A Malaysian minister on Wednesday said he had ordered the removal of portraits of two lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists from a public photography exhibition, as they promoted LGBT activities.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is routinely persecuted in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where sodomy is a crime and is seen as a threat to conservative values.

Domestic media quoted Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the minister of Islamic affairs, as saying he ordered the removal from an exhibition in the northern state of Penang because promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activities was not in line with government policy.

“I have consistently repeated in parliament that we do not support the promotion of LGBT culture in Malaysia,” he told reporters in the lobby of parliament, the Star newspaper said.

Reuters could not reach the minister by telephone after office hours to seek a comment.

Nisha Ayub, one of the activists whose portrait was removed, expressed concern, asking for the government to explain its stance “towards minorities like us”.

“They talk about rights as a citizen of Malaysia but yet they are denying people like me to even express our love to our own country,” Nisha, a transgender activist, said in a post on social media site Facebook.

On social media, the sponsor of the exhibition also expressed shock at the minister’s move.

“False religiosity and political insecurity is not what the New Malaysia is about and can accept,” said Vinod Sekhar, adding that Malaysia’s diversity, acceptance of differences and human values made it a wonderful country.

Activists say intolerance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has grown in Malaysia in recent years.

In February, a newspaper article detailing how to identify lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals sparked outrage on social media.

Last year, the health ministry drew criticism from activists and campaigners over a contest on ways to “prevent” homosexuality and transgenderism. In 2015, Malaysia’s highest court upheld a ban on cross-dressing.

Ruling party lawmakers were among those who criticised Wednesday’s decision.

“This incident is indicative of a larger issue, where we continue to deny the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community their rights, opting instead to marginalize and discriminate them,” said Charles Santiago, a member of the ruling coalition.

On Monday, Mujahid provoked anger from women’s rights groups when he said the government was working on a dress code for Muslim women in the private sector to keep them from facing discrimination.

The non-profit Women’s Aid Organization said it rejected efforts to police women’s clothing and freedom of expression.

“Restricting what women wear is, in and of itself, discriminatory, and this policy would end up discriminating against women who do not conform to the code,” it said in a statement.

Muslims make up 60 percent of Malaysia’s population of 32 million, with substantial Buddhist, Christian and Hindu minorities.

The Union for Reform Judaism in North America has adopted a resolution for transgender rights. This move continues a long tradition of supporting minority rights. In 1977, both the Union and the Central Conference of American Rabbis passed resolutions affirming “the rights of homosexuals”.

As Trans Media Watch note: “[Trans] is an umbrella term, describing people who experience the need to present themselves as and/or who identify as other than the gender they were assigned at birth“.

The resolution also supports the rights of individuals who define their gender outside of societal expectations and norms.

According to the Office for Justice Progams (OJP), one in two transgender individuals are sexually abused or assaulted in their lifetimes. A high number of trans individuals are survivors of sexual abuse. Many live with these traumas and the fear of repeat victimisation. People of colour in LGBTQ communities also face disproportionate levels of violence.

In 2014, The New York City Anti-Violence Project (NCAVP) recorded 12 transgender murders. All victims were people of colour. These communities experience higher rates of homelessness, poverty, and job discrimination. This increases their risk of violence.

The NCAVP also found that “LGBTQ and HIV-affected people of color, LGBTQ youth and young adults, transgender people, transgender women, transgender people of color, and low income survivors experience more severe and deadly forms of violence while simultaneously having less access to anti-violence services and support”.

Nuances exist between communities. For example, gay men experienced more physical violence as women faced more sexual violence.

A recent NCAVP report found that undocumented transgender survivors were 3.83 times more likely to face discrimination from partners.

In 2015, the murders of 15 trans individuals became a historic and unwelcome high in the United States.

Catherine Bell, from the grassroots LGBT Jewish group Keshet, told the Tablet Magazine that: “the trans resolution is a really important step forward, and it will help to set a standard that I hope other communities will see as an open and welcome step to come and join.”

Keshet works with the Reform Movement to educate Jewish communities on these issues.

The resolution also affirms the individual right to be referred to by their name, gender, and pronoun of preference in Reform congregations, schools and other affiliated organisations.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, have adopted inclusive transgender policies, but none as far reaching as the Union of Reform Judaism. And the resolution calls on governments in the U.S. and Canada to review its laws to ensure full equality.

Reform Judaism boasts 1.5 million adherents in almost 900 congregations across the United States and Canada. It remains the most liberal wing. Orthodox Judaism is the most conservative wing, and the Masorti sit somewhere in the between.

