THEGAYUK

Tag: Discrimination

All the latest breaking news on discrimination. Browse The THEGAYUK’s complete collection of features and commentary on discrimination against the LGBT+ community.

  • Priest Comes Out As Gay And Is Promptly Sacked By Vatican

    A Polish priest has been sacked by the Vatican after coming out as gay.

    Monsignor Krzystof Charamsa,43, a priest who has worked in the Vatican’s doctrinal arm since 2003 has been fired by Vatican officials after coming out as gay and as having a partner. He announced his sexuality in an interview with the Italian paper Corriere della Sera.

    Charamsa held a press conference with his Spanish partner to announce his partnership and sexuality. The Vatican have said that its decision to remove Charamsa was nothing to do with his coming out, but that giving an interview and planning a news conference was “grave and irresponsible”.

    Speaking about the Church’s views on homosexuality and how the Church treats gay people he said their views were “inhuman”,

    “It’s time for the Church to open its eyes about gay Catholics and to understand that the solution it proposes to them – total abstinence from a life of love – is inhuman.”

    The news of the sacking comes after the news of an alleged meeting between Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who spent time in jail recently after refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and the Pope during his recent visit to the United States.The Vatican said that the only “audience” the Pope had was with a small group, which included a gay couple.

    In a statement about Charamsa’s announcement, the Vatican said,

    “Msgr. Charamsa will certainly be unable to continue to carry out his previous work in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical universities, while the other aspects of his situation shall remain the competence of his diocesan Ordinary [local bishop].”

    Krzystof Charamsa, dedicated his coming out to all gay priests, saying,

    “I dedicate my coming out to all gay priests. I wish them happiness even if I know that most of them will not have the courage to make the gesture I have made today.”

  • Boy Scouts End Ban On Gay Leaders In USA

    The Boy Scouts of America have voted to end a blanket ban on gay adult leaders, employees and volunteers.

    Voting 45 in favour to 12 against the change, a long-established blanket ban on gay employees and volunteers working for the Boy Scouts of America has been lifted, stating that,

    “No adult applicant for registration as an employee or non-unit-serving volunteer, who otherwise meets the requirements of the Boy Scouts of America, may be denied registration on the basis of sexual orientation.”

    However, the new policy will still allow church-sponsored groups to still discriminate by allowing the recruitment process to restrict candidates to those who share their doctrine.

    The Mormon Church have said that despite the caveat, which could be open to discriminating against LGBT leaders, that it might leave the organisation in any case. Its clear stance on discriminating against LGBT people might open the floodgates for our Church-sponsored groups, like the Roman Catholic Church to do the same.

    A statement released by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said,

    “The Church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation,

    “However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.”

    GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said,

    “Finally, hardworking and devoted gay adult leaders can serve openly and honestly in Scouting without fear of rejection or retribution,

    “Today’s historic vote will strengthen Scouting and sends a message of acceptance that will resonate for years to come, as future Scout leaders are judged by their ability to lead and not their sexual orientation.”

  • The Coalition Of Organisations Which Support Anti-Gay Laws Exposed

    Channel four is about to expose a global coalition of organisations that support anti-gay laws around the world.

    The groundbreaking team behind last year’s documentary Hunted, Liz MacKean and the Dispatches team return with an investigation into the global networks that are supporting a wave of anti-gay laws around the world.

    In a special one-hour documentary on the 23rd July, Dispatches will unveil the well funded and organised back-lash against the LGBT community across four continents, led by bodies which promote and believe in family values.

    One group, the World Congress of Families – an umbrella organisation of religious conservative groups which has established links in over 80 countries – is based in America, where same-sex marriages have just been made legal in all 50 states. The WCF and their associates (who boast combined budgets of almost $200 million a year) claim they are merely supporting pro-family laws in other countries. But Dispatches reveals how, in doing so, they have supported anti-gay laws in Russia and lobbied the Slovakian government to help pass laws curtailing the rights of the gay community.

    Dispatches has discovered that, days after the anti-gay propaganda law came into effect, Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (part of the WCF), was present at a Russian parliamentary meeting preceding Russian legislature banning the adoption of children to countries which support gay marriage and also to some same sex couples.

    Also interviewed is Pastor Scott Lively, who has previously linked homosexuality with paedophilia. In this programme, Dispatches reveals the extent of his links with the WCF. Lively advised Uganda’s government on how they might take forward their anti-homosexuality legislation. The Ugandan Anti-Homosexual Act was passed into law in December 2013 (though it has recently been annulled on a technicality, but is soon to be reintroduced to parliament). The passing of this legislation resulted in a sharp increase in homophobic attacks in the country (from sources including SMUG and the United Nations). However, like Jacobs, Lively rejects this claim and any responsibility for the increase in violence against gays.

