UK: Transgender prisoners reveal deepening crisis

27 October, barrister Nicholas Wragg told a court that the "clang of a prison door should never be pleasant", but for his client, it was "extraordinarily frightening".  Tara Hudson was in an all-male prison: HMP Bristol - capacity 600.

Wragg told the Bristol Crown Court that prison should have a "sobering effect" on inmates, but for Hudson it was "unrelenting and frightening". That very day, he said, other inmates had taunted her, shouting: "Tara, Tara, show us your tits."

Hudson, a transgender make-up artist who was previously known as Raymond Aaron David, was locked up with men because she didn't have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). Prisons assign inmates to facilities based on the gender recorded on their birth certificate, or on a GRC. The certificate alone costs £140, not including the price of medical and psychiatric reports required to obtain it.

Vicky Thompson, 21, and Joanne Latham, 38, didn't have a Gender Recognition Certificate either. Both died in suspected suicides this month while jailed in all-male prisons. Read more via Huffington Post 

Transphobia leads to suicide -- end of story

Since January of this year, a transgender person was murdered somewhere around the globe every 29 hours. Additionally, trans people are statistically at a much greater risk to commit suicide; the rate of suicide in the general population is under 10%, yet within the trans community it is over 40%. Dr. Alex Abramovich, from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says, "Transphobia leads to suicide. End of story."

Global's 16x9, an investigative newsmagazine television program, aired a poignant piece that is a must watch for everyone--regardless of your thoughts on trans rights. It's available to stream on YouTube. The video highlights some of the many examples in which trans people are demonized, oppressed, and attacked on a daily basis. These attacks are not always quite so overt. 

This way through this crisis is common sense, love, and understanding. "If you go through life and people are continually using the wrong name or the wrong pronoun to refer to you, you start to question your mind. You start to question your own mental health. You start to eventually believe that you aren't real and maybe you shouldn't exist." Dr. Abramovich continues, "When people can't figure you out, they get angry. They're afraid. They get aggressive." Read more via HuffingtonPost 

Kenya: After anti-gay sermons, anti-gay rape and arson

Four men attacked a gay street vendor, raped him, and set his home on fire in West Kenya.

Erik Wasike, 28, an openly gay hawker of vests, socks, sweets and soft drinks, was abducted by the four unidentified men in Bungoma town in west Kenya.The men set Wasike’s house ablaze, destroying it and his furniture. They tied him up and left him unconscious in Lwakhakha village, he said. 

After the rape he was hospitalized for two weeks and needed corrective surgery at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu.

Wasike said his attackers accused him of spreading “the gay gospel” and luring many people into a “demonic denomination.” About three months ago, many Bungoma clergymen launched a preaching campaign against homosexuality, terming it un-Christian, satanic and un-African. Read more via 76 Crimes 

US: 11 years in prison for man convicted in Miami gay Hungarian sex-slave ring

Accounts of Hungarian men forced into sex slavery — convinced a Miami-Dade judge to sentence one of the ringleaders, Andras Janos Vass, to just over 11 years in state prison for human trafficking.

Vass’ punishment marks the first prison sentence in Florida for someone convicted of the human trafficking of gay men. Florida’s tougher human trafficking law went into effect in 2012.

“I was under their control, all day, all night,” one victim said, in a statement read to the court. “They used me like I was a machine. They sold me to strangers. I was not allowed to be tired. I was not allowed to be sad.” Read more via Miami Herald 

Switzerland: Boy, 4, goes to European Court to fight for his gay dads

A boy is going to the European Court of Human Rights after Switzerland ruled his two dads cannot both be registered as his parents. His proud dads conceived their child with the help of an anonymous egg donor and a surrogate. They are now suing for discrimination and intrusion into private and family matters because Swiss authorities are failing to recognize both men as the legal parents.

In May, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, Switzerland’s highest court, returned a two to three verdict on the matter, ruling only the man whose sperm was used to fertilize the egg could be listed as the legal parent.   As the couple appeals to the European court, their four-year old son has joined the action, with his own lawyer arguing the child’s case.

