Queereaster.net

After an attack on Member of European Parliament (MEP) Sophie in 't Veld, the Jonge Democraten (Young Democrats of the Netherlands) decided to start an online petition against homophobia in Russia (and the EU!).

During a demonstration in Moscow, in 't Veld and her bystanders were attacked by a Nazi carrying a knife. During the demonstration, organizers were arrested as well as some MEP. The police did nothing against the perpetrators.

Stop hate crime, start human rights!

Sign the petition at: http://www.jongedemocraten.nl/petition

As usual in May the Equality Parade will be organized in Warsaw. The Equality Parade has its own tradition in Poland. The first was organized in the year 2001 on 1st of May. About 300 participants walked down the streets. From then on everyyear Polish LGBT people went on the streets to manifest their presence.

Not too long ago, for the first time I went to this gay bar in my home town. It was pretty much a horrible bar and thus not the most enjoyable evening, but my eye did catch an interesting detail. There was a boy (what a surprise) who seemed to be wearing 2 different shirts during the evening, changing it back and forth. Later on I noticed that it wasn’t just one boy: they were identical twins. Now, as this might not be the most interesting thing to notice (other then that a lot of people undoubtetly have fantasies about this), the interesting part was that only one of them was gay!

Are we homo/heterosexual? Or do we act homo/heterosexual? On which base do we gather and fight for our rights? Where the reasons the same during the last century?

Let’s see if we can find some answers to these questions.

We were illegal until 1971, sick until 1981, and had no protection against discrimination in labour market before 1995. Until reforming criminal law 1999 the age of consent was higher for same sex couples and it was illegal to urge people to homosexuality – even if homosexuality was not illegal. No one was ever judged for “urging people to homosexuality”, but it decreased possibilities to spread information about LGBT-people.

We have been preparing this years action for IDAHO, at the British Youth Council (the national council of youth originations, parties and local youth forums in the UK) we will be leading the demonstration this year outside the Polish embassy calling for an end to the institutionalized homophobia that is increasingly growing in eastern Europe and especially Poland. Although it’s an important day to campaign against homophobia around Europe and the world, I always feel that it’s important to reflect about the situation at home as well as overseas.