EU Parliament Resolution Declares EU as LGBTIQ Freedom Zone

Read: https://www.asil.org/ILIB/eu-parliament-resolution-declares-eu-lgbtiq-freedom-zone

Japan court finds government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage unconstitutional

The Sapporo District Court found Wednesday that the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional because it violates the right to equality.

As a member of the Group of Seven, an intergovernmental organization including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US, Japan was the only country that did not recognize same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples were not afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. Some municipalities, such as Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, only began recognizing same-sex partnerships in 2015. In 2017, Osaka become the first city in the country to recognize same-sex couples as foster parents. However, Japan did not recognize same-sex marriage.

In February 2019, 13 same-sex couples filed lawsuits across four districts in Japan, alleging that the country’s denial of same-sex marriage violates the constitution. The couples sought 1 million yen in damages each for psychological damage allegedly caused by the government’s negligence in not amending the law. This was the first major challenge to same-sex marriage’s constitutionality. In July 2019, major opposition groups, including the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, submitted a bill to recognize same-sex marriages.

On Wednesday, the court found that the government was violating Article 14 of the Constitution by discriminatorily failing to implement legal measures to offer any marital benefits to same-sex couples. The denial of same-sex marriage violated the right to equality. However, the court declined to award psychological damages.

This was a historic verdict in Japan, as it is considered to be a major symbolic victory for the LGBTQ community.

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Parution d’un ouvrage de Thierry Delessert sur l’histoire des homosexualités en Suisse Link: https://www.seismoverlag.ch/en/daten/sortons-du-ghetto/

Parution d’un ouvrage de Thierry Delessert sur l’histoire des homosexualités en Suisse — LGBTI Recht in der Schweiz – Droit LGBTI en Suisse – by Professor Andreas R Ziegler

USA: South Dakota Senate passes bill to block transgender women from girls’ sports

The South Dakota state Senate on Monday approved a bill that prevents transgender women from competing in women’s sports at the high school and college level.

Titled “an act to promote continued fairness in women’s sports,” the legislation applies to public schools and any “institution of higher education under the control of the Board of Regents or the South Dakota Board of Technical Education.” Under the new bill, any qualifying school must designate athletic activities as male, female, or coeducational. Any team or sport in the female category will be available only to students who “are female, based on their biological sex.”

The bill mandates that each student who wishes to participate in a school sport submits a statement including their age and “biological sex, as ascertained at or before birth in accordance with the student’s genetics and reproductive biology.” If a school has “reasonable cause” to think that a student’s statement of their biological sex is false, it may “remove the student from, and prohibit further participation in, any sport or on any athletic team for the duration of the school year.”

The legislation also includes provisions to prohibit the investigation of school employees who enforce the bill and gives students a claim for relief if they are harmed by violation of the bill or face retaliation for reporting a possible violation of the bill.

Having passed the South Dakota state House in February, the bill will now go to Governor Kristi Noem for approval. Noem stated that she is “excited to sign this bill very soon” in the pursuit of “defending women’s sports.” Utah, Mississippi and Tennessee state legislatures have advanced similar bills this year.

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota called the legislation “an attack on transgender women and girls that will cause them serious emotional and physical harm” and said it undermines policies that are already in place to include transgender athletes.

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“Gender critical” beliefs and the ECHR

Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:14 PM PDT (c) Paul Johnson – http://echrso.blogspot.com/

European Human Rights Law Review has published my article “Gender Critical Beliefs and the European Convention on Human Rights”.

The article critically explores the extent to which “gender critical” beliefs – which, principally, are that sex is biologically immutable and that it is impossible for a human being to change sex – should qualify for protection under the Convention.

In the article, I argue that a recent judgment of an Employment Tribunal in the UK, which held that gender critical beliefs do not qualify for protection under British equality law, was appropriate because it reflects the settled jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the rights and freedoms of transgender people.

I also argue that this approach is consistent with the right to express gender critical beliefs, as the High Court of England and Wales has held, under Article 10 of the Convention.

The article is published in EHRLR (2020) issue 2, and will soon be available on Westlaw. If anyone wants to read it and cannot access it online, please email me and I will happily send you a copy.

