We are concerned by recent developments in Malawi, where the spokesperson of one of the country’s main political parties recently described gay and lesbian people as “worse than dogs” and called for them to be killed.
Strengthening human rights for gay men and other men who have sex with men
The first meeting of a new advisory body, the Global Platform to Fast-Track HIV Responses among Gay Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (Global Platform), was convened by UNAIDS and the Men Who Have Sex with Men Global Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Through the Global Platform, members will provide strategic advice to United Nations agencies and other stakeholders on HIV programme needs and priorities for gay men and other men who have sex with men.
“To date, we have shamefully failed gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men in the global response to HIV. Establishing the first ever advisory body to the United Nations agencies and donor community devoted to this issue is an important first step in correcting the situation,” said George Ayala, Executive Director of the Men Who Have Sex with Men Global Forum.
New infections among gay men and other men who have sex with men are increasing in all regions of the world, while access to treatment remains low in many countries. National HIV prevention and treatment programmes often fail to target gay men and other men who have sex with men. Punitive laws and policies, violence and human rights violations all fuel vulnerability to HIV. Read more via UNAIDS
LGBT Muslims speak out: ‘I feel like I should not exist’
LGBT Muslims have spoken out about their experiences of prejudice in both the LGBT community and their faith in a photography project by Toronto based photographer Samra Habib. The project, titled “Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project”, features photos and interviews with LGBT Muslims from around the world where they discuss the challenges they face in both communities.
Starting as an exhibition back in 2014, the project has continued online and according to its creator, the aim is to document evidence of queer Muslims and give faces to discussions in “academia”. Read more
India's Hijra women are getting happy about trans rights
INDIA has been kicking goals on trans rights recently and the latest news from the subcontinent will leave you feeling happy.
Last year a small town elected the country’s first trans mayor, a trans woman became a prominent TV news anchor and India officially recognised trans as a third gender. Last night, six singers from India’s Hijra community — the cultural term for its trans women — released an YouTube video covering Pharell William’s worldwide hit Happy.
The 6 Pack Band is India’s first-ever trans girl group made up of six singers and their first single Hum Hain Happy is a celebration of all things trans. Read more
Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and Peru fined over homophobic chants
Fifa has fined the football associations of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay for homophobic chants by fans.
The governing body said the “insulting and discriminatory chants” came during qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.
Chile’s fine is the biggest at 70,000 Swiss francs (£48,000) relating to cases at four different matches. Fifa also imposed fines of 20,000 Swiss francs (£13,720) on Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Proceedings against the Honduras FA for the same offence remain ongoing. Read more
Turkish FA ordered to compensate referee who lost licence for being gay
The Turkish football federation (TFF) has been ordered to pay compensation to a referee after it revoked his licence on the grounds he was gay, according to reports. An Istanbul court on Tuesday instructed the TFF to pay 23,000 Turkish lira (£5,330) to compensate for its treatment of Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ, the Dogan news agency reported.
The sum was lower than the 110,000 lira (£25,500) demanded by Dinçdağ’s lawyers in a case that had become a symbol of discrimination against gay people in Turkey’s largely conservative society. The TFF had said that since he was exempt from military service due to his homosexuality, Dinçdağ fell into the army’s classification of unfit and was unable to do the job of refereeing. Read more
Gender fluidity went pop in 2015 – and it's not just a phase
Miley Cyrus blurred the lines between boy and girl, Angel Haze came out as agender and cross-dressing rapper Young Thug challenged stereotypes. In the first of a three-part series on the musical talking points of 2015, a look at how pop stars are refusing to be pinned down
don’t call it a trend. Gender fluidity found its way into more headlines than ever in 2015. But regardless of the moment it’s having in both music and pop culture at large, to dismiss it as a passing fad or, worse, gimmickry is a mistake – one with echoes of that damaging and all too familiar phrase that queerness is “just a phase”.
Proclamations that “gender fluidity is the new black” may be well intentioned, but are unhelpful. Instead, the cultural landscape of the last year has afforded a new openness for artists who don’t identify with gender binaries. Read more
South Africa: Desmond Tutu’s daughter Rev. Mpho A. Tutu marries
Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter, the Rev. Mpho A. Tutu, has married her female partner, Professor Marceline van Furth. The couple tied the knot in The Netherlands last week, in what’s been described as a small and private ceremony.
“The couple are very grateful to their families and friends for their love and support‚” said the family in a statement.
The marriage is expected to be further celebrated in Cape Town in May. The Rev. Tutu is the Executive Director of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and is an experienced preacher, teacher and public speaker. Van Furth is a professor in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the Vrije University in Amsterdam.
LGBT People Reveal Why David Bowie Was So Important To Them
On Monday, LGBT people celebrated the scope of Bowie’s identity revolution by paying tribute to an artist who proved that to give gender constraints the middle finger was the ultimate liberation. To be different no longer meant being a victim; it meant triumphing.
“He was an artist that made me feel OK to be trans, bi, and an outsider.” Read more via Buzzfeed
Taiwan: "We Are Not Monsters. We Are Full of Love."
Monster. The words on the medical record, scrawled in a doctor’s messy English script, said “pseudo hermaphrodite.” But what 18-year-old Hiker Chiu read on the paper was monster.
Hiker’s parents finally told her/him that s/he was born both male and female—the word intersex never came up. Read more via Alturi
Australia: Atari launches new LGBT game ahead of worldwide release
An original mobile LGBTI game inspired by pride marches around the world was recently launched by Atari in Australia ahead of its worldwide launch. Pridefest sees players work through missions as the mayor of a city that has lost all of its fun and colour overnight.
Atari chief executive Fred Chesnais said the game was inspired by the LGBTI community and aims to bring their colourful atmosphere and inclusive spirit to a game for the first time: “Pridefest provides the first LGBT-focused game that represents a passionate cause...Pridefest is designed to emulate that sense of joy and fanfare year-round through a social-sim mobile game."
“Our vision for Pridefest is that it can also become a means for isolated LGBT individuals lacking a supportive LGBT network to come together in a safe, welcoming, and fun atmosphere.”
Chesnais said the gaming landscape has changed in recent years around LGBT representation: “GaymerX [queer gaming convention] is in its third year now and growing, which speaks volumes to the number of gamers out there that are interested in playing games that include characters or themes specifically relevant and relatable to the LGBT community.”
How Twitter quietly banned hate speech last year
Seven years ago, Twitter began its rise to prominence by billing itself as a space where people could speak freely because nobody was censored. The company's rules enshrined this ideal, promising "we do not actively monitor and will not censor user content, except in limited circumstances." But in 2015 all of that changed.
There were changes in Twitter's rules here and there before 2015, usually to make it easier for the company to ban people engaging in spam and fraud. But as more high-profile Twitter users began to experience abuse and harassment firsthand, the company began to reverse its earlier policies.
Without ever touching the language in its rules page, Twitter began to add links out to other documents that explained the "limited circumstances" that could lead to censorship. In March, the company banned revenge porn. In April, they banned any speech that could incite terrorism, or violence against people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, or disability."
Essentially, writes Jeong, they banned hate speech. Read more via Ars Technica