US: Religious Freedom Act cost Indy up to 12 conventions and $60M

The furor surrounding last year's Religious Freedom Restoration Act might have cost the city of Indianapolis as many as 12 conventions and up to $60 million in economic impact, the city's nonprofit tourism arm confirmed Monday evening.

Though they come with some caveats, the numbers from Visit Indy represent the most tangible effects yet of a controversy that city officials and business leaders long warned would cause real damage to Indianapolis' reputation. When Gov. Mike Pence signed RFRA into law last March, it was met with fierce backlash from civil rights groups across the country, who worried that it would allow Hoosiers to discriminate against LGBT people on the basis of religion. Days later, a so-called "fix" was signed into law to clarify that the state law was not intended to override local civil rights protections.

"It’s baffling how delusional Mike Pence is on his claim that there’s no direct correlation between LGBT rights and the Hoosier economy," Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party, said in a statement. "In fact, Pence’s out-of-touch ideology comes from an ideologue — not a governor. When he signed RFRA last year, Mike Pence threw Indiana directly into a $250 million economic panic, including Indianapolis’ $60 million.” Read more via Indy Star  

India: Transgender people say fight will not stop till Sec 36A repealed

Shreeja (name changed), a transgender person who begs on the city streets, has been bullied and dragged by the cops to police stations, often for cases not related to her. Hers is not an isolated case. The police have been accused of committing at least 40 atrocities against transgenders, under the cover of Section 36A of the Karnataka Police Act, alleges the transgender community.

Section 36A is aimed at controlling the ‘objectionable activities’ of ‘eunuchs’. But activists have condemned this section, saying it is a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution. Akkai Padmashali and other activists met Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra recently, and he assured them that the government would remove the Section.

Akkai told Deccan Chronicle, “The government is quiet on the issue. We have met several leaders, but it has been of no use. Our fight will not end till Section 36A is fully repealed. I have trust in the present government, and hope that it will remove the offending section.” Read more via Deccan Chronicle 

Africa: “Seeds of hope” for gay rights in Africa, says special US envoy

Southern Africa is moving towards greater acceptance of sexual and gender minorities though there is still a long way to go, the US first special envoy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people said. Randy Berry, an openly gay senior diplomat, was speaking at the end of a 10-day visit to Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

“I believe in all of these countries, there are seeds of hope,” Berry said, speaking from South Africa.  “With government representatives, I found them to be sensitive to the issues, wanting to engage very clearly... After these consultations, I am quite hopeful.”

Berry said he was encouraged by governments’ willingness to discuss the issue and to give LGBT groups space to operate. “The fact that we can actually have a rational, coherent, quiet conversation is really important,” he said. “The problem we face in a global sense is one of ignorance and non exposure.”

Many Africans, particularly religious leaders, argue that decriminalising homosexuality would be akin to promoting it and that it goes against their traditions and culture. Being gay “is not a learned behaviour. It is not somehow produced by external forces. This is how people are born,” Berry said. Read more via EWN 

European Parliament calls on Kosovo and Serbia to step up efforts on LGBTI rights

The European Parliament adopted two of its annual progress reports for candidate and potential candidate EU countries. MEPs have assessed the rights of LGBTI people in Serbia and Kosovo, and recommended the countries to improve the situation.

Discrimination, hate speech and hate crime against LGBTI people, remain a strong concern for the Parliament in both countries. In this regard, the Parliament stresses its concern that the processing and investigation of such cases remains insufficient. Read more via Intergroup on LGBT rights

European Parliament gravely concerned over situation LGBTI people in Crimea

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Crimea and the severe restrictions on the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

The resolution starts out by strongly condemning “the unprecedented levels of human rights abuses perpetrated against Crimean residents” (paragraph 2) following the Russian annexation.

Tanja Fajon MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, reacted: “I am deeply concerned about the situation for LGBTI people in Crimea. With homophobic rhetoric coming from the highest levels, and violence going completely unpunished, it is no wonder that many see no other option than leaving the peninsula.”  Read more via Intergroup on LGBT Rights

Indonesia: Minister on back foot over anti-gay remarks

A minister has found himself on the receiving end of angry scorn and fierce criticism following comments he made attacking the LGBT community. Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir took to his Twitter account @menristekdikti on Monday to clarify the statement he made on Sunday, in which he said that LGBT “corrupted the nation's morals”.

