Please read the abstract in the dissertation. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Psychology / unrestricted

"The protection of the rights of sexual minorities in many countries in Africa is a controversial issue. It is not unusual to find newspaper reports on gross violations suffered by this minority group. Gays and lesbians are victims of violence, sometimes resulting in death. Sexual minorities in Africa are often confronted with government actions such as those of the Nigerian government that recently submitted to the parliament a bill to make provisions for the prohibition of relationships between persons of the same sex, celebration of marriage, registration of gay clubs and societies, and publicity of same sex sexual relationships. On the other hand, on the same continent, the South African Constitutional Court recently held that the denial of legal recognition for same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. The question that begs here is: why this state of affairs? In view of the situtation described above, this study intends to highlight the factors that have brought the continent to this point and give an analysis of the challenges and prospects faced in the protection of the rights of sexual minorities. The issue that will be addressed, therefore, is whether the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights is interpreted to include at least some protection against discrimination of sexual minorities." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Pierre de Vos at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

MA (Psychology) / Department of Psychology / The study aimed to explore societal attitudes towards homosexual individuals in the Thulamela Municipality of the Vhembe District Municipality. The objectives of the study were to identify societal attitudes towards homosexuals in Thulamela Municipality, to explore challenges posed by society towards homosexual people in Thulamela Municipality, and to describe societal perceptions of homosexual individuals. The study was qualitative in nature and purposive sampling was used in the study. A semi-structured interview guide was used. A minimum of 12 non-homosexual people were interviewed. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data. Different ethical issues were taken into consideration before the study was conducted. The findings of the study show that society is still conservative when it comes to homosexuality. However, it discourages harsh negative attitudes towards homosexual people. Society needs to develop more accepting and tolerant behaviors towards homosexuality. The study found that age, sex, race, ethnicity, social background, level of education and religious affiliation were consistent factors in determining attitudes towards homosexuality. This study recommends that training workshops on sexual orientation should be intensified for teachers, police officers, nurses and other public service employees as well as school administrators to inform them of current trends of homosexuality in the schools. It is also recommended that student accessibility to appropriate and accurate information regarding students’ sexuality should be increased at early stages through library and Internet resources, as well as workshops and forums. / NRF

La representación de personajes homosexuales en televisión ha pasado por varias etapas, en la actualidad, gran parte de esta se da con el fin de hacer reír a la audiencia a través de la exageración de estereotipos, lo cual trae consigo consecuencias negativas que pueden llegar a actos de odio hacia esta parte de la comunidad. Sin embargo, aún hay representaciones, las cuales son minoritarias en televisión, que muestran con características más empáticas a los homosexuales, siendo una de ellas la que se presenta cuando estos son protagónistas, como vendría a ser el caso de las series de género Boys Love. Es por tal motivo, que el objetivo principal de la presente investigación es analizar la narrativa homosexual en la serie tailandesa I told sunset about you a través de una metología de enfoque cualitativo con un paradigma interpretativo, teniendo como diseño al estudio de caso, al análisis de contenido como técnica de recolección de datos y como instrumento de estudio a la guía de análisis de contenido. La cual se aplicará a doce escenas que conforman la estructura narrativa de la primera temporada de la presente serie, así como se explicará los principales acontecimiento de la estructura narrativa, la construcción y acciones del personaje homosexual protagónico. / The representation of homosexual characters on television has gone through several stages, currently, much of this occurs to make the audience laugh through the exaggeration of stereotypes, which brings negative consequences that can reach acts of hatred towards this part of the community. However, there are still representations, which are minority on television, that show homosexuals with more empathetic characteristics, one of them being the one that occurs when they are protagonists, as would be the case of the Boys Love genre series. It is for this reason that the main objective of this research is to analyze the homosexual narrative in the Thai series I told sunset about you through a qualitative approach methodology with an interpretive paradigm, having as design the case study, the analysis of content as a data collection technique and as a study instrument to the content analysis guide. Which will be applied to twelve scenes that make up the narrative structure of the first season of this series, as well as the main events of the narrative structure, the construction and actions of the leading homosexual character will be explained. / Trabajo de investigación

