World
Dozens of activists participate in annual HRC global summit in D.C.
Special US envoy for LGBTQ, intersex rights among speakers
Thirty-two activists from around the world attended the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Global Innovative Advocacy Summit that took place last week in D.C.
Activists from Algeria, Bolivia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Congo, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Peru, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe took part in workshops and attended a variety of events throughout the week.
HRC President Kelley Robinson and Jessica Stern, the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights, are among those who spoke to the activists. HRC during the summit also honored Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the now former independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues whose 6-year mandate ended on Oct. 31. (The U.N. Human Rights Council has named Graeme Reid, a South African activist who directed Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, to succeed Madrigal-Borloz.)
The summit took place against the backdrop of the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations in Mauritius, Antigua and Barbuda, Singapore and several other former British colonies around the world.
The Japanese Supreme Court on Oct. 25 struck down a law that requires transgender people to undergo sterilization surgery in order to legally change their gender. The Indian Supreme Court on Oct. 17 ruled against marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on May 29 signed his country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which contains a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.” Lawmakers in Kenya and neighboring countries have signaled they plan to introduce similar measures in their respective parliaments.
HRC in June declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S. in response to the hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills that state lawmakers have introduced and governors have signed.
Stern in a speech she delivered at an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute co-organized conference in Mexico City in July cited HRC statistics when she noted more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in U.S. state legislatures this year. Stern pointed out nearly half of these measures specifically targeted trans and nonbinary people, and state lawmakers approved 70 of them. She noted 15 of these measures banned gender-affirming care for minors, four “censor” school curricula and two “target drag performances.”
“What an absolute tragedy,” said Stern.
‘It’s an absolute honor to be here’
Transgender Equality Hong Kong Director Henry Tse is one of the summit participants with whom the Washington Blade spoke on Nov. 2.
Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal in February ruled in favor of Tse and two other trans men who challenged the requirement that trans people must undergo sex-reassignment surgery in order to change the gender marker on their IDs. Hong Kong’s government has yet to implement the decision, but Tse told the Blade that he has “learned a lot” from his fellow summit participants.
“It’s an absolute honor to be here,” he said.
LGBT Center Mongolia Executive Director Enkhmaa Enkhbold echoed Tse.
“It’s just heaven for me,” Enkhbold told the Blade.
Abdul Mufeez Shaheed, chair of the Rainbow Pride Foundation, a Fijian advocacy group, welcomed the diversity of the summit’s participants and applauded the work they have done in their respective countries. Essy Adhiambo, executive director of the Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination in Kenya, agreed.
“As someone who’s been in the movement for a while, I’m realizing there’s a very different way people are doing things,” she told the Blade. “We (who) do all the activities actually need to sit back and say, actually, these younger folks actually have an idea of what we can do better, so bring us together.”
Belarus
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
Country’s president known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’
Lawmakers in Belarus on Thursday approved a bill that would allow the government to crack down on LGBTQ advocacy.
The Associated Press notes the bill would punish anyone found guilty of “propaganda of homosexual relations, gender change, refusal to have children, and pedophilia” with fines, community labor, and 15 days in jail.
The House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian National Assembly, last month approved the bill. The Council of the Republic, which is the parliament’s upper chamber, passed it on Thursday.
President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to sign it.
Belarus borders Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Lukashenko — known as “Europe’s last dictator” is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kazakhstan is among the countries that have enacted Russian-style anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws in recent years.
Vika Biran, a Belarusian LGBTQ activist, is among those arrested during anti-Lukashenko protests that took place in 2020 after he declared victory in the country’s presidential election.
Kenya
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
As Kenya prepares for next year’s August general election, local queer rights groups have joined Gen Zers in also mobilizing their members to register as voters.
The groups’ drive began ahead of the electoral commission’s official launch of a one-month nationwide mass voter registration on March 30, targeting 6.5 million new voters to bring the total to more than 28 million.
The groups — led by the Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination (INEND) and Galck+ — note that politics is not optional, but rather it is “our responsibility” to use the ballot to put an end to bad leadership and discriminatory laws against them.
“Voting is one of the most powerful ways we exercise our autonomy and remind the State that our human rights are not ‘Western imports’; our struggles for housing, employment, safety, and dignity are fundamentally Kenyan issues,” INEND states.
It reminds queer individuals that the nation entrusts them with an identity card at age 18 as a recognition of their ability to make decisions, follow laws, and take responsibility for the country’s future.
INEND also notes that despite this honor, LGBTQ people get kicked out of their homes due to homophobia, are discriminated against at work, and face violence in public places due to the punitive laws that the same State legislates.
“As queer Kenyans, our vote matters,” INEND states. “Our voice belongs in the democratic and governance conversations, and true democracy includes everyone.”
Some voter mobilization initiatives the queer lobby groups have been using include ‘Queering the Ballot’ Podcasts on civic participation, dubbed ‘Your Vote is Your Future’. The topics explored include how laws shape their lives, the relationship between lived experiences of common citizens, discrimination fatigue, distrust in government systems, and voter apathy.
The groups through the mobilization drive hope to create a queer voting bloc to actively participate in restructuring and reconstructing the existing governance system they argue has been a problem for them. They maintain the queer community navigates a system that was not built for them from its questioning of their right to exist, yet the Kenyan Constitution clearly states that no citizen should be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Court of Appeal next month will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of provisions in Kenya’s Penal Code that criminalize consensual same-sex relationships among adults. The appeals court postponed the case after adjourning on Feb. 4, its first substantive hearing since the High Court judgement in 2019.
“Change requires more than pointing fingers. It requires reflection, action, and showing up, especially at the ballot box as LGBTQ Kenyan citizens and declaring that this is our country, our business, and we can no longer watch from the sidelines,” INEND states.
The group notes that they want a governance system that embraces queer people as they go about their daily lives without any form of homophobic discrimination, harassment, or arrests. Queer people are therefore urged to pick the right leaders who listen to them in Kenya’s six elective positions, from the president down to the local government representatives, as their decisions while in power affect them.
“It is very irresponsible for any human being, even around the world, to assume that they don’t have political responsibility. It is easy and sounds fancy to say ‘I don’t like politics,’ but it does not make one good as it makes one abandon their political responsibility as a citizen,” INEND states.
The groups are also concerned with the existing homophobia among Kenyans, especially whenever they join them in street protests against the government’s punitive measures or advocating for change. However, they maintain that the LGBTQ community won’t be left behind despite being marginalized in society, yet they are the most affected group when the government raids people’s pockets for taxes.
“Now we are moving from the margins to the centre of this political conversation early enough to ensure that our community sees the sense because if we live in a country that doesn’t work, we will be the most affected,” INEND states.
INEND, with the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Galck+, last November launched the second Queering the Ballot Campaign and the 2024 Situation Report on queer participation in Kenya’s democracy.
The report surveyed 14 of the country’s 47 local governments, whose key findings affirm that queer Kenyans are not outsiders to democracy but its heartbeat.
“The title ‘Our Vote, Our Future: LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Democratic and Governance Processes’ in Kenya is an ode to the spirit of the queer movement in Kenya; unshaken in the face of adversity, determined in its pursuit of justice, and unrelenting in demand to be seen, heard and counted in democratic and political processes,” reads the report forwarded by former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
The report calls on Parliament, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the County Assemblies, and every Kenyan to make inclusion not symbolic but systemic.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
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