The Brexit process is threatening the rights of the LGBTI community, British lawyer Helena Kennedy warns.
After Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal was defeated by a historic margin in parliament, her government survived the no-confidence vote. However, the situation still feels uncertain ahead of the official Brexit date, 29 March 2019.
In an interview with Reuters, Kennedy explained the lack of a government commitment to the Human Rights Act might be a sign the law will be replaced or repealed after Brexit.
The Human Rights Act incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into the British statute book. It protects citizens on the ground of sexual orientation and gender identity.
‘If you’re a gay man or woman, a person who’s bisexual, a person who’s transsexual, just beware, this is what they have in mind,’ said Kennedy.
The human rights lawyer is also an opposition Labour member of the House of Lords. Moreover, she has always championed LGBTI rights. In 1996, she won a landmark ruling that made it illegal to discriminate against transgender people at work.
Human rights are also at risk thanks to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a Northern Irish party that supports the government in key votes. The DUP also opposes marriage equality and legalizing abortion in Northern Ireland.
‘Take your signal from the fact that the DUP has been able to exercise so much power in this government.’
Kennedy furthermore added: ‘Look at this small group of people, who are deeply reactionary, homophobic, misogynistic.’
Mehdi is terrified of returning to Iran | Photo: Courtesy of Carlo Rapisarda15 February 2019 15:12 GMTJoe Morgan
A gay 19-year-old is fighting for survival as he fears being executed in his home country of Iran.
Mehdi Shokr Khoda, who also identifies as Christian, is hoping he will be granted asylum in Sweden in his final appeal.
The final decision will be made in two weeks.
Terrified of being deported to Iran
‘I cannot live open as a gay in Iran,’ Mehdi told Gay Star News.
‘They won’t understand something about you. They will just kill you first.’
In his corner is his partner, 23-year-old Carlo Rapisarda – originally from Italy.
The two of them have been together close to a year.
Mehdi followed his transgender sister, who fled to Stockholm from Iran a few years ago. Because she was granted asylum, he traveled to Sweden in 2017 in the hopes he would be given the same protection.
Their parents are unaware of their two children’s true sexual or gender identity.
Finding love in Sweden
Mehdi met Carlo on Tinder in January last year. The two quickly fell for each other and moved in with each other after six months.
‘He understands me well. When we fight we are not fire with fire – we are fire with water,’ Mehdi added to GSN.
‘He’s so mature… This is the kind of thing I love about him so much.’
At the end of last year, the Migration Board rejected Mehdi’s application as they thought he was lying.
They appealed the decision and went to court at the end of January 2019. Carlo testified for their relationship.
‘They want evidence,’ Carlo said.
‘We live together, we love each other, we’ve known each other a long time. Isn’t that evidence enough?
‘There’s not a scientific way – you can’t hook him up to cables and check.’
The couple also got a letter from the Swedish Federation for LGBT rights. It said: ‘There’s no doubt. Medhi is gay and in need of protection. ‘
They were once again rejected saying Mehdi was unable to explain his coming out process.
Rejected on basis of lacking ‘nuance’
Sweden’s government questioned why Mehdi had only been baptised when he came to Stockholm. They also said the 19-year-old’s ‘thoughts and reflections’ on Christianity were lacking.
Mehdi said his faith is private, something he learned to do in Iran.
‘You’re either Muslim or you’re dead,’ Mehdi added.
The couple also blames their failure on a ‘terrible interpreter’.
But what the Swedish courts don’t understand, Mehdi says, is that he didn’t really have a coming out process.
He was bullied for speaking higher than other boys, a ‘gay voice’, from a young age.
At 15, a boy befriended him and gained his trust. But then the boy screen-shotted the chats they had and sent them around the school.
‘It was awful for me,’ Mehdi said, quietly.
Mehdi and Carlo have considered getting married. However, they’re in a Catch 22. To go through the normal route involves getting permission from Iran (not an option). But to get married also means Mehdi needs a resident’s card, something he can’t have without the Swedish government’s permission.
Slim chance at survival
If the asylum appeal fails, Mehdi will have two weeks to leave the country.
If he is deported, his life is in immediate danger.
‘[Officers] will absolutely figure it out,’ he said. ‘They’ll ask questions.
‘If they find out I’m Christian or I’m gay or I tried to seek asylum, they will not understand that.
And if they do win, they’ll be able to start their lives together. Mehdi will be able to finish school, get a job, and start a life where he’s free to do so.
‘I would like to be a pharmacist – make medicine – make people better,’ he said.
