Two out of five gay Nepalis harassed on public transport

More than one-third of LGBTI Nepalis have reported discrimination or abuse in three or more public settings, according to a recent study. 

'While Nepal is often cited as a progressive country in Asia having guaranteed equal rights and recognition of sexual and gender minorities through a landmark Supreme Court verdict in 2007, Nepal’s progress in protecting the rights of these minorities and implementing the verdict has been limited,' said Edmund Settle, UN Development Program policy advisor. Read More

Astounding Victory As Botswana High Court Asserts Right Of Lesbians And Gays To Register Their Own Organisation

The Gaborone High Court delivered judgment in a case concerning the Department of Labour and Home Affairs’ refusal to register the organisation Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO). The case was brought by 20 individuals who argued that the refusal to register their organisation violated their constitutional rights, including their rights to freedom of association, freedom of expression, and equal protection of the law.

“Botswana’s HIV/AIDS National Strategic Framework 2010-2016 seeks to ensure equal access to health and social support services for all people regardless of race, creed, religious or political affiliation, sexual orientation or socio-economic status. LEGABIBO intends to work with government to improve access to health services for LGBT persons, and this judgment enables them to do so,” says Cindy Kelemi from the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA).  Read More 

Malaysian Court Scraps Cross-Dressing Ban in Landmark Decision

Rights group Human Rights Watch has listed Malaysia as one of the worst countries in which to be a transgender person, due to systematic abuses by religious authorities and police. Activists welcomed Friday’s ruling that gives transgender Muslims the right to cross-dress in a landmark decision overturning an Islamic law ban that could trigger similar challenges.

“Now the transgender community know they have their rights to challenge the law and not just plead guilty to charges,” said Nisha Ayub of Justice for Sisters, an LGBT group.  Read More 

Mozambique: Gay Mozambicans Demand Recognition

Lambda, the sole Mozambican association defending the rights of LGBT people, has protested publicly against the illegal refusal by the Justice Ministry to register it as a bona fide association.

On Monday Lambda took out a full page advertisement in the Maputo daily paper “Noticias” protesting at the discrimination it has suffered. Lambda first submitted its application for legal recognition as an association almost seven years ago, in January 2008.  Read More

Malaysia paper tells Muslims backing opposition is backing gay rights

A right-wing Malaysian newspaper has said supporting opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim means supporting the international LGBTI rights movement ahead of his sodomy trial. Anwar has been prosecuted under the country's colonial anti-gay law four times in what LGBTI groups have called a politically motivated prosecution. He is appealing his March sentence of five years in jail.  Read More

Armenian Activists Sue Over Article Outing Several LGBT People

The editor of an Armenian newspaper is awaiting judgement in a lawsuit brought by several individuals after he published an article naming them as “gay rights lobbyists” and calling for them to be fired from their jobs and ostracized. The article was titled, “They serve the interests of international homosexual lobbying: the blacklist of country’s and nation’s enemies,” and named more than 50 individuals. Read More 

The Obama Brief: How Obama Transformed the Federal Judiciary

To the extent that there is an Obama legal legacy, it centers on gay rights and voting rights, subjects that the President addresses more with caution than with passion.

In July, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling that threatened the future of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. By a vote of two to one, the court held, in Halbig v. Burwell, that the insurance subsidies that allow millions of Americans to buy health insurance were contrary to the text of the law and thus were illegal. If such a decision had been made earlier in Obama’s tenure, lawyers for his Administration would have been left with a single, risky option: an appeal to the politically polarized, and usually conservative, Supreme Court. Read More

CARICOM Joins Gay Activist Maurice Tomlinson In Suit Against Belize & Trinidad

Activist Maurice Tomlinson has challenged the Immigration Acts of Belize, Trinidad, and Tobago  which ban the entry of homosexuals, mentally challenged, and physically disabled people. 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) now joins with Tomlinson's suit to the Caribbean Court of Justice and will provide supporting evidence to his cause. They have become involved because the treaty deals with the right to free movement of non-nationals and the CARICOM Secretariat argues that all CARICOM states must treat all the nationals of CARICOM the same. Read More

Ugandan court dismisses case against activist Sam Ganafa

High-profile LGBTI rights activist Samuel K. Ganafa and three colleagues had been charged with “unnatural offenses,” a crime that is punishable by as much as a life sentence.

He was subjected to forced HIV testing and then, as the trial against him proceeded, the prosecution repeatedly requested delays.  On Oct. 8, nearly a year after his arrest, the prosecution asked for another delay, but the court has rejected the request and dismissed the charges. Read More

Amnesty International launches report "Rule by Law: Discriminatory Legislation and Legitimized Abuses in Uganda."

This report documents the human rights impact of three pieces of legislation: the Public Order Management Act, the Anti-Pornography Act, and the Anti-Homosexuality Act: in particular, the impact that these laws have had on the ability of civil society to organise, on discrimination against women, and on the lives of people who are or are believed to be LGBTI.  Read the report here

Uganda judge received death threats for striking down anti-gay law

President Museveni signalled he is having second thoughts over tough anti-homosexuality legislation, arguing the impoverished east African nation needed to consider the impact on trade and economic growth. Saying he only signed off on the anti-gay law earlier this year because he wanted to protect children and stop people being “recruited” into homosexuality, he now worries the law could lead to a trade boycott which would hurt Uganda.

A Ugandan judge has revealed she has received death threats after annulling the anti-gay law earlier this year. Solomy Bossa Balungi has said she has received numerous attacks from the public after she helped with the ruling the Anti-Homosexuality Act must be nullified.

On 1 August, the Constitutional Court found speaker Rebecca Kadaga had acted ‘illegally’ in rushing the anti-gay legislation through parliament.  Read More