Some Events of the year 2014: Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation

Some events of 2013. Some events of 2012. Some events of 2011. Some events of 2010. Some events of 2009. Some Events of 2008.

This is just some of what happened in 2014.

Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation.
Part 2: Persons,
Part 3: Marriage, Lovers and Family, Trans & Intersex Kids,
Part 4: Politics & Government, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals,
Part 5: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Cops & Military, Imprisonment, Homeless shelters, Nemeses,
Part 6: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Legal, Deaths
Part 7: Dress Reform, Homeogender Surgeries, Fashion, Beauty Pageants, Music & Performance,
Part 8: Internet, Art, Radio, Television, Adverts, Theatre, Cinema
Part 9: Jargon, Magazines & Newspapers, Journal Articles & Studies,
Part 10: Archives, Theses, Books.

Organizations & Activists

International:

Amnesty International. Europe: The state decides who I am: Lack of legal gender recognition for transgender people in Europe. 2014. PDF. News release. "This report illustrates the human rights violations experienced by transgender people in Europe when seeking legal gender recognition. Some countries simply do not allow for a change in one’s legal gender. Many others have made the change in one’s legal gender contingent on the fulfillment of invasive requirements, which violate the human rights of transgender people."

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) 23^rd symposium in Bangkok February 2014. Program. Abstracts. NewsArticle.

Transgender military personnel from several NATO countries, organized by the American Civil Liberties Union, met in Washington DC in late October to continue pressure on the Pentagon to allow open transgender persons to serve in the U.S. military.

World Health Organization has urged for an end to the forced sterilisation of transgender and intersex people around the globe.

Africa:

Audrey Mbugua, Maureen Muia and Annet Jennife, Kenya, succeeded in registering the Transgender Education and Advocacy (TEA). A high court judge ordered the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) coordination board to register the group and compensate the litigants. Website.

Audrey Mbugua won a case in the High Court against the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) that they are to change her name on her academic certificates, and remove the male gender marker. “The court takes judicial notice of the fact that examinations in this country are not administered based on the gender of the candidate. Marks are also not awarded on gender."

The 2^ndTrans* Health, Advocacy & Research Conference hosted by Gender DynamiX, Social Health & Empowermen Feminsit Collective of Transgender & Intersex women of Africa and Transgender and Intersex Africa, 31 May- 2 June 2014 in Cape Town.



--- The Cape Town Declaration, July 2014, urged that WHO ICD-11 discard the current Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood diagnosis and refrain from replacing it with any new pathologising diagnosis, including the proposed Gender Incongruence of Childhood (GIC) diagnosis.

Americas:

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin, 'formally apologized' to trans community at the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta. Transcript. "“HRC has done wrong by the transgender community in the past, and I am here to formally apologize, I am sorry for the times when we stood apart when we should have been standing together.”

Chicago – trans billboard campaign by TransLife Center at the Chicago House in conjunction with Camp Firebelly .

Diane Rodriguez, Ecuador, Silueta X , sued government for refusing to acknowledge her gender identity, congratulated by the President for her successful work towards civil unions, sued a coffee chain for firing trans employees, made a video recording its discrimination, organized LGBT, black, aboriginal, women's groups to counter stereotyping in the media, forced into hiding after death threats.

Maryland: Sailor Holobaugh, 31, sued and now state employees in Maryland can access transgender medical care.

Oklahoma: Court of Civil Appeals reversed a 2012 ruling by a district judge that denied a name change for a transgender Oklahoman.

Los Angeles Trans Pride event evacuated due to bomb threat.

San Francisco renamed the 100 block of Turk Street after Vicki Marlane who frequently performed there.

San Francisco opened a Rainbow Honor walk and ruined it with typos and misinformation, e.g: Harry Hay, a “sexual revolutionary who defined LGBT as a cultural identity"; Oscar Wilde's "bitting wit"; Sylvester James as a "“multi-gold record singer " and Christine Jorgensen the first “trangendered American publicly to announce her change of sexual identity”. !!!!

San Francisco – dedicated suicide hotline for trans person.

