If I don't get the back of my neck shaved soon I'm going to scream

die kwessie van LGBT+-regte !

Oorweeg byvoorbeeld die kwessie van LGBT+-regte, waar die openheid van die meeste Wes-Europese en Noord-Amerikaanse lande kontrasteer met die situasie in Afrika, waar selfdegeslagverhoudings steeds meestal onwettig is, en dikwels tronkstraf insluit. Veral die geval van ’n wet wat in 2013 in Uganda goedgekeur is, en toe deur die konstitusionele hof van die land nietig verklaar is, wat voorsiening gemaak het vir lewenslange gevangenisstraf – en in ’n vroeë weergawe van die teks die doodstraf – vir homoseksuele, is bekend. Wat ander kwessies betref, kan die Afrika-invloed egter in die teenoorgestelde rigting gaan: dit is die geval van die heerskappy van die selibaat van die geestelikes, wat toenemende teenkanting op die vasteland teëkom, waar tradisionele kulture in die gesin en kinders 'n fundamentele sien. waarde: 'n faktor wat moontlik 'n rol gespeel het in die Vatikaan se onlangse gedeeltelike openheid oor die kwessie. Die feit dat baie van die streek se radikale Kathare woonagtig is in gebiede wat gekenmerk word deur probleme van naasbestaan ​​met Islam – en in sommige gevalle, soos in Nigerië en ander Sentraal-Afrikaanse lande, deur die aktiwiteite van gewelddadige uhaadistiese bewegings soos Boko Haram – kan ook die globale houding van Christelike belydenisskrifte met betrekking tot intergodsdienstige dialoog en in besonder verhoudings met die Moslemwêreld.

Stop lying, i know jeannie made finnpoe drawings and she is supported lgbt rigts i saw your stolen art of reylo white noise

you mean this one?

"India's LGBT community on Thursday won its battle to decriminalize homosexuality. But the victory will gather real meaning only when they secure the right to marriage, inheritance, guardianship and adoption, say lawyers and activists." 

Read the full essay here

For more #LGBTQ family stories and parenting news, check out our monthly news roundup! 

Wrocław, Poland is marching today. Are you with us?

Can you believe Louis Tomlinson played Mr brightside and his concert in Madrid while he had bisexual colors flashing behind him

Have you seen a more bisexual man

y'all are lovely

Just your friendly reminder that just because Kaitlin Bennett and people like her act like everything they say is right, all of them are wrong. Y'all trans, bi, gay, lesbian, and pansexual folks are wonderful, and valid. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. (there is much more i'd like to say but lets just stick to this for now.)

Hey tumblr i gotta question

Of course no one has to answer, and any other question posts i post ar often left unanswered anyways, but like, infanfics i see a lot of fan fics where say we gotta pair of brothers/siblings in genral (ive mostly seen it with brothers) and they both are in love with the reader, but instead of having that clishe rivalry, they make into a polly relationship insead. And that brigs the question

Does this count as incest?

it’s june and mio said lesbian rights !!

Sometimes I kind of get why antis choose not to believe in larry, because you know, during iron closet 1D's team started selling the idea of "larry makes Harry, Louis, their friends and families uncomfortable", so you'd want to be the respectful fan, be in the cool side, be a good fan and show them that "not all fans are crazy delusional conspiracy theorits etc etc"; and this came with the most common phrases nowadays against us like "respect their privacy, this is none of your business".

And of course, everyone deserves privacy, and there's a lot of known thinngs about celebrities which are completely useless, and it's something that should stop. But the conflict comes when you understand that, no one inside the entertainment industry will be 100% free. Ever. Specially when they started their career when it was still usual for celebrities to be under very limiting (not to say vile, sadic, dehumanising) contracts and no one being able to know it as easy as now, going through a research around the internet, or even by just paying attention to them and the details.

So, with all of this on the table, sometimes I can't help feeling some sort of blame, "what if h&l are really in a relationship but also feel uncomfortable with us finding and knowing all these things about them". This was something that I've thought deeper for the last days, and then I got to the conclusion that choosing not to investigate still not sure if its the right word since English is not my first language on a public figure's life when they're a possible victim of a serious issue inside the industry, is an indirect way of allying with their aggressor. And as an LGBT+ woman, no, this is not none of my business, because I will stand for the two men who have helped me with their music and their story, and for all closeted artists in the past and God knows how many of them rigt now, because it's not fair that things like this still have to happen nowadays, I'm frustrated that all of them still have to deal with bearding and stunting, and I'm even more frustrated that this straight moralists don't mind to re-evaluate things just because they want to be the "respectful fans", and I'm so tired of dumbasses saying things like "but there are now LGBT+ artists that are very big, so closeting is something that doesn't happen anymore". People under situations like h&l's NEED to be seen and listened, and they deserve to be out just because they're humans, not because they're not for a teen target anymore, not because they're "old" and "there's not much of a public they would lose now anyways".

