Drew Berrymore bought a gay club!!

Hilarious! Drew Berrymore bought a gay club in Hollywood. Just read an article on pinknews: "During the last US Presidential election, Ms Barrymore vocalised her support for now President Barack Obama. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Drew Barrymore said that Obama’s “sensitivity” on the issue had won her over: “When I heard him speak about a gay person never having to sit outside the hospital room with their loved one sick inside, I burst into tears because so many people I care about are homosexual and it was profound to have someone be sensitive to that,” she said...

Hungarian celebrities support Budapest Pride

This is what fame should be used for?! In an ideal world yes, but in reality... I don't think so... I don't think it should be a fundamental expectation, nor do I think that is a minimal effort that everyone should do. The word should means something is compulsory... well, it is not. But, I welcome everyone who wants to raise her/his voice in this issue. So, I called lot of celebrities the week before last week (yes, can't wait my phone bill to arrive), I talked to at least 60 people within 3 days, told them what our idea was and asked if they wanted to participate. I explained the context -- basically that the police refused to grant...

IDAHO -- stand up against homophobia and transphobia!

Yepp, 17 of May is the IDAHO -- nah, not that one, it's a different one. Symbolic date? Exactly. May 17 was chosen as the day of the event because homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization on May 17, 1990. Since then, there are several examples of the diversity of approaches and actions that organisations engage in. One thing is common: those who participate think that it is an...

St. Petersburg's propaganda law in reality

I have already written a couple of posts about what is going on in St. Petersburg and what this propaganda law is about. Well, it did come into force and now we have the first guy (a hardcore lgbtq campaigner) to be convicted of ‘gay propaganda’.  According to the report of the AP, Nikolai Alekseev was said to have been fined 5,000 roubles, just over £100, by a court in Russia’s second city for the promotion of homosexuality among minors......

On the Spot in Egypt - Amnesty International Women's Group

As you may know, I am one of the founders of the Women's Group at the Amnesty International Hungary. We already arranged and participated in some events dealing with human rights issues, especially about women's rights. (for example the cookie action on women's day -- if you don't remember, you can read back, link here). So, while Amnesty is famous for lobbying, we regularly organize events which obviously have awareness raising campaigns,...

PFLAG in short

In case if you don't exactly know the abbreviation PFLAG: parents and friends of gay & lesbian. (Yepp, it lacks a couple of letters T, B, Q, whatever... but only in its name, to tell their defense.) It is a community with a couple hundred thousand members. Actually, it is not only a community but a non-profit organization.  What do they do? As you may probably see in the picture, they celebrate the diversity since they envisioned a society...

Budapest Pride March is ON!!!

Pride march is on -- surprisingly... or NOT. Last Friday, the court of Budapest has reportedly overruled the police’s decision not to grant a license for this year's pride march. Hurrah, the right to assembly (as a fundamental right) is still acknowledged -- the court said and ensured that the police had no legal grounds on which to deny the application. I still can not believe that we (as organizers) had to undergo exactly the same procedure as last year (as the police tried to block the march in 2011 as well...) What can I say? Nice try? No... it is such a shame that such things can happen (and does happen) in this country. The police argued...

Society fails

Good perspective... and so true...

...about the proposals submitted by the Hungarian far-right party

"We will not stand by!" -- the title itself refers to our answer -- what the hell is going on in this country?  We (as organizers of Budapest Pride) have just published our statement about the proposals submitted by Jobbik which is the far-right party in Hungary. (link here) Two days ago, on April 10, Jobbik representative Mirkóczki Ádám submitted a law proposal and two proposed amendments to the new constitution of Hungary that would, if accepted, amend the media law, the criminal code, advertising laws, and the constitution to make the very existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in Hungary criminal and...

Police refuse to grant permission for this year's Budapest Pride march

Let's see what happened so far... As you may know, I'm one of the organizers of the Budapest Pride -- so the following press release (link here) was partly written by me and translated by another organizer.  As an answer to the police's step we've made a video asking if they really think we are going to disappear. They can't ban us and we will be at the Budapest Pride!! Enjoy the background music: Blur :)  The Budapest Police Department has refused to grant permission for this year's Budapest Pride march. The march had been announced for July 7, 2012, with a route from City Park to Alkotmány Street along Andrássy...

Zagreb vol. 2

It's been a while that I have not updated or posted anything new about the training I applied for. You remember, the LGBTQ seminar, organized in Zagreb that will be held between April 11 and 16. If you wish, click on the link and you can read back my first post about this (link here).  According to their latest e-mail it is not at all sure that I am going to participate :(( Let's see: my application was accepted. Later, the prep-team sent another e-mail that since I am not that exciting from the gender point of view I was put on a waiting list. OMG. I mean I understand that they want to create a gender balance but on the other...

Labels are for clothes

Labels are for clothes. Exactly my point...

Flashlove flashmob in Budapest

It's spring and it's sunday. The weather is just perfect in Budapest for a stroll, moreover, for some love! What else? :) Exactly from 4 p.m. in front of the church at Deák tér, there a flashmob organized by members of a certain facebook group took place (link here). As an anniversary, it was time to celebrate that a year has passed since the first same-sex kissing flashmob. Now the event was for EVERYONE who independently from sexual...

Advertise under the ground!

Here is a genius ad from London! :) Here are two men. One of them is gay. Think you can tell which? Stereotypes are the views of the small-minded...

NOM Declares War on Starbucks

Daily bullshit is out -- NOM declares war on Starbucks for being a LGBTQ-friendly place... NOM, the National Organization for Marriage is of course an antigay association that has just decided to fight against the company. It is boycotting Starbucks because they believe the coffee chain took sides in a culture war by supporting same-sex marriage in Washington.  How they plan to do this? The organization launched a website called DumpStarbucks.com...

