Some events of
2014. 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 2015.
Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation.
Part 2:
Persons, Changebacks
Part 3:
Marriage, Lovers and Family, Trans Kids
Part 4:
Politics & Government, Celebrities, Sports
Part 5:
Schools, Universities & Colleges, Military, Cops & Firefighters, Conviction & Imprisonment, Homeless Shelters, US TSA, Nemeses,
Part 6:
Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Legal, Deaths
Part 7:
Autogynephilia, Drag, Butch, Dress Reform, Homeogender Surgeries, Fashion, Beauty Pageants, Music & Performance
Part 8:
Internet, Art, Radio, Television, Adverts, Pornography, Theatre, Cinema
Part 9:
Jargon, News Media, Journal Articles & Studies
Part 10:
Archives & History, Books.
Organizations & Activists
International:
WPATH: 2015 Statement on Identity Recognition.
PDF “Therefore, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health urges governments to eliminate unnecessary barriers, and to institute simple and accessible administrative procedures for transgender people to obtain legal recognition of gender, consonant with each individual’s identity, when gender markers on identity documents are considered necessary.”
Human Rights Watch criticized an Islamic Court for fining nine women and jailing two for a month each for “cross-dressing”.
ILGA passed a new Gender Identity and Gender Expression Strategy at the recent board meeting in Bangkok.
Africa:
SHE - Social, Health and Empowerment feminist collective of transgender and intersex women of Africa, which is based in the Eastern Cape Province. In South Africa, transwomen were limited to three possible professions: performing drag, hairdressing or sex work. “We are more than this,” she said, also highlighting that 30% of the respondents with tertiary qualifications were not employed in the area of work they were qualified for. (see also under Art & Photography in Part 8)
Transgender Intersex Africa
Activists:
Audrey Mbugua, 31, Nairobi, activist.
More more
Beyoncé Karungi, 35, Uganda, almost beaten to death.
Yara, Cairo, runs a FaceBook page for trans persons.
Americas:
Brazil:
Transcidadania program served 100 trans persons, enabled them to get out of sex work, and complete education and gain professional qualifications.
Buenos Aires Legislature created the day of promotion of Trans Rights on 18 March, the day when
Claudia Pia Baudracco, founder of ATA (later ATTA) died.
Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo: protests after sign at the Register Offices of the Central Electoral Board that prohibited identity card photographs where appear to be 'other sex'.
Los Angeles:
Network of Gay-Straight Alliance and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice marched around the building of the City and to the offices of the Police Department to protest the deaths of eight transgender women in California and other states so far in 2015 by February.
17
th Los Angeles Trans Pride March
Manhattan,
Tlust, which provided support and social events for trans personsm has been sued for eviction.
Newfoundland and Labrador will allow gender changes to birth certificates after Kyra Rees in St John's won such a court ruling in her case.
New York: a report by Pride Agenda found: “the transgender portion of the queer community is 50 percent more likely to be in poor or only fair health, 150 percent more likely to have a history of homelessness, twice as likely to live in poverty, and three times more likely to have less than a high school education — all by comparison to lesbian, gay, and bisexual respondents”.
Santa Ana, California: trans and queer protesters against
incarceration of LGBT immigrants
São Paulo - CAIS - Associação Centro de Apoio e Inclusão Social de Travestis e Transexuais founded.
São Paulo Municipal Hall: trans persons demonstrated after 'gender identity', 'sexual orientation' and 'sexuality' were removed from list list of protected classes.
Sher Vancouver, a support group for LGBTQ South Asians, established a youth leadership award named for January Marie Lapuz, who was killed by a trick in September 2012.
Southern Comfort Conference moved to Fort Lauderdale for its 25
th year.
1
st St John's Trans March.
Trans Equality Now (TEN) which grew out of Vancouver Pride, will lobby the B.C. and federal governments to pass pro-equality legislation, while educating the general public on issues affecting trans people.
Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) organized a
die-in at San Francisco City Hall noting that trans people face high rates of abuse by police and correctional officers, and are often turned away by gendered social service operators such as battered women's shelters and drug rehab centers.
Transgender Law Center and Equality California Institute working together to educate the public in California on trans issues.
Trans Law Symposium, Chicago, Aug 7, sponsered by The Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.
Vancouver Pride banned groups from participating unless they support transgender equality legislation. This became controversial when the ruling BC Liberal Party was banned.
Venezuela's
Sex-Gender Diverse Alliance (ASGDRe), with state and federal funding held its 1
st National Congress.
Venezuela's
LGBTI Network, which had been assumed to be inactive since the 1990s, appeared at an OAS Human Rights Commission in Washington DC and claimed “alarming” levels of homophobia since 2009. This in the context of a stream of US disinformation against Venezuela.
Activists:
Alejandra Spinetti, President of Trans Union of Uruguay.
Isa Noyola, Director of Transgender Law Center, spoke at US Congress' Forum on Violence Against the Transgender Community.
Kendra Stefani Jordany, 25, Honduras, activist with Centro de Educación y Prevención en Salud, Sexualidad y Sida.
Leodán Suarez, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, complained of police harassment.
Lourdes Ashley Hunter, National Director of the Trans Women of Color Collective.
Marissa Richmond, 1
st president of Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, activist for 19 years.
Morgane Oger, Vancouver, mom of two young children, is also chair of the Trans Alliance Society and spoke at panel at Leading Moms (which pays tribute to Vancouver mothers who are artists, professionals, activists, entrepreneurs and leaders making a difference in their communities).
Rachel Crandell of Transgender Michigan given a Good Neighbour Award in Ferndale, Michigan.
Thais Izuisa Tuanama, Peru, president of trans organization, Las Amazonas, married her man.
Asia:
Bharathi Kanamma Trust launched a website for trans persons across India to find work.
Istanbul LGBTT – with Dutch support, will now provide psychological, legal, and social support at 2 trans guest houses.
Japanese Society of Gender Identity Disorder said that it plans to launch a certification system for doctors who are GID specialists and will aim to get gender reassignment surgery covered by national health insurance.
Istanbul
Trans Pride March, which included many Syrian refugees, and acclaimed those in prison, condemned President Erdogan for his hate speech,
Activists:
- Akkai Padmashali, Bangalore, worked with Sangama, founder of Ondede, now among 60 Indians chosen for 2015 Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.
Dorian Wilde, 27, Kuala Lumpar, advocate for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Sogi) - Laxmi Narayan Tripathi in talks with the Gujarat government for including the transgender community in OBC category and integrating them in school curriculum.
- Nisha Ayub, Malaysian activist awarded by Human Rights Watch.
- Öykü Ay, Turkey, organised a shelter for trans persons.
- Mama Kuo, Taiwan, mother of trans man, counsels similar parents, took her classes to Guangzhou.
- Rana, president of Gender Interactive Alliance organised a seminar in Karachi called 'Importance of Transgender Rights'.
Europe:
EPATH Conference, 12 March 2015, Gent.
Free Pride, Glasgow, first banned drag queens for being ‘offensive’ but then admitted their mistake and will now welcome any performers of any gender.
Gendered Intelligence provide lessons to primary schools.
Gender Liberation, a new NGO in Malta.
ILGA-Europe et with members of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner and officials from the Council of Europe. Seminar highlighted two new papers on human rights of intersex persons.
Doc Doc
LGBT Youth Scotland is encountering more people who feel neither female nor male.
Stonewall England and Wales, under new CEO, going trans inclusive.
TGEU Co-Chair Arja Voipio spoke at the
European Parliament about the need of the European Union to adopt a comprehensive LGBTI action plan with a strong focus on trans people.
TGEU present at the conference “Democracy for All: Political Participation of LGBTI Persons in the Western Balkans” in Belgrade took to the occasion to call on the
Serbian government to make up for lost time and to imminently begin discussions with relevant stakeholders to introduce a Legal Gender Recognition
law based on self-determination of the individual which reflects the needs of the local trans community.
