US: Transgender teen who fought bullying online commits suicide

Taylor Alesena, a transgender teen that candidly documented her struggles with loneliness and bullying at a San Diego-area high school on YouTube, died April 2nd in an apparent suicide. The 16-year-old Fallbrook High student took her own life during spring break, the school district confirmed.

Max Disposti, the executive director of the area's LGBTQ Resource Center, said that Alesena was frequently cyber-bullied and called names by her peers, even as her YouTube channel became an inspiration to others facing a similar ordeal. "[Alesena] felt unsafe, she felt beat up every day she needed to go to school," Disposti said. Alesena's suicide comes one month after another transgender teen named Sage who frequented the LGBTQ Resource Center killed himself.  Read More

UK: Murder detectives appeal for information over death of transgender escort found beaten and strangled in flat

Murder squad detectives are appealing for people who knew a “high class” transgender escort to come forward after she was found beaten and strangled in west London. Vanessa Santillan, 33, was found dead inside a £400,000 first-floor flat in Fulham. 

Ms Santillan, a glamour model and escort who is originally from Mexico, has a personal website which describes herself as “one in a million” and states: “I’m a Ts girl visiting from MIAMI FL.” It is understood she has spent the last few years as a high-end call girl and made regular trips to London.   Read More 

Pakistan: Transgender person gang-raped, two killed

Armed men in northwest Pakistan abducted and gang-raped a transgender person after killing two others in a pre-dawn incident, police said. The incident took place in the Yar Hussain neighbourhood of Swabi district, where the group was returning home after performing a music and dance show at a wedding party.

Sajjad Khan, district police chief of Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the men were waiting for them in a field and tried to abduct all of them but they refused.

“The attackers opened fire after the refusal. One transgender and one drummer died on the spot while another was wounded,” Khan said. The armed men then abducted one transgender who was released hours later after being raped by four persons, Khan said.  Read More

India: Gay sex ban in India stirs violence, blackmail, and abuse

When Rajan was followed by two men into a public toilet in Mumbai and forced to perform oral sex on them, the 31-year-old gay marketing professional realised this was the beginning of the end of his short-lived sexual freedom.

"They knew I was gay. They were watching me and waiting. They filmed the whole thing and threatened to tell the police," Rajan, who did not want to disclose his full name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Then they took me to an ATM and made me withdraw all the money I had which was 15,000 rupees ($240)... Even though society has not fully accepted us, the law was there to protect us. But now we are scared."

Rajan is one of thousands from India's LGBT community who've faced persecution after the reinstatement of a colonial-era law banning gay sex. Read More 

Russia: Ombudsman concerned over “aggressive tones” at LGBT people

St. Petersburg ombudsman Alexander Shishlov has presented his 2014 annual report on human rights in the local Legislative Assembly. A separate chapter of the report highlights multiple cases of LGBT discrimination in St. Petersburg.

Shishlov cited 36 cases of attacks on LGBT people. Of these, 30 occurred during public events. In particular, he mentioned an attempt to disrupt the LGBT rally in St. Petersburg. Nevertheless, Shishlov acknowledged “the professional work of police officers,” which helped the rally to be held without significant violations of law. However, the Ombudsman said that “hostile opponents of LGBT movement insulted LGBT activists before and after the event, prevented passage of the rally participants to the place of the meeting, threw stones and grabbed away placards.” Read More 

Brazil: HIV-Specific criminal law introduced amid media frenzy and moral panic over ‘barebacking’ gay subculture

A simply worded amendment covering ‘heinous crimes’– which currently includes murder, extortion, rape, child exploitation and spreading an epidemic that results in death – adds individuals who “transmit and infect consciously and deliberately others with the AIDS virus. (sic)” was presented to the Brazilian Parliament by the populist Congressman, Pompeo de Mattos.

