Slovenia: Newspaper honors gay man for refugee work

Slovenia’s largest newspaper has named as its person of the year for 2015 a gay dentist who works with refugees. Delo honored Jure Poglajen during a ceremony in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. President Borut Pahor and the newspaper’s publisher were among those who attended the event.
Poglajen and his partner of more than four years have spent weeks providing food, water and clothing to the hundreds of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other countries who were crossing the narrow Mytilini Strait from Turkey to Lesbos.

Poglajen and his partner returned to Lesbos last fall with Adra Slovenia, a Protestant relief group that is raising funds to assist refugees who continue to flood into Europe. The two men also offered assistance to those who entered Slovenia from Croatia after Hungary closed its border with Serbia. 

Read more via Washington Blade
 

Sweden: Teenagers 'murdered gay man before wrapping snake around his neck and dressing him in women's clothes'

Two teenagers have been accused of murder after allegedly launching a brutal assault on a gay man which was filmed on a mobile phone. The pair of Moroccan refugees, aged 16 and 19, had travelled from their home country to Sweden. They followed a gay man back to his home in Bergsjön after he offered them clothes and food upon hearing they were in need. However after arriving at the apartment the two refugees allegedly beat him to death, police claim. Read more via Mirror

 

US: LGBT activists rally outside Dallas police HQ after another attack

Dozens of LGBT activists gathered outside Dallas Police headquarters last night to protest what they see as slow police response to the wave of crime in the Oak Lawn neighborhood, which has a prominent gay entertainment district. The protest follows another violent attack last week; the 12th in less than three months. 

Protesters carried signs that read “We Shall Rise Up” and “Justice Will Prevail.” Some waved gay pride flags, while others joined hands in silent grief for the dozen gay men who’ve been assaulted in Oak Lawn since September.

The latest victim, Geoffrey Hubbard, was beaten and robbed after leaving work. He rolled underneath a car for safety, until an off-duty officer found him. The next day, Dallas police stepped up patrols in the neighborhood. Though protesters, like Daniel Scott Cates, said the response came too late.

“It has taken two and half months of terror; it has taken blood literally running in the streets for DPD to make a visible, swift action as they did this last weekend. It’s absolutely unacceptable,” he said. Read more via KERA news 

UK: How do you prove you are gay? A culture of disbelief is traumatising asylum seekers

Ugandan man, Robert Kityo, was denied asylum last week on the basis that the Home Office wasn’t sufficiently convinced that he was gay. The question of evidence is the problem facing gay men and lesbians seeking protection in the UK because of persecution due to their sexuality. 

It used to be the case that claims for asylum from gay men and lesbians were refused as the Home Office reasoned claimants could return to their home countries and just be discreet: refrain from same-sex relationships and hide their sexuality.

It took a case at the supreme court to overturn this. In the same way as you cannot be expected to hide your religion, the court said you couldn’t be expected to hide your sexuality. Since then, the Home Office has changed tack in the way it refuses these asylum claims. Instead of telling applicants to be discreet, it just doesn’t believe them when they say they are gay.

So how do you prove you are gay? No one arrives in the UK with a certificate stating their sexuality, just as no one in the UK has such a certificate. Instead applicants have to rely on the believability of their oral testimony at their Home Office interview. Read more via the Guardian

US: How these gay and bisexual members of congress sold out desperate LGBT Syrian refugees

"Our people are being thrown off buildings and they're stoned to death," Neil Grungras, the executive director of the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration, told me this week, speaking about the plight of LGBT people in the grip of ISIS in Syria. The photos and videos of gruesome atrocities committed against them have gone viral around the world, with reports of men executed on the charge of engaging in sodomy. Michael Lavers at The Washington Blade has done a great deal of reporting on this ghastly reality, quoting leaders of LGBT refugee support groups and others who discuss blood-curdling reports of violence by ISIS. 

"You couldn't get more desperate," Grugras said. "You couldn't get a situation that's more shouting for justice." Those LGBT Syrians that do make it to Turkey or elsewhere as refugees seeking permanent, new homes, find themselves with little support, he said, facing rampant anti-gay discrimination, police brutality and poverty, often forced into sex work and put in dangerous situations.

These stories are among the many reasons why an intense backlash continues against gay and bisexual Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House -- Jared Polis of Colorado, Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- who cowardly voted last week with the GOP and 44 other Democrats for the SAFE Act, a bill that, according to many refugee experts, would effectively shut down an already overburdened vetting process for Syrian and Iraqi refugees that takes up to two years.  Read more via Huffington Post 

Kenya: Gay Ugandans regret fleeing

Hundreds of people in Uganda's LGBT community have fled the country to escape homophobia and persecution. But many are now stuck in Kenya where the situation is not much better. Even the UNHCR - the very group tasked with protected LGBT people - has admitted its own staff are hostile. The deputy head of protection for UNHCR told me that staff have said that as Christians they could not work with, or talk to, a gay man.

Some of the Ugandans I spoke to also told me this discrimination from UNHCR staff has led to delays in determining their refugee status, making them live with uncertainty about their future.

"In Uganda we were unsafe and here it's the same," said Blessed, not his real name.
He was a church pastor in Uganda and fled to Kakuma 18 months ago after his name was published in a local newspaper, which said he was gay. He received death threats and had to leave his family behind. "I don't know if I will ever see them again," he said.
"First I have to survive being here and then maybe one day I can entertain that thought."

