[This post has been updated with video of the US State Department web chat.]

BY ROB SALERNO - The US State Department hosted a live web-chat on LGBT human rights open to journalists from all over the world, and Xtra participated.

Speaking for the US government was Daniel Baer, deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Rights and Labor. Baer spoke frankly about the US government's aims and limitations in promoting a queer human rights agenda both abroad and domestically.

I asked Baer to explain what the US government's approach is to its own domestic religious organizations that are supporting efforts to criminalize homosexuality in many countries, particularly Uganda. Does the US bear any responsibility for these actions? And if so, how can the US prevent American organizations from undermining queer rights abroad?

Baer's response was measured. 

"We wouldn’t – we don’t seek to limit the activities of civil society or religious groups domestically or internationally, and there are many, many American groups that do enormously good work around the world. I know that there are reports of a number of organizations that have been advocating for laws that have, as their ultimate effect, a limitation on the human rights not only of LGBT people, but of other people. Because many times these laws cast a very wide net, and obviously it’s very important to understand the context in which you’re working in order to be able to know what kinds of effects your actions will take," he said.

A big focus of questions was the practical steps the US is taking to promote a queer human rights agenda abroad. 

Zoryan Kis, from Tochka Opory in Ukraine, asked: "LGBT individuals in Ukraine have no protection against being fired if their sexual orientation or gender identity is discovered. Has the US considered working with American Chambers of Commerce, the Foreign Commercial Service, or Economic Sections in Embassies to encourage US firms working abroad, or internations firms in any country, to adopt LGBT-friendly Human Relations policies?"

"You’ve hit on something that we are in conversations right now about how best to engage the private sector," Baer said. "The private sector really has an opportunity to play a role here, and how should we talk to them about that. One of the reasons that people bring this up, of course, is that in the American context, it’s a little-known fact, but in the U.S. there is no federal legislation protecting – right now protecting LGBT people against discriminatory firing and employment." (Some states and cities have anti-discrimination statues, but most do not.)

"However, the American private sector has really led the way. And so I believe – I don’t know what the exact proportion is, but it’s the vast, vast majority of Fortune 500 companies have as a matter of corporate policy nondiscrimination policies that include LGBT people. And the private sector has led the way on this, because it makes sense for business that you don’t want to lose out on any talent for a silly reason. And so they’ve made their own choices, and I think that there certainly is an opportunity. It’s probably the case that that principle applies in other places around the world as well, and so there’s certainly an opportunity for the private sector to lead in other places around the world as well," he said.

A major theme of Baer's comments was the need to engage non-state actors on the ground, including businesses and civil society, to build momentum for human rights in places where governments are obstinate against queer human rights. 

"If you look back at the progress that we’ve made as a country toward a more perfect union, toward a country that is more respectful of the equality of each and every citizen, I think that progress is largely attributable not – it certainly wouldn’t have been possible without the leadership of those in civil society. Obviously, Dr. King is somebody who comes to mind, and he was not a government figure, and yet he is somebody who many of us credit with having shifted the national conversation in ways that we are all still benefitting from today," Baer said.

A journalist from Suriname wanted to know why gay rights are a priority for the US.

"Human rights are a priority for the U.S. Government. When President Obama gave the Nobel lecture after he won the Nobel Prize, he talked about the fact that the only lasting peace would be a peace that was based on the inherent dignity of every person. And I think that one of the things that this Administration has recognized is that in many places around the world, as in our own past and present, LGBT people are often left out, pushed aside. They don’t have access to social services. Sometimes they are thrown in jail, sometimes they are even killed for who they are. And that if we believe that human rights apply to everyone and that human – that a world that respects human rights is more likely to be safe, prosperous, and good for all of us, then it stands to reason that we should be committed to human rights for everyone," he said.

On the touchy situation in Russia, where local governments in some cities and regions have taken steps to make it illegal to promote homosexuality, Baer spoke forcefully but tactfully.

"The situation in Russia is obviously very difficult, and we are well aware of that," he said. "There are many places where LGBT is not called out as a particular vulnerable group that needs protection, and in those cases – and indeed, in the U.S. hate crimes law has been a recent innovation and in the last few years. And so I think where there isn’t specific protection in the law, you have to rely on the general protections that apply to everyone. Now, I understand that in various contexts even those protections are not firm enough supports and that they are unevenly applied and often discriminatorily applied. And that is a real challenge. I think as much as possible, appealing to general protections of freedom of expression or freedom of association is obviously the legal route that is available.

