Argentina court sentences 11 former officers to prison for crimes against transgender women

An Argentinian court sentenced 10 of 12 former officers on Tuesday to serve life in prison, and one to 25 years imprisonment, for crimes against humanity they committed during the country’s military dictatorship, spanning 1976 through 1983. Apart from one acquitted, the Argentina Federal Court No. 1 in La Plata convicted the rest of the defendants of the crimes committed in four clandestine detention centers of Buenos Aires, including killing, torture, kidnapping of children and sexual violence against transgender women. Local reports said that the grounds for the court’s decision will be known on July 5.

According to Argentina human rights organization Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, officers abducted and systematically tortured roughly 30,000 people suspected of opposing the military government in clandestine detention centers during the Dirty War. At that time, the military dictatorship—which held a Catholic belief—regarded LGBTQ+ Argentines as subversives of the society and imposed sexual violence upon transgender women.

In recent years, Argentina has continued to deal with crimes stemming from breaches of human rights committed during the former dictatorship. Since the Supreme Court ruled the amnesty laws shielding former officials was unconstitutional in 2005, courts have convicted over 1,000 people. In 2013, Seven retired military officers were previously sentenced to life in prison for various human rights abuses. Then, in 2017, 48 former Argentine officers, charged with the deaths of 789 victims, were sentenced for murder and torture.

In 2022, the Attorney General’s Office reported 3,631 people charged, 1,088 convicted, and 165 acquitted of crimes against humanity. However, Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo claims that the large number of victims, suspects, and cases makes it difficult for prosecutors and judges to bring those responsible to justice.

During trial, eight victims testified to their experiences in the Banfield Pit, one of Argenina’s largest clandestine detention centers. The court found that the defendants committed kidnapping, forced disappearance of politically persecuted people, homicide, torture, rape, child abduction, forced abortions and other crimes against transgender women. Also, the judge ordered “urgent” medical examinations for the defendants to decide whether to revoke the house arrest enjoyed by the majority of convicted defendants.

Argentina has made some progress in the protection of the LGBTQ+ rights. In 2012, government passed a Gender Identity Law respecting self-identification, which allows anyone to change their gender and name in their identity card and birth certificate through a simple administrative procedure. In September 2020, President Alberto Fernández also issued a decree establishing that at least one percent of employees in the federal government should be transgender people.

“What is different about this trial is that for the first time in Argentina and in the world, crimes against humanity committed against trans women in the context of state terrorism are condemned,” prosecutor Ana Oberlín told reporters.

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Brutality on display : media coverage and the spectacle of anti-LGBTQ violence in the Colombian Civil War

During the Colombian Civil War, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people were targeted by armed actors for reasons related to ideology and strategy. Even with the generalised violence in Colombia during this time, there was significant public interest in this specific form of violence, as evidenced by its tabloid coverage. The nation’s main tabloid – El Espacio – covered this violence against LGBTQ people in graphic detail. Twenty years of coverage (1985–2005) includes a range of gory graphics and horrific headlines that show the pain of a persecuted community in a highly violent context. In this article, I focus on this media coverage of anti-LGBTQ violence, notable for its brutality and prejudice, to argue that its spectacle built on a stigma that reinforced the cleavage of its victims from the body politic through a legitimation of the violence. In doing so, the coverage of this violence became a weapon of war that depoliticised the subordination of an entire population in a society beset by an internal armed conflict.

See: RITHOLTZ, Samuel Max, Brutality on display : media coverage and the spectacle of anti-LGBTQ violence in the Colombian Civil War, Third world quarterly, 2024, OnlineFirst   – https://hdl.handle.net/1814/76724

Thailand moves closer to legalising same-sex marriage

Thailand’s lower house has passed a bill which gives legal recognition to same-sex marriage, nudging the country closer to becoming the first South East Asian nation to introduce marriage equality.

More: https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/27/thailand-same-sex-marriage-bill-passed/

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The Thai House of Representatives approved Wednesday an equal marriage bill, with 400 favouring votes out of 415 members of the house. The bill still requires approval from the Senate and endorsement from the king. If the Senate and the king approve the legislation, Thailand will become the third Asian country/region that recognises same-sex marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal.

To guarantee marriage equality, the bill substitutes gendered nouns with gender-neutral nouns in the current Thai Civil and Commercial Code. Under section 1448 of the code, a marriage can take place only when the man and woman have completed their seventeenth year of age. The bill will amend this section with gender-neutral nouns such as person, spouse and betrothed. In addition, the bill also guarantees the right for “people of all genders” to be engaged and married. Civil rights as fiancés or spouses, including medical decision-making, social security rights, civil servant benefits and spousal tax deductions will no longer be exclusive to heterosexual couples. The bill also sought to amend the minimum age for marriage from 17 to 18 to fulfill its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin attributed the success to the societal consensus in Thailand as it is necessary for the whole country to work together to build an equal society free from discrimination. Thavisin also claimed that gender and family formation are basic human rights that the government should guarantee.

Previously in 2021, Thailand’s Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of section 1448 which provided for the exclusive legal recognition of heterosexual marriages, citing the maintenance of the existence of society and traditional customs as supporting grounds. The court nevertheless urged the Thai government to adopt appropriate measures to protect the rights of people with diverse sexualities.

