US appeals court upholds public school ban of student wearing transgender-critical shirt

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Sunday upheld a Massachusetts public middle school’s prohibition against one of its students from wearing a shirt with a message critical of transgender ideology. The appeals court found the prohibition to be consistent with the free speech protections of the US Constitution’s First Amendment under Tinker v. Des Moines.

John T. Nichols Middle School (NMS) has a dress code with a preface stating, “clothing … that causes distractions and inhibits learning is not allowed.” The dress code forbids “hate speech” and “imagery that target[s] groups based on … gender identity.” It also forbids “apparel that the administration determines to be unacceptable to our community standards.”

On March 21, 2023, Seventh grader Liam Morrison wore a shirt with the message “[t]here are only two genders” to NMS. The school contacted Morrison’s father and requested him to make Morrison wear more appropriate attire. Morrison’s father refused to comply and Morrison was told he could not attend class unless he stopped wearing the shirt. Morrison attempted to wear the shirt again with the message “censored” taped over the “only two” from the original message, but the school demanded him to remove it and he complied. Morrison through his father sued NMS for the shirt bans and alleged that the dress code is too vague and overbroad, violating the right to free speech protected under the First Amendment.

NMS argued at trial that the shirt ban was consistent with both of Tinker‘s restrictions and that Morrison’s dress code claims lacked standing. Tinker is a case that provided First Amendment protection for public school students to wear black armbands at school to protest US involvement in the Vietnam War. The case provided that constitutional restrictions on students’ speech in public schools are speech that “materially disrupts classwork [and] speech that involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.”

NMS also contended that Morrison’s shirt violates the rights of LGBT+ students “to feel safe in school and to be free from harassment and bullying while in school” and that the strong self-advocacy of LGBT+ students would materially disrupt classwork. The trial court’s decision supported NMS on the basis that the “rights of others” restriction applied to Morrison and that Morrison’s dress code claims would not likely succeed on the merits. The appeals court affirmed the trial court’s decision, but most notably added their support for the “materially disrupts classwork” restriction and Morrison’s dress code claims lacking standing when applied to the “community standards” rule.

In addition, the appeals court concluded that the appropriate decision-makers in deciding what would make “an environment conducive to learning” at NMS are the educators and not federal judges. Accordingly, the educators are better equipped to decide whether to enforce the dress code as they are the closest to the scene.

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Germany includes “sexual orientation” in as an inadmissible reason for the persecution of an identifiable group in the definition of persecution as a crime against humanity

International Criminal Law

More: https://schwulissimo.de/neuigkeiten/staerkung-des-voelkerrechts-mehr-schutz-fuer-homosexuelle

LGA-Europe, TGEU, OII Europe, IGLYO and EL*C jointly welcome the inclusion of SOGIGESC grounds in new EU Directive on minimum standards for equality bodies

On 7 May 2024, two new directives on minimum standards for equality bodies were officially adopted by the EU. One of the directives includes in its recitals and articles the grounds of gender expression, gender identity and sex characteristics in addition to sexual orientation. This marks the first time sex characteristics have been mentioned explicitly in an EU directive, and the second time gender identity and gender expression have been mentioned in an EU directive¹. This is an important milestone for the protection of LGBTI people in EU legislation, and follows two years of joint advocacy on these directives by OII Europe, TGEU, ILGA-Europe, EL*C and IGLYO.

More: https://www.oiieurope.org/joint-statement-milestone-for-trans-and-intersex-rights-in-europe/

Amnesty International: FIFA must protect human rights by securing binding safeguards from 2030 and 2034 World Cup bidders – new report

The report, Playing a Dangerous Game? Human Rights Risks Linked to the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups, assesses the human rights risks related to the bids – a joint offer from Morocco, Spain and Portugal with additional games to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay for the 2030 World Cup finals – and another from Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 tournament. Detailed bid offers, including human rights strategies, are expected to be submitted to FIFA for evaluation within weeks, with football’s governing body due to confirm the hosts in December.

Despite the Saudi Tourist Board’s assurance that ‘everyone is welcome,’ there is no legal protection for LGBTI people. Prosecutions are often made under the country’s vague and overly broad public order and morality regulations, as well as the Anti-Cyber Crime Law.

