Category: Events

COP29 row breaks out with Vatican over gender rights – BBC News

The Vatican has blocked discussions over women’s rights at the UN climate summit following a row over gay and transgender issues, sources have told BBC News.

Pope Francis’ representatives have aligned with Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and Egypt to obstruct a deal which would have provided more support, including financial help, for women at the forefront of climate change, Colombia’s environment minister told the BBC.

Charities including ActionAid said it is crucial a deal is reached as the UN estimates women and girls currently make up 80% of those displaced by climate change.

Countries at this year’s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan were due to update the ten-year old UN action plan to make sure that any work on climate change took account of the experiences of women and channelled more money to them.

For a decade it has been called the Lima Work Programme on Gender.

But the Vatican, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Egypt now do not want any reference to “gender” – over concerns it could include transgender women, and want references to gay woman removed, the BBC has been told by charities observing the talks and negotiators from other countries.

This has stalled the whole deal on progressing women’s access to support in the face of climate change, they say.

When asked why the Vatican and others were making the intervention now, after nearly a decade, one country negotiator told the BBC: “It is part of a broader global backlash against women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights.”

Source: COP29 row breaks out with Vatican over gender rights – BBC News

Devastated Harris voters conclude America hates women as Trump defeats second female rival |MSN

Democrat-voting Americans say they feel reaffirmed in their belief that most of the United States would rather anyone else as president than a woman after Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“the only thing america hates more than a rapist is a woman,” an X user wrote racking up more than 600k likes and 100k reposts.

Harris’s campaign, which ran staunchly on protecting reproductive rights and upholding democracy, had hoped to follow similar results to Biden’s win.

But the message to Democrats on Wednesday morning was that it wasn’t enough to convince most of the country, especially men, to keep Trump in the past.

“When Trump wins twice against 2 separate women, but loses against another man, it’s not about the candidate, it’s about their hate for women,” one X user wrote.

[Ed: Kamala’s willingness to betray all women by denying the reality of sex and quashing all dissent on this subject may have also played a role . . . )

Source: Devastated Harris voters conclude America hates women as Trump defeats second female rival

Lesbian: Politics, Culture, Existence | Online Book Launch Tickets | TryBooking Australia

Across almost 50 years of writing, Susan Hawthorne’s essays on lesbian culture and politics take the reader on a journey through the concerns of radical feminists engaged in the Women’s Liberation Movement. Not only does she trace the experiments of lesbians creating a vibrant woman-loving culture, but she also traces the backlash against lesbians and a history of violence perpetrated by the state, corporations and individual men.

Read more about the book: https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781925950984

Kaye Moseley is an artist and has been active in lesbian communities in Melbourne since 1973 when she attended the first National Lesbian Conference in Australia. She designed the Spinifex logo and inaugurated the annual Satin and Silk Ball for Lesbians which ran for over one and a half decades in Melbourne.

Date

Wednesday 4 September 2024 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (UTC+10)

Location

Online event access details will be provided by the event organiser

Source: Lesbian: Politics, Culture, Existence | Online Book Launch Tickets | TryBooking Australia

Country Women’s Association of WA makes history in vote to allow men as members – ABC News

In short:

The Country Women’s Association of WA has voted to change its 100-year-old constitution and allow men to become associate members.

NSW, Tasmania, Victoria and the NT don’t allow men to be CWA members.

What’s next?

Men in WA will be able to apply for associate membership, which doesn’t allow for voting or individual branch membership.

—–

Following the vote, some members at the annual general meeting raised the issue of transgender women joining the association.

Ms Langdon said that while there was no specific provision in the constitution to recognise transgender women, they were welcome in the association, with some already members.

The vote means Western Australia is now the third state along with South Australia and Queensland to allow men into their ranks as non-voting members.

Queensland CWA president Sheila Campbell said the organisation had led the way by welcoming men and transgender women into the association since 2015 under a Friends of QCWA banner.

“Our association is open to all women, including transgender women, and men as non-voting Friends of QCWA,” she said.

A spokesperson for the CWA of Victoria said its branch did not have male members.

“We accept anyone who identifies as a woman to be a member,” they said.

[Ed: so very disappointing.]

Source: Country Women’s Association of WA makes history in vote to allow men as members – ABC News

Jason Evert: US chastity preacher talks at NSW schools.

Weeks ago, the name Jason Evert would have barely been known by many in Australia. Now, there’s a legion of parents who are banding together and calling for his scheduled talks at schools to be cancelled.

Jason Evert is a “Catholic husband, proud father, chastity speaker and author”. He’s in Australia currently, going on a tour of sorts where he speaks to mostly female students about chastity.

His talks were organised by the wider Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, whose schools span across Sydney, the NSW Central Coast and more.

Parents at one of these schools amassed over 700 petition signatures, calling for the event to be cancelled.

Following the subsequent media attention, Evert responded with some choice words… he’s referred to Sarah and other parents like her who criticised the scheduled compulsory talks as “witches”.

“Three of the chastity talks in high schools have been cancelled by parents and the ones who are taking credit for it are, no kidding, not making this up, are actually a group of witches!” he said in a video posted to X.

In a roundabout way he referred to himself or the Catholic Church (hard to tell which one) as a “Siberian tiger”, wondering why the “witches” bothered to try and compete.

Source: Jason Evert: US chastity preacher talks at NSW schools.

Women-only exhibit in Australian museum set to install toilet to keep men out | The Independent

A museum in Australia, fighting to keep an exhibition open only to women after a court ordered that men should be allowed entry under anti-discrimination laws, is installing a toilet in the gallery to keep them out.

An exhibit by American artist Kirsha Kaechele, titled “Ladies Lounge” at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania, was previously open only to those who identify as women.

It was closed after a man, New South Wales resident Jason Lau, sued the museum for denying him entry in April 2023.

The Tasmanian civil and administrative tribunal found the museum to be in violation of the state’s anti-discriminatory law and ordered Mona to allow “persons who do not identify as ladies” to enter the exhibition.

Mona appealed to reverse the ruling, arguing that the decision took “too narrow a view on women’s historical and ongoing societal disadvantage” and that the Ladies Lounge can “promote equal opportunity”.

Ms Kaechele said she will challenge the court’s 19 March ruling by ensuring that the space is “compliant” with regulations, and turn the space into a women’s toilet and a church – allowing it to operate as a women-only space under legal exemptions.

However, men who want to enter will be allowed to do so on Sundays – to learn how to iron and fold laundry.

Source: Women-only exhibit in Australian museum set to install toilet to keep men out | The Independent