Washington state has enacted a pro-trans policy on bathroom use, officials announced this week. Under the new rules, quietly adopted by the state human rights commission on 26 December, all buildings open to the public – including schools – must allow people to use restrooms, showers and locker rooms corresponding with their gender identity. ‘Transgender
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China’s first marriage equality has been accepted by a court in Hunan province. Sun Wenlin, 26, sued a civil affairs bureau in Changsha last month for rejecting his marriage application – in what has been hailed as the first gay marriage case in the communist country. Sun received notification from Furong district court that his
Twitter will now be banning accounts that tweet abuse or threats that use homophobic or transphobic language. The social media giant has opened up and clarified the sort of ‘hateful conduct’ that will now prompt accounts to be deleted. ‘As always, we embrace and encourage diverse opinions and beliefs, but we will continue to
All passports and driving licenses should be ‘degendered’ to avoid causing problems for transgender people, a senior Conservative politician has said. Maria Miller, chair of the newly formed women and equalities committee, said ‘male’ and ‘female’ tick-boxes should also be removed from official documents and job applications unless absolutely necessary. ‘As a society and a
An Indian politician has launched a Change.org petition to end his country’s anti-gay law. Shashi Tharoor, an MP for the opposition Indian National Congress party, introduced a private members bill to repeal the statute that criminalizes gay sex earlier this month. But the lower house of India’s parliament voted 71-24 against it. ‘The Indian government is reluctant
The European Parliament voted its annual report on human rights in the world. The report takes account of the situation of human rights, including of LGBTI people, and makes recommendations accordingly. The report starts off by stating that “in order to maintain credibility and consistency in its external human rights policy”, the EU and its
China has passed a law to protect cohabiting couples against domestic violence but it will not protect same-sex couples. The law, which was passed on Sunday, protects married and unmarried cohabiting couples. The country did not previously have a law protecting against violence at home. The new law covers physical and psychological abuse, and allows
Love, joy and peace are the ingredients for a wonderful Christmas. We hope you find them all this festive season. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Warmest greetings, LGL Team
Among 249 present parliamentarians, 194 voted for and 55 voted against this law. The concept of registered partnership had existed in Greece since 2009 but was only available to heterosexual partners; this was declared discriminatory by the European Court of Human Rights. As a result of today’s vote, same-sex couples will now benefit from various
On December 11th-13th, 2015 two representatives of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL, namely – the Executive Director Vladimir Simonko and the Policy Coordinator (Human Rights) Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius – participated in an international conference on domestic and dating violence against LBT* women in Brescia (Italy). The conference “Investigating Domestic and Dating Violence against Women”,
The European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency released an updated EU-wide legal analysis: ‘Protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in the European Union: Comparative legal analysis’ The report presents legal evolutions in fields affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in the European Union between 2010 and 2015.
Slovenian voters on Sunday rejected a law that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. The Associated Press reported that preliminary results indicate that voters by a 63-37 percent margin rejected the statute. “It’s Time for Yes” (‘Čas je Za’ in Slovenian), the campaign that that backed the marriage law, thanked its supporters on its Twitter