I love this. Yes. Your last sentence, especially.

People under situations like h&l's NEED to be seen and listened, and they deserve to be out just because they're humans, not because they're not for a teen target anymore, not because they're "old" and "there's not much of a public they would lose now anyways".

I think it was incredibly important for the two of them to know they had support in the early days, and to see that it continued through the years. I think Harry (and Louis, indirectly) seeing all of the continued LGBT+ support during his tour 2017/2018 was a real eye opener for him/them. We're here to support both of them as individual queer people, just as much as we're here for them as a couple. At least I am.

Like i cant Tell if i feel attracted to masculine/male people because I really am, or if I made myself feel like this cus of comp het, and its confusing cus I have no idea how to figure it out fjgg i sont mean tp dump thia on u so sprry for this, im just, confused and its freakijg me out! :(

Hhthank you. All my life i grew ip listening to my dad say how i was going to hell for what i was, he constsntly tells me i am and it scares me evwn thoufh im Not religious, ive denied tgis pat of me for So long and its just left md feeling bfoken and like i was horrible, i wanna be Open about wht iam bit om still comfused, he tells md i dont know what i am and hes rigt! I have no idea wht i am v nd its Scary. Its all confusing and i dont know how to figure it out and i hate myself for it.

don’t apologize!! I had that issue too where I couldn’t tell what the hell I was attracted to (lmao it turned out I was potentially attracted to anything and everything. Hell my love-struck ass thought I might be aro-spec and I thought I was genderfluid and thought I aligned with womanhood. Shit really does take time to figure out and honestly it was around when I started this blog (almost) a couple years ago when I had completely come to terms with my identity.) and I dealt with homophobic family members.

I was fortunate and my coming out actually helped my parents get over their homophobia because they realized they had no reason to hate LGBT+ people and they couldn’t bring themselves to hate their child. I was very, very lucky. But not everyone has that. If your father can’t accept you for who you are, whenever you’re able to figure out who and/or what that is, then he’s not fit to call himself a parent. And his opinion has no bearing on who you are or where your life should go. And while you’re not religious, I am. And I’m assuming he’s probably a Christian just like me. If he dares say he worships what we’ve been taught is the true God, then he’s not paid attention to any of his teachings about love, acceptance, and compassion for our fellow people. God doesn’t hate queer people or send them to hell and anyone who tries to tell you He does is wrong and worships a hideous god that republicans think would hate immigrants, poc, women, and support using guns to kill each other. Even if you’re not religious and you believe he isn’t real, then even the teachings passed down are still wrong.

But most importantly, you have no reason to hate yourself. And once again; been there, done that. And I know it’s not fucking fun. Part of learning to love myself was linked with me understanding God wouldn’t hate me for being queer, so I can’t give advice for that department. BUT I can say this; that’s the abuse society as forced upon us talking. You’re perfect just the way you are, and even if you don’t even know who that person is, they’re still innocent and don’t deserve such hatred. As long as you’re not filled with hatred and bigotry, you do not deserve that. Take as much time as you need to figure out what your identity is, there’s still terms for you trying to figure yourself out such as wlw, sapphic, and queer. You can use any or all of those and no one has any right to judge you for it. And I support you through this journey and I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to because I’ve faced those fears and fought those battles, I understand that struggle.

Blog post for the Human Rights Consortium

Conference report: LGBT+ Rights in the 21st Century: Free and Equal?”

First posted on May 10, 2017 on the blogspot of the Human Rights Consortium - School of Advanced Study - University of London 

https://humanrights.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2017/05/10/conference-report-lgbt-rights-in-the-21st-century-free-and-equal/ 

By Peter Sioen*

“There are currently 1 billion people living under British or British inspired anti-gay laws”, the Kaleidoscope Trust’s new executive director, Paul Dillane, said in his opening statement in a workshop at the 18thAnnual Student Human Rights conference held on March 25th, 2017 at the University of Nottingham. Human Rights students and lecturers from around the world met for a whole day to learn about and exchange views on “LBGT+ Rights in the 21st Century: Free and Equal?”. A string of upbeat, energetic speakers constituted a contrast with the bleak reality for LGBT+ people around the world. There were reality checks, controversial thoughts and many expressions of hope.

