Vancouver teachers contract first in province to include support for transgender employees
VANCOUVER, March 30 /CNW/ - "We are very proud to have the first teachers Collective Agreement in the province to include anti-discrimination language that recognizes discrimination on the basis of gender identity," says Glen Hansman, President of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association (VESTA). "There may not even be another one in Canada."
VESTA and its secondary counterpart, Vancouver Secondary Teachers' Association (VSTA), bargain collectively as the Vancouver Teachers' Federation. They signed a memorandum of agreement with the Vancouver School Board recently that will be ratified by teachers on April 12th. No other teachers contract in BC mentions gender identity.
"As teachers, we have been very active the past five years working with management and trustees of the Vancouver School Board to make schools welcoming for all members of our school community," says Glen Hansman. "Having this new language is a significant step in protecting trans-identified and gender non-conforming employees against transphobia and other forms of harassment."
Significantly, the new contract language specifically states that nothing "requires the affected employee to actually possess a characteristic that is the basis for discrimination."
"Because of the Azmi Jubran vs. North Vancouver School Board case a couple years ago, we thought it was important for this point to be specifically stated in our Collective Agreement," says Glen Hansman. "Thanks to Mr. Jubran's persistence, it is absolutely clear now that one does not have to be a person of colour to be affected by racism, that one does not have to be gay to be a victim of homophobia - and our new Collective Agreement language reflects that."
MURDERS OF CHILE'S TRANSGENDER PEOPLE MOUNT
The Valparaiso Times
Written by Benjamin Witte
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
(March 29, 2007) At approximately 8 a.m. on the morning of March 16, authorities discovered the lifeless body of a transgender prostitute. Family members later identified her as 54-year-old Michelle Carrasco - or "Chela," as her friends called her.
Carrrasco, her face completely disfigured, had been left in a makeshift pit, presumably by the person who at some point during the previous night brutally attacked her while she worked the road to Melipilla, waiting for clients in Santiago's Lo Espejo district.
Two weeks later, her family and friends are still trying to cope with the horrific murder. "We're doing so badly, just bad," Zujeiy Carrasco, the victim's niece, told the Valparaiso Times. "You know where she was working, right? It's just that she didn't have any other choices," she added, trying unsuccessfully to hold back the tears.
Adding to the tragedy is the fact that Carrasco's death came just a week-and-a-half after a transgender person named Moira Donaire González was also murdered, in Viña del Mar, Region V. González, 30, died on March 5 after being stabbed five times by a street vendor.
"We're just indignant. To put it simply, today in Chile the State is not guaranteeing a basic human right for a certain sector of the population, and that's the right to life," said Rolando Jiménez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Freedom (MOVILH)...
Transgender Rights Under Review
Proposed modifications in the law regulating sex changes have The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights both cheering and booing.
The government appointed inquiry into sexual identity, has proposed changes that would make it easier for transsexuals to be parents but suggests keeping the 18-year age limit for sex changes.
In 1972, Sweden became the first country in the world to instate a law regulating transsexuals’ rights to sex changes. When the former government appointed a group to look into the old law, it was viewed as out-of-date and discriminatory.
To date, Swedish law requires a person to be sterilised in order to apply for a sex change. If the proposal is adopted, transsexuals will be able to freeze eggs and sperm enabling them to become biological parents.
Poland: School bill would violate students’ and teachers’ rights and reinforce homophobia
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: EUR 37/001/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 056
20 March 2007
A Ministry of Education anti-homosexuality measure would restrict students’ access to information and violate their freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today.
A proposal announced on March 13 would “prohibit the promotion of homosexuality and other deviance” in Polish schools. The purpose of the measure is to “punish whoever promotes homosexuality or any other deviance of a sexual nature in educational establishments”, Deputy Minister of Education Mirosław Orzechowski announced at a press conference. Failure to comply could lead to dismissal, fine or imprisonment.
The measure would deprive students of their right to freedom of expression, of a full education, and of the right to associate freely. It would institutionalize discrimination in Poland’s school system. It would criminalize anybody who promotes equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. In short, if the measure is enacted, Poland would be in violation of its obligations under international and regional human rights treaties to which Poland is a state party and its commitments when the country joined the European Union.
As Janusz Kochanowski, the Polish Commissioner for Civil Rights, noted on March 15, the bill would also violate the Polish Constitution. Article 30 of the Constitution recognises that “the inherent and inalienable dignity of the person shall constitute a source of freedoms and rights of persons and citizens. It shall be inviolable. The respect and protection thereof shall be the obligation of public authorities.”
The proposal is part of a growing climate of discrimination and intimidation in Poland against lesbians, gay men, and bisexual (LGBT) and transgender people. On 26 September, the Ministry of Education rejected the funding for a project submitted by and LGBT non-governmental organization arguing that “the Ministry does not support actions that aim to propagate homosexual behaviour and such attitude among young people.” On 11 May 2006, the parliamentarian Wojciech Wierzejski encouraged the use of force should LGBT rights activists organize their annual Equality March in Warsaw in June. (See AI index: EUR 01/019/2006.)
Openly homophobic language by highly placed politicians contributes to the persistence of discriminatory attitudes. Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Roman Giertych reportedly stated during a meeting of European Ministers of Education, “We ... cannot promote as normal same-sex partnerships when teaching youth, as those partnerships objectively constitute deviation from the natural law.” In February, President Lech Kaczyński reportedly said during his visit to Ireland that “LGBT people should not promote their sexual orientation.”
Despite strong statements of support by politicians and generally unfavourable societal attitudes toward homosexuality, the Ministry of Education’s proposal is not universally supported in Poland. Over 10,000 teachers marched through Warsaw on March 17 in a demonstration motivated in part by opposition to the bill. LGBT groups joined the teachers to protest the measure...
Don't Be Evil (Or A Dyke, Or Trans)
Google's AdWords confuses transgender terms with teen porn
Violet Blue, Special to SF Gate
Thursday, March 15, 2007
With equal parts bitter irony, offense and amusement, I receive regular e-mails from Open Source Sex readers about the keyword-generated Google AdWords text ads that regularly populate the bottom of this page. Take a look at a few of my columns -- especially the porn entries -- and you'll be, er, treated to a fat serving of sexually shaming "porn addiction -- get help" text ads. Which, of course, run totally against the grain of the pro-porn message I'm dishing out. Because I want you all to get help, too -- help finding better porn, that is.
But I've never been shocked about this: Google AdWords has a rep for pairing inappropriate (if not offensive) text ads with the original content it's posted with -- especially when it comes to sex. AdWords' insensitivities might seem trifling or even amusing on the surface (let's assume those of you reading my column feel OK about porn enough to disregard the douchey anti-porn ads at the bottom of the page), but those trying to make a positive change in the way their sexuality is portrayed in the wider culture are facing a David vs. Goliath battle of keywords.
Bay Area transgender, sex-positive queer-porn site Red Handed Porn (redhandedporn.com) signed up as a client of the AdWords service, only to discover that finding AdWords-approved words to describe their brand (and potential clients' brand identity) meant choosing terminology deeply offensive to most transgender individuals. At the same time, they found that terms chosen as respectful self-labels by the trans culture were rejected by AdWords as -- shockingly -- "teen porn concepts." What's more,
Red Handed found that even the term "dyke" is considered a four-letter word by the service, while terms that deeply offend trans women are accepted...
