US: Unraveling the truth behind gay mormon youth and suicide

While there are conflicting reports regarding numerous suicides involving LGBT Mormon youth, there's no question that there's been an increase of suicidal teens and twenty-somethings following the Church's new antigay policy. Instituted in November, the new rules label any Mormon in a same-sex marriage as an "apostate," which could include excommunication from the church, and bars children of all same-sex couples from being baptized. 

Three months on, the mental effect on Mormon youth is becoming clearer. "Therapists have seen an uptick in clients who reported suicidal thoughts," the Salt Lake Tribune reported recently. "Activists have been bombarded with grief-stricken family members seeking comfort and counsel."

But many say the repercussions from November are much more serious. Wendy Montgomery, co-founder of Mama Dragons — a supportive group of Mormon women with LGBT children — says nearly three dozen queer and questioning youth have taken their lives since the new rules went into effect. Montgomery has been told 32 young Mormons have committed suicide recently, reports the Deseret News.  Read more via the Advocate 

Turkey: Meet three LGBT Syrian refugees who fled ISIS brutality

Millions of people have fled Syria due to the civil war, the rise of the Islamic State’s self-styled caliphate and the brutality of the Assad regime, desperate to escape regime barrel bombs, Islamic State sadism and persecution by other intolerant, hardline groups. And for Syria’s LGBT citizens, the threat of violence within ISIS-controlled regions is even greater.

Under ISIS rule, even those simply suspected of being gay have been publicly tortured and executed. The Islamic State’s penal code for those accused of engaging in sodomy dictates death is the penalty “for both the receiver and the giver,” Vocativ deep web analysts have found.

Even before the horrors of the Islamic State’s persecution of gays became a daily reality, Syrians were largely intolerant of any variation on “traditional” sexuality. In addition to being abused at home, Louay says he faced dangers on the street in his home city.

“I grew up with this curly blond hair and green eyes … I was the cutie in my family,” he says. By the time he was a teenager, when he could no longer conceal his sexual orientation, his looks and demeanor made him the subject of ridicule and beatings. He was also accused of being a “prostitute,” he says. “My life was in danger.”   Read more via Vocativ

Central America: Report documents anti-trans violence

A new report indicates transgender women in Central America remain particularly vulnerable to discrimination and violence. The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Trans People, which is known by the Spanish acronym REDLACTRANS, and its affiliate organizations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama began collecting data last March.

The report indicates the life expectancy of trans women in El Salvador is less than 35 years because of rampant violence. REDLACTRANS’ report also notes that police in Panama and other Central American countries routinely target trans women for abuse and other mistreatment. Many trans women also engage in sex work or so-called “survival sex” because of a lack of employment opportunities.

The report also notes trans women in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama frequently lack formal education and access to health care because of their gender identity. “[The report’s] primary objective is to generate documented evidence about the violence suffered by our trans counterparts in the region,” reads the report. 

The report contains a series of recommendations that includes the passage of laws that “recognize and guarantee the right of trans people to freely exercise their gender identity.” Read more via Washington Blade 

US: Trans woman killed in Texas shooting

In a statement issued on Tuesday that identified Monica Loera, 43, by her birth name and used masculine pronouns, the Austin Police Department said Loera was shot around 3 a.m. local time on Jan. 22. She was taken to hospital, where she later died.

“She was funny, [and] beautiful,” a close friend told the Chronicle. “I never saw her as David, I saw her as Monica. She loved Madonna and she loved to cook.”

Loera’s death, which was Austin’s first homicide this year, comes after a spate of trans homicides in 2015, with at least 22 transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals killed. “It took only three weeks for the initial quiet of 2016 to be shattered by the murder of another trans person,” said Nell Gaither, president of Trans Pride Initiative, in a statement. Nineteen of the victims were individuals of color, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, which documented the deaths.

“It may be a new year, but it’s looking like, unfortunately we’re telling the same horrific story,” said Beverly Tillery, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project. Read more via Buzzfeed

Brazil: The four latest known trans murders

A trans woman identified as ketelen C. Alves, 23, was shot twice in the early hours of Saturday (23) in a sex work location next to the Ministry of Finances (Sefaz) headquarters.

Another transwoman, Bruna Sousa A. C. de Menezes, 23, who was also in the sex trade was murdered by several unidentified individuals. The crime occurred on the night of Saturday 23, in the Pauzanes Sector. So far no suspects have been identified.

Another trans woman (transvestite as media insists) was killed on Sunday evening. According to Police, Dani R. M. S. Pereira, 20, was picked up by the rescue unit of the Fire Department, after being hit in the chest by a gun shot. The victim was taken to the North Emergency Unit (UPA), but was dead on arrival. In the police report, witnesses told the investigating officers the young woman was a transgender sex worker.

News of the fourth victim news was found on social media (FB) and states that Michely Fernandes, 30, a sex worker trans woman was shot to death on the 26th January.  No police report have been found on this murder nor anything in the media, so no more information is available at this time. 

 Read more via Planet Transgender
 

UK: One in six people have witnessed LGBT hate in the last year

Today marks 71 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp responsible for the genocide of over a million people, including those who identified as LGBT. As part of their continued mission to learn from the past and prevent it repeating itself, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has conducted a study to find out the current state of discrimination in Britain.

