“As much as there are people who hate gay people, there are many people in our country who go, "This is the constitution. And these are human rights." So I do know that there are people who will fight for me. And that makes me feel okay about existing as a gay man in this country.”
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From the UN: UNAIDS congratulated Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, South African activist on gender and sexual and reproductive health rights, for her appointment as the new UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health. Mofokeng is a founding member of the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition of South Africa (SRJCZA), an author, and regular media expert on sexual health topics. Speaking to the Daily Maverick about her new position Mofokeng explained she plans to make sure patient needs drive agendas:
“What I’m particularly good at is being able to show the linkages between issues and to be able to elevate the conversation so that we can look at the failings of governance and leadership.”
The UN Security Council held a meeting on conflict-related sexual violence to discuss how resolutions against sexual violence can be turned into actions. Special Representative Pramila Patten presented an updated report on sexual violence as “a tactic of war, torture and terror, and a tool of political repression”. Although women and girls are the primary victims, the report notes that LGBTIQ individuals, boys, and other men have been verified as victims of sexual violence. She notes:
“We know that sexual violence is characterized by staggering rates of impunity and recidivism. It is time to usher in a new era of enhanced monitoring and enforcement, bringing all tools to bear.”
The UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, participated in a virtual discussion led by the Center for Victims of Torture about the experiences of LGBTQ+ people with torture, persecution, criminalization, and pathologization (the act of making a person’s sexuality or gender identity a medical disorder). Watch the discussion now!
The UNDP released a new report that finds that introducing a guaranteed basic income to those living at or just above the poverty line in 132 countries would slow the spread of COVID-19. It estimates that a 6-month temporary basic income would cost only 12% of the total 2020 expected response to Covid. Across the world, LGBTQ people and sex workers have been among the most vulnerable populations to Covid due to unemployment and an inability to access social protection schemes.
UNAIDS, UNDP, the WHO, and Georgetown University launched a “COVID-19 Law Lab” to host a database of laws, policy declarations, quarantine measures, and other legal actions created across 190 countries in response to the Covid pandemic. The Lab will track and evaluate these actions to help develop best practices and guide countries in their recovery efforts. UNAIDS has previously condemned authorities who have used Covid declarations to target LGBTQ people and other key populations. Executive Director Winnie Byanyima noted:
“Harmful laws can exacerbate stigma and discrimination, infringe on people's rights and undermine public health responses. To ensure responses to the pandemic are effective, humane, and sustainable, governments must use the law as a tool to uphold the human rights and dignity of people affected by COVID-19.”
The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka, called on leaders to invest into “essential, life-saving” LGBTIQ youth services and spaces. She noted that COVID-19 shut down support services, leaving many vulnerable LGBTIQ young people isolated. She dismissed a popular notion that digital communities can completely take the place of in-person support as many youth around the world do not have internet access and those that do often face abuse online. Reflecting on a trend of removing legal protections especially for trans youth, she argued:
“The pandemic supercharged already existing inequalities and provided a perfect storm for increased hateful rhetoric and new regressive policies around the world.”
HIV, Health, and Wellness: The European Medicines Agency approved the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR) to prevent HIV among cisgender women in areas with high HIV rates. The ring delivers the antiretroviral drug dapivirine for a month. Although data shows it is possibly less effective than oral daily PrEP, advocates and experts have praised the ring for offering a discreet, long-acting option that is easy to use.
MPact published a new series of case studies examining PrEP access in Australia, Kenya, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. The case studies feature initiatives that are led by gay and bisexual men and highlight the community-led advocacy, social marketing, training and service delivery efforts to make PrEP more accessible to gay and bisexual men.
A new study presented at the International AIDS Conference showed that clinics in Vietnam were able to drastically increase the number of trans women enrolled in PrEP programs when other trans women were employed to provide dedicated counselling and support. It was found that many trans people were afraid of the interaction of PrEP and gender-affirming hormones and that providing transgender-competent care could address these concerns.
