Uzbek Blogger Jailed for Facebook Post
A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced a Muslim blogger to seven and a half years in prison for something many people do every day: posting an innocuous message on Facebook. The criminal court in Tashkent’s Almazar district on January 26 found Muslim blogger and government critic, Fazilhoja Arifhojaev, guilty of threatening public security by reposting […]
Qtalk counselors call the LGBTQ+ advice app ‘truly brilliant’, ‘a life saver’
In Nigeria, the Qtalk app on Android phones is “a life saver”, “truly brilliant” and “like magic”, according to counselors who use it to provide free confidential advice to LGBTQ+ Nigerians. Through the app, which has been up and running for two years, 15 counselors provide advice, referrals, mental-health services and a sympathetic ear to […]
LGBT veterans: Flashbacks after ‘sadistic’ interrogation
A gay veteran said being starved, denied sleep and subjected to “sadistic” internal examinations on an RAF station has left him with flashbacks and depression 35 years on. Simon Hinchley-Robson was discharged from RAF Brawdy in Pembrokeshire in 1986 after requesting an Aids test. However, Capt Hannah Graf said she had a positive experience of […]
Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board updates guidelines for LGBTQ2S+ claimants—but there’s more work to be done
A queer man is turned away from a refugee claim because the term for his same-sex partner in his native language translates to “girlfriend”; a bisexual person loses their refugee claim because their understanding of bisexuality differs from Western definitions; a queer person seeking refugee status is asked to share his Grindr profile to verify […]
Holocaust Remembrance Day: How are Nazi Germany’s LGBT+ victims commemorated across Europe?
Today (27 January) marks the International Day of Holocaust Remembrance, an occasion to commemorate the victims — especially European Jews, the main targets of Nazi oppression — who were persecuted and murdered during the Third Reich. First designated by the United Nations in November 2005, the day, just like the term “Holocaust” itself, has gradually come […]
Texas doctors condemn closure of Dallas clinic for transgender children
More than 400 doctors and health care professionals signed a letter addressed to two Dallas hospitals decrying the closure of the state’s only comprehensive medical program for transgender children, The Dallas Morning News has learned. Addressed to leadership at the University of Texas Southwestern and Children’s Health and sent in late November, the letter urges the hospitals to reverse […]
Don’t Say Gay’ bill moves forward in Florida
A Florida bill that would limit classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity and encourage parents to sue schools or teachers that engage in these topics is speeding through the state House and Senate. It’s being called a “Don’t Say Gay” bill by LGBTQ advocates, who fear that if this bill is signed into law, […]
UK equalities watchdog urges Scotland to pause gender recognition reforms
The UK’s equalities watchdog has written to the Scottish government asking it to pause plans to simplify the legal requirements for gender recognition. LGBT+ equality campaigners hit back at the unexpected intervention by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, describing its approach as “deeply troubling” and “failing to stand up for equality for trans people”. The EHRC, […]
LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ officially banned in France.
France has officially banned so-called LGBTQ “conversion therapy,” the widely debunked — and potentially dangerous — practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. “The law prohibiting conversion therapy is adopted unanimously,” President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Tuesday. “Let’s be proud, these unworthy practices have no place in the republic. Because being […]
Woman says military lawsuit is about ‘what they think a lesbian female should look like’.
A woman suing the U.S. Army and Air Force for discrimination said her case centers on what certain military leaders think a “lesbian female should look like,” according to media reports. Technical Sgt. Kristin Kingrey, who has served in the Air National Guard in West Virginia for 14 years, told the Daily Beast on Monday […]
Amnesty urges Iran to free ‘arbitrarily detained’ LGBTI activist.
Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Iran to free an Iranian LGBTI activist held for the last three months on charges linked to an appearance in a BBC documentary on gay rights in Iraqi Kurdistan. Zahra Sedighi-Hamadan had been based in Iraqi Kurdistan but was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on October 27 while seeking […]
California mother claims teachers manipulated her daughter to change her gender identity.
A California mother said her daughter’s teachers are “predatory” and “disgusting” after she filed a lawsuit against them and school district officials that alleged two teachers brainwashed her preteen to secretly change her gender. Jessica Konen filed the suit last week against teachers Lori Caldiera, Kelly Baraki and the Spreckels Union School District for allegedly […]
Guatemala: Anti-Trans Bill Threatens Rights.
A group of lawmakers in Guatemala has advanced a bill that would stigmatize transgender people and curtail children’s and adolescents’ rights to education, information, and health, Human Rights Watch said today. Congress should reject the bill and instead address the violence and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face in the country. […]
UK’s first LGBTQ museum to open in London this spring.
The UK’s first LGBTQ museum is due to open this spring in London, founded by the charity Queer Britain. The museum will be located on the ground floor of 2 Granary Square in Kings Cross in the building owned by the Art Fund charity. The space will house four galleries, a workshop, an education space, […]
Botswana president vows to honour gay rights judgment.
