Colombia: Historical decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights published a landmark decision ruling that the Colombian State is accountable for denying Ángel Alberto Duque, a HIV positive gay man, the enjoyment of his right to equality and nondiscrimination when he was denied the pension of his long time partner.
 
This is the first time that the IACHR rules on issues related to same-sex couples and the second, after Atala Riffo and daughters vs. Chile, on LGBTI rights. The potential impact of this decision on regional jurisprudence and on the international human rights system is enormous.
 
In 2002, the private pension fund –Colfondos- denied to Mr. Duque the pension of his deceased partner of 10 years, Jhon Óscar Jiménez. A judge ratified the decision arguing that the petitioner was in a same-sex relationship and that the “family had to be protected.”

The Court orders the Colombian State to start paying the pension within three months and retroactively for 13 years plus a US10000 dollar for immaterial injuries.  Read more via El Espectador 

India: Why terms like ‘transgender’ don’t work for #India’s ‘third-gender’ communities

Indian society, if we can momentarily suppose such a monolithic entity, is far older than the post-Victorian, normative society that defines the modern cultures of the West. People we might consider transgender have existed across societies for as long as they themselves have existed, but in South Asia they have formed distinct communities with histories and mythologies that go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Age-old texts such as the "Mahabharata" and the "Kama Sutra" refer to eunuchs, and there are tales of gods — even the most powerful of them — who change genders on a whim.

That is partly why the term "transgender" is seldom used in the Indian context. In Indian legalese, the term most commonly employed is "third gender" — as when, two Aprils ago, India's "third gender" was acknowledged by the country's Supreme Court, which stated that "it is the right of every human being to choose their gender." Those wishing to can now indicate that status on government-issued identification and other formal documents, but, more importantly, Indian states were directed to afford special considerations through affirmative action and welfare programs.

In everyday usage, however, terms such as "hijra," "kothi," "kinnar," "shiv-shakti" and "aravani" are more common, depending on which region of the country one is in.  Read more via Washington Post

UK: Prison chaplains ‘routinely hand out anti-gay leaflets’ to inmates

A review has found that government-appointed prison chaplains have routinely distributed homophobic literature to prisoners. The review was ordered last year by Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove over concerns surrounding Muslim chaplains in UK prisons.

The Times newspaper reports that “it uncovered misogynistic and homophobic leaflets, hate tracts encouraging the murder of apostates and ultra-conservative Islamic literature preaching contempt for basic British values”.

It also found that the literature made available to inmates went through little or no scrutiny for suitability, meaning that potentially extremist material was able to be included.  Read more via Pink News

Uganda: Anti-LGBT persecution increased law

A new report from the Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) indicates persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity increased after the country’s president signed an anti-gay law in 2014.

The report documents 264 “verified cases of human rights abuses against LGBTI Ugandans” between May 2014 and Dec. 31, 2015. Forty-eight of the 264 cases of anti-LGBT persecution involved violence, which included “torture by the state.”

President Yoweri Museveni in February 2014 signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act under which those convicted of repeated same-sex sexual acts faced life in prison.

“When the president signed the law the citizens felt they were more empowered and they had a right to actually take action against the LGBTI people,” SMUG Research and Documentation Officer Richard Lusimbo said.   Read more via Washington Blade

US: After North Carolina’s law, trans suicide hotline calls double

Anti-transgender bathroom laws like North Carolina’s HB2 are not just inconvenient for transgender people. They may also be life-threatening.

Greta Gustava Martela, co-founder of Trans Lifeline, a crisis hotline for transgender people, said that their call volume has “nearly doubled” since North Carolina restricted the use of public bathrooms based on birth certificate gender markers.

The spike in calls to the Trans Lifeline is sadly unsurprising. Dr. Seelman cautions that we cannot yet “interpret causality” from the data but believes that it should still act as a warning to lawmakers who seek to restrict bathroom use for transgender people.

“We know that stigma and lifetime discrimination influence suicide rates, whether we’re talking about transgender people or another marginalized group,” she told The Daily Beast. “Policies like HB 2 are not solving a problem—they are actually making things worse.” Read more via The Daily Beast

US: President Obama says anti-LGBT laws ‘Should be overturned’

The laws are "wrong," Obama said

President Obama said laws that have been passed in North Carolina and Mississippi targeting the LGBT community are “wrong and should be overturned” in a Friday joint press conference with the British Prime Minister David Cameron in London.

The president said U.K. travelers would be welcome in both states despite the laws, an assurance that follows a travel advisory from the U.K. Foreign Minister’s office issued in response to the two measures. “You should come and enjoy yourself,” President Obama said. “I think you would be treated with extraordinary hospitality.”

But he added, “I also think that the laws that have been passed there are wrong and should be overturned.” Read more via Time

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