Sentenced for a selfie: Middle East police target LGBTQ+ phones
WhatsApp, Grindr and Facebook were once a place that gay, bisexual and trans Arabs could find freedom. Now, their digital footprints could land them behind bars
The United Kingdom Privy Council Monday ruled against same-sex marriage in Bermuda and against same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands.
Section 53 of Bermuda’s Domestic Partnership Act, 2018 limits marriage to a union between man and woman. The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of Bermuda held that the said restriction is invalid, and the Attorney General of Bermuda challenged the decisions.
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals had allowed the plea for same-sex marriage on three grounds altogether. It held that Section 53 was inoperative because it was enacted for a religious purpose. Also, the court held that the respondents had a constitutional right to freedom of conscience with regard to their belief that same-sex unions should be legally recognised as marriage, and, thus, section 53 violated the constitution. Same-sex marriage was legally recognised as a creed, entitling the respondents to constitutional protection from discrimination. The court, however, decided that the respondents should not have succeeded on any of these grounds, and allowed the attorney general’s appeal.
On the other hand, in the case relating to same-sex marriage rights in the Cayman Islands, the considered Section 2 of the Marriage Law, 2010, which again defined marriage as a union between man and woman. The appellants, a couple in a committed relationship wishing to enter into a same-sex marriage, were unsuccessful before the Court of Appeal in the Cayman Islands, which held that when correctly interpreted the bill of rights did not confer on same-sex couples the right to marry. The appellants were unsuccessful in their appeal to the Privy Council. The council held that, although the interpretation of the bill of rights does not endorse the right of same-sex couples to marry, the interpretation does not limit the Legislative Assembly from introducing legislation to recognise same-sex marriage.
Only 31 countries have legalised gay marriage. Over 70 countries still criminalise same-sex consensual sexual activity.
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USA: Florida senate passes ‘Don’t Say Gay’ parental rights bill
The Florida Senate voted Tuesday to pass a controversial bill HB 1557, or the Parental Rights in Education. LGBTQIA activists have deemed the legislation a “Don’t Say Gay” bill because it limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms. The Florida House of Representatives passed the bill on February 25, 2022.
The bill restricts “[c]lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” for students in kindergarten through third grade that is deemed inappropriate by state standards.”
The bill also bans:
procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from notifying a parent about his or her student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or a change in related services or monitoring, or that encourage or have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold from a parent such information.
In a press release, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the bill will “significantly limit the ability” of school personnel to be a “confidential resource” for students questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Florida Representative Joe Harding told Fox News that the bill “defines that there are certain instructions related to gender and sexual orientation that are just not appropriate at certain ages.” Harding believes the bill will “keep school districts from talking about these topics before kids are ready to process them.”
Senator Dennis Baxley said he was “attracted” to the bill because of a “trending posture” in schools wherein children may be “trying on all these different identities of life, trying to see where they fit in.” According to a study by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, 17 percent of self-identified gay and bisexual men and 11 percent of gay and bisexual women were aware of their sexuality in grade school.
HRW also noted that the bill does not specify what material is inappropriate for young children or who should decide what materials or topics are not age-appropriate.
Senator Tina Polsky questioned her colleagues as to why discussion of sexual orientation must be tightly controlled but mature topics like suicide and drug use are not specifically named in the bill. Senator Shevrin Jones, the first openly gay senator in Florida history, said, “I want to remind my colleagues that I am not a hypothetical, I sit in the room [with] you, and your actions and words matter.”
The bill will now go to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for approval.
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USA: Texas appeals court upholds order blocking state from investigating parents of trans youth
The Third Texas Court of Appeals Wednesday upheld a trial court’s decision to temporarily block the state from proceeding with an investigation into the parents of a transgender teenager.
In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to Commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Jamie Masters, instructing her to investigate the parents of children subjected to certain types of gender-affirming care. This care typically aids transgender persons in their transitions and can be either social, hormonal, or surgical. Included in the governor’s letter was a non-binding legal opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton, which claimed that such care could constitute child abuse when administered to minors.
The parents, represented by the ACLU and Lamba Legal, sued the state after one of them, a state worker, claimed she was put on leave and investigated by the DFPS when she inquired after the governor’s directive. The District Court of Travis County granted a restraining order preventing the state from continuing its investigation until a hearing can be conducted. The state appealed the restraining order. However, the court of appeals denied the state’s request, noting a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Beyond Texas, several other states have sought to criminalize medical care for transgender youths. In Arkansas, the legislature overcame the governor’s veto to become the first state to ban gender-affirming care. Experts, however, stress that such care is crucial to the health and wellbeing of gender-diverse youth.
The trial court scheduled a hearing for Friday.
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USA: Iowa became the eleventh American State barring transgender athletes from female sports
The Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that citizens should be able to have their gender registered as non-binary
Singapore high court dismisses appeal to decriminalise gay sex
The Singapore Court of Appeal Monday dismissed an appeal against Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises sex between men. The court held that since there wasn’t any credible threat of prosecution under the section, the applicants lacked the requisite standing to challenge its constitutionality.
In October of 2007, the Parliament debated whether Section 377A should be repealed, but the Prime Minister retained the law on the condition that it would not be enforced proactively. The Attorney General at the time, Mr. Kucie Wong SC, had stated in his capacity as the public prosecutor that where sex occured between two consenting adult men in a private place and in the absence of other factors, prosecution under Section 377A was not in the public interest.
The court in its decision emphasised the importance of political compromise at the time when the parliament decided to retain the provision. It recognised that the Attorney General and Prime Minister’s stances were legally significant. The court held that the provision’s constitutionality must be considered in light of these stances.
