Last year Obama extended protection from deportation to roughly 3.7 million immigrants. But most of the guarantees were reserved for people whose legally recognized spouses, children, or parents were already American citizens. This was small comfort for LGBT folk whose partners are often not legally recognized, are estranged from family members, and for whom giving birth to a child in the traditional manner is often out of reach. Read More
Europe: Immigration and LGBTs - Denied Safe Haven
Any hope that the same legal protections offered to EU citizens would be extended to LGBT immigrants when they arrive in Europe is often egregiously misplaced. In place of greater freedom, many are greeted with prolonged periods of incarceration. Instead of social acceptance, they are treated with contempt and face discrimination, violence, and sexual abuse in detention centers. Rather than understanding, they’re subjected to drawn-out, sometimes humiliating, decision-making processes designed to establish the “credibility” of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Read More
Kenya: Ugandan LGBT refugees launch UNHCR protest
There are many problems currently brewing in Kenya for Ugandan refugees who, after fleeing homophobia and persecution in Uganda, have been caught in a quagmire of funding and fraud issues. What follows is a desperate plea written by Ugandan refugees in Kenya, whose plight has been exacerbated by recent ‘people trafficking’ fraudsters who have descended on UNHCR pretending to be LGBTI seeking refuge and resettlement. LGBTI do not qualify for asylum in Kenya as their perceived ‘lifestyle-option’ is in breach of existing Kenyan laws which prohibit ‘unnatural’ sexual acts. Read More
US: Obama invokes Stonewall and LGBT equality in #Selma50 speech
Speaking before a crowd of thousands on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge marking the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" and the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery today, President Obama noted the progress made in the fight for racial and LGBT equality and the similarities between those two civil rights movements. Read More
Twitter's New Threat Reporting Tool Is a Useless Punt
Twitter, a service that admits it sucks at dealing with trolls, just announced a new tool for reporting harassment to the police. It looks like a good step at first glance—if you ignore the fact that it's a responsibility dodging, spineless fix that's highly unlikely to help anyone being harassed or threatened Twitter. This is a PR stunt, not a solution.
There is middle ground to be explored between castrating Twitter's capabilities as a free speech machine and introducing measures that actually counter abuse. Twitter could, for instance, employ proactive abuse moderators. These moderators could cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies and help people getting threatened make contact with police, not by giving them a copy of their complaint but by actually setting up contact. These abuse moderators could keep tabs on IP addresses known to spawn more than one abusive account. Read More
Facebook moves to curb terror, hate speech with update to its ‘community standards’
Nudity, hate speech, self-harm, dangerous organisations, bullying and harassment, sexual violence and exploitation, criminal activity, violence and graphic content are among the areas covered by the updated guidelines.
The move comes with Facebook and other social media struggling with defining acceptable content and freedom of expression, and with these networks increasingly linked to radical extremism and violence, including the posting and sharing of video and photographs of violent hate crimes. Read More
Op-ed: The 14 ways Uganda can break free from homophobia forever
LGBTI people in Uganda live with the threat of even more draconian legislation hanging over them. But there is hope.
Under a proposed new law, which is yet to be debated in parliament, even someone sending a text message mentioning homosexuality could be criminalized. Landlords would be punished for renting homes or offices to gay people – effectively making all gay people homeless. But it is not only the haters who can strategize.
Frank Mugisha, director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), shares his ideas for changing a nation almost synonymous with homophobia. Read More
Op-ed: The role of private sector in getting legal and social equity to LGBT Kenyans
Kuria Foundation For Social Enterprise: Now the human rights community and sexual minority groups in particular have done a great job “claiming” rights through numerous ways. These include, writing policy briefs, holding community engagement and education forums, and many other policy advocacy engagements. Others have gone to court seeking legal redress and constitutional interpretations on equality and non-discrimination. These initiatives are great and should continue.
But we may have forgotten the role of private sector in getting legal and social equity. In seeking to address the state, we may have failed to interrogate enough, whether the private sector can provide the ‘goods’ we seek. Can the profit motive ensure that we get to equality and non-discrimination? Read More
Europe: Mixed Prospects for LGBT Rights in Central and Eastern Europe
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups in Central and Eastern Europe, which still faced mixed prospects as they fight for rights and acceptance, are now taking some heart from the “failure” of a referendum in Slovakia, a member of the European Union. The reasons behind the relative societal intolerance towards LGBT groups in Central and Eastern Europe vary from entrenched conservative attitudes rooted in countries’ isolation under communism, to local political aims and the influence of the Catholic Church. Read More
Turkey: LGBTI activists from Balkans to Middle East met in Turkish capital
Online activists spur change in Middle East, China, world
Online LGBT activism and community-building are the focus of Quorum's eighth discussion of international LGBTI issues. Moderated by Andre Banks (All Out), media activists Xiaogang Wei of China and Suzan of Egypt reflect on their experiences in working to connect LGBTQ folks through each of their online platforms.
Xiaogang Wei explained the progress of the Chinese LGBT movement: “Things are changing,” he said. “We are building this language. We are building this identify. People know how to use the right language to fight back.”
Suzan focused on how LGBT Westerners can support and understand their Middle Eastern counterparts, instead of acting as though they have the wisdom and the right to tell queer activists in the Middle East how to think and act. Read More or watch the discussion here
US: Rabbis of Largest Jewish Movement Pick First Lesbian Leader
Rabbi Denise Eger became the first out lesbian rabbi to serve as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinical arm of the Reform movement, the largest Jewish movement in America with 1.5 million adherents. With 2,000 members, CCAR is the largest rabbinic organization in North America. Founded in 1889, it’s also the oldest, and serves most liberal of the mainstream denominations.
But Eger’s sexual orientation is only part of the story. In fact, the new CCAR president may bring a new focus on progressive social justice activism to the Reform movement. In a way, she might be the Jewish Lesbian Pope Francis. Read More