JORDAN

BEIRUT, Lebanon – The government of Jordanian King Abdullah have systematically targeted lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists and coordinated an unlawful crackdown on free expression and assembly around gender and sexuality, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released earlier this month.

In its December 4 report, HRW documented cases in which the Kingdom of Jordan’s General Intelligence Department (GID) and the Preventive Security department of the Public Security Directorate interrogated LGBT activists about their work, and intimidated them with threats of violence, arrest, and prosecution, forcing several activists to shut down their organizations, discontinue their activities, and in some cases, flee the country.

Government officials also smeared LGBT rights activists online based on their sexual orientation, and social media users posted photos of LGBT rights activists with messages inciting violence against them.

“Jordanian authorities have launched a coordinated attack against LGBT rights activists, aimed at eradicating any discussion around gender and sexuality from the public and private spheres,” said Rasha Younes, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Security forces’ intimidation tactics and unlawful interference in LGBT organizing have driven activism further underground and forced civil society leaders into an impossible reality: severe self-censorship or fleeing Jordan.”

Three activists said the Amman governor interrogated them after they preemptively cancelled the screening of a film depicting gay men. Two LGBT organization directors said that because of official intimidation, they were forced to close their offices, discontinue their operations in Jordan, and flee the country.

One activist said Preventive Security officers made him sign a pledge that he would report all his venue’s activities to the governor. Another activist reported being targeted online while social media users called for him to be burned alive.

One of the few LGBT rights activists who has remained in Jordan described her current reality: “Merely existing in Amman has become terrifying. We cannot continue our work as activists, and we are forced to be hyperaware of our surroundings as individuals.”

More recently, in October 2023, an LGBT rights activist said he was summoned for investigation by the intelligence agency. During the interrogation, the activist said intelligence officers searched his phone, intimidated him, and threatened him with a travel ban, while asking personal questions about his sexual orientation and sexual relations with other men. After three hours of questioning, the activist said the officers told him he could leave.

“They [Jordanian authorities] invest in intimidation to destroy our minds and isolate us,” the activist said. “Their tactic is to target us mentally, leaving no evidence of our torment behind.”

Jordan’s constitution protects the rights to nondiscrimination (article 6), the right to personal freedom (article 7), and the right to freedom of expression and opinion (article 15).

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Jordan is a state party, provides that everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, assembly, and association. The ICCPR, in its articles 2 and 26, guarantees fundamental human rights and equal protection of the law without discrimination.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which interprets the covenant, has made clear that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited in upholding any of the rights protected by the treaty, including freedom of expression, assembly, and association.

FRANCE

PARIS, France – Legislation that was introduced last month by the openly gay Socialist Senator Hussein Bourgi to acknowledge the French state’s responsibility in the criminalization and persecution of homosexuals between 1945 and 1982 was adopted.

However, the section of bill that called for compensation of the victims of French homophobic laws, in effect during that period by offering them a lump sum of €10,000 Euros [10,752.75 USD], was not approved.

Speaking with various French media outlets, Bourgi, who authored the bill, said: “It is high time to bring justice to the living victims of legislation which served as the basis for a politics of repression with brutal and punishing social, professional and familial consequences.”

Agence France-Presse reported:

Bourgi’s text focuses on a 40-year period following the introduction of legislation that specifically targeted homosexuals under the Nazi-allied Vichy regime. The 1942 law, which was not repealed after the liberation of France, introduced a discriminatory distinction in the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual sex, setting the former at 13 (raised to 15 at the Liberation) and the latter at 21.

Some 10,000 people – almost exclusively men, most of them working-class – were convicted under the law until its repeal in 1982, according to research by sociologists Régis Schlagdenhauffen and Jérémie Gauthier. More than 90% were sentenced to jail. An estimated 50,000 more were convicted under a separate “public indecency” law that was amended in 1960 to introduce an aggravating factor for homosexuals and double the penalty. 

“People tend to think France was protective of gay people compared to, say, Germany or the UK. But when you look at the figures you get a very different picture,” said Schlagdenhaufen, who teaches at the EHESS institute in Paris. 

“France was not this cradle of human rights we like to think of,” he added. “The Revolution tried to decriminalise homosexuality, but subsequent regimes found other stratagems to repress gay people. This repression was enshrined in law in 1942 and even more so in 1960.” 

The legislation won the backing of Éric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice for the government of President Emmanuel Macron. However, Dupond-Moretti agreed with the removal of the compensation provision by the right-wing and center senatorial majority. Dupond-Moretti justified this choice noting concerns over “legal difficulties,” telling French magazine Le Monde that “putting into practice” of this compensation measure “appears extremely complex” due to the difficulty of providing proof of an old conviction and its execution.

The Justice Minister added “It was not the law which was responsible for this harm” but “French society, homophobic in all its components at the time” adding, “This is not the fault of the Republic. The law of memory is enough.”

The bill must now be taken up by the lower house, the National Assembly, to be passed and then adopted.

SCOTLAND

EDINBURGH, UK – The Court of Session in Edinburgh has ruled that the UK government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acted within the law by invoking Section 35, which blocked the measure passed by the Scottish Parliament, that would have make it easier for transgender people to change their legally-recognized sex on documents.

The actions by Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, with Prime Minister Sunak’s backing kept the act from receiving the signature of King Charles III and becoming law.

The Gender Recognition Reform bill was introduced by the Scottish government to Holyrood (parliament) in the Spring of 2022 was passed in a final 86-39 vote days before Christmas of 2022. The sweeping reform bill modifies the Gender Recognition Act, signed into law in 2004, by allowing transgender Scots to gain legal recognition without the need for a medical diagnosis.

The measure further stipulates that age limit for legal recognition is lowered to 16.

In a statement released in January of this year, Jack said:

“After thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications, I am concerned that this legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation. 

“Transgender people who are going through the process to change their legal sex deserve our respect, support and understanding. My decision today is about the legislation’s consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections and other reserved matters. 

“I have not taken this decision lightly. The Bill would have a significant impact on, amongst other things, GB-wide equalities matters in Scotland, England and Wales. I have concluded, therefore, that this is the necessary and correct course of action.”

The Scottish government sued Westminster in the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest civil court, arguing that Jack did not have “reasonable grounds” to block the bill. The BBC reported that in her ruling for the UK governments, Judge Lady Haldane dismissed the Scottish government’s appeal and said the block on the legislation was lawful.

Judge Haldance noted that Jack followed correct legal procedures when he made his decision to invoke section 35 and that the Scottish government had failed to show that he had made legal errors.

The judge wrote: “I cannot conclude that he (Mr Jack) failed in his duty to take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to acquaint himself with material sufficient to permit him to reach the decision that he did.”

Lady Haldane also said that “Section 35 does not, in and of itself, impact on the separation of powers or other fundamental constitutional principle. Rather it is itself part of the constitutional framework.”

Stonewall UK, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group expressed its disappointment with Judge Haldane’s ruling in a statement released this past week:

“We’re disappointed that the Court of Session in Scotland has found in favour of the UK Government’s unprecedented decision to use Section 35 to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill from Royal Assent. This Bill was one of the most debated in the Scottish Parliament’s history and was passed by a resounding majority of MSPs drawn from all major Scottish parties.

This unfortunately means more uncertainty for trans people in Scotland, who will now be waiting once again, to see whether they will be able to have their gender legally recognised through a process that is in line with leading nations like Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.

Whatever happens next in discussions with the UK and Scottish Governments on this matter, Stonewall will continue to press all administrations to make progress on LGBTQ+ rights in line with leading international practice.”

BRITAIN

WESTMINSTER, UK – Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric used by British Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch during her speech on the floor of the House of Commons on Dec. 6, prompted Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant, an openly gay lawmaker, to rise in opposition and declare her speech left him feeling unsafe. 

