Vietnam: 'Nobody helped me,' Schools remain dangerous for LGBT youth

Le Minh Triet attempted suicide when he was a seventh-grader, right after coming home from school.  For days, he had been bullied by other students. Sometimes it was name calling. Sometimes he was beaten, had soft drinks thrown at him, and locked inside a room for hours. 
"When they beat me, they insulted my parents names for having a gay son," he said. "Nobody helped me."

Similar stories of abuse and discrimination can be found among Vietnamese LGBT youth. The country has surprised many for its recent progressive stance and new policies that recognize more rights for LGBT people. Still homophobia and transphobia are palpable. 

Multiple studies in the last 3 years have found increasing high percentage of LGBT students suffering abuse. Many activists and educators said Vietnamese schools need to introduce into their curriculum programs which raise awareness about sexuality and gender identity to fight discrimination.  Read more via Thanhnien News

US: Judge rules sexual orientation discrimination falls under purview of landmark Title IX law

A federal judge in California has ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation falls under the purview of the landmark Title IX law, giving a broader interpretation to the 1972 statute that prohibits sex discrimination in the nation's schools and colleges.

In his 22-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson said that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not a separate category of discrimination, but rather, such claims fall under Title IX's view of discrimination on the basis of gender or sex. 

The ruling allows two former players on the Pepperdine University women's basketball team to proceed with a lawsuit that alleges the university harassed and discriminated against them because they were dating. Read more via the Los Angeles Times

Our 13 Favorite LGBT-Positive Children's Books

Children's books occupy a tricky place in literature, especially when their aim is to change the minds of readers. With Heather Has Two Mommies, author Lesléa Newman was the first person to portray a pair of lesbian mothers in a positive way in a children's book, and it instigated criticism during the culture wars of the '90s.

Now with its 25th anniversary re-release, we look at other books that include LGBT characters. It's a fine line to tread: without verging into the realm of preachy, all good children's books have a lesson, but kids can’t know that they’re learning! Here’s a handful of (mostly) recent books that stand out.  Read more

China: LGBT activist becomes one of China’s first Rhodes Scholars

Last week, four young people became the first students from China to receive a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which began selecting candidates from the Middle Kingdom for the first time this year.

Chinese media has celebrated the news, calling the scholarship — which funds graduate-level study at Oxford — the “world’s hardest-to-get” and the “Nobel Prize” of academic awards. The scholarship is being funded in China with donations from the Hong Kong-based Li Ka Shing Foundation, among other sources.

China Real Time chatted with one of the four, Tsinghua University student Ren Naying, about the scholarship, her advocacy on behalf of gay students on campus and her views on China’s so-called “Feminist Five,” who were taken into custody earlier this year while planning to protest sexual harassment on public transportation. Read more via the Wall Street Journal

US: Schools still lack sufficient sex education programs

A huge number of teens and middle-schoolers still aren’t receiving an adequate sex education, such as how to prevent unwanted pregnancy, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and even how to get some condoms. According to a new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools teach lessons on all 16 of the nationally recommended topics for sexual health education. Less than 40% of schools nationwide required sex and health education for graduation.

The report’s findings—based on surveys of schools in 48 states, including 19 large urban school districts, and conducted during the 2014 spring semester—also varied widely state by state.  Additionally, many schools still don’t provide relevant sexual education to students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer, such as materials with inclusive language. Only 24.4% do so—despite the fact that the number of teens who self-identify with that community grows every year.

“Lack of effective sex education can have very real, very serious health consequences,” Dr. Stephanie Zaza, director of the CDC’s division of adolescent and school health, said in a statement.  Read more via Newsweek

US: Dozens of Christian schools win Title IX waivers to ban LGBT students

Nearly three dozen religious institutions of higher learning have asked the federal government to waive laws that protect LGBT students, according to government documents. The schools are asking the Department of Education to waive portions of Title IX that might apply to students and staff who are transgender or who are in same-sex relationships.

27 schools have been granted a waiver from Title IX by the department in the last year, many with the help of conservative religious organizations. Another 9 have applications pending. The total enrollment of these schools tops 80,000 students, and nearly $130 million in federal research grants and student aid flowed to these institutions of higher learning in 2014. 

When Title IX was passed in 1972 to combat discrimination based on sex, Congress added a small but powerful provision that states that an educational institution that is “controlled by a religious organization” does not have to comply if Title IX “would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.” These “right-to-discriminate” waivers were relatively rare until the last year. A handful were requested in the 1980s and 1990s, many by religious schools who wanted to ensure they could prevent women from being hired in leadership roles without running afoul of discrimination laws.  Read more via the Column

Openly gay Imam creates online school for LGBTQ-friendly Islamic philosophy

13 years ago, Washington, DC-based Muslim religious leader Daayiee Abdullah was asked to conduct a funeral for a man who had died of AIDS. "Several imams had been approached about this but wouldn't do it," he said. "Since I believe everyone has the right to religious rites, I did not hesitate to officiate."

This seemingly benign act attracted enmity from critics worldwide, but Abdullah did not flinch. Instead, as the first openly gay imam in the US, he became even more outspoken, advocating not only religious access for people with HIV and AIDS, but also mixed-gender worship, support for reproductive justice, full acceptance of LGBTQ people in Muslim communities, LGBTQ inclusion in Muslim liturgy and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. His positions, he says, are firmly rooted in the Quran, and he references the earliest Chinese and Arabic translations to support his assertions - books he's read in their original languages.

