World News

Russia

Three Men Convicted of Murdering Gay Man

Three Russian men have been sentenced to prison for the murder of a 29 year old man that occurred last year. The men reportedly lured the victim into the forest in the Kamchatka region of eastern Russia, where they beat and stabbed him. They then allegedly put the man’s body in a car which they then doused in gasoline and set on fire. The three convicted men will each serve between nine and twelve years in prison.

South America

Chilean Anti-LGBT Attacks Cause Outrage

A 22 year old named Esteban Parada Armijo died in hospital from stab wounds inflicted against him by two men in the Bellavista neighbourhood, where a number of gay venues are located. Parada allegedly told his relatives prior to his death that he had been attacked because he was gay. The attack is one of a number of fatal hate crimes that have occurred in Chile over the past year. In 2012 President Sebastián Piñera signed an anti-discrimination bill into law that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. However, in light of the number of recent attacks, activists are suggesting that the current legislation is not doing enough to prevent violent crimes.
USA

Court Allows Transgender Teen to Use Female Bathroom

Nicole Maines had been identifying as female since the age of 2, and used the female bathrooms at her school in Maine. The school forbid her to do so after a male student followed her into the bathroom, claiming that if Maines could use the girls’ bathroom, so could he. Her family and the Maine Human Rights Commission filed a discrimination lawsuit. In 2012 a lower court ruled in the school’s favour, but since then Maine’s supreme court ruled that Nicole’s rights had been violated under Maine’s Human Rights Act. It was the first time a U.S. state court ruled that it was unlawful to deny transgender students access to the bathrooms of the gender with which they identify.

Sophie Joske