August 2021 - Page 3

Nino Lomjaria: ” We expect the law enforcement agencies to ensure the protection of our citizens’ freedom of expression ‘

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The Public Defender stated his position in the Parliament today regarding the march of honor:

”The Public Defender has been talking about this for years, practically, since 2012-13, when violent acts took place against those who took to the streets because of equality issues and wanted to express their opinion.

In recent years, the LGBT community and its supporters have been hindered from exercising their constitutional right to their freedom of expression, assembly and demonstration, and I think the Home Office needs to provide information on what has done to ensure that, when the danger is still persistent, how did they address these dangers

Especially since the threats have been announced in advance and in this case, it is more realistic to take preventive measures, so we expect the law enforcement agencies to protect our citizens’ freedom of expression through prevention.”

 

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Giorgi Tabagari: “This is a violation of the first legislative document of Georgia”

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Giorgi Tabagari responded to Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement on “Formula”:

​​” A person who calls himself a constitutionalist is one of the authors of the current constitution of Georgia, and in these conditions, the statement he made is especially tragic. This is the first legislative document of Georgia to be trampled like this. We live in a state with a deep political crisis, issue of secularism, and is in a state that is, in fact, devoid of values. “There is nothing else to be surprised by what was read in Kobakhidze’s statement.”

In an interview with journalist Inga Grigolia on TV Pirveli on June 17, Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the Georgian Dream, said that LGBTQ people should refuse to hold the Tbilisi Pride events scheduled for July 1-5, including the Solidarity March.

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A Transgender Football Player Won a Gold Medal at the Olympics

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Canadian footballer Quinn made history and as the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.

With the victory of the Canadian team, Quinn became the first openly transgender Olympic medalist in the history of the Olympic Games. They came out in 2020 and wrote on their Instagram page: ‘’ Coming out is hard… I always wondered when I would come out publicly. I wanted to fit all my feelings towards my trans identity in one post. I want to be visible for queer people who don’t see people like them. ”

Quinn was awarded the 2020 GAY TIMES Honor Award.

“It is a great honor. Sometimes it seems to me that all I do is be who I am and play the sport I love,” Quinn said. “I feel like I’m doing a lot for queer people, but I’ve gone through the same path to get to this point, and I’m privileged to use a sports platform to reach a lot of queer people.”

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The LGBTQ+ World Through the Lens of Queer Photographers

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Photography is one of the best ways to preserve history, to observe people, to capture their emotions, and to better understand various social or political processes.

 

The queer society has come a long way in ensuring that the voices or problems of LGBTQ+ people reach the masses and that people’s perceptions of various vulnerable groups are free from misinterpretation.

 

For this reasons, a few years ago, one of the online publications asked 35 queer photographers living in different parts of the world to present the daily life of the LGBTQ+ community.

  1. Matthew Papa “Hawaii 50”

2.David Uzochukwu: “Manifest”

3.Myles S. Golden “This is your story”

4.Lia Clay “Chris and Honey”

5.Res “Flowers (Blue, Violet, Pink)

6.Laurence Philomene “The birth of hope”

7.Campbell Addy “Black Dolls”

8.Mattew Morroco “Kissing Rolph”

9.Groana Melendez “Pierina is cleaning Harlem, New york”

10.Zen Piet Astrud “Indirect device of persuasion”

11.Diane Russo “Feminine heart, Bach body”

12. Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. ”Hard work”

13.Ryan Duffin “Fyodor is a star”

14.Andrew Jarman “Peeled pomegranate”

15.Alexis Ruiseco – Untitled.

16.Vanessa Rondon ”David”

17.James Caruthers “Kiss”

18.Alvin Baltrop “ends”

19.Jenna Houston “Bridget and Maia in the morning”

20.Sofia Colvin “Magazine #44”

21. Mikaela Lungulov Klotz “Lux and Halloween”

22. Emily Manning “Protest against trump’s administration”

23.Nelson Morales “Queen on earth”

24.Meg Turner „Griffin“

25.Guanyu Xu “Place of mutation”

26.Savana Ogburn ”Eva”

27.Yael Malka ”Chloe in Los-Angeles”

28.Kito Muñoz ”Os quiero, gracias”

29.Jake Naughton “When we were strangers”

30.Lauren Withrow “Beginnings”

31.Jess T. Dugan “kally and Janny”

32.Chris Smith “Untitled”

33. Mayan Toledano “Boys in Ice land”

34.Peyton Fulford “Trevor in the bedroom”

35. Luis Alberto Rodriguez “Josh and Jermyn”

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Filming Was Canceled Due to Homophobic Attitudes in Georgia – Sopho Chkonia

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The founder of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi, Sopho Chkonia posted on Facebook:

“One of the most famous big fashion houses in the world planned to film an ad in Georgia, in particular in Svaneti, as part of an advertising campaign. This filming was to take place with the participation of a Hollywood star. We have been having negotiations on this project for one year exactly. Today they canceled the filming in Georgia due to homophobic attitudes in the country. This is really sad!”

