Latest news with #LGTBQ
Scoop
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Dunne's Weekly: When Symbolism Trumps Substance
Symbolism over substance is a well-established political art. Sometimes symbolism is a substitute for decisive action, sometimes it is a way of signalling a future policy intent that for various reasons cannot yet be achieved. On other occasions, it is a simple diversionary tactic, designed to distract attention from policy failure elsewhere. A recent good example of symbolism over substance is New Zealand First's proposed Bill to ban the display of any flag or emblem other than the New Zealand flag on government buildings. This is all part of New Zealand First's 'war on woke' and is obviously aimed at prohibiting the display of Tino Rangatiratanga and LGTBQ flags on public buildings, something its anti-woke constituency would likely approve of. But whatever one thinks of that policy, it hardly requires an Act of Parliament to achieve it. A directive to relevant chief executives would do just as well, but that would remove the drama of dealing with such a non-issue by legislation, which would in turn detract from the public attention the policy is seeking to gain. It is reminiscent of the early 1980s when the then Education Minister Merv Wellington became obsessed with every school having a flagpole and flying the New Zealand flag daily. He even went as far as promulgating Regulations setting out the dimensions and material of the flag and specific rules about its display. Rather than being seen as an assertion of national spirit and patriotism, as the Minister hoped, the policy quickly became an object of ridicule, detracting from the many more serious educational issues around at the time. Once he was no longer Minister, the policy disappeared. If history is any guide, New Zealand First's flag policy, should it even make it to legislation, will not survive either. But it will reinforce New Zealand First's credentials with the 'anti-woke' brigade it is seeking to appeal to, in just the same way its earlier, but never implemented, policy on gender-specific toilet access was designed to. But New Zealand First are not the only party playing the symbolism over substance card. Earlier this week National announced plans for an instant fines approach to dealing with shoplifters. The rhetoric was strong, but the details and the timing remain vague. Not surprisingly though, the plan has been widely welcomed by small businesses who have been adversely affected by increasing shoplifting levels in recent years. For many, the symbolic effect was enough – at last the government was recognising there was a problem to be resolved. However, it is still far from clear how the instant fines system being suggested will work (a correspondent to Wellington's Post asked how people who resorted to shoplifting because they could not afford to pay could cope with an instant fine), or what level of Police resources will be dedicated to it. And nor it is clear when the necessary legislation will be introduced and passed. Still, it all looks like strong government, even if the details are still uncertain. And so, it serves its political point, which was, after all, the primary objective. The government has put its stake in the ground, and, even better from its point of view, entrapped the Opposition into opposing it. It has won the symbolism battle on shoplifting, but it remains to be seen whether it will be as successful with the substance. The other side of this coin is when politicians refuse to acknowledge the substance of an issue and wallow instead in the symbolism surrounding it. In an extraordinary outburst this week, the normally considered Chris Hipkins told a radio host that the reason ram raids were no longer a media issue was because 'your Tory owners at NZME have just decided not to put it on the front page anymore. It's still happening, it's just NZME have decided that it's not in the Government's best interests and they do the National Party's singing for them and so they're not covering it as much anymore.' Unfortunately for Hipkins the facts tell a different story. In 2022, there were 714 ram raids reported. The following year – when Hipkins was Prime Minister – that figure dropped to 495. However so far this year it sits at just 45, a more than 90% fall on the figure of Hipkins' time. That, not media ownership prejudice, is the reason they are not getting the coverage they used to, but Hipkins will be hoping his media bashing will resonate with his die-hard supporters and so detract attention from the facts. The danger here is not so much that politicians favour symbolism over substance from time to time. That is part and parcel of the political game which every politician engages in when it suits them. The problem is when the politician is revealed to have no other modus operandi than symbolism over substance, and when that becomes their sole end. Voters quickly spot such cant and discount those politicians accordingly.
