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27 Aug 2015 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights
Articles
Jailing of gay men in Senegal poses setback to HIV fight in Africa
By Reuters, 26 Aug 2015
It took less than a minute for a panel of judges in Senegal to sentence seven men to six months in prison for homosexuality last week, but campaigners say the harm to the African nation's anti-HIV efforts could last much longer. Senegal, a Muslim country regarded as a pillar of democracy in turbulent West Africa, is one of about 30 African states with anti-homosexuality laws. Yet the country of 14 million people also prides itself on its vigorous, and successful, anti-HIV efforts.
Campaigners warned that Friday's verdict, based on a police discovery of condoms and lubricant in the house where the men were arrested, was a hammer blow to groups promoting safe sex. Gay men's preventative efforts could now transform them into targets for authorities, campaigners said. "We are prevented from carrying condoms. We are prevented from carrying lube," said Djamil Bangoura, president of Prudence Association, an organization promoting rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBT). "That's what I understood from the (trial)."
Referendum transforms gay Ireland despite delay on first weddings
by reu, 25 Aug 2015
Ireland's "Yes" vote in May's referendum on same-sex marriage and the months of national debate that accompanied it is having a profound effect on the country's gay community even though a legal challenge has delayed the first weddings. Gay couples holding hands has become a common sight in Dublin and gay politicians have become celebrities after Ireland became the first to pass the measure in a referendum and with a two-to-one winning margin. "The change has been electric for young gay people," said Siona Cahill, a gay rights campaigner who works as an equality officer at Maynooth University. "For the first time it has become something that isn't pushed under the covers," she said. A big impact is being felt in spite of a legal challenge which prevented parliament from changing the law before the summer recess, David Carroll, head of national gay youth organization BelongTo, said. "Attitudes generally take longer to change than legislation ... but the momentum created by the referendum has created a huge shift. I don't think we can go back to the way things were before."
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Gay men tell U.N. Security Council what it's like living under ISIS rule
By The Week, 24 Aug 2015
On Monday, two men told members of the U.N. Security Council what life is like for a gay person under Islamic State rule in Iraq and Syria. After the town of Idlib, Syria, was taken over by the Nusra Front, a group linked to al-Qaeda, men suspected of being gay were tortured and executed, Subhi Nahas said. Once ISIS was in charge, gay men were thrown from the roofs of buildings, and those who survived were stoned to death. Nahas said he was "terrified to go out," and wasn't safe in his own home, since his father had found out he was gay. "I bear a scar on my chin as a token of his rage," he explained. Nahas escaped to Turkey, where he was told by a friend that a former classmate from Idlib had joined ISIS and "wanted to kill me, aiming to go to paradise." Today, Nahas lives in the U.S. and works with the Organization for Refuge, Asylum, and Migration. The meeting was organized by the United States and Chile to show the "brutal attacks" of ISIS militants, Reuters reports. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said this is the first time the U.N. Security Council has discussed LGBT issues. "It is impossible not to take up the struggle for their rights as our own as we have other great human rights struggles," she said. "Today, we take a small but important step in assuming that work. It must not be our last step."
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Over a Grill, Ellen Page Chews Out Ted Cruz on LGBT Rights
By Newsweek, 22 Aug 2015
Actor and activist Ellen Page took potshots at presidential candidate Ted Cruz as the Republican senator was preparing pork chops at the Iowa State Fair on Friday, questioning him about his stance on LGBT rights. Cruz has been vehement in his opposition to same-sex marriage, notably more so even than other conservative presidential candidates. He called the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to legalize gay marriage in late June “judicial tyranny” and implored people to ignore it.