2015 has been another year of change both across the UK and the whole world for the LGBT Community.
The changes in the law in Mexico, USA, Ireland, Finland and Luxembourg brought the number of countries that allowed for Same-sex Marriage to 21. There are a couple of nations that stood out during 2015 the first of which was Ireland, as they became the first nation to hold a national referendum on the issue on May 22nd. This referendum shows governments and politicians around the world that western attitudes towards equal marriage are changing and shows that this is an issue that the people are supporting. The second country of note is America, who’s Supreme Court on the 26th June made a judicial ruling that brought equal marriage across main land America. This decision by one of the global super powers has been seen by many as one that can lead to further changes in other countries that have yet to change their laws. Both cases show that even in countries with strong opposition from certain groups, the change is something that the public want and more importantly shows that love does win.
In 2015 we saw the likes of; Keegan Hirst, Jess Glynne, Cara Delevingne and Caitlyn Jenner come out as members of the LGBT community. The important thing to remember that whilst there have been many headlines about these individuals and they will continue to make news around the world there is more to these stories than the headline. They are helping to further increase the acceptance of the LGBT community and change hearts and minds around the world.
In 2013, Alan Turing (Enigma Codebreaker) was granted a Royal Pardon for being homosexual. Now in 2015 and the Turing family are calling on the government to extend this pardon to the other 49,000 men who were similarly convicted and chemically castrated. Whilst currently we are awaiting news of this, it is definitely something to look out for in 2016.
However not everything has been so positive within the LGBT community. Towards the end of 2015 there was harrowing news about Tara Hudson, a Trans female who was incarcerated within a male prison. Whilst this case was quickly resolved thanks to an online petition, it brought to light a number of other cases across the UK including two women who committed suicide due to their experiences within male prisons. It is shocking that this is still happening in 2015 and it looks like changes are already on the horizon, with the government looking to changes the laws over the coming months.
One final story that caught international headlines was that of Pharma CEO, Martin Shkreli. Shkreli angered many by raising the price of a drug used to treat HIV from $1 to $750 per pill. He retracted this and further reduced the price again but it would appear he received a bit of karma as just this week he has been arrested on unrelated charges of fraud.
It is safe to say that 2015 has been an interesting year for the LGBT community and it looks like the rights movement is making big strides around the world. However there is more work that needs to be done in areas such as Trans Rights and Homophobic and Transphobic Hate Crime. I guess we will just have to wait and see what 2016 has in store for us.