Events

2015

November 18, 2015, 
Manchester, UK
And Still We Rise, Manchester Memorial University, Institute of Humanities and Social Science Research, Panel: Nancy Nicol, Phyllis Waugh, Kay Lalor. Moderated by John Binnie and Christian Klesse. https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/hlss/about-us/events/detail/index.php?id=4373

November 17, 2015
Manchester, UK
No Easy Walk To Freedom, Manchester Memorial University, Institute of Humanities and Social Science Research, Panel: Nancy Nicol, Phyllis Waugh, Kay Lalor. Moderated by John Binnie and Christian Klesse.
https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/hlss/about-us/events/detail/index.php?id=4372

November 15, 2015
Glasgow, UK
And Still We Rise and No Easy Walk To Freedom, Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities, led by the School of Advanced Study, University of Londonin partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council, the British Academy and the Wellcome Trust. Panel (And Still We Rise): Nancy Nicol, Junic Wambya, Richard Lusimbo. Panel (No Easy Walk To Freedom):Nancy Nicol, Arvind Narrain, Phyllis Waugh. Moderator: Matthew Waites. Presented by Glasgow Human Rights Network with partners Document Human Rights Film Festival, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, Radical Film Network, Centre for Contemporary Arts. http://www.crfr.ac.uk/lgbti-human-rights-activism-and-film/

November 14, 2015
London, UK
No Easy Walk To Freedom, Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities, led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London in partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council, the British Academy and theWellcome Trust. Panel: Nancy Nicol, Arvind Narrain. Moderator Corinne Lennox. Bertha DocHouse, Curzon Bloomsbury Cinema. http://www.dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/no-easy-walk-freedom-uk-premiere-qa 

November 13, 2015
London, UK
And Still We Rise, Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities, led by theSchool of Advanced Study, University of London in partnership with theArts & Humanities Research Council, the British Academy and theWellcome Trust. Panel: Nancy Nicol, Junic Wambya, Richard Lusimbo. Moderator Corinne Lennox. Bertha DocHouse, Curzon Bloomsbury Cinema. http://www.dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/event-participatory-documentary-filmmaking-lgbti-activism

 September 29th
9:00- 12:00 
Envisioning LGBT Refugee Rights in Canada:Is Canada a Safe Haven? Report Launch 
At 519 Church St, Toronto (2nd Floor, The Ballroom) 
Click here to access the agenda for the event.   

2014

 June 25-27 
Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights at World Pride 
World Pride Human Rights Conference, University of Toronto
Click here for more information on the conference.

 Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights brought 17 leading international activists to present five panels at the World Pride Human Rights Conference, as follows:
June 25, 9:00 - 10:30, "Is Canada a Safe Haven for LGBT Refugees?"
June 26, 9:00 - 10:30, "Challenging the Colonial Anti-Sodomy Law Legacy"
June 26, 10:45 - 12:15, "We Are Here: LGBTI Resilience and Resistance in Uganda"
June 26, 1:30 - 3:00, "Botho: LGBT Lives in Botswana"
June 27, 10:45 - 12:15, "Telling Our Stories: LGBT Lives in the Caribbean"

 June 24
Opening reception for "Imaging Home: Resistance, Migration, Contradiction"
Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights in collaboration with the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
For more information, click on the tab above entitled: "Imaging Home"
34 Isabella Street
Toronto

June 1
Film Premiere - World premiere of "No Easy Walk to Freedom," 
Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival
TIFF Bell Lightbox
350 King St. W
Toronto

 Film premiere followed by a panel with director Nancy Nicol and guests: Junic Wambya, ED Freedom and Roam Uganda; Ponni Arasu, lawyer with Voices Against 377; and Helen Kennedy, ED Egale Canada.

For more information click the tab above, titled: "No Easy Walk to Freedom."
Distributor: Vtape 416.351.1317, info@vtape.org

 2013

 November 21
LGBT Equality Litigation in the Caribbean - Panel Presentation
Osgoode Hall Law School
York University

 The panel discussed struggles in the Caribbean against laws introduced by British colonialism that criminalize same-gender intimacy. The panelists included Caribbean leaders who are working to advance LGBT rights in the Caribbean. They discussed the work and history of LGBT activism in Jamaica and Belize as well as current litigation to advance LGBT rights. As part of the presentation, videographer Ulelli Verbeke showed the Guyana video "Sade's Story".

Nancy Nicol speaks about Envisioning research and participatory videos in progress with LGBT partner organizations in the Caribbean. Maurice Tomlinson speaks about legal cases in Jamaica, Belize, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the influence of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in human rights jurisprudence across the region.  Tomlinson is Legal Advisor with AIDS-Free World and Lecturer at UOIT.

Caleb Orozco speaks about the constitutional challenge to Section 53 of the Belize Criminal Code, "carnal intercourse against the order of nature," in which he is the litigant. Orozco, Executive Director of Belize LGBT rights group UniBAM, discusses obstacles and strategies for the movement. He shows a video clip from UniBAM's participatory video research with Envisioning.

Brian-Paul Welsh speaks on the history and evolution of Jamaican LGBT rights group J-FLAG. He shows an excerpt from J-FLAG's participatory video research in partnership with Envisioning. Welsh is a law student and Advocacy Coordinator with J-FLAG and CariFLAGS, leading LGBT rights groups in the Caribbean.

