15.12.18 – Queer Tour of Whitechapel – Facebook event page click here .
Please get your tickets ASAP on Outsavvy here. Profits go to Amnesty International – Take action for Human Rights
Time : 12:00 to 1:00 pm
Meeting point: Altab Ali Park, Adler St, London E1 1HD
The upcoming ‘Queer Tour of Whitechapel’ focuses on Bangladesh LGBTQIA+ movements and welcomes Bangladeshi LGBTQIA+ people who are living in London and especially living in East London. The tour guide is Mazharul Islam – Attitude Pride Award Winner 2018 – one of the pioneer LGBT activists from Bangladesh who fled from his country immediately after the killing two of LGBT activists friends. This tour will give you a brief idea of Bangladeshi LGBT movements; How these movements started; what is the current situation of Bangladeshi LGBT movements, what is the future of Bangladeshi LGBT movements; how the Roopbaan Magazine was published; how the murder of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy took place in Bangladesh and what we here in London can do to support the Bangaldeshi queer community here and abroad. If you are interested to know more details please come and join us with this Whitechapel tour and email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com
With your tour guides: Mazharul Islam – Attitude Pride Award Winner 2018 / Olimpia /Sinthea / Dan Glass
Tour details:
12:00: Participants Arrival
12:00 to 12:05 Introduction
12:05 to 12: 20 visit place 1-Bangladesh LGBT movements
12:20 to 12:35 visit place 2- History of Boys only Bangladesh( First LGBT plat form of Bangladesh )
12:35 to 12:50 visit place 3- History of Roopbaan ( First LGBT Magazine of Bangladesh)
12:50 to 13:00 Quiz and Traditional Bangladeshi snacks distribution:
13:00 End the tour and closing remark from Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time
Amnesty International – Take action for Human Rights – ‘Hacked to death for defending LGBTIQ Rights’ – send a letter of support to Xulhaz’ family – click here.
Xulhaz Mannan and a colleague were in his apartment when men posing as couriers burst in wielding machetes. Both men were hacked to death in front of Xulhaz’s 75-year-old mother.
Xulhaz was a founder of Bangladesh’s only magazine dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) issues, a daring venture in a country where same-sex relations are illegal. His attackers are believed to belong to Ansar al-Islam, the same extremist group responsible for a spate of similar assaults on bloggers promoting atheism, feminism, science and other secular issues.
Over a year since the April 2016 attack, and despite evidence including eye witness testimony and CCTV footage, no one has been charged for the murders. On top of this slow police response, the government has shifted blame onto the victims. Shortly after Xulhaz’s murder, a government minister stated that movements promoting “unnatural sex” are not allowed in Bangladeshi society.
This reluctance or unwillingness to find and charge Xulhaz’s killers sends a devastating message to LGBTIQ activists and others who challenge the status quo with their work. As Xulhaz’s brother says, the police’s inaction shows that “the government is least bothered… and believes that ‘this’ issue [same-sex relations] has died with Xulhaz”.
Tell Bangladesh to bring Xulhaz’s killers to justice.
‘QUEER TOURS OF LONDON – A Mince Through Time’ exist to shine a light on London’s rich LGBTQI history through creative and life-affirming interactive tours – www.queertoursoflondon.com / @ queertoursoflondon@gmail.com
Xulhaz Mannan and a colleague were in his apartment when men posing as couriers burst in wielding machetes. Both men were hacked to death in front of Xulhaz’s 75-year-old mother.
Xulhaz was a founder of Bangladesh’s only magazine dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) issues, a daring venture in a country where same-sex relations are illegal. His attackers are believed to belong to Ansar al-Islam, the same extremist group responsible for a spate of similar assaults on bloggers promoting atheism, feminism, science and other secular issues.
Over a year since the April 2016 attack, and despite evidence including eye witness testimony and CCTV footage, no one has been charged for the murders. On top of this slow police response, the government has shifted blame onto the victims. Shortly after Xulhaz’s murder, a government minister stated that movements promoting “unnatural sex” are not allowed in Bangladeshi society.
This reluctance or unwillingness to find and charge Xulhaz’s killers sends a devastating message to LGBTIQ activists and others who challenge the status quo with their work. As Xulhaz’s brother says, the police’s inaction shows that “the government is least bothered… and believes that ‘this’ issue [same-sex relations] has died with Xulhaz”.
Tell Bangladesh to bring Xulhaz’s killers to justice.
‘QUEER TOURS OF LONDON – A Mince Through Time’ exist to shine a light on London’s rich LGBTQI history through creative and life-affirming interactive tours – www.queertoursoflondon.com / @ queertoursoflondon@gmail.com