LGBTIQ rights remain one of the focuses of our Embassy's work, also in Armenia. Therefore, when our Deputy Ambassador Floor was in Yerevan recently, one of her meetings was with PINK (a beautiful abbreviation that stands for 'Public Information and Need of Knowledge NGO'.) They are one of the leading LGBTIQ organisations in Armenia: Mamikon and Nvard (in the photo) regularly share very interesting information with us. Looking forward to meeting them in Tbilisi soon, at a conference organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation.
As I mentioned in my comment on their FB page, great to see such display of support for PINK Armenia. They are great bunch of people devoted to human rights. They do invaluable work for Armenia and beyond.
For my general commentary re constitutional referendum in Armenia and its aftermath, read: Defeated in Armenia
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This video (along with number of other updates and videos on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere), posted by one of the brave election observers Nairi Hakhverdi (Diasporan Armenian from the Netherland, lives in Armenia for years now) reflects perfectly the overall atmosphere of intimidation and general level of 'conversation' by ruling regime representatives at voting precincts:
"This Republican Party proxy said something along the lines of: "Just watch, it's going to be VERY different in 2017." I turned on the camera and asked him to repeat what he said. What follows is something about going back to Holland and going to gay and lesbian parties. According to him, I've ruined this country. 9/23 #ArmRef15 #ditord"
[Unzipped: Gay Armenia: by "2017", he refers to the parliamentary election that will be conducted according to new constitution]
This Republican Party proxy said something along the lines of: "Just watch, it's going to be VERY different in 2017." I turned on the camera and asked him to repeat what he said. What follows is something about going back to Holland and going to gay and lesbian parties. According to him, I've ruined this country. :) 9/23 #ArmRef15 #ditord
Posted by Nairi Hakhverdi on Monday, 7 December 2015
I tried it. It’s kind of fun, pretty easy to answer. My score was 10 out of 10 questions :) And apparently, you may be in a chance to win flights into one of KLM’s gay destinations. Competition ends 26 September.
In a press release I received, KLM says : “KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has launched its first ever gay online game in the UK. The airline, which is a staunch supporter of the gay community in the Netherlands, has previously worked with the LGBT community in London but this is the first time the airline has targeted a UK-wide audience.
The game, entitled “The KLM Gay Getaway!”, which can be accessed at www.theklmgaygetaway.co.uk, focuses on the gay capitals of the world. Players get a whistle stop tour of the top KLM gay destinations as they answer a series of multiple choice questions about each city. The view-master mechanic flicks up images of various cities with the questions overlaid on top of the images. At the end of ten questions players can register their details in order to be put into a prize draw to win flights to a gay KLM destination of their choice."
Symbolically coincided with the International Human Rights Day - which calls to "embrace diversity and end discrimination" - Austrian parliament made an important decision today by providing a legal recognition for same-sex partners. Although not a full marriage rights (no adoption or artificial insemination rights), this is certainly a step in a right direction.
VIENNA (AP) -- Austria's parliament passed legislation Thursday allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, a move hailed by proponents as a historic win for gay rights in the country. The bill, slated to become law Jan. 1, will give same-sex couples many of the rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts, including access to a pension if one partner dies and alimony in the event of a split.
What all EU countries (and others) should and would eventually do is to follow the example of Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and South Africa in providing full and equal marriage rights.
Europe's main gay rights group ILGA-Europe welcomes this decision by the Austrian parliament.
On 10 December 2009, the International Human Rights day, the Austrian parliament passed a law on registered partnerships for same-sex partners. ILGA-Europe welcomes this development which makes Austria the 18th country in Europe which provides legal recognition for same-sex partners. The law will come into effect on 1 January 2010.
Sweden became the 7th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. The Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Spain, Canada, and South Africa also allow same-sex marriage. (Civil unions are allowed in more countries.) The new law will take effect on 1 May 2009.
