Hop Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia 2015

Happy weekend everyone.

Today, May 17th, is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia. Like a lot of authors — and in my case for the second time — I participate in the Hop Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia 2015.

You’ll find the complete list, with links, at the bottom of this post. Be sure to check them out, because they deserve your support, and most of them give away swag and/or books. As will I.

As I said, this is the second year I participate in this blog hop. Has anything changed? I think so.

Mind you, there is still a lot of injustice and even tragedy. Young people get thrown out of their house by cruel and ignorant persons. I call them persons because they don’t deserve the title of parent. And I’m sure a lot of young, very young and not so young people are bullied on a daily basis.

And yet…

And yet I get the impression — though I have to admit it’s just a gut feeling — that at least the awareness of this cruelty and injustice is growing and the voices against them get louder.

Just one example.

The Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri has been released from her contract with Opera Australia after an anti-gay rant on her Facebook page provoked an angry backlash on social media and an online petition that drew more than 4,600 signatures.

In a Facebook post, now deleted, the soprano wrote a letter to the Georgian President, describing the gay rights movement as “the West’s fecal masses,” and “sewage.” This woman actually praised those who violently attacked participants of a gay rights parade in Tbilisi. She described them as “Georgian youth of pure blood.” Yeah, “pure blood.” Where have we heard that before? “I was quite proud of the fact how Georgian society spat at the parade. Often, in certain cases, it is necessary to break jaws in order to be appreciated as a nation in the future, and to be taken into account seriously,” the diva added.

When an enormous backlash with thousands of posts on all kinds of social media occurred, Iveri tried to blame her husband who she said had written the post on her Facebook page and who is “a very religious man with a tough attitude towards gay people.” Though? The cowardly singer not only hid behind her husband, but also seemed to think that being religious is enough of an excuse to be cruel and spread hate against an innocent group of people, and to physically hurt them. Who knows? Maybe it is. Let me check my history books.

Iveri was booked to sing Desdemona in Otello from July 5 to August 2, 2014 by Opera Australia in Sydney. But that didn’t happen as the she was released from her contract.

I’m a little bit proud to add that in my own country, Belgium, La Monnaie – De Munt theatre in Brussels dropped Iveri from its production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Màschera. She was scheduled to sing… this month, May 2015. As general director Peter de Caluwe put it: “I wish to stay loyal to my very intimate conviction that we cannot tolerate intolerance, of whatever kind.”

And what, you may ask, was the diva’s reaction? Like most bigots who spread hate and advocate physical violence against innocent people… she was hurt.

In another Facebook status she said to be “immensely saddened and hurt by the campaign which is now being mounted against me.”  Like most perpetrators she tried to play the victim. It would be funny if it weren’t so revolting.

Then again, more and more bigots are called to account for their poisonous hate-mongering. And that is why I think participating in this blog hop is useful. That is why I’d like to ask you to support the Hop Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia 2015 as well. Support the agenda. Encourage your friends and family to join the blog hop. Get the word out through Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and any other social media platform you can think of.

Together we can change the world for the better.

And now for a chance to win that prize I promised.

In my series Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse I have tried to create a world where being gay doesn’t matter all that much. I’ve also tried to create characters who will stand up against oppression and injustice.

Bonds of Hate, the first book of the Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse series is now free on Amazon (most regions), Apple, Barnes&Noble, ARe, Kobo and Inktera. So, I’m giving away three sets of the second and the third volume of the trilogy, Bonds of Fear & Bonds of Blood.

To be entered in the drawing, please put a link in the comment section below to a post on your blog, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, Facebook, or any social media you can think of, promoting the hop.

This contest ends midnight May 24th, 2014 PST.

The winners will be announced in a separate post on this website after the 24th, no later than the May, 31st.

If you see your name among the winners, please contact me through the form on this site. Basically you’re sending me an email, but only I will be able to see your email address. Which is convenient, since I will have somewhere to send your prize. Please, don’t forget to mention which format you’d like, mobi (kindle compatible) or epub.

Participants in the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia 2014 event