 June 26
Book Launch, Panel and Video Presentation: Sexuality, Repression and the Law
Book Launch: Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change. 
Corinne Lennox and Matthew Waites (eds.)
School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2013

 The panel presentation by the co-editor and contributors to an innovative new book, with members of Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights, examined contemporary struggles for societal change, in response to British colonial laws that criminalize people on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. As well, the panel examined Envisioning research on the experience of LGBT people seeking asylum in Canada, particularly in light of recent changes to Canadian immigration and asylum laws.

Nancy Nicol gives an introduction and overview of Envisioning. Moderator Debbie Douglas introduces the speakers. Matthew Waites, co-editor, speaks on key findings from the book, focusing on what can be learned from movements in the global South. Gary Kinsman, chapter author, speaks about the history in Canada of ending its own version of the British law against same-sex conduct (1969).
Monica Tabengwa and Nancy Nicol, chapter co-authors, speak about the history of LeGaBiBo: Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals of Botswana and its constitutional challenges to the criminalization of same-sex conduct in Botswana. Tabengwa (Human Rights Watch) speaks about the effects of criminalization on LGBT people in Africa. Nicol screens the Envisioning video Botho: LGBT Lives in Botswana. 
Marcela Romero speaks about conditions facing trans people in Latin America. Romero is the Pride Toronto International Grand Marshal for 2013, and Regional Coordinator for Latin American and Caribbean Network of Transgender People. Nick Mulé and a representative of Pride Uganda Alliance International speak on preliminary findings from Envisioning’s research regarding LGBT asylum seekers and refugees in Toronto, as well as changes to Canadian immigration policy.

 2012

 September 12
Focus on Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana
Toronto

 This community panel and video screening brought Envisioning videographers from Kenya and Uganda to discuss LGBTI issues and show video clips from the work in progress. The research has since been edited into video shorts that can be found under "Our Work". The videos below provide an opportunity to see parts of the research that are not included in the shorts and to hear directly from the researchers and videographers on the work in progress.

Kenya: Caroline Kaara, Envisioning videographer, speaks about the work of Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), discussed in the video clips by several speakers. The homophobic views of two religious leaders are exposed, and are later countered in a clip by an activist: "God is a god of diversity." Conditions facing MSM sex workers are explored by a sex worker and by leaders of organizations that do MSM outreach.
Uganda: Junic Wokuri, Director, Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), and Envisioning videographer, speaks about the research and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. Video clips feature: leading activists Kasha Jacqueline, Victor Mukasa, and retired Bishop Christopher Senyonjo; Mac, a trans man and Beyoncy, a trans woman speaking on discrimination; and footage of the first Uganda Gay Pride in 2011.
Botswana: Nancy Nicol, Envisioning Principal Investigator, talks about Envisioning's participatory video process. She speaks about the work of Botswana partner LeGaBiBo, and their attempts to challenge the Penal Code. Nicol introduces the Tswana concept of botho (respect) and shows two video clips. A customary court judge and a young trans man speak about a variety of issues, including gender and sexual variance in relation to Botswana society. Judge: "We have to dig deeper and get into the concept of botho."

February 3-6
International Dialogue and Training on LGBT Human Rights: Focus on Strengthening the Caribbean Response and Linking Regional and International Advocacy Around the World.
St. Lucia
Final Report 

Organized by ARC International, Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights and United and Strong. The Dialogue was a four-day international conference and capacity enhancement workshop, with 60 participants from the Caribbean, South Pacific, Africa, India, the US, Canada and Europe, held in Saint Lucia. The agenda included workshops on: documenting Human Rights violations; sharing decriminalization strategies; international human rights mechanisms; current status of SOGI advocacy, achievements and challenges; international, regional and local strategies, building respectful partnerships;  Envisioning partners meeting, video training and documentation of the dialogue and caucus on law, political strategies, public education, religion/tradition/culture.

2011

October 7
Sexuality and Queer Politics in India: The Indian Experience - Panel Discussion
Toronto 
Gautam Bhan is a queer rights activist who was part of Voices Against Sec. 377, a coalition that was one of the petitioners in the legal case. He reflects upon the queer movement in India in the late 1990s and 2000s.

Sexuality and Queer Politics in India: The Indian Experience, Part 2 (24 min) 
Naisargi N. Dave, University of Toronto, speaks about queer activist debates in the struggle against Sec. 377 and queer theorizations of the relationship between law and society.

July 5
International Association for the Study for Forced Migration (IASFM) conference: Governing Migration
Kampala, Uganda
LGBT Identities, Governance, and Asylum. Panel by Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights, organized by Jennifer Hyndman, York University.
Adrian Jjuuko, the Coordinator, Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (Kampala), discusses the relevant laws and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. "I looked at the IASFM definition of forced migration, including... people displaced by natural and environmental disasters, chemical and nuclear disasters. I'm not sure whether this includes legal disasters. That's what we have here."

Robert Lidstone, PhD candidate, York University, looks at challenges facing asylum seekers from countries such as Uganda. For instance, in deciding whether a claim is genuine, Immigration and Refugee Board members often "look at North American gay middle class identity and project it onto the rest of the world."

Hassan Shire, Eastern Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Kampala. Shire explains that in addition to the laws, "Defenders working in Africa seeking to protect rights of sexual minorities face additional challenges due to the fact that society and mainstream human rights defenders often do not recognize the universal application of human rights."

Nancy Nicol, Principal Investigator, Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights, gives an overview of the planned research, looking at impacts of British colonial laws criminalizing "carnal intercourse against the order of nature," and the movements to resist them. "We have a participatory action research model, that is, the participants in the research are involved in the co-production of knowledge throughout the project."
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