And while Carlo is a Master’s student at a technical university, he’s willing to drop it all to follow his partner.
He said: ‘If he has to go to another country, I will follow him.’
Photo: Facebook/Asociacion Aspidh Arcoiris Trans18 February 2019
A transgender woman who was killed in El Salvador was reportedly deported by United States immigration officials before her death. They allegedly did not believe her concerns of being in danger in her home country.
Camila died on 3 February, though the cause of death remains undisclosed at this time.
LGBTI organization Presentes is investigating what happened to the 29-year-old sex worker. Some of Camila’s fellow sex workers told Presentes they saw police attack Camila and dump her body.
‘Presentes has asked police for an official response but it has closed the case and has not responded,’ the organization said in a statement.
Asociación Aspidh Arcoiris Trans, another Salvadoran trans group, told the Washington Blade they learned Camila was taken to Rosales National Hospital on 31 January with numerous injuries.
US immigration policies
Camila migrated to the US over threats posed to her in El Salvador. Advocates say that immigration authorities in the US allegedly didn’t believe her concerns and deported her back to her native country.
Aislinn Odaly’s, an LGBTI rights advocate, told the Blade: ‘She migrated to the US because of threats that she had received, but she was deported because they didn’t believe her.’
This case is a magnifying glass on immigration policies in the United States.
Last week, Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the border wall he wants along the US-Mexico border. He did this over a perceived ‘crisis’ at the border caused by illegal immigration.
This, however, affects LGBTI people fleeing the violence and discrimination in their home countries, as seen in the case of Camila.
Even when immigrants make it to the United States, though, they face new obstacles. A recent report revealed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently holding over 100 transgender individuals.
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has died, aged 85. The German-born, creative director of Chanel had reportedly been suffering ill health over the past few weeks, although no official cause of death has been revealed.
French magazine Closer broke the news of Lagerfeld’s death. Sources at Chanel have confirmed the news.
The designer missed two Chanel catwalk shows in late January. However, at the time the company said it was due to tiredness.
It was the first time he had ever missed a Chanel catwalk show since taking over the helm in 1983.
Career and controversy
Lagerfeld was born in Hamburg in 1933: the son of a businessman and former lingerie saleswoman. He undertook his secondary schooling in Paris, after which he took up a job as an apprenticeship with the designer Pierre Balmain.
He designed his first haute couture collection, for Jean Patou, in 1958.
Lagerfeld built a name for himself during the 1960s, working extensively with Chloe and Curiel. He also began to collaborate with the Italian fashion house, Fendi.
Lagerfeld was appointed creative director for Chanel in 1983, which is when he truly became a global fashion brand. Instantly recognizable, he became as known for his trademark silver hair, ponytail, sunglasses, large white shirt collars and leather gloves as his clothing and accessory designs.
His career was also not without controversies. He was a frequent target of animal rights groups such as PETA for his use of fur in his designs. He also had to apologize after using a verse from the Qur’an in his spring 1994 couture collection for Chanel.
Dubbed ‘Kaiser Karl’ and ‘Fashion Meister’, he was also known for the occasional his bitchy remarks.
In 2012, he said of the singer Adele, ‘She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice.’
Once asked his views on Russia, the designer said, ‘If I was a woman in Russia I would be a lesbian, as the men are very ugly.’
He also looked down upon those who made little effort with their attire: ‘Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.’
More recently, he was criticized for his response to the #MeToo movement after saying: ‘If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model!’
‘Elegance is an attitude’
However, he was also known for his craftmanship and vision. He was an accomplished artist, continuing to hand-draw his own designs until late in life, and photographer.
Among the first to pay tribute to Lagerfeld is Donatella Versace. The Italian designer posted a photo of her with Lagerfeld and a message: ‘Karl your genius touched the lives of so many, especially Gianni and I. We will never forget your incredible talent and endless inspiration. We were always learning from you.’
The mayor of a Mexican border city that has provided assistance to LGBTI migrants says President Trump’s continued demands for a border wall is a political “tactic.”
Jesús Antonio Pujol Irastorza told the Washington Blade on Jan. 23 during an interview at his office — less than a mile south of the Nogales port of entry — that his administration is “prepared for issues of violence,” referring to one of Trump’s justifications for a border wall.
“It is a tactic to go to certain people who want to build this wall…to say, look Congress, look Senate, we need to build this wall because groups of 5,000, 10,000 people who want to stay in the country are coming,” added Pujol.
