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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Finns Turn against Puberty Blockers for Gender Dysphoria
First, it was the Brits and then the Swedes. Now, the transgender moral panic is receiving more pushback from the Finns. Finnish medical guidelines are now opposed to most puberty blocking and adolescent transitioning, except in the most severe cases and, then, only in a research setting. First, note this eye-opener that most cases of […]
‘The worst anti-LGBTQ bill ever’
The “most homophobic document the world has ever seen” is how LGBTQ rights activists describe Ghana’s sweeping anti-homosexuality bill recently revealed after months of discussion and publicity from the nation’s anti-gay crusaders. The members of Ghana’s anti-gay National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values hope to see it enacted by the […]
Tensions amid Budapest Pride parade
Thousands of Hungarians marched in Budapest’s biggest Pride parade on Saturday, amid tension sparked by a series of anti-LGBTQ steps by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. After an “anti-pedophilia” law was adopted by the Hungarian Parliament last month, Orban’s critics at home and in Brussels have accused him of conflating pedophilia with homosexuality. “Many people […]
”OUT FOR AUSTRALIA’ EXISTS TO SUPPORT LGBT STUDENTS & YOUNG PROFESSIONALS’
Less than 32% of LGBTQIA+ employees in Australia are out to everyone in their workplace and studies reveal that this number is going down. Out For Australia is one of the few charities in the country that is looking to address the issue with its mentorship programs and targeted support for LGBTQIA+ students and young […]
Georgian Condom Company Wins Freedom Of Expression Case At European Rights Court
A Georgian condom company that uses creative advertising on its packaging has won a freedom of expression case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The case involved Georgian condom brand Aiisa, whose owner had to pay a small fine and recall its products in 2018 after Georgian courts ruled its advertising was unethical […]
Taxi-driving gay Catholic priest subjected to vile homophobic abuse
A gay Catholic priest in Liverpool has been left “petrified” after he was subjected to homophobic abuse in a “disgusting” hate crime. Father Paul Newbery is a priest at Merseyside Open Community Church in Liverpool, which is part of the LGBT-inclusive United Liberal Catholic Church. Newbery, who also works as a taxi driver, told the […]
Budapest Pride stands up for LGBT rights in Hungary
LGBT people and their supporters have marched through the capital city of Hungary to defend their rights. It comes as the government tries to limit discussion of homosexuality and transgender issues in schools. A law to limit teaching on the subject came into force this month, and Prime Minister Viktor Orban plans to back it […]
Hungary’s LGBTQ community: ‘We are afraid of losing everything’
Over the past months, Boldizsar Nagy has had to grapple with things he never expected. He was never anyone “special,” the journalist and children’s book editor said — certainly not a household name, as he is today. When he and his team published a fairy tale book titled Meseorszag mindenkie, or Wonderland Belongs to Everyone, […]
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 […]
Senate unanimously confirms 2 LGBTQ women to top military positions
The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed two LGBTQ women to top military positions. “President Biden nominated two historic #LGBTQ+ nominees for key roles” at the Department of Defense,” White House Senior Advisor on LGBTQ+ Engagement Reggie Greer wrote on Twitter. On Thursday, Gina Ortiz Jones was confirmed to be the next undersecretary of the Air […]
False start for intersex athletes barred from Olympics
When the world’s fastest women race for gold over 800m in Tokyo, all three medallists from the 2016 Olympics will be absent – barred as intersex athletes who refuse to alter their natural hormones to meet the rules of sport. The ban is one of many controversies dogging a sporting spectacle that opens on Friday […]
Panama’s Gender-Based Lockdown and the Resilience of Transgender Activism
On April 1, 2020, the government of Panama introduced a gender-based lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This meant that women and men were only allowed to do essential shopping on alternate days. The country’s Health Ministry described the gender-based quarantine as “the simplest procedure” to reduce the number of people on the streets […]
Budapest Pride march is a protest against anti-gay laws, say organisers
Saturday’s Pride march in Budapest will be “a celebration, but also a protest”, organisers have said, as Hungary’s LGBT community prepares to rally in defiance of an escalating anti-gay campaign by the country’s government. Johanna Majercsik, one of the organisers of Pride month in Budapest, which culminates with the march, said she expected to see […]