"Now, you also raise the worrying trend, which we’ve seen not only in Russia but in other places around the world, of trying to limit speech as a way of trying to curtail various forms of citizen participation in government or citizen activism. And I think one of the things that really needs to be highlighted about these kinds of laws, the laws that say you can’t talk about homosexuality, is that they’re not just a limitation of speech for LGBT people, they’re a limitation of speech for all Russians or all people, all citizens of whatever states in which they might be – or municipalities in which they might be considered. And so they are a violation of international standards of freedom of expression, and we should argue against them not because we’re seeking to protect one particular community but because we’re seeking to protect that standard of freedom of expression for everyone."

Watch the video above or read the transcript here.
 

 

ANDREA HOUSTON - Leanne Iskander was surprised to learn that her former principal - who first denied her a gay-straight alliance (GSA) at her Mississauga Catholic school in March - may soon be the subject of an investigation by Ontario’s College of Teachers.

“This is really interesting," Iskander says. "I didn’t know this complaint was happening. Can students make complaints to the [Ontario College of Teachers]? Is this investigating the [Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School] Board as well? It was the board that told her not to allow a GSA.”

Frances Jacques used to be the principal of St Joseph Catholic Secondary School. She is now retired but is still a member of the teachers’ college and may have “put certain groups at increased risk, which is contrary to the code of conduct of members,” the Toronto Star reported on Jan 29.

A Montreal teacher, Thomas, McCue, decided in November to ask the college to investigate the alleged “actions or inactions” of Jacques last year after reading troubling reports that queer students have been repeatedly denied supports, like GSAs.

McCue might have been referring to incidents such as the time, on March 25, Jacques hijacked a meeting and tried to convince students they didn’t actually want a GSA. 

At the time Iskander described the meeting as tense. “She just started talking. Then she drew an umbrella on the blackboard with different social justice causes underneath, like people with disabilities, racism, an umbrella group with focus groups.”

McCue tells the Star he was shocked by the way the students were treated. “I kind of felt sick to my stomach,” he said, after reading that St Joseph students had been denied, especially after they were brave enough to ask for — and then publicly fight for — a gay-straight alliance at such a young age.

“It’s clear in Ontario College of Teacher regulations that you can’t put students at increased risk,” McCue said.

“McCue’s complaint also asks the college to examine if Jacques failed to maintain the standards of the profession, because without a gay-straight alliance support group ‘to address issues of bullying, some students may feel that their emotional well-being was being compromised,’” the Star reports.

While fighting for acceptance by the school, the students at St Joe’s reported bullying from other students.

The college has 120 days to investigate and determine whether to proceed to a disciplinary hearing.

Meanwhile, a line has been drawn in the sand at the provincial level.

New Catholic "anti-bullying guidelines" released Jan 26 by the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association (OCSTA) attempt to rename GSAs "Respecting Difference" groups. The name is already being rejected by students. 

"Respecting everyone at school is a given," Iskander says. "This is about acceptance.” 

The day after the guidelines were released, Education Minister Laurel Broten repeated her government's position, pledging that "if students want a GSA it must be provided." She vows to listen to students as Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, moves toward second reading in the Ontario legislature.

 

BY ROB SALERNO - African leaders met at the annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this weekend and were treated to a speech by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urging them to respect the rights of their lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans citizens. It's an important message, given that most (but not all) of the countries that ban homosexuality are on the continent, and it's good to see that more and more international leaders are drawing attention to queer rights. 

This, of course, follows US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's landmark queer rights speech to the UN Human Rights Council in December, President Obama's queer rights foreign policy directive, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron's vocal pushing for gay rights in the Commonwealth last year. 

Of course, our own foreign minister, John Baird, claims to be standing up for gay rights around the world, too, and is getting heaps of praise for it from the mainstream media. Xtra, however, has not been as impressed.

Ban's speech came with a caveat, however. He also warns leaders to follow the wishes of their people, reminding them all of the Arab Spring that continues to push out dictators in Arab states (some of whom, such as Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, are members of the AU and continue to ban homosexuality). But here's the problem: what are leaders to do when their populations are largely opposed to gay rights and do want gays executed?

The difficult path between democracy and minority rights is also being illuminated in the US, where New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie is trying to goad his Democrat-controlled state legislature to abandon its push for a gay marriage law under threat of veto, in favour of putting the issue on the ballot. Democrat leaders are naturally horrified at the suggestion that anyone's civil rights should be put to a referendum. And history doesn't read too kindly on those who do. As Senate President Steve Sweeney points out, "The last time this state had a referendum on a civil right, the woman's right to vote, in 1915, it failed."

