Invented by Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s, the Kinsey scale plots individuals on a range of sexual dispositions from exclusively heterosexual at 0 through to exclusively homosexual at 6. Asked to plot themselves on a 'sexuality scale', 72% of the British public place themselves at the completely heterosexual end of the scale, while 4% put themselves at the completely homosexual end and 19% say they are somewhere in between.
With each generation, people see their sexuality as less fixed in stone. The results for 18-24 year-olds are particularly striking, as 43% place themselves in the non-binary area between 1 and 5 and 52% place themselves at one end or the other. Of these, only 46% say they are completely heterosexual and 6% as completely homosexual. Read More
UK: Universities are failing to tackle sexist and homophobic 'lad culture'
"Lad culture” that can result in sexual harassment is being allowed to fester at British universities because of a lack of action by institutions, the National Union of Students (NUS) has warned. Sexist or homophobic behaviour linked to heavy alcohol consumption is often rife at universities across the country, a study by the organisation found, with staff and student unions failing to take action on campuses.
Policies to tackle the issue are lacking in almost half of UK universities, with just 51 per cent having a formal policy on sexual harassment. Just one in 10 had a policy that covered the display of sexist and discriminatory material on campus. Misogynistic jokes, so-called “rape banter” and pressures to engage in sexual behaviour are an increasingly common problem affecting students, and NUS Women’s Officer Susuana Amoah claimed violence and discrimination were making the education system “inaccessible for many students, not just women”. Read More
US: From South Carolina to North Dakota, churches cut ties with Boy Scouts
With the Boy Scouts of America having lifted its blanket ban on openly gay adult leaders, some churches that sponsor scout troops are cutting ties with the organization — even though the BSA’s new policy does not require any church-affiliated troop to accept gay leadership.
The First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in South Carolina sent a letter to parents last week announcing it would no longer sponsor a scout troop, ending a nearly 50-year relationship. The letter, from church member and scout leader Buddy Lever, noted that homosexuality goes against the church’s beliefs, and that staying with the BSA might eventually force to accept gay leaders.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic bishop of North Dakota has ordered churches in his diocese to end any affiliation with the BSA: “I cannot permit our Catholic institutions to accept and participate directly or indirectly in any organization which has policies and methods which contradict the authoritative moral teachings of the Catholic Church.” Churches within the diocese sponsor 8 Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs, and they will now look for alternatives. Read More
US: Boy Scouts ends ban on gay leaders
The Boy Scouts of America ended its blanket ban on gay leaders , following an executive board vote that capped off several months of quick movement on the issue. “The national executive board ratified a resolution removing the national restriction on openly gay leaders and employees,” Boy Scouts President Robert Gates said in a video announcing the news. Under the new policy, however, individually chartered troops — many of which are backed by churches — will be allowed to continue the ban.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote,” the church said in a statement. “The admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.”
“While this isn’t a complete victory, it’s an enormous step forward,” said Brian Peffly, who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts this spring because he is gay. “We so much closer to getting back to being about what scouting is all about, going on camping trips and teaching how to build fires and tie knots and lash poles together and build stuff,” he said, “and learning to be a good leader and good friend and good citizen in the midst of all that.” Read More
Australia: ACL calls for defunding of school anti-LGBTI bullying program
National anti-bullying campaign, Safe Schools Coalition Australia (SSCA) has come under attack for supposedly "sexualising" children and promoting "queer sex" by the Australian Christian Lobby. The ACL urged the federal Education Minister to stop the organisation's $8 million funding. ACL Queensland director Wendy Francis stated SSCA promotes “radical sexual experimentation,” saying: “Children have the right to their innocence. The political ideology carried by this program denies children this right.”
Speaking in her capacity as a trans* and youth advocate, journalist Kate Doak said that SSCA’s fundamental goal is to provide educators with material and resources to combat bullying of LGBTIQ students. “Whether we like it or not, LGBTIQ youth exist, and by providing resources that help both teachers and students to create more inclusive schools, programs like SSCA are ultimately saving lives by letting kids know that it’s okay to be themselves.”
The ACL did not condemn Catholic Church dioceses for distributing anti-same-sex marriage booklets to school children across Australia last month. Read More
Vietnam: Hundreds of transgender people who had reassignment surgery request new identification
Nearly 600 transgender people in Vietnam who underwent sex reassignment surgery have proposed having their names and identification papers changed in accordance with their reassigned gender. The information was announced by a representative of the Maternal and Child Health Department under the Ministry of Health.
The ministry has also suggested adding transgender people’s identification adjustment to a draft amendment to the Civil Code. According to the ministry’s staff, current regulations do not allow the modification of transgender people's identification. The only exception is for people who have a gender which is different from their looks due to defects in chromosomes or genitals.
Studies presented at a seminar on trans people at Ho Chi Minh City University last year showed that it is usually hard for young transgender people to access social and health services as well as land jobs because they do not have appropriate identification. Trans people face significant challenges because their appearance differs from the image on their ID card. Read More
Brazil: Rio de Janeiro prisons seek to protect transgender inmates
Brazil’s penitentiaries are notorious for rampant overcrowding and violence endured by all inmates. But advocates say few prisoners are as vulnerable as transgender people, who are often singled out for taunting, physical, and sexual abuse. In Rio de Janeiro, new regulations aim to curb such abuse within the state’s 52 penitentiaries. Advocates have hailed the rules that ban discrimination against transgender prisoners and protect their gender identities while behind bars.