Trans*formation, London, the professional networking group for trans employees and allies.
Transgender Europe calls on the World Health Organisation and governments to ensure that gender variant children are not labelled as sick, On 14 October 2015, International Day of Action for Trans Depathologisation,
www.transrespect.org. (see section 6: Deaths for a summary of their research on murders of trans persons). Transgender Europe’s (TGEU) Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project, TvT, is now easily accessible in a new website.
Transrespect and Transphobia in Europe – a joint event by TGEU and Böll-Foundation 11:00 18 June 2015 @ Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Foundation; Kottbusser Damm 72.
UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee hears evidence surrounding the Gender Recognition Act.
Various problems were raised.
UK:
Petition to Parliament to allow transgender people to self-define their own legal gender has gained nearly 10,000 signatures.
Wipe Out Transphobia put up bi-lingual posters across Wales.
Activists:
Delia Johnson, 65, Milton Keynes, works as specialist diversity consultant for Trans In Sport, Northamptonshire Police and England Netball, fighting for the rights of the transgender community.
Delphine Philbert, of Objectif Égalité Lorraine needs €2,200 for a legal appeal, that surgery abroad should be reimbursed.
Jo Bernardo, Portuguese activist and artist.
Júlia Mendes Pereira, Lisbon, co-founded Ação Pela Identidade – API. On TGEU steering committee.
Leo Bebel, Milan, found Izabelly, from Bahia, Brazil, living on the streets, bathed and cared for her, and used social networks to find her family that had had no contact for 6 years.
Shannon Taylor, 45, Suffolk, featured on a poster against transphobia being distributed at police stations.
Megan Key awarded the Positive Role Model Award in the LGBT category of the National Diversity Awards, at a sparkling ceremony in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. The @TransGirlsCan campaigner has been active in highlighting transgender (trans) issues. Dedicated to raising awareness at all levels and throughout the country, Megan volunteers as a trustee for Wolverhampton-based charity Gender Matters, working with schools in Birmingham to promote trans awareness, and representing her trade union at the TUC LGBT conference.
Steph Holmes, 65, Darwen, Lancashire, who runs Chrysalis Trans Support Network , was reported to have
asked police to investigate a 'Dames on the Run” fund raiser for a children's hospice. This resulted in a lot of
negative reactions.
Oceania
Cate McGregor patron of
Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation which works to promote and protect the human rights of glbti people in the Asia Pacific region.
Georgia Yavanovic, Alice Springs, Klinefelter syndrome activists spoke against the 'normalising' surgery that was forced on her as a teenager.
Greer, 63, Melbourne, President of Seahorse Victoria.
NZ: Agender's new president
Lynda Whitehead hopes to regrow it to what it was before.
Equal marriage & civil unions
Americas
Mexican Catholic Archbishops attempted to exorcise the entire nation to rid it of the 'Satanic infestation' of same-sex marriage.
Chile: civil unions recognised.
Ecuador introduced civil unions.
Grand Ronde Confederation, Oregon
Greenland. Legislation passed, requires modification of Danish law. Will come into effect 2016.
Mexico: Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning same-sex marriage are discriminatory.
Oneida tribe, Wisconsin
Siletz confederation, Oregon
Tlinglit and Haida tribes, Alaska.
USA: Supreme Court ruled that same-sex married couples were to be constitutionally accorded the same recognition as opposite-sex couples at state/territory levels, as well as at federal level.
Asia
Two Tokyo districts issued Japan's first certificates officially recognising same-sex partnerships
Vietnam: allows gay weddings, it will not offer legal recognition or protection to unions between people of the same sex.
Europe
Finland: legislation passed, but will not take effect until 2017.
Ireland: first nation to endorse equal marriage by referendum. Signed into law as 43th Amendment to the Constitution.
Luxembourg: passed by Chamber of Deputies.
