Jamaica: LGBT advocates interrupt Jamaican prime minister’s speech

Members of Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand, a group that advocates for LGBT Jamaicans, interrupted Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller as she spoke in Manhattan.  A video of the confrontation that shows Simpson-Miller challenging the protesters then leaving the stage from where she was speaking.

The advocates challenged the prime minister over perceptions of the government’s insufficient response to rampant and headline grabbing anti-LGBT violence, including the a video this month showing a gay teenager being stoned to death in a street. A report from Jamaican LGBT advocacy group J-FLAG notes at least 30 gay Jamaicans have been murdered between '97-'04, including J-FLAG co-founder Brian Williamson who was stabbed to death inside his home in 2004. 

Jamaica is among the English-speaking countries in the Caribbean in which consensual same-sex sexual acts remain criminalized. Read More

Egypt: National Council for Human Rights rejects UN Human Rights recommendations

Egyptian media is reporting that the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights has endorsed the recent administrative court's ruling to forbid suspected homosexuals from entering Egypt.

In a report published by the Egyptian newspaper Youm-Sabe, Dr. Salah Salam, a member of the Egyptian NCHR was quoted saying that he respects the decision of the administrative court authorizing the Ministry of Interior to deport "alien homosexuals," and ban them from entering the country. Dr. Salam said the decision is in line with Egyptian religious beliefs and traditions, reiterating that the Egyptian NCHR opposes anything that violates religion.

Dr. Salam told the paper that he believes that "homosexuality is legally, religiously, and strategically unacceptable."  Further, he said that Egyptian NCHR rejected all UN Human Rights Council recommendations [during the UPR review of the country] that are incompatible with Muslim faith. 

Legal experts have come out publicly against the ruling. Mohammad Zare, human rights lawyer and President of the Arab Organization for Penal Reform, called the ruling unenforceable and noted that this type of decision will tarnish Egypt's international image.  Read More

World Bank President: Our Efforts Have Slowed Rise Of Anti-LGBT Laws

The World Bank’s decision to block a $90 million loan to Uganda in response to a sweeping anti-homosexuality law has helped slow passage of anti-LGBT laws in other countries, implied President Jim Yong Kim in an interview.

“Everyone knows now that I will do this and so everyone is watching very carefully,” said Kim. Kim confirmed that the loan, which was “delayed” last February, is officially dead and that “the Ugandans have withdrawn their request” for the funding.

Kim reflected on the loan while discussing a proposal for updated “safeguards” for human rights and the environment that are being drafted to guide the Bank’s lending.  These include evaluating the impact on LGBT people, the first Bank policy to identify them as a vulnerable minority. Kim said that there was unanimous support from the Bank’s board that anti-LGBT discrimination was unacceptable during a discussion of his decision to block the loan to Uganda last year, even from countries that have their own laws against homosexuality. Read More 

IGLHRC criticizes Iran's refusal to accept international community's demands to respect LGBT rights

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today expressed deep dismay over the Iranian government’s rejection in whole or in part of 13 recommendations on sexual orientation and gender identity put forward during the United Nation’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Iran.

Among the recommendations rejected by the Islamic Republic of Iran are requests by Argentina, Uruguay, Iceland, Luxembourg, Chile, Canada, Italy, Israel and Spain to end legal discrimination and prosecution of individuals based on their sexual orientation as well as ending the criminalization of consensual same-sex relations.

Iran meanwhile, without a full explanation, partially accepted recommendations by Denmark, the Netherlands, and Iceland that had components related to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Read More

Iran indicates a move toward ending anti-LGBT torture

The Islamic Republic of Iran has decided to accept 139 of the 291 recommendations and to partially support 59 recommendations put forward by the 28th session of the Human Rights Council.  Despite the limitations, this is the first time the Islamic Republic has acknowledged ill-treatment and torture of the LGBT community. Iran states sterilization, sex change operations and reparative therapies that are either forced or coerced due to absence of a free and informed decision-making process, will be made illegal. 

However, Iran’s refusal to accept recommendations to fully decriminalise ‘same-sex sexual relations, remove the death penalty and flogging for offences relating to consensual same-sex relations between adults’ on the one hand, and making illegal torture due to sexual orientation with some reservations on the other, raise serious concerns regarding Iran’s will to implement the recommendations. Read More

Canada: Alberta’s new stand on gay-straight alliances makes for ‘historic’ day

Alberta has vaulted to the forefront of Canada’s debates on sexuality and gender expression, Premier Jim Prentice said after MLAs quickly passed legislation that ended a debate on gay support clubs that roiled the province.

When Alberta’s legislature convened for the first time in 2015, Mr. Prentice’s Education Minister announced that the Tory government was reversing its position on gay-straight alliances and would make the clubs mandatory in every school where a student requested one. Parents in Alberta will also no longer be able to remove their children from classes where sexual orientation is being discussed. A separate amendment will add gender expression and identity to the grounds for which Albertans will be protected from discrimination. Read More

US: USAID urged to fund LGBT advocacy efforts in Central America

Six members of Congress urged the U.S. Agency for International Development to fund LGBT advocacy efforts in Central America specifically to support advocacy groups in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. In their request, the congress members list specific examples of violence against LGBT people in the three countries. They make note of both large scale injustices, including the nearly 200 LGBT Hondurans killed between 2009 - 2014, to the individual stories of men and women who have been brutally attacked. 

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Switzerland: Parliament votes for law to protect LGBTIs from prejudice

In an amendment to a law that protects people of different races or faiths, the Swiss parliament has voted with 103 in favor, 73 against and nine abstentions to ensure nobody is targeted with hate speech and discrimination on the basis of their sexual or gender identity.

'It's nice to live in a country that recognizes diversity & supports the same equal protection for everyone.' Bastian Baumann, Sec-General of Pink Cross. 

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Russia fails in bid to stop U.N. staff benefits for all gay couples

Russia failed on Tuesday in a bid to stop the United Nations extending staff benefits to all same-sex couples after a U.N. General Assembly budget committee voted 80 to 43 against the proposal. 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in July that the United Nations would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive U.N. benefits. The U.N. now recognizes all same-sex couples married in a country where it is legal, regardless of their nationality. Russia wanted the General Assembly Fifth Committee to overturn Ban's decision and had been threatening to put the measure to a vote since December.

"We must speak plainly about what Russia tried to do today: diminish the authority of the U.N. Secretary-General and export to the U.N. its domestic hostility to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) rights," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said in a statement after the vote. Read More

EU: Parliament human rights report addresses LGBTI criminalisation, trans rights and same-sex unions

The European Parliament has voted its "Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy." The report takes account of the situation of human rights, including of LGBTI people, and makes recommendations accordingly.

The newest report recommends that legislatures throughout Europe "raise the issue of LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and intersex] rights in political and human rights dialogues with third countries and multilateral forums." The parliament also presses for national governments to "support organisations [sic] defending LGBTI rights by empowering them to challenge homophobic and transphobic laws and discrimination against LGBTI people." Read More

Peru: Outraged by the Civil Union rejection

Peruvians took to the streets shouting that all people should have equal rights after lawmakers killed the Civil Union bill which would supported same-sex unions. Heterosexual friends, gay, bisexual, transgender, lesbian, mothers, fathers, children and families called for equality while marching.

The march was led by congressman Carlos Bruce who introduced the bill and the president of the Harvey Milk Foundation, Stuart Milk, saying: “A mi no me callarán y pueden llamarme maricón porque no me ofenderé” -- They will not silence me and they can call me a queer, it will not offend me. Read More