A court in South Korea rejected a lawsuit brought by a gay couple attempting to gain equal access to health care benefits Friday — a ruling that advocates say highlights the struggles of LGBTQ people trying to gain rights in the country.
The lawsuit, filed last year by So Seong-wook, challenged South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) after it took away his ability to receive spousal benefits from the employer of his partner Kim Yong-min.
“The union of a man and woman is still considered the fundamental element of marriage, according to civil law, precedents of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court and the general perception of society,” the court ruled, according to the United Press International (UPI).
The couple is not married as same-sex marriage is not recognized in South Korea.
However, according to the Korea Herald, the NHIS allowed Kim to register So as his dependent in early 2020 — later reversing the decision citing their same-sex marriage. It was believed to be the first such case in the country.
In the lawsuit, So claimed he and his partner were discriminated against because the NHIS grants spousal coverage to common-law partners, often used by opposite-sex couples who are not married.
“Under the current legal system, it is difficult to evaluate the relationship between two people of the same sex as a common-law relationship,” said the ruling.
At a press conference, So told reporters that they plan to appeal the decision, adding: “I believe a world in which people can live equally is coming soon.”
“Even though the court has left it as a matter for the legislative branch, we will continue to fight until the day that our relationship is recognized,” Kim said outside the court. “I believe that love will eventually win.”
Advocates in South Korea said Friday’s ruling was a missed opportunity to move LGBTQ rights forward in the country, where there are also no anti-discrimination laws protecting sexual and gender minorities.
“The court could have made a more meaningful decision on the case, but they are trying to avoid touching this issue,” Lee Jong-geol, general director of LGBTQ advocacy group Chingusai, told UPI after the verdict.
“But [the case] may help push the country to see that this is an unavoidable issue that we need to do something about,” he said.
A judge in Taiwan has ruled in favour of a gay man who wants to adopt his husband’s non-biological child, in a historic step for LGBT+ rights.
Currently Taiwan, which in 2019 became the very first country in Asia to legalise marriage equality, only allows same-sex couples to adopt when one partner is the biological parent of the child.
But on 25 December, a family court in Kaohsiung city ruled that 38-year-old Wang Chen-wei’s child, who he previously adopted, could also be adopted by his 34-year-old husband Chen Chun-ju.
However, the ruling only applies to their specific case, and has not legalised same-sex adoption across the country.
Chen-wei told AFP: “I am happy that my spouse is also legally recognised as the father of our child… but I can’t feel all that happy without amending the law.
“It’s really absurd that same-sex people can adopt a child when they are single but they can’t after they get married.”
According to Taipei Times, Chen-wei added on Facebook: “We will continue to fight. The key is having the law revised.
“If our family wants to adopt another child, will we have to go through the same process again and gamble on which judicial affairs officer we get? Or will the law have been amended so it won’t be so hard for everybody?”
The path forward for other same-sex couples who want to adopt is unclear.
The Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No 748, which legalised same-sex marriage in Taiwan, does not expressly allow or forbid same-sex adoption of children who are not biologically related to either parent, and only mentions one spouse adopting “the genetic child of the other party”.
While the Kaohsiung ruled that it the child in question should not be discriminated against, and that it would be “inappropriate to give a negative or discriminatory interpretation of the provision”, the Taiwan Equality Campaign said that two other couples it supports had had their adoption requests rejected.
Jennifer Lu, executive director of the LGBT+ rights group, told AFP: “We hope the rulings serve as a reminder to government officials and lawmakers that the current unfair legal conditions need to be changed.”
A California bill aiming to outlaw forced and unnecessary genital surgeries on intersex children has been pulled.
California state senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, has been working for three years to try to ban the “corrective surgeries”.
His bill, SB225, would have banned unnecessary surgeries on intersex children under the age of 12, but it has been stuck in the Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development, according to the Associated Press.
In 2020, the bill was opposed by committee chairman and state senator Steve Glazer, who said he believed it was moving “in the right direction,” but that he did not support the bill in its current form.