La publicidad social se ha ido realizando continuamente con el fin de brindar visibilidad a este grupo que en diversas situaciones se encuentra excluidos de los medios de comunicación. Sin embargo, la publicidad repetidamente no ha sido capaz de expresar una imagen adecuada de este grupo. La presente investigación analizará esta representación de los homosexuales desde la perspectiva de este mismo público. El estudio se enfoca en la campaña ‘Amistad sin diferencias’ de la marca cervecera Pilsen Callao, la cual fue la primera aparición de personajes homosexuales en su publicidad. Esta investigación se ha centrado en el método cualitativo y en el enfoque de estudio de caso. La muestra de la investigación son jóvenes estudiantes homosexuales de las universidades privadas de Lima y se ha recolectado la información por medio de entrevistas semiestructuradas. / Social advertising has been carried out continuously in order to provide visibility to this group that in various situations is excluded from the media. However, advertising has repeatedly failed to convey an adequate image of this group. This research will analyze this representation of homosexuals from the perspective of this same audience. The study focuses on the campaign ‘Friendship without differences’ of the beer brand Pilsen Callao, which was the first appearance of homosexual characters in its advertising. This research has focused on the qualitative method and the case study approach. The research sample is young homosexual students from private universities in Lima and the information has been collected through semi-structured interviews. / Trabajo de investigación

Cette thèse se donne pour objet de tester, dans le contexte spécifique du droit français, la véracité et la pérennité des critiques féministe puis genrée de la définition du réfugié consistant à dénoncer la non-prise en compte des persécutions subies par les femmes et les minorités sexuelles dans le cadre de l’élection audit statut. Et c’est un constat mitigé qui ressort de l’étude car, en dépit des nombreuses pressions internationales et européennes invitant à une analyse genrée de la notion, ces critiques héritées des années 1980 apparaissent, dans une large mesure, encore d’actualité. Certes, le phénomène d’exclusion des persécutions liées au genre qu’elles dénonçaient s’est quelque peu affaibli, en ce que les persécutions subies par les femmes et les membres des minorités sexuelles ne sont, par principe, plus exclues du champ de la définition du réfugié. Mais il n’existe cependant toujours pas de volonté, politique ou juridictionnelle, visant à les intégrer pleinement dans l’analyse. En effet, les efforts consentis pour leur prise en compte se révèlent encore insuffisants, laissant demeurer des obstacles subtils à leur intégration, des obstacles d’autant plus délicats à identifier et à surmonter. / The purpose of this thesis is to test, in the specific context of French law, the veracity and durability of feminist and gendered review of the refugee definition, which consists in denouncing the failure to take into account persecutions suffered by women and sexual minorities in the election process. It is a mixed conclusion that emerges from the study because, despite the numerous international and European pressures calling for a gendered analysis of the concept, these criticisms inherited from the 1980s still appear, to a large extent, to be relevant. Admittedly, the exclusion of gender-related persecution that they denounced has somewhat weakened, because persecutions suffered by women and members of sexual minorities are no longer excluded, as a matter of principle, from the scope of the refugee definition. However, there is still no political or jurisdictional will to fully integrate them into the analysis. Indeed, the efforts made to take them into account are still insufficient, leaving subtle obstacles to their integration, obstacles that are all the more difficult to identify and overcome.

Sexual assault in the military is a large concern for the Department of Defense. They recognize it as an important and complex problem that needs to be addressed. In recent years, efforts have been initiated in order to improve the handling of sexual assault cases and data retention. An entirely new program has been created in order to address these cases. Focusing on the occurrence of same-sex assaults heightens the sensitivity of matters. This is due to the precarious and only very recent acceptance of homosexuals in the military. In the past, service members, homosexual or otherwise, may have been concerned with having any connection to homosexual acts. This is because such acts could result in removal from the military. However, in 2011 the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act went into effect. This act allowed for the open service of homosexuals in the military. Around this same time period, reports from the Department of Defense indicated a rise in the number of sexual assault reports. This thesis analyzes the affect that policies from the Department of Defense and legislation such as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Act have on reports of same-sex sexual assault in the military. Through research, this thesis finds that the enactments of various policies have had a measurable impact on treatment of same-sex sexual assault reports in the military, though not necessarily in the way certain media reports might suggest. This thesis also examines the history concerning homosexual service in the military, in order to provide a picture of the national attitudes towards homosexual service in the military, and why certain groups may blame the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender for this rise in reports.