News
IOC president responds to LGBT group’s campaign
All Out criticizes Olympic body over letter to executive director
Members of All Out and Athlete Ally on August 7 presented a petition with more than 300,000 signatures to the International Olympic Committee that urges it to pressure Russia to end its gay crackdown. (Photo courtesy of All Out)
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Monday told the head of an LGBT advocacy group that his organization “will do everything it can to ensure” the 2014 Winter Olympics and any future games “will be free of any form of discrimination.”
Bach made the comments in a letter to All Out Executive Director Andre Banks in response to the organization’s campaign asking the IOC to clarify whether the Olympic Charter explicitly opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
Bach said during his speech before the lighting of the Olympic flame in Greece on September 29 that Olympic values include “respect without any form of discrimination.” He referenced his remarks in the letter he sent to Banks.
“Our task at the IOC is to ensure that the charter is fully applied at the Olympic games and is fully accepted at all venues for all participants from athletes and officials to media and spectators,” Bach wrote.
Bach told Banks the IOC last week once again received “assurances” from the Kremlin that “this will be the case” during the Sochi games “and clearly, this is what the IOC demands and expects.” The letter also said the IOC received “written confirmation” from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak on the issue.
“Russia has committed itself to comply strictly with the provision of the Olympic Charter and its fundamental principles, according to item 6 of which any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement,” Kozak said as Bach noted in his letter to Banks.
Bach’s latest comments come against the backdrop of growing outrage over Russia’s LGBT rights record and calls to boycott the Sochi games over it.
All Out and Athlete Ally in August presented IOC officials a petition with more than 300,000 signatures that urged the Russian government to protect the rights of their LGBT citizens. It also called upon the Olympic body to support activists within Russia who continue to urge the Kremlin to stop its anti-LGBT crackdown ahead of the Sochi games.
The IOC has repeatedly said the Russian government has assured it the gay propaganda to minors ban that President Vladimir Putin signed in June will not affect athletes and others who plan to travel to the Olympics. These assurances come even though officials have said the statute will apply to those who attend the games in February.
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and the Dutch LGBT advocacy group COC Nederland are among those who have expressed concern over the safety of gay athletes who will compete in Sochi and others who will travel to the games. President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, retired tennis champion Martina Navratilova and U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have also publicly criticized Putin over his government’s LGBT rights record.
Bach told Banks in his letter the IOC’s “remit does not extend to the internal affairs of sovereign nations, no matter how we may feel about them.”
“We are not a supra-national Parliament or government and we must leave such deliberations to the competent authorities,” Bach wrote. “The IOC cannot hope to influence national legislation outside the scope of the games and has to respect the law of each host country.”
Bach further reiterated the Associated Press misquoted IOC Coordination Commission Chair Jean-Claude Killy when it reported he said during a Sochi press conference last month that the Olympic body is “fully satisfied” Russia’s gay propaganda law does not violate the Olympic charter.
“What we do know is that the games, the Olympic athletes and, above all, the Olympic Village can be a powerful symbol that sets an example for peaceful co-existence and mutual respect,” Bach wrote. “This is what we are striving for at each edition of the games.”
Banks said Bach’s letter did not go far enough to address his organization’s request.
“Bach should encourage Olympians in Sochi to speak out against discrimination faced by gay athletes and citizens in Russia, because that’s what the Olympic charter says is right,” Banks said in a statement his group released after he received Koch’s letter. “But the IOC is bending its own rules to obscure the obvious conflict with unjust Russian laws, which seek to silence discussion of gay people.”
Politics
Biden-Harris administration sets record for number of confirmed LGBTQ judges
Mary Kay Costello Senate confirmation took place Tuesday
The U.S. Senate voted 52-41 on Tuesday to confirm Mary Kay Costello as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, thereby setting a record for the number of LGBTQ federal judicial appointments made under the Biden-Harris administration, 12.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights says less than three percent of the country’s nearly 900 federal judges are LGBTQ. Until this week, the Obama-Biden administration had appointed the most, 11, over two terms.
Costello is a prosecutor who has served as assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia since 2008.
In a post on X, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democratic majority wrote that she “exhibits a breadth of experience and a strong dedication to public service” and is “ready to serve as a federal judge.”
CONFIRMED: Mary Kay Costello to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) September 17, 2024
Ms. Costello exhibits a breadth of experience and a strong dedication to public service.
She’s ready to serve as a federal judge. pic.twitter.com/nBAf8pusty
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the Democratic majority whip and chair of the committee, shared another post on X celebrating the administration’s record-breaking number of LGBTQ judicial appointments, writing, “We’re diversifying the federal judiciary for generations to come.”
We’re diversifying the federal judiciary for generations to come. https://t.co/WQfOus1YDE
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) September 17, 2024
South Africa
Another gay man murdered in South Africa
Lazarus Ikaneng Thomas’s body found in Northern Cape province on Sept. 7
Lazarus Ikaneng Thomas, a 50-year-old gay man from Galeshewe in Northern Cape province has become South Africa’s latest victim of homophobic violence.
