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Students May Have Been Forced to Confess ‘Lesbianism’

moi girlsThe 12 girls sent away for ‘lesbianism’ in Moi Kadzonzo Girls Secondary School in Kilifi may have been forced to confess. Reports from some students and teachers say the headmistress may have acted to stem grumbling over problems in the institution that may have resulted into a strike soon.

 

A Film Inspired by the Death of a Young Homosexual Killed by His Father Premiers in Turkey

"Zenne Dancer" is planned for several days in Turkish cinema. The film is based on a true story: the murder of a young 26 year old in 2008 in Istanbul, killed by his own father because he was gay. 

zenne1-webWith their feature film, Mehmet Binay Caner Alper hope to launch a major debate on homophobia and LGBT rights in Turkey. Zenne Dancer was released a few days ago in Turkish cinema. 


It features three main characters: Daniel, a German photographer who does not know much about the values of Middle East Can, a flamboyant oriental dancer, gay, and proud to be supported by his family and Ahmey, born in a very conservative family and whose quest for freedom and the desire for honesty will lead to death ... 

 The tragic end of that character is even more chilling when you know it is inspired by a real story.

"The starting point was the murder of a dear friend, murdered in Istanbul in 2008 by his father because he was gay," says Mehmet Binay to  CNN. The only fault of Ahmet Yildiz, an Istanbul student of 26 years was that he was dating a boy. His family tried to "cure" him before the father eventually killed him


Homophobic Treatments In Turkey


Many LGBTs regularly rebel against the aggressions and violations of human rights


"All minorities, including gays and lesbians seek rights. They want recognition, they want protection. They want the right to live, first of all, and not be killed, "says the co-director of Zenne Dancer . 


The film caught the attention of inhuman treatment that his country reserves to the LGBT.This is especially true in the military where gays may be exempted from military service if they cannot prove their sexual orientation. Zenne Dancer then depicts the degrading process through which gay persons who dare to speak pass through.The doctors conduct military anal examinations, insult gays and require pictures of frolicking men as proof. 


Two film producers who work and in live together, Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay, produced a film for Turkey’s film festival. Shortly before the screening of their feature film, Antalya Golden Orange, at the Film Festival, the most prestigious film festival in Turkey, the two men announced that they had been a couple for 14 years. 


Caner Alper said that his family was completely opposed to his coming out: "They told me it was suicide for my career! Until they won five awards at the festival ... " With the welcome criticism and the world of cinema, the two directors are aware that there is still work to be done, and a long time before the homophobia in their country ends. According to the Turkish armed forces, for example, homosexuality is still considered a "psychosexual deviance."

In Turkey, a film inspired by the death of a young homo killed by his father

 


 

Frank Mugisha, Ugandan Gay Activist, Receives Death Threats, Fears For His Life

frankA Ugandan gay activist who wrote a New York Times op-ed piece in December, speaking out against homophobia in his country enforced by the government and the police, has received threats and says he fears for his life, afraid to even go shopping alone or eat in a restaurant for fear of being poisoned.

"Just two days ago there was a very big piece of news about me," said Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, in an interview by phone from Kampala on my radio program on SiriusXM OutQ yesterday, referring to an article he says was written in a local newspaper, attacking him for writing the New York Times op-ed.

"It said that everything we are saying is not true. That we are just trying to get sympathy in the Western world. They put my picture in the newspaper with all these hate words and of course I got a lot of bad emails, bad phones, a lot of harassment against me."

Mugisha, who in November received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award at a ceremony in Washington, had written in the Times back on December 22 about the conditions for LGBT people in in his country, which came under international criticism beginning in 2009 for its consideration of what had come to be known as the "kill the gays" bill, a law that if enacted would make homosexuality punishable by death or life imprisonment.

The bill was shelved in May of 2011, but Mugisha wrote that it could be introduced again at any time.

"Here, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people suffer brutal attacks, yet cannot report them to the police for fear of additional violence, humiliation, rape or imprisonment at the hands of the authorities," Mugisha wrote in the Times. "We are expelled from school and denied health care because of our perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. If your boss finds out (or suspects) you are gay, you can be fired immediately. People are outed in the media -- or if they have gay friends, they are assumed to be 'gay by association.'"

Mugisha also discussed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's historic speech in Geneva last month which put pressure on countries around the world, calling for gay rights to be included as human rights and tying foreign aid to a country's record on LGBT rights. Uganda, like other African countries is a recipient of U.S. foreign aid.

"Every day of my life here in Uganda I have to be careful of what I do," Mugisha said in the radio interview yesterday. "It has reached the point that where I even have to be careful when I'm going to get food in a restaurant, to be sure that the food I'm getting, that I trust the restaurant, because I'm scared I could get poisoned. Even when I want to go shopping I have to call a friend and say can you come with me because my face has been in the newspapers, my face has been in the media. Just two days ago when my face was put in the newspapers I received harassment already. Now it is my fear of stepping out my house. If I want to go and buy food, because I have to eat, what is going to happen to me today?"

Mugisha fears what happened to the best-known gay activist in Uganda, David Kato, could happen to him. Kato was found dead in his home last year, bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

"That gives me more fear because he was murdered [in] his house," he says. "That is more scary. Not having the privacy. Not having the closure. It's very fearful for me."

