Commonwealth: Telling Lies For A Living

Homosexuality is illegal in 41 out of the 53 Commonwealth countries, a report released on Monday reveals.

Despite this, the forthcoming Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Sri Lanka has elected not to discuss the issue of anti-gay discrimination.

Commissioned by the Kaleidoscope Trust and compiled by LGBT activists throughout the Commonwealth, the report calls for Commonwealth countries to repeal anti-gay legislation, with an immediate moratorium on enforcement.

“If you look at the world as a whole, around about 40% of nations have state-sponsored homophobia,” said Kaleidoscope’s spokesman, Douglas Pretsell.

“Half of those – about 54% – are in the Commonwealth. If you look at the rest of the world not inside the Commonwealth, it’s only 24.5% – so the Commonwealth has a big problem.

“These are laws that make it illegal to be gay.”

The Guardian.

As Fagburn has said before these laws are meaningless when they are not applied.

Tell me how many men are imprisoned in these countries just for being gay?

Or for buggery?
On a scale of one to nothing?

There is an economy of gay campaigning - you make money by pretending things are far worse than they are.
Just as there is an economy of gay journalism - where you accentuate the negative.

ie By bare-faced lying.

PS The Economist on Europe, asylum and "benign criminalisation".

Russia: Today's Balls

A tweet from The Kaleidoscope Trust informs me that the new German Olympic uniform looks like a rainbow flag, and is thus seen as a "pro-gay" statement.
Can you see any possible comparison between the uniforms above and your actual rainbow flag below?
No, me neither.
But it's about Russia, so why bother with boring things like facts or obectivity?
Mind you the Kaleidoscope Trust - an "international organisation to support lesbians and gay men around the world" - are so well-informed about international politics and our community they fell for a Daily Mail story about how David Cameron had decided to cut aid to countries with homophobic laws, and demanded a meeting with the Foreign Office - only to be told it was nonsensical spin by the Mail.
Something tFagburn pointed out when it was published.
And, yes, it does get boring being proved right all the time.

And Amerikkka the beautiful proudly speaks up for its Olympic gayers - even though their head of the US Olympic committee clearly hasn't read the Olympic charter, which bans any protest or propaganda.

USA! USA! USA!

"Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."

Edward W Said.

Noam Chomsky: First, Do No Harm

In the case of South Africa, for example, in which I was involved in the boycotts, they were highly selective and they were selected in a way which would lead to help for the victims, not to make us feel good, help for the victims. The same in the case of the Vietnam war, where I was involved, and I was imprisoned many times, I was involved in civil disobedience, organizing resistance and so on.
But we always had to ask ourselves, when we pick a certain tactic, what does it mean for the Vietnamese, not what does it mean for us? And sometimes there are things you should do and sometimes there are things you shouldn’t do, and in fact they were very helpful in that regard...

In the case of any tactic, you ask yourself, what are its consequences, ultimately for the victims, and indirectly for the audience you are trying to reach... That’s the question you ask when you carry out any tactic, whether it is disobedience, breaking bank windows, demonstrations, whatever it is. Those are the questions you ask if you care about the victims, if you don’t care about the victims, you won’t bother with these questions and you just do what makes you feel good...

Noam Chomsky interviewed by Electronic Intifada on an academic boycott of Israel.

What he says also rings true about much Western gay campaigning on issues in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
It's usually "We must do something!" solipsistic, patronising, Orientalist, feel-good a/politics, with no thought about the consequences - which are often negative - for the people they're supposedly trying to help.
See All Out, Kaleidoscope Trust, Saint Tatchell et al.

PS The phrase "First, do no harm", often quoted by Uncle Noam, comes from the Hippocratic oath. 

Kevin Spacey: Heal The World

Kevin Spacey - notorious heterosexual and distinguished actor and "artistic director" - is staging a one-off reading of Just Me, You And The Silence at the Old Vic.
It's about the problems of being out in Uganda.
Their website modestly claims; "What if seeing a play could change the world?"
Obviously, all those problems will disappear after this one-off reading.
And the Ugandan government won't present this as another example of Western sexual/cultural imperialism. 
So brave!
Reports about Kevin Spacey next staging a reading about the tragic plight of gay men who aren't out in Hollywood or London's theatreland remain unconfirmed. 

