(via Nova Scotia to fund sex reassignment surgery - Nova Scotia - CBC News)

“In a quick reversal, Nova Scotia has decided to fund sex reassignment surgery.

Last week, Health Minister David Wilson said there was a lack of high-quality research about the effectiveness and long-term outcomes of the surgery and the province would not pay for it.

But on Wednesday he said the province would pay for the procedure after he reviewed the medical evidence and the policies of other provinces that fund the surgery.

Nova Scotia is now the eighth province to fund gender reassignment surgery.

It comes with a price tag that ranges between $10,000 and $60,000, depending on the extent of the surgery involved in the transition.

Kevin Kindred, chair of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, estimates that between six and eight Nova Scotians require the surgery each year.

(via CFB Edmonton 1st base to raise gay-pride flag - Edmonton - CBC News)

“In what is being called a first in Canada, a rainbow-coloured gay-pride flag was raised at an Alberta military base today during a ceremony attended by senior officers and civilian members of the LGBT community.

TW: violence

Several people have been arrested in connection with a Wednesday assault by skinheads that left Clément Méric, an 18-year-old left-wing activist, brain dead in what police described as a “politically motivated incident” on the streets of Paris.

Several people have been arrested in connection with a Wednesday assault by skinheads that left a young left-wing activist brain dead, Interior Minister Manuel Valls told AFP. Police described the incident as being “politically motivated”.

Clément Méric, an 18-year-old anti-fascism campaigner, was attending a clothes sale with friends in the 9th district of central Paris when three “skinhead-type” individuals, including one woman, arrived on the scene.

Clément Méric

Witnesses told police that “angry words were exchanged” before the aggressors left “to fetch reinforcements”.

When Méric left the building he was assaulted by the group, including one person wearing brass knuckles, and hit his head on the pavement as he fell. He was declared brain dead in hospital later that night.

Police said they were treating the attack as a “politically motivated incident involving the far right versus the far left”.

The Left Party (Parti de Gauche), a grouping of French far-left parties, issued a statement accusing the Paris-based far-right organisation JNR (Young Revolutionary Nationalists) of carrying out the attack. The JNR has been active in Paris since the late 1980s and has been known for violent attacks in the past.

“The horrors of fascism have brought murder to Paris,” the statement said.

Other left-wing groups, including the Young Socialists and SOS Racisme, called for the JNR to be banned as an organisation if a link between the group and the attack is proved.

Serge Ayoub, the 48-year-old founder and head of the JNR, told reporters on Thursday that any link between the attack and his organisation was “completely false”. He added that the fight was probably started by left-wing activists.

Marine Le Pen, who heads the far-right anti-Europe and anti-immigration National Front (FN) party, said Thursday that her party had “no links at all” with the “appalling” attack.

“The FN is not linked in any way whatsoever to this unacceptable and intolerable act,” she told RTL radio.

French President François Hollande’s office issued a statement condemning the attack, saying police had been given “firm instructions to ensure that the perpetrators of this odious act are arrested as soon as possible”.

Changsha LGBT Pride Takes Place, Organizer Detained 长沙5•17活动成功举行，组织者被拘 (by qafbeijing)

“On May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHO), over a hundred LGBT people and allies from Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Chongqing, Hubei and Zhejiang gathered at the scenic river belt near Hexi University to fight for their rights and against discrimination. The event was held by the local LGBT rights organization “Hunan With Love”, and was named “2013 China Mainland (Changsha) Anti-Discrimination Summer Event”.

That night, event organizer Xiang Xiaohan and 3 others were taken away by the local Changsha police. The next day, 3 of them were released, but Xiang Xiaohan was administratively detained for 12 days.

While we need to think on how to do better next time, we also have to celebrate the courage of Xiaohan and his team and congratulate them on a very successful event.