GMA Network
26-06-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Tension breaks out between LGBTQ+ rights protesters, cops in Manila rally
Members of the LGBTQ+ community remove the barricade set up by the Manila Police District as they try to force their way to Mendiola Bridge during the first Stonewall Philippines protest on Thursday, June 26, 2025. The group highlights the campaign to pass the SOGIESC Equality Bill and other LGBTQ issue. DANNY PATA/ GMA Integrated News Tension broke out between protesters and police officers on Thursday morning during a rally for LGTBQ+ rights along Recto Avenue in Manila. The protesters were initially blocked by a yellow barricade set up by the Manila Police District as they marched to Mendiola Bridge. After removing the barricade, they faced off with a line of police officers who prevented them from going further. The protesters are campaigning for the passage of the SOGIE Equality Bill as well as other issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community as the country celebrates Pride Month. Because of the protest action, authorities closed both lanes of Recto Avenue between Loyola street and Mendiola in front of University of the East, Super Radyo dzBB's Manny Vargas reported. FLASH REPORT: Isang bahagi ng Recto Avenue, sarado sa mga sasakyan dahil sa rally ng miyembro ng LGBTQIA+ community. | via @VargasMannysen — DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) June 26, 2025 —Joahna Lei Casilao/AOL, GMA Integrated News
Daily Record
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Iranian film director tells of Tehran prison torture after fleeing to Scotland
Javad Daraei is now living in Glasgow after being imprisoned in Iran where his films are banned. On the wall of exiled Iranian filmmaker Javad Daraei's bedroom is a picture of a Highland landscape as a reminder when he wakes up that he is safe in Scotland. In his mind, the internationally acclaimed director too easily drifts back to the tiny windowless cell where he was imprisoned and tortured daily by Iran's brutal revolutionary guard. He said: 'Sometimes I feel mentally frozen in that place though physically I am in Scotland. But being here is gradually helping me recover the part of me that I lost in that terrible place.' Javad's films are banned in his native homeland but have won 57 awards and 52 nominations in the UK, America, Australia, Europe and Asia. Two are now to have their Scottish premiere with a special screening in Edinburgh. Javad, 33, is also now making his first feature in English in Scotland in a production written and directed by him about the precarious life of a sex worker in Glasgow. As he talks in his small flat in the city's east end Javad plays with his cat Fifi, steadying the nerves that always come when he recalls the terror he faced in Iran. Javad risked his life, shooting in secret his films which highlight the persecution of women, the LGTBQ community and the disabled under the tyrannical rule of the Islamic Republic. His first film, I Don't Like Here was made when he was a student at Tehran University and focused on the mistreatment of a trans boy. Those who transition in Iran are at risk of being disappeared or killed. He made the film after arriving in Tehran from his home in a religious mountain community in Khorramabad 100km east of the Iraqi border. He said: 'When I went to Tehran, I met a community of gay and trans people. They lived with so much fear and it felt so wrong to me.' Homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment or flogging in Iran. In 2016 the film was smuggled out to festivals and led to Javad's first visit from the intelligence police who demanded to see the rushes but he had already stored the most incriminating shots in a hidden hard drive. Javad said: 'They weren't too bad that time. They warned me and I thought if that was the worst they would do then I would carry on.' I Don't Like Here will be shown at Edinburgh's Cameo cinema this month along with Limit, his second project which explores the torment of a man who is trapped by disability. The disabled in Iran are marginalised, excluded from society in a country where they can barely access healthcare or simple equipment like a wheelchair. . The movie was realised in 2017 and won him more international plaudits and many more gongs. Again he was warned by the intelligence police but Javad was determined to continue his underground filmmaking despite the risks. His last film in Iran, Metamorphosis in the Slaughterhouse was screened at 17 international film festivals and won four awards in the US including best film and director. Focusing on the vigilante vengeance a young girl faces when her parents are accused of murder it was filmed in clandestine shoots in abandoned villages. The global recognition it received enraged the Iranian authorities. One day as he walked home Javad was ambushed by three men who thrust a hood over his head and dragged him into a car. Javad said: 'They pushed me to the floor of the car and they were punching me in the head and the neck. I was screaming begging to know who they were but they were just shouting insults at me. It was terrifying.' When the car stopped they dragged him into a detention centre where he was thrown into a room so small he couldn't stretch out. It had a piercing halogen light and there was a constant whirring of a fan. To this day Javad can't be in a room with a fan. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Javad could hear the wretched screams of other detainees ring out across the building. