segunda-feira, 23 de janeiro de 2012
Suicide Rate for Trans Women Denied Implants Alarming
in: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/01/01/Suicide_Rate_for_Trans_Women_Denied_Implants_Alarming/
According to Swedish website, The Local, RFSL warns that transgender women who are refused breast implants as a compliment to hormone treatment can suffer from a variety of psychological problems, resulting in an “alarmingly” high suicide rate.
Plastic surgery for transgender patients saves lives, according to RFSL. The study shows that psychological complications for those forced to live with a body that doesn't match their gender identity is high and the suicide rate among patients denied breast implants is 30 to 40 percent, compared with only 1.6 percent for the general population.
RFSL petitioned the National Board of Health and Welfare to draw up national guidelines for physicians and hospitals trans breast implants, after a trans woman was reportedly denied implants by the Södra Älvsborgs hospital in Alingsås in western Sweden. “RFSL demands that care for transgender people be given under the same conditions regardless of where one lives in Sweden,” the group wrote.
domingo, 22 de janeiro de 2012
Europe and LGBT Rights
The Eurozone currency crisis has driven a wedge into the Cameron administration, with David Cameron and the "Eurosceptics" within his Conservative Party pitted against the pro-European Liberal Democrats, their coalition partner.
"Euroscepticism" is predominntly limited to the Conservative Party and rival further right political entities like the "United Kingdom Independence Party" and British National Party. It consists of an obsession that the European Union is infringing on British national sovereignty, financial autonomy and economic growth and has existed ever since the United Kingdom joined the European Community in 1973. During the aggressively nationalist Thatcher era, it grew apace, which was to have serious consequences for her successor, John Major, and ensuing Tory leaders, As Tim Bale notes in his history of the party over the last decade, European policy has become a major internal obsession for the Tories and a party faultline.
Outside the Conservative Party, however, it is negligible. Indeed, Scotland is at loggerheads with the Conservatives over their European policy, given that European development finance has been used to rebuild the country after the ravages of the Thatcher era. Cameron dislikes this intensely and almost seems to be urging Scotland to hold its independence referendum as soon as possible so that it can leave the United Kingdom and truncate Labour's potential electoral constituency in the process.
What about LGBT Britons? Generally, the European Union is positively regarded on most issues. The European Court of Human Rights has been useful in forcing recalcitrant states into line with a broadly liberal policy consensus- such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire, as well as a denunciation of Polish homophobia under Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
However, it has not been so forthcoming over same-sex marriage proper within the United Kingdom and held that the United Kingdom was right to criminaise 'heavy' consensual sadomasochist sex between adult gay men ("Operation Spanner'). That said, the European Union has been proactive on decriminalisation, anti-discrimination reforms, general spousal equality and same-sex parenting issues.
That said, there has been tension between progressive Western European nations (and Hungary and the Czech Republic) and more backward Eastern European states, such as Kaczynski era Poland and the constituent nations of the former Yugoslavia, especially Serbia (although the latter is not yet a European Union member, given its abhorrent human rights record of anti-Muslim religious persecution and genocide during the Bosnian War. It is also heavily indulgent of neofascist and extremist nationalist anti-gay violence). Reform can come, though. Poland has improved significantly since the Kaczynski era and the marginalisation of the former Law and Justice Party in Poland's Sejm. However, Slovakia and Hungary have had anti-Pride riots during the last year, mostly instigated by right-wing extremists and neofascists.
Fundamentalist Christians don't tend to be aligned overtly to the Eurosceptic element of the Conservatives unless they are also members of either that party or the United Kingdom Independence Party, which wants a secessionist referendum on further British membership of the European Union. It doesn't seem to be the case that they regard Europe as a serious threat to British social conservatism. Nor are there any remaining conspiracist far right elements that regard the European Union as the core of a totalitarian superstate that will bring about the Apocalypse. Indeed, given the current Eurozone financial crisis, that particular conspiracy theory seems more laughable than ever before.
But of course, the European Union has another, neoliberal agenda. Prosperous Germany holds its purse strings and has demanded that Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other troubled Euro currency zone economies introduce austerity budgets that slash social service entitlements and comprehensive welfare state coverage, given the immense financial credit that has been forwarded to such EU economies. Unlike EU human rights and civil liberties reforms, this hasn't been so well met.
