay I'll feel honored," he says, "I've come out of the closet as an ally of the LGBTQ community"...


In a third video Susan Goffe speaks of her role as a teacher and a parent. "I want Jamaica to be a safe place for all our children" she says...


In the fourth video Javed Jaghai holds index cards to drive home his message...


The final video is similar from someone who has decided to remain anonymous...


Obviously the campaign has just been launched. I will update this post when there is more information about it. But I am truly moved and hope that this opens up a more welcoming environment for LGBTQ Jamaicans.

An aside: The background music is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Same Love" featuring Mary Lambert.

UPDATE: Here is the official press release from J-FLAG...
J-FLAG Boss Headlines New Human Rights Video Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Dane Lewis, the executive director of J-FLAG, Jamaica’s foremost gay rights advocacy organisation, is headlining a new a human rights video campaign featuring straight, gay and lesbian Jamaicans.
The campaign, which is called We Are Jamaicans was launched today to raise awareness among Jamaicans about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identity and community, human rights, stigma and discrimination. We Are Jamaicans is a participatory video campaign hosted on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/EqualityJA. It features prominent Jamaicans such as Susan and Alexis Goffe and Javed Jaghai.
According to Lewis, “the campaign was developed following recommendations from consultations with LGBT persons, activists and allies to show the experiences of Jamaica’s LGBT community in a more diverse way.”
There is an urgent need to interrupt prevailing discourse on LGBT realities in Jamaica. Opportunities must be created for Jamaicans to see and hear about the experiences of LGBT people so they can understand what it means to be LGBT.
“Regrettably, the diversity and the complexity of Jamaica’s LGBT community is masked by media and advocacy narratives that too often focus on sex, victimhood, crime and HIV. These themes are not identity-affirming and they sometimes further entrench the marginal position of LGBT people in the society,” Lewis said.
Javed Jaghai, an openly gay Jamaican, says that ignorance helps to fuel homophobia and the campaign will be critical for increasing understanding among the Jamaican public about gender and sexuality variance. “By diversifying the stories told about LGBT lives, the complexity of LGBT identities will be made apparent and it will be easier to evoke empathy and secure general support for tolerance,” he highlighted.
The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) through its Global Fund Vulnerablised Project funds the campaign. It is expected to lead to greater understanding and help change minds and hearts about Jamaica’s LGBT community. Gay, lesbian and straight Jamaicans are encouraged to use creative ways of sharing their experiences with LGBT issues and join the campaign whether they wish to show their face or not.
Contact: Dane Lewis | Executive Director
P.O. Box 1152, Kingston 8 T: 978-8988 | M: 875 2328 | F: 946-3244
W: www.jflag.org | E: admin@jflag.org | T: @equalityJA
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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Argentina: New ID's for 1,720 transgender individuals since 2012 law; 5,839 same-sex marriages since 2010 law


In 2010 Argentina became the first Latin American nation to adopt a nation-wide marriage equality law.

This summer, Argentina continued its bid to become the most LGBT-friendly country in the world when it also passed what some call the most progressive gender identity law in the world.

The law requires the public health system to provide adequate health services for transgender individuals and grants them the right to change their name and gender designation on government ID's without having to show proof of gender reassignment surgery or a psychological diagnosis.

[In July I wrote about an extraordinary ceremony in which President Critsina Fernandez de Kirchner publicly and personally handed out the first new ID's processed under the law to a number of transgender leaders].

On Thursday the daily newspaper La Nación took a look at both laws and their impact since their passage and spoke to LGBT-rights advocates about what's next for the movement after these amazing victories.

Marriage equality: According to La Nación the latest government records indicate that 5,839 couples have gotten married in Argentina since the marriage equality law went into effect in July of 2010 with the bulk of them taking place in Buenos Aires and surrounding communities. When ranked per capita, other regions also stand out including Mendoza with 389 weddings (at 22.37 per 100,000 inhabitants), Santa Fé with 664 (20.79/100K) and Córdoba with 632 (19.10/100K).

The national number also includes five foreign couples who traveled to Argentina to get married after a March 2012 ruling by a Santa Fé court allowing foreign nationals to get married under Argentine law. The Argentine LGBT Federation says that they are aware of another 50 foreign couples who have registered to get married in 2013 and say that there is a waiting list for other tourists wishing to do the same.

In an article published earlier this month by UPI they put the numbers of same-sex couples married in Buenos Aires at 1,030 - which is lower than La Nacion's numbers by almost 400 couples - but that might just indicate that they were looking at earlier official estimates. Interestingly they note that of those 1,030 marriages only 191 took place in the first half of 2012 indicating a steep decrease in recent same-sex marriages in the nation's capital.

