More than 15,000 people have marched in Romania’s capital Bucharest for equal rights for gender and sexual minorities as the country’s lower chamber of the parliament is set to vote on a law later this year that bans discussion of homosexuality and gender identity in public spaces.
An amendment to the Romanian Child Protection Law that was proposed by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), an ethnic minority party that is part of the ruling coalition, was inspired by a similar law which was adopted by Hungary in 2021.
After being passed by the Senate in April and approved by the Romanian Human Rights Commission, the bill needs the backing of the lower chamber of parliament.
“The way it looks like at the moment, this bill is completely anti-democratic from many points of view, mainly because it hinders the freedom of expression and because it stands against all treaties, conventions, and international recommendations regarding LGBT rights,” said Ionela Baluta, who participated in Saturday’s Bucharest Pride to support the community and oppose the bill.
Baluta, a professor at the political sciences faculty of the University of Bucharest, with expertise in gender studies, political representation and gender equality policies, is concerned about the ambiguous formulation of the bill.
She thinks it could lead to consequences as far-reaching as gender studies being banned in universities and individuals being incriminated for posting information related to gender identity on their personal social media accounts.
The European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup expressed their concerns about the bill in a statement, urging members of the Romanian legislature to be “clear and resolute in striking it down”.
Deeming it as “another attempt to galvanise hatred in Romania”, Marc Angel, the group’s co-chair, added that “this bill has no human rights compliance and serves no societal purpose but to ostracise further those already discriminated against”.
A similar law, attempting to ban gender identity information in Romania’s schools and universities, was deemed unconstitutional by the Romanian Constitutional Court in 2020 after being passed by the Senate and the parliament’s lower chamber.
“Back then in 2020 when the law passed through the parliament, it felt like the world collapsed on me because I realised I couldn’t be myself any more,” said Gabriel Gherman, a 20-year-old transgender community activist and community facilitator with ACCEPT Romania – an NGO advocating for LGBTQ rights.
“I’m sure this time it would be the same if it would pass, but nobody with real political power asked us young transgender people in Romania how we feel about it,” Gherman said.
Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised in Romania since 2001, Romania remains conservative towards the LGBTQ community, with same-sex couples still not being allowed to marry or enter into civil partnerships.
A banner in support of equal democratic rights was displayed during the Bucharest Pride march. ‘We continue to hope that this law will not be passed by the Romanian parliament … as this is a clearly unconstitutional initiative, which places us closer to Russia, in opposition with the European values that we adhered to by the will of the Romanian people, by being part of the EU and signing the human rights convention,’ said Teodora Ion-Rotaru Roseti from ACCEPT Romania. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
A banner with a hate message towards same-sex marriage was displayed during a counterprotest organised by Noua Dreapta, a far-right group. In 2018, conservative and religious organisations attempted to change the constitution through a referendum to prevent same-sex marriage from ever becoming legal. The referendum failed after voter turnout fell below the threshold of 30 percent needed to validate it. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
About 200 people displaying anti-LGBTQ rights banners and Christian Orthodox imagery participated in a counterprotest in response to the Pride march, on Saturday. The protest has been taking place on the same day as the Pride march since 2005. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
Young people participating in a ‘Pride in the Tram’ event wave at people waiting in a tram station. ‘We want to outline the fact that LGBT people exist in all walks of life and the tram takes message for equality rights through various neighbourhoods and reclaims public spaces and services for the community. It is also a message about the need for safety in public spaces for LGBT people,’ said Vlad Levente Viski from Mozaiq, an NGO advocating for LGBT rights. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
Two women hug each other during the Pride march. ‘Having a community feels for us like having another family, in the community we find our people, with whom we can be ourselves. When I had the opportunity to spend time in the community I felt great joy,’ said Gabriel Gherman, community facilitator from ACCEPT Romania. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
A Ukrainian dancer waves his national flag in a message against war during Bucharest Pride. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
People celebrated diversity marching, dancing and waving LGBTQ flags through the centre of Bucharest. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
A huge LGBTQ flag was carried by people participating in the Pride parade. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]
More than one in ten wild tree species is threatened by unsustainable logging
One in five people around the world rely on wild animals, plants and fungi for food and livelihoods, according to a landmark assessment.
