13 July 2017 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights

Articles

Catholic Malta votes to legalise same-sex marriage
By BBC, 12 Jul 2017

The staunchly Catholic island of Malta has voted to legalise same-sex marriage. Parliament agreed to amend Malta's marriage act, replacing words like "husband" and "wife" with the gender-neutral alternative "spouse". It also replaced "mother" and "father" with "parent who gave birth" and "parent who did not give birth".

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Trump’s Attorney General pressed to release his secret speech to anti-LGBT activists
By Pinknews, 12 Jul 2017

Trump’s Attorney General is refusing to release details of a behind-closed-doors speech he gave to anti-LGBT activists. Trump’s legal chief Jeff Sessions this week attended a summit held by Alliance Defending Freedom, a hardline evangelical law firm which battles against LGBT discrimination protections. Details of his speech have not been released, and press was barred from attended the event.

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LGBT Group to Fund Campaign Against Trump's Agenda
By TIME, 11 Jul 2017

The nation’s largest LGBT organization is setting aside $26 million to fund opposition to President Donald Trump’s agenda, the largest grassroots investment in the group’s 37-year history. The Human Rights Campaign’s move, which leaders are set to announce Tuesday, signals the group will ramp up spending on grassroots activism even after going all-in with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and coming up short. Instead of retreating, it plans to boost its spending to help pro-LGBT candidates win at all levels of government and assist rank-and-file activists as they take action to block Trump’s plans.

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Clashes in Chile as right-wing Catholic group protests LGBT rights
By SBS, 11 Jul 2017

A bus run by the ultra-conservative group Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard) arrived in the capital Santiago to protest moves to normalise same-sex parenting and gay rights. The move sparked a counter-protest by LGBT advocacy groups who organised their own "diversity bus." Only around 300 people from both sides gathered in the center of the capital, but police were forced to step in when clashes broke out between the rival camps.

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Nearly 50 per cent of LGBT pupils bullied at school, report finds
By The Telegraph, 10 Jul 2017

Nearly half of LGBT pupils experience bullying, a new report has found, amid growing concern that transphobia is on the rise in schools. While homophobic abuse has declined in recent years, the research shows that 64 per cent of  transgender pupils have been subject to bullying, with many schools found to be "not equipped" to support transgender pupils.

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