It has faced opposition from parents who want to make decisions on behalf of their children as well as the California Medical Association, and on Tuesday (4 January) Wiener said the bill “does not appear to have a viable path forward”.
He wrote on Twitter: “For three years, we’ve worked to pass legislation to protect intersex babies from medically unnecessary genital surgeries.
“Sadly, SB225 continues to lack the votes in the Business and Professions Committee. Despite this setback, I’m committed to this fight.”
Speaking to the Associated Press,Wiener added: “Pausing medically unnecessary genital surgeries until a child is old enough to participate in the decision isn’t a radical idea. Rather, it’s about basic human dignity.
“I’m not giving up, and I stand in solidarity with the intersex community in its fight for bodily autonomy, dignity and choice.”
Ebony Harper, executive director of California TRANScends, told PinkNews: “We are furious that SB225 had little to no support in the California state legislature. You can not claim pro-LGBTQIA+ liberties and drop the ball on protecting intersex babies.
“We hear stories of infant genital mutilation and the mental harm that it often causes.
“These archaic practices need to stop now… People are dying; there are high rates of suicide in our intersex communities because of mutilation. It is our duty to protect intersex babies, that will become intersex adults, defending them from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions, violence, and protection from discrimination.
“That is our duty! And California has just dropped a huge ball… We will regroup and support any future bill to ensure protection from infant genital mutilation.
‘We want our intersex community to know you’re not alone, and we stand with you, love and support you.”
Intersex is an umbrella term, which encompasses those who are born with sex characteristics outside of the binary “female” and “male” definitions, and being intersex is thought to be as common as having red hair.
However, around the world, intersex children are forced to undergo unnecessary and cosmetic surgeries to “correct” their genitals.
These surgeries can cause long-lasting harm, and a 2013 United Nations report said: “Children who are born with atypical sex characteristics are often subject to irreversible sex assignment, involuntary sterilization, involuntary genital normalizing surgery … leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility and causing severe mental suffering.”
There are currently no laws in the US, federal or state, which protect children from these surgeries.
On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters who believed that President Joe Biden had secretly and successfully stolen millions of ballots across multiple states to usurp the presidency stormed the Capitol with the intent of stopping Congress from accepting the states’ election results.
The crowd chanted for the death of Mike Pence – who was presiding over the Senate that day – and fashioned a makeshift noose as elected officials were swept to safety by the Secret Service and Capitol Police.
He has been charged with unlawfully entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds as well as violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol Grounds.
After the charges were announced, Shroyer released a video claiming his innocence and that he was merely at the Capitol as a journalist.
Yet the complaint filed against him quotes his appearance in a video that day saying, “Today we march for the Capitol because on this historic January 6, 2021, we have to let our Congressmen and women know, and we have to let Mike Pence know, they stole the election, we know they stole it, and we aren’t going to accept it!”
Mark Sahady
Mark Sahady is the Vice President of the far-right conservative group Super Happy Fun America (SHFA) and was arrested after the riots for entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disruptive and disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
On its website, SHFA describes itself as “a right of center civil rights organization focusing on defending the Constitution, opposing gender madness and defeating cultural Marxism.”
It’s tagline: “It’s Great to be Straight.”
In 2019, Sahady was an organizer for the group’s infamous Straight Pride Parade in Boston, the city where he would be arrested in January 2021.
Gina Michelle Bisignano
Gina Bisignano, allegedly at the MAGA riots Screenshot/Twitter
Gina Michelle Bisignano, a Trump supporter who made headlines in 2020 for shouting anti-gay slurs at an anti-mask protest, was arrested last January for participating in the Capitol riots.
“You’re a faggot,” Bisignano, said in the viral video from December 2020. “I said it. I don’t give a shit. You’re disgusting. You’re a New World Order Satanist.”
Bisignano owns Gina’s Eyelashes and Skincare salon in Beverly Hills and was taken into custody by the FBI on charges of civil disorder, destruction of government property, and aiding and abetting in connection with the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
“Everybody, we need gas masks, we need weapons,” a woman believed to be Bisignano shouts on a megaphone in a video posted to social media during the riots. “We need strong, angry patriots to help our boys, they don’t want to leave. We need protection.”