More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/06/global-fifa-must-protect-human-rights-by-securing-binding-safeguards-from-2030-and-2034-world-cup-bidders-new-report/

Australia: New South Wales premier apologizes for laws criminalizing homosexuality

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns formally apologized in Parliament House on Thursday to all those convicted or affected by laws that criminalized homosexuality, which was decriminalized 40 years ago.

New South Wales is the last Australian state to apologize for these laws. Victoria and South Australia apologized in 2016, followed by the other three states in 2017. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Australia in 2017. Homosexual acts between adult men were criminalized in the 1980s, with fear and hostility present amid the AIDS epidemic. Although sex between women was never a criminal offense, the fear was equally as present.

Premier Minns apologized on behalf of the New South Wales government and parliament for the harm caused by these unjust laws, acknowledging the lives damaged, diminished, or destroyed by them. He stated, “to those who survived these terrible years and to those who never made it through, we are truly sorry.”

Minns shared the story of Peter Bonsall-Boone, known as “Bonne,” who made history in 1972 by becoming the first man in Australia to share a same-sex kiss on national television. Bonne was arrested by the state and his conviction lead to his expulsion from the Anglican Seminary where he was studying to be a priest. The repercussions of Bonne’s conviction followed him throughout life until his death. He was unable to work as a public servant, serve on a jury or be a Justice of the Peace. He had difficulty in securing a home loan with his partner, was denied work as a taxi driver and faced scrutiny when he volunteered to teach English to immigrants. His partner, Peter de Waal, campaigned for the state to issue a formal apology for decades. 

New South Wales Premier Minns noted that Bonne passed away 7 years ago but before his death was notified of the expungement of these historical convictions.

Bonne passed away 7 years ago, but even at the end of his life, fifty years after the arrest it still weighed on him. In 2014, when this parliament passed a law allowing for the expungement of these historical convictions it meant a great deal for people like Bonne. Just weeks, before he died, Bonne received that official letter notifying him that his criminal record had been extinguished. Peter read those words out to him and said it was the final time he had ever smiled.

Independent Sydney Member of Parliament, Alex Greenwich, is the only openly gay member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He is advocating for the government to follow this apology with action. Greenwich has proposed an “equality bill” which will prohibit religious schools from firing LGBTQ+ teachers and prevent students from being expelled for coming out as gay. The bill, which has passed the committee review stage, would also allow transgender people to register a change of sex without undergoing a gender affirmation procedure.

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US appeals court orders return of books to Texas public library after book ban

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed Thursday a District Court’s ruling to return books to a Texas public library after they were removed because of their viewpoint and content. This was a partial victory for the plaintiffs, as eight of the 17 banned books are to be returned to shelves.

The Llano County Library in Texas removed 17 books in 2021 after the library received  complaints about the books being too sexual to be in the children’s section. The plaintiffs, seven patrons of the Llano County library system, brought suit against Llano County, the members of the County’s Commissioners Court, the library system director, and the library board for pulling the books from the system, alleging that the defendant’s violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

At the beginning of this litigation, the defendant’s attorney donated copies of the 17 books back to the library. However, to access these books, a patron had to explicitly ask for them. They are currently not on the shelves or displayed in the system. In March 2023, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ordered the 17 books to be returned to the shelves. On appeal, the Appeals Court affirmed the ruling. Judge Weiner wrote, “a book may not be removed for the sole—or a substantial— reason that the decisionmaker does not wish patrons to be able to access the book’s viewpoint or message.” However, out of the three judge panel, one affirmed, one agreed eight books should be returned, and one dissented. This meant there was majority support to return eight books to the shelves.

The library began to pull books when one resident, who now resides on the library board and checked out the books for months to prevent others from accessing them, made a complaint. After being told to pull the books by the Judge who oversees the library and the commissioner, the library director removed the books from the shelves. Months later, the library director was forced to pull more books after receiving additional complaints. The library director was given a list, deemed the Wallace list after the patron who wrote it, and pulled all the books on it. The books on this list focused on the LGBTQ+ community, puberty, and the history of racism in the United States.

The book ban was quite controversial, with UniteAgainstBookBans taking to X (formerly Twitter) in 2023 to say, “To Llano County commissioners who want to close their public library, banning books is more important than serving communities. We stand with library workers & library users in Llano.” The American Library Association reposted this tweet, urging people to speak up against the book ban. 

The post US appeals court orders return of books to Texas public library after book ban appeared first on JURIST – News.

Israel: Knesset allows transgender people to remove ‘dead name’ from IDs

Transgender people in Israel will no longer need to register their previous name on their ID, after the Interior Ministry amended ID regulations on Monday.

