Connect with us

World

Harris meets with LGBTQ activists in Vietnam

Roundtable with advocacy groups took place in Hanoi

Published

on

(Public domain photo)

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday met with two LGBTQ rights activists in Vietnam.

Harris’ office said Chu Thanh Hà Ngoc, a transgender activist, and Đoàn Thanh Tùng, an LGBTQ advocate, participated in a “roundtable discussion with the vice president and Vietnamese social advocacy organizations” that took place at the U.S. Chief of Mission’s home in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.

“It is critical that if we are to take on the challenges we face that we do it in a way that is collaborative, that we must empower leaders in every sector, including of course government but community leaders, business leaders, civic society if we are to maximize the resources we collectively have,” said Harris. 

Harris specifically noted the Vietnamese Health Ministry “helped craft the draft — and draft — the (country’s) transgender rights law” that took effect in 2017.

“Transgender people deserve and need equal access to healthcare services,” she said. “This is an issue that we still face in the United States, and it is an issue here in Vietnam, I know.  And we will work together and support you and the work you are doing in that regard.”

Ann Marie Yastishock, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s mission director in Vietnam, moderated the roundtable.

It took place on the last day of Harris’ trip to Southeast Asia that began on Sunday in Singapore, one of the dozens of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized. The trip also coincided with growing calls for the U.S. to evacuate LGBTQ Afghans from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the country.

Ted Osius, who co-founded GLIFAA, an association of LGBTQ employees of Foreign Service agencies, was the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam from 2014-2017. The late-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2015 presided over the Hanoi ceremony during which Osius and his husband, Clayton Bond, renewed their wedding vows.

President Biden in February signed a memorandum that committed the U.S. to promoting LGBTQ rights abroad.

Visibles Executive Director Daniel Villatoro and Ingrid Gamboa of the Association of Garifuna Women Living with HIV/AIDS were among the members of Guatemalan civil society who participated in a roundtable with Harris in June when she was in Guatemala City. USAID Administrator Samantha Power also met with LGBTQ activists in Guatemala and El Salvador when she was in the countries at around the same time.

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Argentina

Argentine president restricts transgender minors access to hormone treatments, surgeries

Advocacy groups say they could challenge Javier Milei’s decree in court

Published

on

Argentine President Javier Milei (Screen capture via YouTube)

Argentine President Javier Milei on Feb. 5 issued a decree that restricts minors’ access to gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments.

Human rights organizations and LGBTQ groups have condemned the edict that modifies Argentina’s landmark Gender Identity Law.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) and ILGA World have condemned the decree, noting it “imposes severe restrictions on the right to gender identity of trans and non-binary people, particularly young people.” They further state the restriction “ignores scientific evidence and the recommendations of international bodies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).”

The Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans (FALGBT), meanwhile, has announced it will go to court to stop the modification of the Gender Identity Law and, if necessary, will turn to international organizations. Legal experts have argued the decree is illegal and unconstitutional, and Argentina’s Supreme Court should intervene.

FALGBT President María Rachid, told the Washington Blade that “from the Argentine LGBT Federation we are filing a declaration of unconstitutionality for this DNU (the Spanish acronym for Necessary and Urgent Decree), because we consider that the president is begging for legislative powers that do not correspond to him. That law was approved by a wide majority in both chambers, where specialists of medicine, of law went to expose concrete research on these issues.”

“On the other hand, we are also going to file injunctions, both collective and individual, to defend the rights of trans children and adolescents, mainly,” said Rachid. “It is not true what he (Milei) says to justify this absolute intrusion to legislative powers, saying that 5-year-old children are mutilated. This is not true. Genital reassignment operations are performed after the age of 18, even by medical indication.”

This decree is in addition to other measures of Milei’s government that affect the LGBTQ community, such as the prohibition of gender-affirming treatments and surgeries for minors and limits on housing transgender women in female prisons.These actions have generated controversy and concern among human rights advocates and international organizations.

“President Javier Milei, since he took office, has been carrying out a series of measures that directly affect the vast majority of formal and informal workers in Argentina, and the LGBTIQNB population is no exception,” said Ornella Infante, a trans woman who is a national leader of the leftist Evita Movement. “In addition to the hate speeches that multiply violence; it is a class hatred to sectors with organizational and mobilization capacity such as women, unions, social movements, and sexual diversity.”

“It is exposed with the dismissals of LGBT people from national agencies, the definition of gender policies, the closure of INADI, a state agency that worked to eradicate discrimination in the country,” added Infante. “All of this directly affects vulnerable populations and painfully shows that it is part of their government’s ideals to end human rights policies.”

ILGA World has urged the international community, human rights organizations and democratic institutions to speak out against these measures and to demand the repeal of the decree, calling it “an abuse of executive power and a blow to democratic institutionality.”

Continue Reading

South Africa

South Africa groups offer muted response to president’s pledge to protect LGBTQ rights

Cyril Ramaphosa gave State of the Nation speech on Feb. 6

Published

on

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks with attendees at the African National Congress Party Rally on May 10, 2024 in Tshwane, South Africa (Photo courtesy of Ramaphosa's Facebook page)

Several South African advocacy groups say they are not moved by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pledge to protect LGBTQ rights during the State of the Nation speech he delivered in Cape Town on Feb. 6.

“As South Africans, we stand for peace and justice, for equality and solidarity. We stand for non-racialism and democracy, for tolerance and compassion,” said Ramaphosa. “We stand for equal rights for women, for persons with disability and for members of the LGBTQI+ community.”

Even though the president made the proclamation, LGBTQ South Africans continue to face hate crimes that often end in the loss of life, despite laws that include the Preventing and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech and the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation enshrined in the constitution.

