LGBT Human Rights Advocacy Project Proposal (Frank Halderman & Calyn Shaw)

Objective

The objective of our advocacy project is to achieve the commitment and endorsement of the federal political parties in Canada for the inclusion of LGBT human rights-focused language and policy in their national party platforms, prior to the next federal election. 

Policy Elements

Our goal is to develop and promote LGBT policy-specific guidelines suitable for federal party platforms. The LGBT rights framework that we advance will be anchored in the established human rights norms and legislation in Canada and internationally.

 The intention of the LGBT human rights policy framework is to*:

• Support the advancement of transgender and transsexual rights. 
• Promote legislation initiatives for the development and implementation of educational programs, nationally. 
• Restore LGBT human rights language to the Canadian citizenship study guide. 
• Enhance Canadian immigration laws and regulations. 
• Strengthen laws prohibiting hate propaganda, violence, and hate crimes.
• Support international struggles against discrimination of LGBT persons. 

*These policy points still need some work, but our research for our academic papers and our conversations with MPs and other advocates in the coming weeks will inform these policy guidelines 

Policy Advocacy Tool

Website development: The web domain www.lgbtpolicy.ca has been purchased. 

Website elements:

• History of LGBT human rights in Canada
• Current LGBT rights in Canada and at the United Nations
• Proposed LGBT policy guidelines
• Blog format
  • Activists/Advocates
  • Politicians
  • Students
  • LGBT community across the Canada
• Working papers
• Information of key and relevant Canadian politicians
• LGBT rights newsfeed
• International LGBT Human Rights (the gaps and current realities)

Twitter:

We will start an @lgbtpolicy twitter feed to direct followers to our website, to relevant news and events, and to invite them to participate in our advocacy campaign.

Op-eds:

We will write at least one Op-ed for a major Canadian daily (likely the G&M).

Comments

[Michael Byers]

Wow, this is ambitious! I have only two concerns:

1) I'd like you to demonstrate some concrete progress by December 22 when I have to assign marks for the course. For that reason, please prioritize one or two elements, perhaps writing a draft op-ed on a focused topic that we could discuss before you submit it later this month or next.

2) I want you to make sure that you're not replicating the work of others, including Egale, and that your work fits into what other activists are doing in this field. For that reason, I'm going to introduce you to two very involved people by way of e-mails, in the hope that you will meet with them or, at the very least, have a serious Skype or telephone conversation.

[Frank]

Here are the beginnings of an Op-ed. I stopped writing it as I thought feedback would be valuable. If anyone has comments, I would appreciate it. Thanks,
Frank

Anniversaries can mean many things to people. The anniversaries we prefer to remember mark happy occasions that have passed, but for some they are times of sadness and cause painful memories filled with sorrow to surface. It is also hoped that, even, remorse for the actions of some guilty souls will be too difficult to repress, at these times. November 17, 2010 is one such date that is drawing near. It will mark the day on which Aaron Webster was coldly and brutally beat to death nine years ago, in Stanley Park, Vancouver. This gay man, yes a gay man, was murdered by four young men who were, in the words of Judge Romilly, "a thug brigade, stalking human prey for entertainment in a manner very reminiscent of Nazi youth in pre-war Germany".

And yet, Canada, as a nation, does not stand alone in this matter. Indeed, similar thug brigades march to a far more extreme drum in countries throughout the world. Iraq is one such country. The Medhi Army militia, Iraq’s security forces, is reported, by Human Rights Watch, to be directly involved in the torture and murder of gay men. Homosexuality, as you might imagine, is illegal in Iraq. In 2009, deaths squads began a killing campaign to enforce their version of morality. For Hamid, a 35-year-old man, April 2009 will always be the source of horrible memories for him. He lost his partner of ten years, to a death squad that abducted him, brutally mutilated his body and left his corpse in the garbage. (Inclusion of turkey and killings of transsexuals and/or Uganda?)

In Canada, we are fortunate to have a constitution with its Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantees our rights and freedoms of expression under the rule of law. These laws have enabled the expansion of human rights for gay and lesbian individuals in Canada and controversial though it may be, same-sex marriage is now permitted in Canada.

[Gihan]

Hi guys just wanted to follow up on what I said during class today.. As you are aware the 2008 UN resolution on LGBT was groundbreaking though being very divisive at the same time. Mostly Muslim nations voted for a counter resolution condemning the LGBT Rights resolution. Canada though not the main sponsor was an active participant in the deliberations..all credit to them.

I was thinking that given Canada's previous position on the issue, wouldn't it be prudent for it to express its concerns regarding the following 7 countries which still consider the death penalty for being gay;

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Nigeria and Mauritania

I would assume the Human Rights Council would be the most appropriate forum to raise this matter when the periodic reviews of these countries are taken up.

In this regard I would suggest the following contact people as initial contact points..I have written to Mr. Alain Cacchione, Spokesman dealing with human rights issues at the Canadian Foreign Ministry
Email -bcm@international.gc.ca

I have received an interim reply from the following email regarding my queries and I suggest that you copy any correspondence to it as well.

dean.sherratt@international.gc.ca

Also for good measure you may wish to copy to Canada's Mission to the UN in Geneva even though I have not received any feedback to my previous correspondence

genev@international.gc.ca

Hope this helps

[Matt Robinson]

You guys probably caught this developing story already, but Uganda has been a hot spot re: gay rights for a while now. They don't appear to have a death penalty, but it is still illegal to be homosexual in Uganda. Recently a local newspaper has taken to printing the names of known-gay people. The courts called foul on privacy grounds.

Check out one of the many stories here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g9TAAFprgBTrmcaCVSd_vj3-mXNg?docId=4997244

It might be helpful to use an example of a less-extreme country (i.e. one that does not consider the death penalty for being gay but still has salient gay rights issues) to argue that international gay rights would be of benefit to people in 'average' countries.

[Mo]

FYI:
November 23, 2010: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Refugees
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Alice MacKay Room, 350 West Georgia St.
Time: 7:00 pm-8:30pm

In 2010/2011 A Story to Tell will focus on current issues refugees are facing in our community. Issues pertaining to the LGTB, student and youth communites are ones that pertain to the international community, and are issues that many are working together to meet the needs of these vulnerable communities. In this series titled "Contemporary Refugee Issues" we will introduce stories on contemporary issues pertaining to refugees today.

Please join us as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender refugee community will speak about their personal experiences. Further insight into the realities and challenges faced throughout the process of resettlement will be considered and discussed.

Send me an e-mail at mo-al-mehairbi@hotmail.com and I can send you more details (their web page, facebook, the poster etc.) if you are interested.
Mo.

[Marc]

Hey Frank,

I like the general gist of the op-ed so far, but was wondering what your plan is for the rest of the piece? So far you stand at about 320 words, so you're about halfway through. Where you looking to turn soon to an argument for the need for international gay rights? I feel like your transition from Canada in the first paragraph, to international cases in the second, and then back is somewhat rocky. Maybe it would flow a little better to focus on the Canadian example first, talk about Canadian rights and the benefits of them (despite their controversy), before moving on to the other instances, perhaps then making some comments about the contrast between having hate crimes and actually having some rights to back up and prevent future instances (Canada) and officially sanctioning violence (more extreme countries). I don't know if that helps any, or even makes sense, but that's my $0.02!

[Marc]

Oh, I also dig the website/blog/social media angle you guys are running with. I feel comparatively antiquarian in my letter writing and book reading.