CONTENTS
I. SPW ACTIVITIES / EDITORIAL
Since late September 2009, the SPW executive team has been engaged in a wide variety of activities. First and foremost, we made further progress on preparation for the Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics. Following the recommendation of the Latin American Regional Dialogue (held in Rio de Janeiro in August 2009), we have added our voices to a global campaign that has been underway since May 2009 by developing, together with partners, a statement calling for the de-pathologization of transexuality. Another major project we wish to highlight is the Brazil case study on Internet regulation, gender and sexuality, which is part of EroTICs, a global research project that is being coordinated by the Women’s Networking Support Programme of the Association for Progressive Communications (WNSP/APC) and implemented in partnership with CLAM, the Latin American Center for Sexuality and Human Rights.
1.1 SPW organizes the African Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics
1.2 Calling for the de-pathologization of transexuality
1.3 The EroTICS Brazilian case study
1.4 The contents of the Latin American and the Asian Dialogues on Sexuality and Geopolitics are available
II. SEXUALITY AROUND THE WORLD: MAIN DEBATES
Since its very first issue, this section of the SPW newsletter has underlined the sharp paradoxes of sexual politics in our times, when major breakthroughs in policies, laws and mobilization coexist and contrast with regressive measures that curtail further erotic justice. In this issue, such a paradox is illustrated, on the one hand, by the regressive legislation proposed in Uganda, which aims to further criminalize “homosexual” behavior and which includes a provision for capital punishment of persons prosecuted for having infected others with HIV. On the other hand, we highlight the same sex marriage legislation recently approved in the Federal District of Mexico, as it goes beyond other Latin American countries’ laws and court decisions on the matter.
In SPW’s view, however, the Ugandan law provision should not be analyzed as mere regression. It must be understood as a culmination of a series of regressive laws — on marriage, same sex relations and the criminalization of HIV infection — that have been proposed in Africa, and elsewhere, since the early 2000s. However, it should be reminded also that these regressive propositions, to a large extent, materialized as a response to political mobilizing around sexuality and rights. More importantly, what is particularly remarkable in the recent Ugandan case is that it has triggered remarkable and broad mobilization, both internally and internationally, which has extended far beyond the boundaries of LGBT and human rights communities that have expressed their voices when similar episodes have occurred elsewhere in recent years. Read the complete analysis.
2.1 The Uganda case
2.2 The same sex marriage debate
2.3 Global and regional relevant events
2.4 Laws, policies and politics
2.5 Sexuality and religion
2.6 Human Rights violations
2.7 Genital mutilation
2.8 The abortion front lines
2.9 Also in the news
III. ADVOCACY: KEEP AN EYE
3.1 The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) from March 1-12, 2010 – Beijing+15
3.2 News on the Human Rights Council
IV. SEXUALITY IN ART
4.1 The photographer Zanele Muholi’s artwork
V. CHECK IT OUT!
5.1 Upcoming events
5.2 Scholarships
5.3 Job opportunities
VI. WE RECOMMEND
6.1 Publications and resources
6.2 Articles and statements
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I. SPW ACTIVITIES / EDITORIAL
Since late September 2009, the SPW executive team has been engaged in a wide variety of activities. First and foremost, we made further progress on preparation for the Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics. Following the recommendation of the Latin American Regional Dialogue (held in Rio de Janeiro in August 2009), we have added our voices to a global campaign that has been underway since May 2009 by developing, together with partners, a statement calling for the de-pathologization of transexuality. Another major project we wish to highlight is the Brazil case study on Internet regulation, gender and sexuality, which is part of EroTICs, a global research project that is being coordinated by the Women’s Networking Support Programme of the Association for Progressive Communications (WNSP/APC) and implemented in partnership with CLAM, the Latin American Center for Sexuality and Human Rights.
