EU launches legal action against Hungary and Poland for
violating rights of LGBTQ+ citizens
15 Jul, 2021 12:57
The European Commission (EC) has announced it is commencing legal procedures against Hungary and Poland for violating the human rights of its LGBTQ+ citizens, which is not in line with EU values.
Now that the EU is taking its member states to court, they have two months to respond to the Commission’s evidence of infringement, and if there is no discourse within the timeframe, Hungary and Poland will risk going to the European Union’s Court of Justice.
Hungary will face action for two infringements of EU values. The first is for passing a law that bans the depiction of homosexual or transgender content to minors under the age of 18. The second is for asking authors of a children’s book to issue a disclaimer that it contains “behavior deviating from gender roles.”
Shortly after the introduction of the decree, the state fined a bookshop £600 for selling a publication depicting same-sex families without such a warning.
Meanwhile, Poland has come under fire for its self-declared LGBT-free zones, which impedes EU values promoting non-discrimination. More than 100 towns, spanning a third of the country, have accorded themselves the status of being free from LGBT influence. In a move similar to Hungary’s, the commission will send a notice to Poland for not respecting the EU’s core ethos.
So, the question is when did LGBTQ-based laws become part of the EU core ethos? Did Poland and Hungary agree to them when they joined?
Hungary’s controversial law came into force last week and was met by domestic protest across the country’s capital, Budapest. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen slammed the move, calling it a “disgrace,” and vowed that “Europe will never allow parts of our society to be stigmatized.”
Hungary’s move has been met with staunch criticism and threats of sanctions, with 14 EU member states having penned a letter last month expressing the view that Hungary’s law “represents a flagrant form of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, and hence deserves to be condemned.”
Note: 12 member states did not sign the letter!
Budapest dismissed all criticism of its actions, defending them as being intended for the protection of children, and said its share of EU recovery funds should not be tied to its repealing the controversial law.
Tying coronavirus recovery funds for Hungary to its contentious law
against LGBT propaganda ‘will ruin EU’ – Budapest
15 Jul, 2021 12:24
EU money intended to help member states recover from the Covid pandemic should not make Hungary a hostage by being withheld over Budapest's controversial LGBT law that was slammed by Brussels, a top official in Hungary has said.
The issue of EU funds should not be tied to the new Hungarian law that banned LGBT themes from school curriculums and children's TV shows, Hungary’s Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyas, told reporters on Thursday.
“Such a connection will ruin the European Union. The Child Protection Act has nothing to do with the [EU] recovery fund,” Gulyas said, adding that Hungary will continue to hold talks with Brussels.
The EU approved individual recovery plans for 12 of its member states this week, and is currently evaluating plans for nine more members, including Hungary and Poland, whose conservative governments have frequently been criticized by Brussels.
A European Commission spokesperson previously said that Budapest will be asked to agree to a two-month deadline extension for approval of its plan. The investment plans, which contain grants and loans, come as Europe is still reeling from coronavirus lockdowns.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the Hungarian recovery proposal had contained “excellent documents” and there is “no real reason for any institution of the European Union to reject the Hungarian plan.”
The controversial Child Protection Act, adopted in Hungary last month, was condemned by the European Commission and the European Parliament as discriminatory. Hungarian officials insist that the law is purely aimed at protecting children and does not discriminate against LGBT people.
On Thursday, the EU’s top court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled that a disciplinary chamber set up by Poland as part of its judicial reform is “not compatible with EU law.” The court argued that the chamber is not independent and warned that Poland may face sanctions if it refuses to comply with the ECJ ruling.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, meanwhile, ruled that the injunctions placed on the country by the EU court are incompatible with the Polish constitution.
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State gets sued over law demanding transgender people give
proof of surgery if they want to change sex on birth certificate
17 Jul, 2021 20:42
Two transgender plaintiffs are suing the state of Montana over a law requiring proof of sex change surgery to alter one’s gender on their actual birth cert, something they and activists claim infringes on their civil rights.
The law in question was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte in April and requires the state health department to receive “a certified copy of an order from a court with appropriate jurisdiction indicating that the sex of the person born in Montana has been changed by surgical procedure.”
Activists have blasted the law, saying it restricts the rights of transgender people. In the complaint filed Friday, the defendants argued that it was put in place to “marginalize transgender people.”
The two plaintiffs are Amelia Marquez, who was born male but identifies as female, and John Doe, who was born female and identifies as male. They are requesting a state court to ban the enforcement of the law.