Gender identity law: As reflected by the graphic above 1,720 Argentine individuals have processed changes to their official identification records to reflect their current name and gender representation (there is an interactive version of the graphic on La Nación's webpage which also includes a separate graphic for same-sex marriages).

Those blue dots represent the per capita ranking of each region and what particularly striking is that there have been transgender individuals who have sought official recognition of their identity even in the most conservative areas of the nation.

La Nación also notes that there are only two hospitals in the entire nation accredited to perform gender reassignment surgeries which has resulted in months-long waiting lines for individuals who want to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Indeed, one of the pending challenges LGBT-rights advocates express in the piece is to expand the number of medical centers and staff accredited to provide health care to transgender individuals.

UPDATE: On December 14, 2012, Argentina's Ministry of Interior and Transportation said that all transgender permanent resident immigrants and refugees would also be covered by the gender identity law.  Additional information on the immigrant-friendly aspect of the policy can be found here.

Pending challenges: Combating bullying in schools & lifting a blood donation ban on gay and bisexual men: As LGBT-rights advocates turn their sights on 2013, they tell La Nación that there are two short-term goals.

First, they would like to work with legislators to develop and present an anti-bullying law that would penalize persecution and harassment of students based on their sexual identity and, second, they would like to put an end to discriminatory policies that bar gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

Second, in November of this year the the lower chamber of congress voted to lift a ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men by an overwhelming vote of 158 in favor, 2 against and 4 abstentions.  A priority for LGBT-rights advocates will be to secure enough votes for a Senate vote expected to take place in March or April of 2013.

If passed and signed into law, Argentina would follow Mexico as the second country in the American continent to lift blood donor restrictions on gay and bisexual men.  The Mexican restrictions were lifted just last week.

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Mexico lifts gay and bisexual blood donor ban

A little noticed Mexican health norm first approved in August and then published in the country's regulatory Official Federation Diary on October 26th has gone into effect today essentially doing away with a two-decade ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, reports Animal Político.

The old norm (NOM 003-SSA2) explicitly banned gay and bisexual men from donating blood based on their "practices" and their "increased probability of acquiring HIV or hepatitis infection".

The new norm (NOM 253) eliminates specific bans on gay and bisexual men and instead bans blood donations from people with HIV or hepatitis and their partners and people who engage in "risky sexual practices" regardless of their sexual identity.

In the new blood donor norms "risky sexual practices" are defined as those that may include "contact or exchange of blood, sexual secretions or other bodily secretions between someone who might have a transmittable disease and areas of another person's body through which an infectious agent might be able to penetrate."

The United States and a number of Latin American countries which include Argentina, Chile and Colombia have been mulling lifting similar longstanding bans that have been in effect since the HIV/AIDS crisis broke through decades ago.

If this report is correct, Mexico might be the first country in the American continent to lift such a ban.

UPDATE 1 (Dec. 26, 2012): The National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) has released a statement confirming these reports and saluting the new regulations as a step forward in eliminating discrimination.

In the statement, the governmental body applauds the move to base blood donor criteria on risk factors rather than on discriminatory perceptions about certain social groups. Here is a translated excerpt from the statement:
The previous NOM contained several explicitly discriminatory requirements that kept people from donating blood based on their sexual preference or orientation; instead, from now on, medical/scientific criteria will be used to identify pathogens in the blood and the focus will be turned to risky behaviors rather than social groups.
In making these discriminatory distinctions, the [previous] norm explicitly violated the prohibition against discrimination present in the Constitution and the Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination, as well as Article 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 26 of the International Civil and Political Rights Treaty, among other international instruments of law, which establish that every person is equal before the law regardless of any condition.
In closing, the agency vows to engage administrative and medical entities to make them aware of the new regulations and train them so that the new policy is promptly adopted in order to eradicate the stigma and discrimination contained in the previous norm.

UPDATE 2 (Dec. 28, 2012): GEN, an online site that focuses on genetic engineering and biotechnology, notes concerns raised by CONAPRED that a separate section of the new norm might still discriminate against a group of people. From GEN's article:
The previous NOM requirements explicitly excluded people who could donate blood based on sexual preferences or orientation or even social status, according to Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), which also points out that despite this progress, there is still a degree of discrimination in the wording in the new NOM ruling. Specifically, subsection 6.10.6.1, Point J, excludes people on a temporary basis from donating blood "[who have] been hospitalized for more than 72 consecutive hours in penal or mental illness. The organization maintains that this subsection stigmatizes prison populations and people with mental disabilities.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Anatomy of a gay nativity scene "controversy"


Photo: A photograph of a nativity scene deemed controversial by some media outlets has actually been online since February 2012 without drawing much reaction in the ten months since it was originally posted by Kien y Ke.

