We need your stories about discrimination for EHRC (46)

Do you have experience of being discriminated against or abused due to your sexuality (or sexual interests)? Do you have experience of being afraid because of your sexuality (or interests), please tell us that too (for example if you believe the only reason you haven't met discrimination is because you keep your interests secret, or have lied about them)? Please talk to CAAN!

PLEASE SHARE THIS REQUEST WIDELY You can use this public weblink to tweet or share it: http://consentingadultactionnet.spaces.live.com/...

As part of Consenting Adult Action Network's ongoing discussions with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, one fair point was raised - we do not have properly documented evidence of instances of human rights abuse and discrimination against consenting adults on the basis of interest or private practice of BDSM/fetish and other interests which are not already under the law illegal to discriminate on the basis of, such as swingers, poly people, and so on.

EHRC want evidence of people being denied human rights afforded to others. So CAAN is putting together an initial handbook about discrimination and human rights abuse faced by people with an 'alternative' sexuality,who are not already acknowledged under laws which protect 'orientation' (ie the gender of our partners). We need your evidence.

There are several areas where we feel that such discrimination is worth documenting:

- in your personal life: friends, relatives and colleagues simply dismissing you as a “perve”, or being afraid to come out, or worse, attacks against you because of your interests;

- in your work life: being warned that your private sex life may be conduct that brings your company into disrepute, or being sacked because of your sexuality or interests;

- in your legal relationships: the threat of your private sex life being introduced into divorce proceedings, or losing contact with children because of it.

- you may have experiences in other areas, please still submit your story.

WE NEED YOUR STORIES ABOUT DISCRIMINATION AND MARGINALISED CONSENSUAL ADULT SEXUALITY / INTERESTS

Please give as much information as possible. We've created a structure below in case this is helpful to some people, but really we just want your stories as you give them, so don't feel you need to use the below structure. Please feel free to write as much or as little as you like.

YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WILL NOT BE SHARED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION, BUT PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THE ANONYMOUS STORIES ARE FOR PUBLICATION

1. Contact details (email address or other). If you really don't wish to be contacted we will respect that, but may not be able to use your story if you cannot verify certain things which may arise in followup.*

2. Who are you

a. name (if you wish to give it)

b. pseudonym

c. role, if relevant (eg Freda Bloggs, primary school teacher)?

3. Who has discriminated against you or denied your human rights on the grounds of your sexuality and sexual interests? Or who do you fear will do so?

4. Describe the discrimination or abuse you have experienced, or that you fear you will experience.

5. Where did this happen, or where do you fear it will happen? If it has or could occur in more than one location, please let us know. eg in the workplace, and at a work social event).

6. When did it happen, or do you think it will happen? If it happened more than once, please state for each incident.

7. Why do you think it happened? what things have made this discrimination possible, what is the cause?

8. What details may we use? Let us know what details maybe used and what not. eg your name, name of employer, etc.

*You do not have to give contact details or real names,but it may be helpful.

WHERE TO SEND IT

Please send your response to info@caan.org.uk

Background reading:

i. Our proposal to the EHRC - just to be clear, we have not proposed that BDSM be recognised as an orientation, we have asked that EHRC support us to fight for all consenting adults to have sexual rights and equality, whatever their interests:

A Case for Sexual Rights: http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/posts/240467/

ii. CAAN have sent three letters to EHRC and had three replies, if you wish to see these letters, please contact us asking for this at info@caan.org.uk

iii. CAAN's website is here: www.caan.org.uk

iiii. CAAN's statement of principles:

"We believe in the right of consenting adults to make their own sexual choices, in respect of what they do, see and enjoy alone or with other consenting adults, unhindered and unfettered by government."

"We believe that it is not the business of government to intrude into the sex lives of consenting adults."

Sign up to our statement of principles for the freedom of consenting adults to express themselves! http://www.caan.org.uk/sign.php
Please see our new website: http://www.caan.org.uk/

Edited Tue 8 Sep 09, 12:53 PM by C_A_A_N

This is very valuable. BDSM isn't studied near often enough, and most other studies have been limited to the US. The UK deserves attention -- they don't call it the English disease for nothing!

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Even when people don't lose anything by being outted in the media, they have had their private life written about for no other reason than kink. That should be considered discrimination also.

