Current Issues

An African lesbian group on Tuesday called on governments in the largely conservative continent to stop treating homosexuals like criminals.

The Coalition of African Lesbians is holding a conference attended by about 100 people in Mozambique to highlight discrimination against lesbians.

"Our main goal is that lesbian and homosexuality can no longer be seen as a criminal offence," the group's director and conference spokeswoman, Fikile Vilakazi, told Reuters. "You should not be arrested and charged for how you use your own body."

The movie The Kite Runner may inspire many South Africans to dust off their childhood kites and let them loose over the rooftops of their neighbourhoods. Frivolous fun, reminiscent of carefree days and not hurting anyone? Well, not if you are a Johannesburg resident.

We've been down this road before but it's a road we shall travel constantly until we get to a more understanding and equal environment. A group of people branding others evil and their acts illegal because they are having sex differently is quickly becoming a broken record.

As the media world buzzed about the "pregnant man," trans activists stayed relatively mum. Now we're asking: Has Thomas Beatie's public exposure hurt the transgender movement?

When Oregon trans man Thomas Beatie first told the world that he was pregnant in The Advocate in March, readers learned that he transitioned about 10 years ago, underwent a double mastectomy, and began testosterone injections. He and his wife, Nancy, decided to have a child, but because of a hysterectomy years ago, Nancy couldn't carry the baby. So Beatie stopped his hormone injections, underwent artificial insemination, and, after several doctors refused to treat him, finally found an obstetrician who would. His pregnancy, he wrote, was "free of complications." Health complications, maybe, but it would not be without other difficulties.

Transgender man Thomas Beatie set off a firestorm in the LGBT population and the world when he announced that he is having a baby and continues to identify as a man. His article in The Advocate, "Labor of Love," left many, even some transgender people, wondering how someone can identify as male and yet be pregnant. Some have even gone so far to suggest that by bearing the child he is less, or even not, male, despite Beatie's declaration that he continues to identify as male.

Thomas Beatie gives The Advocate a first-person account of how it feels to be pregnant and carrying a child for his wife and himself.

To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I don't appear in the least unusual. To those in the quiet Oregon community where we live, we are viewed just as we are -- a happy couple deeply in love. Our desire to work hard, buy our first home, and start a family was nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until we decided that I would carry our child.

In Western society we are bombarded with messages about sexuality from the popular media, and yet it can be embarrassing to talk about our personal sexuality, especially any sexual concerns we may have. Sexual problems can have a ripple effect on many other areas of our lives including intimate relationships with a partner, the family, and work, and our general well being. At the same time all of our life interactions and activities can affect our sexuality The media tends to present sex as easy, good, and spontaneous, and it implies that we should always be in the mood for it. If only sex were that simple.

AS the push for greater representation in the National Assembly takes off, women are now looking to the broader social and economic issues that continue to hedge females out of positions of power.

"Economic issues, the issue of gender inequality in education and healthcare, these are all issues that contribute to the problem that women cannot join politics," Thida Khus, executive director on the NGO Silika's Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP) told the Post.

AS the push for greater representation in the National Assembly takes off, women are now looking to the broader social and economic issues that continue to hedge females out of positions of power.

"Economic issues, the issue of gender inequality in education and healthcare, these are all issues that contribute to the problem that women cannot join politics," Thida Khus, executive director on the NGO Silika's Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP) told the Post.

The Ministry of Justice wanted to test new ways to engage their staff, covering all departments and regions. It decided to set up an issue based web chat function with VIP guests. This involved two board members, including the permanent secretary of the department, Suma Chakrabarti.

During the web chat employees discussed the issue of learning within the work place. This was broadcast over the Internet rather than the internal network, to appeal to a wider audience.