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the brutal armed force which takes its orders from theSupreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They accused him of being an American spy. He remained hooded as the sadistic guards rained blow after blow on his body; they burned him with a lighter and they pounded him so violently they broke his leg. He was held for 17 days and slept in a filthy mattress in the suffocating heat of the Iranian summer. Javad said:'Ever day they got more and more brutal. I refused to eat. It was mental and physical torture.I no longer felt human. For the last few days I was unconscious.' Eventually he was released into a state run hospital where his leg was not properly treated and Javad knew if he was to survive he would have to escape Iran. The chance came when in 2021 when human rights organisations organised for him to be put on a flight out of the country. Javad ultimately moved to Scotland when he was offered an Artist Protection Fund Fellowship at Edinburgh University and he has been given the refugee status of the right to remain in the UK. As well as his film he is also writing an autobiographical play he hopes will open in London. His experiences in Iran have left him traumatised but with the help of therapy and friends he has made in Scotland he is slowly recovering and has once again returned to filming. He has recently had surgery on the leg broken during torture. Javad finds solace in Scotland's cold and rain because warm days remind him of detention in Iran. In Iran he is convinced that information about his filming was being fed back to the regime by one of his team and so it has taken him time to trust enough to form a small and precious crew around him to make his latest feature. Javad said: 'At first I still lived with the fear of being arrested again, of not being able to trust anyone. But I have the most wonderful crew who have shown me such patience and love. 'I am less pessimistic now. I believe the people you meet change your life and attitude and after experiencing such a terrible journey the people here in Scotland have really helped me. Before I wrote and made plays and films for the love of life but now it is the key to my sanity and survival.' Javad Daraei: Two Dead Films and One Still Alive shows as part of Refugee Festival Scotland at the Cameo, Edinburgh on June 18.
USA Today
09-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Pride month could be a balm, says bishop Trump blasted over LGBTQ sermon
Pride month could be a balm, says bishop Trump blasted over LGBTQ sermon Show Caption Hide Caption Trump demands apology from bishop after prayer service plea President Donald Trump attacked Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for remarks she made during the inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral. WASHINGTON ‒ Despite being attacked by him online, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde said she would meet with President Donald Trump if it would lead to a meaningful discussion about protecting the rights of LGTBQ communities. 'I would love to actually have a real person-to-person conversation about the things that matter. I'm always open to that," Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, told USA TODAY. Trump was upset by Budde's sermon during his Jan. 21 inauguration prayer service urging him to 'have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now." 'There are transgender children in both Republican and Democratic families who fear for their lives,'' she told Trump during the service at the Washington National Cathedral. Trump later lashed out on social media demanding an apology from Budde and calling her a 'Radical Left hard line Trump hater." "She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart," he wrote. With Pride Month underway, USA TODAY talked with Budde about her work as a long-time advocate for LGBTQ rights and those few lines in her 15-minute sermon that stirred an avalanche of reactions. 'The remarkable thing about my two or three sentences in that inaugural prayer service about compassion and respecting all people is the response that it got,'' said Budde, noting she received boxes of thank you letters. 'That says to me, okay, 'This is who we are. These are the values that we want to stand for and that's who we are as a church, that's who I am as a bishop, that's who my fellow Christians are in the denomination I serve. I'm really proud.'' There was also plenty of criticism. She expected that. Their differences aren't new. Budde slammed Trump in 2020 when he held up a Bible in front of a church near the White House during protests over the death of George Floyd. Still, Budde said, she's 'concerned about the resurgence of rhetoric that target LGBTQ people.'' This conversation with Budde, 65, the first woman elected to her post and the author of 'How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith,'' has been shortened for clarity and brevity. Pride month celebrations Question: Is there anything in particular during this Pride Month that you hope the public and politicians work to protect or push back against? Answer: Pride historically has been this celebration and also an opportunity for churches like ours to witness and to say, 'Hey, we want to celebrate you, the fullness of humanity, God's love for all children' … This year is there a poignancy or urgency to that? I would say so because it feels as if there are some values, some accomplishments, some strides that are being called into question and a fairly aggressive effort on the part of many to take away some of the things that have been so hard fought for. It's both a time of celebration and a reminder that this is who we are, and these are our beloved and this is who we stand with. You've been an advocate for LGTBQ rights for a long time. What drove you to this work? All of this was coming on the heels, frankly, of the churches' ordination of women. They did not ordain women officially until 1979. I was ordained in 1984 … I was hearing a lot of the same arguments both theologically and sociologically that had been used against women and against Blacks in the church. It did not ring true to my experience. And there was a lot of great theological and Biblical work