Botswana’s president vowed Monday to fully implement a 2019 court ruling decriminalising homosexuality, two months after losing an appeal that sought to overturn it. President Mokgweetsi Masisi invited LGBT leaders to his office to reassure them that he would respect the court’s decision and protect their rights. “We demand and expect anybody to respect the […]
Oklahoma Watch: Governor’s order throws transgender Oklahomans into legal limbo
On the second Wednesday of every month, attorney Josh Payton can be found behind a gray table downtown at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center. Clients say Payton’s clinic and services provide them with pathways to proper medical care and detours around housing and workplace discrimination. Since starting the clinic in October 2020, Payton has helped more than […]
Covid takes a toll on transgender entertainers in Indonesia, where even the term LGBT is seen as a threat
It was almost 2pm in one of the outer western suburbs of Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city of more than three million inhabitants. Merry, 50, a transwoman, had just alighted from a bemo, or public transport van, to head home after a day spent busking. Home is a 3 square metre (32 square ft) room she rents for […]
Samsung pulls ad featuring heartfelt moments between loved ones including a drag performer
Samsung decided to remove an advertisement from airing in Singapore and deleted it from online channels, shortly after posting it, because it “may be perceived as insensitive and offensive to some members of our local community.” The full ad, just under five minutes, featured unknowing individuals — wearing Samsung headphones — hearing their loved ones […]
‘Cars had stickers of DMK leaders’: Pro-Hindutva LGBTQ activist Gopi Shankar Madurai survives fourth attack, appeals to PM Modi for help
Well-known LGBTQ activist Gopi Shankar Madurai has recently survived the fourth attack in Mahabalipuram of Tamilnadu. Gopi Shankar Madurai was obstructed in the road by six goons when he was going for a post-dinner walk near his house at around 10 PM a few days ago. Gopi Shankar Madurai has claimed that these goons had […]
Overturning Roe would also devastate LGBTQIA+ community
This year marks the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and it is no coincidence that there is currently much discourse about the potential for the Supreme Court to overturn this decision. While Roe most distinctly affects abortion rights, there are in fact many communities who stand to lose ground in their fight for civil […]
Stella Nyanzi, Ugandan LGBT ally, flees for safety to Germany
Ugandan LGBT ally and academic scholar Dr Stella Nyanzi has fled to Germany with her children over fears of government persecution, arrest and torture. “I refuse to be gagged. I refuse to be silenced!” She wrote on her social media page on Jan. 19 as she prepared to leave the country. Her departure came a […]
Rightify Ghana launches fundraising appeal to expand advocacy for LGBTQI+ people
A leading LGBT advocacy group in Ghana that has put a spotlight on what it calls the “worst anti-LGBTQ bill ever” is seeking donations from LGBTQ rights supporters worldwide in order to continue its work. For months, Rightify Ghana has been publicizing and opposing the efforts of the nation’s anti-LGBTQ coalition to pass a repressive […]
In Venezuela, a soldier can be sent to prison for being gay. The courts could change that.
On an early morning in 2013, a soldier alerted a supervisor that a comrade had left his post. He had seen him getting into a red car with a man “who looked gay,” prosecutors said in court documents. A sergeant rushed to the car, ordered the soldier to return to his post and grabbed the […]
Israel’s LGBT+ community faces up to its ‘Me Too’ moment as sexual abuse survivors break silence
In June 2021, gay rights activist Omri Feinstein from Israel asked queer people on Instagram to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault – and he could never have been prepared for the response. “The amount of stories I received was absolutely insane,” Omri tells PinkNews. “It was obvious that people were just waiting […]
We Can No Longer Ignore the Murders of LGBTQ+ People in Jamaica
Jasmyne Cannick, the journalist who brought national attention to the killings committed by Ed Buck in West Hollywood, is releasing a new podcast series exploring the many human rights abuses taking place in Jamaica. Ring the Alarm, an original podcast hosted by Cannick in partnership with The Advocate, will explore what it’s like to be […]
House committee in Florida passes ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
A Florida House committee on Thursday passed a bill seeking to ban discussions of sexuality and gender identity in school classrooms, which LGBTQ+ advocates say will effectively “erase” LGBTQ+ history, culture, and students. The Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, passed Thursday in the House Education and Employment […]
Lesbian couple’s killing, dismemberment sparks protest in Juarez
JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – Women’s rights and LGBT activists took to the streets of Juarez on Thursday, demanding answers in the murder and dismemberment of a lesbian couple last Sunday. Chihuahua state police investigators say Nohemi Medina, 28, and Tania Julissa Martinez, also 28, were shot to death, their bodies dismembered, the parts placed in plastic […]
A Brotherhood of Bears Flourishes Despite Russia’s Anti-LGBT Agenda
ST. PETERSBURG — If you didn’t know Club Malevich existed you would never find it. There are no signs, windows, grand entrances or bouncers at the back of the defunct industrial complex housing its long, black, neon-lit bar and dance floor. The location is the perfect hideaway for St. Petersburg’s secretive BEARsBURG society — a modern […]
NCAA adopts new policy for transgender athletes
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes, bringing the organization in line with the U.S. and International Olympic Committees. Under the new guidelines, approved by the NCAA Board of Governors on Wednesday, transgender participation for each sport will be determined by the policy for the sport’s national governing body, subject […]
Queer women win West African writing contest
The Brittle Paper literary magazine has announced the winners of its writing competition for queer women from West Africa. The winning authors came from Nigeria, Ghana and Benin. The anthology “Wedged Between Man and God” presents a selection of non-fiction stories from queer West African women. Brittle Paper is an online literary magazine for readers […]