LGBT+ News and Discussions

[wjfox]

Switzerland same-sex marriage: Two-thirds of voters back yes

13 hours ago

Almost two-thirds of Swiss voters have backed same-sex marriage in a referendum.

Some 64% supported the measure, making it one of the last countries in western Europe to legalise same-sex marriage.

Campaigners have hailed the vote as a historic moment for LGBT rights in the country.

In the build up to the vote, church groups and conservative political parties opposed the idea, saying it would undermine the traditional family.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58696604

[wjfox]

I'm currently working on a new/updated prediction for the acceptance of homosexuality. It seems that even by the late 22nd century, some countries will still outlaw it. That's assuming the trend follows an approximate S-curve.

[caltrek]

Netflix Fired the Employee Who Organized a Walkout in Solidarity With Trans Workers
by Amanda Siberling
October 15, 2021

https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/15/netfl ... s-workers/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) Netflix fired an employee who led the company’s trans employee resource group and planned a walkout on October 20, a current and former Netflix employee with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TechCrunch. The termination was first reported by The Verge (see https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/15/227 ... -chappelle.)

Netflix workers planned the walkout to protest statements that its co-CEO Ted Sarandos made about Dave Chappelle’s recently released special, “The Closer.” The company claims that it fired the employee in question because the company suspects that they leaked internal information.

“We have let go of an employee for sharing confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company,” a Netflix representative told TechCrunch. “We understand this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company.”

The leaked information in question appears to be some internal metrics on “The Closer” that appeared in a story by Bloomberg, which reported that Netflix spent $24.1 million for the one-off special. Meanwhile, the company spent $3.9 million on Bo Burnham’s recent comedy special “Inside” and $21.4 million on the buzzy, nine-episode “Squid Game,” Netflix’s best-ever debut.

Earlier this month, as Netflix prepared to release “The Closer,” employees raised concerns about potentially harmful anti-trans jokes in the show — Chapelle goes as far as declaring that he’s “Team TERF,” referring to trans-exclusionary radical feminists, who conflate gender with biological sex and oppose the movement for transgender rights. When Netflix released the special on October 5 anyway, employees and Netflix subscribers alike lashed out against the streaming service.

[caltrek]

Ghana Considers a New Law Punishing Same-sex Relations, and LGBTQ Community Fears Reprisals
by Anthony Akaeze
October 20, 2021

https://baptistnews.com/article/ghana-c ... reprisals/

Introduction:

(Baptist News Global) Ghana is the latest country in Africa seeking to explicitly outlaw same-sex relations in an appeal to cultural values and conservative religious views.

Members of the LGBTQ community fear they may become the victims of violence as a result of the new anti-gay bill in a country where they already feel marginalized and where same-sex relations already are illegal but the law is rarely enforced.

A 2018 report by Human Rights Watch noted that “the combination of the criminalization of adult consensual same-sex conduct and the profoundly religious and socially conservative Ghanaian context has an insidious effect on (LGBTQ) individual self-expression.”

Even three years ago, those interviewed “said that they either felt they had little choice but to adopt self-censoring behavior, or worse, deny their sexual orientation or gender identity to avoid suspicion by family members and the communities in which they live,” the report said. “Numerous interviewees told Human Rights Watch that in certain instances, such suspicion has led to violence, extortion and arrests.”

Merely reporting about LGBTQ activities in Ghana creates problems for some people, as Ghanaian journalist Prince Appiah found out. In the heat of the anti-gay bill controversy, Appiah produced a documentary titled “The Gay Next Door,” which some people interpreted as endorsing or arousing sympathy toward the LGBTQ community. “The response was not entirely positive. There was verbal abuse and even threats,” Appiah said.

[caltrek]

In Cuba, Divisions Over Law to Allow Same-Sex Marriage
by Andrea Rodriguez
October 19, 2021

https://www.latinorebels.com/2021/10/19 ... xmarriage/

Introduction:

HAVANA (AP) — Adiel and Lachi are anxious to get married, perhaps dressed in black, in a ceremony by the seashore.

The idea bothers the Rev. Moises de Prada, who like many of his parishioners opposes a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Cuba.

The socialist government recently published a draft Family Law and asked for public comment ahead of a referendum, creating an unusually public clash over policy on the island where Pentecostal churches have been growing.

For Adiel González, a 31-year-old theologian, the idea of submitting his right to marriage for a public referendum is painful.

“You are submitting to the vote of a heterosexual, heteronormative majority the rights of a minority,” he said from his apartment in the central city of Matanzas, where two cats roam and a cross in the rainbow colors of the gay flag hangs from a wall.

