Pope Francis tries to brush Catholic bigotry under the carpet

Pope Francis seemed to extend tolerance to LGBT people, abortion and women on Friday in a long form interview published in the Jesuit Journals. He said:

The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all.

This seemed to imply, at the very least, that he wanted to focus on the more spiritual side of Catholicism. He said he wanted to move away from these ‘petty rules’ that have ‘socially wounded’ so many.

Sexism at Golf’s Open Championship

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD – JUNE 06: Lorena Ochoa (MEX) during practice before 2007 LPGA Championship held at Bulle Rock Golf Course, on June 6, 2007 in Havre de Grace, Maryland. (Photo by Keith Allison) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This week Alex Salmond and Maria Miller, among others, have announced that they will boycott golf’s Open Championship because of Muirfield’s continued men-only membership policy. Despite the fact that occupational segregation is currently a ministerial gender equality priority in Scotland its golf clubs lag behind in the equality stakes. Muirfield is not the only men-only club to hold the Open but it has become a lightening rod for the debate about sexism in sport. There has been condemnation from within the sport as well as outside it amid concerns for the potential damage golf’s image. Laura Davies, among the most successful British female golfer in recent years has said it’s time Muirfield joined the 21st century.

On Ender’s Game and the Russian Olympics: Boycotts and Free Speech

Cover of Ender’s Game (Ender Quartet)

This week there are two quite different things people want to boycott: Ender’s Game and the Russian winter Olympics. The reasons that they want to boycott them however are essentially the same – by supporting them, you are giving money to bigots and homophobes. Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning same-sex affection following on the heals of his terrible treatment of Pussy Riot and Orson Scott Card sits on the board of NOM and is actively involved in similarly distasteful activities including calls for homosexuality to be made illegal.

How do we solve a problem like single parent families?

A Moment in a Tumbleweed’s Life (Photo credit: Artotem)

England is a “man desert” and 1 million children are growing up without a father. There has been much lamentation, tearing of hair and rending of garments over this revelation in a report from the centre for social justice from the usual suspects. The assumption seems to be that a man – any man – would be better than no man at all in these situations.

What the report fails to address is the question ‘why?’ Did these women choose to be single mothers? Were they divorced? abandoned? abused? Who are the fathers in question? There are many legitimate reasons why a woman might not want a specific man around her children, male role models are great where you can find them but raising children takes more than sperm.

Gay people are everywhere and persecution doesn’t help

Icon for Wikimedia project´s LGBT portal (Portal:LGBT). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Despite both the Vatican and Pakistan being incredibly hostile places for gay people, this week we have strong evidence that they exist in both. According to a recent survey about tolerance, only 2% of people living in Pakistan believe homosexuality should be tolerated in society and yet Pakistan is the world leader in Google searches for gay porn. In the Vatican the pope has given further credence to stories of a shady group of gay priests secretly running things behind the scenes. These revelations should scare homophobes because it is yet more proof that it isn’t a permissive society that ‘turns’ people gay. Being gay is a natural phenomenon. There are gay people all over the place whether it is legal or not, whether they are accepted or not and whether they’re allowed to marry or not.

Disney’s Merida Makeover: not the only way to be a princess

Image from amightygirl.com

Over the last fortnight, Disney released and quickly withdrew some sparkly, sexy Merida artwork for her ‘coronation ceremony’. The slimming down, aging up and general ‘princess-isation’ of Merida who was billed as a character who hated the fluff of being a princess spurred endless column inches about gender and femininity as well as a “Say No To The Merida Make Over” petition with 233,846 supporters to date. 

Primary School Teacher Commits Suicide After Littlejohn Witch Hunt

Richard Littlejohn photocard (Early 90s) (Photo credit: radiothings.com)

Lucy Meadows committed suicide on Tuesday after a sustained attack from the Daily Mail and the far-right columnist Richard Littlejohn because she was born Nathan Upton.

Following the revelation of her suicide, petitions have sprung up on the net pointing fingers at Richard Littlejohn and his column, “He’s not only in the wrong body… he’s in the wrong job” as the main agitator in a witch hunt that caused immense distress and possibly suicide. There are at least two petitions, with more than 48,000 signatures between them, calling for Littlejohn to apologise, resign or be fired.

Littlejohn’s column, while apparently acknowledging an individual’s right to transition on the NHS, has been criticised for using male pronouns and calling Lucy’s decision to transition and remain at the same school “selfish” and said the impact on her students would be “devastating”.  Many trans* people have taken issue with the validity of his comments and have pointed out, usually from personal experience, that children are generally more accepting of gender issues. In a story, publicised via one of the petitions, a young cousin reacted by saying “Oh, that makes sense. I always thought you were a boy. Now can be go play Legos?”

In the furore following her death the Daily Mail pulled the column from their website but have defended the column’s content. They put out a statement calling the responses “an orchestrated twitterstorm, fanned by individuals… with an agenda to pursue.” and specfically naming Alastair Campbell as one of the instigators. They also reiterated the point made on several blogs that there have been no explicit details linking the suicide with Littlejohn or any other member of the media. However emails have revealed that in the weeks between the publication of Littlejohn’s column and her suicide, Lucy was hounded by journalists. She had to slip out of her back door and stay late at school to avoid them. Ironically, given the statement from the Daily Mail, Lucy also wrote about how supportive parents were ignored by the media who were keen to pursue the outrage agenda.

