France: Is Homophobia Really on the Rise in France?

France may have taken the historic step of legalising gay marriage last year, but it appears the landmark social reform came at a cost. The number of reported homophobic acts increased in 2013 by a staggering 78%, according to SOS Homophobie, a homophobia hotline and LGBTQ defense organization. 

The cases are striking to Americans because of the widely held fallacy that France is a tolerant society. This is not entirely the case. Religious diversity is tolerated as long as minorities remain quiet. “Laïcité,” the French version of secularism, favors Catholicism and is often used as a cudgel against the Muslim (and in some cases the Jewish) minority.

If there are more reports of homophobia, it is partly because of more homophobic incidents. But it is also because of more reporting of those incidents. For many years French LGBTQ people bought into the notion that France was tolerant. The virulence of the attacks on homosexuals during marriage equality was a revelation to these gays, as were the visible physical assaults on gay men. Read More 

Egypt: How distaste of LGBT people in Egypt has turned into state-sponsored persecution

Whenever protests are planned and the Egyptian tanks roll into Cairo’s main squares, Mariam takes a longer route to work, the one that avoids the police checkpoints. Her ID carries the name she was born with (a boy’s name) and a number that signals her original gender (male). These details are not easily changed, and they could get her arrested.

“Last time I got stopped, I panicked and pretended I was going to a fancy-dress party. The officers made fun of me but it worked and they let me go,” she says. The policemen ridiculed her for a bit, and called her names, but she played along and once they got bored they let her pass. With dozens of members of the LGBT community in prison on so-called charges of “debauchery”, she does not want to risk it again.

Being gay or transgender is not illegal in Egypt but since the military pushed out the unpopular Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in the summer of 2013, the country has been engaged in a fierce crackdown. Human rights workers say at least 150 LGBT people have been arrested. Read More

Europe: The Best And Worst Places In Europe To Be Trans

Transgender people might be more visible than ever, but across much of Europe having their gender identity recognised by law remains either impossible, or beset by obstacles. The group Transgender Europe has released a report with a wealth of detailed findings about the differing rights of trans people across the continent. The study compared policies and laws for trans people in 22 different areas, including asylum, employment discrimination, hate speech laws, goods and services discrimination, and whether official documents can be changed to register gender identity. Read more 

Hong Kong: Gay woman challenges Hong Kong in landmark trial

Hong Kong bills itself as Asia's World City, a cutting-edge metropolis that effortlessly fuses the traditional and the modern. But on the subject of rights for sexual minorities, gay rights activists say the city is firmly stuck in the past. The High Court will hear a landmark judicial review challenge by QT, a British lesbian woman who is accusing the Immigration Department of discrimination.

She moved to Hong Kong in 2011 when her partner accepted a technology job. The couple are in a civil partnership in the UK and she applied for a dependant visa, granted to the husbands and wives of expatriates working in Hong Kong. Such a visa allows the bearer to work, to access public medical services and provides a path to permanent residency. But applications to the Immigration Department proved unsuccessful, because officials refused to recognise her UK-registered civil partnership. Read More

European Court of Human Rights: “Gender Identity” Protected Against Discrimination

In Identoba and Others v. Georgia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) clarified that all trans people are protected against discrimination on grounds of gender identity under art. 14 of the Convention (ECHR). This is an important and awaited step.

On the occasion of IDAHOT in 2012, Georgian activists held a peaceful march in Tbilisi. When counter-demonstrators were attacking them, brutally assaulting and beating them, the police failed to protect the activists adequately. Therefore, the ECtHR condemned Georgia for degrading and inhuman treatment in a discriminatory manner.

The court says clearly that especially in a homo- and transphobic society the state has a “compelling positive obligation” to protect the LGBT community against such (foreseeable) discriminatory inhuman and degrading treatment and if such attacks happen it has to unmask the discriminatory motive behind the violence and brutality. For the whole LGBT community this is a significant judgment. Read More

Zambia: High Court confirms acquittal of HIV activist, Paul Kasonkomna

Paul Kasonkomona was arrested after he appeared on a MuviTV programme where he spoke about the need to recognise the rights of vulnerable groups such as LGBT persons and sex workers in order to comprehensively address the HIV pandemic. Kasonkomona was charged under section 178(g) of the Penal Code with the idle and disorderly offence of soliciting in a public place for immoral purposes. 

