5. mars 2006 - Gisberta, lokaorð

Ég ætla að ljúka umfjöllun minni um Gisbertu að sinni með því að benda á minningarbók um hana sem er komin á netið. Um leið hvet ég ykkur sem viljið sýna virðingarvott við minningu Gisbertu, að skrá ykkur í minningarbókina.

Það er hvatt til þess að haldin verði vaka til minningar um Gisbertu frammi fyrir kaþólskum kirkjum á miðvikudag. Ég veit ekki hvort það er nægilegur stuðningur við slíka minningarvöku, en vil heyra frá fólki um það mál, t.d. ef reynt yrði að hittast á Landakotstúni klukkan 21.00 um kvöldið. Ef ekki, er hægt að sameinast um slíka minningarathöfn í einhverri kirkju í kringum 19. nóvember 2006.

Ég læt bréfið sem ég fékk frá TGEU í gær óbreytt hingað inn.


Decide to support the appeal for a Vigil for Gisberta in your group and sign online at http://tgeu.net/:
(http://tgeu.net/Gisberta/VigilSupport/sign.cgi)

Maybe some groups could organise Vigils for Gisberta on 9th March in front of the local Dioceses / catholic churches in alliance with local L&G-groups?

The Steering-Committee of the European TransGender Network sent a protest letter to all the addresses suggested by aT. and Panteras Rosas yesterday.
Read it online at:
http://tgeu.net/Gisberta/Languages/Gisberta_News.htm -> "Protest Letters".

Jo (TransX)
Webmaster European TransGender Network
http://tgeu.net/ * tgeurope@tgeu.net

***

VIGIL FOR GISBERTA IN LISBON

Gisberta was tortured and sexually abused for days and then brutally murdered. The media have distorted her life story and have refused to show a photograph of her face. We can't allow her face, nor the nature of this crime, to be so easily forgotten as if it were an everyday occurrence.

She was a homeless, transsexual, HIV-positive, immigrant drug-abuser and sex-worker who was killed by young men and boys from a residence facility for at-risk youth. The nature of Gisberta's vulnerabilities and the so-called system of protection of minors in Portugal bring fully to light the pervasive marginalization and longstanding discriminatory attitudes that characterize Portuguese society.

A simple reaction of lowering the age of criminal liability is nothing more than the government washing its hands of the issue. Let the government take on the responsibility for at-risk youth that it has so far refused, instead of abandoning them to religious institutions and the inferior guidance they receive there. And let the government prosecute those who are of legal age.
But this hideous crime should not be minimized by focusing arguments just on the age of the perpetrators.