Tag Archives: Lesbophobia

South Africa: brutal murder of lesbian Anele Bhengu

DURBAN – THE MEC for Social Development in KwaZulu-Natal is calling on residents to rally around the LGBTI+ community following the gruesome murder of a 22-year-old woman.

MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza said KwaMakhutha resident Anele Bhengu’s body was found dumped in the Durban south township.

She was raped and stabbed repeatedly. Her throat and abdomen was also slit.

“The brutal murder of this child is symptomatic of the challenges we have in the society. We are left in shock and fear by the killing of our children in this province,” she said.

Khoza said communities had a responsibility to end these violent crimes in the province.

“We need to get to the bottom of this as to why people have so much hatred towards the LGBTQIA+ community. We call on all citizens to work with the law enforcement agencies, government and different bodies to end such cruelty,” Khoza said.

She said although the government and different activities continue to fight the scourge of these murders, some communities continue to discriminate against some people based on their sexual orientation.

Continue reading at: https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/kzn-lesbian-found-murdered-throat-and-abdomen-slit-ece6043c-920b-4dd1-9e5f-b9ac21afbdfa (Source)

South Africa: Lulama Mvandaba – murdered for being lesbian

Cape Town – A black lesbian, living in Khayelitsha, was killed in a suspected homophobic attack after her body was discovered on Friday inside her home at a newly-established informal settlement.

The family of Lulama Mvandaba said they believed she was targeted because of her sexuality. Mvelisi Mvandaba said their elder sister’s death came five months to the day after their mother’s death.

“We ask for privacy at this point and will issue a statement about her death once we have had time to grieve, as, unfortunately, she was murdered due to her sexuality and as a member of the LGBTQI+ community.

“To those who knew her vivacious energy and warmth, we extend our heartfelt condolences to you all.

“We are extremely shocked and traumatised as a family and can only imagine how all the kids she touched during her career will be feeling,” he said.

Mvandaba’s death comes after the murder of several gay and lesbian people across the Western Cape.

Continue reading at: https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/lulama-mvandaba-murdered-in-khayelitsha-because-she-was-a-lesbian-says-family-d035b459-54ed-4173-877b-3320950be664 (Source)

South Africa: promising lesbian chef Phelokazi Mqathana murdered

May 2021: An aspiring young chef is the latest LGBTIQ+ South African murdered in the heartbreaking wave of hate crime violence gripping the country.

On Monday, MambaOnline received initial reports that a lesbian woman had been killed in Cape Town. On Tuesday, the Daily Sun confirmed the news and stated that the victim was 24-year-old Phelokazi Mqathana.

She was stabbed to death in Khayelitsha, allegedly after she rejected the advances of a man while she was out socialising near her home.

“We heard that the man was touching her bum. When she told him to stop, he stabbed her,” Lelethu Ngalo, a family member told the Daily Sun.

The young woman had recently finished a chef course and was described by Ngalo as a “go-getter who had plans to take this family to another level…”

Lwethu Kala, Chairperson of Free Gender, told MambaOnline that Phelokazi had previously attended various workshops hosted by the organisation which speaks out for black queer women.

“She had very big plans, she was the best sushi chef at her school. She was going places,” said Kala.

Phelokazi’s murder is the eighth known LGBTIQ+ killing in a period of less than three months; a wave of hate that has shocked and terrified South Africa’s queer community.

Continue reading at: https://www.mambaonline.com/2021/05/04/hate-crime-crisis-phelokazi-mqathana-is-8th-lgbtiq-person-murdered/ (Source)

South Africa: Lesbian murdered in Pietermaritzburg

March 2021: It’s been reported that Nonhlanhla Kunene was raped and murdered in Pietermaritzburg last weekend. According to The Witness, the body of the 37-year-old was discovered near the Edendale Primary School on Friday 5 March.

“When police arrived, they found that the woman was lying flat on her face and was naked from the waist down,” a police spokesperson told the newspaper.

“We are waiting on the post-mortem to give us further information as the police did not find any visible wounds on the victim’s body.”