The bill therefore serves as a huge step towards equality in Thailand. Nonetheless, rights advocates still maintain concerns about parental rights. LGBTQIA+ advocates wished to substitute “father” or “mother” with the term “parent,” a gender-neutral noun, in adoption legislation.

To come into effect, the bill still requires the Senate’s approval. However, the Senate has no power to veto a bill approved by the House of Representatives. According to section 137 and section 138 of Thailand’s Constitution, the Senate could only propose an amendment to the bill or return the bill in its entirety to the House of Representatives. After a 180-day limitation period, if the House still resolves to reaffirm the bill, the bill will be deemed to have the Senate’s approval.

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Yemen: Nine men sentenced to death by ‘crucifixion and stoning’ for alleged sodomy by Houthi court

Nine men were sentenced to death by a Houthi court in Yemen in a mass trial based on “dubious” charges of sodomy, a human rights organisation has said.

More: https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/27/houthi-yemen-death-sodomy-lgbtq/

Georgia ruling party introduces bill restricting LGBTQ+ rights ahead of elections

The governing Georgian Dream party announced a controversial bill on Monday aimed at curbing LGBTQ+ rights in the Transcaucasian country. The bill aims to combat what the party has called “LGBT propaganda” and proposes significant changes to the constitution. It seeks to prohibit sex changes, adoption by same-sex couples and gatherings promoting same-sex relationships. Observers note that the anti-LGBTQ+ agenda could serve as a strategy to rally conservative voters in the upcoming October 2024 national elections and divert attention from pressing economic challenges.

Georgia, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian, has long grappled with conservative social norms, exemplified by the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage implemented in 2018. The Georgian Dream’s executive chair, Mamuka Mdinaradze, stated that only marriage should be allowed between a “male and a single genetic female.” Furthermore, he emphasized the bill’s focus on safeguarding “family values and our future generations” against what he labeled “pseudo-liberal values.”

The proposed legislation comes amid a backdrop of political maneuvering, with the ruling party facing a decline in public support since its narrow victory in the 2020 parliamentary elections. In contrast, Tbilisi Pride, an LGBTQ+ rights organization, condemned the bill as “homophobic” in a statement on Facebook, reflecting the polarized perspectives within Georgian society. Tbilisi Pride has previously criticized the government for the “segregation of LGBTI people” in November 2023 for removing SOGI-related issues from the Human Rights National Strategy (2022-2030) and the Human Rights Action Plan (2024-2026).

EU officials tasked with evaluating Georgia’s progress toward membership candidacy face a dilemma. Granting candidate status could be interpreted as a political decision, especially amidst concerns about the government’s perceived alignment with Russia and its crackdown on civil liberties and human rights. The EU is closely watching, and in its 2023 Report, it noted that “several key issues remain … notably discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Georgia in December 2021, in a case concerning an attack on LGBT protestors in the capital city of Tbilisi.

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Russia watchdog labels ‘LGBT public movement’ as terrorist organization

A Russian state financial watchdog labelled the “LGBT public movement” as a terrorist organization on Friday, as reported by Russian state media outlet TASS. This development comes three months after the Supreme Court of Russia ordered the LGBT+ movement to be declared as extremist.

The Federal Service for Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring) added the LGBT+ movement to its official list of terrorist and extremist organizations published on its website, TASS reported. Rosfinmonitoring is a federal organization responsible for combatting international money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as assessing national security threats. Other organizations on their list include Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

In late 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit accusing the LGBT+ movement of inciting social and religious discord. The Supreme Court of Russia ruled in the Ministry’s favor and declared that the LGBT+ movement was an extremist organization. This recognition effectively banned all LGBT+ activities as well as the use of the rainbow pride flag, and the court ordered that their ruling of the movement as extremist should be implemented immediately.

The ruling received widespread criticism, with Human Rights Watch describing the decision as “perverse persecution of LGBT people.” Since the ruling, multiple individuals in Russia have been prosecuted for extremist activities for their association or involvement with the LGBT+ movement. In January, a man was prosecuted for posting a rainbow flag on social media, while another was placed in detention for five days for wearing rainbow patterned earrings. 

The LGBT+ community has faced many hardships in Russia, with the Russian Constitution undergoing amendments to Article 1 of its Family Code in 2020 to state that marriage could only exist between a man and a woman. Furthermore, gender affirming care for transgender individuals in Russia was banned in July 2023.

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US embassies to be banned from flying Pride flags

A US government funding package includes a provision that bans the country’s embassies from flying Pride flags on their buildings.

More: https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/25/pride-flag-ban-us-embassies-joe-biden/

Repost from The New York Times: ‘Wear It or We Will Beat You to Death’ – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen horrifying persecution of L.G.B.T.Q. people

The world should recognize it as a crime against humanity.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/opinion/ukraine-russia-putin-crimes.html?smid=em-share

Two arrested in Russia’s first LGBTQ+ extremism case

Two employees of an LGBTQ+ club in the Russian city of Orenburg have been arrested on suspicion of being members of an “extremist organisation”.

More: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68615477

The persecution of trans people by the Nazis was devastating – and it still echoes down the ages

More: https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/14/trans-history-wwii-nazi-germany-nazis-transgender-magnus-hirschfeld/