1.1 SPW organizes the African Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitcs
Originally planned for early 2009, the African Regional Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics has been postponed to the last week September, 2010 and will be held in Lagos, Nigeria. Last September 2009, the regional task force –Adenike Esiet (Action Health Nigeria), Codou Bop (GREFFELS, Senegal), Dorothy Aken’Ova (INCRESE, Nigeria) and Sylvia Tamale (Law School, Makerere University Uganda) – met in Nigeria to plan for the Dialogue. The Dialogue will include participants from various African sub-regions and will represent the experiences and concerns of a wide range of constituencies: feminist researchers and advocates, LGBT rights advocates and sexuality researchers, and communities engaged with HIV/AIDS-related investigation, policy and advocacy. The goals of the meeting, as defined by the regional task force, are the following:
- To enhance conceptual clarity on issues of sexuality and the linkages between theory and practice (creativity, strategies, resistance, and subversion);
- To map out and analyze sexual citizenship in Africa, including eroticism and pleasure;
- To examine linkages between governance, underdevelopment, and sexual and reproductive rights;
- To increase visibility and enlarge the space for the voices of sexual minorities; and
- To disseminate the results of the Dialogue widely – both within the region and beyond it.
1.2 Calling for the de-pathologization of transexuality
SPW is contributing to the global campaign for the de-pathologization of transexuality. Since October 2009, SPW and its Latin American partners have been involved in the drafting and revision of the statement, which is now being made pubic (Read it in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish).
This effort must be situated within the broader context; since May 2009, a number of other constituencies have raised their voices in calling for key medical professional associations, such as the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to abandon the current framework that describes and addresses transexuality strictly as a biomedical “disorder.”
These efforts have already had a major policy impact, as in February 2010, France removed transexuality from its national listing of psychiatric disorders. SPW’s statement is to be seen as a contribution to the global campaign emerging from a diverse range of researchers and activists in Latin America.
Check below other documents currently being circulated:
> The Campaign against Gender Identity Pathologization: Stop Trans Pathologization 2012, from ILGA website
> The statement written by the Latin American Network for Trans Men’s in Activism (only in Spanish)
> The Statement on Despathologization of Transsexualism, written during the Sexual Diversity section of the Cuban Multidisciplinary Society for the Study of Sexuality (SOCUMES), based on a proposal made by the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) [In English] [In Spanish]
> DSM-V Draft, from the ‘Questioning Transphobia‘ blog
> France move to outlaw Trans Pathologization, from Facebook
> Transsexualism No Longer Viewed as Mental Illness in France, from NY Times
> HIV experts call for declassification of transgenderism as mental illness, from PinkNews
Check also the opinions of the Latin American activists Mauro Cabral and Fernanda Benvenutty on the de-pathologization campaign (in Spanish or Portuguese).
1.3 The EroTICS Brazilian case study
During the second semester of 2009, the ABIA secretariat team nearly completed the first phase of the Brazilian case study for EroTICs: Sexuality and the Internet – an exploratory research project, which covers issues related to the political debate on regulation of the Web in the country. A short article synthesizing the findings of this first level of investigation will soon published by Gender IT, the Web magazine of the Women’s Networking Support Programme of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC WNSP).
1.4 The contents of the Latin American and Asian Dialogues on Sexuality and Geopolitics are available
As we have highlighted in the other issues of SPW’s newsletter, SPW is organizing a series of Regional Dialogues on Sexuality and Geopolitics, and two meetings have already taken place. The last one, the Latin American Dialogue on Sexuality and Geopolitics, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August 2009, and the first one, the Asian Dialogue, held in Hanoi, Vietnam in April 2009 both gathered academics, researchers and activists, who debated the conditions of sexual politics in their respective regions.
The overview and short papers written for the Latin American Regional Dialogue are available on SPW’s website (in Spanish and Portuguese only), as are the summaries (also available in English). The papers, summaries and reports produced on the Asian Dialogue are also available (in English only).
