This Week at Pan Africa ILGA

02/04/2012

Dear Members of Ethiopian Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual Community Ethio LGBT We hope this email finds you well! It's time to give you a heads up on what's happening on ilga.org. This weekly newsletter is sent to 3285 LBGTI and allied organizations in the world, in English and French. To post an article on ilga.org, update your groups page, add pictures and a logo on ILGAs directory, apply to become a member of ILGA or renew your membership fees, please log in using peaceseeker@ethiolgbt.com, the email we have for the person acting as contact between ILGA and your group: Selam NEWS/ACTUALITIES

NGO oral statement on UPR intervention for Swaziland Joint statement from Action Canada for Population and Development, Sexual Rights Initiative and COC Netherlands. Delivered by Fikile Vilakazi on Thursday 15 March 2012. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nsLcY8j148 Botswana Group Examines Issues Of Exclusion Within The LGBTI Communities Botswanas Rainbow Identity Association has announced an on-going project that seeks to facilitate a space where LGBTI communities can strategically deliberate on the issues of exclusion and gaps within LGBTI organizing. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nsRxZII1Dq The evil religious laws Religious laws are legalised religious doctrines. They are revelations turned into rules to govern society. Religious laws are sacred dogma institutionalised. They are religious hatred, intolerance, discrimination and fanaticism turned into state policies. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nsQQrkA1gI Securing a Safe Place for All Liberians When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, recently expressed in an interview opposition to LGBT rights -- specifically decriminalization -- and was vague about support for increased criminal penalties for LGBT people, a shockwave was felt around the world. LGBT Liberians everywhere and all who have great respect for Sirleaf -- a former political prisoner herself -- were appalled and saddened. Such a narrow and discriminatory view from a revered and world-honored leader is unfathomable. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nsLHBCH19z Uganda's gays see public opinion gains Four years ago Frank Mugisha begged his colleagues to join him for his first demonstration in support of gay rights in Uganda. Only four came along. This week, during a march against gender-based violence led by the gay advocacy group Sexual Minorities Uganda, the Ugandan activist saw more than 30 colleagues walk the streets of Kampala holding pro-gay posters. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nsMKcwM1ZS Cameroon: Kick Against Homosexuality Being gay in Cameroon is a crime punishable by law. This legislation seems supported by a majority of citizens. Therefore, there are voices to just blame every time we mentioned a possible recognition of their rights. Nevertheless, the fight for

homosexual cause continues ... http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nt8ipah1fl

A Boy to Be Sacrificed In the Morocco of the 1980s, where homosexuality did not, of course, exist, I was an effeminate little boy, a boy to be sacrificed, a humiliated body who bore upon himself every hypocrisy, everything left unsaid. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nsLriC51yV Pioneering feminist poet Adrienne Rich dead at 82 Poet Adrienne Rich, whose socially conscious verse influenced a generation of feminist, gay rights and anti-war activists, has died. She was 82. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nt89mcp1Aw Kathryn Lehman, Republican Lesbian Who Helped Write DOMA, Is Now Lobbying To Repeal It It has been 16 years since Kathryn Lehman was a Republican Hill staffer working on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/nt8diTs1g2