Maine: Supreme Judicial Court ruled that transgender student Nicole Maines rights were violated after her school denied her access to the rest room that corresponded to her gender expression.

GLAAD – Christina Kahrl joined board of directors Nov 2013.
---- acted as if excluding drag from the trans umbrella

• Andrea James. "The GLAAD Board’s “Tranny” Trouble: How Its Trans Takeover Is Reshaping LGBT Politics". Queerty, Jul 24, 2014. www.queerty.com/the-glaad-boards-tranny-trouble-how-its-trans-takeover-is-reshaping-lgbt-politics-20140724.
  

Free and Equal – UN campaign in Brazil.



300 Latin American, Caribbean LGBT advocates attended Peru meeting at Cayetano Heredia University’s campus in Lima.

Anonymous Toronto trans persons chalked the circular trans symbol in Cawthra Park opposite the Aids Memorial on 12 July. City council, without input from the LGBT community, decided to rename the park after former mayor, Barbara Hall, and there was a ceremony for the renaming on 16 July. While cleaning the park for the ceremony, city workers removed the chalk memorial. The politicians promised a permanent trans memorial will be installed.

Toronto had two separate trans marches at the same time in that Trans March Toronto chose to remain unaffiliated with WorldPride over concerns of commercialization.

Trails End farmers' market in London, Ontario, had in September 2011 given stall-holder Karen Clarke-McIlwain the ultimatum to fire her trans employees or leave. She filed a human-rights complaint, and in May 2014 the tribunal found for Clarke-McIlwain, ordering the market boss to pay $40,000 in damages, and he and his staff should take a human-rights training course.

Asia:

After a recent demonstration Bangalore against India's recriminalization of homosexuality in 2013, 167 hijras were arrested in a 'crackdown' on assumed beggars, although they were not begging at the time and some were dragged from their homes, and others when they went to the police station to help those already arrested. Nearly 2,000 hijras and supporters, aware of the targeted nature of the sweep marched in protest.

++Azra Has, a trans sex worker who was killed by serial killer Hamdi Ayri was commemorated in the Turkish city of Izmir. Her name was given to then Bornova Street where many trans sex workers live.

Yonatan Marton, 32, a trans man with Israeli Health Ministry's Levinsky Clinic, offers STD testing.

Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, 35, and others petitioned the Indian Supreme Court to recognize a 3^rd gender, which was achieved in April 2014.

Istanbul Pride, the largest LGBT celebration in any majority Muslim country. 100,000+. This year it coincided with Ramadan.

Trans activists at the Turkish Parliament.

1,000+ hijras led the first Bangladesh Pride march 10 November.

Half a million Indians proclaimed themselves transgender or 3^rd gender in the Indian Census.

Malaysia, Appeals Court found that a state Sharia-law ban on cross-dressing was “degrading, oppressive and inhuman”. The case was filed by transgender women who challenged section 66 of the Sharia law in Negeri Sembilan state, which prohibits “any male person who in any public place wears a woman’s attire or poses as a woman.” The state’s Religious Department has used this law repeatedly to arrest transgender women. The Deputy Prime Minister has called for a review.

Q, Hong Kong, launched a legal challenge against a new law that would ban him from marrying unless he undergoes surgery.

Sou Southevy, 74, Cambodia, was awarded the David Kato award.

Turkey: Trans Pride demonstrators vow to keep on fighting.

Europe:

The 5th European Transgender Council “Trans*: Safe & Equal!” took place from May 1-4 in Budapest. 200 delegates met to discuss, strategise and network over how to improve safety and equality for trans* people.

"C" launched court case that the Department of Work and Pensions should not retain or use the information relating to her previous name and gender.

The memorial to victims of transphobic hate crimes in Sackville Gardens, Manchester,which was vandalised last year, was restored.