In December of last year Andrés Vásquez and Félipe Cárdenas opened their home to a couple of reporters from the Colombian online magazine Kien y Ke interested in portraying the life of a gay couple in Bogota.  In a profile that could have easily fit within the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times the couple described the joy of celebrating their partnership through a civil union ceremony held last year in Cartagena, they made recommendations about their favorite restaurants in Bogota, they discussed their love for fashion and they confessed having named their pug Louis in honor the luxury brand Louis Vuitton.

That probably would have been as scandalous a revelation if it weren't for the reporters noticing a certain clay figurine missing from the couple's nativity scene as described in the opening paragraph: "The Baby Jesus in the nativity scene that belongs to the Vásquez-Cárdenas family has two fathers, two Saint Joseph figurines. There is no room for the Virgin Mary."

The article presented this as an amusing anecdote and included a photo of the nativity scene within the post. Until a couple of days ago there were only five responses to the article, including one negative response, with no reaction whatsoever to the nativity scene.  This despite the fact that the article and the photo were posted online more than ten months ago with the page's social network buttons only registering 11 re-tweets, 8 Google Plus mentions and 53 Facebook likes.

I had seen the article when it was originally published months ago so imagine my surprise when I saw Colombian news conglomerate Caracol run the same image two weeks ago under the headline "Controversy due to a nativity scene in Colombia". The article briefly rehashed some of the information and said that the nativity scene had caused controversy even though it didn't make clear who - if anyone - had taken offense.

Editors at the Colombian website Sentiido had a similar reaction to the article and dug a bit deeper. In a post titled "How to create a controversy" they actually argue that Caracol picked up the post almost word for word from from a Terra.com piece that also ran earlier this month.  Terra also characterizes it as controversial but also fails to quote anyone who has actually taken offense.

Once Terra and Caracol jumped on the story there was no going back. A day after Caracol published their piece, the British tabloid Daily Mail picked up on the unsubstantiated information and  elevated the "controversy" to full blown "outrage" ("Outrage over gay couple's homosexual nativity scene with two Josephs and no Mary").

Andrés Vásquez and Felipe "Pipe" Cárdenas (courtesy of the couple)
On Friday it made its debut States-side with The Advocate picking up on the Daily Mail story ("Nativity scene with two Josephs enrages conservative Colombians") reaching the New York Daily News print edition yesterday ("Gay couple in Colombia under fire for male-only nativity scene posted on Facebook").

The Daily News story was quickly picked up by several popular gay news sites including Towleroad and Queerty. Univision News tweeted a link to the story this evening to its more than 64,000 followers. Fox News Latino has a post on it today.

Who knows! If I hadn't been aware of some of the background I might have based this post on the Daily News as well.

The point here is that if there has been any controversy related to the nativity scene it has been the result of media reporting it as such and not necessarily because there was any controversy to begin with. Most of these accounts also mention that the Catholic church in Cartagena is up in arms about the nativity scene but there are no on the record comments nor direct statements attributed to anyone.  What is true of Terra.com, Caracol, the Daily Mail and the Daily News is that they never even bothered to contact Vásquez and Cárdenas to confirm the facts or get their side of the story.

It's actually not that hard to get a hold of Andrés Vásquez. If you Google his name plus "Colombia" his Twitter handle appears as the third link.  As a political analyst and entrepreneur he is actually well known in Colombia and never been shy about talking to press.  He used his media savvy to turn his civil union ceremony into a national news story back in October of 2011 (former Senator Piedad Córdoba, a key figure in the country's negotiations with left-wing guerrillas acted as the maid of honor).  It was the same contacts he used to land the Kien y Ke profile.

Yesterday I reached out to Mr. Vásquez for comment and he sent me the following message:
Regarding the recent so-called "controversy" I have made it clear to the general press that there is no nativity scene this year and that there is no such scandal. I have also told them that I have yet to see any of the social media outrage that has been claimed to exist. I haven't even been in the country for more than two months as I have been busy launching a social network I created on an international level.
When it comes to LGBT media such as OrgulloLGBT, The Advocate, Sentiido and others, I have made attempts to go further and explain how I see this as a strategic attempt by certain people in media to paint the community in a bad light.  As I said, we never built a nativity scene this year and, until the recent articles were published, there was no public awareness about it.  And yet even before people became aware of it, someone who wrote the initial piece had already tagged it as a scandal, a controversy and an act of disrespect.  They even claimed that the church had called it sacrilegious but how could that be possible if nobody was aware of it until they read the piece?
The only scandal here  is that someone took an article published a year ago, replaced the date of publication and sold it as something new in order to rile up public sentiment against the community and against a marriage equality bill making its way through the Colombian Congress.  From that point on, it was just a matter of time before international media agencies such as the AFP picked it up and from then on everyone else simply repeated the wrong information as fact.
To this day I have yet to receive an e-mail message, phone call, Facebook message of Twitter message from a single reporter trying to confirm the information or ask for additional details. And I know for a fact that many journalists back home know how to contact me as someone who is moderately well-known in Colombia.  The only ones who have reached out to me are people who work for LGBT media.
I am currently in Florida. I would have probably built a nativity scene this year as well if I had time on my hands but I have been incredibly busy. And if I had, I would probably done the same as years past because for Catholics the nativity scene is a representation of the family.  And just as some families are black and use figurines that represent them, there are also other type of families such as families with same-sex parents or single mother households or grandmothers who raise grandchildren on their own.
Mr. Vásquez is in the United States as part of the launch of GayHills.com. He has not asked me to promote his business but considering all the press he has been receiving for other unrelated reasons I thought I would point out his other endeavors.