But many wild species are not being harvested sustainably, putting food security at risk, the report found.
In 2019, experts estimated that one million plants and animals could go extinct in coming decades.
And much of this is being driven by unsustainable fishing, hunting and logging.
Now a new report by the same influential body concludes that the sustainable use of wild species is critical for people and nature.
And climate change and increased demand is likely to push more species to the brink, putting food security at risk.
IMAGE SOURCE,WILD POETS SOCIETY
Image caption,
Over-fishing threatens a third of marine fish species
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is conservation scientists’ equivalent of the IPCC group of climate scientists.
Their most recent assessment, approved by 139 countries in Bonn, Germany, focuses on how fishing, hunting and logging can be carried out more sustainably without damaging biodiversity and food security.
It found that billions of people across the world rely on 50,000 species of wild animals, plants and fungi for food, medicine, fuel, income and other purposes.
The assessment paints a picture of widespread exploitation of nature, with about a third of wild fish in the ocean overfished, more than 10% of wild trees threatened by unsustainable logging, and more than 1,300 mammals pushed to extinction by unsustainable hunting.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Forest being cleared for cattle ranching in Brazil
Actions that would help address these challenges include a crackdown on illegal fishing and wildlife trade; better management and certification of forests; and recognising the rights of indigenous people who look after land and forests, it said.
Dr Jean-Marc Fromentin, co-chair of the assessment for France, said rural people in developing countries were most at risk from unsustainable use, and had few alternatives, “often forcing them to further exploit wild species already at risk”.
The report found:
About 50,000 wild species are used for food, fuel, cosmetics, medicines, tourism and other purposes.
More sustainable use of wild species is critical for people and nature, with billions of people in every corner of the globe relying upon them.
The sustainability of wild species in the future is likely to be challenged by climate change, increased demand for such products, and technological advances in methods of hunting, logging and fishing.
Addressing these challenges will require “transformative changes”.
Commenting on the assessment, Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said more sustainable use of animals and plants can provide a strong incentive for conservation and living in harmony with nature.
“Today one million species are at risk of extinction,” she said. “And the unsustainable, illegal and unregulated use of species is a large part of the problem. For example, the illegal wildlife trade is a 23 billion dollar annual business that lines the deep pockets of a few unscrupulous individuals. These people get rich at the expense of nature and ecosystems.”
The 2019 IPBES global assessment alerted the world that the direct exploitation of species is one of the main reasons that one million species of plants and animals now face extinction.
The new report will provide decision-makers with evidence for enhancing the sustainable use of wild species and will feed into negotiations in Montreal later this year on setting global targets to stem the loss of biodiversity.
Sustainable development will remain out-of-reach unless humanity changes the way it values nature, according to the UN’s science advisory panel for biodiversityJOHN WESSELS AFP/File
A major UN report warned Monday that a global economy focused on short-term profit is wrecking the planet and called for a drastically different approach as to how we value nature.
Without this shift, universally accepted goals of sustainable development and greater equity will remain out-of-reach, the science advisory panel for biodiversity, known as IPBES, found.
“The way we understand economic growth is at the core of the biodiversity crisis,” Unai Pascual, an ecological economist at the University of Bern and co-chair of a 139-nation meeting in Bonn that approved the report, told AFP.
“The new assessment aims to bring different types of values into the decisions leading us to transformative change.”
Some 80 experts combed through more than 13,000 studies, looking at how market-based values have contributed to the destruction of ecosystems that sustain us, and what other values might best foster sustainability.
A 34-page Summary for Policymakers, approved over the weekend, comes as the UN steers an international process to stem species loss and protect nature.
In December, nations gather to finalise a treaty tasked with halting the decline of biodiversity and setting humanity on a path to “live in harmony with nature” by mid-century.
“Nature is what sustains us all,” commented Inger Andersen, head of the UN Environment Programme. “It gives us food, medicine, raw materials, oxygen, climate regulation and much more.”
