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25 Oct 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on on LGBTI rights
Articles
Transgender rights are next frontier for business
Financial Times, 25 Oct 2018
In January this year, the Financial Times reported on the results of a disturbing survey from the LGBT+ charity Stonewall. The UK survey found that half of trans people — those whose gender is not the same as their biological sex at birth — have been so afraid of discrimination at work that they have hidden their identity. One in eight had been physically attacked by colleagues or customers.
Debbie, a shop worker in the US who is gender-fluid — in other words, with a gender identity that can shift — can relate to this kind of hostility.
Debbie’s request that colleagues use “they” and “them” as personal pronouns met a hostile reception: Debbie’s manager “treated my gender identity as if it were no different than a teenager going through a Goth phase”.
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Labor says Coalition has ‘stuffed up’ discrimination talks to protect LGBT students
The Guardian, 25 Oct 2018
Negotiations between the Coalition and Labor on discrimination law changes have broken down over concern the government wants religious schools to retain special powers to regulate LGBT students’ behaviour. LGBTI advocates and Labor are concerned the government bill prohibits students from being expelled solely for their sexuality or gender identity but could lead to discrimination by allowing policies that punish them for breaching church doctrine.
Two weeks ago the prime minister, Scott Morrison, promised to legislate to prevent discrimination by religious schools against gay students, and said that the parliament “should use the next fortnight to ensure this matter is addressed”.
‘No way back for corporate India’ Delhi Supreme Court’s lifting of ban on gay sex frees workers to be more open
Financial Times, 25 Oct 2018
From early childhood, industrial engineer Anubhuti Banerjee knew that she was a girl — even if that was not how she was seen by family and friends in the small Indian town where she grew up. Three years ago, Ms Banerjee, 28, began her long-awaited transition, transforming her body so that others could finally see her as the woman she always knew herself to be.
Throughout her journey, Ms Banerjee had an unlikely ally: her employer, Tata Steel. The century-old, steelmaking arm of India’s Tata Group had just begun to talk about workplace diversity, when Ms Banerjee — who had joined the company’s management trainee programme two years earlier as a man — told executives about her transition plans.
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Malaysia hits back after politician blames natural disasters on LGBTI people
Gay Star News, 24 Oct 2018
Politicians, rights activists and LGBTI supporters have denounced recent homophobic comments made in parliament by Malaysian opposition leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Zahid, head of the United Malays National Organisation, said the LGBTI community was to blame for the recent earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Malaysia, where gay sex is illegal under a colonial-era law, is witnessing increasing attacks on the marginalized LGBTI community. 'It was said that over 1,000 people were involved in the [LGBT] activities and the area was hit [by the disaster]. This is a punishment from God’ Zahid told parliament, according to local media.
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Two Weeks Before Midterms, Transgender People Feel Like ‘Pawns’
New York Times, 23 Oct 2018
When the news broke on Sunday morning, many transgender people, world-weary, saw it as grimly predictable: With two weeks to go until the midterm elections, the Trump administration was considering a new move that would undermine federal civil rights protections for the transgender community. This time, they thought, it was the nuclear option.
Under the terms of a proposal reported by The New York Times on Sunday, the administration would adopt a narrow definition of gender as an unchangeable biological condition — either male or female — that is determined by genitalia at birth. Such a move would not only roll back protections for transgender people: It could also legally negate their very existence.
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Gay couple arrested in Indonesia for running pro-LGBTI Facebook page
Gay Star News, 21 Oct 2018
Indonesian police have arrested two gay men for allegedly running an LGBTI themed Facebook page. Police raided a house in Batununggal, West Java, on Thursday, which has been rented by a man who allegedly created of ‘Gay Bandung‘ Facebook page with his partner. This is the first case of criminalization of homosexual discussions on social media in Indonesia, The Straits Times reports. The Facebook page has over 4,000 active followers of various ages.
‘They connect and matchmake people who want to make same-sex friendships,’ said Adjutant Chief Commander Hari Brata, the police special crimes deputy director. Police also confiscated a number of the men’s personal items.
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