Isle of Man: Passes same-sex marriage

The Isle of Man has finally approved same-sex marriage – meaning Northern Ireland is set to be the last place in the Isles without marriage equality. As a crown dependency, the Isle of Man maintains autonomy from the UK on issues including marriage.

It was the last part of these islands to legalise homosexuality in 1992 – but a vote today confirmed it won’t be the last to introduce same-sex marriage.

The Manx Legislative Council today passed its Marriage and Civil Partnership (Amendment) Bill – with six votes in favour and three against. The bill amends marriage laws to allow same-sex couples to tie the knot, as they can in Scotland, England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Read more via PinkNews

Sweden: Government to pay compensation to trans people who were ‘forcibly sterilized’

The Swedish government will shell out compensation to transgender people who were victims of forced sterilization, the country’s public health minister has confirmed.

Until 2013, Swedish law specified that people who wanted to change legal gender had to be “lacking the ability to procreate”. This meant that hundreds of transgender people were forced to undergo surgery to prevent them from ever having children.
More than 160 victims of the policy brought a claim against the government over the practice – and after a long political battle lasting years, the Swedish government confirmed it would settle the case and pay out compensation.

In a statement, Public Health minister Gabriel Wikström confirmed that the government will develop legislation in order to allow compensation to be paid. Read more via PinkNews

Germany: Gay Vulture Couple Attempts to Start A Family by Incubating An Abandoned Egg

Zoo officials at the Tierpark Nordhorn observed a female vulture "sitting in a strange position" when suddenly, she dropped her egg in mud under a tree. They believed she had no intention of building a nest for it.

The egg was then placed in temporary incubation before it was given to a pair of male vultures, Isis and Nordhorn. The couple promptly sat atop the egg, in an attempt to incubate it to hatch.

According to ENEX, the gay vultures have already built a nest in preparation of raising a family before even adopting the abandoned egg.

However, zoo officials said they were not sure which male vulture at their zoo is the biological father, or if the egg was even fertilized. Read/Watch more

Malaysia: Learn from Filipino counterparts and engage with LGBT community, local police told

A transgender rights group told local police today to engage with the LGBTQ community here, highlighting the Philippines police force that has undergone sensitisation training with such groups.

Justice for Sisters expressed concern that Deputy Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim’s statement about not allowing openly LGBT people into the force, even if they are qualified, would further perpetuate homophobia and transphobia among police officers.

The group highlighted a report by international rights group Human Rights Watch that documented claims of police actions against trans people, such as sexual violence, arbitrary arrests based on gender identity, arbitrary urine tests, extortion of money or sexual avours, and lack of urgency and bias in investigating police reports lodged by transgender people. Read more via Malay Mail Online

Egypt: 11 men accused of homosexuality jailed

An Egyptian court has sentenced 11 men accused of homosexuality to jail terms of between three and 12 years, legal sources said.

The defendants were arrested in a flat in the leafy Cairo suburb of Agouza in September last year. The court convicted them of "debauchery and incitement to debauchery", the charges generally used to prosecute alleged homosexuals in Egypt as the law does not formally prohibit same-sex relations.

It sentenced three of them to 12 years, three to nine years, one to six years and four to three years. Egypt's use of the debauchery law to prosecute and jail gay men has drawn condemnation from human rights groups. Read more via AFP 

Thailand: Gay couple win custody battle against Thai surrogate mother

A same-sex couple have won a legal battle in Thailand against the surrogate mother who gave birth to their daughter but later refused to sign the paperwork to allow the baby to leave the country when she found out they were gay.

The central juvenile and family court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Gordon Lake, an American and the biological father of 15-month-old Carmen, and his Spanish husband, Manuel Santos, both 41.

The egg came from an anonymous donor and the surrogate, Patidta Kusolsang, is not biologically related to the baby. She initially handed Carmen to Lake at the hospital but later claimed she thought she would be helping a “legitimate” couple and demanded the baby back. Read more via Guardian 

Lebanon: Pro-LGBTQ band says they were told they’d never perform in Jordan again

Lebanese rock band Mashrou’ Leila is known for its socially active lyrics. But the group was banned from playing in Jordan, just a few days before their scheduled concert in Amman, the band said in a statement on Facebook.

The Beirut-based rock quintet is known for its support of political and religious freedom and endorsement of gender equality and sexual identity. That led them to be dubbed “the soundtrack to the Arab Spring,” according to Vice.

The band said that the official, written justification they were provided as to why the April 29 concert was canceled was because the performance would have gone against what the Ministry of Tourism viewed as the “authenticity” of the venue. Read more

Beyond Binary across the world

In communities around the globe, non-binary people are rejecting the categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’, and attempting to redefine gender identity. Queer, gender-queer, gender-fluid, gender-variant, third gender – these are all terms non-binary people use to describe themselves.

In Beyond Binary, for the Identity Season on the BBC World Service, Linda Pressly hears stories from activists who are part of this contemporary movement, and from those simply trying to live free from the constraints of the expectations of gender. And she travels to Thailand and Canada to find out more about gender non-conformers in ancient cultures. Read/Watch more

US: Students denied access to LGBT resource websites

The Sioux Falls School District’s internet filter carries an anti-LGBT bias, students say. Students are barred from accessing LGBT resource sites such as “It Gets Better” and “GLADD” on district devices according to Roosevelt High School senior and former city council candidate Briggs Warren.

Students who try to reach these sites are met with a large exclamation point under bold red letters reading, “access denied.” At the same time, conservative sites such as the Family Resource Council and Focus on the Family are accessible, meaning that students are able to reach sites projecting negative views of homosexuality but not those with positive views.

LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers, according to The Trevor Project, a suicide hotline specific to gay and questioning youth. This makes the blocked sites all the more troubling, according to ACLU executive director Heather Smith.

“Schools that block these resources, intentionally or otherwise, are sending a message that being gay, bisexual or transgender is wrong or shameful,” Smith said in a statement.  Read more via USA Today

Israel: Court convicts Gay Pride Parade stabber Yishai Schlissel of murder

A participant in Jerusalem’s pride parade, was convicted on Tuesday of murder, six counts of attempted murder and one count of causing extreme bodily harm.

The Jerusalem District Court’s three-judge panel of Nava Ben-Or, Refael Yacobi and Arnon Darel, wrote that Yishai Schlissel, “in a dark and cruel act, has extinguished the light of her [Shira Banki’s] life,” ending “her dreams and hopes.”

The stabbings garnered across-the-board condemnations, including from Orthodox figures, and drew international attention due to the ferocity of the attack.

Schlissel, who was previously imprisoned for 10 years for stabbing three people at the 2005 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, was arrested during the stabbing rampage, just weeks after being released from jail. Read more via The Jerusalem Post 

Commonwealth: Toolkit for progress toward LGBT rights in 53 countries

The Commonwealth of 53 nations, formerly the British Commonwealth, can play a positive role in improving the lives of LGBT citizens even though dozens of those countries still have anti-LGBT laws inherited from their former colonial overlords.

So say the LGBT rights advocates at London-based Kaleidoscope Trust, which this week published a “toolkit” of recommendations for pushing ahead toward widespread recognition of the human rights of LGBT people, even in largely homophobic societies.

The toolkit, published in cooperation with the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Commonwealth Equality Network, gives examples of recent progress.

 “We have got to move beyond a finger-wagging approach and use the Commonwealth to offer practical support to governments wanting to make positive change to support LGBT citizens,” stated Michael Lake CBE, director of the Royal Commonwealth Society. Read more via 76Crimes