Ireland: Gay teachers welcome greater employment protection

A Bill which amends employment equality legislation to protect gay teachers in schools was passed through Report Stage by the government. It allows for LGBT teachers to be open about their sexual orientation in their school communities knowing they have robust protection under the law.

With marriage equality now becoming law, gay teachers say this is a further step towards feeling protected and proud of who they are. The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has welcomed the law, saying there was a “chilling effect” for many teachers around the country who are afraid to come out in schools.

Chairperson of the INTO LGBT Teacher’s Group Anne Marie Lillis said: “LGBT teachers can be secure in the knowledge that speaking about our families and our relationships, in the same way as our colleagues and that being gay or lesbian will have no bearing on job security or on prospects for promotion.” Read More

Saudi Arabia: Authorities reportedly fine school more than $25,000 over “emblems of homosexuality”

A school in Saudi Arabia has been fined more than $25,000, with authorities claiming the rainbows on its building were “emblems of homosexuality,” according to a Twitter account associated with the agency that enforces the country’s religious law. The tweet, from the Saudi Society Channel, also showed that the Talee al-Noor International School has been repainted. The Saudi Society Channel is one of the Twitter accounts associated with the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the agency that enforces Islamic law in the country.

Homosexuality and trans people are routinely punished by flogging in Saudi Arabia, and the country’s authorities are among the most aggressive in the region in targeting LGBT people online and on mobile hookup apps. In July of 2014, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to 450 lashes and three years in prison for soliciting sex with other men on Twitter, according to a US State Department human rights report, & 35 men alleged to be gay were arrested this April in a raid. Read More 

Croatia: messages LGBT youth on the walls as a driver of positive change

In order to familiarize the wider community with the inequalities in the society towards marginalized communities and to encourage an environment for positive change, the group Info Zone, led a program to explore marginalized youth. 

Dealing with the problems of the lack of adequate family support and / or support the environment, issues of prejudice, discrimination, labeling, obstacles to the exercise of their own desires, ambitions and dreams, difficulty in continuing education or employment the project included three focus groups: young LGBT people, young people without adequate parental care, and young people with disabilities.

Speaking in a focus group for the LGBT community in which he participated, activist Mirjana Lolić reveals some simple messages that have derived from it: Fear and shame are not the same, Silence is the biggest problem, should have equal rights, BUT .., pride is what is after all stripes ascend, lesbophobia, Advanced minorities contribute to the development of civilization. Read More

Germany: Green Youth Munich leader, involuntary hero of CSD-Parade

As board member of political youth group 'Grüne Jugend München,' Marcel Rohrlack, 18, speaks out for LGBT rights and marriage equality, but also minimum wage, housing, and environmental issues. After attending Munich's annual pride event--Christopher Street Parade--Rohrlack and a friend were attacked and beaten by a group a five men. Documenting his injuries on Facebook, Rohrlack urged an end to violence. Read More 

Kenya: 19 school students suspended for supporting LGBT rights

A group of Kenyan high school students from St. Mary’s Kibabi Boys High School in Bungoma County – were sent home, pending an investigation by the school into the allegations against them, after anti-gay students accused them of being gay. The teenagers were taking part in a group debate regarding gay rights – an issue no doubt heightened by the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama.

After the school boys vocalised their own support for gay people, their opponents accused them of being homosexuals themselves, and they were subsequently asked to leave school. They will be allowed to report back to the school next week with their parents to hear the verdict against them. The school’s principal, Mathew Namunwa, has warned that if any of the students are discovered to have participated in homosexual acts, they would be given counselling.

Namanuwa confirmed that there had been a debate the previous week between the pro and anti-gay pupils, which led to divisions among the peers. He said those accused of being gay are suspected to have been practising “it” with the school’s youngest and most vulnerable students. Read More via Pink News 

Kenya: African LGBTIQ youth speak out

Young African LGBTIQ activists from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda attending the Fifth Changing Faces Changing Spaces conference in Kenya gathered together to discuss issues affecting LGBTIQ youths in Africa. The participants shared our collective observations that the voices of young LGBTIQ Africans are quite often not heard even within LGBTIQ spaces.

There is the erroneous belief that young people lack the ability and capacity to organize due to lack of professional experience as well as misconception about their ability for self-determination around their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. These among other factors have silenced the voices of young LGBTIQ Africans in the struggle for LGBTIQ rights in the continent.

