LGBULLETIN #163 – THE WEEK IN LGBTI NEWS (19-25 JUNE 2020)

This is a brief selection of news showing how Covid-19 is affecting LGBTI communities worldwide. Share more stories at [email protected]

Global

ASPIRE: Guidelines for an LGBT-inclusive COVID-19 response
The coronavirus pandemic risks an LGBT+ mental health crisis
Community-led responses in the time of COVID – UNAIDS global survey

Latin America and the Caribbean

Older LGBTI people tell how they live with the pandemic in Latin America
Coronavirus lockdown leaves LGBTQ Salvadorans even more vulnerable

Europe and Central Asia

European Commission joins LGBT+ stars as fears of COVID-19 fuels inequality

Asia

In India, the isolation of confined LGBT+ people

ILGALAC presents book on hate crimes against LGBTI people in Latin America and the Caribbean

In an online event featuring prominent human rights figures, ILGALAC presented its new book, Crímenes de odio contra personas LGBTI en América Latina y el Caribe, written by Martin De Grazia with the support of the Arcus Foundation and INADI.

Alongside ILGALAC’s co-Chair Ari Vera Morales and Executive Director Pedro Paradiso Sottile, some distinguished human rights personalities spoke during the online event, including United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, UN Independent Expert SOGI Victor Madrigal-Borloz, Rapporteur on LGBTI rights at Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Flavia Piovesan and Raul Zaffaroni,a judge at Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos.

“We believe that the book is important as a way of disarming LGBTIphobia through education, schools and universities, in order to put an end to the fundamentalism that is backed up by the complicit silence of the States and other powers,” said Paradiso Sottile during the presentation.

The publishing of the book comes as another LGBTI person has been killed in the region. Elizabeth Montano, a trans woman who worked at the Mexican Social Security Institute, was found dead near the town of Tres Marias.

Human Rights Commission issues report on “rainbow” human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand

People of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, or sex characteristics (SOGIESC) continue to face discrimination in New Zealand, as a recent report issued by the Human Rights Commission highlighted. The “Prism” report detailed issues concerning six human rights: right to freedom from discrimination, information, recognition before the law, the highest attainable level of health, education and work.

To collect data for the report, analysis was conducted through the voices and experiences of SOGIESC-diverse people – including trans detainees and people with disabilities – who attended the Human Rights Commission’s consultant hui in 2018 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
The report also noted that, while people of diverse sexual orientations have rapidly gained social acceptance, this did not happen for people of diverse gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics.

Depending on intersecting factors – including ethnicity, age, disability, and geographic location – the obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights have shown to be widely different between our communities. In particular, the report notes, the negative impact of colonisation on sexual and gender fluidity – accepted in traditional Māori society – continues to have dramatic consequences, including loss of acceptance within their own societies and communities.

“Significant change can be brought about through public policy, law reform, access to justice and administrative actions,” said Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt. “With many international examples of good practice to benefit from, I urge the New Zealand government to work with local SOGIESC-diverse communities, organisations, individuals and the Human Rights Commission to address these issues in a principled and evidence-based way.”

“I’m LGBT, I’m Human”: the Polish queer community responds to homophobic electoral campaign

“I’m LGBT, I’m Human”: in a video published by LGBT rights group KPH (Campaign Against Homophobia), nearly five hundred Polish LGBTpersons are pushing back against the wave of hatred and homophobia that spiked during these past weeks.

Since the start of the month, as KPH points out, Polish LGBT people have been subject to “dehumanizing propaganda” amidst the presidential election campaign. Accused to be a “threat” to the Christian foundations of the Polish state and even of being “not people”, the queer community is fighting back with their own voices and faces, to remind voters they are persons, not “an ideology”.

LGBT activists are not alone in condemning the homophobic campaign. Over 25 lawyers and legal scholars have signed an open appeal to presidential candidates to combat hate crimes on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. “We are outraged by the homophobic statements which, as part of the election campaign, have been made by representatives of state authorities,” they wrote. ”That is why we are appealing to you today to make a specific commitment during the presidential campaign. A commitment that – if you are elected President of the Republic of Poland – you will undertake a legislative initiative that will amend the provisions of Polish law which offer protection against hate crimes, including hate speech.”

Furthermore, the majority of Polish people don’t seem to be convinced by the “LGBT ideology” threat: according to an IPSOS survey, most respondents didn’t agree with “the opinion that LGBT is a dangerous ideology against which Poland must be defended”.

Over 680,000 people ask justice for Tete Gulley, as more murders of trans people are reported in the United States

Over 680,000 people signed an online petition demanding answers around the death of Tete Gulley, a Black trans woman who was found hanged near a homeless campsite in Portland, Oregon. Her death was initially deemed a suicide, but her family and community reject the hypothesis. Portland Police have since opened an investigation into Gulley’s death, after the victim’s family collected and presented evidence that there may have been foul play involved.

The promoters of the petition are alleging that the Portland Police Bureau failed to investigate critical evidence of witnesses and key suspects, and demand for it to be held accountable. Apparently, Tete’s family found out about her through Facebook, as it is reported that the police never contacted them.

Her family insists that Tete was not suicidal. The day she died, Tete had been shopping with her mother. “I know he [her mother knew Tete as “Otis”, who was comfortable expressing her fluidity with her family] did not commit suicide, no doubt about that. For them to say that he committed suicide, it’s just hard to believe because he was just so full of joy regardless of what was going on around him.”

The United States is seeing an increasing number of trans people being killed, the Human Rights Campaign recently reported. According to the group, Selena Reyes-Hernandez is believed to be the 16th trans or gender non-conforming person whose murder was reported in the country this year. Half of the cases occurred just between May 3rd and June 9th.

Living with your same-sex partner is not a crime, Indian court states

Same-sex couples in India may not be granted equal marriage, but they can live together, as article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees it. That’s what the Uttarakhand high court, in Northern India, has observed in a recent judgment, claiming that consensual cohabitation between two adults of the same sex is neither illegal nor a crime.

In its 12 June ruling, the court spoke of “acceptance of plurality and diversity of the culture”. “Intimacy of marriage, including the choice of partner which individuals make, on whether or not to marry, and whom to marry are the aspects which exclusively lie outside the control of the state or the society.”

The ruling is a response to a petition filed by a woman complaining that her partner was being wrongfully held by her mother and brother. The court, however, rejected the petition as her partner affirmed that she wasn’t “under pressure or a wrongful confinement” by her family.

A step forward: Gabon’s lower house votes to decriminalise consensual same-sex relations

Gabon has moved towards decriminalising consensual same-sexual relations, in a surprise move that comes less than a year after the new penal code banned them. The bill was voted by the lower house of the parliament 48 to 24 (25 abstained) and must now pass in the upper house of the Senate.

Last year’s change had gone largely unnoticed by international media and human rights defenders until ILGA World released its State-Sponsored Homophobia report in December. Currently, the law establishes a penalty of up to six months in prison and a fine for those found guilty “of sexual relations with a person of the same sex”.

Prime Minister Julien Nkoghe Bekale, who initiated the bill, applauded the parliament’s decision. “I have religious convictions. I am tolerant and I respect human life. As I am against the death penalty, I am also against the stigmatisation of homosexuals”, he tweeted. “Congratulations to the parliamentarians for having changed mentalities and being able to adapt to the times”.

A university professor, who wrote under anonymity, affirmed that the bill “is more in line with the spirit and tradition of tolerance that prevails in Gabon. Discriminating a person on the basis of his or her sexual orientation is as despicable as discriminating on the basis of skin colour.Those who fight racism should also fight the criminalization of homosexuality.”