Slovenia: Newspaper honors gay man for refugee work

Slovenia’s largest newspaper has named as its person of the year for 2015 a gay dentist who works with refugees. Delo honored Jure Poglajen during a ceremony in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. President Borut Pahor and the newspaper’s publisher were among those who attended the event.
Poglajen and his partner of more than four years have spent weeks providing food, water and clothing to the hundreds of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other countries who were crossing the narrow Mytilini Strait from Turkey to Lesbos.

Poglajen and his partner returned to Lesbos last fall with Adra Slovenia, a Protestant relief group that is raising funds to assist refugees who continue to flood into Europe. The two men also offered assistance to those who entered Slovenia from Croatia after Hungary closed its border with Serbia. 

Read more via Washington Blade
 

Australia: Queensland Government moves to expunge convictions for gay sex under historic laws

Men convicted under Queensland's historic homosexuality laws may soon have their crimes cleared, with the Palaszczuk Government taking steps to expunge historic convictions for gay sex. The sunshine state decriminalised homosexuality in 1990, but anyone charged under the laws, which made consensual homosexual acts illegal, still hold criminal convictions.

The Government has referred the issue to Queensland Law Reform Commission to consider how convictions can be removed from a person's criminal record.

Alan Raabe, 61, was one the 460 men to be convicted under the laws in Queensland. He said he has never been able to pursue his dream of teaching due to his conviction. When asked how he felt about the prospect of his conviction being expunged more than three decades later, he started crying. Read more via ABC 

Botswana: Good leadership is about people – Festus Mogae

Festus Mogae served as president of the southern African country of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He is the recipient of several international awards, including the 2008 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. In an interview the former president shared his thoughts on gay rights, the reform of the UN Security Council, the right to protect civilians in humanitarian crises and the fight against HIV/AIDS. 

In my long interaction with LGBT groups and extensive research, I have come to the realisation that we are limited in our knowledge and must be open to new discoveries. I have been converted; I used to hold the same beliefs as my counterparts.

President Mugabe has said that he hates homosexuals and is on record as saying they are worse than pigs and dogs. That is still his position. Leadership is not always about you, it is about people and often circumstances. I call upon African leaders to open up to second generation rights.  Read more via the UN

Botswana: LGBTI in Africa, from victims to victors

by Katlego K Kolanyane-Kesupile, ARTivist, writer, digital artist, and performer, as well as a Global Shaper. Her awards include being named 2015 Queen’s Young Leaders Award Highly Commended Runner Up.

Historically speaking, pride parades have been portrayed as festivals where athletic bodied, barely clad men gyrate to up-tempo music on glittery floats; and when night falls the festivities become a seething cornucopia of lust and drug use. This has been veiled as a chance for LGBTI+ people to celebrate life and “be free”.

Freedom, however, has many different applications. Anyone expecting such frivolous displays at the Joburg People’s Pride (which you can follow on Facebook and Twitter) would be in for grave disappointment, as was evident in the November 2015 march through down-town Johannesburg, South Africa. To anyone asking: “Can you really take the sex out of Pride and change what it means – especially in Africa?” My response is a big fat “YES!” and I’ll tell you why.  Read more via World Economic Forum

Canada: World's first chair in transgender studies

At The University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C. Prof. Aaron Devor, an internationally recognized sex- and-gender expert, will work with researchers, community activists and students to advance study into a broad range of topics that affect the lives of transgender individuals.

The professor has been appointed to what's believed to be the world's only chair in transgender studies hopes the research will clear away the myths and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society. Read more via CTV News

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 

Hong Kong: LGBT community disappointed by long awaited report on discrimination against sexual minorities

A long-awaited report on discrimination against sexual minorities was finally released yesterday. In wording that disappointed rights activists, the report recommended “a further study” on other jurisdictions to inform “future consultation” on both legislative proposals and administrative measures. The group also called on the government to draw up a non-discrimination charter to be voluntarily adopted by employers, schools and landlords, as well as training for teachers, medical practitioners and social workers.