As Sopho Chkonia wrote, the Hollywood star that was supposed to be in the advertisement refused to come to Georgia out of fear.

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Laurel Hubbard – Transgender Weightlifter

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It was the first time that an43-year-old openly trans woman Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old from New Zealand, competed for on the Olympic stage this week. Hubbard’s personal best result in Atac is 132 kilograms, although this time she was unable to lift 125 kilograms.

Leaving the stage, Hubbard smiled at the audience and sent a heart shape. ” My result was not what I had hoped for, but I’m very grateful for the support I received from so many people in New Zealand, ” Hubbard told reporters. The weightlifter also added that she knew that her participation in the Olympics was “controversial”. The athlete thanked the International Weightlifting Federation for its commitment to inclusiveness.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

In 2012, after Hubbard’s hormone therapy and coming out, she became the first publicly trans athlete to win the 2017 World Championships. At the time, she was criticized for competing among women, which sparked a debate over how fair such participation is, and the debate continues to this day. The restriction, which prohibits athletes from participating in the women’s section if their blood contains 10 nanomoles of testosterone per liter, also harms gay athletes who do not meet these standards. This restriction has affected, for example, Custer Semenya, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masling – black runners who have been banned from the Olympics due to alleged elevated testosterone levels.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not allow another athlete to compete in the Olympics – runner-up Sese Telfer, who failed to meet the set standard for hormone levels. However, the Olympic Committee acknowledges that this restriction on hormones is outdated. ” We used to think that men had low levels of 10 nanomoles of hormones, but now we know that they go up to 7 and may be higher in women, ” Richard Baggett, director of medicine and science at the International Olympic Committee, told the British News. . ” Agreeing on other numbers is also impossible and irrelevant. The debate on this can be endless. ”

source: them.us

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This Mom Became a Lawyer After Her Daughter Came Out as Trans

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Katie Jenifer never thought she’d go to law school. But when her daughter came out as trans as a young child, the North Carolina mother of two knew her child would need an advocate.

Now, eight years after her daughter Maddie first came out, and five years after enrolling in North Carolina Central University’s law school, Jenifer has acquired her bar card. She knows that as a record number of anti-trans bills being introduced in the U.S. continue to grow, trans kids need advocates now more than ever. Speaking about Maddie, she tells them., “I think she’s proud of me… I think she knows that I’d do anything to protect her.”

Maddie transitioned socially around five years old, between kindergarten and first grade. On her first day back at school, a local news crew showed up to interview other parents, asking how they felt about their children going to school with a trans kid. Jenifer says this was the first moment she realized she might need a lawyer: “It set off a firestorm,” she told the Guardian.

“One of the things that made me want to do law in the first place was that fear that somebody would not like how we were raising Maddie and report us to social services,” she tells them. “That was one of my biggest fears. How would I protect her from getting taken from us?”

While she isn’t currently working as a lawyer, she hopes to someday work full-time on cases involving trans health care. In the meantime, Jenifer serves on the board of the Conversion Therapy Dropout Network, an organization that supports survivors of conversion therapy. She is also on the board of (and runs an online support group for parents of trans kids with) Genderbands, a non-profit that helps raise money to cover transition-related expenses.

She also accompanied Maddie when she appeared in front of the state legislature earlier this year, speaking against North Carolina’s proposed bill banning trans girls from playing on girls’ sports teams. The state is one of at least 30 that have introduced bills intended to bar trans people, and often trans girls in particular, from playing on sports teams that align with their gender. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), six of these bills have been enacted in 2021.

At the hearing, Jenifer’s mom instincts were in full gear, checking in on her daughter and the other trans kids who’d come out to speak against the bill.

