This beautiful photo series depicts lives of LGBT people around the globe

National Geographic photographer Robin Hammond’s photo series, “Where Love Is Illegal,” has called much-needed attention to the lives of LGBT people living in danger around the world. As the project has evolved, Hammond has been giving vulnerable LGBT people a platform to tell their own stories, especially through Instagram, where the project has more than 132,000 followers and counting. 

Here’s the words of one subject, Alex: “Every day was full of tension, fear and depression but I did my best not to let the depressive spiral take a hold of me, trying to help others deal with problems that I had never had and I tried to focus on positive things.” Alex (@alx_supernova) is a #lesbian from #Caracas, #Venezuela. When her parents learned of her sexuality, they sent her first to a rehabilitation camp in #Virginia, followed by another in #Utah. Read more via Buzzfeed

Turkey: All gender bathroom initiative achieves success at Boğaziçi University

Today, we talked to Beren Azizi and Görkem Ulumeriç of Boğaziçi University LGBTI Studies Association about the “All Gender Bathroom” campaign, which officially yielded its initial successful outcome.

Beren Azizi: This idea emerged from analyses of the “violation of rights” that result from “deprivation.” Education is a human right, because everyone is equal; however in practice we see that things do not really work that way. LGBTI+ students drop out of their studies, do not come to school, they are depressed or “unsuccessful.”

When you start asking what happened and what went wrong, you realize that places, where a fundamental right such as education is offered, are in fact filled with challenges and obstacles for the LGBTI+’s. Toilets, as we see from numerous scientific studies around the world, are one of those obstacles. Based on the feedback we received from LGBTI+ students, we realized that “All Gender Bathroom” is a right and we should demand it.  Read more via LGBTI News Turkey

UK: Sex education will not be compulsory

England's education secretary has rejected MPs' calls to make sex-and-relationship education compulsory in all schools, infuriating campaigners. Four key House of Commons committees wrote to Nicky Morgan last month, pressing for sex education to be made statutory in primaries and secondaries. In response, Mrs Morgan now says the government "will continue" to keep the subject's status "under review".

But the National Aids Trust said it was "extremely disappointed". The trust's chief executive Deborah Gold said the decision meant the subject "will continue to be delivered according to the whims of individual head teachers rather than the needs of young people".

Last month, the chairmen of the education, health, home affairs and business committees wrote to Mrs Morgan saying personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), which includes sex education, was a "crucial part of preparing young people for life". Read more via BBC

Criticised for rejecting same-sex marriage, but is the Anglican church actually helping gay rights?

At their recent meeting, the Anglican church leaders did indeed decide to suspend the episcopal church for its “fundamental departure” from the faith. It’s also true that the decision has come as a result of pressure from more conservative church leaders – not at least those from a range of African countries. But one part of the official statement that came out of this meeting has gone largely unnoticed – and that’s the section in which the church leaders “reaffirmed their rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people”.

This statement is surprising. Many of the leaders come from countries in which same-sex practices are illegal – particularly those who sought sanctions on the US church. Gay men and women face being ostracised and even imprisoned in countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria and Rwanda – all of which were represented at the meeting. The Anglican churches in Uganda and Nigeria have even supported introducing new, fiercer anti-homosexual legislation in their countries.

They could do so without facing any “consequences” for their role in the Anglican Communion, while the US church is now being sanctioned for its support for, and blessing of, loving relationships between people of the same sex. Read more via the Conversation

The Pope and head of the Russian Orthodox Church release statement against gay marriage

The Pope and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church have released a joint statement condemning same-sex marriage. The statement, consisting of 30 points, holds wide-reaching significance for Catholics and followers of the Orthodox Church. The main message of the statement seems to be the reconciliation of the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

In a similar vein to many statements made by the churches, the “family” was high on the agenda. One point calls family the “natural center of human life and society”, but they say they are “concerned about the crisis in the family in many countries”. They then say that “the family is based on marriage, an act of freely given and faithful love between a man and a woman.”

The Pope and the Patriarch are apparently worried that the “biblical tradition, of paternity and maternity as the distinct vocation of man and woman in marriage is being banished from the public conscience.” Read more via PinkNews 

Saudi Arabia: This hashtag is filled with suggestions of how to kill gay people

Burning and castration are just two modes of executions that have been suggested after a video was posted online that allegedly showed a same-sex wedding in Saudi Arabia.

