With Christmas less than a week away, it might be the perfect time to help others in need.
Micro Rainbow International Foundation is opening a new safe home for LGBTI asylum seekers in London and is calling for donations.
The charity is urging everyone to donate whatever they can on social media. They have set up an Amazon wishlist where whoever wishes to help can buy anything from bedsheets to microwaves.
MRI is crucial in helping asylum seekers
MRI was born in 2012. It provides shelter to lesbian, bisexual, gay, trans and intersex people who are homeless because they have been shunned by their families or persecuted by their government.
After programmes in Cambodia and Brazil, they opened the first safe house for LGBTI asylum seekers in the UK in 2017.
They have inaugurated other two safe houses in London ever since.
For one of their new houses in the UK capital, MRI is asking people to help via Amazon.
‘Many LGBTI people around the world are victims of persecution and violence because of their sexual or gender identity or intersex status. They face imprisonment or the death penalty just because of who they are and who they love. Those who can, leave their countries behind and come to the UK to seek safety,’ they wrote on their website.
‘However, when they come to the UK they are not safe and they face several challenges. One of these challenges is homelessness.’
They furthermore added: ‘In our experience the abuse that LGBTI asylum seekers face in accommodation pushes many to become homeless at a critical point in life: when they try to save their lives and to secure their right to stay in the UK. This is why Micro Rainbow’s safe housing project is so vital. Micro Rainbow decided to create safe homes where LGBTI asylum seekers can be safe whilst they go through the grueling asylum process.’
This is what you can do to help
‘Running the safe houses and providing the extra support that LGBTI asylum seekers need is expensive,’ they also explained.
‘However, together we can make sure that each person receives adequate bedding, food and clothing.’
There are different ways to help this Christmas. You can either make a monthly donation, donate an Amazon gift card or buy an actual item off the wishlist for as little as £5.
Germany’s parliament has passed a law which will add a third gender to birth certificates for people born intersex.
The blank option on forms, instituted in Germany in 2013 as a Europe-wide first, will be replaced by a “diverse” option for newborns whose sexual anatomy does not fit the binary male or female, according to The Local Germany and Deutsche Welle.
Intersex people will also be able to change their gender and first name on birth certificates if they feel they were assigned the wrong gender at birth, though this will usually require a medical certificate.
The Federal Constitutional Court ordered that by the end of 2018, the parliament must legally recognise another gender option from birth or remove gender from documents entirely.
This overruled several lower courts who had rejected the intersex person’s case.
In August, Germany’s cabinet, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, voted to approve plans to add the extra gender option.
Some pro-LGBT campaigners including Greens parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter have said that the law doesn’t go far enough.
Hofreiter opposed the need for people to provide a doctor’s certificate before any change could be made to their documents, telling Funke Media Group newspapers that it was “preposterous and a sign of distrust of those who don’t fit into an old-fashioned view of society, especially that of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) and CSU (Christian Social Union in Bavaria),” according to Deutsche Welle.
Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany board member Henny Engels also criticised the new law, as he said it was too focused on physical characteristics.
Engels insisted that “gender is not only defined physical signs, but also by social and psychological factors.”
More conservative lawmakers supported the requirement for a medical document, with CDU politician Marc Henrichmann, who sits in the Bundestag, saying it meant people would not be able to self-identify their gender.
The acting parliamentary group leader of far-right party AfD (Alternative for Germany), Beatrix von Storch, also made her opposition to self-identification clear.
She said: “Which gender you belong to has been an objective fact since the beginning of time — just like age and body measurements.”
A gay man has won a legal battle in Singapore to be legally recognised as the parent of a child he fathered through surrogacy abroad.
The Singapore High Court ruled on Monday that the 46-year-old gay man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will be able to adopt the child, reversing a previous decision from a lower court.
The man has been in a relationship with another man for more than a decade—the two have been living together since 2003, according to the South China Morning Post—and used his sperm to conceive the child through surrogacy in the US.
The child was born in the US in November 2013 and the man was able to bring him to Singapore, being his biological father. But the formal adoption case to legally recognise the child as his own, which started in December 2014, was turned down by a judge last year on the grounds that Singapore does not recognise LGBT+ families.
“it’s the first time surrogacy and gay adoption have been canvassed in court.”
