![The TGEU map [above] shows countries in blue that require no sterilization, orange for countries that require sterilization and red for countries where trans people can not legally change their gender.
More at the source link.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/0b1a53e8df7deb979bb208c343b9ba08/tumblr_mn5x8xdK7T1qgo5q0o1_500.jpg)
The TGEU map [above] shows countries in blue that require no sterilization, orange for countries that require sterilization and red for countries where trans people can not legally change their gender.
More at the source link.
![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]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/9609f36ba6a9aee0398798ff6e924b85/tumblr_mn5o97hCre1qgo5q0o1_400.jpg)
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]
Presidential Medal of Freedom to be posthumously awarded to astronaut Sally Ride.
“We remember Sally Ride not just as a national hero, but as a role model to generations of young women,” said Obama in a statement. “Sally inspired us to reach for the stars, and she advocated for a greater focus on the science, technology, engineering and math that would help us get there.”
“Sally showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve, and I look forward to welcoming her family to the White House as we celebrate her life and legacy,” said Obama.
A 19-year-old man, identified only as Xiang, was arrested on Saturday and will be in administrative detention for 12 days for organising an “illegal protest”, police said, according to a report in the local Xiaoxiang Morning News, which has since been deleted online.
Xiang has been transferred to the Changsha Municipal Detention Centre, said A Qiang, a fellow demonstrator and well-known activist from Guangzhou.
Xiang has been active in the local LGBT community since age 14. A Qiang said Xiang had approached police about the protest before it took place on Friday afternoon.
It was second time Changsha’s LGBT community has organised such a protest. Police had not interfered in last year’s demonstration. Some 80 to 100 people participated this year.
Christopher Bryant, editor of Polari magazine, and his partner Damon were walking home from Bryant’s birthday dinner through South London’s Betts Park when the couple was intercepted by a group of six men, who started speeding up and following the couple down the path.
“
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Polari magazine editor assaulted in South London | Gay Star News TW: violence and graphic photo at the link. My heart goes out to you and your partner Christopher. While I only know you/Polari through Tumblr this shit hits close to home. I wish you a speedy recovery and hope the assailants are caught and prosecuted. |
![“I, as the mother of a gay individual, say I am proud to be here,” one member of the Butterflies Trans Association said as she spoke to the crowd from the steps of the Puerto Rican Capitol. “We are fighting as a movement to tell (lawmakers) that we are in search of a place where [LGBT Puerto Ricans] can be successful, a place where we can take care of our people.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/822d19176664c8df2b1804cbb827c875/tumblr_mn1v5iXD821qgo5q0o1_500.jpg)
“I, as the mother of a gay individual, say I am proud to be here,” one member of the Butterflies Trans Association said as she spoke to the crowd from the steps of the Puerto Rican Capitol. “We are fighting as a movement to tell (lawmakers) that we are in search of a place where [LGBT Puerto Ricans] can be successful, a place where we can take care of our people.”
We must be very careful that in the interest of tolerance we do not allow minority views to defeat majority sentiments,” Thwaites told journalsists yesterday at a post Sectoral Debate press conference at Jamaica House.
“
| — | Minister stands firm against gay grooming - Lead Stories - Jamaica Gleaner - Friday | May 17, 2013 |
French President Francois Hollande, has signed into law a bill which allows equal marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples. (via France: President Francois Hollande signs equal marriage bill into law - PinkNews.co.uk)
Over 150 LGBT people and their friends have braved homophobic and transphobic thugs to demand their rights at a protest in St Petersburg, Russia.
TW: violence
“The most effective way to eliminate discrimination against homosexuality is to acknowledge same-sex couples’ rights to marriage,” said Huang Yizhi, one of two female Beijing lawyers who organised the campaign.
She said that such a step could help the public become more accepting of the gay community, while also fostering social stability. Huang previously represented a gay client who was discriminated against while trying to donate blood in 2010.
The lack of legal protection for homosexuals has forced many of them to hide their identity, or even marry a member of the opposite sex, just to comply with social norms. This creates serious social problems, she said.
International Day Against Homophobia (by USattheUN)
(via towleroad.com)
Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice has posted a video marking today’s International Day Against Homophobia.
Today, as we commemorate International Day Against Homophobia, we rededicate ourselves to a basic but essential truth – that human rights are universal and must be protected for all. Homophobia, sadly, is present in every corner of our world. And, it is a problem we continue to face here in the United States.
At the United Nations, the United States is standing up for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and fighting to ensure that their voices are heard and protected. The United States was proud to co-sponsor and adopt an historic resolution at the UN Human Rights Council condemning human rights abuses and violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
We will continue to work in every possible arena to protect communities and promote societies in which everyone – especially LGBT youth – can live safely and without fear regardless of who they are or whom they love. We call on all nations and all peoples to join us in ensuring that human rights are universally protected everywhere every day.
PARIS — France’s constitutional council, the country’s highest constitutional authority, on Friday rejected a challenge by conservative lawmakers to the country’s new marriage equality law, saying the law is constitutional.
The ruling means France could see its first gay marriages by the end of May.
France’s parliament passed the law legalizing same-sex marriage last month after a wrenching national debate and protests that flooded the streets of Paris.
Opponents led by the conservative UMP party immediately challenged the law in France’s Constitutional Council, which rejected their motion Friday.
The gay marriage law must now be published in the official journal. (via France’s constitutional authority rejects challenge to marriage equality law – LGBTQ Nation)
Portuguese parliament has approved Friday a bill that will allow same-sex married couples to adopt their partner’s bilological or adopted children. The bill was approved with 99 votes in favor, 94 votes against, and 9 abstentions.
The bill was supported by the ruling center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the progressive Socialist Party (PS). A co-proposal to allow same-sex married couples to adopt children together was defeated.
The Portuguese parliament had approved the right to same-sex marriages in 2010, but without adoption rights. The law allowed gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, including taxes, inheritance and housing, but didn’t offer the right to adopt children. (via LGBT: Portuguese parliament approves right to adoption – Portugal | Portuguese American Journal)
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Kenya, 2013. Police in Kenya have stopped people marching through the capital Nairobi today (17 May) to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).
A permit had been issued to allow Kenyan LGBTs and supporters to procession.
But this morning police withdrew the permit just as the event was about to start on Freedom Corner, Uhuru Park.
Julie Jules, Out in Kenya community leader, told Gay Star News: ‘Basically the police stopped the procession because we would be seen to be “promoting homosexuality”.
‘Being homosexual in Kenya is a criminal offence currently according the penal code.’ (via Police shut down IDAHO gay march in Kenya | Gay Star News)