Official statistics indicate 233,000 people live in Nogales, which is in Mexico’s Sonora state. The city borders Nogales, Ariz.
Daniel Hernández, one of four openly gay members of the Arizona Legislature, represents Nogales, Ariz., in the Arizona House of Representatives. The two cities are collectively known as Ambos Nogales or Both Nogales.
“It is practically one city divided by the border,” said Pujol. “Many have relatives, friends who live there, and many people live there and then come to work here.”
Pujol, who is a member of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party, was elected on July 1, 2018.
A group of roughly 45 LGBTI migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico arrived in Nogales last November from Tijuana. Pujol’s administration provided them with food, clothing, blankets and rooms in two hotels near the border and access to one of the four migrant shelters in the city.
“We received them like any other migrant, like any other person who comes, seeks help,” Pujol told the Blade. “We received them, we took care of them.”
Pujol said many of the migrants with whom he spoke said they had relatives or friends in the U.S. He told the Blade some of them said they had suffered racism and other discrimination in their home countries or states, but he added most of them migrated because of a lack of economic opportunities.
“They are looking for better opportunity,” said Pujol. “[It is] practically the same reason for any migrant who wants to go to the U.S.”
A group of 16 transgender and gay migrants from Central America asked for asylum in the U.S. at the Nogales port of entry in August 2017. LGBTI Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans were among the thousands of migrants who arrived in Tijuana last November with hopes of seeking asylum in the U.S.
U.S. Army troops who were deployed around Nogales installed concertina wire with razors on top of the border fence in anticipation of the migrants’ arrival. Shipping containers temporarily blocked two of the six vehicle lanes on the U.S. side of the Nogales port of entry.
Pujol spoke with the Blade two days before the Trump administration announced it will begin its controversial pilot “remain in Mexico” program that will force some migrants who ask for asylum at the San Ysidro port of entry south of San Diego to remain in Mexico as they await the outcome of their cases.
The first asylum seeker who was sent back to Mexico under the program arrived in Tijuana on Tuesday. The partial federal government shutdown over Trump’s demands for border wall funding ended on Jan. 25.
The Mexico-U.S. border from Nogales, Mexico, on Jan. 23, 2019 (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Pujol acknowledged some Nogales residents have criticized “the president of the United States for his comments that he makes” against migrants and Mexicans. Pujol also told the Blade the Trump administration’s decision to deploy troops and install razor wire along the border fence is “a tactic of intimidation.”
“We here on the border are already used to Border Patrol, to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on the border,” he said, noting Mexicans who want to enter the U.S. sometimes have to wait hours at the Nogales port of entry.
Pujol told the Blade his city is also “used to receiving” migrants, but not in the large numbers that have arrived in Tijuana over the last year. Pujol added Trump’s policies have not deterred them from traveling to the border.
“They are not afraid of what has been happening with the wall, with the new barbed wire,” said Pujol.
Schools in France are set to replace the words “mother” and “father” with gender neutral terms “parent 1” and “parent 2” on official documents in an attempt to curb discrimination against same-sex parents.
The new measure is outlined in an amendment to France’s School of Trust Bill and has passed a first reading by the country’s National Assembly on February 12, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
Supporters of the amendment argue that change is needed to acknowledge the existence of same-sex parents.
Valérie Petit, MP for the REM party, said the amendment aims “to root in law children’s family diversity in administrative forms submitted in school,” according to the Telegraph.
“We have families who find themselves faced with tick boxes stuck in rather old-fashioned social and family models. For us, this article is a measurement of social equality,” Petit added.
The amendment says: “To prevent discrimination, school enrolment, class registers, parental authorisations and all other official forms involving children must mention only Parent 1 and Parent 2.”
Gender neutral terms
The amendment was first raised in 2013, when France legalised same-sex marriage.
The change in law will now have to be approved by France’s Senate, and will then go back to the National Assembly for a final reading.
The change has prompted a debate on social media, with many arguing for and against French schools adopting gender neutral terms “parent 1” and “parent 2” instead of “mother” and “father.”
“For us, this article is a measurement of social equality.”
– Valérie Petit
One Twitter user, Gary Roustan, pointed out that nobody has taken issue with the use of “declarant 1” and “declarant 2” for tax purposes in France.
Others took issue with how parents would decide who would be identified as “parent 1” and “parent 2.”
French schools to replace ‘mother’ and ‘father’ with gender neutral terms (JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty)
This is not the first instance meant to tackling LGBT+ discrimination in France.
Last month, the government launched a new campaign to tackle anti-LGBT+ bullying in middle and high schools.
