A round-up of what’s happening in the worlds of gender and sexuality.
Tanya Walker, a 53-year-old transgender woman, activist and advocate, had lung cancer and was coughing up blood, but she says her emergency room doctor kept asking about her genitals. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid
Transgender patients delay medical care due to discrimination
According to leaders in transgender medicine, transgender advocates and patients, American society is gradually learning the basics of gender identity. The medical profession, however, has been slow to adapt, Reuters reports.
Nearly 30% of transgender patients report delaying or not seeking care due to discrimination, according to a report published in the June edition of the journal Medical Care. The report claims that one in four say that they were denied equal treatment in healthcare settings.
Dr. Aron Janssen, founder and director of the gender and sexuality service at New York University Langone Medical Centre, told Reuters, “We have a lot to apologise for in the medical community. Our treatment of transgender people has been abhorrent.”
“The medical world is very far behind. It is a conservative organisation. Things are slow to move,” Janssen said.
According to an estimate by the UCLA Williams Institute, transgender people, who account for 0.6% of the US population, face acute medical needs.
Number of women on Indian boards doubled in five years, study finds
A recent report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute claims that the number of women on boards of companies in India has doubled over the past five years, from 5.5% in 2010 to 11.2% in 2015, Business Standard reports.
According to the report, management diversity in the country has, however, declined from 7.8% in 2014 to 7.2% in 2015.
The report added that India had the second lowest representation of women at the senior management level in the region, behind Japan and South Korea – which are both at 2.3%.
Thousands protest same-sex marriage proposal in Mexico
A woman holds a cardboard sign as thousands of Catholics and conservatives gather against the legalisation of gay marriage in Monterrey City, Mexico, 10 September, 2016. Credit:Daniel Becerril/Reuters
Widespread protests have taken place in Mexico City against a government proposal to legalise same-sex marriage.
According to BBC, the organisers of the protest – National Front for the Family – claimed that they were not opposed to gay or lesbian rights, but were seeking to defend family values.
Mexico, they said, had become a victim of an ideological battle that threatened family values and the institution of marriage.
The LGBT rights supporters staged rival protests in the capital to show their backing for President Enrique Pena Nieto’s proposal to legalise same-sex marriage.
Although same-sex marriages are currently legal in a few states of Mexico, Nieto wants it to be legal across the country.
Four Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia – have already legalised same-sex marriage.
Amid threats to organisers, LGBT festival cancelled in Haiti
The cultural festival in Haiti celebrating the Afro-Caribbean LGBTQ community was called off due to threats of violence to its organisers.
According to a CBS News report, the organisers of the four-day Massimadi film, art and performance event – which was set to begin on Tuesday in the capital city of Port-au-Prince – had to be postponed, as a Haitian cultural institution known as FOKAL and some other co-hosts were threatened with arson.
Jeudy Charlot, a member of the gay rights group Kouraj – the main organiser of the event – told CBS News that “there are very homophobic people who are against it [the festival], and the government official, who is responsible for the jurisdiction of Port-au-Prince, has also taken a decision to prevent the festival for now.”
According to BBC, Capital commissioner Jean Danton Leger said he had blocked the event to protect public morals.
The Massimadi arts and film festival is held each year in Brussels and Montreal and is targeted at Afro-Caribbean communities. This was the first year it was scheduled to be held in Haiti.
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