How This Florida Woman’s Case Impacts LGBTQ+ Workplace Discrimination
Christie Leonard’s at Gospel Crusade seemed secure. But when her unfulfilling marriage to a man she didn’t desire fell apart amid rumors she had grown too close to another woman in her church, the Florida woman found herself unemployed. “When I separated from my husband and was going to move in with a woman, who […]
I’m fighting for my community’ says Miss South Africa’s first transgender contestant
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 2 (Reuters) – The first transgender contestant in South Africa’s national beauty pageant, 24-year-old Lehlogonolo Machaba hopes she will inspire greater acceptance of the LGBTQI community. Machaba, a fashion model, is competing for the Miss South Africa title, which opened to transgender contestants in 2019. “Being the first is a bit overwhelming and […]
HH PROMISES GAY MARRIAGES IN ZAMBIA – AMERICAN REPORTER
Lusaka ~ Mon, 2 Aug 2021 UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, also known as HH, aims to turn around the historically negative attitude toward the Zambian LGBT community. Currently, Zambia’s legal standing on same-sex relationships and orientation is antiquated and deeply rooted in the laws and beliefs from the bygone time when the country was still […]
Hope that Qwelane judgement will pave way for Hate Crimes Bill
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola has welcomed the Jon Qwelane hate speech judgment handed down by the Constitutional Court. On Friday, the court found in a unanimous ruling that Qwelane’s 2008 article, Call me names, but gay is NOT okay, was indeed hate speech. The landmark decision, which follows a court battle […]
Joe Biden nominates lesbian rabbi for religious freedom position
President Joe Biden has nominated lesbian rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum to serve on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Under her position as commissioner, she will help monitor and evaluate religious freedoms around the world. Kleinbaum currently serves as the Chief Rabbi at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST). On Friday (30 July), the White House […]
Hundreds take part in Cayman’s first Gay Pride Parade
The first Gay Pride Parade was held in the Cayman Islands Saturday, when hundreds of people, many clad in rainbow colours, marched along West Bay Road. At the front of the parade, in a show of support for gay rights and diversity and all clad in Cayman LGBTQ Foundation T-shirts, were Premier Wayne Panton, Opposition […]
New film on gay Indo-Canadians explores the challenges they face
A new Vancouver-based production house, formed to tell stories of gay Indo-Canadians through the medium of cinema, will soon release its first documentary feature that explores the challenges they face when it comes to acceptance within the community. The unit Sher Films, spawned by Sher Vancouver, a pioneering gay-oriented charity focused on support and counselling […]
Poland attacks German justice system over fine for anti-gay article
Poland has accused Germany’s justice system of putting European standards at risk after a Cologne court fined a Polish theologian for an article describing gay people in the Catholic clergy as “parasites.” The court imposed the €4,800 penalty on Dariusz Oko, a conservative theology professor based in Krakow, for inciting hatred through his article in […]
Trans rights divides political rivals, young and old in the United States
Americans are deeply divided over transgender rights, data released on Tuesday showed, with experts accusing politicians of exploiting clear differences along party lines to foment a culture war over the issue in recent years. Seven Republican U.S. states have barred trans competitors from girls’ school sports since Democrat President Joe Biden expressed support for trans […]
Welcome to the ‘Gay Games,’ an alternative to the Olympics, where activism is encouraged and everyone’s an athlete
Tom Waddell knew what to expect from an Olympics opening ceremony. He’d experienced one before as a decathlete at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. He remembered the parade of athletes from around the world, proudly marching alongside their flags before an audience of thousands, cheering on their every move. His gay and lesbian friends in […]
Close to 1,000 LGBT officials elected nationwide, report says
Close to 1,000 elected officials nationwide identify as LGBT, according to a report from the LGBTQ Victory Institute. The are currently 986 LGBT officials across the U.S. as of June, according to the Out for America Report, a 17 percent increase over the past year. This includes two U.S. senators, nine U.S. representatives, two governors, […]
Revellers celebrate three decades of Belfast pride
THE streets were buzzing on Saturday as revellers took to the city centre to celebrate the 30th annual Belfast Pride. While the traditional parade couldn’t take because of Covid rules, the event was marked with a virtual celebration. That didn’t stop people going out to the likes of the Smithfield and Union quarter, which has […]
Ghana’s first openly trans musician fights homophobia with song
Ghana’s first openly transgender musician has released a song to boost the morale of the West African nation’s LGBT+ community as it faces a crackdown by authorities and a rise in homophobic persecution. Hiplife and Afropop artist Angel Maxine said she wrote “Wo Fie”, meaning “Your Home” in the Twi language, to comfort LGBT+ Ghanaians […]
Wales launches plan to become most LGBT-friendly country in Europe as Westminster slides backwards
The Welsh government has unveiled a new LGBT+ action plan and set out its hope to become the most LGBT-friendly country in Europe. Key actions will include trying to devolve powers related to the Gender Recognition Act in order to reform it to benefit trans people; using “all available powers” to ban “all aspects of” […]
Ukraine LGBTQ activists hold rave to demand govt punish attacks
Dozens of people took part in a rave party outside the Ukrainian president’s office Friday to demand the authorities protect LGBTQ rights, sparking scuffles between police and right-wing protesters trying to prevent the event. Organisers accused the authorities of “doing nothing about the violence” from right-wing groups and in a Facebook posting demanded investigations into […]
