Reuters

A month after Lauren mustered the courage to tell her mother she is lesbian, the 26-year-old Shanghai resident came out to a stranger who knocked on her door.

She told the young man, one of 7 million conducting China’s once-in-a-decade census, that she and her girlfriend lived together.

Where the questionnaire asked for “relationship to head of household,” the man ticked the box for “other” and wrote “couple.”

The interaction with the receptive census taker was affirming, Lauren told Reuters, even if the handwritten note may not be reflected in the final results. Lauren asked to be identified by only her first name due to the sensitive nature of LGBTQ issues in China.

Related

NBC OUT

Nevada becomes first state to recognize gay marriage in state constitution

China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, but activists are still fighting for the legalization of same-sex marriage.

As the world’s most populous country attempts to capture demographic shifts, some LGBTQ couples are seeking recognition in the national census.

The information collection officially began on Nov. 1, with preliminary surveys underway in the weeks prior.

The National Bureau of Statistics told Reuters that any additional information beyond the predefined responses for the “relationship to head of household” category would not be recorded.

Shortly after that mid-October census visit, Lauren saw on her social feed posters urging same-sex couples to tell census takers: “They are not my roommate, they are my partner.”

Related

NBC OUT

She says the sheriff fired her for being gay. Now, she’ll be the sheriff.

Peng Yanzi, director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, the NGO behind the campaign, said he hopes same-sex couples can gain visibility in the eyes of their neighbors and the government alike.

Recommended

OUT NEWSShe says the sheriff fired her for being gay. Now, she’ll be the sheriff.

OUT NEWSA more conservative court hears same-sex foster parent case

“These census takers may have never met, or even heard of, gay people, so if we have the opportunity to talk to them, they can better understand the LGBT community,” he said.

“We are a part of China’s population.”

While it remains difficult to come out in China, where many LGBTQ people refer to their romantic partners as roommates or friends, activists say there is a growing acceptance of gay couples.

“But the system hasn’t kept up with the times,” Peng said.

Lauren, who works at a tech company in Shanghai, said she felt comfortable speaking honestly about her relationship, but fears it may not be as safe for LGBTQ couples in more conservative areas to do so.

“I still wouldn’t dare,” one user of the Twitter-like Weibo commented on a post about the campaign.

A judge in a Nigerian court on Tuesday threw out a case against 47 men charged with public displays of affection with members of same sex, ending what had widely been seen as a test of the country’s laws banning same-sex relationships.

The Nigerian law banning gay marriage, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and same-sex “amorous relationships,” prompted an international outcry when it came into force under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

The men were arrested in a police raid on a Lagos hotel in the city’s Egbeda district in 2018. Police said the men were being initiated into a gay club, but the defendants said they were attending a birthday party.

Prosecution and defense lawyers in the case had told Reuters nobody had yet been convicted under the law, which led to the case of the men being widely seen as a test case that could help to establish the burden of proof.

Related

NBC OUT

Egyptian officials systemically abuse, torture gays, rights group says

Prosecutors failed to attend Tuesday’s hearing at the federal high court in Lagos, having previously failed to present some of their witnesses in a case that had been adjourned on several occasions.

Recommended

OUT NEWSAdvocates fear Barrett will strip away gay rights. It could begin next week.

OUT NEWSWorld Rugby’s transgender ban a ‘dangerous precedent,’ critics say

Justice Rilwan Aikawa struck out the case and said he had done so due to the “lack of diligent prosecution”.

The specific charge the men faced, relating to public displays of affection, carries a 10-year prison sentence.

Outside the court, many of the men smiled and cheered, including dancer James Brown who, smiling, said: “I am free. It means a lot of good things.”

Under Nigerian law, defendants in a case that is struck out can be re-arrested and arraigned again on the same charge, whereas that is not possible in cases that have been dismissed.

Taxi driver Onyeka Oguaghamba, a father-of-four who said he merely drove people to the party, said he was happy the case had been struck out but disappointed that it was not dismissed entirely.

“I am not happy, because I’m looking for the matter to end in a way that people will see me and believe what I have been saying from the beginning,” he said, adding that the decision meant he could be charged again.

Related

NBC OUT

Russian police detain Pussy Riot activists for hanging pride flags around Moscow

Oguaghamba and others previously told Reuters they had been stigmatized as a result of the raid and a televised news conference held by police in which they were identified the day after their arrest.

Chris Agiriga, another of the men, said the striking out of the case would not help him to be reconciled with his family who had rejected him over the matter.

“Since the past two years, this has caused a lot of damage in my life,” he said.

Emmanuel Sadi, a program officer with rights group the Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERS), said the outcome of the case raised questions about the law used to charge the men.