We, young LGBTIQ Africans are a huge part of the movement and in so many instances lead organizations that are not necessarily youth focused but are at the forerun in the struggle for LGBTIQ rights in our regions and countries. We have proven to be a driving force of the movement in Africa; both as leaders and as beneficiaries and are changing the notion that young people are being “recruited” into homosexuality in Africa. Read More 

US: What same-sex marriage reform could mean for the LGBT youths

Since 1999, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network  (GLSEN) has released a biennial survey of the climate for LGBT students. It shows that from 2007 to 2013, LGBT students have reported a steady decline of incidents of verbal and physical harassment and of physical assault.

Though this is important progress for LGBT youth, nearly 56% of LGBT students still reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexuality or gender identity in 2013. This, alongside data showing 74% of LGBT students were verbally harassed and 56% said that their school had anti-LGBT policies – all of which can result in absences from school and depression.  Read More

Brazil: Proposal for LGBT inclusive education generates controversy

The Municipality of Macapa will vote on the Municipal Education Plan, outlining goals and deadlines for the educational sector of the capital for the next 10 years. Before the parliament code consider the bill, controversy erupted among the evangelical branch over proposed goal of inclusive education for LGBT.  

The debate resulted in the revision of the text by the Education Commission. Though vote is expected to come there is the possibility of submission of an amendment to the original text by evangelical bench to remove LGBT inclusive education. Read More

US: Teacher, assistant principal step down over gay fairy tale controversy

A teacher and an assistant principal at North Carolina's Efland-Cheeks Elementary have stepped down following the backlash over the teacher's reading of a gay children's book in the classroom. Third-grade teacher Omar Currie sparked uproar this spring when he read the book, "King & King," to his class. The book, which was given to Currie by Assistant Principal Meg Goodhand, tells the story of a fictional prince who defies the pressure to marry a princess and weds a man.

Currie wanted to teach a lesson after one student was repeatedly bullied and called "gay" in a derogatory manner. "My reading of 'King & King' was the 100 percent right thing to do," he said. "It's obvious Orange County Schools is lacking leadership right now."

A handful of parents expressed anger, arguing Currie was forcing his opinion on the children, although many LGBTQ advocates, as well as Goodhand, came to Currie's defense in a heated public meeting last month.  Read More

Italy: Venice bans children’s book about gay penguins

Books which teach about same-sex and single-parent families will be banned in schools in Venice. The moves comes after Luigi Brugnaro was elected the city’s mayor earlier this month.

Brugnaro made the pledge to purge the city’s nurseries and primary schools of books about gay partnerships and gay adoption. “We don’t want to discriminate against anyone and at home parents can call themselves daddy number one and daddy number two, but I have to consider the majority of families, which have a mum and a dad,” he told La Repubblica newspaper. Read More

Norway: Proposal to extend transgender rights to children

Norway’s government proposed that children as young as 7 should be allowed to change their legal gender with parental support, among the lowest ages in the world for transgender rights. The suggested overhaul includes personal decisions without medical diagnosis.

“Today’s rules in this area are unacceptable and have been unchanged for almost 60 years,” Health Minister Bent Hoie said in a statement, to be debated by experts before any formal bill goes to parliament. “The proposal is historic in that it will no longer be the health service but the individual who decides if he or she has changed sex,” he said.

The draft would affect everything from social security numbers to passports. Anyone aged 16 or above could apply themselves. The proposal only affects legal documents - surgery can only be performed on those over 18. Anyone who applies for a legal change of gender can reverse it if they later regret it. Read More

UK: Roses are red, condoms are blue... if you have syphilis

Three UK teens may have found a way to help couples test for STDs in the privacy of their own home. They've invented a condom called the S.T.EYE that changes color when it comes into contact with the pathogens -- green for chlamydia, yellow for herpes and blue for syphilis. The condom -- created by 14-year-old Daanyaal Ali, 13-year-old Muaz Nawaz and 14-year-old Chirag Shah from the Issac Newton Academy in London -- won top honors in the healthcare category at the TeenTech Awards.

The design is still in the conceptual stage, but the teens have already reportedly been approached by a condom manufacturer about improving their invention and possibly turning it into something headed to a drug store near you. This isn't the first we've seen of color-coded personal products. Last year, a nail polish company unveiled a product that could test for the presence of date rape drugs such as Rohypnol, Xanax and GHB in drinks.  Read More