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

Jamaica: Homosexual acts are illegal, guidance counsellors cannot break law

The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) says it cannot call for guidance counsellors to be better trained to deal with gay students as buggery remains illegal. Norman Allen, who heads the union that represents guidance counsellors, made the comment in reaction to reports that several of the approximately 800 guidance counsellors in schools are refusing to help students identified as gay or lesbian.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday,  Opposition Spokesperson on Education Senator Kamina Johnson Smith wrote: “I am really surprised at the reasoning here....To be clear – while buggery is unlawful, the state of homosexuality is not, nor is the state of being confused.” Read more via Jamaica Gleaner

New Zealand: Grammar School tacitly acknowledges homophobia

Tacitly acknowledging that it has a culture of homophobia amongst students and possibly some staff, Auckland Grammar School has responded in an up-beat manner to allegations of on-going homophobia at the prestigious and high-achieving school.

Its brief response, which does not deny the allegations or address any of the specifics of multiple claims which are being voiced, comes after a number of gay pupils and ex-pupils posted criticisms the school's culture abuse and homophobic slurs.

Headmaster Tim O'Connor has acknowledged it is "the school’s core responsibility and an on-going exercise to promote attitudes and behaviour in its students that reflect the School’s values. This includes teaching young men sensitivity towards and acceptance of the rights of others in our diverse society." Read more via Gay NZ

US: Groundbreaking school for LGBT students to open

A first-of-its-kind private school in Georgia aimed at attracting LGBT youth and teachers is being established in Atlanta for students who feel bullied or not accepted in traditional schools. Pride School Atlanta is a k-12 institution designed to be an alternative for LGBT students, though the school is open to any student who believes they’re not getting the support they need for “being different.”

It is part of a small but growing group of schools popping up nationally geared toward educating LGBT youth, who feel disenfranchised from public education. Pride School would be the first of its kind in the Southeast and, according to advocates, a significant development for the LGBT movement.

Nearly 9 in 10 LGBT students report experiencing harassment within the last school year, and three in 10 report missing a class because they felt unsafe, according to rights group Georgia Equality. The group was among other advocates who lobbied state lawmakers to create legislation to reduce bullying in schools.

“I think right now what a lot of (LGBT) students face is separate but equal education in the public schools,” he said. “Because if you can’t go to the bathroom all day and you can’t use the locker room and you’re bullied in the classroom and the teachers aren’t standing up for you, you don’t have a full seat at the table.” Read more via AP 

US: The most discriminatory laws you have never heard of

No Promo Homo laws are the most discriminatory laws you have never heard of. Hidden in education laws, they restrict the promotion of homosexuality in public school classrooms by prohibiting the teaching of homosexuality or requiring its condemnation. They exist in eight states: Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

For example Utah requires their board of education to prohibit instruction in the "advocacy of homosexuality." A more egregious Texas law requires teaching that homosexuality is "not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense." Appallingly, Texas cites the very penal law found unconstitutional in the landmark 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case.

It is clear that legislatures in some states disagree and resist homosexual rights even 10 years after the decision in Lawrence. These states have kept their discriminatory agenda on the books by burying these laws in education bills, taking advantage of their broad discretion in the area of education. These laws are not outdated; indeed they have only been around since the 1980s. Read more via the Jurist

Ireland: Teacher to be compensated over comments on gay son

A primary school has been ordered to compensate a teacher after the Equality Tribunal found she had been harassed on religious grounds and discriminated against because her son was gay.
Resource teacher Bernie Marron, who worked at the school for seven years, said the principal made a series of critical comments about her son’s sexual orientation.

Ms Marron, a non-practising Catholic, said she felt repeatedly undermined by the principal and complained to the school in September 2013. The issues, however, were not dealt with properly by the school.

Ms Marron told the tribunal she was looking for an acknowledgment that what had happened to her was wrong and sought no financial compensation. The tribunal, however, ordered the school to award her €3,000 on the basis that the case would attract a significant award of damages in the ordinary course of events.

