Palestine: Documentary Oriented

New talent Jake Witzenfeld takes a look at the LGBT community of Tel Aviv in his directorial debut, Oriented. The documentary takes place over 15 months, through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2014, and follows three Palestinian friends living in Tel Aviv as they face struggles with their nationality and sexuality.

Khader, son of a notorious Muslim mafia family lives with his Jewish boyfriend, David. Although legally Israeli, Fadi doesn’t identify as such and doesn’t feel he has the right to call himself a Palestinian. Instead he just defines himself as Arab. Naim struggles with coming out to his parents, something he feels empowered to do whenever he’s in Tel Aviv, but anytime he goes home, his return is met with crippling insecurities. Read More 

Science alone can’t shift anti-gay prejudice in Africa

South Africa was the first country in the world to include protection on the grounds of sexuality in its constitution. It remains a marked contrast to many of its African neighbours, which have either retained colonial laws against homosexual behaviour or, in some cases, introduced or strengthened such laws.

Thus it is not surprising that a report such as the Diversity of Human Sexuality, Implications for Policy in Africa should come from the Academy of Science South Africa.

The report provides a clear and rigorous summary of the current state of the science on diverse sexuality. But given the strength of anti-gay sentiment in Africa, whether it will be able to influence politicians is far from certain. Read more

The science behind a more meaningful understanding of sexual orientation

People who are attracted to others of the same sex develop their orientation before they are born. This is not a choice. And scientific evidence shows their parents cannot be blamed.

Research proving that there is biological evidence for sexual orientation has been available since the 1980s. The links have been emphasised by new scientific research.

In 2014, researchers confirmed the association between same-sex orientation in men and a specific chromosomal region. This is similar to findings originally published in the 1990s, which, at that time, gave rise to the idea that a “gay gene” must exist. But this argument has never been substantiated, despite the fact that studies have shown that homosexuality is a heritable trait.

Evidence points towards the existence of a complex interaction between genes and environment, which are responsible for the heritable nature of sexual orientation. Read more

Why anti-gay sentiment remains strong in much of Africa

This article is part of a series The Conversation Africa is running on issues related to LGBTI in Africa. You can read the rest of the series here.

Of the 76 countries that still criminalise same-sex relationships and behaviour, 38 are African. Recent surveys also show that the overwhelming majority of people who live in Africa strongly disapprove of homosexuality. This is even the case in South Africa, the only country on the continent that has legalised same-sex marriage.

Last month, socially conservative Ireland voted convincingly to legalise same-sex marriage. It became the first country where the people, as opposed to the courts or parliament, decided to legalise same-sex marriage. Ireland is now one of 20 countries globally that permit gay marriage. Fifteen years ago, such marriage was not legal anywhere in the world.

What the science is saying

Africa’s strong anti-homosexuality sentiment, harsh laws and active discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people warrant exploration. Read more

Cambodia's LGBT community finds its voice

Cambodia, a country known for its abysmal human rights record and gender inequality, is now home to a print magazine geared toward the LGBT community and its allies. Q Cambodia, the country's first gay magazine, seeks to entertain, inform and bring more visibility to the community through interviews, stories and photos of both local Cambodians and foreigners, according to Sorel Thongvan, editor-in-chief of the magazine.

Thongvan, who was born in France to Khmer parents and lived in the United States and Cambodia, said he noticed something was missing within the LGBT community when he returned to Cambodia to live in 2012, so he decided to bridge that information gap with Q. Read More

Explainer: tackling the stigma and myths around sexuality

This article is part of a series The Conversation Africa is running on issues related to LGBTI in Africa. You can read the rest of the series here.

Increasing anti-homosexuality sentiment across Africa has been based on the belief that homosexuality is “contagious” or that people can be “recruited” to it.

These sentiments are reflected by 38 countries in Africa outlawing same-sex relationships. Several others are thinking about new laws against “promoting homosexuality”.

These views are dispelled as baseless by a report from the Academy of Science South Africa released this week. The report, Diversity in Human Sexuality: Implications for Policy in Africa, is based on a consensus study of research from across the world. Read more

UK: Stars campaign to keep Human Rights Act

Imitation Game star Benedict Cumberbatch is among a number of stars who have recorded videos celebrating the Human Rights Act – amid government plans to scrap it.

David Cameron has pledged to “once and for all” repeal the Human Rights Act, and during the State Opening of Parliament today, the Queen confirmed “proposals” for a British Bill of Rights, which is expected to replace the law. Read More 

Australia: What it's like to grow up transgender and Aboriginal

Kai Clancy of the Wakka Wakka and Wulli Wulli nations on his life and including Aboriginal transgender identities in future transgender and gender-diverse initiatives:

I'm Kai, I'm 19 years old and I currently live in Melbourne. I am also a transgender male, meaning my mind didn't match with the gender given to me at birth. I transitioned at the age of 18, during my first year of university.

It isn't something I woke up one day and decided to do, as a joke. It isn't something that has grown on me in my late teen years, nor is it a teenage identity crisis. These are all assumptions I've had thrown at me during the last two years I've transitioned. To be quite frank, I was only four years old when I suggested I wasn't like the other kids, that I was born into the wrong body or something didn't happen right with me when I was developing. Read More 

South Africa: African academics challenge homophobic laws

A Western import. Unnatural. Contagious. Un-African. All of these arguments and more have been invoked to support the numerous laws criminalizing homosexuality in Africa. But now African academics have used scientific evidence to argue against such laws and to urge African nations to abandon them.

In a report published by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the academics, most of whom are scientists, make the case that laws criminalizing homosexuality have no basis in science and hamper efforts to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (see go.nature.com/q3rr4k).

Partly because those arguing in favour of criminalising sexual and gender diversity have made explicit appeals to science, this report examines the extent to which science supports any of the arguments that proponents of these new laws make. Drawing on recent scientific evidence and, where possible, on systematic reviews, the report seeks to provide an up-to-date overview of the state of the current biological, socio-psychological, and public health evidence and assess how this supports, or contests, the key arguments made in favour of new laws. Read More

Cyprus: HIV infections on the rise

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has released a mission report on HIV in Cyprus. Up until 2005, levels of HIV infection in Cyprus were relatively low, with fewer than 30 new cases diagnosed annually. However, the number of new HIV cases diagnosed annually has steadily risen. These new cases occurred predominantly among men who have sex with men of Cypriot nationality.

It is unclear whether this increase is due to more testing (which results in more diagnoses), an increase in the number of HIV-positive people who returned to the country after having lived abroad, or to an actual increase in the number of HIV infections among MSM in Cyprus. This mission report addresses this issue and provides options on how Cyprus can respond to the epidemic. Read the report

Brazil: Photo series denounces pain caused by prejudice in small towns

Being gay in a country town in Brazil can be an oppressive experience -- an oppression of feeling, relating and being. In places far from the cultural energy and multiplicity common in urban centers, different people may not be accepted -- either by force of tradition or by lingering prejudice.  See More 

Amsterdam: "Inside Out - Portraits of Cross Gender Children"

In the last twelve years, the Dutch photographer Sarah Wong has documented life and experiences of a group of children suffering from gender dysphoria , they had passed the stage of transition - or were going through - to the conquest of self.  See More