“It is really sad that hate crimes and gender-based violence are still part of our daily struggle,” said the Pietermaritzburg-based Gay & Lesbian Network (GLN) on Facebook. “We continue to fear for our lives every day.”

While The Witness article did not refer to Kunene’s sexuality or gender identity, GLN Project Coordinator Tracey Sibisi confirmed to MambaOnline that she had been a member of the LGBTIQ community.

“Her friend called the organisation and reported the case and they told us that she was a lesbian,” said Sibisi.

Continue reading at: https://www.mambaonline.com/2021/03/12/report-lesbian-woman-murdered-in-pietermaritzburg/ (Source)

US: Lesbian assistant chief files lawsuit against SFFD

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

A lesbian San Francisco Fire Department assistant chief who alleged discrimination against the department in a claim two months ago is now taking the city to court.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, Assistant Chief Nicol Juratovac filed a claim of whistleblower retaliation and discrimination against the San Francisco Fire Department and the city’s Department of Human Resources on March 5.

The claim was denied by the city April 8 and Juratovac filed her civil lawsuit May 24.

Juratovac claims she wanted to change the culture at the SFFD. Instead, she was retaliated against after exposing cheating on promotion exams, safety violations, and racism in the department, according to the complaint — as well as for blowing the whistle on what her attorney, Mark P. Fickes, of Cannata O’Toole Fickes and Olson, described as a “drunken” party at a fire station in Noe Valley in 2017.

“Rather than welcome the opportunity to address its problems, the department has allowed those who feel threatened by Assistant Chief Juratovac to retaliate against her for taking on the ‘good old boys’ mentality,” the complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, states. “Beginning in 2014, and continuing through the present date, the department has weaponized its disciplinary process to punish Assistant Chief Juratovac by subjecting her to numerous unfounded and meritless disciplinary investigations.

“All of these investigations, save one, were rescinded or abandoned, but only after Assistant Chief Juratovac had already endured the emotional distress and humiliation of being investigated in addition to incurring substantial attorneys’ fees to defend herself against frivolous claims,” the complaint states. “She has also been denied promotional and overtime opportunities in retaliation for her whistleblowing activities, as well as her race, gender, and sexual orientation.”

Fickes, a gay man, said that the one time Juratovac faced discipline she faced disproportionate punishment.

Continue reading at: https://www.ebar.com/news/news//305437 (Source)

UK: Coca-Cola criticised for banning the word ‘lesbian’ on customisable Pride bottles

Drinks giant Coca-Cola has been accused of ‘rainbow-washing’ after cutomers discovered certain words – including ‘lesbian’ – were not allowed on personalised glass bottles.

The online customisation tool lets people create distinctive bottles with their own bespoke labels, including an option with the Pride flag.

But the word ‘lesbian’ was banned, and when customers tried to type it in they were met with an automated message.

‘Oops! Looks like the name you requested is not an approved one,’ it read. ‘Names may not be approved if they’re potentially offensive to other people, trademarked, or celebrity names. We’ve worked hard to get this list right, but sometimes we mess up.’

Continue reading at: https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/23/coca-cola-banned-the-word-lesbian-from-customisable-pride-bottles-14817248/ (Source)

US: “Proud Black lesbian” teen killed with girlfriend’s parents in murder-suicide

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

Lauren “Lela” Leslie, an 18 year-old Black lesbian from Bloomfield, Connecticut, was among three killed at the house of her girlfriend early in the morning of Friday, May 28.

Now her older siblings are saying that her murder is connected to her relationship or her sexual orientation.

Leslie was found dead along with Delores Wisdom and her husband, David Wisdom. David is the alleged perpetrator in what police are considering a domestic murder-suicide.

Police received 911 calls after 1 a.m. to the Wisdom household in Windsor Locks and found three people with “no signs of life.” One woman is currently in the hospital, and another teenager — believed to be Leslie’s girlfriend — was found uninjured.

While police have not publicly stated what they believe is the motive, Leslie’s brothers knew that she didn’t always feel “welcome” at her girlfriend’s home and believe she may have been hurt because of that.