PS A benefit for the Kaleidoscope Trust! Still waiting to hear where all their money goes. Apart from Lance Price's jollies abroad, obvs.

Kaleidoscope Trust: Shit Video

The Kaleidoscope Trust have actually done something!
They've made a shit video.
Apparently some working-class types and people who look a bit foreign are stupid bigots.
Isn't that great?
'Imagine if you could face execution for being blond, bald, short, elderly or blue eyed?'
Eh?
Can you think of anything more banal?
I guess if a primary school kid came up with this trite crap you'd just fake a smile while trying not to barf.
Tried to phone the Trust - to ask them why they think bigotry will stop bigotry, and to ask them how many gay men have been executed just for being gay as the above and their website claims, but went to ansaphone.
I guess Lance Price - Tony Blair's former spin doctor (so clearly a man you can trust) who runs this charade - is away galavanting on foreign shores at some rich idiot's expense.
If you're reading this, can you publish your accounts, please?

Honours: I'm A Lady! etc etc

The civil partners of homosexual knights and peers could be granted formal titles in line with married couples, under proposed reforms of the honours system. 
The plans, to be debated in the Commons, would see individuals including Sir Elton John’s civil partner David Furnish being formally recognised.

Currently, only wives are granted permission to use a formal title once their husbands become knights or peers, automatically receiving the title of lady.

However, the husbands of women who are honoured with the title of dame are not granted any additional status, with civil partners also being ignored.

MPs have now been asked to consider reassessing the honours system to include gay partners, with the issue due to be raised in Parliament this week... 

The Daily Telegraph.
Let's make inequality more equal!

Without a shred of irony the Tory MP who's behind this, Oliver Colville, says; “The current system is uneven and rather outdated."
Of course, being a Private Member's Bill the chances of this becoming law are close to zero... 

•  Much media today have picked up on an article Elton John has put his name to in The Guardian on Ukraine's Section 28-style law. He bigs up the Kaleidoscope Trust - can anyone tell me what they've actually done?

UK Aid & Gay Rights: Mad World

A statement is issued by Kaleidoscope Trust - the new UK-based "international organisation to support gay men and lesbians around the world."
They had a meeting yesterday with the Secretary of State For International Development, Andrew Mitchell MP;
"Mr Mitchell said the government did not want changes to British UK aid policy to have any damaging effect on LGBT communities in recipent countries and promised to examine closely the the impact of ministerial comments. He said the government's position had been wrongly reported as a threat to cut aid or to single out LGBT rights as a condition for aid. Aid levels would not be cut but could be switched in response to human rights violations."
Peter Tatchell also attended the meeting.
An email from Peter this morning is headed;
'UK won't cut aid over LGBTI rights abuses'
His email includes a link to a statement presented to Andrew Mitchell "signed by over 100 African social justice activists, criticising the UK's reported new aid policy..."
The statement says;
"It was widely reported, earlier this month, that the British Government has threatened to cut aid to governments of “countries that persecute homosexuals” unless they stop punishing people in same-sex relationships. These threats follow similar decisions that have been taken by a number of other donor countries against countries such as Uganda and Malawi. While the intention may well be to protect the rights of LGBTI people on the continent, the decision to cut aid disregards the role of the LGBTI and broader social justice movement on the continent and creates the real risk of a serious backlash against LGBTI people..."
Peter Tatchell also reports that at yesterdays meeting Andrew Mitchell "explained his government's aid policy had been 'misrepresented by some media'.
"Contrary to media reports, Mr Mitchell confirmed that this aid conditionality was never primarily based on a recipient government's respect for LGBTI rights. Human rights adherence is one of the four pillars of UK aid conditionality and LGBTI rights is just one dimension of respect for human rights, he said."
Good to hear.
But why oh why didn't anyone check this story at the time and point out it was a distortion of government policy?
Oh hang on... Fagburn did.
It was hardly breaking Watergate - all I did was phone the Department for International Development and check.
Took ten minutes.
Did anyone else point out that the supposed story 'We'll cut your aid if you persecute gays, Britain warns African nations' was an invention of The Daily Mail?
It's days like this I feel like giving up...

