The Sex Booth Commeth

You may recall a story back in 2010 of plans for 'sex boxes' in Switzerland.  I think I even blogged on it but I can't for the life of me find the post.  Anyway, the 'boxes' were essentially three screens which you would drive into with a sex worker, providing a discreet space for a sexual rendezvous within the Red Light District (see the picture on the right of a similar screen in Germany).  Marvellous progressiveness I thought and that was that.  Only, here we are, two years on and finally it seems, Zurich will be introducing the booths with effect from next year.

It's reported that 'Zurich’s social welfare department will ban prostitution in certain parts of the city, making it only legal to solicit sex in the allotted “sex booths” that will posses parking spaces, as well as alarm buttons, in case Johns get too carried away. Employee’s of the public sex industry will have to register with a health insurer and also buy a $5 ticket per night in order to accept customers.'

It's an interesting move to control street prostitution and improve public health both for sex workers and punters.  Definitely one to watch - and one does wonder whether there will be booth 'capacity' issues.

Book launch for Homosexuality and the European Court of Human Rights

I'm sure this will be a terrific event for an important book.  Try and make it if you can.

Thursday 1st November 2012, 7pm

Gay's the Word bookshop
66 Marchmont Street
London, WC1N 1AB

The author of Homosexuality and the European Court of Human Rights would be delighted if you could join him for a discussion of some of the important issues raised in this first book-length study of the Court’s jurisprudence on sexual orientation.

The book offers a socio-legal analysis of the substantial number of decisions and judgments of the Strasbourg organs on the wide range of complaints brought by gay men and lesbians under the European Convention on Human Rights. It provides a systematic analysis of Strasbourgcase law since 1955 and examines decades of decisions that have hitherto remained obscure. Going beyond doctrinal analysis by employing a nuanced sociological consideration of Strasbourg jurisprudence, the book shows how the Court is a site at which homosexuality is both socially constructed and regulated.

The author argues that the Court’s judgments have played an important role in reshaping the landscape of sexuality in contemporary Europe and have provided lesbians and gay men with an authoritative and powerful resource with which to challenge homophobic and heteronormative social relations. The book identifies limitations in the Court’s approach to homosexuality and aims to promote discussion about how its interpretation of the Convention might be evolved in the future to better protect lesbian and gay rights and lives.

There will be a talk by the author, followed by open discussion and a wine reception.

The event is open to all and if you wish to attend please send an email to paul.johnson@york.ac.uk 

Published by Routledge, a GlassHouse book. ISBN: 978-0415696579

Paul Johnson is Anniversary Reader in Sociology at the University of York.

Same-Sex Marriage for Denmark

Various media outlets are reporting the news that the Danish Parliament has passed a new law enabling same-sex marriage in the country.  It's due to come into force on 15 June this year.  Interestingly, Denmark already had a system of registered partnerships in place (since 1989) so the move has similarities with any UK move to introduce same-sex marriage, given we have civil partnerships.

I get the impression that this will be religious as well s marriage ceremonies but the media reports are unclear.  GayStarNews states (in the best report on this I can find) that 'couples already in civil partnerships will automatically be granted 'married' status' which suggests that registered partnerships will be abolished as part of the move and people automatically converted to a marriage (whether they want it or not).  Far from something to welcome, this seems an unacceptable application of state power.

Hopefully in the coming days, a bit more information will come out but the brief "yay, Denmark has 'gay' marriage" perspective that seems to dominate the UK reporting fails to address the significant questions around religion (GayStarNews does touch on this) and the implications for civil unions.    It would be deeply regrettable if the UK was to simply replicate this approach, and it is even more regrettable that the LGBT media is not giving this move a little more scrutiny.

Spain's first 'gay' retirement home

I have no fear of death but I am absolutely terrified of becoming old and infirm.  The prospect of losing my independence and finding myself in a care home horrifies me.  With a bit of luck I'll keel over dead with a heart-attack before it comes to that.  The only thing that scares me more than that is to be stuck in a home surrounded by people who identify as 'straight'.  Even now, in our transformed legal world, there is a strange assumption that old people are heterosexual.  Old people - we wrongly assume - do not have sex, they revert to a sexless state and thus become re-defined as heterosexual.  For many, going into a home means going back into the closet.