Ms Marron said she brought the case in order to challenge a culture that allowed personal opinion and beliefs to override other people’s human rights. “I was hurt and angry by the experience. No one should be subjected to judgment about their parenting or their son’s right to be themselves,” she said. Read more via Irish Times 

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

US: Judge rules sexual orientation discrimination falls under purview of landmark Title IX law

A federal judge in California has ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation falls under the purview of the landmark Title IX law, giving a broader interpretation to the 1972 statute that prohibits sex discrimination in the nation's schools and colleges.

In his 22-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson said that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not a separate category of discrimination, but rather, such claims fall under Title IX's view of discrimination on the basis of gender or sex. 

The ruling allows two former players on the Pepperdine University women's basketball team to proceed with a lawsuit that alleges the university harassed and discriminated against them because they were dating. Read more via the Los Angeles Times

Our 13 Favorite LGBT-Positive Children's Books

Children's books occupy a tricky place in literature, especially when their aim is to change the minds of readers. With Heather Has Two Mommies, author Lesléa Newman was the first person to portray a pair of lesbian mothers in a positive way in a children's book, and it instigated criticism during the culture wars of the '90s.

Now with its 25th anniversary re-release, we look at other books that include LGBT characters. It's a fine line to tread: without verging into the realm of preachy, all good children's books have a lesson, but kids can’t know that they’re learning! Here’s a handful of (mostly) recent books that stand out.  Read more

China: LGBT activist becomes one of China’s first Rhodes Scholars

Last week, four young people became the first students from China to receive a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which began selecting candidates from the Middle Kingdom for the first time this year.

Chinese media has celebrated the news, calling the scholarship — which funds graduate-level study at Oxford — the “world’s hardest-to-get” and the “Nobel Prize” of academic awards. The scholarship is being funded in China with donations from the Hong Kong-based Li Ka Shing Foundation, among other sources.

China Real Time chatted with one of the four, Tsinghua University student Ren Naying, about the scholarship, her advocacy on behalf of gay students on campus and her views on China’s so-called “Feminist Five,” who were taken into custody earlier this year while planning to protest sexual harassment on public transportation. Read more via the Wall Street Journal

US: Schools still lack sufficient sex education programs

A huge number of teens and middle-schoolers still aren’t receiving an adequate sex education, such as how to prevent unwanted pregnancy, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and even how to get some condoms. According to a new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools teach lessons on all 16 of the nationally recommended topics for sexual health education. Less than 40% of schools nationwide required sex and health education for graduation.

The report’s findings—based on surveys of schools in 48 states, including 19 large urban school districts, and conducted during the 2014 spring semester—also varied widely state by state.  Additionally, many schools still don’t provide relevant sexual education to students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer, such as materials with inclusive language. Only 24.4% do so—despite the fact that the number of teens who self-identify with that community grows every year.

“Lack of effective sex education can have very real, very serious health consequences,” Dr. Stephanie Zaza, director of the CDC’s division of adolescent and school health, said in a statement.  Read more via Newsweek

US: Dozens of Christian schools win Title IX waivers to ban LGBT students

Nearly three dozen religious institutions of higher learning have asked the federal government to waive laws that protect LGBT students, according to government documents. The schools are asking the Department of Education to waive portions of Title IX that might apply to students and staff who are transgender or who are in same-sex relationships.

27 schools have been granted a waiver from Title IX by the department in the last year, many with the help of conservative religious organizations. Another 9 have applications pending. The total enrollment of these schools tops 80,000 students, and nearly $130 million in federal research grants and student aid flowed to these institutions of higher learning in 2014. 

When Title IX was passed in 1972 to combat discrimination based on sex, Congress added a small but powerful provision that states that an educational institution that is “controlled by a religious organization” does not have to comply if Title IX “would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.” These “right-to-discriminate” waivers were relatively rare until the last year. A handful were requested in the 1980s and 1990s, many by religious schools who wanted to ensure they could prevent women from being hired in leadership roles without running afoul of discrimination laws.  Read more via the Column