The Russian Justice Ministry on Friday said it has filed a lawsuit with the nation’s Supreme Court to outlaw the LGBTQ “international public movement” as extremist, the latest crippling blow against the already beleaguered LGBTQ community in the increasingly conservative country.
The ministry said in an online statement announcing the lawsuit that authorities have identified “signs and manifestations of extremist nature” in “the activities of the LGBT movement active” in Russia, including “incitement of social and religious discord.” Russia’s Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing to consider the lawsuit for Nov. 30, the ministry said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what exactly the label would entail for LGBTQ people in Russia if the Supreme Court sides with the Justice Ministry. But the move in itself represents the latest, and by far the most drastic, step in the decadelong crackdown on gay rights in Russia unleashed under President Vladimir Putin, who has put “traditional family values” at the cornerstone of his rule.
The crackdown, which began a decade ago, slowly but surely chipped away at LGBTQ rights. In 2013, the Kremlin adopted the first legislation restricting LGBTQ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law, banning any noncritical public depiction of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through a constitutional reform to extend his rule by two more terms that also outlawed same-sex marriage.
In 2022, after sending troops into Ukraine, the Kremlin ramped up its rhetoric about protecting “traditional values” from what it called the West’s “degrading” influence, in what rights advocates saw as an attempt to legitimize the military action in Ukraine. That same year, the authorities adopted a law banning propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations” among adults, too, effectively outlawing any public endorsement of LGBTQ people.
Another law passed this year prohibited gender transitioning procedures and gender-affirming care for trans people. The legislation prohibited any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. It also amended Russia’s Family Code by listing gender change as a reason to annul a marriage and adding those “who had changed gender” to a list of people who can’t become foster or adoptive parents.
“Do we really want to have here, in our country, in Russia, ‘Parent No. 1, No. 2, No. 3’ instead of ‘mom’ and ‘dad?’” Putin said in September 2022 at a ceremony to formalize Moscow’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions. “Do we really want perversions that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed in our schools from the primary grades?”
Throughout its history, many forms of gender expression have been celebrated – from the acknowledgment of a third gender to men wearing makeup to distinguish their noble and higher status in contrast with cultures like the Greeks, who were seen as less civilized.
Many have tried to argue for the rights of trans people by pointing out the more accepting attitudes of ancient Iranian civilization, an attitude that is at odds with the modern interpretation of masculinity and femininity.
And a shift did begin to take place in the 1960s thanks to one brave activist.
The mother of a movement
In the 1960s, Iran was experiencing a great shift in its attitude towards homosexuality. While conservatives condemned it, there were many gay bars and other places for young gay people to be themselves. The secret 1978 marriage of Bijan Saffari (the son of a high-ranking senator) is one example of the passive presence of homosexuality in the country.
Maryam Khatoon Molkara was born in Anzali, a deeply religious province, and grew up alongside these cultural shifts in Iran. Initially thinking she was gay, Maryam used her family’s connections with the Pahlavi family (the ruling dynasty at the time) and asked Iranian Queen Farah Diba for guidance.
The queen suggested Maryam find others like herself and create a community that could ask for protection from the state. Farah, a progressive woman unlike her husband, showed love and sympathy for gay people and was among the few members of the royal family who had good relations with them.
In 1975, Maryam traveled to London and had an eye-opening experience about trans identities. It was there she realized she wasn’t simply homosexual.
Maryam was a religious woman and began writing letters seeking religious advice from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was in exile in Iraq, regarding her experience of being assigned the wrong gender at birth. She mentioned her gender identity had been apparent since she was just two years old, as she used to imitate applying makeup with chalk on her face. Khomeini suggested that she live as a woman, which included dressing accordingly.
She even went as far as seeking his guidance in person when he was in Paris, but she was unable to meet with him. However, these attempts at meeting Khomeini and connecting with what became the ruling clergy saved her life.