— Lawyer Koh Tien Hua
The city state also does not recognise marriage equality and maintains a ban on homosexual acts under the Section 377A law, which was imposed during British colonial rule.
But the three-judge appeal court recognised that the case’s specific circumstances placed the child’s wellbeing over the status quo.
According to the judges, the reasons motivating the lower court’s decision were not “sufficiently powerful to enable us to ignore the statutory imperative to promote the welfare of the child, and, indeed, to regard his welfare as first and paramount,” TheStraits Timesreported.
The ruling marks the first time a court effectively recognises a same-sex family unit. One of the man’s attorneys, Koh Tien Hua of Eversheds Harry Elias, believes the ruling provided clarity around issues of surrogacy in Singapore.
“This is a landmark case because it’s the first time surrogacy and gay adoption have been canvassed in court,” he told Channel NewsAsia.
The judges however insisted the ruling is not meant to signal support for policy change in that regard.
“Our decision should not be taken as an endorsement of what the appellant and his partner set out to do,” said Chief Justice Sunderesh Menon in his judgement, quoted by the BBC.
The judge added there was “significant weight” put towards the concern that the ruling would “not violate the public policy against the formation of same-sex family units.”
For the gay man, his partner and their child, the ruling was nonetheless a cause for celebration.
“The fight to raise our family in Singapore has been a long and difficult journey,” he told the South China Morning Post.
He added: “We hope that the adoption will increase the chances of our son to be able to stay in Singapore with his family. His grandparents and us really want Singapore to be the home of our family. Our family will celebrate this significant milestone.”
Russian trolls out to rig the election for Donald Trump created a fake helpline for struggling LGBTI teens.
The Senate released a report saying Russia engaged in an all-out social media campaign to manipulate votes during the 2016 election.
Millions of posts on every popular social media platform from Facebook to Pinterest were provided to the Senate and House Intelligence committees.
And in these posts, there were some extremely damaging stories.
LGB young people far more likely to feel suicidal if they lose friends after coming out
The Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency created a fake helpline and posted the link on the Russian-controlled page LGBT United.
The post was an offer of support to struggling gay, lesbian or trans teens. However, the hotline was fake.
A hotline was posted on the fake religious group Army of Jesus.
‘Struggling with the addiction to masturbation? Reach out to me and we will beat it together,’ one post said.
‘You can’t hold hands with God when you are masturbating.’
The Russian-controlled LGBT United led people to believe it was a liberal page, but would then manipulate its members.
Even before Trump was inaugurated, a post attempted to pre-empt calls for impeachment.
On 10 November, a post by LGBT United read: ‘In case anyone forgot, Mike Pence in the White House would mean disaster for queer people!!
‘I heavily disagree with his policies regarding church and state and his lgbtq policy.
‘I see alot of lefist calling for impeachment or assassination on trump but truely Trump is worlds better than Pence when talking about equal rights for all….’
The IRA ‘launched an extended attack on the US by using computational propaganda’, according to the report.
More than 30 million people shared content from the Internet Research Agency on Facebook and Instagram from 2015 to 2017.
Efforts targeting African-Americans, Latinos, liberals and members of the LGBTI community used different approaches with each group, but the overall aim was to get voters ‘to boycott the election, abstain from voting for Clinton, or to spread cynicism about participating in the election in general.’
Melani Sofía Rosales Quiñones, a transgender woman from Guatemala City, was beaten, threatened and discriminated against in her country simply because of her gender identity (Washington Blade photo by Yariel Valdés González)
TIJUANA, Mexico — Melani Sofía Rosales Quiñones, a transgender woman from Guatemala City, was on her way home one night in July 2017 when she saw a group of homophobes waiting for her. She said good evening to them and that alone provoked an atrocious attack.“They hit me with bats and sticks,” Melani now recalls. “They broke my jaw and left jaw bone. I was in a coma in the hospital for three days and 15 days later I had surgery to reconstruct my face. They put in plates and screws. It took me four months to recover.”
A year later the gangs, who are full of hate and violence in Latin America, took over their house and turned it into a stash house. Melani’s mother never accepted this and filed a harassment complaint against the so-called “gangs.”
“They called my mom and threatened her as she was leaving the police station,” says Melani. “They said she can’t play with them and they will kill my younger brother who is 15.”