Marquez argued in the lawsuit that the law does not account for factors that may be holding transgender people back from getting genital surgery. Marquez claimed she has gone through hormone treatments, but is unable to afford or take the time off of work to get the actual surgery.
Doe, meanwhile, has gone through “masculinizing chest reconstructive surgery” and taken other steps “to bring his body into conformity with the male gender identity,” but he does not want further surgery.
Marquez said not being able to actually change the gender on her birth certificate “is a painful and stigmatizing reminder of the State of Montana’s refusal to recognize me as a woman.”
Marquez and Doe are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which blasted the Montana government for increasing “government bureaucracy in people’s lives” and not providing a valid reason why proof of surgery for an individual needs to be on record with the state.
“Courts and state lawmakers around the country have increasingly said that these barriers to accurate identity documents are unnecessary and serve no purpose for the government,” John Knight, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project, said in a statement. “Transgender and non-binary people need recognition of who they are and not permission from the government to live their lives.”
'Who they are' is the real question here! If gender dysphoria is a mental illness, as I believe science would prove it to be, is it helpful to support the delusion? Would you tell an anorexic who just lost 30 lbs that she looks better for it? There's surprisingly little difference.
Similar lawsuits in Ohio and Utah led to judges ruling that it was people’s right to change their birth certificates without rules restricting gender changes.
The lawsuit against Montana’s law also lists Gov. Greg Gianforte, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, and its head Adam Meier, as defendants.
‘Serious, violent incident’: American Booksellers Association
apologizes for distributing ‘anti-trans book’
15 Jul, 2021 16:49
'Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters' by Abigail Shrier
© Blackstone Publishing
The American Booksellers Association has apologized for distributing a book critical of gender transition for young girls, calling the book “anti-trans” and its distribution a “serious, violent incident.”
“An anti-trans book was included in our July mailing to members. This is a serious, violent incident that goes against ABA’s end policies, values, and everything we believe and support. It is inexcusable,” the association declared in a statement on Wednesday.
It appears the ABA believes in and supports the abuse of children because allowing children to transition to the opposite sex before they have even reached puberty is one of the worst kinds of child sexual abuse.
Apologizing to its “trans members and to the trans community for this terrible incident and pain we caused them,” the ABA said that “apologies are not enough” and that it would make several steps over the next few weeks “to address the harm we caused.”
Though the ABA did not name the book in question, it appeared to be referring to Abigail Shrier’s ‘Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters’, which was sent to member bookstores in the group’s July promotional ‘White Box’.
Published by the conservative Regnery Publishing house in June, Irreversible Damage – an Amazon bestseller – documents the “trans craze” and “how you can inoculate your child against it.” The book also documents several cases of women who have transitioned into men that now “bitterly regret” the decision.
Controversy over the book’s inclusion in the White Box first arose on Wednesday after a self-described “queer butch” bookseller complained to the ABA on Twitter and asked, “Do you know how that feels, as a trans bookseller and book buyer?”
@ABAbook I’m seething. I was excited to open our July white box, and then the first book I pulled out is “Irreversible Damage.” Do you know how that feels, as a trans bookseller and book buyer? It isn’t even a new title, so it really caught me in the gut. Do better. pic.twitter.com/VYb1ZKrv9A
— Casey (@CaseyBookEater) July 14, 2021
Despite its apology, the ABA continued to be criticized on social media by some users who claimed the association would have to do more to atone.
One transgender social media user called on the ABA to “physically recover every single copy shipped,” tell its customers that it “won't ship to them until the books are recovered,” and “replace every single person on your selection committee with a trans person.”
Wow! Just a little hyperbolic, I think.
The commenter also told the association to “commit to sending a pro trans book with every order for the next 5 years” and to “fire all involved in the decision and their managers,” while another person tweeted, “This didn't happen on accident, this was deliberate and calculated.”
Others protested the ABA for apologizing, accusing the association of “grovelling” to a vocal minority and submitting to censorship.
“If the American Booksellers Association engaged in an act of mass ‘violence’ against vulnerable people – as they say they have – shouldn't they be turning themselves into the police?” questioned journalist Glenn Greenwald, while podcast host Colin Moriarty commented, “I’m glad I bought this book before you and your authoritarian cronies end up having all copies burned with the rest of the Bad Think.”
Wednesday’s incident was the ABA’s second controversy this month alone. Last week, the association apologized after putting the wrong cover on a book called Blackout by several black authors, which was featured on the indie bestsellers list. Though it did not state which cover it used in error, black conservative commentator Candace Owens has also released a book titled Blackout. The ABA apologized for “the racism and consequences of our error.”
