South Korea: Government slammed for hosting 'conversion therapy' seminars

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has written to South Korean officials to express concern over two recent 'conversion therapy' seminars hosted in government buildings.

The letter dated 3 April said the failure of high-level government officials and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) to denounce 'gay cures' and the groups promoting these practices contravened the country's international commitments to human rights.

'Two recent convenings by anti-LGBT hate organizations in South Korean government buildings that convey the troubling impression of the government’s tacit endorsement of so-called “conversion therapy” and tolerance for discrimination against LGBT Koreans,' the letter reads. Read More

US: LGBT battle far from over as religious freedom bills multiply

The swift and overwhelming backlash that helped modify the religious freedom bills – spurred in particular by tech and business leaders – revealed a new front in the broader US culture wars over LGBT rights. Even as marriage equality emerges a winner in the national battle, other hard-won LGBT rights are being attacked under the guise of religious liberty.

Measures resembling those in Indiana and Arkansas have multiplied across the country – and the majority have garnered less attention. Twelve states besides Arkansas and Indiana have proposed religious freedom laws over the past year. The bills failed to pass in five states, but are still pending in seven.  Read More

US: Nationwide boycott leads to "Religious Freedom" bill amendment

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a revised religious freedom bill that had been approved by lawmakers earlier after language was added that says the law cannot be used to discriminate. Critics of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act called the law discriminatory, allowing businesses to refuse service to LGBT people.

Some state governments had banned the use of taxpayer money to fund city employees’ travel to Indiana, while some celebrities canceled upcoming appearances in the state. Read More

India: Gay sex ban in India stirs violence, blackmail, and abuse

When Rajan was followed by two men into a public toilet in Mumbai and forced to perform oral sex on them, the 31-year-old gay marketing professional realised this was the beginning of the end of his short-lived sexual freedom.

"They knew I was gay. They were watching me and waiting. They filmed the whole thing and threatened to tell the police," Rajan, who did not want to disclose his full name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Then they took me to an ATM and made me withdraw all the money I had which was 15,000 rupees ($240)... Even though society has not fully accepted us, the law was there to protect us. But now we are scared."

Rajan is one of thousands from India's LGBT community who've faced persecution after the reinstatement of a colonial-era law banning gay sex. Read More 

Russia: Anti-gay views on rise; teachers face brunt

Alevtina is one of several teachers who lost their jobs in St. Petersburg after being outed by an anti-gay activist. While most resigned quietly, the 27-year-old music teacher decided to fight her dismissal in court — an unusual step in Russia where gays have faced increasing pressure in recent years.

The rising anti-gay sentiment has coincided with the passage of a controversial Russian law that prohibits exposing children to gay "propaganda." The law has made it easy to target teachers, because they work directly with children.

The hardening of lines against gays is thrown into stark relief by a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. The survey found that Russians' tolerance of gays has plummeted in recent years, with 51% of those surveyed late last year saying they would not want a gay neighbor. This was up from 38% in 2012.  Read More 

Canada: Kathleen Wynne feels ‘responsibility’ as first lesbian premier

Premier Kathleen Wynne, speaking to students at Agincourt Collegiate on Wednesday, says she is not a "gay activist" but hopes she can be an example to others. "I can be an example . . . If I can help (gay) people be less frightened, that’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.”

Wynne, 61, still maintains that she is not an activist, but told reporters after her speech to the school “that being a lesbian, being in this office allows others to look at this office in a different way.” Read More

Brazil: LGBT Community Looks On In Fear At Rise Of Evangelicals

Backed by the country’s rapidly growing evangelical population, a large number of religious conservatives won election in October as part of a broad conservative coalition that now controls Congress. They have taken office bent on reversing recent gains for LGBT rights, including a 2013 decision by a judicial panel that established marriage equality nationwide. 

Jean Wyllys, Brazil’s only out gay member of Congress and best-known progressive standard bearer, wrote that the threat of “religious fundamentalism” has gone ignored as Brazil’s major parties have scrambled for the votes of conservative evangelicals who now make up more than 20% of the population. This “Christian fundamentalism” is every bit as dangerous as “Islamic fundamentalism” in the Middle East, and now threatens “individual liberty, sexual diversity, and secular culture” in Brazil, he said.

“When will we wake up to the true nature of the monster emerging from the lake,” he asked. Read More

New Zealand: Urgent attention needed on trans and intersex healthcare

Parliament’s Health Select Committee has heard that the lack of healthcare services for trans and intersex people is a priority public health issue where urgent intervention is needed. 

Auckland counsellor and advocate Tom Hamilton told gathered MPs that trans and intersex people and their whanau find wide variety of care standards. Lack of expertise results "in frustration for the community, which leads to further delay in treatment, possible mental health deterioration and extra costs being met by the individuals … or individuals actually educating the health professionals to improve their experience of care.”

Hamilton’s submission follows a petition urging the government to take action “to address the inadequate supply of publicly funded gender reassignment health services, including counselling, endocrinology and surgical services, in New Zealand”.   Read More

Brazil: HIV-Specific criminal law introduced amid media frenzy and moral panic over ‘barebacking’ gay subculture

A simply worded amendment covering ‘heinous crimes’– which currently includes murder, extortion, rape, child exploitation and spreading an epidemic that results in death – adds individuals who “transmit and infect consciously and deliberately others with the AIDS virus. (sic)” was presented to the Brazilian Parliament by the populist Congressman, Pompeo de Mattos.

The bill has considerable support thanks to an outbreak of moral panic that began with an article in the daily newspaper, O Estado de S. Paulo, that uncovered the gay ‘barebacking’ subculture and further suggested that some men were deliberately passing on HIV to unsuspecting partners. Days later, it was reported that police were now looking into the allegations.  Read More

Dominican Republic: I apologize if I insulted anyone but I am not a homophobe

Former Dominican Republic president and current presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía pushed back against reports that his use of derogatory words were against LGBTs.

"I never meant to make fun or belittle human beings who have been marginalized and harassed," Mejía said in a statement. "If that was misinterpreted as an insult, I have no problem offering my apologies and reiterating that it was not, nor is, nor would be my intention; that's not how I behave."

Mejía used the Spanish word "mariconcito" which translates to "little faggot" last week during an event when he joked that a campaign consultant suggested he practice sitting down like a "mariconcito" when doing media appearances if he wanted his poll numbers to increase. Read More