LGBT – Faith Matters

Turkey pulls out of European treaty protecting women

Faith Matters — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 15:35:42 +0000

Turkey has withdrawn from a European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first to sign 10 years ago and that bears the name of its largest city.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decree annulling Turkey’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention is a blow to women’s rights advocates, who say the agreement is crucial to combating domestic violence.

The Council of Europe’s secretary general, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, called the decision “devastating”.

“This move is a huge setback to these efforts and all the more deplorable because it compromises the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyond,” she said.

The Istanbul Convention states that men and women have equal rights and obliges state authorities to take steps to prevent gender-based violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

Some officials from Mr Erdogan’s Islam-oriented party have advocated a review of the agreement, arguing it encourages divorce and undermines the traditional family, which they say are contrary to the country’s conservative values.

Critics also claim the treaty promotes homosexuality through the use of categories like gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. They see that as a threat to Turkish families.

Hate speech has been on the rise in Turkey, including the interior minister who described LGBT people as “perverts” in a tweet. Mr Erdogan has rejected their existence altogether.

Women’s groups and their allies who have been protesting to keep the convention intact immediately called for demonstrations across the country under the slogan “Withdraw the decision, implement the treaty”. They said their years-long struggle would not be erased in one night.

Rights groups say violence against and killing of women is on the rise in Turkey but the interior minister called that a “complete lie”.

A total of 77 women have been killed since the start of the year, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. Some 409 women were killed in 2020, with dozens found dead under suspicious circumstances, according to the group.

Advocacy group Women’s Coalition Turkey said the withdrawal from a human rights agreement was a first in Turkey. “It is clear that this decision will further encourage the murderers of women, harassers, rapists,” their statement said.

Turkey’s minister for family, labour and social policies tweeted that women’s rights are still protected by Turkish laws and the judicial system is “dynamic and strong enough” to enact new regulations. Zehra Zumrut Selcuk also tweeted the government would continue to have “zero tolerance” for violence against women.

Mr Erdogan has repeatedly stressed the “holiness” of the family and called on women to have three children. His communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said the government’s motto was “Powerful Families, Powerful Society”.

Many women suffer physical or sexual violence at the hands of their husbands or partners, but up-to-date official statistics are unavailable. The Istanbul Convention requires states to collect data.

Poland rejects international criticism over LGBT rights

Faith Matters — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 16:13:29 +0000

Polish leaders have rejected suggestions that LGBT people are deprived of any of their rights in the country.

The rejection follows an open letter from 50 ambassadors and international representatives citing a need to work for “non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual acceptance”.

The ambassadors’ appeal comes as an increasingly visible LGBT community in Poland has faced a backlash from the right-wing government, many local communities and the Catholic church.

“Human rights are universal and everyone, including LGBTI persons, are entitled to their full enjoyment,” the letter said, using the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he agreed that every person deserves respect but that he completely disagreed with the ambassadors’ claim that LGBT people were being deprived of that.

Mr Morawiecki said at a news conference: “To the dear ambassadors, I can only say that tolerance belongs to Polish DNA. Nobody needs to teach us tolerance, because we are a nation that has learned such tolerance for centuries and we have given many testimonies to the history of such tolerance.”

Some of Poland’s leaders, including the president and MPs from the ruling party, have cast the movement for civil rights for LGBT people as a threat to traditional families. President Andrzej Duda won a second term this summer after calling LGBT rights an “ideology” more dangerous than communism.

Meanwhile, dozens of towns in conservative parts of eastern and southern Poland have passed mostly symbolic resolutions declaring themselves to be free from “LGBT ideology”. Many of the declarations express the view that young people will be demoralised if confronted by the issue.

“Human Rights are not an ideology – they are universal,” US ambassador Georgette Mosbacher tweeted. “50 Ambassadors and Representatives agree.”

Joachim Brudzinski, deputy head of the ruling Law and Justice party who is now a European Parliament member, shot back at Ms Mosbacher on Monday, saying “we in Poland also agree”.

