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Neo-Nazi who called for “extermination” of queers gets outed in court

A British man accused of leading a neo-Nazi group with a rabid anti-LGBTQ stance has outed himself as bisexual amid court proceedings.

Prosecutors allege that Andrew Dymock, 23, from Bath, served as a leader and mentor for the System Resistance Network (SRN), a neo-Nazi group. Lawyers in the case also claim that Dymock authored several manifestos for the group, including one titled  “Homosexuality: the Eternal Social Menace.” The article declares that queer people “are simply degenerate and must be purged from society for the greater good”.

Police arrested Dymock in 2018 at Gatwick Airport as he tried to smuggle right-wing propaganda to the United States. Charges against him stem from 2017 and 2018 for disseminating hateful propaganda on the SRN website and Twitter account.

The BBC reports that prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward referred to SRN as anti-Semitic, and presented material that was part of “an agenda against the LGBT community.” Prosecutors also presented two video clips, one showing masked men–one of whom is allegedly Dymock–encouraging viewers to  “join your local Nazis.” Another showed two masked men putting up anti-gay posters and stickers in a neighborhood just prior to a Pride event.

As a strange coda to all this evidence, jurors also heard recordings of a police interview with Dymock, in which he actually comes out himself.

“I am bisexual but lean towards being homosexual,” Dymock says in the recording. Also of note: Dymock wore a pride flag pin on his lapel during the court appearance.

Andrew Dymock stands accused of five counts of encouraging terrorism, four of disseminating terrorist publications, two of terrorist fundraising, one of possessing material useful to a terrorist, one of possessing racially inflammatory material, one of stirring up racial hatred, and one of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. He has denied all charges.

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LGBTQ travelers to the rescue!

Since the tragic events of 9/11 and the abrupt halt to travel that followed, about every 10 years, the tourism industry is knocked back on its heels. The economic meltdown of 2008 and 2009 was even worse on the travel industry than 2001. And the pandemic is a once-a-century calamity exacerbated by the very things that make travel so enriching: large in-person events, meeting new friends at a hotel lounge, slaloming through a crowded bar in a far-flung city.

The travel industry rebooted before, and it will bounce back again soon. And if history is any guide, LGBTQ travelers will lead the way.

Roger Dow, president and CEO of U.S. Travel Association, the Washington, D.C.-based organization representing all segments of travel in America, says, “Gays lead, and the rest follow. They’re adventurous and like new experiences. They have a penchant for travel far greater than their heterosexual counterparts. They travel more and spend more when they travel. They’re the darlings of the travel industry when it comes to spending and dollars.”

Recent history has demonstrated that LGBTQ travelers — especially those in dual-income-no-child households — are always among the first to travel after social and economic crises. Following 9/11 and again after the 2008/2009 financial crisis, destinations, hospitality companies and travel brands noticed that LGBTQ travelers were prioritizing tourism over other purchase decisions, helping fill airplanes, hotels and, restaurants and animating destinations. So, they began to market to this segment in earnest.

Smart travel marketers will note that this is happening again now. We see — anecdotally and with the support of research by Community Marketing, Inc., Harris Interactive and IGLTA — that this segment travels in higher proportions and intends to book and execute travel in greater proportions than their non-LGBTQ counterparts.

Queer travelers tend to have more disposable income and time to spend it, helping fill destinations and hotels, especially during the quieter periods when kids are in school. Being among the first to travel safely, this resilient segment grants permission to others that they can return to travel safely. The LGBTQ segment has always been disproportionately present in online platforms, which provide a safer way to meet and interact with others in an otherwise potentially anti-LGBTQ world.

They also help achieve travel marketers’ goals by experiencing more, creating social media content and generating buzz.

The segment displays intense loyalty to brands that welcome and include them. There are also surprising halo effects: By signaling welcome to this group, marketers send a sign of inclusiveness to other overlooked and marginalized segments, like Black and LatinX travelers, and the family and friends of queer people are also positively motivated by outreach to LGBTQ people. Finally, these messages resonate strongly with millennial and Gen Z audiences who plan their travel — as well as plot their careers — to destinations and at hospitality brands whose missions align with their more inclusive values.

The segment has also demonstrated a strong affinity for cruises of all sorts, including all-gay or all-lesbian cruises, LGBTQ groups on mainstream cruises, and simply joining mainstream cruises as a same-sex couple or in small friend groups. While cruise vacations are still on a pandemic-induced pause in the U.S., cruise companies — including Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Uniworld and the brand-new Virgin Voyages — have all firmly established LGBTQ travelers as a core segment.