Following the 1979 revolution and the annihilation of the leftists and liberals by the religious right, Maryam faced severe backlash due to her identity. She endured arrests, death threats, and various forms of mistreatment, including being forced to wear masculine clothing and being injected with male hormones against her will. She was ultimately forced to stay in a psychiatric institution, but thanks to her connections with religious leaders, however, she managed to secure her release. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the renowned reformist who would ultimately become president of Iran, was instrumental in helping her.
During the Iran-Iraq War, Maryam volunteered as a nurse on the front lines, and her compassionate care often led the men she treated to assume she was a woman.
Throughout this period, Maryam persisted in advocating for her right to undergo gender-affirming surgery. In 1985, she confronted Khomeini directly at his home in North Tehran, dressed in a man’s suit and carrying the Koran while seeking refuge. Security guards initially restrained and beat her until Khomeini’s brother intervened. She eventually pleaded her case before Khomeini, explaining her identity and the need for sex reassignment surgery to fulfill her religious duties.
After hearing her story and consulting with doctors, Khomeini issued a fatwa (ruling) affirming that sex reassignment surgery was not against Islamic law. Maryam then worked to implement the necessary medical procedures in Iran and assisted other transgender individuals in accessing surgeries.
In 1997, she underwent her own gender-affirming surgery in Thailand, as she was dissatisfied with the procedures available in her home country. The Iranian government supported her surgery and subsequently established government funding for surgeries for other transgender individuals.
In 2007, Maryam founded and ran the Iranian Society to Support Individuals with Gender Identity Disorder (ISIGID), the first state-approved organization advocating for transgender rights in Iran. Prior to that, she had used her own property to offer support, legal advice, and medical care to fellow transgender people, including post-op care. Despite knowing the potential risks, she continued to fight for the rights of other transgender individuals, even helping secure their release from prison.
Maryam died in 2012 in Anzali, where she was born, but her efforts transformed Iran into one of the more accepting countries for transgender people in the Middle East.
Clashing ideologies
Modern Iran is not known for its love of LGBTQ+ people. With the recent attackson gay people from President Raisi, as well as the execution of a few LGBTQ+ activists, there is no denying that LGBTQ+ people are having a hard time under the Islamic Republic’s reign.
But unlike gay people, whose acts might lead them to death, transgender folks are treated as sick people who need gender reassignment surgery to live according to their true gender, just like Maryam Khatoon Molkara.
This has put Iran in an odd situation where according to the law, trans people are far more accepted than gay people. In practice, though, trans people still receive a lot of hate and discrimination. That being said, no one can go as far as publicly challenging the fact that gender reassignment is a bad thing because then they would challenge Khomeini’s words, something that could have dire consequences.
Since the late 2010s, the American culture war has found its way into Iran through the sharing of videos of Donald Trump and right-wing figures like Jordan Peterson. These anti-LGBTQ+ leaders have been attractive to Iranian youth due to their anti-Islamic and anti-Islamic Republic sentiments that seem to align well with their aim of toppling the regime.
Inevitably, the American right wing’s unique form of bigotry also found its way to Iran. Josephine Baird, a British-Swedish scholar, told LGBTQ Nation that American and European reactionaries used Iran’s acceptance of trans people for many years as evidence of their conspiratorial ideas that accepting trans people would lead to the erasure of gay people – or some sort of tyranny.
“The modern rampant transphobia has no real connection to Iran or our culture,” Becca Sanaei Kia, an Iranian scholar in the US, also told LGBTQ Nation.
There are two clashing ideas over the existence of trans people in Iran. One is the old-school religious view that trans people are sick and must be cured. The second is the Western-style secular transphobia that sees any bit of acceptance as threatening. While Khomeini and his creed were convinced of their beliefs due to religious texts and arguments, the modern transphobes rely on a distorted sense of “science” and “biology.”
LGBTQ Nation spoke with several trans people in Iran, and it’s clear that to many, the old view is more comforting because it didn’t give them a lot of visibility even if they still felt abnormal, sick, and sinful for being trans. However, some folks were more positive with regard to the new waves. They mentioned that while modern transphobia can be even more cruel and inhumane, the visibility has given rise to many who stand for LGBTQ+ rights and want to advocate for the rights of trans people.