“Therefore, we are waiting with hope for the next letter, this time in defence of murdered Christians, imprisoned #ProLife activists, people dismissed from work and persecuted for quoting the Bible, people subjected to euthanasia against their will,” he wrote on Twitter, along with some other examples of alleged abuse of Christians.

It was not exactly clear what Mr Brudzinski was referring to. Poland is a predominantly Catholic nation where Christians do not face persecution and where abortion is illegal in most cases and euthanasia is outlawed. In one case, however, an IKEA employee in Poland was fired for citing Biblical passages to suggest gay people should be killed. The current government has spoken in the employee’s defence and a state prosecutor is suing the IKEA manager who fired him.

READ: The Changing Face of Hate in Poland: From Antisemitism to Anti-Muslim Racism

Jerusalem Gay Pride parade marches amid tight security

Faith Matters — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 10:53:44 +0000

Some 20,000 people turned out on Thursday for Jerusalem’s annual Gay Pride parade, flanked by police officers after threats by some Jewish activists to disrupt the celebration.

They waved rainbow flags and a few Israeli ones with rainbow motifs as they processed through the Jewish part of Jerusalem on a march that went off largely without incident.

Ultra-Orthodox right-wing Jewish protesters, who were kept on the sidelines well away from the march, held up banners, including one that read: “Do not anger the God of Israel.”

In 2015, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stabbed a 16-year-old girl to death and wounded five others and was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison. A rally at the end of Thursday’s parade opened with a minute’s silence to honour the girl, Shira Banki.

Parade participants protested against legislation enacted last month that denies gay male couples equal rights for support in surrogacy.

“I think this surrogacy law is a symbol of inequality and (shows) that the government has still failed to realise that the LGBTQ community in Israel is equal to anybody,” said Ofer Erez of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance which organised the parade.

“We are here today to stop asking for equality and start demanding it.”

Gay Qatari’s article provokes backlash over World Cup “values”

Faith Matters — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 11:34:40 +0000

An opinion article about life as a gay Qatari has stirred debate about the limits of tolerance in the conservative Gulf Arab country which is due to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.

The unprecedented public insight into homosexuality in a country where gay sex is punishable by jail, was published on the website of English-language Doha News on Friday, written by a man identified only as Majid.

“It is very jarring living here, it is traumatising to see that you are the cause of your parents’ anguish,” he wrote.

“I have become fearful of people knowing about me. We are seen as fair game.”

Islamic-based legal codes govern the tiny, gas-rich peninsula which has been urged by gay rights groups to accept homosexual fans during the World Cup in 2022 when Qatar becomes the first Middle Eastern or Muslim country to host the tournament.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in 2010 that gay men coming to watch the football “should refrain from any sexual activities,” but he did not expect there to be any discrimination.

Doha News said the article was intended to start a discussion on homosexuality as “Qatar matured and prepared for the World Cup.”

But there was a backlash, with some Qataris saying the soccer tournament must not be used as an excuse for importing Western values.

“Qatar has an Islamic identity and we must prevent threats or abuse to that under any pretext,” said Ahmed al-Sowaidi, a 43-year-old secondary school teacher in Doha. “The World Cup should not result in Western concepts being forced upon us.”

Social media users adopted the hashtag “Stop promoters of vice in Qatar” to say the article was obscene and called on the government to close the paper.

Doha News’s editor defended the piece.

“It seemed the time was right to open a discussion on the matter. It is a testament to media freedom in Qatar that we can have this debate at all,” Shabina Khatri said.

An official at Qatar’s Ministry of Youth and Sport said the World Cup would be “inclusive of people and cultures and uphold the essence of Qatar’s own traditions.”

“These two things are not mutually exclusive,” said the official, who did not directly address whether the tournament would welcome gay guests.

Openly gay performers, including singer George Michael, have played concerts in Qatar. But in January, Qatar banned from cinemas “The Danish Girl,” a movie starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne about an artist who undergoes a sex change.

5-Suspected Islamists kill Bangladeshi gay activist working for US embassy

Faith Matters — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 23:33:55 +0000

Suspected Islamist militants hacked to death a leading Bangladeshi gay rights activist employed by the U.S. embassy and a friend in an apartment in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday, police said.

