🇯🇵 Japanese Lawmaker Says LGBT Rights Go Against Preservation of Species Amid Record-Low Birth Rates
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/japanese-lawmaker-...h-rates-1593967



Japanese lawmaker Kazuo Yana of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has said that LGBT rights go against the preservation of species amid record-low birth rates in the East Asian country.

During a party meeting on Thursday local time, Yana, 42, a third-term member of the Japanese House of Representatives, reportedly told members that LGBT people run counter to the basis of biology, according to Japan Times. Participants of the meeting quoted Yana as saying that his remarks aren't meant to discriminate against LGBT people but same sex relationships "resist the preservation of the species."

Asked for comment, Yana told Kyodo News, "I will refrain from commenting about the [LGBT] remark as it was a closed meeting."

Openly gay lawmakers Kanako Otsuji and Taiga Ishikawa, members of the Constitutional Democratic Party, strongly criticized Yana's comments.

"I demand he retract the remarks," Otsuji said. "How much does he have to hurt [LGBT] people and neglect their human rights to be satisfied?"

It's an "extremely stereotypical view," Ishikawa added.

Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation, a coalition of pro-LGBT groups, said Yama's remarks "hurt not only [LGBT] themselves but also their families, friends and acquaintances, cannot be overlooked."

Japan's consistently low birthrate has caused the country's population to age and shrink over the past 14 years. With more than 30 percent of its population over 65, the Asian nation has struggled to contain its stagnation in births as an increasing number of women swap motherhood for the workforce due to the country's economy.

In 2020, Japan's birth rate fell to a record low 872,683, with 25,917 fewer babies born domestically and to Japanese nationals living overseas compared to a year earlier. The current 2021 birth rate indicates another drop of 1.3 percent, with 7.2 births per 1000 people, according to MacroTrends.

The figure represents the latest point of a continuing decline, with a 1.3 percent drop in 2019, 1.3 percent drop in 2018 and 2.4 percent drop in 2017.

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has suggested that the coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to the country's birth rate crisis, but cautioned that its full effects cannot be determined until at least the end of 2021.

"The gender stuff is pretty consistent with trends around the world—men are having a harder time," said Anne Allison, a professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University, according to The Atlantic. "The birth rate is down, even the coupling rate is down. And people will say the number-one reason is economic insecurity."

Newsweek reached out to the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. for comment. This story will be updated with any response.

🌎 Everyone Is Awesome: Lego to launch first LGBTQ+ set
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/...first-lgbtq-set



In the “spraying room” at Lego HQ, tiny figurines are layered with bright, glossy paint before being placed on a rainbow-esque arch. The result, a waterfall of colour with 11 brand new minifigures striding purposefully towards an imagined brighter future, is the Danish toymaker’s inaugural LGBTQIA+ set, titled Everyone Is Awesome.

The colours of the stripes were chosen to reflect the original rainbow flag, along with pale blue, white and pink representing the trans community, and black and brown to acknowledge the diversity of skin tones and backgrounds within the LGBTQIA+ community.

In all but one case no specific gender has been assigned to the figures, who are intended to “express individuality, while remaining ambiguous”.

The exception, a purple minifigure with a highly stylised beehive wig, “is a clear nod to all the fabulous drag queens out there”, said the designer, Matthew Ashton, who initially created the set for his own desk.

“I’d moved offices, so wanted to make the space feel like home with something that reflected me and the LGBTQIA+ community I’m so proud to be a part of,” Ashton said.

But the set attracted attention and was soon in demand. “Other members of Lego’s LGBTQ+ community came by to tell me they loved it,” Ashton said. “So I thought, ‘maybe it’s something we should share’.” He also wanted to be more vocal in support of inclusivity.

“Growing up as an LGBTQ+ kid – being told what I should play with, how I should walk, how I should talk, what I should wear – the message I always got was that somehow I was ‘wrong’,” he said. “Trying to be someone I wasn’t was exhausting. I wish, as a kid, I had looked at the world and thought: ‘This is going to be OK, there’s a place for me’. I wish I’d seen an inclusive statement that said ‘everyone is awesome’.”

