TUNISIA
The constitutional assembly voted in favor of article 20 of the draft constitution, which states that male and female citizens are equal under the law without discrimination. Human Rights groups argue that non-discrimination should extend to foreigners, and that it also should also prohibit discrimination of race, religion, class, etc.
MALAYSIA
As mentioned in a previous post, the government prohibited the use of the word “allah” to non-Muslims back in October. Now, a Catholic Priest is facing prosecution for using the word “allah” to refer to god in a diocesan newspaper.
SOUTH AFRICA (TW for sexual violence)
Despite being the first country to secure the equal rights of LGBT people in the constitution, and having marriage equality since 2005, homophobia is rising in South Africa, and so are “corrective rapes”. Often the family is complicit.
LEBANON
An 80,000-book library was burned after the Greek Orthodox priest who ran it was accused of blasphemy against Islam. The library was very popular in the community and with university students.
ISRAEL (from Amy)
An amendment to the Sexual Harassment Bill was just passed to ban Revenge porn. People who post sexually explicit images of individuals without their consent may face up to 5 years in prison.
Also ISRAEL
Most of the eleven men arrested for attacking transgender women with pepper spray and a stun gun are officers in Israel’s Border Police. Police say the attack was a “prank”, while LGBT organizations are asking for this to be treated as a hate crime.
Featured image: Tunisia, by me.
Daniela,
That “corrective rape” is basically the worst form of “conversion therapy” on the planet.