The killings took place two days after a university professor was slain in similar fashion on Saturday in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Five or six assailants went to the apartment of Xulhaz Mannan, 35, an editor of Rupban, Bangladesh’s first magazine for gay, bisexual and transgender people, and attacked him and a friend with sharp weapons, Dhaka city police spokesman Maruf Hossain Sordar said.

They entered the apartment disguised as couriers, he said, quoting witnesses.

The assailants also wounded a security guard. Witnesses said the attackers shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest)” as they fled the scene.

Mannan was employed by the U.S. embassy, working for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Depertment in Washington said.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States was “outraged” by the “barbaric attack.” He called Mannan, “a beloved member of our embassy family and a courageous advocate for LGBTI rights – human rights, actually.”

“LGBTI” stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex.

A spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, Ned Price, said the United States strongly urged the Bangladeshi government to ensure the perpetrators were brought to justice.

Other attacks took place in the country on Monday, but it was not immediately clear whether those assaults were carried out by Islamist militants.

Two men on a motorcycle shot dead a former prison guard in front of Kashimpur jail, on the outskirts of Dhaka, said Khandakar Rezaul Hasan, chief of the local police station.

A teacher was hacked to death in the southwestern district of Kustia, police said.

The Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past few months in which liberal activists, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have been targeted.

Five secular bloggers and a publisher have been hacked to death in Bangladesh since February 2015.

A group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the killing of a liberal Bangladeshi blogger this month.

Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for the killings of two foreigners and attacks on mosques and Christian priests in Bangladesh since September.

The government has denied that Islamic State or al Qaeda groups have a presence in the country and said homegrown Islamist radicals are behind the attacks.

At least five militants have been killed in shootouts since November as security forces have stepped up a crackdown on Islamist militants looking to establish a Muslim state based on sharia, or Islamic religious law.

Speech in St Paul’s By Tell MAMA on National Hate Crime Awareness Week, #NHCAW

Tell Mama — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 21:58:28 +0000

“Islamophobia – a term that encompasses a range of meanings, though in general it is a term which means a fear of Islam and Muslim communities. People can fear many things, but the targeting and abuse of people because of a facet of their identity is unacceptable. It is unacceptable since at the heart of our morality and our common humanity, is that people should be able to live their lives free from fear and intolerance. It is unacceptable since everyone should have the right to be who they are and in doing so, it should inspire us and enlighten our souls and consciousness, as to the beauty of life and to those who believe, to the beauty of creation.

Today, through the work that we do in Tell MAMA, we have seen that Muslim women who are visible, those who wear the Hijab (the religious headscarf) and the Niqab (the face veil), are the ones predominantly targeted for abuse and assaults. Visibility is also a factor for attacks on males and I know that we have a member of the family of Mr Saleem here today and we should remember all those who have departed because of the evils of hate and intolerance. Yet, we are also the solution. We, collectively are the solution, since by education and through dialogue, hate and intolerance can be challenged. We are the solution since by caring and listening to each other, we can enrich our understanding for each other. We are the solution since together, as communities, we are in the majority who can say ‘Not In Our Names.’

As we move into a world which seems increasingly turbulent, we see pictures of refugees fleeing war and instability. For our work in Tell MAMA, many of these pictures mean that on-line comments are made by people who suggest a ‘Muslim take-over’ and that ‘refugees are a code word for Muslims and Shariah Law’. This bigotry and intolerance, this marginalisation and caricaturing of communities must stop and we have the power to do so. If we do not, if we simply think that it is not our problem, then we are failing all in our communities, in our societies and in our country. Indeed, that Muslim woman on the street being verbally abused is our responsibility, as is the gay mean kicked as he walks home and the Jewish young boy who was spat at, as he walks home from the synagogue. Our only salvation and pride is in standing for everyone of them.