Melani shared part of her life with the Washington Blade from a guest house in downtown Tijuana where LGBTI members of the migrant caravan who arrived in this border city weeks earlier receive temporary refuge. Melani and other LGBTI migrants in Tijuana all hope to seek asylum in the U.S., a nation in which they think they can live without fear and with economic prosperity.
The LGBTI migrants, like other members of the caravan, are now scattered along Mexico’s northern border. They were a small group that faced abuse and mistreatment while traveling with the caravan itself before arriving in Mexico. Today the LGBTI migrants are nothing more than small and vulnerable groups scattered in Tijuana, Baja California state and Nogales, another border town in Sonora state.
Crossing this wall and safely entering U.S. territory is the dream of the thousands of migrants who are stuck in Tijuana. They are only looking for an opportunity to live in the U.S. (Washington Blade photo by Yariel Valdés González)
Stories behind the American dream
It is not the first time that Melani has launched herself north in order to reach American soil. She “went up” to Tijuana in May of this year with another caravan, but another attack made her think twice. “I was very disappointed because Tijuana officials beat me when I went to the El Chaparral checkpoint,” she says. “I later went to the hospital and filed a complaint against the immigration officers.”
Melani returned to a small town between Guatemala and Mexico she says was “in no man’s land” with the hope that she could once again hit the road and seek the American dream at any moment. She was unable to return to Guatemala or Tijuana. She had almost become a hermit during that time. Melani, an extroverted and sociable girl, was living far away from people.
“I worked in a bakery and from there I went to my house without saying a word, without saying hello to anyone,” she adds.
Melani fled from a Guatemala, where violence is seen as a normal part of life and is worse for members of LGBTI communities. One report on the situation for LGBTI people in four Central American countries says they endure “insults, bribes, arbitrary detentions and physical attacks that often lead to murders, but they do not report them because of fear of reprisals.”
“LGBTI people live in fear and don’t depend on community support networks that help them deal with the violent scenarios in which they live,” reads the report.
The Observatory of Murdered Trans People notes 39 trans women were killed in Guatemala between January and July 2017. Guatemala has the sixth highest rate of trans murders out of any country in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Honduras’ National Commission for Human Rights says 40 LGBTI people have died between 2007 and May of this year. Cattrachas, a lesbian feminist network, indicates 288 LGBTI people have been killed in Honduras between 2009-2018.
Insecurity is not the only situation the Honduran LGBTI community faces. Infobae, an Argentina-based news website, once reported “there is no record of any trans person who has been hired by a private company or a government agency in Honduras.”
Amelia Frank-Vitale, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who has spent more than a year living in Honduras studying issues related to deportation, migration and violence, confirmed to the Blade “people from the LGBTI community are exposed to all forms of violence that exists against any person in Honduras, which is mainly urban, young and poor.”
“But they are nevertheless discriminated against and stigmatized because of their sexual orientation and in many cases the government is absent on justice-related issues,” she added. “It is always more critical for the LGBTI community.”
It is this situation from which Alexis Rápalos and Solanyi, two identities that live inside the same robust 38-year-old body, fled.
Alexis was wearing a knit hat that covered a nearly shaved head when he spoke with the Blade.
He comes from a family with few resources and he revealed he has suffered the scourge of discrimination in the streets of his city, San Pedro Sula, which for four years was recognized as the world’s most dangerous city, since he was 10. He has lived alone since his mother died a year ago.
A tailor and a chef, he worked in a restaurant in his native country but he decided to join the caravan in search of a future with more security and a life without the harsh realities of rampant homophobia.
He left with nothing more than a pair of pants and a shirt in his backpack and joined the caravan at the Guatemala-Mexico border. “I was discovering friends in the caravan,” says Alexis. “And then the gay community. We came fighting, fighting many things because we are discriminated against, insulted constantly.”
“The road has been very hard,” he adds. “Sometimes we slept in very cold places, with storms. I had the flu with a horrible cough, people gave us medicine, clothes, thank God.”
They reached Tijuana by hitchhiking, and sometimes by bus while depending on charity groups to eat. “We arrived at the shelter that had been at the Benito Juárez Sports Complex, but we were in our own group. They treated us well with clothes, medicine and food,” he said, insisting he is thankful for the assistance he received while there.