Anti-LGBT+ bullying in France
France’s Ministry for Education and Youth launched All Equal, All Allies in January, which will see all state schools putting up posters and providing guides about LGBT+ issues.
The move was welcomed by anti-homophobia organisation SOS Homophobie, who said that anti-LGBT+ bullying is a daily reality for thousands of queer students in France.
A report by that organisation from last year found that there had been a 38 percent increase in reports of homophobic acts in schools.
Same-sex parents rights in France
Same-sex parents have been legally allowed to adopt children in France since May 2013, when same-sex marriage came into effect.
However, IVF has been a contentious issue for same-sex female couples, as the medical practice has only been available to opposite sex couples in France for several decades.
IVF has been available in France since the 1980s, but was only offered to opposite sex couples who could prove that they were married or cohabiting for two years.
Single women – or women who do not share finances with their partner – as well as same-sex couples have not qualified for IVF as a result of this.
However, France’s highest court ruled last summer that there is no constitutional or legal reason that single women or women in same-sex partnerships can be denied IVF.
Pioneering LGBT activist Oscar Cazorla was killed in his home in Juchitan, in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Saturday (February 9).
According to the Oaxaca police, who have opened a murder investigation, the 68-year-old died from a blow to the heart inflicted by a sharp object.
Cazorla was well known in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca for advocating for the rights of those identifying as muxes, a third, non-binary gender that has been celebrated in the culture indigenous to the Istmo de Tehuantepec since pre-Hispanic times.
In 1976, the slain LGBT+ activist was one of the founders of the Vela de las Autenticas Intrepidas Buscadores del Peligro—which roughly translates as the Vigil of the Authentic, Fearless, Danger Seekers—an annual celebration that promotes the respect of muxes in Juchitan—a town of 75,000 that is home to an estimated 5,000 muxes, as AFP reported in 2017.
LGBT activist Oscar Cazorla founded a festival celebrating the muxe community in 1976. (Miho Hagino/Facebook)
Cazorla’s killing shocked the local community, who are mourning the activist. “The Authentic, Fearless, Danger Seekers are in mourning. You left us with the broken heart. Rest in peace. My brother Oscar Cazorla Lopez,” wrote the group’s president Felina Santiago Valdivieso, on Facebook.
Speaking to CNN Espanol, Santiago Valdivieso called for a thorough investigation into Cazorla’s murder, as no one has been arrested in connection with the death.
“He was a very happy person who welcomed anyone in his home with a smile. We cannot imagine who may have killed him,” they told the broadcaster.
Santiago Valdivieso also denounced an increase in homophobic and transphobic violence in the past four years against their community. “We are involved in a wave of violence affecting large parts of Mexico,” they said.
International institutions condemn the murder of LGBT+ activist Oscar Cazorla
International institutions also condemned Cazorla’s murder. Jan Jarab, the UN Human Rights Office’s representative in Mexico, said in a statement: “We condemn this terrible crime that affects the entire Muxe community and all human rights defenders in Oaxaca.”
Jarab continued: “In recent years, hate crimes and killings of LGBT+ rights defenders have occurred in different parts of the country without being adequately investigated. This pattern of impunity must be overcome and, for that, Oscar’s murder must be clarified, through a diligent investigation that considers all possible hypotheses, including the possibility of a hate crime or retaliation for his human rights defence activities.”
A statement from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland condemned both Cazorla’s death and that of journalist Jesús Eugenio Ramos Rodríguez, who was shot dead in the state of Tabasco on the same day as the LGBT+ activist’s murder.
The statement, issued on Tuesday (February 12), read: “We express our condolences and our deep solidarity with the family and friends of the victims. The deaths of Ramos and Cazorla demonstrate once again the worrisome degree of violence and intimidation faced by many journalists and defenders in Mexico.”
Thirteen same-sex couples demanding marriage equality filed lawsuits against the government at district courts across Japan on Valentine’s Day on Thursday, arguing that its refusal to allow them to marry is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
Each of the 26 plaintiffs is seeking 1 million yen ($9,000) in compensation, claiming that the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage has caused them emotional distress in what their lawyers say is the country’s first lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of such negligence.
The damages suits were jointly filed by the couples who are in their 20s through their 50s, and include Japanese and foreign partners, at the district courts in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo.
The European Parliament made history today (14 February) as it passed its first resolution dedicated to the ‘urgent need’ to protect the human rights of intersex people.
