Conversion therapy that seeks to ‘cure’ gay men and women is set to be banned under plans set out in the Queen‘s Speech.
Ministers have pledged to end the ‘abhorrent and coercive’ practice which seeks to make LGBT people heterosexual.
But there are fears that the measures contain a loophole for religious groups who are the main proponents of the highly controversial therapy which critics say is a form of abuse.
The speech sets out plans for a consultation and also says that it will also ensure ‘medical professionals, religious leaders, teachers and parents can continue to be able to have open and honest conversations with people’.
Jayne Ozanne, an evangelical Christian and a former Whitehall equalities advisor, tweeted: ‘Yet more consultation – what LGBT+ people need is protection from all those that believe they should be changed or be celibate for life.
‘It’s quite simple – the govt must choose who it will protect: lives of LGBT+ people or religious right who want to ”pray gay (& trans) away”!’
The speech sets out plans for a consultation and also says that it will also ensure ‘medical professionals, religious leaders, teachers and parents can continue to be able to have open and honest conversations with people’.
Jayne Ozanne, an evangelical Christian and a former Whitehall equalities advisor, tweeted: ‘Yet more consultation – what LGBT+ people need is protection from all those that believe they should be changed or be celibate for life’
The Government has also commissioned research into the scope of practices and experiences of those subjected to conversion therapy.
A victim support package will ensure victims can access the support they need.
Organisations will be invited to bid to develop such a package, with the Government anticipating that the chosen provider will be in place by the summer.
Ministers have come under fire in recent months over the time taken to implement a ban.
In March, Boris Johnson said ending conversion therapy is ‘technically complex’ but insisted that ministers will ‘stamp it out’ after three LGBT advisers resigned in protest.
The charity Stonewall welcomed the commitment but said news of a consultation ‘is concerning and will be hard for our communities to hear’.
Chief executive Nancy Kelley said: ‘We don’t need a consultation to know that all practices that seek to convert, suppress, cure or change us are dangerous, abusive and must be banned.
‘Lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and ace communities have been waiting almost three years for the UK Government to follow through on their promise to ban all conversion practices, and any delay leaves us at further risk of abuse.’
The Queen’s Speech set out that measures would be introduced in this Parliament to ‘ban conversion therapy’.
In its guide to the speech the Government said: ‘People should be free to be themselves in the UK. The ban will eliminate coercive practices which cause mental and physical harm to individuals.
‘We will ensure the action we take to stop this practice is proportionate and effective, and does not have unintended consequences. We will ensure medical professionals, religious leaders, teachers and parents can continue to be able to have open and honest conversations with people.’
Equalities minister Liz Truss added: ‘As a global leader on LGBT rights, this government has always been committed to stamping out the practice of conversion therapy.
‘We want to make sure that people in this country are protected, and these proposals mean nobody will be subjected to coercive and abhorrent conversion therapy.
‘Alongside this legislation, we will make new funding available to ensure that victims have better access to the support they need.’
New data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that reported annual cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States continued to climb in 2019, reaching an all-time high for the sixth consecutive year.
The newly released 2019 STD Surveillance Report found:
2.5 million reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, the three most commonly reported STDs in 2019.
A nearly 30% increase in these reportable STDs between 2015 and 2019.
The sharpest increase was in cases of syphilis among newborns (i.e., congenital syphilis), which nearly quadrupled between 2015 and 2019.
“Less than 20 years ago, gonorrhea rates in the U.S. were at historic lows, syphilis was close to elimination, and advances in chlamydia diagnostics made it easier to detect infections,” said Raul Romaguera, DMD, MPH, acting director for CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “That progress has since unraveled, and our STD defenses are down. We must prioritize and focus our efforts to regain this lost ground and control the spread of STDs.”
STDs can have serious health consequences. People with these infections do not always experience disease symptoms, but, if left untreated, some can increase the risk of HIV infection, or can cause chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, severe pregnancy and newborn complications, and infant death.
CDC’s 2019 data provide the most recent full picture of STD trends in the United States before the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary 2020 data suggest that many of these concerning trends continued in 2020, when much of the country experienced major disruptions to STD testing and treatment services due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The STD burden is not equal
The burden of STDs increased overall and across many groups in 2019. But it continued to hit racial and ethnic minority groups, gay and bisexual men, and youth the hardest.
Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups
In 2019 STD rates:
For African American or Black people were5-8 times that of non-Hispanic White people.
For American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander people were 3-5 times that of non-Hispanic White people.
For Hispanic or Latino people were 1-2 times that of non-Hispanic White people.
Gay and Bisexual Men
Make up nearly half of all 2019 primary and secondary syphilis cases.
Gonorrhea rates were 42 times that of heterosexual men in some areas.
Young People Aged 15–24 years
Make up 61% of chlamydia cases.
Make up 42% of gonorrhea cases.
“Focusing on hard-hit populations is critical to reducing disparities,” said Jo Valentine, MSW, associate director of the Office of Health Equity in CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “To effectively reduce these disparities, the social, cultural, and economic conditions that make it more difficult for some populations to stay healthy must be addressed. These include poverty, unstable housing, drug use, lack of medical insurance or regular medical provider, and high burden of STDs in some communities.”
COVID-19 highlights needs and opportunities for STD control
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, reductions in STD screening, treatment, prevention, and partner services contributed to STD increases for many years. Since the pandemic began, large numbers of STD program staff at the state and local level have been deployed to the COVID-19 response, which can lead to more delays in services.
According to one surveyexternal icon, as of January 2021 about one-third of state and local STD program staff were still deployed to assist with COVID-19 response efforts. Staff also report burnout as they pivot from COVID-19 back to STD intervention and partner services. As noted in the recent reportexternal icon on sexually transmitted infections by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in public health preparedness due to weak infrastructure, an under-capacitated and under-resourced workforce, and limited surge capacity.”
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already stretched system for STD control in the United States and accelerated the need to deliver accessible, high-quality STD services in new ways. CDC has identified several new and innovative ways STD services can meet more people where they are—during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the future—including:
STD express clinics, which provide walk-in testing & treatment without a full clinical exam.
Partnerships with pharmacies & retail health clinics, which can provide new access points for STD services (e.g., on-site testing and treatment).
Telehealth/telemedicine, which can close gaps in testing and treatment, ensure access to healthcare providers, support self-testing or patient-collected specimens, and is especially critical in rural areas.
Many of these services are among the strategies highlighted in the recently released HHS Sexually Transmitted Infections National Strategic Planexternal icon, which provides a roadmap to develop, enhance, and expand prevention and care programs at the national, state, tribal and local levels over the next five years to reverse the course of the STI epidemic.
“STDs will not wait for the pandemic to end, so we must rise to the challenge now,” Romaguera said. “These new data should create a sense of urgency and mobilize the resources needed, so that future reports can tell a different story.”
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EXORCISMS have largely been confined to the history books – but they’re a grim modern-day reality in Indonesia.
Many made to have the “treatment” don’t even have anything wrong with them, but are told they’re possessed by demonic spirits because they’re LGBT.