The debate was triggered by the Equalities Minister claiming that the UK does not recognize self-ID from overseas countries for trans people, PinkNewsUK reported. In his retort to her statements, Bryant explained: “I feel, as a gay man, less safe than I did three years or five years ago.”

PinkNewsUK also noted that Bryant said: “Why? Sometimes because of the rhetoric that is used, including by herself [Badenoch] in the public debate.” He added that some MPs had cheered for Badenoch’s statements on the trans community, and for statements against gender-affirming care for trans people, which could lead to LGBTQ+ people feeling even less safe in the UK. 

“Many of us feel less safe today, and when people over there cheer as they just did, it chills me to the bone, it genuinely does,” Bryant said. 

She hit back with force, challenging him to identify which words precisely were so problematic. She later criticized the attempts of trans activists to use emotional blackmail to try to shut down debate.

The UK Government has updated the list of countries from which gender-certificates will be accepted.

Replying to Bryant, Badenoch said: “He says that my rhetoric chills him to the bone. I would be really keen to hear exactly what it is I have said in this statement or previously that is so chilling.” She added that the current Tory government had done work on “our HIV action plan” and “around trans healthcare”, as well as “establishing five new community-based clinics for adults in the country.”

“There is a lot that we are doing, so it is wrong to characterise us as not caring about LGBT people,” she said. 

Bryant’s colleague, Sir Ben Bradshaw, also failed to get the better of Badenoch. He complained the UK had recently fallen in a set of international rankings on LGBTQ rights. She calmly pointed out that those rankings reward states that adopt the Stonewall-supported policy of self-ID and punish those who do not. To cheers from the Tory benches, she declared ‘Stonewall does not decide the law in this country,’ referring to Stonewall UK, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

Additional reporting from Human Rights Watch, Agence France-Presse, Le Monde, The BBC and PinkNewsUK.

Ancient texts in India have recorded the history and cultural importance of Transgender people, but the community is still marginalized and vulnerable in the country. Although the government offers many vulnerable castes a specific number of slots for education and government jobs, Trans people still have no such benefit and continue to face discrimination across the nation. 

Three Trans people from Maharashtra state on Nov. 29 filed an application to the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal seeking slots for Trans people in government jobs and a “third gender” option in online job applications. Two applicants had applied for police officer posts, while the other had applied for a revenue officer post — both of which are government jobs in India.

While hearing the application, the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, a court that has all the powers of the High Court, said it cannot direct the state government to give slots for Trans people in public employment and education. The Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal did say, however, that the state government should take more steps towards inclusivity for the community in mainstream society.

Maharashtra’s government told the tribunal it would not be possible to provide slots to Trans people in government jobs or education. 

The Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal in a 26-page order directed the state government to give applicants the necessary points to qualify for the job if the applicant has secured 50 percent of the total marks for the concerned post. The tribunal also directed the government to provide age relaxation to Trans applicants if they earned 45 points.

In India, every government job seeker goes through an examination to qualify for the job. Government job examinations are one of the toughest in India because there are millions of applications for a few positions, resulting in the need to secure higher marks to get a position.

More than one million applicants applied for 18,331 police officer positions in 2022. The government, however, provides slots to backward class applicants and gives points relaxation in examinations. Trans people in India are most marginalized and vulnerable with no slots in education or employment.

Retired Justice Mridula Bhatkar, who chairs the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal and member Medha Gadgil in the ruling said the fact that not a single Trans person who has come out received a job in the government sector speaks volumes.

“The Transgender people are humans and are citizens of our great country who are waiting for their inclusion in the mainstream,” said the tribunal. “We have historical, mythological and cultural instances of eunuchs and their participation in political, social or cultural fields.”

The tribunal also said trans people are in the minority. 

Although the majority forms the government, the majority cannot suppress the rights of marginalized sections of society. The tribunal further added the situation in which the Trans community finds itself is worse than what women faced in the past while demanding equality.

The tribunal highlighted the mere acknowledgment of the separate identity of Trans people was not enough, but they also need to be given opportunities in government jobs.

“The State of Maharashtra has been very progressive in its thought and culture,” said the tribunal. “Therefore, it is desirable on the part of the government to take necessary measures to enable these Transgender applicants to get jobs in the government sector.”

The tribunal mentioned Indian Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination based on sex under articles 15 and 16.

“To get into public employment is a handicapped race for Transgenders,” said the tribunal. “Though they are not physically disabled and are able-bodied persons, their activities, actions, growth are paralyzed due to the negative approach of society, family in all schools, colleges in all places at all levels.”

While representing the petitioners, Kranti LC, a lawyer, said that the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Bihar have provided reservations to Trans people. The tribunal, however, noted it understands the state has reached the limit of vertical slot of 62 percent, but ordered the law can reach equality and harmony through social engineering.

“The courts are for justice and cannot ignore any societal problem when placed before it,” said the tribunal. “Under such circumstances, though courts are not the lawmakers while interpreting the law, a legally permissible solution is to be applied to meet the ends of justice.”

According to the Indian Supreme Court’s 1992 Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India ruling, nine judges upheld the 50 percent ceiling on slots and denied slots in promotion in government jobs. This means no government agencies or institutions can give slots more than 50 percent of total job openings. Maharashtra state already crossed the limit.

“It is very unfortunate, because Transgender people are one of the most vulnerable people in India, and of the most marginalized population in our country,” said Kalki Subramaniam, a Trans rights activist and founder of Sahodari Foundation, an organization that works for Trans Indians. “For the horizontal reservation, we need to get the support of our government. We need to sensitize our members of Parliament. I think, all political parties do support (the) Transgender community, and do understand the plight of the community and difficulties we face.”

Kalki told the Washington Blade the community needs to work hard. She said the community needs to start campaigning for horizontal slots. She said the community needs to MPs to get the necessary support for it.

While talking to the Blade, Rani Patel, an activist and founder of Aarohan, a nonprofit organization that works with Trans Indians, said that it is right that the Trans community needs to have reservations in jobs and education so that they can be mainstreamed in the society.

“I have been working with the Transgender community for last 11 years in Delhi. We had worked very hard for the scraping of section 377,” said Patel. “All the equality and rights given by the Supreme Court of India is of no use until and unless they are not provided with reservation, because there is a stigma in the society against the Transgender people, the community feel rejected and detached from the society.”

Patel told the Blade that only a few Trans children are getting an education in the country. She said most of the Trans people in India need to be skilled in whichever field for which they have an interest. Patel further said that while getting skills, the government should provide slots to Trans people, otherwise giving skills will be of no use.

Patel and Aarohan were instrumental in drafting the Delhi government’s trans bill.

Ankush Kumar is a reporter who has covered many stories for Washington and Los Angeles Blades from Iran, India and Singapore. He recently reported for the Daily Beast. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is on Twitter at @mohitkopinion.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Activists in Uganda are optimistic the queer community will get justice from the Constitutional Court hearing on a petition that challenges the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.

Some of the groups that spoke to the Washington Blade before the hearing begins on Dec. 11 termed the law that President Yoweri Museveni signed in May as “discriminatory, unconstitutional and a violation of fundamental human rights.”  

Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium, a local NGO which supports and advocates for the rights of LGBTQ+ victims of violence and homelessness, noted the Anti-Homosexuality Act has created a “climate of fear and persecution” for queer Ugandans.

UMSC Coordinator John Grace said this situation has led to a spike in homophobic violence, discrimination and the LGBTQ+ community’s inability to access healthcare and other basic services due to fear.  

“We believe the court should nullify this discriminatory law and pave the way for a more inclusive and equitable society for all Ugandans,” Grace said in support of the four consolidated petitions that several LGBTQ+ activists filed.

The plaintiffs include Uganda’s Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa Kintu Nyango, Makerere University Law professors Sylvia Tamale and Busingye Kabumba, veteran journalist Andrew Mwenda, West Budama Northeast MP Fox Odoi and several advocacy groups. 