In another video, a woman who identifies herself as Bisignano at the MAGA riots said, “I’m a patriot!”
Suzanne Ianni
Screenshot, NBC10 Boston
Suzanne Ianni, the operations director of Super Happy Fun America, was arrested for entering a restricted building or grounds as well as disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The international news agency Agence France Presse captured photographs of Ianni inside the Capitol on January 6, MetroWest Daily News reported in July. Ianni also reportedly helped organize 11 buses of protestors that traveled from Massachusetts to Washington to denounce President Joe Biden’s victory.
Kevin Tuck
Pastor Kevin Tuck Screenshot
After police officer Kevin Tuck was charged for participating in the riots, he began ranting on YouTube about how he believes it’s unjust that people are getting arrested for rioting in Congress.
“Patriots were fed up – fed up,” he said about that day, calling himself “Pastor Kevin.”
“Patriots are being arrested left and right for trespassing. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He told conservatives to “rise up” and said that the GOP is supporting “alternative lifestyles.”
“The Republican Party is weak,” he said. “We need to rise up and be conservative again. Do you remember what conservative means, Republicans? Hear me out: We are embracing the homosexual lifestyle as if this is normal.”
“Was that your motivation for going to Washington?” she asked. He said he couldn’t answer without talking to his attorney first.
Prosecutors say that Tuck texted his family immediately after the insurrection: “We stormed the Capitol, fought the police, took the flag. It is our flag.”
Tuck was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, entering and remaining in the Gallery of Congress, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Over 30 years ago, Frances “Franco” Stevens founded Curve, the most successful lesbian magazine in the world, connecting lesbian community, changing the way lesbians are seen by the mainstream, highlighting the transgender experience, raising awareness of attacks on LGBTQ rights and amplifying the work of lesbian activists. One of the three 2021 recipients of the GLBT Historical Society’s History Maker Awards, Stevens reacquired Curve and co-founded the Curve Foundation last year to empower the Curve community — lesbians, queer women, trans women and nonbinary people of all races, ages and abilities.
The Foundation’s mission is to spur storytelling and cross-generational dialogue by supporting journalism inspired by the tradition of Curve magazine, investing in the next generation of intersectional leaders and bolstering community archives to ensure LGBTQ women’s culture and history are known. In addition to a fellowship to support emerging journalists, the foundation is establishing its own digital archives to preserve the living legacy of Curve magazine and inspire future writers. The foundation is currently hiring an archivist to oversee the launch of this initiative. We sat down for a chat with Stevens and Jasmine Sudarkasa, the Curve Foundation’s executive director.
The GLBT Historical Society’s archives enable people to learn about the LGBTQ past. Likewise, how are the new Curve Foundation’s activities inspired by the past 30 years of Curve magazine?
Jasmine: The work of the foundation is rooted in the magazine’s legacy: we resource stories and storytellers that embody authenticity, cultivate a sense of belonging and support intergenerational trust and resilience. These values are inspired by lesbian legacies of community building and culture work, particularly as embodied in Curve magazine. Putting these values into practice, then, we maintain two programs: The Curve Award, to resource LGBTQ storytellers, and The Curve Archive, which curates, activates and preserves lesbian stories well into the future.
Franco: There is no other organization that bridges our past and our present so directly. By preserving and making the Curve Archive available, we are honoring our history and making it visible and accessible today. By supporting today’s journalists and inviting them to find inspiration in the archives, we are fostering an intergenerational dialogue. All of the foundation’s programming is rooted in our history as a way of not only preserving our past, but also informing how we carve out our future.
The Curve Award is designed to foreground the voices of those who have been marginalized or censored. What kind of support do recipients receive?
