BBC Calls For Trans* Inclusive Comedy Scripts
Television’s portrayal of trans* characters will 99% of the time send you into fits of…
Botswana women allowed to inherit
The Botswana High Court has overturned a customary law which prevented women from inheriting the family home.
The judge ruled that the law contravened the constitution, which guarantees equality for men and women.
Edith Mmusi and her sisters have fought a five-year legal battle after their nephew said he was the rightful owner of their house.
Correspondents say traditions which stop women from inheriting property exist in many African societies.
Judge Key Dingake said that in the name of fairness and equality women should have the right to inherit property.
“It seems to me that the time has now arisen for the justices of this court to assume the role of the judicial midwife and assist in the birth of a new world struggling to be born,” AFP news agency quotes him as saying.
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Priti PatelSouthern Africa Litigation CentreThis is a significant step forward for women’s rights not only in Botswana but in the southern Africa region”
The BBC’s Letloghile Lucas in the capital, Gaborone, says Ms Mmusi, the only one of the sisters at the High Court in Gaborone, was very excited by the ruling.
“It’s a great day for us,” she said.
However, her nephew Molefi Ramantele said the court had undermined the country’s culture, reports the AFP news agency.
“This is a sad day for me… People should learn to respect our culture,” he said.
Our correspondent says they first contested their nephew’s claim in a customary court in 2007.
They lost the case and a subsequent appeal before turning to the civil courts.
The Attorney General had reportedly agreed that the customary law was discriminatory but argued Botswana was not ready to change it.
“This is a significant step forward for women’s rights not only in Botswana but in the southern Africa region, where many countries are addressing similar discriminatory laws,” Priti Patel of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) said in a statement.
According to the legal rights group, the case challenged an Ngwaketse customary law rule that allows for the youngest-born son to inherit the family home.
Ms Mmusi’s parents had four daughters and a son, who before he died agreed that his older half-brother could inherit the family home in the Kanye area, about 85km (50 miles) south of Gaborone.
It is the son of the half-brother who brought the case seeking to evict the sisters living at the homestead, who are reportedly all over the age of 65.
Ms Mmusi and her sisters argued that as it was their home - and they had been contributing to its upkeep and expansion - it was theirs to inherit, the SALC said.
Your daily dose of misogynistic WTF brought to you by….the ever so reputable BBC!
…tweet has since been deleted and followed up with this “apology”:
“Apologies, it appears something is up with our feed. Thanks to those who pointed it out to us.”
Yeah, thanks to those who pointed out that that message was a blatant approval of domestic violence.
In a recent BBC report on homosexual Muslims in the UK, one interviewee described an experience she had at a gay pride rally. She says, “‘There was an occasion at gay pride once where one of the marchers turned around and quite crudely said, ‘we didn’t know pride was allowing suicide bombers on the march’ –– it was really shocking to hear it from a fellow gay marcher.” The intersection of an affirmative declaration of gay and Muslim identifications runs into the ascriptive identification of all Muslims as terrorists.
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| — | Hussein Rashid, The Name Game: Understanding Tensions in Identity and Muslim Homosexuality, in Muslim LGBT Inclusion Project (via ace-muslim) |
Boy Scouts of America keeps gay ban
The Boy Scouts of America will not change its policy of excluding gay scouts and scout leaders, following a secret two-year review, the group says.
The current policy allows families to address sexuality in private and no further action will be taken, it added.
Eleven volunteers and leaders, with a range of “perspectives and opinions”, were chosen to undertake the study.
Critics, including some board members, say they support internal change and gay members should be allowed to join.
Jim Turley, chairman and chief executive of consulting firm Ernst and Young, and Randall Stephenson, head of the US telecoms company AT&T, were two of the organisation’s board members who said they would support a change in policy.
‘Best policy’
Announcing their conclusion, the Boy Scouts cited support from parents as a major reason for keeping the policy.
“The vast majority of the parents of youth we serve value their right to address issues of same-sex orientation within their family, with spiritual advisers and at the appropriate time and in the right setting,” Boy Scouts chief executive Bob Mazzuca said.
“We fully understand that no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society.”
The panel was unanimous in its decision and a Boy Scouts of America spokesman told the Associated Press it was “absolutely the best policy” for the group.
A lesbian mother from Ohio, Jennifer Tyrell, who was removed as a scout den leader and treasurer in April because of the policy, said in a statement: “A secret committee of 11 people can’t ignore the hundreds of thousands of people around the country - including thousands of Eagle Scouts, scout families, and former scouts - that want the ban on gay scouts and scout leaders removed.”
Ms Tyrell was due to deliver a petition to the group’s headquarters in Irving, Texas, asking to be reinstated.
In 2000, the Boy Scouts won a ruling from the US Supreme Court that allowed them to ban gay members whose conduct, they said, violated the group’s values.
Boy Scouts of America, founded in 1910, said that at the end of 2011 it had more than one million adult members.
Feminism in the mass media, and thank you BBC!
Hooray! Subi has found enough of a voice to make her video. Go check it out, there’s a bit around the 4min mark that made me punch the air.
If you haven’t watched us on the BBC yet, watch it now!
For non-UK viewers, if you use a proxy service like TunnelBear or ExPatShield that should make the official link watchable, or you can find less legitimate sources if you Google around…
This Dame:
Tumblr: uswhoresdontneedyou.tumblr.com
LAST CHANCE!!! You have until 9pm today to watch our TV appearance on BBC iPlayer.
Non-UK followers if you use a proxy service like tunnelbear or expatshield that should make the official link watchable. Alternatively if you Google around you’ll probably find other places you can watch us too *cough*
LOUD NOISES!! Today’s your LAST CHANCE to watch our TV appearance on BBC iPlayer.
Reminder for non-UK followers if you use a proxy service like tunnelbear or expatshield that should make the official link watchable. Alternatively if you Google around you’ll probably find other places you can watch us too *cough*