Once at the shelter, where unsanitary conditions and overcrowding were a constant, they experienced homophobia that follows some of their fellow travelers and places them in an even worse situation than the rest of the migrants. Alexis says they were booed in food lines and there were times when they were not allowed to eat. The situation repeated itself in the cold outdoor showers where privacy was an unthinkable luxury.
He felt the harshness of the early morning cold while he and roughly 6,000 Central Americans were staying at the shelter that city officials set up. Alexis slept in the street because he didn’t have a tent to protect himself. The unusually heavy seasonal rains that soaked his meager belongings chilled him to the bone.
“In the (Benito Juárez) shelter we saw humiliations, criticisms and they even made us take down our gay flag,” says Bairon Paolo González Morena, a 27-year-old gay man from Guatemala. “We were discriminated against a lot. They told us we could not make the same line for food and they made us stand at the end of the line for the bathroom and here (at Enclave Caracol, a new shelter) they are treating us much better. They gave us our place. We have a separate bathroom and everything.”
LGBTI members of the caravan that arrived in Tijuana were housed at the Benito Juárez Sports Complex that had been converted into a shelter. They were discriminated against by their fellow migrants. The LGBTI migrants were forced to take down their gay flag. They were also not allowed into food lines and were the last ones to use public showers. (Washington Blade photo by Yariel Valdés González)
Bairon was a cross-dresser known as Kaira Paola at night and was a sex worker, which left him with many scars on his body. “I worked to provide food for my twin brother and younger brother,” he says. “My family there found out that I was gay. My stepmother discriminated against me and my dad did not support me and until this day I am fighting for my well-being.”
He lived alone and decided to join the caravan because he was constantly extorted for money. He was already working in a restaurant in Tuxpan in Veracruz state when the migrants reached Mexico, and he didn’t think twice about joining the caravan that Frank-Vitale says is “a civil disobedience movement against a global regime.”
“The caravan is the form that has been recognized as the way one can cross Mexico without being as exposed to criminal groups, corrupt authorities and without paying a smuggler to seek an opportunity to live,” she says.
Paolo González Morena, a 27-year-old gay man from Guatemala, was a sex worker in his country and was constantly extorted and mistreated because of his sexual orientation. (Washington Blade photo by Yariel Valdés González)
Waiting for asylum
A long line has formed outside Enclave Caracol, a community center located on First Street in downtown Tijuana that has welcomed this portion of the LGBTI caravan that arrived weeks after the first.
Under tents, the migrants organize themselves to distribute food they prepared themselves inside the building in which a wedding for several gay couples took place weeks earlier.
Nacho, who asked the Blade only to use his first name, works for Enclave Caracol. He said (he and his colleagues) are supporting “the community with food and water, (allowing them to) use the bathroom, Internet access, use of telephones that allows them to call practically any part of the world and at some moments it has functioned as a shelter.”
At same migrants who receive services at Enclave Caracol have cooked and organized their lives there. Donations from members of civil society in various cities have made it possible for Enclave Caracol to provide assistance to the dozens of migrants who are taking shelter there. (Washington Blade photo by Yariel Valdés González)
Enclave Caracol’s employees were the ones who cooked most of the food and did the cleaning when the center first provided aid to these displaced people. But Nacho says “people from the caravan have been getting involved bit by bit.”
“No one from Enclave has actually ever been in the kitchen,” he tells the Blade. “Over the last few weeks we have received donations and we have also been going to the markets for leftover fruits and vegetables and we clean them, process them and they’re cooked. They are organizing the cleaning and delivery of food themselves.”
Nacho said many civil society members in Los Angeles, San Diego and in Tijuana itself are donating money, food, cleaning products, disposable plates and cups to alleviate the tense situation that exists with the arrival of thousands of migrants, many of whom have not begun the political asylum process, to this urban border city. These civil society members are also volunteering their time.
“There is a very long list of people who are seeking asylum, who have been brought to the port of entry and are looking to following the correct process under international law,” says Frank-Vitale, noting the U.S. asylum process has been made intentionally difficult. “It has been said that they are going to have to wait up to two months to have the opportunity to make their case and this is truly a deadly humanitarian crisis for vulnerable people who have fled persecution, who live in the rain, the cold, outside all this time.”
“Sometimes one becomes hopeless because there is no stable place,” says Alexis, who remains hopeful. “We are going from here to there. They say that today they are going to bring us to another house to wait for lawyers who are going to help us with our papers.”