Over the last few weeks, a new hashtag has begun spreading across Arabic-language social media: “#اقترح_طريقة_لقتل_الشواذ” which translates to “#suggest_a_way_to_kill_the_faggots.” The hashtag appeared to have been born after this video was posted online on January 25 with the hashtag “زواج_للشواذ_في_جدة#” which means “faggots’_wedding_ in_ Jeddah.” Read more via Buzzfeed 

Saudi Arabia: YouTube stars call for gays to be executed

Popular Saudi Arabian YouTubers posted a shockingly homophobic video to YouTube. Uploaded by Fe2aFala – popular Arabic vloggers who have more than 500,000 subscribers, racking up over 45 million views 

In a shocking video uploaded to the video site, the young men rant about “Deviant marriage in Riyadh”, apparently after a local raid of a ceremonial gay wedding. They added: “We would like to thank the police for beating their asses.”

The men continue to insist that gays are “disgusting and nasty”, asking Allah to send his “godly wrath” upon them. The men then discuss whether gays are “mentally ill” and needing a “cure” – or whether they are “animals” who need to be “executed in the most horrific ways”. After outcry, YouTube took action to pull the video, with a message now explaining though it has been re-uploaded. Read more via Pink News 

UK: Absolute fear’ keeps gay athletes in the closet

Athletes, business leaders and influential figures from the world of sport took part in a ground-breaking conference yesterday at the Aon offices in the iconic Leadenhall Building in the city of London. Team Pride: LGBT in Sports was created to bring the business world and sports world together to share resources, best practice and open up a dialogue on LGBT inclusion in the sporting world.

Why should the business world care about LGBT inclusion in sport? Chiefly because commercial sport depends on major sponsorship. According to former NBA player John Amaechi, ‘the business world is starting to look at the people they’re spending £45billion worth of sponsorship on, and they’re saying “How can we spend with you if what you stand for is opposed to what we stand for?”’ Read more via Gay Star News

Is the world finally waking up to intersex rights?

Research has found between 0.05% and 1.7% of the global population are born with intersex traits – biological sex characteristics that don’t conform to typical notions of male or female. The upper estimation is around the same number of red haired people, yet intersex people are far less visible.

There are at least 40 intersex variations, ranging from genetic, chromosomal, anatomic and hormonal. In countries with access to western healthcare, it has become common practice to subject intersex children to medical interventions to make their bodies fit into the male/female binary, with damaging results.

Last month a landmark directive on intersex rights was announced by the government of Chile. The ministry of health issued guidance to stop “normalisation” surgeries on intersex children. It is one of two countries in the world that has produced any formal guidelines preventing these medical interventions. The other is Malta, which in April 2015, was the first country to prohibit these surgeries by law.   Read more via the Guardian

Thailand: A new gay web series that is worth your health

Have we been waiting too long for a realistic storyline of native Asian gay men coping with their sexual health issues? The answer is yes. Despite efforts to expand the visibility of LGBT individuals on mainstream TV series and webseries, there's still not a lot out there that truly empower sexual health and rights of gay men who are living in Asia – the region that’s progressing sluggishly, if not the least, in standing up for health and rights of its sexual minorities.

The tide, however, will turn. GAYOK BANGKOK The Series, a webseries following the lives of six diverse gay men living in Bangkok and their drama – relationship, career, family and, most of all, sexual health – in a manner that Asian gay men can truly relate. 

Read more via Test BKK
 

Netherlands: Court convicts, fines politician for anti-gay statements

A Dutch court convicted former Amsterdam politician Delano Felter for comments he made in 2010 against homosexuals. He was fined one thousand euros by the court, which conditionally suspended half the amount for two years.

“The gay profile is simply too dominant. I think that there are too many gays in the government,” he told broadcaster AT5. These people with these sexual deviations must basically be contested by heterosexuals,” he said. The court found his comments “unnecessarily offensive,” and incited discrimination against a group of people.

Felter was the leader of the Republikeinse Moderne Partij, or Modern Republican Party, when he made the remarks on camera as part of a political debate. 

 Read more via Netherlands Times

 

Australia: Zero tolerance for gay 'conversion' therapy

The state government will attempt to crack down on so-called gay conversion therapy through a new public watchdog with the power to investigate people purporting to "cure" or suppress homosexuality. The move comes amid growing concerns that such practices remain prevalent in Australia – including alarming claims of shock treatment or aversion tactics being used in recent years in a bid to thwart same-sex attraction.

Legislation will be introduced into parliament later this year to establish a new watchdog – the Health Complaints Commissioner – with the power to investigate and sanction anyone claiming they can treat homosexuality.

While registered practitioners can already be investigated by authorities, the legislation will close a loophole that currently exists regarding unregistered practitioners making unproven claims that they can convert gay people. "If they are found to be making false claims and to be acting in a manner that puts people's physical, mental or psychological health, safety or welfare at risk, the Commissioner will be able to ban them from providing such services," said Health Minister Jill Hennessy. Read more via The Age