Pride Month kicked off worldwide this week, with LGBTI communities recalling Pride’s revolutionary roots: people have taken to the streets in the United States to protest racial injustice and police brutality, receiving support from over 100 LGBTI organisations from across the country. In fact, mistreatments at the hands of security forces remain an international issue: in South Africa, an investigation was launched into the unclear circumstances in which an LGBTI activist and sex worker died while in custody.
In the meantime, Covid-19 still represents a challenge for LGBTI communities, as reports such as the latest UNAIDS survey on young key populations in the Asia-Pacific region shows. The pandemic adds an extra layer of struggle for LGBTI people already facing discrimination: in this context, it raises concerns that in North Macedonia, the Constitutional Court repealed a law which explicitly protected people from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. It is crucial that States move forward to adopt laws that could genuinely protect our communities, as a recent report on legal gender recognition released by the Organization of American States highlights.
As this week comes to an end, we want to close on a bright note, coming from Aotearoa New Zealand: Georgina Beyer, the world’s first openly trans Mayor, was recognised in the 2020 Queen's Birthday honours for her services to our communities.
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