Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa
Uganda’s infamous 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would institute the death penalty for a new and surreal category of offenses dubbed “aggravated homosexuality,” captured international headlines for months. The human rights community and the Obama administration responded forcefully, the bill was tabled, and the story largely receded from U.S. headlines. But as the Rev. Dr. Kapya […]
Read moreLesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights in Iran – Analysis from Religious, Social, Legal and Cultural Perspectives
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has released a collection of eight articles that offer innovative and provocative approaches to advance acceptance and improve understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of Iran. With contributions from prominent international activists, lawyers and scholars from IGLHRC’s second conference held in Düsseldorf, […]
Read moreGay hanging in Iran: Atrocities and impersonations
I. Everybody on earth knows that last week a deal on Iran’s nuclear program was announced. Everybody also knows that this apparent step toward peace launched a new stage in an old war: of propaganda. Proponents praise the possibility of a historic opening. Opponents — who include Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Republican Party — warn […]
Read moreThe Belize Pride Event: the overlapping of LGBT tourism and sexual politics
Gay and lesbian tourism companies have, in the past several years, taken a turn for the calculative. More and more, we are seeing rankings like Spartacus International Gay Guide’s “Gay Travel Index” which purport to determine which countries are the friendliest for gay and lesbian tourists, and which are not.
Read moreThe challenges of a “progressive” Pope
by Juan Marco Vaggione Since his inauguration as the new pontiff, Bergoglio has generated new complexities for those of us who think that it is necessary to dismantle the religious imprints on the ethical and legal regulation of sexual order. The Catholic Church, under the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, has remained […]
Read moreSexual Politics in June 2015
On June 18th, the Vatican launched the encyclical “Laudato Si – On Care for Our Common Home”. The encyclical is the first one to have been solely written by Pope Francis the First and focuses on the environmental crisis. But as predicted it is not silent on matters pertaining to sexuality and reproduction. Juan Marco […]
Read moreGloria Careaga Perez: Towards a society based on rights and freedoms
By Gloria Careaga Perez Since 2009, when same sex marriage was legalized in Mexico City, obbstacles faced by same-sex couples to be granted full rights under Mexican law in other states of the country have triggered a flow of lawsuits aimed at contesting the refusal of state authorities to recognize their marriages. These lawsuits, on […]
Read more“The Republic of Love”
By Anne Mulhall On the complex achievement of the same sex marriage referendum in Ireland The importance of the political mobilization of working-class communities in Dublin in the process of building a self-organized and powerful anti-austerity movement cannot be overstated, and this was a decisive factor in the marriage referendum passing. Voters in Jobstown and […]
Read moreCircassian beauties and the ugly face of race
The curious case of Rachel Dolezal and the Circassian ladies of yore show just how meaningless the notion of race is. Read Al Jazeera’s article.
Read moreMoving Beyond Biomedicalization in the HIV Response
Global AIDS Policy Watch (GAPW) has announced the launching of the article Moving Beyond Biomedicalization in the HIV Response: Implications for Community Involvement and Community Leadership Among Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender People, authored by Professors Peter Aggleton and Richard Parker (the later also co-chair of SPW ). The paper is published […]
Read moreCaitlin Jenner and Rachel Dolezal: The conceptual and political challenges undergirding the contrast between transexuality and transraciality
In the first week of June 2015, two articles have reached us that spoke to the unabated tensions – and perhaps unresolvable – tensions between those streams of feminism that deny the validity and ‘authenticity’ of female transgender identities and experiences.
Read moreWHO Launches groundbreaking report: Sexual health, human rights and the law
The WHO Human Reproduction Program has made public this week (June 15-19th, 2015) a new groundbreaking report titled Sexual Health, Human Rights and Law. The document results from of extensive research and consultation globally over a period of seven years. It establish conceptual references to guide the application of human rights and the the […]
Read moreWomen and Girls Rising – Progress and resistance around the world
Capturing voices and experiences from around the world, Women and Girls Rising – Progress and resistance around the world, edited by Ellen Chesler and Terry McGovern, documents the modern history of the global women’s movement – its many accomplishments and setbacks. Drawing together prominent pioneers and contemporary policymakers, activists, and scholars, the volume interrogates where and […]
Read moreTERFs of the Times
This week’s Sunday Review section of the New York Times has as its headline article an opinion piece by feminist academic and film director Dr. Elinor Burkett, entitled “What Makes a Woman?” The tagline summarizing the post is “There is a collision course between feminists and transgender activists.” This of course frames trans activists as […]
Read moreNew Texts Out Now: Kenneth M. Cuno, Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology, and Law in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Egypt
Kenneth M. Cuno, Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology, and Law in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Egypt. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2015. Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Kenneth M. Cuno (KC): Actually, I was planning to write a different book. But while researching it in Cairo I had a bit of free time and began exploring […]
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