We Are: Challenging Stereotypes - an introductory workshop on gender and sexuality

17.9.2012

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WE ARE is pleased to announce it's first ever workshop Challenging Stereotypes - An Introductory Workshop on Gender and Sexuality which will be held on the 22nd September between 10:00 and 15:00 at the Common Room at the University of Malta.

The event, facilitated by Colette Farrugia Bennett, aims to equip members with jargon and knowledge on sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression. The methods used will be informal and they will lead to a productive and creative output to be used by We Are in Freshers week and beyond.

Interested persons may fill in the application form online and view the Facebook event here.

We Are is a student organisation which was set up at the University of Malta in 2010 to increase the visibility of LGBT issues on campus. We are active in spreading awareness, increasing access to information and creating safe spaces for youth to be themselves regardless of gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation. Would you like to get to know us more? Call us on 99815240, join us on Facebook or send us an email!

Independent: US Embassy supports LGBT group ‘We Are’

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=150653
16 September 2012

On Monday, September 10, US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Winnie Hofstetter awarded a grant of US$1,300 from the US Government to the organization ‘We Are’, represented by its Secretary General Luisa Tolu.

The funds will support a visit to Malta by Jordan Long, Policy Officer of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Youth and Student Organization (IGLYO). During her visit, Ms Jordan will organize train-the-trainer programs, enabling members of “We Are” to provide workshops on sexual orientation, stereotyping and gender identity for local youths.

Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley remarked how American policy is based on the belief that LGBT rights are human rights. She reiterated her support of the Malta Gay Rights Movement and We Are in their efforts to advance human rights and, in particular, the rights of gay people in Malta.

It-Torċa: Wara li vvotaw favur iż-żwieġ bejn l-omosesswali...“Irridu nagħtu kas iż-żgħażagħ, il-mexxejja ta’ għada...”

http://www.torca.com.mt/FullArticle.php?ID1='Ahbarijiet'&ID2=42894
16.9.12 minn Joseph Farrugia

“Iż-żgħażagħ minn dejjem kienu kritiċi u progressivi fil-ħsibijiet tagħhom u minħabba l-aċċess għal kuntatt ikbar ma’ barra minn Malta allura forsi ċerti bidliet fis-soċjetà Maltija huma radikali u f’daqqa. Iżda ż-żgħażagħ huma l-mexxejja ta’ għada u dawk li se jkunu qegħdin jagħmlu d-deċiżjonijiet u rridu nagħtu kashom u nisimgħu x’qegħdin jgħidu imma naġixxu fuq l-aspirazzjonijiet u l-mod kif qegħdin jinterpretaw il-ħajja tagħhom.”

Dan stqarru s-‘senior lecturer’ fl-Università ta’ Malta, Andrew Azzopardi meta mitlub jikkummenta mit-TORĊA dwar ir-riżoluzzjoni favur żwieġ bejn persuni tal-istess sess approvata fil-Parlament miż-żgħażagħ matul il-ġimgħa li għaddiet.

Malta today: The proof of the pudding… | Joseph Muscat

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/interview/The-proof-of-the-pudding-Joseph-Muscat-20120917
Monday 17 September 2012 - 09:23 by  Raphael Vassallo

Joseph Muscat is brimming with confidence ahead of an election which cannot be more than a few months away. But does he expect to get elected simply by default? Does he have an electoral programme of his own? And if so… what’s taking him so long to make it public?



Labour leader Joseph Muscat. Photograph: Ray Attard/Mediatoday.

These are busy times at the Centru Nazzjonali Laburista at Mile End. I meet Opposition leader Joseph Muscat in his office at the end of what must have been a tiring day... most of which, he later explains, was taken up by meetings and final preparations for the Labour Party Congress which kicked off the following morning (Friday).

Malta Today: Nationalist MP insists ‘gay couples are a family’

Nationalist MP Karl Gouder says gay couples are a family contradicting Minister Chris Said but cohabitation bill is a step in the right direction.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Nationalist-MP-insists-gay-couples-are-a-family-20120915
Sunday 16 September 2012 - 15:00 by  Miriam Dalli

Nationalist MP Karl Gouder

Nationalist MP Karl Gouder, the first openly gay MP elected to Parliament, has insisted that gay couples are a family just like any other heterosexual married couple.

The 33-year-old MP from St Julian's however expressed his satisfaction with the fact that a draft cohabitation bill had finally been published. "The bill has been in the making for a long time and it's been quite a while that we have realised that regulating cohabitation was needed," Gouder said.