From the US, a new study published in JAIDS evaluated a nationally representative sample of HIV-negative trans people to determine rates of HIV testing and PrEP use. The study found that only 48% of trans people were aware of PrEP and only 3% reported currently taking it. Researchers also found there was a large gap in HIV testing; however, people who sought out information from LGBT sources were more likely to get tested than others. They concluded that gender-affirming PrEP and testing services would increase uptake in the US.
Researchers in Malawi said in their study young people continued to have risky sexual behavior even when they had good knowledge about HIV. However, adolescents exposed to peer education were 96% less likely to have sex and were 3x more likely to use condoms. Researchers from Mzuzu University and the University of Malawi are scaling up their intervention to evaluate its impact on university students.
A study published in the Journal of Culture, Health, & Sexuality of gay and other sexual minority men in Canada found that a majority misunderstood the U=U message (people living with HIV who have undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV sexually). A majority had heard that an HIV-positive person who is “undetectable” signified that a person has only “low” or “lower” risk of transmitting HIV sexually. Furthermore, HIV-negative men expressed “significant scientific scepticism” and a reluctance to consider what a partner tells them about their viral load when choosing sexual partners.
In Chile, the Margin Foundation for Sex Workers and the International Community of Women Living with HIV released a statement condemning the government for COVID-19 restrictions that cancelled clinical care and treatment tests for people living with HIV and for not including female condoms in the basic necessities package given to citizens.
Irish activists and doctors called on the government to reopen public sexual health clinics and enable access to emergency HIV services. Dr Jack Lambert, of Mater Hospital reflected:
“You can’t eliminate COVID so we need to learn to live with the virus and put together a roadmap to return to normal services, including STI services.”
More HIV, Health, and Wellness
From the World of Politics: In Poland, days after President Andrzej Duda won re-election to office following a campaign that embraced homophobic rhetoric, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced that Poland will withdraw from the European treaty on violence against women. Called the “Istanbul Convention”, Ziobro claims it would promote “LGBT ideology”and would lead to accepting same-sex marriage and trans people. Although these arguments have been used by opponents in Slovakia, Bulgaria, and across East and Central Europe, the Council of Europe has repeatedly rejected these misconceptions. Tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated across the country to support the convention.
Meanwhile, the European Union rejected grants to six Polish cities that have enacted “LGBT Free Zones”. Nearly a third of Polish cities have declared they are “free of LGBT ideology” causing some “sister cities” across Europe to end relationships with them. Courts in the cities of Radom and Gliwice ruled resolutions in those cities are without legal basis and discriminatory. Despite the rulings and the EU actions, some government officials have declared that “all of Poland should be an LGBT-free zone”.
In the US, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the draft report of the “Commission on Unalienable Rights”. The Commission has spent the last year examining “new claims of human rights” and, in the 60-page report, questions their “legitimacy” as reported by CNN and others. Delivering the report, Pompeo stated that “Many [rights] are worth defending in light of our founding; others aren't”.
Responding to the report, over 200 human rights groups, government leaders, educators, advocates, and faith leaders signed an open letter to “object strenuously” to it. Amnesty International called it a “colossal failure for US leadership, which could damage human rights protections globally” and noted:
“The US government is not legally allowed to unilaterally redefine its obligations under international human rights treaties, which almost all countries in the world have agreed to uphold.”
In Australia, the New South Wales state parliament is preparing for a second reading of the “Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020”. The government describes the bill as “reconciling conflicting human rights and anti-discrimination provisions”. However, some experts say that it elevates religious expression above other human rights and will enable religious arguments to be used to override government rules, as reported by the Star Observer.
The state bill is similar to the controversial federal-level Religious Freedom Bill currently on hold in Australia's parliament as the government focuses on COVID-19. Earlier this year Attorney General Christian Porter released comments from the public inquiry on the latest Religious Freedom Bill draft which show that the public remains deeply divided. If passed it would mean that religious rights would supersede other rights and override other federal and state anti-discrimination bills, as reported by the Guardian and others.
Malaysia’s Religious Affairs Minister Zulkifli Mohamad announced on Facebook that he had authorized the Jawi (religious authorities) to arrest trans people in order to encourage them “back to the right path”—as reported by South China Morning Post and others. Many local and international organizations have spoken out calling the announcement dangerous. As the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) explained:
“The Minister is legitimizing harassment, discrimination and violence against transgender people, and increasing violations of their human rights.”
