Yet again, podcast host Joe Rogan is using his platform — an estimated 11 million listeners per episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast — to spew harmful anti-trans rhetoric and false information while platforming bigotry.
On his January 25 episode, Rogan hosted Jordan Peterson, a retired Canadian psychology professor turned right-wing provocateur who posited that being trans is both a “sociological contagion” and similar to the now-debunked “satanic panic” of the 1980s.
When Rogan steered the discussion to the subject of transgender people, Peterson explained his opposition to Canadian federal Bill C-16, which amended the country’s human rights protection to include gender identity. “I knew full well as a clinician that as soon as we messed with fundamental sex categories and changed the terminology, we would fatally confuse thousand of young girls. I knew that because I knew the literature on sociological contagion,” Peterson said.
In response, Rogan said it was similar to the work of anti-trans author Abigail Shrier, who also claimed that trans people are a contagion, and who had previously appeared on his podcast. In her work, Shrier discusses the concept of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria,” which comes from a since-corrected study by Brown University researcher Dr. Lisa Littman that initially suggested trans youth began identifying that way due to “social and peer contagion.” The study was deeply flawed, however, as it was conducted by surveying the parents of the trans youth, who had visited anti-trans websites, rather than the trans youths themselves.
Later in his conversation with Peterson, Rogan suggested that the acceptance of trans people is a sign of society collapsing, citing the work of right-wing British author and political commentator Douglas Murray, who claims that trans acceptance will someday be seen as “a late-empire, a bad sign of things falling apart” — an assertion Rogan has frequently repeated on his show. “[Murray] had an amazing point about civilizations collapsing, and that when they start collapsing they become obsessed with gender. And he was saying that you could trace it back to the ancient Romans, the Greeks,” Rogan said on his January 25 episode.
In addition to his continued anti-trans remarks, Rogan has come under fire for hosting discussions about discredited claims about the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill Thursday that bans transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams, making the state the first this year — and the 10th nationwide — to enact such a bill into law.
“This bill has been an important priority for a lot of the people behind me,” Noem said as she signed the bill at a news conference, “and I appreciate all of their hard work in making sure that girls will always have the opportunity to play in girls sports in South Dakota and have an opportunity for a level playing field, for fairness, that gives them the chance to experience success.”
Noem vetoed a similar bill in March because she said the legislation wouldn’t survive legal challenges. Later that month, she issued two executive orders that restricted participation on female sports teams to those assigned female at birth.
Transgender inclusion on sports teams has become one of many culture war issues that LGBTQ advocates say conservative officials are using to fire up their base ahead of the midterm elections.
Proponents of trans sports bans, including Noem, argue that they are protecting fairness in women’s sports. Most of the bills ban trans athletes from playing on the sports teams of their gender identity in public K-12 schools, some private schools and in colleges and universities.
South Dakota’s law applies to all state-accredited schools, which generally includes both public and private schools, according to a spokesperson for the governor. If a student, accredited school, school district or institution of higher education “suffers direct or indirect harm” as a result of the law being violated, the law allows them to sue the school, association, government entity or other body that caused the alleged harm.
Supporters of the bans argue that trans girls and women have inherent advantages over cisgender girls and women, who identify with their sex assigned at birth.
But trans advocates say the bans are a solution in search of a problem. For example, last year, The Associated Press reached out to two dozen state lawmakers considering trans athletes bans and only a few could provide examples of trans inclusion causing a problem on sports teams.
Recently, though, many proponents of the bans have pointed to Lia Thomas, a trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer who swam the fastest times in the nation this season in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle at a meet in December and qualified for the NCAA championships.
For trans advocates and athletes, the issue is about more than just sports: It’s about their right to exist and still have access to the same opportunities that cisgender people do.
Kris Wilka, a 14-year-old trans boy who lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said during a news conference last year that “it wasn’t really until sports that I could be myself, because I could just be one of the dudes.”
