India: Gay sex ban in India stirs violence, blackmail, and abuse

When Rajan was followed by two men into a public toilet in Mumbai and forced to perform oral sex on them, the 31-year-old gay marketing professional realised this was the beginning of the end of his short-lived sexual freedom.

"They knew I was gay. They were watching me and waiting. They filmed the whole thing and threatened to tell the police," Rajan, who did not want to disclose his full name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Then they took me to an ATM and made me withdraw all the money I had which was 15,000 rupees ($240)... Even though society has not fully accepted us, the law was there to protect us. But now we are scared."

Rajan is one of thousands from India's LGBT community who've faced persecution after the reinstatement of a colonial-era law banning gay sex. Read More 

Russia: Ombudsman concerned over “aggressive tones” at LGBT people

St. Petersburg ombudsman Alexander Shishlov has presented his 2014 annual report on human rights in the local Legislative Assembly. A separate chapter of the report highlights multiple cases of LGBT discrimination in St. Petersburg.

Shishlov cited 36 cases of attacks on LGBT people. Of these, 30 occurred during public events. In particular, he mentioned an attempt to disrupt the LGBT rally in St. Petersburg. Nevertheless, Shishlov acknowledged “the professional work of police officers,” which helped the rally to be held without significant violations of law. However, the Ombudsman said that “hostile opponents of LGBT movement insulted LGBT activists before and after the event, prevented passage of the rally participants to the place of the meeting, threw stones and grabbed away placards.” Read More 

UK: Teachers call for compulsory same-sex relationships education

Members of the largest UK teacher's union, National Union of Teachers, passed a resolution to call on the government following May's general election to urge schools to 'tackle homophobia, biphobia and transphobia' in an effort to help 'create a positive climate of understanding' among students. 

'Conference demands that a future government must tackle the embedded homophobia, biphobia and transphobia that exists in schools and create a positive climate of understanding about sexuality and gender fit for the twenty first century.' reads the resolution.

'This must include a commitment to make it easier to discuss ideas about sexuality and gender so that students and teachers are more confident to identify as LGBTI and work in schools without fear of prejudice.' Read More

South Korea: Teachers banned from talking about LGBT issues

In a move designed to better inform teachers of how to go about sex education and counter inaccuracies, the government appears to be attempting to remove all references to LGBT people and issues in schools across the whole of South Korea. Government officials say the move was due to pressure from conservative groups.

An official from the department of student health policy said: “It is urgent that we create sex-ed standards that move away from abstinence education, but staunch opposition from conservative groups to the initial draft made it difficult to reach a compromise. Our plan is to publish the standards that are possible right now and to work to create a social consensus moving forward.”  Read More

China’s LGBT sex-ed problem

At the International Conference on Sexuality in Kunming, China, HIV/AIDS activist Humphrey Wou attended a panel on sex education, hoping to learn about the textbooks used to teach Chinese students about sex. One presenter read aloud from a book widely used in high schools in the city of Hangzhou: “Masturbation will lead to mental disorders and homosexuality,” he said.

China lacks a unified, national sex-education policy, which means the quality of education varies dramatically. Sex education—or “puberty education,” as the government calls it—is often optional. Even when it is offered, students are limited to learning about the biological differences between boys and girls and family-planning practices. 

“When it comes to sex-education, most people only consider three categories: anatomy, disease/infection, and condom use,” Wou said. “It made me think, if I were teaching a student how to drive, would I only open the hood, show them pictures of car wrecks, and teach them how to operate the pedals?” In 2013, he created Youth Decoding, which uses storytelling and audience participation to engage students—LGBT and straight alike—in thinking and talking about sex. Read More 

Australia: There needs to be more LGBTI Rights subjects across law schools

Law schools around Australia need to move education away from assumptions of heterosexuality and gender normativity and encourage students to grapple with legal issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Paula Gerber explains.

THERE are 36 law schools within Australian universities. How many of these do you think offer subjects relating to LGBTI rights, sexual orientation or gender identity? Half? A quarter?

Alas, on the most generous count, it is only eight: Monash University, Southern Cross University, Griffith University, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australian National University, Macquarie University, University of Western Australia, and University of Wollongong.

While this is a disappointingly low number, and a poor geographic spread – with no offerings in South Australia, Tasmania or the Northern Territory, and only one in Victoria – it is a big improvement on just five years ago. In 2010, only three law schools offered LGBTI-related subjects. Read More 

Russia: Anti-gay views on rise; teachers face brunt

Alevtina is one of several teachers who lost their jobs in St. Petersburg after being outed by an anti-gay activist. While most resigned quietly, the 27-year-old music teacher decided to fight her dismissal in court — an unusual step in Russia where gays have faced increasing pressure in recent years.