You can also present newspaper stories as evidence ofg discrimination in themselves.

- Chris

This is my voice, my weapon of choice

Edited 18 Aug 09, 2:29 PM by Backdooruk

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken

I'm curious: even if you don't define "friend" as "someone who's allowed to laugh at you", what specific "right" do you imagine that infringes? Please copy and paste the relevant legislation.

While a barrack room lawyer might see that as the company doing the discriminating, any competent real lawyer would point out that it's actually the customer, and furthermore, that customers have a right (in law) to exercise that kind of discrimination.

Disclaimer: I don't know whether I actually have a right to laugh at the antics and delusions of barrack room lawyers, but I damned well ought to

You're right that a company may decide to discriminate against employees because of customer preferences, but that doesn't make the employer immune to prosecution in any of the protected cases.

That's surely the whole point of the survey, though - instances of discrimination that would be illegal if they were conducted against a 'protected' identity such as race or sexual orientation, but not if they are conducted against an unprotected identity.

So my company can't sack me for bringing the company into disrepute for being gay, but it can for being kinky. I can say I'm a lesbian but not that I'm submissive. Even if they feel that my lesbianism does bring them into disrepute, they're not allowed to fire me for it.

If you look at the title of the survey, it's about instances of discrimination or marginalisation, not direct breaches of an imaginary law. There isn't any "relevant legislation," because if it were already illegal to discriminate against perverts then there would be no need for the survey!

Also, customers do not have a right (in law) to dictate the identity of a firm's employees. They can vote with their feet by taking their custom elsewhere, but that's it. I shan't be so pompous as to demand you cut and paste the relevant legislation to support your assertion, but I'd be fascinated to see a link to any caselaw if I'm wrong about that.

The whole point of the CAAN survey is that at present, an employer can legitimately say "well, I don't employ perves, my customers wouldn't like it" and there's nothing that anybody can do. If the EHRC can be persuaded that kinkiness is an orientation which attracts discrimination, that may change.

Edited 18 Aug 09, 11:13 PM by skadii

Thanks to those who have already submitted something. please send more and forward this message around

If you need to fill in this survey more than once to cover separate situations or problems please feel free to do so.

If anyone wants support or advice with this, or wants to join in but finds this process inaccessible, get in touch so we can find a way to assist.

Sign up to our statement of principles for the freedom of consenting adults to express themselves! http://www.caan.org.uk/sign.php
Please see our new website: http://www.caan.org.uk/

It is ok for anyone to remain anonymous in the information which is shared with EHRC, the stories will be anonymised.

If anyone is feeling anxious about their personal information and would rather filter their survey response through an individual rather than the network's profile, please feel free to send them directly to me and I will make sure the stuff you want to hold back doesn't go any further. As long as someone from CAAN can validate it, that's good enough.

I would strongly encourage those people who I have spoken to, or supported in person over the last year due to discrimination and abuse issues to submit something, as each of you has an important story to tell, so we can create a picture of BDSM and fetish people's experience and put forward a case for consideration.

CAAN PEOPLE - PLEASE SHARE THE SURVEY WHEREVER YOU CAN AND DO WHAT YOU CAN TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO JOIN IN - EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE A STORY TO SHARE, KEEPING THIS ISSUE OUT THERE MAY HELP GAIN MORE RESPONSES.

For those of you here who are closeted because of prejudice, rather than because you wish to be very private - your responses are vital.

If you have any worries about this piece of action, and want to talk about it more before you fill in a response, do feel free to memo CAAN, or me, or redcat. Or of course, here on this thread.

I am exceptionally busy with work and engagement celebrations (drinks late afternoon tomorrow, all welcome - see my blog) this next few days, but it's back to normal next week.

De

Sign up to CAAN's statement www.caan.org.uk
Spanner Trust SM campaign - can you join in? http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/posts/239250/0
Get up, stand up - Bob Marley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zTxUxFjLB0

Edited 21 Aug 09, 11:07 AM by Degenerate

Sign up to CAAN's statement www.caan.org.uk
Spanner Trust SM campaign - can you join in? http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/posts/239250/0
Get up, stand up - Bob Marley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zTxUxFjLB0