Taiwanese military mass wedding to feature its first same-sex couples
Two same-sex couples are to be married in the Taiwanese army’s annual mass wedding ceremony this week, in a first after the island’s government legalised marriage equality 18 months ago. The female soldiers and their civilian partners – Chen Ying-xuan and Lee Ying-ying, and Wang Yi and Meng Youmei – will wed on Friday. Taiwan, […]
Prince Azim, Son of Sultan of Brunei, Dies
Prince Haji ‘Abdul’ Azim, a Hollywood film producer and the son of the Sultan of Brunei, died on Saturday morning, CNN reports. As a Hollywood insider with an estimated work of over $5 billion (US dollars), Azim was known for throwing lavish parties attended by celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Gus Kenworthy, Mariah Carey, Caitlyn […]
Egyptian officials systemically abuse and torture gays, rights group says
Malak el-Kashif, a political activist and transgender woman living in Egypt, was arrested at her Cairo home last March after participating in a protest and was then subjected to verbal and physical abuse at the hands of Egyptian authorities for months, according to Human Rights Watch. She says she was placed in solitary confinement at […]
Kenya’s anti-LGBT+ ‘moral policeman’ is bending over backwards arguing against the Pope’s support of same-sex couples
The CEO of the Kenya Film Classifications Board (KFCB), known as the country’s “moral policeman”, has insisted that Pope Francis must have been misquoted when spoke out in support of gay couples. The 83-year-old Pope Francis made a major break from Catholic teachings in an interview for the documentary Francesco, which premiered on Wednesday (21 […]
Intersex Activists Push Hospitals to Ditch Nonconsensual Surgeries on Children
When Marissa Adams was a toddler, she underwent surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital to make her genitalia look more like a doctor’s idea of “normal.” Like as many as 1.7 percent of people, Adams is intersex, born with some combination of hormonal, chromosomal or anatomical differences that put her outside of the textbook definition of […]
Foreigners Living with HIV in Jordan Face an Impossible Choice
In Jordan, medical professionals and health facilities are mandated to report an individual’s HIV status to the government. Foreign nationals found to be HIV-positive are summarily deported regardless of the consequences to their health and safety and banned for life from returning. Earlier this year, an Iraqi gay man living with HIV fled to Jordan […]
The Supreme Court’s next major case starts the day after the election
With Amy Coney Barrett poised to become the next Supreme Court justice, many Americans are wondering what — if anything — the outcome of the upcoming presidential election will mean for the highest court in the country. But the day after the election, perhaps even before a winner is declared, the Republican pick will decide […]
Media coverage of transgender issues is ‘catalyst’ in young people seeking support
Media coverage of trans issues has been linked to an increase in the number of young people seeking support at specialist gender clinics, a landmark study has found. In the past 10 years there has been a significant increase in the number of under-18’s being referred to gender clinics, and the reasons for this have […]
How intersex Latter-day Saints struggle to stay in a ‘two gender’ faith
Courtney Skaggs always felt, well, different from other girls growing up, but she didn’t really know how different until she had the birds-and-the-bees talk with her parents as she inched toward adolescence. At that time, her parents told Skaggs that she was born with testicles and a vagina but no uterus and that doctors had […]
‘Marriage will protect our rights, affirm commitment’ — why same-sex couple moved Delhi HC
After being together for over eight years, Kavita Arora and Ankita Khanna wanted legal recognition of their “committed relationship”, just like any other couple would. But for them it meant thinking through various dimensions of where they live, their finances, interactions with friends and families, and their professional lives. The two pinned their hopes on […]
Opposing groups march over proposal to legalize same-sex unions
Christians marching against Government’s proposal to legalize same-sex unions are being challenged by the group they are protesting against. When scores of Christians marched from Lower Estate, St George to Glebe playing field on Saturday, in that same parish, they were surprised to see about six people with placards in hand, in support of the […]
Civil partnerships can now be converted to marriages in Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland Office has recently announced the ability to convert civil partnerships to marriage and vice versa. “Regulations were laid in Parliament today allowing conversion from same-sex civil partnership to marriage, and opposite-sex marriage to civil partnership in Northern Ireland.,” the office said via Twitter. It’s estimated over 1,000 same-sex couples will be eligible […]
‘The LGBT Issue Is Slicing Israel’s religious-Zionist Community in Two’
Rabbi Mordechai Vardi thought he already knew quite a bit about Orthodox LGBT people when he decided to direct the film “Marry Me However,” a documentary on one of the burning issues in recent years in the religious-Zionist community: gays and lesbians who want to marry a member of the opposite sex to maintain an […]
LGBT Chinese Australians face stigma and disbelief as they search for family acceptance
Wei Zhang describes himself as a true romantic. The Melbourne resident dreams of a long-lasting marriage, just like the one his parents have. “I am a romantic person. So I prefer to propose to my loved one in Paris or New York, [but] that will have to wait until the pandemic is over,” he said. […]
Right to love
With the petition in the Delhi High Court asking that the Special Marriage Act be interpreted in a gender-neutral fashion allowing for the marriage of persons regardless of gender, the issue of same-sex marriage is on the table. The petitioners have a solid base to build upon in the decriminalisation decision in Navtej Singh Johar, […]
Log Cabin Republicans Endorse Dozen Anti-LGBT Candidates
