In a country where it is not only illegal to be gay, but laws are defined by traditional and strict religious views, a trans woman being elected councillor seems like a fever dream.
But for Bangladeshi garment shop owner Pinki Khatun, it’s a reality.
Khatun was elected as councillor for Kotchandpur, a rural town in the country’s westside, after beating her nearest rival by more than 4,000 votes earlier this week, reported The Straits Times.
“I am very delighted. I campaigned door-to-door and people have responded positively,” said Khatun.
“I did not face any discrimination or hate campaigns.”
Trans councillor: ‘My aim is to work for the betterment of women and protect their rights’.
Local police chief Mahbubul Alam confirmed the win for Khatun on Monday.
The 37-year-old is a youth wing official of the ruling Awami League party.
She campaigned as an independent candidate in the 200,000-population town of Kotchandpur after the party did not back anyone.
In parts of South Asia, the term hijra refers to certain women, intersex and non-binary people assigned male at birth. While some hijra are trans, not all trans people are hijra.
The community has received some legal recognition in the last decade, but work continues from tireless campaigners to enshrine the wider LGBT+ community with better protections while improving cultural attitudes.
“My aim is to work for the betterment of women and protect their rights,” said Khatun.
A Californian police officer smashed a gay man against a car’s windshield – hurling homophobic insults at him and mocking his voice – is now retired and collecting around $100,ooo per year from his pension pot.
The former Palo Alto police sergeant was swamped with criticism when video footage capturing the incident went viral in April, The Mercury News reported.
Wayne Benitez was placed on administrative leave earlier this year after the video surfaced, state officials said, and retired on 30 September.
Scrutiny bubbled again, however, when it emerged that the former officer is collecting a monthly pension of $9,866 — earning him an annual retirement package of about $118,600, according to Amy Morgan, information officer for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Benitez joined the city’s police department in 2000 and previously served as union president of the Peace Officers Association.
Gustavo Alvarez filed a federal lawsuit against the Palo Alto Police Department in April, alleging that several officers used excessive force when he was pulled over and arrested in February 2018.
Alvarez had been allegedly driving with a suspended license, leading to law enforcement to break his door down, cuff him, slam him against the car and make him bleed.
The only evidence of the attack is surveillance footage from outside Alvarez’s house that he set up in front of his residence. Officers had removed their body cameras and parked their cars facing away from his house, preening being on tape from their dash cameras.
According to the 77-page complaint, officer Christopher Conde was on patrol that day when he spotted Alvarez’s car. He was aware that Alvarez had had his licence suspended a month before, so followed in pursuit.
Although, he was unaware if Alvarez was even in the vehicle.
Soon after, he went to Alvarez’s mobile home telling him he was being arrested for driving without documentation.
When Alvarez asks the officer if he saw him driving, Conde admitted that he didn’t. Alvarez then went back inside his home.
After telling officers he was coming out, officers busted gay man’s door down and dragged him outside.
As a result, Conde called for backup – including Benitez – to order Alvarez outside his home. Despite informing officers he was coming out, they busted his door, dragged him outside and cuffed him.
His head was repeatedly smashed into his car windshield, as the sergeant asked: “You think you’re a tough guy now?”
“You’re going to be bleeding a whole lot more.”
“See how well they behave when we put our foot down?” Benitez said to another officer after Alvarez was back in the squad car. “That’s what we don’t do enough of,” the mic recording showed.
Benitez added “He’s gay” before calling the suspect a “frickin’ low life”. He ordered for Alvarez’s car to be towed and proceeded to raise his voice to mock him while mentioning Alvarez’s sexuality.
Furthermore, Alvarez alleged that the incident was provoked partly because he is gay.
Suspect’s attorney: ‘To think that taxpayers are still rewarding him is incomprehensible at this point in time and history.’
Alvarez spent two weeks in Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of driving under influence, driving with a suspended or revoked license and resisting arrest.
But all of those charges were later dismissed by the Santa Clara County Superior County due to insufficient evidence.
“Obviously the police department and the city of Palo Alto thus far have failed to step up and condemn the actions of these officers,” Alvarez’s attorney Cody Salfen told Mercury News.
“To think that taxpayers are still rewarding him is incomprehensible at this point in time and history.”
“This speaks volumes to our claims that the agency suffers from a culture of violence, a culture of covering things up, a culture of failing to adhere to their constitutional duties as police officers to the point that they are breaking their own policies and therefore, the law,” Salfen said.
Efforts to contact Benitez proved unsuccessful, TheMercury News reported.
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Sum Ting Wong opted for a more muted look today as she and more than “150 people” protested today against the first UK Chick-fil-A store.