Celebrities for gender equality

After a post about George Clooney I am going to write one about Annie Lennox and a recently appeared singer. I like making comments on how famous starts deal with human rights issues -- you already know that I deeply care. So... who is Emeli Sandé? A simple pop singer or a rebellious celebrity? She has jumped onto the path which Jessie J or Ellie Goulding also follow... but, sometimes I just like forgetting all the hype, awards (Brits Critics Choice award), let the music speak and let them speak. We celebrated the international women's day exactly two weeks ago. London - not surprisingly - beats Budapest in the celebration, except for...

Women's parts as urinals and sinks

I've always been in trouble with borders -- what is acceptable and what is not. What is the point when I say enough? I try to find a "balanced" boundary when talking about discrimination, homophobia, sexism and I do think I am more than tolerant about these issues. But, this project actually makes me sick. Using women's parts as urinals and sinks is not acceptable, can not be acceptable. Deeply disappointing... what is wrong with you people?! Check...

George Clooney under arrest?!

So, there is a site that I regularly check: mashable.com. They are giving helpful advices from a special point of view, that is social media. The first post I saw yesterday was entitled "Twitter Users Show Support for George Clooney After Arrest" (link here) and it was pretty shocking. Not just because mashable is not famous for celebrity news but also because I had no idea what happened... Let's see the most important questions: who? what? when?...

March 15 - The National Protest Day

Since 2006, we know that whenever comes a national holiday in Hungary, demonstrations are to be held by then. Historia est magistra vitae... or, comes the Hungarian absurd: remembrance or re-experience?! -- rhetorical question since we never learn from our mistakes. One single post is definitely not enough to explain the chaos, but let's see what happened yesterday. Same deficiencies, same demands for more than 150 years, isn't it grotesque?   Here...

...to lawmakers in St. Petersburg

Just to continue the previous post... so, what is the point in protesting against this horrible bill? Ok, I mean what can be the result? Actually, the bill won't become law until it's signed by the Governor.    So, here is a list of facts, based on the article on All Out (link here):  No. 1: St. Petersburg is one of Russia's number one tourist destinations. True. That's why an international storm of bad publicity will force the Governor to think twice about the cost of signing this bill. Worth the risk?  No. 2: Conservatives in St. Petersburg passed this "gay gag rule" despite condemnation from world leaders -...

Against the Russian "propaganda law"

Let's start with clarification: this is not an action organized by me, I did not even join but I show my support.  I do think it is important to say some words -- what is going on with this issue? It already became known that the governor of St. Petersburg (Georgiy Poltavchenko) signed the homophobic law (gay gag law) imposing administrative fines on the so-called "propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism" and paedophilia...

sexual preference

Oh yes, this picture tells exactly what I think :...

Cookie action on Women's Day

So, happy international women's day for yesterday! I think I already told you something about our plans for this "holiday". If yes, I'm going to repeat myself -- sorry about that. If you remember, some days ago we "celebrated" the pay gap day, and based on the inequalities we had a compensational idea. "We" in this case means the Women's Group at the Amnesty International Hungary -- our team gets more and more excited when thinking about actions...

Our lecture during the United Nations Conference

WOOOOOOTTT! We rock. That is the conclusion of today. I already told you about the presentation our Women's group at the Amnesty International was supposed to do. The conference was held in Piliscsaba, at Pázmány Péter University -- the whole event started at 10. We arrived just in time so we could even hear the previous lecturer.   The topic - maternal death - was quite hard, we did a lot of research in the past week and when we put...

Close The Gender Pay Gap!

So what is this about? What's this gap? The gender pay gap is the average difference between men's and women's hourly earnings. This gap reflects ongoing discrimination and inequalities in the labor market which, in practice, mainly affect women. Getting 17% less than you deserve? Women in Europe experience this everyday... so this day, the "pay gap day" is another opportunity to highlight the problem. In addition, our Women's Group at the Amnesty International organizes an event for women's day (March 8) that will also emphasize the inequalities. According to our plan, we will sell cookies and their prices will be in...

Amnesty International - 50 years

This commercial or let's just say video was made last years for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Amnesty International. 50 years passed but "we still have a long way to go"...  There is no concept why I post it now, perhaps just because I like the visual aspect of it.   ...

Fck normality

I found this picture on a facebook site and I felt inspired :P no, just joking... the message is simple yet clear... hate permanency, but love everything else...

Giving my first lecture at a university

Good news! Our Women's Group at the Amnesty International Hungary started it's work: several translations have already been made, we publish at least one post a day to our facebook page -- we already gathered some encouraged followers and likes. What's more: we (as representatives of AI) were invited to give a presentation on maternal death at Pázmány Péter Catholic University!! There is going to be a conference and exhibition over the Millennium...

6-day-long training on LGBTQ rights in the Balkans

It was yesterday when I applied. There is going to be a nearly week-long course on LGBTQ rights, focused on the queer community, held in Zagreb. I applied but on my own -- not as a representative of any NGO I regularly work for. Fortunately, accommodation and food will be provided, but I do have to pay for my travelling costs. Zagreb is not that far away from Budapest so I hope it is not going to be that expensive. So, I'm going to install a donation option for this blog. I'm not asking for money (or at least not directly), but whoever wants to support my work, I gladly welcome him/her and would be very grateful. :) thank you thank you. Organized by...

"So similar, so different, so European"

I've just found this short video on the facebook page of the European Commission. I don't think that it has a specific aim -- just wanted to show the colorfulness (yepp, besides awareness this is my second favorite expression). This is a simple, yet a quite important message if it is not the most important... so go on, watch this, pretty impressive! ...