LSE is celebrating LGBT History Month, find details for events on the blog. Last week’s highlights include – sentencing of four men for murder of South African lesbian, Peter Tatchell’s statement against the Archbishop of York over gay rights, one year delay to extension of parental leave and a short obituary of Camilla Williams.
February is LGBT History Month. Last week, we posted details for events organised by SPECTRUM (LSE’s LGBT Staff network) on the blog. The first of these events is a film night, screening Breaking the Surface: the Greg Louganis Story, on 8 February.
While we celebrate LGBT History Month, news has come in that four South African men have been sentenced to 18 years in jail for the murder of the 19 year old lesbian Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006. The court found that the men killed Ms Nkonyana because she was living openly as a lesbian. In South Africa, lesbians are often subjected to “corrective rape” by men who think this will “cure” them of their homosexuality.
Meanwhile, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has spoken out against Dr.John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, who recently criticised David Cameron’s push for gay equality. “Archbishop Dr John Sentamu has condemned the government over its plans to legalise same-sex civil marriage; insinuating that it is behaving in a dictatorial manner. But he is the real dictator. Dr Sentamu wants to impose his personal opposition to gay marriage on a society that rejects his demand for homophobic discrimination,” Tatchell said.
The government has managed to secure a one year grace period for the enforcement of the new Parental Leave Directive, meaning that working parents will now have to wait until 2013 for the extension of parental leave to 18 weeks. The European Council Directive, which comes into force on March 8, 2012, will give each parent of a child under the age of five the right to take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave. This will mean an extension of five weeks from the current 13-week entitlement.
Finally, a short obituary – Camilla Williams, the first black woman to appear in a leading role with a major US opera company has died in Indiana aged 92. She had been suffering from cancer, according to Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where Williams became the first black professor of voice. The singer made her debut in May 1946 in the title role of Madam Butterfly with the New York City Opera. She also became a strong advocate for civil rights. Her autobiography – The Life of Camilla Williams, African American Classical Singer and Diva – was published last year.
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