In the southern town of Reading, England, locals were filled with unease when they awoke to the news that the American fast-food chain – known for its donations to anti-LGBT+ organisations – was set to open up shop in their town.
Sending ripples through the queer community, campaigners rallied together to stand against the chain by spilling outside The Oracle shopping centre in the Berkshire town today telling the corporation to ‘sashay away’.
The protest came after a spokesperson for the shopping centre confirmed that that “the right thing to do” is to not extend Chick-fil-A’s lease past its “six-month pilot period”, Reading Pride confirmed in a news release.
Organisers added that as the “restaurant will be profiting from unsuspecting patrons”, the protest would continue as planned.
Protest organisers: ‘They failed to respond, and so we took action’.
Protesters watch speeches from Reading Labour councillors and Reading Pride organisers. (Martin Cooper)
Dozens of local residents and Pride organisations from nearby towns gathered on the red bricked-Broad Street to hoist up rainbow Pride flags, unfurl banners and hand out pamphlets at around 11am.
Protesters chanted “Chick-fil-A, sashay away!” while others held banners up high reading: “Get the chick out! Say no to bigotry and hatred on your High Street.”
The beating heart of the ‘Get The Chick Out’ protest was Reading Pride – first formed in 2003.
Reading Pride chief executive officer Martin Cooper told PinkNews that the LGBT+ community needs to take a stand against the corporation.
“The individual franchises may have differing views to the family that own the company.
“But the profits that are made are used towards anti-LGBT+ activities, including conversion therapies and law making in Uganda, where officials want to ‘kill the gays’.
“Therefore, it is appropriate to protest and let the community know where their money could go.”
Labour councillors, local unions and officials from the UK Pride Organisers Network travelled to the city’s shopping district to show their support.
While representatives from Gloucester Pride, Newbury Pride, Pride in Surrey and Weston-Super-Mare Pride swung to plump up crowds, which organisers estimated saw around 150 people attend throughout the day.
“All in all, the message was put across, and it was clear,” Cooper recounted.
“We won’t allow companies that are actively supporting oppression of LGBT+ persons to get away with setting up shop without calling to question their actions.
“They failed to respond, and so we took action.
“And it paid off.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star allegedly turned away from Chick-fil-A.
Outside a Sainsbury’s supermarket in the city centre, shoppers may have been given a flyer from Sum Ting Wong.
Wong was dressed to match the airy weather in a nondescript mustard beanie, grey drop-stitch cardigan and sandals.
Far removed from her usual powdered, perfumed drag that has made her a fan favourite on the show.
Sum Ting Wong, the stage name of Bo Zeng, is a Reading local who took part in the protest today, pictured handing out pamphlets in front of a convince store. (Martin Cooper)
But the Reading local meant business as she joined protesters in solidarity.
Attempting to go into the Chick-fil-A, Wong was allegedly turned away by staff, according to a tweet.
“But I just wanted see if chicken tasted better than bigotry?” Wong continued.
Moreover, Wong claimed in another tweet that customers in the branch threw “the middle finger” at protesters outside – an obscene hand gesture in the UK.
A Hong Kong court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage and civil union partnerships on Friday after a lesbian identified as “MK” launched the city’s first judicial challenge on the issue, stating it violated her constitutional rights.
Rights group Amnesty International described the judgment as a “bitter blow” for LGBTQ people in Hong Kong.
“Sadly, the discriminatory treatment of same-sex couples will continue for the time being,” Amnesty said in a statement.
The Court of First Instance ruled that the government was not obliged to provide an alternative legal framework such as civil unions, giving same-sex couples the equal rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex married couples.
The court said that, while there are diverse and opposing views in society, it expressed “no view on the associated social, moral and/or religious issues” and that it had adopted a strict legal approach to the matter.
Homosexuality has been decriminalized since 1991 in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The city has an annual pride parade and lively gay scene.
It does not, however, recognize same-sex marriage and LGBTQ activists voice concerns about widespread discrimination.
Hong Kong’s top court in June ruled in favor of a gay civil servant fighting for spousal and tax benefits for his husband.
The parents of murdered gay man Matthew Shepard snubbed a Trump administration ceremony in his honour, accusing the GOP-led Department of Justice of exploiting his memory.
A ceremony was held at the Department of Justice on Thursday to mark ten years since the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a law signed by president Obama that extended federal hate crime laws to cover LGBT+ people.
The law is partly named in memory of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998 in a homophobic attack that saw his killers escape hate crime charges.
Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, skipped the ceremony, and angrily denounced the Trump administration’s attempt to take advantage of their son’s memory while fighting at the Supreme Court against protectionsfor LGBT+ employees.