There does seem some hope for men (why only men?) in Spain who identify as gay.  The Guardian reported yesterday that a group of elderly Spanish gay men are rebelling against the homophobia of their generation by setting up what will be the country's first gay and lesbian retirement home.

The retirement home would cost €1,000 (£834) a month to live in, he said – much lower than the average Madrid price of €1,400. It will have 30 staff to look after the 230 residents in the 120 apartments and studios in the complex, with some set aside for people who are HIV positive.

Whilst the issue of care has been back on the UK political agenda already this year, the focus - as ever - is on cost and not on the nature of provision.  Hopefully as the year progresses, the issue of LGBT elders will begin to be addressed more forcefully.

Read the full story here.

Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reports a growing need for - and growing development of - low-income housing for GLBTQ seniors in the USA. Philadelphia developers have secured a site for a gay-friendly, low-income housing project in Philadelphia. Housing developments cannot discriminate in favor of gay seniors, but a facility known to be gay-friendly and marketed as such will be appealing to gay seniors.  You can read more on that story here on the Nonprofit Law Prof Blog.

HIV criminalisation and law reform in Nordic countries

The wonderful Prof Matthew Weait at Birkbeck has announced plans to undertake an important new research study in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden next Spring. He will be exploring the ways in which HIV activists and others have sought to reform criminal law concerning HIV transmission and exposure in the region.

Full details have been published on Edwin Bernard's Criminal HIV Transmission blog and can be read here.  Matthew is looking for participants to take part in his research so if you are based in that part of the world, and can help out, I'd encourage you to give him a  shout.

Event: Jasbir Puar Lecture, Berlin

A nice treat for Europeans, able to pop along to Berlin next week:

Jasbir Puar
The Cost of Getting Better
Ecologies of Race, Sex, and Disability

This lecture examines the potential for affective connectivities and conviviality to rethink neoliberal stratification. Noting that discourses surrounding queer suicide reproduce problematic assumptions not only about race, class, and gender, but also bodily health, debility, and capacity, Jasbir Puar will be linking Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project and related discussions about the recent spate of queer suicides to broader social justice issues about disability as well as theoretical concerns in animal studies and post-humanist studies.

Jasbir Puar is professor and core faculty member in the department of Women’s & Gender Studies at Rutgers University, USA. She is the author of Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Duke University Press 2007), which won the 2007 Cultural Studies Book Award from the Association for Asian American Studies. Her edited volumes include a special issue of GLQ entitled “Queer Tourism: Geographies of Globalization” and she co-edited a volume of Society and Space entitled “Sexuality and Space”.

Tuesday
7 June 2011
7:30 pm
In English
Location:
ICI Kulturlabor Berlin
ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
Christinenstr. 18/19, Haus 8
U-Bhf Senefelder Platz (U2)
www.ici-berlin.org

Wednesday 8 June, 11am-2pm there will be a workshop with Jasbir Puar for those who like to discuss the lecture in more detail.
Location: Institut für Queer Theory, Werbellinstr. 50, Haus 1a (U8 Boddinstr.)
Please register: mail@queer-institut.de

The lecture is part of the series
The Subtle Racializations of Sexuality: Queer Theory, the Aftermath of Colonial History, and the Late-Modern State
organized by Antke Engel, Institute for Queer Theory, in cooperation with the ICI Berlin.

Western states happily turn to gender and sexual politics in order to demonstrate their presumed progressiveness. They find support from some parts of feminist and LGBTI activism that regard (neo)liberal state and diversity policies as instrumental for achieving integration and recognition. Such alliances have recently been criticized for fostering new social divisions and endorsing occidentalist and sometimes racist premises. Interested in the nuances of this critique, the lecture series brings together theoretical and political considerations developed from Queers of Color and/or migrant perspectives on late-modern and neoliberal state policies. The speakers will analyze the sexual imaginaries that organize Western publics and develop queer counter narratives. Sara Ahmed, Fatima El Tayeb, Antonia Chao, Drucilla Cornell and Cathy Cohen will be among the next speakers.

More: http://www.ici-berlin.org/series/series-description/392/

The lecture series is organized by Antke Engel, Institute for Queer Theory (www.queer-institut.de) in cooperation with the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry (www.ici-berlin.org), which hosts the series. It is supported by other academic institutions and political organizations in Berlin who co-organize and sponsor individual lectures in the series.