At present, the Eurozone crisis is at the forefront of European policy concerns, over the fragility of the Euro, the common European currency and the financial stability of Greece and Italy, wracked by unrest over the introduction of austerity budgets designed to cut national budget deficits at the cost of social service quality. The United Kingdom never joined the European common currency and has been a holdout over further expansion of European financial authority, given its concerns over the City of London's financial district. Ironically enough, this has put David Cameron at loggerheads with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Nikolas Sarkozy of France, both committed to the survival and wellbeing of the European Union- and both fellow centre-right political leaders. Within its own Coalition, the Liberal Democrats are heavily pro-European- although the general public are also bored about the debate and may well punish the Conservatives for obsessing over Europe at the cost of more pressing concerns about the spending cuts, social service quality and the austerity agenda of the Conservative-led government.
Within the UK LGBT media, it's difficult to find any interest in this side of European politics.
If there are any gay Tory Eurosceptics, they're keeping rather quiet about their objections to the EU- possibly because of EU fiscal conservative policies that support current Cameron administration government economic policy. For the most part, UK LGBT communities remain broadly supportive of European Union membership, if not its neoliberal austerity policies.
Recommended:
European Union and LGBT rights: ILGA: http://www.ilga-europe.org
LGBT rights in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Europe
Tim Bale: The Conservative Party: From Thatcher to Cameron: Polity Press: 2011.
sábado, 21 de janeiro de 2012
Cleveland-area couple faces discrimination in access to sports facility
A story gaining national attention in the US combining Greater Cleveland, recreational sport, and marriage equality. While Cleveland and many other communities have adopted progressive policies, the state of Ohio continues to institutionalize discrimination against LGBT people. The petition can be found HERE.
sexta-feira, 20 de janeiro de 2012
Gay girl forced to use boys changing rooms
in: http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/
A GIRL who was forced to share a PE changing room with boys because she is gay tells her shocking story in a new video to tackle homophobia.
The seven-minute film commissioned by Oldham National Union of Teachers (NUT) features members of Manchester Lesbian and Gay Youth project.
The young people, including Oldham pupils, talk about their experiences of homophobic bullying in schools, which have not been named to avoid a witch hunt.
One girl says: “When I was in PE, I couldn’t get changed in the girls’ toilets or the locker room so I had to get changed with the lads.
“My PE teacher said, ‘Oh yeah, you are not attracted to lads so you have to get changed there’ which pretty annoyed me, so every time PE was on I did not do it.” She eventually had to change school to escape homophobic bullying.
Another example involved a boy, who said: “I was about 14 when I was outed in school.
“The first day that I knew that people knew was when they all crowded round me and threw things at me. I hit one of them and I got suspended.”
He said racist or sexist bullying was dealt with more seriously by schools than homophobic abuse.
He added: “I really hated school because every day was just constant insults and things. The teachers told you to just get over it.”
Oldham NUT has been campaigning to tackle homophobia in schools and ran one of the first surveys on its prevalence. It has sent the video to all Oldham councillors.
Jeff Evans, the branch’s equality representative, said: “This is one of those rare opportunities to get young persons’ views of what homophobia really means. As adults we know there is an issue because we have got the statistics, we have got teachers saying this happens. But rarely do we get the chance to see what that means for the children concerned.
“The short film in a very effective way, without being sentimental, gets over the message. If it was on racism or sexism, people having to leave schools because the colour of their skin or gender, that would be front- page news.
“The question we have asked constantly is why is sexual discrimination being treated any differently? It is not about sex, it is to do with civil liberties.”
Mr Evans said that the daily homophobic bullying faced by pupils in the majority of schools was compounded — and implicitly endorsed — by the inaction of too many governing bodies.
Challenging them to act, he added: “The examples highlighted by these children can be found in lots of schools including Oldham schools. They are not exceptional.
“There are a lot of resources out there and Oldham NUT is the first organisation in the queue giving help.”
