China Focus: Trans man fired for wearing men's clothes

Source: ShanghaiDaily

GUIYANG, March 11 (Xinhua) -- A trans man in southwest China's Guizhou Province has been fired for wearing men's clothes at work, sparking heated discussions about gender discrimination.

Last year, Chen, 28, was fired just one week into a new job at Coming Check-up. He was not awarded any compensation. The company, located in the provincial capital Guiyang, told Chen that his sartorial choices were "incompatible with the company's image."

Chen went to the local arbitration commission this week seeking a week's salary and compensation for financial losses induced by the dismissal, Chen's lawyer told Xinhua on Friday. The commission will look into the case on Monday.

Chen has worn men's clothes since high school. He said that the company's attitude towards him was "over the top."

"If it were due to my ability and attitude at work, I would have accepted the dismissal," Chen said, "but some staff called me gay and said that I ruined the image of the company, which was hard to take."Chen said he worked very hard for his employers and he was vexed by the company's lack of respect.

"Chen looked like a man, but introduced himself as transgender, which shocked us a little," He said, adding that the staff were unsettled by Chen's appearance.

Huang Sha, Chen's lawyer, said that the company had broken the law.

Despite becoming more socially accepted, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT) in China still struggle with social stigma.

"Everyone should be equal when it comes to employment," said sexologist Li Yinhe. More

10/3/2016

Lesbian Teen Drugged by Classmates to Make Her 'Normal': Report

Source:NBCNEWS

BEJING — A group of Chinese high-school students have been accused of drugging a female classmate with a so-called aphrodisiac — triggering online debate about the incident's alleged homophobic motive.

The incident happened last Thursday in the eastern city of Huangshan, but was only confirmed by the local education authority on Tuesday.

One Chinese news website said the girl was targeted because she was a lesbian, but officials would not comment on the alleged motive.

The local police and education board said in separate statements that a group of male classmates secretly put the substance in a glass of water. When she found out, the teen posted about it on Weibo, China's Twitter equivalent.

"WE SHOULD NOT BLAME THE BOYS. SHE IS A LESBIAN. THEY JUST WANT TO HELP HER BECOME NORMAL"

"It happened during my class break," the student said in the post, which was seen by NBC News before it was later deleted. "When I drank the water, I never thought my classmates would drug me. They wanted to see me embarrassed but I was lucky the drug didn't work."

Officials would not identify the so-called aphrodisiac, saying only it had been bought in an "adult shop." According to local education officials, the female student accepted an apology and the male students were punished in line with school rules.

Wei Tingting, one of five Chinese feminist activists detained for planning a protest last year, told NBC News that the incident was "insulting to women."

"They are so young but what they did is so terrible," Wei added. "Schools should strengthen education guiding students to respect women."

The case does not meet the standard for a criminal case in China, but a poll of 120,000 people on Weibo showed that 90 percent thought the punishment was too soft.

"I can't believe this happened in a high school. I am so sorry about the girl. What her classmates did is unforgivable," said one Weibo user.

The Huangshan Education Bureau told journalists they should not "use the word 'gay' ... without investigation and verification," saying the label would "hurt her a second time."

That response only caused further outrage among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups.

"How shameful it is being a lesbian?" said LGBT Rights Advocacy China in a statement Wednesday. "Could it be more shameful than the failure of education? Could it be more shameful than the school violence?" More

10/3/2016

WHO approves China-made female condom

 Source:CHINADAILY

A condom for females, produced by a Chinese company, has been approved by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund, allowing worldwide distribution of another safe and effective form of contraception.

The prequalification of the condom's safety and quality marks a critical step forward in expanding options for women seeking to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS, developers said.

In 2014, there were 2 million new HIV infections globally, according to the WHO. Women account for slightly more than half of all people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries.

The approval of the female condom allows United Nations agencies and other international purchasers to obtain the device for distribution to the public sector. Female condoms currently make up only a tiny portion of the global condom market, although demand is growing.

