Parents Use ‘Corrective Rape’ to ‘Straight’en Their Gay Kids
The Times of India - Hyderabad, India, 5/31/2015
According to statistics with the Crisis intervention team of LGBT Collective in Telangana, there have been 15 instances of 'corrective rapes' that have been reported in the group in the last five years. ‘We are sure there are many more cases, but they go unreported, says Vyjayanti Mogli, a member of crisis intervention. ‘We came across such cases not because they reported the rape, but because they sought help to flee their homes.’ In most cases of corrective rape, the perpetrators are family members because of which the victims refrain from seeking legal recourse.
Shelters Not the Answer for HIV Patients
Bangkok Post, Thailand, 5/29/2015
48 people living with HIV, under the care of a charity organisation which operates a shelter in Lang Nern in Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district, received an ultimatum from people in the community to pack and leave by June 12, 2015. The ultimatum is from a so-called ‘referendum’ in December, 2015 in which people voted 131 to 13 against the shelter. People around the shelter said they want people living with HIV out as their presence ‘has affected land values and business’. The appeal by the organisation, Glory Hut Foundation, that the patients' presence will not pose any harm to anybody appeared to go unheeded. The organisation has sought help from the National Human Rights which does not appear to be in a position to do much.
Gay Cure Racket: Delhi Orders Probe Against Doctors
India Today - New Delhi, India, 5/28/2015
The Mail Today expose on the business of curing queer men and women, an unethical practice indulged in by a section of Delhi's doctors, has triggered an avalanche of public outrage. Taking serious note of the report, Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Kumar Jain has promised that the issue will be investigated and the guilty punished. The report, which was published first in the May 27, 2015 edition of Mail Today, had brought to light the details of conversion therapy. It is a highly discredited practice which includes giving electric shocks or nausea-inducing drugs, prescribing testosterone or talk therapy with the avowed aim of turning homosexual people into heterosexual people in a matter of months.
Tripura Withdraws AFSPA After 18 Years as Insurgent Activities Dip
Hindustan Times - Agartala, India, 5/28/2015
The Left-ruled Tripura decided to withdraw the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives sweeping powers and judicial immunity to security forces in conflict-hit areas, due to a decrease in militancy-related incidents in Tripura. The decision to withdraw the law, which was enforced in the state 18 years ago to curb insurgency, was taken during a cabinet meeting held at the Civil Secretariat. The AFSPA was imposed in the state on February 16, 1997 when terrorism was at its peak in the state, bordering Bangladesh.
Lawyer seeks Supreme Court's Nod on Same-sex Marriage in PH
CNN, Philippines, 5/27/2015
Just days after Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by a solid majority, a Filipino lawyer filed before the Supreme Court (SC) a petition aimed at removing the legal obstacles preventing gay in the Philippines from enjoying the same marital right. Jesus Nicardo M. Falcis III, who identified himself as an ‘open and self-identified homosexual’ in his petition filed last May 18, wants the court to remove provisions in the 1987 Family Code that defines and limits marriage between man and woman only.
India's First Transgender College Principal
BBC, India, 5/27/2015
: It took five years and a new government in West Bengal - led by a feisty woman politician herself - to ‘recognise my status and give me my identity’, Ms Bandyopadhyay says. ‘I have always been popular with my students, but my colleagues and peers were not always so favourably disposed after I changed my gender.’ In 2009, India's election authorities allowed transgender people to choose their gender as ‘other’ on ballot forms. Last year, the Supreme Court declared the transgender community as a third gender and ordered the government to provide transgender people with quotas in jobs and education in line with other minorities, as well as key amenities.
LGBT Rights Groups Call For End to Therapies in China That Purport to ‘Cure’ Homosexuality
Global Times, China, 5/26/2015
Gay ‘conversion’ has been increasingly condemned around the world, with US President Barack Obama joining the chorus of calls for an end to the practice in April, 2015. According to a 2013 study conducted by the Beijing LGBT Center, one in 10 out of more than 1,600 gay and lesbian people they surveyed had considered ‘conversion’ therapy. The two most common reasons given for turning to ‘conversion’ therapy, accounting for nearly 40 percent of respondents who had considered it, were pressure from family members and the desire to fit into society and live a ‘normal life.’
Sex Trade Goes Underground in China's 'Sin City'
CNN - Dongguan, China, 5/26/2015
In February 2014, the government launched a crackdown on the sex trade in Dongguan, which has been dubbed China's ‘Sin City.’ More than 2,000 hotels, saunas and massage parlors that catered to the city's migrant workers and visiting buyers were shut down, according to state media. Thousands of people were arrested, including suspected operators and organisers of prostitution, alongside high-ranking officials and corrupt police officers. But even if the go-go days of Dongguan's red light district are over, it doesn't mean the sex industry has disappeared. Rather, the trade has gone underground. Critics of the raids say the new underground environment has exposed sex workers to greater risks.
When No is Not an Option: Marital Rape Denies Right Over Her Body
Hindustan Times, India, 5/25/2015
Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha last month, minister of state for home, Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary said, ‘It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context.’ One of the reasons cited was that marriages are treated as a sacrament in the country. The government's stand follows a recommendation to criminalise marital rape by the United Nations (UN) Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Ireland Votes for Same-Sex Marriage: A Look at Attitudes on Gay Rights Around the World
Daily News & Analysis, Ireland, 5/24/2015
Ireland on May 23 voted to legalise same-sex marriage, with a majority of 62.1%. Ireland has thus become the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage by popular vote. Ireland's referendum result now makes same-sex marriage legal in 14 European countries. It is also legal in 36 states of the United States, as well as three countries in South America - Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. In Africa, South Africa was the first country to legalise same sex marriage, and it remains so. The first country ever to legalise same-sex unions was Denmark (1989) while the first to legalise same-sex marriage was Netherlands (2001).
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