Professor Dominic McGoldrick, Professor of International Human Rights Law and HRLC co-director warned us in his opening speech that we were going to deal with lots of difficult and controversial issues. His warning proved to be correct. He was the first of many speakers that day to quote the first and recently appointed UN Special Rapporteur on LGBT+ rights, who speaks about a “vortex of violence”.

Professor Michael O’Flaherty, director of the EU Agency of Fundamental Rights, put LGBT+ in a European perspective on the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and reflected on all the achievements on LGBT+ rights: e.g. the Yogakarta principles, decriminalisation, refugee policy and the appointment of the UN independent expert. But we still have far to go, Professor O’Flaherty reminded us: in certain countries the situation remains problematic, many problems remain for many LGBT+ refugees, women suffer more, intersectionality is not recognised enough etc. Homophobic attitudes seem embedded, he said. Even 16 EU-member states have been called out by the UN for their insufficient approaches to LGBT+ rights. Professor O’Flaherty referred to a survey his agency conducted which revealed that there is not a single EU member state where more than 50% of LGBT+ people feel comfortable holding the hand of their partner in public. The survey results revealed widespread hate speech in the workplace, homophobia and bullying in schools. Only 1 out of every 10 incidents of discrimination gets reported in the EU. Professor O’Flaherty announced their report on LGBT+ asylum seekers (that has since been released). The major findings in that report included lack of statistics, issues around eligibility, problems associated with the interviews (such as “posture” analysis), problems with homophobic translators and other issues regarding trans people. But he also made 9 suggestions that point towards solutions, which included the fact EU member states can learn from each other, the treaty obligations, that the LGBT+ community is not the problem, the Malta conference, the waking up to trans and intersex issues. It’s a hard time to be working in human rights, he concluded, but “let’s live in hope!”

Arvind Narrain, the Geneva Director of ARC International, picked up on that last point and saw lots of reasons for optimism and hope, certainly with the appointment of the UN Special Rapporteur, who was voted for by a small margin (23 yes votes to 18 no votes and 6 countries abstaining) laying bare strong opposition. He had witnessed how that the people who spoke in favor of the appointment had spoken with passion. Their passion had driven the discussion. But he also saw a passion for a no-vote in the representatives of the Muslim countries. Before the appointment of the Special Rapporteur, LGBT+ struggles were local, said Mr Narrain. The appointment of the Special Rapporteur will give support to local articulation; the reports will have authority and can’t be ignored. We now have a mechanism: how we will use it, is important.  Mr Narrain expressed that he wondered if the Special Rapporteur might be too focused on violence only.

After this plenary session, there were two parallel sets of workshops. The richness and wealth of the programme made choosing incredibly difficult. I presented a paper in the workshop titled “Regional perspectives on LGBT+ Rights: finding common ground”. I demonstrated how the Belgian gay movement had fought for civic acceptance and tolerance, which found its expression in an anti-discrimination law, their main agenda point. They were given civil partnerships very early on, almost like a concession, to make the gay voice go away. But new and progressive governments rushed to make same-sex marriages possible in 2003, as only the second country in the world. I discussed sociological models on how to try and explain the mechanisms of the movement and their achievements. I tried to give context to the current global tendency in the LGBT+ movement to focus on heteronormative marriage and adoption rights, which was not what the old gay movement was about, thus risking to lose some of the colourful, eccentric gay culture. Turkey, Armenia and South Asia were the other regions/countries highlighted in this workshop. In the parallel workshop they discussed “moving forward: remaining barriers to equality”. Presentations were made on blood donation, the non-heterosexual wage gap, pornography and the invisibility of non-binary gender identities in law.

Professor David Harris, HRLC co-director, chaired the plenary afternoon session. Unfortunately, Professor Stephen Whittle had to cancel last minute and couldn’t give his afternoon presentation on “gender-binary legal institutions, the challenge from trans and gender variant people” which I was very much looking forward to. However, the charming and soft-spoken Professor Javaid Rehman undoubtedly made the most controversial and hardest-hitting presentation of the day. He started by making, as he called it himself, two extremely “heretical statements: homosexuality is acceptable in Islam and the Islamic or Sharia law is flawed”. Professor Rehman delivered and substantiated such controversial statements so very successfully and skilfully. 76 states currently criminalize LGBT+ and half of them are Muslim, the other half not (however, the states with death sentences for LGBT+ people are all Muslim). There is no mention of homosexuality in the Quran or the Sunnah, apart from some positive references. He argued that in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is not homosexuals who are condemned, but heterosexual men and that Muslims have now given this story an anti-gay interpretation. In Islam, there was always a tradition of accepting homosexuality; it was through colonial legacy and Section 377 that discrimination and prosecution was introduced. The Muslim tradition was quite liberal before according to Professor Rehman which became repressive due to insecure political structures. He called for a better understanding of the Sharia or Islamic “law” (quotation marks in original). Laws can never be Islamic, he pointed out; laws are always political. Law, also human rights law, is a positive law dispensed by political authority. “Converting repressive religious morality into contemporary positive laws doesn’t make the law Islamic,” said Professor Rehman. Calling for a better understanding of what law is, he stated that Sharia is not law, it’s morality, it has no mechanisms and that it is used as apolitical weapon. He argued that you can’t change a “divine law”, therefore it is not positive law. For instance, the UDHR is a moral document, not law. Professor Rehman further added that OIC states need to change their positive laws.