In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump’s 90-day moratorium on nearly all American foreign aid has impacted several LGBTQ organizations in South Africa.

“The cut in funding has really made a negative impact towards the way we run the organization,” said Sibonelo Ncanana, civil society engagement officer for OUT LGBT Well-Being. “It’s more of a malfunction we are witnessing, so what the president said last Thursday has little relevance due to the ongoing predicament we are encountering.”

Bruce Walker, convenor of Pretoria Pride, said he appreciated Ramaphosa’s comments about the protection of LGBTQ rights, but added they were mere grandstanding.

“We really appreciate him saying this and it’s a good thing for an African leader to speak out about the rights of the LGBTI community. LGBTI rights are in our Bill of Rights and constitution,” said Walker. “However, the president’s utterances were just pure window dressing because the current government refuses to condemn the treatment of LGBTI communities in Africa, and are very quiet on the imprisonment and execution of LGBTI people in the world but fight and spend millions to condemn Israel.”

Iranti nevertheless said it expected the president to stay true to his word and ensure the rights of the LGBTQ community are protected as the country’s constitution outlines.

‘President Ramaphosa affirmed that he stands with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, a very important act as we witness a regression of LGBTQIA+ rights and the growth of anti-gender movements across the globe,” said Iranti. “We urge the president to follow up on this commitment, with concrete strategies and actions that will improve the lives of LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa.”

South Africa is the only African country that constitutionally recognizes LGBTQ rights. Many South Africans, however, do not recognize the LGBTQ community because of cultural and religious beliefs and the idea that homosexuality is a Western import.

The suspension of nearly all U.S. foreign aid has impacted the Uthingo Network, OUT LGBT Well-Being, Iranti, and other advocacy groups. Trump on Feb. 7 signed an executive order that limits American financial assistance to South Africa because of the Expropriation Act that Ramaphosa signed last month.

Though the Expropriation Act involves compensation, some of the land the government has deemed of public interest — for infrastructure projects, public service expansion, and environment conservation — can be expropriated without permission. Trump said the law violates South Africans’ rights.

Continue Reading

Kenya

Kenyan president defends Trump executive order on two genders

Advocacy groups criticized William Ruto’s Jan. 26 comments

Published

on

Kenyan President William Ruto speaks at joint press conference with then-President Joe Biden at the White House on May 23, 2024. (Livestream screen capture)

Kenyan President William Ruto is facing backlash for backing U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order that recognizes only two genders: Male and female.

Ruto’s support for Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military and competing on women’s sports teams has drawn criticism from human rights defenders, lawmakers, lawyers, and intersex activists.

Ruto’s critics cite Kenya’s 2022 landmark decision to officially recognize intersex people as the third gender with an “I” gender marker after years of court battles for recognition and their inclusion in a national Census for the first time in 2019.

“We are very proud that contrary to what has been happening in the past, this year we got some very welcoming developments in the United States that as a leading democracy, we have gotten to understand that the policy direction of the U.S. supports what we believe in,” Ruto stated during a Jan. 26 speech at the Global Cathedral Church’s annual convention in Nairobi. “Boys must remain boys, men must remain men, women must remain women and girls must remain girls.”

Ruto’s position to side with Trump on sex and gender identity contradicts his previous stance during the Biden-Harris administration when he was cautious about speaking about transgender and queer rights in order not to jeopardize his relationship with Washington.

Trump on Jan. 21 signed an executive order that directed the U.S. federal government to only recognize male and female genders. This directive revoked the Biden-era policy that recognized trans rights and allowed trans servicemembers.

Trump on Feb. 6 signed another executive order that bans trans athletes from competing on female sports teams

“The war on women’s sports is over,” he said.   

“We’re putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that if you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding,” Trump warned. “From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”

His executive order relies partly on the U.S. Justice Department’s authority to bring enforcement actions under Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in education and requires schools to offer girls an equal opportunity to play sports. The law, under Trump’s interpretation, forbids trans girls from playing in girls’ sports.

Trump in 2017 banned trans people from serving openly in the U.S. military.

“We thank God that this year the first very news from the U.S. in the new administration is to confirm what the Bible says, what our faith believes in, and what our tradition firmly is grounded on,” Ruto said in his speech.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), a government-funded body, described Ruto’s comments as “embarrassing and unfortunate.”

“In Kenya, the law is very clear and the Children’s Act recognizes the intersex because they are unique persons as they have no issues based on sex identity or gender orientation,” said an intersex rights activist who asked the Washington Blade to remain anonymous. “His sentiments are likely to increase stigma against the intersex persons and if they are discriminated against, anyone will just go to court because they are also protected by the law.”

Esther Passaris, an opposition MP who represents Nairobi County, maintained there are not two sexes in Kenya.

“Let’s face it, we have intersex children with two or incomplete sexes. These children require our love as a society,” she said. “Let God deal with the genders.”

Since the recognition of intersex people, several policy measures to tackle discrimination have been implemented to ensure their protection and equal treatment. 

Kenya last week officially recognized intersex people at birth, allowing them to receive birth certificates with an “I” gender marker. The KNCHR described this decision as “a historic milestone” that aligns with the Kenyan constitution and other existing policy measures that include the Children Act and the proposed Intersex Persons Bill, 2024.

“This is a major step towards securing rights, dignity, and equal opportunities for all intersex persons in Kenya,” KNCHR stated.

KNCHR asked Kenyans, state, and non-state institutions to support awareness, policy reforms, and the inclusion of intersex people for the latest reform to be implemented successfully.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular