hunter of justice

European Commission warns of lgbt rights deficiencies in nations seeking EU admission

The European Commission has published its 2009 "Progress Reports" on the countries now or potentially seeking EU membership: Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

According to ILGA-Europe:

LGBT issues are covered in all reports and stronger language is used by the Commission when referring to the human rights violations of LGBT people and to the non-compliance of the states to their human rights obligations under European/Accession partnerships. It is also positive to notice that the reports give specific recommendations to the states to introduce anti-discrimination laws and policies that are in line with the EU requirements. The Reports also emphasise the need to level up ‘the protection against discrimination in practice’ in the countries where the laws were adopted (Croatia, Serbia). In particular, the Commission has criticised the governments for failing to provide adequate protection to Belgrade Pride participants which led to cancellation of the event, and for the violation of freedom of expression and association in the infamous case of Lambda Istanbul in Turkey.

ILGA-Europe's compilation of specific references to lgbt issues follows the jump -->

In 1976, Sotomayor stood up for gay college students

The Michigan Messenger blog has posted a letter originally published in The Daily Princetonian in 1976 that condemns the ransacking of a dorm room shared by two members of the Gay Alliance of Princeton. Among the 39 signers was an undergraduate named Sonia Sotomayor.

The letter reads, in part:

For private citizens to try to intimidate the Gay Alliance into silence is a denial of the foundations on which a university is built.

No matter how much one may disagree with the Gay Alliance or the policies they are advocating, no matter how repugnant one may find homosexuality, the manner of expressing this opposition should be intellectual. At this university we are dedicated to persuasion by reason, not by brute force.

Intimidation of those courageous enough to express their views, violence directed against unpopular associations, midnight criminal assaults on private residences— these speak for themselves. The entire university community should be angry, and disgusted, that this kind of action has occurred at Princeton.

By itself, the letter tells us nothing but that Sotomayor joined an entirely conventional appeal to the values of free speech and for preservation of an intellectual culture based on reason. But 1976 was a long time ago. Straight college students did not write law school admission essays about their aspiration to work for gay equality. Probably no one on earth would have known or cared if she had simply declined to sign. I don't mean to overstate its significance, but the letter solidifies my sense that Sotomayor's nomination is the best thing to come out of this White House yet.

Project on Harvey Milk inappropriate for California sixth graders

UPDATE: The ACLU has announced that the school has apologized, allowed the presentation to be made to the class, and agreed to rectify its misinterpretation of California's policy on family life/sex education.

On the eve of the California Supreme Court's decision on the challenge to Prop 8, another example has emerged of the ease with which any gay-positive speech can become tainted as sexually inappropriate. In Ramona, CA, a school principal refused to allow a sixth grader to do the in-class presentation portion of a research project because her topic was the life of Harvey Milk.

According to the ACLU, which is representing the girl and her mother:

The assignment, part of an independent research project class, was originally to prepare a written report on any topic.  Natalie Jones, who was inspired to write about Harvey Milk after watching Sean Penn win an Academy Award for portraying him, got a score of 49 out of a possible 50 points on the written report.  Students were then told to make PowerPoint presentations about their reports, which they would show to other students in the class.  The day before Natalie was to give her 12-page presentation she was called into the principal’s office and told she couldn’t do so. 
 
When Bonnie Jones spoke with the superintendent about the presentation, he said Natalie couldn’t give her presentation because of a district board policy on “Family Life/Sex Education.”  A few days later, the school sent letters to parents of students in the class, explaining that her presentation would be held during a lunch recess on May 8, and that students could only attend if they had parental permission.

The principal's decision was based on the school district's policy on "family life/sex education," which provides:

“(P)arents/guardians shall be notified in writing about any instruction in which human reproductive organs and their functions, processes, or sexually transmitted diseases are described, illustrated, or discussed.  In addition, before any instruction on family life, human sexuality, AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases is given, the parent/guardian shall be provided with written notice explaining that the instruction will be given…”

So I guess the story of the early stages of a civil rights movement, as recounted by a 12-year-old girl, falls into the category of "human sexuality" if the movement in question is for lgbt rights. The principal's panicky reaction, absurd as it is, illustrates the fear that children will be "taught" homosexuality, a fear that drove the most effective Yes on 8 ads in last fall's campaign.