‘Intersex people are exposed to multiple instances of violence and discrimination in the European Union and these human rights violations remain widely unknown to the general public and policy makers,’ said the European Parliament resolution.
The resolution also pointed out the ‘urgent need to address violations of human rights of intersex people’. It called on the Commission and Member States to propose legislation to address these issues.
Claude Moraes MEP is the rapporteur for the resolution and member of the LGBTI Intergroup at the European Parliament. He said the resolution showed the ‘the European Parliament wants to ensure the European Union as a whole takes its responsibility in protecting the human rights of intersex people’.
‘Intersex people suffer from multiple human rights violations that have been recognised by multiple international organisations,’ he said.
Features of the resolution include condemning the medicalization and pathologization of intersex people. It also strongly condemns sex normalizing treatments and surgeries.
‘Too many countries, whether in the EU or worldwide, still allow “sex normalising surgery” to be performed on intersex children, even though most of the time they are not vital and performed for “societal” or “cosmetic” reasons,’ said Anna-Maria Corazza Bildt MEP. Bildt is the shadow rapporteur for the resolution, member of the LGBTI Intergroup and co-chair of the Children’s Rights Intergroup at the European Parliament.
A milestone and landmark resolution
Intersex and LGBTI groups celebrated the resolution.
‘We applaud the European Parliament for issuing this outstanding resolution’, said Kitty Anderson, Co-Chair of OII Europe (Organiation Intersex International Europe).
‘It is clearly based on an in-depth knowledge about the human rights violations that intersex people face in within the European Union.’
“ILGA Europe enthusiastically celebrates this historic resolution as the fruit of enormous labour on the part of intersex activist across Europe”, adds Evelyn Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe.
Other issues addressed by the resolution include the need of adequate counselling and support for intersex people and their families, and increased funding for intersex-led civil society organisations.
During the debate which preceded the voting, members of the European Parliament almost unanimously spoke in favour of the resolution and emphasised that ‘human rights violations experienced by [intersex people] are significant’. Many also argued that ‘there is nothing unhealthy about being intersex’.
Minister Delegate George Ciamba who represents the Romanian presidency said ‘extending the right to equal treatment to intersex people is entirely within the spirit of our common European values and of our common campaign for inclusiveness’.
OII Europe co-chair, Miriam van der Have said the resolution has set a clear agenda for what the next steps are to protect intersex people’s rights.
‘Putting an end to genital mutilation of intersex infants and children is a matter of urgency and the European Parliament is very clear about that,’ van der Have said.
The group also found a 54% rise in LGBTI hate crime over the last 12 months in the country.
Aguda chair Hen Arieli told Gay Star News the report is an ‘important step’ towards equality in Israel.
Arieli said: ‘Even today, in elections time, we are witnessing homophobic propaganda by radical parties, and the government does nothing in order to stop it.
‘First way to enable a bad habit is not to act against it.’
‘Makes us stay put’
Around 25% of homophobic incidents – which include physical and verbal assault – occurred in public.
15% occurred inside a home, 13% at work, and 22% online.
Notably, 69% of all online abuse was posted by male users, the report found.
Of all complaints of hate crime submitted, 45% were from males and 38% from trans people.
In fact, 24% of online harassment was directed at trans people.
Aguda submitted the report to President Reuven Rivling and called for changes in the law.
She said: ‘First, to correct legislation which discriminates gay people. The fact which the law is backing up these homophobic approaches is what makes us stay put.
‘The government should be the macro sight for a healthier society and not to deep cleavages.’
Though, Aguda stress the figures do not mirror the variety of hate crimes precisely as many go un-reported.
‘Not enough’ change
Aguda has published this report annually for the last six years.
Arieli slammed the government for doing ‘not enough’ for LGBTI rights.
Submitting the report ‘was an important step it is only another one in the way towards a real change in the approach of parliament.’
The highest and most varied hate crime was recorded in Tel Aviv, with 33% of all attacked recorded there.
However, Arieli explained this is because ‘we are hearing’ from the victims more rather than necessarily more attacks occurring.
‘People in the center are more aware to the reporting option than in the peripheries,’ she added.
15% occurred in Jerusalem, 9.5% in Haifa, 7.5% in Beersheba and 5% in Ashkelon.
‘I always fought against LGBT-phobia’
It is not just Aguda campaigning for LGBTI rights in Israel.
Hen Mazzig is a 29-year-od queer Jew living in Israel.
‘I always fought against LGBT-phobia, racism and all other forms of bigotry. Being who I am, I felt like I never had any other option,’ he told Gay Star News.
