Unprecedented $20 million announced for global transgender causes

Two foundations pledged Tuesday to contribute $20 million over five years to organizations in the transgender movement, an unparalleled philanthropic donation to improve quality of life for transgender people around the world.

The dispersement could be a transformational windfall for groups with causes recently enjoying increased visibility — and growing backlash — but have historically had meager financial resources.

Beginning in 2016, the money will be awarded mostly to U.S. groups that focus on transgender issues or are led by transgender individuals, rather than organizations that include transgender issues as part of a broader agenda. The project will expand internationally in following years, particularly in poorer and developing nations.

The Arcus Foundation, which gives to social justice and human rights causes, will contribute $15 million. The NoVo Foundation, which focuses on girls and women, will give $1 million. A coalition of other foundations will give the remaining $4 million. 

Read more via Buzzfeed
 

US: Dozens of Christian schools win Title IX waivers to ban LGBT students

Nearly three dozen religious institutions of higher learning have asked the federal government to waive laws that protect LGBT students, according to government documents. The schools are asking the Department of Education to waive portions of Title IX that might apply to students and staff who are transgender or who are in same-sex relationships.

27 schools have been granted a waiver from Title IX by the department in the last year, many with the help of conservative religious organizations. Another 9 have applications pending. The total enrollment of these schools tops 80,000 students, and nearly $130 million in federal research grants and student aid flowed to these institutions of higher learning in 2014. 

When Title IX was passed in 1972 to combat discrimination based on sex, Congress added a small but powerful provision that states that an educational institution that is “controlled by a religious organization” does not have to comply if Title IX “would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.” These “right-to-discriminate” waivers were relatively rare until the last year. A handful were requested in the 1980s and 1990s, many by religious schools who wanted to ensure they could prevent women from being hired in leadership roles without running afoul of discrimination laws.  Read more via the Column

Dominican Republic: Cardinal uses anti-gay slurs against ambassador

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday sent a letter to Pope Francis in which he criticizes a Dominican cardinal for using homophobic slurs to describe a gay U.S. ambassador. The Illinois Democrat noted that Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo has repeatedly called ambassador James “Wally” Brewster derogatory words and spoken against the ambassador's husband.

“The church’s teachings on gay marriage are well known but the church also teaches us to show tolerance for those with different sexual orientations,” says Durbin in his letter. “The intolerant public statements of Cardinal Rodríguez are inconsistent with that clearly stated value.”

Durbin also notes that López and other Dominican religious leaders have organized so-called “Black Monday” protests against Brewster: “Despite these hateful words and personal attacks, Ambassador Brewster has worked to quiet the conflict between church leaders and himself,” writes Durbin. “His patience and professionalism in light of these mean-spirited attacks by the cardinal demonstrate his personal commitment to his responsibility of representing the United States of America.”  Read more via Washington Blade 

UK: I would go to my child's gay wedding, vows Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said he would attend the gay wedding of one of his children, despite the Church of England opposing same-sex marriage. In an interview, Archbishop Welby suggested that if one of his five children asked for his blessing for a gay marriage, he would pray with them and attend the ceremony. He also refused to say that a gay relationship was 'sinful or inappropriate', insisting he would 'always love them' whatever their sexuality.

During a parliamentary debate, Archbishop Welby warned the Same-Sex Marriage Act would 'weaken' the the idea of the 'family in its normal sense'. But speaking to Justice Secretary Michael Gove in an interview in The Spectator, he made clear that his relationship with his two sons and three daughters was paramount.

Mr Gove challenged him on the views of some evangelicals and asked if he would tell his child that while he loved them 'their relationship was sinful or inappropriate'. But Archbishop Welby hit back: 'I would say, 'I will always love you, full stop. End of sentence, end of paragraph.' Whatever they say, I will say I always love them.' Read more via DailyMail 

Malaysia: ‘Gay imam’ sparks debate on Twitter

This week’s curator for the @twt_LGBT Twitter account has raised more eyebrows than usual. Claiming himself to be a “gay imam”, the curator, who only refers himself as “Adik”, said that he anted to share his life story and experiences in being a homosexual Muslim in Malaysia.

“Saya nak kongsi hidup sebagai seorang imam yang gay (I would like to share my life as a gay imam),” he tweeted.

Aside from sharing his experiences, Adik also invoked several arguments and connotations on Islamic teachings in aspects of homosexuality and his opinion on what it was to be a gay Muslim. The social media discussion has snowballed into a heated debate with netizens taking on both sides of the matter. 

Read more via the Rakyat Post
 

Vietnam: The archive that celebrates a secret LGBT culture

“This boy – his life is so overwhelming,” Dinh Nhung sighs, handing over a photograph of a teddybear, the stuffing bleeding from its ripped seams. Its 22-year-old owner, whose family would not accept that he is gay, travelled illegally to Russia to work in a sweatshop, but returned after seeing a man shot dead by police in the street.

“When my father was shouting at me, my mother also cut my favourite things,” reads the caption. “She cut this teddy bear on its neck and legs. However, the scissors were not sharp enough. She cut, but not completely.”