You can connect with GayHills.com as follows:
  • GayHills.com on the net here
  • GayHills.com on Twitter here
  • GayHills.com on Facebook here
And here is a promo video:


Post last updated on Monday, December 18th, 2012.
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Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Puerto Rican featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz comes out

From a press release received tonight:

PROFESSIONAL BOXER ORLANDO CRUZ ANNOUNCES HE IS A “PROUD GAY MAN”

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (October 3, 2012)  --  Orlando Cruz, a professional boxer from San Juan Puerto Rico (18-2-1, 9 KOs), former Olympian and currently ranked No. 4 Featherweight by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), is announcing today that he ”Is a proud gay man.”

Cruz is the first openly gay man in boxing history.  “I’ve been fighting for more than 24 years and as I continue my ascendant career, I want to be true to myself,” said Cruz.  “I want to try to be the best role model I can be for kids who might look into boxing as a sport and a professional career.  I have and will always be a proud Puerto Rican.  I have always been and always will be a proud gay man.”

Orlando Cruz began boxing at the age of 7 and posted an amateur career record of 178-11.  He won 7 Puerto Rico National Title's and spent 4 years on The Puerto Rican National Team.  Cruz won 7 Gold Medals, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze in various international tournaments.  His amateur career culminated as a representative of the 2000 Olympic Team in Sydney, Australia.  2000 Olympic teammates included former world champions Miguel Cotto and Ivan Calderon.

Cruz made his professional debut on December 15, 2000 and won his first world title on March 22, 2008 (vacant IBA Featherweight Title) and a regional title on October 14, 2011 (WBO Latino Featherweight title).  His next fight is scheduled for October 19 at the Kissimmee Civic Center in Kissimmee, Florida in which he will defend his WBO NABO title against Jorge Pazos.  A win against Pazos should position Cruz for a world title shot.

Orlando Cruz is sitting down with Telemundo’s Jessi Losada in an exclusive tell-all that will air next week.

You can follow Orlando Cruz on his Twitter account here and his Facebook page here.

UPDATES: Los Angeles Times has reached out to Cruz and spoke to him. An excerpt:
[Cruz] said since his announcement that he’s received “unconditional, 100% support,” including text messages and Twitter and Facebook notes of endorsement from his 2000 Olympic teammate and former multi-division world champion Miguel Cotto and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin.
“I was physically and mentally prepared for whatever the reaction would be before this, and I can tell you from the response, this will never bother me again,” Cruz said. “I feel comfortable with myself.”
He also comes out as an advocate for marriage equaity:
“The gay community should have the same rights as the heterosexual community, and I want to be part of that movement to make that happen here,” Cruz said. 
About those tweets Cruz mentioned to the Times...
  • Orlando Cruz: "I am proud, as a boxer, to tell the world that I am and will always be a proud Puerto Rican man"
  • Ricky Martin: "Congratulations, Boricua, for your valor! I am so happy for you! Much strength!  Peace to you and your loved ones! Hugs"
Openly gay former professional rugby player Gareth Thomas also sent his regards...
So does Andra Fuller, who plays a hot-headed gay gangsta rapper on the CW's "L.A. Complex"...
And the great Wilson Cruz...
And "Noah's Arc" actor Darryl Stephens...
And openly gay former NFL player Wade Davis II...
Hudson Taylor, straight LGBT-rights ally and Columbia University wrestler, shared this...
NOH8 board member and Twitter extraordinaire Ben Patrick Johnson...
The lovely and amazing actress Rosie Perez...
The news also traveled like wildfire throughout Latin America. Alex Freyre, who made history with his hubby José Maria DiBello when they became the first same-sex couple in all of Latin America to be granted a marriage license, also took notice...
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Video: First round knock-out...

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