ILGA LGBulleTIn #5 – The week in LGBTI news around the world



4 – 10 July, 2015

Saturday, July 4

New York: a photo of a gay boy in tears mobilises a huge supportive crowd

"I'm homosexual, and I'm afraid about what my future will be and that people won't like me”. This caption and a photograph of a young boy crying, posted on Humans of New York, mobilised a huge, supportive crowd on social media.

More than 60,000 persons left words of encouragement for the boy in the picture, and some of them shared their personal stories of coming out and finding their place in the world. The story gained so much momentum that even 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton left a few words: "Prediction from a grown-up: your future is going to be amazing”.

Read more on Mashable

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Sunday, July 5

Chile: Government discusses new policies on child adoption

The Chilean government has begun to discuss about the chance of allowing same-sex couples in registered civil unions to adopt children. Javiera Blanco, the minister of Justice, has told La Tercera that there currently are “two motions by parlamentarians, with different scopes, to which “we won’t file any opposition”.

The minister has met representatives of some LGBTI organisations in the last few days for in-depth discussions on the issue. According to Iguales Chile, Blanco has announced that the government won’t oppose those motions: an indication, says the organisation’s projects director, that “people are working to reach equality and social inclusion”.

Read more on I Love Chile

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Monday, July 6

Nigeria: gay and bisexual men more reluctant in accessing healthcare after the Same-sex marriage Prohibition Act

According to a paper published in The Lancet HIV by Sheree Schwartz and colleagues, gay and bisexual men in Nigeria seem to have grown more and more reluctant in accessing healthcare after the Same-sex marriage Prohibition Act has been signed into law in January 2014.

The study suggests that patients tend to think that “the (benefit) of HIV prevention care isn't worth remaining in a system that could potentially out them”.

Read more on Reuters

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Tuesday 7

The Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia announces its annual conference

AISGA, a peer-based, not-for-profit support group for people with an intersex variation or who have someone who is intersex in their family, has announced its annual conference, to be held in Brisbane on August 8 and 9. The meeting will feature leaders in the field of medicine, research, social inclusion and personal development.

“This mixture of information and emotional support does wonders for promoting wellbeing”, says Bonnie Hart, president of the AISGA. “Many people […] may have never met another intersex person face-to-face before and the experience of being amongst others can be simply transformational”.

Find out more about the conference

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Wednesday 8

Lebanon: two men accused of being gay allegedly beaten by policemen and kept in prison for weeks

Accused of being gay, two men in Lebanon have been imprisoned, beaten by policemen and tortured, L’Orient-Le Jour reports.

Freed from jail after three weeks, the older of the two told their whole story to the newspaper: arrested at a checkpoint after half a gram of marijuana was found on the younger man, Omar and Samer (their names have been changed) spent the night at a police station; their drug tests came back negative, but officers found conversations between the two on Samer’s phone, in which Omar called him “habibi” – Arabic for “my darling”. Soon after that - according to what Omar has told the journalist – the two would have been threatened with medical examinations, punched, electrocuted, outed to their families and given the choice of torture or revealing the names of other gay men in the country, finally being released after almost three weeks. The minister of Interior and municipalities is currently investigating the accusations of torture.

Read more on Gay Star News

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Thursday 9

European Neighbourhood Policy to address rights of LGBTI people

The European Parliament has emphasised the “need to focus on strengthening and consolidating … respect for diversity and the rights of minorities, including … the rights of LGBTI persons” during its review of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Tanja Fajon MEP, vice-president of the Intergroup on LGBTI rights, commented: “This report gives the European Commission and all EU delegations in the ENP countries the mandate to tackle discrimination and work with civil society to change the situation for the better.

Read more on Pink News

(bulletin written by Daniele Paletta)