[caltrek]

What Dave Chappelle Gets Wrong About Trans People and Comedy
by Aja Romano
October 23, 2021

https://www.vox.com/culture/22738500/da ... rsy-comedy

Introduction:

(Vox) Toward the end of Dave Chappelle’s incendiary Netflix standup special The Closer, he says something revealing about the fight he’s waged against trans people — a fight that’s drawn Netflix itself into the fray and which led to a walkout and protest against the company on October 20.

After discussing the death of his friend, a trans comedian named Daphne Dorman who Chappelle also mentioned in his previous special Sticks and Stones, Chappelle makes a joke where the punchline is to blatantly misgender her. Then he says, “As hard as it is to hear a joke like that, I’m telling you right now — Daphne would have loved that joke.”

As I’ve attempted to grapple with the aims of Chappelle’s comedy, this line has stuck with me. Chappelle’s use of Dorman as a kind of totem for the type of relationship he’d like to have with the trans community at large is both telling and confusing — not because of what it says about Chappelle and Dorman, but because of what it says about the nature of comedy and the nature of pain.

Trans people have expressed outrage at both Chappelle and Netflix for amplifying overtly transphobic and anti-scientific views about gender and trans identity. In his defense of Chappelle, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos first said that he didn’t believe The Closer could cause any real-world harm, and then, after recanting that statement, said that trans people would simply have to deal with the special being on the platform. What we wind up with, then, is this: Yes, The Closer could cause real-world harm, but trans people will just have to get over it.

So perhaps the real question is, should trans people have to get over it? “Yes” seems to be the answer from The Closer, more or less. There’s no getting around the reality that transphobic rhetoric like Chappelle’s absolutely contributes to real-life harm. But Chappelle seems to view that hurt, and even the immediate pain of his transphobic jokes, as a worthy trade-off.

[caltrek]

More Action Needed to Protect Trans People
by Elijah Nichols
November 20, 2021

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021 ... stand-idle

Extract:

(Common Dreams) On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, I am filled with grief and rage. Tiara Banks deserved to live. Remy Fennell deserved to live. Iris Santos deserved to live. The reported 381 Transgender people globally whose lives were cut short by anti-Queer violence within the last year deserved to live.

…This year holds the record for the largest legislative attack on Transgender rights and safety in modern American history—a year when Democrats wield overwhelming power in our federal government. This Democratic power, however, has not prevented the enactment of over a hundred anti-LGBTQIA+ bills. The Democratic National Committee—the political arm of the Democratic party—has issued a broad statement of condemnation but Congress, the administration, and the Party have taken appropriate steps to curb these state laws from coming into effect. Already anti-Queer institutions, our public schools and health care facilities, have continued down a path of social and physical violence by removing LGBTQIA+ literature, banning Transgender youth from sports, and denying Transgender people lifesaving treatments. In a time where Transgender people in the United States are being used as political punching bags in the GOP’s “culture war”—leading to daily harm and the deadliest year on record for Transgender peoples, specifically Black Transgender women—Democrats must do better. They must move beyond symbolic gestures and truly engage in the necessary struggle for equality of, and safety for, Transgender people.

The Biden administration issuing an updated version of the Obama administration memorandum directing Heads of Agencies and Departments to ensure “diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons everywhere” does little, as the State Department maintains a ban on U.S. diplomats advocating for same-sex marriage.

While, yes, the Justice Department under President Biden has signed on to lawsuits against states implementing discriminatory laws, an executive order declaring that Transgender students are protected under Title IX has been released, and the President has uttered the word “transgender”—we, as Transgender people, are still in need of more to combat the everyday violence plaguing our community. An acknowledgement of both the historic and current anti-trans harm by Party officials and larger U.S. institutions is, first, necessary.

[caltrek]

Chile Congress Approves Same-Sex Marriage and Adoptions
by Eva Vergara
November 23, 2021

https://www.latinorebels.com/2021/11/23/chilesamesex/

Extract:

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP via Latino Rebels) — A measure to legalize marriage and adoption by same-sex couples was approved by the lower house of Chile’s Congress on Tuesday, moving it close to final adoption. It had already passed the Senate.

The bill, approved 101-30, now awaits only final modifications related to the rights of same-sex couples. President Sebastián Piñera has indicated he will publish it into law.

Conservative lawmakers in the South American nation staged a last-minute battle against the bill. “The role of matrimony is not to regulate a relationship, it is to protect the preservation of the species as a basic principle,” said congressman Diego Schalper.

But from the other side, lawmaker Pepe Auth said that “marriage is a civil contract. … This is a question of freedom, not of religion.”
…
Chile had accepted same-sex civil unions in 2015, but that measure did not include a provision for adoption. Some same-sex couples had annulled their civil unions and adopted children as single parents to get around that problem.

[weatheriscool]

Noem proposes ban on transgender women from female sports
Source: Associated Press

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Tuesday she would propose a bill to ban transgender women and girls from participation in female school sports leagues.

