Today ILGA-Europe launches its first Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People in Europe 2011 supplemented by the Rainbow Map. These documents are intended to offer an overall picture of the current status of the human rights of LGBTI people in Europe.

From a legal perspective, the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map shows that none of the countries in Europe can claim to provide full legal equality for LGBTI people and, on average, the level of legal equality continues to be very low in most countries.

Progress has been uneven, to say the least – at its best, there is increased recognition of the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, particularly in the fields of asylum and protection from violence. Various countries continued moving towards the extension of legal recognition and equal rights to rainbow families; and there are a number of legal proposals towards the introduction of humane laws regarding the change of legal name and gender of trans people.

However, on the negative side, in some countries there is either no progress, or worse, there are moves towards the adoption of legislation criminalising the ‘propaganda of homosexuality’.

While the publication of this kind of research is broadly to be welcomed, and as eye-catching as the rainbow map is, it may be considered problematic in its conflation of LGB, TS/TG and Intersex issues. Note also that intersections of race, class, disability, etc, are not clear; nor is it recorded whether subjects are binary or non-binary identified.

Download the ILGA-Europe Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People in Europe 2011 here

Download the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index, May 2012 here

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[Cross-posted from The F-Word]

Via Mauro Cabral, Co-Director of the Argentinian branch of GATE (Global Action for Trans* Equality) I learn that the country’s Senate yesterday (9 May 2012) unanimously approved a gender identity law that doesn’t require a medical diagnosis in order to gain legal recognition, hormonal treatment and/or surgical procedures (including hormones and surgeries carried out in the public health system) and that doesn’t require medical intervention as a condition of legal recognition.

As Mauro says:

It’s a law grounded in the right to identity, establishing informed consent as the best practice for trans* access to health.

It seems likely there will be a short delay for the legislation to be formally enacted by Presidente Cristina Fernández before it actually becomes law, but it’s hoped that it will be practically implemented soon after that.

The significance of this change cannot be understated – the linking of trans* people’s medical and legal statuses is an area of trans* rights which has long been believed to cause more problems for many trans* people than it solves, both in accessing healthcare and obtaining legal recognition, and it is to be hoped that other countries will follow Argentina’s example in supporting trans* people’s rights.

More at the Spanish language website Minutouno

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Image compiled from public domain images in Wikimedia Commons (here and here) by Helen

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Cross-posted from The F-Word

The news reports are dispiriting for two reasons: first, that TS/TG people, regardless of what they do for a living, are still objects of curiosity whose primary value is as a source of gossip for the general public – and second, that the reporting of such a deeply personal matter is still so substandard.

On her Twitter feed, Laura links to an article to be published later this week in Rolling Stone magazine. I can only begin to imagine how difficult that must have been for her and the pain of seeing it so full of sloppy reporting can only have added insult to injury at an already incredibly difficult time. Although Rolling Stone actually manages to respect her preferred pronouns – and it’s frustrating to realise that even in 2012 it’s still a comparative rarity to see even this most basic form of respect in the mass media – it’s immediately cancelled out by the first paragraph which wastes no time in spouting the same hackneyed old nonsense that will be sickeningly familiar to anyone who’s found themselves in the same position.

I’m not going to get into a rant about the mass media’s appallingly and continually low standards of journalism about TS/TG issues – I’d be here all day and anyway, I’ve done more than enough of that in previous posts here at BoP and elsewhere. I just think it’s sad that, despite much progress in the acceptance of TS/TG people over the past few years in many sectors of public life, we’re still running into this ignorance time and again. I only hope that the fans of Against Me! are evolved enough not to let loose a wave of transphobic bigotry in a kneejerk reaction against Laura’s changes.

Anyway, I’m going to close this brief post by wishing Laura a future full of good and happy things and hope that her transition is as smooth and as safe as it possibly can be. Much love, Laura, thinking of you.

If I could have chosen
I would have been born a woman
My mother once told me she would have named me Laura
I’d grow up to be strong and beautiful like her

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Cross-posted at Exile On Moan Street

A young woman gave me this red carnation at Liverpool Street station this morning; she was part of a smallish group of gap-year anarchists who were parading happily and noisily around the concourse, much to the consternation of the plods and the bemusement of pretty much everybody else.

