This No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) news digest rounds up some of the week’s top LGBTI rights stories for the week ending 20 June:
The Court Cases That Changed L.G.B.T.Q. Rights
The New York Times, 19 Jun 2019
Beginning before Stonewall and continuing in the 50 years since, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have regularly turned to the courts for protection against mistreatment or to overturn laws that targeted them. From H.I.V.-based discrimination to the fight for marriage equality to President Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from the military, courts across the country have played a key role in the story of L.G.B.T.Q. rights in America.
Georgia prepares for first LGBT pride amid threats of violence
The Guardian, 16 Jun 2019
Six years on, the violent scene remains imprinted in the minds of Georgia’s LGBT community: dozens of gay rights demonstrators being beaten in the streets of Tbilisi by black-frocked priests and far-right protesters, some bearing clubs and other weapons. The modern-day program in 2013 seemed like a warning: whatever Georgia’s aspirations to join Europe, its queer community would be left behind.
Homophobic and transphobic hate crimes surge in England and Wales
The Guardian, 14 Jun 2019
Homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, including stalking, harassment and violent assault, have more than doubled in England and Wales over five years, a Guardian analysis has shown. The rate of LGBT hate crime per capita rose by 144% between 2013-14 and 2017-18. In the most recent year of data, police recorded 11,600 crimes, more than doubling from 4,600 during this period.
Global Call to Reform Japan’s Law on Transgender People
Human Rights Watch, 14 Jun 2019
A leading international health organization has urged the government of Japan to reform its legal recognition procedure for transgender people. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), comprised of more than 2,000 global healthcare professionals, wrote to the health and justice ministries in Tokyo last week calling on them to revise a law that requires trans people to be given a diagnosis of “gender identity disorder” and undergo sterilizing surgery if they wish to change their legal gender.
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