Con Court: Jon Qwelane guilty but hate speech definition amended
In a long-fought victory for SA’s LGBT+ community, the Constitutional Court has upheld the Jon Qwelane hate speech conviction but ordered that the Equality Act be amended. On Friday, the court found in a unanimous judgement that Qwelane’s 2008 article, Call me names, but gay is NOT okay, was indeed hate speech. In the now-infamous […]
New Zealand introduces bill to outlaw LGBT conversion therapy
WELLINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – New Zealand introduced on Friday legislation that proposes up to five years in prison for practices intended to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, known as LGBT conversion therapy. The proposed measures were aimed at ending such practices, which do not work, are widely discredited, and […]
Hungarian election panel clears questions of LGBT referendum
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s National Election Committee (NEC) approved on Friday the government’s list of questions on LGBT issues it wants to put on a referendum as part of what Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called an “ideological war” with the European Union. Orban, a nationalist who has been in power since 2010, proposed a […]
Kazakhstan: LGBT, women’s rights activists besieged by mob
A training seminar held this week by feminists and LGBT activists in a mining city in central Kazakhstan might have ended in violence but for the intervention of police. A group of activist trainers traveled to Karaganda on July 28 for a day of talks billed as focusing on “the rights of women, as well […]
Ghana poised to vote on ‘worst anti-LGBTQ bill ever,’ advocates warn
Draft legislation in Ghana would make identifying as gay or even an ally to the LGBTQ community a second-degree felony punishable by five years in prison — with advocating for LGBTQ rights punishable by up to 10 years. Same-sex conduct is already a crime in the West African country, with violators facing a three-year sentence, […]
LGBT Turks Take Stock After Disrupted Pride Celebrations
ISTANBUL – More than a month after Turkish authorities crushed Pride-themed events in Istanbul, emotions still run raw for members of the country’s embattled LGBT community. “There was lots of violence. I was beaten up and so were most of the people I was arrested with,” Istanbul resident Alaz Yener told VOA. “They used zip ties to handcuff […]
‘About time’: LGBTQ Olympic athletes unleash a rainbow wave
TOKYO (AP) — When Olympic diver Tom Daley announced in 2013 that he was dating a man and “couldn’t be happier,” his coming out was an act of courage that, with its rarity, also exposed how the top echelons of sport weren’t seen as a safe space by the vast majority of LGBTQ athletes. Back […]
LGBT+ campaigners demand inclusion at first UK ‘Reclaim Pride’ march
LONDON, July 24 (Openly) – Holding banners and shouting slogans of defiance, thousands of LGBT+ people took to the streets of London on Saturday to protest against the perceived commercialisation of Britain’s official annual Pride march. As the first ever Reclaim Pride march curled past Britain’s iconic Palace of Westminster, marchers said they had come […]
Ghana: anti-gay bill proposing 10-year prison sentences sparks outrage
Draft anti-gay legislation submitted to Ghana’s parliament could propose up to 10 years in jail for LGBTQ+ people as well as groups and individuals who advocate for their rights, express sympathy or offer social or medical support, in one of the most draconian and sweeping anti-gay laws proposed around the world. Support for intersex people […]
Pervasive racism a toxic problem in Vancouver’s LGBTQ community, say activists
Vancouver will be awash with rainbow flags this weekend as people celebrate LGBTQ pride and yet, while the city is perceived by many as an inclusive and safe space to be your authentic self, some members of the queer community say that’s not necessarily the case if your skin is not white. In the lead-up […]
Judge dismisses legal challenges to transgender student protections
A Lynchburg Circut Court Judge dismissed legal challenges to block the Virginia Department of Education’s new policies on protecting transgender students. Earlier this spring, two lawsuits were filed, which were eventually consolidated into one lawsuit by the Christian Action Network, trying to block the “Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public […]
Meet 7 Activists Fighting to Improve LGBTQ+ Rights Across Africa
I’ve personally experienced two homophobic attacks in my home city of Enugu, in southeastern Nigeria: one from the police and the other from a crowd of students. In both instances, I was threatened with death and left traumatized. Unfortunately, such attacks in Nigeria, and in much of Africa, where just 22 out of 54 of […]
Georgia’s LGBT+ community living in fear after violence
TBILISI, July 26 (Openly) – Nino, a 25-year-old lesbian from Georgia, no longer feels at ease when she leaves the house. Since violence forced a Pride march to be cancelled earlier this month, she is afraid of being verbally abused or chased in the street. Reports of hate crimes have risen in the wake of […]
Poland’s heinous ‘LGBT-free zones’ sue the defiant activists fighting back against their hate
In late 2019, Polish activists began compiling an interactive map of the country’s ‘LGBT-free zones’. Within these towns and cities, the promotion of so-called ‘LGBT+ ideology’ is banned. Enraged by this state-sanctioned homophobia, a team of campaigners – Jakub Gawron, Kamil Mczuga, Paulina Pajak and Pawel Preneta – came together to build the Atlas of […]
Berlin parade raises concerns over increase in LGBT+ hate crimes
Thousands of people took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday as revelers marched for LGBT+ rights on Christopher Street Day. The day commemorates riots that broke out in New York in 1969 after police raided a gay bar. It is seen as a turning point for the gay rights movement and has been celebrated […]