And the irony, of course, is that this school project had nothing to do with marriage, and the outcome of the Prop 8 decision tomorrow will have no bearing, either way, on the ACLU's challenge to it.

Australian court rules a spoof on The Simpsons is "child pornography"

from Eurozine

Sex between the Simpsons, those bright yellow, four-fingered drawings, has just set a new standard for child pornography law and social absurdity. Or to put it another way, a court in New South Wales has decided that pictures are more powerful than we ever realised, when it ruled that an online version of The Simpsons was child pornography. [The decision affirmed the decision of a lower court.]

Some fool altered those ironic yellow creatures, to add genitals and draw Bart, Maggie and Lisa Simpson having sex with each other. By putting the animated cartoons on his computer, he gave Australian law the opportunity to rewrite child pornography law. In  McEwen v. Simmons & Anor, the New South Wales Supreme Court, in an opinion by Judge Adams, engaged in some of the most tortuous reasoning child pornography law has yet produced. He did start by acknowledging that there is a "fundamental difference in kind between a depiction of an actual person and the depiction of an imaginary person". In the end, however, he decided that if it's "about a person", it is a person. Where that logic could lead, I leave you to ponder. To give Adams his due, the judge, at heart, was much less concerned about theories of representation than about the spectre of harm to real children. As in all child pornography cases, his underlying fear was that no freedom of speech is worth even the slightest or most hypothetical risk of any sexual abuse of any real child. According to the impulse, if there is any chance whatsoever that anything remotely resembling what anyone anywhere could call child pornography would "fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children", then it should be illegal.

Art and child pornography law have been set on a collision course since the eighties. Until then, censorship laws in most western countries were on the decline. A growing cult of the child, however, reversed the trend. And that was in the era of analogue imagery. During the last decade, as digital technology has transformed visual communication, the conflict between art and law has only grown worse.

You will date yourself if you can remember the fateful year in which a 15-year-old Brooke Shields murmured hoarsely that nothing came between her and her Calvin Klein jeans, while a lushly coloured photograph solicited your lust for the shape of a child-woman (1980). In the following years, legal landmarks including the United States Meese Commission, (Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, 1986) the 1989 case Massachusetts v. Oakes, the 1991-94 case Knox v. the United States, and the 1996 Child Pornography Prevention Act declared an escalating definition of obscenity where children were concerned. In England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the trend and chronology was much the same. Important British legal markers included: the 1978 Protection of Children Act, the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, c.33 & 84, and the 2000 Criminal Justice and Court Service Act, c.43, & 41.

The stricter the laws became, the more difficult interpretation proved. What exactly does "naked" mean? Upon consideration, some clothing appeared as "obscene" as nudity. Where does the "genital area" begin? Somewhere high on the thigh? What is "prurient"? When does a child behave "naturally" and when does a child display an "unnatural" pose, costume, facial expression or glance? Are any of these "obvious"? If so, who has the right to decide? One photo developer? One judge? One self-appointed "child-rights activist"? Is one person's opinion all that needs to matter?

Pictures intended to arouse a desire to have sex with children certainly do exist. Since when have all the polymorphous possibilities of sexual arousal not been represented? If prostitution is the oldest profession in the world, sex may be the oldest artistic subject – whether you call it fertility rites, erotica or pornography. The ones about children are sometimes of explicit acts of copulation, but rarely. Most of them depend heavily on innuendo, accessories, settings, labels or voice-overs.

What seems sexual in one context will not necessarily seem sexual in another. Japanese representations of children in popular culture, for example, were very different from those in Europe and North America until the end of the twentieth century. Adult social codes of sexuality reign supreme in any context. Take lipstick, for example. Sarah Palin, accepting the nomination to be vice president of the United States, infamously amused us by asking: what is the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Such is the power of lipstick that it can also be all it takes to make the difference in a photograph between what we perceive to be innocent and what we perceive to be sexual, especially if the lipstick is worn by a girl. Yet there is nothing inherently sexual about lipstick. It is a sign of sexuality on which we have to agree to make it mean anything. Contrary to what hopeful censors would have us believe, the overwhelming majority of pictures of children, clothed or unclothed, are ambiguous. Sexuality is very much in the eye of the beholder.

