British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is on the verge of announcing a province-wide anti-bullying policy for schools. The Vancouver Sun reports that the issue came up in question period Wednesday, in reaction to a question by New Democratic Party critic Spencer Chandra Herbert. “Our children are being bullied in our schools. We all know this. Lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered students are particularly vulnerable to this. We know they’ve been driven to suicide because of hate. We know they’ve dropped out of school because the pain is too much,” Chandra Herbert said Wednesday. “When trying to sell Liberal Party memberships to the gay community, the Premier promised to make tackling homophobic bullying a top priority, yet since then her government has done nothing about it. She actually claimed that the Liberals already have policy to protect all of those students,” he continued. “Well, she was wrong: 75-percent of our school districts have zero policies in place to protect our lesbian, gay, bi and trans students — no policy in place to protect those students,” he said. “Will the Premier stop with the photo ops, and will she actually commit today to implementing a policy across B.C. to ensure that our students, our vulnerable students, have explicit protections?” Throughout the question, Clark and house leader Rich Coleman had been signalling to Education Minister George Abbott, telling him the question was his to answer. But ultimately, Clark waved off Abbott and said, “I’ve spent a lot of years in public life in various different roles. One of the things that I have accomplished, of which I am most proud, was bringing the Pink Shirt Day anti-bullying campaign to British Columbia. I brought it here because I was inspired by two young men in Nova Scotia who stood up for another student who was accused of being gay because he wore a pink shirt to school. That kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated in our province. It can’t be tolerated in schools. It can’t be tolerated in workplaces, and it shouldn’t be tolerated in people’s homes. That is bullying. People get bullied for all kinds of reasons, and some people get bullied because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual. It is all absolutely unacceptable, and every single parent, every single parent in this province, who sends their child to school, has a right to know that when their child goes to school, they will be safe, because we know that children cannot learn if they don’t feel like they are safe. My government remains committed to making sure that we bring in anti-bullying policies and anti-bullying actions at schools all across British Columbia that will continue to make a difference. So I appreciate the member’s interest in this, because it’s a legitimate and urgent issue. I’d say to him, specifically in answer to his question, this: there is more to come on this. We are going to act on this. My government is going to make sure we do more to make sure that every child, as much as possible, is protected from bullying in their schools. No matter what the cause or reason of that bullying, it is unacceptable. I’d say to the member: I welcome the opportunity to work with him and anyone else who’s interested in this issue. The only way we will defeat bullying is if we stand together united and say: “No matter who you are, no matter what side of the aisle you might sit on, bullying is not acceptable.”
Amnesty International on Thursday urged Cameroon to release two men sentenced by a court in the capital, Yaounde, to five years in prison for homosexuality, reports by The Los Angeles Times. A third man sentenced to the same term had skipped bail. Many fundamentalist Christians and traditional African leaders oppose homosexuality as "un-African." But Cameroon is emerging as among of the most punitive regimes, having jailed men in the past for homosexuality. The most recent case was in March, when a gay man was jailed for three years, while six other arrested men are in custody awaiting trial. Morocco has also jailed gay men. Uganda has backed away from a proposed law to punish homosexuality with the death penalty. Nigeria is debating a move to ban same-sex marriage. But even in South Africa, where same sex marriage is legal and the constitution guarantees equal rights to all, gay men and women are frequently beaten, killed and raped. “The Yaounde court must overturn this shocking sentence, which punishes these three men solely on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s director for Africa, in a statement. “People accused of such crimes in Cameroon often face abuse and violence from other detainees or prison officers in detention. The two men must be released immediately and the Cameroonian authorities must repeal the country’s discriminatory anti-homosexuality laws,” he added. A lawyer for the men jailed on Tuesday, Alice Nkom, who is a prominent gay rights activist, told the BBC that the men were jailed because they looked like women. The prosecution accused them of having oral sex in a car, a claim the men denied.
Whether they like it or not, Republican presidential candidates are joining New Hampshire's intensifying gay marriage debate, according to The Associated Press. State lawmakers plan in the coming weeks to take up a measure to repeal the law allowing same sex couples to wed and a vote is expected at some point in January, the same month as New Hampshire holds the nation's first Republican presidential primary contest. Already, candidates have been put on the spot over the divisive hot-button social issue when most, if not all, would rather be talking about the economy, voters' primary concern. The impending focus on same sex marriage carries risk for several of White House contenders — including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former businessman Herman Cain —whose inconsistencies on the topic are well documented. The GOP candidates' increasingly vocal support for "traditional marriage" also threatens to alienate a growing number of younger Republicans and independents here who support legal recognition of same sex couples. That note of divisiveness could bode poorly for the eventual GOP nominee come the general election. Even so, the Republican candidates aren't shying away from the topic as they run for the nomination of a GOP dominated by conservatives and pushed further to the right by the tea party over the last few years.
Neil Patrick Harris is asked by Details if it is true that he and longtime boyfriend David Burtka plan to marry. Harris answers, “It's complicated. David proposed to me five and a half years ago in New York on the same street corner where we met. The following year on Valentine's Day in Santa Monica, one of my gifts was a ring and I proposed to him. Then, when the marriage-equality stuff was on the tipping point in New York, where we have residency because we have an apartment there, it seemed my responsibility to at least tweet about it—to say, "Please vote for marriage equality in New York, it would be nice to get married someday." It passed, and then someone tweeted David asking if we were going to get married, to which David replied, "Yes, I proposed to Neil and he proposed to me." Which I think sounded immediate and wasn't. It's exactly what we didn't want to do, because we contemplated getting married in California, before the Prop 8 debacle, and I opted not to immediately because I didn't want it to be a media event. I didn't want to go marching down the street with camera crews. Oy. To get married? Really? It seems like you have an agenda when you do it that way. I wouldn't want to get married to be an example. I'm hoping we'll be able to get married in California soon, but there are no plans afoot.”
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