A significant development in the 29th Session of the Human Rights Council was the passing of a deeply controversial resolution to 'protect the family'.
Two gay men who fled ISIS just made UN history
Refugee Subhi Nahas never could have predicted that so soon after being granted refugee protection he would become one of the first people in history to address the U.N. Security Council on LGBT persecution. The historic meeting, an informal session known as an “Arria,” was prompted by attacks by ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq against LGBT individuals.
The meeting, organized by the U.S. and Chilean delegations, was held behind closed doors to protect the privacy of an anonymous Iraqi gay man who used the pseudonym “Adnan” and delivered testimony via telephone. It was attended by 13 of the 15 member nations of the powerful chamber, with only Chad and Angola refusing to participate. Four countries with troubling LGBT rights records of their own — China, Russia, Nigeria, and Malaysia — declined to speak, but remained present for the entire meeting.
“This is the first time in history that the council has held a meeting on the victimization of LGBT persons,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said. “It is the first time we are saying, in a single voice, that it is wrong to target people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. It is a historic step. And it is, as we all know, long overdue.” Read More via Buzzfeed
Russia: LGBT youth left isolated, victimised by "gay propaganda" law
Russian activists say the anti-gay propaganda law has fuelled anti-gay abuse, discrimination and violence, spawned a "chilling effect", and victimised young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and deterred them from coming out and seeking support.
Punishable by jail in the Soviet Union, homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993 yet much of the LGBT community remains underground and prejudice runs deep. The law has only been enforced in a handful of cases, and Elena Klimova, the founder of one of Russia's only online communities for LGBT youths, Deti-404, where users share stories of attacks and humiliation, was the latest person to be convicted in July and was fined 50,000 roubles (£540).
Tanya Cooper, Russia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the gay propaganda law was part of a wider crackdown on civil society and anybody who challenged traditional Russian values. Read More via Reuters
New Zealand: Whangarei youth stand against bullying
A Whangarei anti-bullying project has launched a series of videos made by local youth, including one which looks at homophobic bullying. The films were produced by the Tu Toa Whangarei anti-bullying project, which is linked to the Whangarei Youth Space.
TurnAround takes a situation where a young man is bullied for possibly being gay, and turns it on its head, showing the power of standing up for yourself and others. See more at Gay NZ
Japan: Bullying rampant for gay, bisexual male teens
More than 40% of gay and bisexual male teenagers say they have experienced bullying, apparently because of their sexual orientation, a survey revealed. 20% of them turned to truancy or self-inflicted injuries as a way of coping.
The survey was conducted online by a research team led by Yasuharu Hidaka, a professor of social medicine at Takarazuka University's nursing school. Valid answers were given by around 20,000 gay and bisexual males nationwide between the ages of 11 and 71.
The survey found that those who had "never learned about homosexuality in elementary, junior or senior high school" totaled 41%, marking a significant drop from the 63% recorded in the previous poll by Hidaka in 2005. However, those who learned that being a sexual minority was "abnormal" or who received negative information about sexual minorities had increased to 30% from the 23% recorded in 2005. Read More via The Asahi Shimbun
US: Ousted as gay, aging veterans are battling again for honorable discharges
When the Army discharged Pvt. Donald Hallman in 1955 for being what it called a “Class II homosexual,” the 21-year-old was so scared of being an outcast that he burned all his military records, save for a single dog tag he hid away. Mr. Hallman, a coal miner’s son who sang in a church choir in rural Alabama, says he never mentioned his military service again. He married a woman he had met at work, had children and wore a suit and tie to work each day.
But this summer, Mr. Hallman, now 82, retrieved the dog tag from a keepsake box and began working through an application to the Department of Defense, asking that his decades-old discharge be upgraded from “undesirable” to “honorable.”