The bill has considerable support thanks to an outbreak of moral panic that began with an article in the daily newspaper, O Estado de S. Paulo, that uncovered the gay ‘barebacking’ subculture and further suggested that some men were deliberately passing on HIV to unsuspecting partners. Days later, it was reported that police were now looking into the allegations.  Read More

Brazil: Politician claims 'gay blood' should be separated

A Brazilian Congressman Jair Bolsonaro claimed patients receiving blood transfusions should be able to demand ‘heterosexual blood’.

The congressman said his party, the far-right Progressive Party, wants to introduce a policy which would see people be made aware if they are receiving blood from a gay donor. Patients should also be allowed to ask to not receive the blood if it makes them uncomfortable and, instead, request blood donated by a heterosexual person.

Blood donations from men who have sex with men were previously banned completely, but in 2013 the ban was lifted allowing MSM to donate if they are in a long term relationship or if they have not had sex in the past 12 months. Read More

France: National ethics body rules for indefinite ban on gay blood donation

France's National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) believes maintaining a ban is not a matter of gay rights, but a health issue as there are still “scientific uncertainties” on the risks of using blood from homosexuals.

“Giving blood is not a right. What matters most is the health and the protection of the receiver,” said Jean-Claude Ameisen, president of the CCNE. The committee says that lifting it now “could expose people to medical risks, which should be taken into consideration from an ethical point of view."

The ban covers people who habitually practice same sex relations, and those who confessed to even a singular gay contact during preliminary interviews for potential donors.

President of the LGBT Federation, Stephanie Nicot, called it absurd: "It's risky behavior that should lead to exclusion, and only a temporary one, not the fact that you are gay or you had a homosexual relationship 20 years ago. This is an extremely worrying sign," he said. Read More

Twitter's New Threat Reporting Tool Is a Useless Punt

Twitter, a service that admits it sucks at dealing with trolls, just announced a new tool for reporting harassment to the police. It looks like a good step at first glance—if you ignore the fact that it's a responsibility dodging, spineless fix that's highly unlikely to help anyone being harassed or threatened Twitter. This is a PR stunt, not a solution.

There is middle ground to be explored between castrating Twitter's capabilities as a free speech machine and introducing measures that actually counter abuse. Twitter could, for instance, employ proactive abuse moderators. These moderators could cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies and help people getting threatened make contact with police, not by giving them a copy of their complaint but by actually setting up contact. These abuse moderators could keep tabs on IP addresses known to spawn more than one abusive account.  Read More 

Indonesia: Confusion over Highest Islamic clerical body fatwa statements

Indonesia's most prominent  Islamic clerical body has issued a fatwa proposing a host of punishments for "homosexual crimes" - including the death penalty.

While Indonesia does not have a reputation for being particularly welcoming of the LGBT community – and same-sex marriage is not permitted - homosexual relations are not prohibited. Most individuals can go about their lives without prejudice.

But the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) views homosexuality as a sin. It issued the edict at the start of this month, according to The Jakarta Globe.

The fatwa claimed that homosexuality is a disease that needs to be cured and proposed a series of brutal penalties, ranging from caning to death. Read More 

UK: Londoners are least likely to accept a gay or transgender child

The data showed that Londoners are over five times more likely to reject support for a gay child – with 13% of Londoners indicating they would not support a gay child, and 20% indicating they would not support a trans child. Geographically, voters from the north of Britain were more likely to be accepting, with 1% in the North of England and 2% in Scotland indicating they would not support a gay child.

PinkNews Chief Executive Benjamin Cohen said: “This polling is eye-opening as it goes against the widely accepted notion that London is the most tolerant part of the country when it comes to LGBT issues.   Read More 

France: Lesbians’ goodbye kiss leads to ‘humiliation’ in Paris

Paris is where people – lovestruck locals and tourists alike – kiss. You can hardly take two steps down a rue or grand boulevard without seeing a couple smooching, often in the middle of the pavement.  However, it seems that not all kissers are equal in the land of liberté, égalité, fraternité. A train guard from a major railway company has been suspended after allegedly shouting at a lesbian couple that their farewell embrace “cannot be tolerated”. 60,000 people have signed a petition for the train guard's dismissal. Read More