European Parliament demands inclusion LGBTI people in gender mainstreaming activities

In a key report voted yesterday on Gender mainstreaming in the work of the European Parliament, the European Parliament made a strong call to include “the rights, perspectives and well-being of LGBTIQ people” in all gender mainstreaming activities. An attempt by a group of right-wing MEPs to replace the whole resolution by an alternative resolution was defeated.

The report includes a call to the Commission to perform systematic gender impact assessments sensitive to the experiences of LGBTIQ persons on all new legislative or policy proposals. This means that the impact of different proposals will be specified for LGBTI persons, with a view to combat discrimination. As for its own internal policies, the European Parliament suggests the introduction of specific human resources guidelines sensitive to LGBTIQ issues, to improve the well-being of staff at the work place.

Angelika Mlinar MEP, author of the report and Member of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, reacted: “Women and LGBTI people fight the same fight to end violence and discrimination. To this end, we need constructive action and need to see how the money that we spend impacts women and LGBTI people. We will strongly check on the Commission to ensure that they ensure that all gender mainstreaming activities will include LGBTI people.”  Read more via  Intergroup on LGBT Rights

Lebanon: Op-ed, How public health can affect LGBT Rights

When I think about LGBT rights in Lebanon, a swinging pendulum comes to mind. Slow progress met with backlash and arbitrary detention. A recent study showed that 81% of a representative Lebanese sample believed homosexuality was not normal. Nevertheless, LGBT activists stood fast in this environment and fought the institutional discrimination facing this community. LGBT health advocates even managed to stir up conversation on sexuality among their peers and the broader community.

Arguments rooted in public health principles supported many LGBT rights issues. Until 2012, forensic doctors performed anal tests, humiliating and torturous acts conducted on gay men and transgender women to ‘prove’ that they had anal intercourse. LGBT health activists successfully pressured the Lebanese Order of Physicians to ban them. As a consequence, the Order started investigating physicians who performed these tests and publically threatened to suspend their medical license.

The Lebanese experience proves that public health can be a tool used in fighting against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But reflecting on these successes also highlights that health care disparities still persist in Lebanon and other countries where LGBT communities face stigmatization. 

Read more via Center for Transatlantic Relations Equality Blog 
 

Dominica: Consensual 'buggery' will not be legalized

A recommendation to legalize consensual buggery among adults in Dominica, which was submitted to a committee recently set up to review the country’s Sexual Offenses Act was denied, Legal Consultant, Ray Harris has revealed.

The government is working on tightening the Sexual Offenses Act of 1998 and the committee, under the chairmanship of Harris, was set up in October 2015 to make necessary observations and recommendations. A draft will soon be sent to parliament for approval.

Local group, Minority Rights Dominica (MiriDom), has been calling on the government to take another look at the law with a view to having it repealed. Read more via Dominica News Online

US: Despite historic filibuster, Missouri senate advances legislative assault on LGBT People

HRC, the ACLU of Missouri, and PROMO strongly condemned a vote by the Missouri Senate in favor of Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 39 – a measure that could enshrine discrimination against LGBT people and their families into the state constitution. Similar to so-called “First Amendment Defense Act” legislation introduced in other states, this outrageous and extreme resolution would lead to a ballot measure that proposes to allow individuals, organizations, and businesses to use religion as a valid excuse to discriminate against LGBT people by broadly redefining the definition of religious organizations. The measure must receive one final administrative approval vote before being sent to the House of Representatives.

The vote to pass the outrageous proposal attacking LGBT Missourians and their families came after a historic filibuster effort by Senate Democrats attempting to stop the anti-equality majority. The discriminatory proposal has received widespread condemnation from fair-minded Missourians and businesses throughout the state, includingGovernor Jay Nixon, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, Dow Chemical Company, and Monsanto. The St. Louis Regional Chamber said the proposal is “counter to MO values & will have negative economic consequences.” Read more via HRC

Under attack, Indonesian LGBT groups set up safehouses, live in fear

LGBT activists, facing a barrage of homophobia and hate speech by Indonesian authorities, are setting up hotlines and safehouses, while "unfriending" people on social media and deleting website directories that could expose them to violence. Indonesia's LGBT rights groups have been active for decades and have come under attack before, but usually only for one or two days at a time. This time, the anti-LGBT rhetoric began about two months ago, say activists who describe a community living in fear.

"This is the first time it's actually lasted this long," said Dede Oetomo, a prominent activist who founded one of the country's oldest LGBT rights groups, GAYa NUSANTARA, in 1987. There have been a few incidents of LGBT people being harassed, and Oetomo said LGBT groups are now working to set up safehouses and draw up evacuation plans in case of need.  