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A cleric performing an exorcism on members of the LGBT community in Jakarta, IndonesiaCredit: AFP
Islamic exorcisms, or “ruqyah”, have come under renewed scrutiny in the Southeast Asian nation after some practitioners have even offered corrective rape as part of a service to “cure” LGBT people.
The situation for gay and trans people in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has deteriorated in recent years as religious conservatism has spread.
Homosexuality isn’t illegal in Indonesia, except in Aceh province – but growing religious conservatism has led to increases in discrimination in the country.
In June 2020, a Pew Research Center study found that just nine per cent of Indonesia’s 270million-strong population thought homosexuality should be accepted by society.
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A man being caned for being gay in Banda Aceh in 2017 – the horrific practice still continuesCredit: AFP
A trans woman was burned alive in North Jakarta last year after being accused of stealing a truck driver’s phone and wallet.
And in January this year, two men were publicly caned in Banda Aceh after neighbours reported the pair for having sex.
But forced exorcisms are available as a service all over the country, despite there being no evidence they do any good.
“Nothing changed after the exorcism. I’m still LGBT, but my family didn’t give up easily,” one trans woman told the Bangkok Post.
“It’s traumatising – the horror of that memory stays in my head.”
‘I had to keep pushing myself to be straight’
Faith-based treatments are widely available for all sorts of ailments from insomnia to business trouble in Indonesia – but they’re sometimes forced on gay and transgender people as a “cure” for their identity.
Islamic exorcisms – known as ruqyah – have sometimes been used by parents who want their children to change their identity.
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A video purporting to show a ruqyah – the exorcisms are given to people for all sorts of reasonsCredit: YouTUbe
Acep Saepudin’s father wanted him to meet with a local ustad in Purwakarta, West Java, to be exorcised.
During the sessions, which were meant to make Saepudin straight, he wept as the ustad prayed over him.
The process is supposed to rid the person being exorcised of demons known as jinn.
“I did it for a month but nothing changed,” Saepudin told USA Today.
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Protesters in Jakarta in 2011 – intolerance towards gay people has spread in recent yearsCredit: AP
“I am still gay. For me, the hardest part was not during the ruqyah, but after it, when I had to keep pushing myself to be straight.
“It was frustrating and made me depressed.”
Shackled and beaten with broomsticks
It’s not just parents who’ve sent their children to ruqyah.
In Padang, West Sumatra, gay couples have been sent for exorcisms after being arrested by the city’s Civil Service Police, BBC Indonesia reports.
Others reportedly sent for what was described as “psychological assistance” included “waria” – the local term for trans people made up of a cross of the words for “woman” and “man”.
9
Two men convicted of gay sex – some homosexual couples have been exorcised in IndonesiaCredit: Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The process of what the treatment involves can also vary widely.
Aris Fathoni, from the Ruqyah Association for Sharia in Indonesia, told ABC he performs the ritual by reading religious verses and hitting his patients’ backs with with a sapu lidi – an Indonesian broomstick.
Other treatment can be even more brutal.
Andreas Harsono, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Indonesia, says the spreading belief that homosexuality is a disease has led to practitioners offering ruqyah services all over the country.
This isn’t therapy – it’s actually just plain torture.
Kai Mata
Even the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDSKJI) classifies homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexualism as mental disorders which can be “cured” if treated.
Rape ‘sex therapy’
Some of those offering exorcisms also list even more horrific “treatments” – including corrective rape designed to turn the victim heterosexual.
Closed down earlier this year, one Indonesian ruqyah site also offered electroshock treatments and “pray away the gay” sessions.
“We believe that the LGBT patients we care for are possessed by ‘jinn’ (demons) who control their holy minds and bodies,” the now defunct site read.
9
One Indonesian exorcism site offered ‘sex therapy’ as well as ‘pray away the gay’ ceremonies
“During the ruqyah process, our therapists will recite holy verses and prayers of protection to frighten the jinn and expel them from our patient’s body.”
The bleak site offered different prices depending on the “severity of your disease”, This Week in Asia reports.
That included fees of $70 for up to five sessions of electric shock therapy, $100 for four ruqyah sessions, and $200 for “sex therapy” – or corrective rape.
Indonesian LGBT rights organisation Pelangi Nusantara, which campaigned to get the site shutdown, described the site’s services as “torture”.
9
Some ruqyah practices have been slammed as ‘torture’ by campaign groupsCredit: AFP
“It is shocking that such dehumanising practices are peddled as a cure for homosexuality,” the group’s petition to close the site down read.
“These local businesses are given free rein to operate in Indonesia by civil authorities and religious leaders.”
‘It was torture and inhumane’
Dr. Dina Listiorini, a lecturer at the Department of Communication at Atma Jaya University in Yogyakarta, said the use of ruqyah to change people’s gender identity and sexual orientation has its roots in early 2000 after the fall of dictator Suharto.
“The campaign of ruqyah is an attempt to normalise what they see as abnormal or deviant,” Listiorini told Nikkei Asia.
9
‘Waria’ trans Muslims praying at the Al-Fatah boarding school in Yogyakarta, IndonesiaCredit: Getty
“In the end, this homophobic campaign ends up in violence against gender plurality.”
Arif Nuh Safri, a cleric at the transgender-only Islamic boarding school Al Fatah Yogyakarta, says people have shared their traumatising experiences of ruqyah with him.
“All told the same,” he said. “It was torture and inhumane.”
Kai Mata, a lesbian singer-songwriter based in Bali, is one of Indonesia’s most outspoken LGBT activists and was herself sent adverts for ruqyah.
9
Kai Mata, an openly gay singer based in Bali, has received death threats for her sexualityCredit: kaimatamusic/Instagram
“In Indonesia, it is widely believed and accepted as the norm that if one has same sex attraction or doesn’t fit into the typical gender roles, that there is a demon inside them that needs to be exorcised out through prayer and religious ceremonies,” she told her Instagram followers in February.
“It’s been reported that ‘treatments’ in Indonesia range from being bombarded with religious views and texts while locked in a room for days, to freezing cold water being dumped on individuals by religious leader who claim that’s the way to purge someone of ‘gender disease’.
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“We need to be very clear about what these ‘treatments’ entail [and] the long-lasting psychological effects it has leaving victims traumatised.
“And also what it means about our society at large in which this is how we feel we can treat other people.
“This isn’t therapy – it’s actually just plain torture.”
Men in agony as they’re whipped for sex outside marriage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia
For me, one of the best parts about picking up a queer fantasy book is the possibility of being immersed in a world that doesn’t have heteronormativity or cissexism, because you’re building a whole different world, so you don’t have to pack in all of the prejudices from ours! I know there are a lot of people looking for queer fantasy set in worlds without any prejudice towards queer people — also known as “queernormative” or “queernorm” books! So I wanted to provide a place to start.
I got a lot of these suggestions from the Queer SFF Database. They have a way to search their database for worlds without homophobia! I also got some recommendations from a Guardian article and crowd-sourced using Twitter, other Book Rioters, Goodreads, and a handful of blogs. I tried to double check each of these to make sure that they are, in fact, set in worlds without any homophobia or transphobia, but if I got any of them wrong, please let me know!