The Scottish Transgender Alliance (STA) and Equality Network co-launched a campaign for trans and intersex equality:

1. For the Scottish Government to engage with intersex people, to understand their concerns and recognise their right to bodily autonomy and social equality
   
2. Remove the offensive psychiatric assessment requirement from legal gender recognition
   
3. Introduce legal recognition for people who do not identify as men or women
   
4. Reduce the age at which people can change their birth certificates
   

Vladimir Luxuria was arrested in Sochi during the Olympic Games for demonstrating against Russia's anti-gay laws.

Stonewall new CEO met with trans representatives to see how the organization can help.

Gender Intelligence secured a £10,000 lottery grant.

TGEU held a Being Trans event at the Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius, Lithuania.

TGEU submitted a report in May 2014 to the European Commission, lining out how trans people actually fail to be protected under the EU law.

Oceania:

The Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health (ANZPATH) held its Third International Biennial Conference in Adelaide. Newsarticle.

OII Australia wrote to ANZPATH requested that ANZPATH remove intersex descriptions from  transgender and its remit.

Trans personnel in the Australian Defence Force, for the first time, marched in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

The International AIDS Conference in Melbourne was criticized for a lack of trans speakers.

Woolworths in Wollongong was criticized for its handling of an incident that saw an employee laugh at a young trans customer.

Equal marriage & civil unions

Americas:

Alaska – marriage ban struck down
Arizona - marriage ban struck down
Coahuila – passed by legislature 19-1
Colorado – ban ruled unconstitutional, Supreme Court declined to review.
Florida – ban declared unconstitutional, but ruling on hold until 5 Jan 2015.
Idaho – marriage ban struck down
Illinois – passed by legislature 2013, available in different counties on different dates, and statewise 1 June
Indiana – marriage ban struck down, Supreme Court declined to review.
Missouri – ban ruled unconstitutional
Montana - ban ruled unconstitutional
Nevada – marriage ban struck down
North Carolina – ban struck down
Oklahoma – ban struck down
Oregon – ban struck down
Pennsylvania – ban struck down
South Carolina – ban struck down
Utah – ban struck down
Virginia – ban ruled unconstitutional
West Virginia – ban struck down
Wisconsin – ban ruled unconstitutional
Wyoming – ban ruled unconstitutional
Aboriginal Areas in the US:
     Puyallup Tribe of Nations
     Wind River Reservation

Asia:

Hong Kong Transgender marriage law vetoed in second reading.

Europe:

England & Wales – same sex marriage legalised under a new law that is separate and different from the Marriage Act 1949 with different rules:

• non-consumation and adultery are not grounds for annulment
  
• Church of England and the Church in Wales are explicitly banned from performing religious same-sex marriages, even if they decide they want to
  
• pension inheritance rights for widow(er)s are based only on contributions since 1988
  
• existing spouses can veto a gender recognition certificate
  

Finland – passed by Parliament, first marriages in 2017.
Ireland – referendum May 2015
Luxembourg – passed by Parliament 56-4. The Prime Minister and his civil partner will be one of the first to marry.
Malta – civil unions, same sex couples can adopt, and constitution amended to forbid discrimination against trans person - all on one day.
Scotland: The marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) – the spousal veto amendment means that a trans person will be able to obtain legal gender recognition even when married to a spouse who objects; both mixed and same sex couples may opt for gender neutral marriage ceremonies.

Oceania:

Tony and Manja Briffa, who cannot legally marry in Australia because of Tony's non-specific birth certificate, spoke at a Marriage Equality rally in Melbourne, on 16 August 2014.

Other Legislation, Litigation, other government and corporate actions, etc

International:

Trans Rights Europe Map & Index

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, IEEE, added sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to its non-discrimination code, after application by Lynn Conway and Leandra Vicci. 

WHO/UN interagency statement on involuntary or coerced sterilisation. Summary.

Americas:

Canada: C-279 to add gender identity as a prohibited ground for discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act was first passed by the House of Commons in March 2013. It was passed a second time after Parliament was prorogued. The Senate has not yet considered it. It has processed Bill C-13 which adds national origin, age, sex, mental disability, physical disability – but not gender. If/when C-13 is passed, C-279 will need to return to the Commons as it addressed the same part of the Criminal Code.