Johanna Whiteman, co-director of the Equal Rights Trust, shared with us her experiences with LGBT+-rights in Russian courts. Russia has a culture and tradition that is deeply heterosexual, she explained. The European Court of Human Rights doesn’t recognise same-sex relationships, inter- or transsexuality. She said we will have to fight to keep the rights we already have. She presented us with what could be done in countries like Russia where hostility towards and repression of LGBT+ people is on the rise and women’s rights, for instance, are being eroded. The Equal Rights Trusts partners with local organisations, for instance the Russian LGBT+ network. She has done extensive research in Russian jurisprudence, but there are very few cases. Despite her optimism, Ms Whiteman also expressed that courts don’t do their jobs and there are restrictions on freedom of expression. Yet, she also pointed out that there are equality and non-discrimination laws, sexual orientation is a protected trait and there is improvement in legal recognition.

After the afternoon plenary session, there were two parallel workshops, both on a single theme and with only one speaker. The first one, which I couldn’t attend was on “effective awareness strategies of LGBT+ issues”. I attended the workshop hosted by Paul Dillane, executive director of Kaleidscope Trust but also representing the Human Rights Lawyers Association, on “LGBT+ rights: international and regional advocacy strategies”. He called the Commonwealth the “Empire 2.0” and read the hitting opening statement of this report, that the legacy of the British Empire is that now a billion people live under British anti-gay laws, the notorious Section 377. 36 of the 52 countries that criminalise LGBT+ are in the Commonwealth, he pointed out (quoting a different number than Professor Rehman earlier in the afternoon). He also concluded with hope-inspiring initiatives, including the appointment of the UN Special Rapporteur, the Equal Rights Coalition grouping like-minded countries and the all-party Parliamentary group.

The strength of this conference certainly was that it offered such a comprehensive global view. Living in our UK bubble, we sometimes lose awareness of how challenging life is for LGBT+ people all around the world. As a personal observation, I would like to note that the conference was attended by a wide variety of people, including many non LGBT+. To see this level of interest by the wider community, certainly of young human rights students, gives me much hope and trust in the future.

*Peter Sioen is a published author and psychologist with a background in business and inequality. He is currently an MA student in Understanding and Securing Human Rights at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Website: www.petersioen.com   Twitter: @PeterSioen

Accused of not being “girly enough,” she was frequently swarmed by students and beaten with a roll of paper. Her teachers witnessed the abuse again and again but did nothing. She begged her junior high classmates for help -- but they told her to endure the abuse, that high school would be easier.

A 20-year-old Japanese woman who was bullied by her classmates in junior high school holds a notebook displaying the message: “It was common knowledge that I was being bullied. It was also common knowledge that my teachers would never help me.” 

The story – shared with me this week by a 20-year-old bisexual woman in Japan – is sadly familiar in this part of the world, as is made clear by a UNESCO report released today that documents the widespread failure to address homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools across Asia and the Pacific. The document comes on the heels of 12 United Nations agencies pledging to address violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. 

(via Dispatches: UN Takes On LGBT Bullying in Asia)

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♡ kicked out of a church protecting LGBT rights ♡

♡ Yesterday I went to church. Currently we are I'm between churches and religions because apparently we can't find the right one. Honestly I rather not be religious at all ♡

♡ but this post isn't about me its about a incident that happen at a certain religious establishment involving gay rights ♡

♡ The pastor/preacher was explaining conventional families and how they consist of a man,women and children; he was also explaining how anything other than that is sinful and unholy♡

♡ I then notice a gay couple nervously sitting In the back row, apparently nobody noticed them until I kept looking back which now I somewhat regret  ♡

♡ The pastor soon noticed them and began ranting on how being gay is unholy. The couple looked incredibly mortified and hurt, So I quickly stood up and began to yell back at the pastor saying things like " your fucking unholy " and " why do you leave the church your more sinful than anything ♡

♡ VIVA LA LGBT ♡

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