Recently, British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that countries receiving foreign aid “should adhere to proper human rights,” specifically stressing the anti-gay laws of Uganda and Ghana, a nation where homosexuality is not banned outright, but “unnatural” sex acts are. In response to Cameron’s warning, Ghana’s 13 daily newspapers obsess with chronicling the “horrors” of homosexuality. Church leaders lead the way in demanding a total ban on homosexuality. Local radio stations start their newscasts with reports of three homosexuals being arrested, with their names fully revealed. Ghana’s President John Evans Atta Mills categorically rejected the British threat, saying “under no circumstances” would Ghana kowtow to the British demand. In the parliament, some of the comments defy belief. The deputy speaker described homosexuality as “abominable,” adding many British homes were in ruins because of such practices. The majority leader said anything that was an “affront” to Ghana’s culture was “unconstitutional.” Another MP said a recent lessening of attitudes had led to Ghana now being advertised as a nation full of social deviants. The Toronto Star profiles Prince (an alias), a heroic gay man who is fighting for LGBT rights in Ghana. Among his battles: dispelling the myth that homosexuality is being imported from abroad, brought to Africa by whites. Prince says,” Whenever I travel outside, I make sure to describe myself as an indigenous homosexual from Ghana. I will not deny who I am.”
In Malta, the Nationalist Party yesterday announced its intention (as part of its 2011 general council proposals) to press for legislation concerning non-married, including homosexual, couples. Arguing that the state “cannot be blind” to the value non-married couples place on their personal relationships, the plan goes on to note that the state “must legislate wherever necessary to establish the rights and responsibilities of such relationships for both heterosexuals and homosexuals.” The Malta Times reports that if approved, the proposal will mean that all three political parties are in favour of legislation concerning gay partnership rights. The plan, which relates the PN’s 10 core concepts to modern-day society, also proposes reforming the Constitution to update Malta’s neutrality clause and granting Parliament greater budgetary autonomy. It also suggests introducing “positive measures” in the public and economic spheres as a means of driving forward gender equality. Opening the General Council, PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier described the proposed policy document as “a renewed political vision” that revealed what the PN stood for while updating its policies to ensure it remained relevant to modern-day society. He described the 10 core concepts first listed by the PN in its 1986 policy outline as the “10 fingerprints which the PN has always based its policies on” and said that the tangible policy vision borne out of these concepts was proof of translating words into facts. “We want people to judge us not on what we say, but on what we do. Unlike others, we have a proven track record of action,” Dr Borg Olivier said. “We are willing to take decisions that may not prove popular and lose us votes,” he said, “but we are a party that decides and acts in the nation’s best interest.”
Dutch schools are to be required to provide education about homosexuality. Education Minister Marja van Bijsterveldt has finally deferred to political pressure and agreed to the move. Primary and secondary schools will from now on have to devote lesson time to sexual diversity and the existence of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgender, reports Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Neddo Siebum leads information sessions at schools about homosexuality. The 18-year-old says they are really needed because the subject is still taboo in a great many schools – for both students and teachers. Students who are open about being gay have a difficult time and often face being bullied and teased. There were lessons on homosexuality in the third year at the secondary school Mr Siebum went to. “The problem in schools is that it’s often invisible. Nothing’s said about it. If someone starts talking about it, they get a name. It’s also about ignorance. There are still a lot of negative stereotypes doing the rounds about gays.” Since 2009, there have been repeated calls from MPs for lessons on sexual diversity to be mandatory in schools. Up to now, these have been resisted by the present Christian Democrat education minister and her predecessors. Van Bijsterveldt argued that schools should decide on the issue without government interference, maintaining that not all social problems could be sorted out by making schools include them on the curriculum. However, she has now given way to the pressure from parliament although the details of what should be taught have yet to be laid down. The Dutch COC gay rights group is pleased she’s changed her mind. Figures show that about two-thirds of schools devote absolutely no lesson time to homosexuality. Vera Bergkamp of the COC said, “You need pressure from the government to change that. It has to be mandatory because young people are experiencing real problems at school. 81-percent of young gay people think it will help. The atmosphere at school is often anti-gay. It’s important that young people know what being homosexual is all about. It’s true that unknown is unloved.” The COC points out that the number of suicides among young gay people is five times higher than among their heterosexual counterparts. It’s often thought that homosexuality is not covered at all by Christian schools. The COC says the issue is often a difficult one for these schools, but that they are making an effort. Even the small fundamentalist Christian SGP party says it doesn’t have a problem with its rank and file devoting teaching time to the subject. Islamic schools, where almost no lesson time is devoted to sexuality, have yet to respond to the idea of mandatory lessons on homosexuality. Siebum hopes it will be the same as at his old secondary school. There, students felt free and safe enough to come out as homosexual. “It’s an enormous step to come out in front of your classmates,” he said. “I was able to keep a bit of distance because the COC and the school posed the question: What’s the atmosphere like here at school? It was then that I realized it was really quite good and I dared to take the step and tell my classmates.”
Prince Harry (and his burly bodyguards) aboard a Harley-Davidson, leaving Scottsdale, Arizona, heading for the desert, Harry donning denim, boots, aviator shades, a plaid shirt, and, um, a red bandanna.
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