He said he had to transfer schools after his middle school wouldn’t allow him to play football because he’s trans.
“Sports is my life,” he said. “My world revolves around football, and I don’t know if I would be able to function without it.”
South Dakota’s law will bar him from playing on the football team once it takes effect.
Lawmakers in some states aren’t just targeting trans inclusion on sports teams.Last year, over 20 states also weighed legislation that would ban trans minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care such as hormones and puberty blockers.Two states — Arkansasand Tennessee — passed such legislation into law, though a judge blocked Arkansas’ law from taking effect in July. So far this year, at least 10 states are considering similar legislation.
Advocates say the rhetoric surrounding the bills is dehumanizing to trans people. For example, during a committee debate last week on South Dakota’s trans athlete ban, the governor’s chief of staff, Mark Miller, defended the bill and likened trans inclusion in sports to terrorism.
“By putting it in law, we are ensuring that what we’re seeing all over the country does not happen in South Dakota,” he said. “It’s sort of like terrorism: You want to keep it over there, not let it get to here.”
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, said the “inflammatory rhetoric shows just how untethered Noem and legislators are from the realm of science, evidence, or reality.”
“Governor Noem seeks to become the face of discrimination and fear-mongering by putting a target on the backs of vulnerable children who already fear for their safety and well-being,” Oakley said in a statement.
She added that South Dakota’s trans athlete ban and bathroom bill “will harm transgender kids, adding to a dangerous wave of violence against transgender and gender non-binary people across the country that is being fueled by misinformation, discriminatory laws, and divisive political talking points.”
In addition to fueling anti-trans violence, advocates say the wave of anti-trans legislation is affecting LGBTQ youths’ mental health. A 2021 survey by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, found that two-thirds of LGBTQ youth said recent debates “about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people has impacted their mental health negatively.” More than 4 in 5, or 85 percent, of trans and nonbinary youth said the bills had negatively impacted their mental health.
South Dakota’s law could face legal challenges.
In July, a federal judge blocked West Virginia’s trans athlete ban from taking effect, pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson, an 11-year-old who wanted to try out for her school’s girls cross-country team.
Namibia’s High Court ruled last week that it could not require that the marriages of two same-sex couples conducted outside of the country be granted legal recognition.
The couples, legally married in South Africa and Germany, had been unable to obtain a work permit and residency permit, respectively, for their non-Namibian spouses and so launched a court case against Namibia’s failure to recognize same-sex marriages.
In its decision, the court expressed sympathy with the couples’ position and emphasized that discrimination based on sexual orientation is unacceptable under domestic and international law. Nevertheless, it concluded that the court was bound by a decades-old Supreme Court judgment that said the Immigration Control Act, which provides certain benefits to spouses of Namibian citizens, does not recognize same-sex relationships.
Madam Jholerina Brina Timbo of Wings to Transcend Namibia Trust, a transgender rights organization, expressed disappointment about the decision but said it was a silver lining that the court expressed concern over the unfairness of past rulings.
Linda Baumann of Namibia Diverse Women’s Association, a feminist organization, pointed to other recent court victories in Namibia and told Human Rights Watch it was a step in the right direction that judges were “affirming the existence of LGBTI people as part of our community.”
Globally, 31 countries currently recognize the right to marry for same-sex couples. When those couples travel to other countries however, their marriages may or may not be recognized, potentially making them ineligible for spousal benefits related to taxation, inheritance, insurance, housing, pensions, residency, and even parenting and family law.
The European Union’s top court has required member states to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in other member states to ensure their freedom of movement. Israel also allows same-sex couples to register marriages performed abroad.
The couples are likely to appeal, and so either Namibia’s Supreme Court could overturn its old ruling, or lawmakers could act to change the status quo. As more countries recognize marriage equality, Namibia and other states should also take steps to ensure that same-sex relationships are respected and protected.
Two men have been executed in Iran after they were imprisoned for six years on anti-gay “sodomy” charges, according to human rights groups and reports.