Odoi is Museveni’s former legal advisor.

Petitioners in a pre-hearing conference on Tuesday argue the Anti-Homosexuality Act violates Article 92 of Uganda’s constitution, which bars Parliament from enacting a law that goes against a decision by the country’s Judiciary. This position is in response to the Constitutional Court’s 2014 ruling that nullified a similar anti-homosexuality law.  

The plaintiffs also argue the Anti-Homosexuality Act was hurriedly passed within six days instead of 45 days as Parliament’s rules requires and that it was enacted without meaningful public consultation. 

“This hearing is crucial for LGBTQ+ Ugandans as it provides a platform to expose the law’s flaws and its detrimental impact on their lives, amplifies their voices to encourage dialogue about equality, tolerance and acceptance, and it instils hope and empowers the queer individuals to fight for their rights and dignity,” Grace stated.    

His remarks come a day after the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda William Popp defended the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to impose sanctions against some Ugandan officials and announced plans to remove Kampala from Washington’s duty-free trade program for sub-Saharan African countries over the anti-LGBTQ+ law. 

Ugandan Parliament Speaker Anitah Among, who is targeted in the U.S. visa travel ban, on Wednesday disclosed the White House has targeted more than 300 MPs who supported the Anti-Homosexuality Act. (U.S. government policy is not to target officials over legislative activity.) Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday announced the additional sanctions. 

Among and the other MPs hit back at the U.S. and vowed to protect the anti-LGBTQ+ law “with our blood, sweat and souls,” while cautioning Ugandans opposed to it should “leave our country and go to live in the United Kingdom or the United States.”  

Popp, while engaging with Ugandans virtually via X Spaces ahead of the Human Rights Day commemorations on Dec. 10 that will take place under the “Freedom, Equality and Justice for All” banner, said the U.S. “wants good things for Uganda as friends” through a sustained partnership.

“We have invested over 60 years of work, time, effort and resources as a partner of the Ugandan people,” said Popp. “We spend about one billion dollars annually in areas like health, education, and food security to improve livelihoods to try and build a more prosperous, freer and secure future for Ugandans which is good for the country, the region, the U.S. and the world.” 

Popp noted, however, this economic progress cannot succeed without respect for human rights because there is a direct correlation between economic prosperity and societies that are more open and have greater respect for human and civil rights. Popp conceded no country in the world is perfect — including the U.S. — and the Biden-Harris administration is only helping Kampala to identify areas in which Ugandan institutions can improve as they relate to punishing people who violates citizens’ human rights.

“Working on these issues as Ugandans and working collectively with us as partners is better for long-term goals and positive development in the country,” he said. “If this is done, Uganda collectively will move forward and the U.S. will be the first to applaud it.” 

Let’s Walk Uganda, another Ugandan advocacy group that openly LGBTQ+ people lead, is also challenging the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The organization told the Blade the case is a litmus test to the Judiciary’s core mandate of protecting the “weak” in the society.

“We are challenging the act for violating the entire Bill of Rights and other key provisions of the constitution and its spirit generally,” Martin Musiime, the group’s legal manager, said. “The Ugandan constitution is against the backdrop of tyranny, oppression and abuse of power against those without power or the marginalized.” 

Musiime expressed optimism that the petition has strong, convincing grounds for the court to “annul the apartheid law” while also confirming that they are ready to appeal should the court rule against the complainants. 

“These efforts are moving hand in hand with political and diplomatic engagements including piling pressure for sanctions,” Musiime said. “We are convinced the sanctions are working and we see efforts by the government to lessen on the severity of the law.”

Doctor Henry Mwebesa, the director general of Uganda’s Health Services, in August issued a circular to all health workers that directed them not to deny services to anyone visiting hospitals; not to discriminate or stigmatize them based on sexual orientation and to protect their privacy, confidentiality and safety.

Let’s Walk Uganda and UMSC maintain, however, this directive doesn’t guarantee queer people enough protection until the punitive and discriminatory provisions in the Anti-Homosexuality Act, such as reporting a suspected gay person to authorities, are removed and the entire law is repealed.

NEPAL

KATHMANDU, Nepal – The marriage between Maya Ram Bahadur Gurung and Surendra Pandey this past week in the Nepalese capital city is being hailed by the country’s LGBTQ+ rights activists. Gurung, a transwoman and Pandey, who is gay was registered by the local municipality ward office four months after the Himalayan nation’s highest court legalized same-sex marriages in an interim order.

The former Executive Director/CEO and founder of the Blue Diamond society, first LGBTQ+ rights organization in Nepal, Sunil Babu Pant, who has also served in the country’s parliament was present for the civil ceremony telling the Associated Press: “After 23 years of struggle, we got this historic achievement, and finally, Maya and Surendra got their marriage registered at the local administration office,” Pant said.

In a later interview with Naya Prakashan news Pant noted. “A wedding in Nepal today can become the signpost in South Asia for a more equal tomorrow.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Gurung, a transgender woman who is legally recognized as male, and Pandey, a cisgender gay man, held a Hindu wedding ceremony in 2017. They first attempted to legally register their marriage in June this year at the Kathmandu District Court, following an interim order by Nepal’s Supreme Court instructing authorities to register same-sex marriages while considering a case that argues for marriage equality across the country.

When that court rejected their registration, saying it did not need to recognize a couple that was not one legal male and one legal female, they appealed to the Patan High Court in September.

But the high court judges rejected the appeal, saying that it was the responsibility of the federal government to change the law before the lower authorities could register such marriages, HRW reported.

Nepal’s civil code currently only recognizes marriages between one man and one woman. The Supreme Court attempted to rectify that by ordering the creation of an interim registry for nontraditional marriages until parliament changes the law. The two lower courts then reversed the logic by claiming that the national law must be changed first.

MALAYSIA

JOHOR, Malaysia – Malaysian LGBTQ+ rights activists are decrying efforts by the Johor state government to establish a “rehab” centre for “people in same-sex relations,” which would use the globally debunked conversion therapy to change sexual orientation.

Malaysian society is predominately Muslim and conservative. Human Rights Watch has noted that the government authorities in the Malay Archipelago are willing to enforce the rigid gender roles by which they compel all Malaysians to abide with few exceptions.

Speaking at the Johor state assembly on Wednesday, the state’s Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid said 400,000 ringgit ($86,000 USD) has been allocated for the rehabilitation center, which was expected to open in July next year the South China Morning Post reported.

“This rehabilitation center is established … for them to get back on the right path,” Fared told the assembly.

Aside from same-sex individuals, Fared proclaimed that the center would also house “those who are deemed deviant” from the state-prescribed religious Islamic orthodoxy, which includes the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Baha’i among some 42 groups, the state’s religious affairs body has identified as “deviant.”

The Malaysian government relies on the force of law to prohibit expression and conduct that fall outside of a heterosexual, cisgender norm. It is one of only a handful of countries that explicitly makes gender nonconformity a criminal offense.

Reacting to the rehab news, transgender rights group Justice for Sisters told the South China Morning Post that detaining people was a violation of the Malaysian constitution, which safeguards personal liberty, privacy, dignity, equality and prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender.

“Detaining people on the grounds of changing their SOGIE – sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression – amounts to torture without a doubt,” said the group’s spokesperson Thilaga Sulathireh.

Malaysia also criminalizes consensual same-sex conduct at both the federal and state levels. Its officials frequently insist that the laws criminalizing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are intended not primarily to punish, but rather to return them to “the right path,” statements echoed this past week by Johor’s Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman.

Human Rights Watch notes that officials under successive Malaysian governments have typically coded their approach to sexual and gender diversity in a logic of “prevention” and “rehabilitation,” backed by the threat of punishment. Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was in office between March 2020 and August 2021, described LGBT people as a threat to Islam, backed by “foreign influences,” and a “disorder” that requires counseling.