Continue reading at: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/06/proud-black-lesbian-teen-killed-girlfriends-parents-murder-suicide/ (Source)

Italy: Italian Moroccan lesbian threatened and made homeless by family

Born to a Moroccan father and an Italian mother, Malika did not imagine that she would find herself on the streets after coming out. She wrote to her parents, revealing that she fell in love with a girl, and coming out. This revelation made her parents angry and they forced her out of the family home without even her clothes.

The young woman reported the words of her mother. “If I see you, I’ll kill you. You are the bane of our family. I wish you a tumor, you are the shame of the family. I would rather have a ddaughter on drugs than a lesbian”, she told her daughter in anger. Once homeless, the police accompanied her to her parents’ house so that she retrieve her clothes but this did not go as planned, with her mother saying that she did not know her, on seeing her through the window.

(Translated)

Née de père marocain et de mère italienne, Malika était à mille lieues d’imaginer qu’elle allait se retrouver à la rue après son coming-out. Dans une correspondance adressée à ses parents, elle a révélé qu’elle est tombée amoureuse d’une fille, dévoilant ainsi son orientation sexuelle. Cette révélation a suscité l’indignation de ses parents. Ceux-ci n’hésiteront pas à la chasser du domicile familial sans ses vêtements.

La jeune femme rapporte les propos de sa mère. « Si je te vois, je te tue. Tu es le fléau de notre famille. Je te souhaite une tumeur, tu es la honte de la famille. Je préfèrerais une fille droguée que lesbienne », lui a-t-elle lancé, toute furieuse. Désormais à la rue, la police l’a accompagnée à la maison de ses parents pour qu’elle puisse prendre des vêtements à porter. Les choses ne se passeront pas comme prévu. Dès que sa mère l’a aperçue à travers la fenêtre, elle s’écria : « Je ne connais pas cette personne ».

(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.bladi.net/marocaine-lesbienne-parents,81965.html (Source)

France: Lesbian Pride march attacked by far right protestors

A rally to celebrate lesbian pride in Lyon on Saturday afternoon, April 24, was disrupted by far-right activists.

According to several local media, including Le Progrès and Lyon Capitale , several hundred people had gathered at Place Louis-Pradel, in the city’s 1st arrondissement, when about fifty individuals came to throw projectiles.

The police had to intervene to intervene on several occasions and used tear gas to disperse the disruptors they identified as belonging to the ultra-right.

On Sunday, April 25, the Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, in charge of Sex Equality, diversity and equal opportunities, Elisabeth Moreno reacted on her Twitter account, denouncing “lesbophobia in action ”.
(Translated)

Un rassemblement pour célébrer la fierté lesbienne qui se déroulait à Lyon ce samedi 24 avril après-midi a été perturbé par des militants d’extrême droite.

Selon plusieurs médias locaux, dont Le Progrès et Lyon Capitale, plusieurs centaines de personnes étaient rassemblées place Louis-Pradel, dans le 1er arrondissement de la ville, quand une cinquantaine d’individus sont venus lancer des projectiles.

La police a dû intervenir pour s’interposer à plusieurs reprises et a fait usage de lacrymogènes pour disperser les perturbateurs qu’elle a identifiés comme appartenant à l’ultra-droite.

Ce dimanche 25 avril, la ministre déléguée auprès du Premier ministre, chargée de l’Égalité entre les femmes et les hommes, de la diversité et de l’égalité des chances Elisabeth Moreno a réagi sur son comte Twitter, dénonçant “la lesbophobie en actes”.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/entry/un-rassemblement-pour-la-fierte-lesbienne-perturbe-a-lyon_fr_6084b8cbe4b0ccb91c24f9e6 (Source)

LVW 2021: Lesbophobia is not homophobia, it’s misogyny

By Jen Izaakson

“Lesbophobia is, like lesbianism itself, invisibalised in favour of more respected social forms. The wider amorphous ‘homophobia’ serves today as a catchall for any anti-gay sentiment, but it only really captures what gay men face: prejudice and discrimination based on their sexuality i.e same-sex attraction (to other men). Anti-gay prejudice experienced by men is pure homophobia, whereas lesbophobia is purely misogynistic. It is not the same-sex element of lesbianism, that two women engage sexually together that is objected to (as we know, many people enjoy watching depictions of lesbianism in porn and heterosexual women will perform lesbianism for men’s arousal). It is the sexual prohibition against men that is hated and is the root cause of lesbophobia.”

