International

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EU human rights commissioner calls for end to ‘dangerous’ conversion therapy across all of Europe

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So-called “conversion therapy” has “no place in a human rights-based society”, according to the EU commissioner for human rights. Bosnian EU official Dunja Mijatović wrote in a Thursday (16 February) report that the controversial practice is “dangerous” and should end. Conversion therapy is an abusive attempt to change an LGBTQ+ person’s sexuality or gender identity through psychological manipulation, often carried out by religious or medical institutions and often following pressure from family members.  Not only does the practice not work, but it can also leave behind immense trauma and mental health issues for those subjected to it. “These interventions continue […]

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Hungary Court Closes Door on Transgender Legal Recognition

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In the latest blow to trans people in Hungary, the country’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling that will continue to block new applications from transgender people for legal gender recognition. The judgment effectively creates two categories of trans people in Hungary: those who applied early enough to pursue gender recognition and those who did not. In 2020, Hungary’s parliament passed a law banning transgender or intersex people from legally changing their gender, putting them at risk of harassment, discrimination, and even violence when they need to use identity documents. In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled the ban on legal gender recognition does not apply retroactively, so […]

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Spain passes sweeping reforms of gender laws allowing self-ID for trans people from age 16

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Spain has passed sweeping reforms of its gender recognition laws to allow self-ID for trans people from the age of 16 without the need for a psychological or medical evaluation.  Lawmakers in Madrid passed the reforms on Thursday (16 February) by a vote of 191 to 60, with 91 abstaining.  The reforms mean that trans Spaniards will no longer be required to file medical documents in order to change their gender markers on official documents such as birth certificates.  Additionally, no diagnosis of gender dysphoria or proof of two-year hormonal treatment will be necessary. Trans young people under 16 will […]

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Gay sperm donor sues Canada for its policies against gay & bi men

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A gay man is suing Canada’s federal government, alleging that its restrictions on gay and bisexual male sperm donation are unconstitutional. The man, identified only in the press as Aziz M., is suing Health Canada, the country’s national health department. He says the current policy is unconstitutional and renders him and other MSM as “second-class citizen[s].” Health Canada’s current policies prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating to a sperm bank unless they’ve abstained from sex for three months or are donating sperm to someone they personally know, CTV News reported. The policy refers to sperm from MSM donors […]

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Transgender men win Hong Kong court case over ID cards

Hong Kong’s top court ruled Monday that full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to have their gender changed on their official identity cards, in a move that is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the transgender community. A transgender activist, Henry Edward Tse, and a person identified only as Q appealed to the court last month over the government’s refusal to change the genders on their ID cards because of their decision not to have full sex reassignment surgeries. Tse and Q are both transgender men who have had their breasts removed, received hormonal treatments […]

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Finland passes sweeping reform of gender recognition law and introduces self-ID for trans people

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Finland’s parliament has passed a new gender recognition law which abolishes archaic practices that require trans people to prove they are infertile.  The legislation comes just weeks after the UK government blocked Scotland’s own landmark gender recognition reforms in an unprecedented political move, by using Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to do so.  Scotland’s gender recognition bill would have introduced gender self-identification in a similar way to that of Finland’s new law – and legislation which already exists in 18 other countries.  The new Finnish law – passed by 113 votes to 69 – removes the requirement for trans people to be […]

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Brave Afghans risk their lives to stage powerful LGBTQ+ protest ‘under the noses of the Taliban’

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LGBTQ+ activists have staged a defiant protest in Afghanistan to draw attention to the United States’ failure to offer protection from the Taliban. At a private residence on Wednesday (1 February) in the country’s capital Kabul, around a dozen Afghan people from the Behesht Collective, an LGBTQ+ group, congregated to show the world that their lives are still in jeopardy. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, reports have circulated of LGBTQ+ people being beaten, raped and even murdered in Afghanistan.  It’s a dire situation, but finding a route to safety isn’t always easy – numerous western governments have introduced policies making it harder for […]

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Russian festival changes name to avoid breaking anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda law

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The Rainbow Festival — an annual international theatre festival held in St. Petersburg, Russia — has changed its name to “The International Theater Festival” in order to avoid violating Russia’s recently-expanded law banning LGBTQ+ propaganda. The festival, held in May at the St. Petersburg Bryantsev Theatre for Young Spectators, has run since 2000 and has hosted young performance groups from the U.S. and Europe. Explaining the festival’s name change, the theater’s director, Svetlana Lavretsova, said, “When the law passed banning LGBT propaganda, we immediately started thinking, ‘We don’t want to look like we’re making LGBT propaganda.’ So we gathered our team […]

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German parliament officially commemorates LGBTQ victims of Nazi regime for first time

The German parliament for the first time on Friday focused its annual Holocaust memorial commemorations on people persecuted and killed over their sexual or gender identity during World War II. Campaigners in Germany have worked for decades to establish an official ceremony to commemorate the LGBTQ victims persecuted under the Nazi regime. “Today’s hour of remembrances focuses on a group of victims which had to fight for a long time to achieve recognition: people who were persecuted by the National Socialists because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” Baerbel Bas, president of the Bundestag lower house, said while opening a ceremony […]

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LGBTQ+ refugees on list of people to be sent to Rwanda – despite Tory government knowing it’s unsafe

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A report has found that a number of people at risk of being deported to Rwanda are LGBTQ+, even though the UK Government has admitted there is evidence queer refugees could face persecution in the country. Analysis by refugee charity Care4Calais found that of 213 asylum seekers who have received Rwanda Notices of Intent from the Home Office since August 2022, three identified as LGBTQ+ and 13 were women.  In 2022, the UK announced a scheme that would see refugees who arrived in Britain via small boats and lorries deported to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there. The first […]

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