Melani is nevertheless more realistic when speaking about her asylum claim. “Our situation is a bit difficult because many people continue to arrive,” she says. “Donald Trump closed the border and the crossing is very complicated. This is why people who are going to the border are under stress.”
Frank-Vitale thinks the actual asylum system should be changed in order to recognize modern forms of violence and persecution to which people are exposed and especially LGBTI groups. “Taking all of this into account, yes, it is possible,” she says. “There are cases from Central America that perfectly enter the system, always and when they have a founded fear of their lives in their countries and many people have a very real fear.”
This fear, which has been with Melani for most of her life, will follow her to the U.S., because in “the previous caravan there was a girl named Roxana (Hernández) who died because she had HIV, but the autopsy revealed that she had been beaten by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.”
The original autopsy performed on Hernández, a trans Honduran woman with HIV who died in ICE custody in New Mexico on May 25, lists the cause of death as cardiac arrest. The second autopsy to which Melani referred shows Hernández was beaten, but does not identify who attacked her while she was in custody.
Hernández’s case has reached the U.S. Senate with three senators recently asking U.S. Customs and Border Protection to provide them with documents relating to her death.
In spite of all of these situations, in spite of a xenophobic president who commands the other side of the border, in spite of a powerful army positioned on the border, in spite of the long lines to be heard, in spite of the constant uncertainty, Bairon remains firm in his decision: “We are here. With everything we have given up, I will not return.”
Russia’s “gay propaganda” law is directly harming and endangering LGBT+ children and young people, according to a new report.
The report – which is called “No Support: Russia’s ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law Imperils LGBT Youth” – was released today by Human Rights Watch, and runs to 92 pages.
They also found that the law has prevented LGBT+ people from accessing inclusive education and support services, and that this has had a detrimental impact on children and young people.
Human Rights Watch interviewed LGBT+ young people in Russia to gain an understanding of the impact the law is having on Russian youth.
LGBT+ life in Russia: Stigma, harassment and violence
The interviews pointed to an intensification of stigma, harassment and violence against LGBT+ people since the law was passed in 2013.
Human Rights Watch also found that the law was preventing mental health professionals from offering the necessary support to LGBT+ youth.
One transgender person, who is 18 years old, told Human Rights Watch that LGBT+ people in Russia now fear getting beaten on the street.
“We know that most people believe the mass media, and the stories there teach them that we are horrible creatures, so we are in danger all the time.”
Another young person – an 18 year old university student – said the law was akin to “cutting off air” from the LGBT+ community.
Meanwhile, a 14 year old lesbian told Human Rights Watch that the law gives homophobes free rein, and said that LGBT+ people “are afraid to organise prides and demonstrations.”
She also said that LGBT+ people are afraid of being “beaten or humiliated” as the offenders would likely go unpunished.
Dr Ilan Meyer, an expert in social psychology and public health who submitted testimony about the law to the European Court of Human Rights, said that the law has a “serious negative impact” on LGBT+ young people.
“The law increases and enshrines stigma and prejudice, leading to discrimination and violence,” he added.
The report also issued a series of recommendations to Russia’s government concerning the law.
Human Rights Watch has asked the President of the Russian Federation to issue a public statement “condemning the use of hate speech towards LGBT+ people.”
They also asked the government to repeal the “gay propaganda” law, and to repeal or amend other laws that foster discrimination against LGBT+ people.
The group has also called on the Russian government to introduce legislation that would protect the rights “of all LGBT+ people, including children.” They recommend laws to combat discrimination in public services, among others.
The report also asks the European Union and other member states to heap pressure on the Russian government to repeal the law.
The Russian “gay propaganda” law has been a source of controversy ever since it was enacted in 2013.
Earlier this month, police confiscated 17 drawings from a school in Yekateringburg for “promoting homosexuality.”
Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in November that Russia’s ban of pride events was violating LGBT+ people’s human rights.
Ruling against Russia, the court found that “the ban on holding LGBT public assemblies… did not correspond to a pressing social need and was thus not necessary in a democratic society.”
Gay, lesbian, bi and questioning youth are four times more likely to self-harm with suicidal intent compared to straight youth.
These queer kids are also far more likely to experience symptoms of depression from as young as 10 years old. These symptoms will persist then into their 20s.