In other words, those standing up to hate give them hope.
Russian prosecutors have requested a sentence of eight years in a penal colony for a lesbian artist who criticized the country’s military actions in Ukraine in a supermarket protest last year, according to the Russian language Mediazona.
Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, has been charged with spreading knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces and the government’s use of its authority, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in a penal colony.
On March 31, 2022, Skochilenko, also known as Sasha, switched out the price tags at a Perekrestok supermarket with stickers that looked like price tags but contained a series of anti-war messages.
In a series of five tags available on a Save Sasha website, Skochilenko accused the armed forces of committing genocide, called Putin a liar, and described Russia as a fascist state.
“My great-grandfather did not take part in the Great Patriotic War (World War Two) for four years in order for Russia to become a fascist state and attack Ukraine,” read one of the stickers.
Another sticker asked why state media was not covering the civilian death toll in Ukraine.
A witness alerted authorities and Skochilenko was arrested on April 11, 2022. She has been held in custody since her arrest despite suffering from bipolar disorder and other serious physical conditions.
Skochilenko has been specifically charged by prosecutors with knowingly spreading false information because of alleged political and ideological hatred. Prosecutors presented expert witnesses who declared there was no fascism in Russia and that the government was truthful and just in its statements and actions regarding the armed forces and Ukraine.
“Skochilenko compares the Russian Federation with a fascist state, they [prosecution expert witnesses] explained that in the Russian Federation now there are no elements of a fascist state,” prosecutor Alexander Gladyshev declared in court. “The words that Russia attacked Ukraine are false; the purpose of the SVO [special military operation] was to protect the citizens of Donbas from aggression.”
For her part, Skochilenko disputed that she was motivated but hatred or political ideology.
“I just wanted to stop the war – that was my motivation. Not hatred, but compassion,” she told the court on November 3, according to the Russian language Mediazona. “I am sure that every person in this room does not want there to be a war. Even you, your honor, even you, the state prosecutor. You also don’t want people to die prematurely, for young soldiers to lie in the fields, for civilians to die. You, like any person, want peace, prosperity, love.”
The court also heard that in addition to suffering from bipolar disorder, Skochilenko also has a cyst in the right ovary, heart disease, PTSD, and celiac disease.
Mexican authorities on Tuesday sent conflicting messages about the violent death of a leading LGBTQ figure after thousands marched Monday night demanding justice.
Jesús Ociel Baena was found dead next to their partner in their home in the central Mexican city of Aguascalientes on Monday, according to state prosecutors. Baena, the first openly nonbinary person to assume a judicial post in Mexico, was one of the most visible LGBTQ figures in a country where the community is often violently targeted.
Baena and their partner had already received death threats and hateful messages and had protection from state security, prompting many across the country Monday to call their death a hate crime.
Authorities have provided minimal details about the slaying and local prosecutors hinted it may have been a murder-suicide.
“It may seem like a not very credible hypothesis to many, but we’re being very careful to leave a record and preserve all evidence,” said state prosecutor Jesús Figueroa Ortega.
Federal authorities, however, urged caution in the investigation Tuesday. Félix Arturo Medina, an official with Mexico’s Interior Ministry, said “it’s important to not throw out any line of investigation,” adding that they hoped to coordinate with state authorities to investigate the deaths.
“It’s a relevant case for us, not just because of the activism the magistrate was carrying out,” but also because the government wants all crimes to be investigated, Medina said.
Impunity runs rampant in Mexico. Only 1% of all crimes committed were reported, investigated and resolved in 2022, according to a survey by National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
The state authorities’ hypothesis was quickly rejected by many in Mexico’s LGBTQ community.
Alejandro Brito, director of the LGBTQ rights group Letra S urged authorities to continue to investigate the incident and to take into consideration the context of the case, and threats of violence against Baena.