But a five-fold increase in per-capita GDP since 1950 has maimed the natural world that made such growth possible.
A million species — including, arguably, our own — are threatened with extinction and global warming is on track to make large swathes of the planet unlivable.
‘Not going to be easy’
Two landmark UN reports — one on climate change in 2018, another on biodiversity in 2019 — concluded that only a wholesale transformation of the way we produce, distribute and consume almost everything can stave off runaway global warming and a collapse of ecosystems.
That already Herculean task becomes nigh impossible, the IPBES report warns, unless humanity also changes the way it perceives and values nature.
More nuanced valuations of nature could lead to better policy choices, the IPBES authors concludeANDI AFP/File
“If you think of nature as a factory at your service, your emphasis will be on extracting the highest yields possible,” said Patricia Balvanera, an ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a co-chair of the report.
Many still fear that sustainability can only be achieved at the expense of well-being, when in fact a natural world that can regenerate itself is the bedrock for healthy societies in the future, scientists say.
More nuanced valuations of nature could lead to better policy choices, the IPBES authors conclude.
A narrow cost-benefit analysis of development projects such as the Grand Renaissance Dam along Ethiopia’s Blue Nile or the Mayan Train project on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula weighed the value of electricity, tourism or jobs against the cost of construction or displacing populations.
A “living from nature” perspective may even quantify the economic value of damage to ecosystems, such as a CO2 absorbing forest or wetlands, or the loss of insect populations that pollinate crops.
“If nature is part of me, part of my family, then — as in a family — the priority is to take care of each other,” said Balvanera. “It is a totally different mindset.”
Many of the delegates and scientists in IPBES — the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services — are also part of the 196-nation Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), which has struggled to find consensus on the draft treaty to be delivered in December.
Civil society will play a critical role in changing the way societies value nature, according to a major report from the UN science advisory panel for climate changeMORRIS MAC MATZEN AFP/File
“We think this values assessment can help the negotiations, politically speaking, to provide find a solution,” noted Pascual, who said several delegates called it a “game-changer”.
“Right now, there is a gloomy sense that this is not going to be easy at all.”
Ah the republicans are salivating over this. They dream of going this far. We all knew this was coming in Russia where they are basically making being LGBTQ+ illegal. Just existing as a gay person will be against the laws. That is the end results of the don’t say gay bills. It has been a long time goal of the religious right to return the culture to the past where only white Christian cis males have right. I can not believe in a time where around the world the smaller right wing countries are opening up and recognizing gay rights as human rights two of the largest countries are hurting backwards and establishing theocracies. Notice the wording describing just showing gay people exist as propaganda and promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships. All to make seem gay people were trying to molest, groom, teach sex to kids. The current laws states anything LGBTQ+ can not be seen by minors and that means anywhere from online, TV / movies, public spaces, cars, anywhere a minor might be able to see it. Now they want to extend that to basically anywhere anyone could see it. The entire country is off limits to display or show anything positive about LGBTQ+ yet the hate groups can still attack those people freely. They are trying to make being non heterosexual and non cis illegal and open for attack. The law maker even bragged that attempt to legalize same sex marriage is a thing of the past. That is what the right salivates to happen here. In Russia when they tried democracy LGBTQ+ acceptance was becoming very supported by the public. Laws were being changed to be more accepting. Then the religious leaders went to Putin and offered to back him, install him as the countries leader if he gave them what they wanted. He agreed and the rest is history. It is a history being repeated in the US. Why does the right wing media love Russia / Putin? Why does Fox hosts praise authoritarians worldwide especially Putin? Because these leaders / countries are hurting the same groups they hate, giving their church official status in the government / laws. Please help us defeat these people and these red state hate laws. Hugs
Gay rights activists march in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg May 1, 2013. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty)
Russia lawmakers have proposed extending the country’s existing “gay propaganda” law to include people of all ages later this year.
The existing legislation was signed by Vladimir Putin in 2013 and banned any “promotion” of “non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors. Anyone found guilty under the law can be sentenced to heavy fines or imprisonment.