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II. SEXUALITY AROUND THE WORLD: MAIN DEBATES
Since its very first issue, this section of the SPW newsletter has underlined the sharp paradoxes of sexual politics in our times, when major breakthroughs in policies, laws and mobilization coexist and contrast with regressive measures that curtail further erotic justice. In this issue, such a paradox is illustrated, on the one hand, by the regressive legislation proposed in Uganda, which aims to further criminalize “homosexual” behavior and which includes a provision for capital punishment of persons prosecuted for having infected others with HIV. On the other hand, we highlight the same sex marriage legislation recently approved in the Federal District of Mexico, as it goes beyond other Latin American countries’ laws and court decisions on the matter.
In SPW’s view, however, the Ugandan law provision should not be analyzed as mere regression. It must be understood as a culmination of a series of regressive laws — on marriage, same sex relations and the criminalization of HIV infection — that have been proposed in Africa, and elsewhere, since the early 2000s. However, it should be reminded also that these regressive propositions, to a large extent, materialized as a response to political mobilizing around sexuality and rights. More importantly, what is particularly remarkable in the recent Ugandan case is that it has triggered remarkable and broad mobilization, both internally and internationally, which has extended far beyond the boundaries of LGBT and human rights communities that have expressed their voices when similar episodes have occurred elsewhere in recent years.
This mobilization has included state representatives (such as ministries of cooperation and external affairs), UN Special Rapporteurs and a wide range of religious voices, among them the Ugandan Catholic Bishops, who condemned the capital punishment article while at the same time harshly condemning homosexuality. On March 12th, Bishop Desmond Tutu also raised his voice, writing broadly about threats and fears affecting transsexuals, lesbians and gays in Africa (read the article and more). Those protesting against the law also comprise local African and human rights organizations, as well as, more recently, prestigious professional associations. On the Web, a number of online petitions have been launched, including one by Avaaz, which quickly collected more than 500,000 signatures.
It is impossible to predict what the final outcome may be, as the situation is extremely complex. Since the law has been proposed in October, strong connections between Ugandan evangelicals and the US religious right have been identified. Most principally, as we know, strong global mobilizing around sexuality issues can trigger unanticipated setbacks at local levels. Even so, some privileged observers have considered that the Ugandan regressive law episode could, eventually, represent a turning point in the landscape of African sexual politics. While the episode is too complex to be fully analyzed here, we have selected writings and articles that may guide our readers into discussions of its many intricacies.
Lastly, as this edition was being finalized once again, the first pages and TV screens around the world were talking of sexual abuses perpetrated by Catholic bishops. This time, however, a direct link has been identified with Rome and the Pope. Information and analyses on this new round of “Catholic Church” sexual episodes information can be found in the Sexuality and Religion session.
2.1 The Uganda case
> The article Draconian laws against homosexuality in Africa, by Cesnabmihilo Aken’ova
> A complete coverage available at SPW’s website
2.2 The same sex marriage debate
> Mexico: Mexico City backs gay marriage in Latin American first (in English and Spanish)
> Argentina: Latin America’s first gay marriage thwarted
> Portugal: Portugal parliament approves gay marriage
2.3 Global and regional relevant events
> The Panel Discussion on Opposing grave Human Rights Violations on the basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity took place in New York, USA on December 10, 2009. Read more.
> See an overview of transgender rights, presented at the founding meeting of the Asia and Pacific Transgender Network Conference, held in Bangkok, Thailand from December 13-16, 2009.
> ILGA’s 5th Latin American and Caribbean Regional Conference held in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil from January 27-30, 2010. Read more (in English and Portuguese).
2.4 Laws, policies and politics
Australia: Australia recognises ‘non-specified’ gender. Read more.
USA: A restriction on abortion coverage was added to the health care bill on November 7, 2009. The provision would block the use of federal subsidies for insurance that covers elective abortions. The Obama White House is refusing to weigh in on an amendment that represents perhaps the most restrictive anti-abortion measure introduced in a generation. Read more.
China: 2009 having been a monumental year for China’s LGBT community. Read more.
USA: President Obama announced on October 30, 2009 the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who have tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. At a White House ceremony, he announced that a rule overturning the ban would be published on November 2, 2009 and would take effect after a routine 60-day waiting period. Read more.