There was a card tied to the stem of the flower; on one side it says “Love, breathe, hope, create, OCCUPY“, on the other it says “This flower is a May Day gift from Occupy London. Please put it in water & enjoy it. There is something better out there“.

I wish I could believe that.

[Above [L-R]: Sarah Willson, Gill Sandell, Ted Barnes]

[Above: Adrian Crowley]

Hopped on to the tube at King’s Cross, westward bound, found a seat in a quiet-ish spot, put my earbuds in and fired up some music to keep me company on the trip home.

And then I looked up. Directly into the phone of a young cis man sprawled in the seat opposite. He was filming me. As blatant as you like, just sitting there gawping at his screen with a twisted little smile on his ugly face.

As it registered with me what he was doing, I felt simultaneously shocked and angry (and vaguely wondering why he was doing it, and what for) – but most of all I realised just how vulnerable I was right at that moment. Without thinking, I jumped to my feet and headed to a more populated part of the carriage where at least there were women as well as men – not that I could have relied on any ‘comfort of strangers’ had the incident escalated. But, you know, safety in numbers, and all that…

In hindsight, maybe I should have tackled him. Asked him what he thought he was doing, perhaps even tried to take his phone off him. But that would have given him the opportunity to get really nasty with me in return and, knowing my luck, maybe even report me for assaulting him. These things can turn in an instant and sometimes there is a greater risk in standing one’s ground. Better a live dog than a dead lion. Now I’m just wondering if I’m going to turn up as an unwilling/unwitting star in a transphobic YouTube video.

A minor event maybe – certainly other TS/TG people have suffered far worse incidents of street harassment – and thankfully nothing more came of it, but it left me feeling very rattled, keen to get home and lock the door behind me.

To paraphrase an earlier post of mine:

It doesn’t matter the [form or content of the harassments], they still come from the place of cis men’s assumption that they have the right to come into my life and mess with my head. [...] Street harassment is street harassment is street harassment.

For me, last night’s harassment lies squarely at the intersections of transphobia and sexism, invasion of privacy, male privilege – and, of course, the unblinking objectification of the male gaze. Sometimes city life most definitely isn’t all glamour, glamour, glamour. It’s harsh, uncaring and always there’s the risk of violence.

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Previous related posts:

Blogging while trans (December 9th, 2010)
Street harassment part 94 (September 1st, 2010)
Street harassment is still street harassment – even if it wears a smile on its face and asks for my phone number (November 27th, 2009)
Street harassment (August 17th, 2009)

tonight (11.04.2012), a trans sex worker was shot by a police officer in maltepe – istanbul.

the incident happened just after the police officer stopped by the trans sex worker and wanted to fine her. she resisted this injustice. the officer grabbed her arm forcibly but she escaped. just after this struggle, the officer shot her from her back.

the victim is under intensive care in kartal state hospital now.

will never have enough words to say after such incidents.

Other than “This undeclared war must stop” – neither will I.

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Turkey – TG symbol made by Helen from images found at Wikipedia (here and here). Both original images are public domain and so is this one. If using elsewhere, please ensure correct attribution.

Previous posts in the category Turkey

Derailing for Dummies looks to be offline again.

Here’s a PDF of the main page that I grabbed a few days ago. It’s not searchable or linkable, but it’s better than nothing.

My thoughts go out to Nükhet’s loved ones and all my trans sisters in Turkey, fighting daily to survive in an undeclared war being waged by their compatriots with the tacit complicity of the state.

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ETA (7 April 2012):

[Via email from Kemal Ordek]

‘The murderer of Nükhet Kizilkaya was arrested today. He stated, “She invited me to her apartment and I came. Then, we argued about the money that I would give to her. I don’t remember that I used the knife that many times, I lost my consciousness.” Well, an obvious lie, used by almost every trans murderer!’

‘Here is the link of the news about the arrest of the murderer (with the photo of Nükhet – her ID name was used “as usual” in Turkish media (!): http://www.posta.com.tr/3Sayfa/HaberDetay/Travestinin_cinayet_zanlisi_asci_cikti.htm?ArticleID=116352‘

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Turkey – TG symbol made by Helen from images found at Wikipedia (here and here). Both original images are public domain and so is this one. If using elsewhere, please ensure correct attribution.

Previous posts in the category Turkey