In Juarez, Transgender Women In Limbo Await U.S. Asylum Exception
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: We’re going to stick with immigration for a few more minutes. The U.S.-Mexico border has been closed to most migrants during the pandemic, including those seeking asylum. The majority of those who try to enter the U.S. have been quickly expelled to Mexico. Now the Biden administration is expanding efforts to grant […]
A card exempted a gay man from serving in Iran’s military. It may have cost him his life
Alireza Fazeli-Monfared’s future was brutally cut short last week when members of his family allegedly murdered him due to his sexual orientation, according to his partner and a LGBTQ rights group. The 20-year-old Iranian had hoped to escape the country, where he felt stifled by the Iranian regime’s restrictions on homosexuality, and had dreams of […]
Police banned from participating in NYC Pride events and march through 2025
Police will be banned from participating in NYC Pride events, including its signature LGBTQ march, until 2025, the organization announced Saturday. NYC Pride is also working to reduce the New York Police Department’s security and first responder presence at its events, the organization said. André Thomas, co-chair of Heritage of Pride, which produces NYC Pride, […]
Two Spirit Society & Allies of North Dakota aims to improve life for LGBTQ people
Cardinal Red Bird has more than one story about the verbal abuse he listened to in his on-and-off stays on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in central North Dakota. “I was ridiculed and verbally harassed,” said Red Bird, who is president of the developing Two Spirit Society & Allies of North Dakota that is holding […]
Pakistan: How has COVID impacted the LGBT community?
The coronavirus pandemic has made being LGBT+ in Pakistan significantly more difficult, in a country where those communities already face numerous challenges, including systemic oppression, social stigma and a legal ban on homosexual acts. The colonial British government criminalized homosexual activities in India in 1860, establishing them as crimes that can result in life imprisonment […]
Call for intersex inclusion as House panel excludes ‘intersex’ in sex definition of proposed anti-discrimination law
A conservative politician – Deputy Speaker Bienvenido Abante Jr. – succeeded in pushing for the exclusion of the term “intersex” from the definition of sex in the draft of a more “comprehensive” anti-discrimination bill because it “complicated” the things for him. During the panel hearing to come up with the said “comprehensive” anti-discrimination bill by […]
Cameroon Sentences Transgender Women to 5 Years in Prison
Two transgender women were sentenced to five years in prison in Cameroon this week after they were found guilty of “attempted homosexuality” and public indecency, the latest example of an increasing crackdown on gay and transgender people in the West African nation, human rights groups say. Shakiro, identified in police documents as Loïc Njeukam, and […]
Switzerland To Hold Referendum On 2020 Same-Sex Marriage Legislation
After a lengthy parliamentary battle, the Swiss government will hold a referendum concerning legislation introduced in December 2020 recognizing same-sex marriage. Under this law, same-sex couples can enter into “registered partnerships” with some legal protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sexual identity. Public support for the law was unanimously in favor […]
US Army launches new animated recruitment video featuring LGBT+ family to diversify intake
The US Army has released a new animated recruitment campaign featuring five diverse soldiers and an LGBT+ family in the hopes of appealing to new young audiences. The campaign, which launched this week, is titled “The Calling” and features five animated short films detailing how a different person in each film decided to join the […]
Benin: Threat On Transgender People and Their Defenders Following Assault On Three of Them
Authorities in Benin must immediately take all necessary measures to protect transgender people and the associations that defend them, after three transgender women were forced to undress, beaten and robbed by a group of men at a bar in the capital Cotonou, Amnesty International said today. The attack, which took place on the night of […]
Lesbian penguins are this mating season’s hot new couple
Mating season is underway for the Gentoo penguins at the London’s Sea Life aquarium, and two lesbian penguin couples have already got together. The two couples – Marmalade and Chickpea and Marama and Rocky – have begun courting by bringing pebbles to each other as gifts, which will later be used to build their nests. […]
‘It’s discrimination’: Beach resort issues ban on transgender people
The local LGBT community slammed a local resort over alleged discrimination in its Facebook post announcing a ban on transgender people. The management of Isla Reta Beach Resort issued the ban in a brief statement on Facebook on May 12, arguing that it has no facilities to accommodate transgender individuals’ demands. “We inform to the […]
Former foster child abandoned for being gay ‘wouldn’t be alive’ if not for his two dads
A former foster child adopted by two fathers after being abandoned for his sexuality has urged Congress not to stand in the way of loving LGBT+ families like his. On Wednesday (12 May) Weston Charles-Gallo, a former youth ambassador for the Human Rights Campaign, bravely testified in support of the bipartisan Every Child Deserves a […]
Warsaw to run shelter for LGBT+ people
Warsaw will open an intervention hostel for LGBT+ people who have become homeless. The establishment of the hostel comes at a time when the Polish state has been accused of fostering an environment of intolerance towards sexual minorities. The United Right coalition, which holds power in Poland, has faced accusations of scapegoating LGBT people, and […]
HELL ON EARTH Inside Indonesia’s horrific exorcisms, rapes and electroshock torture to ‘cure’ LGBT people and ‘pray away the gay’
EXORCISMS have largely been confined to the history books – but they’re a grim modern-day reality in Indonesia. Many made to have the “treatment” don’t even have anything wrong with them, but are told they’re possessed by demonic spirits because they’re LGBT. Islamic exorcisms, or “ruqyah”, have come under renewed scrutiny in the Southeast Asian […]