The proposal, which will be considered during the legislative session in January, revives a debate in the Capitol that split Republicans last year. A similar bill ultimately died in March after the governor issued a “style and form veto” against it.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/sports-krist ... abd6c8c9a1

[caltrek]

Brazilian Baptist Pastor Receives Death Threats After Officiating Same-sex Wedding
by Mark Winfield
December 20, 2021

https://baptistnews.com/article/brazili ... x-wedding/

Introduction:

(Baptist News) A Baptist pastor in Brazil has received violent death threats after performing a wedding ceremony for two women Dec. 11.

Although same-sex marriages have been legal in Brazil for a decade, this was believed to be the first Protestant marriage ceremony uniting two women in the Brazilian state of Alagoas and the first in the country among Baptists.

Pastor Odja Barros is one of the few Baptist voices supporting the rights of Christian LGBTQ people in Brazil. Her church, the Baptist Church of Pinheiro, where her husband, Wellington Santos, is co-pastor, previously was removed from the Brazilian Baptist Convention because of its stance for full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians.

Brazil is a traditionally conservative nation on LGBTQ issues, and Baptist leaders in the country are particularly against such inclusion. Southern Baptist Convention missionaries have exerted a dominant force on Baptist churches across Brazil for decades.

Barros was the first woman to preside over the Baptist Alliance of Brazil, the most progressive Baptist denomination in the country.

[caltrek]

Addressing Healthcare Needs of Transgender Adults: Qualitative Study Finds Three Main Barriers to Receiving Primary Care in a Supportive Environment
March 7, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/945634

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) INDIANAPOLIS – Transgender individuals are less likely to have had a primary care visit in the last year than cisgender individuals despite having more chronic conditions. A study from Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine and Eskenazi Health explores the healthcare experiences of transgender patients and uncovered three major barriers this group faces in accessing healthcare.

A cisgender person is someone whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their sex assigned at birth.

To better understand the challenges, perceptions and feelings of transgender patients seeking care, the research team interviewed 21 adult patients in the Gender Health Program at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, a comprehensive healthcare clinic for transgender and gender-diverse adults. The interviews revealed transgender patients in Indiana face barriers related to:

• A lack of willing or knowledgeable providers

• Geography

• Long wait times for appointments

“When we spoke to these patients, many described difficulties in being able to find a provider that could or would treat them. Some traveled for hours just so they could be seen in an affirming setting with providers knowledgeable about transgender health,” said first author Joy L. Lee, PhD, M.S., research scientist at Regenstrief Institute and assistant professor of medicine at IU School of Medicine. “These interviews speak to the need for more primary care providers who can treat transgender patients and highlight the need to create healthcare spaces that feel safe for transgender individuals.”

[weatheriscool]

Idaho bill criminalizes medical trans youth treatments passes house
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... sses-house

Bill to make gender-affirming care a felony and punishable by life in prison for anyone who helps a minor travel out of state

Idaho’s house of representatives has passed a bill that would criminalize gender-affirming medical procedures for transgender youth and make it a felony punishable by life imprisonment for anyone who helps a child travel across state lines to gender-affirming healthcare.

The bill, approved on Tuesday, targets medical measures that include vasectomy, hysterectomy, mastectomy, puberty-blocking medication and supraphysiological doses of testosterone or estrogen.

The bill will now move on to the state’s Republican-controlled senate. If approved, the Republican governor, Brad Little, could either sign it into law.

[caltrek]

I’m a Cop With a Trans Daughter. Lawmakers Want Me to Arrest the Doctors Who Saved Her Life.
by David Fuller
March 11, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... as-police/

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said it was child abuse to give transgender teens gender-affirming health care like puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Now, Alabama lawmakers are on the verge of passing a law that would criminalize doctors who do so. The bill would make their work punishable by up to a decade in prison—even though they’re offering treatments that are reversible and approved by major medical associations. The bill is expected to pass in the coming days, and Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to sign it.

All of which terrifies David Fuller, a veteran police sergeant in Gadsden, Alabama, who could be called on to enforce the ordinance. Several years ago, his kid Jess came out as trans, and she relied on the very health care that could now be outlawed. This week he called me from his police truck to share his story, told below in his own words. (See article linked above quote box for Sergeant Fuller's discussion of his experiences with his transgendered daughter).

[caltrek]

Disney employees walk out, as ESPN and Disney+ back LGBTQ+ rights
by Frank Pallato
March 22, 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/22/media/di ... index.html

Introduction:

(CNN) Disney employees staged a walkout Tuesday in protest of the company's response to Florida's controversial Parental Rights in Education law, which critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

While many employees at Disney headquarters in Burbank, California, did protest, it did not appear to be a massive showing across the company.