Brito called state prosecutor’s version of events “loaded with prejudices” and said quick conclusions made by local authorities have only deepened distrust of authorities among historically victimized communities.
“In these types of homicides they always try to disqualify or belittle,” Brito said. “These statements that the prosecutor is giving, what they’re doing isn’t clarifying the acts, they’re adding fuel to the fire of these prejudices.”
People who knew Baena said the magistrate and Herrera in recent weeks were chipper and talked passionately about future activism.
Brito was echoed by thousands who gathered in the heart of Mexico City lighting candles over photos of Baena and other victims of anti-LGBTQ violence Monday night. They shouted “Justice” and “We won’t stay silent” and demanded a thorough investigation into the deaths.
“Ociel is, and was, the most relevant figure in today’s fight for human rights for the LGBTQ+ community,” said Humberto Dena, a 24-year-old carrying a candle alongside thousands of others in the march. “We want [the authorities] to continue to investigate this case, and not just say it was a ‘crime of passion.’”
In becoming a magistrate in October 2022, Baena was thought to be the first nonbinary person in Latin America to assume a judicial position. Baena broke through another barrier this May as one of a group of people to be issued Mexico’s first passports listing the holders as nonbinary.
Baena appeared in regularly published photos and videos wearing skirts and heels and toting a rainbow fan in court offices and advocated on social media platforms, drawing hundreds of thousands of followers.
“I am a nonbinary person. I am not interested in being seen as either a woman or a man. This is an identity. It is mine, for me, and nobody else. Baena posted on X, formerly Twitter, in June. “Accept it.”
Last month, the electoral court presented Baena with a certificate recognizing the magistrate with the gender neutral noun “maestre,” a significant step in Spanish, a language that splits most of its words between two genders, masculine or feminine.
While Mexico has made significant steps in reducing anti-LGBTQ violence, Brito’s Letra S documented a jump in violence against sexual minorities in 2019. In that year alone, at least 117 lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender people were slain. Many were grisly killings, including brutal stabbings and public slayings.
The National Observatory of Hate Crimes Against LGBTI+ Persons in Mexico registered 305 violent hate crimes against sexual minorities in 2019-2022, including murder, disappearances and more.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
In 2008, Dan Leveille, 35, was studying computer science at the Rochester Institute of Technology when California voters passed Proposition 8, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state. It was a sucker punch to the queer community, including Leveille, who found himself wanting to bring order to how he thought about LGBTQ+ rights in the US.
His solution was Equaldex, a passion project that visualizes the state of queer rights not only at home but around the world. The site has become a trusted resource for governments, the media, and LGBTQ+ travelers everywhere.
Related:
LGBTQ Nation spoke with Leveille about Equaldex from his home in Los Angeles.
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LGBTQ Nation: What inspired you to come up with an LGBTQ+ rights visualization tool?
Dan Leveille: When the Prop 8 stuff happened, I got pretty interested in it. And then there were a lot of states that were legalizing same-sex marriage, and a lot of laws were changing. And I remember at some point I was like, “Wait, did that state legalize it? When did that happen?” And I’m like, “Wow, I wish there was like some sort of site that showed all of these changes, like, a map.”
I launched it in 2014.
LGBTQ Nation: How did you envision it being used by others as you were building it?
DL: I first imagined it for my own use just tracking all the changes. But the number of countries that criminalize being gay, the number of countries that, you know, jailed people or even have the death penalty, that stuff is really compelling. And maybe the LGBTQ activists know this, but the general public might not. And I think bringing to light those facts is very important. This could kind of put pressure and visibility on the parts of the world that aren’t progressing.
LGBTQ Nation: What are some of the unexpected ways that Equaldex has been used since you put it up?
DL: One thing that is very obvious, probably, but just didn’t occur to me is how it’s used as a travel guide. That wasn’t immediately obvious to me, but it makes perfect sense. There’s been a lot of interest from travel agencies so that travelers will know, “Oh, this country you’re visiting, these laws, you might want to be careful or reconsider.”