Parents of Matthew Shepard blast ‘hypocritical’ attorney general William Barr.
In a letter, the couple denounced attorney general William Barr, writing: “We find it interesting and hypocritical that he would invite us to this event commemorating a hate crime law named after our son and Mr Byrd, while, at the same time, asking the Supreme Court to allow the legalised firing of transgender employees.”
“If you believe that employers should have the right to terminate transgender employees, just because they are transgender, then you believe they are lesser than and not worthy of protection.”
“If so, you need not invite us to future events at the Department of Justice that are billed as celebrating the law that protects these same individuals from hate crimes. Either you believe in equality for all or you don’t.
“We do not honour our son by kowtowing to hypocrisy.”
Attorney general Barr also did not attend the event at the Department of Justice.
Judy and Dennis Shepard thanks federal employees for fighting ‘uphill battle’ against Trump administration.
The Shepards paid tribute to employees within the Department of Justice who “truly believe in protecting all Americans from injustice”, adding: “We understand how frustrating and thankless it is when you are fighting an uphill battle under today’s political climate and with little or no support or assistance from the administration.”
The couple added: “We don’t want to see another incident or life lost as we lost Matt. Any loss of life, any loss of a job, any loss of desire to work towards fulfilling a person’s dreams and goals because of hate related words or actions is a loss to the local community where that person lives, a loss to the state where that person lives, and a loss to this country.
“We look forward to a re-focus on the causes of hate crimes and the reduction of hate crime incidents as America changes direction and moves forward towards a more equal and just country.”
Shortly after Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi died by suicide in 2010, Canadian teen Brittany McMillan decided to do something about it: She created a Facebook event calling on people to wear purple — the “spirit” color of the rainbow pride flag — on the third Thursday of October to show that they stand against anti-LGBTQ bullying.
By the time the first Spirit Day took place on Oct. 20, 2010, it was already a worldwide phenomenon.
“Since then, it has evolved into more than just wearing purple, but ‘going purple,’ which is really quite amazing,” McMillan told NBC News in 2016.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy organization, said Spirit Day had become “a megaphone for allies to send a unified message of acceptance and support to LGBTQ youth each year.”
“In today’s divisive culture and political climate,” she said, “LGBTQ people and allies need to be louder than ever to outshine bullies and tell young people that they will always be supported just as they are.”
As in past years, celebrities across the U.S. and beyond — from movie stars to sports teams — have shared messages of hope and empowerment with LGBTQ youth on Thursday, Spirit Day 2019.
And as a sign of how far Brittany McMillan’s dream has come, this year, several 2020 presidential candidates also shared their messages to LGBTQ youth.
“You’re incredible, you’re as good and better than anybody else, and don’t let people try to tell you you’re not,” former Vice President Joe Biden said. “Remember that, you’re special.”
In his Spirit Day video, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, noted that when he was in high school, “there was literally not one out person that I knew of.”
“When you do speak up, when you are willing to be yourself — which is not an easy thing — know that you are having an impact on other people that are looking to you who you might not even realize,” Buttigieg continued. “Be strong, be yourself, and know that it gets better.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told LGBTQ youth, “You have friends and you have people that have your back.”
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., let LGBTQ youth know they’re “not alone.”
“So do not ever silently suffer and know that you are deserving of respect and dignity and safety, and we will always fight for that,” Harris said in her video.
This year, the 10th annual Spirit Day, the event is more widely observed than ever, even as bullying remains a stubbornly common experience for LGBTQ youth. GLSEN’s 2017 National School Climate Survey found that 70 percent of LGBTQ students say they have been verbally harassed, and over half didn’t report it because they doubted adults in charge would intervene. In that same survey, 60 percent of those who did report bullying say that school staff either did nothing or told the reporting student to “ignore it.”
As awareness of the impact of bullying has spread, thanks in part to groups like the Tyler Clementi Foundation, several cases of LGBTQ suicides have made national headlines as examples of the dangerous consequences of bullying, which increasingly takes place online.
There was 9-year-old Jamel Myles from Denver who died by suicideafter classmates bullied him for being gay. He had come out to his mother the summer before fourth grade and wore false fingernails on the first days of school.
And then there was Nigel Shelby, an Alabama high school freshman who died by suicide after facing bullying from classmates and unsympathetic school administrators who allegedly told him being gay was “a choice.” His mother, Camika Shelby, said administrators knew her son was having suicidal thoughts and did not tell her. Just last month, Tennessee teen Channing Smith died by suicide after sexually explicit texts he had sent to another boy were shared on social media.
