France: Court rules that Twitter must hand over details of homophobic and anti-semitic users

in: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/01/25/france-court-rules-that-twitter-must-hand-over-details-of-homophobic-and-anti-semitic-users/

 

Twitter said it was reviewing the court's ruling which said it had to hand over details of posters of hate speech

 

 

 

Twitter has been ordered by a French court to hand over details of users who posted anti-semitic tweets, in what could be a significant move against homophobia, racism and anti-semitism in the country.

The Paris High Court ruled that Twitter must give details of users who posted offensive messages on the microblogging site, at the request of several anti-hate groups.

This comes after the the French Government recently suggested that Twitter should be fighting against homophobic, anti-semitic and racist tweets that potentially break its laws on hate speech.

In recent months, offensive hashtags have begun to trend including #SiMonFilsEstGay (if my son was gay), – users who used them speculated on the what pain, torture or other degrading treatment they would inflict on a gay child or other relative.

Others included #UnBonJuif (a good Jew), #UnJuifMort (a dead Jew), #SiMaFilleRameneUnNoir (if my daughter brings home a black man) and #SiJetaisNazi (if I were a Nazi) where users listed various fascist or racist acts they would perform.

Twitter could face fines of up to $1,300 (£825) for each day they fail to hand over details of the users’, if requested by the groups who sought the ruling, who have said they will not hesitate to do so.

As well as the fines, the court ordered twitter to set up a system in France to make it easier for users to flag illegal content. Under French law, people found guilty of inciting racial hatred can be jailed for a year, and fined.

“This is an excellent decision, which we hope will bring an end to the feeling of impunity that fuels the worst excesses,” said Stephane Lilti, lawyer for the groups who sought the ruling, reports Reuters.

The BBC reports that a spokesperson for Twitter said: “We are currently reviewing the court’s decision.”

The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism said: “This marks a decisive step forward in the battle against racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic offences on the Internet,

“Nobody can ignore French law, not even the giants of the American digital economy.”

“It is a major precedent and breakthrough in the attempt to balance privacy online with the need to combat hate speech,” Sacha Reingewirtz, vice president of the students’ union, told JTA.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/01/25/france-court-rules-that-twitter-must-hand-over-details-of-homophobic-and-anti-semitic-users/

Astro de Modern Family sofre homofobia no Facebook

in: http://www.techtudo.com.br/noticias/noticia/2012/11/astro-de-modern-family-sofre-homofobia-no-facebook.html

Homossexual assumido, o ator Jesse Tyler Ferguson está sofrendo com a perseguição de muitos internautas no Facebook. O astro do seriado Modern Family recentemente afirmou que apoia o casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo e, por isso, está recebendo muitas críticas de supostos fãs na rede social.

 Jesse Tyler Ferguson está sofrendo perseguição de internautas no Facebook por apoiar o casamento homossexual (Foto: Reprodução/Daily Dot)

 

Por meio de uma publicação em seu mural, o ator comentou a situação chata pela qual vem passando. Segundo Ferguson, nem mesmo o fato de ter se preparado para lidar com a pressão, por ser uma figura pública, foi o bastante para impedir que ele se irritasse com as críticas por conta de sua sexualidade. “Como um ator, aprendi que tenho que desenvolver uma pele forte, mas como um humano estou passando por um momento difícil. A quantidade de críticas que venho recebendo nos últimos dias por apoiar o casamento homossexual é cavalar”, criticou.

Jesse aproveitou ainda para destacar que não entende como há fãs que pensam de uma maneira "tão retrógrada" a ponto de atacá-lo simplesmente por sua opção sexual, e por apoiar a união estável entre pessoas do mesmo sexo. “Estou em choque e envergonhado de muitos dos meus ‘fãs’ por acreditarem que sou menos importante por causa de minha orientação sexual. Para quem se sente dessa forma, mostro a porta de saída tranquilamente e desejo boa sorte em suas jornadas”, escreveu o ator, em post que ganhou mais de duas mil curtidas e cerca de 60 compartilhamentos em poucas horas.

 

Ator desabafou sobre o caso no Facebook (Foto: Reprodução/Daily Dot)


http://www.techtudo.com.br/noticias/noticia/2012/11/astro-de-modern-family-sofre-homofobia-no-facebook.html

Catholic gay Italian priest comes out on Facebook

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/catholic-gay-italian-priest-comes-out-facebook171012


Italian Catholic priest Don Mario Bonfanti is making the headlines after having decided to 'reveal the truth' about being gay

A Catholic priest is now making the headlines in Italy after having decided to come out on Facebook on International Coming Out Day (11 October).

‘I am gay. Or, better, I am a happily gay priest,’ he stated.

Don Mario Bonfanti, 41, is a priest in Pagnano, near Lecco, in the Italian region of Lombardy. And his openness about his sexuality is something of a revolution.

Openly gay priests, in Italy, are a rarity. The Italian Catholic church is know for not being tolerant of LGBT people.

Bonfanti wrote on Facebook: ‘Truth makes us free, so Jesus said.