About half of these are adult picks, and the other half are YA. Let’s start with the adult titles!
We are currently living in a golden age of queer books, but I always want to recognize the queer authors and books that came before this. So I wanted to start with a few of the classics of queernorm fantasy, like this one!
The Tale of the Five series was published in 1979, is set in a pansexual, polyamorous world, and starts with an M/M romance. This is pretty typical ’70s fantasy fare, with the exception of the queer relationships, so your miles may vary. Trigger warning for rape. (I don’t know the triggers for all of the titles on this list, though.)
Published in 1987, this is a “melodrama of manners” with a bisexual main character and an M/M relationship. It is light on fantasy, reading like historical fiction: much more swords than sorcery. Recently, Serial Box has published Tremontaine, a prequel written by several authors, including Ellen Kushner and Malinda Lo, so if you want to spent more time in that world, the prequel has almost 700 more pages of it!
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This is a lesbian fantasy series that came out in 2002. Not only does the world have no homophobia, there is also no gender discrimination! It’s about three people with elemental magic who have to find a way to work together, or have the country fall into war. I really appreciated the character-building in this one!
Moving into the more recently published adult fantasy titles, this pair of novellas follows a set of twins from childhood into adulthood. In this society, by puberty most people pick the gender that suits them and switch from they/them to he/him or she/her pronouns. The series include an M/M relationship and a nonbinary (adult) character.
This is the epic queer fantasy that everyone’s been talking about! It’s more than 800 pages and is filled with dragons, magic, and a slow burn F/F romance — all in a world with no prejudice against same-sex relationships. What more do I need to say?
This series has a gay asexual main character. It’s set in a desert city where water is money, magic, and power. There are assassins running and fighting on rooftops!
This novella is an F/F retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” in a Vietnam-inspired fantasy setting. It has a shapeshifting dragon doctor! One of the main characters is a lesbian and the other is bisexual. It’s a mix of science fiction and fantasy, including magic as well as aliens.
Queernorm worlds are kind of de Bodard’s jam, though! Check out her other fantasy books set in worlds without homophobia or transphobia: House of Shattered Wings (F/F relationship, gay side characters) and Fireheart Tiger (sapphic main character).
Another novella, this one has nonbinary and sapphic main characters. It follows Rabbit, a handmaiden to an empress who went on to overthrow the empire. The framing device follows a nonbinary archivist who visits the former empress’s former home and interviews elderly Rabbit about the whole story.
This is a sapphic fantasy packed with political intrigue, partially inspired by Elizabethan spycraft. It’s told in two perspectives: Lia, a young queen newly ascended to the throne, and Xania, the unassuming woman Lia taps as her new spymaster — though Xania has her own motives, determined to avenge her father’s death. If you want a fantasy of manners with queer royals and an F/F subplot, this one’s for you!
This is a madcap fantasy with a bisexual woman main character. When Dellaria sees an ad for a job acting in a team of bodyguards for a noblewoman, she thinks it’s easy money. Just as she’s starting to flirt with one of the other lady bodyguards, though, the job gets a lot more serious, and they begin fending off powerful magical assassination attempts. Think Victorian fantasy, but with trolls, witches — and a dead rat character.
This has a nonbinary pacifist main character who accidentally acquires a dragon automaton buddy!
Jebi is an artist who finds themself recruited to work as a kind of mystical coder for the military. This is against their pacifist ideals, but they are desperate. While working for the Razanei government, though, they discover the military is even worse than they thought…and while Jebi is working, they accidentally give a dragon automaton free will. Now Jebi finds themself with a mechanical war dragon companion, up against a tyrannical government.
Like many of the books on this list, The Unbroken may be set in a world without homophobia, but that doesn’t mean it’s rainbows and unicorns. Instead, this is a story that is about colonialism and racism. It also has an unhealthy (but captivating) F/F relationship between two women — a disabled white princess and a Black foot soldier — who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.
Want even more queernorm adult fantasy novels? Also check out:
Young Adult Fantasy Books Without Homophobia or Transphobia
This is a hugely popular sapphic fantasy series! It has a bisexual and a lesbian main character in an enemies to lovers slow burn romance. In this world, mechanical people, called Automaes, who now rule over the humans, and our main characters are on opposite sides of the war.
This is an epic quest set in a world where falconry is the most revered and powerful profession. We follow a set of twins, Kylee and Bryson. Bryson is training to be a falconer, while Kylee is trying to distance herself from it. Bryson is gay, and Kylee is implied to be asexual and aromantic.
This is about Alex, a bisexual bruja whose magic is connected to her ancestors. She doesn’t want to be associated with magic that comes from death, so she attempts to get rid of it. Instead, she accidentally ends up stranding her family in Los Lagos, a nightmarish realm, and she has to travel there in order to try to get them back. This has a bisexual love triangle, and although I didn’t like the broody guy love interest, I loved the best friend character! This takes place partly in our world, but we don’t see any homophobia or biphobia there, either.
Are superheroes more fantasy or sci fi? I’m sneaking this in either way. Jessica Tran is surrounded by superheroes, but with no powers of her own, she decides to take a paid internship with a supervillain. There, she discovers some secrets about the realities of superheroes and supervillains…
The first volume has an F/F romance, but each book in the series has a different main character. This one has a bisexual girl point of view, while the second has a trans guy main character.
This is billed as Frozen meets Mad Max, with some Avatar the Last Airbender thrown in! It’s a climate fiction fantasy set in a world where twin goddesses ruled, until one betrayed the other and they split the world in two.
The two main characters are both sapphic: one is bisexual and the other is a lesbian.
This is a fantasy with two princesses who fall in love! One is supposed to marry the other’s brother! Scandal! The romance is adorable, but there is depth here as well, dealing with war, betrayal, and suppressed magic. Personally, I thought the second one was even better than the first, so definitely keep going if you like the first one at all.
This is about a city ruled by prophecies, which lead to the high council preemptively striking against lower wards of the city in the belief that they were going to rebel.
The rebellion has been stamped out except for a ragtag crew of teens who discover their own prophecy to overthrow the council — but can it be trusted?
There are multiple main characters, including asexual, bisexual, and gay representation.
This is a Greco-Roman inspired fantasy with five point-of-view characters. Two of them are gay. Together, they are the subjects of the last prophecy from before the Seven Prophets disappeared, and despite their differences, they will be the key to the world’s salvation…or destruction.
Lesbian pirates and giant sea monsters. Need I say more?
Cas trains Reckoners — genetically-engineered sea monsters — to defend ships. When she is captured by pirates, though, she’s forced to raise a Reckoner pup for their own use. If you like F/F enemies-to-lovers, you’re going to love this one.
