UN Committee against Torture reprimands Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong and China

The UN Committee against Torture published its binding "Concluding Observations" on the CAT 56th Session Homepage. As intersex human rights defenders testifying in Geneva to the lifelong consequences of intersex genital mutilation (IGM) practices had hoped for, the Committee issued strong recommendations on intersex and IGM practices for Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong and China, typically urging states to:

• Take the necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to guarantee the respect for the physical integrity and autonomy of intersex persons and ensure that no one is subjected during infancy or childhood to unnecessary medical or surgical procedures;
• Guarantee counselling services for all intersex children and their parents, so as to inform them of the consequences of unnecessary surgery and other medical treatment;
• Ensure that full, free and informed consent is respected in connection with medical and surgical treatments for intersex persons and that non-urgent, irreversible medical interventions are postponed until a child is sufficiently mature to  participate in decision-making and give full, free and informed consent;
• Provide adequate redress for the physical and psychological suffering caused by such practices to intersex persons. Read more via Stop Genital Mutilation  

UN highlights economic cost of anti-LGBT discrimination

The United Nations’ Free and Equal campaign has exposed just how much LGBTI exclusion really costs. 

The video, narrated by openly gay actor Zachary Quinto, highlights the cost of discrimination against LGBTI people and recognises the importance of new laws and effective public education and training. It cites, among other things, a World Bank study that concludes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity could cost an economy the size of India’s $32 billion a year.
“The cost of homophobia and transphobia is simply colossal,” says Quinto in the video.

Charles Radcliffe, a senior human rights advisor for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, debuted the video, noting: “Discrimination hurts people. It hurts companies. It hurts entire countries.”

James Heintz, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said that anti-LGBT discrimination lowers productivity and increases health care costs because of higher rates of stress, depression and suicide among affected groups: “There’s an intrinsic value to respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of all people, including those in the LGBT community, regardless of the economic cost."  Read more via Washington Blade

UN: Watch Free & Equal The Price of Exclusion

Rates of poverty, homelessness, depression and suicide have been found to be far higher among LGBT people than in the general population. But it’s not just LGBT people who pay the price. We all do. Every LGBT child thrown out of home and forced to miss out on education is a loss for society. Every LGBT worker denied their rights is a lost opportunity to build a fairer and more productive economy.

These losses are entirely self-inflicted. With different laws and policies in place and a different mind-set, we could and would achieve a more free and equal world – that is more prosperous too! For more info visit

Guyana: Ramsammy lobbies for repeal of laws that discriminate against LGBT

Former health minister under the PPP administration Dr Leslie Ramsammy has called on Guyana and by extension the Caribbean community to repeal laws that “stigmatize, discriminate and criminalize” the LGBT community.

Ramsammy said, “Guyana is today one of about five countries in the world that in accordance with the law can sentence a person in the LGBT community .. for simply engaging in same-sex relations in the privacy of their homes.” Under the Criminal Law (Offences) Act same sex relations between gay men attract a jail term of 10 years to life.

Ramsammy said in a statement, “If we are serious about achieving the goals and targets to end AIDS by 2030 in accordance with the global collective agreements, Guyana signed under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), then we in Guyana and in Caricom must demonstrate leadership."   Read more via Stabroek 

Japan: Evolving public debate on LGBT rights

When a local politician from Tokyo’s Ebisu district last week condemned media coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights issues and called gay people “abnormal” on Twitter, it came as a reminder of times past. It was just four years ago when Tokyo’s governor publicly called gay people “deficient.”

But a lot has changed in Japan since 2011, including the recognition of same-sex relationships in parts of Tokyo; IBM Japan and other major companies extending some benefits to employees’ same-sex partners; and Osaka’s Yodogawa ward, in 2013, and Okinawa’s capital, Naha City, in July 2015, declaring themselves “LGBT friendly” municipalities.

Around the world, progress by LGBT people has often provoked a backlash, such as the Ebisu representative’s homophobic remarks. And while the politician’s colleagues reacted swiftly to criticize him, even calling for his resignation and prompting him to apologize, such statements cut deep, and contribute to a sense that LGBT people in Japan are under siege – particularly those most vulnerable to hateful comments from authorities.  

Read more via Human Rights Watch
 

Singapore: Decision to retain Section 377A ‘carefully considered, balanced’

Raising the LGBT issue in its human-rights report to the UN for the first time, the Singapore Government said its decision to retain Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises sex between men, was a “carefully considered and finely balanced decision”.

The report--submitted to the UN in October and released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dec 11--noted that the LGBT issue is a sensitive one in its multi-religious society, where segments “continue to hold strong views against homosexuality for various reasons, including religious convictions and moral values”.

So, its approach is to seek to “accommodate the sensitivities of different communities so that there is room for all to exist harmoniously together”, the Government said, noting that the statute is not proactively enforced, and all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, are free to lead their lives and pursue their activities in their private space without fear or violence or personal insecurity.