Hong Kong’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities have for years been asking for wider recognition of their rights. But their bid for legislation to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation was dashed on the last day of the year.

“It took two years to discuss, and the conclusion is to ‘further study’ whether to hold public consultation [over whether to legislate to protect sexual minorities from discrimination]? This is unacceptable,” said Brian Leung Siu-fai, of LGBT rights group Big Love Alliance.

Chan, a People Power lawmaker, criticised the group: “The report has been toned down and is very conservative now,” said Chan. “The current administration is absolutely not sincere in launching legislative work at all.”  Read more via South China Morning Post

North America: Are bisexuals shut out of the LGBT club?

New studies from University of Massachusetts and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto show that bi people are being excluded by both straight and gay peers. No, bisexuals don’t have twice as much sex as everyone else. But there is mounting evidence to suggest that they experience double the types of discrimination as their gay and lesbian peers.

Two studies published in the December 2015 issue of the Journal of Bisexuality confirm what bi people have been saying for some time: The discrimination they face within the LGBT community is as real as the discrimination they face outside of it.  

Researcher Tangela Roberts believes that her study sheds light on a troubling but often ignored fault line within the LGBT population: “This is the thing that isn’t talked about,” she said. “It’s like airing out the dirty laundry of the supposed ‘LGBT community.’ It’s saying, ‘Look, we haven’t been acting like this community that we’re supposed to be and we need to do something about that.’”   Read more via the Daily Beast

Japan: Evolving public debate on LGBT rights

When a local politician from Tokyo’s Ebisu district last week condemned media coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights issues and called gay people “abnormal” on Twitter, it came as a reminder of times past. It was just four years ago when Tokyo’s governor publicly called gay people “deficient.”

But a lot has changed in Japan since 2011, including the recognition of same-sex relationships in parts of Tokyo; IBM Japan and other major companies extending some benefits to employees’ same-sex partners; and Osaka’s Yodogawa ward, in 2013, and Okinawa’s capital, Naha City, in July 2015, declaring themselves “LGBT friendly” municipalities.

Around the world, progress by LGBT people has often provoked a backlash, such as the Ebisu representative’s homophobic remarks. And while the politician’s colleagues reacted swiftly to criticize him, even calling for his resignation and prompting him to apologize, such statements cut deep, and contribute to a sense that LGBT people in Japan are under siege – particularly those most vulnerable to hateful comments from authorities.  

Read more via Human Rights Watch
 

Birthstory

At first, this is the story of an Israeli couple, two guys, who go to another continent to get themselves a baby by hiring surrogates to carry the children for them. As we follow them on their journey, an earth shaking revelation shifts our focus from them, to the surrogate mothers.

Unfolding in real time, as countries around the world consider bans on surrogacy, this episode looks at a relationship that manages to feel deeply affecting, and deeply uncomfortable, all at the same time. Listen now 

Cambodia: LGBT groups call for greater acceptance

The rights of LGBT people took centrestage at an event to celebrate Human Rights Day at the FCC mansion in Phnom Penh yesterday. Organised by NGO CamAsean, which advocates on behalf of marginalised people, the morning conference included a rap performance by lesbian and transgender teenagers, and an exhibition of photos and films featuring the lives and struggles of LGBTI people.

“Today is all about marginalised people,” said CamAsean facilitator Kong Yara. “We have representatives here from LGBT communities, sex workers, drug users and people living with HIV.”

A 26-year-old jewellery shop supervisor, who preferred not to be named, said that life for a gay Cambodian can be hard: “I don’t have any gay friends, and when I told my best friend at school I was gay when I was 15, she told me she hated gays and never spoke to me again,” he said. “Some people can have an open life as a gay man in Cambodia, but I don’t feel strong enough.”

Nonetheless, he was upbeat about the future: “I think the level of homophobia is coming down a little bit now,” he said. “And I hope I might be ready to come out in two or three years’ time.” Read more via Phnompenh Post