“Cut, but not completely” is a thread that runs through many of the stories that Nhung and her colleagues at Hanoi’s Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP) have painstakingly archived since 2009. From love between prisoners in re-education camps, to domestic violence, to the daily hardships borne by sex workers and those living with HIV, the collection is an unflinching account of the struggles and frequent despair experienced by Vietnam’s LGBT community, past and present. But other stories are happier – or, at least, more defiant.  Read more via the Guardian

UK: Transgender prisoners reveal deepening crisis

27 October, barrister Nicholas Wragg told a court that the "clang of a prison door should never be pleasant", but for his client, it was "extraordinarily frightening".  Tara Hudson was in an all-male prison: HMP Bristol - capacity 600.

Wragg told the Bristol Crown Court that prison should have a "sobering effect" on inmates, but for Hudson it was "unrelenting and frightening". That very day, he said, other inmates had taunted her, shouting: "Tara, Tara, show us your tits."

Hudson, a transgender make-up artist who was previously known as Raymond Aaron David, was locked up with men because she didn't have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). Prisons assign inmates to facilities based on the gender recorded on their birth certificate, or on a GRC. The certificate alone costs £140, not including the price of medical and psychiatric reports required to obtain it.

Vicky Thompson, 21, and Joanne Latham, 38, didn't have a Gender Recognition Certificate either. Both died in suspected suicides this month while jailed in all-male prisons. Read more via Huffington Post 

Transphobia leads to suicide -- end of story

Since January of this year, a transgender person was murdered somewhere around the globe every 29 hours. Additionally, trans people are statistically at a much greater risk to commit suicide; the rate of suicide in the general population is under 10%, yet within the trans community it is over 40%. Dr. Alex Abramovich, from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says, "Transphobia leads to suicide. End of story."

Global's 16x9, an investigative newsmagazine television program, aired a poignant piece that is a must watch for everyone--regardless of your thoughts on trans rights. It's available to stream on YouTube. The video highlights some of the many examples in which trans people are demonized, oppressed, and attacked on a daily basis. These attacks are not always quite so overt. 

This way through this crisis is common sense, love, and understanding. "If you go through life and people are continually using the wrong name or the wrong pronoun to refer to you, you start to question your mind. You start to question your own mental health. You start to eventually believe that you aren't real and maybe you shouldn't exist." Dr. Abramovich continues, "When people can't figure you out, they get angry. They're afraid. They get aggressive." Read more via HuffingtonPost 

Kenya: After anti-gay sermons, anti-gay rape and arson

Four men attacked a gay street vendor, raped him, and set his home on fire in West Kenya.

Erik Wasike, 28, an openly gay hawker of vests, socks, sweets and soft drinks, was abducted by the four unidentified men in Bungoma town in west Kenya.The men set Wasike’s house ablaze, destroying it and his furniture. They tied him up and left him unconscious in Lwakhakha village, he said. 

After the rape he was hospitalized for two weeks and needed corrective surgery at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu.

Wasike said his attackers accused him of spreading “the gay gospel” and luring many people into a “demonic denomination.” About three months ago, many Bungoma clergymen launched a preaching campaign against homosexuality, terming it un-Christian, satanic and un-African. Read more via 76 Crimes 

US: 11 years in prison for man convicted in Miami gay Hungarian sex-slave ring

Accounts of Hungarian men forced into sex slavery — convinced a Miami-Dade judge to sentence one of the ringleaders, Andras Janos Vass, to just over 11 years in state prison for human trafficking.

Vass’ punishment marks the first prison sentence in Florida for someone convicted of the human trafficking of gay men. Florida’s tougher human trafficking law went into effect in 2012.

“I was under their control, all day, all night,” one victim said, in a statement read to the court. “They used me like I was a machine. They sold me to strangers. I was not allowed to be tired. I was not allowed to be sad.” Read more via Miami Herald 

Switzerland: Boy, 4, goes to European Court to fight for his gay dads

A boy is going to the European Court of Human Rights after Switzerland ruled his two dads cannot both be registered as his parents. His proud dads conceived their child with the help of an anonymous egg donor and a surrogate. They are now suing for discrimination and intrusion into private and family matters because Swiss authorities are failing to recognize both men as the legal parents.

In May, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, Switzerland’s highest court, returned a two to three verdict on the matter, ruling only the man whose sperm was used to fertilize the egg could be listed as the legal parent.   As the couple appeals to the European court, their four-year old son has joined the action, with his own lawyer arguing the child’s case.

Under Swiss law, same-sex couples can’t adopt children together, meaning that, should the legal father come to harm or die, his partner would not be able to adopt his own son. Read more via Gay Star News 

US: IRS denies gay couple’s deduction for fertility treatments, says homosexuality is a “choice”

Is being gay, in a long-term committed relationship, the same as being biologically infertile? That’s the argument being made by a Stetson law professor in a lawsuit against the federal government.

Joseph F. Morrissey, who teaches constitutional and business law at Stetson, is seeking to overturn a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service that denied him and his partner a tax deduction. The deduction would have been for costs associated with their use of in-vitro fertilization and a surrogate who gave birth to their twin sons.

An IRS revenue agent who denied the claim said Morrissey’s sexual orientation was a “choice,” according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

While the amendment to his return was being reviewed, Morrissey wrote the IRS in 2014 arguing that the agency had allowed heterosexual couples’ deductions for fertility treatments, including the use of an egg donor. Read more via Tampa Tribune