Beyond boundaries: intersex in Hong Kong and China

I am Small Luk, an intersex activist from Hong Kong, and the founder of a project called BBKCI “Beyond the Boundary – Knowing and Concerns Intersex” (藩籬以外-認識及關愛雙性⼈) in 2011. 

I became public about my intersex status in February this year, and that has helped me to educate on intersex issues. I’m the first person to be public about being intersex in Hong Kong. I welcome interviews with media, and I connect with government departments.

I’m asking government to recognise our human rights as ordinary people, and change laws to end intrusive and irreversible treatments. These include forced genital normalizing surgery, involuntary sterilization, unethical experimentation, medical display, “reparative therapies” or “conversion therapies”, when enforced or administered without the free and informed consent of the person concerned. Read more via Intersex Day

Intersex Awareness Day marked around the world

Advocates in the U.S. and around the world this week marked the annual Intersex Awareness Day. Intersex Awareness Day — which falls on Oct. 26 — provided the backdrop for the federal lawsuit against the State Department that Lambda Legal filed on behalf of an intersex person who was denied a passport because they do not identify as male or female. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development on Oct. 19 hosted what a State Department spokesperson described to the Washington Blade as “the first-ever U.S. government interagency intersex forum” that the Council for Global Equality and Advocates for Informed Choice, a group that advocates on behalf of intersex children, organized.

“The United States government places great importance on the protection and promotion of the human rights of all people, including intersex individuals,” said the State Department spokesperson. “We are committed to raising awareness about the challenges faced by the intersex community.” The State Department earlier in the week declined to comment on Lambda Legal’s lawsuit against it.  Read More via Washington Blade 

Asexuality Awareness and The Right to Family

Last week was Asexuality Awareness Week, an international campaign to educate communities about asexual, aromantic, demisexual, grey-asexual experiences. In honor of the shared stories about asexuality that have been circulating through cyberspace, I want to talk about what the asexual community is doing for human rights, specifically the right to family.

While  the Supreme Court ruling was a great victory for LGBTQ+ community, it supports a “just like you” identity trope: Same-sex couples want the same rights as heterosexual couples because they are no different; they deserve the same privileges because they live their lives adhering to the same standards.

This still creates a dividing line of who should count legally, and who should not. With this boundary, families that don’t fit into legal marriage are forced to choose between accentuated privileges and the relationship structures they want and need. Often times, that choice is not even available to minority groups. Read more via Woodhull Foundation

US: Administration seeks protection of refugees' LGBT spouses

Without much fanfare, the Obama administration recently took a significant step towards helping LGBT people fleeing persecution. The State Department is expanding its interpretation of the term "spouse" to include partners of same sex refugees and asylum seekers.

Buried in the State Department's annual report to Congress on refugee program admissions for fiscal year 2016, the government announced that it will allow an already qualified refugee to apply to bring their same-sex partner to the United States even if they are not legally married.

The refugee has to file an Affidavit of Relationship (AOR) providing evidence that the relationship has existed for at least one year overseas prior to the application; the relationship is on-going; and legal marriage in the home country was not possible due to "social and/or legal prohibitions." Read more via NPR 

Germany: The Demand is higher than ever for LGBT school education

The LGBT-school education project SchLAu NRW draws the face of a specialist day for 15-year anniversary in Bochum balance: Overall, more than 70,000 young people have participated in SchLAu workshops. The number of participants has risen considerably in recent years.

"The demand is higher than ever," explains Benjamin Kinkel, country coordinator of SchLAu NRW. "Questions about sexual orientation and gender diversity have all young people." SchLAu take young people with their questions seriously and answer them professionally sensibilisiere simultaneously for a democratic and multifaceted cooperation. The increasing demand of the schools show how important the commitment of more than 200 volunteers at SchLAu NRW. Read more via QueerDE

US: The mob of screaming parents who want their kids kept ‘pure’ of LGBTI sex ed

Omaha Public Schools has not revised its sex education classes for 30 years. So there’s nothing about ‘sexting’ or bullying over sexual orientation and gender identity. This curriculum goes back to a time where no sitting President had even uttered the word ‘AIDS’ in public.

Updating it is a no-brainer. Omaha parents agree. In a survey of 1,500 parents, 97% supported almost all the proposed changes. The only drop in support was about discussing sexual orientations, gender concepts and relationships. 25% of the parents were against kids being given that information. But that means the majority are in favor.

A group of healthcare professionals, educators, and reproductive rights activists were prepared to vocally support the new curriculum in front of the Omaha Public School board. Nebraskans for Founders Values, Christ Community Church and other mega churches had recruited their supporters to show up brandishing signs, pasting stickers all over the auditorium and yelling. Read more via Gay Star News 

Scotland: Group pushes mandatory LGBT education in public schools; proposal seen as 'Trojan horse' to indoctrinate pupils

An LGBT group called Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) is campaigning for public school children to "learn about homosexual, bisexual and transgender issues." The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has backed the promotion of LGBT History Month last April. "This includes making it compulsory for all schools' sex education policies to include a positive portrayal of same-sex relationships, promoting LGBT History Month in all schools, and encouraging schools to develop a curriculum that is inclusive of LGBT issues," said Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT.

