Tag Archives: Transgender

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Transgender Egyptians face a difficult life in a society with few rights for its LGBT members
  • While homosexuality is universally condemned in Egypt, the transgender community has seen a glimmer of recognition through the government’s uneven acceptance of gender reassignment surgery for those diagnosed with “gender identity disorder” and approved by imams.
  • Even with that possibility, transgender individuals are subject to arrest, police and community violence, and employment exclusion, driving many into sex work to make a living.
  • Since the military coup in 2013, the trans community has faced deteriorating security as the government has enforced conservative, gender-rigid Islamic values in the citizenry.

“When I was five I knew I was different. … By 15, I was depressed. I thought I was a deviant according to Islam, that I was someone unacceptable to society.”

More on this story at GlobalPost.

(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Organizers say this year’s Pink Dot SG, Singapore’s major annual LGBT event, was largest ever
  • Around 28,000 participated in Saturday’s seventh-annual event at Hong Lim Park.
  • The organizers hope that the growing numbers indicate growing acceptance in conservative Singapore and hope to expand into a larger venue in the near future.
  • Since its founding in 2009, Pink Dot has expanded to other major East Asian cities, including Taipei, Hong Kong, and Okinawa.

More on this story at Channel NewsAsia.

(Image Credit: Photo: Goh Chiew Tong, via Channel NewsAsia)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Colombia adds itself to the list of countries eliminating medical examination requirements for legal gender identity recognition
  • The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior effected the change last Friday, removing the physical and psychiatric
  • Individuals now only need to submit their civil registry form, a copy of their ID card, and a sworn declaration to a notary public to register their identity, after which point the notary will have five days to complete the registration.
  • Subsequent changes to gender identity can only be made after a decade and can only be made twice in one’s lifetime.

“Judges used to order bodily inspections to determine if people had physically changed their sex, or demanded a psychiatric exam to know if the applicant had gender dysphoria. … Both exams were profoundly invasive of privacy rights and were rooted in unacceptable prejudice. The construction of sexual and gender identity is an issue that doesn’t depend on biology.”

More on this story at Americas Quarterly.

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Slovak LGBTI activists postpone Pride and turn to new initiatives to promote visibility and equality
  • Citing the hostile environment that has emerged following conservatives’ failure to generate sufficient turnout in the February referendum on same-sex marriage, adoption, and education rights, organizers have canceled this year’s Rainbow Pride in Bratislava.
  • In lieu of the event, nearly 40 NGOs are supporting the establishment of a platform sharing the stories of same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples and children born outside of marriage.
  • The initiative comes as rights groups have become frustrated with the government’s lack of commitment to a timeline for the establishment of legal protections for same-sex couples.

“Slovakia needs to hear the life stories of LGBTI people, their parents, children, friends and colleagues. … Thus, we are going to collect your stories, in collaboration with the Life Partnership platform, which we will then be able to bring to all people in Slovakia.”

More on this story at The Slovak Spectator.

(Image Credit: The Slovak Spectator)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Ireland’s gender identity bill moves away from medical to self-declarative model for legal recognition for transpeople.
  • The change in the bill applies to those over the age of 18 seeking to legally change their gender.
  • The bill also removes a “forced divorce” clause dissolving a marriage if one of the partners transitions.
  • In allowing for self-declaration, the bill hopes to separate civil registration and medical treatment considerations for trans individuals.

“Throughout the drafting of this Bill, I have listened carefully to the views of individual citizens, representative groups and public representatives. It is essential that this important legislation is in line with international best practice.”

More on this story at PinkNews.

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief, Sexual + Gender Minorities
Turkey’s parliamentary elections sees AKP lose majority, pro-minority Kurdish HDP win representation for the first time, and numerous victories for minority candidates.
  • While the AKP won the largest parliamentary share with 41%, HDP crossed the threshold of representation with around 13% of the vote, winning 80 seats in the parliament.
  • While the HDP has largely been defined by the Kurds it represents, it also opened up to all those marginalized by the party in power, including women, religious minorities, LGBT citizens, and other ethnic minorities.
  • The new parliament will see a record 96 women and its first Yazidi and Roma MPs, and the HDP also put forth the first openly gay candidate for office.
  • The momentum for the HDP grew out of 2013’s Gezi Park demonstrations, where protesters rallied against the government’s perceived encroachment on the country’s secularism.

“Turks and Kurds are well ahead of the political leaders of the country, and they have a lot of expectations of the democratic process that they have well bought into…This is a very impressive outcome. It shows that Turkey is going through an important political maturing process, and that an increasing number of people are interested in a pluralistic society.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Clashes erupt between marchers and ultra-right nationalists at Pride march in Kiev.
  • Nine (including five police officers) were injured among the 300 marching in the parade.
  • The march was only the second of its kind in Ukraine’s post-Soviet era.
  • President Petro Poroshenko had stated earlier that while he would not be attending, the marchers were constitutionally guaranteed the right to march and should not be disrupted.

More on this story at VICE.

(Image Credit: Roman Pilipey/EPA, via VICE)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Man assaults transgender woman with plastic bottle before pushing her onto the subway tracks in possible hate crime in New York.
  • Onlookers pulled the woman from the tracks before a train entered the station.
  • The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is searching for a man identified in surveillance video.
  • Homicides against transwomen have been high across the U.S. for the first half of 2015.

More on this story at BuzzFeed.

Sexual + Gender Minorities

In advance of Pride Month, President Obama releases statement reflecting on political victories and unfinished LGBT rights work. More from Washington Blade.

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Ireland’s Equality Minister works to secure LGBT employment anti-discrimination legislation for schools and hospitals before the start of the new school year. More from The Irish Times.

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Manabi Bandopadhyay becomes India’s first out transwoman serving in a college principalship. More from The Indian Express.