Pan, bi or trans in Hamburg = your life is peachy.
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mothwingSo peachy that there are no issues the annual city-wide pride event organisers needs to support, apparently and that, like some of the very visible ally organisations, you don't need to appear in the blurb on the homepage because it's an event for "gays and lesbians". Huh.
Considering that pride week is always organised by Hamburg Pride e.v. which says it's supporting the rights of the full LGBTQI etc. spectrum in their statement, but whose goals are aimed primarily at same-sex couples that's probably not too surprising. As a member of a same-sex couple I think it's great they care, but is there really nothing that pan-, bisexual or (especially) trans individuals who are not in a same-sex couple could do with this year? Really?**
It's a shame, because one of the primary functions of the association seems to be "education and the inclusion of homosexuality awareness" not only in school curricula but also in the actual lessons, and props to them - even though it's been on the official curricula for years, most teachers don't include LGBT issues in their lessons in any way (not entirely true in my case. We did watch The Crying Game in our English LK (A level class), albeit without any kind of communication about the movie apart form how the political issues of the Troubles were presented in it. LGBT people don't exist in our school reality).
I'm not sure how they actually go about their education programmes, but I'd like to know if they include at least bisexual or trans related issues. It doesn't really say anywhere. I'd also be a happier person if they'd include gender-related issues and a bigger spectrum of sexual orientations and preferences, too, and possibly even such a thing as kink awareness, as it may save a lot of people a lot of angst and trouble, even in times of the internets. In the aftermath of education events, a lot of kids end up trying to insult each other, and if they're presented with a bigger variety of sexual orientations à la YayGenderform, identities and gender identities as well as preferences, that might not only broaden their horizon, but also shut them up and get them thinking.
They say they do offer help for LGBTQI individuals who are survivors of assault or otherwise in trouble or in a crisis, which is good, but on the whole not very specific.
So, I don't really feel the love.
--
** Edited for less cryptic cynicism: after they were criticised by a UN committee for women's rights this Febuary with regards to our out-dated trans laws, the German legislative body have agreed to hand in a revised version of the laws by the first of August, which just so happens to be the first day of pride week.
As far as I can remember there was not much mention of laws being changed during last year's pride, and it's not an official goal during this year's. I'm hoping they simply forgot to change the goals on the official page, which seems to be a template they've been using for three years now, but I doubt it.
Considering that pride week is always organised by Hamburg Pride e.v. which says it's supporting the rights of the full LGBTQI etc. spectrum in their statement, but whose goals are aimed primarily at same-sex couples that's probably not too surprising. As a member of a same-sex couple I think it's great they care, but is there really nothing that pan-, bisexual or (especially) trans individuals who are not in a same-sex couple could do with this year? Really?**
It's a shame, because one of the primary functions of the association seems to be "education and the inclusion of homosexuality awareness" not only in school curricula but also in the actual lessons, and props to them - even though it's been on the official curricula for years, most teachers don't include LGBT issues in their lessons in any way (not entirely true in my case. We did watch The Crying Game in our English LK (A level class), albeit without any kind of communication about the movie apart form how the political issues of the Troubles were presented in it. LGBT people don't exist in our school reality).
I'm not sure how they actually go about their education programmes, but I'd like to know if they include at least bisexual or trans related issues. It doesn't really say anywhere. I'd also be a happier person if they'd include gender-related issues and a bigger spectrum of sexual orientations and preferences, too, and possibly even such a thing as kink awareness, as it may save a lot of people a lot of angst and trouble, even in times of the internets. In the aftermath of education events, a lot of kids end up trying to insult each other, and if they're presented with a bigger variety of sexual orientations à la YayGenderform, identities and gender identities as well as preferences, that might not only broaden their horizon, but also shut them up and get them thinking.
They say they do offer help for LGBTQI individuals who are survivors of assault or otherwise in trouble or in a crisis, which is good, but on the whole not very specific.
So, I don't really feel the love.
--
** Edited for less cryptic cynicism: after they were criticised by a UN committee for women's rights this Febuary with regards to our out-dated trans laws, the German legislative body have agreed to hand in a revised version of the laws by the first of August, which just so happens to be the first day of pride week.
As far as I can remember there was not much mention of laws being changed during last year's pride, and it's not an official goal during this year's. I'm hoping they simply forgot to change the goals on the official page, which seems to be a template they've been using for three years now, but I doubt it.
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no subject
Date: Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 11:51 pm (UTC)Why haven't I left there yet?
Anyway, wow, bastards. :(
no subject
Date: Thursday, April 30th, 2009 10:37 pm (UTC)I haven't left yet, either. Somehow, I don't want to let myself be affected and turned away by fails like that, if that makes any sense. I'm trying to stay away from gender-related posts, though.
For me, our pride was always a blast, as there were information stalls and events offered by a large variety of small organisations specialising in all kinds of different needs, which was awesome especially as they put large emphasis on youth work and reaching out to elderly individuals. I thought the one of the reasons for this was that the organisers made an effort to encourage this. Guess not.
I'm especially pissed at the lack of trans inclusiveness this year because after they were criticised by a UN Committee in February my legislative will have to hand in a (hopefully fundamentally) revised version of our trans laws this summer (we're currently stuck in the 70ies at best, in the 1920ies at worst). The thing is due on the first of August, which is the first day of pride week. I'm hoping that they simply haven't gotten round to revising the "goals" on their page yet, but somehow, I doubt it.