“That refusal of heterosexuality informs almost all of the characteristics of lesbophobia. Firstly, the idea that lesbians are ugly and ‘unfuckable’: a classic patriarchal reversal. Lesbians refuse men, a refusal that must be hidden, so it is reversed into a male refusal of us. Secondly, the notion that lesbians are manlike or in fact men, to signal attention our deviance and again assure everybody we are simply not ‘normal’ women. Thirdly, sexual harassment or corrective rape, to demonstrate that lesbians, and in fact no women, can escape male sexual attention. Lastly, the figure of the isolated and unhappy ‘spinster’ lesbian who must be miserable and lonely (to show straight women what might become of them should their stray from the righteous path of marital family life).”

Continue reading at On the Woman Question: https://onthewomanquestion.com/2021/04/26/lesbian-visibility-day-lesbophobia-is-not-homophobia-its-misogyny/ (Source)

U.S: Lesbian diagnosed with out-dated, homophobic “disorder”

A woman in Michigan found out that her doctor diagnosed her with “ego-dystonic lesbianism” at a recent appointment. Ego-dystonic homosexuality is an outdated diagnosis that reflects “a desire to change one’s orientation” that medical organizations like the American Psychological Association have opposed for decades.

“I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” Tatiana Arena-Villareal told Fox 2 News after she saw the diagnosis on her chart. “I don’t want anybody to have a diagnosis in their chart that suggests they have a mental illness because of who they love.”

The diagnosis was added to the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980. It doesn’t say that being gay or bi itself is a disorder, but that “having a sexual orientation or an attraction that is at odds with one’s idealized self-image” is. It’s characterized by anxiety and “a desire to change one’s orientation or become more comfortable with one’s sexual orientation.” It was removed in 1987.

Continue reading: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/04/doctor-diagnosed-michigan-mom-ego-dystonic-lesbianism/ (source)

‘Lesbian wedding’ arrestees freed; Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ furor continues

Ghana police have freed the people they arrested last weekend at a party that police believed was a “lesbian wedding”. Meanwhile, homophobic campaigns against Ghana’s LGBTQ citizens continue.The Ghana-based African Equality Centre (AEC) said that the latest report from Kwahu Obomeng and nearby Mpraeso is that 14 people were arrested in Kwahu Obomeng over the weekend rather than the 22 initially reported.

The AEC reported that the 14 arrestees were held by Mpraeso District Police until they paid for their release.

In a telephone interview with Rainbow Radio 87.5 FM, Isaac Boamah Darko, convenor of Journalists Against LGBTQI, said the 14 people’s release from police custody was like freeing an “armed robber”.

Continue reading at: https://76crimes.com/2021/04/01/lesbian-wedding-arrestees-freed-ghanas-anti-lgbtq-furor-continues/ (Source)

Lesbians in lawsuit against U.S. Education Dept

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

Elizabeth Hunter says she became suicidal after Bob Jones University administrators grilled the former student about her sexuality for tweeting “happy Pride” and writing a book with lesbian characters. She was fined, sent to anti-gay counseling and removed from her job at the campus TV station. Veronica Penales says she’s told officials at Baylor University, where she is a sophomore, that people leave anti-gay notes on her door, but they don’t investigate. Lucas Wilson said he graduated from Liberty University with “a profound sense of shame” after being encouraged to go to conversion therapy.

The three are among 33 current and past students at federally funded Christian colleges and universities cited in a federal lawsuit filed Monday against the U.S. Department of Education. The suit says the religious exemption the schools are given that allow them to have discriminatory policies is unconstitutional because they receive government funding. The class-action suit, filed by the nonprofit Religious Exemption Accountability Project, references 25 schools across the country.