Staten Island's well of censorship - Part 2

The NY Times today runs an update to the scandal, Staten Island style, over Holly Hughes' 25-year-old play:

[A]t the College of Staten Island, a mildly ribald farce entitled “The Well of Horniness” will be staged this week by a talented senior named Robert Mahoney. Originally, an excerpt of the play was also going to enjoy a place of honor on Thursday at an undergraduate research conference that serves as a showcase of student achievement. Now it has become something else entirely.

Some college officials got the idea that the word “horniness” in the title might offend the sensibilities of Catholics on Staten Island. It is not entirely clear why this would be so, but there is no doubt that Catholics from Staten Island are an important reservoir of potential students for the college. And students from Catholic high schools were invited to the research conference, to get a taste of possibilities at the college.

So over the last few weeks, this production of “The Well of Horniness” has gone through a cyclone of contradictory decisions — or, as the college’s official spokesman puts it, “discussions.”

Initially, the play was banished from the conference, though officials said it still could be performed in the evening, after the conference had ended. And Mr. Mahoney would be allowed to display a poster about his project, as other students at the conference would do — but while a biology student might be able to mention the mating practices of fruit flies, Mr. Mahoney would not be allowed to include the title of the play.

Mr. Mahoney learned about this last week from Francisco Soto, the dean of humanities and social sciences. “Francisco said we could not do the extract from the play as part of the undergraduate research conference,” said Maurya Wickstrom, an associate professor who serves as a mentor to Mr. Mahoney. “As he expressed it, this is an extremely conservative community. The sexuality might be offensive to nuns, counselors from Catholic high schools, the high school students.”

Bob Huber, a spokesman for the school, said the main concerns were the possible presence of people as young as 14 at the conference. Ms. Wickstrom said that was not what she was told. “That was not part of the meeting that I was in,” she said. “I don’t remember age being mentioned. The issue revolved around the fact that College of Staten Island has a big Catholic constituency.”

That was also what George Sanchez, the chairman of the performing and creative arts department, heard. An associate provost, Susan Holak, told him that “she wasn’t sure how well this would go over with the Catholic schools,” Mr. Sanchez said. “The concern was the title, ‘The Well of Horniness.’ The conference got conflated with an outreach and recruiting event. She mentioned there was a nun who was very conservative.” The school spokesman, Mr. Huber, said: “I have no knowledge of that. The concern was regarding minors attending the conference.”

The associate provost, Ms. Holak, would not speak about the decision except to say on Monday that it would be shown on campus. Holly Hughes, the author of the play, said: “It’s not censorship, other than the fact that no one can see it. Yes, it’s being shown. It’s not being advertised. It won’t be presented during the conference.” Ms. Hughes notes that the play is 25 years old, and that around 1984, The Village Voice — of all publications — would not accept an ad because of the title.

“This is a terrible message to the student,” Ms. Hughes said. By late Tuesday, the school apparently had come to the same conclusion. Mr. Huber said the authorities were now willing to let it be presented during the conference. On Tuesday, Mr. Mahoney said he was scrambling “in chaos” to round up his actors and crew of 15 in time.

And it’s not yet known whether the Catholics of Staten Island would be more offended by the play itself, or the notion that they could not tolerate mention of the word “horniness” and the condition it describes.

New York college censors production of Holly Hughes play

A senior at the College of Staten Island, who was recognized as an outstanding undergraduate director with an invitation to produce a play of his choice at a college festival, was stopped by the administration from producing a play by Holly Hughes, The Well of Horniness. Although the college has now backed down, the timing of their latest position will effectively prevent the play from being part of the festival.  Has freedom of expression not made it to Staten Island?

The following is from Holly:

A senior student at the College of Staten Island, Robert Mahoney, was
invited by the Associate Provost Susan Holak to direct a play as part
of his senior project for The Undergraduate Conference on Research,
Scholarship and Performance - and it was set to be performed on April
30 from 1:30-4 pm event.  Last year, Mahoney directed a Caryl Churchill
play.  Inclusion in the conference is a huge honor for undergraduates.

conference website
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/UGConference/moreinfo.php

Last week, the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities Francisco
Soto called a special meeting to discuss the presentation of The Well
of Horniness. Dean Soto told the student and a couple of faculty
members that since Conference was to be used for recruiting, the play
could not be presented because because it might offend Catholics.
(Ironically, Soto's own work is on the censorship of gay writer Reinaldo
Arenas.)

