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 […]
Gay activist braves social curbs to help marginalized
Gay activist Hartoyo has had to overcome both physical and virtual curbs on his movement so that he may continue to feed the urban poor, persecuted members of the LGBT community as well as women and children – population groups that are the worst affected by the pandemic. The 43-year-old founder of rights advocacy group […]
New Zealand: Young queer and trans people face growing housing barriers
RainbowYOUTH homelessness support worker Therese Go says they have seen an increase in referrals from social workers, nurses and school counsellors who are concerned the young Aucklanders they are working with are being isolated with families that are not supportive of their sexuality and/or gender identity. RainbowYOUTH was among groups that raised concerns about the […]
Uproar as same-sex couples to be counted as ‘other relatives’ in Japan census
A national census, conducted once every five years, will be held this fall to collect information from all residents and households in Japan, but same-sex couples are effectively excluded from it. When filling a form out for the national census, applicants have to describe the relationship between them and the head of the household. One […]
Teacher ‘put on leave’ after Republican complains about her supporting LGBT+ rights and Black Lives Matter
A teacher in Texas has reportedly been placed on administrative leave after she allowed students to submit their pronouns and posted LGBT+ rights and Black Lives Matter images on her virtual classroom. An image of Roma High School English teacher Taylor Lifka’s remote learning site was posted online Friday (August 21) by Marian Knowlton, a […]
Virtual Pride Afrique Festival Brings Socially Distant Visibility to Africa’s Sexual Minorities
JOHANNESBURG – Pride Afrique is the first of its kind, a three-day virtual extravaganza celebrating Africa’s diverse, colorful community of sexual minorities. But behind the glitz and glam, participants say, is a very serious need to bring gay Africans into the light, as their lives are threatened on the continent every single day. Homosexuality is […]
Black LGBTQ+ people simultaneously fight for multiple equality movements | March on Washington
WASHINGTON — Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people of color have often been involved in equality movements throughout American history. But organizers and LGBTQ+ issues were often left in the shadows. LGBTQ+ people have faced discrimination, inequities under the law, and incidents of hate and violence. In America, the evolution of LGBTQ+ people […]
Intersex student seeks help after corrective surgery goes awry
Bewildered, traumatized, terrified, these are words that come close to describing the turmoil facing Ezekiel Mwaleghu, a 19-year old form-one student at a secondary school in Voi Sub-County. Mwaleghu spends most of his days holed up in his village as he hides from visiting neigbours. When a neighbour approaches their homestead, Mweleghu quickly dashes into […]
‘Mi Hazánk’ Wants Referendum to Ban Display of ‘Satanic’ LGBTQ Flags in Public Institutions & ‘Homosexual Propaganda’ in Schools
Although the parade had been canceled, tensions around this year’s Pride Week haven’t dissipated. At the latest event, far-right Mi Hazánk party announced they would initiate a referendum in order to ban the “gender propaganda” in schools. Meanwhile, an opposition mayor asked for empathy before using ‘that’ ladder, and the Budapest Mayor sided once again […]
Rainbow carriages that are the Pride of the fleet: Britain’s first fully decorated train staffed by LGBT crew is set to make first journey today
Britain’s first fully decorated Pride train staffed by an LGBT crew will make its inaugural journey this morning. The 11-carriage train, emblazoned with a huge rainbow flag, will travel from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. It will also have black and brown paintwork to symbolise black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, as well as the […]
Nigerian lesbian love film to go online to avoid censorship board
LAGOS – Two young women fill the screen, reclining on a bed, talking about their hope of having children. They are protagonists in a new Nigerian film called “Ife” depicting their love story. The topic is controversial in Nigeria, where same-sex relationships are theoretically punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Producer Pamela Adie […]