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Indonesia: LGBT Activism Under Attack in Surabaya

Grace Poore and Ging Cristobal, staff members of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) were in Surabaya, Indonesia for the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) Asia conference scheduled to begin in the East Java capital on March 26 and run through March 29, 2010.

Uganda: Clergy and civil society call to stop anti-homosexuality bill

Leading African clergy and prominent individuals, as well as more than 60 civil society and human rights groups from 10 sub-Saharan African countries have endorsed a statement calling on the President, Government and Parliament of Uganda to reject the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in its entirety.

Iraq/UK: Failure of UK government recognition of threat to Iraqi LGBT leader

The UK government through its Border Agency has decided not to give priority to the asylum application of Iraqi LGBT leader Ali Hili, in exile in London. The application has been outstanding for nearly three years and while it is outstanding, Ali cannot travel. This decision directly impacts not just on Ali but on harshly persecuted Iraqi lesbians and gays through the reduced ability of their sole visible leader to raise their profile internationally.

Africa: Responding to Violence against Sexual Minorities

08/03/2010: We need to understand what it means to be heterosexual as well as homosexual, and that our sexualities affect whether we live or die. During this 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion of the 15+year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform, the Coalition of African Lesbians (“CAL”) reinforces that: LGBTI rights are human rights, that we are not claiming or asking for “special” or “additional” rights BUT that we call on our African governments to condemn the violence perpetrated against sexual minorities, to refrain from engaging in this violence and to take all measures to ensure the protection of sexual minorities, in particular, lesbian and transgender women subjected to violence.

UPDATE: Uganda: UNSRs warn parliamentarians of last chance to shelve Anti-Homosexuality Bill

With its third and final reading imminent before the Ugandan Parliament, two UN Special Rapporteurs* voiced their deep concerns about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which, if adopted, would have an extremely damaging impact on the important and legitimate work of human rights defenders in the country, and would curtail fundamental freedoms. “The Bill would not only violate the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandan people,” stressed Margaret Sekaggya and Frank La Rue, “but would also criminalize the legitimate activities of men and women, as well as national and international organizations, who strive for the respect for equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” Update on: Uganda: UN human rights chief urges shelving of “draconian” law on homosexuality

France: Les transsexuels ne sont plus des malades
Un décret a sorti le transsexualisme des « affections psychiatriques de longue durée ».Le transsexualisme n’est plus une maladie mentale dans notre pays. La France est ainsi le premier pays au monde à faire cette démarche par un décret publié, mercredi dernier, au Journal officiel. Ce décret du ministère de la Santé supprime « les troubles précoces de l’identité de genre » d’un article du Code de la Sécurité sociale relatif aux « affections psychiatriques de longue durée ». Roselyne Bachelot, ministre de la Santé, avait annoncé, le 16 mai 2009, à la veille de la Journée mondiale de la lutte contre l’homophobie et la transphobie, sa volonté de ne plus considérer les transsexuels (50 000 personnes environ) comme des malades psychiatriques.
France: Recteur de la Mosquée de Paris réprouve les assassinats des LGBT

Le Docteur Dalil Boubakeur, recteur de la Grande Mosquée de Paris et Président du Conseil Français du Culte Musulman réprouve les violences faites aux gays, aux lesbiennes, aux bisexuels, aux Trans en Iraq. Suite à un courrier d’Act Up-Paris demandant au président du Conseil Français du Culte Musulman de s’exprimer sur les meurtres de personnes LGBT en Irak, il nous a envoyé la lettre suivante et nous a permis de le mettre en ligne sur notre site, en y adjoignant le paragraphe suivant : « il faut rappeler que l’homosexualité est décrit dans le Coran comme "Actes blâmables du peuple de Loth à Sodome" et de ce fait est rejetée par la Bible et le Coran. »

Uganda: UN human rights chief urges shelving of “draconian” law on homosexuality

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday urged the Ugandan government to shelve a “draconian” draft bill on homosexuality that is due to be put before the Ugandan parliament later in January, saying it would bring the country into a direct collision with established international human rights standards aimed at preventing discrimination. She welcomed recent statements by the President and other senior members of the Government, suggesting it might intervene to stop the private member’s bill from becoming law.

Africa: Crackdowns on gays make the 'closet' safer

More than two-thirds of African countries have laws criminalizing homosexual acts, and despite accounting for a significant percentage of new infections in many countries, men who have sex with men tend to be left out of the HIV response. "[They] are going underground; they are hiding themselves and continuing to fuel the epidemic," UNAIDS executive director Michél Sidibé told IRIN/PlusNews recently. "We need to make sure these vulnerable groups have the same rights everyone enjoys: access to information, care and prevention for them and their families."  IRIN/PlusNews has compiled a short list of human rights violations against gay Africans:

Uganda: Museveni distances himself from "cruel" anti-gay bill

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has indicated he will not back a bill that would impose the death sentence for the crime of "aggravated homosexuality" - when an HIV-positive person has sex with anyone who is disabled or under the age of 18. Museveni appears to have bowed to international pressure, telling members of his ruling National Resistance Movement that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had all urged him to ensure the controversial bill does not go ahead.

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