Mehrdad Karimpou and Farid Mohammadi are said to have been killed in the Maragheh prison in northwestern Iran, according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA).
According to HRANA, the two men were arrested six years ago on charges of “sodomy by force” and have been in prison ever since.
LGBT+ people in often face horrific violence and discrimination just for living their truth. Sex between people of the same gender is illegal in the country and can be punishable by death or imprisonment.
Iran currently criminalises sex between men with the death penalty or 100 lashes and sex between women with 100 lashes.
Karmel Melamed, a journalist covering Iran, wrote on Twitter that the “Ayatollah regime” in the country “just executed two gay men” by “hanging” for the “crime of sodomy”.
He also called out US secretary of state Antony Blinken, LGBT+ organisation GLAAD and “other LGBT groups” in the US for not being “outraged” by “this horrific crime”.
Human rights and LGBT+ rights campaigner Peter Tatchell told the Jerusalem Post that the execution of the two men “follows a long-standing regime” of “state-sanctioned murder of gay men”.
He added these executions often involve “disputed charges after unfair trials”.
According to Iran Human Rights, the executions have not been announced by state-run media.
The non-governmental organisation added that defended in cases involving “sodomy by force” are “usually tortured during detention to obtain a confession”; and in some cases, the case is “processed hastily without the presence of a lawyer or defence counsel”.
The Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network (6Rang) reported that Sareh was arrested by the IRGC in October while she was in the West Azerbaijan province of Iran. She was reportedly attempting to flee across the border into Turkey.
According to 6Rang, a news agency reported in November that the IRGC had arrested people in West Azerbaijan on charges of “forming a gang for trafficking girls and supporting homosexuality”. 6Rang suspected this could be related to Sareh’s arrest.
The UK has seen a sharp rise in an “extremely drug-resistant” strain of the STI shigella among gay and bisexual men, according to a government report.
Although not well-known, a shigella infection, from a bacterium that causes dysentery, can be very serious.
Shigella is transmitted through the accidental ingestion of faecal matter containing the bacteria, such as by licking skin, condoms, toys or fingers that have been contaminated during rimming, fisting, or giving oral sex after anal sex. Even a tiny amount can cause infection.
The infection affects the gut, and can cause severe and long-lasting diarrhoea, stomach cramps and a fever. Because of its symptoms, it is sometimes mistaken for food poisoning.
The symptoms of shigella usually subside within a week, but in some cases hospitalisation is required to administer intravenous antibiotics. Rarely, shigella can spread to the blood and become life-threatening.
On Thursday (27 January), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported that cases have been on the rise among gay and bisexual men,
In the last four months, the agency has recorded 47 cases of the STI, while in the 17-month period between April 2020 and August 2021, there were just 16 cases.
The UKHSA said that “recent cases show resistance to antibiotics is increasing”.
Dr Gauri Godbole, a consultant medical microbiologist at UKHSA, said in a statement: “Practising good hygiene after sex is really important to keep you and your partners safe. Avoid oral sex immediately after anal sex, change condoms between anal or oral sex and wash your hands with soap after sexual contact.”
She said it was vital that men who have sex with men speak to a GP or sexual health clinic if they experience symptoms so they can be tested for shigella, which is usually done via a stool sample.
“Men with shigella may have been exposed to other STIs including HIV, so a sexual health screen at a clinic or ordering tests online is recommended,” Godbole continued.
“If you have been diagnosed with shigella, give yourself time to recover. Keep hydrated and get lots of rest.
“Don’t have sex until seven days after your last symptom and avoid spas, swimming, jacuzzis, hot tubs and sharing towels as well as preparing food for other people until a week after symptoms stop.”
A group of lawmakers in Guatemala has advanced a bill that would stigmatize transgender people and curtail children’s and adolescents’ rights to education, information, and health, Human Rights Watch said today. Congress should reject the bill and instead address the violence and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face in the country.
