Issue 6 April 11 2023

Issue Highlights

This Southern Mexico Community Has Challenged the Gender Binary for Generations

Muxes, a group long recognized within the indigenous Zapotec people of Mexico, are often referred to as a third gender. Embodying characteristics of both men and women, their existence challenges the gender binary that is so deeply entrenched in Western society.

Is the Biden administration really turning against transgender students?

And yet, there are good reasons to adopt a more generous view of the new policy (while acknowledging that its rollout was borderline disastrous). GLAD, a renowned LGBTQ advocacy group, issued a statement “applaud[ing]” the proposal and praising the decision to let schools “adopt reasonable policies” that “take into account differences between sports and across levels of competition.” Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told me that the Department of Education did “a good job of setting out a proposed standard that is reasonable, protects the dignity and equality of transgender students, and permits only very limited restrictions in elite competitions,”

8 UNESCO Sites in Danger of Disappearing | The Discoverer

the Sumatran rainforests can still proudly claim to be the only place on earth where tigers, rhinos, orangutans, and elephants coexist, with those animals surrounded by an estimated 10,000 plant species that offer researchers insight into how the island evolved bio-geographically

Queer Youth on Why the South Is Worth Fighting For | Teen Vogue

“People discredit us and they discredit our state, but this is my home; why should I leave my home?"

LGBTQ Social Justice

Museveni boosts African anti-gay campaign despite inaction on Ugandan bill

at an international conference March 31-April 1, he said he would soon meet with members of parliament to reach an agreement on how best to protect Ugandan children from homosexuality.

Ugandan commentary: You can’t believe in God and reject homosexuality

The third reason we cannot and should not reject homosexuality is that it is not alien to African culture, as Africans often claim.

From New York, advocates condemn Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ bill

Beyonce Karungi, who founded Transgender Equality Uganda, spoke about the dangers facing Black trans women in Uganda. There were advocates from several groups, including Black Trans Media, Black Trans Travel Fund, Queer March, and Blasian March.

George W. Bush Center Urges Uganda President Not To Sign Anti-LGBTQ Bill: "Violates Universal Human Rights" - Joe.My.God.

The last thing we need is to further stigmatize an already victimized segment of the Ugandan population and exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS by driving same-sex activity further underground and discouraging and creating clear barriers to critical prevention services, HIV testing, and treatment for the virus.

Corporate giants say anti-LGBT law would hurt Uganda's economy ｜ Reuters UK

A coalition of international companies, including Google and Microsoft, on Wednesday denounced anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Uganda's parliament last week, warning it would damage the East Africa country's economy.

LGBTQ rights and inclusion amid Botswana's constitutional review process

The process of constitutional review failed to live up the law — to protect and include LGBTIQ+ people

Bigoted Backlash: How Kenya's leaders are fueling Anti-LGBTQ sentiments - TFIGlobal

the country’s leaders are now taking the controversy to a new level, adding fuel to the fire, and failing to condemn the brutal murder of LGBTQ activists. The hateful rhetoric propagated by Kenya’s public officials is only bound to aggravate the situation and pose a threat to LGBTQ individuals in the country.

How U.S. Evangelicals Helped Homophobia Flourish in Africa – Foreign Policy

The church has been involved in manufacturing and sustaining the ex-gay framework in more than subtle and metaphorical ways. Evangelical preachers have traveled across Africa, verbalizing this harmful language.

Inside the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Africa | Opinion ｜ AlterNet

Old colonial laws that criminalized same-sex activity and gender variance were left intact after countries gained independence. Many Africans remained ignorant about precolonial Africa where queerness was present and regularly celebrated, because those histories were maligned. Today these colonial-era laws are still used to oppress LGBTQ+ Africans, who receive no state support and also find their attempts to support each other hindered by bigotry.

US-led coalition urges United Nations Security Council to protect LGBTQ people in war and peace

Led by the United States and the United Nation.’s LGBTI Core Group and LGBTQ expert, a coalition of United Nations Security Council member and non-member countries urged the council to better protect queer and gender diverse people in its mandate at the Women, Peace and Security agenda

New Maps Show Where It’s Illegal To Be LGBTQ In 2023

Over the past 30 years, 49 UN member States have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual acts, according to a new database by ILGA World. However, laws criminalizing being gay remain a reality for one-third of countries worldwide.

Nun coalition rebels against anti-trans stance of Catholic leadership ｜ Raw Story

A large coalition of Catholic nuns has issued a public letter supporting transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive individuals – and “implicitly rebuking recent statements from the U.S. Catholic hierarchy,” the Religious News Service reported Saturday.

DeSantis Targeting of Drag Shows Promotes LGBTQ Hate, Drag Queen Says

"All of these outcomes are harmful in their own right, but the greater impact of these bills is already being seen in the increase of hatred toward the LGBTQ+ community and the harmful rhetoric that drag queens are predatory."

Most in new poll oppose laws restricting drag shows or performances | The Hill

58 percent of respondents said they oppose laws restricting the performances, while 39 percent said they support them

These U.S. states push to protect transgender care

Like the abortion laws, many of the trans protection measures working through Democratic legislatures ban courts from enforcing subpoenas, arrest warrants or extradition requests related to treatment.

White House Announces Crisis Hotline for LGBTQ+ Youth

if you’re feeling overwhelmed, you call 988,” Jean-Pierre said. “The National Crisis Hotline and dial the number ‘3’ to talk to a counselor who has been specifically trained to support LGBTQI+ kids.

Supreme Court rejects West Virginia bid to enforce sports ban against transgender girl

a law enacted in 2021 called the Save Women’s Sports Act cannot be enforced against 12-year-old transgender girl Becky Pepper-Jackson while litigation continues

North Carolina Democrat Joins GOP as State Sees Rash of Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills

A spate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has been introduced in North Carolina — while a state representative has switched her party affiliation from Democratic to Republican, giving the House of Representatives a GOP supermajority that can override any vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The state’s Senate already had a veto-proof Republican supermajority.

Great Apes & Gibbons

Guinea’s crab-fishing chimps are in good health, study shows, but threats loom

The scientists warn that human activities that hinder or restrict chimpanzee movements or territories can trigger deadly battles between rival communities of the apes and compromise their genetic diversity.

Saving Virunga's endangered mountain gorillas with green power and chocolate | New Scientist

Poaching, illegal farming and rebel groups make Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo one of the most dangerous places to practice conservation, but inventive schemes are helping rangers empower people and conserve wildlife

Earliest Gibbon Fossil Found in Southwest China

A team of scientists has discovered the earliest gibbon fossil--a finding that fills a gap in the evolutionary history of apes.

Baby gibbon abandoned by parents is being raised by same-sex couple at Cincinnati Zoo

A six-month-old northern white-cheeked gibbon who has arrived at Cincinnati Zoo is to be raised by same-sex parents.