Canada: Intersex filmmaker on growing up not knowing what you are

When Alec Butler was born in 1959 it was assumed Alec was female. But after being brought up as a girl, Alec - now an award-winning writer and film-maker - realised they were intersex, someone whose anatomical, hormonal or genetic sex is neither completely male nor female.
I was about 12 when it really hit. I started to grow a beard and I had a period. So it was really confusing for me. My parents were a little freaked out.

They took me to some doctors, but no-one knew about being intersex in the small town where I grew up in Canada. One doctor said, "We're going to have to put her in a mental institution until she learns how to dress like a girl and put on makeup." This was at the age of 12, when even most genetic girls aren't being forced to do that. Luckily my parents were outraged and they said, "We're not going to do that. We're just going to love you, and you can choose how you want to be." That was a gift. Lots of intersex kids don't have that. Read more

Norway: Bishop says to avoid same-sex marriage, no more civil weddings

A Norwegian bishop said the country's clergy will no longer officiate at civil weddings, after the predominant Lutheran Church's governing synod voted to conduct gay marriages in Norway.

Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo told Catholic News Service that he would have to seek permission from the Vatican, but added, "It's clear we must distinguish our own church marriages from others."

"This is a matter of liturgy, so it doesn't necessarily reflect roader change in our society's moral values. But politicians may now get aggressive toward churches who resist these weddings, so the best option is for us to stop conducting marriages on the state's behalf." Read more via Boston Pilot

UK: Government updates USA travel advisory to warn LGBT people

The UK government has updated its travel advice for the United States – to warn people gay people about new anti-LGBT laws. The Foreign Office updated its guidance this week in the wake of laws passed in North Carolina and Mississippi to permit discrimination based on religious belief.

The new travel advice warns: “Laws vary from state to state. When you are physically present in a state, even temporarily, you are subject to that state’s laws.

“The US is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country. LGBT travelers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi. Before traveling please read our general travel advice for the LGBT community. You can find more detail on LGBT issues in the US on the website of the Human Rights Campaign.”  Read more via Pink News
 

How Prince Led the Way to Our Gender Fluid Present

The world has known few superstars whose personas could match the gender-fluid extravagance of Prince, who died on Thursday at age 57. The pop and R&B icon inlaid his albums with brazen pansexuality and gender norm coquetry—provocations made all the more potent by his staggering talents as a singer, hook-writer, and guitar shredder. Years before the leaders of the gay and lesbian community began to embrace a more nuanced, less binary notion of queerness—and decades before transgender and genderqueer politics became mainstream topics of interest—Prince presented a living case study in the glorious freedom a world without stringent labels might offer. 

“I’m not a woman. I’m not a man. I’m something that you’ll never understand,” Prince sang on 1984’s “I Would Die 4 U.” He was right—few could claim to fully grasp Prince’s easy embodiment of both maleness and femaleness. His schooled evasion of conventional classifiers made him endlessly fascinating. The cover of his 1988 album Lovesexy offers a classic expression of the seemingly incongruous yet thrilling gender bricolage at which he excelled. Read more via Slate

US: Zika virus reportedly transferred from male-to-male for the first time

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed officially that Zika can be transferred through anal sex, as reports come in of transmission between a couple from Dallas.

The Zika virus, which is commonly passed through mosquitoes, has been declared as a global public health emergency by The World Health Organization. Doctors have described it as “a pandemic in progress”, causing infants to be born with microcephaly, which is when the brain develops at a much slower rate, and it has also been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare nervous system disorder that can cause temporary paralysis.

Studies are now being done to assess how long the virus can survive in semen, and thus how long it is possible that the infection could be passed onto a sexual partner. The virus has previously been detected two months after symptoms began, reports say.

The majority of people who have been diagnosed with the Zika virus so far have been asymptomatic, but it is not yet clear whether a lack of symptoms means that the virus is not present in the semen. Cases of the virus being detected in the semen has been limited to the men who had shown symptoms, currently.   Read more via Attitude

UK: NHS England reconsiders PrEP drugs after legal threats

The NHS will reconsider a decision to abandon the roll-out of HIV-preventing PrEP drugs to gay men in the UK–after a legal threat. The drug has been endorsed by the World Health Organisation and is already routinely available to at-risk men in a number of countries, including the United States, Canada, France and Israel.

In the UK, a recently concluded two-year study found the drug was greatly effective at reducing the risk of HIV transmission – but in a surprise U-turn last month, NHS England kicked the issue into the long grass today by ordering a further two-year study instead of a roll-out.

The decision had infuriated HIV groups, who have warned that it puts people at risk of HIV transmission and puts the UK well behind other countries. However, after the National AIDS Trust launched legal action over the decision, it today received a response from NHS England confirming that “NHS England will carefully consider its position on commissioning PrEP in light of [NAT’s] representations”.  The body will now meet in May to decide whether to put PrEP back into the decision-making process – just months after opting to stop it. Read more via PinkNews

South Africa: An African first – LGBT business network to be launched

In a major boost for South African LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs, an agreement to start an LGBT business network has been struck with the US National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). Headed by The Other Foundation, a task team has been set up to begin the process of establishing the network – an African first. It will promote, empower and give a voice to LGBT businesses, advocate for LGBT supplier diversity and inclusion among corporates and provide networking opportunities for its members.

Speaking at the event, openly gay MP Zakhele Mbhele (DA) commented that many of the issues facing the LGBT community, including the heightened vulnerability of black lesbian women in particular, could be directly linked to the country’s socio-economic inequalities. He said that the economic development of all South Africans is vital, adding that, “We have to get the basis of this country fixed to tackle these manifestations of homophobia”.

Xhanti Payi, a trustee of The Other Foundation, told the audience that prejudice and discrimination has often kept LGBT people out of work in South Africa; affecting their ability to make a living: "We need to create spaces where people can create their own businesses and succeed,” he said, describing the founding of the network as “a very important initiative”.  Read more via Mamba Online

Greece: Civil Partnership Rights, LGBT claims and human rights agenda in times of crisis

Stella Belia is a Greek activist for LGBT rights. She is the President of Rainbow Families organization, which represents Greek families of same sex parents and their children and strives for equal opportunity policies. She works as a kindergarten teacher in Athens and raises five children with her partner.
 
The introduction of a civil partnership law in Greece (December 2015) brought to the forefront  the question of  LGBT rights in the Greek society, and it is in this framework that Rethinking Greece* asked Stella Belia to answer questions on the current status of LGBT people in Greece, the human rights agenda in times of pauperization and crisis, the perception of homosexuality in Greek public opinion as well as possible conflicts between more traditional values and the liberal mindset that permeates the international LGBT agenda.
 
The recent enactment, with a broad parliamentary majority, of the of same-sex partnership law is regarded as an important milestone in the history of LGBT claims in Greece. How do you assess this development? Read more via Greek News Agenda 

Australia: Gay CEOs unmoved by church pressure on marriage equality

Fairfax Media reported that the Archdiocese contacted Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and SBS chief executive Michael Ebeid, urging them to reconsider their public endorsement of same-sex marriage.

Both companies were among hundreds of Australian corporations to pledge their support for the Australian Marriage Equality campaign last year, and both chief executives addressed a high-profile breakfast hosted by the AME in May.

Shortly after the AME campaign was launched, the Archdiocese addressed letters to many of the organisations involved, including Qantas, SBS, Telstra, the Football Federation of Australia and law firm Maurice Blackburn.

"I wonder whether you have questioned whether it is the role of a corporation such as yours to be participating in such an important matter that impacts all of Australian society now and into the future," wrote Sydney Archdiocese business manager Michael Digges. 

Read more via Catholic News

Australia: Transgender woman raped ‘over 2000 times’ in men’s prison

Mary was still as the car pulled closer towards the threatening prison gates and a place that was soon to become her hell on earth. As she stepped into the reception area of the jail, she felt all eyes fall upon her as she continued to walk closer to her cell.

See Mary, not her real name, wasn’t just any “normal” prisoner — she was a transgender woman who was about to be locked behind bars with men. Mary was sickened by what happened to her in that Queensland prison, Boggo Road, as it was known in the 90s.

She has lived in fear for decades, with regular flashbacks to the disturbing things she lived through while in jail.  Read more via news.com.au