After his initial acquittal, the State appealed, arguing that it was justifiable to limit the right to freedom of expression where persons expressed their views on the rights of LGBT persons. However, High Court Justice Mulongoti confirmed the 2014 ruling that the State did not present sufficient evidence on all the elements of the offence.

“The judgment of the High Court is important because it confirms that it is not unlawful to lobby for law and policy reform and for the protection of the rights of marginalised groups,” says Anneke Meerkotter, from SALC. “It in unacceptable that the State doggedly pursued criminal prosecution of a human rights activist when they never had any evidential basis for such persecution.The outcome of this case is a victory for freedom of expression in Zambia.” Read More

Australia: Victorian government announces $400K funding for LGBTI seniors program

The Victorian Government has just announced $402,000 in funding over three years for Val’s Cafe, a program that promotes and advocates for the health, wellbeing and social inclusion of older LGBTI people.

Val’s Café is named after a Melbourne coffee lounge established by Val Eastwood that became a gay-friendly meeting place in early 1950s, during a time when LGBTI people faced persecution. The project was established in 2009 to work with aged-care facilities and help providers understand the histories and experiences of their older LGBTI clients.

“LGBTI seniors shouldn’t have to get back in the closet as they grow older,” Equality Minister Martin Foley said with the announcement.

The project now has 450 members and 5000 monthly online visitors to its website. It has provided support to more than 4000 staff across the aged-care sector, with the goal of ensuring that LGBTI Victorians can be respected for who they are as they grow older.  Read More 

Russia: Lawmakers Propose Banning Marriages For Trans People

Lawmakers in Russia introduced draft legislation today that would ban marriage between two people of the same sex, including cases where a trans person has transitioned or is in the process of transitioning. Same-sex marriage is already illegal in Russia, but the measure aims to close a bureaucratic loophole that allowed Irina Shumilova and Alyona Fursova to marry in St. Petersburg last November. Shumilova, who identifies as a transsexual woman, is still male according to her passport. Their wedding made headlines around the world and angered conservative politicians. Read More

Church of Scotland votes to allow gay ministers in civil partnerships

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has voted to allow congregations to ordain gay ministers who are in same sex civil partnerships.

Supporters said it was time for the church to be inclusive and recognise the "mixed economy" of modern Scotland. Opponents warned that the move was contrary to God's law, would prove divisive and lead to resignations. 

Outgoing Moderator Very Rev John Chalmers was to say: "We cannot go on suffering the pain of internal attacks which are designed to undermine the work or the place of others. It's time to play for the team. And let me be very clear here - I am not speaking to one side or another of the theological spectrum. I am speaking to both ends and middle. It is time to stop calling each other names, time to shun the idea that we should define ourselves by our differences and instead define ourselves by what we hold in common - our baptism into Christ, our dependence on God's grace, our will to serve the poor and so on."  Read More 

French Protestant church allows gay marriage blessing

France's United Protestant Church (EPUdF) voted to allow pastors to bless same-sex marriages, two years after Paris legalized gay nuptials amid protests backed by the majority Roman Catholic Church. The EPUdF, created in 2012 in a merger of France's Lutheran and Reformed churches, said its synod also agreed that individual pastors or parishes can decide whether or not they will organize such blessings.

"The synod has decided to take a step forward in accompanying people and these couples by opening the possibility of celebrating liturgical blessings if they want," said Laurent Schlumberger, president of the United Protestant Church.

Blessing or marrying same-sex couples has been a divisive issue in Protestant churches, with some liberal ones - such as those in Sweden and Denmark - fully approving gay weddings and others only offering a blessing service that is different than that for traditional marriage. Read More 

Luxembourg: Prime Minister is first serving EU leader to wed same-sex partner

Luxembourg's Prime Minister has become the first serving leader in the EU to wed someone of the same sex after marrying his partner in a ceremony on Friday.

Xavier Bettel and Belgian architect Gauthier Destenay were among the first men to marry under the country’s new law on same-sex marriage, which came into force on 1 January. They have been civil partners since 2010.  Read More 

Cyprus: Government approves civil partnerships

The long-awaited bill has gained the approval of the Cabinet, and now passes to the Parliament where it will be voted on. The bill gives couples in civil partnerships all the benefits of marriage – with the exception of joint adoption.

Advocacy group Accept-LGBT Cyprus said: “The government is living up to its promises, taking the first step towards modernising the state’s institutions." Read More