“National Travel and Tourism Week takes on special significance this year as we look ahead to recovery following the most challenging year this industry has experienced,” says Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line and national chair of the U.S. Travel Association. “Across the country, we are recognizing travel’s value, and the long-standing support of the LGBTQ community will help accelerate our rebound. I know that for Carnival, we pride ourselves on an inclusive atmosphere where every guest is appreciated, and we look forward to welcoming them back as soon as possible.”

One reason queer travelers are uniquely suited to help power the return of travel during this crisis has to do with their decades of experience living under the ever-looming shadow of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, during which they learned the importance of risk mitigation for the good of all. Wearing masks to protect yourself and others resonates with a community that understands the importance of condoms and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

According to Randle Roper, co-founder and CEO of VACAYA Full-Ship and Full-Resort LGBT+Vacations, “[Our] guests showed incredible resilience by traveling safely during the pandemic, and they proved they could adapt to live with health protocols that would keep each other and their loved ones back home safe.”

Travel safety is organically entwined with the LGBTQ community’s DNA. In 70+ countries, many popular with LGBTQ travelers, homosexuality is criminalized. That includes 11 countries in which death is the punishment meted out for those convicted of homosexuality and other “crimes” of sexual and gender non-conformity.

While travelers would be spared the harsh treatments locals may suffer, they nonetheless have a great deal to consider when traveling. Same-sex couples still receive awkward and uncomfortable service when checking into hotels with a single bed on the reservation or even simply existing in places where everyone’s assumed to be heterosexual. When a lesbian boards a plane with her legally married wife and their legally adopted children, they could land in a destination where their marriage license is void and their legal guardianship of their kids is in question. Trans and non-binary travelers, especially those oF color, may encounter challenges including lack of safe bathroom access, awkward encounters at TSA security and even outright hostility and worse in any public setting. In the face of all this, queer people still explore and have a lot to teach the rest of the world about how to travel with intent and joy while
maintaining their own safety and that of the community around them.

LGBTQ travelers can also show the world how best to support the tourism and hospitality industries in ways that also strengthen their own communities. “LGBTQ consumers have the power to make change and support LGBTQ-friendly companies and destinations by choosing to spend their travel dollars with those that support our community,” says Jeff Guaracino, co-author of the “Handbook of LGBT Tourism and Hospitality.” “LGBTQ-owned hotels, bed and breakfasts, tour companies, bars and restaurants, festivals and destinations have been especially hard hit by COVID, and as a community, we can support LGBTQ-owned and friendly businesses and their employees by spending our travel dollars with them first.”

LGBTQ tour companies and travel agents have a direct connection to queer travelers and report strong interest in and bookings of travel. According to Robert Sharp, co-founder and CEO of Out Adventures, “After [releasing] our entire tour schedule through the end of 2022, we saw our largest month of sales in our 12-year history.”

Kelli Carpenter, co-founder of R Family Vacations, adds, “Our highest sales have come from our river cruise products and international tour business, showing that travelers are ready to explore the world again.”

VACAYA’s Roper has seen extremely robust sales over the past several months — including selling out their Antarctica Cruise. “With a starting price of around $25,000 per room, that was our best sign yet that our community members are ready to break free from their cages and return to travel,” he says.

Robert Geller, founder of FabStayz, agrees: “Pent-up demand is visible, palpable and quantifiable.”

NYC-based Ed Salvato is a freelance travel writer, instructor at NYU and the University of Texas at Austin’s NYC Center, and an LGBTQ tourism marketing consultant.

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First non-binary mayor ‘of any city, anywhere’ hailed as an ‘example to all’

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Owen J Hurcum, 22, has been elected mayor of Bangor, Wales, making them the “first ever openly non-binary mayor of any city anywhere”.

Hurcum was unanimously elected as mayor, having worked as deputy mayor for the last year and a councillor for four years. They also become the youngest-ever mayor in Wales.

The new mayor, who identifies as genderqueer, agender and non-binary, posted a photo to Twitter of themselves wearing traditional mayoral chains, a tricorne hat and a sheer black top.

Hurcum wrote: “When I came out two years ago I was so worried I’d be ostracised by my community or worse.

“Today my community elected me mayor of our great city. The youngest ever mayor in Wales. The first ever openly non-binary mayor of any city anywhere.

“Beyond humbled, Diolch Bangor.”

They added: “I’ll be wanting to use my term to promote Bangor as much as I can, bring in investment and interest and celebrate the multicultural community that makes our city the greatness that it is.”