Tamsin is a witch who has been punished for her magical transgressions with a curse: she can’t feel love. Without it, all of her senses are dulled. The only way she can really feel anything (other than cold and annoyed) is by taking love from others, usually in exchange for performing a spell. When a magical illness rolls over the land, Wren knocks on Tamsin’s door for help — her father has been affected. Wren is a source: witches can use her as a magical energy supply. She’s been illegally hiding this, though. Wren promises Tamsin her love for her father if Tamsin will help cure him. Together, they set off on their quest — and end up with an adorable slow burn grumpy one/sunshine one romance.
This is a lesbian retelling of the Russian folktale “The Firebird.” It follows the points of view of twin sisters, one raised to become queen and the other raised to develop her magical abilities. This is another F/F enemies-to-lovers romance!
Finally, I wanted to also include a middle grade book. Pet has a Black, trans girl lead who is selectively verbal and uses sign language frequently.
Jam has been told that all monsters have been eradicated: but she discovers that they were hiding in plain sight: “How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?”
Like many of the books on this list, it’s utopian in some senses (trans kids are respected for their identities), but has its own issues (people have chosen to turn away from the “monsters” rather than face them).
If you can’t get enough queernorm YA, though, might I also suggest:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration declared Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that narrowed rights at the intersection of changing social mores and sensitive medical decisions.
It marked the latest step by President Joe Biden to advance the rights of gay and transgender people across society, from military service, to housing, to employment opportunities.
The policy announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services affirms that federal laws forbidding sex discrimination in health care also protect gay and transgender people. The Trump administration had defined “sex” to mean gender assigned at birth, thereby excluding transgender people from the law’s umbrella of protection.
“Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.”
Both opponents and supporters of Biden’s action said it’s likely to lead to litigation.
Speaking for the medical community, the American Medical Association said in a statement the Biden administration “did the right thing” by ending “a dismal chapter which a federal agency sought to remove civil rights protections.” But some conservatives warned that doctors could be forced to perform gender reassignment procedures against their professional judgement.
In a tweet at the time, then-President Donald Trump called the decision “horrible & politically charged.” Undeterred by the ruling, his administration proceeded to try to narrow protections against discrimination in health care. But Biden early on in his term directed government agencies to apply the Supreme Court’s reasoning to areas under their jurisdiction.
Monday’s action means that the HHS Office for Civil Rights will again investigate complaints of sex discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Hospitals, clinics and other medical providers can face denial of Medicare and Medicaid payments for violations of the law.
Since the Trump transgender rule had been blocked by a federal judge, the Biden administration action essentially restores a policy established during the Obama years. The Affordable Care Act prohibited sex discrimination in health care but did not use the term “gender identity.” The Obama administration interpreted the law as shielding gay and transgender people as well.
Conservative lawyer Roger Severino, who as a former HHS official oversaw the drafting of the Trump rules, said the Biden administration cut corners in issuing its new policy.
“This is inflaming the culture wars, especially when you are trying to circumvent the process,” said Severino, now at the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank. Partly because of conflicting lower court rulings on the Trump and Obama policies, Becerra should have undertaken a formal rule-making, which can take months. “I expect lawsuits,” Severino added.
But civil rights advocates said the Supreme Court’s ruling on transgender protections essentially wiped the slate clean for Biden. “The Supreme Court has already laid out the reasoning that applies under all sex discrimination laws,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal. “They did so in an employment case but their reasoning applies equally in health care, in education, and in housing.”
In recent years the understanding of sex has broadened to acknowledge a person’s inner sense of being male, female, neither or a combination.
Behind the dispute over rights for transgender people is a medically recognized condition called “gender dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender assigned at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from gender confirmation surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing.
Under the Obama-era rule, a hospital could be required to perform gender-transition procedures such as hysterectomies if the facility provided that kind of treatment for other medical conditions.
LGBTQ groups say explicit protections are needed for people seeking gender transition treatment, and even for transgender people who need care for illnesses such as diabetes or heart problems.
But Tony Perkins, president of the religious conservative Family Research Council, called sex “an objective biological reality” and said the Biden administration is promulgating “a nonsensical definition” of discrimination. “While this decision will advance America’s cultural psychosis, it will potentially put the physical well-being of individuals at grave risk,” Perkins said in a statement.
More than 1.5 million Americans identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank focusing on LGBT policy at the UCLA School of Law. A bigger number — 4.5% of the population— identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to Gallup.
HHS is a traditional battleground for conflicts over social issues. During the Trump administration the department bent to the will of conservatives. Other Trump policies applauded by the right restricted abortion referrals and broadened employers’ ability to opt out of providing birth control to women workers covered by their health plans. Under Biden, the policy pendulum has been swinging back in the opposite direction.
One of Biden’s first steps after taking office was a Jan. 20 executive order on combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Biden quickly followed that up with another order reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military.
And earlier this spring, the Department of Housing and Urban Development withdrew a Trump policy that would have allowed taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to deny access to transgender people.
At HHS, Biden’s term has seen the Senate confirmation of Dr. Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary for health, a senior position that involves oversight of public health initiatives, HIV/AIDS, women’s health and minority health, as well as other areas including research protections. Levine, formerly Pennsylvania’s top health official, is the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration declared Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that narrowed rights at the intersection of changing social mores and sensitive medical decisions.
It marked the latest step by President Joe Biden to advance the rights of gay and transgender people across society, from military service, to housing, to employment opportunities.
The policy announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services affirms that federal laws forbidding sex discrimination in health care also protect gay and transgender people. The Trump administration had defined “sex” to mean gender assigned at birth, thereby excluding transgender people from the law’s umbrella of protection.
“Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.”
Both opponents and supporters of Biden’s action said it’s likely to lead to litigation.
Speaking for the medical community, the American Medical Association said in a statement the Biden administration “did the right thing” by ending “a dismal chapter which a federal agency sought to remove civil rights protections.” But some conservatives warned that doctors could be forced to perform gender reassignment procedures against their professional judgement.
In a tweet at the time, then-President Donald Trump called the decision “horrible & politically charged.” Undeterred by the ruling, his administration proceeded to try to narrow protections against discrimination in health care. But Biden early on in his term directed government agencies to apply the Supreme Court’s reasoning to areas under their jurisdiction.
Monday’s action means that the HHS Office for Civil Rights will again investigate complaints of sex discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Hospitals, clinics and other medical providers can face denial of Medicare and Medicaid payments for violations of the law.
Since the Trump transgender rule had been blocked by a federal judge, the Biden administration action essentially restores a policy established during the Obama years. The Affordable Care Act prohibited sex discrimination in health care but did not use the term “gender identity.” The Obama administration interpreted the law as shielding gay and transgender people as well.
Conservative lawyer Roger Severino, who as a former HHS official oversaw the drafting of the Trump rules, said the Biden administration cut corners in issuing its new policy.
“This is inflaming the culture wars, especially when you are trying to circumvent the process,” said Severino, now at the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank. Partly because of conflicting lower court rulings on the Trump and Obama policies, Becerra should have undertaken a formal rule-making, which can take months. “I expect lawsuits,” Severino added.
