This LGBT Activist Shamed Her Trolls By Posting Their Pictures Online

This is Elena Klimova. She runs a support group for Russian LGBT teens online called Children-404, where she posts letters from young people about coming out and dealing with discrimination. 

The group’s name is a reference to the “page not found” online error and Russia’s law banning “gay propaganda” among minors. One of its slogans is “LGBT Teens: We Exist.”

Klimova gets lots of hate mail for supporting LGBT teens. Yesterday, she posted some of it, with photos of her detractors, in an album called “Beautiful People And The Things They Say To Me” on the Russian social network VKontakte. Read More

UK: Union of Jewish Students examines faith and sexuality at NUS conference

The annual NUS Conference in Liverpool brought over 1,000 delegates together to discuss important issues for UK's students. During the conference, Jewish students hosted a fringe event titled ‘Faith not Fear: Fighting for LGBT and Religious Freedom’.  Over 200 students attended the event aimed at exploring diversity in religion and the LGBT experience. Read More

Germany: Religious freedom? Catholic school dumps lesbian principal

The sudden termination of the work contract for a lesbian head of a kindergarten in this Bavarian town has sparked widespread criticism. When the woman told her employer at the Catholic-run school of her plans to marry her partner this coming summer, she had to sign a severance agreement.

Though the principal is apparently abiding by a confidentiality agreement, local politicians are taking up her cause. Ulrike Gote, a Green Party’s spokeswoman in the state of Bavaria, accuses the Catholic Church of "hypocrisy."

"The Church should actually be delighted that someone wants to marry their partner," Gote says. "These are the kinds of double standards that we have had to deal with for a very long time." Read More

SA’s first transgender teen novel published

A local novel about a transgender teen coming to grips with his true identity has been released in South Africa. It’s believed to be a first.

Miscast, written by Charmaine Kendal, is published by Junkets Publisher. In it, Kendal tells the story of Cathryn, a teenager born as a biological girl, who has always felt that she was in the wrong body, and how she journeys to her real identity. Read More

India: Panjab University to introduce 'third gender' category

Panjab University  (PU) will soon introduce a column for transgenders (TG) under 'gender' category in all its application forms, academic testimonials and other relevant documents that are processed or issued by the university.

According to a notification issued by the PU registrar, the PU vice-chancellor has approved certain measures to remove discrimination against the transgender community, to be implemented with immediate effect. In addition, PU will also create transgender-friendly infrastructure like washrooms, restrooms, etc, in its campuses. PU will hold sanitization programmes and awareness workshops for students, teachers and non-teaching staff to bring members of the TG community in the mainstream of life.  Read More

Russia: Court authorizes closure of LGBT teen support group's website

A court in St. Petersburg has authorized the government to block the social-network page of an online support group for LGBT teenagers in Russia.

A lawyer for Deti-404 (Children-404), Maria Kozlovskaya said that the group had been preparing for a court hearing on the issue on April 6.

But when the activists arrived in court on April 6, she said, they were told that a decision had already been made on March 25 to include the group's page on the social network VKontakte on a list of banned websites.  Read More

Turkey: University student attacked while bystanders watch

Kafkas University student and LGBTI activist Birkan Perincek has been the victim of a homophobic attack by a group of 4-5 people.

Perincek said that he did not report the assault to the police because of past experiences with discrimination by the police based on his sexual orientation. He recounted that, in the past year, when his computer was stolen, instead of finding the offender, the police had directed him questions such as “Who have you slept with from the organization?”  Read More 

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: Teachers call for compulsory same-sex relationships education

Members of the largest UK teacher's union, National Union of Teachers, passed a resolution to call on the government following May's general election to urge schools to 'tackle homophobia, biphobia and transphobia' in an effort to help 'create a positive climate of understanding' among students. 

'Conference demands that a future government must tackle the embedded homophobia, biphobia and transphobia that exists in schools and create a positive climate of understanding about sexuality and gender fit for the twenty first century.' reads the resolution.

'This must include a commitment to make it easier to discuss ideas about sexuality and gender so that students and teachers are more confident to identify as LGBTI and work in schools without fear of prejudice.' Read More

South Korea: Teachers banned from talking about LGBT issues

In a move designed to better inform teachers of how to go about sex education and counter inaccuracies, the government appears to be attempting to remove all references to LGBT people and issues in schools across the whole of South Korea. Government officials say the move was due to pressure from conservative groups.

An official from the department of student health policy said: “It is urgent that we create sex-ed standards that move away from abstinence education, but staunch opposition from conservative groups to the initial draft made it difficult to reach a compromise. Our plan is to publish the standards that are possible right now and to work to create a social consensus moving forward.”  Read More

China’s LGBT sex-ed problem

At the International Conference on Sexuality in Kunming, China, HIV/AIDS activist Humphrey Wou attended a panel on sex education, hoping to learn about the textbooks used to teach Chinese students about sex. One presenter read aloud from a book widely used in high schools in the city of Hangzhou: “Masturbation will lead to mental disorders and homosexuality,” he said.

China lacks a unified, national sex-education policy, which means the quality of education varies dramatically. Sex education—or “puberty education,” as the government calls it—is often optional. Even when it is offered, students are limited to learning about the biological differences between boys and girls and family-planning practices. 

“When it comes to sex-education, most people only consider three categories: anatomy, disease/infection, and condom use,” Wou said. “It made me think, if I were teaching a student how to drive, would I only open the hood, show them pictures of car wrecks, and teach them how to operate the pedals?” In 2013, he created Youth Decoding, which uses storytelling and audience participation to engage students—LGBT and straight alike—in thinking and talking about sex. Read More