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.
France MPs back compensating victims of anti-gay law
France’s lower house has passed a bill which will provide recognition and compensation for people convicted of homosexuality between 1942 and 1982.
| Repost: A Much-Needed Queer Look at International Humanitarian Law |
| An Obligation to Monitor the Situation of Prisoners of War with Diverse SOGI? |
| 04.03.2024 | by Hannah Nieratzky |
| People with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities (SOGI) are particularly vulnerable in times of conflict. However, due to the gender binary it is based on, international humanitarian law (IHL) does not address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of individuals with diverse SOGI and few attempts have been made to improve their protection of under IHL (Margalit, p. 239). [click here to see full article] |
Ex-British Airways manager held in Qatari jail for ‘being gay’ as family fear he’s being tortured
The family of former British Airways manager Manuel Guerrero are pleading for his release after they claim he is being tortured in jail in Qatar after a police sting operation on the gay dating app Grindr
More: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ex-british-airways-manager-held-32234506
Czech lawmakers approve more rights for same-sex couples, just not marriage
Ghana passes law criminalising identifying as LGBTQ+
The Parliament of Ghana passed a bill Wednesday that makes it illegal to identify as LGBTQ+ in Ghana. The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 states that anyone who is found to be LGBTQ+ in the country could be imprisoned.
Ghana’s Parliament passed the bill by a unanimous vote following the completion of its third reading in parliament. Under this new law, anyone identifying as LGBTQ+ could face up to three year in prison, while anyone who forms or funds LGBTQ+ groups could face up to 5 years in prison.
The bill states that its intention is as follows:
The object of the Bill is to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values; proscribe LGBTQ+ and related activities; proscribe propaganda of, advocacy for or promotion of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities; provide for the protection and support for children, persons who are victims or accused of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities and other person; and related matters.
The bill was formed in response to Ghana’s first LGBTQ+ advocacy resource centre opening in Accra in January 2021. According to the bill, this event was “greeted with a plethora of criticism from a cross section of Ghanaians” and the centre was closed following public protests. At the time, the National House of Chiefs issues a statement regarding the centre, affirming that “nowhere does the Ghanaian culture subscribe to LGBTQI which is a taboo, inhuman and alien to our society.”
Member of Parliament Sam George, a strong supporter of the bill, spoke to reporters after the vote. He stated that their “cultural values are upheld and respected” by the bill. When asked whether there was opposition to the bill, George stated “We may have had one or two members express divisions, but that is their democratic right. We respect it but the overwhelming majority of both sides of the house have supported this bill.”
The bill will be forwarded to President Nana Akufo-Addo, who must assent the bill before it becomes law in Ghana.
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US Supreme Court declines to hear Missouri case excluding jurors based on religious beliefs
The US Supreme Court denied a petition to hear an appeal Tuesday concerning the exclusion of potential jurors based on the jurors’ religious beliefs in a Missouri sex discrimination case.
Jean Finney, a worker for Missouri’s Department of Corrections who is also lesbian, sued her employer alleging sexual discrimination and retaliation after Finney began dating the ex-wife of a male co-worker. Before trial, three prospective jurors were removed during the juror selection process after expressing their religious beliefs that homosexuality was a sin. In 2021 the jury found in her favor regarding the claims for sexual discrimination and a hostile work environment and awarded her $275,000 in damages. The Department of Corrections appealed the decision arguing that the exclusion of the three jurors amounted to a violation of the US Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause.
The appeals court affirmed the lower court decision and a writ of certiorari to have the case heard by the US Supreme Court was filed in August 2023. In the petition, the Department of Corrections argued that the jurors were excluded solely based on religious views without any demonstration of bias in direct violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Prospective jurors were asked if they went to a “religious organization growing up where it was taught that people who are homosexuals shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else because it was a sin with what they did?” and if they were unable to “set aside their religious convictions” in fair treatment of the case. The petition further argued that the questions were improperly asked and that there was a split in authority on the issue of exclusion of jurors based on religious beliefs among the lower courts, a split that required the US Supreme Court to grant a hearing for the case.
While the court declined to hear the case, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a statement respecting the denial of certiorari that the lower court’s reasoning was concerning. He further criticized the questioning of Finney’s counsel and expressed a willingness to hear a case on the issue with better facts in the future:
I agree that the Court of Appeals’ reasoning raises a very serious and important question that we should address in an appropriate case. The judiciary…must respect people’s fundamental rights, and among these are the right to the free exercise of religion and the right to the equal protection of the laws. When a court…finds that a person is ineligible to serve on a jury because of his or her religious beliefs, that decision implicates fundamental rights.
The post US Supreme Court declines to hear Missouri case excluding jurors based on religious beliefs appeared first on JURIST – News.
Local Italian Court in Bolzano refers question regarding the non-recognition of third gender to Constitutional Court
Here’s the decision in Italian:
https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2024/02/14/24C00015/s1
Zimbabwe to ban LBGTQ+ higher education scholarships
Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga warned young people in the country on Thursday that the government will block all higher education scholarships from LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations.
In his statement, Chimwenga denounced LGBTQ+ organizations’ scholarships as “unlawful” and a move by “foreign interests” to recruit less privileged students into “lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual activities.” He went on to say that:
Our schools and institutions of higher learning will not entertain applicants, let alone enroll persons associated with such alien, anti-life, un-African and unchristian values which are being promoted and cultivated by, as well as practised in decadent societies with whom we share no moral or cultural affinities. Zimbabwe is a sovereign, African State with definite laws and values which typify it, cutting it apart from other mores.
Chiwenga advised young Zimbabweans who qualify for enrollment in higher education to approach government departments tasked to give grants and scholarship for support especially those with deserving cases, going on to say, “[t]hey should never be tempted to trade or sell their souls for such abominable and devilish offers.”
Zimbabwe has passed laws criminalizing homosexuality. Under the Criminal Law Act, section 73 prohibits sexual relations between males. According to Amnesty International, Zimbabwe is one of 33 countries in Africa where homosexuality is criminalized, with Mauritania, Sudan, Northern Nigeria and Southern Somalia including the death penalty as punishment for homosexual acts.
The post Zimbabwe to ban LBGTQ+ higher education scholarships appeared first on JURIST – News.
International and Comparative SOGIESC Law - Professor Andreas R Ziegler 