World
Indian government withdraws teacher manual for transgender students
Conservative lawmakers, right-wing activists criticized document
The Indian government has withdrawn a manual to train and sensitize teachers in schools and colleges on transgender or gender non-conforming students after conservative lawmakers criticized it.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an autonomous organization of the Indian government to assist and advise the central and state governments on policies and programs for qualitative improvement in school education, last month released a training manual for teachers on the inclusion of trans students in school. After it was released, the manual ran into controversy and faced resistance from the right-wing activists. Soon, the NCERT pulled the manual from its website, causing resentment among the trans and Indian LGBTQ community.
“When the news came out that NCERT is taking this step to make schools a safe place for the LGBTQ community in India, I felt so amazing and proud and was happy,” said Yahnvi Kallani, a 14-year-old student from Agra in Uttar Pradesh.
“It was the day after the news that they took it down because some minister questioned them, and they had to take this whole thing down, which disappointed and annoyed me,” Kallani added .
Back in 2014, Indian Supreme Court recognized trans people as the third gender and said that it is the right of every human being to choose their gender.
Based on the Supreme Court’s judgment, the Indian government passed legislation in 2019, called the Transgender Persons Act. The NCERT acted upon this legislation and decided to formulate an instructing manual titled “Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmap”, which was targeted to educate and sensitize teachers and students about different genders.
The manual highlights strategies to make schools sensitive and inclusive towards trans and gender non-conforming students. It also includes the provision for gender-neutral bathrooms and uniforms, and sensitizing of non-teaching staff of schools was also included in it. The manual advocated discontinuing the practice of segregation of students into various school activities based on gender. The manual included inviting trans people to speak on the school campus.
Soon after the release of the manual, Vinay Joshi, an RSS member (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, right-wing Hindu nationalist group), filed a complaint against the NCERT to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
Joshi claimed that the manual is a “criminal conspiracy to traumatize students in the name of gender sensitization” and the NCPCR should take appropriate action against those who are responsible for it. The NCERT took down the manual from its website without any delay.
“The manual wasn’t for children, but teachers,” said Dr. L. Ramakrishnan, a public health professional and vice president of SAATHII.
Ramakrishnan was one of the members who contributed to creating the manual for the NCERT.
“We do not know if the manual is completely scraped or it will come out with some revisions,” added Ramakrishnan.
After multiple requests for comment to the director of the NCERT, Dr. Sridhar Srivastava, he remained silent. It must be noted that after the complaint was filed to the NCERT on the manual issue, two NCERT employees who were also involved in designing the manual were transferred to other departments.
“We are not happy about this, and we are still introspecting various ways in which we can still make it work,” said Mr. Rishu, a representative of Harmless Hugs, a platform that provides safe space for the LGBTQ community in India.
School students from across the country gave their reactions to the Washington Blade.
Priya Verma, 16, from New Delhi, the Indian capital, said that she is not happy with the NCERT’s decision.
“It is an important issue, people and classmates should know about this,” said Verma, a 10th grade student.
“When NCERT came up with this manual, many of the transgender students had hoped for a change. Pulling out the manual shows the selfishness of the organization,” she added.
Yahnvi Kallani, a 14-year-old student from Agra, said when she read the manual, she was happy that the school would have a gender-neutral uniform. But since the manual is gone, she feels uncomfortable as she identifies herself as non-binary.
Muskan Vishwakarma, a freshman from the Gujarat state expressed her disappointment on the NCERT’s decision.
She said people in India lack awareness about the trans community. Vishwakarma said people think it’s a sickness while it is not. To fix this problem, she said the government has to educate people, and it can happen through the schools.
Since the NCERT has pulled out the manual, she said the problem will remain untouched.
“Whatever happened, it was not up to good,” said Vishwakarma. “In classrooms, kids do not understand these things, and they end up bullying kids who look different or act different from them.”
Recently, 43 LGBTQ groups from different institutes in India and 700 people from across the country have signed a letter to the NCERT and demanded to bring back the manual on the NCERT’s website as soon as possible. The letter has also been addressed to the chair, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development for necessary retrospection and actions, and the National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP).
While many showed disappointment, some also expressed their hope with the NCERT.
