Monday, January 26, 2009

Bravo!

A standing ovation to a legendary actor for a legendary performance. Sean Penn won the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) 2009 best-actor award for his touching portrayal of gay-rights leader Harvey Milk in "Milk." For more on the film, click here.

In his words, "As actors, we don't play gay, straight. We don't play any of these kinds of people. We play human beings, and this movie is something that we're, all of us involved, are so proud of (...) This is a story about equal rights for all human beings."

Bravo!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hope Is Back In News!


Yes! Before this day comes to an end, I must record the historic moment that was today: the Presidential Inauguration. I witnessed it with many others in my School, all cheering and rejoicing. The new President and his speech were spectacular as always and so was the First Lady - absolutely beautiful in her gorgeous lemongrass-yellow coat and matching dress.

All I can now hope for is a worthy Gay President somewhere in the world. That would be another historic moment and I wish to live to witness it as well. As for the title of the First Lady, well by then we would have gotten rid of gender-binaries too. What say you?

Monday, January 12, 2009

The Beginning

The year 2008 ended on a rather sad note. India and the US, among several other nations, chose not to sign a non-binding French-Netherlands drafted UN declaration that decriminalizes homosexuality. For more on the Statement itself and additional links, read my previous blogpost titled "Universal means Universal." What's perplexing is that both these countries are world's foremost democracies, yet they chose to be non-committal when it came to calling for an end to discrimination and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Sadly, this also put them behind 66 other states from five continents, including six African nations that collectively formed the signatories to the General Assembly Statement.

The signatories:
Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela (Source: IGLHRC).

What's reassuring however is the fact that for the first time a statement, condemning discrimination and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people drew such huge support from large parts of the world, some of which may still be reeling under draconian laws. Seen from this perspective, it is definitely the beginning of a new era. To visit the French website and watch the United Nations webcast, click here. For more information and full text of the French Statement, visit IGLHRC site or click here.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

AbOUT 2008

The year that was:
Invitation . Universal Means Universal . World AIDS Day . MILK Is Good For You . Born Free Born Natural II . Born Free Born Natural I . Surrogacy To Parenthood . Non-Discrimination . Words Identities . Gay Marriages . Stigma Fear Or Both . Homophobia In Education . Sexuality In Text . Celebration Or Conundrum . The A-Team . AIDS Sutra . OUT Thought Action . HIV OUTreach . GLBT History Month . AbOUT.

Happy New Year!

About This Blog

This blog is built around what I refer to as the socio-sexual debate, meaning the simultaneously coexisting conditions of human society and human sexuality in a constant state of inner conflict and pressing debate. To read more, click here.

Opinion Matters

"There is a way of discussing sexuality without using labels" (Mika* in an interview with Shana Naomi Krochmal, OUT, 2008-01-28).

*Mika is a London-based singer-songwriter.

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