THE VATICAN

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis this past week further disciplined another American prelate, retired Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has publicly critiqued Francis over the Pope’s ongoing efforts for reforming the Catholic Church, especially over issues centered on LGBTQ+ Catholics and the LGBTQ+ community.

The Associated Press reported that Pope Francis revoked Burke’s subsidized Vatican apartment and retirement salary, according to sources because he was a source of “disunity” in the church.

The move is “unprecedented in the Francis era”, Christopher White, a Vatican observer who writes for the National Catholic Reporter, told the BBC.

“Typically, retired cardinals continue to reside in Rome after stepping down from their positions, often remaining active in papal liturgies and ceremonial duties,” he said. “Evicting someone from their Vatican apartment sets a new precedent.”

Burke, who spends much of his time in the U.S. at the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine he founded in his native Wisconsin, has not yet been notified of the Pope’s actions according to the AP.

At the end of October, the Pope convened a month long conference,  known as a Synod of Bishops, followed an unprecedented two-year canvassing of rank-and-file Catholics. During the conference Jesuit Fr. James Martin, a popular spiritual author and editor of the LGBTQ Catholic publication Outreach, noted that on LGBTQ+ issues, “There were widely diverging views on the topic,” he said.

In early November, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Eastern Texas was “relieved” of his position as head of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas by Pope Francis after Strickland’s refusal to resign in a dispute over the Church’s LGBTQ+ inclusion in Catholic practices. Strickland often had echoed Cardinal Burke’s positions.

Although retired in 2014, Burke had an incredibly anti-LGBTQ public record since, especially in vocalizing his opposition to plans to be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community.  Burke was once a high-ranking U.S. archbishop and head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican court, but was repeatedly demoted under Pope Francis and then forced to retire.

In March of 2020, Burke laid blame on the coronavirus pandemic on the LGBTQ+ community. As churches were forced to close during the lock-downs ordered by health officials, Burke wrote:

“Worship is particularly needed now because of ‘how distant our popular culture is from God,’ he wrote, noting abortion and euthanasia, then attacking the LGBTQ equality movement, particularly activism for recognition of transgender identity.

“‘We need only to think of the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality, of our identity as man or woman, with the pretense of defining for ourselves, often employing violent means, a sexual identity other than that given to us by God,’ he said. ‘With ever greater concern, we witness the devastating effect on individuals and families of the so-called “gender theory.”‘ Burke went on to say, ‘There is no question that great evils like pestilence are an effect of original sin and of our actual sins.’”

Burke once compared lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to murderers.

UNITED KINGDOM

LONDON, UK – Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss is said to be backing a private bill to be introduced into the House of Commons that will ban minor children under the age of 18 from accessing hormone therapy and block the National Health Service and the UK government from recognizing their social transition.

After Truss was one of 20 backbencher MPs to be selected to bring forward a bill, a source reportedly said she chose the legislation because she believes under-18s need to be protected from “making irreversible decisions about their bodies.”

PinkNewsUK pointed out that argument fails to consider the fact that trans under-18s are typically prescribed physically reversible puberty blockers and are only permitted to do so after lengthy medical checks.

Physically reversible puberty blockers are also typically only given to teenagers over the age of 16. It is exceptionally rare for under-16s to be prescribed puberty blockers.

Despite this, Truss is expected to formally present the bill on Wednesday (6 December) during a House of Commons hearing where its MP backers will also attend, PinkNewsUK also reported.

A spokesperson for the UK government said in a statement: “This government is clear on the fundamental importance of biological sex.

LIVERPOOL – A magistrate’s court found a fifty-one-year-old man guilty of a hate crime in an assault on Drag Race UK star The Vivienne this past June at a local McDonald’s. Alan Whitfield told the court that he had struck James Lee Williams, aka The Vivienne, in the face claiming that his actions were not motivated by homophobia but by what he described as “banter.”

During his testimony, 31-year-old Williams said he was subjected to a “barrage of abuse” from Whitfield after entering the fast food restaurant PinkNewsUK reported.

“He [Whitfield] carried on, then after the fourth ‘look at the state of you’ I said ‘look at the state of you’, I said ‘look at the state of your face’, to which he said ‘I’ve got skin cancer’ and then punched me straight in the face.”

PinkNewsUK reported that the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star, who took home the crown in the first series in 2018, argued that the attack was motivated by homophobia because there were “countless other people” in the McDonald’s at the time.

Whitfield maintained throughout the proceedings that the assault “was nothing to do with him [Williams] being gay”, reiterating that he has LGBTQ+ members of his family.

After court deliberation, Justice Anthony Canning said that Whitfield’s evidence was “not credible”.

“Having considered this incident from beginning to end, we believe beyond reasonable doubt that the hostility shown by yourself from that outset was motivated and down to the perceived sexuality of the complainant and this was homophobic in nature.”

Whitfield will be sentenced in January 2024.

IRELAND

CORK CITY, Ireland – A 25-year-old 2nd year Law student at the University College Cork is set to make history as the first openly transgender person in history to run for local election in the Republic of Ireland.

Saoirse Mackin, who co-founded Trans+ Pride Cork in 2022, was nominated by the Social Democrats to run in Cork City North West’s 2024 election. Mackin, who transitioned in 2017, told LGBTQ+ media outlet GCN – Ireland, that if elected, one of her top priorities will be eliminating the excessive healthcare barriers that are in place for transgender women in Ireland.

Mackin also advocates for better cycling infrastructures, as well as affordable housing and improved public services GCN noted.

She said, “If elected, my priority areas will include the provision of more affordable housing, improved public services, universal access to healthcare and the development of quality cycle infrastructure in Cork. I will also campaign for better local amenities, such as upgraded parks, green spaces, playgrounds and sports facilities.”

In addition to being a transgender activist, Mackin is also a law student and community organizer who has bravely spoken up against the growing far-right movement in Ireland. She was also named in the Irish Examiner‘s 100 Women of 2022 list.

RUSSIA

MOSCOW – Russia’s Supreme Court this past week on Thursday ruled that “the international LGBTQ movement” is “extremist” which, legal experts and human rights advocates say will lead to all LGBTQ groups and organizations in Russia being banned.

The Russian Ministry of Justice had lodged an administrative legal claim with the High Court to recognize the International LGBTQ public movement as extremist and ban its activity in Russia. Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko did not specify whether it was seeking the closure of any specific groups or organizations, or if the designation would apply more broadly to the LGBTQ community, causes and individuals.

Speaking with Agence France-Presse, the head of the Sphere human rights group, which advocates for the Russian LGBTQ community, had criticized Minister Konstantin Chuychenko actions. 

“Russian authorities are once again forgetting that the LGBTQ+ community are human beings,” said  Sphere head Dilya Gafurova, who has left Russia.  

Authorities “don’t just want to erase us from the public field: They want to ban us as a social group,” Gafurova told AFP. “It’s a pretty typical move for repressive non-democratic regimes — the persecution of the most vulnerable. We will continue our fight,” he added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in a statement issued from Geneva, Switzerland after the ruling said:

“This decision exposes human rights defenders and anyone standing up for the human rights of LGBT people to being labeled as ‘extremist’ – a term that has serious social and criminal ramifications in Russia,” said the High Commissioner.

“No one should be jailed for doing human rights work or denied their human rights based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“I call on the Russian authorities to repeal, immediately, laws that place improper restrictions on the work of human rights defenders or that discriminate against LGBT people. The law must uphold and defend the principles of equality and non-discrimination. The law must never be used to perpetuate inequality and discrimination,” Türk added.

Laws that must be reformed include those prohibiting gender-affirming medical and administrative procedures, and banning so-called “LGBT propaganda”,which made it illegal to discuss LGBT issues in Russia on penalty of substantial fines, Türk said.

