USA: Alabama law criminalizing gender affirming care for minors takes effect

The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (VCCPA) Sunday went into effect in Alabama while US District Judge Liles Burke considers legal challenges from doctors and families with transgender children.

Plaintiffs sought an injunction against the VCCPA in April 2022, alleging that the law violates their 14th Amendment Rights and strips them of the right to make important decisions about their children’s healthcare. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in the lawsuit later that month. The DOJ also alleged 14th Amendment violations. The plaintiffs motioned for a temporary restraining order and injunction on April 21. Medical associations submitted statements of support and a brief in support of the plaintiffs’ motion. After a two-day hearing, Judge Burke will decide whether or not to grant the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.

The VCCPA, signed into law by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on April 8, 2022, prohibits persons from “engag[ing] in or caus[ing]” the prescription or administration of puberty-blocking medication, testosterone or estrogen hormones, surgeries that sterilize, sex reassignment surgeries to genitalia and chest reconstruction surgery if such “practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex as defined in this act.” Conviction under the Act is a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $15,000.00.

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Greece bans LGBTQ conversion therapy

Read: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/greece-bans-lgbtq-conversion-therapy/47586122

Call for Papers: Queering International Law 2.0

A call for papers has been issued for a workshop on “Queering International Law 2.0,” organized by the ANZSIL Gender, Sexuality and International Law Interest Group and supported by Deakin Law School, the Institute for International Law and the Humanities at Melbourne Law School, and La Trobe Law School. The call is here.

UK: ‘Disturbing’ anti-LGBT+ views can be protected under law, judge rules

Read: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/04/29/pastor-pride-christian-cambridgeshire-tribunal/

USA: State lawmakers pledge to create refuge bills for transgender youth

Democratic lawmakers from 16 US states pledged Tuesday to introduce legislation providing legal refuge to transgender youth and their families affected by restrictive state laws which limit the ability of transgender youth to receive gender-affirming healthcare.

The pledge was led by California state Senator Scott Wiener and was announced by LGBTQ Victory Institute, a non-profit dedicated to legal advancements for the queer community.

In a joint statement from the involved legislators, Senator Wiener said:

Today, we’re proud to announce that over a third of the states in our country are pushing back on the horrendous anti-trans legislation we’re seeing in Texas and elsewhere… We are building a coordinated national legislative campaign by LGBTQ lawmakers to provide refuge for trans kids and their families. We’re making it crystal clear: we will not let trans kids be belittled, used as political pawns and denied gender-affirming care.

In 2021 Senator Wiener sponsored SB 107, a California state senate bill which aims to shield trans children and their families from penalties when seeking gender-affirming care. After SB 107 was introduced, similar bills were drafted in New York and Minnesota. Now 16 states from all regions of the US have pledged to introduce trans refuge legislation.

Mayor Annise Parker, President of the LGBT Victory Institute, spoke in firm support of the growing coalition of states, proclaiming:

When trans kids’ lives are on the line, playing defense doesn’t cut it. It’s time to play offense. We are using the collective power of LGBTQ state legislators all across the nation to launch a counter-offensive that aims to protect trans kids and parents while also demonstrating that there is a positive agenda for trans people that lawmakers can support.

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Romania rights groups urge MPs to reject LGBT ‘propaganda’ legislation

Romanian Human Rights group Friday criticized Romania’s so-called LGBT+ “propaganda” bill and called on lawmakers to stop it in its tracks. The bill, which has been approved by the Senate and is to now be decRomania rights groups urge MPs to reject LGBT ‘propaganda’ legislationided by Romania’s lower house, prohibits the use of materials in schools that “promote” being LGBT+.

The bill has been introduced as a measure to prevent “child abuse” by the junior ruling coalition ethnic Hungarian party (UDMR) and the nationalist Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), both of which have advocated for traditional family values. The proposed legislation is analogous to legislation already in effect in Russia and Hungary. Proponents have contended that “in the societies of Western Europe, we are witnessing today an assault on new ideologies, such as gender theory, which endanger traditional values, based on Christianity, and the very core of society, the Christian family.”

LGBTQ Rights group ACCEPT condemned the bill:

Budapest’s education system must not be enforced in Bucharest. Romania must avoid the illiberal drift promoted by Hungary through such measures which were received harshly by the European Union. Adopting explicitly homophobic and transphobic legislation by censoring information about sexual orientation and gender identity is a shame on Romania. The lower house must vote to stop this incitement to discrimination.

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New Book: Hyun Jung Lee, Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation – Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Korea

Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Kore

More: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-95423-9

USA: DOJ challenges Alabama law criminalizing some treatments for trans minors

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Friday filed a complaint challenging an Alabama law that criminalizes some medical treatments for transgender youth.

The DOJ stated Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (VCCPA) “denies necessary medical care to children based solely on who they are” and threatens criminal action against doctors, parents, or others who provide such care. It alleges the law’s felony ban on certain medically necessary care violates the Fourteenth Amendment and asks for an immediate order stopping the law from taking effect.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall Friday stated that the Biden administration had “chosen to prioritize leftist politics” over Alabama’s children but that “science and common sense” were on Alabama’s side, reiterating the supporters of the VCCPA would “win this fight to protect our children.”

The VCCPA, signed into law by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on April 8, 2022, prohibits persons from “engag[ing] in or caus[ing]” the prescription or administration of puberty-blocking medication, testosterone or estrogen hormones, surgeries that sterilize, sex reassignment surgeries to genitalia, and chest reconstruction surgery if such “practice is performed for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex as defined in this act.” Conviction under the Act is a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $15,000.00.

On March 31, the Civil Rights Division sent letters to the attorneys general of all states to “remind them of federal constitutional and statutory provisions that protect transgender youth against discrimination.”

The DOJ’s challenge appears to be in favor of a federal lawsuit to block the VCCPA. The suit was filed in April by the families of two transgender children and two doctors.

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UN Free & Equal announces as new campaign – this time focusing on LGBTIQ+ women and girls

Canada lifts blood donation deferral period for gay men

The Canadian government Thursday announced that it is lifting the three-month blood donor deferral period for men who are sexually active with other men.

Under the current blood donation regulations, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) have to wait for a three-month period since their last sexual contact with another man before donating blood. Additionally, women who have had sex with a male partner who has had sex with another man in the last twelve months must also defer for three months before donating blood. Deferrals for such blood donations have been part of the regulations for many years, though over the last ten years the deferral period has been shortened to the current three months.

Canadian Blood Services (CBS) submitted an amendment to Health Canada, the health services department, to change the deferral criteria. Instead of a blanket deferral of donations from gbMSM, the new screening approach would introduce a sexual-behaviour based questionnaire to all donors, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The new criteria would apply a three-month deferral to all donors who have had anal sex with new or multiple partners in the last three months.

A statement released by Health Canada called the authorization of the submission “a significant milestone toward a more inclusive blood donation system nationwide.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at a news conference, said that the government welcomes the decision which has been “a long time coming.”

CBS indicates that it expects to implement the new screening approach nationwide by the end of September.

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