“You can’t even build a case around it,” he said. “I hope they (the government) realize how redundant it is as a law, and they are open to removing or repealing it,” he said.

Homosexuality is outlawed in many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups brand it a corrupting Western import. Gay sex is a crime in countries across the continent, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to death.

The gruesome killing on Saturday of a second transgender woman in northern Mexico has unnerved the local transgender community and amplified calls for greater protections in the Latin American nation.

The murder of Leslie Rocha in the border city of Ciudad Juarez came days after a transgender civil society group staged a protest there to demand greater protection.

Those demands were sparked by the murder late of Ciudad Juarez-born transgender activist Mireya Rodriguez Lemus, whose body was found earlier this week in Aquiles Serdan, a town in the northern Chihuahua state.

Related

NBC OUT

Philippine president pardons U.S. Marine convicted of killing trans woman

A transgender woman in Ciudad Juarez, who declined to give her name, said people are “a little scared, a little terrified” to go out on the streets.

“We don’t know what to do anymore because there are so many hate crimes against the trans population.”

Deborah Alvarez, a transgender activist who spoke to Reuters earlier in the week, described a community beset by worries about its safety.

“You can’t imagine what all us trans people have lived through to arrive here, for us still to see that we haven’t been defended,” she said.

Police in Ciudad Juarez did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Related

NBC OUT

El Salvador officers convicted of killing deported trans woman

Last year 117 people from the LGBTQ community were killed in Mexico, up almost a third compared from 2018 and the highest since 2015, according to local advocacy group Letra S.

“They’re torturing them, they’re killing them horribly,” said Rocha’s aunt, Leticia Sanchez.

“Justice must be had because they deserve respect,” she said. “Why are they doing this?”

A Saudi court has sentenced a Yemeni blogger to 10 months in prison, a fine of 10,000 riyals ($2,600) and deportation for a social media post supporting equal rights for people in same sex relationships, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The group said Mohamad al-Bokari fled Yemen in June 2019 and was living as an undocumented migrant in Saudi Arabia when he was arrested on April 8 for a Twitter video that drew online condemnation from Saudis and calls for his arrest.

In the video, seen by Reuters, Bokari was asked by one of his Twitter followers for his view of same-sex relations, to which he replied, “Everyone has rights and should be able to practice them freely, including gay people.”

Related

NBC OUT

Nigerian refugee creates N.Y.C.’s first full-time shelter for asylum-seekers

In a statement to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya confirming Bokari’s arrest, the spokesman for Riyadh’s police department said in April that the video contained “sexual references” which “violate public order and morals”.

Bokari was charged with violating public morality, “promoting homosexuality online” and “imitating women,” said HRW, adding it showed authorities discriminated against Bokari for his “perceived sexual orientation and gender expression.”

A Reuters request for comment to Saudi Arabia’s government media office went unanswered.

Bokari was sentenced on July 20 and has 30 days from that date to appeal.

Saudi Arabia has no codified legal system and no laws regarding sexual orientation or gender identity. Judges have convicted people for “immorality”, having sexual relations outside of marriage, and homosexual sex.

Hundreds of Thai LGBTQ activists and allies raised rainbow flags on Saturday evening as they called for democracy and equal rights, the latest in a series of youth protests calling for the government to step down.

Several youth-led demonstrations have sprung up across the country since last week, when thousands of Thai activists defied a coronavirus ban on gatherings and staged one of the largest street rallies since a 2014 military coup.

The activists on Saturday danced and sang and performed stand-up comedy sketches making jabs at the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who ousted an elected government six years ago. Pride flags were waved against the backdrop of Bangkok’s Democracy Monument.

Related

NBC OUT

Nigerian refugee creates N.Y.C.’s first full-time shelter for asylum-seekers

“We’re here today mainly to call for democracy. Once we achieve democracy, equal rights will follow,” said a 21-year-old activist who went by a made-up name, Viktorious Nighttime.

“The LGBT group do not yet have equal rights in society, so we’re calling for both democracy and equality,” added Viktorious, who was wearing a glittery tiara and a face mask.

The calls came after Thailand’s cabinet backed a civil partnership bill earlier this month that would recognize same-sex unions with almost the same rights as married couples.

Related

NBC OUT

North Dakota governor blasts party’s anti-LGBTQ resolution

Saturday’s gathering was the latest in a series of protests under the Free Youth movement, which has issued three demands: the dissolution of parliament, an end to harassment of government critics, and amendments to the military-written constitution.

“Even if they don’t step down from power today, we want to let them know that we won’t go anywhere, we will be here,” said a 21-year-old protestor who gave her name as Yaya. “Even if they get rid of us, our ideology will never die, we will pass this on to the next generation.”

Follow NBC Out on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram