Months ago we heard of homophobia was inside Xbox Live, when a user was banned for being a lesbian. Or at least say so openly. And after his complaint other users said they had been banned for his homosexuality.

According to Microsoft, what happened is that they not use words like gay or lesbian for users not to use them in a derogatory manner. Which is quite correct, but both can be read as we believe that these words are insults.

Well, a year later, Xbox Live and allows you to specify your gender and your sexual orientation. If you like, of course, that does not now require that you leave the closet. Since for many people and many in the world of video games still underrepresented homosexual, and a hostility, in general, towards homosexuals.

According to the new and improved code of conduct allowed the words gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight. All other terms to describe your sexual orientation, are considered insults, so can not be used.

The International Women’s Day has its origins in the international socialist women’s movement of the late nineteenth century, which “was intended solely to promote the struggle for voting rights for women, without any restriction on the level of wealth, property or education. ”

Definitely established as International Women’s Day, what is now commemorated every March 8 was also born as the International Day of Working Women to commemorate the struggle of women for their participation on an equal footing with man-o rather the man-in society and their full development as a person.

Industrial Revolution arose in the middle of the day was associated at first with the labor movement and then, even world-peace deal with the advent of the First World War and international solidarity between women.

The anti-war aspect had already been reflected in the struggle waged in ancient Greece by Lysistrata, who initiated a sexual strike against men to end the war.Then she saw her reflection in the French Revolution, when the Parisian women calling for “liberty, equality, fraternity” marched on Versailles to demand women’s suffrage also. It was not until the early twentieth century when they began to proclaim, from different international space left, holding a specific period of struggle for women and their rights.

Peace and equality

In the context of movements for peace that emerged on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day last Sunday in February 1913. In the rest of Europe, women held rallies around 8 March of next year to protest the war or to express solidarity with other women.

In 1917, in response to the 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike in demand for “bread and peace”. Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

The claim now

Today, nearly a century after it won the right to vote, women’s movements not only continue their struggle with this first step towards equal citizenship of women relative to men in a dominant patriarchal society, but have added new targets .

Violence against women manifested in myriad forms is one of the main issues that the feminist movement today is responsible for disseminating a dent in public opinion and government bodies must ensure the protection of all citizens.

Each and every one

Also, the feminist struggle now includes lesbians and bisexuals, transgender women, sex workers and largely advocates a departure from fundamentalist religions (including Catholic, especially the Catholic) public policy, as decider component to ensuring their legitimate rights.

Throughout the Western world, the Christian religions are opposed to the recognition of the equality of women and sexual minorities. This reactionary stance is one that leads to eternal conflicts today on the right to free decision on the termination of pregnancies, an issue with strong arguments that should not be taken lightly-or recognition as women to female transsexuals.

So, too, several movements have recently taken the initiative of apostasy, a collective resignation and request to Catholicism to be erased from their records of baptism and the Church speaks prevent and intervene on behalf of them.

The current struggle is also reverse the femicide and the systematic practice of physical and verbal violence, abductions and trafficking. Year after year thousands of women die worldwide victims of brutal beatings within their homes or in areas of imprisonment imposed by force. In the past those that run “better luck” are those that maintain life but are forced to provide sexual services against their will.Absolutely all have been deprived of their liberty unlawfully removed from their families by erasing all traces of their existence.

In Muslim countries is even worse submission. Women are little more than objects that serve only to decorate the homes based on the macho culture of paternalism. Even Latin American indigenous cultures have been tainted with the customs post colonial and today, in those societies that have traditionally yielded respect for women, there was a significant increase in violence against them.

In the struggle for equality of sexual diversity

It is also fair to remember that the movements for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) have been supported in their struggle for feminist peers.

One of the closest and most recent example is Cuba, where the women’s movement led by Vilma Espin, sister-and mother of Fidel Castro Mariela Castro, head of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), daughter of current president.

The feminist movement took up the cause as a homosexual and was largely authored many of the achievements in the island for the rights of sexual diversity and a government initially averse to sexual minorities, including the decriminalization of homosexuality and the recognition of gender identity for transsexuals.

It is fair to say that, at a time when we are waiting for the National Congress approves the so-called gay marriage, the effective fight for the opening of this civil institution for same-sex couples (gay or lesbian) was initiated by two courageous women Claudia Castro and Maria Rachid. Both militant feminists and lesbians who were eager to put the body and face an amparo, which today is multipilca dozens across the country-so that justice should decide that any and all citizens have equal rights to form a family with the subsequent recognition of the state.

The initiative of Mary and Claudia are translated into today’s two gay couples already married, and with all the legal scope that entails-and the debate, both in the Supreme Court and in Congress to amend the legislation so that the civil marriage is no longer a right for heterosexual couples only.

“Celebration, commemoration or constant struggle?

Faced with all these arguments is good to stop and think whether on 8 March, then, is a day for celebration or reflection. Everything seems to indicate the latter.

Although there was nothing wrong with the courage to congratulate them along have long been known, the really important part of all who are women is not to say that we are with them in their struggle, we joined their cause as they have done with ours and that, fundamentally, to engage “each in his place-to build and realize a more dignified, more equal and fairer for all.

Carlos Gardel was one of the most popular artists in history, both locally and internationally and is still a symbol for Buenos Aires. The museum is housed in the last house the singer lived in Buenos Aires.

Gardel was born in 1890 in Toulouse, France, and arrived in Buenos Aires with his mother two years later. He grew up in the Abasto neighborhood, where in the 1910s began to sing songs and milongas later became a pioneer of tango-song. His singing is still canonical.

Gardel recorded albums and movies filmed in Latin America, Europe and the United States also composed themes that became classics, like “El dia que me quieras”, “Arrabal amargo”, “Volver” and “Cuesta abajo.

He died in a plane crash in Medellin, Colombia in 1935. He is buried in Chacarita cemetery, where his tomb can be visited.

He bought the house which now houses the museum in 1927 to his mother, Berta, with whom he shared it until 1933, when he left the country last. The building (a house sausage) is typical of the first half of the twentieth century.

The museum (under the government of Buenos Aires) exhibits personal objects of Gardel and examples of his work.

Technical data:
Location: Jean Jaurès 735
Neighborhood: Abasto
Web: www.museos.buenosaires.gov.ar / gardel.htm

Atlantis Events announced the first gay-themed cruise that will make a route from the port of Shanghai, through Taiwan and Japan and it will go back to Hong Kong. In the route it will also get to the Chinese port of Busan.

The Taiwanese gay community expects the authorities to provide for this group, the same welcome that is usually given to the rest of the cruise at their arrival in port, the famous lion dance, drums and fireworks. In Taiwan, gays are gaining visibility gradually, but still face many obstacles, especially to develop their own services for their community. Much more difficult is the situation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians in China. The arrival of nearly 350 homosexual couples will be, no doubt a shock to society.

While a single act generally does not cause major changes, moreover in the stage of the long Chinese history, local LGBT people has echoed the first arrival of a gay cruise to China next March. This is proved by publications and blogs from the community, as the blog Aibai.com and other organizations defending the rights of gays and lesbians in China.

http://www.atlantisevents.com/cruises_2010_shanghai.aspx

[By Carlos Pacheco | La Nación] Two men find each other thirty years after they met. An intense love story united them then. And although there was no chance that it would develop, both keep it in their memory and now aim at fulfilling the promise made when, very young, they separated, to meet again one day a year at a certain time and place that witnessed moments they could not forget since.

Released in the 80’s, Prince Charming is, above all, a piece of sensitive characters realizing the utter impossibility of living in depth a love story between men. But also, from these beings, Eugenio Griffero reveals convulsive inner worlds that have not even managed to develop personally, and for whom, to hold an old memory is like an anchor in the lives they lead. The nostalgia does not stop this act of daily life, on the contrary, it strengthens it, although many things that surround the characters are very much linked to the decline.

The musical version that has just opened in Los Angeles Multiespacio (Corrientes 1764, Buenos Aires – Saturday, 22 hs.) reads the piece more directly and, although from the outset stresses the gay history, that does not make you lose the original primitive qualities. Ruben Cuello as director knows how to sustain this mystery surrounding the characters and that has to do with who they are at present in the scene. His memories are poignant, and songs, very limited and used only to emphasize certain situations, do not break with a flowing action, especially because the relationship between the two interpreters is growing stronger as the drama moves forward.

It was the first public cemetery in the city; today it is the most elegant and aristocratic. Heroes of Independence, presidents, politicians, soldiers, scientists, artists and celebrities are buried in its almost six hectares.

In the early eighteenth century, the Recoletos monks settled in the land, where in 1732 they erected the Church of Pilar, one of the oldest preserved Buenos Aires.

In 1822, after the expulsion of monks as a consequence of the Ecclessiastical Order General Reform reform of ecclesiastical, the convent garden became a public cemetery.

Its layout was designed by French engineer Catelin Prospero, and was remodeled in 1881, during Torcuato de Alvear’s office as quartermaster, by architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo.The Italian sculptor Giulio Monteverde made the Christ that presides the chapel.

In Recoleta there are the remains, among others, of Rosas and Quiroga warlords and political enemies of the nineteenth century; presidents Sarmiento, Mitre, Yrigoyen; the first lady and political leader Eva Perón; writers José Hernández, Bioy Casares, Silvina Ocampo, Girondo, Mallea; of Nobel Prize winners Federico Leloir (chemistry) and Saavedra Lamas (peace).

Many of the vaults and mausoleums were the work of important architects and are adorned with sculptures. More than 90 vaults have been declared a National Historic Landmark.

