Suchergebnisse

During the last few years, increasing sensitivity has been shown toward civil and sexual rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people in Chile. There are several reasons for this, which include, for example: the emergence of the student movement in 2006, which encouraged several social groups to demand recognition of their rights, and institutional support from the conservative government of Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014). From here, important steps in favor of the LGBT population where taken, making them more visible in the media, approving the antidiscrimination law in 2012, and creating the conditions for the approval of the civil union agreement in 2015 during Michelle Bachelet's tenure as president. Accordingly, this qualitative case study examines the symbolic dimension of LGBT civil rights discourse in the 10 years leading up to the approval of the civil union agreement in 2015. This research uses phenomenology as a broad conceptual umbrella, and Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality as methodological approaches. In this sense, this study is grounded in three interdisciplinary areas: Discourse Analysis, Queer Studies and the study of Social Movements. I have analyzed this political moment as the effect of a new relationship between homosexuality, the global market and liberal democracies using a concept which I call Homomercracia. My conclusion is that under these economic and political conditions, the commodification of homosexuality leads to the emergence of a regulated pattern of homosexuality—a white, male, socially successful professional—which, though widely accepted in Chilean society, is strongly marked by racial and economic biases.

Here is a photo-essay showcasing Taiwan's 21st Gay Pride event in Taipei, also known as Asia's largest visibility event for the LGBTQ+ community, with about 170,000 participants this year.

African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) organizations face various strategic dilemmas in contexts characterized by political hostility to gender and sexual dissidents. In Malawi, one such context, we examine how an LGBTIQ social movement organization (SMO) in Malawi, the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), navigated one particular strategic dilemma—the dilemma of whether to adopt a less politicized public-health approach or a more nimble, grassroots-oriented, and social-justice approach to their advocacy work—and the consequences of the organization's strategic decisions. Scholars interpret these approaches as signifying differential political engagement among organizations, with the social-justice approach indicating political engagement and the public-health approach signaling political disengagement. This difference has led critics to argue that a public-health approach is poorly suited to generating social and legal reform because it de-politicizes LGBTIQ issues over time, while a social-justice approach exerts constant pressure on political and religious elites. Drawing on qualitative interview data with Malawian LGBTIQ activists and news media data reflecting public debate around homosexuality in the country, we illuminate how this SMO metamorphosed from an organization ostensibly focused only on public health and HIV/AIDS to one that advances social justice for gender and sexual dissidents. We argue for an understanding of the indigenous development of a hybrid strategy integrating the public-health and social-justice approaches.

The importance of demarcating gender and sexually diverse populations in structural social work theory is discussed from a differently centred cultural group perspective highlighting distinct qualities that fall outside normative gender identities and heterosexuality. Historical oppression experienced by these populations has likened their inclusion in structural social work theory yet the continued marginalization of these populations and associated implications are not to be lost sight of. A means of bringing currency to structural social work theory with regard to these populations is to embrace liberationist goals taking intersectionality into consideration. Such goals are in alliance with the social work values of acceptance, self-determination and respect working towards social justice and emancipation, and go far beyond the rights-claims equality agenda that sustains a slightly varied hegemony, giving the social location of gender and sexually diverse groups relevancy and viability on the structural landscape of social work.

AbstractWe study the external influence of social capital, measured by Facebook's (now Meta) Social Connectedness Index, on a firm's decision to adopt policies that promote a more diverse corporate environment. Recent studies find corporate policies that embrace sexual diversity are beneficial to firms and their stakeholders, thereby contributing to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business sustainability. We find that firms with a high social network centrality are more likely to adopt policies and business strategies that support sexual diversity. Moreover, firms that adopt good CSR practices are more likely to implement more inclusive policies such as sexual diversity policies. This provides for a more comfortable work environment for the LGBT+ community. However, we also find that firms reduce their adoption of inclusive policies during times of economic uncertainty, supporting the pessimistic view that firms decrease window dressing activities during economic downturns when governance is tightened, and resources are scarce. We attribute this phenomenon to the exploitation of agency benefits by managers.