USA: Book ban attempts in US libraries and schools hit record high in 2023: focus on LGBTQ+ and people of color

The American Library Association (ALA) announced on Thursday that censorship demands and book ban attempts in public libraries and schools hit a record high in 2023. The ALA documented 1,247 demands to ban 4,240 different books. This is a 65 percent increase from 2022, when 2,571 books faced censorship demands. In 17 states, book ban attempts targeted more than 100 titles. The ALA said this is “the highest levels ever documented” by the group.

Public libraries saw a particular increase in censorship demands, with a 92 percent increase from 2022. This made up 46 percent of all book challenges in 2023. Censorship demands in school libraries, which were previously the main focus of book ban attempts, increased by 11 percent.

ALA President Emily Drabinksi criticized the increase in censorship demands and defended the libraries and library professionals that work to promote intellectual freedom, saying:

Every challenge to a library book is an attack on our freedom to read. The books being targeted again focus on LGBTQ+ and people of color. Our communities and our country are stronger because of diversity. Libraries that reflect their communities’ diversity promote learning and empathy that some people want to hide or eliminate. Libraries are vital institutions to each and every community in this country, and library professionals, who have dedicated their lives to protecting our right to read, are facing threats to their employment and well-being.

Of the challenged titles, almost half (47 percent) were books written by LGBTQ+, Black or other marginalized authors, or books that told stories related to those communities. This follows the national trend of conservative groups and legislators targeting diversity initiatives in schools, which has led students to stage walkouts in protest and organize banned book groups.

The ALA said that the surge in censorship demands came from groups and individuals that targeted multiple books at the same time. One of the major groups advocating for books bans, Moms for Liberty, has been designated a far-right extremist anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national civil rights organization. In addition to organized book ban campaigns, Moms for Liberty’s book rating system and a review site from a former member drive individuals to make censorship demands.

The new data report comes amid a pushback against censorship efforts. Organized attempts to ban books have prompted a number of groups to start anti-censorship efforts, with many people citing opposition to Moms for Liberty in particular. A federal judge blocked portions of Iowa’s book ban law in December and an appeals court ruled in January that a Texas law targeting “sexually explicit” material likely violates the Constitution.

Despite this, ALA officials warn that censorship demands will continue, with Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, saying, “The reports from librarians and educators in the field make it clear that the organized campaigns to ban books aren’t over, and that we must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read.”

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USA: Mississippi House of Representatives passes bill seeking to define sex in binary terms

The Mississippi House of Representatives passed on Wednesday a bill that seeks to define sex in strictly binary terms, impacting the recognition of transgender individuals’ identities within the state. The Mississippi Women’s Bill of Rights reflects a broader trend among Republican-controlled legislatures in the US to address and restrict the legal acknowledgement of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals through limited definitions of sex and gender.

Specifically, the bill explicitly defines the terms “woman,” “man,” “mother,” “father,” “female,” “male,” and “sex.” Each of these definitions are grounded in biological distinctions observable or clinically verifiable at birth. Notably, the bill asserts that “sex” is an objective and immutable characteristic, defined strictly as either male or female based on reproductive biology. It explicitly separates the concept of “sex” from “gender identity,” stating that the latter, along with similar subjective terms, cannot be used interchangeably with or as substitutes for “sex” in legal statutes.

Supporters of the bill, including the Independent Women’s Voice, advocated for the bill as a means to provide clarity and uniformity in the legal treatment of sex-based terms. The group claimed that the law will help “to preserve single-sex spaces that are important for privacy, safety, and equal opportunity.” Independent Women’s Voice pointed to recent efforts in other states “to eliminate women as a distinct legal category.”

The ACLU of Mississippi, however, condemned the bill’s effort to narrowly define sex-based terms. The ACLU said, “This bill is part of a calculated attack on trans people and their rights playing out in state legislatures across the country—it seeks to fix problems that do not exist in our state and places trans Mississippians in harm’s way.”

Other state-led efforts to define similar terms recently advanced through Alabama, Nebraska and Oklahoma—with the latter two efforts having passed into law. The efforts are a part of a growing trend that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) declared amounted to a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the US in 2023 due to the steep increase in laws and harassment targeting the LGBTQ+ community. At the time of HRC’s 2023 report, over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ laws had been introduced in the US.

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New Report by Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner on “Human rights and gender identity and expression”

Read: https://www.coe.int/uk/web/commissioner/-/human-rights-of-trans-people-increased-visibility-and-legal-recognition-contrast-with-lived-experience-of-discrimination-violence

Japan: Sapporo High Court holds same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Japan’s Sapporo High Court affirmed on Thursday that the country’s current ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

This ruling from the High Court upholds the Sapporo Lower Court 2021 decision that held the ban unconstitutional. However, Thursday’s rulings are the first time a High Court in the country has gone as far as to declare the ban explicitly unconstitutional.

The ban on same-sex marriage was deemed unconstitutional by the High Court because it was in violation of both Article 14 and Article 24 of Japan’s Constitution. Article 14 relates to the right to equality without discrimination. Regarding Article 24, the High Court held that marriage can be read to include same-sex marriage, as the article defines marriage as being based only on the consent of both parties. The court concluded by saying that “living in accordance with one’s gender identity and sexual orientation is an inalienable right rooted in important person interests.” The High Court, consistent with similar rulings in the country on the matter, did not award damages to the plaintiffs for emotional distress caused by the ban.

The High Court decision follows two legislative moves in Japan addressing LGBTQIA+ rights. In 2022, Tokyo’s metro government began to acknowledge same-sex partnerships, and in 2023, the federal government passed a law to better protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. 