    Hunted: Gay and Afraid, Channel 4 Dispatches, Thursday 23rd July at 11.05pm.

  • COMMENT I Wanna Hold My Boyfriend’s Hand (and other straight jealously)

    I wanna hold your hand (and other straight jealousy)

    As the title says, it’s a simple request; all I want to do is hold a hand, specifically my partner’s hand. We’ve been together for 8 years and I’ve never openly held his hand or been overly affectionate in public, and a video posted recently of two men in Russia just walking down the street holding hands painfully illustrates the kind of reactions that we would get. Obviously, the UK is far more liberal than Russia when it comes to gay rights, but I would still feel nervous about what could potentially happen.

    I consider myself a strong guy mentally, and if someone is openly homophobic I will stand up for myself, but it’s the subtle type of reactions that bother me more. The whispers and stares from people we would get for doing something so benign that straight people don’t even have to think about it. I do feel a pang of sadness and jealousy when I’m walking along with my partner and see couples holding hands or being affectionate, completely oblivious to the world around them, thinking of nothing more than their eventual destination or what’s for dinner that night.

    Straight people take for granted how easy it is for them to display affection towards their significant other, and while there may be a very small minority of people who might stare at a straight couple, if they are of, say different races or different physicality, it is nowhere near the level of hostility a gay couple would endure.

    I also very rarely visit “straight” nightclubs on a Friday or Saturday because it only takes one person saying something to ruin a night out. I feel constantly on edge, always wary of the kind of people who are about and how they might react to me, and obviously, with alcohol involved, this becomes more of a minefield. Most straight people can go into a nightclub and have a great night out without the fear of either having something said or worse, being attacked. Yes it can happen that anyone can get into an incident in a nightclub, but as a gay person, the odds are stacked far more against me.

    I’m lucky in the fact that I’ve only ever experienced a few incidences of outright homophobic verbal abuse, and I’ve never been physically attacked and I consider myself fortuitous that the most I’ll get from friends and work colleagues would be considered nothing more than friendly banter and natural curiosity to me. However, what is friendly banter to me, could be incredibly hurtful to someone else and in the younger LGBT population especially, who may still be struggling with their identity this can be potentially dangerous.

    To some straight people reading this, they may question why I would be jealous of them, and this is where the problem lies, they don’t see a problem. They don’t have the need to see an issue, something I and the LGBT community don’t have the luxury of.

    The reason we have Pride events is so that as a community we can feel safe enough to be ourselves, where the worst we’ll get is from a few sad people in anoraks quoting bible verses at us, who are easily ignored. I’ve had it asked to me and others many times “Why do you have pride marches?” And my usual reaction is “be thankful you don’t need one”. The fact we have had to fight to be given basic rights, and it took until the 21st century to even be allowed to have a civil partnership shows there it still a long way to go to change people’s attitudes. We simply haven’t come far enough to stop the fight for our right to exist and to be recognised.

    But what can be done, should all gay couples just hold hands and sod the reactions? Sadly this isn’t as easy as it sounds. In some places in the UK this could potentially result in a violent reaction. LGBT people have been attacked and or killed, and over 35,000 incidences of homophobic hate crimes go unreported every year. Does this illustrate that the LGBT community are so used to these kind of reactions that they consider it pointless to report it any more, or is there something of a more deeply disturbing trend when it comes to homophobic abuse, in that LGBT people don’t feel anything would be done even if it was reported and would that then result in worse treatment from the perpetrator after they got their slap on the wrist. Statistics show that fewer than 1 in 10 homophobic hate crimes that are actually reported lead to a conviction.

    Times they are a changing though, and the general overall attitude towards gay people is positive and accepting, and as people become more educated about the LGBT community the more people will not think twice about seeing two men holding hands.

    by Andy Elliot Griffiths / @AndyEG1982

  • When Companies Get It Wrong On Gay Matters

    A number of businesses have found themselves at the end of a boycott, or a viral campaign by the gay community and its allies after denying service or discriminating against LGBT customers. Here is just ten of the most high profile that have happened in the last two years.

    Asher’s Bakery – Historic ruling on gay cake equality.

    The owners of Asher’s Bakery in Northern Ireland, were found to have acted unlawfully in a historic legal case after refusing to make a cake that bore the wording: “Support Gay Marriage.” Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist, took the civil case to court with the support of the Equality Commission. The case became so high profile that Prime Minister David Cameron waded in to comment on his commitment to equality.

