LGBT+ News and Discussions

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I wish my state had this kind of a governor!

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Tories urged to condemn Braverman for gay persecution comments on refugees

Tue 26 Sep 2023 10.42 BST

A Labour MP has urged LGBTQ+ Conservatives to condemn Suella Braverman’s speech, in which she will say that Britain should not grant asylum to people who simply express a fear of persecution for being gay.

Ben Bradshaw, a former minister, made the call before a speech the home secretary is due to make in the US, where she will make her case for the rewriting of key international refugee rules so they are “fit for the modern age”.

In a move to alter an agreement that undermined UK plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, the home secretary will argue that the United Nations 1951 refugee convention must be reformed to tackle a worldwide migration crisis.

She will argue that case law arising from the convention has lowered the threshold so that asylum seekers need only prove that they face “discrimination” instead of a real risk of torture, death or violence. As case law has developed, she will say, there has been “an interpretive shift away from ‘persecution’, in favour of something more akin to a definition of ‘discrimination’”.

Speaking to the American Enterprise Institute, a rightwing thinktank in Washington DC, Braverman will say the change has expanded the number of those who may qualify for asylum to “unsustainable” levels, adding: “Let me be clear, there are vast swathes of the world where it is extremely difficult to be gay, or to be a woman.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... n-comments

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Montana judge temporarily blocks enforcement of law to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors
By AMY BETH HANSON
Updated 11:53 AM PDT, September 27, 2023

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is temporarily blocked, a state judge ruled Wednesday, just four days before it was to take effect.

Legislative debate over Montana’s bill drew national attention this spring after Republicans punished Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr — the first transgender woman elected to the state’s Legislature — for admonishing lawmakers who supported the bill.

https://apnews.com/article/montana-yout ... 572a771a8f

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Judge affirms Arizona can no longer exclude gender-affirming care from state health plans
Updated 2:01 PM PDT, October 2, 2023

PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge has approved a final settlement eliminating a ban on providing gender-affirming care under Arizona state employee health insurance.
In court documents filed Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez signed off on a consent decree in a class action lawsuit led by Dr. Russell Toomey, a University of Arizona professor, against the state and the Arizona Board of Regents.

Toomey is transgender and sought coverage for a “medically necessary” surgery in 2019.

In June, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order prohibiting state employee health plans from listing gender-affirming care as ineligible for coverage, reversing a Republican-backed ban that was enacted in 2017.

https://apnews.com/article/arizona-gend ... b085521f4d

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Pope Francis suggests for first time some people in same-sex unions could be blessed
Source: CNN

Rome
CNN

—
Pope Francis has suggested for the first time that people in same-sex unions could be blessed by Catholic priests on a “case-by-case” basis, a seeming reversal of previous statements.

The Pope made the suggestion in a letter to his harshest critics within the Catholic ranks, written in response to a letter from five conservative cardinals with formal questions – called a “dubia” (Latin for “doubt”) – which is an official request for a yes or no answer from a sitting pontiff regarding his running of the Church.

The cardinals, Walter Brandmuller, Raymond Leo Burke, Juan Sandoval Iniguez, Robert Sarah and Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, first sent the letter to Pope Francis on July 10. It focused on an upcoming October meeting of bishops, asking what impact it could have on Church’s teaching, and included questions about the Pope’s intention to bless same-sex unions, and whether he intends to open the door to women priests through ordination.

Unsatisfied with the Pope’s initial response, according to a blog post by American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the five cardinals reworded the “dubia” letter and sent it again on August 21, citing “the gravity of the matter,” according to Burke.

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/02/worl ... index.html

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Transgender woman crowned Miss Portugal for first time

A transgender woman has won the Miss Portugal beauty pageant for the first time and will compete with another transgender woman for the Miss Universe title in El Salvador, Portuguese media reported Friday.

Marina Machete, a 28-year-old flight attendant, was awarded the Miss Portugal title on Thursday in Borba, in the southeastern Evora region.

https://www.tbsnews.net/splash/transgen ... ime-713770

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Japan court says requiring surgery for gender switch unconstitutional
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023 ... witch.html
KYODO NEWS KYODO NEWS - 1 hour ago - 21:25 | Japan, All

A Japanese court has said that a law requiring surgery to switch genders on a family registry is unconstitutional in a ruling on a case involving a transgender man in central Japan, his lawyers said Thursday.

