Posts tagged trans rights
Equality. Everywhere.
Last week, All Out’s Equality Moms truly hit the streets of Rio de Janeiro - opening a massive photo exhibition in Praça XV.
The portraits, highlighting dozens of strong mothers standing up against homophobia and transphobia in Rio, will travel to different communities within the city limits. While Brazil remains the most dangerous place in the world to be LGBT, their message resonates: “equality is a family value”
To learn more, check out our ongoing campaign at allout.org/maespelaigualdade and more photos on Facebook
New push for our friend Sergey, on trial in Saint Petersburg next week for “gay propaganda”. We’re asking celebrities and world leaders like Madonna, Ban Ki-Moon, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and Hillary Clinton to stand with Sergey too. Will you take a moment and share?
In less than one week, lawmakers in St. Petersburg could silence millions - straight and gay - by making it a crime to read, write or even discuss anything “gay”. Calls and letters have rolled in from around the world, but it’s not enough. So with your help, we’re going to hit the Governor of St. Petersburg where it counts - in his wallet.
Russia recently announced that it wants to spend $11 billion dollars in five years to attract tourists from around the world. We need to let the Governor of St. Petersburg - one of the country’s biggest tourist destinations - know that WE WON’T GO THERE if he turns the town into a gloomy center of censorship and intolerance.
Governor Poltavchenko has the power to veto the bill. Will you take one minute to tell him “I won’t go there” if the bill passes and ask your friends and family to do the same? All Out members are already planning creative events at Russian embassies and consulates to deliver your message next week in a major international media spectacle that lawmakers in image-conscious St. Petersburg can not ignore:
www.allout.org/stpetersburg-dont-go
Conservatives in Saint Petersburg insist on passing the “gay gag rule,” believing they can ignore calls from world leaders and the country’s own international treaty obligations respecting freedom of expression. But Russia’s second largest city thrives on its reputation as Russia’s cosmopolitan “window to the west” to attract tourists from around the world. And this reputation can’t coexist with a new law that will muzzle artists, writers, musicians and regular citizens who live in- or visit - the city.
Imagine for a moment the new Saint Petersburg - where newly empowered “thought police” can fine you for any mention of the well known fact that famed Russian composer Tchaikovksy, a Saint Petersburg native, was gay. This law will censor millions of Russians, gay and straight - and silence any and all human rights organizations in Russia fighting for equal rights.
Will you take one minute to tell Governor Georgy Poltavchenko ”I won’t go there” if this bill passes then ask your friends to do the same now?
www.allout.org/stpetersburg-dont-go
Over the past few months over 250,000 people have joined All Out in denouncing the bill, and thousands of us have picked up the phone to call our foreign offices, pushing the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia and others to issue official condemnations. We have to keep up the pressure - now, more than ever.
We have less than a week before the final vote. Please take a moment to make it public that you “won’t go there” and ask your friends to do the same now: we’re organizing creative protests at Russian consulates in cities all over the world to deliver these signatures and urge the Governor of Saint Petersburg not to sign this bill into law.
www.allout.org/stpetersburg-dont-go
Thanks for going All Out.
Best,
Alberto, Andre, Erika, Flavia, Guillaume, Jasmin, Jeremy, Joseph, Oli, Tile, Wesley
SOURCES:
St. Petersburg: The Tourist Capital
www.themoscowtimes.com/beyond_moscow/stpetersburg.html
“Russia will spend over $11 billion on programs aimed at promoting tourism to Russia through 2018.”
www.themoscownews.com/russia/20110915/189047809.html
Russia: “Anti-Gay Propaganda Bill” Passes Second Reading
www.globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/10/russia-anti-gay-propaganda-bill-passes-second-reading
Mothers petition St. Petersburg to drop anti-gay legislation
www.rt.com/news/prime-time/mothers-petition-gay-community
‘Gay propaganda’ law none of US business – Russian FM official
www.rt.com/politics/gay-propaganda-law-petersburg
BREAKING - In major U-turn, Sweden poised to end forced sterilization of trans people
Conservative Christian Democrats announce, “It’s time to abolish the requirement for sterilization at sex change.”
With no remaining obstacles, Sweden’s repeal sets a new precedent for the 28 remaning European countries with laws requiring forced sterilization
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (February 18, 2012) - Today the conservative Christian Democrats - members of the governing coalition in Sweden and the primary obstacle to ending the policy of forced sterilizations - went public with a decision to reverse their position. “It’s time to abolish the requirement for sterilization at sex change,” leaders of the Christian Democrats wrote in an opinion piece published today in the Swedish press.
The current law forces transgender persons in Sweden to undergo sterilization before legally changing their gender. The surgery renders a person permanently infertile and unable to have children in the future.
“This is an incredible news for Sweden: it means that anyone will be able to have their true identity recognized without having to be sterilized, says Ulrika Westerlund, President of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights. “It’s crucial that the new law comes into place as soon as possible.”
