Gay film festival keeps low profile Toronto Star
BEIJING–When China’s homosexual moviemakers decided to hold their fourth-ever film festival this year, they took pains to avoid confrontation with the cops.
They’d had confrontations before.
So this year, they didn’t issue any press releases. They picked a venue where they didn’t have to apply for a government permit. And they insisted on calling the event The Beijing Queer Film Festival.
“The translation of queer in Chinese is `ku er,’” explains film director Cui Zi’en. “In the Chinese language, it’s actually a less well-known word – a less provocative word than `gay.’”
The idea, Cui says, is not to wave flags in the authorities’ faces.
Yesterday, the five-day film festival opened in a village on the outskirts of Beijing without incident.
It’s no longer illegal to be gay in China: that ended in 1997.
In 2001, the Chinese Psychiatric Association delisted homosexuality as a disease. But gay books and films remained banned here in China and the gay community continues to test the limits.
Cui and other organizers hope this week’s festival goes smoothly – and doesn’t get busted. Gay film fests in the capital were shut down in 2001 and 2005, while a festival in 2007 squeaked by under the radar.
See Gay film festival keeps low profile Toronto Star
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Exhibit celebrates 40 years of gay activism
orty years ago this month, riots against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement. An exhibit opening today at the New York Public Library charts what happened in the heady year that followed.
Before Stonewall, gay rights activists pursued a lonely agenda, working for homosexuals to be accepted as part of normal society and not as the sociopaths judged by psychiatric associations.
“But 1969 suddenly saw a mass movement getting behind these activists,” said curator Jason Baumann, amid the artifacts of the blossoming battle, from colorful newsweekly publications to photos of the first Gay Pride march up Sixth Avenue in 1970.
Gay bars were often owned by the mob and run as private clubs. The mob offered protection but sold out patrons whenever advantageous. On June 28, 1969, a routine raid on the Stonewall Inn — owned by “Fat Tony” Lauria — took a significant turn when patrons decided to fight back.
“The police were freaked out by drag queens throwing rocks,” Baumann said.
The rights groups that followed — with names like the Gay Liberation Front, the Radicalesbians and Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries — no longer cared about fitting in, said Baumann.
“They wanted to transform society.”
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Royal College: “there is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed’
The Royal College of Psychiatrists shares the concern of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association that positions espoused by bodies like the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality ( NARTH ) in the United States are not supported by science. There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Furthermore so-called treatments of homosexuality as recommended by NARTH create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists holds the view that lesbian, gay and bisexual people should be regarded as valued members of society who have exactly similar rights and responsibilities as all other citizens. This includes equal access to health care, the rights and responsibilities involved in a civil partnership, the rights and responsibilities involved in procreating and bringing up children, freedom to practice a religion as a lay person or religious leader, freedom from harassment or discrimination in any sphere and a right to protection from therapies that are potentially damaging, particularly those that purport to change sexual orientation.
In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association concluded there was no scientific evidence that homosexuality was a disorder and removed it from its diagnostic glossary of mental disorders. The International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organisation followed suit in 1992.
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Vermont mental health groups back gay marriage
(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex …
Tags: Association Of Social Workers, Burlington Vermont, Counselor Association, Gay Health, gay marriage, Legislation, marriage, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Groups, Mental Health Professionals, National Association Of Social Workers, Opponents, Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association, Psychological Health, Same Sex Couples, Vermont Chapter, Vermont Marriage, Vermont VermontVermont mental health groups back gay marriage
(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex …
Tags: Association Of Social Workers, Burlington Vermont, Counselor Association, Gay Health, gay marriage, Legislation, marriage, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Groups, Mental Health Professionals, National Association Of Social Workers, Opponents, Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association, Psychological Health, Same Sex Couples, Vermont Chapter, Vermont Marriage, Vermont VermontVermont mental health groups back gay marriage
(Burlington, Vermont) Vermont mental health professionals are backing legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The Vermont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Psychological Association, the Vermont Mental Health Counselor Association and the Vermont chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a joint statement that arguments by opponents of same-sex …
Tags: Association Of Social Workers, Burlington Vermont, Counselor Association, Gay Health, gay marriage, Legislation, marriage, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Groups, Mental Health Professionals, National Association Of Social Workers, Opponents, Psychiatric Association, Psychological Association, Psychological Health, Same Sex Couples, Vermont Chapter, Vermont Marriage, Vermont Vermont