But Alexander Khinshtein, chairman of the State Duma’s information committee, said the 2013 law for minors is now “insufficient”, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. He said lawmakers would consider pushing the legislation further to ban depictions of the LGBTQ+ community for “audiences of all ages” in the media and online.
“We propose to fully extend the ban on that sort of propaganda among audiences of all ages (offline, media outlets, the Internet, social media, as well as in cinema theaters),” Khinshtein wrote on Telegram.
Under the proposed changes, any event or act seen as an attempt to promote the LGBTQ+ community could incur a fine, Reuters reported.
Khinshtein said his committee will consider the proposed amendments and even imposing stricter punishments for any violations of the so-called “gay propaganda law” when they are back in session in the fall.
A demonstrator holds a poster depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin with make-up. (GERARD JULIEN/AFP via Getty)
Russia’s parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the country would be banning the promotion of “non-traditional value” since it broke ties with the Council of Europe, the continent’s foremost human rights watchdog.
“Demands to legalise same-sex marriages in Russia are a thing of the past,” Volodin said. “Attempts to impose alien values on our society have failed.”
With students in higher education avoiding florida and businesses considering moving / no locating here, and the US military saying they will relocate service members from states that do not honor their rights I wonder if the right / Republicans will care. It is going to hurt the sports teams and economy. Hugs
Florida School Board Requires Teachers to Out Trans Students
The ruling was made in the name of parents’ rights.
A school board in Florida approved a new policy last week that would require teachers to out transgender students, in the name of parents’ rights.
All four members of the Leon County School Board voted to implement a new “LGBTQ Inclusive School Guide” after a four hour meeting, according to reporting in the Tallahassee Democrat. Although the guide professes to respect the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ youth, it also contains provisions requiring schools to inform other children and their parents if they share a physical education class, athletic team, or overnight trip with a trans student.
“Upon notification or determination of a student who is open about their gender identity, parents of the affected students will be notified of reasonable accommodation options available,” the document reads. While clearly intended to refer to students who are openly trans and nonbinary, the euphemistic language could be interpreted to refer to all young people who have a gender identity. (Agender elite rise up, apparently.)
The guide does provide protections for students’ freedom of gender expression and access to gendered facilities, as well as the formation of GSA groups and same-sex couples’ right to attend school dances in clothing that expresses their identity. But students say the new guidelines — which come on the heels of Florida’s infamous new “Don’t Say Gay” law, passed with the stated intent of expanding parental authority over LGBTQ+ education — will have a chilling effect on LGBTQ+ safety in their schools.
“The notification to all the parents can create a very stressful and unwanted situation to trans and LGBTQ students,” explained Kailey Sandell, a Leon High student who spoke at the hearing. “A lot of times kids assume that kids are gay or trans; they will easily be able to hurt them.”
“Our schools have been ground zero for anti-LGBTQ vitriol this year.”
Another district student, Benjamin Burn, said the district should be focusing instead on preventing bullying and making more facilities gender-neutral. “Trans kids want privacy,” he said. “That’s what I want, that’s what everyone wants. And trans kids honestly deserve it.”
A school board passing an anti-LGBTQ+ policy is no surprise, given a new survey that found that less than 1% of school board members nationwide identify as queer or trans.
Thousands of students across the state have protested against “Don’t Say Gay” and efforts to strip rights and protections from their LGBTQ+ peers, with some Tallahassee students marching on the Florida Capitol building itself in March. With this harmful new development, it seems certain that Florida lawmakers haven’t seen the last of their state’s pro-trans student activists.
Texas has hurt itself with a closed electrical grid that they refuse to add to the national grid. If they did that they would have to follow federal rules for safety and reliability. They would rather have a broken system that creates more profit than an electrical grid that supplies dependable energy to the people. After the system failed for the second time and even more people died during the winter Governor Abbott promised to fix it, requiring expensiveupgrades so people wouldn’t face this again. But that did not happen, why? Well after he got a huge campaign contributions of over a million dollars from the energy profit makers he forgot the entire thing. I wonder why. Profit over the needs of the people. Hugs
The state’s grid operator asked that Texans voluntarily reduce their power use on Monday as the blistering heat continues, and said no rolling blackouts are expected this week.
