First openly transgender Tibetan and LGBT icon Tenzin Mariko on respecting yourself and walking with head held high
In her white sleeveless top, strappy silver sandals and long blue skirt, which is destined to be thrown off minutes into her set, dancer Tenzin Mariko stepped onto the stage tingling with nerves. She was convinced audience members would throw tomatoes at her, or worse, eggs and shoes. Mariko was just 17 at the time, […]
Family of transgender woman slain by U.S. Marine in Philippines contests killer’s early release
A U.S. Marine convicted of killing a transgender woman in the Philippines will remain behind bars while a court considers an appeal against a decision to release him early, a senior government official said Thursday. Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton on Tuesday was granted four years off his 10-year homicide sentence for good behavior by […]
App to fill gap on LGBT+ discrimination in Hong Kong
LGBT+ people in Hong Kong can log discrimination through a new mobile app backed by one of the city’s most prominent property heiresses, in a first for gay rights in the Chinese-ruled city. The charity behind “VoiceOut!” said it was a platform for all residents to report any form of discrimination: be it due to […]
Barbarism and disinformation: The authoritarian response to peaceful dissent
The presidential election in Belarus on 9 August was conducted the way many previous elections were conducted: opposition candidates were harassed and hounded out of the country; peaceful protesters, activists, journalists, and independent election monitors were detained; and, of course, the final vote count that handed President Lukashenka victory (once again) was highly dubious. However, […]
LGBT+ activist behind ‘Polish Stonewall’ not afraid to die
The LGBT+ activist whose arrest sparked protests that were dubbed the “Polish Stonewall” says she is not afraid to resume her hunger strike and die if that turns the tide against homophobia in Poland. “Dying from hunger is not the worst option when people are threatening you to be beaten to death,” Margot Szutowicz said, […]
Looking at implementation of an LGBTQ+ curriculum in state public schools
On Aug. 9, 2019, Gov. JB Pritzker signed Illinois House Bill 246 into law, amending the school code to include contributions of LGBTQ+ figures in public schools all over the state, effective as of July 1, 2020. Board members, teachers, students and parents are now learning to adapt to the curriculum changes during the first […]
Cooks Islands rainbow community lobbies for constitutional rights
The Cook Islands LGBT+ association is citing the country’s Constitution as it seeks to stop laws discriminating against gay men. Section 64 of the Constitution protected people against discrimination, and guaranteed freedom of thought and conscience. However, the Crimes Act outlawed sexual acts between men who could be imprisoned for up to seven years. While […]
For Right-wing LGBT Israelis, There Are Two Closets to Come Out Of
A week before Israel’s March election, 40-year-old chef Simon Barel decided it was finally time to come out. Again. Barel, who told his family and friends he was gay at age 12, revealed to a Facebook group for gay Israelis that he planned to vote for a far-right political party. The disclosure proved controversial, eliciting […]
Love keeps on winning in Northern Ireland with same-sex couples finally able to marry in churches
Same-sex couples can apply to have religious weddings in Northern Ireland from today (1 September), with ceremonies set to begin later this month. Gay weddings began in Northern Ireland in February, but so far couples have only been allowed to undergo civil weddings – with a further wait for regulations to be amended to allow […]
Queer swimmer Theresa Goh advocates for Singapore’s LGBTQ community
Theresa Goh became a legend in Singapore by winning gold at the 2006 Paralympic Championships. Now she’s pushing for LGBTQ visibility in her home country. A new profile in Lifestyle Asia spells it out: “As far as sporting legends in Singapore go, few make our hearts swell with pride like Theresa Goh does.” Goh, who […]
Polish Bishops Propose Sending LGBTQ+ People to Conversion ‘Clinics’
Polish Catholic bishops have called for “clinics” to be set up for LGBTQ+ people in efforts for them to “regain their natural sexual orientation. The bishops laid out their stance in a 27-page document presented during a plenary meeting at the 386th Polish Episcopal Conference (in Polish, Konferencja Episkopatu Polski) over the weekend. The document […]
Bringing Diversity to China’s Workplaces, One Voice at a Time
As Anna remembers it, there were a dozen women standing outside the ladies’ room, barring one of her fellow tutors from going in. The reason? She looked like a boy. “They were whispering that she was ‘neither male nor female,’” recalled Anna — to protect the identities of my interviewees, I have given them all […]
Transgender advocacy group says new civil service rules ‘protect staff from unsafe conditions’
A transgender campaign group has said new rules compelling Northern Ireland’s civil servants to use whichever terms transgender people wish is an “important first step”. Meanwhile, the Equality Commission told the News Letter that the move appears to be in sync with equality laws. They were both responding to news from the News Letter that […]
Ukrainian neo-Nazis attack LGBT ‘pride’ event in Odessa, organizers say police were slow to intervene but 16 people later arrested
Sixteen Ukrainian ultra-nationalists were arrested on Sunday after the far-right Christian organization ‘Tradition and Order’ attacked marchers at Odessa Pride 2020, the city’s biggest celebration of LGBT society and culture. According to the official Facebook page of the movement, members of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi group arrived at the site of the festivities ten minutes after […]
Sapporo and Osaka allow LGBT partners to get victim support money
SAPPORO – Sapporo and Osaka have made lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples in officially recognized partnerships eligible to receive support money if they are victims of crime, marking a rare move among municipalities in Japan, officials from the two cities said recently. A support system for crime victims and their families was introduced in […]
Homophobic group’s offices declared COVID-19 outbreak site
The Colorado headquarters of the viciously anti-LGBT+ organisation Focus on the Family, which insists being gay causes “death and disease”, has been declared a COVID-19 outbreak site. The fundamentalist Christian group was founded by James Dobson, and it believes: “Marriage is intended by God to be a thriving, lifelong relationship between a man and a […]
Berlin Film Festival to make awards gender neutral: Is it time to finally talk about just talent?
