France drops homophobic Senegal, Ghana, Benin from ‘safe’ countries list
In a decision mostly focused on the dangers facing LGBT people in homophobic nations, Benin, Senegal and Ghana have been dropped from the list of “safe” countries from which France does not expect to receive refugees fleeing for their lives. “This list of 16 countries drawn up by OFPRA (the French Office for the Protection […]
Rainbow flag burned and marchers assaulted at Zagreb gay pride march
Croatian police have detained several people over incidents during and after this weekend’s Pride march in the capital of Zagreb. The incidents included verbal and physical attacks on some participants and the burning of a rainbow-colored LGBT flag, the Zagreb police said Sunday. Police are still looking for some of the perpetrators. Franko Dota, from […]
Gay couple wins case against florist after Supreme Court rejects appeal
Over the objections of three conservative justices, the US Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Washington State flower shop that violated state anti-discrimination law by refusing to serve a same-sex couple on religious grounds. The decision means a California Supreme Court judgment against Arlene’s Flowers and owner Barronelle Stutzman will stand. In […]
Kenyan Civil Society welcomes Move by Methodist Church to Allow Same Sex Marriages
The Church’s announcement came when the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersexual and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community just finished celebrating pride-month. Pride month is a yearly promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of LGBTQIA+ people as a social group marked every year in June. Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health Executive Director Jedidah […]
Discriminatory State Rhetoric Is Threatening Turkey’s LGBTQ+ Community
Among the negative consequences of Recep Erdoğan’s Presidency, his leadership has been harmful to the rights and safety of Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community. For example, in June 2021, Istanbul’s Pride parade was broken up by riot police. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used to forcibly disperse the crowd and prevent participants from getting to more […]
Brazilian potential presidential candidate announces he is gay
Brazilian governor and potential major party presidential candidate Eduardo Leite, a prominent critic of President Jair Bolsonaro, came out as gay in a TV interview. Leite, governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, would be the first openly gay presidential candidate in Brazil. Anti-gay rhetoric has been a staple of speeches by […]
In Mexico, transgender politicians make strides
Salma Luévano was arrested for publicly identifying herself as transgender in provincial Mexico in 1985. Now she is set to take office as a member of Congress It has been a long journey, but one that appears to be breaking through the rigid definitions of gender that long prevailed in Mexico. Luévano is one of […]
Ghana political leader says LGBTQ ‘pandemic’ is worse than COVID-19 and it ‘must be fought by all of us’
One of Ghana’s most powerful political leaders said that the LGBTQ “pandemic” is worse than the COVID-19 pandemic, and “it must be fought by all of us.” The remarks by Parliament Speaker Alban Babgin came on Tuesday during a morning prayer meeting as lawmakers introduced an anti-LGBTQ bill that would criminalize the “promotion, advocacy, funding […]
Czech Mental Health Institute launches initiative to help transgender people cope with anxiety, depression
Transgender people are those whose gender differs from the sex they were born with. Suicidal tendencies and inclination for self-harm appear in up to half of the transgender people who are clients of therapeutical services in the Czech Republic, as a result of their emotional pain, trauma, minority stress, social isolation, etc., experts say. Data […]
Tbilisi Pride Forges Ahead, 23 Counterprotesters Detained
Tbilisi Pride Week began on July 1 with a screening of the “March for Dignity” documentary about the LGBTQ rights struggle in Georgia, with activists, LGBTQ allies, and foreign diplomats, including British, French, German, and Israeli in attendance. The event moved ahead as far-right and ultraconservative groups, including businessman-turned-politician Levan Vasadze affiliated counterprotesters, descended upon […]
Uganda lockdown hampers rural LGBT access to life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs
Gay rights activists in Uganda are reporting difficulty in delivering life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive community members during the ongoing countrywide lockdown and curfew imposed in response to an upsurge of Covid-19 cases. Joseph Kawesi, the executive director of Come Out Post Test Club (COPTEC), which combats HIV and AIDS, said Wednesday in Kampala that […]
Russian Food Retailer Defies ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law With LGBT Family-Featuring Ad
Russian organic food retailer VkusVill has featured an LGBT family in its new promotional material this week, defying the country’s law against “gay propaganda toward minors.” As part of a series of health-conscious families, VkusVill spotlights a “matriarch” Yuma, her partner Zhenya and two daughters Mila and Alina, who practice ethical veganism, support fair trade […]
Russian Band Releases Pro-LGBT Video
Russian band Sansara on Tuesday released a pro-LGBT video for their single “We Will Become Better.” The video is about “two people who love each other but forbid themselves because of societal judgment around their relationship, and so unfortunately it cannot happen,” its writer Evgeny Primachenko told The Moscow Times. The clip has so far […]
White House Names Jessica Stern as Next US Envoy for Global LGBT Rights
(WB) The White House on Friday announced it has named Jessica Stern as the next special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBT rights abroad. Stern for the past 11 years has been the executive director of OutRight Action International, a global LGBTQ advocacy group. The White House in its announcement notes Stern is also […]
Poland could face legal action over its controversial ‘LGBT+ free zones’
