The new report looks at barriers Bhutanese gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender people have in accessing health services. In addition to the strengths, limitations and needs of the health services dealing with marginalized peoples' sexual health, the study puts forth a set of concrete recommendations. Find the report here
Eastern European and Central Asian MSM and transgender people are absent from HIV dialogue
A new report from the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health finds men who have sex with men and transgender people are not involved in strategic discussions around HIV in most nations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Lack of reliable epidemiological data, high stigma, and policies that restrict the access of MSM and TG to information on HIV are key factors that preclude the two key populations from meaningfully participating in the country dialogue processes, contributing to HIV/AIDS program planning, and otherwise cooperating with the Global Fund.
“The absence of key populations of MSM and transgender people in the country dialogue challenges the legitimacy of these processes in our region,” says Vitaly Djuma, ECOM’s Executive Director. Read More
Dominican Republic: I apologize if I insulted anyone but I am not a homophobe
Former Dominican Republic president and current presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía pushed back against reports that his use of derogatory words were against LGBTs.
"I never meant to make fun or belittle human beings who have been marginalized and harassed," Mejía said in a statement. "If that was misinterpreted as an insult, I have no problem offering my apologies and reiterating that it was not, nor is, nor would be my intention; that's not how I behave."
Mejía used the Spanish word "mariconcito" which translates to "little faggot" last week during an event when he joked that a campaign consultant suggested he practice sitting down like a "mariconcito" when doing media appearances if he wanted his poll numbers to increase. Read More
EU leaders demand answers from Kyrgyz President over anti-LGBTI bill
Finland: First female president discusses the future of LGBT advocacy
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
Malta: We celebrate Maltese protections for intersex people
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