January 23rd, 2012
PFLAG China’s Application for Registration Now Being Considered by Beijing (Jan 20, 2012)
PFLAG China was established in Guangzhou, 2008 by Wu Youjian, the mother of an openly gay son. The group has applied for registration four times but all in vain. In this fifth attempt, they achieved a breakthrough, as the provincial government has already submitted the application to Beijing for a final decision.
The headline below reads, “PFLAG China May Get Registered with (the Ministry of) Civil Affairs”.
For more details about PFLAG China, go to http://www.pflag.org.cn/.
同性戀親友會或獲民政註冊 (Southern Metropolis Daily Shenzhen, 20/01/2012)
該會執行主任稱四次被拒，省民政廳稱註冊問題已上報民政部南都訊記者薛冰妮王道斌省政協委員張勁在剛剛閉幕的廣東省“兩會”中提交《關於推動同性戀親友會民政註冊》的建議。廣東省民政廳昨日透露，已經將同性戀親友會註冊問題上報至民政部，正推進這項工作。
同性戀人群抑鬱症率偏高
“按照社會學常識，同性戀者約占總人口3%-5%，照此推算，總人口超過一億的廣東省，約300萬-500萬同性戀者，而與此對應約有1000萬家長家有同性戀子女。”省政協委員張勁說，家長不接受同性戀子女，造成同性戀人群自殺率及患抑鬱症比例明顯偏高。同性戀親友會自2008年成立以來，就把工作重點放在同性戀者的家人身上。通過定期舉辦家長與家長之間的分享與座談會，消除同性戀者家人的孤獨感和消極情緒；每周三晚開通熱線，接聽同性戀家長們的求助、傾聽他們的心聲，三年多來共接聽2000多個求助電話。
據介紹，同性戀親友會是目前國內唯一一家關注同性戀者親友的民間機構，目前在廣東省民政管理局申請民政註冊遲遲未能得到解決，相關部門也未說明不予註冊的理由。
註冊問題已上報民政部
“早上又去了省民政管理局，已經是第七趟了。跟局長聊了一會兒，又跟一個處長演講了20分鐘。這是我第四次演講，聽衆只有一個人。從科員到科長、到處長、到副局長，再到局長，同性戀親友會註冊的事，省民政管理局管民非註冊的所有負責人都過了一遍。”同性戀親友會執行主任阿強說，親友會註冊的事情已經被拒絕四次，“每次都起死回生，領導答應在局會議上研討，我就再跟進。”昨日，省民政廳民間組織管理局相關負責人接受南都採訪時表示，對於阿強反映的同性戀親友會註冊問題，該局受理之初就在積極思考，並按程序逐級匯報，“這個群體確實存在，他們的家屬確實需要得到關注，但究竟該怎麼推進這項工作讓這一群體、家屬及社會綜合受利，仍需要研究和探討”。目前，該局已將同性戀親 友會註冊問題上報至民政部，目前都在根據自己能力範圍積極推進。畢竟是新事物，且與社會傳統、社會倫理存在一定背離，讓社會接納，需要一個過程，而且需要相關法律法規的支撐。
January 21st, 2012
More than 80 U.S. mayors pledge support for marriage equality
WASHINGTON — “Freedom to Marry,” a New York-based marriage equality advocacy organization, on Friday announced abipartisan coalition of more than 80 mayors from across the U.S. who have publicly stated their support for marriage equality for LGBT citizens, and their intention to work toward that goal.
More than 20 of the mayors attended a morning news conference at the Capital Hilton in Washington, including the coalition’s chairpersons: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), openly lesbian Houston Mayor Annise Parker (D), San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders (R), and Boston’s Democratic Mayor Thomas Menino.
January 17th, 2012
Please support the Dark Angel Musical Troupe
Dream of the Mermaid is the first project of the Dark Angel Musical Troupe. The Troupe has two main objectives. One is to use an easy to understand means, our familiar Cantonese, to introduce classical music to the Hong Kong public at low prices. The other is to support the rights of minorities in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, transsexuals are not allowed to marry heterosexually. This is one big grievance of the transsexuals and so we selected this theme as our first project. This filimic opera is in form of a fairy tale, starting with a mermaid falling in love with a fox. But legislation prohibits their marriage. The fox walks away. But at the end, God is touched and changes the law. The mermaid is able to marry her other boyfriend, who remains loyal to the mermaid throughout. This fairy tale alludes to the absurdity of our local laws not allowing transsexuals to marry the opposite sex. Through this, we hope to awaken public attention on the W case, who has appealed to the court of final appeal to fight for her rights to marriage. We hope to generate public opinion to push the court to decide in W’s favour. The cost of this opera is high. In addition to the Equal Opportunities Commission who has already contributed to support us, we need additional sponsorship from the LGBTIQ friendly community. We need your generosity to donate and your time to watch the opera. Your penny will add up and work miracles to accomplish great things. We are a charitable organization. Your donations will be spent wisely and our accounts will be audited by professional auditors. We will also send receipts to your donations so that you could claim tax exemption. Please kindly fill out the attached donation slip and either send us a crossed cheque, payable to Dark Angel Musical Troupe and send the cheque to our official address, or transfer cash directly to our HSBC account 634299689838, scan the confirmation and send it to our email address darkangelproductionteam@gmail.com. For local transfers across banks, please specify 004 as the receiving bank. For overseas transfers, please convert your money into Hong Kong dollars and remit through telegraphic transfers specifying HSBCHKHHHKH as the receiving Bank SWIFT address and the beneficiary account same as above. Thank you.
N.B. HSBC will charge deposit fees for over the counter transactions. In order to avoid these charges, please use only the above two means to deposit your money. All of us from the Troupe express our gratitude to you again.
Thank you in advance for your kind attention and action.
Regards
Mimi Wong
Managing Director
Dark Angel Musical Troupe
January 17th, 2012
Canada to close loophole on foreigner gay marriages
Source: Reuters
TORONTO | Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:39pm EST
(Reuters) – Canada will plug a loophole in its marriage laws that left foreign gay couples in a legal limbo, able to marry in Canada, but in a union that might not be legal, and perhaps without the ability to divorce.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the problem stemmed from a “legislative gap” that meant some – if not all – gay marriages performed in Canada could not be dissolved in Canada if gay marriage was not legal in their home country.
“We will change the Civil Marriage Act so that any marriages performed in Canada that aren’t recognized in the couple’s home jurisdiction will be recognized in Canada,” he said. “This of course will apply to all marriages performed in Canada.”
The issue exploded on Thursday, when court documents emerged about a government argument that two women who married in Canada could not seek a divorce here because their marriage was not valid. One of the women was from Britain and the other from Florida, neither of them jurisdictions that allow gay marriages.
