Russia: 41% of public say authorities should persecute gays to ‘exterminate the phenomenon’

Homophobia in Russia has significantly worsened in the last decade, according to a new survey by state-run pollster. The proportion of respondents who consider LGBTI people dangerous and said they should be ‘isolated from society’ grew from 12% in 2004 to 20%.

Some 22% said they didn’t care about other people’s sexual orientation – compared with 24% in 2004. Nearly half of all respondents (41%) said the authorities should persecute people with ‘untraditional sexual preferences’ in order to ‘exterminate the phenomenon,’ while only 12% agreed that the government should protect LGBTI people from discrimination.

‘It’s interesting that we are swimming against the current, strengthening, despite global trends, intolerance toward homosexual relationships. This indicator might serve as a parameter of national identification,’ said Alexei Firsov, the communications director. Read More

Russia: Top Russian official says antigay politicians pose direct threat to national security

Vice-chairman of the Federation Council constitutional legislation committee, senator Konstantin Dobrynin proposes implementing “don’t ask – don’t tell” principle towards LGBT people in Russia and calls to “immediately reduce the intensity of aggression” towards them as they do not pose a direct threat to national security, unlike antigay politicians, as Dobrynin commented the latest MP Milonov’s initiative to ban Facebook in Russia due to rainbow avatars dedicated to celebrating LGBT marriage equality in the USA.

“For Russia, it is important not to turn away from the realities of time and not to fall into the barbarian antigay fight, but to try and find some legal form that will ensure the the public balance on this subject between the conservative part of society and all the rest,” said the senator. “For a period of time the optimal formula, which in our country would be the case and work without causing aggression, could be the “don’t ask – don’t tell” formula”.

“But we need to take away from the political field and from our lives those pseudo-politicians who openly profiteer in the antigay fighting and engage in the legislative spam, the sooner we do it – the better ” concluded Dobrynin.  “Because they are the ones, unlike gays, who pose a direct and clear threat to the Russia’s security and it’s them who the state needs to confront”.  Read More

Nigeria: Gay, bisexual men report more fear in healthcare after law

Gay and bisexual men in Nigeria are reporting increased reluctance to access healthcare. While consensual sexual relationships between men were already illegal in Nigeria, the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, signed into law in January 2014, prohibited participation in organizations supporting gay people or attempts at any kind of civil same-sex relationship.

There were reports of arrests and torture following the enactment of the law, according to a paper published in The Lancet HIV. Since the law took effect, men who have sex with men may fear that the benefits of medical care don't outweigh the risks. The study suggests "that they think the (benefit) of HIV prevention care isn't worth remaining in a system that could potentially out them," she said.

Schwartz and her colleagues analyzed data from 707 gay and bisexual men in Nigeria who were receiving HIV prevention and treatment services from a community-based clinic in 2013 and 2014. Read More

Germany: Green Youth Munich leader, involuntary hero of CSD-Parade

As board member of political youth group 'Grüne Jugend München,' Marcel Rohrlack, 18, speaks out for LGBT rights and marriage equality, but also minimum wage, housing, and environmental issues. After attending Munich's annual pride event--Christopher Street Parade--Rohrlack and a friend were attacked and beaten by a group a five men. Documenting his injuries on Facebook, Rohrlack urged an end to violence. Read More 

Russia: Video shows what it’s like for two men to walk around Moscow holding hands

A video of two men experiencing verbal and physical abuse as they hold hands on the streets of Moscow is going viral, with more than 1 million views since it was posted to YouTube Sunday. Passersby shout expletives and anti-LGBT slurs at the men as they walk around the city. In one shot, the pair are pushed by an aggressive man. No one comes to help them.

Filmed in the style of this viral video documenting one woman’s experience of street harassment while walking through New York, the footage has clearly been edited but captures numerous insults. The two men in the video say they are not gay but staged a “social experiment” to spark discussion of LGBT rights in Russia.

“We thought that it’s strange, that in USA if two guys have a walk holding hands, it would be not a big deal. So we wanted to see the same situation in Russia.” The men, who post footage of their “pranks” and “social experiments” under the name ChebuRussiaTV online, said they were surprised by the aggressive public reactions they received while filming. Read More 

France: Swimmer suffers broken nose in anti-gay attack

World champion swimmer Mélanie Hénique, 23, and two female friends were attacked by four men as they left a restaurant in Amiens, northern France. The men hurled insults and hit the women, after which the ladies sought emergency healthcare. 

Hénique said she ‘fully accepts’ her homosexuality but preferred to keep her private life private. However, she felt it was her duty to make public the facts, ‘if only to help all those who dare not complain. It happens too often...I have been insulted, but have never been hit,’ she continued, without wanting to specify the ‘violent’ homophobic slurs.

