LGBT veterans who served during ban on gay troops to share experiences in government review
LGBT veterans will be asked about how they were treated when serving in the British military while there was a ban on gay personnel. About 5,000 ex-service personnel had been severely penalised for their identity in ways that include being sacked, convicted, and imprisoned. Other gay people who had kept their sexuality secret from their […]
Hearing on Polish judges could deepen standoff with Europe
A top Polish court adjourned on Wednesday a sitting on whether a continent-wide human rights court had the power to question local judges’ legitimacy in a case that could deepen the nationalist government’s standoff with Europe. In power since 2015, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has clashed with European institutions over issues from […]
LGBTQ athletes in China: Tolerated at best
Li Ying is back with the Steel Roses. New national team coach Shui Qingxia, the first woman at the helm of the Chinese women’s national footall team, has named the 29-year-old striker to the squad for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India, which kicks off on January 20. At first glance, this should come […]
American L.G.B.T.Q.+ Museum Names First Executive Director
Almost five years exactly after its conception, the American L.G.B.T.Q.+ Museum — which aims to open its doors in 2024 — has found its first executive director. The museum announced Tuesday that Ben Garcia, formerly the deputy executive director and chief learning officer of Ohio History Connection, would inaugurate the role in mid-February. At Ohio […]
We are your sons and daughters
TART accepting that transgender people are your daughters and sons, says Namibia’s first Miss Trans Ambassador 2021, Penelope Tatiana Delapoirto (24). “What we can do is to start accepting the reality that transgender people exist . . . We are humans before we are transgender people,” she says. Delapoirto says being transgender in a free […]
Peter Tatchell at 70: why the fight goes on – after Netflix stardom and 30 years of gay rights victories
On a gloweringly grey January afternoon, Peter Tatchell arrives on time, bearing gifts. “Happy New Year!” he says, and hands me the latest issue of the New Humanist magazine (“a rational approach to the modern world”) and a copy of the 2022 Attitude calendar (on the cover: a swarthy hunk/gardener in a pair of Speedos, […]
Mexico threatens fans with 5-year bans for homophobic chant
The Mexican Football Federation says any fan caught screaming a homophobic chant at its matches will face a five-year ban from national team games. Federation President Yon de Luisa said fans buying tickets will have to register their personal information and present a QR Code and identification at stadium entrances. The security presence at national […]
‘They are literally murdering us’: poet Joelle Taylor on bringing the LGBTQ+ community together
Since winning the TS Eliot award for poetry last week, Joelle Taylor has been referred to on more than one occasion as a “slam poet”. Which, she says, is fascinating: “Because there’s no such thing as a slam poet.” A poetry slam is an event, a spoken-word competition, she adds, not a type of poetry. […]
Gay couple become first in Taiwan to adopt after legal battle – but victory is bittersweet
A married gay couple has become the first in Taiwan to adopt a child together – but their legal victory hasn’t been extended to other couples like them. Husbands Wang Chen-wei and Chen Chun-ju made history as they signed adoption papers on Thursday (13 January), marking the end of a long legal fight for their […]
LGBT ACTIVIST DETAINED IN LEBANON, FINALLY ARRIVES IN AUSTRALIA
After fleeing to Turkey from their home country of Jordan in July 2020, LGBTQI activist Alshaima Omama Alzubi has finally arrived in Australia. The 25-year-old Jordanian refugee who identifies as lesbian and non-binary and who previously went by the initials of “AOA” boarded a flight to Australia on December 30. They have spent the past […]
LGBTQ Groups Push for Voting Rights, Gun Control on MLK Day
On what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 93rd birthday, national LGBTQ groups echoed growing calls for federal voting rights legislation and queer activists held a Times Square demonstration urging the Supreme Court to uphold New York’s gun laws. The parallel actions coincided with frustration in Washington over the failure to advance a pair […]
Tom Cotton Senate bill would separate prison inmates by birth gender, not identity
A prisoner’s gender at birth, not their gender identity, would determine where they would be housed, under a U.S. Senate bill proposed last week by Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas. The bill introduced Wednesday came in response to a report that President Biden may sign an executive action requiring the Federal Bureau of Prisons to allow transgender inmates to go […]
BCers Now Able to Change Gender on Provincial IDs Without Surgery
Those looking to change their gender on their BC Identification cards will no longer need confirmation from a physician to do so. This means that BCers will no longer require Gender confirmation surgery to legally have their genders changed on Provincial identification. This applies to the BC Services Card, B.C. driver’s licence, BCID card, and B.C. […]
Man finally admits to killing gay American college student nearly 35 years ago
A man has pled guilty — against his lawyers’ wishes — to charges stemming from the death of a gay American man in 1988, which was initially deemed a suicide by authorities but subsequently investigated as a homicide after further inquiries. Scott White surprised the court during pre-trial hearings this week by proclaiming his guilt […]
Historic blood shortage fuels calls for FDA to ease restrictions on gay men donating blood
Pressure is mounting on the Food and Drug Administration to eliminate longstanding restrictions on gay or bisexual men donating blood in the United States as the blood shortage reaches a dire level. Twenty-two U.S. senators penned a letter to the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday, urging them to replace the […]
Two-Spirit activists explain why the LGBT+ community needs to unite against the climate emergency
