LGBT HISTORY MONTH EVENTS @ UCL

DEBATE: When should LGBT+ people be offered asylum in the UK? A Panel Discussion.

Friday 15 February, 6.30pm Lecture theatre 1, Cruciform building, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT. 5 expert panellists including:

Erin Power, Executive Director, UK & Immigration Group Paul Dillane, Amnesty International, Lord Avebury, campaigner and Liberal Democrat peer, Barry O’Leary solicitor (partner in Wesley Gryk Solicitors) PJ Samuels who has experienced this process first hand, will share their knowledge and views on the question of LGBTQ+ asylum.

The event is scheduled to last around 90 minutes and we are hosting a drinks reception after.

Last year, Ugandan parliamentary speaker Rebecca Kadaga, promised the death penalty for gays as a "Christmas present" to the Ugandan people. The infamous ‘Kill the Gays’ Anti-Homosexuality Bill is once again before parliament. (BBC 13 November 2012). How would you feel if this was in Britain? Would you try and leave? Uganda is one of 93 nations in the world to still legally punish homosexuality. In 7 of these – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Nigeria, Mauritania – the death penalty can be enforced.

The Nigerian parliament could pass one of the harshest anti-gay laws the world has ever seen – The Prohibition of Same-Sex Marriage Bill – carrying a maximum of 10 years in prison for living with someone of the same sex, 10 years in prison for supporting the idea of a pride march and 14 years in prison for trying to have a same-sex wedding. (Pink News 12 November 2012) “I feel terrible, traumatised. I am very afraid they are going to kill me.” (Olalekan Ayelokun quoted on the news of his forced return to Nigeria. The Independent, 5 October 2012)

If an ‘open door policy’ is arguably unworkable, how does the UK judge what level of persecution is bad enough? How do we ask those coming here to prove that they are LGBTQ+? Is there a real risk that the system of asylum is abused?

TO REGISTER: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/equalities/events/equality_events_2013.php

FILM: ‘Call me Kuchu’

Wednesday 6 February, 6pm, Gustave Tuck lecture theatre, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.

Linking with the panel discussion there will be a screening of the incredibly moving Call Me Kuchu (2012), a documentary looking at the lives of LGBT people in Uganda. The bill proposed to introduce the death penalty for gay people also criminalises those who don’t report suspected homosexually. The film highlights what it is like to be LGBTQ in a very homophobic society and the work of gay rights campaigner David Kato, murdered whilst the documentary was being made.

WE are joined by Kaleidoscope, a campaign group who work to uphold international LGBT human rights

Reviews for Call me Kuchu:

“Shocking, moving, enthralling and enraging.” ★ ★ ★ ★ Time Out

★ ★ ★ ★ The Financial Times

“Call Me Kuchu leaves you flabbergasted.” ★ ★ ★ ★ The Times of London

“A moving documentary.” [Read more] - The Economist

“The film-makers have turned what could have been a detached news report into a moving human tragedy.” ★ ★ ★ ★ [Read more] - The Guardian

TO REGISTER: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/equalities/events/equality_events_2013.php

If you would like further information or an electronic copy of this flyer please email [email protected]