2011 has been celebrated as a great year for the LGBT community. Of course, as long as severe inequality persists, it’s difficult to wholeheartedly agree that it was a great year. All the same, 2011 has certainly upheld that crucial message; that it gets better. So, grab a cup o’ kindness and we’ll run through some of the achievements of the LGBT movement in 2011.

International Human Rights Day commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One of the key architects of the Declaration was the feminist and humanitarian, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Tomorrow, 10th December, is International Human Rights Day. If you haven’t yet seen Hillary Clinton’s speech to the UN in Geneva this week, here it is. My advice is to set aside 30 minutes to sit down and fully listen to the whole speech.

Ecuador is accused of using torture clinics to “cure” LGBTs – predominantly affecting lesbians. A petition to the Ecuadorian government has now been launched.

The reign of the Marys (I & II) may have ended, but Ireland now welcomes into Áras an Uachtarain a man who is amongst other things a feminist, LGBT ally, intellectual and human rights activist.

During the past week, the ‘Amina’ hoax diverted the energies, time and resources of international human rights organisations, journalists, and the US State Department, among others, from the events actually taking place in Syria. And it has placed activists within Syria at greater risk of harm.

There remain countries in the world where LGBT people are criminalised for who we are, and in six of these the penalties include execution. When LGBTs flee such countries to seek asylum, will we get protection? How does Ireland treat asylum seekers who fear persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity? How many LGBT asylum seekers have been deported to unsafe countries where they may face torture, death or other forms of serious harm?

Yesterday afternoon, word was excitedly spreading that the Irish Government had withdrawn its appeal against the 2007 High Court decision which held that the Irish State had breached the European Convention of Human Rights by refusing to allow for the applicant–Dr. Lydia Foy, a transgendered person–to obtain a birth certificate reflecting the sex appropriate to [...]

On Friday, Reuters reported that a number of countries in the United Nations have tried to block the IGLHRC’s status as an accredited organisation at the UN. Accreditation allows organisations to make representations to the UN on human rights issues within their expertise.

Last Thursday night, friend and I went along to see the Wild Oats Productions performance of The Laramie Project as part of the 7th International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (IDGTF). The Laramie Project is a play documenting the murder of Matthew Shepard in October 1998.

IWD raises awareness around the real experiences of women in the world. It highlights achievements, but also the oppression of half the human population, for reasons solely of their gender. Feminism, based on the fundamental principles of equality, solidarity and human rights is needed for the benefit of all in society.

Our friends at MarriagEquality have asked us to highlight an issue and we are delighted to do so.
Join the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in calling upon the Malawi government to release Steven Monjeza (age 26) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (age 20) from detention and end discrimination against LGBT and HIV/AIDS activists.

On Wednesday, a chief justice of a federal court in the U.S. demanded to know precisely what is meant when opponents of marriage equality say that such recognition would undermine marriage. The case goes to trial in January 2010, and could have an impact on other jurisdictions, including Ireland.

If you’re Irish and/or gay and you don’t know who David Norris is, well then that must be one secluded rock you’re living under. And, in light of his being honoured in San Francisco last week – including comparisons with Harvey Milk – everyone should know him! He’s gone international!

LGBT groups all over Ireland are up in arms over The Civil Partnership Bill, which was published yesterday. Read all about it here. The biggest indictment of the Bill? The Iona Institute congratulating the Government on “protecting the family”. On this day of celebration, prepare to get angry.

The newsdesk has been a-flutter with reports that members of direct-action community group for fair treatment of lgbtq people, EQUALS, are demonstrating their discontent with what they see as the codification of inequality in the Civil Partnerships Bill 2009 at Leinster House this Thursday lunchtime.

For those of us living under a rock, or out in that unseasonable sunny summer weather here in Ireland (myself included), last week’s ruling by the California Supreme Court may have slipped by unnoticed. The court’s decision effectively means that the vote by the simple majority to pass Proposition 8 still stands. Here, I briefly try to break down the ruling to its main points, including its potentially dangerous effects.