    Dolce And Gabbana – Don’t talk about gay parents or IVF.

    The fashion duo found themselves on the end of a long Twitter storm that did untold damage to their luxury brand.

    Speaking to the Italian magazine Panorama, alongside his business partner, Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce said children should be born to a mother and a father, “The only family is a traditional one. I’m not convinced by those I call the chemical children, synthetic babies…They are wombs for hire, semen chosen from a catalogue … psychiatrists are not ready to confront the effects of this experimentation.”

    Stefano Gabbana added: “The family is not a fad.”

    The designing duo did backtrack on what they had said, but the damage had been done by that point.

     

    Sweet Cakes – No cakes for gays.

    Sweet Cakes is a US bakery that was fined $135000 for discriminating against a gay couple. The owners refused to make a wedding cake. The owners went to GoFundMe crowdfunding site to look for donations to pay their fines. After GoFundMe pulled the campaign they started another on ContinueToGive, which saw them raise 3 times the amount they had originally asked for.

     

    Memories Pizza – No pizza for gay weddings.

    The owners of Memories Pizza didn’t actually discriminate but said that they would. The comments went viral and before long the owners said that they had been driven underground. A crowdfunder campaign was started for them, which went on to raise over $800,000 in donations.

     

    Subway – A promo for all couples… Except for gay couples.

    A Subway restaurateur from Angers in France displayed a promotion in his window that excluded gay couples  because the marriage bill for marriage equality hadn’t officially passed. A spokesperson from Subway said, “The SUBWAY® brand is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment around the world and does not condone discrimination of any kind. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this individual store’s Valentine’s Day promotion in Angers, France. All SUBWAY stores are independently owned and operated. We are working with the owner to reinforce our corporate values and policies.

     

    Armani – Don’t Dress Like A Homosexual.

    Giorgio Armani rattled some feathers when in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine he said, “A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual.

    “When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme – to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,’ – that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”

     

    Coca Cola – All about the gay marriage, unless it’s not legal…

    Coco-Cola the world’s biggest drinks manufacturer was slammed for removing a gay couple segment from the Irish version of the advert. The advert was apparently tweaked to fit where the advert is shown – with the gay couple being shown everywhere in Europe where gay marriage and civil partnerships are currently legal. A spokesperson for the drinks company said:

    “The wedding images used in the ad for the UK and in other parts of Europe show two men getting married.

    “The reason this was changed for Ireland is while civil partnership for gay people is legal, gay marriage currently is not. We wanted each ad to be relevant and valid for its own market.”

    Since the adverts creation Ireland went on to legalise same-sex marriage.

     

    Barilla Pasta – Let them eat another brand

    The company which was founded in 1827 and reportedly made €3.9b in revenues in 2010 has came under fire after its chairman Guido Barilla, gave an interview to La Zanzara Radio24, in which he offended many LGBT customers.

    He was answering a question regarding the lack of gay families in the company’s advertising. He suggested that gay couples would never be used saying,

    ‘”Our family is a traditional family,’ he added that he,

    “wouldn’t do an ad with a homosexual family not because I disrespect gays – they have their right to do whatever they want without disturbing others – but because I don’t think like them and I think that the family we try to address is anyway a classic family.”

    Barilla then went on to suggest that if gay people didn’t like the company’s values, they could ‘eat another brand’.

    Since the fallout, Barillo committed to creating an advisory board on diversity and said that advertising campaign would be more inclusive.

     

    Chick-Fil-A Palin in a bun

    Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy doesn’t like same-sex marriage and was basically jumped by Sarah Palin in her approval of his message. Cathy tweeted that the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key part of the Defence of Marriage Act is a “sad day for our nation,”then promptly deleted it. In 2012 Sarah Palin went on Twitter to support the chain that many from the LGBT community have boycotted.

     

    Thistles No Double Beds for Gays

    In Feb 2013 a gay couple claimed that a receptionist at Thistles hotel in Barbican denied them a pre-booked double room. The reception is alleged to repeatedly ask whether the couple wanted single beds. Nick Hurley and his partner tweeted their disgust saying that the receptionist was homophobic.

    Thistle Hotels quickly responded by apologising and stating that they had a zero tolerance policy on discrimination, but not before Nick Hurley’s tweet was retweeted 2642 times

  • What Happens When Two Men Try To Hold Hands In Russia

    ChebuRussia TV of YouTube decided to try a social experiment on the streets of Moscow to see what would happen when two men held hands in public.