He is one of a steady march of older veterans who were kicked out of the military decades ago for being gay, and who are now asking that their less-than-honorable discharges be upgraded. By some estimates, as many as 100,000 service members were discharged for being gay between World War II and the 2011 repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Many were given less-than-honorable discharges that became official scarlet letters — barring them from veterans’ benefits, costing them government jobs and other employment, and leaving many grappling with shame for decades. Read More via New York Times
Israel: 11 police disciplined over Jerusalem Pride attack security failures
Israel’s Police Force is taking strong disciplinary action against a group of officers who were tasked with ensuring a safe 2015 Jerusalem Pride march after intelligence failings allowed religious extremist Yishai Schlissel into the parade area despite his only being released for a similar attack a month before.
Schlissel stabbed three marchers in the 2005 Jerusalem Pride march and was released in early July this year. On 30 July, just weeks after being set free, he carried out a stabbing attack on this year’s parade which wounded six and ultimately resulted in the death of 16-year-old victim Shira Banki.
Reacting to the announcement, the Banki family released a public statement earlier today. ‘The report won’t bring Shira back to her family,’ they say. ‘However, the family hopes that to the degree that deficiencies were found, they will be corrected and the conclusions drawn applied in the most thorough possible fashion to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.’ Read More via Gay Star News
Tunisia: Lesbian community mobilises against deep-rooted prejudice
If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history
During his visit to Africa this summer, the US president, Barack Obama, addressed legal discrimination against LGBT individuals. Meeting the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama said: “When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode.”
Unfortunately, the response from Kenyatta was that “there are some things that we must admit we don’t share [with the US]. Our culture, our societies don’t accept.”
When I was appointed by Berlin’s Humboldt University this year to teach the course “Pre- and post-colonial sexual orientation and sexual identity in Africa”, I knew I had a huge task before me. I had to teach students about a history that is mostly unwritten. In digging up facts I found that, while many Africans say that homosexuality is un-African, African culture is no stranger to homosexual behaviours and acts.
For example, in my local language (Yoruba), the word for “homosexual” is adofuro, a colloquialism for someone who has anal sex. It might sound insulting and derogatory, however, the point is there is a word for the behaviour. Moreover, this is not a new word; it is as old as the Yoruba culture itself. Read More via the Guardian
Russia: Transgender community struggles for acceptance
There is no Russian equivalent of Caitlyn Jenner, whose transition from former Olympic athlete Bruce has been documented in both the mainstream and tabloid American press all summer. Transgender Russians often keep a low profile, worried how they will be treated by friends, colleagues and family members.
Although the LGBT community in Russia faces significant legal and social challenges, there are laws in place that allow Russians to change their gender on official documents and undergo gender reconstructive surgery. There are no official statistics on the number of transgender people in Russia, but experts put the number at around 15,000 across the country — about 0.1 percent of the population. Read More via Moscow Times
Ireland: Preferred gender now legally recognised
Transgender people are now able to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate and a new birth certificate, passport and other official documentation showing their preferred gender. They will be able to self-declare and will no longer need a certificate from a medical practitioner.
Ireland is the fourth country in the world to remove medical criteria from legal gender recognition. The Gender Recognition Act was brought about following a successful case taken by Dr Lydia Foy against the State. She argued that, despite undergoing surgery, she was unable to identify herself as a woman in official documentation. Read More via UTV Ireland
Thailand: Sweeping new LGBT protections take effect
The country’s first law specifically protecting LGBT people came into effect this week. Thai parliament passed the 2015 Gender Equality Act in March. The law is is designed to protect members of the LGBT community and aims to punish discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Those found guilty of discrimination may face up to six months in jail and a 20,000 baht fine. The law defines “unfair discrimination among the sexes” as any action that “segregates, obstructs or limits the rights” of a person because they have “a sexual expression different from that person’s original sex.”
Somchai Charoenamnuaysuk – Director-General of the Department of Family Affairs and Family Development – noted that the law bars government agencies, private organisations, or Thai individuals from formulating anti-gay policies, rules, regulations, measures, or operating procedures: “Co-operation from all sectors is key in moving forward with the enforcement of this Act, in order to create an equal and just society.” Read More via Pink News