Love and support rolled in for Bangor’s new mayor, describing them as “a trailblazer and example to all”, with many saying they were moved to tears by the news.

Responding to the congratulations, alongside a photo of them in an incredible t-shirt that read “they/ them/ the mayor”, Hurcum wrote: “I just want to say a huge diolch to all the lovely messages that are still coming in.

“I know representation is not just putting on the chain and I’ll be judged by what we do as a team for Bangor during my year in office, but still, I’m glad my election has resonated with so many.”

Earlier this year, Hurcum stepped down as a Plaid Cymru candidate for the Welsh Parliament elections, insisting that the party “platforms transphobia”.

Referencing Plaid Cymru politician Helen Mary Jones, a Senedd member at the time and a “gender-critical feminist” who tweeted that she is “concerned, like many people including trans people, about the possible impacts of the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act and the rights of women and girls”, Hurcum said they could not “in good conscience stand as a candidate for Plaid whilst they continue to platform a candidate who has promoted, and continues to promote, transphobia”.

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German Catholics to bless gay unions despite Vatican ban

Germany’s powerful Catholic progressives are openly defying a recent Holy See pronouncement that priests cannot bless same-sex unions by offering such blessings at services in about 100 different churches all over the country this week.

The blessings at open worship services are the latest pushback from German Catholics against a document released in March by the Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which said Catholic clergy cannot bless same-sex unions because God “cannot bless sin.”

The document pleased conservatives and disheartened advocates for LGBTQ Catholics around the globe. But the response has been particularly acute in Germany, where the German church has been at the forefront of opening discussion on hot-button issues such as the church’s teaching on homosexuality as part of a formal process of debate and reform.

The dozens of church services celebrating blessings of gay unions are the latest escalation in tensions between conservatives and progressives that have already sparked alarm, primarily from the right, that part of the German church might be heading into schism.

Germany is no stranger to schism: 500 years ago, Martin Luther launched the Reformation here.

Pope Francis, who has championed a more decentralized church structure, has already reminded the German hierarchy that it must remain in communion with Rome during its reform process, known as a “synodal path.”

In Berlin, the Rev. Jan Korditschke, a Jesuit who works for the diocese preparing adults for baptism and helps out at the St. Canisius congregation, will lead blessings for queer couples at a worship service May 16.

“I am convinced that homosexual orientation is not bad, nor is homosexual love a sin,” Korditschke told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. “I want to celebrate the love of homosexuals with these blessings because the love of homosexuals is something good.”

The 44-year-old said it is important that gays and lesbians can show themselves within the Catholic Church and gain more visibility long-term. He said he was not afraid of possible repercussions by high-ranking church officials or the Vatican.

“I stand behind what I am doing, though it is painful for me that I cannot do it in tune with the church leadership,” Korditschke said, adding that “the homophobia of my church makes me angry and I am ashamed of it.”

The head of the German Bishops Conference last month criticized the grassroots initiative for gay blessings which is called “Liebe Gewinnt” or “Love Wins.”

Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing said the blessings “are not suitable as an instrument of church political manifestations or political actions.”

However, Germany’s powerful lay organization, the Central Committee of German Catholics, or ZdK, which has been advocating for gay blessings since 2015, positioned itself once more in favor of them. It called the contentious document from Rome “not very helpful” and explicitly expressed its support for ”Love Wins.”

“These are celebrations of worship in which people express to God what moves them,” Birgit Mock, the ZdK’s spokeswoman for family affairs, told the AP.

“The fact that they ask for God’s blessing and thank him for all the good in their lives — also for relationships lived with mutual respect and full of love — that is deeply based on the Gospel,” Mock said, adding that she herself was planning to attend a church service with gay blessings in the western city of Hamm on Monday in which she would pray for ”the success of the synodal path in which we, as a church, recognize sexuality as a positive strength.”

The ZdK has been taking part in the “synodal path” meetings for more than a year with the German Bishops Conference. They are due to conclude in the fall. The meetings include talks about allowing priests to get married, the ordination of women and a different understanding of sexuality, among other reforms. The process was launched as part of the response to revelations of clergy sexual abuse.

“We’re struggling in Germany with a lot of seriousness and intensive theological discourses for the right path,” Mock added. “Things cannot continue the way they did — this is what the crimes and cover-ups of sexual abuse showed us.”

“We need systemic changes, also regarding a reassessment of the ecclesiastical morality of sexuality,” Mock said.