Bill 5940 uses the rhetoric of protecting children and adolescents from “gender identity disorders” to justify a patently discriminatory measure that would ban the dissemination of any information about transgender identity in school sex education curricula. The bill would also require media outlets to label programs with transgender content, which the bill likens to pornography, as “not recommended” for children under 18.
“Bill 5940 is unscientific and stigmatizes transgender people as a corrupting influence, harmful to children,” said Cristian González Cabrera, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Lawmakers should aim to promote tolerance, not demean a vulnerable minority, especially given the high levels of anti-trans violence in Guatemala.”
The twenty-one lawmakers in the Congress’ Commission on Education, Science, and Technologyunanimously approved the bill in December 2021. The bill is now poised to go before the full Congress, where it would need to be the subject of three congressional debates and a final vote before becoming law
The bill flies in the face of international human rights standards and science, Human Rights Watch said. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, an international multidisciplinary professional association aimed at promoting evidence-based care, education, and research in transgender health, has stated that diversity in gender identity “is a common and culturally diverse human phenomenon [that] should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative.”
Under international law, children and adolescents have a right to comprehensive sexual education. The UN special rapporteur on the right to education has noted that sexuality education “must be free of prejudices and stereotypes that could be used to justify discrimination and violence against any group,” and “must pay special attention to diversity, since everyone has the right to deal with his or her own sexuality without being discriminated against on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Violence against LGBT people is commonplace in Guatemala, and the bill risks adding to the existing prejudice and stereotypes that often fuel such violence, Human Rights Watch said. Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office reported that between December 30 and January 2, two trans women and one gay man were murdered in separate attacks. This follows an already bloody 2021 for LGBT people in Guatemala, in which transgender people were particularly vulnerable.
In March 2021, Human Rights Watch published a report on violence and discrimination against LGBT people in Guatemala. Human Rights Watch interviewed 53 survivors of anti-LGBT abuses – including 24 gender non-conforming people – and found that the attackers included public security agents, gangs, and members of the public. It also found that the government had failed to adequately protect LGBT people against such illegal acts.
Bill 5940 would also continue to erode comprehensive sexuality education in Guatemala, which is already regressive. A 2017 report from the Guttmacher Institute found that many teachers providing sexuality education lack adequate time, resources, and training, especially on contraceptive methods, HIV/sexually transmitted infections, and violence. The Institute also found that teachers convey mixed messages about sexuality, including the harmful and stigmatizing message that sexual relations are dangerous and should be avoided before marriage.
Withholding age-appropriate and science-based information about gender and sexuality from students, including information relevant to students’ sexual and reproductive health, and prohibiting teachers from offering guidance and learning materials on these issues, amounts to a violation of students’ right of access to information, Human Rights Watch said.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has identified lack of “access to sexual and reproductive health services and information” as a particular issue for “[a]dolescents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex.” It said governments should “refrain from censoring, withholding, or intentionally misrepresenting health-related information, including sexual education and information, and … ensure children have the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills to protect themselves and others as they begin to express their sexuality.”
Bill 5940’s requirement that media outlets label all material related to gender identity unsuitable for minors not only denigrates transgender people but may result in violations of the right to freedom of expression. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has said that the media should promote “an environment of peace, free from all forms of violence in relation to the social environment in which it is situated, generating safe and inclusive spaces for LGBTI people.”
The bill is not the only legislative attempt aimed at stigmatizing LGBT people in Guatemala. The pending Life and Family Protection Bill describes “sexual diversity” as “incompatible with the biological and genetic aspects of human beings.” It also establishes that “freedom of conscience and expression” protects people from being “obliged to accept non-heterosexual conduct or practices as normal,” a provision that could be used to justify discriminatory denial of services.
The Organization of American States General Assembly has called on member states to adopt public policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, yet Guatemala currently provides LGBT people with virtually no protections.
