Category Archives: Gender

‘A painful loss for our community’: Mexico’s queer population demands answers in magistrate death

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Queer activists protest after first non-binary magistrate in nation Jesús Ociel Baena and partner found dead in home

Against the bland, beige backdrop of Mexico’s electoral courtrooms, Jesús Ociel Baena was radiant. The non-binary magistrate paired a shirt and tie with colorful skirts, high heels and bright red lipstick. In the heat of Aguascalientes state, Baena, who used they/their pronouns, would theatrically brandish a rainbow fan to cool down.

Proudly out in the courtroom, the classroom and on social media, Baena was a beacon for Mexico’s queer population, and their death this week has sent shock waves through an embattled community.

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California official who opposed #MeToo movement accused of killing fiancee

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Maga darling Joseph C Roberts arrested after Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner’s remains found on San Francisco Bay shoreline

A former San Francisco Republican official who claimed to be a victim of the #MeToo movement has been accused of dismembering his fiancee.

On 6 September, Alameda, California, officials arrested the 42-year-old Navy veteran Joseph C Roberts after DNA evidence from the autopsy of Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner, 27, allegedly pointed in his direction.

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Spanish court imposes restraining order on Rubiales after kiss allegations

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Former Spanish football federation president prevented from approaching World Cup-winning player Jenni Hermoso

A Spanish court has imposed a restraining order on the former president of the country’s football federation, forbidding him from communicating with, or coming within 200 metres of, the female player he controversially kissed after Spain’s World Cup victory last month.

Luis Rubiales – whose decision to kiss Jenni Hermoso prompted a national and international debate on sexism and eventually led him to resign five days ago – was handed the order on Friday by a judge at the audiencia nacional, Spain’s highest criminal court.

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Female scientists found to be almost entirely absent from Australian high school textbooks

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Researchers say ‘alarming’ lack of representation could be contributing to gender gap in the field of Stem

Female scientists are almost entirely omitted from Australian textbooks, a new study has found, with researchers warning the “alarming” lack of representation could be contributing to the gender gap in the field of Stem.

The study, released by the Australian National University (ANU) and Curtin University on Monday, analysed the curriculum of the four year 11 and year 12 Stem subjects taught in Australian schools – biology, chemistry, physics and environmental science.

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Jenni Hermoso ‘did not consent’ to be kissed by Rubiales

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Spain forward rejects FA chief’s claims as ‘categorically false’ as the national women’s team refuses to play until he resigns

• ‘Ego above dignity’: Rubiales’ defiance over kiss shocks Spain

The Spain forward Jenni Hermoso has said she did not consent to be kissed by the Spanish football federation president, Luis Rubiales, as the women’s team announced that they would not play until he is removed.

Rubiales has faced fierce criticism for days, as well as a Fifa investigation, after he grabbed Hermoso by the head and kissed her on her lips during the Women’s World Cup final trophy presentation.

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‘Ego above dignity’: Luis Rubiales’ defiance over kiss shocks Spain

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Women’s and men’s players and clubs join politicians in condemning football chief’s refusal to resign

For a brief moment, it looked like it would be a victory for feminism. After days of uproar across Spain and around the world, media reports had suggested that Spain’s football chief, Luis Rubiales, would step down over the kiss he planted on forward Jenni Hermoso’s lips during the Women’s World Cup medal presentation on Sunday.

Yet instead of announcing his departure at an emergency meeting of the football federation on Friday, he left many Spaniards in shock by defiantly declaring “I will not resign” five times in a meandering speech that hit out at “false feminism” while also seeking to portray himself as a victim and recast the kiss as “a peck”.

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India’s supreme court issues handbook against use of archaic terms for women

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Harmful language and stereotypes about women can lead to distortion of law, says chief justice of India

India’s supreme court has issued a handbook for judges urging them to shun words like seductress, vamp, spinster and harlot when talking about women.

Archaic terms that disparage women and perpetuate gender stereotypes can still be routinely heard in Indian courts long after falling into disuse in other countries. It is not unusual for a wife to be described as chaste or ladylike, and sexual harassment is routinely trivialised as “Eve-teasing”.

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Wes Streeting apologises to Labour MP who felt ostracised due to gender views

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MP said she felt ostracised and accused male colleagues of shouting her down for opposing transgender reforms

A senior member of the Labour frontbench has offered an apology to a fellow MP, Rosie Duffield, who has said she felt ostracised by the party because of her views on gender reforms.

Duffield had also accused male party colleagues of trying to shout her down in the Commons earlier this year when she spoke to back the government’s move to block gender reforms proposed in Scotland.

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Vladimir Putin signs law banning gender changes in Russia

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Legislation outlaws medical interventions ‘aimed at changing the sex of a person’ and altering gender details in public records

Vladimir Putin has signed legislation that bans people from officially or medically changing their gender, representing a further blow to Russia’s embattled LGBTQ+ community.

The act, passed unanimously by both houses of parliament, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person”, as well as banning changing a person’s gender in official documents or public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.

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Lord’s Prayer opening may be ‘problematic’, says archbishop

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Archbishop of York tells General Synod that ‘Our Father’ has patriarchal connotations

The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be “problematic” because of their patriarchal association.