The High Commissioner also pointed out the wide use of the “extremist” label is more generally used to prosecute all those perceived as opponents, including politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others.

“LGBTIQ people exist in every country, and a legal ban on the undefined ‘international LGBT movement’ will result in more violence, discrimination, and isolation of LGBTIQ people in Russia, who are already targeted for being who they are,” said Maria Sjödin, Executive Director at Outright International.

“Russia, which has already restricted access to information about LGBTIQ issues, is yet again violating the human rights of LGBTIQ people by restricting freedoms of association and expression. This is a great concern not just for human rights defenders focused on protecting the rights of LGBTIQ people but for everyone who believes in human rights for all,” Sjödin added.

Within 48 hours of the High Court’s ruling, multiple Russian law enforcement agencies executed a series of raids at multiple queer venues in the Russian capital. At one club located on Ulitsa Malaya Yakimanka street in the center of the city, there were approximately 300 people gathered when Russian security forces burst in under the pretext of searching for drugs in the establishment. Several persons were detained. 

“In the middle of the party, they stopped the music and began to enter the halls [the police]. There were also citizens of other countries at the party. At the exit, they photographed passports without permission to do so,” an LGBTQ rights activist who had previously spoken to other media outlets told the Blade in a phone call Sunday.

The raids took place in at least four venues, and were reportedly expected by the clubs management and owners.

Security forces arrived at an establishment near the Avtozavodskaya metro station and a themed strip club for guys near the Polyanka metro station in central Moscow. The administration of the clubs warned visitors about the events in advance, the Moscow Times reported.

According to an eyewitness to the police raid on Mono, a bar also located in the city’s central district on Pokrovsky Boulevard, “there was the usual party, then the owner came out and said that within an hour law enforcement would arrive in connection with the recent ruling by the Supreme Court. Within 20 minutes the dance floor started to empty,” Ostorozhno Novosti, an independent Russian news outlet reported.

The Moscow Times could not independently verify Ostorozhno Novosti’s reporting, and employees from at least two of the clubs believed to have been targeted on Friday denied the reports, which they called “fakes.”

“I wake up… and I’m reading the news, and, of course, it’s hilarious. Where was [this raid] when we had nothing going on?” the manager of the club Mono said in a video posted on social media Saturday. 

The Blade has also been unable to verify Ostorozhno Novosti’s reporting on the Mono bar raid but in a series of phone calls and Telegram chats was able to determine that multiple raids had in fact taken place across central Moscow and that gay clubs and LGBTQ+ safe spaces were targeted.

In the Baltic city of St. Petersburg, the largest gay club, Central Station, according to independent news outlet Sota, reported the club’s management said that they were denied further rental of the site due to the “new law.”

Additional reporting from Pahichan Media, the South China Morning Post, Human Rights Watch, The BBC, PinkNewsUK, Agence France-Presse, The Moscow Times, GCN Ireland, The Vatican News and The Associated Press.

By Rob Salerno | Vancouver, Canada – Officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police issued a warning to woman who had been harassing officials at her daughter’s school over a non-binary teacher. The woman’s complaint about the teacher had been picked up and propagated by the homophobic Chaya Raichik, the former New York City real estate agent behind the social media account Libs of TikTok, who then amplified harassment of school officials.

BREAKING: I’ve been informed that the school called the police on the mom who sounded the alarm about this teacher. They claimed they felt unsafe. The police called the mom and tried intimidating her into silence. She told me she will never stop speaking up to protect her… https://t.co/gIBjyKTcEI

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 28, 2023

The woman, who goes by the Twitter handle @BlondeBigot11, claims her daughter was criticized by her art teacher at Pitt Meadows Secondary School in suburban Vancouver, Canada for misgendering them. 

The teacher, who the Blade has decided not to name, is a non-binary performing artist whom the woman claims had a public Instagram account where the teacher posted images that displayed their mastectomy scars. 

By her account, she had asked the school principal to discipline the teacher and require them to make their Instagram account private. When the school refused, she told her story to LibsOfTikTok, which posted her version of events, along with photos from the teacher’s Instagram account and links to the school and school district’s Twitter accounts. 

Libs Of TikTok frequently directs its followers to the social media accounts, contact information, and addresses of the LGBT people and allies that they demonize, which opponents say is a tacit encouragement to direct harassment and violence at them. For its part, Libs Of TikTok creator Chaya Riachik claims she condemns violence and threats, but has celebrated the fact that her posts frequently generate them.

Libs of TikTok gleeful as USA Today links her to terroristic threats

In apparent response to the attention from LibsOfTikTok, Pitt Meadows Secondary School deactivated its Twitter account, the school district has made its account private, and the teacher has set their Instagram account to private.

@BlondeBigot11 claims that the RCMP then called her and told her that the school officials felt “unsafe” because of her actions, and that she could be arrested and charged with “uttering threats,” if she continued to speak out against the school and teacher.

Anti-LGBTQ protestor flips tractor in high-speed chase in Canada

In an email to the school principal, which she has posted to Twitter, @BlondeBigot11 says, “I’m not going to stop. You’re not scaring or intimidating me. If anything you’ve strengthened my resolve, and a lawyer has been contacted.”

In another tweet, @BlondeBigot11 acknowledges that no other parents have joined her in her concerns about the teacher. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the woman known only as “@BlondeBigot11” describes herself in her Twitter profile as “A little further to the right than the far right extremists” and fills her Twitter page with racist anti-Semitic, and transphobic memes, anti-vax conspiracy theories, and complaints about Pride flags and non-white children in public schools.  

Requests for comment from the RCMP went unanswered before press time. When contacted about this story, Pitt Meadows Secondary School directed the Blade to the school district, which did not respond to a voicemail before press time.  

******************************************************************************************

Rob Salerno is a writer and journalist based in Los Angeles, California, and Toronto, Canada.

NEW DELHI — The Indian Supreme Court on Nov. 23 agreed to consider an appeal of last month’s ruling against marriage equality.

While appearing before Chief Justice Dhananjay Yeshwant Chandrachud’s bench, Justices Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala and Manoj Misra and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi referenced the petition. Other lawyers who participated in previous marriage equality cases were also present.

Rohatgi requested the Supreme Court allow the appeal to be heard in open court.

“Apart from this, majority and minority, both views have held that there is discrimination against LGBTQ+ couples,” said Rohatgi. “If there is discrimination, there also has to be a remedy. This is why we have pressed for an open court hearing.”

Chandrachud said he has yet to review the petition and request for an open court hearing.

Udit Sood and other lawyers who had appeared in the original marriage equality case filed the appeal petition. Review and curative petitions are generally not heard in an open court in India, but rather in a closed setting and the chamber of the judges. They can, however, allow open court hearings if they find merit in the appeal petition.

The petition argued the ruling suffered from “the errors apparent on the face of the record,” and the earlier verdict was “self-contradictory and manifestly unjust.” 

“To find that the petitioners are enduring discrimination, but then turn them away with best wishes for the future, conforms neither with this honorable court’s constitutional obligation towards queer Indians nor with the separation of powers contemplated in our constitution,” reads the petition. “The majority judgment warrants review because it summarily disregards the foregoing authority to make the chilling declaration that the Constitution of India guarantees no fundamental right to marry, found a family, or form a civil union.”

According to the rule, the review petition should be filed before the same set of judges who considered the original case. 

Justice Shripathi Ravindra Bhat, who was in the five-judge bench led by Chandrachud and heard the original marriage equality case, retired on Oct. 20. For the review petition to be heard, Chandrachud will have to add a new judge to the original bench. In the Supreme Court, the chief justice decides the roster inside the judge’s chambers. 

Five judges led by Chandrachud in a 3-2 verdict on Oct. 17 ruled against the recognition of same-sex marriage in India. 