Northern Ireland Assembly voted narrowly in favour of equal marriage, but the Democratic Unity Party vetoed it.
Slovenia: introduced by the United Left opposition party and passed, but opponents have obtained a referendum.
Oceania
Australia: Prime Minister Tony Abbott was staunchly against equal marriage, but has been removed in a party coup. The new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised a plebiscite after the next election.
Pitcairn Island, population 48, passed law to allow same-sex marriage.
Other Legislation, Litigation, other government and corporate actions, etc
International
Catholic Church issues ban on
transgender godparents.
Pope: “Let’s think also of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognize the order of creation. With this attitude, man commits a new sin, that against God the Creator. The true custody of creation does not have anything to do with the ideologies that consider man like an accident, like a problem to eliminate.”
UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Chile to cease intersex genital mutilation.
World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the Argentinian Gender Identity Law as a model for the world.
Africa
Mozambique repealed colonial-era law “"security measures to be taken against anyone practicing vices against nature”. No-one had been prosecuted under it for the last 40 years.
Americas
Argentina: surgery or hormone treatments to bring the body to self-perceived identity will be included in the Compulsory Medical Plan (PMO).
BC: NDP MLA
Spencer Chandra Herbert reintroduced bill to include trans persons in Human Rights Code.
Bolivia: people who want to alter their name and sex on official identity documents must apply to the Ministry of Justice, where a “psychological examination will be held to approve the process.”
Buenos Aires province: requires the province fill at least 1 percent of government jobs with transgender people.
California: judge has thrown out a proposed ballot initiative that advocated killing anyone who engages in gay sex, calling the measure "patently unconstitutional."
California: trans person to determine gender listed on own death certificate.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada will now accept revised provincial documents re change of gender for Citizenship Card, and will no longer require documentation regarding surgery.
Canada's Transgender rights Bill derailed when Senate added amendment excluding public toilets and changerooms, prisons and crisis centres. With the change of Government in October's election, there is hope of moving forward.
Chicago City Council added gender identity and national origin to an existing list where the police are forbidden to profile.
Colombia: name and gender can be changed on identity cards without intrusive physical and psychological examinations as before.
Delaware: trans inmates may now seek a name change based on gender identity.
Ecuador recognises transgender civil status.
Hawai'i removed surgery requirement before changing gender on birth certificate.
Houston, Texas: equal rights ordinance passed 11-6 by the Council, but conservative foes objecting to inclusion of gay and transgender provisions forced a referendum, and it was defeated.
Illinois: ban on conversion therapy for LGBT youths.
Manitoba: first Canadian province to ban conversion therapy.
Nevada: state employees and covered family members will have transgender health coverage
New Jersey Legislature twice passed a bill that removed requirement for surgery before changing gender on birth certificate. However it was vetoed both times by Governor
Chris Christie, who found the issue
funny.
Ontario: ban on billing for conversion therapy to change sexual orientation or gender identity.
Ontario to expand access to publicly insured sex reassignment surgery. Referral for surgery to be done by any qualified health-care professional.
Oregon: ban on conversion therapy for LGBT youths.
New York State: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his executive power to expand the state's anti-discrimination rules to safeguard transgender people, creating a protection advocates had been fighting for years to try to receive.
Puerto Rico schools now allow students to choose between skirts and trousers.
São Paulo government launched Transcidadania program to socially integrate trans person. First 100 beneficiaries to get up R$840 for vocational courses.
US:
FBI, which is now required to track hate crimes against trans persons, counted only 33 in 2013, while the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) counted 344.
US: "Religious Freedom" act passed in
Indiana, to legitimize discrimination against LGBT persons; Kansas rescinded an LGBT anti-discrimination order, and Arkansas prohibited anti-discrimination codes being enacted by cities and local governments
Anti-trans "
Bathroom Bills" proposed in Nevada, Florida, Texas and elsewhere in US, to stop trans persons from using public toilets.