Candace Owen is a brilliant, black, conservative commentator, and, apparently racist according to ABA. I think this calls ABA's judgment into question. If they follow the advice of their trans critics, or even just continue on the path they are on, they will severely marginalize themselves in no time.
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J.K. Rowling doubles down in trans toilet use debate
as troll hopes she receives pipe bomb in the mail
19 Jul, 2021 15:10
Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, who has previously been accused of being “transphobic” after her 2020 essay, has doubled down on her rejection of toilet sharing with trans people amid a flurry of abuse and threats.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Rowling hit back at her haters and doubled down on earlier comments about the rights of transgender individuals to use women’s toilets and changing rooms.
In an ironically worded tweet, she said that her views about allowing transgender people to use women’s facilities had been further strengthened by the torrent of abuse and threats she had received from people backing the trans movement.
Responding to one individual who had messaged, “I wish you a very nice pipebomb in the mailbox,” the author claimed her critics were getting desperate.
“To be fair, when you can’t get a woman sacked, arrested or dropped by her publisher, and cancelling her only made her book sales go up, there’s really only one place to go,” she wrote.
Last year, Rowling caused a furor after she published an essay sharing her opposition to Scottish plans to relax gender laws, a move effectively allowing people to change their birth gender more easily and quickly, and without a medical diagnosis. Rowling voiced her concerns about allowing transgender people in women’s spaces, including changing rooms and toilets, linking her perspective with her own experience of sexual assault.
She claimed the Scottish reform will “in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one.”
The author faced a volley of abuse by transgender campaigners that was exacerbated when Rowling dared to suggest that a person who menstruates is, in fact, a woman. Scottish police even got involved, investigating a number of insults and threats, including rape, made towards the author.
While Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill was paused due to the pandemic, it was unlikely to have made a considerable difference to trans access to women’s facilities. The UK’s 2010 Equality Act protects trans people from being discriminated against when it comes to accessing single-sex spaces.
Unfortunately, here, the 1% makes more noise than the 99%, such that the 99% suffer threats and dangers so the 1% can feel good about themselves. What a stupid world!
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Mixed reviews as Sports Illustrated unveils first ever
transgender model for iconic Swimsuit Issue cover
19 Jul, 2021 18:35
Sports Illustrated has unveiled Leyna Bloom as the first-ever transgender model to feature on the cover of its iconic Swimsuit Issue, meeting with mixed reviews, while tennis star Naomi Osaka also graces one version of the cover.
Raised in Chicago's South Side, Bloom first became interested in a future in fashion through a grandmother who taught runway classes in the area.
"This is my bloodline, this is my ancestry, this is where I come from," explained Bloom to Page Six Style, while also telling of the inspiration to one day feature in the bikini bible when seeing Tyra Banks on its front cover in 1997.
"When they told me I got the cover, I spoke to my dad," Bloom revealed. "I was like, ‘When I was looking at that magazine … I was looking into my future. You were giving me the tools I needed to see myself, to know that I could be there, that I could inspire, that one day I could be a part of this.'"
Bloom's career began after a move to New York City at the age of 17 and a chance encounter in a Soho store that led to a Vogue India appearance, campaigns for the likes of H&M and Levi's, and a Tommy Hilfiger runway gig alongside TV and movie star Zendaya.
"Being a person of trans experience growing up in the world, there was no representation of that [in fashion], so I felt like I could never do this," Bloom said.
"I think it [was] just putting myself out there, knowing that I was born in a world I didn’t fit in, so I have to create one that I do. I just wanted to be seen in the world and let people know that people like me do exist and we are beautiful."
But while Bloom was dubbed an "icon" in some corners, not everyone shared the same enthusiasm.
"It should state: 'Transgender Issue; on the cover. No surprises, never mind, too late!" remarked one onlooker.
"Welcome to Bizarro world!" said another, in reference to the fictional, reverse, alternative reality from Superman comics. "We have fallen so far."
"It's not for me but maybe others like that sort of thing," said a less offended party.
Feeling that attention was being taken away from other issues, it was also said: "I get it’s a milestone for the trans community and an SI first but are [they] burying the lead or at least co-lead if we gloss over the fact the article says this is the first solo Black cover model?"
"That’s…..uh… not good."
No mention that the model is transgender, the first transgender to grace the front page of that magazine. What a horrendous insult to black women everywhere! The first black woman on the Front Page of SI Swimsuit edition isn't even a woman! How many years has SI been doing swimsuit editions and they couldn't find a real black woman suitable for the cover?
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