Wrong turn for British censorship law

Will the porn wars never end?

The next act in this drama: a new British law criminalizing "extreme pornography." Following is the report from The Independent: (HT Gayle Rubin)

Critics, including at least two lords, say that legislation coming into force next month forbidding the possession of "an extreme pornographic image" will criminalise thousands of previously law-abiding people who have a harmless taste for unconventional sex.

Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 comes into force on 26 January and makes owning offending pictures a criminal offence punishable by up to three years' imprisonment. An image is deemed to be extreme if it "is grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character" and portrays in any way an act which threatens a person's life, or which results or appears likely to result in serious injury to someone's genitals or breasts.

The law was passed earlier this year following a mother's emotive campaign after her daughter was killed by a man who claimed he was addicted to violent porn.

Opponents have no problems with two provisions banning images of bestiality or necrophilia – both of which are already illegal to do – but fear that the other definitions are so vaguely worded that even images of consenting adults engaging in fictional violence will now be outlawed, giving Britain the toughest anti-porn laws in Europe.

Members of Britain's BDSM (bondage, domination and sado-masochism) community, as well as those in the gothic and alternative scenes, complain that they are being unfairly targeted. "The Government seems to be convinced that if people like us look at pictures for too long we'll end up turning into abusers. That's outrageous," said Claire Lewis, a 35-year-old disabled rights activist from Manchester who has set up the Consenting Adult Action Network (Caan).

Caan campaigners plan to burn their pornography collections outside Parliament. A second group, Backlash, is hiring lawyers from the leading human rights firm Bindmans to contest cases when they come to court.

Caan supporters include the photographer Ben Westwood, eldest son of the fashion designer Vivienne. He fears some of his pictures, which often show images of people bound and gagged, could be outlawed in the new year. "I simply don't believe it is the Government's business to interfere in people's sexuality," he said.

Ah Paris - a feminist porn film festival

The Observer
Lizzy Davies

It could only happen in the country that gave us Emmanuelle ...A group of French intellectuals has now gone one step further in the quest to integrate hardcore erotica into mainstream cinema by holding Paris's first alternative pornographic film festival: a no-holds-barred celebration of X-rated action that organisers say showcases a new wave of progressive porn that not only titillates but empowers.

Gone, for the most part, are mechanical character portrayals and cringe-worthy storylines; gone, too, are films made by - and solely for - men. On show at the Brady cinema [last week] have been dozens of productions catering to both genders and every sexual preference. With names such as Deep, Strap-on Motel and Post-Apocalyptic Cowgirls they may sound like the same old material, but those in the know claim they are revolutionary.

'There's a new culture of pornography emerging,' said Maxime Cervulle, the academic who is co-organising the festival in between lecturing at the University of Paris. 'It's not only about breaking away from the clichés of porn - of macho sexuality, bad plots and zero aesthetic appeal - but also changing the way people are portrayed in pornography: straight women, black women, lesbians, transsexuals and gay men.'

The most striking change ushered in by the new movement is its feminisation - almost half the films on show in Paris were made by and for women. Directors such as Catherine Corringer and Maria Beatty say they are responding to a rising interest among female audiences who are growing more aware of their own sexuality but are frustrated by the patriarchal world of erotica.

Marie-Hélène Bourcier, the other organiser of the festival, who is also a university lecturer, sees the festival as an important moment in the redressing of that gender imbalance. 'I consider myself to be a feminist, but a pro-sex feminist,' she said. 'I don't see any contradiction between certain kinds of pornography and feminism. For women it can be a sort of empowerment.'

With films such as Catherine Breillat's Romance, an explicit study of female desire, Virginie Despentes's notorious Baise-moi and Gaspar Noé's disturbing Irréversible, critics claim mainstream French directors have been instrumental in pornography's evolution, for better or worse.