Though Lucy was supported by her head teacher and many parents at the school the constant harassment clearly had a destabilising effect on her life and it should not be discounted as a factor in her suicide.

In the end though, whether Lucy committed suicide as a result of the harassment doesn’t matter. It is not Lucy’s suicide that needs to be apologised for. It is the harassment, the victimisation and the monstering that Lucy and the whole of the trans* community are owed an apology for.

 

The full story:

• Daily Mail urged to fire Richard Littlejohn after death of transgender teacher Lucy Meadows (schoolsimprovement.net)
• Trans teacher Lucy Meadow’s death turns town against press (guardian.co.uk)
• Richard Littlejohn, Lucy Meadows, tolerance (brucelawson.co.uk)
• Muddleheaded Richard Littlejohn is not only in the wrong …. he’s in the wrong job (tompride.wordpress.com)

Fatwa for Female Rock Band in Kashmir

Some days it seems like every time the world takes two steps forward in the fight for equality, it takes one step back.

West Point Cadet Accompanied by his Date (Source: Knights Out Twitter)

This week there have been major advances for the LGBT community. Just last night in the UK we had a historic victory for equality with the signing of the gay marriage bill. In the US, the military has shown how far it has come since repealling DADT by circulating lovely pictures of a male West Point cadet taking his civilian boyfriend to a winter formal.

However while the LGBT community is celebrating (and rightly so) there has been a major step backwards for women in Kashmir. The first all-female, Kashmiri rock band, Pragraash, has decided to disband. The 16-year-old vocalist, Noma Nazir, and two 15-year-olds, drummer Farah Deeba and guitarist Aneeka Khalid, were the target of a campaign of virulent abuse via social networking sites. People flocked to the internet to leave comments like ‘These band girlz should be gang rapped’ and ‘shameless bithches they should be hanged’ [sic].

Initially the band decided to retreat from live performances and continue to make an album but the last straw came in the form of a fatwa against them from the Supreme Court of Islamic Shariat, headed by Grand Mufti Mohammad Bashiruddin. In his statement he linked the band’s activities to the gang rape and murder of an, as yet unnamed, 23 year old student in Delhi a few months back. The three girls have all announced that they will completely refrain from playing music in the future.

The Runaways: One of the first female rock bands (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to one of the girls who spoke anonymously to BBC Hindi the band didn’t understand why a fatwa had been issued; “There are many artists from Kashmir who are performing. But they did not issue a fatwa against them.” She stops short of explicitly mentioning gender but the implications are very clear. It is not surprising but it is depressing. The double standard is egregious and unrepentant. However perhaps more insidious is the idea that women are in anyway to blame for rape. Even in countries that purport to support equal rights for women this idea continues to permeate attitudes toward rape victims.

Victim blaming is alive and well in the UK and US as was seen when MP for Gloucester, Richard Graham, said short skirts and high heels make you likely to get raped and an NYT report on an 11-year-old gang rape victim highlighted her make up and grown up clothing. This attitude is no different from the Great Mufti who claims women “given freedom to roam around, sing and dance,” causes gang rape and hardline separatists who released a statement that said “No noble family will allow their girls to choose dancing as a profession which is a thing of pleasure for strangers”. Attempts to place the blame on women consistently fail to address the real problem. Telling your daughters not to wear revealing clothing or be in a rock band is not nearly as important as teaching your sons to respect people and not rape them. Make no mistake; rape is not a female issue, it is a male issue.

Despite the appalling misogyny of many, there are some hopeful signs. The band first came to prominence during a Battle of the Bands competition where they placed third and they continue to have the support of the Chief Government Officer Omar Abdulla who has promised a full police investigation into the worst of the social media abuse though he was not willing to go against the Great Mufti’s fatwa. There has also been an outpouring of support from India, specifically from Vishal Dadlani, who offered the girls a recording contract in Mumbai and begged them not to stop making music ‘due to the fear of some random lunatics’. The pressure at home has been too much for the girls however and, with their families facing social exclusion from society, they have decided to stop playing completely. It is a sad outcome for rock music and for women everywhere.

More on Pragraash + Bonus West Point Boys and Gay Marriage

• All-Girl Rock Band Breaks Up After Fatwa Triggers Threats Of Rape And Violence (buzzfeed.com)
• Kashmir girl band quits after fatwa (dawn.com)
• Curtains down for Kashmir’s all-girl band (thehindu.com)
• West Point Alumni Group Proudly Posts Photos of Gay Cadet Taking Boyfriend to Winter Formal (Gawker.com)
• Gay Marriage: Party Leaders Welcome MP’s Backing for Bill (BBC.com)

Do we owe it to people to come out?