“I just kept checking with her to make sure she was okay,” she tells them. “I was sitting next to another trans individual, and I was checking with them to make sure they were okay. There was a mom behind me with her trans daughter, and I just gave her hand a little squeeze when there would be something really hard to hear.”

Maddie said that while she was upset by the lawmakers’ blatant transphobia, she was glad that she could be there to fight back. “It was difficult to hear them say trans kids aren’t real boys or girls,” she told the Guardian. “It’s hard to hear them contemplating my existence.”

“I know it can be scary for parents. But our job is to love our kiddos, and to provide them with all the information they need to make informed choices.” -Says Katie

Source: them.us

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A new Netflix documentary tells the brutal story of conversion therapy

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A new documentary on Netflix illustrates an Anti-LGBTQ+ organization Exodus International, that was one of the most famous centers of conversion therapy worldwide, until it was closed by an employee of this organization, Randy Thomas, in 2013. After 2 years of closing, Thomas had a public coming out, announcing that he is gay.

The director of Pray Away is Kristine Stolakis, and the executive producers – Jason Bloom and Ryan Murphy. Murphy is also the director of such popular TV series as Ratched, American Horror Story, and other movies containing LGBTQ content.

Pray Away shows what conversion therapy really is. It illustrates that it isn’t only a discriminatory practice directed toward queer and trans individuals, but it is also a well-designed political movement from decades ago, which is deeply hidden in American Fundamentalism. It is clearly stated in Pray Away that the people who popularized conversion therapy knew exactly what they were doing. They must now assess the gravity of their actions.

The film details how Exodus International was founded. The idea of ​​founding the organization came from five gay men. In the early 1970s, these people could not reconcile their inner feelings with religious sentiments. Their religion told them that their feelings were harmful to them, so they formed a Christian group where they could talk openly about their feelings in order to free themselves from it. They organized a conference for all small groups and from this conference was born Exodus International and the modern conversion therapy movement. The organization came up with the idea that conversion therapy was effective and necessary for LGBTQ + people. They would go to heaven if groups like Exodus were allowed to control their sexual attraction and gender identity. In the 1980s and early 1990s, when queer people died as a result of the AIDS crisis, the pace of movement development accelerated significantly. They used AIDS to prove that being queer was an unnatural and unclean condition. Against this background appeared a woman named Yvette Schneider, who “rejected” being queer and joined the idea of ​​curing queer people with conversion therapy and traveled throughout the country, giving public speeches. Yvette Schneider’s character in the film admits that despite her campaigns, her homosexuality had not disappeared.

Pray Away mostly includes in-depth interviews with conversion therapy activists now referred to as “ex-gays.” The film shows how they were absorbed by the movement, chewed and spat out. Footage of “ex-gay” speakers is combined with today’s interviews. In the old videos they are angry and cruel.

Conversion therapy is still legal in 22 US states. Pray Away may not be the exact solution to the problem of conversion therapy, but its greatest achievement may be to create a platform for people who have survived this brutal practice.

Source: them.uss

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Anita Bryant has Fought Against LGBTQ + People All Her Life, and Now She Has a Bisexual Granddaughter

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Anita Bryant’s name is associated with homophobia. In the 1970s, as a disgraceful anti-LGBTQ + crusader waging a brutal war against LGBTQ + human rights, the name of her campaign was “Save Our Children.”

Sarah Green came out to her grandmother at the age of 21. While talking on the phone, the grandmother was congratulating her granddaughter on her birthday and wishing to find a suitable husband, at which point, Sarah revealed her grandmother’s secret. “She did not stop talking about a suitable man and I just exploded,” Green recalls.

The granddaughter’s confession failed to soften Bryant’s attitudes. “Instead of accepting Sarah as what she is, my mother chose to pray,” Sarah’s father added. Sarah then shuns her relationship with her grandmother – “It’s very difficult to argue with someone who thinks that an integral part of your identity is just evil,” Green said.

Before Bryant launched her famous campaign, she was a pop singer. Her campaign has done great harm to the rights of LGBTQ + people in various states. The singer has launched a campaign in Florida to repeal laws that protect gay rights. Florida was one of the first states to prohibit discrimination in employment and residence on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The main motto of Bryant’s campaign was that “homosexuals cannot reproduce, so we must change them.” The campaign preached religious purity and aimed to protect children from anti-Christian values. Bryant’s fierce rhetoric, including in press conferences and commercials, quickly gained followers.