Hénique had to postpone training after the attack and was a forced to withdraw from the French Open over the weekend. She won bronze in the 50m butterfly at the world championships in 2011 and has been selected to compete again at the 2014 world championships in Kazan, Russia in August. Read More 

Turkey: UN rights office urges authorities to tackle anti-LGBT violence and discrimination

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed deep concern over attacks and incitement to violence against LGBT people in Turkey, a UN spokesperson said today.

After listing recent disturbances, he said the Office is “further concerned about allegations that in the [Ördek case], police officers trivialized the attack, used discriminatory language, tried to dissuade the victim from filing a complaint, and did not provide protection from additional threats by the alleged perpetrators.”

“We call on the Turkish authorities to take active measures to combat homophobic and transphobic violence and discrimination, to uphold the rights of LGBT people to peacefully assemble and express themselves and to ensure that LGBT victims of crimes are treated with respect and dignity and have access to protection mechanisms and effective remedy,” Mr. Colville said. Read More 

Turkey: No place is heaven for trans people, hell is everywhere for sex workers

Founder and chairperson of the Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association Kemal Ördek was robbed and raped in their home in Ankara. A police officer at the police station reacted by saying “Enough with this tribe of Lot.” 

It has been three days since the attack. At the police station the assailants threatened Ördek by saying, “We know where you live now. They’ll release us anyway and you’ll have to deal with the consequences.” The assailants are free and they continue to harass Ördek on their cell phone.

We met with Kemal Ördek when they arrived at Istanbul for Pride Week and discussed sex workers’ rights struggle. Ördek explains that, as long as it does not include violence, threat, or coercion, sex work needs to be legalized, which would lead to a decrease in sexually transmitted infections since sex workers would be able to freely access healthcare without being discriminated: “Everything starts at legal recognition and guarantees. The current atmosphere of dismissiveness needs to be addressed; dismissiveness also means precarity.” Read More

Turkey: Posters threatening gays with death appear in capital

An Islamist group has pinned posters to walls and posts in Turkey's capital Ankara threatening gays with death, adding to concerns over growing intolerance against homosexuals in the country. The appearance of the posters in Ankara comes just over a week after police prevented Istanbul's annual gay pride march - a successful tradition over the past 13 years - from going ahead, using tear gas and water cannon against activists who showed defiance. 

"Should those who engage in ugly behavior and adhere to the practice of the people of Lot be killed?" read posters that appeared in the Turkish capital overnight, referring to Lot, who features in the Old Testament and the Quran. Many Muslims believe that the decline of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah stemmed from the sexual preferences of their inhabitants.
  
A hitherto low-key Islamist group called the "Young Islamic Defense" claimed responsibility for the poster campaign through a Twitter account @islamimudafaa, saying it was trying to "respond to the immoral actions" of lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Read More

Nigeria: Chief Imam says gay sex is anti-human

A Chief Imam from Nigeria has condemned the acceptance of same-sex marriage by countries such as England, Ireland and the US, labelling it as anti-human. Sheikh Muhammad Khalid, the Chief Imam of Apo Legislators’ Quarters Jumat Mosque, made the comments in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, stating those pushing for same-sex marriage and the countries who had already approved it, were taking a stand “against humanity”.

“I will never support same sex marriage, because of my religion and I am sure that no religion in the world will support it,” he said. “It is against our culture as Nigerians, and against normal human life before the Almighty Allah.” Khalid said that no religion in the world should encourage homosexuality and praised former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for signing an anti-gay marriage bill into law. Read More

Malaysia: Transgender targeted as religious authorities' influence grows, LGBTI community says

Members of Malaysia's LGBTI community are speaking out about being violently attacked in the moderate Muslim nation, saying the abuse has become common as religious authorities push for more power.

"We have cases of transgender [people] that have been killed," said Mitch, a transgender man. "For us, we call it a hate crime. For the police they don't call it that, because for them these people are not recognised."

The rights of LGBTI people are largely unrecognised in Malaysia. Homosexuality as well as oral sex, sodomy and cross-dressing are illegal in both the criminal code and sharia law. Representatives of Malaysia's LGBTI community said the laws were largely unenforced in the past, but that had changed in recent years. Read More

US: State Department report documents LGBT human rights violations

The State Department’s annual human rights report, 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, notes anti-LGBT persecution and discrimination were pervasive throughout the world in 2014. A compilation of the information from the report regarding sexual orientation and gender identity can be found here.

 Included in this compilation is information about new anti-LGBT laws as well as the ongoing persecution and violence facing LGBT people around the world.

"While there is no doubt that equality is rising in some places around the globe, this report makes it clear that many LGBT people are not experiencing the benefits of that progress,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global.  “This report is a critical tool for documenting the violence and persecution faced by LGBT people abroad, and helps to inform our nation's foreign policy.” The situation for LGBT people around the world varies widely, as some countries embrace equality, while in others, LGBT people continue to suffer from discrimination, persecution and violence. Read More