But civil rights advocates said the Supreme Court’s ruling on transgender protections essentially wiped the slate clean for Biden. “The Supreme Court has already laid out the reasoning that applies under all sex discrimination laws,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal. “They did so in an employment case but their reasoning applies equally in health care, in education, and in housing.”
In recent years the understanding of sex has broadened to acknowledge a person’s inner sense of being male, female, neither or a combination.
Behind the dispute over rights for transgender people is a medically recognized condition called “gender dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender assigned at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from gender confirmation surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing.
Under the Obama-era rule, a hospital could be required to perform gender-transition procedures such as hysterectomies if the facility provided that kind of treatment for other medical conditions.
LGBTQ groups say explicit protections are needed for people seeking gender transition treatment, and even for transgender people who need care for illnesses such as diabetes or heart problems.
But Tony Perkins, president of the religious conservative Family Research Council, called sex “an objective biological reality” and said the Biden administration is promulgating “a nonsensical definition” of discrimination. “While this decision will advance America’s cultural psychosis, it will potentially put the physical well-being of individuals at grave risk,” Perkins said in a statement.
More than 1.5 million Americans identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank focusing on LGBT policy at the UCLA School of Law. A bigger number — 4.5% of the population— identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to Gallup.
HHS is a traditional battleground for conflicts over social issues. During the Trump administration the department bent to the will of conservatives. Other Trump policies applauded by the right restricted abortion referrals and broadened employers’ ability to opt out of providing birth control to women workers covered by their health plans. Under Biden, the policy pendulum has been swinging back in the opposite direction.
One of Biden’s first steps after taking office was a Jan. 20 executive order on combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Biden quickly followed that up with another order reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military.
And earlier this spring, the Department of Housing and Urban Development withdrew a Trump policy that would have allowed taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to deny access to transgender people.
At HHS, Biden’s term has seen the Senate confirmation of Dr. Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary for health, a senior position that involves oversight of public health initiatives, HIV/AIDS, women’s health and minority health, as well as other areas including research protections. Levine, formerly Pennsylvania’s top health official, is the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate.
EXORCISMS have largely been confined to the history books – but they’re a grim modern-day reality in Indonesia.
Many made to have the “treatment” don’t even have anything wrong with them, but are told they’re possessed by demonic spirits because they’re LGBT.
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A cleric performing an exorcism on members of the LGBT community in Jakarta, IndonesiaCredit: AFP
Islamic exorcisms, or “ruqyah”, have come under renewed scrutiny in the Southeast Asian nation after some practitioners have even offered corrective rape as part of a service to “cure” LGBT people.
The situation for gay and trans people in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has deteriorated in recent years as religious conservatism has spread.
Homosexuality isn’t illegal in Indonesia, except in Aceh province – but growing religious conservatism has led to increases in discrimination in the country.
In June 2020, a Pew Research Center study found that just nine per cent of Indonesia’s 270million-strong population thought homosexuality should be accepted by society.
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A man being caned for being gay in Banda Aceh in 2017 – the horrific practice still continuesCredit: AFP
A trans woman was burned alive in North Jakarta last year after being accused of stealing a truck driver’s phone and wallet.
And in January this year, two men were publicly caned in Banda Aceh after neighbours reported the pair for having sex.
But forced exorcisms are available as a service all over the country, despite there being no evidence they do any good.
“Nothing changed after the exorcism. I’m still LGBT, but my family didn’t give up easily,” one trans woman told the Bangkok Post.
“It’s traumatising – the horror of that memory stays in my head.”
‘I had to keep pushing myself to be straight’
Faith-based treatments are widely available for all sorts of ailments from insomnia to business trouble in Indonesia – but they’re sometimes forced on gay and transgender people as a “cure” for their identity.
Islamic exorcisms – known as ruqyah – have sometimes been used by parents who want their children to change their identity.
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A video purporting to show a ruqyah – the exorcisms are given to people for all sorts of reasonsCredit: YouTUbe
Acep Saepudin’s father wanted him to meet with a local ustad in Purwakarta, West Java, to be exorcised.
During the sessions, which were meant to make Saepudin straight, he wept as the ustad prayed over him.
The process is supposed to rid the person being exorcised of demons known as jinn.
“I did it for a month but nothing changed,” Saepudin told USA Today.
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Protesters in Jakarta in 2011 – intolerance towards gay people has spread in recent yearsCredit: AP
“I am still gay. For me, the hardest part was not during the ruqyah, but after it, when I had to keep pushing myself to be straight.
“It was frustrating and made me depressed.”
Shackled and beaten with broomsticks
It’s not just parents who’ve sent their children to ruqyah.
In Padang, West Sumatra, gay couples have been sent for exorcisms after being arrested by the city’s Civil Service Police, BBC Indonesia reports.
Others reportedly sent for what was described as “psychological assistance” included “waria” – the local term for trans people made up of a cross of the words for “woman” and “man”.
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Two men convicted of gay sex – some homosexual couples have been exorcised in IndonesiaCredit: Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The process of what the treatment involves can also vary widely.
Aris Fathoni, from the Ruqyah Association for Sharia in Indonesia, told ABC he performs the ritual by reading religious verses and hitting his patients’ backs with with a sapu lidi – an Indonesian broomstick.
Other treatment can be even more brutal.
Andreas Harsono, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Indonesia, says the spreading belief that homosexuality is a disease has led to practitioners offering ruqyah services all over the country.
This isn’t therapy – it’s actually just plain torture.
Kai Mata
Even the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDSKJI) classifies homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexualism as mental disorders which can be “cured” if treated.
Rape ‘sex therapy’
Some of those offering exorcisms also list even more horrific “treatments” – including corrective rape designed to turn the victim heterosexual.
Closed down earlier this year, one Indonesian ruqyah site also offered electroshock treatments and “pray away the gay” sessions.
“We believe that the LGBT patients we care for are possessed by ‘jinn’ (demons) who control their holy minds and bodies,” the now defunct site read.
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One Indonesian exorcism site offered ‘sex therapy’ as well as ‘pray away the gay’ ceremonies
“During the ruqyah process, our therapists will recite holy verses and prayers of protection to frighten the jinn and expel them from our patient’s body.”
The bleak site offered different prices depending on the “severity of your disease”, This Week in Asia reports.
That included fees of $70 for up to five sessions of electric shock therapy, $100 for four ruqyah sessions, and $200 for “sex therapy” – or corrective rape.
Indonesian LGBT rights organisation Pelangi Nusantara, which campaigned to get the site shutdown, described the site’s services as “torture”.
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Some ruqyah practices have been slammed as ‘torture’ by campaign groupsCredit: AFP
“It is shocking that such dehumanising practices are peddled as a cure for homosexuality,” the group’s petition to close the site down read.
“These local businesses are given free rein to operate in Indonesia by civil authorities and religious leaders.”
‘It was torture and inhumane’
Dr. Dina Listiorini, a lecturer at the Department of Communication at Atma Jaya University in Yogyakarta, said the use of ruqyah to change people’s gender identity and sexual orientation has its roots in early 2000 after the fall of dictator Suharto.