Facing growing awareness that bullying increasingly takes place in cyberspace, Instagram took a stab at reducing it on the platform with a new set of features that would use artificial intelligence to tell commenters their posts are abusive, and also allow users to discreetly mute abusers.
Uganda will not impose the death penalty for gay sex, a presidential spokesman said today, after major aid donors said they were monitoring a plan by the African nation to reintroduce a bill colloquially known as “Kill the Gays”. Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo last Thursday said the government planned to re-introduce an anti-homosexuality bill in parliament within weeks to curb the spread of homosexuality in the east African nation.
Lokodo’s statement was widely reported across the world and international donors such as the European Union, World Bank, the United States and the Global Fund said they were monitoring the situation closely and stood by the rights of LGBT+ people. A spokesperson for President Yoweri Museveni on Monday said the government has no plans to introduce the legislation that would impose the death penalty for gay sex.
Around 85% of Ugandans are Christians. Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo is a former Catholic priest and local media continues to refer to him as “Father Lokodo.”
RELATED: As most of you surely recall, the first attempt to pass the “Kill The Gays” bill came after pressure from Christian activist Scott Lively, who was later unsuccessfully sued in the United States for crimes against humanity. Lively has since made two failed runs for governor of Massachusetts.
Many local organizations have worked with us over the years to improve their understanding of LGBTQ identities and their commitment to competently serve LGBTQ people. Have you thought about how to do that in Spanish? Of course, many concepts apply across languages, but if we don’t consider the unique context of language and culture, we’re missing out.
LGBTQ Connection is proud to offer this unique, free, upcoming, LGBTQ training for professionals that serve Latino and Spanish-speaking youth and families (other interested community members are welcome, too) on the morning of October 29 in Napa. Space is limited, so please register soon. This training will be conducted primarily in Spanish. Please also share this invitation with your colleagues and networks that would find the information and resources useful.
Full details are below. Feel free to reach out with any questions.————–
LGBTQ Connection está organizando un nuevo taller en Napa, “LGBTQ En Español: Una Capacitación Para Profesionales Que Apoyan a Jóvenes y Sus Familias”, y ¡usted está invitada/o/x! Con su base en las capacitaciones muy solicitadas de LGBTQ Connection, esta capacitación está diseñada para aumentar las habilidades de profesionales que sirven a jóvenes y a familias. La capacitación destaca maneras de apoyar las identidades de jóvenes latinas/os/xs que también son lesbianas, gay, bisexuales, transgénero, queer, o explorando su identidad. Y también explora como mejor entender y discutir estas identidades.
Los detalles:
Hora: 8:30a – 12:30p Día: 29 de octubre de 2019 Ubicación: Queen of the Valley Community Outreach, 3448 Villa Ln, Suite 102, Napa, CA 94558
Están invitadas/os/xs las/los/lxs profesionales de habla hispana quienes atienden a jóvenes y sus familias. Esta capacitación educacional, interactiva, y divertida es especialmente para las/los/lxs profesionales quienes quieren aumentar su competencia para servir a gente LGBTQ. Hay cupo limitado, por lo tanto reserve su espacio lo más pronto posible.
Participantes saldrán con:
Una mejor comprensión de las identidades LGBTQ.
Más compasión por las personas LGBTQ y sus experiencias.
Concientización de los problemas específicos que afectan la salud mental de las/los/lxs jóvenes LGBTQ y personas mayores LGBTQ.
Más confianza en su capacidad para apoyar a las personas LGBTQ.
Conocimiento de recursos e información de referencia para personas LGBTQ.
Capacidad de identificar recursos específicos de salud mental accesibles para personas LGBTQ.
Favor de compartir esta invitación con tus redes y colegas. Para más información, comuníquese con fernando@lgbtqconnection.org o llame al 707-251-9432. Se servirán bocadillos.
Some 21% of LGBTQ adults aren’t registered to vote, according to a study released this week by the University of California, Los Angeles’ Williams Institute. That’s compared to an estimated 17% of non-LGBTQ adults.
The finding, part of a larger poll of 2,237 people that measured LGBTQ voters’ demographic characteristics and political attitudes, came as LGBTQ rights have taken center stage in the national conversation. Meanwhile, Friday marked National Coming Out Day.
Some LGBTQ voters already face an uphill battle making their voices heard at the ballot box.
“Voter suppression has primarily targeted voters of color, who also happen to include LGBTQ Americans, who far too often face disproportionate barriers in accessing their right to vote,” Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David told the Washington Post after HRC, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ rights, backed a voting-rights initiative led by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
For instance, David said, voter-ID laws in some states requiring that a person’s documentation match their birth-assigned gender could preclude a transgender person from casting a ballot. While about 137,000 transgender people who had transitioned in the U.S. were eligible to vote ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, more than half might not have had documentation or ID that correctly reflected their gender, the Williams Institute found in August 2018.
