Scotland made history recently by becoming the first nation in the world to mandate teaching about LGBTQ history and social movements in public school curriculum. 

State schools will be required to teach pupils about the history of LGBTI equalities and movements, as well as tackling homophobia and transphobia and exploring LGBTI identity, after ministers accepted in full the recommendations of a working group led by the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign. There will be no exemptions or opt-outs to the policy, which will embed LGBTI inclusive education across the curriculum and across subjects and which the Scottish government believes is a world first.

Jordan Daly, the co-founder of TIE, said the “destructive legacy” of section 28 had come to an end. This legislation, introduced in 1988, banned local authorities in the UK from “promoting” homosexuality, until it was eventually repealed in Scotland 2001 and in the rest of the UK two years later.

Daly said: “This is a monumental victory for our campaign, and a historic moment for our country. The implementation of LGBTI inclusive education across all state schools is a world first. In a time of global uncertainty, this sends a strong and clear message to LGBTI young people that they are valued here in Scotland.”

Incredible. I can’t wait until the day when this is the standard around the world.

The United States has announced that it will now be much harder for LGBTQ diplomats to get visas for their same-sex partners.  

Beginning this week, diplomats and workers for international organizations will only be able to get visa benefits for their partners if they are married. The problem is that marriage equality isn’t legal in a lot of UN countries – marriage equality is allowed in only 12% of member states, actually – and getting married at home for visa benefits could put a lot of people at risk.

Alfonso Nam, the president of U.N. Globe, a gay rights advocacy organization for United Nations employees, said the policy would raise concerns among future United Nations employees, particularly those from countries hostile to gay, lesbian and transgender people.

“For same-sex couples serving the U.N., the U.S. is usually a desired destination for work,” Mr. Nam said. “It’s a place where you are able to bring your legal partner and get a visa.”

“Whether that will continue to remain the same is to be seen,” he added.

This is the danger of thinking too narrowly about LGBTQ rights in the world (and of having Trump for a president, but you knew that already). This will affect at least 100 families right off the bat and could affect the way these folks pursue their careers and their lives in the future. Bad, bad call. 

This month in Kenya, the Court of Appeal ruled that it is illegal to perform forced anal examinations on suspected gay and bisexual man. 

The landmark case was brought by the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) after two men were arrested in 2015 on suspicion of having gay sex, which is illegal in Kenya and punishable by 14 years in jail.

The men said they were subjected to forced anal examination by security personnel and a public hospital in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa to determine if they had engaged in anal sex and were homosexual. They were also forced to take HIV tests.

“The NGLHRC has long argued that the tests are a violation of rights to privacy and dignity and amount to torture,” said a statement from the charity, which represents the rights of sexual minorities in the conservative east African nation.

“The violating examinations, which include being made to lie with legs up in a humiliating position and having instruments forced into your rectum, are widely accepted to have no medical merit.”

A huge human rights win in Kenya. Congratulations, friends. Nobody deserves to go through this, and this decision should have been made long ago. 

Marielle was an outsider in Brazil’s male-dominated political system; in 2017, the UN ranked Brazil 154th out of 190 countries in terms of women’s participation in parliament. And Marielle wasn’t just a woman — she was a gay, black woman, making her rise to power even unlikelier. Her presence in the country’s conservative, male-dominated political environment was all too unlikely, and within that environment, she thrived. […]

She went on to become a daring, groundbreaking politician. As president of the Women’s Defense Commission, she defended the right to abortion; she also organized public debates about gender issues and held meetings to talk and listen to Black activists. She was a member of the State Human Rights Commission, from which she worked to uplift poor, young, marginalized women throughout the country. Her murder came just hours after a rally she orchestrated for black women’s rights. What’s especially troubling about her death is that Franco was an outspoken critic against police violence and the city’s state military presence.

Franco’s death is even more disturbing for Brazil’s LGBTQ+ community, because she was a rare and powerful advocate for queer people, who are notoriously underrepresented in Brazilian politics. Frequently outspoken about the country’s epidemic of anti-trans violence, Franco brought light and attention to areas other Brazilian politicians were all too quick to ignore. She brought visibility to the country’s wave of lesbian deaths, and pushed to create a Lesbian Day of Visibility to develop social awareness of the systematic killing of queer women throughout the country. She brought public praise to trans Brazilian leaders and efforts to recognize chosen names in official city council documents. In a country where anti-LGBTQ+ violence is rampant and queer rights are lacking, she stood up for her community — and her community mourns her in turn.

Powerful read. Find the whole piece at them. 

Last week in Ireland, Senator Fintan Warfield proposed a bill that would ban the harmful, ineffective practice of conversion therapy nationwide. Only three nations have completely banned the practice: Brazil, Ecuador and Malta. 

Warfield’s bill would ban conversion therapy for youth and adults and also explicitly includes therapy attempting to change gender identity. It calls conversion therapy a “deceptive and harmful act or practice against a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and, or gender expression.”

Such therapies could have a “negative impact on people’s mental health, as they can lead to lower self-esteem, depression and suicidal ideation,” Evelyne Paradis, ILGA’s executive director in Europe, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Legislation sends out a powerful message that stigma masquerading as ‘therapy’ will not be tolerated by modern societies … and we encourage Irish parliamentarians to quickly pick up this really important issue,” she said by email.

Under the bill, individuals found guilty of performing conversion therapy on another person could be fined up to 10,000 euros ($12,351) and face up to a year in prison.

Go, Ireland! 

Australian airline Qantas has instructed its staff to use gender-neutral language on flights in order to be more inclusive of all customers. 

Airline staff are advised to use words like “partner” and “spouse” instead of husband or wife, and “parents” instead of mother and father. The guidelines also encourage staff to be mindful of using gendered group language like “guys” and for men to ensure they do not speak over women. 

A spokesperson for the company has said that they have a “long and proud history of promoting inclusion among our people, our customers and society.”

“We want Qantas to be an inclusive workplace and we shared some factsheets created by the Diversity Council of Australia with some suggestions on more inclusive language, particularly on gender, age and LGBTI issues,” the spokesperson said.

Love. We are so much more than just “ladies and gentlemen.” 

This month, the British overseas territory of Bermuda became the first jurisdiction in the world to reverse a law legalizing marriage equality. Now, experts are worried that other countries and jurisdictions around the world might do the same. 

“This could open the door to undo marriage equality elsewhere,” said Jordan Sousa, founder of Bermuda’s Gay Straight Alliance, one of several local advocacy groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, with 1,200-odd members.

Same-sex marriage has become legal in 26 nations since the Netherlands led the way in 2001. Austria and Taiwan are set to join this list following court rulings on the matter in 2017.

So it came as a surprise to many when Bermuda reversed its decision and introduced a new Domestic Partnership Act that let islanders form domestic partnerships but not marry. The government said gay couples who had wed would keep their status.

Only a dozen or so same-sex weddings have taken place in Bermuda or on cruise ships registered in the territory in the nine months since it became legal. It was unclear how many have gay marriages been canceled as a result of the new legislation.

This is horribly disappointing, and sets such a terrible precedent for other places struggling to accept equal rights. My heart is with you, Bermuda.