The Log Cabin Republicans, which describes itself as “the nation’s original and largest organisation representing LGBT conservatives and straight allies”, has endorsed 34 candidates from across the United States ahead of the upcoming election. A number of the candidates have been vocal in their opposition to marriage equality, but some have made even more shocking […]
Where homosexuality is still illegal, Pope Francis has thrown a lifeline to L.G.B.T. Catholics
Janine Scott-dos Santos said she hesitated and prayed about the possibility of legalizing her relationship with her long-time partner. South Africa, where Ms. Scott-dos Santos lives with her partner and their 8-year-old son, legalized same-sex marriage in 2006. But it is only more recently that public attitudes have begun to shift there in terms of […]
Photos Capture Striking Moments of Nigeria’s #EndSARS Protests
Over the past few weeks, Nigeria has been rocked by mass protests against continued police brutality in the country. Nigerian youth have called upon President Muhammadu Buhari and his government to disband the infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The security unit has been accused of the harassment, extortion, abduction, torture and even murder of Nigerian […]
QAnon’s ‘SaveOurChildren’ Slogan Has Long Anti-LGBT History
Model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen recently shared the devastating news with her social media followers: she and her husband, singer John Legend, had lost their child halfway through her pregnancy. She shared heartbreaking black-and-white photos of the couple at the hospital, including her clutching a tiny blanket bundle holding their son, who they named […]
Trump administration forces university to start discriminating against trans athletes
New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce University has agreed to abolish its trans-inclusive policy for athletics, after pressure from the Trump administration and anti-LGBT+ activists. The university agreed to ditch its trans inclusion policy under an agreement on Saturday (October 17) to head off an investigation by the Trump Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which […]
Barrett Was Trustee at Private School With Anti-Gay Policies
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served for nearly three years on the board of private Christian schools that effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren’t welcome in the classroom. The policies that discriminated against LGBTQ people and their children were in place […]
Pope Francis backs same-sex civil unions
Pope Francis has given his most explicit support to same-sex civil unions in a move that is likely to further enrage his conservative opponents in the Catholic church. His comments came in an interview in a documentary film, Francesco, which premiered at the Rome film festival on Wednesday. He said: “Homosexual people have a right […]
Entrepreneurs innovate to help LGBTQ, minority youth online
Headstream, a San Francisco-based tech incubation project of SecondMuse, an impact and innovation company, is conducting its second Accelerator program, which will give grants to entrepreneurs with innovative ideas about how to improve youth digital experience — with a special emphasis on LGBTQs and other minority groups. Accelerator 2 will be accepting online applications here […]
Sri Lanka: Forced Anal Exams in Homosexuality Prosecutions
(Colombo) – Sri Lankan authorities have subjected at least seven people to forced physical examinations since 2017 in an attempt to provide proof of homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch and EQUAL GROUND said today. The exams, which include forced anal examinations and a forced vaginal examination, are a form of sexual violence as well as […]
Russian Cabinet rejects bill outlining changes to the Family Code impacting children’s and transgender rights
Russia’s Government Commission on Legislative Activities has rejected conservative Senator Elena Mizulina’s draft law “aimed at strengthening the institution of the family.” The commission believes that the changes outlined in the bill would tip the balance “towards the rights of parents” at the expense of children’s rights. A draft of the cabinet’s decision was obtained […]
Intersex, HIV/AIDs Status, Citizenship Now Protected Characteristics Under Albanian Discrimination Law
The Albanian parliament has made amendments to the law “on protection from discrimination” to afford more protection to people living in the country. As per the amendments, the law will now provide protection paper, based on citizenship, HIV status, and sexual characteristics. Protected characteristics under Albanian law now include race, ethnicity, colour, language, nationality, political, […]
100 Boys Wear Skirts to School to Fight Homophobia, Sexism
A group of schoolboys in Canada wore skirts to school recently to protest systemic forms of oppression against queer students, along with a dress code that inhibits freedom of express for queer students. Decrying the blatant double-standard “on the way society views our women and men,” student Zachary Paulin wrote on Instagram that he organized […]
Two Ugandan officials face arrest on charges of torturing gays
The arrest warrants came in the case of 20 LGBT Ugandans who spent 50 days on remand in a Ugandan prison on charges of violating Covid-19 orders by living in a homeless shelter run by the Children of the Sun Foundation (COSF). After their release, they accused Ugandan officials of mistreating them during the March […]
LGBT Italians Protest in 63 Cities to DemandProtection from Violence
Protestors in 63 Italian cities have come together with 24 organizations to demand LGBT+ people receive protection from violence. Meanwhile 69,000 people from Italy and all over the world have signed a petition asking the Italian parliament to approve new legislation against homophobia, transphobia and misogyny. The protests over the last few days have included […]
The military is having a hard time providing evidence that supports the transgender ban, advocate says
The military is having a hard time providing documented evidence in support of its transgender ban. In Karnoski v. Trump, one of four challenges to the transgender military ban, the argument is being made that the military arbitrarily followed President Donald Trump’s order to ban transgender service members without first conducting an independent, fair study […]