Researchers from the University of College London also found LGBQ youth will have worse mental health overall.
‘We’ve known for some time that sexual minority youth have worse mental health outcomes,’ study author Dr Gemma Lewis said.
‘It’s quite concerning that we’ve found this trend starts as early as 10 years old, and worsens throughout adolescence.’
The study is the first of its kind in the UK, questioning 4,828 young people.
Participants responded to questions about depression seven times from age 10 to 21, and at 16 and 21 were asked if they self-harmed in the past year.
While depressive symptoms increased throughout their teenage years for all groups, the increase was far greater for LGBQ teens.
Self-harm was more common for non-straight teens at both 16 and 21.
At 18, LGBQ teens were twice as likely to fulfil the criteria for a clinical diagnosis of depression.
Madeleine Irish, first author, suggests the sense of feeling different may affect mental health in children.
She suggested a range of stressors could be involved. These can include ‘discrimination, stigmatisation, social isolation, shame or fear or rejection, including at home or at school.’
Dr Lewis added: ‘The fact we found mental health disparities at such a young age suggests that early interventions may be useful to prevent and treat such mental health challenges.
‘Despite changes to public perceptions and attitudes in recent years, gay, lesbian and bisexual youth remain at increased risk of long-term mental health problems—addressing this inequality should be a research, policy, clinical and public mental health priority.’
Members of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) on Jan. 15, 2016, gather outside the Botswana Court of Appeals, after their organization won legal recognition. The country’s High Court in March will hear a case that seeks to decriminalize same-sex sexual relations. (Photo courtesy of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana)
GABORONE, Botswana — Botswana, the economic jewel of southern Africa, is set to continue its trailblazing social justice track toward legal equality for LGBTQI+ people. While it has taken longer than expected, the High Court of Botswana has set a new date to hear a case which challenges sections of the penal code which criminalize same-sex sexual relations. While the clauses — inherited from British colonial laws in 1885 — are not exclusively applicable to LGBTQ+ persons, their interpretation has caused grave apprehension to full self expression among members of the population who identify as such.According to human rights organization, LEGABIBO (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual of Botswana), the hearing of the case challenging the constitutionality of sections 164(a), 164(c) and 167 of the Penal Code will be heard before a full bench of the Botswana High Court, comprising of the Honorable Judge A.B. Tafa, the Honorable Judge M. Leburu and the Honorable Judge J. Dube on March 15. The aforementioned sections criminalize “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” and “indecent practices between persons” (whether in private or public) respectively.
The organization won its registration case against the Botswana government, heard at the Court of Appeal on March 16, 2016, after 11 years of contestation. On this case LEGABIBO is represented by Tshiamo Rantao and supported by the Southern Africa Litigation Center and members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community.
LEGABIBO Advocacy and Awareness Officer Caine Youngman said the case is “a massive rude awakening to those who are comfortable with the idea that homosexuality is illegal in Botswana.” He added this case “gives a positive image to LGBTQI+ people to know that when they are feeling trampled upon they can approach the court” and “the case is expected to clarify the laws of the land, so the government and ordinary Motswana understand that we are legitimate citizens as much as anyone else.”
There has, historically, been mixed reception of LGBTQI-favorable rulings passed by the courts by the general public as, it would appear, there is little communication and demystification of the necessity and impact of the rulings for people outside of the concerned population. Speaking with internationally-acclaimed, Botswana-based fashion designer Aobakwe Molosiwa of Gilded Sands, he said that for him this case gives an “opportunity to get conversations going because the lack of that attention locally is worrying” adding that it is a chance “to maximize traction; and the consideration we — as the queer community — give this case will drive how the greater community understands who we are. Only through enlightenment can we grow as a nation.” Recently, at the launch of the national observance of 16 days against violence against women and children, the sitting president of Botswana, HE Dr. Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, explicitly mentioned people in same-sex relationships also experience violence and must be considered in the commemorations as well as in prevention initiatives. This made him the first occupant of the highest office to speak out on LGBTQIA+ rights while in office.
While Botswana is still lagging on ratifying and domesticating some international human rights related treaties — such as the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — and has been flagged for its questionable press freedom, it appears that the highest courts are willing to address contentious matters when presented. The hope is the efforts of perceived societal minorities will lead to broad-ranging advocacy from many other facets of the community at large to build a socially just democracy. Understanding this, Youngman stated that, “we don’t want backlash from the community once decriminalization has been achieved; we are meeting with dikgosi (royalty), parliamentarians, councilors and community members doing awareness raising.”