    Using a hidden camera in a back pack to capture the response from the general public, two men from ChebuRussia held hands in the Russian capital city of Moscow. The couple endured abusive outbursts from various people around the city, with some pointing fingers and shouting abuse at the couple, with one man yelling “Leave Russia”.

     

    Most of the outbursts towards the couple were from men.

    Two passersby physically assaulted them by walking directly into their path on two separate occasions.

    One member of ChebuRussia said, “I’m a bit frightened by his reaction, he hit hard”, after the assault.

     

    Ваше мнение по поводу последнего видео? Пишите в комменты ✌?️

    A photo posted by ChebuRussian TV (@cheburussiantv) on

    The three-minute thirty video shows how tough it is to be openly gay in Moscow. The video has had over 3 million views in just one day.

    In 2013 President Putin passed a law which outlawed the promotion of homosexuality to anyone under the age of 18.

  • Wal-Mart Sued After Failing To Insure Gay Employees After DOMA Ruling

    The US’s biggest grocery retailer is being sued for discriminating against a same-sex couple.

    A woman is suing Wal-Mart, a company, which owns the UK Asda brand, after failing to offer health insurance to her wife after DOMA was struck down.

    Jacqueline Cote, 52, is suing her employer, Wal-Mart after failing to extend its insurance benefits to its gay employees after the Defence of Marriage Act, DOMA, was struck down in June 2013. Wal-Mart only started including same-sex couples in January 2014.

    Cotes is alleging that her wife, Diana “Dee” Smithson had spent, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday in Boston federal court, in excess of $150,000 (£95,913) on medical treatments fighting ovarian cancer, which were uninsured. She claims it is in violation of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

    Wal-Mart did extend insurance benefits to gay couples in January 2014.

    In an email to Bloomberg who originally reported the story, Brian Nick, a spokesman for Wal-Mart said, “[Walmart’s] benefits coverage previous to the 2014 update was consistent with the law.”

    Ms. Cote’s class action suit will be the first of its kind since the United States Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal across all of the USA.

     

     

  • ANGELA MERKEL: Marriage Between A Man A Woman

    The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel does not believe that gay couples should have the right to marry.

    ◉ Said that marriage is between a man and woman living together

    ◉ Chancellor is out of touch with the German people on the issue of same-sex marriage

    Angela Merkel revealed her thoughts on same-sex marriage yesterday in an interview posted on YouTube and while she supports LGBT equality, it stops at civil partnerships.

    Speaking to YouTuber Florian Mundt, who has over 2.6 million subscribers, Huffington Post reports she said,

    “We have come a long way; when I remember, 25 years ago, many people didn’t dare to say that they are gay or lesbian.

    “Luckily we overcame this; you can enter a partnership, a civil partnership.

    The Chancellor reiterated that she wanted to end discrimination and she wanted equality and was questioned about how she could end discrimination whilst differentiated between straight and gay couple’s rights to marriage.

    Merkel replied, “No discrimination,”

    “Marriage as a man and a woman living together.”

    “For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together. That is my concept, but I support civil partnerships.”

     

    OUT OF TOUCH?

    Statistics show that Merkel is out of touch with the German people on the issue. A survey undertaken in 2013 by RTL Television and Stern magazine revealed that nearly three-quarters of Germans are in favour of same-sex marriage.

     

  • US Bakery Which Was Fined $135000 For Discrimination Makes 3 Times In Donations

    The Sweet Cakes bakery, at the centre of a legal battle which saw it fined $135,000 has raised over $348,000 in donations.

    A gay couple were awarded $135,000 in damages after the Sweet Cakes bakery refused to bake a wedding cake for them in 2013 on the grounds that it was against their religious beliefs.

    The owners of Sweet Cakes, Aaron and Melissa Klein, started a GoFundMe page asking supporters to help them with their legal costs.

    GoFundMe closed the campaign saying that it violated the site’s terms and conditions, but not before the fundraiser had racked up $109,000 in donations. The decision to pull the crowdfunder from GoFundMe came down to the fact that laws had been violated. GoFundMe allowed Sweet Cakes to take the funds already collected minus its fees and taxes.

    Another site, Continue To Give has allowed the campaign to go on and the Kleins have received over 232% of the $150,000 they’re asking for. The page encourages users to “help the Kleins through this hard time as they fight for religous [sic] freedom”.

    The page’s mission statement reads: “Every American should be free to live and work according to their faith without the government punishing them for doing so.”

    Continuetogive.com take 3.9% + $0.60 per donation. According to the site, the Sweet Cakes fundraiser has had 7611 donations. Meaning that it will have grossed around $25540.60

    In April owners of a Pizza parlour in Indiana said that they would refuse to serve a gay wedding, saying it would never deliver pizza to a gay wedding. A crowd funded was started and raised over $800,000.