Manvendra Singh Gohil, an Indian prince who is the first openly gay prince in the world, spoke with the Blade about the issue.
“NCERT’s manual might be pulled out, but I am sure in days to come, it will be considered, and inclusion will be there,” said Gohil.
“We need to educate the political parties and the leaders, we also need to sensitize the parties no matter left or right,” he further added.
Mumbai-based Tinesh Chopad, an advocacy manager at the Humsafar Trust, said the NCERT is a larger body, and it has a much larger reach in the country, if the manual can be retained again, it would be a good step.
“Most of the trans individuals face stigma and bullying at the school level as well,” said Chopad. “It was one step toward avoiding the bullying and discrimination trans folks face daily.”
Mohit Kumar (Ankush) is a freelance reporter who has covered different stories that include the 2020 election in the U.S. and women’s rights issues. He has also covered NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and loves to help people. Mohit is on Twitter at @MohitKopinion and can be reached at [email protected].
Australia
Australia lifts additional restrictions on LGBTQ blood donors
Gay, bisexual men, trans people in long-term monogamous relationships can now donate
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Lifeblood) has lifted additional restrictions on LGBTQ people who want to donate blood.
The Star-Observer, an Australian LGBTQ newspaper, reported new Lifeblood rules that took effect on Monday will allow “gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term monogamous relationships to donate blood and platelets for the first time.”
The new policy defines “long-term monogamous relationships” as those that are at least six months.
All potential donors — regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity — will answer the same questions about recent sexual activity.
“Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA+ community from donating blood or platelets if they’d had sex within the past three months,” said Lifeblood CEO Stephen Cornelissen in a press release that announced the new policy. “These latest changes mean many gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term, monogamous relationships will become eligible to donate blood or platelets for the first time.”
Lifeblood in 2025 ended its blanket ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
Rodney Croome, an Australian LGBTQ activist who is the spokesperson for Let Us Give, a campaign that has championed the changes, donated blood on Monday.
“After three decades of advocacy, and for the first time in my life, I was able to donate blood today,” said Croome in a Facebook post that showed him donating blood. “From today, gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, are able to give blood without the traditional three month abstinence period. All donors are now asked the same questions about sex regardless of the gender of our sexual partners.”
Croome in the post said “there are still problems with the new donor regime,” but said Let Us Give will continue to work with Lifeblood.
“Those who may have not been monogamous in the recent past should not be subject to a six month wait time,” he wrote. “Three months is considered more than enough in the UK, US and Canada. It should be here too. People on PrEP and trans people also face continued barriers. Let Us Give will continue to work towards greater equity in donation.”
European Union
Top EU court strikes down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law
Ruling issued days after voters outed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
The European Union’s top court on Tuesday struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law.
Hungarian MPs in 2021 approved Act LXXIX of 2021.
“It shall be forbidden to make accessible to persons who have not attained the age of 18 years advertisement that depicts sexuality in a gratuitous manner or that propagates or portrays divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality,” it reads.
The European Commission in 2022 challenged the law. Sixteen EU countries — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — joined the lawsuit. The European Parliament also supported it. Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for his part, said his government would defend the law.
The EU Court of Justice heard the case in 2024.
A press release that announced the ruling on Tuesday said Hungary “acted in breach of EU law.”
“The court finds, for the first time, a separate infringement of Article 2 TEU (Treaty on European Union), which lists the values on which the (European) Union is founded and which are common to all the Member States,” it reads. “The aspects of the amending law targeting content which portrays or promotes deviation from the self-identity corresponding to the sex assigned at birth, gender reassignment, or homosexuality constitute a coordinated series of discriminatory measures which are in breach, in a way that is both manifest and particularly serious, of the rights of non-cisgender persons — including transgender persons — or non-heterosexual persons, as well as the values of respect for human dignity, equality and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
“Consequently, that law is contrary to the very identity of the (European) Union as a common legal order in a society in which pluralism prevails,” notes the press release. “Hungary cannot validly rely on its national identity as justification for adopting a law which is in breach of the values referred to above.”
The Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ rights group, said the ruling “is a milestone for the protection of human rights in the European Union, and it is also a historic victory for LGBTQI people in Hungary.”