One scholar is calling for gay marriage supporters to boycott any possible referendum in order to deny it of legitimacy, citing failed civil rights referendums of the past.

But that's not the path being taken in Maine, where equal marriage supporters have delivered more than 100,000 signatures in order to put the issue on the November ballot. Maine famously became the first US state to legislate gay marriage with a governor's signature, only to have it overturned in a narrowly won referendum to ban gay marriage in 2009.

Putting everything in perspective, two gay rights activists in Jamaica have an editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner celebrating the advances that the gay community there made over 2011. It was a good year in that it ended with Jamaicans electing a president who made a point of endorsing the rights of queer Jamaicans. But then again, among the things to be celebrated is the fact that "the first National Survey on Attitudes and Perceptions of Jamaicans towards same-sex relationship highlighted that 20 percent of Jamaicans are tolerant." There's still a long way to go.

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI - An Xtra Vancouver report about a glitter shower Dan Savage received at the hands of queer activists inspired a spirited Queerty response.

The Jan 21 "serenade," the third sparkly salvo with which the sex columnist and It Gets Better co-creator has been targeted, was the work of a group calling itself the Homomilitia.

Speaking with Xtra after the glitter bombing, activist Fister Limp Wrist accused Savage of "ableist, racist, transphobic, fat-phobic, sero-phobic and rape-apologist attitudes and views." Activists handed audience members bright pink pamphlets outlining their accusations as they entered the Vogue Theatre in downtown Vancouver.

Among the accusations listed: Savage has "repeatedly placed blame on Black and Latino communities for the success of homophobic legislation"; he has "repeatedly made derogatory and pathologizing remarks about fat people"; described HIV-positive people who have unprotected sex with HIV-negative people as "deadbeat infectors"; and he is part of a "broader trend of privileged cis-gendered gays who routinely ignore trans issues and transphobia."

But Queerty editor Dan Avery says Savage is not "anything-phobic," even as he's not a fan of Savage's anti-Santorum shtick or his attempts to get Family Research Council's Gary Bauer sick by licking doorknobs.

 

BY ROB SALERNO -  Straight people. They're fascinating, and lately they're everywhere. Running for the Republican nomination, complaining about their post-MS diagnosis ex-husband's request for an open marriage on live television, or disclosing that the millions they pay in taxes is a rate lower than their secretaries. 

And it turns out that sometimes straight people can become just like us. And I'm not just talking about the natural design sense and the recreational drugs.

Actress Cynthia Nixon, who played the ginger lawyer who everyone thought was a lesbian on Sex and the City, recently made headlines by explaining that she chose to be gay after her 15-year heterosexual marriage.

Nixon explains that she made a choice to be with her current partner, Christine, although she doesn't like to use the word "bisexual" to describe herself.

For many gay people, the suggestion that being gay is a "choice" is very upsetting. After all, gay people believe that we were all born this way because Lady Gaga told us so.

Besides, we all know that straight people don't "choose" to be gay. They just become gay naturally in certain situations, like prison or the navy.

Or during a college fraternity's ritual hazing [nsfw].

Or when their girlfriends dump them and I invite them over and they have at least six beers and I promise that no one will ever find out. Right, Ted? ;)

Lots of gay people don't like the suggestion that being gay is a choice, because that implies that we could all choose to be straight, which, ew.

It also plays into certain gay-haters' beliefs that gays should just choose to be straight to get along with everyone else. But why give in to that argument? Whether or not being gay is a choice is irrelevant to the moral argument, which is that we should have the right to do anything we want with our bodies as long as we're not harming anyone else. As Nixon puts it, "It seems we're just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don't think that they should define the terms of the debate."

Besides, if we concede that straight guys can't choose to be gay, we're invalidating at least 60 percent of all gay porn, including most of the hottest scenes.

Meanwhile, straight allies are exercising their right to choice.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have famously pledged not to get married until gay marriage is legal in all 50 states. I was never clear how pledging to keep the world's two most attractive heterosexuals theoretically on the market was supposed to garner support for gay marriage among straights, but it was a nice gesture. Well, it appears Pitt is now bowing to pressure from his own children to just get married already. Pitt has told People, "I don't think we'll be able to hold out."

Funny, I said the same thing after I ditched school to go see Fight Club with my straight best friend. 

And lastly, Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine has announced that his band is boycotting an unnamed Mexican restaurant in LA because of its support of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. Good call on keeping the restaurant anonymous, Mr Levine. I guess I'll just boycott all Mexican places next time I'm in LA to be safe.