For Bangaloreans ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 2008/11/11 Subject: 12th Nov 2008, at Townhall, at 5 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], MANAS Bengal < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Natalie Benway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, prakash belawadi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], Neil Biswas < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Lalbiakliani Pautu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Brian Gilligan < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Brandy. Cole." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], sangeeta budhiraja < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], bombay-dost < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Friends Freedom for Nepalese Sexual Minorities: Lessons for India Sunil Pant, Nepal's first openly gay Member of Parliament, is a founding member of Blue Diamond Society, a network of 20 groups and organisations working on HIV/AIDS, human rights and social justice for sexual and gender minorities in Nepal. Blue Diamond Society (BDS) the first and organisation of its kind when it was established. Since founding BDS, Pant has focused on advocacy and the need for HIV intervention among sexual minorities and transgenders, along with the need to address violence against sexual and gender minorities in Nepal. BDS now has HIV and human rights programmes in more than 20 cities in Nepal and continues to expand rapidly. Pant created history, when he was chosen by the Communist Party of Nepal (United), one of the five separate Communist parties in Parliament, to represent it in Parliament and in Nepal's Constituent Assembly. Blue Diamond Society has been in the forefront of recent victories of the LGBTI movement in Nepal. BDS was one of the petitioners in Nepal's Supreme Court asking for equal rights and protection against discrimination against sexual minorities in Nepal. In a landmark judgement, the Nepalese Supreme Court held that members of sexual minorities were "natural persons" deserving of protection from discrimination. The court ordered the government to come up with legislation guaranteeing civil rights for homosexuals and to establish a committee to study legalizing same-sex marriages. The Court said that official documents such as national identification cards and passports had to offer a third option besides "male" and "female" for a person's gender. More recently the Nepalese Government, in its budget announced special provisions for LGBTI people. The incredible gains of the LGBTI movement made in Nepal have important lessons for sexual minorities in India. Recent events in Bangalore, where 42 persons from the sexual minority community and their supporters were arrested, have highlighted the fragility of the hard-won gains of the sexuality rights movement in Bangalore. These events are also part of a larger drive against sexworkers and sexual minorities, especially* hijras*by the current state administration. There are important lessons to be learnt from the Nepal experience on tackling violence routinely perpetrated by the State against sexworkers and sexuality minorities. The State's violence is further compounded by an all-encompassing societal violence, the violence of a judgmental attitude that pushes people who practice or experience their sexuality differently, to the very edge of society: the violence of forced circumstances that lead to survival strategies that increase vulnerability to life-threatening situations. State and societal violence in India is compounded by draconian colonial laws including Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, that criminalises homosexuality, and provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, that criminalises sexwork. Section 377 is currently being challenged before the Delhi High Court. Besides highlighting the violence and harassment faced by sexual minorities in Bangalore, this event is also an attempt at celebrating the diversity and richness of the human experience through creating a space for the voices and visions of resistors who challenge the dominant notions of sexuality and break the silence around the hidden realities of persons involved in sexwork and sexual minorities. * * *Lecture: Mr. Sunil Panth,* *Chief Guest: Prof. Ravivarma Kumar* *Presided by: Dr. Shekhar Sheshadri* *Community Sharing* *Play by: LesBIT, Play: Musical Chairs, Direction: Mangai* *12th November 2008, Wednseday 5 PM, Townhall Bengaluru* Organised by: Alternative Law Forum, Aneka, Garments and Textile Workers Union, Gud As You, Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, Karnataka Sex Workers Union, Karnataka Dalit Mahila Vedike, LesBIT, Pedestrian Pictures, Other Media, Sangama, Samara, Sadhane, Sanchaya Nele, Sadhana Mahila Gumpu, Suraksha and Vimochana -- Sangama No. 9, 'ABABIL' Patel Cheluvappa Street J. C. Nagar (M. R. Palya) Bengaluru - 560006 Phone: +91 - 80 - 23438843 / 23438840 -- Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