Mexico City gender recognition act.

US Department of Education ruled that transgender students were protected from discrimination on the basis of Title IX.

US Department of Homeland Security selected trans persons for heightened scrutiny.

California: School Success and Opportunity Act in October came into effect - lets children use sex-segregated facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms, and participate in gender-specific activities, under their gender self-identity.

----- Respect After Death Act allows a trans person's death certificate to reflect legal gender rather than anatomy.

Changes of name and gender on a birth certificate: individuals seeking a name change on a birth certificate are no longer required to publish their reflected name in a local newspaper. Additionally, they will no longer be required to attend a court hearing prior to authenticating the request.

Maine: Supreme Judicial Court reversed a lower court’s ruling from November 2012 and stated that the school was in violation of Maine’s Human Rights Act when it denied Nicole Maines (referred to in the ruling as Susan Doe) access to the appropriate bathroom when she was a fifth-grade student at Asa Adams Elementary School in 2007.

Maryland: Fairness for All Marylanders Act (FAMA) passed. Protects trans people from discrimination in housing, employment, credit, and public accommodations, based on gender identity.
---- changed its state employee health care policy to include coverage for transition-related health care.

Massachusetts on Friday became the third state in the US to cover transgender medical services, including gender reassignment surgery, as a standard benefit in its government health plan for lower-income and disabled people.

Backgrounder Report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Orlando has extended its anti-discrimination laws to cover transgender people.

Newfoundland and PEI have explicitly added protections for trans people into their human rights codes, with provincial legislatures passing amendments adding “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination.

New York drops surgery rule for changing sex on birth certificate. New York City creates ID card for residents who face obstacle obtaining other government ID.

Virgina: new governor Terry McAuliffe, moments after inauguration signed “Executive Order Number 1,” a directive prohibiting discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities in Virginia state government.

US: Government, for the first time, filed trans-related cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 1964.

US: President Obama signed an executive order barring LGBT discrimination by federal contractors.

US Medicare now pays for transgender surgery etc.

Department of Justice is to provide training on trans issues to police forces nationwide.

Vancouver Catholic Schools first in Canada to have transgender policy.

Asia:

India: Supreme Court ruling that provided recognition to a “third gender” on official documents such as voter ID cards. The decision could potentially lead to the reservation of government jobs for transgender people and legal guarantees of educational rights in the future. In the meantime, the vast majority of India’s estimated 1 million-plus trans women are relegated.

Delhi: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has declared that transgender children are now eligible for 25 per cent reservation under the economically weaker section (EWS) and disadvantaged students for admission into city schools.

Europe:

Belgium: Anti-Discrimination law and Gender Law are since April 24 fully inclusive of gender identity and expression. The anti-bullying law is also now inclusive of gender identity and expression.

Camden Council, London listed 'transsexualism' alongside mental illness on its forms for applying for housing.

Denmark: Gender Recognition Law does not require surgery, must be 18 and wait a 6-month reflection period. Also can now get an 'X' gender marker in passport without approval from a gender clinic.

Ireland has revised its announced Gender Recognition Bill and stated that it will pass it in 2015. "legislation would include intersex affected individuals and that the medical criteria would not include a diagnosis".

Georgia: new anti-discrimination law includes gender identity and gender expression.

Greece: added gender identity to its hate speech law.

Lithuania refused to consider a bill establishing procedure of legal gender recognition (in defiance of the L vs Lithuania ECHR ruling).

Malta has become the first country in Europe to protect trans people in the constitution, and introduced civil unions and gay adoption.

Netherlands passed legislation that allows trans people to change their gender classification on official documents without being required to undergo surgery and sterilization or obtain court permission.

Norway: Norwegian Equality Ombud Ørstavik, took a decision in the case of John Jeanette Solstad Remø. The Equality Body found that the responsible Ministry of Health could not provide substantive arguments to uphold the sterilization requirement, but referred to a practice established since the 50s.

Oceania:

Australian Capital Territory (ACT) passed new laws allowing trans and intersex people the right to alter their birth certificates.