Germany: Facebook banned from enforcing its real name policy in country

Facebook may not stop users in Germany creating accounts under false names, a Hamburg privacy watchdog has said. The Hamburg data protection authority said the social network could not change people's chosen usernames or ask them to provide any official ID. The ruling came after Facebook blocked an account set up by a woman using a pseudonym and changed it to her name. 

The company's real-name policy has been the subject of recent protests from demonstrators, including drag queens, Native Americans and domestic violence victims who believe anonymity is crucial to their personal safety. Some drag queens want to use their stage names on the site, while Native Americans' names often incorporate animals, natural features or other elements that can be wrongly identified as pseudonyms.

In October 2014, Facebook clarified its real-name policy, saying users would have to "use the authentic name they use in real life". But the company has been slow to change its rules. The Hamburg watchdog, which regulates the social network in Germany, said making users sign up under their real names violated an individual's privacy rights. Read More

Cuba: Stands out as a tourist paradise for gay community

Amid the "boom" in tourism that Cuba is experiencing with over 2 million foreign tourists, the island is emerging as a destination for the gay community. Cuba's "Mi Cayito Cuba" is the first online travel agency specializing in tours geared towards the LGBT community. 

"The island has great potential as living space. We are open to all, and we believe in a free and tolerant space where respect is valued," says director Alain Castillo. Despite being a society still dominated by a patriarchal and sexist vision, Cuba is already seeing noticeable advances in LGBT rights.

"It's vacation time. It is time to Cuba. The new gay paradise", you can read the brochures promoted on social networks. Read More

Black market for Truvada PrEP may undermine treatment adherence in marginalised people living with HIV

The increasing demand for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is likely to increase the likelihood that some marginalised individuals living with HIV interrupt their own treatment to sell some of their prescribed medication to pill brokers and drug dealers, according to a study presented to the Conference of the Association for the Social Sciences and Humanities in HIV in South Africa last week.

Dr. Steven Kurtz said that several reports have documented street markets for diverted antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the US. In his study of men who have sex with men, people who didn’t sell their drugs also reported being approached by traders. Less frequently, ARVs were sold or given to individuals who would use the pills themselves, sometimes in exchange for recreational drugs or sex.

There was little evidence that individuals purchased ARVs from the black market for self-treatment of HIV infection, but that the illicit use of Truvada for prevention purposes has been documented. Many HIV-negative people who are at high risk of HIV infection do not have health insurance, perhaps making them more likely to turn to the black market.  “The potential intersection of widespread ARV street markets and misinformed at-risk populations about the effective use of PrEP is a major public health concern,” Kurtz concluded. Read More 

Serbia: Fake condoms flood region

The Serbian Agency of Medicines (Agenciji za lekove) has confirmed that counterfeit condoms have flooded local markets of Belgrade and Novi Pazar. The condoms carry names from prominent manufacturers, but carry false expiration dates, serial numbers, and country of origins. In a local interview, Doctor Nevenka Dimitrijevic warned that these condoms would not provide protection against sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. Read More

US: New app 'MyTransHealth' will help trans patients find healthcare

MyFitnessPal, Uber and CityMapper are all apps which make things a little easier. However, a soon-to-be released app MyTransHealth is set to change life as we know it for trans people everywhere. The crowdsourced program will allow people to see reviews on doctors before attending an appointment, so they can choose the most trans-friendly. 

Users will be able to see how healthcare professionals match up in terms of inclusiveness under the categories medical, legal, mental health, and crisis. They can then delve even deeper and work out their score in terms of language and insurance issues. Read More

South Korea: Samsung & Google censor LGBT content in some App stores

Samsung, one of South Korea’s largest business conglomerates and the largest maker of smartphones worldwide, rejected an application from gay hookup app Hornet to be listed in its app store in 2013. In a memo sent from Samsung to Hornet’s CEO, said the app could not be listed because, “due to the local moral values or laws, content containing LGBT is not allowed” in places like the Middle East, parts of east and south Asia, and LGBT-friendly places like the U.S. and the Nordic countries.

This kind of censorship of LGBT content — sometimes under government order and sometimes under internal corporate policies — reveals the paradox of South Korea: It is a hub of international industry, one of the most wired nations in the world, and a democracy closely allied with the United States. But it also has a government that has created an extensive censorship regime in the name of protecting the state from North Korea, with which it is technically still at war, and has extended that apparatus to monitoring “obscenity” and “material harmful to minors” in a way that often silences the LGBT community.  Read More

Ethiopia: LGBT activist banned by facebook under real name policy

An Ethiopian LGBT activist and leader who runs multiple Facebook groups for gay Ethiopians has had his account blocked by Facebook for not using his real name. The activist, who goes by the pseudonym HappyAddis, used the social network to create and administrate some of the most popular groups for gay Ethiopians, including Zega Matters, which has more than 1,000 members.

The East African country considers homosexuality a crime and those convicted of same-sex relations can face 15 years in prison. For that reason, many LGBT citizens use an alias to interact with others online in order to avoid punishment from the authorities and anti-gay violence.

