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Japan: Prime Minister Should Back LGBT Equality Act

Activists’ Videos Highlight Long Struggle for Equality

(Tokyo) – The Japanese government’s failure to pass a national nondiscrimination law to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics was a lost opportunity to advance the rights of…
EqualityActJapan
News

New York City Hospitals Prohibit Unnecessary Intersex Surgeries

Ending Early ‘Normalizing’ Interventions Signals Commitment to Rights

New York City Health & Hospitals, the largest public healthcare system in the United States, has instituted a policy to defer all medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. The move is a major boost for Intersex rights following City…
People rally to end intersex surgeries in New York City, October 27, 2018. 
News

Japan: Olympics Should Benefit Human Rights

Address Abuse of Child Athletes, LGBT Discrimination, Gender Gap

(Tokyo) – Japan should address serious rights issues in the country as host of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Human Rights Watch said today in a new reporters’ guide. The Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, which start on July 23, 2021, are…
Supporters of Equality Act Japan gather in front of parliament before they submit a petition in Tokyo on March 25, 2021.
News

Saint Lucia Universal Periodic Review Outcome Statement

Item 6 - Universal Periodic Review

We regret that the government of Saint Lucia has, once again, refused to accept the recommendations to decriminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults. Articles 132 and 133 of the criminal code punish so-called “gross indecency” and “…
Delegates sit at the opening of the 41th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2019.
News

Bolivia: Lesbian Couple Denied Registration of Union

National Civil Registry Discriminates Against Same-Sex Relationships

(Washington, DC) – Bolivia’s national civil registry (Registro de Servicio Cívico, SERECÍ) has discriminated against a lesbian couple by rejecting their application to register their relationship as a union, Human Rights Watch said today. All civil…
The Constitutional Court of Bolivia (Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional).
News

Saint Kitts and Nevis Universal Periodic Review Outcome Statement

Item 6 - Universal Periodic Review

It is disappointing to observe the Saint Kitts and Nevis government’s refusal, once again, to accept the recommendations to decriminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults. Articles 56 and 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act punish so…
Delegates sit at the opening of the 41th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2019.
News

Supermarket Chain in Russia Acts LGBT-Inclusive, Then Regrets It

VkusVill Pulls Ad Featuring Lesbian Customers

Last week, VkusVill, a prominent Russian food market chain, ran an online advertisement entitled “Family Happiness Recipe” that featured, among others, a family that included several lesbian women. In Russia, where discrimination against lesbian, gay…
A VkusVill’s market in central Moscow, Russia on July 7th, 2021.
News

European Court Upholds Russian Transgender Woman’s Right to Family Life

Discrimination Harms Parents and Children

In a victory for a transgender parent’s right to maintain contact with her children, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on July 6 that Russia’s denial of her visitation violated her rights to family life and freedom from discrimination. The…
Activists participate in the St Petersburg LGBT Pride march on August 12, 2017.
News

Honduras: Court Finds State Responsible for Trans Killing

Orders Training for Officials, Legal Gender Recognition, Damages

(New York) – The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in a landmark ruling on June 26, 2021, held that Honduras violated the rights to life and personal integrity of a transgender woman killed in 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision…
Picture of Vicky Hernández. © Red Lésbica Cattrachas
News

'X' Passports in US Mark Shift Toward Respecting Gender Diversity

Move Allows Third Option in Addition to Male or Female

The United States government announced today it will institute a third gender category on passports, allowing citizens to choose to be designated other than male or female. Currently US citizens have to choose “F” for female or “M” for male on…
A U.S. Passport cover shown on May 25, 2021, in Washington, D.C.  
News

Over 100 Groups Urge Biden to Fully Rescind Title 42 Expulsions

Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr. President of the United States 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20500 Dear President Biden: We, the 105 undersigned organizations, write to express our alarm and disappointment that your administration is…
A migrant family crosses the border into El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
News

Malaysia Should Legally Recognize Transgender People

Gender Recognition Would Help Address Rights Violations

“I have never had official employment,” Aisha (not her real name), a Malaysian trans woman who does sex work, told Human Rights Watch and Justice for Sisters in 2019. “I tried. I applied for a job selling perfume, but the employer said they would only…
Transgender people in Malaysia face discrimination and abuses by government officials and agents, including public sector medical staff, teachers and local government officials. © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz Photography by Human Rights Watch
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Guatemala: 3 Killings of LGBT People in a Week

Investigate, Bolster Protections for LGBT People

(New York) – Unidentified assailants killed two transgender women and one gay man in Guatemala in separate attacks within the span of one week, including Andrea González, the leader of a trans rights organization, Human Rights Watch said today. The…
Andrea González
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US Supreme Court Avoids Sweeping License to Discriminate

Lawmakers Should Expand Nondiscrimination Guarantees

In a highly-anticipated ruling today, the US Supreme Court sidestepped an apparent clash between religious freedom and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Although the court refrained from granting a sweeping license…
Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow speaks at a rally on the steps of the Supreme Court on Thursday, June 17, 2021 in Washington, D.C. following the Fulton decision.
News

Ghana: Drop Charges Against LGBT Rights Defenders

Surge in State-Sponsored Harassment

(Johannesburg) – Ghana’s attorney general should drop charges against 21 human rights defenders who face ongoing judicial harassment after attending a paralegal training session, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists were charged with “unlawful…
People who were detained by police on suspicion of promoting an LGBT agenda at an unlawful assembly arrive at a court for a bail hearing in Ho, Volta Region, Ghana on June 4, 2021.
News

Hungary’s President Should Veto Anti-LGBT Law

Equating Pedophilia with Sexual and Gender Diversity is False, Discriminatory, Stigmatizing

Hungary’s parliament adopted a bill today which effectively bans discussion of sexual and gender diversity in schools, media, advertising, and other public spaces, slapping those who violate it with administrative sanctions that could include fines.…
Thousands protest the anti-LGBT law in Budapest, Hungary, June 14, 2021. 
News

Hungary: Reject Bill Banning Discussion of LGBT Issues

Latest Attack on Diversity Could Affect Health Care, Education

(Berlin) – Hungary’s parliament should reject a bill that would prohibit discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation, and violates Hungary’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The law targets content “promoting”…
People march with a giant rainbow flag from the parliament building in Budapest during the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade on July 6, 2019.
News

Activists Detained in Kazakhstan 'For Their Own Safety'

Feminist Activists Attacked and Threatened

On May 29, Zhanar Sekerbaeva and Gulzada Serzhan, co-leaders of the feminist group Feminita, were holding a private event to discuss gender equality in Shymkent, a city in southern Kazakhstan, when unidentified men tried to break up the gathering by…
Feminita Kazakstan Activist Arrested
News

Japan: Global Firms Back LGBT Non-Discrimination Act

Supporters Include Coca Cola, Intel, EY, PwC, Salesforce, Deloitte, SegaSammy

(Tokyo) – Major corporations have endorsed Japan’s proposed Equality Act, which would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination, J-ALL, Athlete Ally, All Out, and Human Rights Watch said today. As…
Supporters of Equality Act Japan gather in front of parliament before they submit a petition in Tokyo on March 25, 2021.