‘But, strangely, the Church denies this sentence. Catholic LGBT people must come out. They have to accept the truth.’

Last March, don Bonfanti was banned from another parish in Brianza, Lombardy, for having supported same-sex unions.

The local community defendend their priest, but the bishop did not change his mind and moved don Bonfanti to another church.

Now, a new group, with more than 1,200 followers, has been created on Facebook. ‘Io sto con don Mario’ (I support don Mario), is the name of the group.

Don Mario Bonfanti added: ‘I am happy in this way.’

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/catholic-gay-italian-priest-comes-out-facebook171012

U of A website exposes casual homophobia

in: http://thegatewayonline.ca/article/view/no_homophobia_campaign_spreads

A new website from the University of Alberta’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies & Services has gone viral in less than a week through an attempt to spread awareness of homophobic language.

The website tracks the tweets of people using the phrases “faggot,” “no homo,” “so gay,” and “dyke” — some of which have been tweeted more than 2,000,000 times since July 5. Kristopher Wells, assistant professor and associate director for the institute, launched the website on Sept. 26 in order to address what he calls “casual homophobia.”

In a matter of days, the website had hundreds of thousands of hits, and as word began to spread, so did the message Wells is trying to get across — that it’s time to stop tolerating homophobic language.

“This kind of casual homophobia is just no longer acceptable in our society. And that’s the primary objective of our campaign, is to call attention and ultimately extinguish the use of these harmful words,” he said.

“People need to stand up and account for their own conduct. We can’t make people change, but what we can do is try to raise that critical awareness to help them think twice before they use this kind of language without thinking that it causes harm.”

The most common use of casual homophobia, according to the website, is the word “faggot” — which has been used more than 2.5 million times.

“That’s not a word that’s used in too many positive contexts,” Wells said.

In light of social ignorance, Wells says the website is designed to reflect back the damaging uses of homophobic words in society.

“We know that the use of homophobic language still remains one of the few acceptable forms of discrimination in our society,” he said.

“It’s happening virtually every second of every day — you can’t even keep up with the number of tweets that are scrolling through the website. And that website is pulling in tweets from all over the English-speaking world, so it’s not just Alberta, that’s not just Canada or the United States.”

The website is designed to show all tweets carrying those key phrases, but Wells acknowledges context matters — something the website can’t track.

“Context matters — it always matters. That old nursery rhyme your parents used to tell you, that sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, is wrong. Words do hurt. Words have the power to shape identities,” he said.

“We don’t accept the fact that these words are harmless. What these words do, no matter who’s using them, is serve to reinforce stereotypes that are used as powerful weapons to defile and further marginalize gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.”

He added that an overwhelming majority of feedback so far has been positive — so much so that other groups have approached him asking to add sexist and racist terms, as well as terms discriminating against people with disabilities.

“I think people have seen the power of this kind of innovative campaign that blends together social media and public education,” he said.

“It’s surprising that a little website made here in Alberta, which some have often called the Texas of the North, with very conservative social values, could generate this kind of worldwide interest.”

Wells said there are plans for a television commercial to support the website, and also posters that will be hung in bus shelters and LRT stations around the city.

“They all serve the same purpose — to get people to the website to engage in conversation. It’s breaking the silence around these issues and talking about the impacts of casual homophobia that will end it,” he said.

http://thegatewayonline.ca/article/view/no_homophobia_campaign_spreads

All the Vatican’s Homophobia is Now Just One Mouse Click Away

http://www.queerty.com/all-the-vatican%E2%80%99s-homophobia-is-now-just-one-mouse-click-away-20110630/

Hankering for somewhere that brings all the Catholic Church’s condemnations of homosexuality together in one place? You’re in luck. The Vatican is introducing a new news information portal that aggregates all the antigay attacks in print, online, radio and television media in a single place. The new site, www.news.va, was personally overseen by Pope Benedict XVI.

The site debuted on the 60^th anniversary of Benedict’s ordination as a priest, which would ordinarily call for diamonds as the appropriate gift, but we figured that a guy who has red pumps probably already has everything he needs.

The goal of the site is to share the Vatican’s news, aka the finest thoughts of the 14^th century, with the world. It will even use social media, which promises to be the ecclesiastical equivalent of your great-aunt’s Facebook page. We will be interested to see what they do with the remaining 133 characters in their Tweets, once they’ve used up “gay” and “hell.”

Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli (no, we don’t know if he’s friends call him Mary for short), who heads the Vatican office that developed the portal, says it will help the Vatican’s ossified bureaucracy better understand how to communicate with the world. Benedict could use a little help in that area himself, having tripped repeatedly over his tongue, such as suggesting that condom distribution “even aggravates the problems” of the HIV epidemic—unlike, say the Vatican policy of preferring HIV infection to disease prevention.

It’s not just the rest of the world that the Vatican is trying to catch up with. It’s also its own rank and file. Many priests are already well versed in how to use the Internet, judging from the volume of them who have been accused of harboring child pornography on their computers.

Photo via Osservatore Romano

http://www.queerty.com/all-the-vatican%E2%80%99s-homophobia-is-now-just-one-mouse-click-away-20110630/