LGBT+ - The African Mirror

Oct

01

2020

Transgender people still criminalised in 13 U.N. member states, report finds

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH AT least 13 United Nations member states still criminalise transgender people, while others use morality and indecency laws to crack down on the trans community, a report showed on Wednesday. Nigeria, Oman and Lebanon are among the nations with explicit anti-trans laws, according to the latest Trans Legal Mapping Report by LGBT+ rights group ILGA World. The research details trans legislation and policies in 143 U.N. member states and 19 other jurisdictions. Many other countries apply "seemingly innocuous" regulations covering offences such as "public nuisance, indecency, morality (and) loitering" to police trans communities, the report said. However, at…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Arts figures defend J.K. Rowling in transgender rights row

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH PROMINENT figures in the British arts including novelist Ian McEwan and playwright Sir Tom Stoppard have signed a letter denouncing "hate speech" against "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling over her comments on transgender rights. Rowling weighed into a fierce debate on the issue earlier this year, raising concerns over trans women being allowed access to single-sex spaces - a stance that drew praise from some women's campaigners and condemnation from many trans activists. "J.K. Rowling has been subjected to an onslaught of abuse that highlights an insidious, authoritarian and misogynistic trend in social media," wrote the 58 signatories…

Sep

28

2020

By The African Mirror

Ellen DeGeneres issues apology, vows ‘new chapter’ after on-set turmoil

LGBT+

LISA RICHWINE ELLEN DeGeneres has opened the new season of her popular television talk show by apologizing to staff after reports of a toxic work environment on her set and saying changes had been made to start "a new chapter." Three top producers on the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" exited the show, producer Warner Bros. said in August after an internal investigation into complaints of bullying, racism and sexual misconduct against them. "I learned that things happen here that never should have happened," DeGeneres, 62, said in the opening monologue for the premiere of her show's 18th season. "I take…

Sep

28

2020

By The African Mirror

Hope is thin as LGBT+ activists join Belarus protests for change

LGBT+

NATALIE VIKHROV LGBT+ activists in Belarus hope mass protests for democratic rule in Belarus will also help deliver long-awaited gay rights and rid the former Soviet state of homophobia. But they concede such hopes might be far off in their deeply conservative country, with no anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT+ people. Even some of their fellow protesters are homophobic, they say, expecting a long fight before glimpsing equality. President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for a sixth term at a secret ceremony on Wednesday, sparking new demonstrations by a restive population protesting his claim on power. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko…

Sep

23

2020

By The African Mirror

TikTok apologises for censoring LGBT+ content

LGBT+

UMBERTO BACCHI TIK TOK has apologised for suppressing LGBT+ content in the past, with a director telling British lawmakers on Tuesday that the company now removed LGBT+ images only when required to do so by law enforcement agencies. The video streaming app came under fire last year over reports it censored depictions of homosexuality, such as two men kissing or holding hands, and artificially prevented posts from LGBT+ users from going viral in some countries. "I'm really sorry, we really got that wrong," TikTok's director of public policy in Europe the Middle East and Africa, Theo Bertram, told a British…

Sep

20

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. LGBT+ TikTok users fear losing ‘safe space’ as Trump bans downloads

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE U.S. LGBT+ TikTok users said they feared losing a popular community platform and valued "safe space" after the Trump administration announced it would stop Americans from downloading the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. The order, which takes effect on Sunday, only bans new downloads of the app, but TikTok said another restriction due to kick in on Nov. 12 would amount to an effective ban affecting existing users. TikTok, which has 100 million U.S. users, is widely used by young LGBT+ people to share niche jokes, find a date, and swap advice and stories about traumatic experiences such as being…

Sep

18

2020

By The African Mirror

J.K. Rowling says book character in transphobia row has real-life roots

LGBT+

J.K. Rowling said one of the characters in her new crime novel, a male killer who on one occasion disguises himself as a woman to abduct a victim, was loosely based on two real-life murderers. In a vitriolic online debate, pro- and anti-Rowling hashtags trended on Twitter after the novel's publication on Tuesday, because an early review in the Telegraph newspaper said the book's moral seemed to be "never trust a man in a dress". Critics of the "Harry Potter" author accused her of revealing prejudice through a transphobic trope, while supporters defended her right to write fiction without people…

Sep

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Barbados pledges same-sex marriage vote, but supporters doubt reform

LGBT+

ANASTASIA MOLONEY THE island nation of Barbados has pledged to put same-sex marriage to a public vote, but campaigners said on Wednesday they were wary about any hope of major reform in a nation that still has laws punishing sex between men on its books. LGBT people suffer discrimination, verbal abuse and harassment in Barbados, where the Catholic Church and evangelical groups are vocal in their opposition to giving legal rights to the gay and trans community, supporters say. Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason said in a speech to parliament this week that the Caribbean country would hold a public…

Sep

16

2020

By The African Mirror

Disney, Google, Microsoft back trans rights amid fierce British debate

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE DOZENS of organisations including Disney, Google and Microsoft weighed into a fierce debate over transgender rights in Britain on Monday, writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask him to support making it easier for people to legally change gender. Trans rights have become a contentious issue since the government launched a consultation into reforming the Gender Recognition Act in 2018, with opponents saying easing the rules could potentially let predatory men into women-only spaces. Multinational companies were joined by universities and trans advocacy groups in the open letter to Johnson, which drew 83 signatories. Dozens more, including…

Sep

16

2020

By The African Mirror

Flying straight and level as an African lesbian

LGBT+

ENID OTUN AS a Black, female commercial pilot in Nigeria in the 1980’s and 90’s, I was starting to grapple with the big questions. What am I? Who am I? I never used the word gay. I never used the word homosexual. I had no issue with those words in themselves, I had just never thought about relating them to me. I realised that something inside me was saying that I was perhaps drawn more to women, but I certainly wasn’t in the right location for that to be happening. In Nigeria being gay is not well received. That’s putting…