The movies produced howls of outrage from many observers, both on account of their graphic content and questionable cinematic merit, but their influence has been undeniable. Even the more orthodox bastion of the small screen is getting in on the act, with television channel Canal+ teaming up with several French women actors and directors for a night of raunchy courts métrages later this month. It is all part of a desire, say the festival's supporters, to nurture a pornography that reflects contemporary society more accurately.

'I wanted to make films that would let women see themselves as they are,' said Sophie Bramly, founder of website SecondSexe.com, which is co-ordinating the night. 'Most women don't recognise themselves in porn films - they're too vulgar. And real feminine sexual pleasure is usually totally absent.' ...

Not a good year for Marian the librarian

As if it weren't bad enough that the moose-gutting hockey mom elected mayor threatens to fire the town librarian for not removing controversial books from the library, and then gets elected governor, and then gets nominated for vice president -

Anti-porn group challenges library

By Amanda Palleschi
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

In the quiet stacks of the St. Louis County libraries, two sides of a classic culture war are duking it out.

A local group wants the libraries to make it more difficult for teens to have access to some books they think are unsuitable for reading without parental consent....

[The Citizens Against Pornography group] began questioning books found in all county library branches in August after Ellisville parent Laura Kostial ... visited the Daniel Boone branch several times with her 12-year-old daughter and found material she thought "shocking."

...The books in question range from non-fiction titles such as "The Little Black Book for Girlz, A Book on Healthy Sexuality" and "Growing up Gay in America" to contemporary series like the "Gossip Girl" books and a series of books with a protagonist named Alice by Phyllis Naylor ("Alice on Her Way").

Speech codes: Be careful what you wish for

Charges filed against homosexual groups for 'hate speech' (OneNewsNow.com)

A Spanish pro-family activist group, HazteOir, has filed charges against the organizers of the 2008 Madrid "Gay Pride" march for "hate speech," according to the group's website.

HazteOir accuses the march organizers of making hateful statements against Catholics, pro-family organizations, and those politicians opposed to the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) . The PSOE, which currently occupies the position of prime minister and holds a majority in the Spanish Parliament, supports special "rights" for homosexuals. Amongst numerous other things, "Gay Pride" marchers in Madrid held a banner depicting Pope Benedict XVI on fire and calling him "chief of the inquisitors."

"Yet again, the march has been marked by attacks against the Catholic Church, mockery of the bishops and slogans against Christians, " writes HazteOir.

Article 525.1 of the Spanish Penal Code, which HazteOir is invoking to support their case, applies a heavy fine of 8 to 12 months of pay to those who seek to "hurt the feelings of the members of a religious confession" by "publicly, by word or through any type of document, make fun of their dogmas, beliefs, rites, or ceremonies, or publicly humiliate those who profess or practice them."

The organization's charges against the organizers of the "Gay Pride" march are similar to a tactic that homosexual groups have used against pro-family groups in Spain in the past.

In January of this year the Spanish State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGT) filed a criminal complaint against the Catholic Bishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Alvarez, for denouncing homosexual behavior and comparing it to the sexual abuse of minors.  Alvarez ultimately retracted his statement.

ACLU wins battle in censorship war

ACLU Blog: Because Freedom Can’t Blog Itself: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union » Court Strikes Down Internet Censorship Law

Posted by Catherine Crump

[Yesterday] the Third Circuit struck down a federal Internet censorship law as unconstitutional. The law, called the Child Online Protection Act, imposed civil and criminal penalties on those who place “harmful to minors” material on the Web. ... The law would have forced vast swaths of constitutionally protected speech off of the Web.

Today’s victory is a huge win that comes as a result of 10 years of litigation by a dedicated group of ACLU clients. All of our clients—from award-winning, established publications such as Salon to individuals such as Heather Corinna, who works largely on her own to provide valuable sexual health information geared toward teenagers—put up with a great deal of hassle and inconvenience and stress. By standing up for their own right to engage in free speech on the Web, they helped protect the rights of all Americans. They deserve our thanks.

Whether today’s opinion is the last to address COPA is up to the government and, ultimately, to the Supreme Court. The government has some time to decide whether it wants to ask the Court to review this case. Hopefully it will conclude that 10 years of litigation is enough. ...

+++++++

more at the link, including a link to the full text of the decision