Rev. David Robertson, moderator of the Free Church of Scotland said an LGBT education would violate the human rights of Christian parents: "Human rights legislation says that 'the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions. The petitioner's demand for statutory teaching of such topics without provision for parents and pupils who disagree is in direct conflict with this legislation," he said.

Robertson warned that the aim of the proposal is indoctrination: "We believe that the real object of the petition is to indoctrinate school pupils with one particular perspective on moral and sexual ethics and one which is contrary to mainstream Christianity. We believe this is a Trojan horse to impose an ideological perspective on all pupils, whether they want it or not," he said. Read More via Christian Today 

UK: Trans group branded ‘child abusers’ for teaching kids about gender

The Mail on Sunday has criticized transgender non-profit group Gendered Intelligence – for teaching children about gender. 

The Mail said that it had “seen footage of Gendered Intelligence conducting workshops with primary classes”, in which founder Dr Jay Stewart explained to children he was a man, despite being assigned female at birth. It added that “thousands of pupils” had the “controversial classes” – claiming that children were “encouraged to explore their gender identities”.

Comments on the article were shockingly hostile, with one popular comment claiming: “The people who advocate this kind of policy aught (sic) to be prosecuted for child abuse.”

The group spoke out against factual inaccuracies, writing: “There are some misconceptions in the article – mainly the alluding to Gendered Intelligence encouraging young people to become trans, which of course is not true. Dr Jay Stewart said: “It’s so important to teach children in schools that they can be anything that they want to be, regardless of the gender that they have been given at birth." Read more via PinkNews

Sweden’s Inclusive Rape Care Model

A hospital in Stockholm is understood to be first in the world to set up an emergency department specifically for male rape victims. The clinic at Södersjukhuset opened as part of a strategy to ensure "gender equal" patient care.

Sweden has the highest rape rate in Europe, a statistic that gained global prominence in 2010, when WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was first accused of sex crimes in the Nordic nation, allegations which he still strongly denies.

In 2014, a study by sexual education organization RFSU suggested that in most municipalities across Sweden, men were uncertain where they could get emergency help following a rape. Inger Björklund, a spokesperson for the group told The Local in June that it was looking forward to the opening of Stockholm's new facility.
 
"There are myths about masculinity that make it difficult for men who have been sexually traumatized to talk about their experiences," she said. Read More via Local

US: Gay issues enter the world of philanthropy

When a donor made a $100,000 gift to the Girl Scouts’ Western Washington Council last March, it was time to break out the hand-shaped clappers. One hundred thousand dollars was a big donation for the council, which represents about 25,500 girls in 17 counties in the western part of Washington State.

But in late April, after the funds were in hand, Ms. Ferland received a letter from the donor. "They wanted assurance that their funds would not help support transgender girls participating and if I couldn’t give that assurance they wanted the money returned.” Before she even finished reading the letter, “I thought to myself, ‘The money’s going back.’”

After the money was returned, Ms. Ferland says, a staff member suggested the organization start a crowd-funded campaign to replace the lost donation. 

“Help us raise back the $100,000 a donor asked us to return because we welcome transgender girls." In a little over five hours,  the site had already received over $100,000 in donations. By the end of that first day, the number was up to $243,958 from 4,760 donors. By the time the fund-raising effort was concluded a month later, the organization had raised $365,573. 

 Read more via New York Times

India: 4 arrested for attacking Andheri-based youth 'for being gay'

What was meant to be a casual smoke break for a 22-year-old man, ended up being one of the most traumatic experiences of his life after he was sexually and physically assaulted by strangers for 'dressing and talking like a gay person'. However, Andheri resident Divyaroop Ananda turned his trauma into his strength. He is now an icon within the LGBT community for not only standing up for his rights, but also mustering courage to register a police complaint against his molester and assaulters.

Fearing social stigma attached with the LGBT community and those supporting it, Divyaroop's near and dear ones tried to dissuade him from filing a police complaint against the accused. But he mustered courage to approach the police after seeking help from the Humsafar Trust.

“There have been several cases wherein homophobia has led to attacks on members of the LGBT community. Besides, the victims of such attacks are scared of the social stigma attached to their sexuality, the unwillingness of the society to accept them and discrimination by police. This deters them from registering complaints,” said Sonal Giani, advocacy manager at Humsafar Trust.

“It's not just about the society's mindset, but the bigger challenge is to encourage people from the LGBT community to overcome their anxiety and approach police. Divyaroop's courage, as well as the understanding exhibited by API Shashikant Padave and officers from Khar police station is exemplary and is sure to encourage others as well,” said Giani. All four accused were produced in the court on Thursday, where they managed to secure bail. Read more via Mid-Day

US: Reform Jewish Movement Passes Transgender Rights Resolution

The organization that represents 900 American synagogues in the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest branch of Judaism in the United States, passed a historic resolution on transgender rights Thursday at the movement’s biennial conference in Orlando, Florida. It is the most comprehensive and extensive set of guidelines for transgender rights adopted by any major religious organization.

Some 5,000 reform Jews attended the Union for Reform Judaism biennial meeting where they approved the resolution that calls for Jewish congregations and camps to institute gender-neutral bathrooms, gender-neutral language, and arrange gender issues training for teachers and staff at religious schools. The resolution passed on a voice vote without opposition, and applause followed the the results of the vote. Read more via IBT