The Malaysian National News Agency reported that Zulkifli is willing to meet with NGOs to discuss issues related to the LGBT community. However, he defended his previous statement and said the Jawi have not misused their power.
The Times of Israel reported that the country’s parliament (the Knesset) faces a coalition crisis due to a vote on conversion therapy. On 22 July they held an initial vote to ban conversion therapy. The bill passed when the Blue and White party voted in favor of the ban—breaking from its coalition with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and angering ultra-Orthodox allies. Calling the incident “particularly serious”, Likud Minister David Amsalem announced that because of the conversion law vote “no bills will be advanced at the committee this week, except for urgent laws related to coronavirus”. The conversion therapy ban must be considered in a second and third vote before becoming law. Despite the upheaval, the openly gay Blue and White faction leader, MK Eitan Ginzburg, said:
“Nobody is prouder than me. The horror that harms and abuses young people and creates lifelong damage must leave this world.”
In Mexico, the Mexico City Congress passed a bill to criminalize conversion therapy described as the “contracts, treatments, therapies or services, tasks or activities that pretend to correct the sexual orientation and gender identity or expression that undermines free self-determination”. Those who break the law will be punished with two to five years in prison, as reported by El Universal.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC that the government is “going to do a study” on conversion therapy and then “will bring forward plans to ban it”. While some activists welcomed the support, others were frustrated by the lack of action. In 2018 the UK launched the “LGBT Action Plan” with 75 commitments including a promise to “eradicate the abhorrent practice of conversion therapy”. The Action Plan also made several promises regarding reforming the gender recognition process; however, there has been no progress and The Sunday Times recently reported that the government has abandoned plans on gender recognition.
More from the World of Politics
The Politics of Union: In Russia, parliament is considering a package of draft laws to amend the Family Code to “strengthen the institution of family” as reported by Moscow Times and others. The amendments include bans on same-sex marriage, marriages with trans persons, adoptions by both same-sex couples and transgender people, and a ban on gender changes on birth certificates. This follows the public vote that approved a package of 206 constitutional amendments including an amendment to redefine marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.
In Pakistan, the Lahore High Court ordered that a transgender man undergo a “medical board test” to determine his gender, as reported by the Express Tribune and others. The man and his wife have been charged with being in a same-sex marriage even though he underwent gender affirming surgery and his National Identity Card reflects that he is male. In 2018, Pakistan’s National Assembly passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act which allows trans people to change gender on identity documents and bans discrimination among other rights.
Across social media in Thailand, people are using the #SayNoToPartnershipBill hashtag to object to a draft bill to recognize same-sex unions. The objections come from people who support marriage equality but say that the current bill does not go far enough and could set back the LGBT rights movement. The current bill would give couples some rights including the right to adopt; however, it would not allow public servants in same-sex unions the same benefits as heterosexual marriages.
More from the Politics of Union
Let the Courts Decide: In the US, a coalition of 23 state attorney generals have filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Director of the Office for Civil Rights over a new rule that would remove protections based on gender identity, transgender status, or sex stereotypes in healthcare and health insurance. The Wall Street Journal reported that “the rule is part of a broader Trump administration effort to advance religious protections” that includes allowing health care workers to refuse to provide medical care that they don’t agree with. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the coalition, remarked:
“It is never acceptable to deny health care to Americans who need it, but it is especially egregious to do so in the middle of a pandemic.”
Also in the US, the ACLU filed suit against the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center for refusing to provide care to a trans man. The man was scheduled to have a medically necessary hysterectomy but, a week before the surgery, the hospital cancelled it because it “violated the medical center’s Catholic beliefs”. If enacted, the new HHS rule removing protections based on gender identity would impact this case and others like it.