The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Claimed Success and Documented Effects

Check out a fantastic conference paper by Susanne Dodillet and Petra Östergren, exploring the controversial Swedish Sex Purchase Act. The paper was presented at the International Workshop: Decriminalizing Prostitution and Beyond: Practical Experiences and Challenges. The Hague, March 3 and 4, 2011. It can be read in full here.

Europe + 'Sexual Deviants' = Telegraph Breakdown

The Telegraph carried a story yesterday that was a good old fashioned right-of-centre horror story. They reported that the European Commission has spent £124,000 on a five day conference 'for 200 homosexual, bisexual, transgender and "intersex" activists'.

Obviously images abound of orgies and grapes being served from an intersex activists naval at Telegraph Towers. They were probably also engaging in languages other than English. A true Halloween image for Telegraph readers.

OK, the price does seem remarkably steep especially if there was no income (conference fees etc), however, the idea of the event was a sound one. To explore and educate in an area that is still subject to so much ignorance. The Telegraph's branding of session titles as 'baffling' is an argument to fund these sort of events, rather than scrap them.

Read the full Telegraph story here.

Italy's 'summer of homophobia'

Alexander Chancellor is on holiday so his Guardian G2 column has taken an Italian theme this week, but in a fascinating and disturbing section he makes to Italy's 'Summer of Homophobia'. Read the article here. Interestingly the paper copy had a very different headline to the online version ('It's a strange summer in Italy: gay people are under attack on the beach. meanwhile, the natives' English hasn't improved').

Marriage and the ECtHR

I would argue that the European Court of Human Rights has been a key player in the development of human rights in the UK. The decision by the Strasbourg court in Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (no. 30141/04) on same-sex marriage is a disappointing one. The court released a press release to accompany the decision of the court which is available here. Relying on Article 12, the applicants complained of the authorities’ refusal to allow them to contract marriage. Relying further on Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 they complained that they were discriminated against on account of their sexual orientation since they were denied the right to marry and did not have any other possibility to have their relationship recognised by law before the entry into force of the Registered Partnership Act. Pink News reported the story here.

In respect of Article 12 (the right to marry) the Strasbourg Court found that Article 12 did not impose an obligation on the Austrian Government to grant a same-sex couple like the applicants access to marriage. It therefore unanimously held that there had been no violation of that Article.

Although this is the bit that's got the media's attention - it's actually the 14 accompanied by 8 bit that's a little more interesting - not least because the court was divided. It is worth reproducing that section of the press release in full:

The Court first addressed the issue whether the relationship of a same-sex couple like the applicants’ fell not only within the notion of “private life” but also constituted “family life” within the meaning of Article 8. Over the last decade, a rapid evolution of social attitudes towards same-sex couples had taken place in many member States and a considerable number of States had afforded them legal recognition. The Court therefore concluded that the relationship of the applicants, a cohabiting same-sex couple living in a stable partnership, fell within the notion of “family life”, just as the relationship of a different-sex couple in the same situation would.

The Court had repeatedly held that different treatment based on sexual orientation required particularly serious reasons by way of justification. It had to be assumed that same-sex couples were just as capable as different-sex couples of entering into stable committed relationships; they were consequently in a relevantly similar situation as regards their need for legal recognition of their relationship. However, given that the Convention was to be read as a whole, having regard to the conclusion reached that Article 12 did not impose an obligation on States to grant same-sex couples access to marriage, the Court was unable to share the applicants’ view that such an obligation could be derived from Article 14 taken in conjunction with Article 8.

Given that with the entry into force of the Registered Partnership Act in Austria it was open to the applicants to have their relationship formally recognised, it was not the Court’s task to establish whether the lack of any means of legal recognition for same-sex couples would constitute a violation of Article 14 taken in conjunction with Article 8 if this situation still persisted. It remained to be examined whether Austria should have provided the applicants with an alternative means of legal recognition of their partnership any earlier than it did. The Court observed that while there was an emerging European consensus towards legal recognition of same-sex couples, there was not yet a majority of States providing for it. The Austrian law reflected this evolution; though not in the vanguard, the Austrian legislator could not be reproached for not having introduced the Registered Partnership Act any earlier.

