Posts Tagged ‘civil rights’
Canada a Sanctuary for Mexican Lesbian Couple
4:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Canada| GLBT| Immigration| World| mexico · 1 Comment
20 Jul 2009
When we look with nostalgia and cultural pride at Mexico and other Latin American countries, it’s often easy to forget that the Latino motherlands are also home to discrimination in various forms, with a particular emphasis on race and sexual orientation. It was because of such persecution that a lesbian couple from Mexico traveled to Canada and have decided to stay and seek sanctuary from abuse. The Toronto Sun reports:
Norma Angelica Gomez, 33, and Alina Gallegos Lee, 34, say their dream is to get married in Toronto and be happy. The couple fled to Canada a year ago but claimed asylum last March after going public with their love in Mexico. They claimed they were harassed, followed and beaten by Mexican police officers for expressing that love.“Canada is a good country and we feel free,” Lee said yesterday. “At home we were constantly persecuted for being lesbians.” The couple claim the attacks against them escalated after they were detained and beaten by police last year in Mexico.
According to Amnesty International, gays and lesbians in Mexico are routinely beaten, sexually assaulted, raped or tortured by police and soldiers.
Since the couple entered the country, Canada has since (as a matter of fact, just last week) imposed a visa requirement on Mexican and Czech nationals due to the number of refugee applicants coming from the two countries. The couple is represented by an attorney and is fighting for their right to marry and remain in Canada permanently.
Via / CNews
Clergy Says Same-Sex Marriage Isn’t About Civil Rights
4:58 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Controversia| GLBT| Politics| Religion| race| society · 1 Comment
19 May 2009
…apparently because being gay “is a choice”:
“We know what we have gone through as an ethnic group. We feel the terminology, the definition itself, has really been hijacked,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s just another ploy to garner more support from people who may not understand what the civil rights struggle was all about.”Bishop Michael A. Badger, pastor of Bethesda World Harvest International Church on Main Street, said that he doesn’t doubt there is discrimination against gay people but that it is hardly on the order of what African-Americans have encountered and still face.
“As an African-American, I don’t have a choice in the color of my skin. I have a choice in whether I’m abstinent or not,” Badger said. “I don’t think you can compare the two.”
Actually he said because “abstinence” is “a choice”. Well, that makes even less sense.
Just because the two issues aren’t exactly the same doesn’t mean they aren’t both about civil rights. And sorry, I think we can draw more parallels between the civil rights movement and the fight for gay rights than with the fight against gay marriage. To quote journalist Earl Ofari Hutchison: “Homophobia and racism are frequently two sides of the same coin.”
Let’s be honest. I’d rather get schooled on said parallels and what the civil rights movement was about by Coretta Scott King than from this guy.
Oh, and for those of you who wonder why this issue is even important, read this story from today’s NYT.
What do you think?
Via / Buffalo News
Image via LogoOnline(Noah’s Arc)
Obama Administration Will Reportedly Sign UN Gay Rights Agreement
11:07 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| GLBT| Politics| World| society · Comments Off
18 Mar 2009
Not to be all Obama administration “rah, rah, sis, boom ba!” but after quietly celebrating the latest reversal to the Bush farm worker rule, I’m celebrating this piece of unofficial news as well:
The Obama administration will support a United Nations declaration affirming that sexual orientation and gender identity are included in international human rights protections, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday evening.
According to officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Congress was still being notified, the Obama administration had reviewed the reasons why the Bush administration opposed the declaration, and decided to notify the French sponsors that the United States would support it.
As you might already know, the U.S. was, thanks to the prior administration, part of a shameful list of oppressive, anti-gay countries such as Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Egypt and the Vatican City. It’s impossible for people in Europe and other places that signed the agreement to understand this kind of hatred. Luckily, with this move, we are a millimeter closer to a more dignified world image.
There’s still a lot left for the Obama administration to do when it comes to gay rights. Namely: approve gay marriage.
Via / Advocate
New movie explores Chicano rights movement
3:30 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Movies · Comments Off
9 Mar 2006
“Walkout” is the first major film to tell the story of the Chicano civil rights movement:
Esparza joined HBO Films and actor/director Edward James Olmos to produce a dramatic, historical film based on the true story of the Chicano student uprising in East Los Angeles in 1968, where he was among 10,000 high school students who staged walkouts to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.
The Los Angeles protests, widely regarded as the birth of the urban Chicano civil rights movement, spawned a generation of activists and reverberated across the United States, inspiring similar demands for change in public schools in El Paso, across Texas and New Mexico and wherever Hispanics lived.
The film, produced by Moctesuma Esparza and directed by Edward James Olmos will star Alex Vega (Spy Kids) and will air on HBO on March 18th.
Catch previews and in-depth info on HBO’s Walkout page
Via / Borderland News and HispanicTips
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- Pedro Julio Serrano on the Murder of Lopez Mercado
- Bay Area Community Members to Hold Vigil and Release Statement about Murders in Maryland and Puerto Rico
- Transgender Day of Remembrance and Latin@s
- Dear Troll(s):
- Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
- Vigils for Justice y en Memoria de Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
- Russell Athletic rehires fired union organizers
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