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Half of the LGBTQ adults registered to vote next November said they were Democrats, 22% were independents and 15% were Republicans.
With that said, almost 9 million LGBTQ adults are eligible and registered to vote next November, according to the most recent poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in collaboration with the Williams Institute and Thomson Reuters. Half said they were Democrats, while 22% were independents and 15% were Republicans.
The sample included 136 registered LGBTQ voters and 1,836 registered non-LGBTQ voters.
LGBTQ rights feature in the 2020 presidential race
The analysis by the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law think tank that researches sexual orientation, gender identity and public policy, comes ahead of a high-stakes election in which civil-rights protections for LGBTQ people could hang in the balance.
The Equality Act, a bill that would shield LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in credit, housing, employment and a range of other areas, passed earlier this year in the Democrat-led House. Activists believe that turning the Republican-led Senate blue in 2020 would boost the bill’s chances of being signed into law.
Many leading Democrats vying for the 2020 nomination — including former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, the only openly gay candidate running — have thrown their support behind the Equality Act. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has also proposed abolishing the filibuster to clear a path for the Equality Act’s passage, should Senate Republicans block it.
‘LGBT voters differ from non-LGBT voters in several ways. For example, they are more likely to be young, male, and live in urban areas.’ —Study author Christy Mallory, the Williams Institute’s state and local policy director
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not brought the bill to the floor, and President Trump’s administration has claimed that the bill in its current form “is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.”
“I’m just going to be blunt: We’ve got to have some more Democrats in the Senate,” Warren said during CNN’s Equality Town Hall on Thursday, responding to a question about how to ensure that the Equality Act passed the Senate. “I’m willing to continue to push Mitch McConnell right now, but my No. 1 goal is to make sure he is not the majority leader come January 2021.”
The Supreme Court will make critical decisions for LGBTQ protections
Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday to determine whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination, also protects LGBTQ people from discrimination in the workplace on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
LGBTQ people were more likely than their non-LGBTQ counterparts (51% to 40%) to support “a career politician who knows his or her way around the political process,” the Williams Institute study found. LGBTQ voters and non-LGBTQ voters alike showed greater support for younger candidates, and both groups signaled that the race of a candidate wouldn’t impact how they voted — though LGBTQ voters were more likely than non-LGBTQ voters to back a candidate because that person was black or Latino.
Majorities of both groups said it wouldn’t matter to their vote if a candidate were gay or lesbian, but far more LGBTQ voters than non-LGBTQ voters said they were “more likely to support a gay candidate” (41% to 10%) or “more likely to support a lesbian candidate (34% to 11%). LGBTQ voters also showed greater support for hypothetical candidates who were transgender or gender-nonbinary.
“LGBT voters differ from non-LGBT voters in several ways. For example, they are more likely to be young, male, and live in urban areas,” study author Christy Mallory, the Williams Institute’s state and local policy director, added in a statement. “LGBT voters are also more likely to identify with the Democratic Party. Over four million LGBT Democrats are eligible to vote in the primaries next year.”
Rainbow Rebellion, the LGBT+ branch of Extinction Rebellion, is trying to show that during an ecological crisis, it’s marginalised communities who will be hit first.
Extinction Rebellion has organised a fortnight of international action, which began on October 7, in cities around the world, calling for governments to take immediate action to address climate change.
He said: “We are a diverse network hailing from all walks of life, united in the belief that climate breakdown and ecological crisis is not only a crisis of the planet, not only a crisis of migrants, but is a crisis of the LGBT+ community as well. There’s no Pride in ecocide.
“LGBT+ people, particularly migrants, disabled people, trans folk and people of colour, are facing disaster on multiple fronts.
“Austerity is killing us off in vast numbers, hate crimes against us have risen exponentially since the financial crash in 2008, and more recently risen since the EU referendum.
“Homelessness is rising, with 24 percent of homeless youth identifying as LGBT+.”
He continued: “As climate breakdown and ecological crisis accelerates, it is the minority communities and the marginalised who will be hit first. And we refuse to let that happen. We are here as part of a nationwide fortnight of action by Extinction Rebellion.
“The queer community are seasoned protesters. We have fought for our survival before, and we will do it again… This is everyone’s fight.”
Extinction Rebellion posted on Twitter: “ExtinctionRebellion has its first marriage. In love, and in rage, they stand on Westminster Bridge to be married. #RebelForLife
“We rebel for their future. They rebel for yours. We all encourage each other.”