“The campaign of ruqyah is an attempt to normalise what they see as abnormal or deviant,” Listiorini told Nikkei Asia.
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‘Waria’ trans Muslims praying at the Al-Fatah boarding school in Yogyakarta, IndonesiaCredit: Getty
“In the end, this homophobic campaign ends up in violence against gender plurality.”
Arif Nuh Safri, a cleric at the transgender-only Islamic boarding school Al Fatah Yogyakarta, says people have shared their traumatising experiences of ruqyah with him.
“All told the same,” he said. “It was torture and inhumane.”
Kai Mata, a lesbian singer-songwriter based in Bali, is one of Indonesia’s most outspoken LGBT activists and was herself sent adverts for ruqyah.
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Kai Mata, an openly gay singer based in Bali, has received death threats for her sexualityCredit: kaimatamusic/Instagram
“In Indonesia, it is widely believed and accepted as the norm that if one has same sex attraction or doesn’t fit into the typical gender roles, that there is a demon inside them that needs to be exorcised out through prayer and religious ceremonies,” she told her Instagram followers in February.
“It’s been reported that ‘treatments’ in Indonesia range from being bombarded with religious views and texts while locked in a room for days, to freezing cold water being dumped on individuals by religious leader who claim that’s the way to purge someone of ‘gender disease’.
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“We need to be very clear about what these ‘treatments’ entail [and] the long-lasting psychological effects it has leaving victims traumatised.
“And also what it means about our society at large in which this is how we feel we can treat other people.
“This isn’t therapy – it’s actually just plain torture.”
Men in agony as they’re whipped for sex outside marriage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia
On the cinema side, if the MCU is well engaged now and regularly featured in the news, so is comics. Indeed, comics are a way for Marvel to refresh their “line-up” of heroes as often as possible – and the company has become increasingly inclusive over the years. In March we discovered the existence of a hero LBGTQ in the guise of Captain America, who was quite modern. Today we introduce you to a mutant who will debut in the Marvel Voices: Pride # 1 comic in June.
A new LGBTQ hero is coming in June!
It’s now confirmed: Marvel will introduce a new LGBTQ hero in the first edition of Marvel Voices: Pride, which will be released in June. Information released in the press reveals a mutant whose journey and past are being researched. So we find a particular somnus – whose real name is Carl Valentino – from Krakoa, whose power is to control other people’s dreams. Note that he was once associated with the X-Men. Steve Orlando, who is part of the script team, also spoke about the character’s origins:
Somnus, Carl Valentino, is inspired not only by my own family history, but also by my experiences with older generations of LGBTQ + people from across the country, people I would never have met without the comics. While there is still much to be done, we have come a long way as a community. Somnus is an opportunity to explore the way my loved ones are [de la communauté LGBTQ+] lived in a time of prejudice.
He also continues:
This character is an opportunity to celebrate past generations and acknowledge the progress made. In the era of the people of Krakoa, which represents a certain utopia for the mutants, Somnus will open a new perspective to the young mutants of the present, who would not know how much some had to fight for their community. Somnus will be a new character, complex and with a message of respect, power and vision.
One thing is certain, this new character is the bearer of the values that Marvel has been keen to spread over the past few years. When we don’t have more details about the character’s powers, we can bet that the ability to control dreams gives writers many strategic opportunities to overcome powerful opponents. Do you immerse the enemy in an ideal dream from which he cannot and does not want to escape? Get him to live his deepest fear and traumatize him forever? To find out, we’ll have to wait until June 23rd, the Marvel Voices: Pride # 1 release date.
That’s despite the fact that LGBTQ+ people are three times more at risk of eating disorders, according to new research – but we are still less likely to be understood.
Eating disorders have a well-defined stereotype, but this stereotype leaves out the vast majority of people who experience eating problems – including me.
After all, when you think of eating disorders, you might think of anorexia; yet 92 per cent of people with eating disorders do not have anorexia.
When you think of who might be at risk of an eating disorder, you might think of a middle class, white teenage girl, thanks in part to films and TV which depict sufferers in this way. Yet a quarter of people with eating disorders are male – and hospital admissions are rising at a faster rate among people from ethnic minorities, prompting concerns of cultural or racial factors.
Studies have consistently shown that LGBTQ+ adults and adolescents are at greater risk of developing eating disorders than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts, but this is rarely considered in the conversation around eating disorders. This results in people like me feeling even more isolated and alone with our experiences, which are already difficult enough to live with.
LGBTQ+ people might find themselves more at risk of developing eating disorders for a number of reasons. Research tells us that experiences of discrimination, bullying, and pressures to conform to normative expressions of gender have been linked to increased risk of developing eating disorders – and I relate.
As a long-haired, lanky teenager who was bullied for looking “girly” and playing the violin, I believed that being conventionally masculine was important to being valued and accepted. Discrimination and bullying are society’s problem – but I didn’t know that. I thought I was the problem.
Then, on top of these social factors, there can be a whole additional set of pressures within LGBTQ+ communities themselves. It’s been incredibly difficult to recover from an eating disorder as part of a community of gay men; many of whom put inordinate pressure on themselves to achieve an idealised body type. When body image is your currency, who can blame anyone for going to whatever lengths they can to feel like they have worth?
Overexercising, inflexible eating patterns and muscle dysmorphia can be part of an eating disorder, too. Recent research has even linked the use of dating apps used by gay men with negative psychological outcomes – including an increased risk of disordered eating behaviours.
You’d think, then, that treatment for eating disorders would be geared up to accommodate these kinds of experiences. But in my own journey, I’ve found it hard to feel understood, even by the experts. As a teenager, my sexuality was used to write off my anorexia as something one doctor told me I would “grow out of” when I came to terms with being gay.
These kinds of assumptions shut down any opportunities to talk about sex, sexuality, libido – and all other kinds of experiences which may be involved in living with an eating disorder.
Being prescriptive about what can and can’t be talked about – and what is and isn’t part of an eating disorder – can leave people like me out. The last time I was referred to eating disorders services, I had to complete a form of more than 250 questions. None of them were about sex or sexual function. I’ve tried to talk about the pressures of the gay sex scene and how that relates to my eating difficulties in clinical settings, only to be shut down.
Research has also shown that creating an affirming environment for people from sexual minority backgrounds can improve experiences of treatment for eating disorders. But in my view, it shouldn’t take studies to show that using the correct pronouns or addressing specific problems faced by people in LGBTQ+ communities can help people feel understood and supported.
We already know that current treatment models for eating disorders are only moderately effective, with less than 50 per cent of people with anorexia or bulimia recovering fully. So, maybe it’s time for treatment providers to listen to diverse experiences and respond in a ways that feel relevant for people who don’t fit traditional presentations.
Understanding eating disorders amongst LGBTQ+ people like me is about recognising the whole array of factors that might be implicated in the most human of experiences: being in a body.
These can be different for everyone, but nobody should be left feeling like their experience is excluded or less valid than someone else’s, just because they don’t fit the stereotype.
Mental Health Awareness Week needs to be about dismantling these kinds of stereotypes so that we can all be part of the conversation – and people like me can get the help that we need.
