US: The most discriminatory laws you have never heard of

No Promo Homo laws are the most discriminatory laws you have never heard of. Hidden in education laws, they restrict the promotion of homosexuality in public school classrooms by prohibiting the teaching of homosexuality or requiring its condemnation. They exist in eight states: Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

For example Utah requires their board of education to prohibit instruction in the "advocacy of homosexuality." A more egregious Texas law requires teaching that homosexuality is "not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense." Appallingly, Texas cites the very penal law found unconstitutional in the landmark 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case.

It is clear that legislatures in some states disagree and resist homosexual rights even 10 years after the decision in Lawrence. These states have kept their discriminatory agenda on the books by burying these laws in education bills, taking advantage of their broad discretion in the area of education. These laws are not outdated; indeed they have only been around since the 1980s. Read more via the Jurist

Iranian Government evades the UN questions on LGBTI children

For the first time, the Committee on the Rights of the Child questioned the Iranian government about the human rights of LGBTI children. The committee completed two sessions of review on the situation of children in Iran in Geneva last week. The Iranian delegates evaded many questions during the two day sessions by delay, denial and even at times mischaracterization of Iranian law.

Clarence Nelson, one of the committee experts, raised the issue of LGBTI children in Iran citing that children had to undergo coercive measures to “correct” and “cure” their “problem”. These practices include but are not limited to unnecessary hormone therapies, electroshocks and even life-threatening sexual reassignment surgeries. Since on the first line of questioning the Iranian delegates remained silent on this issue, he raised the question again asking the delegation to comment on reports of violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex children but no response was forthcoming.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran’s written reply to the Committee, the Iranian government had not even distinguished between an intersex child and a bisexual child. This action of Islamic Republic’s government shows a deep lack of scientific knowledge or perhaps adequate consideration and investigation on the part of the state. In their reply, the Islamic Republic had also explicitly mentioned that homosexuality is considered a form of illness and thus the state sanctioned treatment of “gender identity disorder” mandates sex reassignment surgeries.  Read more via 6rang 

UNHCR leads in LGBTI refugee, asylum seeker protection

The UN Refugee Agency is leading the way in delivering protection to LGBTI persons in forced displacement with the rolling out of a new training programme for UNHCR staff and other protection and humanitarian workers, the most comprehensive training package of its kind globally.

LGBTI persons fleeing persecution face a complex array of challenges and threats at all stages of displacement, including discrimination, prejudice, violence, difficulty accessing humanitarian services, and barriers to articulating their protection needs during asylum procedures and other interactions with protection and humanitarian actors.

The programme was developed jointly with the International Organization for Migration, IOM, and funded by the United States Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM). It covers relevant terminology, international law, communication, operational protection, conducting interviews, durable solutions, health, and refugee status determination, all with a focus on practical guidance for UNHCR and partner organizations when assisting LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers.  Read more via Trust.org

UK: Cuts to sexual health services will lead to STI 'explosion', warn experts

Cuts to sexual health services will lead to more abortions, unplanned pregnancies and an “explosion” in sexually transmitted infections, medical experts warn. Their warning comes as Labour claims that local councils in England will spend as much as £40m less than planned this year on services such as testing and treating infections such as herpes and syphilis as a result of George Osborne’s decision to cut £200m from the public health budget.

Doctors have criticised the chancellor’s move as short-sighted and bound to increase demand for NHS care at a time when dating apps and “chemsex” are thought to be behind rising STI rates.

Some councils have already started to reduce their budget for testing people suspected to have contracted an infection such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea by as much as 36% as a result.

Diagnoses of gonorrhoea in England have gone from 16,843 in 2010 to 34,958 in 2014 – a rise of 107% – while those for syphilis are up by 63% from 2,647 to 4,317 over the same period. Those for anogenital herpes are also up, though by a much smaller amount – 7% – from 29,698 in 2010 to 31,777 in 2014, answers to parliamentary questions tabled by Labour show. Read more via the Guardian

Asia-Pacific’s alarming AIDS rise

There are now 220,000 adolescents living with HIV in the Asia-Pacific region, with large cities the hubs of new infections. Risky behaviour is on the rise, and policymakers need to address the problem, Wing-Sie Cheng Regional Adviser, HIV and AIDS with UNICEF, covering East Asia and the Pacific writes.

At a time when we are tantalisingly close to ending the global HIV and AIDS epidemic, a new trend gives cause for concern. Although new AIDS-related deaths are falling in most countries, they are rising among certain groups of adolescents in Asia-Pacific. The rise in new infections coincides with an increase in risky behaviour, such as multiple sexual partners and inconsistent condom use.

These trends are not limited to Asia-Pacific. In parts of Africa, AIDS is now the leading cause of death among adolescents. In Asia-Pacific, the epidemic is growing fastest among young gay and bisexual men, and the rise of mobile dating or hook-up apps play a role as enablers of risky behaviour. Gay men are now using mobile dating apps to meet up for sex and are having more casual sex with more people with the convenience of geographic tracing of the nearest sexual interest.  Read more via Policy Forum

Ireland: Teacher to be compensated over comments on gay son

A primary school has been ordered to compensate a teacher after the Equality Tribunal found she had been harassed on religious grounds and discriminated against because her son was gay.
Resource teacher Bernie Marron, who worked at the school for seven years, said the principal made a series of critical comments about her son’s sexual orientation.

