Same Sex Marriage and Australia

The global debate around gay marriage continues. Pink News reports: Greens senator Kerry Nettle introduced a Valentines Day marriage equality bill to the new Australian parliament calling for recognition of overseas same-sex marriages and the ability to allow local ones.Her party leader, Bob Brown, has united with Liberal Australia Capital Territory (ACT) senator Gary Humphries to condemn the new government's attitudes to the Territorial Government's civil partnerships legislation.

I was in Australia at the time of the General Election last year and whilst there felt a general sense of optimism there did not seem the mass feeling of a 'new dawn' that a similar shift to Labour did in the UK back in 1997. The current Australian government has also seen fairly timid as far as social issues are concerned and from my (very!) limited knowledge of the mood 'down under' I suspect gay marriage may be some time off.

Read the full story at: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6933.html

Get Over It!

I first spotted this story on Pink News and then read the original story in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. One of 600 billboard adverts questioning homophobia in schools that have been displayed across the country has been attacked by vandals.The poster in the town of Blackburn, was "covered in abusive graffiti," the Lancashire Telegraph reports.

When you actually look at a picture of the graffiti it consists of the word 'no'. Hardly radical stuff you might think and I really question why this has become a major media issue. I despair when I read a Gay Police Association rep calling this hate crime. All that said, I'm also mindful of what would be said in Blackburn if the graffiti was racist - there would be an uproar. My conclusion is not that we must therefore get exercised over this act of vandalism but rather that perhaps we should all just ease up a little!

Read the story and see the vandalism at: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/headlines/display.var.2059803.0.fury_as_gay_poster_is_vandalised.php

Cruising

The Independent reported yesterday on the re-release of the Al Pacino film 'Cruising'. The article describes the film as 'a murky murder mystery set in and around the S&M leather bars of New York's West Village, the project had barely gone into production when articles pouring vitriol on the film and Friedkin [the director] started appearing'. I've never seen the film as I hadn't been born at the time of the original release. I'm therefore reluctant to comment but it does sound interesting and I'll be ordering it on Amazon. I'd welcome any comments from those who have seen the film.

Read the full article and view the original trailer here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/cruising-the-film-of-fear-and-hatred-in-the-village-784795.html

The Comfort Zone

The New York Times published a really interesting article at the weekend. The article focussed on 'The Comfort Zone' - one 'sex venue' in NY and the health official responses. It notes that: 'Citing a 33 percent rise in H.I.V. diagnoses from 2001 to 2006 among New York men under 30 who have sex with men, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene began a review last fall of its policy on establishments like gay bathhouses and sex clubs'. I like the ending of the article which states: 'At the Comfort Zone on this wintry night, a burly man in a navy sweatsuit stood quietly by the entrance, removing his clothes until he was clad only in briefs and a tank-top undershirt.

“What would you do if this place closed down?” he was asked. The man paused for a moment. “I’d go someplace else,” he replied softly before disappearing down the dark corridor. '

Of course, he's right. The closure of such venues would be crazy. Far better to develop partnerships that promote safe sex. Closing these venues will merely displace the men to the cruising grounds and cottages/tearooms.

Read the full story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/nyregion/thecity/17bath.html?_r=2&ref=thecity&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Texas Removes Sex Toys Ban

Great news for American readers or those visiting Texas anytime soon. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote 'obscene devices', punishable by up to two years in jail, violated the Constitution's 14th Amendment on the right to privacy. In its decision Tuesday, the appeals court cited Lawrence and Garner v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 opinion that struck down bans on consensual sex between gay couples. Read more here: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202904864073

Sarah's Law Trial

A number of newspapers broke the story on Sunday that a trial of 'Sarah's Law' is to go ahead in the UK. This news has largely been overshadowed by national economic developments around Northern Rock since yesterday afternoon and so it hasn't had the coverage you might expect. Four regions will take part: Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire and Cleveland. Whilst it isn't exactly Sarah's Law the proposals would enable parents to check that people with regular, unsupervised access to their children including family members or neighbours do not have convictions for paedophile offences. I've always been opposed to Sarah's Law as I think it will merely serve to destablise communities and drive dangerous sex offenders underground together with promoting offending behaviour. I also think that we need, as a society, to grapple with what it is we wish to do with sex offenders. Are all sex offenders the same? Do we want to allow some sex offenders out of jail? If so, we have to deal with the practical consequences of that decision.

Egypt: New HIV Arrests

A troubling story from Egypt on the Human Rights Watch website. They report that 'Cairo police arrested four more men suspected of having HIV, signaling a wider crackdown that endangers public health and violates basic human rights...The recent arrests bring to 12 the number of men arrested in a campaign against people police suspect of being HIV-positive. Four have already been sentenced to a year in jail and eight are still in custody'. Read the full story at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/15/egypt18064.htm

Government Funds Gay Sauna Training

There is an interesting story on Pink News about Government funding for a Terrence Higgins Trust project. A 'Code of Conduct' has been developed for saunas and other locations that public sex occurs. The document is called 'Play Zone: Code of Conduct' and does nto yet appear to be available from the THT website. The Department of Health has given £20,000 to develop the project as a pilot in London and Brighton with a view to eventually rolling it out nationally. It seems an interesting idea and I look forward to reading the full code and seeing how it worked.

Read the fulll story at: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6858.html

Calling Student Bloggers

A number of students have expressed an interest in an academic career. If you are one of them, this blog needs you! I'm looking for some people willing to post entries to this blog to help me keep up with all the law and sexuality news stories out there. This is entirely voluntary. If you are interested please email me at: chris.ashford@sunderland.ac.uk

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

Pink News is reporting that Stonewall is gearing up for a Commons battle on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Specifically the provisions that would enable same sex partners to register as the 'parents' of the child. It seems to me that both sides could be accomodated in a much more radical proposal - one which I am sure the present day Stonewall would reject. Why not completely re-constitute the registration document? Why not seek to move away from traditional legal conceptions of parent whislt maintaining the recognition of biological orgins? Both with this and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (which criminalises inciting homophobic hate) Stonewall seems to be on the wrong side of the debate. Once upon a time, a gay rights organisation such as Stonewall would have spoken up for freedom of expression and would have offered a radical vision for families and how we lead our lives. It saddens me that there is such an apparent lack of imagination and lack of thought in Stonewall today.

Read the story at: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6800.html

"Gay Lifestyle" Store Opens in Newcastle

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Still Queer Up North

Just a quick update on the queerpnorth arts festival which I originally posted about last month. The good news is that the Arts Council has decided to continue funding queerupnorth for the 2008/9 year. Funding beyond this period will be decided by the Arts Council following a review of our work over the next few months - including the May 2008 festival.

http://www.queerupnorth.com/index2.php

USA Relationship Recognition

Julie Shapiro has posted a really interesting and useful new relationship round up on her Seattle blog. You can view it at: http://sulawandsexuality.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/new-relationship-recognition-round-up/

GLB Voters Chose Clinton Over Obama

The Advocate reports that Clinton is doing much better than Obama amongst Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual voters. The report states: NBC exit polling found that among the 4% of California voters who identified as GLB, 63% voted for Clinton, 29% for Obama, and 1% for Edwards. In New York, 7% of voters self-identified as GLB and 59% voted for Clinton, 36% for Obama, and 3% for Edwards. New York and California were the only states in which this question was asked. The results show that the GLB electorate didn’t move much from where they were last fall in Hunter College’s national polling of the community, when likely GLB voters preferred Clinton by 63%, Obama’s by 22% and Edwards at 7%.

The race is looking very close now and my own view remians that the best candidate from a global perspective is Obama both for securing a Democrat victory (I don't see Clinton winning agaisnt McCain) and for re-positioning America on the world stage. As things stand, I still think Hillary will clinch the nomination. Read the full story at: http://election2008.advocate.com/2008/02/glb-voters-chos.html

I've taken a look at both the Obama and Clinton websites and whilst Obama has a section specifically focussed on LGBT issues I couldn't find anything on the Clinton site. It's not enough for her supporters to say she is commited to LGBT rights - she needs to clearly state it in public. Putting something on her website might be a start.

I've also pasted in the latest 'Obama-mania' video below. The video features actress Scarlett Johansson and jazz legend Herbie Hancock whi sing lines in the music video, created by Will.I.Am from pop group Black Eyed Peas. It's hard not to be inspired.

Rise in anti-gay Police complaints

The BBC reports that there has been a rise in the number of anti-gay complaitns from within the Police. The results come from the Gay Police Association which says it received 350 calls to its helpline last year, compared with 260 the year before. It estimated that there were about 7,000 homophobic incidents among police last year, but intimidated officers were reluctant to report them. The BBC states: 'Chairman of the Gay Police Association Paul Cahill said: "We've had officers refusing to work with gay officers but also slightly more sinister expressions of homophobia.

"We had situations where colleagues would come in to work and on parade would openly state their religious opposition to homosexuality and would even quote sections of the Bible. [This was] completely out of context with being at work and on parade.

"Many gay officers quite rightly felt that was an attempt to intimidate or harass them.

"But the officers behaving in that way would say 'we were asserting our right to freedom of religious expression' - albeit that it was questionable in the context in which it was raised, the timing and the manner in which it was raised."

This is clearly a significant issue not only within the Police but for seeking to improve relations with the LGBT community. It is hard to convince people that Police strategies which include the raiding of cruising and cottaging locations together with high visibility (and sometimes high handed) policing of gay social spaces (i.e bar/club areas), is about improving LGBT safety rather than a practice which seeks to undermine or stop the said activities.

HIV Criminalisation

There's been a lot of academic literature generated in the last couple of years around HIV infection. There is an interesting Canadian perspective on xtra.ca together with a video interview with Ryan Handy who faces 25 years in prison. View it at: http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=4239&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=9#video