Looking at future steps in the advent of a victory favoring the plaintiff, Molosiwa said “it would be a step toward discussing familial issues we as a nation have experienced but never addressed” adding that “this brings forward issues of morality and we can use this as an opportunity to confront the politics which religious factions lean on to vilify us.” Youngman said “it means that as a gay man I don’t have to think about what will happen tomorrow when there is no president who can openly call for respect of LGBTQIA+ persons. As a Motswana gay man, I have other things which are afforded to my heterosexual peers such as marriage and adoption and I can start advocating for these. It means my family will get the peace and quiet they need as they never stop worrying about your safety.”
So, while people around the world celebrate Christmas, the arrival of the New Year, Valentine’s day, and anticipate Easter, LGBTQIA+ persons and their allies in Botswana will be anxiously gearing up for what is hoped to be the end of a leg of a long fought battle to recognize contemporary realities of Batswana against inherited colonial laws. Just as March 16, 2016, will forever be inscribed in Botswana’s LGBTQIA+ history, it may transpire that a three-year gap was what was necessary for the courts to catch up and endow LGBTQIA+ persons with their inalienable rights to recognition as people, protection of the law and freedom.
The lower house of parliament (National Assembly) in South Africa has voted for a historic change to civil union laws.
South Africa has recognized civil unions since 2006 but today’s changes will mean that officials will not be able to refuse to marry same-sex couples on the basis of their ‘conscience, religion [or] belief’.
During the debate, Deidre Carter, said LGBTI people suffered greatly during South Africa’s apartheid era. She told the parliament they ‘suffered a
particularly harsh fate and were branded as criminals and rejected by society as outcasts’.
‘I received complaints that couples were being turned away from a number of Home Affairs offices as there were no marriage officers that were
prepared to solemnise same-sex marriages,’ she said.
‘My investigations revealed that this tendency was in fact more widespread than initially thought. At the time, the Minister advised me that nearly half of its designated marriage officers had been exempted from solemnizing same-sex marriages.’
Carter argued that refusing to marry a same-sex couple was a ‘limitation (that) cannot be justified in an open and democratic society’.
Following today’s vote the National Council of Provinces (upper house) will also vote on the amended bill. Should it be successful in the NCOP, President Cyril Ramaphosa will then sign it into law.
A referendum on whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in Taiwan failed on Nov. 24, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association)
The most LGBT-friendly country in Asia has rejected marriage equality. Amnesty International says the Nov. 24 referendum results are a bitter blow to the Taiwanese LGBT community that wishes their island nation would be the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. What’s more, for the rest of the dreamers in Asia it’s a painful reminder that realizing genuine marriage equality at home could take another generation.Even though Taiwan is deemed the most progressive country in Asia and a haven for LGBT activism, two initiatives to add same-sex marriage in the Civil Code and gender equality education in schools were both rejected. A pre-election survey that suggested as many as 77 percent of Taiwanese opposed legalizing same-sex marriage is a clear indication that acceptance on LGBT rights is not nationwide, even in Taiwan.
As I grew up in one of the most conservative countries in Asia, I am not surprised to see these results because I know acceptance on LGBT rights in Asian countries is always limited to certain niches. Often, media-distorted views of seemingly widespread acceptance are giving false hopes.
Asian countries present a broad spectrum of LGBT rights conditions, from harsh punishments to discrimination to growing acceptances. As of today, same-sex relationships are illegal in at least 20 Asian countries and are punishable to death penalty in seven of them. For the rest of Asia, LGBT individuals find themselves lucky to struggle with relatively mild miseries, such as family acceptance or workplace discrimination.
As I have traveled as a reporter across Asia, I found a common unspoken consensus among the non-LGBT populace in Asia. Since we are “abnormal” or “deviant” of norms, we shall be allowed to grow only within certain niches. In other words, either as an individual or as a community, if we have grown to the point that the majority feels intimidated, it has the right to say, “too much.” More or less, this reflects the attitudes of the majority in Asian countries. You won’t see them in the media but people act on it when they cast their votes.
