If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history

During his visit to Africa this summer, the US president, Barack Obama, addressed legal discrimination against LGBT individuals. Meeting the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama said: “When you start treating people differently not because of any harm they are doing to anybody, but because they are different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode.”

Unfortunately, the response from Kenyatta was that “there are some things that we must admit we don’t share [with the US]. Our culture, our societies don’t accept.”

When I was appointed by Berlin’s Humboldt University this year to teach the course “Pre- and post-colonial sexual orientation and sexual identity in Africa”, I knew I had a huge task before me. I had to teach students about a history that is mostly unwritten. In digging up facts I found that, while many Africans say that homosexuality is un-African, African culture is no stranger to homosexual behaviours and acts.

For example, in my local language (Yoruba), the word for “homosexual” is adofuro, a colloquialism for someone who has anal sex. It might sound insulting and derogatory, however, the point is there is a word for the behaviour. Moreover, this is not a new word; it is as old as the Yoruba culture itself. Read More via the Guardian 

Russia: Transgender community struggles for acceptance

There is no Russian equivalent of Caitlyn Jenner, whose transition from former Olympic athlete Bruce has been documented in both the mainstream and tabloid American press all summer. Transgender Russians often keep a low profile, worried how they will be treated by friends, colleagues and family members. 

Although the LGBT community in Russia faces significant legal and social challenges, there are laws in place that allow Russians to change their gender on official documents and undergo gender reconstructive surgery. There are no official statistics on the number of transgender people in Russia, but experts put the number at around 15,000 across the country — about 0.1 percent of the population.  Read More via Moscow Times 

Ireland: Preferred gender now legally recognised

Transgender people are now able to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate and a new birth certificate, passport and other official documentation showing their preferred gender. They will be able to self-declare and will no longer need a certificate from a medical practitioner.

Ireland is the fourth country in the world to remove medical criteria from legal gender recognition. The Gender Recognition Act was brought about following a successful case taken by Dr Lydia Foy against the State. She argued that, despite undergoing surgery, she was unable to identify herself as a woman in official documentation. Read More via UTV Ireland 

Thailand: Sweeping new LGBT protections take effect

The country’s first law specifically protecting LGBT people came into effect this week. Thai parliament passed the 2015 Gender Equality Act in March. The law is is designed to protect members of the LGBT community and aims to punish discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Those found guilty of discrimination may face up to six months in jail and a 20,000 baht fine. The law defines “unfair discrimination among the sexes” as any action that “segregates, obstructs or limits the rights” of a person because they have “a sexual expression different from that person’s original sex.”

Somchai Charoenamnuaysuk –  Director-General of the Department of Family Affairs and Family Development – noted that the law bars government agencies, private organisations, or Thai individuals from formulating anti-gay policies, rules, regulations, measures, or operating procedures: “Co-operation from all sectors is key in moving forward with the enforcement of this Act, in order to create an equal and just society.” Read More via Pink News 

Africa: Voices from LGBT Catholics in Western Africa

A report commissioned by the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups showcases the voices of LGBT Christians from Western Africa were not well heard in the on-going discussion about the Family Synod of the Roman Catholic Church. The findings are based on interviews conducted by Davis Mac-Iyalla with Catholic LGBT people in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

From the many interviews conducted, it has become clear that LGBT people in West Africa have a hard life. They are openly persecuted both by the state and the church and feel abandoned. It is sad to say that many LGBTs are “marginalized and hated in life and marginalized and hated in death.” The anti-gay laws in these countries prevent constructive dialogue between the state, church and LGBTs. This isolates LGBTs and propagates fear, hatred and even violence against the LGBT community.

Despite all of this, Catholic LGBT’s do not want to walk away from the Catholic Church. They want to be accepted, to be welcomed by the church, to have dialogue, and education. Above all, they want equality both in their personal lives and in their church to live in a nurturing environment not one of condemnation. Read More via Washington Blade 

US: Catholics open to non-traditional families

When Pope Francis arrives in the US, he will find a Catholic public that is remarkably accepting of a variety of non-traditional families, according to a new survey that provides an in-depth look at American Catholics’ views on family life, sexuality and Catholic identity.

Nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics say a household headed by a married mother and father is an ideal situation for bringing up children. But the survey shows that large majorities think other kinds of families – those headed by parents who are single, divorced, unmarried or gay – are OK for raising children, too. Read More via Pew Research
 

Italy: Venice mayor refuses to allow city to host gay pride parade

It will gladly play host to giant cruise ships on its canals and hordes of tourists along its narrow, winding streets. But the city of Venice will not see fit to hold a gay pride parade as long as the current rightwing mayor is in charge, the politician has reportedly said.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro was quoted as saying that gay pride marches were the “height of kitsch” and would not happen in Venice on his watch. “There will never be a gay pride in my city,” he was quoted as saying in La Repubblica. “Let them go and do it in Milan, or in front of their own homes.”