Location: Junín 1760
Neighborhood: Recoleta
Inauguration: 1822
Hours: daily 8 to 18.
Buses: 5, 10, 17, 37, 38, 39, 41, 59, 60, 61, 62, 67, 75, 92, 93, 95, 101, 102, 106, 108, 110, 124, 130, 152.

From October 23 to February 22, 2010
Andy Warhol, Mr. America
Guest curator Philip Larratt-Smith
Room 5 (2nd floor) and room 3 (1st floor)

Malba – Fundación Costantini has the honor to announce Mr. America, the first major exhibition of Andy Warhol in our country. Organized in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and curated by Philip Larratt-Smith, the exhibition presents a selection of 170 works, featuring the popular and political culture of the United States through Warhol’s eyes.

A retrospective mode, list of works includes 26 paintings, 58 prints, 39 photographs and 2 installations (Cow Wallpaper and Silver Clouds), plus-44 films that will be shown in cinemas and in the audience belonging to different stages of their artistic production, with particular emphasis on the period 1961 to 1968. Other pieces include the famous portraits of Marilyn, Jackie Kennedy and Mao;the iconic Campbell Soup series, his self-portraits in drag, the films Empire, Blow Job, Outer and Inner Space, and a vast selection of “Screen Tests” -3 roll with 10 pictures each, produced in his famous studio The Factory.

Useful Information – Schedules
Thursday through Monday and holidays from 12:00 to 20:00.
Wednesday till 21:00. Tuesday closed.
Entrance up to 30 ‘before closing.

Casa Brandon is a space created by Brandon parties’ organizers, where you can watch movies, videos, music, enjoy art related to sexual diversity (paintings and photographs), eat, have a drink.

What started out as a group of four friends sporadically organizing GLBTQ nomade parties at several venues, continued with film screenings, literature readings, until it grew to a size of 8000 people, who to this day visit and are part of Casa Brandon.

Brandon is an alternative cultural space where filmmakers, several visual artists, poets, dramaturgs, designers, digital artists, musicians, professionals and art/culture students meet to develop and expand ourselves. In the first place, we share the bond of being queer, but most importantly we meet to share our interests and those other identities that make us: artistic exploration, intellectual projects, aesthetic tastes and political activism.

www.brandongayday.com.ar

Two years after the submission of the first defense of the right to marry by María Rachid and Claudia Castro (which is now in the Supreme Court of the Nation), and one year of the picnic held in Rosario by Oscar Marvich and Martin Peretti Scioli, the Argentinian Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (FALGTB) calls for a “Meeting for Family Diversity and the Rights of Same-Sex Couples.”

The proposal is for Saturday 14 February, with a picnic in the park that surrounds the Planetarium of Buenos Aires (Sarmiento y Figueroa Alcorta Av.), at 3 pm. and at 2 pm at  the Sexual Diversity Walk in Rosario.

During the event, the portal the portal “The Same Love” will be presented (www.elmismoamor.org), main platform of the 2009 campaign for the Right to Marriage for Same-Sex Couples proposed by the organization and its collaborators during this year.

The Federation calls on all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity to attend the event and share an evening with those who celebrate diversity and support the proposal of a society where each and every family can form desired. “This “picnic” meeting is for everyone: gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, trans, teens, adults, men and women who wish to join our fair demand for marriage rights for all”, said Maria Rachid concerning the call, president of the FALGBT, and added: “It is time to move forward with concrete actions towards legal equality for all families.”

Both picnics will feature the couples whose protections were presented by the Federation in both cities and recognized figures in politics and culture.

Only 2 hours from Buenos Aires, Gualeguaychú, scene of the largest open-air show in Argentina, has been entrenched among the favorite tourist destinations of Entre Rios. After several months of silent preparation, as summer brings the calendar date of the Carnival of the Country, the streets glow in bright colors, the joy is in the air, magic fills the air, the rhythm vibrates in bodies, and all marches towards a single center: the gateway of the city “Corsódromo”.

There are five traditional troupes in Gualeguaychú: Marí Marí, O’Bahía, Kamarr, Papelitos, Ara Yevi, but three are competing in each unearthing of King Momo, Saturday after Saturday between January and February, as thousands of expectant eyes seek to break with the daily routine in search of freedom and fun. The champion will have the privilege of a comeback the following year to defend its place and deserved recognition against the other two groups.

The Carnival of the Country is the area where the most diverse feelings find their expression and channel space between drums, feathers and sequins. Carnival is thematic carriages on the runway, bands and drummers adding sound to the moment, decoration and adornments dazzling the spectators, wonderful silhouettes wearing splendid costumes, majestic designs extolling the creatives, multiplied smiles, dances, spontaneous, inevitable hums … that and much more.

More than one night… more than an event than a festival… more than a rite… An indescribable experience that can only be understood by anyone who has experienced the Carnival of the Country.