The five winners of the Curve Award receive a $5,000 cash award, one-on-one mentoring through the National LGBTQ+ Journalists Association (NLGJA), cohort-based professional development and opportunities for outward-facing visibility. This might include conference presentations at NLGJA, writing opportunities for Curve, and so on. We are incredibly proud of the 2021 cohort—they are an incredible cadre of emerging journalists and have been published everywhere from the New York Times to Them. Applications for the 2022 cohort will go live in April, and we hope to hear from many more journalists this year.
The Curve Archive will make the entire run of Curve magazine available to the public in 2022; how has the GLBT Historical Society’s work helped with this project?
The GLBT Historical Society has been an invaluable partner to us in our first year of operations. The archival and development teams have been incredibly gracious, helping us to understand what it really takes to orchestrate and operate a compelling archive. We have a lot of gratitude for the leadership of the society in both setting the standard for efficacy and creating space to teach new partners in the field. It’s a very generous way to steward LGBTQ history, and very much in line with our approach to the work.
Frances “Franco” Stevens founded Curve in 1990. She has served on the board of GLAAD, was a founding board member of the San Francisco LGBT Center, and has worked extensively to promote lesbian visibility and educate media professionals on the lesbian market. Franco is the subject of the documentary Ahead of the Curve (dir. Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow, 2020).
Jasmine Surdakasa is the executive director of the Curve Foundation. She learned philanthropic practice while serving as the program fellow for the Effective Philanthropy Group at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, exploring equitable methods and power-sharing. Before philanthropy, she served as the senior trainer on behalf of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS), subject agency of the film Very Young Girls.
In a long-awaited triumph for the U.K.’s LGBTQ community, the government on Tuesday announced that anyone convicted of consensual same-sex activity under now-defunct laws will soon be eligible to be pardoned and have their records wiped clean.
This week’s announcement follows a less-expansive2017measure that was limited to nine former offenses that targeted gay and bisexual men. The new amendment will widen the criteria to anyone officially warned or convicted for an abolished civil or military offense that was imposed due to consensual gay sex.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel at a media briefing at Downing Street last January.Matt Dunham / WPA Pool/Getty Images file
British Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a statement that it was only right that where offenses have been abolished, “convictions for consensual activity between same-sex partners should be disregarded, too.”
“I hope that expanding the pardons and disregards scheme will go some way to righting the wrongs of the past and to reassuring members of the LGBT community that Britain is one of the safest places in the world to call home,” she said.
According to the U.K. government’s statement, those eligible can apply to have their convictions wiped from their records under the condition that the sexual activity is currently legal and that any party involved was 16 or older at the time of the incident. The plan also includes a posthumous pardon granted to those who have died before the amendment’s ratification and within 12 months after.
Britain started to legalize consensual sex between men in 1967. Then in 2001, the age of consent for gay and bisexual men was lowered from 21 to 16, bringing it on par with the age of consent for heterosexuals. For comparison, England’s sodomy laws were repealed long after similar laws in France were abolished in 1791, but before all American sodomy laws were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.
In 2013, Alan Turing, the codebreaker who aided in the defeat of the Nazis, was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II for a same-sex offense he was convicted of in 1952. Then in 2016, the U.K announced its pardon plan, dubbed “Turing’s Law,” which granted posthumous pardons to thousands of men convicted under now-repealed laws.
Approximately 65,000 men were convicted under these abolished measures, according to Lord John Sharkey, a British politician who had been pushing for the pardons. In 2016, Sharkey estimated that 15,000 of these men were still alive, NBC News reported at the time.
LGBTQ advocates welcomed Tuesday’s announcement, but some called for the government to issue a formal apology to those affected by the historical convictions.
“Posthumous pardoning offers only a symbolic gesture to those who have since died without clearing their name,” the British advocacy group LGBTQ Foundation said in a statement, adding that the government must recognize “the pain, trauma and lifelong guilt and stigma these convictions gave many LGBTQ+ people, who were simply trying to live their lives and be their true selves.”
The group also said that the government should not make LGBTQ Britons apply for their convictions to be removed, which “has the potential to bring up past trauma.” Instead, they argued that the government should remove the offenses automatically.