In Colombia, the Ministry of Health announced three investigations into the death of Alejandra Monocuco, a transgender HIV-positive person who died in June after emergency medical personnel failed to act. As reported by journalist Otillia Steadman, Monocuco’s roommate called the COVID-19 hotline after finding her in respiratory distress. After paramedics arrived and learned she was HIV-positive they left without providing care. Former deputy attorney general Jorge Perdomo says there have been several irregularities with the case. According to the Trans Community Network (RCT), at least 16 trans women have been killed in 2020—six during the COVID-19 pandemic. Director of Communications Juli Salamanca remarked:
“Alejandra was killed by a negligent State that never cared for her throughout her life, and that in her last moments left her to die—because of the stigma that her body carried, for being trans, for being Black, for being poor, for living with HIV, for being a sex worker.”
In El Salvador, a judge found three police officers guilty for the murder of trans woman Camila Díaz Córdova and sentenced them each to 20 years in prison. Human Rights Watch called the ruling “pivotal” for transgender rights as it is the first homicide conviction for the killing of a trans person in the country. Córdova had sought asylum in the US for several years to escape gang violence. She was kidnapped and murdered not long after the US deported her—Foreign Policy documented her difficult journey.
Human Rights Watch reported that a court in Saudi Arabia convicted a man of violating public morality by "promoting homosexuality online" and for "imitating women". The man, Mohamad al-Bokari, is a Yemeni blogger who had posted a video on social media calling for equal rights. After his arrest he was subjected to an anal exam and given no counsel. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison, a fine of 10,000 Saudi Riyals (US$2,700), and will be deported back to Yemen.
Regarding Religion: In Haiti, thousands of protesters, led by Protestant church leaders, marched across Port-au-Prince to protest the country’s new penal code. The penal code was put forward by President Jovenel Moise this summer without parliamentary discussion and will go into effect in 2022 unless rejected by parliament. The code includes bans on discrimination based on sexual orientation, punishes rape and sexual harassment, and partially decriminalizes abortion. However, many people have misinterpreted the new code as legalizing bestiality, pedophilia, and forcing acceptance of same-sex marriage (which remains defined by the constitution as between one man and woman). The authors, members of the Presidential Commission for Justice Reform, released to Le Nouvelliste a point-by-point defense of the code and explained how it has been misinterpreted.
From Rwanda, journalist Fred Muvunyi spoke to members of “The Church of God in Africa in Rwanda”—a church that accepts LGBT+ people into the congregation. Although Rwanda is the only country in Southeast Africa that does not criminalize same-sex sexual activity, LGBT people often face discrimination and violence. Pastor Jean de Dieu Uwiragiye explained:
“Everyone is free to come here regardless of whether they are part of the LGBT+ community. What matters is preaching the love and salvation of God.”
Fear and Loathing: Human Rights Watch released a new report that reveals the sexual violence and trauma perpetrated against men, boys, transgender women, and nonbinary people during the Syrian conflict. The report found that existing support services are focused almost exclusively on responding to the needs of women and girls and very little attention is paid to the needs of men and boys. It urged international donors and the European Union to provide resources tailored to the medical, psychological, and social support needs of men, boys, trans women, and non-binary survivors in Lebanon.
From Russia, the “Queer Women of the North Caucasus Support Group Initiative” (QWNC) published a new report examining the survival strategies of lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender persons across the “sexually repressive” North Caucasus. International attention was brought to the region in 2017 when news first broke that Chechen authorities were “purging” people suspected to be gay. The report notes that the dangerous situation lesbians, bisexual women, and trans people face remains invisible. The aim of the report is to bring “a deep understanding of the problem and respect for women's experiences” to unite efforts to support queer women and trans people in the region. ILGA-Europe remarked:
“This publication is of tremendous importance for everyone who continues this fight and seeks to rely on a complete and nuanced understanding of reality. It amplifies the voices of those who have not been heard enough.”
Writing for the BBC, journalist Layla Mahmood shared the story of Mohamed, a gay young man from Somaliland (a self-declared area of Somalia) whose family sent him to a “rehabilitation center” to reform young people who are considered to have “strayed from Somali values”. Mohamed is currently hiding from family who have threatened to kill him as an asylum seeker in Malaysia.