The European Commission is studying the possibility of legal action against Poland over its “LGBT-free zones” in some towns, several EU sources have said. As the “guardian of the treaties” binding the European Union together, the commission could launch an infringement procedure against the country, which is ruled by a right-wing, socially conservative government whose […]
Venezuelan activists say there is little to celebrate this Pride month
Activists in Venezuela say there is little to celebrate this LGBTI Pride month, which they say is behind in South America on legislation protecting members of the LGBTI community. Venezuela still bars same-sex marriage and child adoption by same-sex couples, among other laws that some countries in the region such as Colombia and Brazil allow. […]
Spain’s Cabinet Approves Draft of Transgender Rights Law
The Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday passed a draft bill on LGBTQ rights that will seek parliamentary approval to allow transgender people over 16 to freely change their gender and name without doctors or witnesses intervening in the process. The proposal could still change during a lengthy parliamentary debate of the legal draft. But if its […]
France could ease path to parenthood for single and lesbian women
When Benedicte Blanchet, a 40-year-old who lives in a Paris suburb, decided that she wanted to have a child on her own and not wait to meet the right man, nothing prepared her for the costly obstacle course that was to follow. Under existing laws in France, which are among the strictest in western Europe, […]
A Glimmer of Hope: India Court Issues Guidelines for Protection of LGBTQ Community
Before the Obergfell v. Hodges judgment finally declared homosexual marriage as an individual’s fundamental right across the United States, various state and circuit courts ruled in favor of this right. A similar ray of hope seems to be rising for the LGBTQ community in India when Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court gave […]
377: The British colonial law that left an anti-LGBTQ legacy in Asia
For much of the past two centuries, it was illegal to be gay in a vast swathe of the world – thanks to colonial Britain. Till today, colonial-era laws that ban homosexuality continue to exist in former British territories including parts of Africa and Oceania. But it is in Asia where they have had a […]
Israel’s ‘First Lesbians.’ It Hurts When You’re All Alone in the World
For a long time Hana Klein thought she was the only lesbian in Israel, and maybe in the whole world. She was born in 1951, grew up in Tel Aviv and at 11 realized that her feelings were a bit different from those of her girlfriends. But she didn’t know why. Klein says that in […]
LGBTQ troops and vets go to war with homophobia in Ukraine
The silence inside a makeshift cinema in the heart of Kyiv was shattered with the crash of a windowpane. Fireworks flashed. Homophobic attackers were attempting to besiege the screening of a film about the lives of LGBTQ people. The assailants threw tear gas and pyrotechnics. A member of the audience jumped up onto the windowsill […]
Malawi’s LGBTI Community Marches, Petitions Government for Change
BLANTYRE, MALAWI – In Malawi, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and inter-sex (LGBTI) community Saturday held their first ever pride parade in the capital, Lilongwe, pushing for recognition by the government, legalization of same-sex marriage and equal access to health care. During the parade, marchers carried placards with messages like; “We Are Also […]
Guatemala: 3 Killings of LGBT People in a Week
Unidentified assailants killed two transgender women and one gay man in Guatemala in separate attacks within the span of one week, including Andrea González, the leader of a trans rights organization, Human Rights Watch said today. The Attorney General’s Office should conduct prompt, thorough, and independent investigations into these cases to bring those responsible to […]
Liverpool attacks: ‘Things must change or LGBT people won’t feel safe’
“It’s 2021, things are supposed to be better for us now,” says 19-year-old Josh Ormrod. Josh is a music student from Buxton, living in Liverpool, and he’s bisexual. In the early hours of 17 June, he was beaten up outside a bar in the city. The photos he shared of his injuries, posted on Instagram […]
Dutch leader tells Hungary: If you don’t like LGBT rights, you can leave the E.U.
The dispute between a number of European Union leaders and Hungary over LGBT rights grew emotional after a meeting on Thursday, with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban’s peers warning him that there was no place for discrimination in the bloc. “If you don’t like it, there is also an alternative: Leave the Union,” Dutch Prime Minister […]
Turkey police bash LGBT pride parade in Istanbul
Turkey’s far-right ruling party, which is known for its frequent homophobic remarks, sent its police to attack a peaceful LGBT pride parade in Istanbul on Saturday. Turkey’s government has become increasingly authoritarian and hostile to gay rights, bashing activists over the years. Government officials have accused gay-rights activists of being “deviants,” and the ruling AKP […]
Respect LGBT rights or leave EU, Hungary’s Orban told
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had some strong words for his Hungarian counterpart, Victor Orban on Thursday (June 24) – respect LGBT rights, or leave the European Union. The dressing down came after bloc leaders confronted Orban over a law that bans schools from using materials deemed to promote homosexuality. “It is my intention, on […]
Japanese Olympic Committee names first transgender member
A transgender former fencer hailed a “massive change” in Japan’s LGBTQ awareness after being appointed to the Japanese Olympic Committee’s board of directors just weeks before the Tokyo Games. Fumino Sugiyama, who was a member of Japan’s fencing team until retiring at the age of 25 and coming out, became the JOC’s first openly transgender […]
Hong Kong court ruling overturns anti-LGBT housing policy
Married same-sex partners will be allowed to own subsidised housing together in Hong Kong after a landmark High Court ruling on Friday, a major stride for LGBT rights in the financial hub. Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex marriage but individual couples can challenge discriminatory policies in court. Hong Kong’s subsidised housing policies, which do […]