  • COMMENT: Come On Gays Let’s Play Nicely. Why Is Camp A Problem For Some Gay Men?

    One would automatically assume all gay men blissfully rub their pumped-up deltoids alongside other homosexuals. Coexisting side-by-side in one big pink, glittery rainbow chum-fest. That’s not completely the Louis Vuitton case. Queer men can be just as homophobic as any straight man.

    Some of them have a grievance with those disco-ball-swinging, Kylie-loving, hot-pant donners – in other words, camp men. Graham Norton and Alan Carr have been set-upon via Twitter for being part of the screaming, mincing, flamboyant-clothes-wearing brigade. The verbal attacks have mostly come from the straight-acting, masculine trying-to-conform, anti-camp homos.

    The prejudice isn’t just from nasty little quips on social media but also on gay dating sites. Some sites will specify straight-acting only, while others have profile settings you can categorise yourself as straight-acting.

    Their beef: having stereotypical homos in the limelight gives the perception that all gays are lipstick-wearing fairies.

    I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been sipping a Cinzano in a gay establishment and heard “you’d never know you were gay”.

     

    Depressingly the homosexual recipient usually takes the remark as a massive compliment.

     

    Why is camp a problem to some gay men?

    They want all the joys that come with being a c**ksucker, but without the association or identity.

    Of course not every homo loves shopping, shiny things and Cher. Gays come in all shapes and sizes, have different attributes and mannerisms and come from all walks of life. Gay dating sites never say “effeminate men only” or “no gingham shirt wearers here”.

    With such prejudice against the limp-wristed row-of-tents lot, how is this affecting young camp gay men’s ability to come out, or simply be happy with who they really are, wherever they fit on the campness scale?

    Imagine a camp teenager living outside of London – the Big Smoke isn’t immune from homophobia but is probably the most accepting city. There’s no hiding he’s gay – camp isn’t a quality you switch on or off as you see fit. Yes, it can be accentuated while hamming up an anecdote or prancing around a dance floor with ya mates – but trying to hide the fundamental you 24/7 would be a hard challenge even for the likes of Meryl Streep.

    He would no doubt have come up against plenty of homophobia. Being the Iphone, android internet crazed society we are, this teenager is quickly going to scroll across such bigotry on social media and dating sites. What he should see from other gays is acceptance. Instead he could be pushed to self-loathing and internalise homophobic thoughts – all thanks to other homosexuals.

    Ask any gay man, outside the Big Smoke there isn’t such a high tolerance to homosexuality – especially in less privileged areas. Is it any wonder young gays still find it hard to come to terms with their sexuality. According to Youth Chances (YC), an organisation that helps young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people: 42% of young LGBTs have sought medical help for anxiety or depression; 52% report self-harm; 44% have considered suicide.

    Overtly queer young people suffer enough abuse and bullying from ignorant others. Do we really need to add more fuel to that homophobic fire?

    With so many in today’s society being derogatory towards stereotypical screaming queens, our own kind should be more accepting.

    Whether you’re a raving homo with a penchant for Gaga, a leather-clad bear or straight-acting lumberjack – let’s drop the prejudice and raise our tolerance levels. We’ve enough battles to fight without starting on one another.

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

     

  • Welsh Lib Dems Call For End To Gay Blood Ban

    Marking National Blood Week, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Welsh Government to work with the UK Government to end the ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood.

    Currently, UK Government guidelines prevent gay and bisexual men from donating blood if they have had sex with another male within the preceding twelve months. Proponents of the ban argue that gay and bisexual men are more likely than any other group to contract HIV, but figures for 2012 show that more people contract HIV through heterosexual sex than homosexual sex.

    Welsh Lib Dem AM Peter Black raised the issue in the Welsh Assembly earlier today. The Welsh Minister for Government Business agreed to ask the Minister for Health and Social Services to look at the matter further.

    Peter Black AM, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Equalities Minister, said,

    “National Blood Week has brought to our attention that the blood service needs 204,000 extra donors to meet demand. Given this huge demand for blood donors, I completely fail to understand why the ban on men who have sex with men giving blood is still in place.

    “This ban not only turns away thousands of willing and healthy potential donors, but it also serves to reinforce negative stereotypes about gay and bisexual men. Straight people get HIV too, and all donated blood is tested for HIV and other diseases before being transfused for precisely that reason.

    “The sooner this unfair and discriminatory ban is lifted, the sooner our blood services can benefit from a greater supply of donated blood and more lives can be saved.”