Although Francis has earned a reputation as a reformer, some liberal Catholics may be disappointed.
Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon reveals new LGBT policies
Nicola Sturgeon has revealed she plans to attack LGBTI discrimination in Scotland with a five pledge plan to tackle the scourge, should her party, as expected, be voted back in to government on 5 May.
The very fact that we are still having debates like this at election time just underlines that there is still much that we need to do. Gender recognition laws will be reformed to bring Scotland’s policy in line with international best practice and all police officers will receive appropriate training on the investigation of hate crime.
Speaking ahead of a hustings co-hosted by LGBT rights groups last night, Sturgeon said: “In particular I want to see a renewed focus on areas such as education – both for young people themselves, and those responsible for their emotional and educational wellbeing.
“Tolerance, respect, inclusion – these are attitudes and principles we want to encourage and foster in modern, fairer Scotland. Read more via Third Force News
US Op-ed: LGBT hate is actually losing
The Christian right can no longer directly demonize gays and transgender people, so it has to lie and even the lies are backfiring. In the wake of last year’s loss on same-sex marriage, the Christian Right has begun to act tactically, attacking what it perceives to be the LGBT equality movement’s weakest links. And yet amazingly, this strategy is backfiring. Not only is the right failing to make their easiest cases, they are hardening opposition in those very cases, losing key battles in the areas of transgender rights and religious freedom.
Consider the strategy in North Carolina. North Carolina’s Republican legislature and governor used what they thought would be their best tactic to repeal anti-discrimination ordinances, one that that worked in Houston and elsewhere: that pro-LGBT laws would let men use women’s restrooms.
And notice what North Carolina didn’t do. They didn’t mount a frontal attack on Charlotte’s anti-discrimination law. They didn’t argue that gay people shouldn’t get “special rights.” They sneaked in under the cover of a lie, and still lost, first in the court of public opinion and next, probably, in courts of law. Read more via the Daily Beast
Australia: Transgender people could change birth certificates
People could soon change the gender on their birth certificates without having to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The Victorian attorney-general's department has signalled that it is working to "remove barriers to new birth certificates for trans, gender diverse and intersex Victorians", in line with a Victorian Labor election commitment.
In a letter to a parent of a transgender child, the attorney-general's chief of staff advised that the office was "progressing work to address discrimination in Victoria's birth certificate laws".
The current laws are complex and confusing. If a person wants to change the gender on their certificate, they must be unmarried, 18 years of age or over, and to have undergone sex reassignment surgery. Read more via the Age
Intersectionality and discrimination
Intersectionality. The main impression this inelegant heptasyllabic word has made on me over the years is the almost automatic way in which any analysis focusing on it tends to indulge in spatial metaphor.
No wonder, as the notion of intersectionality is itself a spatial metaphor struggling to
upgrade itself (or reduce itself, depending on one’s perspective) to a technical legal and/or social science term. This issue of the Equal Rights Review is an ample case in point, as well as, hopefully, a snapshot capturing the current state of understanding among the experts.
Different people mean different things when they talk about intersectionality. That which intersects can relate to identities, prohibited grounds of discrimination, human rights, human rights violations, disadvantages, inequalities, systems of oppression, and so on; and intersectionality itself is referred to variously as a theory, a framework (another spatial metaphor), a method, a practice… The reader will find all of these usages, and more, in this issue alone.
US: After notorious faked study, new work finds that one conversation can curb transphobia
Volunteer door-to-door canvassers who engaged in a 10-minute conversation were able to reduce some voters’ negative feelings about trans people for up to three months, a new study suggests. This decrease in prejudice was greater, the researchers say, than the change in Americans’ feelings toward gay people from 1998 to 2012.
The study, published today in the journal Science, may have strong implications for changing voter attitudes during a time when many cities and states — including Houston, Tennessee, Mississippi, and most recently, North Carolina — are introducing legislation to ban transgender people from certain restrooms, among other things, based on harmful stereotypes about transgender women being sex predators.
