On 3 September, the registration of LBQ women’s organisation Feminita has been denied again by an appeal court in Kazakhstan. “It feels like they are constantly searching for grounds to stop our work,” Zhanar Sekerbaeva, co-founder of Feminita, said to Human Rights Watch. Feminita members have experienced discriminatory treatment by the authorities before. In 2019, the authorities denied Feminita permission to organise a march for International Women’s Day multiple times. In 2018, Sekerbaeva was detained, charged with “minor hooliganism,” and fined $30 because she organised a photo shoot that she said was intended to destigmatize menstruation.
Read more about the arbitrary and discriminatory decision of the court.

After yearlong debates in France, often very hateful and harmful for lesbians and single women, the victory has finally come on 27 September. The National Assembly approved the new bioethics law extending the right to use IVF methods to lesbian and single women. ILGA-Europe want to congratulate all the activists who have fought hard and tirelessly for this over the years. We regret that trans men are excluded from the law. The law adopted still has to be approved by the upper house before going into effect.
Read more about the new bill.

In January 2018, two young women were filmed kissing at a cinema in Almaty by a man, Eldar Mamedov who posted the video to Facebook. The faces of both women were fully identifiable and they were subsequently recognised on the streets and received death threats, calls for violence and other hate speech. On 30 July this year, the Supreme Court found in favour of the women, saying that everyone has the right to privacy, personal and family secrets, protection of one’s honour and dignity.

This is a critical time for the EU Commission to adopt a comprehensive LGBTI strategy

Europe is at a dangerous crossroads and that’s why this is a critical time for the Commission to adopt a comprehensive LGBTI strategy over the next five years, say ILGA-Europe in the media release on 17 September. An EU LGBTI strategy, adopted and owned by the political leadership of the European Commission would give a very important political sign that the EU will not only continue but also strengthen its work on protecting and advancing the human rights of LGBTI people in the European Union. Also, it will help all Directorate Generals of the European Commission to feel empowered to ensure full implementation of existing commitments and to plan proposals and actions that will advance LGBTI human rights and equality.
Read more about our call for an EU-level LGBTI strategy.

By Christy Mallory and Brad Sears

An estimated 113,000 LGBT adults live in Oklahoma. There are approximately 74,000 LGBT workers age 16 and older in the state.

Oklahoma does not have a statewide law that expressly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, leaving LGBT residents vulnerable to discrimination. Researchers estimate that local ordinances protect about 29% of Oklahoma’s workforce from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Local ordinances also protect only about 3% of adults from this type of discrimination in housing and public accommodations.

Read the press release

Read the report

By Naomi G. Goldberg, Christy Mallory, Amira Hasenbush, Lara Stemple, and Ilan H. Meyer

Harmful policing strategies and tactics push many LGBT people, particularly young, low-income and LGBT people of color, into the criminal justice system, write Williams Institute scholars along with public policy and legal experts in a newly released book, The Cambridge Handbook of Policing in the United States. Negative interactions with law enforcement weaken LGBT people’s trust in law enforcement, and as a result, LGBT victims of violence are less likely to report incidents to police and have their complaints fully addressed.

In the chapter, “Police and the Criminalization of LGBT People,” authors examine the persistent tension between the need for police protection against LGBT-focused hate crimes and the over-policing of LGBT communities. It investigates discriminatory targeting, harassment, and violence by the police and provides potential remedies, such as community engagement, LGBT-inclusive training for law enforcement, and the revision of local and federal policies and practices.

The chapter was authored by Naomi G. Goldberg of the Movement Advancement Project and Lara Stemple of UCLA School of Law, along with Williams Institute scholars Christy Mallory, Amira Hasenbush, and Ilan H. Meyer.

To request a copy of the book chapter, please email williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu.

Recently (26/9), the Belgian Constitutional Court issued a decision concerning blood donation by MSM. In Belgium, MSM can give blood after a period of 12 months without intercourse.  The French-speaking LGBT movement in Belgium has challenged this before the Constitutional Court. See:

https://www.const-court.be/public/n/2019/2019-122n.pdf (in Dutch)

https://www.const-court.be/public/f/2019/2019-122f.pdf (in French)

It’s a long and well-argued judgement. The Constitutional Court states that the 12-month period must be maintained. However, the law must be revised every two years, so that medical developments can be looked at (and the 12-months period can be shortened or abolished). This is in line with the case law of the EU Court of Justice.

Nevertheless, the Constitutional Court has annulled a small part of the law on blood donation : it should be possible for MSM to donate plasma placed in quarantine without a waiting period. The Court has requested that the law be amended in this respect.

https://www.france24.com/en/20191003-russian-court-blocks-major-lgbt-online-groups

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/10/03/christian-doctor-fired-refusing-transgender-woman-loses-employment-tribunal/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PNnewsletter

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/09/25/freddy-mcconnell-trans-man-gave-birth-father-high-court-legal-battle/