Malta Today: Of gay conversion, bloody testicles and flying foreskin | Peterson Toscano

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/magazinedetails/magazine/theatreanddance/Of-gay-conversion-bloody-testicles-and-flying-foreskin-Peterson-Toscano-20120915
Saturday 15 September 2012 - 15:06 by Teodor Reljic

Now a renowned performance artist and gay activist who will be visiting Malta with a show – intriguingly entitled Jesus Had Two Daddies – next week, Peterson Toscano speaks to us about how he once felt the need to ‘expunge’ his sexuality through ‘reparative therapy’, his relationship to faith and the healing power of comedy…

Peterson Toscano: “It turns out most of the Bible stories I tell in Jesus Had Two Daddies have something to do with bloody genitals.”

What are some of the most important moments of realisation that you've experienced ever since you've become aware of your sexuality? What led you to undergo 'reparative therapy', and at what point did you realise that it just wasn't for you (or, indeed, for anybody)?

I believe in large part I pursued reparative therapy - unscientific methods designed to destroy the gay part of me and make me more masculine - because I truly believed I would be more valuable to the world if I were heterosexual. The messages I heard in church, at home, in the media, and on the playground all reinforced the idea that heterosexuality was superior to anything else and anyone who deviated from it would be punished in one way or another. In many ways I was a coward, afraid to face the consequences of being honest about who I was.

L-Orizzont: Il-kriminalità fl-Unjoni Ewropea - Direttiva ġdida għall-protezzjoni tal-vittmi

http://www.orizzont.com.mt/FullArticle.php?ID1='Ahbarijiet'&ID2=95717
15.9.2012 minn Sammy Sammut

Il-Parlament Ewropew app­rova direttiva ġdida li tistabbilixxi standards minimi dwar id-drittijiet, l-appoġġ u l-protezzjoni tal-vittmi tal-kriminalità. B’mod notevoli, hekk kif tidħol fis-seħħ, din il-liġi se tkun qiegħda tipp­rovdi għajnuna u protezzjoni speċifika lil dawk il-persuni li jisfgħu vittmi ta’ xi reat kriminali minħabba l-orjentazzjoni sesswali, l-identità tal-ġeneru jew l-espressjoni tal-ġeneru tagħhom. Din hi l-ewwel darba li liġi tal-UE ssemmi b’mod speċifiku l-espressjoni tal-ġeneru. 

iNews Malta: Il-valur tal-ugwaljanza

http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20120914-il-valur-tal-ugwaljanza
16:14 | 14.09.2012 minn Cyrus Engerer

Ħadt gost meta qrajt li l-parlament taż-żgħażagħ approva mozzjoni favur l-ugwaljanza fiż-żwieġ. Jawgura tajjeb ħafna għal futur u juri li għandna s-sezzjoni żagħżugħa tas-soċjetà tagħna li hi miftuħa sew għad-diversità u temmen li kull individwu għandu jkollu l-istess drittijiet u opportunitajiet daqs kull individwu ieħor.

Meta ftit ġimgħat ilu rċevejt e-mail mingħand Oriana Farrugia, li kienet il-mexxejja ta' wieħed miż-żewġ partiti fil-parlament taż-żgħażagħ, u talbitni niltaqa' mal-grupp li kienet qed tmexxi, aċċettajt bil-qalb kollha li ngħidilhom x'naħseb dwar diversi temi. Peró,kienet esperjenza isbaħ meta bdejt nisma' dak li jaħsbu fuqu huma. Tkellimna fuq l-ugwaljanza fiż-żwieġ, l-IVF, l-ifriżar tal-embrijuni, d-donazzjoni ta' gameti, l-adozzjoni ta' embrijuni u l-adozzjoni u l-fostering tat-tfal. Kellna laqgħa fejn l-għan prinċipali tiegħi kien li nisfida l-prekonċetti li ħafna minnha jkollna f'moħħna.

Times: My Family & Other Animals

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120915/blogs/my-family-other-animals.437028

Saturday, September 15, 2012, 11:42 by Alison Bezzina

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t make a living writing. This is because as most writers and bloggers will tell you, living off writing alone almost invariably results in a very poor and meagre life.

So, to make ends meet, and sometimes comfortably overlap, I also market commercial products to unsuspecting audiences, (imagine a smiley face right about now.)

Times: On IVF and same-sex marriages

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120914/letters/On-IVF-and-same-sex-marriages.436845
Friday, September 14, 2012 by Jacqueline Calleja, Balzan

Regarding the proposed IVF legislation, some matters need to be clarified. If one of the embryos to be implanted is found to be defective, will the woman concerned be informed about this? Will she be given the option to refuse to have a defective embryo implanted?

If she refuses, what will be the fate reserved for the embryo concerned? Will it be discarded, bringing to fruition the concept that only those who fulfil certain criteria deserve to live?