This ruling comes after a lengthy back and forth within the Japanese courts. In 2019, Thirteen same-sex couples filed lawsuits across four districts in Japan alleging that the country’s denial of same-sex marriage is a violation of the Constitution. Then, the Sapporo District Court found that the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional because it violates the right to equality. However, in 2022, the Osaka District Court held that the country’s ban is not unconstitutional. Then, in 2023, the Nagoya District Court held that the ban is unconstitutional. The Fukuoka District Court also found the ban unconstitutional. 

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USA: Arkansas bars use of ‘X’ as substitute for male or female classification on driver’s licenses and IDs

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) announced Tuesday a proposed emergency rule that would disallow the use of “X” as a substitute for male or female on state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards.

In its filing, the DRA asserted that the emergency rule is necessary for the Office of Driver Services (Office) to meet its responsibilities under state law. As per Arkansas Code § 27-16-1104(3), the Office is required to include a person’s gender on their driver’s license or identification card. Prior to Tuesday, the Office’s standard practice allowed license and identification card holders to use “X” in lieu of male or female gender classifications.

Under the proposed rule, the Office would also be barred from issuing or renewing driver’s licenses or identification cards that use “X” instead of a male or female classification. It also grants the Office the power “to modify gender information to correspond with the person’s birth certificate, passport [] or DHS identity document contained in the records of the Office.” According to the DRA’s filing:

The purpose of this rule to ensure that individuals and organizations that rely upon identifying information contained within a driver’s license or identification card are provided with the most accurate and complete gender information that reflects the person’s gender information stated within the holder’s birth certificate, passport [] or Homeland Security document.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressed her support for the proposed emergency rule. She wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter):

Only women give birth, men shouldn’t play women’s sports [] and there are only two genders … As long as I’m Governor, Arkansas state government will not endorse nonsense.

The ACLU of Arkansas released a statement in opposition, stating that the proposed emergency rule “seeks to erase the existence of non-binary and intersex Arkansans by denying them identity documents that reflect their true selves, forcing them into categories that do not represent their identities.”

This proposed rule is one of several recent moves across the US to suppress the identity rights of transgender people. On February 8, Attorney General of Kansas Kris Kobach issued a statement condemning public schools for allegedly allowing teachers to conceal children’s transgender status from their parents. On January 10, West Virginia State Senator Mike Azinger introduced bills classifying transgender people as “obscene matter” and banning gender-affirming care for people under the age of 21.

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USA: Civil rights challenge to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law reaches settlement

Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys reached a settlement on Monday over the state law dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”

The parties came to an agreement after two years of litigation and an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. This agreement paves the way for students and teachers in Florida classrooms to openly discuss sexual orientation and gender identity, albeit mostly outside of formal instruction. Both sides celebrate this development as a substantial compromise, highlighting its impact on the education system.

The law firm for the plaintiffs, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, released a statement that said:

The settlement restores the ability of students, teachers, and others in Florida schools to speak and write freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in their class participation and schoolwork. We cannot overemphasize our gratitude for the courage of our clients—the nineteen plaintiffs who stood up against prejudice and hate, even within their own local communities.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the settlement as a “major win against the activists who sought to stop Florida’s efforts to keep radical gender and sexual ideology out of the classrooms of public-school children in kindergarten through third grade (5- to 9-year-olds).”  After the agreement, Florida General Counsel Ryan Newman said, “We fought hard to ensure this law couldn’t be maligned in court, as it was in the public arena by the media and large corporate actors.”

While the law remains in effect, its interpretation has been significantly altered. The law now clearly states that discussions related to sexual orientation and gender identity are permissible in educational settings. An example of the compromise in the settlement states, “the statute [may] restrict the use of books to instruct students on the concepts of sexual orientation or gender identity…but may not [restrict] mere ‘literary’ references to a gay or transgender person or same-sex couple.” It also allows teachers to refer openly to their same-sex partners and have a family photo on their desk.

The Florida “Don’t Say Gay” law, officially the Parental Rights in Education Act (House Bill 1557), still has specific provisions that regulate and restrict discussions related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The law applies primarily to classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties, not to after-school clubs and activities. Discussions on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards. Legal consequences do hold, and the law allows parents on both sides of the spectrum of belief to sue districts if violations occur.

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Liechtenstein: Parliament approves same-sex marriage bill

More (in German): https://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=48754&pk_campaign=Nwsl

Swiss Parliament and Government are not willing to provide legally binding protection for children with innate variations in sex characteristics (Intersex)

A respective request in Parliament has been withdrawn after a rejection by the Government. Switzerland thus refuses to implement many recommendations of the Council of Europe and the UN in the last years.

See for details (de/fr): https://www.parlament.ch/en/ratsbetrieb/suche-curia-vista/geschaeft?AffairId=20223355

Italy: Judges in Padua say «The birth certificates of children with two mothers cannot be canceled»

More: https://www.unionesarda.it/en/italy/the-court-the-birth-certificates-of-children-with-two-mothers-cannot-be-canceled-sxrvxpe2

Rapid Vienna hit with severe penalties for homophobic derby celebration insults

Rapid Vienna faces severe disciplinary actions with five players, an executive director, and an assistant coach penalized for homophobic insults during a derby victory celebration.

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“The Austrian football championship is committed to fighting against discrimination of any kind. The status of those who are role models for the youth transcends what happens on the field,” announced the Bundesliga.

More: https://en.nogomania.com/read/Rapid-Vienna-hit-with-severe-penalties-for-homophobic-derby-celebration-insults