The national Schools Out website features a range of LGBT (lesbian, gay bisexual and trans) resources for schools, including history resources written by Mr Evans. The video is available to view on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DASgFOtyK-w0&feature=3Dyoutu.be
terça-feira, 17 de janeiro de 2012
Kuwait: End police abuses against transgender women
in: http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/kuwait-end-police-abuses-against-transgender-women
(Kuwait City) - Kuwaiti police have tortured and sexually abused transgender women using a discriminatory law, passed in 2007, which arbitrarily criminalizes "imitating the opposite sex," Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government of Kuwait should repeal the law, article 198 as amended in 2007, and hold police officers accountable for misconduct.
The 63-page report, "‘They Hunt us Down for Fun': Discrimination and Police Violence Against Transgender Women in Kuwait," documents the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and persecution that transgender women - individuals who are born male, but identify as female - have faced at the hands of police. The report also documents the discrimination that transgender women have faced on a daily basis - including by members of the public - as a result of the law, an amendment to penal code article 198. Based on interviews with 40 transgender women, as well as with ministry of interior officials, lawyers, doctors, and members of Kuwaiti civil society, the report found that the arbitrary, ill-defined provisions of the law has allowed for numerous abuses to take place.
Police have free rein to determine whether a person's appearance constitutes "imitating the opposite sex" without any specific criteria being laid down for the offense. Transgender women reported being arrested even when they were wearing male clothes and then later being forced by police to dress in women's clothing, and the claim made that they arrested them in that attire. In some cases documented by Human Rights Watch, transgender women said police arrested them because they had a "soft voice" or "smooth skin."
"No one - regardless of his or her gender identity - deserves to be arrested on the basis of a vague, arbitrary law and then abused and tortured by police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The Kuwaiti government has a duty to protect all of its residents, including groups who face popular disapproval, from brutal police behavior and the application of an unfair law."
Transgender women reported suffering multiple forms of abuse at the hands of the police while in detention, including degrading and humiliating treatment, such as being forced to strip and being paraded around the police station, being forced to dance for officers, sexual humiliation, verbal taunts and intimidation, solitary confinement, and emotional and physical abuse that could amount to torture. Redress for these violations is difficult, as few said they reported incidents of police misconduct because of threats of retribution and re-arrest.
In one case, a transgender woman told Human Rights Watch that after police arrested her and two of her friends, they took a trash can full of dirt and cigarette butts and dumped it over her friend's head. Another friend was forced to do push-ups with a radiator on her back. In another, a transgender woman who was arrested with another person reported that police punched and kicked her brutally and beat her friend with a heavy stapler.
"The Kuwaiti authorities should ensure proper monitoring of police behavior", said Whitson. "They should also investigate unchecked police abuse, hold those found guilty accountable for their actions, and make sure that vulnerable populations, such as transgenders, have access to mechanisms of redress without fear of retribution."
In several cases, Human Rights Watch found that police officers took advantage of the law to blackmail transgender women into sex. Transgender women claimed that police used the threat of arrest to force them into sex, and that sexual abuse at the hands of the police has been rampant. Transgender women said that before the law, while sexual advances by the police were commonplace, they could decline such advances, whereas now police had leeway to imprison them if they refused.
Despite an official recognition of gender identity disorder (GID) by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health as a legitimate medical condition, the law criminalizing "imitating the opposite sex" makes no exception for people who have been diagnosed with GID. The law leaves them at the mercy of officers in an unmonitored police force who transgender women said have refused to recognize, and sometimes have even torn up, medical reports and GID diagnoses that transgender women present to them upon arrest.
Under international law, Kuwait has an obligation to ensure the protection of its residents from arbitrary arrest or detention. Criminalizing an individual's gender expression and identity violates the right to non-discrimination, equality before the law, free expression, personal autonomy, physical integrity, and privacy. Kuwait is also a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, under which sexual violence committed by police officers acting in an official capacity constitutes torture.
Human Rights Watch calls on the Kuwaiti government to repeal the amendment to article 198, criminalizing "imitating the opposite sex." Pending repeal of the law, the Ministry of Interior should issue a moratorium on arrests of individuals according to the amended article 198 of the Kuwaiti penal code. The government also should work to protect transgender individuals, a particularly vulnerable group, from police abuse and violence, and investigate allegations of police brutality and abuse.
