Central America: Report documents anti-trans violence

A new report indicates transgender women in Central America remain particularly vulnerable to discrimination and violence. The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Trans People, which is known by the Spanish acronym REDLACTRANS, and its affiliate organizations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama began collecting data last March.

The report indicates the life expectancy of trans women in El Salvador is less than 35 years because of rampant violence. REDLACTRANS’ report also notes that police in Panama and other Central American countries routinely target trans women for abuse and other mistreatment. Many trans women also engage in sex work or so-called “survival sex” because of a lack of employment opportunities.

The report also notes trans women in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama frequently lack formal education and access to health care because of their gender identity. “[The report’s] primary objective is to generate documented evidence about the violence suffered by our trans counterparts in the region,” reads the report. 

The report contains a series of recommendations that includes the passage of laws that “recognize and guarantee the right of trans people to freely exercise their gender identity.” Read more via Washington Blade 

US: Trans woman killed in Texas shooting

In a statement issued on Tuesday that identified Monica Loera, 43, by her birth name and used masculine pronouns, the Austin Police Department said Loera was shot around 3 a.m. local time on Jan. 22. She was taken to hospital, where she later died.

“She was funny, [and] beautiful,” a close friend told the Chronicle. “I never saw her as David, I saw her as Monica. She loved Madonna and she loved to cook.”

Loera’s death, which was Austin’s first homicide this year, comes after a spate of trans homicides in 2015, with at least 22 transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals killed. “It took only three weeks for the initial quiet of 2016 to be shattered by the murder of another trans person,” said Nell Gaither, president of Trans Pride Initiative, in a statement. Nineteen of the victims were individuals of color, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, which documented the deaths.

“It may be a new year, but it’s looking like, unfortunately we’re telling the same horrific story,” said Beverly Tillery, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project. Read more via Buzzfeed

Brazil: The four latest known trans murders

A trans woman identified as ketelen C. Alves, 23, was shot twice in the early hours of Saturday (23) in a sex work location next to the Ministry of Finances (Sefaz) headquarters.

Another transwoman, Bruna Sousa A. C. de Menezes, 23, who was also in the sex trade was murdered by several unidentified individuals. The crime occurred on the night of Saturday 23, in the Pauzanes Sector. So far no suspects have been identified.

Another trans woman (transvestite as media insists) was killed on Sunday evening. According to Police, Dani R. M. S. Pereira, 20, was picked up by the rescue unit of the Fire Department, after being hit in the chest by a gun shot. The victim was taken to the North Emergency Unit (UPA), but was dead on arrival. In the police report, witnesses told the investigating officers the young woman was a transgender sex worker.

News of the fourth victim news was found on social media (FB) and states that Michely Fernandes, 30, a sex worker trans woman was shot to death on the 26th January.  No police report have been found on this murder nor anything in the media, so no more information is available at this time. 

 Read more via Planet Transgender
 

UK: One in six people have witnessed LGBT hate in the last year

Today marks 71 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp responsible for the genocide of over a million people, including those who identified as LGBT. As part of their continued mission to learn from the past and prevent it repeating itself, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has conducted a study to find out the current state of discrimination in Britain.

17% of respondents said they have witnessed a hate crime based on sexual orientation in the last year, while just over one in ten have seen an incident based on transgender identity. In total, 27% of people have witnessed a form of hate crime in the last year, and more than two thirds of those people said they regretted not challenging it.

The research focused on five characteristics that are often subject to hate crime – race or ethnicity, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity. It found that younger people were more likely to challenge hate crime, with 17% of 16-24 year-olds having intervened in hate incidents, compared to 13% of 25-34 year-olds, and just 7% of those aged 35-44. 

Read more via Gay Times
 

Saudi Arabia: ‘Married’ gay couples arrested in raid

Saudi security authorities have arrested four gay men in the capital Riyadh after they raided the flat where they were living as married couples. Acting on tips about the men living together after they held wedding parties attended by other homosexuals, members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police, headed to the flat in Al Quds neighbourhood, Saudi news site Sabq reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the Commission.

Homosexuality and cross-dressing are socially taboo and legal offences in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Reactions from social media users to the raids mostly touched on the need to mete out tough punishment to those found to be involved so that it would act as a strong deterrent. Some users even suggested that those who took part in the party be secluded for five years in remote areas.

Lawmakers have been pushing for a crackdown on homosexuality, including the adoption of tougher immigration measures against expatriate homosexuals, including their prompt deportation. Read more via Gulf News 

UK: Straight couple lose court bid to have civil partnership

Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan from London were told the Civil Partnership Act 2004 - the precursor to same-sex marriage being legalised in the UK - only applies to “two people of the same sex”. Earlier this month they argue to the High Court that everyone should be treated equally by the law, regardless of their sex or sexual orientation.