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Gay Iranian man dead in alleged ‘honor killing,’ rights group says

Ali Fazeli Monfared, a 20-year-old gay Iranian man, was allegedly killed in an “honor killing” by some of his male family members after they found out he was gay, according to an LGBTQ rights group in Iran and Turkey.

Fazeli Monfared, who was known as Alireza by friends and family, lived in a city in southwest Iran. He had applied for an exemption from compulsory military service so he could leave the country and move to Turkey to live with his close friend, Aghil Bayat, according to 6Rang, the Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network.

Though homosexual conduct is criminalized in Iran, part of the military exemption law allows gay and transgender people to receive a medical exemption from service for their identity. The law states, in part, “a person can be freed from his military service duties, if he is ‘mentally ill’ (homosexual).”

Fazeli Monfared received an exemption card in the mail from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after disclosing his homosexuality, but one of his male relatives found it and discovered he was gay, according to 6Rang. The organization reported the relative had previously told Fazeli Monfared’s father that the young man had dishonored the family due to the way he dressed.

BBC Persian reported Friday that it received audio recordings of Fazeli Monfared saying his family had threatened his life.

After finding the exemption card, a group of male relatives took Fazeli Monfared to a rural village near Ahvaz on May 4 and killed him, Shadi Amin, executive director of 6Rang, told NBC News. The card, and the exemption for homosexuality as a disease, put Fazeli Monfared in danger, she said.

“We think that because of his gender expression and his behaviors, they knew that he is homosexual, but it was proof that shows he wants to leave the country, and he is a gay man,” Amin said. “We are trying to use this story to challenge the Iranian government … to remove this paragraph [in the exemption law] and the reason on the exemption cards.”

Bayat told 6Rang the alleged killers had called Fazeli Monfared’s mother and told her where to find her only son’s beheaded body.

Though 6Rang first reported that police arrested the three men involved in Fazeli Monfared’s death, Amin said that isn’t accurate and no arrests have been made. She said police told Fazeli Monfared’s mother they made arrests in the case to calm her down.

But Amin said she thinks arrests will be made in the case because Fazeli Monfared comes from a wealthy family, and his father is angry about his death. She added that though Iran criminalizes homosexual conduct, it isn’t illegal to be gay. If Fazeli Monfared’s alleged killers had caught him having sex with a man, then they might receive lesser punishments for his death.

Iran is one of an estimated 11 countries where same-sex sexual acts are punishable by death, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, and one of almost 70 countries where it is criminalized, according to Human Rights Watch, an international human rights group based in New York. In Iran, punishments for homosexual conduct range from 31 to 100 lashes to death, according to Human Rights Watch.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif defended the country’s death penalty punishment for homosexual conduct during a press conference in June 2019. “These are moral principles regarding the behavior of people in general,” he said at the time, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

There are no statistics or records of the number of anti-LGBTQ “honor killings” — which are perpetrated by relatives who feel the LGBTQ person has brought “dishonor” to the family — that happen in Iran or other countries that criminalize homosexuality, Tara Sepehri Far, who investigates human rights abuses in Iran and Kuwait for Human Rights Watch, told NBC News.

She said Fazeli Monfared’s case highlights the importance of the role of the family in LGBTQ people’s lives when the state criminalizes who they are.

“In the context that the LGBT community is not protected by law — and there’s actually a serious threat to their rights and even safety — the role of the family is becoming even more important,” Sepehri Far said, adding that if you’re coming from a family that accepts you, you can have access to safer spaces and communities.

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Japan’s Ruling Party LGBT Bill Falls Short

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Over the past six years, activists in Japan have pressed the Diet, the national parliament, to introduce a nondiscrimination law that protects the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Japan currently does not have any national legislation protecting LGBT people from discrimination, and a recent study puts Japan next to last in a ranking of laws on LGBT Inclusivenessfor developed countries.

One proposed law – the LGBT Equality Act – is currently under intense negotiation between Japan’s ruling and opposition parties. In April, the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) announced it would pass an LGBT law during the current Diet session, set to end in June.

But the ruling party bill, presented at the LDP’s Special Mission Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, only requires the government to “promote understanding of LGBT people.” It fails to mention nondiscrimination protections and falls short of the government’s international human rights obligations. Many Japanese LGBT rights groups oppose the draft bill, concerned that such weak language won’t offer any real protections. Opposition parties are demanding a law that explicitly protects against discrimination.

