Belizean LGBT Rights Violations

Posted 28th, March, 2013 It is clear government has a long way to demonstrate its commitment under the international Covenant for Civil and Political Rights as the UN Committee issues its concluding observations at a public session done on March 15th, 2013 on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, women and girls, mentally ill persons among a few issues raised. Here is the unedited advance report in its entirety. Human Rights Committee:                Concluding observations of Belize in the absence of a report                    Prepared by the Committee 1.    In the absence of a report by the State party, the Human Rights Committee considered the situation of civil and political rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Belize at its 2960th meeting (CCPR/C/SR. 2960), held in a public session on 15 March 2013. In accordance with rule 70, paragraph 1 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the failure of a State party to s

Posted March 25th, 2013    Belize Action and its partners has said that sexual oreintation and gender identity are western concepts, research done by supporters have showed that western concepts actually have a history if criminalizing sexual orientation and gender identity. The research below on gender identity looks at particular countries and region where the issue of gender was local, not western.Their attempt to label our work as a foreign import ignores that evangelical churches, by their nature, are importations of a fundamentalist agenda from the US. One group comes to mind is the FourSquares Churches where they claimed that are supporting The Calvary Temple and Open Bible churches in Belize City as well as others in the western part of the country. We have seen pastor Scott Stirm connection to to Dominionist theology and really odd beliefs about raising the dead. The blog toucan view http://twocanview.com/tag/scott-stirm/ points out brilliantly the ideology along with the la

Posted March 18th, 2013            The presence of Belizean's for the Constitutional Challenge  as part of the United Belize Advocacy Movement communication infrastructure cannot be undervalued in its contribution to movement building. It became part of the community effort to get the word out through a virtual approach to support L.G.B.T Movement Building. While UniBAM does not administrate the close group on face book, the 900 plus members have been able to educate each other about what is going on in the world, monitor news coverage locally and share testimonials about their experiences of the the WE ARE One wristbands. The group has come to offer free media advice, provide promotional support, conduct analysis of the political environment and  also served as a uniting force to refine approaches to political engagement.          Its an example where the silent majority have sought a safe space to share ideas, political views on L.G.B.T rights and to support cross-messagin

Posted: 8th March, 2013 Wednesday, March 06, 2013 Mexican Supreme Court: Homophobic language is not covered under freedom of expression Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook In a landmark 3-2 ruling released after a session held today, the First Chamber of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice has determined that homophobic expressions such as "maricones" or "puñal" are not only offensive and discriminatory but also not protected under under freedom of expression laws . The full text of the ruling will not be available until a later date but a press statement released by the Court states the following (my full translation): In a session held on March 6th of the current year, the First Chamber of the nation's Supreme Court of Justice - at the request of Justice Arturo Zaldivar Lelo de Larrea - resolved an issue in which it analyzed the complex conflict between freedom of expression and discriminatory demonstrations -

Post 6th, March 2013 The United Belize Advocacy Movement is and advocacy organization that uses a rights-base approach to reduce stigma and discrimination. In its quest for advocacy, it can be said it is vocal, efficient and use of technology have helped to intensified its message, national dialogue and effect on the national psyche. Below is a summary approach of how things have been done so far.   Activism through Communication Infrastructure: Social networking has been a powerful tool, Belizean's for the Constitutional Challenge, Pride Belize, Belize Gay Community, Se la vee have all played a role in disseminating information when newspapers like amandala kept us out of their circulation. It has allowed us to communicate in safety and engage opponents to the point that debates on facebook ended up generating over 3,000 comments and forcing Belize Action to do a close group. Social networking is cheap, fast and impactful as it even allowed channel 5 to pick up a story tha