The results come nearly a year after the now-notorious study by then-UCLA graduate student Michael LaCour that Broockman and co-author Joshua Kalla exposed as fraudulent. Advocates are relieved that the new study found that those experiences were, in fact, legitimate. Read more via Buzzfeed
Honduras: Massive rise in homophobic killings since Zelaya toppled
A new report from Index on Censorship exposes how many LGBT activists in Honduras risk torture, prison and assassination. The research from Index on Censorship, published by SAGE, carried out by journalist Duncan Tucker and utilising data collected by on-the-ground NGOs, delves into some shocking statistics:
Of the 235 murders of LGBT people since 1994, only 48 cases (20%) have gone to court.
"I've been imprisoned on many occasions. I've suffered torture and sexual violence because of my activism, and I've survived many assassination attempts," Honduran gay rights activist Donny Reyes said in an interview with Index on Censorship. Read more via Phys
New ISIS Video Shows ‘Gay’ Man Thrown to Death & Destruction of Churches
In a new video purportedly released by the Islamic State titled “The Voice of Virtue in Deterring Hell,” ISIS religious police are shown implementing sharia law with stonings, executions, and beheadings in ISIS-occupied lands. The video was released on April 6, 2016 on ISIS terrorist channels. An alternative translation of the title is “The Voice of Virtue in Deterring the Underworld.”
The video is ontage of ISIS religious police carrying out sharia law, with both the destruction of Christian structures, along with “haram” things like cigarettes and alcohol, and also doling out punishments. Punishments in the video include hand amputations for thieves, the murder of accused homosexuals with stonings, and a variety of beheadings. Read more via Heavy
US: Yes, Puerto Rico’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
A federal appeals court stated unambiguously that Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex couples’ marriages is unconstitutional, throwing a federal judge off a case after the judge had ruled in March that the ban was still in effect: “The district court’s ruling errs in so many respects that it is hard to know where to begin,” the unsigned opinion from the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals stated in harshly criticizing U.S. District Court Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez’ actions in the case.
Pérez-Giménez had ruled in favor of the ban in October 2014, but the 1st Circuit sent the case back to the trial court after the Supreme Court’s June 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges striking down marriage bans nationwide. The appeals court ordered Pérez-Giménez to “further consider” the matter “in light of Obergefell,” adding that the appeals court judges “agree with the parties … that the ban is unconstitutional.”
Nonetheless, in March, Pérez-Giménez upheld the ban for a second time, ruling that the Supreme Court’s ruling does not apply to a territory like Puerto Rico. The appeals court disagreed strongly, stating, “In ruling that the ban is not unconstitutional because the applicable constitutional right does not apply in Puerto Rico, the district court both misconstrued that right and directly contradicted our mandate.” Read more via Buzzfeed
US: How lawmakers in these 12 states used religion as a weapon this year
Lawmakers in numerous states have advanced measures this year that would strengthen religious protections for individuals, organizations or some businesses that decline to provide services to same-sex couple based on their religious beliefs.
While some are narrowly tailored to protect clergy, others are written more broadly, potentially applying to an array of businesses. Some bills already have been sent to governors while others are pending in the legislature.
Here’s a look at some of the bills that have advanced in state legislatures over the past year. Read more via AP
US: Mississippi governor signs law allowing businesses to refuse service to gay people
Scotland: First Minister confirms Scotland will make its own decision on PrEP
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed Scotland will make its own decision on pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, after NHS England extended trials for two years. The leader of the SNP said she was “keen” for Scotland to go its own way on PrEP and said it wouldn’t necessarily be the case Scotland follow recommendations made in England.
Fears about PrEP in Scotland arose, when it was reported that the Scottish Government was to accept the findings of health chiefs south of the border. When asked if she could see Scotland differing from NHS England’s decision and rolling out PrEP, Ms Sturgeon added: “Absolutely. It’s not necessarily the case that we would follow that [sic: two years further testing] in Scotland. I think we will take our own decisions.”
Last month, NHS England kicked the roll out of PrEP into the long grass, stating that it had to show it was cost effective.