ILGA LGBulleTIn #2 -
The week in LGBTI news around the world

13-19 June, 2015

June 13^th
Morocco: shocking cover causes outrage

“Should gay people be burned?”: this was the question on the cover of the popular Maroc Hebdo magazine that appeared in news-stands on Friday, June 12^th. The provocative sentence has caused a flood of enraged comments on the publication’s social media profiles, forcing the magazine to withdraw the issue from sale and its sites on the internet.

[Read more on Buzzfeed]

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June 14^th
Mexico: green light to same-sex marriage

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation of Mexico has declared that any law banning same-sex marriage throughout the country is unconstitutional. The ruling had been issued on June 3^rd, but news have begun to circulate only ten days later. State marriage laws are not automatically stricken down, but couples who are denied marriage rights in their states may now seek injunctions from district judges, who will be now obligated to grant them.

[read more on PanAmPost in English, or in Spanish on ILGA Lac]

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June 15^th
Human Rights Council: session 29 kicks off in Geneva

The 29^th session of the Human Rights Council has begun: for three weeks representatives of 47 United Nations member states and many NGOs are discussing how to promote and protect human rights around the globe. Many reports containing SOGIEI references are being discussed, and resolutions on women and families are being negotiated that will frame future international discourse. There’s an uphill battle to protect the rights of LGBTI persons globally, but important words were spoken at the outset: “LGBT and intersex people in all regions face continuing, pervasive, violent abuse, harassment and discrimination”, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein during his opening statement. “Far more must be done to end this damaging discrimination”.

[Read the material related to the 29th Session of the Human Rights Council ]

India: the first ad featuring a lesbian couple goes viral

With more than 1,5 million views on Youtube (and counting), the first ad in India to ever feature a lesbian couple is what can be called a success: the clip shows two women dressing up as they talk about meeting one of the partner’s parents for the first time.

In an interview for the Times of India, the co-partner of the creative agency behind the ad has said they have been trying “to avoid the stereotypes associated with gay people”.

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June 16^th
Malta takes another groundbreaking step towards equality

After the landmark Gender Expression, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics Act, Malta has taken another groundbreaking step towards equality: its Government has launched an education policy which focuses on the needs of trans*, gender variant and intersex children, pointing out that it should be implemented uniformly in all schools.
According to TimesOfMalta.com, the government is also looking into proposals to ban conversion therapies.

[read more about the education policy in Malta via ILGA Europe]

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June 17^th
The rainbow flag enters the MOMA collection

The Museum of Modern Art has decided to acquire the iconic rainbow flag, a symbol for the LGBTI community created in 1978 in San Francisco by Gilbert Baker. Interviewed for the MOMA's archives, the artist has remembered: "We needed something beautiful, something from us. The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things".

[read more on The Observer]

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June 18^th
Australia: a Q&A episode about marriage equality gets heated up

It should have been a night dedicated to debate whether the marriage equality campaign was distracting from other issues facing the LGBTI community. But the special edition of the popular Q&A on ABC tv has quickly turned into something different when reverend Fred Nile has told the audience he believed that “the people who are now being persecuted are the Christians who don’t agree with same-sex marriage”. His sentences caused an uproar in the studio, on social media and on the international press.

[read more on News.com.au]

Bulletin by Daniele Paletta