Ashton said he was really happy to work for a company that wants to be outspoken over such matters. Jane Burkitt, a fellow LGBTQIA+ employee at Lego who works in supply chain operations, agreed.

“I’ve been at Lego for six years and I’ve never hesitated to be myself here, which isn’t the case everywhere,” Burkitt said. “When I joined Lego, I hoped it would be an inclusive place – but I didn’t know. People like me wonder, ‘will I be welcome here?’ And the answer is yes – but this set means that, now, everyone knows it.”

The set goes on sale on 1 June, the start of Pride month, but a few Afols (adult fans of Lego) and Gayfols have been given a preview.

“This set means a lot,” said Flynn DeMarco, a member of the LGBTQIA+ Afol community and a contestant on the television show Lego Masters US. “Often LGBTQ+ people don’t feel seen, especially by corporations. There’s a lot of lip service and not a lot of action. So this feels like a big statement.”

Other LGBTQIA+ representations by Lego – including a tiny rainbow flag in a build of Trafalgar Square, and a bride and groom BrickHeadz sold separately, so that fans could put two women or two men together – have been subtler.

“This is much more overt,” said DeMarco, who hopes the set will help broaden people’s minds. “People look to a company such as Lego – a company they love and enjoy – and think, ‘Hey if it’s OK for Lego, maybe it’s OK for me, too.’”

And his own response? “For Lego to do something so inclusive, so full of joy – it made me smile, then cry, then smile a little more.”

jin^manusia is probably this forum's most dedicated homophobe, I give him that.

Yeah, I guess.

One silver lining about his posts is at least they helps bumping this thread to stay on top of Serious Kopitiam. So I guess it's not too bad lol.




This post has been edited by internaldisputes: May 24 2021, 05:07 PM

He's hot! And the way he is very passionate about transgender rights makes me love him even more.

Feel free to post anything LGBTQ-related in this thread. I myself have posted things that are border-line gossipy in the past so I don't think it's really an issue.

Unless you meant something with less substance like thirst traps? I was thinking of opening a thread the other day in Hnggghhh centered around male thirst traps but never had the chance/courage to do so.

Understandable. For some gay people, social media posts with subtle hints like those are the next best thing if they can't say outright that they are gay. I'm also guilty of that sometimes.

🇺🇸 Companies with LGBT-Friendly Policies Perform Better
Source: https://www.thehrdirector.com/business-news...earch-suggests/



LGBT‐friendly corporate policies enhance firm performance, according to new research from Aalto University School of Business and the University of Vaasa.

The research conducted by Jukka Sihvonen, Assistant Professor at Aalto University School of Business, and his co-authors from the University of Vaasa – Veda Fatmy, John Kihn, and Sami Vähämaa, examined the association between LGBT‐friendly corporate policies and firm performance using data on 657 publicly traded US firms over the period 2003–2016, and found that LGBT-friendly policies may create value for the firm.

More specifically, the researchers found strong evidence that more LGBT‐friendly firms have higher profitability and higher stock market valuations.

“Our empirical findings demonstrate that LGBT‐friendly corporate policies pay off, and the documented positive relationship between LGBT friendliness and firm performance can be considered economically significant” says Sihvonen.

However, the findings did indicate that the positive effect of progressive LGBT policies on profitability and market valuation was more pronounced for firms located in more liberal states, while being weaker or non‐existent for firms located in more conservative states.

Nevertheless, the researchers did find that even for firms located in more socially conservative states, the effect of LGBT friendliness on firm performance is at worst neutral, suggesting that the adoption of LBGT‐friendly policies does not generally have detrimental repercussions.

But why does LGBT friendliness influence firm performance? According to the researchers, there are various potential reasons why.

“Previous studies have documented that LGBT‐friendly firms are associated with greater employee commitment, improved job satisfaction, increased employee productivity, and more altruistic workplace behaviour” says Sihvonen.