Ms Marron, a non-practising Catholic, said she felt repeatedly undermined by the principal and complained to the school in September 2013. The issues, however, were not dealt with properly by the school.

Ms Marron told the tribunal she was looking for an acknowledgment that what had happened to her was wrong and sought no financial compensation. The tribunal, however, ordered the school to award her €3,000 on the basis that the case would attract a significant award of damages in the ordinary course of events.

Ms Marron said she brought the case in order to challenge a culture that allowed personal opinion and beliefs to override other people’s human rights. “I was hurt and angry by the experience. No one should be subjected to judgment about their parenting or their son’s right to be themselves,” she said. Read more via Irish Times 

Vietnam: 'Nobody helped me,' Schools remain dangerous for LGBT youth

Le Minh Triet attempted suicide when he was a seventh-grader, right after coming home from school.  For days, he had been bullied by other students. Sometimes it was name calling. Sometimes he was beaten, had soft drinks thrown at him, and locked inside a room for hours. 
"When they beat me, they insulted my parents names for having a gay son," he said. "Nobody helped me."

Similar stories of abuse and discrimination can be found among Vietnamese LGBT youth. The country has surprised many for its recent progressive stance and new policies that recognize more rights for LGBT people. Still homophobia and transphobia are palpable. 

Multiple studies in the last 3 years have found increasing high percentage of LGBT students suffering abuse. Many activists and educators said Vietnamese schools need to introduce into their curriculum programs which raise awareness about sexuality and gender identity to fight discrimination.  Read more via Thanhnien News

Pakistan: Transgender person shot, refused treatment by hospital

Adnan, a resident of Karkhano, came to the hospital with a gunshot wound. Social activists say doctors at LRH refused to come near Adnan, whose treatment was delayed for hours at the hospital.

“The incident took place within the jurisdiction of Chamkani police station,” he said. “Adnan and his friends, Sana and Bibi, were travelling in a car to Karkhano Market from Tarnab Farm when two motorcyclists opened fire on their car. Adnan was shot on the side and critically wounded.” 

“He remained at the hospital for three hours,” Pakhtun Civil Society Network focal person Taimur Kamal, who had taken Adnan to the hospital, said. “However, doctors would not come close.” Kamal said both doctors and patients were uncomfortable with the idea of a transgender being provided treatment at the facility. “When we took him to the ward, patients started crying,” said Kamal. Read more via Express Tribune 

India: Tackling the archaic LGBT law

A 15-year-old Class XI student set himself on fire after he was caught by one of his neighbours getting intimate with a male friend.  News spread, and teasing and harassment followed. Humiliated, he locked himself in his room for two days. On Sunday, he doused himself with diesel fuel and set himself on fire. "He is unable to speak properly,” the boy’s anguished father said. “The doctors say he is out of danger but I will only believe it when my son will talk to me."

The boy’s suicide attempt is the latest, tragic reminder that much work needs to be done in India to change public attitudes and reduce hysteria over so-called traditional values. In 2010, Srinivas Ramchandra Siras, a professor at Aligarh Muslim University, committed suicide after being vilified for his consensual gay relationship.

The most urgent need is repeal of India’s archaic law criminalizing same-sex relations. Even if rarely enforced, the law, section 377 of the penal code, reinforced the idea that discrimination and other mistreatment of LGBT people was acceptable in Indian society.  Read more via HRW

El Salvador: The savior of the world watched as these trans women disappeared

El Salvador has some of the highest rates of anti-LGBT violence in the hemisphere, and trans activist named Karla Avelar recounted waves of unpunished murders over the past several decades. In 2014 alone, at least 12 women and two gay men were killed, according to media reports. There was the “Bloody June” of 2009 in which at least three trans women and two gay men were murdered. Avelar herself survived being shot in the 1990s by a serial killer who had been gunning down trans sex workers.

The ones taken from the Savior of the World were almost mythical to Avelar, who was a baby when the events occurred.

“We don’t even really know much ourselves, but a little while ago one of the survivors told us what happened and said to us, ‘Why don’t you document this, that I was a victim of that attack?’” she said. But the task seemed impossible. “There is no documentation whatsoever, no publication nor record — there is nothing.”

Avelar knew of just one witness who still survived, a woman named Paty who she said was 78 years old, a miracle in a country where violence and HIV are so widespread very few trans women survive to middle age.  Read more via Buzzfeed 

Mexico: "Miss Gay" 2015 dies after being beaten

A member of the gay and lesbian community of Nayarit, died last Thursday in the town of Ixtlan del Rio, Nayarit, after suffering a tremendous beating by unknown assailants in the town of Etzatlán, according to Jalisco Nayarit portal line.

The young man, who was originally from Ixtlan del Rio, called himself "Paloma" and last year won the title of Miss Gay Nayarit, in an event that was held at the Casino Los Fresnos, Tepic. It was reported officially by more police authorities of Jalisco, Nayarit. Read more via Provincia