A Facebook representative, who could not speak about HappyAddis’s situation since the company does not comment on specific accounts, said that users who require anonymity can either use a secret Facebook group or a different platform that allows anonymity.

But HappyAddis says neither of those options would work in his situation. Secret groups still require users’ real names, a non-starter for those who fear physical violence if their identity is revealed. Using a real name is “like outing yourself." “People will go and attack you. Even other gay people, you don’t trust them. How can you find out whether they’re real gay people using a real account?”  Read More

Vietnam: Navigating the streets of Ho Chi Minh City

I’ve always been rather skeptical of those who claim to be on Grindr to ‘network’ or ‘look for a room’. Like – really? But having now used Grindr to find a tour guide in Vietnam, I’ve been forced to review my cynicism.
I was in Ho Chi Minh City – formerly known as Saigon, and now often abbreviated to HCMC – with one of my best friends from London. All the organized tours seemed rather expensive. There’s also that feeling of being on a tourist hamster wheel when being shown around a city by an official guide.

My friend suggested I ask the cute Vietnamese guy I’d been flirting with on Grindr if he would be interested in being our guide for the day. A few of the familiar bleeping purrs of Grindr later and the deal was done. Read More

India: Online dating fuels new danger for gays

Sonal Giani, a Mumbai-based gay activist, said the Internet gave many men a false sense of security. “Online spaces are deemed to be oh-so-safe” compared with the limited options otherwise, since connections are made in private, Ms. Giani said. “But we’ve been seeing gangs operating online.”

Since India’s Supreme Court recriminalized gay sex more than a year ago, homosexuals have increasingly become targets of robbery and extortion, gay men and activists say. The trend has been fueled by the rise of Internet dating, which has become an easy way for urban, middle-class gay men to meet, but also exposed them to online predators. “It’s more and more frequent,” said one 26-year-old engineer who lives in Mumbai. He said he was robbed in January after inviting a man he met on PlanetRomeo to his apartment.

After they had sex, the visitor threatened to tell the engineer’s neighbors he was gay unless he handed over 10,000 rupees, about $157. The engineer didn’t notify police. “If I file a complaint because a man I had sex with robbed me, I’m denouncing myself under Section 377,” he said. “It’s a lose-lose situation.” Read More

US: Scientific opinion poll finds small business owners don't support LGBT discrimination based on religious beliefs

A poll released today shows that small business owners believe they should not be able to refuse goods or services to LGBT individuals or to deny services related to a same-sex wedding based on an owner’s religious beliefs. Following the intense national debate surrounding Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the results show that small business owners oppose overly broad religious exemptions that could allow for anti-LGBT discrimination.

The poll found that two-thirds of small business owners say businesses should not be able to deny goods or services to someone who is LGBT based on the owner’s religious beliefs. When asked about wedding-related services, 55% say they do not believe a business owner should be allowed to deny services to a same-sex couple based on religious beliefs. In fact, 59% of small business owners who responded to the poll oppose laws allowing individuals, associations, or businesses to legally refuse service to anyone based on religious beliefs.

The survey responses crossed ideological and religious divides, with a plurality of small business owners—47%—who identified as Republican, 33% as Democrat, and 19% as independent. Survey participants reported varied faith traditions, as well, with 27% who regularly attend religious services. Read More

China: Homosexuality in China, government workplaces unwelcoming

Even though Chinese public sentiment has become increasingly accepting of homosexuality, gay government employees find that their sexual orientation remains taboo in the workplace: “It’s impossible for me to disclose my sexual orientation at the office,” Cheng He, a 25-year-old employee at a government-affiliated research center in Beijing, said. “I don’t think it’s necessary, but my colleagues would not accept me being gay anyway.”

A survey from 2014 by the Shanghai-based human rights NGO WorkForLGBT found that in a survey of 8,000 people, only 2 percent of those who worked at state-owned enterprises disclosed their sexual orientation to their employers or co-workers. But at foreign companies, 9 percent of employees polled had revealed their sexuality to their bosses.

Cheng said for the most part government officials are expected to have a spouse (gay marriage is not legally recognized in China) and children to show that they are “normal” and are stable enough to handle their responsibilities. Being discreet about sexual orientation and remaining single is no refuge, he said, since if you’re over 30 and unattached, bosses and colleagues will often try to set up dates.  Read More

Italy: Most gay-friendly Italian companies revealed

Telecom Italia has been named ‘Best Company’ in the GLBT Diversity Index 2015 – an annual survey of businesses compiled by Italian LGBT workplace diversity and inclusion group. Telecom Italia, which has over 66,000 employees, earned the honor through its introduction of a number of initiatives to promote LGBTI inclusion. These have included extending healthcare insurance and other benefits to all cohabiting couples irrespective of gender.

The company runs awareness-raising workshops for all staff around LGBT issues and has also taken part in a Government-backed scheme, Project DJ (Diversity on the Job), to help find employment for people who have been discriminated against.

The Index’s two other award winners were Microsoft Italia (for ‘Best Improvement’) and Zeta Service (for Best SME).  Read More