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GENDER

Fury as far-right uses trans suicide victim’s pic

UPDATED: A British photographer told The Local she is suing the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) after it used a picture she took featuring a 17-year-old transgender girl, who committed suicide last December, in a campaign against gender education in schools in the northern province of Trentino.

Published: 14 September 2015 13:15 CEST
Updated: 14 September 2015 17:28 CEST
Fury as far-right uses trans suicide victim's pic
The image featuring Leelah Alcorn, a transgender girl who committed suicide last December, was used by the far-right Fratelli d'Italia. Photo: Rose Morelli

Rose Morelli, a Bristol-based photographer of Italian origin, took the photo in honour of Leelah Alcorn, a teenager from Ohio, in the United States, whose death attracted international attention after she said in a suicide note, posted on Tumblr, that she took her own life because her parents could not accept who she was and forced her to undertake “conversion therapy”.

The photo, featuring Alcorn with tear-stained eyes and smudged lipstick, was intended to shake public conscience by telling the story of the pain she went through, while campaigning against conversion therapy and fighting homophobia.

The image helped to gather over 300,000 signatures to a petition calling for the therapy to be banned in the US.

But the photo was used by Fratelli d’Italia in a leaflet campaign against the teaching of what the party calls “gender theory”, such as gender stereotypes and discrimination, which it claims “undermines male and female gender by saying that men and women are equal in everything, regardless of their biological sex”.

In a campaign that got underway on Friday, the aim was for the message, which also called for the “defence of the family”, to reach parents across 70 schools in the province.

The party defended its use of the photo, saying it was made “freely available online”.

Morelli told The Local that she was preparing to take legal action, arguing that the party used her work without permission and in the opposite way to how it was intended.

“The use of the photo, while slightly ironic, is hugely distressing,” she added.

“It's unfortunate that the photo had to be used by an institution that I would never, ever plan on endorsing in any manner, and I can only hope that any damage to the LGBT community inflicted by use of my photo can be rectified in the upcoming lawsuit.”

In a statement on its website, the Trento unit of the gay rights organization, Arcigay, said:

“Maybe Fratelli d’Italia did not know [in what sense the image was used], or maybe it did. But who cares, the important thing is it railed against gender, told another lie, convinced the gullible and scared another mother.”

 

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TRAVEL

US reclassifies Switzerland: What does it mean for American travellers?

America’s public health agency eased travel alerts for dozens of countries this week, including Switzerland. But does it mean that people from the United States can now travel here?

Published: 11 June 2021 11:37 CEST
US reclassifies Switzerland: What does it mean for American travellers?
Not yet, but hopefully soon. Photo by Jan Rosolino / Unsplash

Switzerland in early June announced vaccinated travellers would be able to come on June 28th. Therefore, this story is now out of date. Please click here for more information. 

Due to massive vaccination efforts around the world, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lowered travel warning levels  for more than 110 countries and destinations, including Switzerland.

From the highest level four previously, which means all travel is discouraged, Switzerland was ‘promoted’ to Level 3, allowing travel for fully vaccinated individuals.

In total, 14 countries, including Switzerland’s neighbours France and Italy, have been reclassified to a lower level.

Does this mean American tourists can now come to Switzerland?

Even though the CDC has cleared travel for vaccinated US residents, it doesn’t mean they are now allowed to enter Switzerland.

For the time being, travel ban is still in place for most third countries, including the United States. The only exceptions are Swiss citizens or permanent residents returning to Switzerland.

READ MORE: When will Americans be allowed to travel to Switzerland again —and vice-versa?

There are some other exemptions as well, including people whose presence in Switzerland is absolutely necessary to maintain the functioning of the healthcare system or public security and order, death of a close family member in Switzerland, and to continue essential medical treatment that began in Switzerland or abroad.

Each of these conditions must be proven with official documentation.

For other ‘special necessity’ rules, see SEM’s page.

Basically, this means that tourists or other random travellers can’t come to Switzerland at the moment.

There are, however, some promising signs that this restriction may be lifted.

Swiss president Guy Parmelin is scheduled to meet with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on June 15th. Biden will be in Geneva for high-level talks with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. 

It is not known what Switzerland and the United States will discuss at the meeting, beyond matters of importance to both nations, but there is a possibility that the subject of easing travel restrictions on both sides will be raised.

Also, under France’s new traffic light travel system, fully-vaccinated travellers can now enter France from non-EU countries, including the US.

This does not apply to Switzerland yet, but as the two countries share a border and both are part of the Schengen zone, Swiss entry regulations for US tourists might be relaxed in the near future — though not at this time.

Does this mean US residents can ‘slip’ into Switzerland through France?

Borders between the two countries are pretty porous and checks random at best, but if you attempt to get into Switzerland this way, you’d be breaking the law.

The only US citizens who can come into Switzerland legally right now are those residing in the EU/EFTA states, or one of the third nations deemed safe by public health officials:  Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus, Rwanda, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand.

In other words, it’s not the nationality of a traveller that counts but their place of residence.

What about Swiss citizens going on vacation to the United States?

The US still has a ban in place for tourists from the EU, including Switzerland. It also has similar exceptions — that is, US citizens and permanent residents returning from abroad.

The US is forming expert groups to decide when to lift global travel restrictions that have been in place since March 2020.

However, this will probably take time and, despite mounting pressure from the travel industry and airlines, US-bound travel may not be on the horizon for this summer.

READ MORE: How to get Switzerland’s Covid-19 health pass

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