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This article covers a report on intimate partner violence in the US, including statistics on the amount of people who report being victims of sexual violence from the LGBTQ community. The article features an interview with Alicia Allen, a relationship counselor and sex researcher.
This op ed article is about the gay rights movement in India at a time of curtailed freedoms and creeping authoritarianism.
A selection of articles on Pinkwashing from Tikkun, an online magazine that brings together progressive interfairth voices to talk about social transformation and strategies for political and economic democratization.
This online debate was held 13-20 February 2016. The 'yes' argument was given by Deborah Sherry, Partner solutions director at Google UK and Ireland and the 'no' side was represented by Jonathan Cooper, Chief executive of the Human Dignity Trust. Guests and readers were able to give their comments. There was also a public vote open throughout the debate.
Interview with Bisi Alimi who, after he came out live on Nigerian TV, was disowned by his family and arrested.
This article looks at the clinics claiming to offer ‘cures’ for homosexuality to vulnerable people and how activists are planning to stop them.
Interactive map which documents murders worldwide. Initiated in April 2009, the project systematically monitors, collects and analyses reports of homicides of trans and gender-diverse people worldwide.
This news story covers Organization of American States research on the situation of trans men and women in Latin America. The research found that trans women in Latin America have a life expectancy of only 35 years and that this is not just due to violence directed at them. Discrimination and social exclusion isolates trans people who are often poor as a result and can’t always access housing.
Saurav Jung Thapa of the Human Rights Campaign highlights the disproportionate violence and discrimination that many lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women face, and calls on the World Bank to develop policies that consider their needs.
Lawyer Eric Gitari talks about his experiences of being harassed, publicly shamed and fighting for LGBT rights.
This post, written by Robert W. Mehney for IMPACT: the LGBT Health & Development Program's research blog, focuses on social media and resilience among LGBT communities.
A Guardian news story on legislation in Vietnam which will allow those who have undergone reassignment to register under new gender.
Pink News reports on the removal of mentions of LGBT rights from the Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 development agreement.
Diane Anderson-Minshall writes for Advocate about the centuries-long relationship between sex work and queer liberation, arguing that the LGBT world should be proud.
In this article Stephen Wood interviews Cheryl Overs about her work in Eithiopia with communities marginalised on account of their sexuality and the empowerment strategies they have employed.
Blog post on the 2014 Global Conference of the International Gay and Lesbian Association conference in Mexico City. Around 500 activists, academics and policy makers talked about forms of colonisation and how to identify, resist and defy it, with the main theme of ‘decolonising our bodies.’
This article covers gender related oppresion in Egypt. It cites what is underlying events, after years of 'relative calm': media sensationalism which feeds the arrests, government feeding of stories to the media in a tactic of divide nand conque, 'basic' manhood, that the crackdown is convenient for the reputation of the police and finally, that the police are invading private homes, not public spaces.
Blog focusing on the human toll of the 76 countries' anti-gay laws and the struggle to repeal them.
Interview with Marcela Romero, trans community activist. She talks about the realities experienced by Argentina’s trans community, including the Gender Identity Law that allows trans people to legally change their identity without the permission of a judge or doctor
This news story cover a gender rights law approved in Argentina. It means that adults who want sex-change surgery or hormone therapy will be able to get it as part of their public or private health care plans. The measure also gives people the right to specify how their gender is listed at the civil registry.
Article about the situation of trans people in Chile. It argues that throughout Latin America trans people urgently need the approval of laws that validate their freedom.
Interview with Mani Mitchell, an intersex human rights activist who founded ITANZ (Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand) in 1996.
This article is an interview with president of Micro Rainbow International partner ASTRA-Rio, the Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Majorie Marchi has been an officer at the program Rio sem Homofobia since 2011, part of the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
This article covers a bill that would allow transgender Chileans to legally change their name and sex without sex reassignment surgery which had advanced in the country's Senate.
This blog post argues that the west is using gay rights in a paternalistic way towards Africa - 'Perfect for a corrupt dictator to play the sovereignty card.' It argues that gay rights are not possible without basic human rights, 'otherwise you are building from the roof down.'
This article coers the Ugandan Ministry of Health’s 'Scientific Statement on Homosexuality' and a Uganda State House press release announcing President Yoweri Museveni’s intention of giving his assent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The article said that Museveni ordered a local team of doctors to report back to him on whether homosexuality was genetic.
This article expresses concern about describes Binyavanga Wainaina’s coming out as 'a narrative of epic proportions.' While it argues that his essay, 'I am a homosexual, Mum',is well written it says that 'everything that this essay does to provide knowledge, to cultivate compassion and to build tolerance, is all at once demolished' by a documentary' 'We must free our imaginations' released by Wainaina’s on YouTube.
