MBE for April
Sunday 17th June
Actress and human rights campaigner, April Ashley, who was the first Briton to be openly identified as having undergone a gender realignment surgery, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for services to transgender equality.
Ms Ashley, 77, was originally born as George Jamieson to a Liverpudlian family in 1935. Mr Jamieson, at the age of 25, travelled to Casablanca, where he underwent a gender reassignment surgery at the hands of one Doctor Burou, known as ‘The Wizard of Casablanca.’
Upon her return to London, she received a modelling assignment for Vogue, and was photographed by David Bailey.
However, just a year later, one of her close acquaintances sold her life story to the Sunday People, a popular tabloid, which caused a scandal that rippled through the British media. Her name has since been associated with several members of the upper echelons of British society, and celebrities, such as Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, and Michael Hutchence of INXS.
All said, Ms Ashley was not officially recognised as a woman until 2004, after the introduction of the then Labour government’s Gender Recognition Act. A year later, with the help of Lord Prescott, once her housemate, she received a new birth certificate.
Pink News
Gay Marriage
Saturday 16th June
Downing Street has defended plans to change the status of civil ceremonies to allow gay and lesbian couples in England and Wales to get married.
It said it was confident safeguards to stop religious organisations being forced to take part in services would not be overturned by European courts.
The Church of England has said the move would "alter the intrinsic nature of marriage as the union of a man and a woman".
Ministers plan to pass the law by 2015.
In its 11 June response to a consultation on the issue, the Church of England said plans to exempt religious organisations from performing gay marriages would be unlikely to survive legal challenges in domestic and European courts.
However, Home Secretary Theresa May has said she believes ministers can create safeguards to protect the concerns expressed by religious groups.
"The government is not going to ask anybody to do anything that is against their conscience," she said.
"We want to ensure that we can put into place a framework that makes sure that those people who don't want to host same-sex marriages are not required to do so."
Civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples, but the law does not allow such unions to be referred to as marriages.
The government rejected the Church of England's assertion that the consultation exercise, which closes on Thursday, was "flawed, conceptually and legally".
Downing Street said the government welcomed the submission by the Church of England and would carefully consider it.
But the prime minister's spokeswoman confirmed that the government still intended to legislate on gay marriage by the end of this parliament.
"It is the government's view that marriage is one of the most important institutions we have got," she said.
"The consultation paper makes very clear that no religious organisation will be forced to conduct same-sex marriages as a result of our proposals."
She added that the government had taken legal advice on the likelihood of a challenge to the European court before drawing up its proposals and that Tory MPs, some of whom had expressed opposition to the plans, would be given a free vote.
Meanwhile, the National Secular Society said it was "incorrect" for the Church of England to "usurp Parliament's power" by claiming it could not redefine marriage.
"The Church's case rests on the risible proposition that introducing same-sex civil marriage will render the Church vulnerable to a European Court forcing it to conduct same-sex religious marriages too. The freedom of religion provisions, however, would ensure this could never happen," it said.
Gay rights campaign group Stonewall described the latest concerns raised by the Church of England as "scaremongering"
The Catholic Church in England and Wales has urged people to sign an online petition organised by the Coalition for Marriage.
More than 550,000 people have so far signed the petition set up by the "umbrella group of individuals and organisations in the UK that support traditional marriage and oppose any plans to redefine it".
BBC
Janet Jackson
Friday 8th June
Janet Jackson is set to become the executive producer of a documentary covering the lives and struggles of transgender people around the world.
New York’s Brainchild Films announced yesterday that Jackson will take part in on-camera interviews in their new documentary, Truth, which begins production this summer.
“All people are very important to me,” said Jackson. “Truth is our small chance to ask that you try and understand someone who lives their life in a way that is a little bit different from yours, even though all of our hearts are the same. We want to stop the hate and find understanding.”
Director Robert Jason, whose previous documentaries have included a film detailing the lives of four transgender New Yorkers, has turned his attention to stories from around the globe in this new project, featuring people from Europe, North America, Australia and Latin America. He claims his new film will highlight landmark stories in the LGBT community and change the gender landscape of the world in the future.
“Just as it is hard to believe that there ever was a time when different components of society were required to use separate drinking fountains, it is as incredible that one’s gender expression remains just such a target for discrimination,” he said.
This film is another of Jackson’s projects that places her as a firm ally of the LGBT community. Her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope, spoke out against homophobia in 1997, and she has since been recognised by the GLAAD Media Awards and human rights charities.
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