The Washington Blade reported the Supreme Court recognized it cannot make laws, but can only interpret them. Chandrachud in the ruling noted that the court must be careful not to enter the legislative domain.

The Supreme Court’s ruling was a setback for the LGBTQ+ community in India and across the world. Many prominent LGBTQ activists and high-profile allies expressed their disappointment.

“I think one of the important things that while the judges said the marriage is not a fundamental right, we want to stress upon the freedom to form a union. humans are social beings,” said Harish Iyer, an equal rights activist in India and one of the original plaintiffs in the marriage equality case. “The truth is that companionship is a human need. And if companionship is a human need, legalizing it will become a necessity from that point of view.”

Harish also told the Blade in an interview that a more nuanced understanding of marriage — one that is not from the lens of being an institution, but rather from the more personal lens — is required. Harish has yet to join the appeal, but said he plans to become part of it.

He said he is not hopeful the appeal petition will succeed.

“I am hopeful of the fact that things will get better, and it will be reviewed,” said Harish. “If they admit it, it will have a fresh take on the judgment and possibly it would be 3-2 in favor of marriage equality.”

Rajesh Srinivas, executive director of Sangama, a Bengaluru-based organization that works for sexual minorities in India, told the Blade said the plaintiffs can argue in court, but nothing will come out of their appeal.

“If you look at the review petition historically, I think it is going to be a long fight,” said Srinivas. “I do not think the government will move an inch, and see where it goes.”

Ankush Kumar is a reporter who has covered many stories for Washington and Los Angeles Blades from Iran, India and Singapore. He recently reported for the Daily Beast. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is on Twitter at @mohitkopinion.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas on Wednesday released a gay Israeli man’s sister who had been held hostage in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

Media reports indicate Yarden Roman-Gat is one of 12 Israelis and four Thai nationals who the militant group released.

Roman-Gat, a physical therapist who works with elderly people and those with physical and mental health issues, and her family had just returned to Israel after a vacation in South Africa when they decided to spend the Simchat Torah holiday with Gat’s parents in Be’eri, a kibbutz that is near the border between Israel and Gaza. They were in their home on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched its surprise attack.

Media reports indicate four militants placed Roman-Gat, Gat, their 3-year-old daughter and two other Be’eri residents into a car. One of them had reportedly been placed into the trunk.

Roman-Gat and Gat jumped out of the car with their daughter as it approached Gaza. Roman-Gat’s brother, Gili Roman, a teacher and member of the Nemos LGBTQ+ Swimming Club who lives in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 30 told the Washington Blade that the militants began to run after them. He said they were shooting at them when his sister handed her daughter to her husband because he was able to run faster. 

Gat hid with his daughter for 18 hours before they reached Israeli soldiers in Be’eri. He told Roman he last saw his wife hiding behind a tree to protect herself from the militants who were shooting at her.

“For us it’s like a Holocaust story,” Roman told the Blade. “It’s a horror story, the worst horror story that you can imagine.”

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the war began. This figure includes at least 260 people who Hamas militants murdered at an all-night music festival in Re’im, a kibbutz that is a few miles away from Be’eri. Thousands of other Israelis have been injured and Roman-Gat is among the 240 people who militants from Hamas and other Muslim terrorist groups kidnapped.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 13,000 people and injured thousands of others in the enclave.

A truce between Israel and Hamas that allowed for the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians in Israeli prisons took effect on Friday. 

The Associated Press notes roughly 160 hostages remain in Gaza. The truce that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar brokered was extended two days on Monday, but is slated to expire tonight.  

BY ESTEBAN RIOSECO | SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s proposed new constitution has generated concern and criticism among the country’s LGBTQ+ activists who say it would not sufficiently protect the rights of sexual and gender minorities.

Fundación Iguales, one of the country’s most prominent LGBTQ+ rights organizations, has urged Chileans to vote against the proposed constitution in the referendum that will take place on Dec. 17.

The plebiscite is the second attempt in less than three years to change Chile’s constitution in the wake of widespread protests and social arrests that took place in October 2019. 

Chileans on Sept. 4, 2022, rejected the Constitutional Convention’s proposed constitution. This rejection initiated the 2023 process in which the ultra-right won the majority of seats in the Constitutional Council, the body that wrote the new text on which Chileans will vote in December.

Fundación Iguales Executive Director María José Cumplido explained the reasons behind her organization’s position. 

“Our position as a foundation is to vote against this proposal because of the conscientious objection without limits, the lack of a robust nondiscrimination principle, a misconception of the best interests of children and adolescents and the weakness in the sexual and reproductive rights of women and pregnant women,” she told the Washington Blade.

Cumplido warned the lack of a nondiscrimination principle in the proposed constitution could lead to a State that does not focus on implementing public policies to prevent discrimination. Cumplido said this omission could translate into a lack of training for civil servants, insufficient sex education and obstacles to access to justice, among other consequences.

Paloma Zúñiga, a former constitutional counselor for the leftist Democratic Revolution party who participated in the constitution drafting process and is an LGBTQ+ ally, told the Blade there are serious problems with the draft in regards to queer issues.

“First, (there is) an overly broad conscientious objection could allow discrimination on religious grounds in education, health care, commerce, among others,” she said. “For example, a restaurant could expel a lesbian couple for kissing, a hospital could refuse to treat a trans person or not allow LGBTQ students in classrooms.”

Zúñiga added a second concern is “the absence of a nondiscrimination principle robust enough to oblige the state to prevent discrimination considering that violence against queer people has increased.” The final issue, according to Zúñiga, is “the weakness of the rights of children and adolescents, especially in terms of their autonomy and free development of personality, which could directly affect trans children.”

Cumplido agrees with Zúñiga regarding the problems the enshrining of conscientious objection in the new constitution could bring. The activist highlighted international examples, such as the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores case in the U.S., where conscientious objection was used to reopen debates on rights already democratically resolved. This legal precedent could be replicated in various situations in Chile, especially given the breadth of the amendment.

Zúñiga, who belongs to a political party that supports President Gabriel Boric, said “we must vote against it because it is a great risk and setback for LGBTQ+ people and the rights conquered in recent years.” 

“As a left sector we did everything possible to eliminate the amendments that harmed LGBTQ+, and even improve their quality of life through a new constitution, but the Republican Party with its majority blocked all our attempts,” she explained.

PRETORIA, South Africa — The South African government is one step closer to ensuring any form of homophobia will be subject to hefty penalties that could include a lengthy prison sentence.

Deputy Justice and Constitutional Development Minister John Jeffery on Nov. 22 noted the Prevention and Combatting of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill is now waiting approval in the country’s Parliament. President Cyril Ramaphosa will then sign it into law once it is approved.

First introduced in Parliament in 2018, the bill has been contested on its viability and how it would help protect people in South Africa against hate crimes and hate speech, particularly based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or any other form of discrimination.

MPs approved the bill in March and then sent it to the National Council of Provinces, which approved it on Nov. 17. The Justice and Correctional Services Committee approved the NCOP’s recommendations last Wednesday.

“Section 3 of the bill defines a hate crime as an offense committed where the offender is motivated by prejudice or intolerance towards the victim of the crime because of specified characteristics or perceived characteristics of the victim or another person associated with the victim,” reads a Parliament press release about the bill. “These characteristics listed as grounds that could constitute a hate crime include age, albinism, birth, color, culture, disability, ethnic or social origin, gender or gender identity, HIV status, language, nationality, migrant or refugee status, occupation or trade, political affiliation or conviction, race, religion, sex, which includes intersex or sexual orientation.”

The press release further notes Section 4 of the bill defines hate speech “as the intentional publishing or communicating of anything that can incite harm or promote hate based on grounds, including, among others, age, sexual orientation and race.” 

“The bill also provides for penalties such as fines, imprisonment or both for those who are convicted of the offenses,” it reads.