Asia
Bangladesh: Hijras to be recruited as traffic police.
Bengal government announced Transgender Development Board. Only Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra of the other provinces have transgender development bodies.
India: the
Rajya Sabha, the upper house,
unanimously passed a private member’s Bill which aims to protect the rights of transgender persons and end discrimination against them. This was the first private member's bill on any topic to pass for 45 years.
Indian government asks Supreme Court to define 'transgender'.
Ruling BJP is worried that the private member's bill on transgender rights could provide a strong opening for decriminalization of homosexuality which the ruling BJP is opposed to.
Iran consider bill to protect transgender people.
Israel: State Attorney's Office told the High Court that it no longer opposes allowing Israelis to officially change their sex, even without undergoing an operation.
Malaysian court rules transgender people 'mentally ill'.
More.
Nepal adopted new constitution that explicitly protects gays, lesbians and trans persons.
Raipur, Chhattisgarh, provide 2% special housing quota in its schemes for transgender.
Taiwan, issued gender reassignment regulations but would bar those married or with children.
Thailand: 'sexual identity' in new Human Rights Charter. Also passed
Gender Equality Act.
Vietnam: new legislation will allow those who have undergone reassignment to register under their new gender. The law will come into effect early in 2017 after 282 of 366 lawmakers voted in favour.
Comment
Europe:
The
Council of Europe called on its 47 member states to adopt transgender inclusive anti-discrimination and hate crime legislation and introduce a third gender option in identity documents for people who do not identify as male or female.
European Commission published on 10th November 2015 its annual progress reports addressing the track record of EU accession countries, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia and Turkey. The EU Commissioner Hahn stressed that the leading principle of “fundamentals first” in the accession process must include the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. The EU Commission highlighted alarming levels of discrimination and violence that LGBTI people are facing throughout the accession region, drawing attention to the inadequate response from authorities. The reports on Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, however, fail to reflect on the absence of adequate gender recognition procedures.
The Council of Europe
Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) has for the first time addressed gender identity discrimination in one of its reports. In its report issued on November 11, 2015, it recommends that Austria enable that trans persons in detention have access to trans specific health and legal gender recognition. Also, non-discrimination policies should be developed.
The
European Court of Human Rights ruled that the requirement of permanent infertility to undergo gender reassignment surgery is a violation of the right to privacy, as guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case resulted from Turkish authorities refusing to grant authorisation for gender reassignment surgery because the applicant requesting it was not permanently unable to procreate. Article 40 of Turkey’s Civil Code stipulates that persons undergoing gender reassignment surgery need to be permanently infertile, which the person in question was not.
Finland: Government submitted a proposal to the Finnish Parliament to abolish a standing requirement that requires trans persons to be single in order to be granted legal gender recognition.
Georgia: proposal to allow change of gender in official documents.
Ireland: Gender Recognition Act. No need to consult a doctor. A simple two-page form to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and revised birth certificate.
Italy: the Supreme Court in Italy ruled that a marriage between a man and a woman remains valid even after the man had a sex change, saying the marriage can’t be annulled until Italian authorities recognize civil unions.
Italy: Supreme Court ruled that trans persons have the right to self identify, and that surgery is not required.
Malta: surgery, sterilisation and a diagnosis of mental illness no longer needed to change legal gender.
The Polish Parliament passed a
Gender Accordance Act: 252 MPs voted for, with 158 against, and 11 abstained. However the President, Andrzej Duda, vetoed it. This was even before the General Election which swung heavily right.
Portugal: 'gender identity' added to Labour Code.
Russia banned trans persons and others with mental disorders from driving.
The UK
National Union of Students (NUS) bans drag as fancy dress - except it doesn't. picture
Ukraine: passed an anti-discrimination amendment to the labour code that outlaws gender identity discrimination. Legal gender recognition is very cumbersome, involving forced psychiatrisation, divorce and sterilisation. Non-matching ID documents are often the reason for trans people being laid off or not getting hired.
