The European Court of Human Rights has fined Russia for banning gay parades in Moscow, in an important victory for the country's gay community.
A leading activist, Nikolai Alexeyev, brought the case after the city authorities repeatedly rejected his requests to organise marches.
The Moscow authorities had argued the parades would cause a violent reaction.
But the court in Strasbourg said Russia had discriminated against Mr Alexeyev on grounds of sexual orientation.
It said that by refusing to allow the parades, the authorities had "effectively approved of and supported groups who had called for (their) disruption".
"The mere risk of a demonstration creating a disturbance was not sufficient to justify its ban," the court said.
Read article:
Russia: European Court Rules Gay Pride Ban Unlawful
October 21, 2010 – Reuters
Source: Human Rights Watch
In a stinging ruling issued against Russia, the European Court of Human Rights rebuked the Moscow authorities for repeatedly denying activists the right to hold gay pride marches, Human Rights Watch said today. The court, ruling on October 21, 2010, said the ban violated the right to freedom of assembly. It also ruled that the Moscow authorities had unlawfully discriminated against activist Nikolay Aleksandrovich Alekseyev and the organizers of gay pride events on the basis of sexual orientation, and had denied them a remedy having violated their rights.
"The European court saw Moscow's decision to ban gay pride events as homophobia dressed up in dubious claims about public order," said Boris Dittrich, acting director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender program at Human Rights Watch. "The court has told the Russian authorities they can no longer ban peaceful gatherings based on the participants' sexual orientation. So now it's time for the Moscow authorities to allow gay pride marches - and to protect participants from violence."
Read more:
400,000 Anti-gay marriage DVDs - $1 million Nienstedt “Minnesota Bishops on Gay Marriage” October 29, 2010 - RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY PBS – video
“Pope Benedict must bear his share of the responsibility for the mishandling of the clerical sex abuse issue.” “Rome is where we point the finger.” By Paddy Agnew, October 30, 2010 - The Irish Times
Hate Crime Bill vs Attacks
But
No Facts -> Fear And Ignorance
Of The Blind Leading The Blind
October 27, 2009 – Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Related links:
[Unsubstantiated] --- RELIGIOUS BELIEFS that gay and lesbian relationships are SINFUL or INFERIOR to heterosexual relationships
HARM
gays and lesbians.
Judge Vaughn Walker Ruling
California Prop 8. August 4, 2010
On Prop 8, it's the evidence, stupid
By Lisa Bloom
CNN.com
and related links:
California Prop 8, Aug, 4, 2010 - Deep misunderstanding
"We the People"
means - US Constitution –
DANGERS of majority rule - a reflection of prejudice, intolerance, ignorance, panic and crude self-interest…
by Geoffrey R. Stone - Chicago Tribune
"Who does he think he is, anyway? Thirty-one states have put the issue of same-sex marriage to a vote in recent years, and every single one of them has rejected it. Now, here comes another activist judge blatantly disregarding the will of the majority and holding that 'We the People' can't do what we want. It's an outrage, I tell you, an outrage." Photo
This more or less captures the tone of much of the criticism of Judge Vaughn Walker's decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, holding California's Proposition 8 unconstitutional. This criticism is based on a deep misunderstanding of what "We the People" means. The United States Constitution is premised on the notion of majority rule, but with a very important caveat.
The framers of our Constitution fully recognized the dangers as well as the strengths of majority rule. They understood that THE MAJORITY will sometimes act in ways that are not truly public-regarding, but are instead a reflection of prejudice, intolerance, ignorance, panic and crude self-interest. A profound puzzle the framers encountered was how to deal with this danger.
The idea of a Bill of Rights that would forbid the government (the majority) from depriving individuals of certain fundamental liberties without good cause had appeal, but as James Madison acknowledged, these "parchment barriers" could not meaningfully restrain the majority from doing what it wants, if the majority has the final word on what those liberties mean.
Read more –
Geoffrey R. Stone is a law professor at the University of Chicago.
Same-Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography of the Legal Literature
by Paul Axel-Lute
Rutgers School of Law–Newark
Gay Teen Suicide & Gay Marriage
– Benedict XVI and the Hierarchy –
Accountability
Child Sexual Abuse & Abuse LGBT Children
HUMAN LIFE, MORAL CONSCIENCE & AUTHORITATIVE TEACHING
Catholic church sex abuse documents - reveal …long knew about abusive priests, … shuffled from parish to parish despite credible complaints… By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press, October 25, 2010 - Salon
Sexual orientation
- Internalized Homophobia -
“Auschwitz – Benedict XVI - Christmas 2008 -A flashback far more severe than in Brokeback Mountain” GAY TEENAGE SUICIDE
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Attachment Theory
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times. Photo
Gay marriage -> Restoring
"Hope of Love"
To Children In Early Childhood -> Marriage Equality
March 23, 2010 –
by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Marriage Equality, like Galileo, is the truth about the facts of growing up gay. Marriage Equality will not become a reality until people learn that its most vital purpose is that it restores the “hope of love” to children in early childhood – essential to their development and well-being for life. Without Marriage Equality we teach children how to hate love and how to be mean and indifferent to people as adults. With all due respect, without Marriage Equality we would teach them in much the same way as has been shown by Benedict XVI and the hierarchy, especially in their lack of care and protection of children for decades.Making homophobia history
by Sue Learner
October 26, 2010
The Guardian
'I've had pupils say 'Miss, you are trying to turn us gay' and I ask them, 'do you turn black during Black History Month or Turkish during Turkish month?'" Elly Barnes, a music teacher at Stoke Newington school in north London, is used to tackling such questions. Prompted by seeing homophobia around her in school on many occasions, she now runs Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History Month here every February.
LGBT History Month was launched nationally by the lobby group Schools Out five years ago, and Stoke Newington school was one of the first to celebrate the event by integrating it into the curriculum. But the school has now gone one step further and become a diversity training centre, training teachers from both primary and secondary schools on equal opportunity policies, giving advice on resources and demonstrating LGBT practice lessons.
"My focus is eradicating homophobia from all schools and educational establishments by giving staff the confidence and resources to do it, along with demonstrating good practice and changing opinions under the banner of 'educate and celebrate'," says Barnes, who is the diversity course leader.
Read more:
“Someday, maybe,
there will exist
a
well-informed,
well considered and
yet
fervent public conviction
that the most deadly of
all possible
sins
is the mutilation
of
a child’s spirit.”
No comments:
Post a Comment