The aim of this litigation was to overturn the law on the basis that it violates individual rights and is discriminatory. Section 377A enables the executive to punish individuals with up to two years imprisonment. The court below refused to decriminalise consensual sex between men holding that Section 377A did not violate Articles 9 and 12 of the Constitution.
The high court’s decision has failed to assuage the fears of the gay community and ensure that they are able to enjoy certain basic liberties. Pink Dot SG, a non-profit for the LGBTQ community of Singapore, stated that it was profoundly disappointed with the court’s decision: “[A]cknowledgment that Section 377A is unenforceable only in the prosecutorial sense is cold comfort. Section 377A’s real impact lies in how it perpetuates discrimination across every aspect of life: at home, in schools, in the workplace, in our media and even access to vital services like healthcare”.
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USA: Texas governor directs agencies to investigate treatment of trans youth as ‘child abuse’
Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed state health agencies Tuesday to investigate medical treatment of transgender youth as “child abuse.”
Abbott’s directive follows a Friday opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which found that “each of the ‘sex change’ procedures and treatments enumerated above, when performed on children, can legally constitute child abuse under several provisions of chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code.”
Paxton wrote:
Beyond the obvious harm of permanently sterilizing a child, these procedures and treatments can cause side effects and harms beyond permanent infertility, including serious mental health effects, venous thrombosis/thromboembolism, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, weight gain, decreased libido, hypertriglyceridemia, elevated blood pressure, decreased glucose tolerance, gallbladder disease, benign pituitary prolactinoma, lowered and elevated triglycerides, increased homocysteine levels, hepatotoxicity, polycythemia, sleep apnea, insulin resistance, chronic pelvic pain, and increased cancer and stroke risk.
In his letter, Abbott wrote, “Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse.”
Abbott’s letter comes amid a wave of state attempts to criminalize medical care for transgender youth. Arkansas lawmakers overcame the governor’s veto to pass a bill last April banning the provision of gender-affirming care to transgender minors. That law was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in July. Similar bills have been introduced in Texas and several other states but have not yet been passed. Numerous experts have stressed that gender-affirming care is essential to the health and wellbeing of gender-diverse youth and can even save lives.
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USA: Alabama House approves transgender bathroom ban in schools
Alabama House lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation that would prohibit transgender students from using gender-segregated facilities, such as restrooms and locker rooms, that align with their gender identity.
The bill was approved with a vote of 74-24 after two hours of debate. Under the bill, K-12 schools would require students to use gender-segregated facilities that match the sex on the student’s original birth certificate.
Republican Rep. Scott Stadthagen explained that the bill is focused on privacy, safety, and preventing sexual predators from accessing school bathrooms. “I am trying to prevent any males who were born males from going into female bathrooms,” Stadthagen told the committee. “It’s a safety issue. I for one, as a father, do not want a male, who is born male, in my daughter’s bathroom.”
Stadthagen described sexual assaults that have happened in school bathrooms when urging committee support for the bill. When a committee member asked if the attacker was transgender, Stadthagen replied that he did not know.
Opponents of the bill argue that the bill discriminates against transgender youth. “This is basically a safety privilege transfer. If someone in K-12 is going to identify as gender-expansive, this bill is putting them in harm’s way of being attacked and bullied, as well as sexual assault,” said Carmarion D. Anderson, the director for Human Rights Campaign Alabama.
Democratic state Rep. Neil Rafferty, opposing the bill, asserted that schools in his Birmingham district have handled accommodations for transgender students “without targeting vulnerable youth that are already having issues with suicide, mental illness, bullying.” Rafferty argued that the bill is “demonizing an already vulnerable population. It’s all under the guise of protecting children just to win cheap political points.”
The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate, where more than 45 Republicans in the 105-member House have signed on co-sponsors.
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USA: Florida House passes bill to bar LGBTQ discussions in schools
The Florida House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which would prohibit classroom discussion regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in Florida’s primary schools. The legislation passed by a 69-47 vote.
The bill prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. In other grade levels, the bill bars discussion that is not “age or developmentally appropriate.” Under the legislation, parents are permitted to sue school districts that do not follow the law.
Rep. Joe Harding introduced the bill and stated that the legislation would not prohibit students from discussing about their LGBTQ families or prohibit classroom discussions about LGBTQ history, such as the 2016 attack on the Pulse nightclub. He explained that the legislation is about “empowering parents” and improving the quality of life for Florida children. He said: “Creating boundaries at an early age of what is appropriate in our schools, when we are funding our schools, is not hate. It’s actually providing boundaries, and it’s fair to our teachers and our school districts to know what we expect.”
Supporters of the bill argue that discussions of sexuality may have a negative impact on students’ mental and physical health and well-being. The bill and its sponsors state the bill’s goal is to “reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children.”
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith asserted that the LGBTQ community in Florida is “in distress because this bill is yet another attack on [the LGBTQ] community. This bill goes way beyond the text on its page. It sends a terrible message to our youth that there is something so wrong, so inappropriate, so dangerous about this topic that we have to censor it from classroom instruction.”
Other critics argue that the bill may harm LGBTQ youths in Florida, as the Trevor Project found that LGBTQ youths who reported having at least one LGBTQ-affirming space had lower rates of attempting suicide.
President Joe Biden said in a statement regarding the bill: “I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community—especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill—to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve.”
The legislation will go to Florida’s Republican-held Senate. Governor Ron DeSantis has previously signaled support for the legislation. If passed, the legislation will go into effect for the 2022-2023 school year.
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International and Comparative SOGIESC Law - Professor Andreas R Ziegler 