This shocking new BBC doc reveals how Egyptian police hunt LGBTQ+ people on dating apps

UK: Scotland halts movement of transgender prisoners to women’s prison

The Scottish government Sunday announced a prohibition on moving transgender persons with any history of violence against women into women’s prisons until the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) completes a review of transgender prisoner management. Justice Secretary Keith Brown said the measures are an “urgent” response after transgender woman Isla Bryson was found guilty of raping two women and was sentenced to Cornton Vale Women’s Prison in Stirling last Tuesday. Another transgender prisoner, Tiffany Scott, was due to move to a women’s prison last weekend.

Brown stressed that the policies at SPS have not been changed or impacted by the recent passing of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and said, “[D]ecisions about the location and management of prisoners will continue to be based on thorough risk assessment, drawing on the expertise and input of relevant professionals and applying any lessons learned from the reviews referred to.” A report will be sent to the CEO of SPS by Friday.

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon spoke on the issue in the Scottish Parliament last week. There, she stated, “In general, any prisoner who poses a threat of sexual offending will be segregated from other prisoners, including during any period of assessment.”

Equality Network spoke up on the matter, maintaining that anyone who has committed sexually violent crimes and poses risks to women should not be housed with women on the female estate. Nonetheless, the group emphasized the significance of having individualized assessments and subjective decisions. For example, if a transwoman poses no risk to other women in custody, she should be rightfully accommodated in the female estate since she might face “significant risk” if placed elsewhere. Equality Network said:

A blanket rule about where trans people in custody are accommodated would be wrong.

The assessment of where a trans person in custody is held does not depend on whether or not they have a gender recognition certificate (GRC).

— Equality Network (@LGBTIScotland) January 27, 2023

Under the new measures, Bryson is under segregation at Cornton Vale. In Scottish prisons, transgender people make up around 0.2 percent of the population or 15 people.

The post Scotland halts movement of transgender prisoners to women’s prison appeared first on JURIST – News.

ECtHR: Judgment Y v. France – Refusal to replace reference to male sex on birth certificate with neutral sex or intersex: no violation of the Convention

See: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-222780

US immigration board must decide whether perception of being LGBT in home country is grounds for asylum, says US appeals court

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Thursday issued an opinion holding that the US Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) must consider whether non-US citizens who are perceived in their home countries to be LGBT and persecuted for being considered part of that group can be granted asylum in the US.

The decision came from the case Antonio v. Garland, in which Rebecca Rufina Cristobal Antonio petitioned for the review of the BIA decision “upholding the denial of asylum and related relief.”

Antonio was “verbally and physically harassed and threatened her with death because [people in her home country] perceived her to be a lesbian because she wore men’s clothing to work.”

The decision suggests that people seeking asylum because they are perceived to be LGBT could be one the requirements to be granted asylum in the US. The decision makes specific mention that an individual would not be received to “prove” that they were LBGT. Rather, it would be the individual’s burden to prove that their “persecutors were ‘motivated by a belief’ that” the individual is LGBT.

The court based its decision in the criteria used for other asylum claims that the claimant must provide evidence “that the persecutor was motivated by a belief that the petitioner held the political opinion.”

The post US immigration board must decide whether perception of being LGBT in home country is grounds for asylum, says US appeals court appeared first on JURIST – News.

US finally lifts queer blood donation ban in favour of universal restrictions

Holocaust Memorial Day: How queer victims of Nazi genocide were forgotten about for decades

ZUZANA VIKARSKÁ discusses the ECtHR’s ruling in Fedotova v Russia on the legal recognition and protection of same-sex couples. She criticises the decision for creating a new right and for being the most political ruling ever. She also wonders what the Russian judge is still doing on the bench.

EDUARDO GILL-PEDRO is not convinced by Vikarská’s finding that a new right has been created. Gill-Pedro agrees with her that the decision is of great political importance, but believes that it was the right one to make.

USA: Florida becomes latest state to finally ban repugnant ‘gay panic’ defence

Trans women have no advantage in elite sport, new report finds

UK: Trans prisoners with ‘male genitalia’ banned from women’s prisons by Tory minister Dominic Raab