Reform Judaism’s push for equality comes from the biblical tradition of b’tselem Elohim—in the Divine image. The resolution quoted Genesis 1:27, “And God created humans in God’s image, in the image of God, God created them.”

The post Union for Reform Judaism adopts historic transgender rights policy appeared first on Religious Reader.

Nick Cohen highlights some of the issues that colleagues within Tell MAMA have been grappling with for some time. Apart from being the target of far right campaigns, Tell MAMA has also become the target of groups purporting to tackle Islamophobia, solely because Tell MAMA believes that equality means equality for all. Cohen mentions the following statement which was made by MEND’s Chief Executive, Sufyan Ismail in late 2014. He stated the following to a mainly Muslim audience:

“We don’t want the government to fob us off with some phony thing called Tell MAMA, which has got a pro-Zionist pretty much heading it, or in a very senior capacity, and is making all sorts of comments we might not agree with when it comes to homosexuality, to be recording Islamophobia.”

Not only are we independent of ‘the Government’, we have been running Tell MAMA to serve the needs of Muslims since 2012, without any form of ‘Government’ interference. Our independent service has assisted over 4,500 people and led to hundreds of arrests in order to ensure access to justice for victims of hate crimes who happen to be Muslim. Yet, our results, it seems, does not shield us from such statements or spin pieces that are thrown out into audiences.

Furthermore, when we set up Tell MAMA, it was on the basis of ensuring that anti-Muslim hatred was seen as one strand in the mainstream campaign against racism, prejudice and bigotry. Muslims are not a special case and nor should they be. British Muslims simply want equality and equality laws, policies and practices need to be applied evenly across the board. This is why we have been vocal when Muslims have been attacked because of their faith identity. This is why we have been vocal when some sections have tried to abuse Ahmaddiya Muslims. This is also why we have been vocal when some groups have tried to abuse gay or trans-Muslims. Equality needs to remain consistent and any group which picks and chooses when it wants to campaign against prejudice and when it chooses to keep quiet – (because the victims are from LGBT communities), is a group that has no moral courage, nor any ethical basis to it. Let’s be clear about that – they need to leave the campaigning space and reflect more clearly what they are about.

Coming onto the issue of ‘pro-Zionists’, this is a charge that is the most corrosive of all within Muslim audiences. We have worked with the Community Security Trust in setting up Tell MAMA and we are both independent organisations. We are proud of our ability to work with our Jewish brothers and sisters in the fight against prejudice and bigotry and that relationship remains unshakeable. When a Jew is attacked, we will stand with the community, as we will with others. With this in mind, we will stand with the CST in order to ensure that people are not targeted because they are Jews. When appropriate, we will also collectively campaign together against far right and other groups who target Jews or Muslims.

Over the last 12 months, we have had the great fortune of having Richard Benson act as a guide in advising us in Tell MAMA and in providing the moral courage and support when far right groups and others have targeted us. As the former CEO of the CST, Richard Benson built the organisation and placed antisemitism at the core of hate crime work within successive governments. His courage, as well as that of former Minister and Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik, have ensured that we have been led by the best in the field of tackling hate, prejudice and intolerance. These co-Chairs represent the best of a Muslim and Jewish working relationship and together with the Director of Tell MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, they have ensured that Tell MAMA has become the leader in the field of countering anti-Muslim hatred and which is making a direct and real difference to the lives of victims.

More recently, at a ministerial meeting, Richard Benson advocated that anti-Muslim hatred should receive the same attention that other hate crime strands do and has forcefully spoken out for Muslim women who suffer street based incidents. He has spent his time and effort standing up for what is right and has never in any meeting mentioned the Middle East. A consummate professional, he is an asset to any organisation and we are extremely lucky to have our co-Chairs at the helm of Tell MAMA. The statement from the CEO of MEND is therefore tiresome, inaccurate and an affront to those willing to do the right thing in countering prejudice, in this case, anti-Muslim hatred.

Lastly, on the issue of homosexuality, it is extremely depressing to hear the comments made by the CEO of MEND. Simply put, if any individual or organisation cannot stand up and openly challenge homophobia within some sections of Muslim communities, then what are they doing challenging other forms of prejudice, hate and bigotry? Whilst we also acknowledge that homophobia is also present in other faith groups and communities, we will never relent in challenging any bigotry and prejudice where we come across it. Only by doing so, do we know that our moral compass is still pointing in the right direction to tackle anti-Muslim prejudice.

The post Equality Means Equality for All. Organisations are Either In or Out of this Sphere appeared first on TELL MAMA.