5月17日”国际不再恐同日”，由来自北京、香港、广东、重庆、湖北、浙江等地的百余

­名LGBT人士及其支持者，齐聚长沙河西大学城沿江风光带，争取权益反歧视。这是由湖­南本地同性恋权益组织同爱网络主办的”2013年夏季大陆长沙同志反歧视活动”。当夜­，本次活动的组织者向小寒等4人被长沙当地警方带走。第二天，其余3人被放出。而向小­寒被行政拘留12天。

我们要讨论以后怎样可以做的更好，但同时也需要庆祝小寒和他的团队的勇敢，因为这个活­动非常的成功。

Marcel Neergard speaking to local ABC news affiliate on the sucess of his petition to resind the ‘Reformer of the Year’ award from Tennessee Rep John Ragan.

(via Children of Same-Sex Couples Excel in Key Health Indicators: Study)

“An interim report found there was no statistical difference between children of same-sex couples and the rest of the population on indicators including self-esteem, emotional behaviour and the amount of time spent with parents.

However, children of same-sex couples scored higher than the national average for overall health and family cohesion, measuring how well the family members get along.

(via Boy Scouts defy orders, wear uniforms in Utah gay pride parade - U.S. News)

“Boy Scouts and adult volunteers wore their uniforms Sunday as they marched in Utah’s gay pride parade — defying a leader of the youth organization who had said they couldn’t do so under the organization’s guidelines prohibiting advocating political or social positions.”

“I had like two people at the school be, like, oh, you shouldn’t win prom queen because you’re a boy. You should win prom king,” Tubman said. “I’m like, well, I’m a queen.” (via Mass. high school crowns its first transgender prom queen | The Daily Caller)

(via First Gay Marriage In France Was Broadcast Live To The Country)

Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau got married despite several people threatening to ruin the wonderful occasion. They were soon stopped by the police outside. (http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-couple-makes-history-marrying-france290513)

TW: violence, homophobia

“Fuck your mothers,” a priest shouted.

Another priest came armed with a stool. Their followers carried rocks, sticks, and crucifixes. “Kill them! Don’t let them leave alive,” they screamed.

They smashed heads, windows of shops, and a minibus in which activists tried to escape. Twelve people, including three policemen, were seriously injured.

“Before the van arrived, about ten girls—gay rights activists—were being taunted by a growing, frothing mob. A stone was thrown and split a girl’s head open.… This mob was the creation of the Georgian Orthodox Church and the Georgian government has so far been gutless in standing up to the Church to protect the rights of its citizens. Shame on you, Georgia. Shame on you,” Paul Rimple, a Tbilisi-based journalist, posted on his Facebook page.

Despite a ban by a local court, more than a hundred LGBT rights activists held the first gay pride demonstration in the capital of Kiev.

The event was relatively peaceful despite the attempts by a very small number of individuals to disrupt the occasion.

“This can be considered a historic day,” Elena Semyonova one of the organisers told reporters after the activists held a 20-minute-long march along a street near the centre of the Ukrainian capital.

Nikolai Aleskeev, Russian LGBT rights advocate, has been arrested for his part in organizing a gay rights march this morning.

…

‘This is the eighth year in a row we are trying to peacefully conduct Moscow Pride, but this time we face unprecedented pressure in terms of laws, bans and threats.

Aleskeev also received a letter from the European Court of Human Rights yesterday, denying his request to intervene with the Russian government for protection.

Aleskeev said: ‘If me or someone else is killed or injured in Moscow Pride on Saturday 25 May then the blood will also be on the hands of the Head of European Court of Human Rights and [its] judges.’

(via All In : Florida teen charged in consensual relationship with another girl)

From a Boy Named Issak by Issak Wolfe:

“The school has agreed to let me wear the boys’ cap and gown, but won’t budge on anything else. They refuse to promise to do anything to help other kids like me, as if pretending I’m the only transgender student they’ll ever have at their school will make it so. They refuse to apologize to me, even though they know the principal’s actions were mean-spirited and hurtful.

And they insist on reading my female name at graduation, even though I’m working on getting my name legally changed and most people have been calling me Issak for almost two years now.

Reading my male name at graduation wouldn’t hurt anyone, but they KNOW that reading my female name only serves to hurt me more. [my emphasis]