Furthermore, the researchers also express that LGBT‐friendly policies may improve competitiveness in the job market by fostering the firm’s ability to attract, recruit and retain talented employees.

Ultimately, on a broader scale, these findings can be considered to support the view that socially progressive corporate policies and diversity management is worthwhile, and should be considered across the board.

🇨🇳 Dior chooses Chinese transgender star as an ambassador for its new fragrance campaign
Source: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beau...-face-their-new



Dior, the French house owned by LVMH, the largest luxury group in the world, is collaborating with China’s transgender celebrity Jin Xing for a campaign centred on the brand’s J’adore fragrance.

Dior announced the news on its Weibo account with a video in which Jin Xing talks about women’s empowerment.

Jin Xing is a former male ballet dancer and army colonel, and was the first person to go public about undergoing gender reassignment surgery in China. She has since become a prominent television presenter and has a significant following on social media.

This bold statement from a top luxury brand like Dior reflects some progress in the acceptance of the LGBT community in China, where the rights of transgender people are only partially recognised.

LGBT issues are still a taboo topic in China, where the community faces harsh consequences like ostracism, unemployment and even jail. A report from the Beijing LGBT Centre in 2017 found that, of 1,640 respondents, all but six had experienced domestic violence at the hands of parents or guardians after coming out.

In 2015, Beijing transgender woman Chao Xiaomi brought the transgender issue into the public arena after she was unable to use a bathroom in a shopping centre.

Chao told how she had first attempted to enter a men’s bathroom but was stopped by a janitor because she was wearing a dress. She then tried to go into a women’s room, but a security guard asked to see her ID; when seeing that it stated “male”, he called her a “pervert”.

In the face of widespread discrimination, NGOs and activists have pushed for change through lawsuits and the development of studies highlighting difficulties the community faces.

In spite of many setbacks, the LGBT community is fighting to be seen and heard, and many LGBT people are beginning to live more openly amid growing acceptance from society.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

P/S: You need to leave this part out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= if you want to embed a Youtube video otherwise it will turn into a black box.

🇮🇳 50 from LGBT community receive their first shot in Kolkata
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ko...ow/83096928.cms



KOLKATA: Members of the LGBT community got the vaccination shot for the first time in the city on Sunday, registering themselves as the “other gender”.

Fifty members of the community, including 27 from the transgender community, got their first shot in a special camp organised by Prantakatha and Techno India DAMA Hospital, two days ahead of the Pride Month.

Bappaditya Mukherjee of Prantakatha said there is also a vaccine hesitancy among the trans community that, he feels, is obvious when many don’t even avail of basic healthcare facilities for the kind of harassment they face.

“The pandemic has the community even more marginalized. From being forced to stay with homophobics, transphobic families, leading to abuse, depression, job loss and no access to Covid vaccines have made their lives even more pathetic,” said Mukherjee, who himself was among the 50 who took the jab on Sunday.

“We need more such community-friendly special camps where recipients are not subjected to bully and harassment by the society. This will encourage more people from the community to get themselves vaccinated,” said a transgender activist, Ranjita Sinha.

🇺🇸 Lady Gaga unveils 10th anniversary edition of Born This Way featuring song covers by LGBTQ artists
Source: https://ew.com/music/lady-gaga-announces-10...-born-this-way/


It's a big year for fans of Lady Gaga. While Little Monsters have so far been busy bringing ARTPOP back to the charts and making Oreos inspired by Chromatica, 2021 also marks the 10th anniversary of Gaga's seminal album Born This Way. Earlier this month she received a key to the city of West Hollywood, as the album's title was emblazoned on the street in rainbow Pride flag colors.

That's far from the end of the anniversary celebrations, though. Gaga announced on her Twitter account Friday that the album is being reissued as Born This Way The Tenth Anniversary, a special edition that includes a special second disc "of reimagined versions of #BornThisWay songs by incredible artists who both represent and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community," Gaga wrote.

