Fawcett Society Report: Violence Against Women Is ‘Endemic’
Violence against women and girls is “endemic” in the UK, a leading gender equality campaigner has warned as it calls for the legal system to be overhauled as it is “failing” women.

A report by the Fawcett Society, the first of its kind, examined laws that risked being undermined by Brexit and workplace protections, and found:

– Half of all women have experienced sexual harassment at work. – 64% of women of all ages have experienced unwanted sexual harassment in public places. – 1 in 5 women aged over 16 have experienced sexual assault. – In some sexual offences cases a victim’s sexual history evidence is being inappropriately used in court. – 38% of all men and 34% of all women said that if a woman goes out at night, wearing a short skirt, gets drunk and is the victim of a sexual assault she is totally or partly to blame.
The organisation’s Sex Discrimination Law Review Panel, chaired by retired High Court Justice Dame Laura Cox, calls for a number of reforms to the legal system.

They include strengthening the laws on sexual harassment at work to protect women from harassment by third parties, making ‘up-skirting’ an offence, and making any breach of a domestic abuse order a criminal offence.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “What we see is a deeply misogynistic culture where harassment and abuse are endemic and normalised coupled with a legal system that lets women down because in many cases it doesn’t provide access to justice.”

Dame Laura Cox added: “The evidence we received, of increasing levels of violence, abuse and harassment against women, was deeply disturbing.

“A lack of access to justice for such women has wide-ranging implications not only for the women themselves, but also for society as a whole and for public confidence in our justice system.”

In response, Maria Miller, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee of MPs, said: “We need a revolution in the workplace to ensure fairness for women, men and their families.

“Closing the gender pay gap, improving take up of shared parental leave and providing more opportunities for flexible working all play an important role as our own reports have found.

“We are currently carrying out work on sexual harassment and our fathers and the workplace inquiry will be reporting soon.”

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/fawcett-society-violence-women_uk_5a664bece4b0e56300728bef

Congress Must Find Agreement that Funds Crucial Priorities, Protects Dreamers & Vulnerable Americans

HRC issued the following statement on the Senate’s short term deal to reopen the government while continuing to negotiate overall funding levels including parity between defense and domestic discretionary programs to ensure funding for HIV/AIDS, opioid programs and other key programs,  protections for DACA recipients, disaster relief and other important priorities:

“The fight continues. We need to keep our eye on the ball. We have a short amount of time to ensure our elected leaders protect vulnerable Americans, including kids who need health care, seniors, troops and hundreds of thousands of Dreamers, including 75,000 LGBTQ young people,” said David Stacy, HRC’s Government Affairs Director. “The Trump-Pence Administration and Congressional leaders have once again kicked the can down the road and failed to act in a timely fashion. They must act to ensure these vulnerable communities are not put at further risk.”

After months of debate on this issue, it has become clear that few elected leaders seem to understand the lives of DACA recipients. That’s why the the Human Rights Campaign is committed to sharing the stories of LGBTQ Dreamers. Last week, the organization released a video featuring Yuridia Loera Ramirez, a 22-year-old queer advocate and standout college student, who only felt comfortable under DACA protections to report her sexual abuser on campus. Today, HRC released a new video featuring Viktor, a queer Dreamer from Texas who closes his emotional appeal by saying, “I’m proud to call this country my home… Texas is my home sweet home.” WATCH Viktor’s story here.

www.hrc.org/blog/congress-must-find-agreement-that-funds-crucial-priorities-protects-dreamer?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Atlanta Gay Bar Owner Authored Racist Facebook Posts Including One Calling Obama the N-Word

Atlanta gay bar Burkhart’s, is facing threats of a boycott after racist Facebook posts from its owner Palmer Marsh, made the rounds on social media. The posts were brought to light by the website WUSSY, which was sent them by a former employee.

In the posts, Marsh refers to President Obama by the n-word and defends the Confederate flag.

Writes WUSSY:

Burkhart’s, which hosts popular drag nights Thursday-Sunday, boasting some of Atlanta’s most legendary queens, has been owned by Marsh for the last thirty years according to Georgia’s business registry. Former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Manilla Luzon and Laganja Estranja are scheduled to appear there in the coming months.

Amber Divine, a former member of Atlanta’s oldest drag troupe, The Armorettes, took to Facebook last year to publicly express her feelings about Burkhart’s.

“Just so you’ll know the group has decided to leave the Hideaway and go back to Burkharts,” Divine wrote. “A decision that I did not support due to the fact that Burkharts is a racist bar it condones racism and uses the N-word predominately.”

Palmer Marsh / Facebook

Don Hunnewell , the General Manager of Burkhart’s, responded to the controversy in a message to the Georgia Voice. Hunnewell said he would quit immediately were it not for his obligations to the hardworking staff who need to earn a living and have nothing to do with Marsh’s racism.

Wrote Hunnewell, in part:

I have an immediate obligation to those dedicated souls and once their lives are stabilized I will seek new opportunities. In the meantime, I will maintain the daily operations and will happily deliver any and all purchase offers. Palmer and Mary Marsh have been retired since I arrived as GM and have had no active participation in the operations. I am honored to have such a high level of complete trust, but this is not what I signed up for.

I am proud of the Burkhart’s team and the loyal patrons. I will now pack for a much needed vacation that was planned months ago.

ATL Activate, an activist group, is holding a public meeting on Saturday about Marsh and Burkhart’s.

It writes, on Facebook:

 It’s come to light this week that the owners of Burkharts, a longstanding ATL gay bar, have a history of and are currently actively spreading racism online and potentially in their establishment. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss what we learn over the next week and our ongoing series of organized actions and response. Brandon Sutton is graciously allowing us to host this at his meeting space, Illuminarium. If our numbers get too big then we will move locations. Please invite anyone who cares to face hate or discrimination in our ATL LGBT community head on. We should all be united in our concern, our sadness and our resolve to make things right as a welcoming, loving and accepting group of people.

The post Atlanta Gay Bar Owner Authored Racist Facebook Posts Including One Calling Obama the N-Word appeared first on Towleroad.

Atlanta Gay Bar Owner Authored Racist Facebook Posts Including One Calling Obama the N-Word

Even More LGBT Athletes Added to Olympics in South Korea

News on Gus Kenworthy and Cheryl Maas, along with other updates.

www.advocate.com/sports/2018/1/22/even-more-lgbt-athletes-added-olympics-south-korea

These very real sex scenes from indy film “Jesús” will have you screaming the Lord’s name in vain
The lines between indie film and gay porn have officially been blurred.

www.queerty.com/real-sex-scenes-indy-film-jesus-will-screaming-lords-name-vain-20180122?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29