That’s despite the fact that LGBTQ+ people are three times more at risk of eating disorders, according to new research – but we are still less likely to be understood.
Eating disorders have a well-defined stereotype, but this stereotype leaves out the vast majority of people who experience eating problems – including me.
After all, when you think of eating disorders, you might think of anorexia; yet 92 per cent of people with eating disorders do not have anorexia.
When you think of who might be at risk of an eating disorder, you might think of a middle class, white teenage girl, thanks in part to films and TV which depict sufferers in this way. Yet a quarter of people with eating disorders are male – and hospital admissions are rising at a faster rate among people from ethnic minorities, prompting concerns of cultural or racial factors.
Studies have consistently shown that LGBTQ+ adults and adolescents are at greater risk of developing eating disorders than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts, but this is rarely considered in the conversation around eating disorders. This results in people like me feeling even more isolated and alone with our experiences, which are already difficult enough to live with.
LGBTQ+ people might find themselves more at risk of developing eating disorders for a number of reasons. Research tells us that experiences of discrimination, bullying, and pressures to conform to normative expressions of gender have been linked to increased risk of developing eating disorders – and I relate.
As a long-haired, lanky teenager who was bullied for looking “girly” and playing the violin, I believed that being conventionally masculine was important to being valued and accepted. Discrimination and bullying are society’s problem – but I didn’t know that. I thought I was the problem.
Then, on top of these social factors, there can be a whole additional set of pressures within LGBTQ+ communities themselves. It’s been incredibly difficult to recover from an eating disorder as part of a community of gay men; many of whom put inordinate pressure on themselves to achieve an idealised body type. When body image is your currency, who can blame anyone for going to whatever lengths they can to feel like they have worth?
Overexercising, inflexible eating patterns and muscle dysmorphia can be part of an eating disorder, too. Recent research has even linked the use of dating apps used by gay men with negative psychological outcomes – including an increased risk of disordered eating behaviours.
You’d think, then, that treatment for eating disorders would be geared up to accommodate these kinds of experiences. But in my own journey, I’ve found it hard to feel understood, even by the experts. As a teenager, my sexuality was used to write off my anorexia as something one doctor told me I would “grow out of” when I came to terms with being gay.
These kinds of assumptions shut down any opportunities to talk about sex, sexuality, libido – and all other kinds of experiences which may be involved in living with an eating disorder.
Being prescriptive about what can and can’t be talked about – and what is and isn’t part of an eating disorder – can leave people like me out. The last time I was referred to eating disorders services, I had to complete a form of more than 250 questions. None of them were about sex or sexual function. I’ve tried to talk about the pressures of the gay sex scene and how that relates to my eating difficulties in clinical settings, only to be shut down.
Research has also shown that creating an affirming environment for people from sexual minority backgrounds can improve experiences of treatment for eating disorders. But in my view, it shouldn’t take studies to show that using the correct pronouns or addressing specific problems faced by people in LGBTQ+ communities can help people feel understood and supported.
We already know that current treatment models for eating disorders are only moderately effective, with less than 50 per cent of people with anorexia or bulimia recovering fully. So, maybe it’s time for treatment providers to listen to diverse experiences and respond in a ways that feel relevant for people who don’t fit traditional presentations.
Understanding eating disorders amongst LGBTQ+ people like me is about recognising the whole array of factors that might be implicated in the most human of experiences: being in a body.
These can be different for everyone, but nobody should be left feeling like their experience is excluded or less valid than someone else’s, just because they don’t fit the stereotype.
Mental Health Awareness Week needs to be about dismantling these kinds of stereotypes so that we can all be part of the conversation – and people like me can get the help that we need.
A chaplain was reported to the Government’s anti-terror watchdog by a Derbyshire school after suggesting to students they should ‘make up their own minds’ on LGBT teachings.
Reverend Dr Bernard Randall was reported to ‘Prevent’, a programme which seeks to prevent people from being radicalised, after his teachings at Trent College, in Long Eaton.
The 48-year-old claims he was approached by students at the Christian school who suggested they had been confused and upset by the school’s new LGBT teaching proposals.
Lawyers for Reverend Randall said he subsequently held a sermon in the school’s chapel, where he presented the Church of England’s biblical teachings on marriage and human nature, and said: “Children at the school were not compelled to ‘accept an ideology they disagree with'”.
During the sermon in 2019, he then suggested students should debate and make up their own minds.
A week later his legal team says he was suspended and reported to the Government’s anti-terror watchdog.
A spokeswoman for Derbyshire Police said: “The force received a referral from Trent College in July 2019 – in relation to a member of staff.
“Following a review of the information it was found that it did not meet the threshold for a Prevent referral and no further action was taken and no case was recorded on the force system. The college was informed of this decision.
“Given the passage of time since the event we are unable to provide further clarity on email correspondence from the time due to the member of staff no longer working in the force.”
Reverend Randall appealed his dismissal, which was overturned by the school’s governors, and he was given a final warning.
It is claimed all his sermons then had to be approved before reading.
However the Christian Legal Centre says he was then made redundant on December 31 last year.
Speaking of being reported to Prevent without his knowledge, Reverend Randall said: “I was terrified. I did not sleep. What was I supposed to tell my family?
“Being reported as a potential terrorist, extremist and a danger to children are arguably the worst crimes you could be accused of.
“When I found out that they had reported me without telling me, my mind was blown trying to comprehend it. I had gone to such lengths in the sermon to stress that we must respect one another no matter what, even people we disagree with.
“I am not ashamed to say that I cried with relief when I was told that the report to Prevent was not going to be taken further.
“Yet I ended up being told that I had to support everybody else’s beliefs, no matter what, while my Christian beliefs, the Church of England’s beliefs, were blatantly censored.
“During the disciplinary hearing, I was never asked what I thought; they just assumed that I had extreme religious views. I don’t think the Church of England is an extremist organisation.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, added: “When an ordained Church of England minister can’t give a simple sermon in a Church of England school without being reported as an extremist and hounded out of his job then who is safe?
“For many years Bernard Randall has worked in education motivated by his love for God and others.”
Rev Randall is taking Trent College to an employment tribunal hearing which is expected to be heard at East Midlands Employment Tribunal from June 14, 2021, reports DerbyshireLive.
Trent College has been contacted for comment.
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Lord Ivar Mountbatten, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, broke barriers when he tied the knot with partner James Coyle in 2018, reportedly marking the first-ever same-sex marriage in the extended British royal family. Lord Ivar recently opened up about the iconic wedding, and confessed that it was him who pushed his partner to marry even though the latter did not agree initially.
The couple recently made an appearance on ITV’s one-off documentary “The Queen and Her Cousins with Alexander Armstrong,” and discussed one of the reasons behind their marriage. Lord Ivar explained: “James never really wanted to get married and I pushed him. Only because I wanted to validate him and give him a position as it couldn’t have been easy being Ivar Mountbatten’s ‘boyfriend.'”
