Netherlands: Asylum easier for Russian gay men

The situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Russia has deteriorated so much that the Netherlands how considers them a “risk group”. For this reason the Netherlands has made it easier for Russian homosexuals to find asylum here.

This follows a report published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month that stated that LGBT’s are victims of violence everywhere in Russia, and that authorities hardly intervene. From now Russian homosexuals can prove to the Immigration and Naturalization Service with “low indications” that they fear persecution in their own country. Before they had to prove that they as individual would be in danger should they return to Russia.

Previously the Immigration and Naturalization Service regularly rejected asylum applications from Russian LGBT’s on the basis that larger cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg were still safe. The Foreign Affairs report no longer explicitly state that these cities are safer and the Service must therefore now be more restrained.  Read More via eikon

US: Duke students reject award-winning book over gay themes

"Fun Home" may have won several awards for author MacArthur "Genius" Award winner Alison Bechdel, but some Duke University freshmen were not impressed. The 2006 graphic novel, an autobiographical work about Bechdel coming to terms with her homosexuality as her funeral-director father remains closeted, was selected as a summer reading book for the Duke Class of 2019. But some students declined to read it because of its sexual themes and use of nudity.

"I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it," incoming freshman Brian Grasso wrote on Facebook. "The nature of 'Fun Home' means that content that I might have consented to read in print now violates my conscience due to its pornographic nature," freshman Jeffrey Wubbenhorst added in an email to the publication.

"Like many universities and community, Duke has had a summer reading for many years to give incoming students a shared intellectual experience with other members of the class," said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations: "'Fun Home' was ultimately chosen because it is a unique and moving book that transcends genres and explores issues that students are likely to confront." Read More via CNN 

US: The next LGBT battle is sex ed

Recognizing the dearth of sexual health information for LGBT students, two prominent organizations are pushing for schools to evolve with the times. Planned Parenthood Federation of American and the Human Rights Campaign are lobbying schools to include more sex ed for young LGBT or questioning students. Most curriculums have scant sex education to begin with, and even less for those students who fall outside of heterosexual or cisgender descriptions.

Massachusetts has the best record when it comes to LGBT-inclusive sex ed, contrasting greatly with numerous Southern and Western states, where any discussion of homosexuality is banned in schools; Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah all fall into that category.

The need for information for LGBT students is great. HIV rates are rising among gay and bi male youth, while lesbian and bisexual girls have unintended pregnancy rates twice that of their straight peers (that can partially be explained by lesbian and bi youth being pressured to conform to societal norms by having straight sex). Transgender students also need accommodation; forcing a child who identifies as one sex to hear lessons intended for the other can be psychologically damaging.  Read More via the Advocate 

South Africa: Call for gay sex education in schools

High schools should teach pupils about homosexual sex. That’s the view of the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce’s (Sweat) psycho-social manager, Dr Gordon Isaacs .

Isaacs told the Cape Argus that far too little is being done to educate schoolchildren about other forms of sex that are prevalent in society, aside from the traditional “when a boy loves a girl” narrative that is taught across the country.

“It is a critical area that should not be ignored. It is linked to relationships, intimacy, desire and certainly linked to HIV,” Isaacs said. South Africa was the first African country and the fifth in the world to legalise gay marriage in 2006. But nearly 10 years later, the national sex education curriculum still shies away from teaching pupils about homosexual intimacy.  Read More via Independent Online

Canada: Ontario sex-ed protests return in time for new school year

Parents angry at the new sex-ed curriculum protested at MPP offices across Ontario Wednesday, Sept 2 — with some protests better attended than others. The province-wide demonstrations, sponsored by a coalition of organizations including Campaign Life Coalition, REAL Women of Canada and the Thorncliffe Parents Association, are just the latest in a series of actions by a nebulous group of community members who have various concerns about the updated sex ed curriculum.

Under the updated curriculum, students in all four publicly-funded school systems will learn the correct terminology for body parts, including genitalia, and explore why differences like gender identity and sexual orientation make people unique. The updated curriculum will also cover online bullying, consent and safe sex.  Read More via the DailyXtra

WHO: Discrimination to blame for HIV Rates, poor healthcare for trans people

A WHO study on transgender people and HIV notes that inadequate health care for the trans population sits squarely on those who oppose the expression of authentic gender identity. The report sums up the situation in dire terms: “Transgender people are often socially, economically, politically and legally marginalized.” The result is that transgender women have "shocking rates" of HIV, study coauthor JoAnne Keatley said. "There was a recent meta-analysis demonstrating that a transgender woman was 49 times as likely to be living with HIV [than the general population] in 15 countries in which data was looked at and analyzed."

But it’s hard to collect reliable data, as only those 15 countries offered laboratory-proven data on HIV prevalence among transgender people. Not one country in Eastern Europe or Africa could provide information to the WHO team by the time researchers needed it. The available information, though, did show a health crisis, and Keatley, who works with the Center for Excellence for Transgender Health at the University of California, and is herself trans, said discrimination is to blame. 