In January, 116 human rights and LGBT organizations sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga supporting binding non-discrimination legislation. In March, the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation (J-ALL), an umbrella organization of 80 LGBT groups in Japan, submitted a petitioncontaining over 100,000 signatures to the Diet, asking to introduce the LGBT Equality Act. That same month, a court in Sapporo called Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage discriminatory and “unconstitutional.”

In July, Tokyo is set to host the Olympics, whose charter forbids “discrimination of any kind,” including sexual orientation. There is little time left before the Diet session closes in mid-June. All political parties, including the LDP, should come together and enact a national anti-discrimination bill before the Summer Games begin.

The LDP should revise the bill to include a clear clause in the main text of the law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Japan needs to pass a national anti-discrimination law now.

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Queen calls for conversion therapy ban in UK

Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday in a speech that marked the opening of Parliament called for a ban on so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales.

“Measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities and ban conversion therapy,” Elizabeth said. 

While this announcement forecasts a step forward in LGBTQ activism and a change in the culture surrounding LGBTQ acceptance in the U.K.; the queen’s statement was met with hesitation, especially with regards to the when and how the ban will be implemented. 

According to the U.K.’s public sector information website, the passing of legislation to implement the ban will be preceded by a consultation and a survey of public opinion to ensure that the ban can address conversion therapy while “protecting the medical profession; defending freedom of speech; and upholding religious freedom.”

“We welcome the commitment to introduce legislation to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’,” commented Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall, one of the U.K.’s leading LGBTQ rights organizations. “However, the news of a consultation is concerning and will be hard for our communities to hear.”

“We don’t need a consultation to know that all practices that seek to convert, suppress, cure or change us are dangerous, abusive and must be banned,” Kelley further mentioned. “Lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and ace communities have been waiting almost three years for the U.K. government to follow through on their promise to ban all conversion practices, and any delay leaves us at further risk of abuse.”

Peter Tatchell, director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, also welcomed the queen’s announcement on the introduction of the new legislation, however, he expressed distaste at the “further delay, lack of clarity, and absence of a timetable for the ban.”

“The government has been promising this ban for nearly three years and still we don’t have it. All we’ve had is more than 1,000 days of dithering,” said Tatchell. “We have had countless studies and consultations. We don’t need any more. It’s time (Prime Minister) Boris (Johnson) got on with it and got this ban done.” 

“We need to see the proposed legislation,” Tatchell further proposed. “It must not allow religious exemptions. Faith bodies are the main proponents. The ban needs to be full and comprehensive and provide statutory support for victims and survivors.”

Similar sentiments have frequented social media platforms, with various LGBTQ individuals and allies criticizing the action plan to implement legislation that addresses conversion therapy.

“The U.K. government wants to consult the public before the ban, but we don’t need to consult before the banning,” Twitter user @jakepayne1994 tweeted. “There shouldn’t be consultation on torture and abuse. There should be a full ban on LGBT+ conversion therapy with no exceptions.”

“The government promised a blanket ban on gay conversion therapy years ago,” @ohkelliott tweeted. “Every waking second that goes by, people in the U.K. are undergoing torment, physical and psychological abuse, and vile life changing torture whilst the government are delaying its legislation.”

Calls to action for the British government to expedite the process of introducing the legislation have emerged and Tatchell mentions “the U.K. government must publish a comprehensive bill now, as well as a clear timeline for its implementation.” 

“As part of the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition, we will continue to hold the U.K. government to account on their promise to ban this abhorrent practice for good, everywhere it happens and to everyone it harms, and protect our communities from harm,” said Tatchell.

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Whispering Wind Spirit Bear, a non-binary Indigenous person, killed during robbery

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Whispering Wind Bear Spirit, a non-binary Indigenous person, has been shot and killed in York, Pennsylvania.

Whispering Wind has become at least the 22nd known trans person violently killed in the US in 2021, according to HRC, though estimates by other groups are higher and all agree that any reported numbers are likely an underestimate.

According to the Advocate, Whispering Wind was shot in the torso late on Monday, 3 May, while trying to stop an attempted robbery at a home they were staying in.

They were rushed into emergency surgery but passed away in the early hours of 4 May at WellSpan York Hospital.

At least three people were involved in the attempted robbery, police said, and charges of burglary, robbery, and conspiracy to commit burglary and robbery were filed against Oscar Cook, 19, of York. The other suspects have not been named.

York City Police are currently searching for anyone with information relating to the shooting, and their death is being investigated as a homicide. The state of Pennsylvania currently has no law that addresses hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to Human Right Campaign (HRC), 41-year-old Whispering Wind described themselves as “Shawnee by birth and Potawatomi by relations”, and friends described them as a “a beautiful and kind soul.