Continue reading at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/christian-colleges-lawsuit-lgbtq-equality-act/2021/03/29/39343620-90af-11eb-9668-89be11273c09_story.html (Source)

Lesbian me too site lanched

https://www.lesbianmetoo.com/

There’s a myth within the mainstream heterosexual world, that somehow lesbians are tougher than other women, that as women free from men lesbians won’t be victims of sexual violence. This is, of course, a lie. A new website, Lesbian Me Too has been launched to redress this cultural blind-spot. It provides a platform for lesbians who have hitherto been pushed to the margins of the #MeToo movement, as Jo Bartosch reports.
Lesbian Me Too is the work of the group Get the L Out, a collective of lesbian feminist campaigners. Angela Wild, one of the group’s spokeswomen, tells me:

“The #LesbianMeToo project is a continuation of our previous work condemning the sexual violence done to lesbians in LGBT circles and the cotton ceiling. But it goes further than that to include all instances of sexual violence against lesbians from harassment to corrective rape.”

Harassment of lesbians does not just come from straight men, an emerging theme on the site is the entitlement some gay men seem to have toward women’s bodies.

Far from being a proud declaration of women’s attraction to women, it seems today ‘lesbian’ has been reduced to a pornographic search term. Indeed, over the past five years for each Google search for ‘lesbian pride’ there have been 213 for ‘lesbian porn.’ To too many men, the simple existence of women who love and live without men is an affront, and this marks lesbians out as targets for abuse. This is a clear thread throughout testimonies on the site, summed up by one contributor to Lesbian Me Too who reflects “my sexuality was treated as something to conquer.”

Continue reading at: https://lesbianandgaynews.com/2021/03/lesbianmetoo-the-lesbian-victims-of-sexual-violence-will-now-be-heard-reports-jo-bartosch/ (Source)

Visit the lesbian me too site: https://www.lesbianmetoo.com/

U.K: Lesbian Victims of Homophobic Supermarket Assault, Forced to Hide

tesco

UK police are seeking the public’s help in identifying three women who allegedly chased a lesbian couple into a security office to escape their homophobic verbal assault.

A lesbian couple shopping at a Tesco market in the United Kingdom were the victims of a homophobic verbal assault so aggressive they were forced to hide from their attackers in a security office. Police in Kent released CCTV images showing the three woman they say are responsible for the homophobic assault at the Tesco market in Gillingham, Kent, and are asking for the public’s help in bringing the suspected bigots to justice. Police are investigating the assault as a hate crime incident.

Continue reading: https://www.out.com/crime/2021/3/18/lesbian-victims-homophobic-supermarket-assault-forced-hide (source)

U.S: Lesbian spouse fights government denial of death benefits

benefits

For more than a decade, Patricia Rolfingsmeyer and Tina Sammons lived as a committed couple even when the states where they resided did not recognize their same-sex union. They wore matching diamond wedding bands, bought a house together and declared at a private ceremony, “It may not be legal out there, but it is in here.”

When the laws began to change around the country, the pair drove from their home in Pennsylvania to Maryland, where they were officially married in 2013. Less than three months later, Sammons, a U.S. Air Force veteran and longtime U.S. Postal Service employee, died of metastatic breast cancer.

The couple’s union, according to the federal government, did not last long enough for Rolfingsmeyer to meet the nine-month marriage requirement to claim an estimated six-figure dollar amount in survivor benefits.

Rolfingsmeyer, now 71, is challenging the federal government’s denial of employee death benefits because it was not legally or practically possible for her to obtain a marriage certificate in her home state in the nine months before the death of her partner of 16 years.

Continue reading: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/same-sex-government-death-benefits-/2021/03/18/ac8da2b0-873f-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html (source)

U.K: Lesbian couple’s baby nearly hit by rock in hate crime

A young lesbian couple claim their baby is lucky to be alive after a rock was thrown through their window in the latest in a string of “targeted hate attacks”.

Eight-week-old Hope Devine escaped injury by centimetres after the missile bounced off the top of the swing chair she was sleeping in on Monday evening.

Parents Lucy, 21, and Leanne, 22, have been left “distraught” by the incident, which they say is the latest in a string of attacks directed at the couple in the last 18 months.