The Hamamatsu branch of the Shizuoka Family Court delivered the country's first judgment on a challenge to the rule after the man, Gen Suzuki, filed a request in 2021 seeking to change his gender without sex reassignment surgery, according to the lawyers.

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Montana judge keeps in place a ban on enforcement of law restricting drag shows, drag reading events
Source: AP

Updated 9:14 PM EDT, October 13, 2023

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge in Montana is continuing to block enforcement of a law that puts restrictions on drag shows and bans drag reading events in public schools and libraries, saying Friday that the law targets free speech and expression and that the text of the law and its legislative history “evince anti-LGBTQ+ animus.”

The preliminary injunction, granted by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris, prevents enforcement of the law while a lawsuit filed on July 6 moves through the court process. Morris heard arguments over the injunction on Aug. 28.

In briefs, the state argued “the Legislature determined sexually oriented performances and drag reading events to be indecent and inappropriate for minors,” and potentially harmful. Protecting minors from divergent gender expression is not the same as protecting minors from obscene speech, attorney Constance Van Kley argued for the plaintiffs during the Aug. 28 hearing.

Montana law already protects minors from exposure to obscenities, the plaintiffs argued. “The state hasn’t argued meaningfully that the speech targeted by (the new law) — beyond the obscenity already regulated — is potentially harmful to children,” the plaintiffs argued in court filings.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/montana-drag ... 7d0f3f36be

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India's top court declines to legalise same-sex marriage

India's Supreme Court has failed to legalise same-sex marriage, saying it does not have the power to do so.

The court instead accepted the government's offer to set up a panel to consider granting social and legal rights and benefits to same-sex couples.

The court had heard 21 petitions in April and May from same-sex couples and activists who said that not being able to marry made them "second-class citizens".

The ruling will dash the hopes of India's LGBTQ+ population, believed to number in the tens of millions.

The government and religious leaders had strongly opposed same-sex unions, saying they were against Indian culture.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-a ... type=share

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Judge blocks California school district policy to notify parents if their child changes pronouns

Source: NBC News/AP

Oct. 20, 2023, 10:50 AM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Parts of a controversial Southern California school district policy that require school staff to tell parents if their child asks to change their gender identification will remain halted after a judge granted a preliminary injunction Thursday to block them until a final decision is made in the case. The ruling by San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael A. Sachs, who called portions of the policy unconstitutional, came after another judge temporarily halted the policy in September.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who filed a lawsuit against the Chino Valley Unified School District in August, said the policy is harmful to transgender and gender-nonconforming students. “This case is about a policy that is discriminatory,” Delbert Tran, a deputy attorney general representing the state, said at the hearing.

The Chino Valley school board approved the policy over the summer to require school staff — including principals, counselors and teachers — to notify parents in writing within three days of the school finding out their child asks to be identified as a gender different from what is listed on official records. The policy also requires staff to tell parents if their child begins using bathrooms designated for a different gender.

Sachs denied on Thursday the state’s request to block another part of the policy requiring school staff to notify parents if their child asks for information in their student records to be changed.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-new ... rcna121398

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Judge temporarily blocks Tennessee city from enforcing ban on drag performances on public property

Source: AP

Updated 11:53 AM CDT, October 21, 2023

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked city officials in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, from enforcing an ordinance designed to ban drag performances from taking place on public property.

An order issued Friday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. bars the city from enforcing the ordinance during the BoroPride Festival scheduled for next weekend.

The judge’s order came in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee on behalf of the Tennessee Equality Project, a nonfprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and has hosted the BoroPride Festival since 2016. The order said the city of Murfreesboro — located about 34 miles (55 kilometers) south of Nashville — and the equality project reached an agreement that the city will not enforce the ordinance during the Oct. 28 festival.

The lawsuit alleges the ordinance discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community and violates the First Amendment by chilling free speech rights.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pride-lgbtq- ... 708ac14f6f

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