The Court was not convinced by the argument that if a State chose to provide same-sex couples with an alternative means of recognition, it was obliged to confer a status on them which corresponded to marriage in every respect. The fact that the Registered Partnership Act retained some substantial differences compared to marriage in respect of parental rights corresponded largely to the trend in other member States. Moreover, in the present case the Court did not have to examine every one of these differences in detail. As the applicants did not claim that they were directly affected by the remaining restrictions concerning parental rights, it would have gone beyond the scope of the case to establish whether these differences were justified.

In the light of these findings, the Court concluded, by four votes to three, that there had been no violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8.

Judges Rozakis, Spielmann and Jebens expressed a dissenting opinion; Judges Kovler and Malinverni expressed a concurring opinion.

The full judgment is available here. There is also a webcast of the hearing in English here - although I've not been able to get it to work!

Catching Up

I'm sorry I've not posted anything for a little while. It's all go isn't it? Obviously, I was preparing for Chicago when I last posted. Wonderful conference in a brilliant city - and I was blessed with lovely hot weather whilst there. As I say, good conference, lots of interesting papers and managed to see quite a bit of the city too. Stopped by the Leather Archives and Museum - about a 30min ride out of the centre on the "L". Worth a visit but don't expect to need that long there -it's relatively small and I thought the displays too text based. That said, I did learn something and would recommend it to others. Also managed to pop along to the International Mr Leather (IML) market with a straight colleague who was also at the LSA conference. Well, talk about interesting! Typically, my straight colleague was the eye candy and I was just cast as a slutty bottom (literally I was greeted with "if you'd like to check the cum in your arse in over there"). Meanwhile, my straight friend and colleague was told he was wearing too many clothes and should strip off given his hot bod. Story of my life. We also watched a bit of 3D porn, which as I've already tweeted didn't seem to work. It was a bit of a culture shock to return to an academic environment after that I can tell you.

IML 2010 was significant for crowning a disabled trans man as its winner. Tyler McCormick can be seen winning in the video below. Lance Holman, Mr San Francisco Leather, took first runner-up, and Jack Andrew Duke, Mr. Texas Leather, took second runner-up.



Meanwhile, back in blighty, poor old David Laws got himself into a bit of bother. A talented Minister, his loss was undoubtedly a blow for the coalition and although I think he had to resign politically, I don't think he did anything that wrong - in fact had he applied the rules people wanted him to, he would have cost the taxpayer more so go figure. Those like the former labour minister (and out gay man) Ben Bradshaw who criticised Laws for being closeted in the modern world just didn't "get it". Public figures still have families and personal circumstances that conspire to ensure they remain in the closet. In the circumstances, it would have been nice if Bradshaw had been a little more supportive of Laws at what is no-doubt a painful and difficult time.

I think there's more to the Laws story than has been in the press- particularly regarding the nature of the relationship and that alone may prevent Laws - clearly a deeply private individual - from returning to public life despite all the predictions that he will. Time will tell.

The other event I missed out on was of course Eurovision. The campest event that unites homosexuals around Europe. It's like a giant Europe wide Pride sing-a-long. I've just watched it thanks to Sky plus and thought Germany a worthy winner but I adored Iceland and Moldova. I've embedded them below - gosh I do spoil you.

Prague, Gay4Pay and the Porn Industry

Another story that I've saving up for a while is this one about gay porn in Prague. The site of East European boys - celebrating the twink performer identity - in porn out of the Czech Republic has become an increasingly common one and a short documentary (embedded below) explores what's going on there - and why men are performing as 'gay 4 pay'. It makes for interesting reading. I'd be curious what other people make of it.

The article/doc don't make for a flattering image of the industry. The piece concludes that: Having worked on the other side of the business, [one interviewee] now understands. “It always starts with ads for modeling and goes slowly from there,” he says. When a guy shows up, he is always told it’s nude modeling. Some guys leave right away, some will stay. A producer will tell them they could get more money if they did solo masturbation. Some think about it and accept. Then even more money if they do a sex scene with another guy. It progresses slowly, but “you wake up and realize you are on a train that you can’t get off of.” Or, even before that happens, the producer might say “they no longer need you because you are old news.”

In porn, everyone is always looking for the next thing, the new guy. Porn is fantasy. People don’t want to keep seeing the same faces and bodies. The models want to know what’s next and, usually, end up as escorts and hustlers.

Resource Focus: Prostitution and Scholarly Thinking

It's been a while since I did a resource focus so I have not one, but two sites for you to take a look at. First up is a site called 'An Anthology of English Pros'. The blog is run by Stephen Paterson and looks at 'prostitution law in the UK'. it does so with excellent detail and humour. Well worth a look.

