Kira Herdman

Welcome to September’s Edition of State Of The World, lets get started.

Burkina Faso becomes 32nd African country to outlaw homosexuality

Burkina Faso. the African country that is currently under the rule of a Military Junta, has become the 32nd country in the world to outlaw homosexuality.

The military junta-run state proposed the ban in 2024 announcing a ban on homosexual acts, but it was never outlawed.

Now law, issued by the transitional parliament introduces prison terms of two to five years and fines for those convicted of same-sex relations.

Foreign nationals found guilty under the law will also face deportation.

Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said on national broadcaster RTB: “The law provides for a prison sentence of between two and five years as well as fines.”

He continued: “If a person is a perpetrator of homosexual or similar practices, all the bizarre behaviour, they will go before the judge.”

You can not outlaw something that is natural, people can not change who they are.

The government must not take asylum rights from international students – LGBTQI+ lives are at stake

This government recently announced a ‘crackdown’ on international students’ rights to claim asylum, even suggesting that it might defund universities if students claim asylum. This is a deeply concerning turn, that scapegoats international students, would shift border enforcement responsibilities onto universities, and one that will put people at risk of harm.

The “problem” the government claims to be addressing is people entering the UK as students and later claiming asylum. Responding to pressure from the increasingly racist and anti-migrant rhetoric in the media, the government is looking to drive down the number of people claiming asylum. This would set a really worrying precedent.

According to The Times, the Home Office justification for this policy is that some people are ‘using the student route to make claims for humanitarian protection when circumstances in their country have not changed’. But this is a dangerous oversimplification.

Asylum can be granted for many reasons – including someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. A country does not have to become unsafe for it to become unsafe for an individual.

Take, for example, a gay man from Pakistan who came to the UK to study. After his family discovered his sexual orientation, he received death threats. Another gay man from China was cut off financially after coming out, forcing him to leave his course and fear violence if he returned home. Others have faced threats of forced marriage after being outed.

These are people facing real danger and the government must not ignore this reality or attempt to deny people the protection they deserve.

This cannot be allowed. Lives are at stake.

Government urged to hold parliamentary debate on EHRC’s new code of practice

LGBTQ groups have called on the UK government to table a debate regarding the updates to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) single-sex code of practice.

More than 80 organisations and groups signed a joint letter calling on equalities minister Bridget Phillipson to stage a “meaningful debate” once the revamped guidance had been published.

The UK’s equality watchdog proposed updates to its Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations, in April, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled on the definitions of “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act.

Updates suggested by the EHRC would effectively exclude trans people from gendered spaces consistent with their gender identity, including toilets, changing rooms and even possibly book clubs. In some cases, transgender men and women could be barred from spaces consistent with their birth sex, too.

I dont think this will happen, as this current government has abandoned the LGBT Community.

UK woman found guilty of sexual assault for failing to disclose she was trans

A 21-year-old trans woman, Ciara Watkin, has been found guilty of sexual assault after a court heard she did not tell the man she was dating that she was not assigned female at birth.

The BBC reports that Ciara Watkin told the man she was on her period to stop him finding out she had not yet had gender confirmation surgery. The court heard that she had identified as female and used the name Ciara since the age of 13.

Prosecutors argued that the man was unable to make “informed consent”, after he claimed he wouldn’t have had sexual contact with Watkin had he known she was trans.

When Watkin later revealed that information, the man filed a complaint with police telling officers had he known, he would not have met her as he did “not swing that way”.

The jury reached a guilty verdict after just one hour of deliberations following a two-day trial. She will be sentenced on 10 October and was ordered to sign the sex offenders register within three days.

This could be a campaign by the right wing to match the narrative that trans people are just convicted sex offenders.