TAG: sexual identity

Uprooting Whorephobia: Why We Must Change the Stigma of Sex Work

Counting money on a bed is taboo in my family. Growing up, I never fully understood why but I suspected it was another one of our countless every day South American customs that ensured we were in right relationship with the spirit world.

Capturing Semenya

As the women’s 800m approaches, headlines about Caster Semenya proliferate — once again, seven years after she won the World Championship in the 800m and became a news headline, we have been saturated with “debates” about her presence on the track. This year, these stories unfold in striking contrast with those celebrating other athletes who dominate their events.

Why don’t humanitarian organizations provide safe abortion services?

Although sexual and reproductive health services have become more available in humanitarian settings over the last decade, safe abortion services are still rarely provided. The authors’ observations suggest that four reasons are typically given for this gap: ‘There’s no need’; ‘Abortion is too complicated to provide in crises’; ‘Donors don’t fund abortion services’; and ‘Abortion is illegal’.

Report: Indonesia’s LGBT Community Under Threat’

(Jakarta) – The Indonesian government stoked an unprecedented attack on the security and rights of sexual and gender minorities in early 2016, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government campaign included hateful rhetoric, discriminatory edicts, and the use of force to repress peaceful assembly. The 56-page report, “‘These Political Games Ruin […]

Belize Supreme Court Overturns Anti-Gay Law

A law in Belize criminalizing same-sex intimacy was ruled unconstitutional by the country’s Supreme Court. The challenge to Section 53 of the Belize Criminal Code, which banned “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and disproportionately affected gay men, was brought by Caleb Orozco

Sri Lanka: Discrimination on Grounds of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

(New York) – Transgender people and others who do not conform to social expectations about gender face discrimination and abuse in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 63-page report, “‘All Five Fingers Are Not the Same’: Discrimination on Grounds of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in Sri Lanka,” finds that […]

IACHR’s Report “Violence Against LGBTI Persons in the Americas”

The IACHR just launched the English version of the report “Violence Against LGBTI Persons”. In this Report, the Commission focuses on violence against LGBT persons as contextualized social violence in which the perpetrators’ motivation needs to be understood as complex and multi-faceted, and not only as a individual-based act. In this regard, the IACHR understands […]

Gay and Transgender Egyptians go Underground

The last days of the government of Hosni Mubarak and the turbulent revolution that followed were tense, occasionally gut-wrenching times for many in Egypt. But for gay and transgender Egyptians, it was also a period of unaccustomed freedom. Read the full article at New York Times.

South Africa: Police Abuse of Sex Workers

The Women’s Legal Centre has published their report on Police Abuse of Sex Workers in South Africa. Their report shows that 414 sex workers reported various types of violence perpetrated by police between 2011 and 2015. Of those, 13 were sexually assaulted, 71 were physically assaulted, 152 were verbally assaulted, 192 were harassed, and 254 experienced some other form of abuse.

Letter: trans candidates for UN Independent Expert on SOGI rights

Trans organisations signing this letter, and the activist networks they represent, celebrate the Resolution [on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity] passed on 30 June 2016 at the UN Human Rights Council.[1] We consider the appointment of an Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual […]

Intersex Genital Mutilations: UN Women’s Rights Committee Reprimands France

France is the 1st ever country to be reprimanded for IGM by 3 different UN treaty bodies, having previously been reprimanded by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in February 2016, and by the Committee against Torture (CAT) in May.

Pride Uganda raided by police as LGBT activists arrested

A Pride event in Uganda has been broken up by police as at least two LGBT+ activists are arrested. Pride Uganda tweeted that the small gathering in Kampala had been raided by police, as prominent LGBT+ activist Frank Mugisha also tweeted that he had been arrested.