India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling – BBC News

~ mcequality

In a historic decision, India’s Supreme Court has ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence.
The ruling overturns a 2013 judgement that upheld a colonial-era law, known as section 377, under which gay sex is categorised as an “unnatural offence”.
The court has now ruled discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a fundamental violation of rights.
Campaigners outside the court cheered and some broke down in tears as the ruling was handed down.
Although public opinion in India’s biggest cities has been in favour of scrapping the law, there remains strong opposition among religious groups and in conservative rural communities.

via India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling – BBC News

UCLA Student Sues Campus Fraternities for Failing to Do More to Prevent Sexual Assault 

~ mcequality

In 2017, a UCLA student filed a Title IX complaint against another student for sexually assaulting her and won. (Her attacker, Blake Lobato, was expelled.) She is now suing two fraternities and a student group representing the interests of other frats on campus in order to change “a culture of alcohol abuse and sexual transgression,” reports the LA Times.

The civil complaint (filed under Jane Doe) accuses fraternities, especially Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, with “[doing] little-to-nothing to protect their members and guests from harm.” It also accuses the SAE chapter at UCLA of failing to intervene on the night she was sexually assaulted by Lobato:

via UCLA Student Sues Campus Fraternities for Failing to Do More to Prevent Sexual Assault 

Make misogyny a hate crime, Stella Creasy urges – BBC News

~ mcequality

A Labour MP is trying to change the law so that misogynistic behaviour is treated as a hate crime.
Stella Creasy wants to amend new legislation that bans taking unsolicited pictures under someone’s clothing.
Her changes would mean someone convicted of the crime could get a tougher sentence if it was “motivated by misogyny”.
MPs will consider the draft legislation on Wednesday.

via Make misogyny a hate crime, Stella Creasy urges – BBC News

GOP Official Resigns After Calling NFL Players ‘Baboons’ and ‘Ignorant Blacks’

~ mcequality

As racists across the country melt down over Nike’s new Colin Kaepernick ad celebrating his activism, one Republican county official has resigned over Facebook posts that called black football players who protest police brutality “baboons” and “ignorant blacks.”

Carla Maloney resigned as secretary of the Beaver County Republican Committee after local outlet the Beaver Countian published some of the garbage she wrote and shared on a personal Facebook page under her old name, Carla Belich Fueller, which has since been deactivated. Here are some of the opinions she reportedly shared online:

via GOP Official Resigns After Calling NFL Players ‘Baboons’ and ‘Ignorant Blacks’

LGBT Plaques | English Heritage

~ mcequality

LONDON PRIDE: LGBTQ STORIES FROM HISTORY

Many of the famous figures honoured with a London blue plaque lived radical private lives outside the sexual norms of the time. Some were persecuted for it and some helped to challenge public perceptions of gender and sexuality. Below, we explore the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) stories associated with some of London’s blue plaques.

via LGBT Plaques | English Heritage

LGBT rights: Malaysia women caned for attempting to have lesbian sex – BBC News

~ mcequality

wo Malaysian women convicted of attempting to have lesbian sex in a car have been caned in a religious court.
The Muslim women, aged 22 and 32, were each caned six times in the Sharia High Court in the state of Terengganu.
According to an official, this is the state’s first conviction for same-sex relations and its first public caning.
Human rights activists reacted with outrage. Homosexual activity is illegal under both secular and religious laws.
The caning was witnessed by more than 100 people, according to local news outlet The Star.

via LGBT rights: Malaysia women caned for attempting to have lesbian sex – BBC News

Anne Lister: Plaque wording to change after ‘lesbian’ row – BBC News

~ mcequality

The wording on a blue plaque in York honouring a woman described as the “first modern lesbian” is to be looked at again after complaints it had “erased” her sexuality.
The tribute to 19th Century diarist Anne Lister described her as “gender-nonconforming”.
An online petition claimed the description had “nothing to do with sexuality”.
The group behind the memorial said it would change the wording.

via Anne Lister: Plaque wording to change after ‘lesbian’ row – BBC News

London Cop Cleared After Ordering Strip Search of Woman Who Refused to Give Him Her Name

~ mcequality

In a bizarre-sounding story, a police sergeant in London was cleared of misconduct this week for ordering his officers to strip search a philosophy lecturer who was detained after reportedly trying to give a 15-year-old a legal contact during a search. There’s a lot here, so bear with me.

The Guardian reports that Konstancja Duff, a lecturer at Nottingham University, was arrested in May 2013 during a stop-and-search sweep at an East London estate. Duff had reportedly been trying to hand a 15-year-old a card with legal services contacts and advice, when she was arrested by Metropolitan police. The card was given to her by a police watchdog organization, and at a recent Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) panel, Duff testified that she’d been trying to help the teen.

via London Cop Cleared After Ordering Strip Search of Woman Who Refused to Give Him Her Name

Michaela Coel on MacTaggart lecture: ‘I feel better having shared’ | Television & radio | The Guardian

~ mcequality

“I’ve no mortgage, no credit card, no real kids, no car, happy with my bicycle; money’s nice, but I prefer transparency,” she explained. “My stories are my babies, I wanna look after them, so I asked to reserve a portion of my parental rights; my copyright … I used the only power I had; and declined.”

When asked to explain why she turned down the offer, she said the company’s response to the question of why they would acquire all the copyright wasn’t satisfactory. “The first thing I asked was: ‘Why do you want to take all the copyright?’” she said. “And when the answer is ‘that’s just the way it is’, then I’m out because that doesn’t sound like a good answer to me. It sounds cloudy. I don’t trust that.”

via Michaela Coel on MacTaggart lecture: ‘I feel better having shared’ | Television & radio | The Guardian