It added: “We believe that each country should be allowed to deal with such sensitive issues in its own way, taking into account its evolving social and cultural context.”  Read more via Today 

First findings from 2014 global men’s health and rights survey

MSMGF has partnered with LINKAGES and FHI360 to publish, Rights in Action: Access to HIV Services among Men Who Have Sex with Men, the first of a series of technical briefs highlighting the main findings from MSMGF’s 2014 Global Men’s Health and Rights (GMHR) Survey.  Each brief will focus on specific challenges and opportunities that impact efforts to scale up coverage and quality of services for men who have sex with men (MSM) across diverse regional contexts.

The GMHR was launched by MSMGF in 2010 as a biennial effort to assess the current state of health and human rights among MSM on a global scale. The multilingual online survey focuses specifically on access to HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and care services, including the impact of barriers and facilitators that affect access to each category of service. The survey is designed to place access to services in the broader context of sexual health and the lived experiences of MSM.

For the first time since the GMHR’s inauguration, the 2014 survey includes a longitudinal component that allows for changes to be tracked over time. The 2014 survey also includes questions specifically designed for transgender men who have sex with men, providing a rare global perspective into the health and human rights of this demographic. Read more via MSMGF 

Australia: Here’s what it’s like to go through gay conversion therapy

“Please take this from me, I don’t want to be gay.” Brisbane man Johann De Joodt knows first hand the horrors of gay conversion therapy. A participant in numerous programs designed to purge his homosexuality during his twenties and thirties, De Joodt adopted a traumatising routine of church, sin and repentance that looped on repeat every week for 15 years.

The question of whether conversion therapy works was answered long ago: it doesn’t. Leading psychological associations in Australia and around the world have denounced therapy that attempts to change sexual orientation. Earlier this year, a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for nations to ban the practice, describing it as “unethical, unscientific and ineffective and, and may be tantamount to torture”.

Partly as a result of these strident denouncements, the prevalence of such therapy has significantly declined in Australia. Around 40 providers across the country in 2000 have dwindled to just a handful still in action today. 

Johann De Joodt bristles at the description of gay conversion therapy as “nearly dead”. “Conversion therapy hasn’t ended in Australia,” he says. “It is alive and well.”  Read more via Buzzfeed 

New study of midlife and older gay men links "internalized gay ageism" with depressive symptoms

"Internalized gay ageism," or the sense that one may feel denigrated or depreciated because of aging in the context of a gay male identity, is associated with negative mental outcomes according to a new study published in Social Science & Medicine.

Prior research has shown that youth, vigor, and physical attractiveness are disproportionately valued in the gay male community, leaving many to experience a sense of "accelerated aging." This study explores how ageism and homophobia are jointly internalized by gay men, whether these feelings affect their mental health, and whether a sense of "mattering" (the degree to which they feel they are important to others and a significant part of the world around them) offsets any mental health deficits associated with internalized gay ageism.

The study is based on data collected from 312 gay-identified men who have been participating in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study since 1984. The men ranged in age from 48 to 78 years (average age: 61yrs) and 61% were HIV-negative. Three decades of depressive symptoms data were included in the analysis to help strengthen the direction of the observed findings.  Read more via Williams Institute 

US: Providers must be vigilant about screening for other STDs

The number of syphilis cases in the United States among men who have sex with men who are infected with HIV, as well as in the general population of MSM, are nearing “epidemic” levels, according to Ina Park, MD, medical director of the California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center and associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

“We’re soon going to be at levels close to the early 1980s, right at the start of the HIV epidemic,” she said.

Park discusses an ocular presentation of syphilis as well as other STDs in patients with HIV. She emphasizes the importance of frequent STD screening among these patients, noting that the increase in syphilis should serve as a reminder to be vigilant. Watch Dr. Parks comments via Healio

New Zealand: Syphilis infection rates almost double

The annual number of gay and bisexual men who have contracted infectious syphilis has almost doubled, prompting a call for DHBs to make sexual health a higher priority. Sexual Health Clinics have reported a rise from 81 cases of infectious syphilis last year to 141, with 86 percent of all 2014 cases found in gay and bisexual men.

Auckland’s infection rate has more than doubled over this period, with numbers rising from 41 cases of syphilis to 85. Further south, Waikato has also seen a large increase in infection from 6 to 16 cases.

Dr Peter Sexton of the Gay Men’s Sexual Health research group at the University of Auckland says, “Syphilis will continue to spread and risks becoming a serious endemic problem unless DHBs are required to make sexual health a higher priority.”

A marked increase in infectious syphilis cases has continued in Auckland in 2015 and Saxton says Auckland and other DHBs need to develop and implement syphilis outbreak plans.  Read more via Gay NZ

US: Risky sex more common among young gay, bi men with detectable HIV

New strategies to reduce risky sexual behaviors among young gay and bisexual men with human immunodeficiency virus may be needed to reduce new infections, according to a new study.

Researchers found that most young gay and bisexual men with HIV don't have the virus suppressed by medication, making them more likely to infect others, and more than half reported recent unprotected sex.

While medications for HIV and access to those treatments improved over time, lead author Patrick Wilson said addressing unemployment, education and mental health is also important. Read more via Reuters