His husband James then added that their wedding was the first same-sex marriage “in any royal dynasty… absolutely… I’ve made history.” When asked if he also took his husband’s title as is customary in the royalty, James said he would need to change his name by deed poll for that.
“I mean I get called Lady Mountbatten at work a lot,” the Glaswegian airline cabin services director joked.
“And I get curtsies and all sorts. Sometimes you’re in the mood for it and sometimes you’re having a rotten morning and somebody flies out the door and dips with a curtsy and you just want to…,” he added.
The couple wed in 2019 in a small private ceremony in a chapel at Lord Ivar’s Grade-I listed home, Bridwell, in Devon. The couple has been isolating there during the coronavirus lockdown, along with the aristocrat’s ex-wife, Lady Penny and their three adult daughters Ella, Alix, and Luli.
Lord Ivar and Penny have remained best friends even after their divorce ten years ago, and the latter even walked her former husband down the aisle at his wedding to James.
Lord Ivar is the son of the David Mountbatten, the 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, and a great-great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria. He is related to both the Queen and her late husband Prince Philip through his father. When asked if the royal family is a ” normal family” behind the scenes, he said: “Yes, absolutely. That’s what everyone seems to forget. We all have our ups and downs, everybody has their own internal arguments – it’s the same anywhere.”
He added that the only custom that has always been different in the royal family is that they address the Queen appropriately as “Your Majesty” and “Ma’am” after that.
“It’s like when we went to school you would always call the headmaster “Sir”. You wouldn’t think anything of it,” he explained.
Taylor Hall scored his second goal of the game 2:53 into overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders in their home finale on Monday night to clinch third place in the East Division. Brad Marchand also scored for Boston, which will face second-place Washington in the first round of the playoffs. Tuukka Rask had 16 saves.
Marvel Comics is set to introduce Somnus, a queer mutant superhero, in a hotly-anticipated Pride-themed comic released in June.
Somnus will make his first appearance in Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1, where his incredible backstory will be unveiled by veteran comic book writer Steve Orlando. The artwork is created by Claudia Aguirre in her Marvel Comics debut, while Luciano Vecchio takes responsibility for costume design.
The queer superhero is described as “a mutant who had an extraordinary impact on an X-Man long ago”.
While Somnus’ powers mean he can control other people’s dreams, he “was never able to follow his own,” according to the official Marvel Comics description.
Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1 will follow Somnus as he is given a second chance at life in the mutant nation of Krakoa, where he must “step up in a big way and become the hero he was always destined to be”.
“Somnus, Carl Valentino, is inspired not only by my own family history, but by my experiences with past generations of LGBTQ+ folks from across the country, people I wouldn’t have met without comics,” Orlando said in a statement ahead of the comic’s release.
“While there is still plenty of work to do, we’ve also come a long way as a community. Somnus is a chance to explore how my own late queer relatives may have felt, living in more prejudiced times. He’s also a chance to celebrate past generations as a whole and acknowledge the strides we’ve made that they may not have lived to see.”
Marvel Comics’ queer superhero Somnus is the ‘man of your dreams’
Orlando continued: “And with the Krakoa era being one of relative utopia for mutant kind, Somnus will bring a fresh perspective, and respectful gut check, to the young mutants of the present who may not know just how hard some had to fight for all mutants have achieved. Within the story and without, Somnus will be a new, complex character carrying a message of respect, power, and vision.”
Vecchio said the comic was a “dream assignment” for him.
“On top of doing the cover, a frame variant, and a story that I got to write myself, I also got to design a new queer character introduced in a story written by Steve Orlando,” Vecchio said.
“I’m so happy to finally collaborate officially with Steve and I fell in love with Somnus’ concept and backstory right away. I got some input from him and editor Sarah Brunstad but also a lot of liberty to propose ideas.
“This time the design process itself felt almost like channelling. I wanted him to have an air of ‘man of your dreams,’ very charming and human but unreachable at the same time.”
Follow the artists. The brilliant among them usually detect the trends in a society or culture before the rest of us, whether we are politicians, plumbers or college professors. Novelists from Margaret Atwood to Octavia Butler have been writing fictional accounts of the collapse of the United States for decades, and I am just now seeing what they see: My nation is teetering on the brink.
If it weren’t so horrifying, it would be amusing. One of the two major political parties has committed itself to sanctifying a grotesque lie, to elevating an obvious falsehood as its organizing principle. The House Republican Caucus is on the verge of ousting Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from her leadership position because she will not endorse former President Donald J. Trump’s outrageous lie that the last presidential election was stolen from him.
Let me repeat that: The GOP has decided that its defining doctrine is to support and spread a lie — a fabrication that is both demonstrably false and quite dangerous. The party of Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan has put aside fealty to truth, honor and the U.S. Constitution itself and replaced it with absolute allegiance to a deranged narcissist. In service of their mad king, GOP leaders in the House and Senate have also decided to ignore the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which President Joseph Biden rightly called “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
If Omar El Akkad had written this scenario in “American War” (he didn’t; in his novel, the U.S. falls apart over climate change) or if Lawrence Wright had written it in “The End of October” (he didn’t; his fictional U.S. is laid to waste by a deadly pandemic), I would have laughed it off as too silly to merit attention, too ridiculous for a serious novel. Yet, inexplicably, we have arrived at this post-satire period of our history.
Cheney is not under fire because she is a moderate Republican or Democrat-in-waiting. She practices the same repugnant reactionary politics that course through the veins of her father, Dick Cheney, and that characterize the right wing of the Republican Party. She mimics her father’s views on foreign policy and national security, including endorsing torture. She has voted for tax cuts, for Trump’s border wall and against Obamacare. Her sister, Mary, who is gay, chastised her publicly for her stance against gay marriage.
Cheney even defended Trump after he was heard on tape admitting to sexually assaulting women, claiming that Hillary Clinton’s handling of her emails was worse. She has voted for Trump’s policies more often than her would-be successor in House GOP leadership, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
Stefanik voted against the Trump tax cuts, which once would have been a suicidal vote for a GOP member of Congress. But having become an enthusiastic cheerleader for Trump, her star is rising.
Cheney, by contrast, has refused to dive down the rabbit hole into an alternative universe where “war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength,” as George Orwell wrote in his classic novel “1984.” She voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol insurrection. And she has reminded her fellow Republicans that, after numerous Trump-appointed judges tossed out his spurious claims of voter fraud, they should uphold the peaceful transfer of power. “The most conservative of conservative values is reverence for the rule of law,” she wrote recently.
It is unlikely that her appeals to the Constitution will matter to her fellow partisans since 147 of them voted in January not to certify Biden’s electoral victory. Most (though perhaps not all) of them know better, of course. If they believed that Biden’s election was illegitimate, they would have to explain how their own elections, counted on the same ballots, were not. But they are willing to sacrifice morality, logic and common sense in order to win the support of the voters who remain in thrall to Trump.
Some political strategists believe that the GOP’s metamorphosis into a cult of personality signals its doom. I’m not so sure. The GOP retains enough power, partly through voter suppression, that Trump could win the White House again. That would spell doom for the country.
Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.