This article explores Joyce Nyairo of the Daily Nation's critique of Binyavanga Wainaina's short documentary. It argues that Nyairo has missed the point and that the documentary aims to to take conversation around homosexuality to the streets, and the homes of regular Kenyans.
Patience Akumu argues that after importing homophobia into Africa through colonial laws, Africans cannot let the west impose on us a preoccupation with it at the expense of other violations.
Has the coming out of internationally acclaimed Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina given Africa's gay rights movement a public face around which to rally support for equality?
What's it like to be gay around the world in 2013? Men and women from across the globe talk about love, the law and coming out to their families.
Homosexuality is a crime in Zambia but this article covers an unexpected event at a reception hosted by UNAIDS in Lasaka, Zambia’s capitol. The First Lady Christine Kaseba-Sata called for an end to discrimination against sexual minorities.
A writer who lives with her girlfriend and their three children in Russia explains what her life is like, particularly since Russia passed new laws banning 'homosexual propaganda'.
Reports
The report is based on participatory research done with sexual minorities and sex workers. It includes case stories of good practices of community based organisations of female sex workers, transgender communities and men who have sex with men and their coping mechanisms to deal with crisis, denial of rights and stigma.
This paper draws on a two-year research project with transgendered people (travesti or travestis) in Lima that explored issues of identity considered important by many travestis in Latin America and on the socio-economic struggles that most face.
The report highlights that contemporary science increasingly recognises the wide range of natural variation in human sexuality, sexual orientations and gender identities. It suggests that governments have a duty to consider scientific perspectives and draw on the most current scientific knowledge when creating policy and enacting laws.
This report assesses current practices in sex and gender-related population research and offers strategies for establishing consistent, scientifically rigorous procedures for gathering information relevant to the needs and experiences of transgender people and other gender minorities. The report recommends various measures and measurement approaches for identifying respondents as gender minorities in general population surveys.
This report argues that issues of economic justice and transgender equality are inseparable and that policy changes focused only on identities as trans people will not be enough to end disproportionate poverty among trans people.
- The most critical demand one can make of development actors engaged in pursuit of sexual rights at this juncture is for more complexity.
- All sexual desires are complex, unwieldy, messy and shifting.
- While the arrival of homosexual/queer/LGBT subjects in international development has offered up more categories of sexual identity, it has not begun to grapple with the messiness of desire itself.
This publication examines the rise of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) rights within development and asks how the terms of debate have shifted.
Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as an update to the report of the Office of the High Commission on violence and discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
This handbook covers the integration of LGBT perspectives in development cooperation projects and organisations.
This report explores the funding of trans* and intersex groups and the challenges and obstacles experienced by these groups in accessing resources. It also highlights key differences in access to funding between groups that are led by trans* and intersex activists, and those that are not. The report highlights examples of successful trans* and intersex organizing efforts around the world and provides donors with knowledge, information and recommendations for effective support of trans* and intersex movements.
- Online research methods and tools are particularly interesting instruments for researchers and activists who work with LGBT communities.
- In countries where same-sex relations are criminal, such as in the Middle East and North Africa region, online communities can be the only way for LGBT people to relate to peers.
- Even in countries where access to social media and publishing on the internet is legally restricted, LGBT people have large online communities.
This methodology brief outlines the main steps and considerations for choosing research methods and data visualisation among LGBT individuals in resource-poor settings. Although this report focuses on LGBT, online data collection and data visualisation have broader relevance for thinktanks, whose targeted audiences increasingly function in complex digital environments.
- SOGIE rights should advocates challenge the ‘victim’ discourse in migration and highlight the impact of increased financial independence on the exercise of SOGIE rights.
- Policymakers, development actors and researchers investigate the links among SOGIE, labour and migration, and conduct further studies that can measure the impact of financial independence on the exercise of SOGIE rights
- The Philippine government should immediately enact an anti-discrimination law that covers workplace discrimination based on SOGIE, and penalises the imposition of genderconformity criteria such as uniforms, hair length, etc.
In this case study, feminist human rights organisation GALANG seeks to identify strategies in which Filipino lesbians, bisexual women and trans men (LBTs) cope with workplace discrimination and the severe lack of gainful employment opportunities in the country. Additionaly, it examines the motivations, aspirations and personal lives of LBT Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong.
- Homosexuality has never been criminalised and sexual orientation has been designated a 'private matter' by government
- Civil society organisations have some freedom to work on LGBT issues as long as they are aligned with the government's agenda
This study explores Rwanda’s relatively progressive position on LGBT-related issues and its implications for Rwandan civil society. It examines the strategies employed by national as well as international actors to advance LGBT rights and to address social and economic marginalisation.
- Over the past five years there has been a big increase in the public visibility of LGBT persons and civil society organisations. The first LGBT Pride event was held in 2012 in spite of legal restrictions on peaceful assembly.
- Laws regarding family and marriage are selectively enforced. While same-sex marriage is prohibited by law, some couples are able to hold unofficial wedding ceremonies without being fined.