The next site is also a blog called 'Gary's Law Blog' and is written by Gary McLachlan who is a PhD student at the University of Exeter. His blog is described simply as 'containing and about law'. it's a great resource, including his amsters theis entitled 'How Gay is the European Court of Human Rights' and an interesting undergrad project. My undergraduate and postgrad students will find the blog very interesting.

Italy and the Freedom to Marry

I was recently sent details about the campaign to ensure the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Italy. The campaign website states: 'On 23rd March the Italian Constitutional Court will decide whether several articles of the Civil Code (art. 93, 96, 98, 107, 108, 143, 143-bis, and 156-bis) restricting civil marriage to “husband and wife” rather than “spouses” discriminate against same-sex couples, and infringe upon the principles of equality and non-discrimination protected by the Constitution.

Legally speaking in Italy there is neither a legal “definition” of marriage nor an express restriction on the marriage of same-sex couples. Moreover a requirement that the parties must be of opposite sex is not specified.

Therefore, during 2007 two Italian associations, Certi Diritti and Rete Lenford, jointly launched the national campaign called Affermazione Civile (Civil Affirmation). The aim of the campaign is to bring an end to the exclusion of committed same-sex couples from civil marriage.

Gay people have the same mix of reasons as non-gay people for wanting the freedom to marry, and the law should not discriminate against committed couples or deny them civil marriage licenses with the same responsibilities, same rules, and same respect.'

They've launched a petition, and full details can be viewed here.

Straight Italian Couple and the Gay Cruise

I have some sympathy for the straight Italian couple at the centre of this story regarding a cruise holiday. The Daily Mail ran with the story and in a nut shell the story is as follows: 'An Italian couple are suing a shipping line for £2,800 after claiming they were not told a relaxing holiday they had booked was in fact on board a ship hosting Italy's first gay cruise'. There are so many aspects to the story that I love - they paid for it with supermarket loyalty vouchers, they encountered friends who they didn't know were gay, the reproduced pictures used to advertise the cruise (pictured right) and they assumed the mass media presence was because someone famous was on board. It must have been horrendous to be surrounded by people who have a different sexual orientation, enjoying a holiday and you feeling like such an 'outsider'. I don't see how they couldn't have known it was a gay cruise - the 'gay' people on board had to know it was a gay cruise and no other 'straights' found themselves on board. Oh it's a funny old world.

Read the story here.

Berlusconi in Anti Gay Hate Campaign

Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi might be better known for grabbing the media headlines for his gaffs, corruption rumours and so on but has also demonstrated that he does do a bit of governing on the side. The Guardian reported yesterday that:

'As tens of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Italians prepared to demonstrate tomorrow against a string of homophobic attacks, Silvio Berlusconi's government announced a ground-breaking €2m media campaign against discrimination.

After meeting representatives of more than 20 gay rights associations, the equal opportunities minister, Mara Carfagna, said Italy's rightwing government would make "an unprecedented commitment to get across our message". The money would pay for TV commercials, newspaper advertisements and posters to be put up on hoardings and in buses and trains'.

Sex Work Laws Increase Risk?

The Guardian carried a really interesting piece in it's Society supplement yesterday. The piece involved a journalist heading over to Scandinavia to see how the new laws are operating there. The report comes as the Westminster government attempts to tighten up the law once again - this time making it an offence to 'buy' sex. The piece features interviews with the sex workers affected and examines the flaws in the law. It is well worth a read and can be viewed here.

De Oeverlanden Cruising Zones

Here is an interesting story about De Oeverlanden park near Amsterdam. According to the report, they have erected signs indicating 'cruising zones' within the public park. If anyone has any pics of the signs, it would be great to see them!

Gay Marriage in Sweden

Pink News is reporting on an interesting development in Sweden. They have introduced a gender neutral change to marriage which becomes law today. I like the look of it and it marks a big change from the gay marriage discussions in the USA or civil partnerships in the UK.

EU Art

Thanks to Sean for 'flagging up' (pardon the pun) this story with me. An artwork was unveiled at the EU last week that satirised different European states by portrayign their stereotypes. France was portrayed as always ons trike and the the UK was absence. Poland is represented by Catholic monks raising the rainbow flag. Fabulous.