Someone who has undergone gender reassignment will not be obliged to register their ‘dead name’ – the term for the name a transgender person received at birth before transitioning – after a position was filed by the Justice Ministry to the High Court.

The petition was submitted by Nofar Ashbel, a transgender woman, who requested to replace the male birth name with Nofar, the chosen new name. 

More: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-804856

Man arrested in Qatar Grindr ‘sting’ sentenced

5.6.2024

Josh Parry,Caroline Hawley

-Mexican man who was arrested in Qatar in what his family called a “honeytrap operation” on gay dating app Grindr has been given a six-month suspended sentence and will be deported.

Manuel Guerrero Aviña, 44, was found guilty of being in possession of an illegal substance at a hearing in Doha and fined £2,100.

His family say police planted drugs in his apartment and Mr Guerrero Aviña believes he was targeted by the sting because he is gay.

Human rights group FairSquare called his trial a “travesty of justice” but Qatari officials insist the airline worker’s arrest in February was solely due to drug offences.

More on this story

‘Qatar targeted my brother on Grindr – I want him home’

Mr Guerrero Aviña has called the verdict – which he is considering appealing – a human rights breach and says he was targeted because of his sexuality.

He said: “Although I welcome the fact that I can leave the country, I still condemn the unfair trial I have been subjected to and the torture and ill treatment I endured during my preliminary detention”.

Mr Guerrero Aviña, an airline worker, said he is “taking advice” on his options.

Qatari prosecutors have up to 30 days to appeal the sentence, meaning he can’t leave the country immediately, even if he were to accept the verdict.

James Lynch, co-director of human rights organisation FairSquare and former British diplomat in Qatar said the case was a “travesty of justice.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, but the family of Mr Guerrero Aviña say he had lived a normal life there for the past seven years and had never been in trouble with the authorities before.

The case hit the headlines internationally when his family claimed he was targeted on gay dating app Grindr, after arranging to meet a man called “Gio”.

But he was instead met by police and arrested on drug charges, in what his family called a “honeytrap operation”.

After 42 days in a detention centre, Mr Guerrero Aviña was released on the condition he handed over his passport.

He was forced to thumbprint a confession written in Arabic, without the help of a translator or access to a lawyer’s advice, his family say.

Qatari officials insist the 44-year-old’s arrest was “for possession of illegal substances on his person and in his apartment” and that “no other factors were taken into account”.

They added that tests for illegal substances in his system had come back positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine.

Amnesty International described the tests as “questionable” and not up to international standards. Mr Guerrero Aviña denies taking any drugs.

Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and Africa, said in a statement that authorities in the country must overturn Mr Guerrero Aviña’s “outrageous conviction and lift his travel ban”.

“There are serious fears that [he] was targeted for his sexual orientation and was coerced into providing the authorities with information that they could use to pursue a wider crackdown on LGBTI individuals in Qatar”.

HIV charities had also launched interventions in the case after claims Mr Guerrero Aviña, who is HIV positive, had not had regular access to his medication, which keeps the virus under control.

Mr Guerrero Aviña’s family have told the BBC that his usual treatment, prescribed by British doctors, ran out in mid-April.

The UK’s National Aids Trust told the BBC he urgently needs to return to the UK for the medication as it is not available in Qatar, and he may have built up resistance to it, which would make it less effective.

Deborah Gold, CEO of National Aids Trust, said: “We are hugely concerned that he will not be able to access the ongoing medical care and treatment that is his human right while in Qatar.”

Mr Guerrero Aviña’s brother Enrique told the BBC: “My brother is facing punishment in Qatar because he is gay.”

“We will keep fighting until justice is serviced and until Manuel is safely back home.”

A Qatari official said: “Contrary to certain media reports, no other factors were taken into account when making the arrest, and Mr Aviña has been treated with respect and dignity throughout his detention.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj55y7v23y0o

Switzerland: Federal Supreme Court confirms judgment against politician regarding discrimination and incitement to hatred based on race and sexual orientation

Court refers to ECtHR, Vejdeland et al. v. Sweden (9. Februar 2012, Nr. 1813/07, § 54-57)

Bundesgericht: Urteil gegen Politiker wegen Diskriminierung von Personen aufgrund ihrer sexuellen Orientierung bestätigt (Urteil vom 24. April 2024 (6B_1477/2022)