The post Speech in St Paul’s By Tell MAMA on National Hate Crime Awareness Week, #NHCAW appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Equality Means Equality for All. Organisations are Either In or Out of this Sphere

Tell Mama — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 14:04:25 +0000

Nick Cohen highlights some of the issues that colleagues within Tell MAMA have been grappling with for some time. Apart from being the target of far right campaigns, Tell MAMA has also become the target of groups purporting to tackle Islamophobia, solely because Tell MAMA believes that equality means equality for all. Cohen mentions the following statement which was made by MEND’s Chief Executive, Sufyan Ismail in late 2014. He stated the following to a mainly Muslim audience:

“We don’t want the government to fob us off with some phony thing called Tell MAMA, which has got a pro-Zionist pretty much heading it, or in a very senior capacity, and is making all sorts of comments we might not agree with when it comes to homosexuality, to be recording Islamophobia.”

Not only are we independent of ‘the Government’, we have been running Tell MAMA to serve the needs of Muslims since 2012, without any form of ‘Government’ interference. Our independent service has assisted over 4,500 people and led to hundreds of arrests in order to ensure access to justice for victims of hate crimes who happen to be Muslim. Yet, our results, it seems, does not shield us from such statements or spin pieces that are thrown out into audiences.

Furthermore, when we set up Tell MAMA, it was on the basis of ensuring that anti-Muslim hatred was seen as one strand in the mainstream campaign against racism, prejudice and bigotry. Muslims are not a special case and nor should they be. British Muslims simply want equality and equality laws, policies and practices need to be applied evenly across the board. This is why we have been vocal when Muslims have been attacked because of their faith identity. This is why we have been vocal when some sections have tried to abuse Ahmaddiya Muslims. This is also why we have been vocal when some groups have tried to abuse gay or trans-Muslims. Equality needs to remain consistent and any group which picks and chooses when it wants to campaign against prejudice and when it chooses to keep quiet – (because the victims are from LGBT communities), is a group that has no moral courage, nor any ethical basis to it. Let’s be clear about that – they need to leave the campaigning space and reflect more clearly what they are about.

Coming onto the issue of ‘pro-Zionists’, this is a charge that is the most corrosive of all within Muslim audiences. We have worked with the Community Security Trust in setting up Tell MAMA and we are both independent organisations. We are proud of our ability to work with our Jewish brothers and sisters in the fight against prejudice and bigotry and that relationship remains unshakeable. When a Jew is attacked, we will stand with the community, as we will with others. With this in mind, we will stand with the CST in order to ensure that people are not targeted because they are Jews. When appropriate, we will also collectively campaign together against far right and other groups who target Jews or Muslims.

Over the last 12 months, we have had the great fortune of having Richard Benson act as a guide in advising us in Tell MAMA and in providing the moral courage and support when far right groups and others have targeted us. As the former CEO of the CST, Richard Benson built the organisation and placed antisemitism at the core of hate crime work within successive governments. His courage, as well as that of former Minister and Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik, have ensured that we have been led by the best in the field of tackling hate, prejudice and intolerance. These co-Chairs represent the best of a Muslim and Jewish working relationship and together with the Director of Tell MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, they have ensured that Tell MAMA has become the leader in the field of countering anti-Muslim hatred and which is making a direct and real difference to the lives of victims.

More recently, at a ministerial meeting, Richard Benson advocated that anti-Muslim hatred should receive the same attention that other hate crime strands do and has forcefully spoken out for Muslim women who suffer street based incidents. He has spent his time and effort standing up for what is right and has never in any meeting mentioned the Middle East. A consummate professional, he is an asset to any organisation and we are extremely lucky to have our co-Chairs at the helm of Tell MAMA. The statement from the CEO of MEND is therefore tiresome, inaccurate and an affront to those willing to do the right thing in countering prejudice, in this case, anti-Muslim hatred.

Lastly, on the issue of homosexuality, it is extremely depressing to hear the comments made by the CEO of MEND. Simply put, if any individual or organisation cannot stand up and openly challenge homophobia within some sections of Muslim communities, then what are they doing challenging other forms of prejudice, hate and bigotry? Whilst we also acknowledge that homophobia is also present in other faith groups and communities, we will never relent in challenging any bigotry and prejudice where we come across it. Only by doing so, do we know that our moral compass is still pointing in the right direction to tackle anti-Muslim prejudice.

The post Equality Means Equality for All. Organisations are Either In or Out of this Sphere appeared first on TELL MAMA.