Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

You’ve probably seen it or heard about it since it’s all over the news: the reported 63% to 34% victory by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked turmoil and rioting within Iran. Personally, I was surprised by the big difference as I had expected both candidates to get about half of all the votes, and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared himself the winner nonetheless. The latter happened. I don’t know if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really got the majority (whatever the actual majority of votes is) but if young people went out of their way to vote for reformist opponent, Mirhossein Mousavi, and are now crying fraud on the outcome of the elections (risking severe beatings by the police), it makes me wonder. Supporters of defeated moderate Mirhossein Mousavi are being arrested. That makes me wonder even more. Hearing that It’s obvious the younger generation want change, and I hope for them it’s gonna come soon.

Talking about elections; it seemed the majority of Europeans voted right. Whether it’s due to the economic crisis or something else, I don’t think it’s alright. (I voted left.) Read about the Dutch elections from a Canadian point of view.

A Catholic woman is suing a gay couple after her son got placed into their care when she was unfit to take care of him herself. The reason for suing couldn’t be lamer than that; if the couple was deemed unfit, I don’t think her kid would be placed in their care in the first place.

Floating belly up in the Pacific, this is the body of a giant blue whale - killed by a passing ship. (How on earth could you NOT notice running over or bumping into something large as that?!)

The body was found by researchers from Oregon State University in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California. How sad is that?

Chastity Bono, the 40-year-old daughter of Cher and the late Sonny Bono announced her decision earlier this week to undergo a sex change. Chastity will be known as “Chaz” from now on.

Bono’s publicist said, “Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones. It is Chaz’s hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did nearly 20 years ago.”

Read the entire statement on GLAAD.

Kudos to Chaz for coming out as trans; it takes courage to do that. I’m sure he’ll be turned into a spokesperson because he’s famous. (But I think he already knows that.) The good thing is that it might pave the way for other trans people.

A women’s prison in Virginia is - apparently - separating lesbian inmates from straight inmates. Based on appearance. How dumb is that?

The Ausiello Files reported that Stephanie March is staying a little longer on SVU - woo-hoo! While the length of her commitment has yet to be finalized, March’s Alex Cabot will assume ADA duties for only part of the season, as producers have cast a wide net to search for other ADA types as well. NBC had no comment. I’m stoked!

The school censoring a sixth-grade student’s presentation of gay rights activist Harvey Milk has been forced to apologise. Right on!

Towleroad.com offers two views from the High Line Park I blogged about earlier this week. Check them out here.

The ever gracious Terry Moore talked to Publishers Weekly about Echo, his up and coming Strangers in Paradise omnibus, and other works. Read about it here.

As read on Towleroad.com:

A memo detailing recommendations from the Council of State of The Netherlands was leaked to Christian newspaper Nederlands Dagblad this week suggesting that schools there can ban gay teachers. The memo is the result of a study undertaken following the firing of a gay schoolteacher in the central Netherlands village of Emst.

NRC Handelsblad reports: “The Council of State, the highest advisory body to the Dutch government, says religious schools can exclude gay teachers if they behave in ways that go against what the institution stands for, even if it’s outside the classroom. According to the advisory paper, schools are not allowed to discriminate, but they do have a right to make specific demands of their staff. European guidelines entitle schools to ‘demand explicit loyalty from their staff’ to pass on their values, the council says. Those demands have to be directly related to the foundations of the school or other religious institutions. The current anti-discrimination law in the Netherlands states that even religious schools are not allowed to let the “single fact” of someone’s sexual preference, race or gender be a factor in the hiring or firing process. But the law leaves room for so-called “additional behaviour” to be factored in. A teacher could be dismissed for “a certain lifestyle” that goes against what the institution stands for; a relationship with someone of the same sex could be qualified as such.”

Happy Harvey Milk Day! Apparently, the California Senate has passed legislation and created Harvey Milk Day in honour of the state’s first openly gay official. The assassinated civil rights leader will be honored yearly on May 22nd, his birthday.