Access Chapter 2, a South African LGBTQ+ rights organization, meanwhile, has now become the first LGBTQ+-led law clinic in the country. The Legal Practice Council last week officially registered the group.

Although South Africa is the only African country that protects same-sex sexual relations in its constitution, there has been a surge in anti-gay attacks — kidnappings, hate speech, rape and killings — over the last few years. This trend has prompted many people who identify as LGBTQ+ to be cautious about disclosing their sexual orientation.

Gerbrandt van Heerden of the Center For Risk Analysis, a market research firm, says there is an urgent need to better equip society, law enforcement agencies and other sectors to fight homophobic attacks.

“Officials such as police, teachers, judges and magistrates should receive proper training and resources regarding LGBT issues,” said van Heerden. “Sexuality and sexual health should be included as a subject in the healthcare worker curriculum so that professionals in the field will in future have sufficient skills to manage LGBT patients properly, and be more knowledgeable about their specific healthcare needs.”

Van Heerden added companies and employers should receive guidance that helps them understand a hostile-free workplace for LGBTQ+ people can improve productivity and output and attract talent. Van Heerden also said official data, such as that in the national Census, should include Trans South Africans and other members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Doing so will demonstrate how serious South Africa and its policymakers are in cherishing and respecting the country’s progressive constitution,” said van Heerden.

WDG is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Israel. This article ran on WDG’s website on Nov. 23.

EIN YAHAV, Israel — Among dozens of reservists who became a family, with a spontaneous canopy at the B&B in Ein Yahav and refreshments donated with much love from Eilat businesses and residents, Adam Din and Ilan Cohen held their wedding ceremony Nov. 22.

“We did this wedding because it is important to us that the world knows that there is love even in the middle of the war and that we can celebrate love as well through it all,” said the couple.

Adam and Ilan’s wedding was scheduled to take place about two weeks ago on the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim. The invitations were already prepared, but the terrible massacre on Oct. 7, and the war that broke out in its wake, postponed all their plans.

Ilan was immediately drafted into the reserves in the Gaza Division, leaving Adam alone at home. Nati Harosh, the couple’s best friend who was supposed to be the groomsman at the wedding, was also drafted into the reserves as a Givati Brigade fighter.

“We were supposed to get married on the beach,” says Adam, “The war postponed the wedding, and also took Nati.”

Adam and Ilan met a year and eight months ago.

“We met on Tinder, not for a serious purpose,” says Adam. “After we met, Ilan introduced me to a group of travelers from the gay community and we used to go on trips together. Over time we got to know each other more and more and in an organic and natural way we became together. It never had an official date.”

The short acquaintance was very significant for both of them. 

“I was in the closet in front of the family before I met Ilan, and also childfree. And getting to know Ilan changed me completely,” says Adam. “I came out in front of my family and introduced them to Ilan, and I also decided that I wanted us to become parents together. My life changed thanks to him and we are really a family.”

The first friend Adam introduced to Ilan was Nati.

“Nati is a friend of mine from the time I lived in Jerusalem during my internship. We met through mutual friends and became very close friends. Nati was a giving person, like the meaning of his name Nathaniel. One of those people who were untouched by the cruelty of the world. Always ready to help. Doesn’t hold a grudge even when he is treated badly, and I would get angry for him and he wouldn’t get angry,” says Adam.

“Nati’s move from Jerusalem to Ramat Gan was one of the reasons that led us to move there as well, and since then we have been at each other’s house a lot on Shabbat,” he adds. “Nati came from a religious family, and he is liberal and open and loves every person regardless of who they are. And it was very clear and natural to me that he would be the one to accompany me on this significant occasion of mine. In the Utah wedding we held in Zoom, Nati was my witness, and we planned for him to be the groomsman in the wedding party.”

An April Fool’s prank that turned into a marriage proposal

Adam proposed to Ilan a few months ago.

“On April 1, we repeated one of our significant dates at the Saker Garden in Jerusalem,” says Adam, “Then Ilan knelt down as if he was going to propose to me and took out a Kinder egg. Kind of an April Fool’s prank. He thought it was funny. So I decided to get back at him and a few months later I also gave him a Kinder egg, only my Kinder egg had a ring in it.”

Three months ago, the two were married in a Utah wedding on Zoom in order to receive recognition as a couple who married abroad, with Nati accompanying them as a witness. They planned to hold the party itself at the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim, at the exact place where Adam proposed to Ilan. About two months ago they returned to the place, found the perfect location for the wedding and we set a date.

But as mentioned, the events of Oct. 7 postponed the plans, and Ilan was drafted into the reserves.

“During his reserve service, Ilan saw horrible and terrible sights,” says Adam, “[It is] a horror that has no name, that gives him nightmares and scars his heart and soul. But when he comes home he comes to his shelter and his safe environment. Here he can get away for a moment from the horror outside. With the announcement of Nati’s death, the bereavement burst into our house, into our safe place.”

The two found out about Nati’s death through a news website. 

One evening at the beginning of November, when Ilan was at home for a short break, a message about the death of a Givati Brigade soldier in Gaza popped up on his phone.

“He fell silent and went to the side,” Adam recalled. “His face went blank, the way it went blank when he remembered the terrible things he saw there. I asked him what he saw. He didn’t want to show me and started crying. I asked him again what happened and then he told me that Nati died. I didn’t believe him and then he showed me the news. I looked and couldn’t believe what I was reading. I saw Nati’s photo in the article and I said, ‘What idiots, they accidentally put a photo of Nati. What a mistake.'”

“I quickly called Nati to tell him to ask for the photo to be taken down so his family wouldn’t see it, but he didn’t answer,” he added. “Since then I send him WhatsApps all the time. Yesterday I sent him a selfie of us and wrote to him: Tomorrow I’m getting married, you’re invited.”

Many people will have to die for there to be equality

After Nati was killed, the two felt that the wedding was becoming more urgent. Ilan told the story of the wedding to his friends in the reserve battalion, and also told them about Nati, who was killed in the war.

“He told them that the wedding is now more urgent than ever, and that it is precisely now in this war that love should be celebrated, and his friends suggested that the wedding be held in the unit. Two days ago he came to me and asked: What are you doing on Wednesday? And I answered him that I was working. Then he asked me, do you want to get married? I told him yes and asked him if he was coming back from the reserves, and he told me: No. We will do it in the battalion.”

WDG: Did you felt complete with the choice?

ADAM: Ilan and his colleagues have been together for over a month. When I talk to him I hear them, and I hear him talking about them, they really became family. So although the wedding is spontaneous without my friends and family being able to come, it is being held with his family, who are actually the army and the friends from the reserves. And Nati will be there in spirit too. He died among soldiers, so we will feel his love among other soldiers who will be happy with us”

WDG: How does it feel to have a “military wedding”?

ADAM: This is not the wedding I expected, but I always told Ilan that I would marry him even inside a volcano. Everywhere. At the same time, this wedding has a lot of mixed emotions. This period is full of sadness and disappointment. The LGBTQ community is an equal partner in the national effort and the war, and its men and women do not receive equal status when they return home.

We could get married like everyone else but we have to do it in a crooked way with Zoom, and in no way, LGBTQ people are literally dead to protect us but no one counts them.

Ilan has been in service for a month and a half, and yet he had to find crooked ways to get married, feeling that he is worth less than other people, who don’t even join the army.

So for me this wedding is both defiance and pride. And this is the ambivalence. We feel a part and we sacrifice the most precious, and yet we don’t deserve to be married like everyone else and we are in a less good position. And yet we continue and get married in the middle of the war.”

WDG: Do you think that following this period, which highlights the gap between what we give to the state and what we receive, a change will come?

ADAM: For Sagi Golan’s law, Sagi had to die. Part of his mate is dead too, I guess. I do believe that we will have equal rights, I believe that many people will have to die for it.