The Philippines: The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) rejected Ang Ladlad’s (an LGBT organization) application for registration as a sectoral party for advocating immoral doctrines. Read the article Drawing the Line between Belief and Bigotry in Asserting the Rights of Filipino LGBTs, by Malu S. Marin.
Brazil: President Lula creates National Coordination and Council for the Promotion of LGBT Rights. SPW spoke with LGBT activists about the initiative. Read more.
USA: Even with Obama in the White House, the prostitution pledge remains in place in the case of PEPFAR, which provides US funding to HIV/AIDS programs internationally. Read more.
India: The Election Commission of India has decided to allow transgender people to mark their gender as ‘other’ where they do not want to be described as male or female. Read more.
Uruguay: Senate unanimously approves sex change bill, facing strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and conservatives. Read more and check the bill (just in Spanish).
Montenegro: Montenegro’s Gay Community Stays Hidden to Survive.
2.5 Sexuality and religion
Vatican: Read the article The Great Catholic Cover-up, by Christopher Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair and the Roger S. Mertz media fellow at the Hoover Institution, on the most recent revelations about the steady complicity of the Vatican in the ongoing scandal of child rape. Read more on “Pedophilia, Ratzinger and the Catholic Church”. (English and Portuguese)
USA: Read the article Liberating the Anglican understanding of sexuality, by Savi Hensman, on the controversal election of Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as one of the Anglican suffragan (assistant) bishops in Los Angeles, along with Canon Diane Jardine Bruce. Hensman said the her election is controversial, because she is a woman, but even more because she is openly lesbian and has been in a committed relationship since 1988.
South Africa: See the Press Statement from the First African Dialogue on Homosexuality and Christian Faith, which took place on the 2nd to 6th November 2009 in Stellenbosch South Africa.
2.6 Human Rights violations
Turkey: Multiple Murders of transgender people highlight inadequate state protection
Malawi: Malawian Married Gay Couple Plead Not Guilty to Indecency Charges
Honduras: Murder of Gay Rights Activist Shows Another Honduras Crisis
Indonesia: New Indonesia stoning law is ‘torture’: rights group
2.7 Genital mutilation
Since 2003, February 6th has been recognized as the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Surveying the Web in 2010, it is amazing to find that the day has not had much visibility this year. It is quite significant, however, that a new law prohibiting the practice has been adopted in Uganda – especially given what is currently occurring in the country’s sexual politics landscape surrounding the anti-homosexuality bill. It is also worth noting that during the last session of the Commission on the Status of Women a resolution was also adopted that calls for the elimination of female genital mutilation.
In relation to this particular subject, SPW considers this date a key opportunity to remind sexual rights advocates and the wider public that genital mutilation is a blatant human rights violation that also impairs the heath, identity and autonomy of intersex children in all societies. We therefore bring to your attention Mauro Cabral’s vision of the broader meaning and implications of genital mutilation to be addressed each February 6th.
> Read the article In three times by Mauro Cabral (In English or Spanish)
> See UNFPA’s coverage of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation
> See news on Uganda’s decision to ban female genital mutilation
> See the CSW Resolution on the Ending female genital mutilation and others
2.8 The abortion front lines
In the struggle for legal abortion, as well, good news is often accompanied by bad news. As we were finalizing this issue, the abortion law reform in Spain was approved, despite ongoing protests on the part of the Catholic Church and even when the economic downturn of 2008-2009 could have favored conservative positions over the daring proposals of the socialist government.
In Latin America, the inauguration of José Mujica as the new president of Uruguay is very auspicious, particularly after the perennial scrambling around abortion that characterized the administration of Tabaré Vasquez (2004-2009). During last year’s electoral campaign, a solid agreement was reached between the Frente Amplio and abortion rights advocates to ensure that the Sexual and Reproductive Health law provision vetoed by Vasquez in 2008 would be brought back to the table and approved by the new legislature.
