Tag Archives: LGBT rights

The L Project Release LGBT Charity Single ‘We’re All Human’

As the UK’s first wave of same-sex newlyweds settle happily into married life, The L Project gears up to repeat their success of 2012 with a second LGBT charity single – We’re All Human.

And success is here. Only 15 hours after release, and The L Project have hit No1 in the Amazon Movers and Shakers charts, as well as No1 in the folk charts. They have also just entered the iTunes charts.

The new single, released yesterday, has been recorded by a diverse group of LGBT artists, and every penny earned from the song will be donated to LGBT charities who work to promote diversity and equality.

The L Project’s previous song It Does Get Better, released in 2012, made number 11 in the official UK indie charts, despite all the artists being unsigned. The song also topped the iTunes and Amazon charts for over a week, and received coverage in leading international LGBT magazines and local BBC radio, all without any professional promotion. That song continues to raise funds, through download sales, YouTube views, related merchandise, and royalties, to help prevent LGBT bullying in schools.

“Since the first song we’ve built up a massive network of support through social media. This time we hope that the mainstream media will pick up our story, so that even more people will download the song, and be part of changing the lives of LGBT people who need support. Some of that help will be financial, as we give every penny earned to the charities – including royalties – but we also have lots of stories about people all over the world being helped just by hearing the words and knowing there are people like us who care.”

Georgey Payne, The L Project – also the songwriter and producer of  We’re All Human.

The UK might have progressed a lot since 1999, when the country had the a largest number of anti-gay laws in the world, but others aren’t so fortunate, as highlighted during the SOCHI Winter Olympics. As the media outrage fades over Russia’s attitude towards the LGBT community, The L Project steps in to help keep the flame alive.

“It’s easy when you’re part of a majority to take the view that because you don’t experience an issue, there isn’t a problem. But the evidence is undeniable. Media stories focus people’s attention for a while, but when the stories stop, people become complacent, and inadvertently become complicit in allowing things to not only continue, but potentially worsen – not just in Russia, but in India, Uganda and around the world.

Sofia Antonia Milone, The L Project and also collaborated on the lyrics of the new song.

The benefiting charities this time are the Russian LGBT Network which helps LGBT victims of abuse in Russia, Mermaids, the UK’s youth Transgender charity and the Kaleidoscope Trust.

The L Project have released an official video to coincide with the song’s release, as well as some behind the scenes videos on youtube. These videos show some of the less visible contributors to the project: videographers, photographers, hairstylists, and runners, all of whom worked tirelessly and – just like all the artists – for free.

Please help us by sharing this song’s message of hope and warmth to LGBT people who still face a struggle. A struggle which can result in being burnt alive, hung, hunted, raped, and bullied. Some even take their own lives…

You can help change all this…

Links to download “We’re All Human”: 

Behind the scenes…

Sao Paulo Celebrates LGBT Pride

Yesterday, the streets of Sao Paulo filled to celebrate Pride, and as the city blocked its main central avenue to allow room for colourful floats to pass, LGBT advocates called for a Brazilian law against discrimination.

“As long as there is this prejudice, we are going to be in the streets. We are fighting against different types of prejudice: racism, homophobia. We are here together to show there are plenty of us.”

Valder Bastos, a well known drag queen Tchaka.

The LGBT Community said a law banning discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is long overdue in Brazil. Criminalising displays of discrimination would reduce violence against members of the LGBT community.

Last year Brazilian President – Dilma Rouseff, launched efforts to set up centres that would promote and defend LGBT rights. She also reminded people via Twitter on Sunday about a hotline they can use to report hate crimes.

Activists at the parade said they also want to see Brazil pass a gender identity law like that in neighboring Argentina, where people can legally change their gender without needing surgery or a judge’s approval.

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How Tolerant Are They? I Mean, Really?

How accepting are straight people of LGBTs? And just because they say they’re tolerant, do they behave in a tolerant fashion? “Beyond the Box”, an eye-opening new study from Belgium has tried to answer these tricky questions.

The study was commissioned by the State Secretary of Brussels, Bruno De Lille, and took six months to complete. It concluded that sexist and anti-LGBT sentiments are deeply-rooted in Belgian society, despite recent advances such as the legalisation of same-sex unions.

Myrte Dierckx, an academic from Antwerp University, believes the findings show that straight people will say they are welcoming of gay, lesbian and transgender people, while secretly harbouring discriminatory views. Furthermore, older heterosexual men were found to be more resistant to equality while those respondents who had a diverse range of friends and family members were more likely to support LGBT rights.

Worryingly, the study also showed that a number of young heterosexual Belgians have bullied, harassed or in some other way exhibited inappropriate behaviour towards gays and lesbians. Some commentators have called for Belgium’s struggle against homophobia and sexism to be as serious and committed as the country’s campaign against racism which, in a relatively short period, has transformed popular attitudes to ethnic minorities.

Mr De Lille intended “Beyond the Box” to confront LGBT hatred in Brussels, which is one of Europe’s most diverse and open-minded cities. ‘If we can bring different people into more contact with each other,’ says Mr De Lille, ‘we will have good results in the area of homophobia and sexism, and that’s good news for a city like Brussels.’

image source – Alberto de Pedro’s website

Olympics Must Protect LGBTs Say US Congress Members

Last Tuesday nineteen members of the United States Congress wrote to the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach requesting he re-write Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter so that it explicitly opposes discrimination based on gender and sexual preference.

Penned as a response to the problems LGBT athletes and spectators experienced during the Sochi Winter Olympics earlier this year, the letter questions whether the IOC did enough to defend LGBTs from Russia’s homophobic legislation. In recent months Russian premier Vladimir Putin has signed laws outlawing ‘the propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations’ and banning gay people from adopting children. During the Sochi Games, the Russian police harassed and detained numerous gay activists, prompting international condemnation.

Figure Skating Men's Singles - Day 5

The bipartisan signatories of the letter were led by the Republican Representative Ileanas Ros-Lehtinen and Democrat Representative David Cicilline. Other LGBT Congress members who signed include Mark Pocan, Michael Michaud and Mark Takano.

The Representatives have called for the IOC to place the issue of LGBT rights top of the agenda at its summit in Monaco this December. “While we understand that politics are not a component of the Olympic Games,” the letter reads, “we believe amending Principle 6 to further uphold the ideals of non-discrimination will illustrate how the Olympic Games achieve their fundamental principle of ‘plac[ing] sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind …”

This letter has been seen as a clear sign that, although the Sochi Games have finished, international concerns remain about the IOC’s commitment to LGBT rights.