Unfortunately, earlier this week a San Diego-area sixth-grader’s report on slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk was not welcomed by the school’s principal, the L.A. Times reports:

“Instead, the principal sent letters to parents giving them the option of not allowing their child to listen to the presentation by classmate Natalie Jones. Officials cited the district policy requiring that parents be notified before any classroom instruction about sex, AIDS or ‘family life.’ About half the class received permission and listened to the report, which was given during lunch hour rather than regular classroom time like other students’ reports, the ACLU said…The ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties asserts that officials misinterpreted the district’s policy on sex education and, in the process, violated Natalie’s free speech rights. The group has given the Ramona Unified School District five days to respond or face a possible lawsuit.”

Said Jones’ mother: “This whole thing is unbelievable – first my daughter got called into the principal’s office as if she were in some kind of trouble, and then they treated her presentation like it was something icky. Harvey Milk was an elected official in this state and an important person in history. To say my daughter’s presentation is ‘sex education’ because Harvey Milk happened to be gay is completely wrong.”

The Mt. Woodson Elementary School student reportedly learned of Milk after seeing the Gus van Sant-directed film.

In the meantime a A group of parents are suing Castro Valley High School in California because it allowed this lesbian pastor to speak on the school’s “diversity day”.  Apparently the parents were never taught the meaning of diversity so they won’t allow their kids to learn it either. Watch it here.

I was watching “Bridge to Terebithia” with my mom yesterday, were the main character was taught that keeping one’s mind wide open is a good thing

As read on Towleroad.com:

Ethan McNAmee, a third-grader at Montclair Elementary School in Denver, organized a rally for marriage equality and delivered a speech at the Colorado State Capitol on Saturday:

“He was concerned about the issue after hearing about anti-gay remarks on the playground and then learning about a same sex couple in his neighborhood that couldn’t get married. ‘Everybody is different in a good way,’ he said. Ethan believes that if two people love each other that is the only issue to be considered. Ethan took it upon himself to arrange the rally and line up the guest speakers. He admitted it was more work then he thought it would be, but adds it was fun.”

McNamee’s permit was filed under the name of his school teacher Kyle Kimmal, because he’s too young to apply for one himself.

According to Denver’s ABC7, the conservatives are already on the attack, accusing adults of manipulation.

Watch Ethan’s speech *here*

How inspiring is that?!

Facebook and other social networking sites have been criticised for hosting a number of anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist web pages.

According to a report from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights group named after the renowned Nazi-hunter, there has been a 25 per cent rise in the number of hate groups hosted on sites such as YouTube. Researchers found more than 10,000 websites, social networking groups, portals, blogs, chat rooms, videos and hate games that promoted racial violence, anti-Semitism, homophobia, hate music and terrorism. They found groups such as Croatian Srmt Pederima (Death to gays) and a Serbian group expressing hate towards gays and prostitutes.

It was also found that white supremacist group Stormfront was using its Facebook page to connect thousands of visitors to its main website.

Recently, Facebook was forced to remove two Holocaust-denying groups after complaints from other users.

The two groups, ‘Holocaust is a Holohoax’ and ‘Based on the facts … there was no Holocaust’ were taken down at the weekend. Along with gays and Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, women and immigrants were some of the most targeted groups.

A statement from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre said: “Every aspect of the internet is being used by extremists of every ilk to repackage old hatred, demean the ‘Enemy’, to raise funds and, since 9/11, recruit and train Jihadist terrorists. This user-generated material increases the viral spread of extremism online and aids in increasing the social acceptability of hate in mainstream discourse. By creating an environment where users are equal participants in the web, all editorial functions are removed and expressions of hate can easily flow unchallenged.”

A Facebook spokesman told The Times that “the mere statement of denying the Holocaust is not a violation of our terms”.

