International

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Sweden names first trans government minister in historic step for LGBT+ rights

Sweden’s first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson has added the country’s first-ever trans minister to her new majority female government. On Tuesday (30 November), on her second day as prime minister, Andersson announced her new government, including Lina Axelsson-Kihlbom as education minister. Axelsson-Kihlbom, 51, is a former headteacher and lawyer who became known as “Superrektorn” (“Super Principal”) after she appeared on a documentary series in which she managed to turn around a failing school in one of Sweden’s most deprived areas. The mother-of-two also published a book in 2015 titled Kommer du tycka om mig nu? (Will You Love Me Now?) in which she told the […]

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Botswana Court Upholds Decriminalization Of Gay Sex

Reuters reports: Botswana’s Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a 2019 ruling that decriminalised gay sex, a decision hailed by gay community as establishing the southern African country as a “true democracy”. Monday’s decision in effect struck off two sections of the penal code that had outlawed homosexuality. Before the 2019 High Court ruling, which was praised by international organisations and activists, engaging in gay sex in Botswana was punishable by up to seven years in prison. The state had argued on appeal that the penal code outlawed gay sex and there was no evidence that people’s attitude towards homosexuality had […]

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Intersex Person Victim of Horrific Attack in Cameroon

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A violent mob sexually assaulted, beat, threatened, and humiliated a 27-year-old intersex person on November 15, in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. The perpetrators filmed the attack, which lasted for several hours, in two horrific videos which circulated on social media. According to medical reports issued by a health facility in Yaoundé, the victim Sara (not her real name) suffered multiple hematomas all over her body. Sara’s doctor said that she needed monitoring for 15 to 18 days due to the severity of her injuries. Police arrested a man in connection with the attack, but released him 48 hours later. On November 16, Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS […]

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Israeli deputy foreign minister denies country engages in ‘pinkwashing’

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Israel’s openly gay deputy foreign minister this week dismissed the idea that his country’s government promotes LGBTQ rights in order to divert attention away from its policies towards the Palestinians. “I would never, ever, put myself in a position that I would be the face of ‘pinkwashing’ as part of my role because I’m confident that there’s no such thing in Israel,” Idan Roll told the Washington Blade on Wednesday during an interview at the Riggs Hotel in downtown D.C. Roll, 37, spoke with the Blade at the end of a 4-day trip to D.C., which took place less than […]

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Switzerland to allow same-sex weddings starting July 2022

Same-sex couples can wed in Switzerland from July 1 next year, the government said on Wednesday, enacting the results of a groundbreaking referendum on the issue in September. Voters approved the “Marriage for All” initiative by a nearly two-thirds majority, making Switzerland one of the last countries in Western Europe to legalize gay marriage. In a two-stage process, same-sex couples who have married abroad will have their status recognized from the start of January. Previously, the couples were seen as a registered partnership in Switzerland. The new law will start six months later, which means couples will be allowed to […]

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The terrible, brutal history of Margaret Thatcher’s homophobic Section 28

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It is 18 years today since the controversial and homophobic legislation known as Section 28, introduced under Margaret Thatcher, was repealed in England and Wales. The clause – an amendment to the Local Government Act 1988 – banned local authorities and schools from promoting homosexuality and was brought forward by Thatcher’s government. The legislation has been labelled “toxic and regressive” by deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, who introduced the clause that led to its repeal, and told PinkNews that Section 28 left young people feeling “alone and vulnerable”. “I am proud to have moved the clause that abolished Section 28 […]

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Papua New Guinea: Address Abuses Raised at UN Review

The Papua New Guinea government should seriously address the criticisms of its human rights record and scores of recommendations raised by United Nations member countries, Human Rights Watch said today. Papua New Guinea appeared before the UN Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva on November 4, 2021. “UN member countries rightly criticized Papua New Guinea’s record on gender-based violence, retention of the death penalty, and laws that criminalize same sex relations,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “The UN review made it clear that the Papua New Guinea government hasn’t followed through on some of […]

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A Discriminatory System Killed a Transgender Man in Egypt

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August 26 should have been a day of celebration for Ezz Eldin, a 26-year-old transgender man, but it ended in tragedy. He bled to death after he was prematurely discharged following a gender-affirmation surgery in an underground clinic, transgender activists told Human Rights Watch. Ezz Eldin, who also went by Ahmed Fares, need not have died, and what should have been a life-affirming surgery instead became a life-threatening procedure in an unauthorized clinic. A dysfunctional, discriminatory system left him with no surgical alternative. This is the situation for transgender people in Egypt who are denied access to appropriate health care under a government […]

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China opens first clinic for transgender youths

Breaking with its usual practices on LGBTQ rights and issues, China launched its first medical clinic to treat transgender children and adolescents. The Chinese state-backed media outlet The Global Times recently reported that the clinic opened at the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, saying that it will “serve as a bridge between transgender children, parents, doctors and the various circles of society.” The clinic’s opening and its celebratory coverage in Chinese state media comes as the country simultaneously works to limit LGBTQ activism and voices. Homosexuality has not been illegal in China since 1997, but restrictions for LGBTQ people still […]

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Australia Moves Closer to Ending Harmful Intersex Surgeries

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The Australian Human Rights Commission issued a report today analyzing the persistent practice of medically unnecessary non-consensual surgeries on children born with variations in their sex characteristics. The commission urged authorities to protect children’s rights to informed consent, and to legally regulate the operations. Around the world since the 1950s, people born with variations in their sex characteristics, sometimes called “intersex,” have been subjected to harmful medically unnecessary “normalizing” surgeries. Surgeons popularized these cosmetic surgeries on infants to remove gonads, reduce the size of the clitoris, or increase the size of the vagina. But these procedures are not designed to treat a medical problem, and […]

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