General Electric, they use Equaldex data for some of their internal systems for traveling for employees. It makes sense because companies want to be careful about where they’re sending their employees, especially if there are laws against being gay.
LGBTQ Nation: Does General Electric throw you some bucks for using Equaldex?
DL: No, it’s generally not really a big deal to me. If a company wants to apply this data, I don’t have any issue with it. I like keeping the service free, just in principle.
LGBTQ Nation: GE could make a donation for your trouble.
DL: Yeah, for sure.
LGBTQ Nation: What’s the most LGBTQ+-friendly country on the planet?
DL: Currently I have this system on the site called the Equality Index, which ranks legal rights and public opinion. It’s a newer metric that I added. The countries with the highest ranking right now are Iceland, as number one, and Denmark and Norway. Malta, the Netherlands and Canada are up there.
LGBTQ Nation: And what’s the country you identify as the most hostile to LGBTQ+ identity?
DL: If you’re looking at the Equality Index, the Middle East and Africa are generally the worst in terms of both the laws and the public opinion there.
Dan Levielle The LGBT Equality Index on Equaldex
LGBTQ Nation: You’re looking at the data pretty much every day. What are some of the trends that you can point out?
DL: That’s a good question. Outside of the Middle East and Africa, there’s definitely a lot of progress being made overall. I focus a lot on the US, and polling has shown overwhelmingly that, you know, things are moving positively in terms of the public opinion. Even Republicans and religious groups, they’re moving to being more open.
LGBTQ Nation: In the US, do you see the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in red states as an anomaly, or is there anything in the data that indicates maybe those right-wing Republicans are on to something?
DL: Some of the US polls have shown that while it is becoming more accepted, it also is starting to polarize the more people are being exposed to it. So they have a lot of opinions on it. You know, you see things like drag queen bans and all those book bans and stuff, so people might form an opinion, whereas before, maybe they didn’t have an opinion. It’s interesting. We’re seeing a lot of progress in the US, but there are definitely some laws that are going backward. Hopefully it doesn’t continue that way.
LGBTQ Nation: The site would be a big undertaking for anyone, let alone somebody who’s just doing it as a passion project. Did you ever think, “I’m way over my head on this?”
DL: Yeah, definitely. Especially with big publications and even some governments and organizations that reference Equaldex. So when I see, like, the UN referencing it in one of their reports, I’m like, God, it’s a lot of pressure. Fortunately, I built Equaldex in a way where I don’t need to change everything myself, with such a big community of users who are contributing.
LGBTQ Nation: Tell us about those volunteers.
DL: When I first started Equaldex, there were a lot of people who were very interested in the project, and I got a handful of people who were just super passionate about it. They were super crucial in the first six months to a year of the site. Like, we had all these countries with no data, and people were just going in, adding all the laws. We’ve added a Discord community, as well, that has been really great at attracting editors and moderators.
LGBTQ Nation: Who pays for all of this?
DL: I pay for it myself. It’s not super expensive to run. And I share the cost with a pretty successful gaming app I run called Dododex, which is a companion app for the game ARK. And that helps to pay for software and Chat GPT to help program and stuff.
LGBTQ Nation: What’s the participation rate in some of those red countries for people who help out with the site?
DL: It’s very low. It’s challenging, especially when there are language barriers, too. But in really red countries, those users probably don’t want to publicly join a service like Equaldex, for reasons you can imagine. Fortunately, there are a lot of international organizations, research organizations who dig into the laws and maybe expose some of the things that are happening there, and we do have a handful of contributors who are from countries more familiar with those places.
LGBTQ Nation: Who are some of your go-to’s for the information you’re putting up?
DL: When we’re sourcing laws we try to get to the actual government site that shows what the law is. Unfortunately, sometimes what the government is saying is different than what they’re actually doing. We reference some big LGBT organizations like ILGA. The UN has some great resources exposing things in these homophobic countries. And of course, you know, reputable sources, the BBC, CNN, sites like yours who are reporting.