Bryant’s anti-LGBTQ + campaign led to the debate of an anti-discrimination law in Miami, Aunt County. 70% of the population supported the repeal of the law, which made discrimination against LGBTQ + people legal again in this part of the country. The district was able to reinstate the anti-discrimination law in 1998, 21 years later.

Despite a number of negative developments, her campaign has played a major role in activating the queer movement. In 1977, there was a famous case when Anita Bryant had cake thrown in the face by a queer activist, Tom Higgins, at one of the press conferences.

Decades later, Bryant’s granddaughter tries to decide whether to invite a homophobic grandmother to her gay wedding.

Source: them.us

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7 New Queer-themed TV series

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The pandemic, like for many other areas, proved to be severe for the television industry as well. Filming of many TV series stopped in 2020, some were canceled altogether, however, despite this, Internet and cable TVs are slowly returning to the old rhythm and offering lots of new TV shows.

We offer 7 new queer series, the TV premiere of which took place in 2021 or returned to the screens with a new season.

It’s a sin

In the early 80s an AIDs epidemic broke out throughout the world. The virus spread rapidly and claimed the lives of many people. The ruling forces of different countries were doing nothing and very soon the majority believed that this new type of virus was God’s punishment for LGBT+ people.

The 2021 British TV series tells the story of the 80s and the British LGBT+ community. It is about young people who are starting a new life in London and are still unaware that a bigger monster than homophobia and patriarchy is approaching the world in the form of a virus.

The mini-series consists of a total of 5 episodes and ideally brings to life the UK of the 80s, various segments of British society and the struggle for freedom, love and life.

Special

The lives of people with disabilities are vague not only in our reality but also in developed countries. The voice of the people who need support and help the most does not reach the public.

The main character is Ryan, a young gay man, who despite his diagnosis (Cerebral palsy), tries to start an independent life, find a preferred job and a man.

The comedy series consists of two seasons and from a completely different angle shows the lives of people with special needs, the challenges of the modern world and the special relationship between mother and child.

Halston

There is probably no queer person that hasn’t watched at least one of Ryan Murphy’s TV series. The creators of American Horror Story and American Crime Story did not disappoint the viewers this time either, and after the story of the assassination of the founder of the famous fashion house, the founder of Versace, they offered a mini-series about another famous designer, Roy Hallston.

Halston was one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century, who began his career making hats, and after his hat was worn by John F. Kennedy’s wife, Jackie Kennedy, the designer’s success doubled.

The mini-series perfectly describes the last years of the queer designer’s life, the glamorous society of New York in the 70s, the endless parties in the famous Studio 54 and the fashion world that so captivates millions of people around the world.

The main role in the series is played by Evan McGregor.

Genera+ion

Have you ever wondered what your teen years would have been like if you had a more peaceful, less homophobic environment at school? How would your life develop if your desires, freedom of speech were not as restricted? If no one told you – don’t wear that, don’t act like that, don’t be friends with them, etc.

A new TV series by HBO max, Generation, tells us a story about such American teenagers, that are trying to find their path in the modern world.

This mixture of comedy and drama is perfect for those people that like TV shows about schools, young people and their problems.

Why are you like this?

Life might get extremely chaotic during the ages 20-30. Despite the fact that you are young, you have just started your life and you are full of energy, it is still not easy to become an adult and find yourself.

The Australian TV series of 2021, which is part of the anthology, illustrates these problems. In this comedy genre TV show the action takes place in Melbourne, relating to three friends: Penny, Mia and Austin. The friends live together, have an internet addiction and are trying to voice their unique opinions.

Bonding

Bonding is another queer series, the second season of which came out this year and tells the story of a New York City student girl and her gay friend comedian who engage in sex work for money and become the dominant ones with BDSM-loving men.

The comedy genre series sheds a light on a lot of taboos and stigma around sex and humorously describes the friendship of young people in New York.

Young Royals

Young Royals is a Swedish teen series that came out just a few weeks ago. The series tells the story of the youngest member of the Swedish royal dynasty, Wilhelm, who is the second candidate for the throne.

It all starts with a royal scandal, with 16-year-old Prince Wilhelm behaving irrelevantly to his status, which is why the monarch family decides to send the prince to an elite, closed school. Everyone is looking forward to the prince’s appearance at school, everyone has their own plans for the monarch, though Wilhelm will only be interested in his classmate, Simon.

A teen drama full of conflicts about the love story of two boys is an ideal getaway for those who love royal family life and queer love stories.

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