According to the company’s statement of rights and responsibilities, users may not “post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence”.

Facebook said in a statement: “Many of the groups or pages that were shown to us by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre earlier this year as part of their study had already been removed under Facebook’s rules.

“We are committed to continuing this practice, and to working with those who fight hate like the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.”

In December, Facebook was asked by users to remove Serbian homophobic groups. The groups, “Queeria, Pederi Marš iz Srbije”and “СТОП ПЕДЕРИМА – КВИРИЈИ!” were actively promoting homophobic abuse. Users of the groups posted death threats to gay and lesbian Serbians, and called for attacks on gay people and their property.

The members of the group also sent hate mail to LGBT activist leaders, and publicised their names, addresses and telephone numbers, raising serious concerns about security and proper use.

Aren’t we supposed to teach people HATE is WRONG?

As read in the Globe and Mail:

The 15-year-old black belt thought he was doing his tormentor a favour when he elected to fight back with his weaker left hand.

He had heard his white classmate throw an angry racial slur in his direction after an argument during a gym class game of speedball, and now the student was shoving him backward, refusing to retract the smear.

The white student swung first, hitting the 15-year-old with a punch to the mouth.

The 15-year-old heard his father’s voice running through his head: Fight only as a last resort, only in self-defence, only if given no choice, and only with the left hand. His swing was short and compact, a left-handed dart that hit the white student square on the nose.

The nose broke under his fist, igniting a sequence of events - from arrest to suspension to possible expulsion - that has left the Asian student and his family wondering whether they are welcome in this small, rural and mostly white community north of Toronto, one that has been touched by anti-Asian attacks in the past.

The 15-year-old, the only person charged in connection with the April 21 school fight, faces one count of assault causing bodily harm.

But a remarkable thing happened this week.

On Monday, 400 of his fellow students, wearing black in solidarity and carrying signs of support, walked out of Keswick High School to rally in protest in front of their school.

Organizer Mathew Winch, a Grade 12 student, said the school has fewer than 10 Asian students, but everyone wanted to stand up against bullying and racism. The story even hit the front page of local newspapers.

After the public outcry, the York Regional Police hate crimes unit reopened the case. Although the other student has not been charged, further charges are possible, a spokesman said yesterday.

The case is particularly sensitive because of a series of attacks on Asian fishermen in the same area in 2007 - given the name “nipper tipping” by locals - which led to a high-profile investigation by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Five such cases in 2007, ranging from violent car chases to fishermen on piers being pushed into the water, led to criminal charges. As a result of the publicity, many other Asian anglers came forward to say they had been abused or harassed while fishing in the Lake Simcoe area.

The Asian boy’s father is a martial-arts master who trained with the Korean national team. He brought his family to Canada in 2004. They settled in Keswick in 2006, and his son, who is still learning English, has studied hard to become a top student. He proudly showed off a report card with a 90-per-cent average. The boy has struggled a little socially, his parents said, which makes the outpouring of support from his classmates all the more remarkable.

“It’s the first time in my life I ever fought someone. I’ve been trained not to attack. It’s total self-defence,” the boy said. “I felt sorry because I broke his nose, but I can say he deserved it because he called me the racial comment. He started the fight, he punched me first.”

He said the boy called him a “fucking Chinese,” a comment he instantly knew was far from a joke.

“It’s upsetting,” he said. “I don’t know how better to tell it.”

For the moment, both students are suspended from Keswick High School, but the Asian student’s parents have been told he could be expelled and forced to find a new school.

They are shocked and saddened by the ordeal.

The day after the fight, an older cousin of their son’s antagonist approached him in the school cafeteria and uttered a similar slur, compounding their sense of despair.

“He said, ‘You punched my cousin you Chinese fuck,’ ” the 15-year-old said. That student was overheard by a teacher and suspended.

His father explains that the easiest course would be to move somewhere else and get a fresh start for his son. But he can’t do it.