 

   

Kenyan Lesbian Writer Has Her Debut Romantic Fiction Published

Kerry Wairimu Belchambers is no ordinary author; she has several firsts under her belt. Not only is she the first author to write a book about  the love and life of a same sex couple published in Kenya, she is also the first author in Kenya who identifies as lesbian and the first Kenyan to have her book published by Blue Feather Books Ltd.

Kerry says that she started writing by diarizing her thoughts and slowly transformed her writing to fictional stories. “I have a lot of   altwritten work in my computer and Cresswell Falls is my first book to get published.


Kerry has penned a heart-warming story in Cresswell Falls which is her debut novel. The book is based on two women, their very difference lives and love, but who meet by chance and life as they are accustomed to takes them to new discoveries. It is a story of love, tragedy, family and sheer will to find happiness.

The book is currently available online at: http://www.bellabooks.com , http://www.bluefeatherbooks.com, and http://www.amazon.com. The hard copies are expected to hit the shelves at your favorite book store at the end of this month.


Besides the novel, Kerry has had  several of her short stories published in the Daily Nation, and one of her poems was included in a South     African anthology titled Eternal Voice. She has also written a satirical play entitled The Dangling Dodger, based on the African political imbalance. It has been performed at the Kenya National Theatre.

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Kerry Wairimu Belchambers is no ordinary author; she has several firsts under her belt. Not only is she the first author to write a book about  the love and life of a same sex couple         published in Kenya, she is also the first author in Kenya who        identifies as lesbian and the first Kenyan to have her book published by Blue Feather Books Ltd.

Kerry says that she started writing by diarizing her thoughts and slowly transformed her writing to fictional stories. “I have a lot of   written work in my computer and Cresswell Falls is my first book to get published.

Kerry has penned a heart-warming story in Cresswell Falls which is her debut novel. The book is based on two women, their very         difference lives and love, but who meet by chance and life as they are accustomed to takes them to new discoveries. It is a story of love, tragedy, family and sheer will to find happiness.

The book is currently available online at: http://www.bellabooks.com , http://www.bluefeatherbooks.com, and http://www.amazon.com. The hard copies are expected to hit the shelves at your favorite book store at the end of this month.

Besides the novel, Kerry has had  several of her short stories published in the Daily Nation, and one of her poems was included in a South     African anthology titled Eternal Voice. She has also written a satirical play entitled The Dangling Dodger, based on the African political imbalance. It has been performed at the Kenya National Theatre.

 

 

Spaniards launch gay retirement home scheme

Spanish gays and lesbians are uniting to build Spain's first homosexual retirement residence, driven away from traditional homes by prejudices that linger since the decades of dictatorship.

Gays who say they must return to the closet at risk of being isolated and insulted when they enter a care home have secured the right to build their own retirement complex near Madrid.

Spain has championed gay rights in recent years -- its former Socialist government legalised gay marriage in 2005 -- but activists say that prejudice lingers among people who grew up under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

"The older generation was raised in a culture of hate towards homosexuals. They were taught that homosexuals are queers, that they were depraved sinners," Federico Armenteros, the leader of the project, told AFP.

"Your companions in the retirement home isolate you. People don't want to share a room with a homosexual," said Armenteros, a member of the December 26 Foundation, a gay rights group.

Homosexuality was a crime punishable by jail until the law against it was modified in 1978, three years after Franco's death.

"The law has changed, but mentalities have not," said Armenteros, a 53-year-old social worker who has booked his own place in the residence in anticipation of his retirement.

A town on the eastern outskirts of Madrid, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, has ceded a plot of land to December 26 to build the home, the local mayor Jose Masa said.

"The population of this town is very young and supportive and used to getting involved in all kinds of environmental and progressive issues," said Masa -- a left-wing mayor in a mostly conservative region.

"This can be one more in a series of actions linked to civil rights and recognition of people's identities," Masa told AFP.

The foundation aims to equip the home with a library, gym, spa and other facilities.

So far 20 people have signed up to the cooperative to have apartments in the complex when it is built, but another 90 participants are needed, plus other investors to launch the 14 million-euro ($18 million) plan.

The foundation says it hopes to start building this year and complete it by 2014. A place in the home will cost 1,400 euros a month, compared with 2,400 or more for a regular retirement home in Madrid.

"Right now we are in the hardest bit of the project -- seeking funding from banks and other people, to get the work under way as soon as possible," Armanteros said.

It is a bad time to be looking to build, as Spain suffers from an economic downturn brought on by the collapse of a housing boom in 2008. Unemployment is at 21.5 percent and economists are warning of a fresh recession.

"The banks are not lending money. We are caught up in the crisis and the banks don't want to hear about construction projects," Armenteros said, adding that the foundation is courting various investors.

"I told them not to lose heart and to keep trying," said Masa the mayor.

"They have to make an effort for this symbol to be made a reality."

Among others who have signed up for a spot in the residence is Empar Pineda, a retired lesbian activist of 77.

"I know lots of cases of people who have had to go back in the closet because they could not bear the jokes and the humiliation" by fellow pensioners in the rest homes, she said.

"I think the fact that a mayor has welcomed the project so enthusiastically is a sign of the change that has taken place in Spanish society. But there is still much to be done."


 

 


   

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