USA: Trans inmate forced to share a cell with a convicted rapist and murderer. He raped her that same night, court told

Read: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/03/03/trans-inmate-prison-convicted-rapist-sexually-assaulted-michigan/

USA: Idaho House approves bill imposing opt-in requirement for sex education

The Idaho House of Representatives approved House Bill 249 on Friday, requiring parents to opt in for sex education of their children, as opposed to the blanket opt-out requirement that was in place earlier. The bill, which was introduced by Representative Barbara Ehardt, passed with a vote of 56-12 and amends certain provisions of Chapter 16, Title 33 of the Idaho Code relating to the instruction of sex education.

Section 1 of the bill amends Section 33-1609 of the code, which defined “sex education” only as “the study of the anatomy and the physiology of human reproduction.” The bill, however, inserts another category of sex education, which it refers to as “instruction regarding human sexuality,” and defines as “any presentation, story time, discussion, or reading assignment, other than sex education as specifically and narrowly defined [otherwise], that is focused primarily or substantially on human sexuality, encompassing the topics of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, eroticism, sexual pleasure, or sexual intimacy,” while expressly limiting the scope of sex education as it originally existed.

For this newly-inserted definition, the bill places an opt-in requirement, where parents who want their children to be given human sexuality instruction shall provide written permission to the school district board of trustees, while the opt-out requirement for the instruction on the anatomy and physiology of human reproduction remains in place. Therefore, the bill effectively divides sex education into two areas and indicates that schools would be disallowed from offering instruction in areas relating to human sexuality, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual pleasure unless parents or legal guardians specifically and explicitly file written forms allowing for such instructions to take place for their child.

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USA: Tennessee Senate passes bill banning transgender student athletes from female sports

The Tennessee Senate passed SB0228 Bill on Monday, a move which bans participation of transgender athletes from female designated sports. The Bill, introduced earlier this year, passed with a vote of 27-6 and amends Title 49 of the Tennessee Code.

In its push for biological determinism over one’s self-identified gender, the Bill requires a student athlete’s gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event to be determined based on the student’s sex as assigned at the time of the student’s birth. The Bill furthermore requires for reliance to be placed on a student athlete’s gender as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate, or any other evidentiary document determinant of one’s sex assigned at birth.

The Bill additionally requires the state board of education, each local board of education, and each governing body of a public charter school to adopt and enforce policies in order to ensure compliance with participation of students in athletic activities based on their sex determined at birth.

Hedy Weinberg, the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee responded to this bill by stating:

Protecting women’s sports is important, but transgender girls do not threaten them. The vast majority of transgender students are not elite athletes. They just want to play sports for fun, with friends and classmates, to feel a sense of community and camaraderie, and to learn to respect and work together with coaches and teammates. We should not deny these life-changing opportunities to youth just because they are transgender.

The bill is now pending approval from the House of Representatives.

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USA: Alabama Senate passes bill prohibiting gender affirming treatment for minors

The Alabama Senate passed the controversial anti-trans SB10 Bill on Tuesday, effectively prohibiting the performance of gender affirming medical treatment on minors. The Bill, which shall be called the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, was introduced by Senator Shay Shelnutt and passed with a vote of 23-4.

Section 3 of the Bill prohibits any person from engaging in, counseling or making a referral for performance of various treatments such as through hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or surgical intervention, when performed with the intent of affirming the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex. It also makes any performance of gender affirming medical procedure on a minor a Class C Felony as per Alabama’s Criminal Code.

In a bid to protect minors, the Bill additionally requires schools, public or private, to disclose to a minor’s parent or legal guardian, all information relating to the perception of such student that their gender or sex is inconsistent with their biological sex. The move has been opposed by transgender and human rights activists, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama stating that the bill “runs counter to medical science, prevailing standards of treatment for transgender youth, and basic human dignity.”

The bill is now pending approval from the House of Representatives.

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Semenya takes her case to European Court of Human Rights

The double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya has filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights in a final bid to save her career and overturn the ban on her defending her title at Tokyo.

Semenya, 30, has twice failed to overturn controversial World Athletics regulations requiring women with high testosterone to take medication to compete internationally between 400m and a mile.

Read: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/semenya-takes-her-case-to-european-court-of-human-rights-1.4495283