But Mrs Justice Andrews ruled that “just as the UK was under no obligation to extend marriage to same-sex couples, it has never been under an obligation to extend civil partnership to heterosexual couples”. Speaking after the ruling was announced, Steinfeld said a civil partnership “captures the essence of our relationship and values”.

“Civil partnerships are a modern social institution conferring almost identical legal rights and responsibilities as marriage, but without its history and social expectations,” she said. “We don’t think there is sufficient justification for stopping us or other opposite-sex couples from forming civil partnerships.” The couple, who campaigned for equal marriage laws, now must decide whether to take their case to the Court of Appeal, or the European Court of Human Rights.  Read more via Buzzfeed 

Australia: Politicians should not ignore public vote on marriage

Politicians should think very carefully before they “snub their nose” at the Australian people by refusing to implement their viewpoint on same-sex marriage, Liberal minister Steve Ciobo said today, after a conservative senator said he would not be bound by the result of a national plebiscite.

Following a marathon six-hour government party room meeting in Canberra last August, Tony Abbott announced it would be for “the people to decide” whether to repeal the 12-year-old law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

However Eric Abetz, a former member of Tony Abbott’s cabinet, expressed his view that the plebiscite’s result should not necessarily sway MPs to vote in parliament one way or another. Mark Dreyfus, the opposition legal affairs spokesman, said Senator Abetz had made a “mockery” of the plebiscite and recommitted a Labor government to legislate same-sex marriage.

“This absurd notion makes a complete joke of our democratic process and renders a $160 million national plebiscite totally pointless,” Mr Dreyfus said. Read more via Guardian Australia 

Lithuania: Refusal to recognise same-sex marriage for residence permit

Lithuania has refused to issue a temporary residence permit to the husband of a Lithuanian man. The country’s Migration Department refused to issue the permit to the Belarusian man who married his husband in the Netherlands.

The men have the option to appeal the decision within 14 days at a regional court. The Migration Department consulted with the Interior Ministry before making the decision, said the Department’s interim head Evelina Gudžinskaitė.

“The Ministry of the Interior responded that same-sex marriages are not allowed in Lithuania and such a marriage is not recognised in Lithuania,” she said. Foreign nationals can apply for residence permits on the basis of family reunification in Lithuania. A marriage does not have to have taken place in Lithuania to be recognised, but this is the first time where a same-sex marriage has been considered by the Department. Read more via Pink News

Italy: Poor turnout for Rome anti-gay union protest

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome's Circus Maximus arena to protest against a civil unions bill for same-sex couples, a hot-potato issue for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.

But while organisers had been hoping to attract one million people and authorities had prepared for 500,000, journalists at the scene estimated the numbers to be in the tens of thousands. Official numbers were not immediately available.
   
"Without limits, our society will go mad!" organiser Massimo Gandolfini told the "Family Day" rally, as grandparents, parents and children held up banners reading "Wrong is wrong" in the capital's ancient Roman chariot racing stadium.  

 Read more via The Local
 

Italy: Thousands march for gay rights

A bill, which the Senate will start examining on Thursday, is the first to get to parliament. If approved, the draft legislation will enable same-sex couples to commit themselves to one another before a state official, to take each other's names and, in certain circumstances, adopt each other's children and inherit each other's residual pension rights.

"The first time I marched with these slogans, it was 10 years ago, and I was pregnant. I hope this time it works," said bank worker Costanza Tantillo, who joined the Rome protest with her partner and their two children, nine-year-old Beatrice and Ludovico, four.

Two women who marched nearby held up a sign that read: "Stella and Paola, we've been together for 30 years and you still don't acknowledge us." Protests had been planned for 90 towns and cities across Italy, under the slogan "Wake up Italy! It's time to be civil."  Read more via The Local 

A history of same-sex unions in Europe

As Italy’s Senate prepares to vote on the introduction of civil unions, we take a look at the rights of gay and lesbian couples across the continent. Legal recognition of same-sex partnerships is far from uniform across Europe.
 
Even within the EU laws differ significantly. The bloc’s website describes the differences between the 28 member states as “huge”. 

Read more via Guardian
 

European Parliament calls on Kosovo and Serbia to step up efforts on LGBTI rights

The European Parliament adopted two of its annual progress reports for candidate and potential candidate EU countries. MEPs have assessed the rights of LGBTI people in Serbia and Kosovo, and recommended the countries to improve the situation.

Discrimination, hate speech and hate crime against LGBTI people, remain a strong concern for the Parliament in both countries. In this regard, the Parliament stresses its concern that the processing and investigation of such cases remains insufficient. Read more via Intergroup on LGBT rights