On the other hand, the irony is same-sex marriage has become the ultimate symbol of accepting secularism and diversity, so support for LGBT rights has been politicized. From the late-Cambodian King Sihanouk to the Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte, it’s not hard to see why these Asian leaders showed support for LGBT rights but never actually acted to risk public support. Support of gay rights is a symbolic gesture to show their Western counterparts how secular and liberal they have become. In Taiwan, the motives to show the world how it is different from the authoritarian mainland in the era of the regime’s rising global power is behind the push for becoming a paragon of freedom and tolerance in Asia. This kind of “acceptance with an agenda” might fool the international media, but the message of acceptance is never passed down to the grassroots level.
When I attended the ILGA Asia conference in 2013, I came to the conclusion shared by many other activists: Marriage equality is too far-fetched for us, at least in our lifetime.
Demands for LGBT rights are not just fighting the repressive laws and homophobic groups. We are fighting the beliefs, traditions and systems backed by patriarchy, collectivism and fundamentalism, which have been institutionalized and cherished by the society. If you are from one of the bottom Asian countries, you have additional fights against corruption, ignorance and misconceptions against the minorities. This is the reality of being an LGBT person in Asia.
Victor Maung is a journalist and LGBT rights activist who was born in Myanmar. He lives and works in D.C.
A referendum on whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in Taiwan failed on Nov. 24, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association)
The most LGBT-friendly country in Asia has rejected marriage equality. Amnesty International says the Nov. 24 referendum results are a bitter blow to the Taiwanese LGBT community that wishes their island nation would be the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. What’s more, for the rest of the dreamers in Asia it’s a painful reminder that realizing genuine marriage equality at home could take another generation.Even though Taiwan is deemed the most progressive country in Asia and a haven for LGBT activism, two initiatives to add same-sex marriage in the Civil Code and gender equality education in schools were both rejected. A pre-election survey that suggested as many as 77 percent of Taiwanese opposed legalizing same-sex marriage is a clear indication that acceptance on LGBT rights is not nationwide, even in Taiwan.
As I grew up in one of the most conservative countries in Asia, I am not surprised to see these results because I know acceptance on LGBT rights in Asian countries is always limited to certain niches. Often, media-distorted views of seemingly widespread acceptance are giving false hopes.
Asian countries present a broad spectrum of LGBT rights conditions, from harsh punishments to discrimination to growing acceptances. As of today, same-sex relationships are illegal in at least 20 Asian countries and are punishable to death penalty in seven of them. For the rest of Asia, LGBT individuals find themselves lucky to struggle with relatively mild miseries, such as family acceptance or workplace discrimination.
As I have traveled as a reporter across Asia, I found a common unspoken consensus among the non-LGBT populace in Asia. Since we are “abnormal” or “deviant” of norms, we shall be allowed to grow only within certain niches. In other words, either as an individual or as a community, if we have grown to the point that the majority feels intimidated, it has the right to say, “too much.” More or less, this reflects the attitudes of the majority in Asian countries. You won’t see them in the media but people act on it when they cast their votes.
On the other hand, the irony is same-sex marriage has become the ultimate symbol of accepting secularism and diversity, so support for LGBT rights has been politicized. From the late-Cambodian King Sihanouk to the Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte, it’s not hard to see why these Asian leaders showed support for LGBT rights but never actually acted to risk public support. Support of gay rights is a symbolic gesture to show their Western counterparts how secular and liberal they have become. In Taiwan, the motives to show the world how it is different from the authoritarian mainland in the era of the regime’s rising global power is behind the push for becoming a paragon of freedom and tolerance in Asia. This kind of “acceptance with an agenda” might fool the international media, but the message of acceptance is never passed down to the grassroots level.
When I attended the ILGA Asia conference in 2013, I came to the conclusion shared by many other activists: Marriage equality is too far-fetched for us, at least in our lifetime.
Demands for LGBT rights are not just fighting the repressive laws and homophobic groups. We are fighting the beliefs, traditions and systems backed by patriarchy, collectivism and fundamentalism, which have been institutionalized and cherished by the society. If you are from one of the bottom Asian countries, you have additional fights against corruption, ignorance and misconceptions against the minorities. This is the reality of being an LGBT person in Asia.
Victor Maung is a journalist and LGBT rights activist who was born in Myanmar. He lives and works in D.C.