LGBulleTIn # 3
The week in LGBTI news around the world

20-26 June, 2015

This week we begin our dispatch with two reminders: NGOs have a few hours left (until Sunday 28^th, 5 pm CEST) to sign the joint statement urging the United Nations’ Human Rights Council to help ending the violence and discrimination suffered by LGBTI people around the world. But that’s not all: Pan Africa ILGA is recruiting a communications officer, and  the deadline to apply for the position has been extended to Friday July 3^rd.

And now, off to our weekly news!

Saturday 20^th
Same-sex marriages legalised in Pitcairn island, the world’s smallest country

Pitcairn Island - ph. paulandruthontherock.blogspot.com

The council of Pitcairn island, a British overseas territory in the Pacific with some legal autonomy, has unanimously passed a law allowing same-sex marriages. Home to just 48 people, the country is considered to be the world’s smallest by population: according to its Deputy Governor Kevin Lynch, the law change has been suggested by British authorities after England, Wales and Scotland had legalized same-sex marriage last year.

Read more on LGBTQ nation

Morocco: two men jailed after posing close for a photograph

They wanted to take a picture of themselves in front of a historic site in Rabat: arrested on June 3^rd, the two men had been charged with “violating public modesty”, and now they have been sentenced to four months in jail and a fine of up to around $135.

The decision comes at the end of weeks where the issue of homosexuality has been widely debated in the country, after Femen had staged a protest and other public statements had been made against Article 489, the law punishing “any person who commits lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex”.

Read more on Buzzfeed

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Monday 22^nd
Ukraine: first legal success against forced sterilization of trans* people

According to Insight Lgbt Ngo, the Administrative Court in Kiev has overturned a decision the Health Commission had taken about the gender recognition of a trans* man, refusing to give legal relevance to a document stating that surgical interventions for people diagnosed with “transsexualism” (sic) should include the removal of reproductive organs. The legal battle, though, may not over: the ministry of Health can still appeal the decision.

Read more on Human Rights Watch’s dispatches

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Tuesday 23^rd
New York: the Stonewall Inn is officially a city landmark

Stonewall Inn - ph. Flickr/punxutawneyphil

The Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar who saw the birth of the modern LGBTI movement, is now officially a historical landmark of New York City:  the officials who list the city’s most renowned buildings have taken the decision unanimously after a public hearing. The Inn had already been designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000; this new acknowledgement, though, should provide additional safeguards to keep the building from being changed.

Read more on The Advocate

Honduras: journalist and LGBTI activist stabbed to death

The tv reporter and LGBTI activist Juan Carlos Cruz Andara has been found dead – his body marked with at least 15 stab wounds - in his house in Puerto Cortes. So far the investigations have not determined whether the killing has been acted to silence Cruz Andara’s activism or his role in the media, or if the motive of the crime is unrelated to any of the above. According to La Prensa, fifteen journalists and media owners have been murdered in the last 16 months in the country.

Read more on La Prensa

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Wednesday 24^th
Kyrgyzstan: anti-LGBTI “propaganda” bill passes its second reading in parliament

The draft of a so-called anti-gay propaganda law has made it thought once again, passing its second reading in the Kyrgyz parliament by a vote of 90 to 2. To become law, the bill must pass a third reading, and then the president may choose whether to sign it or not.

The text asks to punish the “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” either with a maximum of one year in jail or a fine of 115 $, and calls for journalists found guilty of "propagating" homosexual relations to be held accountable.

Read more on Washington Blade

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Friday 26^th
United States: Supreme Court rules for marriage equality

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. Justice Anthony Kennedy has written for the 5 to 4 majority, stating that marriage is a fundamental right that all couples are entitled to under the Fourteenth Amendment of the constitution.

Read more on the New York Times