Jamaica: Harrison-Henry Vows To Defend Rights Of All

Arlene Harrison Henry, who was appointed recently as Jamaica's first female public defender, has indicated that her mission is to defend the rights of all citizens, especially the vulnerable groups in society.

"The LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender) group is also a delicate matter in our country, but they, too, are entitled to equality, representation, and equal protection of laws," she said.

Henry added: "The bottom line is I won't be partial, and if I encounter someone from that group whose rights have been breached, I will be defending them just the same, and every sector in society will be represented." Read More 

Beverly Hills Hotel Boycott: John Legend Backs Out of 'L.A. Confidential' Party

Los Angeles Confidential's plans to host the first major entertainment industry party inside the Beverly Hills Hotel amid a widespread Hollywood boycott have backfired as its cover star John Legend has backed out of a planned appearance and the Human Rights Campaign has fired off an official letter to the mag's publisher.


The party would be the first notable event held at the BHH since early 2014 when the boycott started following the Sultan of Brunei's passage of barbaric Sharia Law, which calls for the stoning of gays and adulterers. (Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah owns the BHH and the Hotel Bel-Air through his Dorchester Collection.) Read More

Predicting LGBT-Affirming Behavior in Teens

To counter homophobic behavior in schools, research is needed on heterosexual youth who act as allies to LGBT youth by engaging in LGBT-affirming behavior. This study found that critical thinking, self-reflection, lower sexual prejudice, having more LGBT friends, and having sexual orientation-based discussions with peers were associated with engaging in more LGBT-affirming behavior. Having LGBT friends was more strongly associated with affirming behavior for youth who felt more connected and had more sexual orientation-based discussions with these friends. Read More

Ireland: Government launches push to tackle homophobia in primary schools

The Irish government has launched its first resource to help primary school teachers tackle homophobic bullying. The guide, titled Respect, will be officially launched by Education minister Jan O’Sullivan this evening.

It was created by the Department of Education and Skills, alongside the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation and Ireland’s Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN). The resource – which is the first of its kind on the Republic of Ireland – encourages teachers to challenge children to think about family, love and gender from an early age. Read More 

Pivotal time for trans people as rigid notion of gender challenged

For Kate Bornstein, the American author and pioneer gender activist, this is a pivotal time in history for transgender people as the rigid concept of two sexes is challenged by a growing number of individuals who don't conform to either. Some even suggest the notion of gender as we know it, the categorization of individuals as either male or female, might become obsolete altogether.

"Most college students are okay with the idea of someone who defines themselves as not a man or a woman," said Bornstein, 66, who was born a man but had a sex change operation in the 1980s. "That's very different from their parents or even their older siblings," she said. Now gender non-conformity, also known as genderqueer, and transsexuality are far more visible.  Read More

What to Do When 'I Do' Is Done

With the widely shared expectation that the Supreme Court will soon return to the issue of marriage and may strike down marriage bans nationwide, LGBT leaders find themselves asking a question that would have seemed improbable just a few years ago: What should be the priorities of the LGBT movement once legal marriage equality has been achieved?

The most likely candidate for the kind of coordinated, national- and state-level strategy that fueled the marriage equality campaign is a push to get all LGBT Americans covered by laws barring discrimination against them in employment, housing, health care, and public accommodations. Brutal persecution of LGBT people around the globe, often with the collusion or encouragement of American anti-gay activists, is another growing concern. Those issues are likely to draw support from across the ideological spectrum of LGBT organizations. Read More

Chile: Congress approves same-sex civil unions

After hours of debate, the Chile’s Civil Union bill was approved by 86 votes to 23, with two abstentions, in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday. The Senate passed the bill last year. The new law will recognise the civil unions of couples living under the same roof, whether the couple is heterosexual or same-sex, and provides them with certain legal rights.  Read More

Switzerland: Village backs priest over lesbian couple blessing

A catholic priest in a traditional Swiss village under fire for blessing a lesbian couple has defended his actions and rejected calls from the church hierarchy for his resignation. But the priest has received support from his congregation and residents of the village, who started a petition in his defence.

“We stand behind priest Bucheli,” Peter Vorwerk, vice-president of the parish council is quoted as saying. Christianity is based on charity so it is difficult to understand why the church should deny someone the blessing of God, he said. Read More

Slovakia: Referendum to bar same-sex couples from marrying and adopting fails

A proposal to deny same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt failed in Slovakia on Saturday because turnout did not reach the 50% threshold required to become law under the country’s voting rules. 

Though it didn't pass by default, the vote reflects a growing backlash in Eastern Europe against LGBT rights. Slovakia is one of four Eastern European countries to pass laws denying legal recognition to same-sex couples since 2012, the same time that a growing number of countries in Western Europe have adopted full marriage equality.  Read More

Vietnam: The 71-year-old mother who fights for gay rights

All heads turned when Thi took the stage to speak about her youngest son's struggle with being gay and to promote support for gays and lesbians. The conference, organized by by Ho Chi Minh City-based activist group ICS, gathered supporters for and families of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) people.

A farmer, Thi said she could only learn about the community from her son because she did not know how to access the Internet to study and there was no LGBT support group in her hometown. Read More