17% of respondents said they have witnessed a hate crime based on sexual orientation in the last year, while just over one in ten have seen an incident based on transgender identity. In total, 27% of people have witnessed a form of hate crime in the last year, and more than two thirds of those people said they regretted not challenging it.

The research focused on five characteristics that are often subject to hate crime – race or ethnicity, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity. It found that younger people were more likely to challenge hate crime, with 17% of 16-24 year-olds having intervened in hate incidents, compared to 13% of 25-34 year-olds, and just 7% of those aged 35-44. 

Read more via Gay Times
 

Saudi Arabia: ‘Married’ gay couples arrested in raid

Saudi security authorities have arrested four gay men in the capital Riyadh after they raided the flat where they were living as married couples. Acting on tips about the men living together after they held wedding parties attended by other homosexuals, members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police, headed to the flat in Al Quds neighbourhood, Saudi news site Sabq reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the Commission.

Homosexuality and cross-dressing are socially taboo and legal offences in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Reactions from social media users to the raids mostly touched on the need to mete out tough punishment to those found to be involved so that it would act as a strong deterrent. Some users even suggested that those who took part in the party be secluded for five years in remote areas.

Lawmakers have been pushing for a crackdown on homosexuality, including the adoption of tougher immigration measures against expatriate homosexuals, including their prompt deportation. Read more via Gulf News 

Italy: Poor turnout for Rome anti-gay union protest

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome's Circus Maximus arena to protest against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.

But while organisers had been hoping to attract one million people and authorities had prepared for 500,000, journalists at the scene estimated the numbers to be in the tens of thousands. Official numbers were not immediately available.
   
"Without limits, our society will go mad!" organiser Massimo Gandolfini told the "Family Day" rally, as grandparents, parents and children held up banners reading "Wrong is wrong" in the capital's ancient Roman chariot racing stadium.  

 Read more via The Local
 

Indonesia: Minister on back foot over anti-gay remarks

A minister has found himself on the receiving end of angry scorn and fierce criticism following comments he made attacking the LGBT community. Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir took to his Twitter account @menristekdikti on Monday to clarify the statement he made on Sunday, in which he said that LGBT “corrupted the nation's morals”.

Nasir agreed that members of the LGBT community, as Indonesian citizens, were entitled to equality before the law: "But that does not mean that the state legitimizes the LGBT status. Only their rights as citizens must be guaranteed by the state," he tweeted on Monday to his 16,500 followers.

His earlier comments that LGBT elements should be barred from universities as there were "values and moral standards to uphold" met with a wave of public fury and criticism.

A petition issued on change.org by a student named Poedjiati Tan from Surabaya demands that Nasir withdraw his comments regarding LGBT and morality, as well as his calls for a ban on LGBT people within universities. Read more via Jakarta Post

IGM = "Harmful Practice" + "Violence": UN reprimands France + Ireland over Intersex Genital Mutilations

StopIGM.org warmly welcomes the historic, binding 2016 "Concluding Observations" of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for France and Ireland.

This marks the first time that the Committee reprimanded two States over IGM practices at once, again recognising non-consensual, medically unnecessary, irreversible, cosmetic genital surgeries and other procedures on intersex children as a "harmful practice" and as "violence against children".

We particularly appreciate that the Committee specifically called on Ireland to "adopt legal provisions in order to provide redress to the victims of such treatment, including adequate compensation", and for France invoked the Joint General Comment No. 18 (2014) and No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on harmful practices, which also contain detailed stipulations regarding legislation and access to justice and redress for survivors, and highlight the necessity of developing a holistic policy. Read more via StopIGM.org

UK: Crimes linked to Tinder and Grindr increase seven fold

Crimes linked to dating apps Tinder and Grindr, including rape, child sex grooming and attempted murder, have increased seven fold in just two year. More than 400 offences with a connection to users of the apps were reported to police last year and campaigners warned many more could go unreported.

Andy Cooke, deputy chief constable of Merseyside Police national police lead on violence and public protection, said: "The rising popularity of online dating apps and websites has contributed to an increase in the number of recorded crimes. We strongly encourage users to report offences and seek support if they become a victim of any type of crime.

Gay and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "Closeted gay and bisexual men who use Grindr may be especially vulnerable to targeting because criminals know they will be less likely to report crimes to the police. I suspect these figures are just the tip of the iceberg." Read more via Telegraph

Vietnam: 'Nobody helped me,' Schools remain dangerous for LGBT youth

Le Minh Triet attempted suicide when he was a seventh-grader, right after coming home from school.  For days, he had been bullied by other students. Sometimes it was name calling. Sometimes he was beaten, had soft drinks thrown at him, and locked inside a room for hours. 
"When they beat me, they insulted my parents names for having a gay son," he said. "Nobody helped me."

Similar stories of abuse and discrimination can be found among Vietnamese LGBT youth. The country has surprised many for its recent progressive stance and new policies that recognize more rights for LGBT people. Still homophobia and transphobia are palpable. 

Multiple studies in the last 3 years have found increasing high percentage of LGBT students suffering abuse. Many activists and educators said Vietnamese schools need to introduce into their curriculum programs which raise awareness about sexuality and gender identity to fight discrimination.  Read more via Thanhnien News