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LGBULLETIN 15 – THE WEEK IN LGBTI NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD SEPTEMBER 12-18, 2015

LGBulleTIn 15 The week in LGBTI news from around the world September 12-18, 2015

Saturday, September 12
Ecuador: the national federation of LGBT organizations is born

 

 

the Federación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones LGBT is born (ph. Ministerio de Justicia, Derechos Humanos y Cultos) The Federación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones LGBT is born (ph. Ministerio de Justicia, Derechos Humanos y Cultos)

 

Sixty groups from every part of Ecuador have decided to create the first national federation of LGBT organizations: the Federación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones LGBT will bring more than 2,000 members together, and has already been granted legal status by the ministry of Justice.

Diane Rodríguez, an activist from the Guayaquil Silueta X collective, was nominated for president: with this federation, she said, “we will actively participate in the construction of public policy together with the government, on behalf of the entire LGBT population of Ecuador.”

 

Read more via ILGA LAC

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Monday, September 14
Swaziland: LGBTI activist passes away


With great shock and dismay, PAN Africa ILGA has learnt of the passing of a dear friend and colleague: Xolile Sane Mabuza or “Malume”, as he was more affectionately known, has been one of the oldest members of the LGBTI movement in Africa and played a pivotal role in creating visibility, safe spaces for assembly and platforms for the community in Swaziland.

Read more via ILGA

 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaks about intersex people at the Human Rights Council opening

 

photo2

 

Human rights violations suffered by intersex people took center stage at the 30th session of the Human Rights Council: Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, talked specifically about intersex people during his opening statement.

“Far too few of us” he said “are aware of the specific human rights violations faced by millions of intersex people. Because their bodies don’t comply with typical definitions of male or female, intersex children and adults are frequently subjected to forced sterilization and other unnecessary and irreversible surgery, and suffer discrimination in schools, workplaces and other settings”. Two days later, the first UN-convened expert meeting on intersex was held to “identify steps that States and others can take to end these abuses.”

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Tuesday, September 15
Lithuania: Parliament to prohibit adoption by same-sex couples

An amendment to the Law on the Fundamentals of Protection of the Rights of Children, which would make the “adoption of Lithuanian citizens by same-sex couples” impossible,  is scheduled to be discussed in autumn by the Lithuanian Parliament.

Legal experts have already stressed that the proposal would violate the European Convention of Human Rights, and Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the national LGBTI rights organization LGL, expressed deep concern: “We hope that this discriminatory legislative initiative will be prevented in the Lithuanian Parliament at further readings.”

Read more via LGL

Nepal: new Constitution to ensure protection for LGBTI people

Nepalese lawmakers are voting on the new constitution article by article, and three of them – ensuring protections for LGBTI people – have already been approved by the constituent assembly. According to article 12, people have the right to have IDs that reflect their preferred gender, while both article 18 and 42 specifically speak about “gender and sexual minorities”. The constitution is now set to be approved by the president of Nepal on Sunday, September 20.

Read more via Pahichan

 

Australia: new PM insists on public vote on marriage equality

Only a few hours after Tony Abbott was ousted, the newly appointed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull found himself facing the issue of marriage equality. His statement shows he will probably follow his predecessor’s path, opting for a public vote instead of a debate in the House: “Our government” he reportedly said “has decided that the resolution of this matter will be determined by a vote of the people, all the people, via a plebiscite, to be held after the next election.”

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Thursday, September 17
Canada called to lift the ban on MSM blood donors

https://www.youtube.com/embed/i7Mlq9PEWqI

 

The Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion launched a campaign to lift the ban on male blood donors whose sexual partners are also male. Restrictions were posed in mid-1980, a time when “AIDS was rapidly emerging, the gay community was in crisis and no HIV testing procedures for blood donations were in place yet”. Things are different nowadays, the CCDI explains: “Today, every donation given at Canadian Blood Services is thoroughly tested for pathogens, including HIV. There is no such thing as gay blood. Help us #EndTheBan.”

Read more on Buzzfeed

 

Is that all? More news bites

 

photo 2 - need more

 

A lesbian couple in Spain is suing the Health ministry after one of the women saw her free assisted reproductive treatment suspended when a new regulation stated women without a male partner could not benefit from it. (Spanish version here)

 

In Russia, Vladimir Putin gave State honour to Vitaly Milonov, the man behind the 2012 Saint Petersburg “anti-gay propaganda” law which inspired the 2013 national one.


In Montenegro
, the Police Authority decided to prohibit the Pride Parade in Niksic for the third time this year.

 

For the second consecutive year, Uruguay ranks on top of the Social Inclusion Index published by Americas Quarterly when it comes to LGBTI inclusion in the American continent.

 

José Calderon, LGBTI activist and director of the Fundación Khinirius, was found dead in his house in Barranquilla, Colombia: his body was reportedly marked with stab wounds.

 

Two gay men have reportedly been killed in the streets in the city of Aden, Yemen, in the last week.

 

Photos of two men getting married in Bali have gone viral and sparked national outrage in Indonesia: the island’s governor called the ceremony “a disgrace.”

 

In Australia, the Pinnacle Foundation launched its first sports-oriented scholarship for LGBTI students.

 

More about sports: USA Rugby, the governing body for rugby union in the United States, signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ to eliminate homophobia from the game.
In the United States, a trans woman who reportedly got asked “What are you?” and then fired during her first day of work had her discrimination case settled.

 

In Uganda, president Yoweri Museveni said he will not pursue other anti-gay legislation: “We already have a law which was left by the British which deals with this issue.”

 

Human Rights Watch documented how LGBTI people are targeted in Gambia, while an Amnesty International report showed how the legal system in Poland falls short when it comes to protecting LGBTIs from hate crimes.

 

 

[bulletin written by Daniele Paletta]

 

 

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