This No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) news digest rounds up some of the week’s top LGBTI rights stories for the week ending 28 March:
First LGBT-inclusive textbooks for elementary schools in Japan
Gay Star News, 28 Mar 2019
Publishers of elementary school textbooks in Japan have included LGBT information in the latest editions of their books. Two out of five government-accredited publishers have included content on sexuality and gender identity, according to NHK. The books teach that people may be attracted to people of the same sex. They also explain how different gender identities should be respected.
Far-right group accused of hate speech fails to appear at Queensland tribunal
The Guardian, 26 Mar 2019
A far-right group accused of engaging in “public acts of hate speech” against LGBTI people has failed to appear in the Queensland anti-discrimination tribunal to respond to a landmark complaint. The LGTBI legal service last year lodged complaints against 25 groups and individuals who made “shocking” public comments, mostly online, and social media posts, during the 2017 same-sex marriage postal survey.
LGBTI migrants struggle to survive along Guatemala-Mexico border
Washington Blade, 26 Mar 2019
Gaudy Coutiño Valladares works for the Guatemalan Red Cross in Tecún Umán, a small city in the country’s San Marcos department that is across the Suchiate River from Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico. The offices from which Coutiño and her colleagues work are behind a large metal gate on which posters that tell migrants the Guatemalan Red Cross will allow them to call their relatives and charge their phones for free have been placed. It also has a map of Central America that lists migrant shelters, railroads and highways on which migrants can travel to the U.S. border.
UCP would roll back school protections for LGBTQ students, add new provincial exams
Edmonton Journal, 25 Mar 2019
UCP Leader Jason Kenney said Monday if elected to government, his party would replace Alberta’s School Act with the former Progressive Conservative government’s Education Act. It would eliminate changes the NDP introduced with Bill 24, which requires school principals to immediately grant student requests to form a gay-straight alliance and requires private schools to have publicly available policies to protect LGBTQ students.
Only 55% of Americans think LGBTI people face a lot of discrimination
Gay Star News, 21 Mar 2019
A new report from FiveThirtyEight reveals fewer and fewer Americans believe LGBTI discrimination is a major issue. Compared to other groups in the United States, people’s impression of discrimination has changed most dramatically in regards to the LGBTI community. While perceived discrimination of Muslims and Jewish people have largely remained the same (with some minor drops and spikes), people see an increase in perceived discrimination of black people. LGBTI people, meanwhile, have seen the biggest drop in perceived discrimination, from 68% in 2013 to 55% last year.
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