Get out of the way, I’m gay!
In a move for “diversity and tolerance” a German car park company has made reserved parks specifically for the LGBT community. “Created by Hanauer Parkhaus GmbH (HPG), the inclusive spaces were unveiled within a parking structure in Hanau, Germany – 15 miles east of Frankfurt,” wrote Jordan Robledo for Gay Times. “The walls of the spaces have been painted with a rainbow flag and are reserved for people in the LGBTQ+ and migrant communities.”
Not really sure where we get the documentation to support we’re fully fledged Gay™ but I’m always down for a free parking spot! I can imagine the hunger games now, with coworkers we know are straight putting a pride sticker on their car before work, snatching a rainbow park, and quickly taking the sticker off as they speed off in the afternoon. “Ally is the A in LGBTQIA+!” They’ll scream from their window. “Allyphobia!”
All jokes aside, the LGBT and migrant community parking spots deliberately being located near the exit of large carpark buildings is pretty neat. It can be frightening to walk through those large, empty, cement blocks alongside one strange man who won’t stop staring. Because the entrance and exit are often in the same area, at least in my country they are, it should take less than a few metres walking inside the building before arriving at the vehicle. Maybe we need some of these safer parks for women, too.
The new measures come after Germany announced compensation for treatment of LGBT people persecuted under Paragraph 175.
No, homo!
China is banning video games with same-sex relationships in them. South China Morning Post argues that the video games don’t portray “a correct set of values.” I’m guessing games where you can sexually assault women will still be created. Or those about getting the most amount of “kills” you can. Same-sex relationships are worse than abuse and murder? Interesting…
No gender nonconformity, either! Women must be feminine and men must be masculine! “If regulators can’t tell the character’s gender immediately, the setting of the characters could be considered problematic and red flags will be raised,” the memo says. Male characters must be heterosexual, dominant and powerful. Female characters must be heterosexual, submissive and mild.
Last month China announced that no “sissy men” were allowed on broadcast TV. Joe McDonald, from The Associated Press, wrote that China is restricting the representation of “effeminate men” to promote “revolutionary culture.” A TV regulator said broadcasters must “resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics,” using an insult, slang for effeminate men, “niang pao,” meaning “girlie guns.”
“That reflects official concern that Chinese pop stars, influenced by the sleek, girlish look of some South Korean and Japanese singers and actors, are failing to encourage China’s young men to be masculine enough.”
Permanent pride flag at Christopher Park
The Biden administration is about to install a permanent flagpole at Christopher Park. The recent development follows four years after the Trump administration decided to cancel putting a Rainbow Flag at the Stonewall National Monument in 2017.
“While it was believed that flagpole — located just outside of the park’s fence — stood on the portion of the Stonewall National Monument owned by the federal government, the Trump administration rejected that notion, saying instead that it would not raise such a flag because the pole was not on federal land,” according to Gay City News. “[The move] was widely viewed as yet another act of hostility by an administration that relentlessly targeted LGBTQ rights.”
LGBT activist Michael Petrelis, who advocated for the rainbow flag to be put on federal land in 2017, saw a new “window of opportunity” when Biden’s administration was inducted. He wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “This new flagpole will be permanently located front and center in the beautiful gardens inside Christopher Park,” Gay Vietzke, the regional director for the National Park Service, wrote back to Petrelis.
Court of Appeals hearing on decriminalization of same-sex relations in Botswana
On October 12, the Court of Appeals of Botswana held a hearing on the decriminalization of same-sex relations after the state appealed a 2019 ruling by the High Court to decriminalize it. In June 2019 the High Court of Botswana ruled unanimously to remove section 164(a) and (c), and section 167 of the Penal Code which criminalized same-sex relations, or “carnal knowledge against the order of nature,” according to OutRight. The state appealed the decision, claiming it’s a matter fit for Parliament.
Katlego K Kolanyane-Kesupile trans ARTivist from Botswana, and former OutRight Action International Religion Fellow, who was in the courtroom during the High Court Ruling in 2019 and during the appeal hearing today, reflects:
“I am hopeful for a fair ruling. The Attorney General representative Sidney Pilane, appearing for the state, showed that the government has little ground to stand on and continuously made contradictory statements. Having proclaimed himself as “speaking for the government of Botswana and its views”, Pilane did little to show that the views of the government regarding LGBTQIA+ people are informed by anything other than pseudo-moralistic and archaic conceptualizations of who we are and what we want for our lives. I trust that the bench, led by Justice Kirby, will see that justice reigns and that LGBTQIA+ people in Botswana will not have to live with the fear of having their rights rescinded at any time in the future.”
Acting Executive Director of OutRight Action International, Maria Sjödin, comments:
“Criminalization of same-sex relations was imposed by the British colonial power and has long since been recognized as discriminatory and in violation of international human rights standards. The courts in Botswana have a record of trailblazing rulings which recognize the rights of LGBTIQ people, ruling in 2014 that the state has to register an LGBTIQ organization, in 2017 that legal gender recognition is a right, and in 2019 ruling to decriminalize same-sex relations. I hope that the Court of Appeals will continue this trend and uphold decriminalization, which has already made a significant impact on the lives of LGBTIQ people in Botswana.”
