15 Nov 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on on LGBTI righs

Articles

Guyana law that criminalizes cross-dressing struck down
Washington Blade, 14 Nov 2018

A five-judge panel on the Caribbean Court of Justice on Tuesday unanimously struck down a Guyana law that criminalizes cross-dressing Authorities in the South American country in 2009 arrested four transgender women and charged them with violating a colonial-era law that took effect in 1893 when Guyana was a British colony. A press release that three Guyanese advocacy groups — Guyana Trans United, UWI Rights Advocacy Project and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination — issued on Tuesday says the four trans women were held at a police station for three days “after their arrest for the minor crime.”The groups note a judge told the four trans women “they were confused about their sexuality, that they were men and not women and urged them to go to church.” The four trans women ultimately pleaded guilty to the charges and they each paid a fine of $7,500 Guyana dollars ($35.97).The four trans women and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in 2010 filed a lawsuit that challenged the law’s constitutionality and the statements the judge made against them.

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One year after the yes vote: 'The survey isn't what delivered marriage equality'
The Guardian, 14 Nov 2018

Five people from the front line look back at the moment Australia said yes to same-sex marriage and the decades that came before

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Thousands protest LGBTI community in Bogor, Indonesia
GayStarNews, 12 Nov 2018

Thousands of anti-LGBTI protesters marched on the Mayor’s Office in Bogor, Indonesia on Friday (9 November). The rally, organized by Muslim groups, pressured Bogor’s mayor to ban LGBTI people from the city on Java island. Chairman of the Anti-LGBT Bogor Community Forum, Abdul Halim, said the rally was held due to ‘rampant’ activities by the city’s LGBTI population, according to Tempo.co.‘LGBT is very contagious and dangerous for the nation’s generations’,’ he said, according to the news website. ‘It can even cause dangerous and contagious diseases, such as HIV and AIDS.’ ‘The community must play an active role in refusing them and not giving them any space to keep them from growing,’ he also reportedly said. A Facebook post appearing to show the protest (below), says ‘Bogor rejects LGBT’.
 

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'World first' as Scottish schools set to teach LGBTI issues
The Herald Scotland, 08 Nov 2018

Equalities campaigners hailed the move as a “monumental victory”, claiming the “destructive legacy” of Section 28 - which banned the promotion of homosexuality - had been ended. Research by the Time for Inclusive education (Tie) campaign group found 90 per cent of LGBT people experienced homophobia, biphobia or transphobia at school. As a result the Scottish Government will encourage schools to use a range of new teaching materials which highlight issues such as tackling homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, prejudice in relation to the LGBTI community and promoting awareness of the history of LGBTI equalities and movements.The materials will be used in personal and social education as well as religious and moral education. The Scottish Qualifications Authority will also develop course materials reflecting LGBTI issues for national qualifications such as National 5 and Higher in relevant subjects such as modern studies, history and English.

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