Employees monitor the state power grid at the ERCOT command center in Taylor. Credit: REUTERS/Julia Robinson
With a punishing heat wave across Texas driving record high power demand, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas late Sunday sent out a request that Texans cut back on their energy use on Monday.
ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, asked Texans to turn up their thermostats and postpone running major appliances between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday. ERCOT has also called on large electric customers to lower their electricity use.
Total forecasted power demand is expected to surpass 79 gigawatts on Monday, ERCOT said — which would set another record.
An ERCOT spokesperson told the Tribune Monday that the grid operator does not expect rolling blackouts this week.
Low winds are also making it harder for the grid to keep up with demand during hotter-than-usual July temperatures. Current projections show wind generation coming in less than 10% of its capacity on Monday, ERCOT said.
Winds in Texas often drop during the daytime, especially in the summer. ERCOT forecasts more wind power will be available to the grid on Tuesday.
Power grids must keep supply and demand in balance at all times. When Texas’ grid falls below its safety margin of excess supply, the grid operator starts taking additional precautions to avoid blackouts. The first precaution is to ask the public to cut back electricity usage.
In May, ERCOT asked Texans to conserve power during a heat wave that coincided with six power plant outages.
Texas is facing extreme heat conditions, with much of the state under temperatures above 100 degrees. As of Monday morning, the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories or excessive heat warnings for 154 of the state’s 254 counties. Some regions are breaking heat records: On Sunday, San Antonio saw the hottest temperatures on record in the city at 106 degrees, while Austin hit an all-time record high for July at 110 degrees.
Climate change has made Texas heat both hotter and longer lasting. The average daily minimum and maximum temperatures in Texas have both increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 125 years. The state just saw its hottest December on record since 1889.
I would think it would be kinda tough to manufacture electric cars in a state that doesn’t provide enough electricity. But what do I know? I ain’t no billionaire genius.
They were right: everything really *is* bigger in Texas. This includes the shortsightedness of their government for not taking early steps to fix the issues with the power grid.
They have a provider monopoly that is in good standing with the politicians along with congestion pricing of energy that inflates profits during such times. There isn’t much motivation to break the vicious cycle.
Texan Republicans have been working overtime dreaming up ways to penalize women who might want to have an abortion, but they still haven’t fixed the power grid that they’ve known is a problem for more than a decade.
"Since we don't control the air our good air decided to float over to China's bad air so when China gets our good air, their bad air got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then now we got we to clean that back up." pic.twitter.com/BsR4GVAbX7
At one point PETE HEGSETH says “They’re committed to telling the worst story of America …” The fact that they can tell the worst parts means that those worst parts exist. It is not made up fiction, but real history. It tells you a lot about the right and the Republican party that they don’t want true history taught or know but they want a complete fiction of the worlds best most perfect country to ever be. Why? I think it is so people won’t realize how bad they have it in this country compared to other 1st world nations. Think of the benefits the public have in those countries that the “world’s wealthiest country” can not afford or manage to do. If we are so great why can we not do it here? Could it be the corporations / wealthy don’t want you to figure it out and fix it which might cost them a bit of profit. Greed and more profit is king, which leads back to why the south used slaves to build their entire economy. Low wages and bad working conditions are a poor second to the profit slavery could generate. Hugs
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: And after you leave the museum tour, which again makes you feel guilty and not so great about America, at the end there’s a gift shop where you can buy Ibram X. Kendi’s how to be a racist, how to not be a racist book —
JOEY JONES (CO-HOST): This is a racist human being who writes books about hating white people.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Right, and all of these sort of books that are damning of America and suggesting that were still a racist country are for sale in the gift shop.
PETE HEGSETH: The funding and the people behind the foundation that runs it, all leftists, many tied to the 1619 project. They’re committed to telling the worst story of America and now they’re doing it inside the homes of the Founding Fathers.