In order to understand how LGBT civil society organisations can affect legal and social change with regard to the laws that regulate sexual norms and unions, this empirical study explores the following two examples of collective action in Vietnam: 1. The mobilisation strategies of civil society organisations to hold gay pride events. 2. Collective action to legalise same-sex ceremonies and marriages.
Practical guides
'An inspirational publication on the development of LGBTI organisations' (LGBTnet)
UNESCO list of practical guides and resources from other organisations worldwide working to address homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools.
This manual focuses on LGBTI defenders and aims at addressing not only the affect of wider societal value systems on defenders protection but also to address how the internalisation of these value systems and the consequences of them can often have detrimental effects on the defenders capacity to manage their own security.
In 2004, the European Union adopted a Directive setting out rules governing minimum standards on conditions under which refugee status is granted as part of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The purpose of these guidelines is to identify the relevant parts of the Directive for applicants for international protection persecuted because of their being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or intersex.
Books
This book is a comparative study of the politics of sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights in eight countries and two global institutions.
This book argues that standard binary oppositions limit freedom and understanding, especially in the context of sexuality and that limiting sexuality to homosexuality or heterosexuality, in a structured binary opposition, is just too simplistic.
Conscious of her constitutional rights as an urban young lesbian in a time of a relentless spate of hate crimes against township lesbians, author Nkunzi is simultaneously sensitive to the demands of the guiding ancestral voice of the traditional, rural Zulu patriarch whose name she bears. Her quest is for a middle path of balance and integration between the living and the dead, the traditional and the modern.
Using Lady Gaga as a symbol for a new kind of feminism, this book attempts to make sense of the cultural shifts that have transformed gender and sexual politics in the last few decades. It explores how these varied, symbolic ruptures open a critical space to embrace new ways of conceptualizing sex, love, and marriage.
This book takes on the protected status of male masculinity and shows that female masculinity has offered a distinct alternative to it for hundreds of years. It catalogs the diversity of gender expressions among masculine women from the 19th Century to contemporary times.
This book situates Namibian and South African LGBT organisations and movements in relation to developments in pan-African LGBT organising. It offers insights into visibility as a social movement strategy.
This chapter is from a collection of essays addressing the possible ramifications arising from the globalisation of western notions of gay and lesbian identities. It examines postcolonial literature, economics, and psychology from a 'queer' perspective.
The book features the personal experiences of 20 Christians from across the world, including Eastern Africa, the Caribbean, Poland, the Pacific and South America. All believe that their faith is not incompatible with either being LGBT, or accepting LGBT people. The book is also available in Spanish.
Articles
Same-sex sexualities in India have been portrayed in research and activism as socially marginal and minoritarian. Whilst proceeding from a commitment to the political utility of such a view, this paper questions such a standpoint.
This chapter aims to focus on some of the conceptual patterns in law which have facilitated the increasingly fixed conception of sexuality as source of both repression and liberation.
This study problematises post-colonial assumptions about contemporary sexual subjectivity as articulated through the 'Gay International', a term to describe the principles enshrined by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) activists and others in their efforts to enforce Western constructions of homosexuality upon the Arab world.
This article argues that the sociologist's task should be to deconstruct the conventional categories of sex, sexuality, and gender and build new complex, cross-cutting constructs into research designs. There are revolutionary possibilities inherent in rethinking the categories of gender, sexuality, and physiological sex. Sociological data that challenge conventional knowledge by reframing the questions could provide legitimacy for new ways of thinking.
The article explores issues of cultural transformation and new possibilities of the self and identity through the prism of three significant social developments: the democratization of relationships; the emergence of new subjectivities; and the proliferation of new `stories' about the body, the erotic and intimate life which both signal and encourage the growth of social and cultural capital, and in turn lead to new demands on the institutions of political life.
This article looks at the social and political dynamics of gender and sexual identity in Turkey and how that has changed and developed.
Clips and documentaries
Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols set off on a tour of 15 countries in search of 'Supergays,' LGBT people who were doing something extraordinary in the world.
This video features four intersex people talking about their experiences and offering guidance for others.
This controversial music video is the first ever Bollywood music video for gay rights. It features Bollywood actress and UN Equality Champion Celina Jaitly.
Hour long documentary shot in Uganda, South Africa, Geneva and London, with supporting footage from Malawi and Zimbabwe. It explores the stories five 5 LGBTI individuals seeking asylum from African countries where 'coming out' is not an option. Watch part 2 here.
In this video Professor Cathy Cohen leads a discussion of the role of a more radical queer politics within and in parallel to more traditional LGBT political strategies.
Digital mapping and visualisation tools
These laws are aimed at lesbians, gay men and bisexuals and at same-sex activities and relationships. At times, they also apply to trans and intersex people.