Nasir agreed that members of the LGBT community, as Indonesian citizens, were entitled to equality before the law: "But that does not mean that the state legitimizes the LGBT status. Only their rights as citizens must be guaranteed by the state," he tweeted on Monday to his 16,500 followers.

His earlier comments that LGBT elements should be barred from universities as there were "values and moral standards to uphold" met with a wave of public fury and criticism.

A petition issued on change.org by a student named Poedjiati Tan from Surabaya demands that Nasir withdraw his comments regarding LGBT and morality, as well as his calls for a ban on LGBT people within universities. Read more via Jakarta Post

Portugal: The President blocks adoption laws for same-sex couples – just weeks before leaving office

The new law had passed through Portugal’s Parliament last last year, granting full adoption rights to same-sex couples, and allowing lesbian couples to receive medically assisted fertilisation. Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, of the centre-right Social Democratic Party, blocked the law just two months before he is set to leave office.

He claimed in a statement that the law doesn’t regard “the child’s best interest” as a priority, which he claims is more important than equality for gay couples. He added: “It is important that such a big change on a sensitive social topic is not entered into force without a broad public debate.”

The left-wingers who dominate the country’s Parliament will try to override Silva’s veto on the issue. Despite the stalling on the issue, many same-sex couples are already raising children together in Portugal under existing laws. 

 Read more via Pink News
 

Switzerland: Global LGBTI rights to be discussed at Davos 2016

LGBT issues have made it onto the official agenda of the World Economic Forum in Davos for the first time. LGBT issues have been slowly making an appearance in the past couple of years, with the topic touched on in private discussions behind closed-doors as part of what I call the Davos Fringe and passing mentions on Davos panels around more general discussions of diversity and inclusion.

Topics don’t get added to the agenda lightly. New issues must have global importance and there must be high profile senior executives willing to talk about them on a pubic stage. The 2016 agenda includes two public sessions with a clear LGBT focus, signalling that LGBT issues have come to the fore with champions who are ready to speak clearly and openly on the topic.

There is a feeling among parts of the business community that through their global presence, with strong policies across their entire workforces around the world, and the ability to use their economic clout to influence governments, they can play a positive role either through acting as a role model or by using their soft power to encourage greater levels of acceptance and equal rights for LGBT people in countries where rights are not enshrined.  Read more via BBC

Australia: Queensland Government moves to expunge convictions for gay sex under historic laws

Men convicted under Queensland's historic homosexuality laws may soon have their crimes cleared, with the Palaszczuk Government taking steps to expunge historic convictions for gay sex. The sunshine state decriminalised homosexuality in 1990, but anyone charged under the laws, which made consensual homosexual acts illegal, still hold criminal convictions.

The Government has referred the issue to Queensland Law Reform Commission to consider how convictions can be removed from a person's criminal record.

Alan Raabe, 61, was one the 460 men to be convicted under the laws in Queensland. He said he has never been able to pursue his dream of teaching due to his conviction. When asked how he felt about the prospect of his conviction being expunged more than three decades later, he started crying. Read more via ABC 

Jamaica: Homosexual acts are illegal, guidance counsellors cannot break law

The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) says it cannot call for guidance counsellors to be better trained to deal with gay students as buggery remains illegal. Norman Allen, who heads the union that represents guidance counsellors, made the comment in reaction to reports that several of the approximately 800 guidance counsellors in schools are refusing to help students identified as gay or lesbian.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday,  Opposition Spokesperson on Education Senator Kamina Johnson Smith wrote: “I am really surprised at the reasoning here....To be clear – while buggery is unlawful, the state of homosexuality is not, nor is the state of being confused.” Read more via Jamaica Gleaner

US: The most discriminatory laws you have never heard of

No Promo Homo laws are the most discriminatory laws you have never heard of. Hidden in education laws, they restrict the promotion of homosexuality in public school classrooms by prohibiting the teaching of homosexuality or requiring its condemnation. They exist in eight states: Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

For example Utah requires their board of education to prohibit instruction in the "advocacy of homosexuality." A more egregious Texas law requires teaching that homosexuality is "not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense." Appallingly, Texas cites the very penal law found unconstitutional in the landmark 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case.

It is clear that legislatures in some states disagree and resist homosexual rights even 10 years after the decision in Lawrence. These states have kept their discriminatory agenda on the books by burying these laws in education bills, taking advantage of their broad discretion in the area of education. These laws are not outdated; indeed they have only been around since the 1980s. Read more via the Jurist