Pathetic right-wing cranks think the new gay Captain America will ‘contract AIDS’
Right-wing YouTuber Steven Crowder’s controversial podcast is in hot water for suggesting the new gay Captain American will contract AIDS. Dave Landau hosted the Wednesday (17 March) edition of the Louder with Crowder podcast in the absence of Steven Crowder. In the YouTube livestream, Landau and other co-hosts mocked Marvel Comics’ announcement of a new […]
3 transexual women attacked in one week as violence against LGBT+ community increases in Turkey
The LGBT+ community in Turkey witnessed multiple acts of violence against its members last week with at least three transexual women suffering injuries or death, Deutsche Welle Turkish service (DW) reported. A transwoman, Miras Güneş, was found dead in her apartment on March 12 in western İzmir province. Her face was disfigured beyond recognition, and […]
Uzbekistan’s law reforms still criminalize homosexuality
On March 14, Rasul Kusherbayev — a young member of Uzbekistan’s parliament who considers himself an advocate for “positive change in the country” — posted on Telegram that the day same-sex relations are legalized would mark the death of the nation. Kusherbayev’s statement, made to almost 53,000 subscribers, comes days after the LGBTQ rights group […]
Nation mourns Zulu King accused of homophobia
For many in South Africa’s LGBTQ community, the late King Goodwill Zwelithini will be remembered for perpetuating cultural homophobia. On Thursday, the country said its final goodbye to the monarch with a memorial service held at the KwaKhethomthandayo Royal Palace in KwaNongoma. The king of the AmaZulu nation passed away at the age of 72 […]
Amazon no longer sells books framing LGBTQIA identity as mental illness
Amazon is no longer selling books that paint LGBTQIA identities as mental illnesses. This was stated in a letter from the company’s Vice President of Public Policy, Brian Huseman, which was published by The Wall Street Journal. This letter actually responded to an earlier letter by right-wing US republican senators – Marco Rubio of Florida, […]
Entire Pride in London advisory board resigns citing ‘hostile environment’
Every member of Pride in London’s community advisory board has resigned citing an alleged culture of bullying and a “hostile environment” for people of colour volunteers. The resignation of the board on Thursday comes after several directors stepped down, including Pride in London’s most senior black volunteer, deepening a race crisis within the organisation behind […]
Court releases 2 Boğaziçi students from pre-trial detention in case involving Kaaba poster
An İstanbul court has released two Boğaziçi University students from pre-trial detention in the first hearing of a case in which they, along with five other defendants, face jail terms of between one and three years due to the display of a poster depicting the Kaaba with LGBT flags amid ongoing protests at the university […]
After international protest, Tunisian court releases LGBT rights activist
Following an international protest, a Tunisia court ordered the release Wednesday of Rania Amdouni, the women’s rights defender and LGBTI activist who had been jailed for shouting at police. On March 4, Amdouni was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine for “insulting police and abuse of morals”. An appeals court ordered her […]
A Boost to Same-Sex Marriage in Japan
It was quite something to see a district court judge break into tears as she read her verdict declaring the denial of marriage registration to same-sex couples in Japan unconstitutional. It’s a significant and emotional moment in Japan for a court to affirm the dignity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in […]
Poll Shows 70 Percent Of Voters Support LGBT Protections Bill Equality Act
A new poll released Tuesday found overwhelming support for the Equality Act. The legislation cleared the House last month and is currently being considered in the Senate. Passage is a priority for the Biden administration. The Equality Act seeks to add sexual orientation and gender identity to current civil rights laws. According to an online […]
‘Deal with it’, school in China tells gay high school student bullied and sexually assaulted for months
A gay teenager was subjected to months of emotional and physical bullying, including repeated instances of sexual assault, at a school in China. In the most severe incident Xiaohao (not his real name) was stripped naked, pinned to the ground and forced to watch pornography while someone stimulated his genitals while being filmed. During the […]
Bhutan drops its law against sodomy
The tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex as its Penal Code Amendment Act came into force on Feb. 17, 2021. The process to remove the Penal Code’s Section 213 prohibiting “unnatural sex,” which was defined to include “sodomy”, began in 2019. The National Assembly, the lower house of […]
Number of nations with anti-gay laws drops to 71
The world is continuing its slow march toward full recognition of the importance of the human rights of LGBTQ people. With last month’s repeal of the anti-sodomy law in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the number of countries with anti-LGBTQ laws dropped to 71, down from 92 early in this century. Map of the 71 […]
In landmark ruling, Japan court says it is ‘unconstitutional’ to bar same-sex marriage
A Japanese court ruled on Wednesday that not allowing same-sex couples to get married is “unconstitutional,” setting a precedent in the only G7 nation not to fully recognize same-sex partnership. The ruling by a district court, the first in Japan on the legality of same-sex marriages, is a major symbolic victory in a country where […]
Mississippi governor signs bill banning trans athletes from school sports
On Thursday, Gov. Tate Reeves signed “the Mississippi Fairness Act” into law, requiring the state’s schools to designate teams by sex assigned at birth and prohibiting transgender student athletes from participating in school sports in accordance with their gender identity. In a March 4 tweet, Reeves said the law would “protect young girls from being […]
Equality Act is creating a historic face-off between religious exemptions and LGBTQ rights