Read more via Reuters
 

Hungary: Blocks European agreement on LGBT rights

A European agreement to prevent discrimination against LGBT people has been blocked by Hungary.  The Dutch government, which currently holds the EU Presidency, had tabled the draft agreement at the Council of the European Union, which called on the European Commission to tackle homophobic and transphobic discrimination, promote measures to advance LGBTI equality, and step up efforts to collect data on the treatment of LGBTI citizens.

The agreement had been well received by the majority of member countries – with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland lifting their initial objections. However, the agreement was vetoed by the representatives for Hungary who blocked the agreement – the same day it also blocked a proposed deal with Turkey on the migration crisis.  Read more via PinkNews 

International Women’s Day: the issues faced by sexual and gender diverse women

On a day that champions the achievements of women while recognising the ongoing struggle of gender inequality, Anna Brown believes it’s important to highlight women who face intersectional discrimination – because of both their sexual and gender identities.

International Women’s Day is an annual celebration of women around the world, one that Brown sees as a significant opportunity to raise awareness around women in the LGBTI community:

“Around the world lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex women face human rights abuses such as corrective rape, physical attacks, and even murder. As queer women in Australia we have an important role to play in standing in solidarity with women across the world. For instance, we need to ensure that our government’s foreign policy initiatives on women and girls are inclusive of lesbian, bisexual, trans, and intersex women.” 

 Read more via Star Observer
 

European Parliament demands protection LGBTI refugees, also from ‘safe’ countries

The European Parliament adopted a report on the situation of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU, paying particular attention to the situation of LGBTI asylum seekers.

The report is a response to the invisibility of female refugees and their concerns in the wake of the steep increase of asylum seekers arriving in Europe. A significant part of the refugees and asylum seekers is LGBTI, who often face specific challenges, which are addressed in the report.

In response to the increased number of asylum seekers, the Commission has proposed establishing a common list of safe countries of origin, which would make it easier to send back asylum seekers coming from these countries. This list would include all Balkan states and Turkey. However, the Parliament recognized that LGBTI people may be subjected to abuse, even in countries which are considered ‘safe’. As such, it concludes, they have a legitimate request for protection. 

Read more via Intergroup on LGBT Rights
 

UK: Government pledges £1 million to tackle homophobic bullying

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has announced £1 million of funding, which is being put towards tackling LGBT bullying in schools. Mrs Morgan, who is also Minister for Equalities, said: “I am determined to do all I can to consign homophobic and transphobic bullying to the dustbin of history.”

Despite having opposed marriage equality in 2013, Morgan has made homophobic bullying one of her top priorities since taking the Education portfolio in the Conservative government. She had previously delivered a £2 million package in October 2014 to tackle the same issue.

Stonewall Chief Executive Ruth Hunt said the funding – which has been announced less than a month after the government rejected recommendations for mandatory, inclusive sex and relationship education in schools – was “crucial” to teaching young people about the importance of inclusivity and acceptance. Read more via Attitude 

Australia: Meet the trans kids fighting for the right to transition

Access to medical treatment changes transgender people’s lives. It can mean the difference between employment and homelessness, education and dropping out, wellbeing and depression, anxiety and suicide. But for many, it remains out of reach.

Australia is the only Western country where transgender people under the age of 18 must seek court permission to start taking cross-sex hormones. At best, experts say, the delay causes emotional trauma and financial stress. At worst, it’s a matter of life and death. Read more via Buzzfeed

UK: This is what domestic violence is like when you’re LGBT

Sam was three months pregnant when her girlfriend Lynn raped her. They were at home. Sensing that Lynn wanted sex, Sam decided to tell her that she did not. “She suddenly got nasty,” says Sam, flatly. “She was physically a lot bigger than me. She pinned me against a doorway and said, ‘I’ll have what I fucking like if I fucking want it.’ She assaulted me.”

Sam is in her early thirties. It is only in the last few months she has felt able to talk about the events of her early twenties. She looks up briefly, as we sit talking in a half-empty restaurant, and asks, “How do you say to your friends, ‘My girlfriend rapes me’ when their only mental definition of rape is a man forcing his penis inside a woman’s vagina? How do you say you were assaulted when it comes back to the idea of ‘that doesn’t count’? Well, it does count.”

It is a story that not only Sam finds difficult to tell, but one that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people struggle to disclose. BuzzFeed News spoke to both LGBT survivors of domestic abuse and an organisation trying to help them – amid a backdrop of cuts to funding.
As the accounts of violence, rape, bullying, coercion, and control surfaced, sometimes for the first time, two questions began to form: What prevents LGBT people in particular from speaking out? And, what external forces are stopping them from finding safety?  

Read more via Buzzfeed