It’s been a while since we have been hearing who is the Best Actor and Best Actress — a clear demarcation in term of gender right there in the titles — at any given awards ceremony in India or abroad. A comparitively recent change has been ‘Best Actor-Male, Best Actor- Female’. However, now things look […]
Nationalists fought with participants of the LGBT festival in Odessa
As noted by law enforcement officers, opponents of the LGBT movement sprayed gas in the crowd and pelted the activists with eggs. The perpetrators also shouted obscene nationalist slogans. As a result of the fight, 16 people were detained. Two police officers were hospitalized. On the official page of the Odessa Pride 2020 movement in […]
Japan monk and makeup artist empowering sexual minorities, celebrating diversity’s beauty
A monk who also works as a makeup artist is celebrating their own sexual diversity and spreading the message in Japan that different is beautiful. Kodo Nishimura, a 31-year-old Jodo sect Buddhist monk from Tokyo, has written an autobiography as a member of sexual minorities including the LGBTQ community, in their recently published book whose […]
Student goes viral after drowning out homophobic, racist demonstrator with his trombone
A US college student has gone viral after he used his trombone to drown out a homophobic and racist demonstrator on campus. According to WLTX, Trey Hogan is a freshman at the University of South Carolina and a trombone player in the university’s band. But when a demonstrator showed up on campus wearing a MAGA […]
Grumpy Virgin bows out as drag becomes a political act in Turkey
For decades in Turkey, there was no higher honour than being made fun of by Huysuz Virjin (Grumpy Virgin), the country’s first drag queen, beloved for her glamorous outfits and outrageous sense of humour. Two days after the then Turkish president, Turgut Özal, appeared as a guest at her Istanbul show in the early 1990s, […]
‘We Are Making Up For Lost Time’: Tracking Little-Known Stories Of African American, LGBTQ And Women’s Colorado History
There’s a growing movement to locate places in Colorado where historic events happened but were never recorded. The Colorado Historical Foundation is on a mission to change that. “A lot of the telling and recording of history has really been by people in positions of privilege and power,” said Colorado Historical Foundation executive director Cathy […]
Transgender woman’s role at Mass stirs controversy in Argentina
Marking an historical first in Pope Francis’s home country, the Diocese of San Luis in northern Argentina invited a transgender woman Tuesday to read one of the prayer intentions at a public Mass celebrated by the local bishop. The invitation was issued to Francia López by civil officials to recognize the work she does among […]
Yurok Tribe joins federal lawsuit over data on tribal, LGBTQ foster youth
The Yurok Tribe is one of more than half-a-dozen parties that sued the Department of Health and Human Services and the Administration for Children and Families on Thursday over Trump administration rollbacks of requirements the suit says work toward better placement and care for both American Indian children and youth in the foster care system […]
As China’s Schools Reopen, LGBT Families Feel Pride — and Prejudice
Before his son started school last year, Su Ge spent weeks researching kindergarten options in the eastern city of Nanjing. After much deliberation, he selected the most expensive one. He believed it was perfect for his son — a surrogate child raised by two gay men. Compared with the other choices, Su says teachers in […]
Boosting LGBTIQ rights in West Africa, one grant at a time
The activist-led Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest (ISDAO) aims to strengthen West African movements for gender diversity and sexual rights. To accomplish that, it takes a flexible approach to grant-making, building a culture of philanthropy committed to equality and social justice, ISDAO says. ISDAO has released its first report outlining progress made across Benin, Burkina […]
Abruptly canceled, ShanghaiPRIDE could be harbinger for China’s civil society
Annual Pride celebrations are not common in cities across China, but the city of Shanghai is an exception, where Pride events have occurred for a dozen years. But now organizers say this year’s ShanghaiPRIDE festival is on hold to protect the “safety” of all involved. The rest of this year’s scheduled events in Shanghai are […]
Keith Haring’s Personal Art Collection to Be Auctioned for Charity
Owning a private collection of nearly 140 artworks by luminaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein would be a godsend for most arts organizations, but it was a burden for the Keith Haring Foundation. Legal counsel had warned the nonprofit for years that keeping a collection made by artists other than its founder […]
Is ‘gay TikTok’ safe from Trump? LGBTQ users on edge over ban threat
Steven King, a popular content creator on the social media platform TikTok, said he stumbled across the video-sharing app by accident early last year. “I saw an advertisement for what I thought was an app that could put your selfies into motion” he said. “I downloaded it, and two days later I was posting my […]
Uganda officials ignore criminal summonses for LGBTQ torture
A Ugandan town councilman and a Ugandan prisons officer each ignored a summons requiring him to show up in court yesterday to face criminal charges of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. The charges, originally sought by the gay-friendly Human Rights Awareness and Promotion (HRAPF), are connected to the arrest of 20 men at an […]