JONES: Those aren’t historians, they’re activists.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: And those founders and the donors and the people who are on those boards, that is not a coincidence. This is a diabolical plan on their part to populate these positions that have influence over how America tells its story.
Thomas Jefferson enslaved over 600 human beings throughout the course of his life. 400 people were enslaved at Monticello; the other 200 people were held in bondage on Jefferson’s other properties. At any given time, around 130 people were enslaved at Monticello.
Slaves were bred in order for whites to get as much free labor as possible. (I’m sure you know this already) The following is a must see documentary/lecture by Jeffrey Robinson:
Just watched this on Netflix. If you don’t watch the whole thing (super engrossing), find the clip where he talks to the man guarding the confederate monument in Charleston. Ho-ly shit, not only does he shut down bullshit lost cause theory eloquently and civilly, but you get to see the cognitive dissonance on the man’s face. Scary shit, as we will never get through to some people.
I’ve watched the entire thing and know exactly which part you’re talking about. The white guy is so proud of his hatred and ignorance. And you are absolutely correct.. there’s no getting through to some people.
A white guy banging a black woman. They are probably OK with that arrangement. A black guy banging a white woman, that’s usually a different story. But then there is Clarence Thomas. I suspect his political views give him a pass in this case.
They read sex as a power exchange, and the person fucking as the strong person and the other person as weak. So yeah, white men fucking a slave probably doesn’t bother them too much.
We are watching as Florida and red states in general are fast becoming deeply and openly the home of racist bigoted white supremacist Christian nationalist and it is supported by the Republican party in charge. Florida is becoming dangerous not just for minorities but for anyone that doesn’t follow the public demands of these gang members. Let’s be honest, the Proud Boys is a gang of thugs that found official recognition / elevation as a public group by the former president who used them to try to overturn an election. This was one of the gangs that tRump turned to that was willing to use violence to stop the will of the majority of the people. This gang is a small minority supported by a larger minority called the Republican party because the gang is willing to use violence and threats of harm to force the public to live by the Republican dictates of returning the culture to 1850. We have a minority political party so desperate to rule and retain power that they are willing to use force against the majority to do it. Hugs
Newspaper opinion pages are often criticized for having a political bias, but one Florida paper showed the pitfalls of a poorly-executed attempt to tell both sides of the story.
An op-ed published on Sunday by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune defended local school board candidates’ alleged association with the Proud Boys by claiming the group’s members were simply “caring parents” who were being unfairly attacked for their conservative political views.
Oh, and the paper failed to disclose the author is married to a Proud Boy herself. To be clear, the Proud Boys have a documented history of criminal activities and violent altercations that date back several years.
I was going to excerpt the op-ed but in the time since I started this post, it has been deleted from the paper’s website. There’s a full screenshot here.
An obvious journalism fail from the Sarasota Herald Tribune and also just gross. https://t.co/JnikaR2NUk
I'll be honest. I know Melissa a little. We have had pleasant discourse. But when fascism and white supremacy are denied, or worse revered, it's #fullstop. Her public FB profile is full of more than sympathizer posts, like this one. 3/7 pic.twitter.com/aNqarjc6Ti
— Jules Souliere, What the Florida? (@what_the_fla) July 10, 2022
This place is scum. Its the only place in all my world travels I ever got f@g bashed. The police also told me as the victim to let it go when I pressed for them to do something after I hunted down the truck of the guys who jumped me. After I told the police the plate number. After I told them the address the truck stayed parked at I was told to drop it. That place is full of rich old white money and very poor kept in their place black people. Fuck Sarasota. May a hurricane come and destroy the entire waterfront where the money is. All of it
The “Proud Boys – D.C. Street Sweepers” t-shirt tells you all you need to know. If members of BLM had attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6th, the author of the op-ed piece would have been singing a very different tune. She would have called them traitors and demanded they be executed. But since the insurrectionists were her husband and his White Nationalist friends she claims they were “caring parents” who were being unfairly attacked for their conservative political views.