The first of these cover tracks, "Judas" by Big Freedia, is available now. Listen to it above as we wait for more to come.

My approach is always to give a proper reply to any posts in this thread whether it is good or bad.

I've tried hiding posts which I don't agree with in the past but on hindsight that's a bad decision because it makes me look like I'm surrendering or something. Because of that, I've decided that if a post requires no reply then I will just ignore it and move on with my life.

Of course, if you guys come across any flaming/trolling posts, feel free to report it to the moderators. It's their job to keep not just this thread but the entire forum a place for healthy discussion so I trust their judgement whatever that may be.

The thread did got deleted, but he claimed he wasn't banned at all. We just have to learn to live with him since he's not going anywhere I guess.

🇺🇸 Supreme Court will soon release a potentially pivotal decision for LGBT rights



The Supreme Court is expected to release a decision in the coming days that could provide the first glimpses of how its 6-3 conservative majority will shape the future of LGBT rights.

The case, known as Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, No. 19-123, is a fight over a city policy that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. Citing the policy, Philadelphia dropped a contract with a Roman Catholic foster agency that said its beliefs didn’t allow it to certify same-sex couples for adoption. The agency, Catholic Social Services, brought a lawsuit alleging that Philadelphia violated its First Amendment religious rights.

The dispute was argued in November and a decision is expected before the court’s term wraps up at the end of June, which also happens to be Pride Month, a historic time of celebration in the LGBT community. The Supreme Court is expected to release its next opinions on Tuesday, though it does not say in advance which ones are coming.

The coming decision could have broad ramifications that stretch beyond the approximately 6,000 children in foster care in Philadelphia. Lawyers who specialize in LGBT rights have argued that a broad ruling in favor of the adoption agency could also open the door to legalizing discrimination in other spheres where governments hire private contractors to provide public services.

More broadly, the case could provide significant clues about the direction the court will take in future LGBT rights cases. Since the mid-1990s, the nation’s top court has gradually expanded protections for gays and lesbians, largely under the leadership of former Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in 2018.

The nine-judge court currently has six Republican appointees, including three nominated by former President Donald Trump.

“This will be a bellwether for how the court, as it’s currently comprised, will view these LGBT civil rights cases,” said Marques Richeson, a partner at the law firm Squire Patton Boggs who worked on a friend-of-the-court brief in the case on behalf of Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders.

“I definitely think that it’s going to set a precedent that in the future either will work to our benefit, or potentially to our detriment, within LGBT communities,” Richeson said.

Legal experts emphasize that Supreme Court decisions are often unpredictable, and that there are a range of possible outcomes with more nuance than which side wins or loses.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/31/supreme-cou...bellwether.html

🇷🇴 Romania Told to Compensate LGBT Group for Homophobic Attack
Source: https://balkaninsight.com/2021/06/01/romani...ophobic-attack/



The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday ruled that Romania failed to uphold the prohibition of discrimination when far-right homophobes stormed an LGBT film screening in Bucharest in February 2013.

The Strasbourg-based court also ruled that Romania failed to uphold the right to respect for private and family life and the right to freedom of assembly and association, which are all protected by the European Convention of Human Rights.

The screening of the film about a gay family was part of LGBT History Month. A protest against event was held by extremist groups near the venue at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.

Despite the presence of police, around 45 protesters thought to be part of the fringe far-right party Noua Dreapta stormed the cinema and threatened viewers by shouting homophobic slogans and hurling insults at them. At the time of the attack, the audience numbered no more than 20.

Members of Noua Dreapta (New Right) have been responsible for many incidents of homophobic violence in Romania since the party’s founding in 2000. Noua Dreapta has also made a habit of protesting against the Bucharest Pride parade every year. It has never won seats in parliament.

The investigation into the incident was closed in October 2014 by a Bucharest prosecution body, which described the attack as “an exchange of views”.

Another investigation, into the use of fascist symbols during the raid, was also discontinued by Romanian authorities in August 2017, and none of the perpetrators have been indicted.