Brugnaro was criticised by Italy’s rights group Arcigay, which accused him of besmirching Venice’s reputation as an open, sophisticated society. Read More via the Guardian 

US: Ahead of Pope's visit to US, some friction over LGBT issues

The World Meeting of Families, the central religious event of Pope Francis' first visit to the United States, is intended to convey a message of love and joy as it seeks to promote church teaching on marriage. Yet weeks away from its opening in Philadelphia, friction is mounting as LGBT Roman Catholics lobby for a broader role in the event and organizers move to limit them.

The tensions surrounding the gathering will pose a real-world test of the pope's approach that emphasizes compassion and welcome while upholding Catholic doctrine that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

"We don't want to provide a platform at the meeting for people to lobby for positions contrary to the life of our church," said Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, the meeting's host. Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, an advocacy group for LGBT Catholics, said Chaput and other U.S. bishops "are putting their heads in the sand."

The pope is scheduled to visit an outdoor Festival of Families and celebrate Mass the next day at the conclusion of the Meeting of Families. Among the more than 15,000 Catholics registered for the meeting are 22 people representing LGBT families on behalf of a coalition called Equally Blessed. Though no official speakers will convey their viewpoints, they hope to engage in conversations with other attendees.  Read More via New York Times

Brazil: Gay pentecostal pastor leads largely LGBT congregation

With his booming voice and high-voltage charisma capable of working crowds of hundreds into a lather, Marcos Gladstone has all the trappings of a successful preacher. But Gladstone has something that most other Pentecostal leaders don't - a husband.

He and spouse Fabio Inacio are co-founders of the Contemporary Christian Church, one of a handful of Pentecostal denominations in Brazil that welcome gays and lesbians with open arms and was born out of Gladstone's dream to preach "a gospel of love and acceptance for all people."

Barely a presence until a few decades ago, Pentecostals now make up one-fifth of the population in Brazil, which is home to more Roman Catholics than any other nation. They're generally more socially conservative than their Catholic brethren. Some Brazilian Pentecostal churches even offer programs that claim to be capable of "curing" gay people.

Not so at Contemporary Christian, which this week celebrated its ninth anniversary and the opening of its ninth branch with a raucous, theatrical service at a converted movie theater in a gritty Rio neighborhood.  Read More via Huffington Post

Turkey: Police question mourners after tipoff

Boysan Yakar, LGBTI activist and advisor to Şişli Mayor, Zeliş Deniz, feminist LGBTI activist, and Mert Serçe have passed away in a highway car crash.

Stepping into action in light of a tip off given by “neighbors” about a rainbow flag draped over the caskets of LGBTI activists Boysan Yakar and Zeliş Deniz, who lost their lives in a traffic accident, police went to the mourners’ home wanting to take a statement. 

According to Yıldırım, the police said that they had come after getting a tip off that the funerals had been performed with an illegal organization’s flag. Neriman Deniz, who asked whether the feminist movement’s flag and the LGBTI movement’s rainbow flag were considered illegal, got “no, of course not,” as an answer.   Read More via LGBTI News Turkey 

Gambia: Two decades of fear and repression

Gambia’s government commits serious human rights violations against perceived critics and political opponents, perpetuating a climate of fear and repression, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 81-page report, “State of Fear: Arbitrary Arrests, Torture, and Killings,” describes the human rights situation in Gambia since President Yahya Jammeh took power in 1994 and ruthlessly repressed all forms of dissent. See more at Human Rights Watch 

Gambia: This gay man survived torture in one of Africa’s most horrific dictatorships

After more than six months in prison, several rounds of torture, and two hospitalizations for his injuries, Alieu Sarr fled his country by boat under cover of night late last month. Sarr was arrested last fall, alongside at least 15 others, by security forces controlled by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, one of the world’s most ruthless dictators. Jammeh had launched a new witch hunt in the months following the August adoption of a law that would punish “aggravated homosexuality” with life in prison.

Most of those with whom he was arrested were released after short detentions, but Sarr and two other men were held to face charges. They were paraded before the media by security officials as Jammeh repeatedly made public pledges to execute LGBT people, including promising in a May speech to slit the throats of homosexuals. “No one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it,” Jammeh vowed.

In a phone interview from Senegal’s capital, Dakar, Sarr said he was sure he would die, as dozens reportedly have while detained by the National Intelligence Agency.  Read More via Buzzfeed