This stance - that the written word is open to interpretation and can be made relevant to contemporary life - has rankled many Muslim leaders. But their criticism has neither silenced him nor kept him from contesting homophobic, racist or sexist commentary. In fact, they've inspired him to establish the MECCA Institute, an online school and think tank that will, by the fall of 2016, offer classes in modern-day explication of Islamic philosophy and tenets. Read more via Truthout 

Ireland: End exemptions to LGBT equality law for schools and hospitals

Fresh off of the country’s first same-sex weddings, Ireland’s government is pushing forward with more changes – amending LGBT equality law exemptions for schools and hospitals.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the Minister of State for Equality, confirmed plans to push ahead with a bill this week that will alter the state’s Employment Equality Act. Section 37 of the existing law grants specific exemptions from sections protecting LGBT people to “religious, educational or medical institutions” – permitting them to discriminate “in order to maintain the religious ethos of the institution”.

However, the TD pledged: “As marriage equality becomes a reality today, on Wednesday we amend Section 37 to end LGBT & other discrimination in schools & hospitals.” He said: “Marriage equality was a wonderful achievement, and Ireland should be very proud of being the first country to bring in marriage equality by popular vote. But if you’re 13 years of age, and you’re just coming out and you’re nervous, marriage equality might feel a very long way away."  Read more via PinkNews 

US: 'This Book Is Gay,' LGBT book for teens, is challenged Alaska

A book intended for LGBT young adults is being challenged in the Wasilla, Alaska, public library by residents who want to see it reshelved or removed, reports the Alaska Dispatch News.

James Dawson's "This Book Is Gay" is currently shelved in the library's juvenile nonfiction section. Wasilla resident Vanessa Campbell petitioned for the book to be moved to the adult section after her 10-year-old son came across the book, which contains profanity and sexually explicit passages. The library's director, Kathy Martin-Albright, declined to move the book, and the Campbell family is appealing her decision.

According to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Wasilla residents attacked the book at a Wasilla City Council meeting. Emily Hardy, who opposes the book being in the juvenile section, said: "I can't imagine what kind of person would order that material and want to make it readily available for children. That is straight-up pedophile kind of behavior."

Several schoolchildren attended the meeting, telling the city council that "they didn't want 'gay books' or books about gay people in the library at all."  Read more via Alaska Dispatch

Australia: Safe Schools Coalition and Minus 18 launch LGBTI lessons for teachers

It was a crush on the singer Pink that made Jaime realise she was different to other girls in her Year 8 class. Now 17 years old, it has been four years since she came out to her classmates as gay. It was a terrifying experience. "Lesbian or gay or trans people had never been talked about in a positive light in year 7 or 8. It had always been, 'don't be such a lezzo' or' that's so gay'," she said. "That really scared me and it made me feel quite anxious because I felt like I was holding in this big secret and I couldn't talk to anyone about it for fear of being shunned."

Jaimee is one of seven lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) young people telling their story as part of a groundbreaking teacher's resource to be used in year 7 and 8 classrooms. All of Us is the first resource of its kind to be funded by the federal government's Department of Education, and will be available to all schools in both the public and private sector.

Commissioned by LGBTI youth group Minus 18 and Safe Schools Coalition Australia – which has more than 470 member schools dedicated to making classrooms more inclusive and reducing bullying against same-sex attracted and gender diverse students -  it will form part of the health and physical education curriculum.  Read more via Sydney Morning Herald

China: Dream of the bed chamber

“Sex, sex, sexual intercourse, penis, penis, vagina.” More than 150 undergraduates are sitting in a lecture hall at China Agricultural University in Beijing, shouting loudly. Many are sexually active, yet for most it is the first sex education class they have attended.

Their instructor hopes that shouting such words will help youngsters talk more openly about sex. Lu Zhongbao, a 24-year-old student, says he was told as a child that he “emerged from a rock”. When he started having sex with his university girlfriend he had little idea about contraception. This evening he arrived an hour early armed with another question: will masturbating damage his health?

It is not just China’s economy that has loosened up since 1979. The country is in the midst of a sexual revolution. But a lack of sex education means that many are not protecting themselves, resulting in soaring abortion rates and a rise in sexually transmitted diseases. Education on the subject is compulsory in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan—societies that have some cultural similarities with China. But most Chinese schools teach only basic anatomy.

Where classes happen, most students are merely given a textbook. “Happy Middle School Students”, written for 12- to 15-year-olds in 2006 and still widely used, refers to sperm meeting egg without describing the mechanics of intercourse. A more explicit volume for primary-school pupils published in 2011, which did explain how sperm were delivered, was criticised for being pornographic. Read more via The Economist 

Japan: Teacher helps fill school void on LGBT issues

Despite rising sensitivity toward sexual minorities in Japan, schools have a long way to go to improve the environment for LGBT students. But an elementary school teacher from Mie Prefecture hopes her efforts will result in change.

Takako Ogura, 57, a teacher at a public grade school in the town of Meiwa, has introduced her own textbook to teach students about gender identity disorders and related issues in her health and physical education classes. According to a recent survey by advertising giant Dentsu Inc., 1 in 13, or 7.6 percent, of 70,000 people polled consider themselves part of the LGBT community. 

To address the situation, the education ministry in April issued a notice calling on all elementary, junior high and high schools to take measures to prevent bullying and discrimination against LGBT students. Ministry officials, however, admit that school textbooks lack information to encourage students to deepen their understanding on the issue.  Read more via Japan Times