The United Kingdom is not the only country to pardon past crimes involving consensual same-sex relationships. A similar victory swept across Australia in 2008, when all states and territories passed legislation allowing for the expungement of past homosexual offenses. And in the U.S., California Gov. Gavin Newsom created a pardon process in 2020 for LGBTQ Californians convicted under outdated laws criminalizing same-sex activity.
Sunday January 9, 2022 @ 3 pm. ‘Words and Music’, featuring Laurie Lewis, Don Henry, and Claudia Russell with Nina Gerber at Occidental Center for the Arts. Join us for an afternoon of outstanding music when three celebrated, award-winning singer-songwriters return to our stage to trade songs in a Nashville-style song circle, accompanied by virtuoso guitarist Nina Gerber. Don’t miss this special collaboration of talent at our acoustic sweet spot! $30 General/$25 OCA Members. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. Please be masked and bring proof of Covid vaccine/ID. Fine refreshments available, Art Gallery open. OCA is accessible to people with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts – 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465.
The trans Pride flag has been planted on the peak of Antarctica’s highest mountain, Vinson Massif, by trans climber Erin Parisi.
Dedicating her achievement to “the resilience of the trans community” that “took me in when I had no hope”, Parisi said trans people “showed me that it’s better to be visible and free, than live in self-imposed exile, and that stigma withers when we visibly embrace our truth”.
Parisi added, in an Instagram post: “We’ve been pushed down, often even beat up, and faced every kind of coldness through our lives – our resilience keeps us rising to the top.”
She reached the 4,892 metre summit of Vinson Massif on 26 December after setting off for Antarctica on 18 December.
Reaching the highest point in Antarctica is part of Parisi’s years-long attemptto be the first openly trans woman to complete the “Seven Summits”: a mountaineering challenge to climb to the highest point of each of the planet’s seven continents.
Antarctica’s Vinson Massif was Parisi’s fifth peak of the seven summits: she still has Mount Denali, in Alaska, and Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, left to go.https://www.instagram.com/p/CYG_ja7uTPa/embed/?cr=1&v=14&wp=996&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk&rp=%2F2022%2F01%2F03%2Ftrans-pride-flag-seven-summits-antarctica-erin-parisi%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A1040%2C%22ls%22%3A825.0000000000001%2C%22le%22%3A848%7D
Speaking to PinkNews in July 2020, when she’d reached four of the seven peaks, Parisi also spoke about resilience when thinking about ascending Mount Everest as an openly trans climber: “When I look at Everest, I really very much see it as our way to be resilient, and to show that story of strength and recovery and resilience.”
She also described climbing Russia’s Mount Elbrus in June 2018. She didn’t fly a trans flag at the summit – the rainbow Pride flag is considered anti-family propaganda in Russia, and Erin knew she couldn’t face two weeks in a Russian prison – but she made a ‘T’ symbol with her hands at the top.
“That T is kind of my little rebellion where it’s like, you know, I’m trans and I’m on top of this mountain, the highest point in Europe, and this is this is who I am.”
Erin Parisi making a ‘T’ sign for Trans Pride on the peak of Mount Elbrus, Russia – Europe’s highest mountain – in 2018. (Supplied)
As well summiting Vinson Massif in 2021, Parisi has climbed Argentina’s Aconcagua, in 2019; Russia’s Mount Elbrus, in 2018; Tanazania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, on International Women’s Day (8 March) in 2018; and Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko, also in 2018.
For each summit, Parisi takes a trans Pride flag – the pink, white and blue flag designed by trans Navy veteran Monica Helms – to plant at the peak.
Helms is aware of Parisi’s mission: “She said it’s her life’s dream to see it sit on top of Mount Everest. I did commit to Monica that I would bring a trans flag to the top of Everest.”
Pioneering Chinese-American gay rights activist and social worker Jim Toy, widely considered to be the first gay man to come out publicly in Michigan, has died at the age of 91.
Toy died on 1 January, according to Washtenaw county commissioner Jason Morgan, who shared the news on social media.
“Jim Toy was and will always be a champion for LGBTQ rights and the our community,” said Morgan. “He was a mentor, friend and someone I admired. I am honoured to have known Jim.”
