LGBT News and events indexed — Equal Eyes

IGLHRC criticizes Iran's refusal to accept international community's demands to respect LGBT rights

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today expressed deep dismay over the Iranian government’s rejection in whole or in part of 13 recommendations on sexual orientation and gender identity put forward during the United Nation’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Iran.

Among the recommendations rejected by the Islamic Republic of Iran are requests by Argentina, Uruguay, Iceland, Luxembourg, Chile, Canada, Italy, Israel and Spain to end legal discrimination and prosecution of individuals based on their sexual orientation as well as ending the criminalization of consensual same-sex relations.

Iran meanwhile, without a full explanation, partially accepted recommendations by Denmark, the Netherlands, and Iceland that had components related to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Read More

Iran indicates a move toward ending anti-LGBT torture

The Islamic Republic of Iran has decided to accept 139 of the 291 recommendations and to partially support 59 recommendations put forward by the 28th session of the Human Rights Council.  Despite the limitations, this is the first time the Islamic Republic has acknowledged ill-treatment and torture of the LGBT community. Iran states sterilization, sex change operations and reparative therapies that are either forced or coerced due to absence of a free and informed decision-making process, will be made illegal. 

However, Iran’s refusal to accept recommendations to fully decriminalise ‘same-sex sexual relations, remove the death penalty and flogging for offences relating to consensual same-sex relations between adults’ on the one hand, and making illegal torture due to sexual orientation with some reservations on the other, raise serious concerns regarding Iran’s will to implement the recommendations. Read More

Canada: Alberta’s new stand on gay-straight alliances makes for ‘historic’ day

Alberta has vaulted to the forefront of Canada’s debates on sexuality and gender expression, Premier Jim Prentice said after MLAs quickly passed legislation that ended a debate on gay support clubs that roiled the province.

When Alberta’s legislature convened for the first time in 2015, Mr. Prentice’s Education Minister announced that the Tory government was reversing its position on gay-straight alliances and would make the clubs mandatory in every school where a student requested one. Parents in Alberta will also no longer be able to remove their children from classes where sexual orientation is being discussed. A separate amendment will add gender expression and identity to the grounds for which Albertans will be protected from discrimination. Read More

US: USAID urged to fund LGBT advocacy efforts in Central America

Six members of Congress urged the U.S. Agency for International Development to fund LGBT advocacy efforts in Central America specifically to support advocacy groups in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. In their request, the congress members list specific examples of violence against LGBT people in the three countries. They make note of both large scale injustices, including the nearly 200 LGBT Hondurans killed between 2009 - 2014, to the individual stories of men and women who have been brutally attacked. 

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Switzerland: Parliament votes for law to protect LGBTIs from prejudice

In an amendment to a law that protects people of different races or faiths, the Swiss parliament has voted with 103 in favor, 73 against and nine abstentions to ensure nobody is targeted with hate speech and discrimination on the basis of their sexual or gender identity.

'It's nice to live in a country that recognizes diversity & supports the same equal protection for everyone.' Bastian Baumann, Sec-General of Pink Cross. 

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Russia fails in bid to stop U.N. staff benefits for all gay couples

Russia failed on Tuesday in a bid to stop the United Nations extending staff benefits to all same-sex couples after a U.N. General Assembly budget committee voted 80 to 43 against the proposal. 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in July that the United Nations would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive U.N. benefits. The U.N. now recognizes all same-sex couples married in a country where it is legal, regardless of their nationality. Russia wanted the General Assembly Fifth Committee to overturn Ban's decision and had been threatening to put the measure to a vote since December.

"We must speak plainly about what Russia tried to do today: diminish the authority of the U.N. Secretary-General and export to the U.N. its domestic hostility to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) rights," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said in a statement after the vote. Read More

EU: Parliament human rights report addresses LGBTI criminalisation, trans rights and same-sex unions

The European Parliament has voted its "Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy." The report takes account of the situation of human rights, including of LGBTI people, and makes recommendations accordingly.

The newest report recommends that legislatures throughout Europe "raise the issue of LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and intersex] rights in political and human rights dialogues with third countries and multilateral forums." The parliament also presses for national governments to "support organisations [sic] defending LGBTI rights by empowering them to challenge homophobic and transphobic laws and discrimination against LGBTI people." Read More

Peru: Outraged by the Civil Union rejection

Peruvians took to the streets shouting that all people should have equal rights after lawmakers killed the Civil Union bill which would supported same-sex unions. Heterosexual friends, gay, bisexual, transgender, lesbian, mothers, fathers, children and families called for equality while marching.

The march was led by congressman Carlos Bruce who introduced the bill and the president of the Harvey Milk Foundation, Stuart Milk, saying: “A mi no me callarán y pueden llamarme maricón porque no me ofenderé” -- They will not silence me and they can call me a queer, it will not offend me. Read More

US: Immigration and LGBTs - Central Americans in Limbo

Last year Obama extended protection from deportation to roughly 3.7 million immigrants. But most of the guarantees were reserved for people whose legally recognized spouses, children, or parents were already American citizens. This was small comfort for LGBT folk whose partners are often not legally recognized, are estranged from family members, and for whom giving birth to a child in the traditional manner is often out of reach. Read More

Europe: Immigration and LGBTs - Denied Safe Haven

Any hope that the same legal protections offered to EU citizens would be extended to LGBT immigrants when they arrive in Europe is often egregiously misplaced. In place of greater freedom, many are greeted with prolonged periods of incarceration. Instead of social acceptance, they are treated with contempt and face discrimination, violence, and sexual abuse in detention centers. Rather than understanding, they’re subjected to drawn-out, sometimes humiliating, decision-making processes designed to establish the “credibility” of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Read More

Kenya: Ugandan LGBT refugees launch UNHCR protest

There are many problems currently brewing in Kenya for Ugandan refugees who, after fleeing homophobia and persecution in Uganda, have been caught in a quagmire of funding and fraud issues. What follows is a desperate plea written by Ugandan refugees in Kenya, whose plight has been exacerbated by recent ‘people trafficking’ fraudsters who have descended on UNHCR pretending to be LGBTI seeking refuge and resettlement. LGBTI do not qualify for asylum in Kenya as their perceived ‘lifestyle-option’ is in breach of existing Kenyan laws which prohibit ‘unnatural’ sexual acts.  Read More

US: Obama invokes Stonewall and LGBT equality in #Selma50 speech

Speaking before a crowd of thousands on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge marking the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" and the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery today, President Obama noted the progress made in the fight for racial and LGBT equality and the similarities between those two civil rights movements. Read More