In terms of like, public opinion, there are a lot of really great organizations like Gallup that are always our go-to’s in terms of public opinion data.
LGBTQ Nation: What’s new on the site?
DL: I am working on a new feature that will — I hate to call it, like, a Yelp for LGBTQ rights, but it’s kind of that same idea where you’ll be able to share your opinion of the state or the province or the country that you lived in and share how comfortable you were about being open in public. What are politicians like? Are there out celebrities? Things like that. If you’ve lived there you have more experience, and it helps people who are traveling, so they can be like, “Okay, definitely don’t hold hands with my partner in public.” And even like, hotel reservations. In some countries you shouldn’t reserve a single bed with your partner in the same room. Stuff like that is good to know, and you might not think of it.
LGBTQ Nation: What’s been the most satisfying part of Equaldex for you so far?
DL: I think seeing the big publications and organizations use the site. There are a bunch of Ivy League schools that reference Equaldex for their students when they’re traveling. The UN, the UK Government, the US government, they’ve all read it and reference it. It makes me really proud, like, “Wow, this is something that people are very interested in.” So it kind of validates the work I’ve been doing for many years.
At a more personal level, hearing that people use it and it’s super helpful is super validating. When people say, like, “Oh, I always use it. Make sure to check Equaldex before you travel,” it’s really rewarding to hear it’s helpful to people in that way.
The now-older Australian man convicted of the 1987 gay-bashing murder of a man he thought was gay received what amounted to a life sentence in a Sydney courtroom late last month.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia sentenced on October 20, Stanley Bruce Early, 77, to a maximum of 22 years in prison for the murder of Raymond Keam, 43, in a public park in the early morning hours of January 13, 1987. According to the Sydney Morning Herald,the sentence includes a mandatory 15 years and six months behind bars, meaning Early won’t be eligible for parole until the age of 91 in 2037.
Keam, was a martial arts expert but was suffering from an injury the night he was murdered. He identified as straight, was divorced from one woman and in a relationship with another. He had two children.
Keam was attacked just outside a public restroom in Allison Park by “ringleader” Early and a small group of youths looking to assault gay men who cruised the park in search of gay sex. Keam was beaten to the ground and stomped about the head and chest. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be one or more fatal blows to the head. His lifeless body was discovered the following morning.
Yehia described Early’s actions as “an affront to civilized society” and chastised him during sentencing.
“The offender continues to deny his involvement in the murder,” Yehia noted according to QNews. “He has shown no remorse whatsoever.”
At the time of the murder, Early was known as Stanley “Spider” Sutton and had a hardscrabble upbringing. He reportedly struggled with his sexuality (he now identifies as bisexual). He was also a survivor of sexual assault as a child and after a stint in jail. He was out on bail at the time of the murder after being charged with committing an indecent act against a 12-year-old boy.
Early was arrested at his home in Victoria two months after a $1 million reward was offered for information leading to a conviction in the case. He was subsequently extradited to neighboring New South Wales where he has been held in jail during the trial.
Yehia said she was unable to say with certainty that Early delivered the fatal blow or blows and that she did not believe he warranted a life sentence. However, she did say his actions directly caused Keam’s death and that there was a “real chance” he would die in prison.
Hungary’s cultural minister on Monday fired the director of the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, accusing him of failing to comply with a contentious law that bans the display of LGBTQ content to minors.
The dismissal of Laszlo L. Simon, who became director of the museum for a five-year term in 2021, came after Hungary’s government determined in late October that five photos on display at the prestigious World Press Photo exhibition violated the law restricting children’s access to content that depicts homosexuality or gender change.
The museum subsequently put a notice on its website and at the entrance to the World Press Photo exhibition — which showcases outstanding photojournalism — that the collection was restricted to visitors over 18.
Writing on his Facebook page on Monday, Simon — a member of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party and a former secretary of state with the cultural ministry — said that neither he nor the museum had deliberately violated Hungary’s 2021 “child protection” law.