U.K. to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy and provide more support
Britain will move to ban conversion therapy and provide more support to those in the LGBTQ community who have undergone the treatment, as part of its post-pandemic government agenda. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government said measures would be brought forward to prevent these “abhorrent practices which can cause mental and physical harm,” starting with a […]
2021 is worst year for gay and trans rights in ‘war’ on LGBT+ Americans
In less than five months, 2021 has become the “worst year” in recent history for LGBT+ rights in the United States, with dozens of gay and transgender rights-related bills passed by state legislatures, a leading advocacy group said on Tuesday. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said that 18 “anti-LGBTQ” state bills were signed into law […]
German churches bless same-sex couples in defiance of Vatican
A church in Germany has held the first of several historic Masses across the country to bless homosexual couples in the coming week, in defiance of a Vatican decree clarifying that such blessings are banned in the Catholic Church. “The heavens were open,” Munich priest Wolfgang Rothe said, visibly moved after blessings before an altar […]
Japan’s Ruling Party LGBT Bill Falls Short
Over the past six years, activists in Japan have pressed the Diet, the national parliament, to introduce a nondiscrimination law that protects the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Japan currently does not have any national legislation protecting LGBT people from discrimination, and a recent study puts Japan next to last in […]
U.S. Lutheran Church Elects its First Openly Transgender Bishop
A pastor in California became the first openly transgender person to be elevated to the role of bishop in a major American Christian denomination when they were elected on Saturday to lead a synod in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Rev. Megan Rohrer was elected to a six-year term as bishop of the […]
White House Reverses Trump Ban on LGBT Health-Care Protection
The federal government will begin enforcing protections for LGBT Americans in health care again, reversing a ban put in place by the Trump administration, the Health and Human Services Department said Monday. The decision to do so was made in light of the Supreme Court’s findingin Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that LGBT people […]
Poland’s left questions police textbook that lists LGBT as social pathology
=The Left (Lewica), Poland’s left-wing opposition grouping alliance in parliament, has asked the police chief to explain why a new textbook for police officers titled “Social pathologies, selected problems” lists the transgender and LGBT community among social pathologies. “Apart from such social pathologies like drug addiction and beggary, the textbook also speaks about the LGBT […]
Catholic School District in Canada Mandates ‘LGBT’ Pride Month Awareness and Staff Training
BURLINGTON, Ontario — While a Catholic school district in Ontario failed to pass a proposal to fly the rainbow-colored LGBT Pride Flag outside schools in June, the school board changed the proposal to say that staff should “raise awareness around Pride Month.” The board mandated staff training on the issue to encourage “shared understanding” and […]
Long Eaton school reports chaplain to terrorist watchdog for LGBT sermon
A Christian school in Long Eaton reported its chaplain to the Government’s anti-terror watchdog after he suggested his students should ‘make up their own minds’ on LGBT teachings. Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, 48, had been working as the chaplain at Trent College when he was reported to ‘Prevent’, a programme which seeks to prevent people […]
UN Condemns Ugandan Bill to Criminalize Same-Sex Relations
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling on Uganda to amend a bill to ban same-sex relations that it says would violate human rights standards and undermine public health. The bill passed by the Ugandan Parliament this past week, but not yet final, has been under development since 2015 […]
Gay man brutally murdered and beheaded by family in Iran in ‘honour killing’
Alireza Fazeli-Monfared, 20, was reportedly murdered by his brother and cousins on Tuesday (4 May) after they discovered the Iranian military exempted him from service because of “sexual depravities”. At around 7pm on Tuesday evening, Alireza spoke to his mother on the phone for the last time, his best friend Aghil Abyat told Iran Wire. […]
Prospects dim for passage of LGBTQ rights bill in Senate
Controlling Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade, Democrats were hopeful this would be the year they finally secured civil rights protections for LGBTQ Americans. Then came a new debate over women’s and girls sports. Legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of […]
U.S. Supports Transgender Health Clinics in India
The United States supports and advocates for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) people everywhere. In India — where transgender people are medically underserved and frequently encounter bias, discrimination and violence — the U.S. proudly supports communities working to open health clinics that provide India’s transgender community with access […]
Trans men mocked and denied entry to Egypt by border guards because they ‘do not look female’
Or Mizan and Titi Katan, both from Haifa, Israel, were travelling to Egypt for a five-day holiday in the Ras a-Satan resort in the Sinai peninsula when they were stopped at the border, according to The Times of Israel. At the border, guards took issue with Mizan and Katan’s passports, which incorrectly identify them as […]
Silicon Valley Not Immune To Anti-LGBTQ Violence
Three years ago, San Jose lawmakers voted to fly a rainbow flag over Chick-Fil-A—an effort to proclaim LGBTQ residents were welcome in one of the world’s most progressive cities. But not everyone shares that sentiment. “I was walking my dog, had my hair down but was wearing my normal boy clothes and someone drove up […]