“What is driving the epidemic is really the refusal — I would say — of governments to pass legislation that allows [transgender people] to function in society, and allows them to participate in the workplace,” she said. Still, Keatley said she sees some progress. Read More 

ISIL attacks on sexual minorities on UN meeting agenda

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting to discuss Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attacks on sexual minorities in what will be the first ever council meeting focused on gay rights.  

The United States ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power told reporters that the informal meeting will highlight "ISIL and its systematic targeting of LGBT persons who find themselves in ISIL-controlled territory."   

The US and Chile will host the meeting which will be open to all member-states interested in the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people persecuted by the armed group: "This will be a historic meeting. It will be the first Security Council meeting on LGBT rights," Power said. Read More

Czech Republic: Pride Business Forum says openness pays off

Businesses do better when employees come out of the closet, especially at the CEO or senior management level. That was one of the key messages of the fifth Pride Business Forum, one of the main side events to Prague Pride week. The event featured business leaders from Central and Eastern Europe discussing leadership, LGBTI diversity and inclusion, and business opportunities for those companies that create an inclusive environment.

Among the highlights was a discussion between the BBC’s economic anchor, Evan Davis, with Lord John Browne, author of The Glass Closet and former head of energy giant BP.

Pavlina Kalousova from Business Society led a panel of business leaders on ‘How diversity fits into the business agenda’. One of the organizing partners of the Forum is the Netherlands-based Workplace Pride. Its Executive Director, David Pollard, said, ‘This event, which includes Czech as well as international companies, is another excellent example of how working closely with the LGBT community in the workplace just makes good business sense for employers, both in the public and private sectors.’  Read More 

Netherlands: Dutch activists call for Caribbean Netherlands to adopt gay rights

As a rainbow-coloured flotilla paraded through Amsterdam's canals for the city's annual Gay Pride festival on Saturday, one float carried a sobering reminder that gay rights do not extend to all in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although the Netherlands itself became the first country to legalize gay marriage in 2001, the three Caribbean members of the larger Kingdom - Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten - have yet to follow suit, reflecting cultural taboos in the mostly Catholic island nations.

That leaves the Kingdom, famed for its tolerant stance on marijuana and euthanasia, apparently less progressive on gay rights than Ireland, where voters approved gay marriage in a referendum in May, and the United States, where the Supreme Court upheld a constitutional right to gay marriage in June.

"We want to have the same legislation throughout our kingdom. That would empower all gay and transgender organizations in addressing the question of social acceptance", said Ramona Pikeur, director of Caribbean gay rights organization Dushi & Proud.The Dutch government says it is seeking dialogue, rather than confrontation, with the island nations to promote gay rights and acceptance of gay marriage. Read More

Vietnam: Hundreds brave persistent rain at LGBT rally in Vietnam

 In a country dominated by two-wheelers, Vietnam’s gay pride parade was fittingly on bicycle and motorbike. Organisers counted about 400 people at the start of the bike rally. Though the turnout was smaller than the 600 in the previous year, it was encouraging, they said, given the rainy weather.

"I have a lot of friends from LGBT so I’m here to support them," said Linh, a social sciences student at the Vietnam National University. The crowd grew as more joined the after-party in downtown Hanoi. A notable guest was US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, the first gay American Ambassador to be appointed in Asia who said: “This is a country with traditional values and very big focus on family, but there is also a great openness to people who may not fit exactly that traditional mould and there is a great sense of fairness in Vietnam.” 

Viet Pride organiser Nguyen Thanh Tam noted, “For a long time LGBT was a very invisible community, but now I think we’re having more and more space in Vietnamese society.” Read More 

Hong Kong: One territory, two attitudes on equality

Even in Asia, where the level of LGBT acceptance can vary and change with alarming regularity, Hong Kong is a contradictory beast. In 1991, the territory finally ditched British anti-buggery laws that still dog former colonies like Singapore and Malaysia. Today, Asia’s “world city” embraces its queer celebrities and supports a sizable calendar of LGBT events.

Privately many Hong Kongers face enormous pressure to conform. It’s a common dilemma in Northeast Asia, one that in Hong Kong skews the queer bar scene heavily toward ex-pats and visitors. Despite the 1991 reform, an equal age of consent was not established until 2006, and anti-discrimination laws remain a matter of interpretation rather than being absolute. In this deeply traditional society, less than a third of the population supports the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2012, property developer Cecil Chao offered 500 million Hong Kong dollars ($75 million Canadian) to any man who could woo his lesbian daughter into marriage, and while mere financial mortals may not be throwing around that kind of offer, the underlying attitude is a common one.

Yet three quarters of Hong Kongers also say they support equal rights for same-sex couples, and most are very accepting of LGBT media personalities. While same-sex unions are still not recognized, transgender citizens were finally granted the right to marry an opposite-sex partner in 2013. It seems that in the land of “one country, two systems,” it’s a case of “one territory, two attitudes” on equality. Read More