“I take note of the decision, but I cannot accept it,” Simon wrote. “As a father of four and a grandparent, I firmly reject the idea that our children should be protected from me or from the institution I run.”
The photographs in question document a community of elderly LGBTQ+ people in the Philippines who have shared a home for decades and cared for each other as they age. The photos show some community members dressed in drag and wearing makeup.
Hungary’s government, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has restricted the availability of materials that “promote” or depict homosexuality to minors in media, including television, films, advertisements and literature.
While the government insists that the law is designed to insulate children from what it calls sexual propaganda, it has prompted legal action from 15 countries in the European Union, with the bloc’s Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling it “a disgrace.”
In a statement, the cultural ministry wrote that Simon had been dismissed over failing to comply with the law, and “by engaging in conduct which made it impossible for him to continue his employment.”
Hungary’s cultural ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
This week, Brazil’s Congress held an important public hearing on harassment against teachers for topics they address in the classroom. Sponsored by lawmakers Talíria Petrone, Erika Hilton, and Luciene Cavalcante, it was the first such hearing held by the Education and Human Rights committees of the Chamber of Deputies.
For about a decade, federal, state, and municipal officials in Brazil have used pernicious legal and political tactics to undermine educational content on gender and sexuality, claiming such information constitutes “indoctrination” or “gender ideology.” These tactics have weaponized education for political gain among a conservative segment of the population and increased harassment of teachers. Today’s hearing also addressed teachers being harassed for addressing racism in the classroom.
Age-appropriate and scientifically accurate information on gender and sexuality for children and adolescents is protected under the rights to education and nondiscrimination under Brazilian and international law. Youth need this information to live healthy and safe lives. Likewise, introducing and discussing in the classroom topics such as racism helps foster acceptance of diversity and nondiscrimination.
In a 2022 report, Human Rights Watch analyzed 217 bills presented and laws enacted designed to forbid gender and sexuality education in municipal and state schools. Teachers we spoke with said they were harassed for addressing gender and sexuality, including by elected officials and community members. Some teachers faced administrative proceedings for covering such material, while others were summoned to provide statements to the police and other officials.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has served as an important check on laws banning gender and sexuality education, striking down eight such laws in 2020. Yet, teachers and education experts say the negative climate has created a “chilling effect” on some teachers’ willingness to talk about gender and sexuality, and other topics in class.
Today’s hearing is an important recognition of the struggle Brazilian teachers have had in simply doing their job. Lawmakers at all levels of Brazilian government should immediately withdraw bills or revoke laws that infringe upon the rights of students to learn about gender, sexuality, and other topics such as racism. The federal government should support teachers who suffer attacks and continue to ensure all adolescents and other children are given the information they need.
Canadians came out in force to rally behind trans youth and protest a policy which would see youngsters forcefully outed to their parents.
Hundreds of people, including trans kids and their supportive families, gathered in the Saskatchewan cities of Saskatoon, Regina and Lloydminster in opposition to Bill 137, also known as the Parent’s Bill of Rights.
The legislation, which became law last week, was introduced by Saskatchewan Party education minister Jeremy Cockrill last week and outlines a number of rights parents have regarding their children’s education, including access to the pupil’s school file and being able to see what sexual-health content is being taught.
Controversially, the bill also contains a policy stating parental consent must be given for a pupil to use “their preferred name, gender identity, and/or gender expression” at school.
Speaking with the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, rally co-organizer Blake Tait said: “Children deserve a space where they feel safe, included and affirmed.
“We know this will not always be their homes: Give children their schools.”
Tait told the newspaper he started his social transition when he was 14, by using a new name, pronouns and clothes at school.
Now 23, he said whilst the reaction of his immediate family was “lovely” his extended family’s response was less positive and left him “trapped in a hard place”.
“With the new legislation, more students will face this — and worse — with no choice in the matter,” Tait explained.
