The LesBian News Stack 2010 – May 27

By Saskia Joreen on Thursday, May 27, 2010 - 17:54

Grading European countries on their human rights for LGB people, violent lesbophobia in Paris, and will a Moscow Pride march ever happen?

Europe

The European Union have expressed their concern about homophobia and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in Malawi. This concern is based on the sentencing of Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa and Steven Monjeza Soko, who, on 20 May, were given the maximum sentence of 14 years' imprisonment for gross indecency and unnatural acts by a Malawi Court, on the basis of their sexual orientation. Read High Representative Catherine Ashton’s full statement on behalf of the EU here.

On the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, ILGA Europe released an updated Rainbow Europe Map, as well as an updated version of their Rainbow Europe Country Index. This Index rates each European country on its legislation affecting the human rights of LGB people. The rating places a country on a scale between 10 (maximal positive score) and -4 (maximum negative score) and is an average of possible positive and negative points.

Looking at the Index, Sweden is the only country that received the maximum score of 10 points. A shared second place (with 9 points) goes to Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain. At the bottom of the index we find Russia and Ukraine with –2 points each, while Belarus, Moldova and Turkey share the ‘second worst’ place with –1 point.

France

A lesbophobic attack has been reported in Paris. Last Saturday night a lesbian couple were insulted and beaten by a group of men. The assault stopped when a cyclist intervened. Shockingly enough, most of the people in proximity of the attack seemed indifferent to it. The police so far haven’t done anything to find and arrest the attackers. This Saturday, a support committee will be having a picnic where the attack took place, so that the assaulted women can reclaim their space surrounded by supporters instead of indifferent passersby.

Last Saturday, the Pride parade in the city of Tours drew some opponents who protested against the “decadence” that was Gay Pride. The twenty-five protestors were kept away from the parade by police. That’s a welcome change to what happened at the kiss-in in Lyon that we wrote about last week.

Ireland

The Irish Civil Partnership Bill’s Committee Stage has resumed this morning. You can read more about it on Gaelick.

The Netherlands

Dutch LGBT organisation COC have organized a Pink National Election Debate this upcoming Saturday, which is open to all. Almost all major party leaders will be joining in to discuss several LGBT topics. Political parties’ positions on LGBT topics can also be found on website GayVote.

Russia

The mayor of Moscow has banned the annual Moscow Pride march for the fifth year in a row. Website The Other Russia reports that parades, protests, rallies and other similar events require government sanction to be legally held in Russia; organizing an unsanctioned rally can lead to jail time.

Organizer Nikolai Alexeyev said that he and his fellow organizers intend to file a complaint about the city’s decision with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. More immediately, he said they would appeal the decision in Moscow’s Tverskoy Court after receiving written confirmation that the parade has been banned. The event is scheduled for this Saturday, May 29. If the Moscow city authorities refuse to sanction this year’s Moscow Pride parade, the organizers will try to gain permission to hold it on the territory of an embassy of a Western country, Alexeyev stated earlier.