December 8, 2011
Oscar winner Hilary Swank was recently slated for attending an event celebrating the rebuilding of Grozny, which happened also to be the 35th birthday party of Chechnian president Ramzan Kadyrov. The actress was supposedly invited by a Turkish real estate company along with other celebrities including Jean-Claude Van Damme, Seal and violinist Vanessa Mae. Swank ...
Tags: celebrities,
celebrity politics,
Chechnia,
Hilary Swank,
human rights,
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
politics,
Popping Culture,
Ramzan Kadyrov,
Seal,
Vanessa Mae
December 7, 2011
A woman who was fired an hour after revealing she was pregnant to her boss has been told that her pregnancy was not a factor in her losing her job. The case is currently being heard by the Human Rights Commission in Canada. Her bosses say that she was already earmarked for dismissal because they ...
November 8, 2011
If I had to describe the “type” of man I like, it would have to be feminist. Most of my good friends subscribe to some kind of feminism and as a self-identified straight woman, there is nothing better than a feminist man. Since high school, I found myself crushing on boys who were articulate and ...
November 3, 2011
Women in Québec are being disproportionately affected by laws that are making the province increasingly secular. Two years ago 80 members of the En Route Foundation, a Catholic lay group, gathered in a hall rented from the city and watched an inspirational video. They prayed, celebrated mass and ate a potluck lunch. Sound suspicious? Maybe not to us regular folks ...
Tags: ban the veil,
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
Catholic Church,
France,
head covering,
human rights,
Muslim women,
niqab,
Quebec,
religious freedom,
religious women,
secularism,
separation of church and state,
sexism
October 28, 2011
We own our bodies, and the government cannot step in and tell us what to do with them. That doesn’t sound too outlandish, right? A recent United Nations report stood up for this idea, saying that a woman has a right to her own health and body. Although the idea seems simple it goes against ...
Tags: abortion laws,
abortion rights,
anti-choice,
birth control,
contraceptive rights,
equality,
feminism,
health,
human rights,
pro life,
pro-choice,
Right to Choice,
United Nations,
women's rights
October 24, 2011
A woman was fired from her job an hour after announcing she was pregnant. But management swears they were already going to let her go before her announcement for other reasons, so the firing was warranted. Riiight. Alison MacKinnon was working at the small hotel Inn on the Hill for only a month, allegedly unknowingly on ...
Tags: Alison MacKinnon,
discrimination,
fired from job,
firing for pregnancy,
human rights,
Human Rights Commission,
incapable women,
PEI,
pregnancy,
pregnant employee,
workplace
October 19, 2011
I recently saw the question “Should free speech trump hate laws?” answered with a simple “Yes.” I think in reality the answer should be, it depends. After all, nothing tastes sweeter than forbidden fruit. I don’t think that anyone should have the right to be legally protected from being merely offended. But I do think ...
Tags: anti-hate law,
BNP,
British National Party,
equality,
extremism,
freedom of speech,
gay,
hate speech,
homophobia,
human rights,
multicultural society,
Nick Griffin,
racism
August 9, 2011
LGBT activists have been pretty disappointed on President Obama’s stance on their rights so far. The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” dragged on and his position on same-sex marriage has been a little wishy-washy. But he has now made a decisive move to show the world and his country that gay rights are not ...
Tags: Council for Global Equality,
David Bahati,
don't ask don't tell,
gender identity,
government,
human rights,
humanitarian law,
immigration policy,
LGBT community,
LGBT Rights,
Mark Bromley,
President Obama,
same-sex marriage,
sexual orientation,
Uganda,
United States,
Us politics
July 22, 2011
In Ghana, the uprising of African homophobia marches on. A government minister has gathered a disheartening amount of support by encouraging the country’s intelligence services to “round up” and arrest all gay and lesbian people. Paul Evans Aidoo, the minister for the Western Region of Ghana, is the latest to hop on the bandwagon of ...
June 17, 2011
Say what you will about the United Nations’ efficiency, they made a huge advance today by recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity as essential human rights to protect. The 47-member Human Rights Council voted 23 in favor and 19 against (with 3 abstentions) for a resolution put forward by South Africa to review discrimination against ...
Tags: Amnesty International,
bisexual,
fundamental human rights,
gay,
gender identity,
homosexuality,
human rights,
Human Rights Council,
lesbian,
LGBT community,
LGBT Rights,
sexual orientation,
South Africa,
transgender,
United Nations