Female condoms account for approximately 0.2 percent of global condom sales, based on data from the Reproductive Health Interchange, a reproductive health procurement and information service managed by the UN Population Fund. More

14/3/2016

New law to give more charities access to funds

Source:Shanghai daily

THE Shanghai Youth Service Center for AIDS Prevention raised over 200,000 yuan (US$30,800) through a joint fund with the government-backed Shanghai Charity Foundation, but not every organization of Good Samaritans is that lucky.

The number of philanthropic groups eligible to tap public fundraising has been restricted by law. That is about to change.

The National People’s Congress, meeting in Beijing, is poised to pass a new law allowing any legally registered charitable group to qualify for public fundraising.

Bu Jiaqing, who established Youth Service Center for AIDS Prevention six years ago, welcomes the reform.

“Some of my philanthropic peers used to get the cold shoulder because foundations weren’t willing to cooperate with them for fear of taking on responsibilities that could lead to problems,” Bu said.

The law change comes as charities are mushrooming across the country. Donations to groups doing good public work has multiplied 10-fold in the past decade, even when access to public fundraising was restricted to a small number of groups, such as the Red Cross Society of China.

In Shanghai, the number of charitable groups that qualified for fundraising stood at 56 at the end of last year, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. That was a fraction of the estimated 7,000 groups involved in charity work in the city. Those not qualified for public fundraising get their donations through private canvassing in neighbourhoods, business communities and from online appeals.

The new law stipulates that registered charities can apply for fundraising status after they have operated for two years and been officially certified for sound internal governance.

Currently, most charity groups in China are registered as private organizations by civil affairs administrations. That lumps them in with institutions like private schools and hospitals.

The new law also stipulates that donations made to legal charities will be eligible for tax deductions, something Samaritans have been fighting to achieve.

The reform regulations will prohibit individuals and non-registered groups from raising funds from the public on their own. That provision is intended to safeguard donors from falling prey to fraudulent charity appeals, but some say that it could hurt legitimate grassroots projects. More

9/3/2016

New UN initiative issued to protect millions of girls from child marriage

Source:Xinhua NEWS

Two UN agencies on Tuesday jointly announced a new initiative to advance efforts in ending child marriage by 2030 and protecting the rights of millions of the most vulnerable girls around the world.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) announced the initiative on International Women's Day as part of a global effort to prevent girls from marrying too young and to support girls already married in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where child marriage rates are high.

The new initiative, known as the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, will involve families, communities, governments and young people with an aim to end child marriage in the next 15 years, according to a press release issued here.

The initiative will focus on proven strategies, including increasing girls' access to education and health care services, educating parents and communities on the dangers of child marriage, increasing economic support to families, and strengthening and enforcing laws that establish 18 as the minimum age of marriage.

The global community demonstrated strong commitment to end child marriage by including a target on eliminating it and other harmful practices in the Sustainable Development Goals, the press release said, adding that both UNICEF and UNFPA called on governments and partner organizations to support the new Global Programme and help eliminate child marriage by 2030. More

7/3/2016

Taiwan McDonald’s ad with man ‘coming out’ to father draws support and criticism

Source：Hongkong Free Press

A Taiwan McDonald’s commercial featuring a young man coming out of the closet to his father in the fast food chain has gone viral and has been warmly received by netizens’ overall. However, it has been criticised by religious groups such as Taiwan Family, which issued a statement condemning McDonald’s for spreading “improper” ideas to children.

The video opens with a young man and his father sitting in silence at McDonald’s McCafe. The camera then pans up to a message the young man has written on a cup facing his father, which says “I like boys.” The older man stands up and leaves, but returns soon after to write on the cup as well and modify the message to become “I accept that you like boys.” The young man then tears up and the two smile at each other.

Anti-LGBT group Taiwan Family issued a statement on Saturday evening, saying that they were opposed to any public promotion of ideas that would encourage LGBT behaviour. It also said that McDonald’s was a place frequented by many children and called for parents to boycott McDonalds, saying,”I feel corrupted even using their washroom,”