LGBULLETIN #191 – TWO WEEKS IN LGBTI NEWS (26 MARCH – 8 APRIL 2021)

Argentina: court reverses ‘lesbophobic’ ruling, acquits woman sentenced to a year in prison for ‘resistance to authorities’

The National Chamber of Cassation acquitted a woman of the charges of minor injuries and contempt of authority, for which she had been convicted in 2019 in a ruling that was denounced by human rights organisations as lesbophobic.

The case dates back to October 2017, when two police officers saw Mariana Gómez kissing her wife at the entrance of an underground station in Buenos Aires. First accused of smoking in a prohibited place and addressed in masculine terms, Mariana was then beaten and imprisoned for many hours in a police station – accused of resistance to authorities and minor injuries to the police officers.

Sometime later, however, a report clarified that Gómez had not assaulted the police – and yet she was condemned in 2019 with a one-year suspended sentence. The ruling was then appealed, leading the Court of Cassation to acquit the woman of the charges against her.

Following the incident, the judge in charge of the first instance trial had solely taken into account one of the police officers’ testimony, dismissing the one of a colleague who had not supported his statements, as well as that of the people who witnessed the arbitrary detention of Mariana Gómez and came forward to testify on behalf of the accused.

“Mariana Gómez was a victim of institutional violence, not only by the police forces, but also by the judicial actions, reflected in the different acts of the proceedings and, above all, in the contested decision in which two testimonies that favoured justice were discarded,” Emiliano Montini of National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) said.

[Statement]

ILGA Asia statement on Iraqi Kurdistan Region: Widespread violence against LGBTIQ+ citizens by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) must be condemned

Read the full statement: https://t.co/x7gNyWIKaC

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#ILGAAsia #Statement #Iraq pic.twitter.com/uFhweiXOBO

— ILGA Asia (@ILGAASIA) April 6, 2021

Kurdistan region of Iraq: LGBTIQ citizens arbitrarily detained in the city of Sulaymaniyah

The security police of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government arrested several LGBTIQ+ citizens, including minors, in the city of Sulaymaniyah, prompting human rights defenders across the region to call for an end to the arbitrary detentions.

According to ILGA Asia, the police’s operation commander said that members of our communities were targeted across several public places in the city, adding it would continue in the following days. However, he later corrected his statement saying that the action was meant to ‘combat prostitution’.

Kurdish human rights defenders and LGBTIQ+ activists confirmed that detainees are subjected to sexual and physical harassment and involuntary exposure of their identity using different brutal torture methods during the interrogation.

“Kurdish LGBTIQ+ activists’ lives are in grave danger”, ILGA Asia commented. “Due to these recent arrests and police threats, many members of the LGBTIQ+ community in Kurdistan, especially in Sulaymaniyah, are at risk of detention and are in fear of appearing in public.”

The organisation called upon the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to “immediately release the detainees, end the repression and detention policies against the LGBTIQ+ community”, reminding that article 14 of the Iraqi Constitution states that every Iraqi citizen “is equal before the law”

“The arrest of people on charges that they are from the rainbow community is in itself a violation of human rights,” said MP Shadi Nawzad, a member of the Iraqi-Kurdish parliament’s Social Affairs and Protection of Human Rights Committee.

Germany adopts draft law protecting intersex children from non-consensual medical interventions

The German Parliament adopted a draft law from the federal government “for the protection of children with variants of sex development”, which provides the first framework to protect intersex children from non-vital, non-emergency medical interventions.

“This law is the result of more than 25 years of intersex activism in Germany, and we are very glad to see the years of work of national intersex activists have finally come into fruition”, said Dan Christian Ghattas, Executive Director of OII Europe.

As  a comprehensive analysis by OII Europe explains, the law would consider unlawful all surgeries that are solely performed to alter the child’s body to a more normative appearance and without the child’s fully informed consent. However, the provision in its current form still has “risks and gaps that need to be monitored closely”, as it would only protect children diagnosed along the current medical definition of so-called ‘difference of sex development’, and it does not specify when an intervention is to be considered too urgent for a proceeding at the family court.

“Taking human rights of intersex children seriously and protecting these most vulnerable members of society is an ongoing learning process”, says Kitty Anderson, Co-Chair of OII Europe. “We will support our German member organisation in monitoring the implementation of the law and its future evaluation.”

This decision came right after the release of a new comprehensive EU policy framework on the Rights of the Child, which addresses the rights of intersex children along with key areas of children’s rights in the European Union.

United States: Arkansas becomes the first state to ban trans kids from gender-affirming health care

Arkansas state legislatures voted in overwhelming majorities to override Governor  Asa Hutchinson’s veto of a bill that will ban trans young people from accessing affirming health care.

As reported in AP News. Hutchinson had vetoed the bill  following pleas from paediatricians, social workers and the parents of trans youth who said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide. The bill’s sponsor, however, dismissed opposition and passed the law, which prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment.

The law will take effect in late July at the earliest. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it planned to challenge the measure before then. “This is a sad day for Arkansas, but this fight is not over — and we’re in it for the long haul,” stated ACLU of Arkansas’ executive director Holly Dickson.

Cameroon: jail time of two trans women extended without a trial

Two trans women facing charges of “attempted homosexuality” in Cameroon will spend more than two months behind bars without trial after a judge postponed their hearing for the second time in two weeks.

The two women, Shakiro and Patricia have been held in jail in Douala since mid-February, facing charges of public indecency and not carrying identification. The plead not guilty but were repeatedly denied bail. Meanwhile, a publicpetition demanding to release them immediately and put in place all measures to guarantee their security and wellbeingha reached more than 10,000 signatories. If found guilty, the two women could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Rights groups have documented a series of actions against the LGBT community by Cameroonian authorities this year and last, leading to the arrest of dozens of people, reported Reuters.

“We are tired of these dismissals,” said one of the defendant’s lawyers, Joseph Djabou. Another lawyer called their arrest “arbitrary and illegal”.

Australia: human rights lawyers call on New South Wales Parliament to act on recommendations shedding light to historic gay and trans hate crimes

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) urged the New South Wales Parliament to adopt all recommendations of the Standing Committee on Social Issues’ report on gay and transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010. The final report is expected to be tabled in May 2021 and, according to reports, would recommend establishing a judicial commission of inquiry with full investigative powers to look into the responses of the State’s justice system.

As the Bondi Memorial Project explains, more than 80 gay men and trans women disappeared, and were assaulted or murdered in New South Wales from the late 70s to the early 90s. Many other LGBTQ community members were targeted in violent incidents during this time. Many of these deaths and disappearances were misclassified as suicides, misadventure or accidents at the time. Many of these cases remain unsolved.

The NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Social Issues launched an inquiry in September 2018 into institutional responses to historic hate crimes. The final report, ALHR President Kerry Weste said, “will mark an important but sad point in the LGBT community’s journey towards truth and justice. For too long, the LGBT community has suffered brutal and violent human rights violations at the hands of groups within society, and yet has not benefited from appropriate responses from police and justice agencies.  The NSW Parliament must act without delay to implement the findings and recommendations of the Final Report, and help the LGBT community of NSW speak its truth.”