“Instead of stoking a moral panic by demonizing LGBT people, lawmakers should pass anti-discrimination and hate crime legislation to address pervasive violence,” González said. “They should also uphold children and adolescents’ right to comprehensive sexuality education, which can protect health, promote tolerance, and help prevent gender-based violence, including against gender and sexual minorities.”
In a vote hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron, lawmakers in the National Assembly unanimously voted 142-0 on Tuesday to ban the discredited practice of so-called gay conversion therapy.
In a reaction to the vote, Macron tweeted: “The law prohibiting conversion therapy is adopted unanimously! Let’s be proud, these unworthy practices have no place in the Republic. Because being yourself is not a crime, because there is nothing to be cured.”
The law had already been passed by senators in December.
Those found guilty of so-called gay conversion therapy could face two years imprisonment and a €30,000 ($33,714.45) fine. The punishment could rise to three years in prison and a fine of €45,000 ($50,571.68) for attempts involving children or other particularly vulnerable people, Euronews reported.
“The practice of trying to “convert” LGBT+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations is scientifically discredited,” MP’s in support of the measure had argued previous to the final vote.
“We are sending out a strong signal because we are formally condemning all those who consider a change of sex or identity as an illness,” said Laurence Vanceunebrock, an MP with Macron’s ruling En Marche party.
Nearly every French MP who spoke on Tuesday echoed the same words; “there is nothing to cure.”
A business coalition that is urging the passage of landmark LGBTQ rights legislation grew to more than 500 companies Tuesday.
Launched in 2016 by LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, the Business Coalition for the Equality Act is a group of U.S. corporations that have pledged their support for a bill that would federally ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, known as the Equality Act.
As of Tuesday, the group was composed of 503 corporations — including 160 Fortune 500 companies — making it the largest business coalition to pledge support for LGBTQ equality, the HRC said. Corporations new to the coalition include McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson, Sony, REI, Honeywell, Edward Jones and Stop & Shop.
“Today’s announcement reinforces the breadth and depth of support for the Equality Act among America’s business leaders, who are joining a majority of Americans, hundreds of members of Congress, hundreds of advocacy organizations, and more than 60 business associations — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers — in endorsing the federal legislation,” the HRC said in a statement.https://iframe.nbcnews.com/JijNweL?_showcaption=true&app=1
As it stands, LGBTQ people in 29 states lack explicit nondiscrimination protections in employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas.
To ensure protections nationwide, the House passed the Equality Act in February, largely along party lines, with only three Republicans throwing their support behind the bill.
The legislation faced Republican opposition again, stalling in the Senate in May. Republican senators argued that the bill would undermine women’s rights by allowing transgender girls and women to play on girls sports teams and would limit religious freedoms, among other things. Their argument echoed the nationwide push by conservative state lawmakers to restrict trans students’ athletic participation.
If the Equality Act were to pass in the Senate, President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed to sign it into law. However, if he gets the opportunity to do so, he would still fall short of his campaign pledgeto sign the bill into law within his first 100 days in office.
While Congress is split on the matter, a large majority of Americans, 82 percent, favor laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, according to a poll published in October by the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute.
The HRC cited the protections’ bipartisan backing among the American people as it lauded Tuesday’s milestone of corporate support for the Equality Act.
But as the HRC celebrated, some critics called its business coalition a form of “pinkwashing,” a term used to describe corporate exploitation of LGBTQ people.
“It’s a way for HRC to, like, ‘play with the big boys’ as it were, as well as to bring in money,” said Jay W. Walker, an organizer with the Reclaim Pride Coalition, the group behind New York City’s alternative LGBTQ Pride march. “For the corporations, it’s a way for them to pinkwash their images and to make LGBTQ people who don’t pay attention to the details think: ‘Oh great, they’re wonderful. They’re great corporate citizens.’”
Walker also noted that some of the same companies that publicly backed the passage of the Equality Act are funding the politicians who are standing in its way.