The province’s Department of Social Development, Youth, Women, People Living with Disabilities, Sports, Arts, and Culture said authorities discovered Thomas’s decomposing body in a home on Sept. 7 after neighbors complained of a foul smell. Thomas, who was buried at Kimberly’s Phutanang Cemetery last Friday, was reportedly strangled and had acid poured on his body.
Nontobeko Vilakazi, a member of the Department of Social Development, Youth, Women, People Living with Disabilities, Sports, Arts, and Culture’s Executive Council in the Northern Cape province, said Thomas’s murder left her shaken, especially when she saw pictures of his decomposed hand lying on the ground.
“I would firstly want to offer my condolences to the bereaved family,” said Vilakazi. “This tragic incident should never have transpired. It hurts me to see our society exhibiting so much hate.”
“Why would someone murder someone because of who they are?” she asked. “The stigma and hatred for other people is of grave concern. As a community, we need to do better, we can’t continue like this. As a department we will be offering psychosocial support to the family, this tragic incident has left us utterly distraught.”
Sibonelo Ncanana, civil society engagement officer for OUT LGBT Well-being, echoed Vilakazi. The advocacy group said Thomas’s murder is a stark reminder of the ongoing hate crimes the country’s LGBTQ community are experiencing.
“Firstly, we would like to convey our condolences to the family. It’s really a painful tragedy that transpired,” said Ncanana. “However, over the past few months, we have witnessed a lot of hate crimes with most of the victims succumbing to the hate crimes.”
Ncanana said five people have been killed in suspected hate crimes in Eastern Cape over the last four weeks.
“It’s really worrisome,” said Ncanana. “We are running out of ideas on how to curb these hate crimes. It’s depressing and devastating.”
Inclusive and Affirming Ministries said the police should expedite their investigation of Thomas’s death.
“The LGBT community is united in demanding justice for Lazarus, we urge the police to take swift action in uncovering the truth and holding those responsible accountable,” said IAM.
South Africa is currently witnessing an unprecedented level of attacks on LGBTQ people, with many of them losing their lives. President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year signed a law that criminalizes hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the attacks continue.
Activists have attributed this spike in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes to the National Prosecuting Authority, the police, and other law enforcement officials who they say have not done enough to arrest and prosecute perpetrators. A small handful of people accused of carrying out homophobic attacks have been arrested and prosecuted — and some cases have dragged on for years before a verdict is reached.
Those who are convicted do not receive maximum — or lengthy — prison sentences. Activists say these punishments enable continued homophobic attacks.
So-called “right-wing socialists” continue their calls for the government to change laws that protect the rights of LGBTQ people.
South African law fully recognizes and protects LGBTQ people, but many South Africans continue to disregard their existence.
District of Columbia
Man who had sex with cucumber in driveway wanted by D.C. police
Homeowner provides police with video; incident listed as ‘lewd, indecent,’ act
D.C. police are seeking help from the community to identify a man captured on video performing a sex act on himself with a cucumber in the driveway of a home in the city’s Truxton Circle neighborhood near Dunbar High School, according to both a police press release and police incident report.
“On Friday, September 6, 2024, at approximately 5:00 p.m. the suspect was in the 200 block of N Street, NW.,” the police press release says. “The suspect performed a lewd act in view of the public,” it says. “The suspect then left the scene.”
The police incident report lists the offense committed by the unidentified man as “Lewd, indecent, or Obscene Acts.” The report says the homeowner called police to report the incident.
The local online publication DC News Now spoke to the homeowner whose security camera video, which she posted on Reddit, shows the man removing a cucumber from what appears to be a lunch box and crouching down and appearing to insert the cucumber in his anus while standing behind the homeowner’s car parked in a driveway.
“I was so disgusted, and freaked out,” DC News Now quotes the homeowner, Catherine Baker, as saying. “I want people, I want my neighbors to know and keep an eye out for this person,” Baker told DC News Now. “There’s a lot of kids, there are high school students, they walk themselves to and from school, but we all have to be vigilant about this kind of thing,” Baker is quoted as saying.
The police report, which identifies Baker as having contacted police to report the incident, describes what appears to be the suspect’s actions as captured on the video, which Baker provided to police. It says the man, identified as Suspect 1, “went on to move from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle in front of respondent 1’s [Baker’s] window and continued to perform lewd and obscene acts to the cucumber.”
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately reach Baker for further comment.
She told DC News Now that she had not seen the suspect in her neighborhood prior to seeing him in the video from her security camera. The publication reports that Baker noticed that at one point the suspect appears to notice the security camera as seen in the video.
“It was that eye contact that really unsettled me, because it then continues for longer than one would imagine,” DC News Now quotes her as saying. “And of course, then he saves the cucumber for later, so it really leaves one with a lot of questions that no one wants to have on their mind,” she told DC News Now.
She was referring to the video that shows the suspect placing the cucumber back in his lunchbox before he walks away from the scene carrying the lunch box through an alley next to the driveway where the incident took place.
The police press release includes two photos of the suspect taken from the video. It says anyone who can identify the suspect or has further information about the incident should contact police at 202-727-9099.
A NSFW video of the incident was posted on Reddit here.
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