Invitation

[Before]

Finally, the opportunity to watch MILK at the local theater. What's more? Well, I have been invited for the Special Sneak Preview. Revisit this space for my thoughts on the film. If you are impatient, click here to read my previous post on why the critics says, MILK is good for you.

[After]

Dramatic as this may read, but there was indeed a minute of pin-drop silence when the film ended. People seemed glued to their seats and there was very little activity. This is what MILK did to most of us. It made us think. It made us cry. And above all, it made us realize that the battle for gay rights is far from over.

A lot has already been said about the film, its performances, the cinematography and its direction. But in this space I wish to put together key ideas from this film, relevant to different degrees in both thought and action today.
Never Blend In * Make the invisible visible * Out of the Closet, Into the streets * Unite, for the battle has just begun.

"Universal means Universal," says HRW

Source: Pride Gallery 06 [bbc.co.uk]

December 10 marked the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration expresses “a fundamental political and moral consensus about the value of being human, and the respect and dignity each of us is entitled to receive from our governments. The Declaration itself is not a binding legal document, but rather a statement of values cherished by most: the rights to liberty and equality for all people; the aspiration of all to live in a world of peace and security; the agreement that torturing and arresting another human being simply because of who they are or what they believe is repulsive, and incompatible with the Declaration's promotion of respect for human dignity as a mandate for all” (op.cit. IGLHRC).

But what’s extra special this year is that the UN General Assembly will be addressing a statement for the very first time - endorsed by more than 50 countries and calling for an end to rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The draft statement condemns -
Violence,
Harassment,
Discrimination,
Exclusion,
Stigmatization, and
Prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also condemns
Killings and executions,
Torture,
Arbitrary arrest, and
Deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights on those grounds.

Already, the Latin American governments and pan-African LGBT groups are leading the way as supporters of this move. To learn more on what countries have already signed this Statement and to keep up to date with developments on its reading, visit IGLHRC website (link to the left) or click here. As Boris Dittrich of the Netherlands, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program says,
“Universal means universal, and there are no exceptions.”

Wonder, when the erstwhile colonial countries in Asia will wake-up to this fact?

World AIDS Day

It may be time to pledge for knowledge and action; time to self-educate and spread the awareness.