For example, AT&T, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines — which are member companies of the coalition — have each donated at least $48,000 to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, since 2017, according to campaign finance nonprofit organization OpenSecrets. Cruz was one of the Senate’s lead proponents against the Equality Act, calling it “dangerous.”
“We live in a society where you have to ferret out information in order to get the whole picture,” Walker said.
The business community’s support of the Equality Act is not the first time corporate America has tried to leverage its power to enact change for LGBTQ Americans. But the results have been mixed.
In support of same-sex marriage in 2015, 379 companies filed anamicus brief in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court case, which resulted in the nationwide legalization of same-sex unions.
Conversely, as of Jan. 21, 2021, more than 150 companies had signed on to a pledge criticizing the slew of anti-trans bills proposed around the country. Hundreds of similar bills have been filed since then, with roughly 10 enacted into law last year.
LGBTQ Afghans have increasingly been threatened, beaten and raped since the Taliban took control of the country in August, a new report found.
The advocacy groups Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International compiled a snapshot of how the freshly reawakened Taliban regime has targeted Afghans based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. And while LGBTQ Afghans have long lived in peril, the groups concluded that the situation has “dramatically worsened” following the Taliban’s takeover.
“The thing that I think we heard most commonly from people who we interviewed, who are still in Afghanistan, is that they don’t leave their rooms. The level of fear of being targeted is so great that they feel like they’re risking their lives to go buy food,” said J. Lester Feder, one of the study’s co-authors and a senior fellow for emergency research at OutRight Action International. “And beforehand, these were people who had jobs or had ways to eat, who could go about their cities — and that’s a real change.”
For the report, released Tuesday night, the researchers interviewed 60 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Afghans, most in their 20s, from October to December of last year. Through telling the stories of their interviewees’ allegations of abuse, the report illustrates how threats, violence and harassment against LGBTQ people have become more common under the Taliban’s rule.
A few weeks after Taliban forces overtook Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in August, a 20-year-old gay man reported that Taliban members had detained him at a checkpoint. He was then beaten and gang-raped, he said.
“From now on anytime we want to be able to find you, we will,” Taliban members told him following the attack, according to the report. “And we will do whatever we want with you.”
After the incident, the young man went into hiding, the report said, but the Taliban then moved on to harass and attack members of his family. In one instance, Taliban fighters spent three days in his family’s home, interrogating and beating them, researchers reported.
The report also detailed an uptick in abuse faced by LGBTQ Afghans from their own family members.
One interviewee, a lesbian from a small Afghan village, said that her uncle and male cousins became emboldened to kill her after they joined the Taliban.
“If you’re not going to do this, we will do it,” she recalled a relative saying to her parents, according to the report. “We have the authority.”
Heather Barr, a co-author of the report and an associate director of the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch, attributed the attacks by family members to fear of the Taliban’s wrath themselves.
“There’s a kind of feeling that you get credit from the Taliban for turning people in, that a way to keep yourself safe is to rat out other people,” Barr said. “Some people are clearly feeling like the way to keep themselves above suspicion is to hand in other people in this environment where there’s no kind of protection from rule of law.”
The report also outlined how gender-nonconforming individuals, in particular, have been subjected to danger under the Taliban’s rule. Several of the report’s interviewees told researchers that they were beaten on the street for wearing clothes that did not conform to gender norms, or looked “too Western.”
“Every moment we receive threats and calls,” said an Afghan trans woman, according to the report. “Even children on the street say, ‘You’re still here? Why hasn’t the Taliban taken you yet?’”
Nemat Sadat, a former political science professor at the American University of Afghanistan, echoed the sentiment that, among LGBTQ Afghans, trans and gender-nonconforming Afghans are more vulnerable to attacks.
“A cisgender gay or bisexual male, who could grow a beard, who can look like the Taliban, who could wear their clothing, who could dress like them … they won’t even be questioned,” said Sadat, who told NBC News that he has spoken with over 200 Afghans who have been targeted or tortured by the Taliban since August.