The couple say they have had homophobic notes shoved through their letterbox and have been attacked as they walked to the shop.

Police have mounted nightly patrols at the couple’s home since the rock attack, which is being treated as a hate crime.

Continue reading: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/young-couples-baby-lucky-alive-23759661 (source)

South Africa: The footballer raped and murdered for being a lesbian

An international footballer, coach and aspiring referee, Eudy Simelane dedicated her life to the sport.

She was one of the first openly gay [sic] women to live in her township of Kwa-Thema in South Africa and was a well-known LGBT+ activist.

But because of her sexuality, Simelane was brutally raped and murdered in 2008, aged just 31.

This is the story of her life and how the legacy of her death is still impacting South African society.

A campaigner for equality rights and social change, she was one of the first women to come out as a lesbian in South Africa.

On 27 April 2008, Simelane’s body was found in a stream just a few hundred metres from her home in Kwa-Thema.

Reports stated she was approached after leaving a pub, raped and then stabbed repeatedly.

Despite her death shocking many, activists claimed many lesbians in South Africa were targeted for ‘corrective rape’, a crime where the perpetrator aims to ‘cure’ the victim of their sexuality, converting them to heterosexuality.

Thato Mphuthi pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Simelane in February 2009 and was sentenced to 32 years in prison. The following September, Themba Mvubu was also found guilty of the crimes and was sentenced to life in prison. When questioned by reporters in court, he responded: “I’m not sorry.”

Simelane’s sexuality put her in a vulnerable position, something her mother recognised, telling the BBC, “the whole of South Africa knew Eudy was a lesbian”.

The unfortunate reality is Simelane’s story isn’t unique – she is one of many victims of similar, horrific crimes in South Africa.

A year prior to her death, Sizakele Sigasa, a women’s and gay rights activist, and her friend Salone Massooa were heckled outside a bar and called ‘tomboys’. The women were then gang-raped, tortured, and shot dead.

Just a few years after Simelane’s murder, Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24-year-old lesbian, was found beaten and stoned to death in the same township Simelane lived.

Continue reading: https://www.modernghana.com/sports/1061337/the-footballer-raped-and-murdered-for-being-a-lesb.html (source)

US: 13-year-old banned from school bus after saying she’s lesbian to friends

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

On her way to school, eighth-grader Izzy Dieker was overheard saying to another student on the school bus, “I’m a lesbian.”

For that, she earned a referral from the bus driver and was banned from riding the bus by the principal, citing her “inappropriate language.”

“Once I got home, my dad told me he got a call from the school that I was kicked off for saying ‘I’m a lesbian’,” Dieker said. Now, her parents are frustrated, and the Americus, Kansas school district isn’t providing answers.

“She’s 13 years old and these are adults acting like this towards her,” her mother, Tasha Cooper, said in an interview with local KSNT News. “We’ve had talks about other students calling her names and I expect that because they’re repeating what their parents say. But for the staff, the people that I trust her with, I was angry.”

Dieker’s parents say that they were also told that Dieker refused to listen to the bus driver’s orders, which they interpret was her refusal to stop using the word “lesbian.”

Continue reading at: https://10ztalk.com/2021/02/12/student-banned-from-riding-the-school-bus-for-saying-im-a-lesbian-lgbtq-nation (Source)

Related stories:

India: lesbian couple escape after being help captive by family

A lesbian couple were held captive by homophobic family members – until one of the women escaped by leaping over a wall.

According to reports by the Times of India, the couple had a wedding ceremony at Budheshwar temple in Uttar Pradesh, India on 17 November.

Some time after, one of the women told officials, relatives took her and her wife captive, holding them against their will at the family home.

The woman explained that eventually she managed to reach the terrace of the house, leapt over a wall and rushed to police.

Officers attended the house and managed to rescue the other woman, bringing her back to the station and reuniting her with her wife.

Assistant commissioner I P Singh confirmed to the Times of India that the women were held against their will. He added their families are “against their relationship”.

Continue reading at: https://10ztalk.com/2021/02/13/lesbian-couple-make-dramatic-escape-after-being-help-captive/ (Source)