“I don’t want to run away. If another Asian kid comes to this school, what happens to him? Will he run into problems? Will they think they can just kick him out? I don’t want to set that example,” he said. “Personally, for my kid, I should move. But as a Canadian I cannot move.”

The recent ‘bullycide’ deaths of Eric Mohat and Carl Walker-Hoover certainly weren’t the first, and won’t likely be the last, but I didn’t expect to read this story about Jaheem Herrera, which is similar in almost every aspect to Walker-Hoover’s, just one week later.

And like Walker-Hoover’s, it includes a school tone-deaf to a mother’s concerns, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

“On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from Dunaire Elementary School, Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body. ‘His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’’ said Norman Keene, who helped raise Jaheem since the boy was two years old. When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt. Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope. ‘We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’’ Keene recalled. ‘He’d never tell us.’ He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said. ‘They called him gay and a snitch,’ his stepfather said. ‘All the time they’d call him this.’ In an interview with WSB-TV, the boy’s mother, Masika Bermudez, also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school. She said she asked him about the bullying Thursday when he came home from school and he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. It was the last time she would see him alive.”

Watch the heartbreaking news report via Pam’s House Blend.

Last Friday schools in the US marked the National Day of Silence to bring attention to LGBT bullying.

This year’s date is considered especially significant as Carl Walker-Hoover, of Massachusetts, would have been 12 today. Carl killed himself last week after suffering months of homophobic bullying at school.

He did not identify as gay but was verbally and physically abused by classmates.

Participants usually stay silent all day, although they are encouraged to recognise the day in any way they see fit so long as it is respectful and draws attention to the issue of LGBT bullying.

The event began in 1996 at the University of Virginia.

Students chose the idea of silence as a form of protest for one of their class assignments. It is now observed by hundreds of thousands of students in over 8,000 schools.

According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, nine out of ten LGBT students experience bullying at school and more than a third report missing at least one day of school in the last month out of fear for their personal safety.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan recognized Friday’s Day of Silence.

Oooh Canada
Our home and native land…

Moose (stuffed toy): CHECK.
Tiny Canadian flag on a stick: CHECK
Cap w/ Canada stitched on it: CHECK
Hoodie with Canada embroidered across it: CHECK
Canadian patch on postman bag (for work): CHECK.
Maple syrup: CHECK.
(Not to mention numerous CDs by Canadian artists. CHECK.)

This ad (from the Canadian government) sure piqued my interest.
Dude! Hand over the poutine!

Wouldn’t it something to wake up Canadian

Thanks Trevor (in California!) for the link.

On Sunday I posted a big “WTF?!” like many other queer (friendly) bloggers, who reported that a lesbian kiss in Australian soap “Home and Away” was going to be censored. Apparently, the kiss did air (last night), so it was much ado about nothing.

Read the AfterEllen article here.

Now onto another controversial kiss:

A section of the remaining Berlin Wall painted by graffiti artists in 1990 just months after the rest of it was officially opened is to be steam-erased and re-painted, and has the artist behind this kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker furious:

“Dmitri Vrubel, who never agreed to his artwork being destroyed, is not happy with this explanation. “I’ve got no problem with a restoration,” he told SPIEGEL ONLINE. ‘But now it will be a new picture. I can’t simply repeat my first painting.’ The Russian painter first heard about the renovation from a newspaper report. After contacting officials in Berlin he was sent an agreement, entitling him to expenses of €3,000 euros. ‘But why €3,000 euros? Why not 30,000 or 300?’ asked Vrubel, who has seen his image put to commercial use adorning mugs, postcards and plates in Berlin. ‘It is being sold, but I have never seen a cent of the profits.’ Alavi of the artists initiative confirms that problems persist today with the marketing of the East Side Gallery. “Under German law, art that is created in a public space does not enjoy copyright protection. But he says his group may go to court in order to raise public awareness of that problem.”