“A lot of Afghans want to get out, and we should try to help all of them, but we have to prioritize,” Sadat added, suggesting trans and gender-nonconforming Afghans should receive help first.
To aid LGBTQ Afghans, the authors of the report urged other countries — and the United States specifically — to expedite their applications for evacuation and resettlement, support humanitarian assistance programs that specifically target LGBTQ Afghans and apply diplomatic leverage.
Throughout the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, advocates and lawmakers urged the State Department to specifically include LGBTQ Afghans in its pledge to evacuate vulnerable people from the country. That request, however, went unanswered.
But, describing the efforts as of “utmost importance,” a spokesperson for the State Department told NBC News in an email that the Biden administration will continue to help LGBTQ Afghans through “diplomacy, international influence, and humanitarian aid.” The spokesperson also acknowledged that evacuating LGBTQ Afghans is “extremely difficult” and “potentially dangerous.”
“The best we can say is that we know by numbers that we will help some, but we are unlikely ever to be sure how many since many people cannot disclose their sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics due to shame, stigma and fear of backlash,” the spokesperson said.
Only Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland have publicly announced that they would commit to resettling LGBTQ Afghans.
“I’m disappointed overall in the international community’s sort of growing disengagement from all human rights issues in Afghanistan, but I think that this one has been particularly neglected from the beginning,” Barr said, referring to the plight of LGBTQ Afghans.
“I mean, it’s been neglected as long as I’ve worked on Afghanistan, honestly, but this moment is more important than ever for people to actually engage and raise this issue,” added Barr, who has worked on Afghanistan-related human rights projects for 15 years.
The State Department on Thursday reiterated its concerns over Chechnya’s human rights record that includes an ongoing anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
“We reject Chechnya Head Ramzan Kadyrov’s baseless attempts to malign human rights defenders and independent journalists and we urge him to end authorities’ targeting of those who dissent, LGBTQI+ persons, members of religious and ethnic minority groups, and others, including through reprisals against their family members,” said spokesperson Ned Price in a statement. “We call on Russian federal authorities to refrain from enabling repressive acts, including acts of transnational repression, originating in Chechnya and to bring those responsible for continuing egregious human rights violations in Chechnya to justice consistent with the law of the Russian Federation and Russia’s international human rights obligations.”
Price in his statement also said the U.S. “is troubled by continuing reports of abductions and arbitrary detentions carried out by authorities in Russia’s Republic of Chechnya, including dozens of reported abductions and arbitrary detentions in recent weeks targeting the relatives of Chechen human rights defenders and dissidents.”
“In addition to cases within Chechnya, there have been numerous instances of individuals being detained in other parts of the Russian Federation and forcibly transferred to Chechnya, such as Zarema Musayeva, the mother of human rights lawyer Abubakar Yangulbayev. Musayeva was taken from Nizhny Novgorod last week,” said Price. “We call for the immediate release of all who have been unjustly detained. We are also concerned by reports that Chechen authorities are using such pressure tactics against the relatives in Chechnya of dissidents living outside the Russian Federation. Such acts, which harm entire families, is an especially pernicious form of repression.”
The anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Chechnya continues to spark worldwide outrage.
Chechen authorities in April 2020 arrested two brothers, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, after they made a series of posts on Osal Nakh 95, a Telegram channel that Kadyrov’s opponents use. Magamadov and Isaev were reportedly forced to make “apology videos” after they were tortured.
The Russian LGBT Network helped the brothers flee Chechnya, but Russian police last February arrested them in Nizhny Novgorod. Chechen authorities brought them back to Chechnya.
Magamadov and Isaev last month reportedly began a hunger strike after a judge denied their request to have another court hear their case. The Crisis Group “North Caucasus SOS” that represents the brothers said the Supreme Court of Chechnya on Wednesday denied their request for a different venue.