The Ugandans have to sleep in shifts - taking it in turns to guard their compounds at night, after an attempt this year to burn it down. And that is not the only threat they have received. A few weeks back, hate leaflets were circulated around the camp asking people not to mix with the LGBT community there.   Read more via the BBC 

Iran: This gay man sold a kidney to escape to Turkey

There was only one way Danial could think of to get out of Iran: He would have to sell his kidney. Danial risked his life to get to Turkey, trusting that the refugee system would look after him when he got there. Instead, it was just the beginning of his problems. 

His situation felt hopeless. His mother had confronted him about being gay one December morning in 2013. By noon he had fled the family home, taking nothing but the clothes on his back and 50,000 rials — about $2 — in his pocket. 

“I had no way forward, no way backwards — I just wanted to escape from that place,” Danial said. For most Iranians, getting to Turkey would be as simple as buying a plane ticket, which can cost less than $200; a few hundred LGBT Iranians make this trip every year because it’s an easy jumping-off point to a new life in the West. Iranian passport holders don’t need a visa to enter Turkey, and the United Nations fast-tracks LGBT refugees for resettlement because it considers them especially vulnerable.

But Danial couldn’t get an Iranian passport. He was the son of an Afghan. 

Read more via Buzzfeed
 

Canada: Government to accept gay Syrian refugees

The Canadian Liberal government announced it will sponsor queer men as part of its pledge to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees — though it’s asking local groups for help.

In a media briefing, officials said the government will make it a priority to sponsor classes of people which includes “single adult men only if identified as vulnerable due to membership in LGBTI community.” Other priority groups include people who are “members of the LGBTI community,” as well as “women at risk” and “complete families.” Officials say they’ve consistently prioritized those groups of Syrians since 2013.

The announcement comes after conflicting media reports that the government would not be taking in single young men.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said it’s important the government prioritize “those who are facing immediate threats of genocide,” including LGBT Syrians. Rempel argued their plight shows why the Liberal government should reverse its plan to pull out of airstrikes against ISIS. 

Read more via DailyXtra
 

Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance around the globe

On November 20, LGBT and allied people will gather to honor Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). TDOR is an annual event that gives communities an opportunity to come together and remember transgender people, gender-expansive individuals, and those perceived to be transgender who have been murdered because of hate.

Several transgender women have been killed in Argentina in the past few months, including transgender activist Diana Sacayán. It’s been reported that transgender people have been murdered in El Salvador and most recently, a transgender man in Japan was brutally murdered.

Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project reported that at least 1,700 transgender and gender-expansive people were killed in the last seven years. Brazil and Mexico have the highest number of reported murders of transgender and gender-expansive people. Despite these tragedies, HRC’s Equality Rising report also details progress being made by the transgender and intersex advocates to end discrimination, harassment and violence.   Read more via Human Rights Campaign

Taiwan: 78,000 march for marriage equality, rights in Taipei LGBT pride parade

Nearly 80,000 locals and tourists converged in the Taiwanese capital city of Taipei on Saturday to support marriage equality and LGBT rights at the 13th Taiwan LGBT Pride parade.

The parade this year saw many participants from other parts of the world, including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore as over 300 LGBTI activists attended the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)-Asia conference in Taipei earlier in the week.

Organizers say this year’s theme ‘No Age Limit’ encourages attendees to bring their children along, and for attendees and the public to rethink societal norms with regard to age, sex and gender. Organizers also called for more space and rights to allow Taiwan’s youth to explore their sexuality. Read more via Gay Star News 

Jamaica: Deliriously happy after first Montego Bay Pride

We are deliriously happy to report that Montego Bay Pride 2015 was an unqualified success!! The best quote from someone who attended the intense one-day event was that it felt like a real Pride, as nearly 100 persons of all classes, sexualities and gender expressions (including several straight allies) freely and easily rubbed shoulders in a safe, fun and incident-free environment!

Our major sponsors (The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, The Round Hill Hotel and Villas, the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and Miracle Transport) were awesome and we simply can’t thank them enough. Through their overwhelming generosity we were able to ensure that Pride was accessible to all by providing free meals, entertainment and ground transportation to our happy revelers! Several persons also donated Pride swag — especially the critical rainbow masks that allowed members of the community to freely and safely enjoy the day without fear of unintended exposure.

Most Pride patrons agreed that we must — and will — be hosting another Pride event in Montego Bay in 2016. Truly, Pride is Here to Stay in the Bay. 

 Read more via 76crimes
 

Iceland: Reykjavik Pride, Close-knit community key

Iceland’s national assembly, the Althingi, was the first parliamentary democracy in the world, founded in 930 by Vikings interested in distributing resources, making laws and dispensing justice. Democracy and progressive social justice values continue to thrive here: homosexuality was decriminalized in 1940, Iceland was the first nation to democratically elect a female president, and in 2009 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became prime minister — the world’s first elected, openly lesbian head of government.

I’ve arrived here for Pride. It’s the last stop on a 2015 tour of my 2009 documentary Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride that the Canadian embassies in Helsinki, Stockholm and Reykjavik have organized cooperatively. The screening in Reykjavik draws a full house, the biggest audience of the tour.

“I think that we gained a lot by being such a small country because it’s easier to raise awareness when it’s a small group,” says Ugla Stefanía Jónsdóttir, a trans activist who sits on the panel following the film’s presentation.

“It’s usually that everybody knows someone that belongs to any of these groups,” Jónsdóttir says. “So it’s more difficult to be the asshole who is against someone because you will know someone eventually.” Read more via Daily Xtra