For the first time in its history, the United Nations Committee Against Torture ( CAT ) expressed concern over the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy being used on LGBT youth in the United States, according to a National Center for Lesbian Rights press release. Along with other signatories to the Convention Against Torture, the U.S. is reviewed by CAT about its compliance with the convention, which prevents torture as well as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In addition to conversion therapy, issues such as police violence, detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and the sexual abuse of children by priests were raised as matters for the United States to address.
Actor Colin Farrell wrote a letter in Ireland's Sunday Times calling for votes in favor of marriage equality—and sharing the story of his gay brother to help make the case, Advocate.com reported . "My brother Eamon didn't choose to be gay," wrote Farrell. "[In school,] he was always proud of who he was. Even when others were casting him out with fists and ridicule and the laughter of pure loathsome derision, he maintained an integrity and dignity that flew in the face of the cruelty that befell him." Farrell added with amazement that persevering eventually meant leaving Ireland altogether. A campaign is encouraging young marriage equality supporters to register to vote before Nov. 25 they can take part in a national referendum on equality scheduled for May.
Pope Francis is seeking to reassure the church's right-wing base that he's not a renegade bent on changing church doctrine on family issues—weeks after a Vatican meeting of bishops initially proposed a radical welcome for gays and divorced Catholics, the Associated Press reported. The pontiff said marriage between a man and woman is a "fundamental pillar" of society, and that children have the right to grow up with a mother and father. This took place a day after a strong speech against abortion, euthanasia and in vitro fertilization.
Asia's first LGBTI workplace inclusion index was launched at a diversity conference in Hong Kong, Gay Star News reported. Community Business, a nonprofit focusing on corporate responsibility, invited companies operating in the city to make submissions for the index until the end of February next year. Hong Kong has no laws against LGBTI discrimination in the workplace but a code of practice was issued by the government in 1998 to facilitate self-regulation. As of last month, 90 organizations—including Cathay Pacific, Hutchison Whampoa, Standard Chartered, Swire and HSBC—had pledged to adopt the code.
Pink News has reported that gay Iranians are being pressured into gender-reassignment treatments due to the country's ban on same-sex relationships, doctors in the country have said. A BBC documentary has revealed many gay Iranians end up fleeing the country in order to avoid the practice. Iran reportedly carries out more gender-reassignment operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand, although the numbers cannot be independently verified. However, a concern is that gender-reassignment surgery is being offered to people who are not transgender, but gay, and may lack the information to know the difference.
Kabir Ahmed, 30, a British jihadist who was convicted of anti-gay hate crimes in the United Kingdom, has blown himself up in an Islamic State ( ISIS ) suicide mission in Iraq, according to IsraelNationalNews.com . Ahmed—a married father of one who was known as Abu Sumayah al-Britani among his jihadist comrades—is believed to have murdered a Shia leader in the bomb blast that went off in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji. In Derby, he was convicted of anti-gay hate crimes in February 2012, becoming one of the first UK citizens to receive a 15-month prison sentence for distributing anti-gay material.
As part of a comeback bid, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will push for reversing the country's legalization of same-sex marriage, according to Advocate.com . the country's strong Catholic contingent has opposed the law, passed last year by Socialist president Francois Hollande, who beat Sarkozy in 2012. Sarkozy, who has been married three times, opposes legalizing surrogacy in France, and so he said that requires also opposing the marriage-equality bill that also legalized same-sex parents adopting children.
A Vigilante group in Kebbi State, Nigeria, said it has arrested 25 gay men in the last year and handed them over to the authorities, Pink News noted. Sanusi Ibrahim Geza, the leader of the Kebbi State command, announced the arrests during a press briefing. He told BBC, "Some of them were flogged while others were taken to court to face other punitive measures." Nigeria strengthened laws against same-sex sexual activity at the start of the year by banning same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection.
Violent clashes between police and far-right protesters erupted in Warsaw during a street rally commemorating Poland's National Independence Day Nov. 11, according to WSWS.org . Among an estimated 40,000 participants, a crowd of ultra-right nationalists pelted riot police with flares, stones and pieces of concrete. A Nov. 11 March of Independence was introduced in 2008 by far-right groups National Radical Camp and All-Polish Youth; the organizations are known for their neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBT stances.
Russia shaved more than two years off the sentence of Maxim Martsinkevich, the leader of an anti-LGBT vigilante group called Occupy Pedophilia, Buzzfeed reported. Martsinkevich is notorious for making videos in which he humiliates gay men by shaving their heads and forcing them to simulate oral sex. In August, a Russian court found Martsinkevich, who goes by the name Tesak, or "Machete," guilty—not of attacking gay men, but of inciting ethnic and religious hatred for his statements about a Moscow race riot. The court sentenced him to five years in a labor camp. Martsinkevich's sentence was adjusted on appeal because his crime of making extremist statements did not result in casualties.
A group of U.S. investors has written to some of the nation's largest publicly traded corporations urging them to extend their LGBT nondiscrimination policies and equal benefits policies abroad, according to a press release from CleanYield.com . The investor group—which collectively owns or manages $210 billion in assets—wrote to approximately 70 companies in the S&P 100 that have strong policies to protect LGBT employees in the U.S., as designated by the Human Rights Campaign's 2014 Corporate Equality Index. Just a few of the companies are McDonald's, Starbucks, Target, Walt Disney, AT&T, Humana, IBM, Delta, CVS Health, Amazon, Google and Visa.
In Canada, Pride Toronto has announced changes to its board of directors and executive committees, according to a press release. It was confirmed at the first board meeting of the 2015 festival season that Aaron Glynwilliams and Alica Hall, were elected the new co-chairs of Pride Toronto, while Chis Tremeer and Paul Saguil were re-elected to serve as treasurer as secretary, respectively. Also, Hall, Carolynn Gludish, Michael Mirpuri and Tatum Wilson arenew board members.
A breeding bull in Ireland is facing death, as he only shows interest in same sex peers, the Toronto Sun reported. The pedigree Charolais bull was expected to breed with other female cows, but after checks it is clear none of them are pregnant. The farmer, who wishes to remain anonymous, at first thought Benjy must have been put off by having to perform his sexual duties in public; however, another bull has reportedly impregnated some of the cows.