The rising anti-gay sentiment has coincided with the passage of a controversial Russian law that prohibits exposing children to gay "propaganda." The law has made it easy to target teachers, because they work directly with children.

The hardening of lines against gays is thrown into stark relief by a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. The survey found that Russians' tolerance of gays has plummeted in recent years, with 51% of those surveyed late last year saying they would not want a gay neighbor. This was up from 38% in 2012.  Read More 

Canada: Kathleen Wynne feels ‘responsibility’ as first lesbian premier

Premier Kathleen Wynne, speaking to students at Agincourt Collegiate on Wednesday, says she is not a "gay activist" but hopes she can be an example to others. "I can be an example . . . If I can help (gay) people be less frightened, that’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.”

Wynne, 61, still maintains that she is not an activist, but told reporters after her speech to the school “that being a lesbian, being in this office allows others to look at this office in a different way.” Read More

US: Students fight back after Catholic School fires their teacher

More than 150 students and alumni of a Des Moines–area Catholic high school demonstrated in protest of the school’s decision to rescind a full-time job offer of substitute teacher and school coach Tyler McCubbin because he’s gay. McCubbin says the school initially told him he could continue substitute teaching and coaching if he wanted. But after news of the decision prompted public outcry, the administration rescinded their offer. 

Students walked out of class and prayed in the rain with alums. “I just want the community to know that this is a really important topic, and that just because our school officials or diocesan leaders might have made this decision, it does not directly reflect what we believe as students,” said Grace Mumm, a sophomore.

The diocese has said that the Catholic School contract “contains specific language that outlines the code of conduct in accord with long accepted Church teaching” and that “it is our expectation that staff and teachers support our moral beliefs as they are the models of our Catholic faith.” There have been several cases around the nation of staff at Catholic churches and schools being fired or not offered jobs because they are engaged or married to a same-sex partner. Read More 

Brazil: LGBT Community Looks On In Fear At Rise Of Evangelicals

Backed by the country’s rapidly growing evangelical population, a large number of religious conservatives won election in October as part of a broad conservative coalition that now controls Congress. They have taken office bent on reversing recent gains for LGBT rights, including a 2013 decision by a judicial panel that established marriage equality nationwide. 

Jean Wyllys, Brazil’s only out gay member of Congress and best-known progressive standard bearer, wrote that the threat of “religious fundamentalism” has gone ignored as Brazil’s major parties have scrambled for the votes of conservative evangelicals who now make up more than 20% of the population. This “Christian fundamentalism” is every bit as dangerous as “Islamic fundamentalism” in the Middle East, and now threatens “individual liberty, sexual diversity, and secular culture” in Brazil, he said.

“When will we wake up to the true nature of the monster emerging from the lake,” he asked. Read More

Australia: Anglican and Catholic leaders call to scrap gay panic defence

Brisbane’s Anglican archbishop has joined a local Catholic priest in calling for Queensland’s controversial “gay panic” homicide defence to be scrapped.

Speaking after his Easter Sunday mass the archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Phillip Aspinall, said he supported Fr Paul Kelly in his calls for the Homosexual Advance Defence to be removed from Queensland common law. The defence means a murder charge may be reduced to manslaughter if the defendant establishes their victim “came on” to them, and the killing was in self-defence.

“I think Fr Paul Kelly is on the right track, well and truly,” Aspinall said. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to murder someone who approaches you sexually. Violence is never a constructive response.”  Read More

Nigeria: Concerns raised over Nigerian bishop appointed as New Secretary General of global Anglican Communion

The newly-named Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Office is on the spot over his anti-homosexuality remarks at a time when the church is divided sharply over gay clerics.

The Most Reverend Dr Josiah Atkins Idowu-Fearon was appointed to be the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. He currently serves as Bishop of Kaduna in the Church of Nigeria where he has earned a global reputation in the Church for his expertise in Christian-Muslim relations.

However, the Bishop is under fire for his support for the criminalization of homosexuality and support of Nigeria's anti gay law, the Same Sex Prohibition Act signed by the then president, Jonathan Goodluck. In a 2014 interview, Dr Idowu-Fearon said, “The government has criminalised homosexuality which is good, our battle is not against human beings, it is against the devil.”  Read More