The Tamil Guardian published a report on the situation faced by LGBTI Sri Lankans with a focus on the extra stress that Tamil-speaking people are under. Sri Lanka’s President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, recently established a Presidential Task Force to create a “virtuous society” and to stamp out “anti-social behaviour”. The report finds that the task force, a climate of impunity, a history of ethnic violence, rampant homophobia, and the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown are overwhelming LGBTI Tamil people. As one activist described:
“No Tamil politician has said anything [about LGBT rights] – they don’t even consider it as worth talking about… People hate what they don’t understand.”
Winds of Change: UNAIDS featured the work of Armenian group “New Generation” which has opened “Safe Space”—a shelter for people living with HIV, members of key populations, and women who are domestic violence survivors. Supported by psychologists, lawyers, and health workers, clients stay an average of 15 days to help get on their feet during the Covid crisis.
Dozens of Israeli diplomats around the world purchased 600 hundred pounds of tahini to support the company “Al-Arz” against a boycott. Julia Zaher, the Arab-Israeli philanthropist and company CEO, became a target of conservative Muslim clerics after she gave a significant donation to the LGBTQ group Aguda for an Arabic-language hotline for LGBTQ youth. A boycott quickly went viral with shopkeepers posting videos in which they denounced LGBTQ rights and destroyed boxes of tahini. Local gay activist Khader Abu Saif said the backlash to the protest shows that more people are coming to accept Arab LGBT people:
“It shows you that we are experiencing some change and starting to gain some power. People have begun to understand that in every extended Arab family in the country there is at least one person who is LGBT.”
Writing for Sixth Tone, Professor Wei Wei of East China Normal University shared his research on the dynamics among families with LGBT members. He has found that China’s cultural emphasis on multigenerational families and an increase in surrogacy and other methods of reproduction for LGBT couples has paved the way for greater acceptance. He notes:
“In an unexpected yet understandable way, parents of LGBT children are acting as caregivers in the home and bridges to the country’s heteronormative mainstream outside of it.”
School Days: In a statement the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, said that a growing opposition to mandatory sexuality education in schools in many European countries is related to a broader opposition to the full realization of human rights of women and LGBTI people. He condemned campaigns that try to scare parents by spreading distorted or misleading information about sexuality education. Mijatović breaks down why education is important to a child’s human rights and how to improve access to it.
A new article published in The Lancet describes how comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is related to gender-based violence. Noting that COVID-19 has increased the risk of gender-based violence for many people, it argues that youth must be given access to CSE as part of the Covid recovery:
“CSE equips our youth with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop healthy self-identities, challenge societal norms, prevent GBV, and ultimately, lead healthier and more fulfilling lives.”
Author and educator Jimanekia Eborn talked with “Scarleteen”—a feminist, LGBTQ inclusive media and education program that provides comprehensive sex education curriculum, staff training, interactive services, healthcare referrals, and more. Eborn described how providing sex ed that is inclusive Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC) helps youth overcome trauma and grow:
“Youth are tired of not being heard… They are advocating for themselves, for their future selves, and even for us now. They are tired of being told half-tales. They want the full information and push for deserved knowledge.”
Sports and Culture: The Guardian reported that World Rugby—the governing body of the Rugby Union that runs the Rugby World Cup—is proposing a ban on transgender women from playing rugby. Currently, transgender women can play if they have lowered their testosterone for at least a year. The proposal suggests that lowering testosterone is not enough to protect other players from “risk of injury because of the contact nature of rugby”. International Gay Rugby criticized the proposal as implementing an “irrational standard without suitable research”. Over 15,000 have signed a petition against the ban.
OkayAfrica featured nine LGBTQI+ Africans from across the continent. The list includes activists, writers, students, celebrities, and health workers whose stories challenge preconceived notions of being LGBTQI+ in Africa.
Documentary filmmaker Miyuki Tokoi’s bold new film “Zero As You Are” looks at what it means to be male and female while speaking with the youngest person and the oldest person to undergo gender affirming surgery. (Check out the trailer!) Tokoi says she asked questions normally considered too sensitive or taboo. She explained that in Japan “we tend to reject people who are different” and she hopes the film will open people’s minds:
“If we think of [gender diversity] as our business and ask ourselves about our own identities, people will come to think, This is a better society to live in.”
Top photo by Gayatri Malhotra