LGBT rights group ACCEPT and five individuals who were present at the screening subsequently took their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Strasbourg court concluded that the Bucharest authorities “failed to offer adequate protection in respect of the individual applicants’ dignity… and to effectively investigate the real nature of the homophobic abuse directed against” the applicants.

“The authorities thus discriminated against the applicants on the grounds of their sexual orientation,” the judges added in their verdict.

They ordered the Romanian state “to pay 7,500 euros to the applicant association and 9,750 to each individual applicant”.

The 3,264 euros spent by the applicants to bring the legal proceedings must also be covered by Romania, the court said.

🇲🇾 Your Queendom Come: An Insider’s Snapshot of KL’s Drag Scene

Rewind a few years back and try telling people you’re a drag queen. You’d most likely be met with stares. You also would be reminded of how, if you were not a cisgender woman, showing off any form of feminine expression was pathologised, even in your own community. It was bad enough enduring the rejection from the straight cisgender folk, let alone the masc-for-masc enthusiasts.

However, the days of rampant internalised homophobia (or femmephobia) are nearly extinct. If it were safe enough to head on over to your local queer space, you’re bound to find individuals voguing, dipping, z-snapping whilst yelling “YAS QUEEN SLAY!”, amongst other expressions. There has been a steady increase in acceptance and encouragement of gender non-conformity in the queer community as well as certain non-queer circles. As the drag movement steadily gains momentum in our country, here are stories and portraits surrounding a few of our local drag queens.

Kumela Kumslut, Sex-Positive Siren



Kumela Kumslut, the vivacious, larger-than-life, drag alter ego of creative photog extraordinaire Carlos Khu, is a force to be reckoned with—with or without her 10-inch Pleasers. Kumela’s aesthetics are unorthodox with a healthy serving of high fashion and sexuality.

While always drawing inspiration from the strong women in her life, Kumela doesn’t intend to look solely like a woman either and she’s not ashamed to let a little chest hair show.

A primary factor of establishing the persona of Kumela Kumslut was to spread more awareness on sex education. She says sex is a part of human nature and there needs to be access to more educational resources. As Kumela Kumslut, she’s setting out to de-stigmatise sex, in her own way.

As many of us deal with insecurities and healing, Kumslut intends for her drag to inspire individuals to simply love and celebrate their identities. Kumela’s message is not just intended for the LGBTQ+ community; she’s here to cultivate love and equality for everyone.

Carmen Rose, Campy Chameleon



Carmen Rose is a hard-working queen who can take on many looks. She is one of the co-founding mothers of Shagrilla of Queer, a party that integrates outlandish themes with drag performances and music from DJ JonnyVicious. She is a drastic departure from demure graphic designer Samuel Yong, and a form of escapism from her off-drag self.

Despite initially being hesitant to appear and perform in public due to fear of legal repercussions as well as being the target of homophobia, Carmen managed to go from bedroom queen to full-fledged shapeshifter. Carmen Rose is a vibrant vixen one day, an audacious alien the next, and a cheeky class act the day after.

Through Carmen, Samuel is learning about confidence and self-acceptance through drag, as socialising goes hand-in-hand with being a drag queen. She struggles with the disconnect she has felt between her drag persona and her off-drag self, stating that people tend to acknowledge Carmen more than Samuel.

For Carmen, drag is so much deeper than putting on makeup and a wig. You are your own makeup artist, stylist, choreographer and music editor—a walking art installation, if you will. Carmen believes it is crucial for her to use her platform to educate herself by listening to constructive criticism and having conversations with the LGBTQ+ community.

Hellis Hot, Dainty Demoness



Hellis Hot is a cross-dresser originating from hell, but don’t tell her to go back there. She preaches art through her drag and you won’t find any queen in the scene who does what she does. Visually, Hellis derives inspiration from macabrism, and surrealist and dystopian artforms, amongst others.

