Lesbian activist speaks out in Vietnam

mueserk — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 12:02:23 +0000

Nguyen Thanh Tam from Saigon is a lesbian. But being gay in Vietnam is not accepted and not easy. She felt so much discrimination and lack of acceptance that she even considered suicide – until she was encouraged by a teacher to come out. She wanted to help others like her avoid the pain and rejection she had felt, so she decided to raise awareness about homosexuality by organizing a gay pride festival, Viet Pride, in Hanoi. It took place last year for the first time. Tam and the other organizers learned a lot from the first event and are working really hard to make Viet Pride 2013 even better.

Listen to the report by Marianne Brown in Hanoi:

For Nguyen Thanh Tam, coming out took a lot of courage (Photo: Viet Pride)

Participants at Viet Pride 2012 rode bicycles so the authorities wouldn’t feel threatened (Photo: Marianne Brown)

The Vietnamese word for a gay person implies that it is a disease – something campaigners are trying to change (Photo: Marianne Brown)

Campaigners are changing their slogan this year to “Right to love is a human right” (Photo: Marianne Brown)

Here’s the Viet Pride website.

Canadian high school student campaigns for gay rights

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:27:29 +0000

Driving along the wide highway streets of Mississauga towards St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School, you’ll pass a gas station, a Mercedes-Benz dealership and a handful of barren shopping plazas. The suburb of Mississauga, about a 45-minute drive from the economic center of Canada in Toronto, isn’t the most exciting place for a teenager. Seventeen-year-old Leanne Iskander says there’s not much to do there aside from going to the mall. She doesn’t do that often either. She’s looking forward to the end of the school year, when she can escape to Toronto for university, where she hopes to study history or political science.

For now, Leanne is stuck at St. Joe’s, battling her school principal and the Catholic school board for a Gay Straight Alliance club. At age 11, Leanne began thinking she wasn’t straight. Now she calls herself “gender queer.” Leanne explains that she doesn’t conform to either male or female gender norms. When she proposed initiating a Gay Straight Alliance club a year ago, she thought the principal would allow it. Instead, it raised a debate that went all the way to the Catholic school board and the Premier of Ontario. Now, gay Catholic students across the province are asking Leanne for advice in starting their own Gay Straight Alliance clubs.

Listen to the report by Carmelle Wolfson:

Canadian high school student campaigns for gay rights

Leanne is looking forward to university

Leanne is bold with her opinions

homosexuality – Generation Change

Lesbian activist speaks out in Vietnam

Canadian high school student campaigns for gay rights