“In Brazil, even regular prisoners are an invisible to society at large. Transgender prisoners are doubly invisible and vulnerable,” said Claudio Nascimento, who heads the Rio Without Homophobia advocacy group, which lobbied for the new rules. The rules allow transgender inmates to be known by their common, rather than only their legal names. They guarantee access to conjugal visits and let transgender people who identify as female decide whether to serve their sentences in a women’s facility.
Rio’s new measures were adopted amid an outcry over the brutal beating in April of a trans woman at a detention center in neighboring Sao Paulo state. Police are investigating allegations that officers tortured Veronica Bolina after graphic photos of her went viral online. In images taken before her detention, Bolina is striking, with cat eyes, prominent cheekbones and flowing hair. After, she’s unrecognizable, her hair roughly shorn, her face a patchwork of lesions, & her eyes swollen shut. Read More
UK: Powerful Ministry of Defense campaign aims to challenge sexual assaults
A campaign launched by the Ministry of Defence aims to tackle the issue of rape in the armed forces. The campaign features a number of soldiers – both male and female – who are the victims of sexual assault. The posters aim to disspel the idea that ‘not saying no’ is enough – with the slogan “Don’t Kid Yourself! Without consent it’s rape”.
One of the posters features someone speculating: “He’s gay, he would have been gagging for it.” Others feature heterosexual pairings, with one soldier remarking of a woman: “Yeah, she just lay there, but I had fun.” Army chief General Sir Nick Carter launched the campaign after a survey found a shocking 40% of women in the armed forces have received unwanted comments of a sexual nature in the past year.
An Army spokesperson said: “The Consent Campaign, which has been endorsed by Rape Crisis and Stonewall, is the latest in a number of internal initiatives that the Army has launched to ensure all of its employees act lawfully and treat each other in a way that is consistent with our values and standard.” Read More
India: Government's Census recognizes transgenders as third gender
After being counted as 'males' by the Indian Government's Census department for decades, the transgender community for the first time found mention in a survey report released by the National Crime Records Bureau. In its new report of 2014, the NCRB recorded the deaths and suicides of the transgender community, making it the first time that transgenders have been recognised as a separate category in an official survey undertaken by the ministry of home affairs.
Transgender activists believe that induction of a third category in a National level survey marks a new beginning. However, there were some who said that in India where there is very little awareness about the rights of transgenders, categorising the community for the first time in NCRB survey might not be the ideal start.
"It seems like a good step but for people to recognise us as a people with equal rights, we would have preferred other concrete steps instead of featuring in a survey about deaths," said Rudrani, a Delhi based transgender activist.
"Another reason for suicide can be the lack of opportunities faced by the community be it in getting an education or jobs," said Rurani. The data provided by NCRB corroborated Rudrani--Out of the 16 people who allegedly committed suicide four were un-employed, two were self employed while profession of 10 others falls under "other professions". The economic status showed that 12 of them earned less than 1 lakh rupees. Read More
South Korea: This man’s story explains the emergence of South Korea’s anti-LGBT movement
Jonah Lee, a round-faced 63-year-old with a swoop of graying hair, once spent his days running gay bars and drag clubs in Korea and Japan in the ’70s and ’80s. His flagship, Hot Love, was a hit in both Seoul and Tokyo. Today, Lee is known for something else entirely. He claims, through a ministry he started in the Korean capital in 1994, to have counseled more than 1,200 people seeking to “escape homosexuality.”
Lee’s story — from gay entertainment pioneer to the leading spokesperson for Korea’s ex-gay movement — was made possible by the trajectory of many of South Korea’s Christian churches, which have grown exponentially since Lee first became a Christian almost 40 years ago. Today, many of Korea’s most important Christian leaders have come to preach homosexuality as an existential threat. These churches believe their movement is doing more than just saving people from sin; they believe they are saving the nation itself.
Lee’s path to ex-gay leader is a story in miniature of how homosexuality rapidly went from an almost invisible issue in South Korea to one that is now bringing tens of thousands of shouting protesters to the streets. Read More
Sister Monica’s secret ministry to transgender people
Sister Monica lives alone in a small house at the edge of a Roman Catholic college run by a community of nuns. She doesn’t want to reveal the name of the town where she lives, the name of her Catholic order, or her real name. Sister Monica lives in hiding, so that others may live in plain sight.
Now in her early 70s and semiretired because of health problems, she remains committed to her singular calling for the past 16 years: ministering to transgender people and helping them come out of the shadows. “Many transgender people have been told there’s something wrong with them,” she said. “They have come to believe that they cannot be true to themselves and be true to God. There is no way we can pray, or be in communion with God, except in the truth of who we are.” Read More
Spain: Bishop reverses decree that transgendered person may not serve as godparent
Over 36,000 signed a petition against Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cádiz and Ceuta after he decreed that Alex Salinas could not serve as godparent to their nephew because Alex is transgender.
Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cádiz and Ceuta said that the parish priest was "kind and understanding" in conveying to Alex Salinas, who identifies as a man, that while he cannot serve as a baptismal sponsor because of canonical requirements that a sponsor live in accordance with the faith, he could spiritually encourage and help the child in living the faith. A transgendered Spanish legislator called for a study of whether the diocese's decision violates national hate-crimes legislation.
Following the backlash, Bishop Zornoza Boy has reversed his decision. Read More