The announcement come after several years of mobilization in Sweden followed by a massive international outcry coordinated by AllOut.org, a global alliance of over 850,000 straight, gay, lesbian, bi and trans people. The global campaign to stop forced sterilization in Sweden was the largest online campaign in history supporting human rights for transgender people.
“Swedish activists have worked for years to lay the foundation for this victory and I am so proud that AllOut.org could build the international momentum that finally pushed Prime Minister Reinfeldt and party leaders to end this cruel practice,” says Andre Banks, Executive Director of AllOut.org. “It’s a victory for Sweden, but it is also decisive for Europe. AllOut.org members across the continent will continue to push online and in Parliament until each of these appalling laws are thrown out with the trash.”
Since January, the international campaign coordinated by AllOut.org generated incredible energy on an issue that rarely receives coverage in mainstream media outlets. After 50,000 Europeans called on Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a clear stand against forced sterilization, one new article rose to the top of Reddit.com, a popular social news aggregator, receiving more than 150,000 views and generating thousands of comments. AllOut.org’s video of Love, a young Swedish transgender man directly impacted by the law has also become an international sensation - generating more than 50,000 views in few days.
Love’s video and the AllOut.org campaign with comments from supporters around the world can be found here:
http://allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization
*Surgery leading to sterilisation has been identified as a requirement in 29 member states (Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark,291Estonia, Finland,292France, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine) http://www.coe.int/t/Commissioner/Source/LGBT/LGBTStudy2011_en.pdf
AllOut.org is a global campaign organization of over 800,000 people from 190 countries around the world dedicated to LGBT equality. A movement working online and on the ground to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are, All Out is adding global people power to the historic fight for LGBT equality. Find out more at: www.allout.org/about
Another photo from the protest against forced sterilization in Stockholm, Sweden. Taken by All Out member Elinore Lindén Strand.
A message from Love Georg Elfvelin, 21, store manager, Sweden:
My name is Love, I live in Sweden and I’m transgender. Today, if I want to change my legal gender to reflect my true self, Sweden will force me to be sterilized.
That’s right: in 2012, to make the “F” on my identity card an “M”, my country makes me give up the right to have biological children. It’s not fair, and this practice must stop.
Right now a reform of the law is being debated in Sweden. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that will convince our Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock. I’ve made a short video to explain the situation and included the email we sent to friends in Europe below. Will you watch, sign the petition and share with your friends?
Over 40,000 All Out members from all over Europe have already called on Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights. Just yesterday, I took part in a protest here in Stockholm with more than 400 people in attendance. The momentum is building, but we need your help.
Please watch the video and sign.
Thank you!
Forced sterilization in Sweden?
Ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to finally end forced sterilization in Sweden:
Dear friend,
If you are a transgender person in Sweden wanting to change your legal gender, you are forced to undergo surgery that will render you permanently infertile and unable to have children in the future. That’s right: in 2012, Swedish law still mandates forced sterilization in order to do something as simple as changing the gender on your driver’s license.
Despite a massive push to repeal the law, including support from 90% of Swedish MPs, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stayed silent on the issue: allowing one small conservative party to block the change.
Right now a reform of the law is being debated in Sweden. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that finally convinces PM Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock. Will you take one minute to sign our urgent letter? RFSL, the Swedish federation for LGBT rights, will publicly deliver our signatures directly to the Prime Minister and demand that he intervene right now:
www.allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization
Forced sterilization has a long and frightening history in Sweden. Beginning with programs in the 1930s that tried to eliminate certain “undesirable” traits in society by forcing individuals to be sterilized, Sweden has long grappled with the painful history of stripping from citizens what we now consider to be a basic human right. Even Prime Minister Reinfeldt has publicly called sterilization law a “dark chapter in Swedish history”.
Now he has a chance to close that chapter for good. A reform of the law is ready to be presented directly to the Parliament - where 90% of MPs are in favor of banning forced sterilization - but without a push from the Prime Minister, the conservative KRISTDEMOKRATERNA party will use its seat in the government to block the change.
We know he is on our side: whether you are straight, gay, lesbian, bi or trans, will you take a moment to raise your voice and ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights?
Our friends at RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver your signatures directly to the Prime Minister’s office.
www.allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization
Thank you for going All Out.
Best,
Andre, Emmy, Erika, Flavia, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Oli, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out
Sources:
Sweden: Transgender actress mourns her “forcible sterilization” - Many countries typically seen as progressive on LGBT rights continue to mandate the practice.
www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/culture-lifestyle/111101/sweden-transgender-LGBT-gay-lesbian-bisexual-sterilization
Sweden keeps sex-change sterilization law
www.thelocal.se/38466/20120112/
Human Rights Watch’s Letter to the Swedish Prime Minister
www.hrw.org/node/104368