Morgan added that Toy helped pass LGBT+ protections throughout Washtenaw county, founded the first on-campus LGBT+ resource centre at the University of Michigan, and spent his life fighting for LGBT+ equality – so much so, that he was the namesake of the The Jim Toy Community Center, a resource for the community in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and greater Washtenaw County.
Toy came out as gay at a rally in Detroit in 1970, where he was representing the Detroit Gay Liberation Front, of which he was a founding member.
In 2015, Toy described this moment to the Ann Arbor News: “Our speaker at the anti-Vietnam War rally in Detroit said he wasn’t going to speak, so finally I spoke, and I came out. That was April 15, 1970.”
Toy was a trained clinical social worker, who graduated from the University of Michigan and then worked at the university, first as a diversity coordinator and then helping to establish the university’s human sexuality office – the first on-campus centre in history dedicated to supporting people from sexual-minority groups.
He also founded the Ann Arbor Gay Hotline in 1972, wrote the city’s sexual orientation non-discrimination policy, and in 1971 was appointed to the Diocesan Commission on Homosexuality by the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan – helping to inspire more support for LGBT+ people within Christian churches.
A regular at political rallies and a trailblazer for gay rights, Toy said in 2020: “I am committed to making as much trouble as I can to create and maintain justice.”
Remembering Jim Toy, many spoke to how he had advocated for the gay community since the 1970s, when he raised awareness of anti-gay discrimination and wrote policies to protect the gay community.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell said Toy was a “champion for equality”.
“He was a trailblazer not only for LGBTQ rights in Michigan but across the country. And he was a dear friend to me and John. Throughout his life, he worked to ensure that Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County communities were safe spaces where residents could live with pride in who they are and without fear of discrimination.
“Often I think about Jim’s words, ‘I am committed to making as much trouble as I can to create and maintain justice.’ He fought with every bone in his body to support the LGBTQ community, to fight for marriage equality, to ensure protections for so many.
“Love continues to win because of the dedication that Jim put into his work. We owe so much to him and it’s on all of us to ensure his legacy continues. I’m thinking about his family, friends, and the Ann Arbor community as we mourn this great loss.”
Israel will allow surrogacy for same-sex couples, single men and trans people from next week after a decade-long legal battle.
Health minister Nitzan Horowitz announced on Tuesday (4 January) that new rules making surrogacy accessible to all families will come into effect on 11 January.
Currently, surrogacy in Israel is only legal for heterosexual, married couples and single women who ask a surrogate to carry their biological child. Same-sex couples and single men must currently go abroad if they wish to access surrogacy, making the process even more complex and expensive.
According to the Times of Israel, while announcing the lifting of the ban, Horowitz said: “Today we put an end to injustice and discrimination. Everyone has the right to parenthood.”
Horowitz, who is Israel’s second openly gay Knesset member, said that the new surrogacy rules would include trans parents, and that they would enable “future fathers, gay couples and essentially every person in Israel equal access to surrogacy in Israel”.
“This is an exciting day for me, as a gay minister who is well aware of the exclusion and discrimination against us over the years,” he added. “It’s my personal struggle too.”
The 2021 court ruling on surrogacy came more than a decade after a petition was first filed at Israel’s top court in 2010 by gay couple Etai Pinkas Arad and Yoav Arad Pinkas.
Arad and Pinkas said in a statement that the announcement marked “a historic day”, and a “day of joy for Israeli society in general and in particular for the LGBT+ community, also due to the inclusion of the trans community in the amendment to the law”.
The Aguda – the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel said in a statement on social media: “After years of struggle – in the streets, in the courts, in the Knesset and in the government, we have succeeded and this is the achievement of us all.
“The right to be a parent is a basic right for every person and today we are taking a historic step in the struggle for equality.
“Along with the joy, we know that even today our struggle is still far from over. The road is still long and begins first of all with the most vulnerable populations in the LGBT+ community, and we are here to continue to fight for the rights of us all, everywhere.”