Radio Sweden International (via ILGA Europe): Following a parliamentary vote Wednesday afternoon, MPs voted by a huge majority to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in civil ceremonies. If they want to get married in a church, however, then they will have to find a vicar who will agree to marry them.
Same-sex couples have been able to become civil partners in Sweden since 1995, and the law change doesn’t automatically make them husband and husband or wife and wife, if they want to get married they will have to either have a new ceremony, or send in an application to get the partnership converted into a marriage.
The government was split on the issue with coalition partner the Christian Democrats the only party in the Swedish parliament to oppose the extension of the term ”marriage” to include non-heterosexuals. But in a free vote in parliament 261 MPs voted in favour of the reform, 22 voted no, while 16 abstained.
Religious groups in Sweden are split on the issue. Some Lutheran Church of Sweden vicars have said they will marry same-sex couples, and the church will take a common stand on the issue at a Synod in the Autumn. Roman Catholic, Muslim, and other religions have been much more sceptical to the law change in their comments.
BBCreports: A new art installation going on display at the European Council building in Brussels has angered EU members with its lampoons of national stereotypes.
Entropa portrays Bulgaria as a toilet, Romania as a Dracula theme-park and France as a country on strike.
The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists.
But it turned out to have been entirely completed by Czech artist David Cerny and two associates. [...]
Mr Cerny, who presented Entropa to his government with a brochure describing each of the artwork's 27 supposed contributors from each member state, has apologised for misleading ministers, but not for the installation itself.
"We knew the truth would come out," said Mr Cerny. "But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself."
He added that Entropa "lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space".
Mr Cerny first created a splash in the early 1990s when he painted a Soviet tank, a Second World War memorial in a Prague square, bright pink.
Scandalous headlines are appearing in Azerbaijan and Turkey following the Dutch court ruling to grant adoption of 2 Azeri children to a local lesbian couple. Apparently, Azeri parents, who are residing in Netherlands, were deprived of parental rights after death of one of their children, being accused by Dutch authorities in child abuse, claim disputed by Azeri-Turkish circles.
Azeri-Turkish cultural society in Netherlands voiced its “objection” against that decision citing ‘cultural values’, i.e. that adoption of children by same-sex couple is unacceptable by Turkish or Azeri “culture and traditions” (Day.az and APA). “We can not guarantee that the same will not happen tomorrow to any other Turkish family.” “We respect the decision of the court, but we can not accept it, because this situation is contrary to our culture and traditions.” They threatened civil actions against adoption ruling. They also expressed “gratitude to Turkish Prime Minister Rejep Tayyip Erdoghan for taking stance on this issue”, although it is not clear what exactly Erdogan’s intervention, if any, was.
They perhaps ‘forgot’ in which country they reside in (Netherlands), and that ‘cultural values’ is not a legal category. I can never understand people, regardless of nationality, who are settling in other countries, looking for a “better life”, perfectly aware of more than apparent “cultural differences”, and then demand restriction of prevalent freedoms and human rights in a society where they moved to, instead of contributing to it by adding their own cultural input.
It has to be noted that while one Azeri agency (APA) mentions “Azerbaijani children”, another one (Day.az) reports about “Turkish children”. There are other inconsistencies in these reports too. For example, at the beginning of its report, Day.az cites Dutch court decision to grant adoption rights to a lesbian couple. However, towards the end of the same report, the agency mentions – without providing any clarifications - about July court case which allowed return of children to their biological parents. Moreover, if we trust Day.az, these children are now with their grandfather in Turkey “undergoing a course of treatment”. Pretty confusing reporting, to say the least.
As part of the “Children in the media” initiative run by UNICEF, 15 teenagers from Armenia participated in this year’s Prix Jeunesse ("youth jury") workshop in Yerevan (April 2008).
First of all, 15 children aged between 12 and 15 come together in the Manana Youth Center to be the regional youth jury for this year's Prix Jeunesse. They will watch six hours of programmes from all over the world - the finalists in the age category 12-15.
...a documentary about a gay teenager from the Netherlands raises eyebrows. The topic is not very often talked about in Armenia, but is nevertheless sparks a lively discussion.
