Thailand Is Not the LGBTQ Paradise We Think It Is
Thailand is consistently hailed as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly countries in the world. It holds international transgender beauty pageants, offers quality gender reassignment surgery, and was the first in the region to criminalize gender-based discrimination. The government has leaned into this queer-friendly image in tourism campaigns, but members of the local LGBTQ community say […]
Putrajaya says opposing US president Biden’s global pro-LGBT initiative
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — Putrajaya yesterday said it is opposing a call by newly-minted US President Joe Biden’s for the superpower’s agencies to protect the rights of sexual and gender minorities globally. Malay daily Berita Harian reported religious affairs minister Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad as saying that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community […]
Gay asylum seeker flees persecution in Morocco, only to endure more homophobia when arriving in the UK
He previously told ITV: “It was always, ‘hide yourself, hide yourself’, and don’t show your colours. “If you show your colours it means that you are going to face the most discriminatory behaviour and homophobia… If people sense that you are gay, they can beat you – and you have no right to complain. “You […]
Chechnya opens terror inquiry into gay men forcibly returned from Moscow
Chechnya has opened a terrorism investigation into two gay men who fled the region last year but were arrested near Moscow last week and forcibly returned. The rights group that helped the men escape Chechnya, an autonomous Russian republic where the torture, detentions and killings of gay men have been reported since 2017, said they […]
Lawmakers In 19 States Cloning Idaho’s Transgender Athlete Bill
Feb. 3, Utah House Representative Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, introduced HB302, which would require public school athletes to play on teams which aligned only with their sex at birth. Similar legislation has now been introduced in 19 states, according to the Equality Foundation, a LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. “Idaho’s passage of this bill was really just a […]
Spain proposes making it easier for trans citizens to change gender
Spain’s Equality Ministry has drafted a law which would allow transgender people to change their gender identity. On Wednesday (3 February) the Spanish Equality Ministry introduced a bill which would amend Spain’s existing legislation on changing gender. Currently, to change gender in Spain, the individual must undergo medical and psychological exams or several years of […]
Iran cleric: People who are vaccinated for COVID have ‘become homosexuals’
An Iranian regime cleric in the holy city of Qom on Tuesday issued a homophobic rant against people vaccinated for COVID-19, claiming that they become gay after receiving the vaccine. Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian wrote on his Telegram social media platform: “Don’t go near those who have had the COVID vaccine. They have become homosexuals.” The […]
Turkey jails four pending trial over university protests: prosecutor
Four people were formally arrested as part of an investigation into protests against President Tayyip Erdogan’s appointment of a rector at one of the country’s top universities, an Istanbul prosecutor’s office said on Sunday. The protests began last month over Erdogan’s appointment of Melih Bulu, an academic and former political candidate, as rector of Istanbul’s […]
Mangaluru: In a first, Congress elects transgender as office-bearer
Life has been a roller-coaster ride for 32-year old Sanjana Chalavadi, but consistency and dedication made her the first one from the community to become a general secretary of the Mangaluru City South block of Congress. Born in Kogilban village of Dandeli in Uttar Kannada, Sanjana, reached Mangaluru about 14 years ago. After trying her […]
Biden signs foreign policy memo putting U.S. at ‘forefront’ of global LGBTQ rights
President Joe Biden has issued a historic memorandum committing the United States to promoting LGBTQ rights on the international stage. Released to the public Thursday evening, the Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons Around the World directs American agencies operating abroad “to ensure that United States […]
G25 opposes proposal to introduce heavier punishments for LGBT community
G25 Malaysia joins the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and other civil society groups in opposing the proposal by the deputy minister (religious affairs) in the Prime Minister’s Department to introduce an amendment to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Revised 1988) (Act 355) in Parliament for the purpose of imposing heavier sentences […]
Russian Rights Group Warns That Detained Gay Men Face ‘Mortal Danger’ In Chechnya
The Russian LGBT Network has warned that two young gay men from Chechnya who were seized in Nizhny Novgorod and driven by car back to the North Caucasus region face “mortal danger.” The Russian NGO reported on its Telegram channel on February 6 that Salekh Magamadov, 18, and a 17-year-old companion had arrived at a […]
LA HOPE DEALER HELPING BREAK DOWN BARRIERS THROUGH ART
Corrie Mattie came to Los Angeles after growing up on the East Coast and knowing it is a competitive industry for creatives. The uncertainty of this, in addition to the uncertainty when the pandemic began last year, made her heart want to paint impactful messages that would reach her admirers. Mattie describes her style as […]
Brighter days: LGBTQ seniors find support through Rainbow Collective
To be older and alone is a challenge. For LGBTQ seniors, who are far more likely to be childless and estranged from family, the experience can be even more challenging. “LGBTQ seniors are more likely to be socially isolated in their later years just because of the nature of society,” Thomas Kingery, a social worker for […]
LGBT asylum seekers: Call for dedicated housing in Wales
Abderrahim El Habachi, 28, said he felt “unsafe” living alongside some men from North Africa and the Middle East after he arrived in Cardiff in 2017. He called for dedicated LGBT housing. The Home Office said it required accommodation providers to “take account of any circumstances and vulnerability”. Mr El Habachi’s application for asylum in […]
Transgender Navy SEAL: Biden order ‘going to give a lot of other individuals that chance to finally be themselves’
When Navy SEAL Ashley Nefzger heard rumblings that President Joe Biden could sign an executive order to repeal a Trump-era ban on most transgender Americans joining the military, she was cautiously hopeful. “I didn’t necessarily want to get my hopes up,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “Full Circle” Friday. “I was hopeful for it, […]
Cameroon: 4 shelters welcome LGBTQ+ victims of violence
The shelters, supported by Care Cameroon’s Human Rights Grant program, are run by LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations — Camfaids in Yaoundé, 2HRC in Bertoua, Alcondoms in Douala and Colibri in Bafoussam. The project is funded by Pepfar (the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief) and supervised by USAID. The shelters are a response to anti-LGBTI […]
German LGBT actors come out en masse in plea for diversity
A group of 185 LGBT German actors staged a mass coming-out in a national newspaper on Friday in an appeal for more diversity in the worlds of TV, film and theatre. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender actors published a joint manifesto in the Süddeutsche Zeitung magazine calling for a change in attitudes and more […]
Russia Returns Escaped Gay Men to Chechen Police – NGO
Russian police have allegedly detained two gay men who escaped from the republic of Chechnya and handed them over to authorities in their home region, the Russian LGBT Network reported Thursday. The LGBT Network had helped the two men, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, flee from Chechnya and relocate to the city of Nizhny Novgorod […]
LGBT+ history month: remembering the ‘Glamour Boys’ – the gay MPs who warned 1930s Britain about Nazism
In the 1920s and 1930s of buttoned-up Britain, homosexuality was an illicit act, and would remain that way until 1967 when the law changed in England and Wales. Even though gay culture was vibrant, it existed mostly underground, its community forced to socialise with a certain degree of covertness in order to avoid exposure and […]
LGBT+ people are facing a dire situation in Turkey. This is how it got so bad, and why you should care
The abuse and restrictions against Turkey’s LGBT+ population are growing increasingly more alarming. On 2 February 2021, Twitter took the still relatively unusual step of flagging a politician’s tweets for “hateful conduct”, the same thing it did to tweets from former US president Donald Trump before his ban. Twitter’s target this time was Turkish interior […]
Ankara calls student protesters ‘LGBT perverts’ amid artwork controversy
Clashes between students from Bogazici University and Turkish police show no sign of abating. Many students have been arrested, while the interior minister has lashed out with homophobic hate speech over an artwork. Turkish police have responded to protests by students at Istanbul’s Bogazici University with an iron fist. On Monday alone, they arrested 159 […]
Discrimination Leads to Internalized Homophobia, Increased Suicide Risk for Sexual Minorities
A recent article, published in the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, examined the relationships between external minority stressors, internalized homophobia, LGBT community connectedness, and suicidal ideation. The researchers suggest that internalized homophobia is accounted for by greater external minority stressors and can lead to a higher rate of suicidal ideation. Their analysis also […]
LGBT Members Across India Reaching Delhi In Support Of Chakka Jaam
Thousands of farmers camping in the national capital since November 2020 against the central government’s three farm bills have gained national and international momentum. Navya Singh, a Trans-Woman Model was born as Parvinder Singh Sodhi in Punjab, extended support to the ongoing farmers’ agitation in Delhi. Navya told Afternoon Voice, “I belong to Sikh farmer’s […]
LGBT+ history month: forgotten figures who challenged gender expression and identity centuries ago
Non-binary and trans people have always been here, not least in every recorded society from the ancient world onwards. Why is it then that they’re often absent from the tales and lists of historical figures we hear about? The answer lies, in part, with how history is recorded and who records it. People who belong […]
Erdogan says he will not let Turkish university protests swell
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday his government would not allow month-long demonstrations at a Turkish university to grow into anti-government protests similar to those in 2013, calling the protesters “terrorists”. Defying a government ban on demonstrations, students and teachers at Istanbul’s Bogazici University have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Melih Bulu, an academic and former […]
New York Repeals ‘Walking While Trans’ Law
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday that repeals a state anti-loitering law, commonly called the “walking while trans” ban, that critics say police used to harass and arrest law-abiding trans people, in particular. The new measure effectively takes off the books a 1976 law that sought to prohibit loitering for the purpose […]
What’s next for these transgender asylum seekers stranded in Mexico?
Kataleya Nativi Baca, 29, can see the yellow grasslands of San Ysidro, California, from the crests of Tijuana’s hills. The palm trees swaying less than a mile from her shack are rooted in the place she calls el otro lado—the other side. When she goes to the beach in Tijuana, the sands of San Diego […]
State Department’s 1st openly gay spokesperson sends signal to the world, advocates say
Just over two decades ago, President Bill Clinton had to use a recess appointment to install the first openly gay U.S. ambassador over Republican senators’ opposition. Now, on Tuesday, the State Department’s new openly gay spokesperson will hold his first daily press briefing. That the voice of the Biden administration on the world stage, whose […]
Twitter says Turkish minister’s LGBT comments about protesters “hateful conduct”
Turkey’s interior minister on Tuesday condemned protesters at a top Istanbul university as “LGBT deviants” in a statement which Twitter deemed as hateful conduct. Students and teachers at Istanbul’s Bogazici University have held protests for the last month against the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector by President Tayyip Erdogan, which they said was undemocratic. […]