“We exist”: queer activists in Tunisia ask to be heard in a new campaign

“Queer Riot” is the latest campaign Tunisian LGBT organisation Mawjoudin (We Exist) has launched these past days, calling for queer people to be seen in a society that “shunned them”. The campaign consists of some pictures of people holding signs in both Arabic and English. 

“I stand in the corners where you can see me but cannot perceive me for who I am. I speak your tongue and you hear me but you don’t listen to what I have to say. We blur the same Tunisian slang, we stand in the same classrooms and salute the same flag but I doubt we ever carry the same sentiment of belonging,” the group wrote on Facebook and Instagram.

“I dared to see myself in the places that shunned me, in the minds that pushed me away, in the system that oppressed me, in the language that refused to recognize me, in the society that violated me, and I dared to fuel a riot inside of me that ended up spreading like wildfires”, continued the post. “So now, I exist, and we exist, in all the places where you’d want us to disappear, but we are not going to, instead, we’re rioting”.

Mawjoudin concluded with an appeal to scrap article 230 of the Tunisian penal code, which as reported in ILGA World’s State-Sponsored Homophobia report, punishes consensual same-sex relations between adults with up to three years in prison. In July, two men were sentenced to two years in prison under this provision.  The sentence was later upheld and reduced to one year by the court of appeal.

Aotearoa New Zealand introduces new guidelines to foster inclusion and diversity in schools

The ministry of Education of Aotearoa New Zealand has released new guidelines aimed to foster inclusion and diversity at school, including by using names and pronouns that best match students’ gender identity.

The guidelines hadn’t been updated since 2002, and have been split between primary and secondary school documents. According to them, schools at all levels should encourage questioning “gender stereotypes and assumptions about sexuality, including gender norms, gender binaries, gender stereotypes and sex norms, for example, the assumption that sex characteristics at birth are always male or female”. Students should also be allowed to use the toilets and changing rooms that match their identity.

“It’s important that young people are able to see themselves reflected in what they’re learning at school,” Pooja Submaranian, spokesperson for Rainbow Youth, told The Guardian. According to her, this new policy was “long overdue”, as many LGBTI students are bullied and fear discrimination at school.

Argentina’s public sector reserves 1% of jobs to trans people

Argentina’s public sector is now required to set aside 1% of jobs for trans people, a presidential decree signed at the beginning of the month stated. 

“Every trans person has a right to decent and productive work, in equitable and satisfactory working conditions and with protections against unemployment, without discrimination based on gender identity or expression”, the decree says. It also states that trans people don’t need to amend their gender markers on their document to qualify for one of the positions and that one place might be reserved while they complete their education. The decree also established an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Unit within the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, also tasked with planning the implementation of the quota and guaranteeing the mechanisms and procedures necessary for its fulfilment. 

“We celebrate the achievement that this decree represents for the whole LGBTI community, as it allows trans people to access jobs within the national public administration,” the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina wrote on Facebook.

“It is up to Parliament to recognise all labour rights in private and public spheres with a law, to offer trans people reparation to the damage caused by the absence and omissions by the State for decades,” concluded the group.

It’s the latest Caribbean country to recognize the relationships of same-sex couples. https://t.co/lBWOlJAOGC

— them. (@them) September 16, 2020

Barbados announces plans to introduce civil partnerships

Barbados could soon recognise “a form of civil unions for couples of the same gender”, Governor General Dame Sanda Mason announced this week during the formal speech which set out the agenda for the government. No date or plan was yet set for the envisioned changes. 

Claiming that the country can’t accept being “blacklisted” on the grounds of its human rights violations, Mason announced that Barbados will also hold a referendum on the issue. As ILGA World’s State-Sponsored Homophobia points out Barbados has the harshest penalty in the Western Hemisphere, criminalising consensual same-sex relations between adults with life imprisonment. The “Sexual Offences Act” is already facing legal challenges, as some LGBT persons have filed a legal petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 

The governor’s speech has been met with lukewarm reactions from activists. 

Michael Rapley, head of LGBTI group Equals, said he was optimistic about recognition of civil unions but warned against a public vote on marriage equality. “The speech has left me unimpressed,” trans activists Alexa Hoffmann added. “A nod is being given to civil unions but yet anything that relates to the LGBT community physically being able to practice that relationship is still criminalized and completely forbidden.” 

“There is a long way to go to achieve equality for LGBTIQ people,” said Neish Mclean, Caribbean program officer for OutRight Action International, pointing out that addressing discrimination and decriminalizing sexual relations laws would require a lot of struggle.

Barbados has recently approved an anti-discrimination law that failed to include discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and expression.