For Asyraf Zakaria, a creative design lecturer, doing drag as Hellis Hot has taught them to see life from a more detailed perspective, to embrace their sensitivities, and to be comfortable in their own skin.

Hellis says the most challenging part of doing drag is personifying a fully realised character. Of course, she believes the process of getting into drag would literally and figuratively shock people, as it’s rather excruciating, spending hours crafting her own regalia.

She has questioned her persona: What does Hellis stand for visually, and internally? To her, drag is punk—an everyday battle to fight and stay alive. As she is assigned Muslim at birth, religious authorities may target her. But Hellis stays true to her nature and would rather die being authentic than live in conformity. At present, Hellis is working on a zine passion project that will feature art, poetry, visuals, and more.

Read more: https://www.queerlapis.com/queendom-come/

🇺🇸 Moses Lake boaters allegedly harassed another group over gay pride flags. Then their boat burst into flames.
Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/m...st-into-flames/

When another boat began circling their vessel on Moses Lake on Memorial Day, a group from Washington assumed they were trying to signal support for their gay pride flags.

But then someone on the other boat flipped a middle finger and yelled something about “gays” and “flags,” a passenger on the boat said. So the group started recording in case the situation escalated.

It did — but not how they might have expected.

Moments later, the other boat burst into flames, forcing passengers to jump into the lake — and leaving the victims to become rescuers as they filmed a moment that turned into a viral video this week.

“These people harassed my family because we were flying gay pride flags … by racing around us and shouting gay slurs,” tweeted a passenger named Robbie along with a video that has been viewed more than 620,000 times on Twitter as of early Wednesday. “Then, their boat literally blew up! #KarmaIsReal.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident took place on Sunday on Moses Lake, adding that the agency was working to interview the people involved before releasing more information. Police did not identify anyone onboard the two boats.

“We are currently interviewing the boat owners to determine if a crime occurred,” Sheriff Tom Jones told The Washington Post late Tuesday.

Robbie, 32, told The Post in a statement that he, his brother and two other passengers had spent Sunday swimming, listening to music and tubing in the lake about 100 miles west of Spokane. (Robbie declined to provide his last name out of fear of retaliation.)

Around 7 p.m., the group stopped their boat, which carried a rainbow flag from one of Robbie’s first pride events, as well as another gay pride flag belonging to his brother.

That’s when they noticed a small vessel carrying three people speeding toward them. One of the other boat’s passengers, a woman, yelled something unintelligible before flipping her middle finger, Robbie said.

Then, as the boat seemed to speed away, it made a sharp turn and circled around them at least six times.

“At this point I could clearly hear the words ‘gays’ and ‘flags’ being shouted from their boat,” Robbie said.

By then, Robbie’s brother was recording with his phone. When the other boat noticed the group was filming, the driver attempted to hide his face before speeding away, leaving a cloud of smoke behind and waves that rocked Robbie’s boat back and forth.

Moments later, the group heard a loud bang and sputter coming from the other boat, and saw a cloud of black smoke rising. “Holy crap! They blew up!” said Robbie’s brother, who was driving the boat.

Robbie’s brother steered toward the boat, which was consumed in flames.

“Help us! We’re burning!” shouted the woman who had flipped her middle finger at them moments earlier, Robbie said. Robbie and the rest of his group pulled the burning boat’s occupants to safety and then sped away before calling 911.

“The passengers were quite rude, shouting over us, ignoring my [inquiries] about their well being when on the 911 call and smoking a vape pen on our boat without even so much as asking if they could; several passengers of our boat have asthma,” Robbie told The Post.

Eventually, police arrived to extinguish the flames. The rescued boaters left to jump on a friends’ vessel without saying “thank you,” Robbie said.

Grant County Deputy Kyle Foreman told The Spokesman-Review it is not clear why the boat caught fire. The boat was eventually towed back to the shore, Foreman told the paper.

Robbie later tweeted a clip of two pride flags flying over the lake from his boat, writing, “And we’re back at it again! We will not hide our #pride.”