Whispering Wind’s close friend Tammy Johnston shared on Facebook: “To anyone that knew her, Whispering Wind Bear Spirit has crossed over the rainbow bridge.

“I loved her very much and will be receiving her ashes. I’ve picked out a beautiful Native American urn with a white bear spirit on it.

“I will be creating a memorial place for her at our cabin, appropriately named the bear house by Sadie. She will finally have a permanent and peaceful home with us.”

HRC director of community engagement for the transgender justice initiative Tori Cooper said in a statement: “We continue to receive reports of transgender and non-binary people who have been killed in the last few weeks.

“This violence is heartbreaking and unacceptable.

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Instagram adds new pronoun section to user profiles

Instead of having users take up limited character space in their bio, Instagram is now letting them select their pronouns in a specific section of their profile.

Users can choose from a variety of pronouns including he/him, she/her and they/them. Once selected, their pronoun preference will appear in small gray letters next to their username.

“They” is often used as a singular pronoun for a person “whose gender is intentionally not revealed” or “to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary,” according to Merriam-Webster, which selected “they” as word of the year in 2019.

The company said the new pronoun feature is currently only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia but added that there are “plans for more.”

By Tuesday evening, the feature appeared to be working on many United States-based profiles.

Instagram isn’t the only platform making changes to allow people to choose their preferred pronouns. After President Joe Biden took office in January, WhiteHouse.gov updated its contact form to include gender-inclusive pronouns and prefixes. The move was praised by leaders in the LGBTQ community at the time.

“Pronouns matter, and adding inclusive pronouns to a contact form is more than just a demonstration of allyship,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement sent to TODAY in January. “Research has shown that recognition and respect of our pronouns can make all the difference for our health and wellbeing — especially when it comes to LGBTQ youth.”

One in four LGBTQ youth use pronouns or pronoun combinations that “fall outside of the binary construction of gender,” LGBTQ suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project found in a 2020 study.

“The results show that although LGBTQ youth are using pronouns in nuanced ways, the majority who use pronouns outside of the gender binary use either familiar pronouns or combinations of these familiar pronouns to express their gender,” the study said. “An individual’s pronoun expression, or even the decision to avoid them altogether, is a very important reflection of a person’s identity. Respecting pronouns is part of creating a supportive and accepting environment, which impacts well-being and reduces suicide risk.”

Instagram’s move on Tuesday seemed widely celebrated on social media — and many users encouraged other social media sites to follow suit.

“Love the fact that Instagram has included the option to put pronouns in our profile and not just in the bio! I hope we see this feature added on all socials,” Mica Burton, actor and daughter of LeVar Burton, posted on Tuesday with a heart emoji.

“Well thanks, @instagram! You can now add your pronouns. It’s a simple act, but an important one. @Twitter, you next?” Canadian politician Janis Irwin tweeted.

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Polish police taught being LGBT+ is a ‘social pathology, like drug addiction’

Poland’s police commander-in-chief has been asked to explain why a new textbook for police officers lists LGBT+ people under “social pathologies”.

The textbook, Social Pathologies – Selected Issues, was recently published by a police training centre in Legionowo. It describes the LGBT+ community as a form of “social pathology” alongside drug addiction and begging, highlighting trans and non-binary people as particular examples.

The shocking text was raised in the Sejm on Friday (5 May) by Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, MP for the left-wing Lewica party.

“I would like to emphasise that the LGBTQ community is not an ideology, nor is it a pathology – these are people. These are people who are being exposed to harm, violence and discrimination,” she said as she confronted police chief Jarosław Szymczykat.

The MP declared it is “unacceptable” that police who are “are obliged to protect all citizens… irrespective of who they are, discriminate against these people”.

She called on Szymczykat and the commander of the training centre to explain exactly how the manual was developed and how it was ever cleared for use.

“These [institutions] today are responsible for what will happen on the streets of Polish cities and towns, when non-heteronormative persons will be subject to police intervention.”

Lewica leader Krzysztof Gawkowski added to the criticism, highlighting that transgender identities are not a disease – “and policemen who intervene should not only know it, but also have it encoded in the DNA of their service”.

“Each officer should undergo anti-discrimination training, on which hate speech and pathologies will be indicated, and the attitudes of policemen focused on taking the side of the weaker, excluded and offended,” he continued.

“This textbook is the antithesis of such training, because it arouses hatred, not restricts it.”

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