The court issued its ruling nine days after Péter Magyar ousted Orbán in Hungary’s elections.
Orbán took office in 2010.
He and his government faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown that included laws that banned Pride events and other public LGBTQ events. (Upwards of 100,000 people last June denied the prohibition and marched in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.)
“Those amendments constitute a particularly serious interference with several fundamental rights protected by the (EU) Charter (of Fundamental Rights), namely the prohibition on discrimination based on sex,” notes the court’s press release.
The EU since Orbán took office has withheld upwards of €35 billion ($41.2 billion) in funds to Hungary in response to concerns over corruption, rule of law, and other issues. Magyar has said he will work with Brussels to unfreeze the money.
ILGA-Europe Deputy Director Katrin Hugendubel urged Maygar’s government to repeal the law.
“With this ruling, the CJEU (The EU Court of Justice) is confirming what we have been saying for six years,” said Hugendubel. “There is now no excuse for the Commission not to require Hungary to quickly withdraw the law. Hungary cannot enter a post-Orbán era without repealing this legislation, including the Pride ban.”
“If Péter Magyar truly aims to be pro-EU, he must place this at the top of his agenda for his first 100 days in office, as an essential part of his EU facing reforms,” added Hugendubel.
National
LGBTQ Catholic groups slam Trump over pope criticism
‘Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate’
LGBTQ Catholic groups have sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.
Leo on April 13 told reporters while traveling to Algeria that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after the president described him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in response to his opposition to the Iran war. (Trump on the same day posted to Truth Social an image that appeared to show him as Jesus Christ. He removed it on April 13 amid backlash from religious leaders.)
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, during a Fox News Channel interview on the same day said “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance on April 14 once again discussed Leo during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., saying he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Díaz; and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are among those who have criticized Trump over his comments. The president, for his part, has said he will not apologize to Leo.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” said Leo on Thursday at a cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon.
Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization. He told the Washington Blade on Thursday that Trump’s comments about Leo “are one more example of the ridiculous hubris of this leader (Trump) whose entire record shows that he is nothing more than a middle-school bully.”
“LGBTQ+ adults were often bullied as children, and they have learned the lesson that bullies act when they feel frightened or threatened,” said DeBernardo. “But secular power does not threaten the Vicar of Christ, and Pope Leo’s response illustrates this truth perfectly.”
DeBernardo added Trump “is obviously frightened that Pope Leo, an American, has more power and influence than the president on the world stage.”
“Like most Trumpian bullying, this strategy will backfire,” DeBernardo told the Blade. “Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate. Trump’s actions are not an example of his power, but of his impotence.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an LGBTQ Catholic organization, echoed DeBernardo.
“He [Trump] has demonstrated throughout both presidencies that he doesn’t understand the basic concepts of any faith system that is founded on the dignity of human beings, the importance of common good,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s just appalling.”
Duddy-Burke praised Leo and the American cardinals who have publicly criticized Trump.
“The pope’s popularity — given how much more respect Pope Leo has than the man sitting in the White House — is a blow to his ego,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade. “That seems to be a sore sport for him.”
“It’s such an imperialistic world view,” she added.
Leo ‘is the real peacemaker’
The College of Cardinals last May elected Leo to succeed Pope Francis after his death.
Leo, who was born in Chicago, is the first American pope. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023.
Francis made him a cardinal in 2023.
Juan Carlos Cruz — a gay Chilean man and clergy sex abuse survivor who Francis appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — has traveled to Ukraine several times with Dominican Sister Lucía Caram since Russia launched its war against the country in 2022. Cruz on Thursday responded to Trump’s criticism of Leo in a text message he sent to the Blade from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
“I am in Ukraine under many attacks,” said Cruz. “Trump is an asshole and has zero right to criticize the Pope who is the real peacemaker.”
Auction of Rehoboth’s Blue Moon canceled
Delaware school district remains supportive after Trump attacks on trans students
Va. voters approve HRC-backed redistricting plan
Australia lifts additional restrictions on LGBTQ blood donors
Top EU court strikes down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law
Calendar: April 17-23
Team DC’s annual gala set for this weekend
The latest Supreme Court case erasing LGBTQ identity
Judge rescinds stay-away order in Capital Pride anti-stalking case