Under Swiss law, same-sex couples can’t adopt children together, meaning that, should the legal father come to harm or die, his partner would not be able to adopt his own son. Read more via Gay Star News 

US: IRS denies gay couple’s deduction for fertility treatments, says homosexuality is a “choice”

Is being gay, in a long-term committed relationship, the same as being biologically infertile? That’s the argument being made by a Stetson law professor in a lawsuit against the federal government.

Joseph F. Morrissey, who teaches constitutional and business law at Stetson, is seeking to overturn a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service that denied him and his partner a tax deduction. The deduction would have been for costs associated with their use of in-vitro fertilization and a surrogate who gave birth to their twin sons.

An IRS revenue agent who denied the claim said Morrissey’s sexual orientation was a “choice,” according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

While the amendment to his return was being reviewed, Morrissey wrote the IRS in 2014 arguing that the agency had allowed heterosexual couples’ deductions for fertility treatments, including the use of an egg donor. Read more via Tampa Tribune 

Turkey: Court sentences trans woman who spoke out against discrimination

Trans woman H.Ç. has been sentenced to one year and two months in prison after gynaecologist F.H. refused to treat her because of her transsexuality and then filed a lawsuit claiming insult against her. 

On 15 September, H.Ç. filed a complaint against a gynecologist for “discrimination, insult, preventing access to the right to medical treatment and negligence in medicine.” The governorate did not allow the investigation after the complaint. The doctor counter sued H.Ç. for 'insulting' him and the court found in his favor.

Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD LGBTI) lawyer Rozerin Seda Kip objected to the governorate’s decision but her objection was denied by a majority of votes at the Istanbul Regional Administration Court.  Read more via LGBT Turkey

Jamaica: Why the sodomy law must go

A new constitutional challenge to the Jamaican anti-sodomy law that criminalises all forms of intimacy between men was launched. There is overwhelming evidence that the law provides licence for abuse, discrimination and, too often, the assault, torture and murder of LGBTI Jamaicans, including through cases of violent ‘corrective rape’ perpetrated against lesbian and bisexual women. In fact, one senior police officer has said that anti-gay attitudes will not change until the law changes.

There are also well recognised public-health reasons to abolish this colonial relic, including the fact that its existence continues to drive men who have sex with men underground and away from effective HIV prevention, treatment, care and support interventions. Consequently, Jamaica has the highest HIV prevalence rate among MSM in the Western Hemisphere, if not the world - around 33 per cent.

The challenge being launched will be the second attempt to use local courts to abolish the law. The first case was withdrawn in 2014 when the claimant and his family received death threats. In that case, more than a dozen religious organisations were allowed to intervene in defending the law. 

 Read more via Jamaica Gleaner
 

Armenia: Amendments to constitution adopted

Amendments to the Armenian constitution have been adopted, the country’s Central Election Commission said. The Commission turned down the application of the Armenian National Congress to declare the elections invalid. 

A PINK Armenia representative noted that one amendment changes the wording on marriage rights and redefines marriage as between man and woman.

"The previous constitution Article 35 stated: Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and found a family according to their free will. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and divorce. Now, with the ''amended''  Constitution, Article 34, states: Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry with each other and found a family according to their free will. Thus, the new Constitution is limiting the freedom of marriage to opposite sex, Armenia has joined the countries who have a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage."  Read more on the Armenian referendum here 

Slovenia: Voters reject equal marriage in referendum

Voters in Slovenia headed to the polls Dec 21st in a bid to reinforce a ban on same-sex marriage. The Central European country’s Parliament passed a bill to legalise same-sex marriage earlier this year, to outcry from parts of the Slovenian public.

A referendum was forced after opposition gathered 80,00 signatures. With nearly all of the 620,261 votes now counted, the country has recorded 225,428 Yes votes (36.5%) in favour of equal marriage, and 391,818  No votes (63.5%) opposed.

A number of nearby countries have passed bans on marriage equality in recent years, including neighboring Croatia, which held a referendum in 2013. Those against the implementation of the equality law have used the outdated argument that children need a mother and a father, and that children do worse if they have same-sex parents. Read more via Buzzfeed