Johann Hari: Another Country

Johann Hari has penned an article for Huffington Post, apparently together with Sir Elton of John.
It's sad but it's hard to read anything by Hari now without first sniggering, and then wondering if he's made any of it up.
And as I've said before, it looks like he's trying to avoid writing about anything that's even vaguely controversial or contentious - or interesting.
Career. Fucked.
And like his (non) apology in The Independent in September it seems ultimately self-serving - part of his own PR campaign, his attempt at public rehabiltation, where the article's subtext is "Please like me, I'm nice."
The piece is called;
'There's a Global War Against the Right of Gay People to Live and Love. We Need to Fight Back'
Well, not really.
Gay men don't tend to be persecuted for "living and loving".
They almost always get arrested for fucking and sucking.
The article is trumpeting the Kaleidoscope Trust - a UK-based group campaigning for gay rights in other countries.
Hari/John claim until now there has been a lack of an internationalist perspective on gay rights - "a strange hole in Western gay politics."
Eh?
Speak for yourself, Johann.
Has Sir Elton forgotten how often he - to name but one person - has drawn attention to the plight of lesbians and gay men in other countries.
Here's but one example.
They tell us about Ghana; "Imagine a thousand Matthew Shephards, lynched with the approval of the state..."
A ridiculous exaggeration.
We are told about the murdered Ugandan gay activist David Kato, by way of example.
Undoubtedly a brave and admirable man - but we do not know if his murder was motivated by homophobia
And in place of argument we get banal cliche; "[Homosexuality] is as universal and as harmless a quirk as left-handedness."
Really. Is this the best you can do?
Poor sod.

Kaleidoscope: World

The Kaleidoscope Trust - "a new international organisation to support gay men and lesbians around the world who face prejudice and discrimination" - held their launch at the Commons yesterday.
It's worth noting Ed Miliband was the only party leader to attend.
Cameron and Clegg were content to get some underling in their office to cobble together some bland platitudes about The Gays which were released as "A letter of support from the Deputy/Prime Minister."
What do you expect them to say? "Sod off."
Peter Tatchell says he was not invited, despite offering them much help when they were setting the trust up - he still sent a message of support.
Elton John did not attend - most papers had said he would be attending, he had only been invited. He also had written a statement of support.
It was clearly the association with Sir Elton that meant many papers previewed the launch of Kaleidoscope earlier in the week - none reviewed the unstarstudded launch today.
And as for those cynics who have suggested the trust could be "activism as imperialism"?
'Bisi Alimi [pictured above], a refugee from Kenya where he was threatened with death because of his sexuality, said:
“I am tired of international organisations coming to Africa to tell us what to do. Kaleidoscope is coming to Africa to say, ‘What do you want us to do?’, and that is the most important thing."
The Guardian - who ran an In Praise of... Kaleidoscope editorial on Monday - has used all this as a hook to run two pieces for a G2 cover story today;
Zoe Williams' Gay Rights: a world of inequality "Gay people still live in fear in many countries around the world – prejudice, torture and execution are common. Can two new legal and diplomatic campaigns change attitudes?"
And a companion piece;
Persecuted for being gay "The voices of [8] people from around the world who have found themselves stigmatised for their sexuality"
Presumably the rest of the press are waiting for Sir Elton John to say something else.

Kaleidoscope Trust: Activism As Imperialism?

"Kaleidoscope is a major new initiative in the global campaign for diversity, launched in London in September 2011.
"Many of us are fortunate to live in countries where there has been significant progress towards ending discrimination against people on grounds of their sexuality. Homophobia hasn’t disappeared but attitudes have changed for the better.
"Around the world there are signs of progress. But in many countries laws and cultural attitudes still make it impossible for gay men and women to live full and productive lives free from fear.
"Please help us make a difference and stop people being punished just for being different.
"Our Honorary President is the Speaker of the UK House of Commons. We welcome the backing of people from all parts of the world, from supporters of all parties and none, from men and women of all faiths and non-believers alike."

Kaleidoscope Trust

Launching it tomorrow at the House of Commons - Dame Elton may attend (You get the feeling most papers would have ignored this story if there hadn't been an Elton John angle).
Is it coincidence that Stonewall announced they were going global at the beginning of the month?
The Trust's director is Lance Price - ex New Labour spin doctor.
Do you think they've realised having a group in the UK campaigning for gay rights in former commonwealth countries is a gift to someone like Robert Mugabe?