“No opportunity to go at their own pace […] Youth are going back into the closet, and youth are terrified for the lives of their friends.”
In an interview with CBC, one parent of a trans child – who moved from the UK to Saskatchewan a number of years ago – described the situation as “really awful and scary”.
“I thought we were in a progressive, safe community and province,” said Roberta Cain, whose son Silas is 15.
Cain’s son told the newspaper being “forced to come out can be so traumatizing and life-threatening” and so “having a safe place to experiment is such an important thing”.
“I am so hated for just existing and being who I am. So many younger kids who are finding out who they are and want to have a safe space are at such a risk because some people just don’t like us,” Silas said.
The policy will create “very real harms”
During the protest, Saskatoon city councillor Mairin Loewen addressed the crowd, telling them: “Kids are full humans. They’re not partial humans. They have the same rights as any other human, and those rights cannot be trumped or overridden by the political whims and desires of adults.”
She added there is “too much at stake” and “all need this sense of safety and freedom in order to be ourselves and to become ourselves”.
Loewen’s speech, quoted by LGBTQ Nation, continued: “The evidence is clear.
“This legislation is harmful. Expert after expert has been emerging to identify the risks of this legislation, and the very real harms it will create.”
The bill was passed after lawmakers involved section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a clause which gives provincial legislatures the ability to override parts of the charter for a period of five years.
In response to this move, human rights commissioner Heather Kuttai – who has a trans son – sent a letter to premier Scott Moe tending her immediate resignation.
“A child’s rights must always take precedence over a parent’s obligations and responsibilities. My first concern is that this [bill] is going to hurt kids,” Kuttai wrote, saying the policy is something she “cannot be a part of”.
Adding she does not want to be “associated with a provincial government that takes away the rights of children, especially vulnerable children”.
An LGBTQ+ rights group in Afghanistan is calling the international community’s acceptance of Taliban rule a “betrayal of humanity” and is demanding justice for queer people from the United Nations, human rights organizations, and countries that “claim to support human rights.”
Rainbow Afghanistan details a litany of abuses against the queer community by the Taliban, which returned to power two years ago as American forces withdrew from the country 20 years after the 9/11/2001 attacks.
“For homosexuals,” a Taliban judge said at the time, “there can only be two punishments: either stoning, or he must stand behind a wall that will fall down on him.”
Since then, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been mysteriously killed or disappeared, arrested, “tortured and sexually assaulted in prisons, and many were stoned to death in distant provinces and, in the worst case, sexually exploited,” the letter details, while “a large number of members of the LGBT community lost their lives due to suicide,” including lesbians and transgender women who have been “forced into marriage” against their will.
“The world has remained silent” in the face of “widespread and systematic crime against humanity,” the letter from Rainbow Afghanistan declares. “The eyes and ears of the world are not willing to see and hear.”
The group documents the abduction of at least ten members of their own organization at the hands of the Taliban, and describes the existence of “private prisons for members of the LGBT community in large provinces in parts of Afghanistan.”
“According to our findings, at least two transgender individuals under the age of 19 were transferred to one of these prisons after being identified by the Taliban in Herat, where they were tortured and raped.”
The group also describes a dangerous exodus of LGBTQ+ people from Afghanistan into neighboring countries like Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey, where they’re subject to similar abuse at the hands of authorities.
“The suffocating political conditions and the criminalization of non-binary tendencies and identities in these countries have exposed them to the threat of deportation” back to Afghanistan.
The group is demanding action from the United Nations and others.
“We want the countless crimes of the Taliban against the LGBTQ community in Afghanistan to be investigated and documented, and its perpetrators should be held accountable in independent courts, and human rights, as stated in its charter, should not be limited to geographic boundaries, gender identities, and certain social groups,” the organization wrote of the U.N.
“We, the activists, ask the United Nations, human rights organizations, and countries of the world to break this annoying silence towards the LGBT community. We want to end the silence of the international community regarding these tragedies as soon as possible. We want justice for the LGBT community of Afghanistan to be raised and realized.”