Jodie Foster confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood last Sunday when she came out at the Golden Globes. Her closet, like Anderson Cooper’s, was made of glass and her announcement surprised only those who didn’t care or deliberately didn’t ask. Many and more have commented on the speech, notably Bret Easton Ellis who seems to have problems with famous women these days if his attitude to Jodie Foster and Kathryn Bigelow is anything to go by.

I liked the speech in general but as much as I appreciate Jodie Foster’s plea for privacy her juxtaposition of privacy and coming out made me think about what we owe people where sexuality is concerned. Does Jodie Foster, or anyone, owe it to people to be out?

As Anderson Cooper pointed out in his coming out letter, ideally it would be no one’s business who he or any of the other celebrities that have come out has slept with. However our world is not ideal. While it is easy to suggest that with so much progress on gay rights the days when visibility was paramount are behind us that ignores the dark undercurrent of homophobia that taints so many people’s experience of coming out. There are many people who still suffer for their sexuality, not only in far flung locals like Saudi Arabia and Uganda but in our own back gardens as well. While gay marriages are busting out all over for many there are still families who shun their LGBT children – just look at Chaz Bono and Cher for a very public example. Homosexuality remains particularly taboo in sports, UK Football being the obvious example where there hasn’t been an openly gay man playing at the top level since Justin Fashnu who was driven to suicide.

There have been studies that show a beloved television character or star coming out can have the same affect on a persons views about homosexuality as if they were a close friend or relative.  The value of a celebrity coming out should not be underestimated by them or by us.

Is this too much pressure to put on LGBT actors, singers and musicians? Should being born gay mean you are forced to be a role model or to be an activist or a spokesperson?

I think people ought to be able to choose their own approach to their sexuality. Except where hypocrisy and politics are involved I would not condone outing anyone. Once out, no one will force you to be an activist or even political. On the other hand I think all those in the public eye should have a long hard think about their life choices if they decide to stay in the closet. One simple act of honesty and bravery could change someone’s life. I think everyone who has ever struggled with their sexuality is owed and owes that.

Concerning Jodie Foster, coming out and bonus Bret Easton Ellis being a sexist dick:

• Jodie Foster’s Non-Speech at the Golden Globes (bilerico.com)
• ‘Most people think it’s a party’: How difficult is coming out? (metro.co.uk)
• Silence of the Gays (lgbticons.com)
• Jodie Foster Owes You Nothing (thoughtcatalog.com)
• Bret Easton Ellis: Silly Girls, With Their Undeserved Oscars And Their Sexy Pillow Fights (mamapop.com)

Never Again: Let women choose

About Ten Thousand People Attended A Rally In Dublin In Memory Of Savita Halappanavar (Photo credit: infomatique)

On the 21st of October in Galway, Savita Halappanavar was admitted to the hospital complaining of back pain. She was 17 weeks pregnant and was told, by her doctors, she was miscarrying. The same doctors told her there was no hope of saving the fetus and yet when she asked for an abortion she was refused. With the baby dying and the mother in increasing agony even an anti-choice person could see that an abortion to save the mother would be permissible. However for three days, while a fetal heartbeat remained, the doctors refused to perform the abortion because Ireland “is a Catholic country”. When the fetus was finally dead they extracted the corpse but it was too late for Savita. Her health had deteriorated during her ordeal until she suffered massive organ failure and died of septicaemia or blood poisoning on 28th October.

In summary over the course of a week a woman was forced to suffer agonising pain while her baby died inside her which directly lead to her own death. It sounds like the concept for a horror film.

Over the weekend over 10,000 people descended on Dublin to protest against Ireland’s draconian abortion laws. They chanted ‘Never Again, Never Again’ and called for new laws to protect women. It is a murky area in Irish law because although a supreme court decision made abortion to save the mother’s life legal it has never been codified in law. What makes it worse is that in this case it wasn’t even about pro/anti-choice. It was about saving a woman’s life.

Now I recently wrote about the particular brand of misogyny that seems to be endemic in geek culture. That is still bad but a horrifying thing like this gives a new perspective on the words of jerks. It serves as a stark reminder that words are not the half of what women have to put up with even in 2012, even in the so called developed world. It boggles the mind how much influence the Catholic church continues to have over politics in Ireland. Though perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised given how long the infamous Magdalene Laundries persisted there. My problem with religion getting into bed with government is simple. If you are a Catholic woman and would rather die with your baby than have an abortion that is your choice and I will defend your right to make it. What appals me is forcing women like Savita, who wasn’t even Christian, to adhere to your moral values. I am pro-choice because all women have the right and the ability to make their own decisions. Taking away a woman’s free will in anything, let alone something as intensely personal as abortion is disgusting. The Catholic church, the doctors at Galway and Ireland’s politicians thought they knew what was best for Savita and now she is dead.

What more is there to say?

For more outrage and information:

• So Much for the “Life of the Mother”: The Death of Savita Halappanavar (persephonemagazine.com)
• Savita’s father calls for change to Ireland’s abortion laws (thehindu.com)
• More than 10,000 protest in Ireland over woman’s death from denied abortion (rt.com)
• Woman dies after abortion request ‘refused’ at Galway hospital (bbc.co.uk)