In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words “Our Father”, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament.

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Mermaids v LGB Alliance: who was involved in tribunal case?

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As judges rule trans children’s charity cannot challenge charitable status of gay rights organisation, we look at decision

A tribunal has ruled that the law does not allow the transgender children’s charity Mermaids to challenge the charitable status of the gay rights organisation LGB Alliance. Who was involved?

LGB Alliance was founded in October 2019 to campaign for the rights of same-sex attracted people by two veteran lesbian activists: Bev Jackson, a founder member of the Gay Liberation Front in 1970, and Kate Harris, who was previously a volunteer fundraiser for the leading gay rights organisation Stonewall. They were concerned at the implications of Stonewall’s decision to alter its definition of sexual orientation in 2015 from “same-sex attracted” to “same-gender attracted”.

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No 10 groping allegation suggests complaints are still badly handled

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The lack of response to TV producer Daisy Goodwin’s allegation about a mayoral candidate casts doubt on complaints processes

Two years after the Pestminster scandal about sexual harassment by politicians swept through parliament in 2017, a downbeat speech in the House of Commons summed up how many female MPs and aides felt about its consequences.

The verdict was delivered by Jess Phillips, the Labour MP and women’s rights campaigner. “Nothing has changed since we started the whole Pestminster thing or even the broader #MeToo movement; it feels as if a moment of blood-letting led to no significant material change in the actual working lives of the people we are here to try to protect.”

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Daniel Andrews refuses to apologise for calling Liberal MP Cindy McLeish a ‘halfwit grub’

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Victorian premier says his comment in parliament was in defence of Labor MP Kat Theophanous

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is refusing to apologise to Liberal MP Cindy McLeish for calling her a “halfwit grub” in state parliament, arguing he was defending a female colleague at the time.

Andrews made the comment during debate on an opposition bill to adopt the four recommendations of the anti-corruption watchdog’s Operation Clara report, which was handed down earlier this year.

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Taiwan’s ruling party rocked by sexual harassment claims

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President apologises for second time in a week as politics and media embroiled in #MeToo allegations

Taiwan’s ruling party has been rocked by a wave of sexual harassment allegations, as the country grapples with a #MeToo movement that has encompassed politics and the media.

On Tuesday, President Tsai Ing-wen apologised for the second time in a week in response to sexual harassment claims against senior staff in the Democratic Progressive party (DPP). “Our society as a whole must educate ourselves again. People in sexual harassment incidents are victims,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

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Kathleen Stock says she is a ‘moderate’ as protests planned over Oxford debate

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Former professor who argues trans people cannot expect all rights afforded by biological sex is due to speak at Oxford Union

Kathleen Stock, the gender-critical feminist whose forthcoming address to Oxford university students on Tuesday has prompted planned protests, has insisted that she is a “moderate” and has a right to upset people.

Before her contested appearance at the Oxford Union, Stock said it was her trans activist opponents, who want the event cancelled, who were extreme.

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Edinburgh University tries to defuse row after trans rights protests over film

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Executives holds talks with both sides after screening of gender critical documentary was cancelled

Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.

University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.

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Billionaire boys’ club: trucking magnate Lindsay Fox celebrates birthday with men-only knees up

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High profile male politicians, sports stars and businessmen attended Scottish-themed lunch at National Gallery of Victoria – but not their female counterparts

There were bagpipes, tartan-clad security guards and plenty of kilts, but there was one thing conspicuously missing from billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox’s 86th birthday party: women.

The Scottish-themed private lunch at the National Gallery of Victoria, to which the Fox family donated $100m last year, was a men-only affair attended by several prominent politicians, sportsmen and businessmen.

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Women’s Institute will ‘continue to celebrate’ transgender women amid inclusivity row

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Exclusive: Melissa Green, CEO of the organisation, says it won’t be part of ‘toxic’ debate on trans membership

The Women’s Institute will continue to “celebrate” the lives of the transgender women enriching its membership, the head of the organisation said on Tuesday, following reports that it was facing a bid to overturn inclusive policy.

Melissa Green, CEO of the the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI), said the organisation did not want to enter into a “toxic and divisive” row that sought to sow discord among women, but instead foster sensible discourse and reflect the lives of all its members – including those that are transgender.

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Female radio station in Afghanistan closed for playing music during Ramadan

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Sadai Banowan violated ‘laws and regulations of the Islamic emirate’, says local Taliban official

A female-run radio station in Afghanistan’s north-east has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said.

Sadai Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari, is Afghanistan’s only female-run station and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.

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Australian LGBTQ+ advocates call for stronger legal protection after attacks

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Patchiness and exemptions of anti-vilification laws based on gender and sexuality leave queer community vulnerable, advocate says

LGBTQ+ advocates are calling for stronger legal protections following a series of attacks against Australia’s queer community.

Earlier this month neo-Nazis held a banner reading “destroy paedo freaks” at a rally in Melbourne attended by trans rights activists, and days later an LGBTQ+ group said they were attacked by a mob while protesting outside a Sydney church.

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