In some ways, full LGBTQ rights has never seemed more within reach. First came the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Then its decision last year banning LGBTQ discrimination in employment. And now, for the first time since those rulings, a Democratic-led Congress and a president who vows to pass sweeping legal protections by […]
LGBTQ Catholics Are Stung by the Vatican’s Rebuff of Same-Sex Unions
The Vatican’s declaration that same-sex unions are a sin the Roman Catholic Church cannot bless was no surprise for LGBTQ Catholics in the United States — yet it stung deeply nonetheless. Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, said her organization’s membership includes same-sex couples who have been together for decades, persevering in their love for […]
Turkey’s LGBT+ endure brutal attacks amid Erdogan reign
When Miras Günes body was found a few days ago, her face was disfigured beyond recognition. The preliminary autopsy report revealed she was beaten to death with a hard object. Investigators are trying to find who was behind the attack on Günes, a trans woman from Izmir who had been reported missing in February. Just […]
Marriage between two women — a longstanding Kenyan tradition
Woman-to-woman marriage is one of the many forms of cultural practice recognised by some communities in Africa. Although this form of marriage is recognised by some communities in several African countries, there’s little legal backing or protection to it. Same-sex arranged marriage is culturally accepted so women who are unable to have children, or those […]
POLAND’S REPLACEMENT FOR ISTANBUL CONVENTION WOULD BAN ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE
The Polish government’s alternative to the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, which it has asked other CEE governments to support, would ban abortion and gay marriage, BIRN can reveal. Ahead of an expected vote this week in parliament on a draft law requesting the president withdraw Poland from the […]
LGBT+groups from eight parties call for legislation to ban conversion therapy
L GBT+ groups from eight political parties have called on the Government to introduce a legislative ban on conversion therapy. They have written to the Government Equalities Office after what they describe as a “disappointingly weak” response from Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch during a recent petitions committee debate. The groups, which include LGBT+ Conservatives, LGBT+ […]
“Ex-gay” pastor loses lawsuit against Vimeo for taking down videos promoting conversion therapy
A pastor who identifies as a “former homosexual” has officially lost his lawsuit attempting to force the video streaming service to host his videos promoting so-called conversion therapy. In a ruling issued this week, the court found that due to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Vimeo was right to take down the videos […]
Israel Elections: Voters must take stock of LGBTQ-phobia in parties
Fighting for its political survival, with the polls pointing to it precariously hovering around the 3.25% electoral threshold, the last thing Meretz needed last week was for Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi to alienate potential LGBT voters, one the key constituencies the candidate’s party represents. For as long as Meretz has been in existence, the promotion of equal […]
Indonesia’s LGBTQ community angry at rise of conversion therapies
Kai Mata found herself at the center of a homophobic storm last year when she posted a video of herself online denouncing a draft of bill that included articles on forcing LGBTQ people to undergo conversion therapy to “cure” their sexual orientation or gender identity. “I am Indonesian and LGBTQ+,” the caption of the video […]
Polish MEP complains of ‘psychological warfare’ after Europe is declared an LGBT+ freedom zone
Polish MEPs were up in arms after the European Union proclaimed itself an “LGBT+ freedom zone” in response to Poland‘s heinous “LGBT-free zones”. All 27 representatives from Poland’s homophobic ruling party PiS voted against the EU’s proclamation on Friday (12 March), which was passed by 492 votes to 141. The move came two years after […]
HOW SECTION 28’S PAINFUL LEGACY IS STILL BEING FELT THREE DECADES ON
In May 1988, Section 28, the most anti-gay piece of legislation of modern times, became law amid a tsunami of fear and hatred. By the mid 1980s, several years after the first reports of a disease then referred to as Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome (GRID), because it was said to affect mainly gay and […]
Poland cracks down on loophole that let LGBT+ people adopt children
Same-sex couples are currently not allowed to adopt under Polish law – however, some couples were able to get around the discriminatory policy by getting one partner to adopt as a single person. The Law and Justice party, which has made its opposition to LGBT+ rights a cornerstone of its governance, has announced that it […]
Why is the government facing a backlash from its LGBT+ advisory panel?
Revealing the results of one of the world’s largest ever surveys of LGBT+ people almost three years ago, the British government laid out some stark – albeit unsurprising – findings: two-thirds of respondents said they had avoided holding their partner’s hand in public for fear of negative reaction. An even greater number said they had […]
Sponsors of North Dakota’s transgender athletes bill have ties to anti-LGBT organizations
When state Sen. Janne Myrdal testified before the North Dakota House Human Services Committee in support of HB 1298, she said she believes the bill has little to do with transgender people. “For me, it is 100% a Title IX issue,” said Myrdal, the bill’s co-sponsor. HB 1298 – which would bar trans athletes from […]
Gay men in a monogamous relationship can donate blood from September
Men in a monogamous same-sex relationship will be allowed to donate blood in the Netherlands from September 1, 2021, the Dutch government has announced. For years, gay men in countries around the world have been prevented from being able to donate blood because of the perceived increased risk of them carrying blood-borne infections. Not too […]