"We know how important this issue is for our LGBTQ+ employees, their families and allies, we respect our colleagues' right to express their views, and we pledge our ongoing support of the LGBTQ+ community in the fight for equal rights," a Disney spokesperson told CNN Business.

Some of Disney's biggest brands also showed support for the LGBTQ+ community as the company-wide walkouts took place.

"To ALL who come to this happy place, welcome," Disney Parks posted on its Instagram Tuesday morning, echoing the words of Walt Disney during his dedication speech at Disneyland's opening day in 1955. "Disney Parks, Experiences and Products is committed to creating experiences that support family values for every family, and will not stand for discrimination in any form."

[weatheriscool]

Utah Legislature overrides governor's veto of transgender sports ban bill
Source: NBC News

Utah state lawmakers on Friday overrode their Republican governor’s veto of a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls’ sports, ensuring the controversial piece of legislation will go into effect.

During a special session called specifically to consider a veto override, both Republican-controlled chambers of the state Legislature met the two-thirds threshold to revive the bill.

The measure passed 21-8 in the Senate and 56-18 in the House. Ten Republicans in Utah's state House and five in the state Senate who had previously voted against the bill changed their votes to support the bill during the override session. Both chambers voted on Friday without additional debate.

Under the forthcoming law, transgender girls will be prohibited from playing on school sports teams aligning with their gender identity. The bill’s language bars “a student of the male sex from competing against another school on a team designated for female students.” It defines “sex” as the “biological, physical condition of being male or female, determined by an individual’s genetics and anatomy at birth.”

-snip-


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politi ... -rcna21459

[weatheriscool]

"I don't think biological males should be competing in female sporting events. Maybe that's a controversial thing to say, but it just seems to me to be sensible," said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday. https://bit.ly/3jfgeo5

[R8Z]

"I don't think biological males should be competing in female sporting events. Maybe that's a controversial thing to say, but it just seems to me to be sensible," said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday. https://bit.ly/3jfgeo5

Challenging situation with no correct answers. No one can clearly say anything is right in this case. Maybe transhumanism will solve this in the future (maybe? hopefully).

In fact, thinking a little bit more, transhumanism could actually kill sports in the late future as getting a better and more trained body could mean just having enough money for achieving that.

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Three Republican Governors Actually Vetoed Anti-Trans Bills. Here’s Why.
by Abigail Weinberg
April 11, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2 ... th-dakota/

Extract:

(Mother Jones) As the moral panic about trans youth spreads, a dozen states have passed laws, mostly driven by Republican legislators, which prevent trans students from participating on girls’ sports teams. But in some states, these bills are facing unexpected opponents: Republican governors.
Thus far, only one Republican governor has successfully thwarted his state’s efforts to bring state law into high school sports. But three Republicans have joined Democrats in Kentucky, Kansas, and Louisiana in taking a stand against laws that target nonexistent problems. Here are their reasons.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb

Last month, Holcomb took a pragmatic approach in vetoing a bill that would have banned trans girls from participating in girls’ sports, arguing that the vague language of the legislation would open schools up to lawsuits. He further added that at no point in the past 10 years had a trans girl sought to compete on a girls’ team in Indiana.
…
The most compelling and compassionate rebuke of anti-trans athletics legislation came from (Utah Governor Spencer) Cox, who issued a five-page statement last month outlining the logistical and moral downsides of the state’s proposed anti-trans sports bill...

• “Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly. For that reason, as much as any other, I have taken this action in the hope that we can continue to work together and find a better way.”

caltrek's comment: One wonders, is there any vulnerable minority that Republican legislators won't stoop to attacking for political gain?

At least some Republican governors have a bit more sense in the matter.

[weatheriscool]

Madison Cawthorn photos reveal him wearing women's lingerie in public setting
Source: Politico

Photographs obtained by POLITICO appear to show Madison Cawthorn, the embattled Republican congressman from North Carolina who recently accused his GOP colleagues of inviting him to orgies, wearing lingerie in what appears to be a party setting.

Cawthorn, 26, was raised in a conservative Baptist community in Henderson County, North Carolina, and has staked his political persona on arch-traditional Christian principles and the insistence of the importance of a kind of hypermasculinity. His comments about “the sexual perversion” in Washington made on a podcast, which he later admitted were exaggerated, drew the public disapproval and disavowal of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as well as other Republican leaders including those in his North Carolina congressional caucus.

The revelation of the two photos is the latest in a series of unflattering headlines for the freshman member of Congress in the run-up to the primary in his first re-election bid. The primary in North Carolina is May 17. Cawthorn has seven Republican opponents who see him as vulnerable.

Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down as a passenger in a car accident in Florida in 2014, in recent months has called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “thug,” suggested teetotaling Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a drinking problem, and racked up a collection of traffic transgressions including speeding, driving with expired tags and driving with a revoked license. He has court dates in May and June.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/2 ... s-00027286