Two-Spirit environmental activists have shared how LGBT+ people can use their power to fight climate change and better the planet for future generations. Weather and climate disasters in the US took more than 500 lives and cost over $100 billion in 2021, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). In February, a devastating […]
Moroccan ministry worker fired for mentioning ‘sexual orientation’
The head of literacy at Morocco’s ministry of endowments and Islamic affairs has been fired for simply mentioning sexual orientation in adult learning materials. According to The New Arab, the employee oversaw the production of adult literacy courses used in mosques, and recently released a new curriculum. But one part fo the curriculum included a […]
Tunisian LGBT activists fight back after alleged police assault
On October 21, 2021, prominent LGBTQ activist Badr Baabou was brutally assaulted in downtown Tunis by two men, one wearing a police uniform, who left him bruised and bloodied, and who robbed him of his phone, wallet, and laptop. While beating and kicking him, the assailants allegedly said the assault was a punishment for his […]
Bi culture beyond the cliches & stereotypes
Defining bisexuality is easy. But bi culture? That may be harder to distill in a single sentence. Many have tried, with listicles on things that are “definitely bi culture” littering the web every Bisexual Awareness Week. Cuffing your jeans? Bi. Finger guns? Also bi. Not being able to sit in a chair properly? Definitely bi. […]
Veterans can now identify as trans and nonbinary in VA health records
Veterans in the U.S. are now able to identify as transgender and and nonbinary in official medical records, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week. “All veterans, all people, have a basic right to be identified as they define themselves,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement. “This is essential for their general […]
Tripura Cops Deny Allegations Of Transgender Harassment
The Tripura Police have refuted the allegations made by atleast four transgender persons, who asserted that personnel from Tripura Police stripped them on Saturday in a bid to prove their gender identity, as informed by a police complaint filed by one of them. Referring the allegations as “baseless”, Tripura Police stated that they were arrested […]
CoE Calls on Hungary to Stop Curbing LGBTI Rights
The Hungarian government “must stop instrumentalising and weakening the human rights of LGBTI people”, Dunja Mijatovic, human rights commissioner of the Council of Europe, said on Thursday. In her statement, Mijatovic called it “deeply regrettable” that the Hungarian government was planning to hold a referendum on children’s access to information on sexual identities simultaneously with […]
Conversion therapy is now illegal in Canada
OTTAWA — Conversion therapy is now illegal in Canada, marking a major milestone in LGBTQ2S+ rights in this country. After parliamentarians came together to unanimously pass legislation to eradicate the harmful practice in late 2021, the Criminal Code sanctions came into force on Jan. 7. That means that now, anyone who looks to subject someone […]
Kenyan LGBT Students Protest Suggestion They be Banned from Boarding Schools
NAIROBI — A group of Kenyan LGBT students protested Thursday against a Cabinet minister’s recent suggestion they be banned from boarding schools. The schools are common in Kenya and the students and rights groups say a ban would be discriminatory and compromise their safety. Dozens of angry students took to the streets of Nairobi Thursday in a […]
Latin America: Alarming Reversal of Basic Freedoms
(New York) – Latin America is facing some of its gravest human rights challenges in decades, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2022. “Latin America is experiencing such an alarming reversal of basic freedoms that we now have to defend democratic spaces that we once took for granted,” said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, Americas acting […]
LGBT Members Allege They Were Made To Disrobe By Police To Prove Their Identity
Agartala, Jan 11 (PTI) Four LGBT members were arrested by the police here and made to disrobe in a police station to prove their identity, according to an FIR filed by one of them. They were also made to write an undertaking that they will never wear cross dress or cross makeup and if they […]
As high court signals Roe v. Wade reversal, states eye same-sex marriage protections
Nearly seven years after the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage the law of the land, New Jersey enacted a law Monday to protect this relatively new right throughout the Garden State. Prior to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges — which legalized sex-marriage nationwide in 2015 — New Jersey’s state courts had […]
Attorney general defends religious schools’ right to sack teachers for views on sexuality
Michaelia Cash’s department has defended religious schools’ right to sack teachers for their views on sexuality and appeared to confirm safeguards for gay students will be delayed until after the religious discrimination bill. The attorney general’s department’s submission to two inquiries states that changes to the Sex Discrimination Act will wait for a further review 12 […]
Hungary sets a date for referendum on controversial LGBTQ law.
Hungary will hold a referendum in April on its controversial law that bans educational materials and programs for children that are considered to promote homosexuality and gender reassignment, the government announced Tuesday. The law, which effectively prohibits any discussion of LGBTQ themes in schools, was widely criticized by the opposition and civil rights activists when […]
Now illegal to discriminate based on SOGIE in Bataan after passage of anti-discrimination ordinance.
Bataan has joined the still few local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines that now has an anti-discrimination ordinance (ADO) that prohibits the discrimination of people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression (SOGIE). The ordinance – authored by Jomar L. Gaza; and sponsored by Maria Kristine G. dela Fuente – was […]