A man was accused of anti-trans hate in Canada, Stockholm's deputy mayor adorned drag, and women in England can now get gay-conviction pardons.
Deputy Mayor Protests Opposition To Drag Queen Story Time In Drag
Stockholm Deputy Mayor Jan Jönsson, a Liberal party politician, teamed up with a professional drag queen to dress up in high drag in an effort to support drag queen story time.
"What I found out was that it really hurts to be a drag queen,” Jönsson told Euronews.
According to EuroNews, drag performers have been under fire for hosting reading events at Swedish capital’s public libraries.
"We have seen a worsening situation for LGBTQ persons in general, but against [trans] people specifically. And I think the right-wing movement is trying to use these drag queen story hours to get to the entire LGBTQ community," said Jönsson.
Man Accused of Anti-trans Hate Banned From School Sports
Josef Tesar. Screenshot via Castanet News.
A Canadian man was banned from elementary school sports after he allegedly shouted at a 9-year-old girl and asked if she was transgender.
The girl’s mother, Kari Starr, told the Guardian that her daughter was preparing for a shot-put competition when Josef Tesar tried to stop the competition and said Starr’s daughter was either a boy or transgender.
The child, who is not transgender, began hysterically crying and was unable to compete in the shot-put final.
Tesar denies the allegations that he confronted the 9-year-old.
“This is where anti-trans hate will lead us. A 9-year-old was verbally assaulted, humiliated, and left in tears by an adult,” said Jagmeet Singh, the federal New Democratic Party leader.
Women To Get Gay-Conviction Pardons In England
Photo by Victoria_Regan via Pixabay.
Women who have been convicted of offenses relating to being gay can now have their convictions removed.
This comes after the government expanded the 2012 Disregards and Pardons Scheme that, up until this point, only applied to men.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967 in the UK but people who were punished for same-sex activity still carried the conviction on their record.
According to the BBC, only 208 people have successfully applied for a pardon, meaning their conviction has been deleted from official records, and they are no longer required to disclose them during court proceedings or during job applications.
"We firmly believe people should not have to apply to have their record wiped of things that are quite rightly no longer offenses," said Jo Easton, chief executive of Unlock, a charity for people with criminal records.
Sarah Dines, a safeguarding minister, hopes it will help "right the wrongs of the past."