More importantly yet, responding to a formal petition made by abortion rights activists, the Inter-American Comission on Human Rights has issued a precautionary measure requiring the Nicaraguan government to protect the life of Amalia*, who is pregnant, suffers from cancer but can not interrupt the pregnancy because abortion is now completely illegal in Nicaragua (read more in this issue).
In contrast, one major back is underway in Brazil, in relation to the language referring to the legalization of abortion contained in the II National Human Rights Plan. The document was sanctioned by president Lula in December 2009, but when it captured the public attention a month later, its content triggered a series of controversies. The polemic was particularly poignant in relation to the proposition to establish a Commission of Truth to revise crimes committed during the dictatorship, which as openly contested by sectors of the military, and the recommendation to revise abortion laws, which was immediately and strongly attacked by the Catholic Church. On March 16th, the National Secretary fro Human Rights publicly announced that the proposal in relation to the legalization of abortion would be eliminated from the text. Read article Abortion and Human Rights: the current Brazilian controversy, by Sonia Corrêa.
Last but least, it was rather regrettable to learn from the press on March 22nd (as this issue was being finalized) that the Obama administration has given up on the public funding of abortion procedures to get the health reform approved.
*Name changed in order to protect the identity of the woman
Read also:
> See the campaign No abortion ban
2.9 Also in the news
Latin America
> Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights (CLAM) website (information in Eng / Port / Spa)
> Ciudadania SX (only in Spanish)
> Conectas Human Rights (information in Eng / Port / Spa)
> Observatorio de Género y Equidad (only in Spanish)
> CFEMEA (information in Port / Eng)
> Revista de Saúde Sexual e Reprodutiva de Ipas Brasil (only in Portuguese)
USA
> Council for Global Equality
Africa
> Portal Lambda Moçambique (only in Portuguese)
Eastern Europe
> CEE Bulletin on Sexual and Reproductive Rights No 02 (81) 2010 (only in English)
Muslim Societies
> News and Views (Women Living Under Muslim Laws)
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III. ADVOCACY: KEEP AN EYE
3.1 The 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) from March 1-12, 2010 (Beijing+15)
From 1-12 March 2010, the Commission on the Status of Women undertook a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. Member States, representatives of non-governmental organizations and of UN entities participated in the session. A series of parallel events provided additional opportunities for information exchange and networking. See the article “Back to the Future? Beijing +15 and the UN Commission on the Status of Women Only Partly Delivers on SRRH”, by Cynthia Rothschild, a sexual rights and human rights activist based in New York, and read also a complete converge of the 54th CSW.
3.2 News on the Human Rights Council
> Read the reports from Guyana, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan for the 8th Universal Periodical (UPR) of the Human Rights Council, available at Mulabi’s website. The 8th UPR will held in May 2010.
> Check the UN-official calendar of key meetings of UN human rights mechanisms scheduled to take place in 2010, primarily in Geneva, Switzerland.
> Read the Discussion of the Scheinin report on gender aspects in Human Rights and countering terrorism, during the UN Third Committee, October 26, 2009, written by Justus Eisfeld (GATE), with additions by Vanessa Jackson (ISHR)
> In September 2010 at the 15th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the President of the Council is to appoint an independent human rights expert to serve as the next Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. NGOs and others wishing to nominate candidates should send the names of eligible candidates to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for inclusion in the public list (roster) used as basis for the appointment:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/special/nominations.htm _________________________________________________________________________________
IV. SEXUALITY IN ART
4.1 The photographer Zanele Muholi’s artwork
In this issue of SPW’s newsletter, we unfortunately highlight an event that recently occurred in South Africa, not in favor of, but against initiatives that connect sexuality and the arts. An artist has accused the South African Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana of being homophobic after she stormed out in disgust over a “pornographic” and “immoral” piece of artwork featuring black lesbian couples. The artist is Zanele Muholi, a critically acclaimed photographer whose work explored the identity and relationships of black lesbians in South Africa. Read more.
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V. CHECK IT OUT!
5.1 Upcoming events
5.2 Scholarships
5.3 Job opportunities
VI. WE RECOMMEND
6.4 Publications and resources
6.5 Articles and statements