being done in support of full inclusion, affirmation and expansive views of God's love of diversity and the unconditional celebration of all human beings. Pride Month is celebrated every year, but as we talked about some people feel this climate is more toxic. What do you hope happens going forward? I pray that it is a really joyful, inspiring gathering where people feel safe, where they feel seen, where they feel supported, where they can laugh and learn. Maybe it is a good antidote to some of the meaner rhetoric that has been unnecessarily hurtful. And just be a balm for people. We all need that. Coping with the cultural divide You said you've received a lot of affirmations and positive responses to your sermon in January, but I'm sure you received negative ones too. How did you take them? I actually think the cultural divide has been fueled and amplified by the forces in our society that want to keep us divided and that are looking for ways to divide us and also to inspire fear where there should be no fear. That's been hard. In your sermon, you called for President Trump to have mercy on different communities, including the LGBTQ community. Do you think that has happened in the months since he took office? There seems to be a lot to be gained by keeping us divided and to project really false statements onto whole groups of people. That has not stopped, which is just worrisome and a bit heartbreaking. This is not for me, a partisan thing … but I do want to constantly stand for and remind people of the values that are bedrock to me as a person of faith, but also to our country and to emphasize that we have far more in common with one another than we differ. More: President Trump seethes at 'nasty' bishop who told him to 'have mercy,' demands apology When is it time to apologize? Trump called on you to apologize. Do you have any regrets about anything you said or did that day? I'm human. I'm constantly second-guessing myself. Could I've done something better? Could I have said it better? Could I have built a bridge? I couldn't bring myself to apologize for what I felt was the gospel. I was very much in my lane as a spiritual leader in a spiritual context, speaking about what we need in our country if we truly are to be united. Are you saying you would meet with President Trump? To further the good of what we need to do I would welcome it. In my work you respect the dignity of every human being and try to listen to find whatever ground you can upon which to build something together … I would never shut the door on a real conversation. Has an invitation been extended either way? No. I don't operate in those circles. Most of my job is with congregations. I'm not partisan. But when they come to our house and they invite us to pray, we pray. And if I were ever invited into any other spaces, I would gladly go and go with an open heart. Politicians acting in the name of God What do you say to Christians who have left the church because of things politicians have done in God's name? I understand the grief and pain of that. I wish I could assure them that if the image of God that they're carrying as a result of that is of a cruel and judgmental and angry God, that that is not the God that I believe in or worship and that there is always love and mercy and goodness at the heart of God.
USA Today
06-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Iowa City Pride: The places, people that make this city so LGBTQIA+ friendly
Iowa City Pride: The places, people that make this city so LGBTQIA+ friendly Any list of the country's premiere independent bookstores always includes several from both coasts. Yet, one bright light shines in the middle of the Midwest — Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City. For nearly 50 years, it has been a primary source of cultural understanding and community in this city of 75, point to Prairie Lights as a primary factor in Iowa City regularly appearing alongside San Francisco, New York and Miami as a destination for queer travel.'From the beginning, Prairie Lights has never shied away from whose books and what topics they would carry or what authors they would invite to special events,' says Joe Reilly, a gay man who, as night mayor, serves as a non-elected liaison between downtown businesses and city officials on issues like safety and inclusivity.'Iowa City has successfully planned for a safe and inviting community by providing good lighting, a healthy pedestrian mall and public safety that demonstrates this space is cared for,' he says. It should be noted that Iowa City's elected mayor, Bruce Teague, is openly also credits the transitory nature of many residents for making Iowa City so welcoming. As the original capital of Iowa, the city is home to the University of Iowa and its 30,000 students from around the world.'People come here from so many walks of life and quickly learn from each other and grow together,' Reilly was in this environment 25 years ago that Studio 13 opened in a downtown alley. Despite its offbeat location, it quickly became the most visible LGBTQIA+ space in town. Owner Jason Zeman acknowledges that a supportive local government has contributed to the club's success, but Studio 13's mantra is based on supporting individual identity.'We live by the philosophy that every customer should feel better leaving our venues than when they came in,' he says. 'Making people feel good about themselves and reminding them they're special, important and loved is something I emphasize to our staff.'Complementing businesses such as Studio 13 are Big Grove Brewery, Iowa's largest craft brewery, that produces a Rainbow Connection Brew. Proceeds benefit Iowa City boutique movie theater FilmScene regularly shows movies with queer themes and by LGTBQ directors. The Iowa City Senior Center has a Queer Elders group.A popular boutique hotel, The Highlander, has won numerous recognitions by the gay travel community.
