Posts Categorised ‘LGBT Issues’
Feb
23
And it has nothing to do with € 145 billion (+/-), or job creation, or any of that other boring stuff.
Oh no.
Grafton street this morning:
In the midst of putting up the ‘Labortion’ posters, they seem to have remembered that there is indeed another important issue:
The ‘Labortion’ party wants marriage equality too!
That allowing gay people to marry is bad is seemingly self-explanatory, so they just slapped up a piece of an article.
Next week’s slogan: ‘A vote for Labour is a vote for Satan.’
Tagged: Abortion, Anti-choice, LGBT, Marriage equality, Politics, Pro-life
Nov
24
A reference to sexual orientation on a list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based was removed from a UN Resolution last week.
The resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions aims to highlight groups of people who are specifically targeted for killings. Sexual orientation has been on the list since 1999, but was removed after a vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly November 16th.
Removing this reference means that sexual orientation is no longer one of the grounds of discriminatory killings on which states are called on to protect and investigate.
Benin proposed the amendment based on the following statement :
sexual orientation [has] no legal foundation in any international human rights instruments and there [is] no legal justification to highlight it
The amendment was passed with 79 states for and 70 states against (see list here).
Recognition of the vulnerability of LGBT people in many countries is now considerably weakened, and many human rights and LGBT organisations including the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Watch have expressed worry and anger about the situation.
Tagged: LGBT, UN, Violence
Nov
11
Photo from washingtontimes.com
President of the Croatian Football Federation, Vlatko Markovic, has said that as long as he’s president of the federation, ‘there will be no homosexuals playing on the national team’.
Asked whether he had ever met a gay soccer player, he replied; ‘luckily, only normal people play football’.
Now would probably be a good time to retire, Mr. Markovic….
Tagged: Discrimination, LGBT, Sport
Oct
13
A new report ordered by The Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime has found that a high number of victims of crime are unhappy with the gardaí’s dealing of their case and with their experience of being in court.
Many victims reported that they were worried about further harassment and double victimisation if deciding to report their case.
Overall, seven out of ten were satisfied or very satisfied with the sensitivity of gardaí when taking a statement. However, a number of respondents having experienced domestic violence, sexual abuse or homophobic violence said that the gardaí were insensitive when taking their statement.
It was recommended that a number of gardaí officers from all departments should receive specialist training in dealing with members of the public who have suffered such violence. An Garda Síochána already have the established The Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit (DVSAIU) which ‘provides advice, guidance and assistance to Gardaí investigating child sexual abuse, other sexual crimes and domestic violence’.
The report also found that 55 per cent of the people surveyed were unhappy with their experience in court. According to the Irish Independent, such negative expereinces were related to ‘delays, lack of information, court layouts, the organisation of hearings, the sensitivity of legal staff and the handling of victim impact statements, overcrowded courtrooms, an inability to hear the proceedings, lack of seating or separate waiting areas and intimidation’.
When presented with photographs of the courtrooms, it’s not difficult to imagine that the size and layout could potentially lead to intimidating encounters between perpetrator and witness.
Image from specialistjoinerygroup.co.uk
Image from communityvoice.ie
The new Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin does however provide ‘retiring rooms within secure and segregated circulation’ and, according to their website, the accommodation for vulnerable witnesses is on a par with the best in the world.
The report also recommended that number of Gay Liaison Officers should be increased. An Garda Síochána already works closely with the LGBT community. The official Garda LGB Network, ‘G Force’, to support LGB members of the force was set up in 2009, and last month, An Garda Síochána won ‘Employer of the year’ at the Annual Gay and Lesbian Awards.
A high number of the respondents (88.5 per cent) said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the Crime Victims Helpline, and similar high levels of satisfaction were expressed for other involved support organisations.