WDG: What is it like to live when your partner is so far from home for such a long period of time?

ADAM: Since that terrible Saturday when he was called I have been sleeping on the sofa. I can’t sleep in bed without him. There are long periods when he is without reception on the phone and I am constantly refreshing the pages of the news sites, to see if anything has happened. And when he returns home afterwards there is a tremendous feeling of momentary relief and an opportunity to be together for a bit. Even though as a volunteer in the LGBTQ help line, even when he goes out to retire from the reserves, he takes a shift and volunteers remotely.”

The couple and WDG would like to thank WILLOW – Zimmer in Arava, for volunteering to host the ceremony.

WDG is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Israel. This article ran on WDG’s website on Nov. 23.

EIN YAHAV, Israel — Among dozens of reservists who became a family, with a spontaneous canopy at the B&B in Ein Yahav and refreshments donated with much love from Eilat businesses and residents, Adam Din and Ilan Cohen held their wedding ceremony Nov. 22.

“We did this wedding because it is important to us that the world knows that there is love even in the middle of the war and that we can celebrate love as well through it all,” said the couple.

Adam and Ilan’s wedding was scheduled to take place about two weeks ago on the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim. The invitations were already prepared, but the terrible massacre on Oct. 7, and the war that broke out in its wake, postponed all their plans.

Ilan was immediately drafted into the reserves in the Gaza Division, leaving Adam alone at home. Nati Harosh, the couple’s best friend who was supposed to be the groomsman at the wedding, was also drafted into the reserves as a Givati Brigade fighter.

“We were supposed to get married on the beach,” says Adam, “The war postponed the wedding, and also took Nati.”

Adam and Ilan met a year and eight months ago.

“We met on Tinder, not for a serious purpose,” says Adam. “After we met, Ilan introduced me to a group of travelers from the gay community and we used to go on trips together. Over time we got to know each other more and more and in an organic and natural way we became together. It never had an official date.”

The short acquaintance was very significant for both of them. 

“I was in the closet in front of the family before I met Ilan, and also childfree. And getting to know Ilan changed me completely,” says Adam. “I came out in front of my family and introduced them to Ilan, and I also decided that I wanted us to become parents together. My life changed thanks to him and we are really a family.”

The first friend Adam introduced to Ilan was Nati.

“Nati is a friend of mine from the time I lived in Jerusalem during my internship. We met through mutual friends and became very close friends. Nati was a giving person, like the meaning of his name Nathaniel. One of those people who were untouched by the cruelty of the world. Always ready to help. Doesn’t hold a grudge even when he is treated badly, and I would get angry for him and he wouldn’t get angry,” says Adam.

“Nati’s move from Jerusalem to Ramat Gan was one of the reasons that led us to move there as well, and since then we have been at each other’s house a lot on Shabbat,” he adds. “Nati came from a religious family, and he is liberal and open and loves every person regardless of who they are. And it was very clear and natural to me that he would be the one to accompany me on this significant occasion of mine. In the Utah wedding we held in Zoom, Nati was my witness, and we planned for him to be the groomsman in the wedding party.”

An April Fool’s prank that turned into a marriage proposal

Adam proposed to Ilan a few months ago.

“On April 1, we repeated one of our significant dates at the Saker Garden in Jerusalem,” says Adam, “Then Ilan knelt down as if he was going to propose to me and took out a Kinder egg. Kind of an April Fool’s prank. He thought it was funny. So I decided to get back at him and a few months later I also gave him a Kinder egg, only my Kinder egg had a ring in it.”

Three months ago, the two were married in a Utah wedding on Zoom in order to receive recognition as a couple who married abroad, with Nati accompanying them as a witness. They planned to hold the party itself at the beach between Ashdod and Nitzanim, at the exact place where Adam proposed to Ilan. About two months ago they returned to the place, found the perfect location for the wedding and we set a date.

But as mentioned, the events of Oct. 7 postponed the plans, and Ilan was drafted into the reserves.

“During his reserve service, Ilan saw horrible and terrible sights,” says Adam, “[It is] a horror that has no name, that gives him nightmares and scars his heart and soul. But when he comes home he comes to his shelter and his safe environment. Here he can get away for a moment from the horror outside. With the announcement of Nati’s death, the bereavement burst into our house, into our safe place.”

The two found out about Nati’s death through a news website. 

One evening at the beginning of November, when Ilan was at home for a short break, a message about the death of a Givati Brigade soldier in Gaza popped up on his phone.

“He fell silent and went to the side,” Adam recalled. “His face went blank, the way it went blank when he remembered the terrible things he saw there. I asked him what he saw. He didn’t want to show me and started crying. I asked him again what happened and then he told me that Nati died. I didn’t believe him and then he showed me the news. I looked and couldn’t believe what I was reading. I saw Nati’s photo in the article and I said, ‘What idiots, they accidentally put a photo of Nati. What a mistake.'”

“I quickly called Nati to tell him to ask for the photo to be taken down so his family wouldn’t see it, but he didn’t answer,” he added. “Since then I send him WhatsApps all the time. Yesterday I sent him a selfie of us and wrote to him: Tomorrow I’m getting married, you’re invited.”

Many people will have to die for there to be equality

After Nati was killed, the two felt that the wedding was becoming more urgent. Ilan told the story of the wedding to his friends in the reserve battalion, and also told them about Nati, who was killed in the war.

“He told them that the wedding is now more urgent than ever, and that it is precisely now in this war that love should be celebrated, and his friends suggested that the wedding be held in the unit. Two days ago he came to me and asked: What are you doing on Wednesday? And I answered him that I was working. Then he asked me, do you want to get married? I told him yes and asked him if he was coming back from the reserves, and he told me: No. We will do it in the battalion.”

WDG: Did you felt complete with the choice?

ADAM: Ilan and his colleagues have been together for over a month. When I talk to him I hear them, and I hear him talking about them, they really became family. So although the wedding is spontaneous without my friends and family being able to come, it is being held with his family, who are actually the army and the friends from the reserves. And Nati will be there in spirit too. He died among soldiers, so we will feel his love among other soldiers who will be happy with us”

WDG: How does it feel to have a “military wedding”?

ADAM: This is not the wedding I expected, but I always told Ilan that I would marry him even inside a volcano. Everywhere. At the same time, this wedding has a lot of mixed emotions. This period is full of sadness and disappointment. The LGBTQ community is an equal partner in the national effort and the war, and its men and women do not receive equal status when they return home.

We could get married like everyone else but we have to do it in a crooked way with Zoom, and in no way, LGBTQ people are literally dead to protect us but no one counts them.

Ilan has been in service for a month and a half, and yet he had to find crooked ways to get married, feeling that he is worth less than other people, who don’t even join the army.

So for me this wedding is both defiance and pride. And this is the ambivalence. We feel a part and we sacrifice the most precious, and yet we don’t deserve to be married like everyone else and we are in a less good position. And yet we continue and get married in the middle of the war.”

WDG: Do you think that following this period, which highlights the gap between what we give to the state and what we receive, a change will come?

ADAM: For Sagi Golan’s law, Sagi had to die. Part of his mate is dead too, I guess. I do believe that we will have equal rights, I believe that many people will have to die for it.

WDG: What is it like to live when your partner is so far from home for such a long period of time?

ADAM: Since that terrible Saturday when he was called I have been sleeping on the sofa. I can’t sleep in bed without him. There are long periods when he is without reception on the phone and I am constantly refreshing the pages of the news sites, to see if anything has happened. And when he returns home afterwards there is a tremendous feeling of momentary relief and an opportunity to be together for a bit. Even though as a volunteer in the LGBTQ help line, even when he goes out to retire from the reserves, he takes a shift and volunteers remotely.”

The couple and WDG would like to thank WILLOW – Zimmer in Arava, for volunteering to host the ceremony.