It is pretty much ‘breaking news’ taking into account Armenian realities. Education is key to deal with the prejudices and promote equality. Let’s hope similar initiatives will continue, and not only by UNICEF, and their scope will broaden to include more LGBT related programming, including locally made. As they say, “as part of an effort to promote and protect every child’s right to know more, say more and do more about the world they live in.”
The Homomonument - a memorial in the centre of Amsterdam - "commemorates all gay men and lesbians who have been subjected to persecution because of their homosexuality. Opened on September 5, 1987, it takes the form of three large pink triangles made of granite, set into the ground so as to form a larger triangle, on the bank of the Keizersgracht canal, near the historic Westerkerk church."
While in Amsterdam, I paid my respects to the memorial (see photos below).
BBC reports that a similar memorial, but of much larger scale, was inaugurated in Germany "to honour the thousands of homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945":
The four-metre high monument, which has a window showing a film of two men kissing, was unveiled in Berlin.
The Nazis branded homosexuality an aberration threatening their perception of Germans as the master race, and 55,000 gay men were deemed criminals.
As many as 15,000 of those were killed in Nazi concentration camps.
Very few who survived ever received compensation from post-war German governments for the persecution they suffered.
The new memorial - which was inaugurated by Berlin's gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit, and Germany's Culture Minister, Bernd Neumann - is situated close to that for the six million victims of the Holocaust.
Mr Wowereit said it was typical of post-war Germany that the victims had not been honoured until now.
"This is symptomatic for a society... that did not abolish unjust verdicts, but partially continued to implement them; a society which did not acknowledge a group of people as victims, only because they chose another way of life," he said.
During the opening ceremony, Linda Freimane, member of ILGA-Europe’s (Europe's leading gay rights organisation) Executive Board, said:
“Today, our continent is a safe place to live if you are homosexual – safe in comparison with many other places on our earth, where homosexuality is still considered a punishable crime.
Europe has come a long way in its battle for the right of each individual and in dealing with its history of discrimination. Today, in many European countries, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people along with other vulnerable groups enjoy the protection of their state against prejudice, discrimination and violence. In many places in Europe same-sex partners can register their partnership or get married, in some countries the state also supports our wish to become equal parents. We have not yet reached full equality, but we sense the political will to get there.
But this is not enough. You must now also be the ones who do not stay silent when other countries, which have already entered the EU or are knocking on its door, violate the rights of their own citizens. Please remind homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, racist and sexist political leaders that they too belong to a Europe, which is built on the assumption of each individual’s right to freedom, dignity, and respect and to seek his or her own happiness. And please, do not forget all those LGBTI people around the world who live in fear and despair, who face persecution, humiliation, imprisonment and death for simply being who they are.
I hope that the present and future mayors of Berlin and members of German governments will remember to bring their foreign guests to this memorial when they show them the beautiful city of Berlin.”
ILGE-Europe reports further that "One side [of this memorial] has a small opening through which viewers can see a black and white art film scene of two men kissing. " A simple kiss could land you in trouble," says the text which accompanies the memorial. This memorial was designed by the Danish-Norwegian artistic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset."
A short, looped clip of two men kissing, a key component of the memorial, was screened at Tate Modern (London) during the afternoon 27 May to coincide with this historical event. Photo below - via Tate Modern: Elmgreen & Dragset The Kiss (National Memorial for the Homosexual Victims of the Nazi Regime) 2008; courtesy the artists and Victoria Miro Gallery.
“The real violence… the violence that I realised was unforgivable is the violence that we do to ourselves, when we are too afraid to be who we really are.” #Sense8
Մարտիրոս Սարյան: "Իմ կարծիքով, մեզ՝ որպես արևելյան ժողովրդի, չափազանց կպատշաճեր բազմագույն դրոշը, որն ի հայտ է բերում ինքը` չքնաղ և հավերժ գեղեցիկ ծիածանը:"(source)
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