New Ugandan rules allow HIV care during lockdown
Uganda’s Ministry of Health has issued guidelines about how vital HIV/AIDS services can continue with minimal disruption during the current 14-day countrywide Covid-19 lockdown. The guidelines, covering a wide range of health services, were developed by the ministry in consultation with civil society groups in the fight against the HIV pandemic. Among dozens of specific […]
Coronavirus: LGBT+ charity says young people should ‘pause’ coming out in lockdown
LGBT+ young people should “hit pause” on coming out while self-isolating with their families during the coronavirus pandemic, a UK charity has advised. The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), a UK charity that helps young LGBT+i people facing homelessness, told Sky News their advice would be to “think hard” before coming out during this time. “If […]
LGBT Migrants Are Vulnerable to Coronavirus, But Our Community Can Help
Our LGBT communities are impacted in various ways by the global Coronavirus pandemic. Some of us are lucky enough to have a safe place to stay, while others must put themselves at risk by going to work in hospitals, grocery stores and delivery companies. But this crisis has presented us with a unique opportunity to […]
Hong Kong’s LGBT+ community calls for new top judge to work with them
Hong Kong’s LGBT+ community urged the territory’s new top judge to work with them as they campaign for the recognition of same-sex marriage and to stop widespread discrimination. Hong Kong’s chief executive last week chose Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung to be the next chief justice of the court of final appeal, although the appointment – […]
The controversial story of the Sacramento Slavic church linked to 71 coronavirus infections
Bethany Slavic Missionary Church doesn’t shy away from controversy. The giant Pentecostal church near Rancho Cordova, one of the cornerstones of the Sacramento area’s Eastern European immigrant community, injected itself into a fierce and borderline violent debate over gay rights more than a decade ago, earning rebukes from elected officials and scorn from the gay […]
India: LGBT is the hardest hit group in these coronavirus times
The one group of people which is always gets excluded from discussion on any subject of national importance is LGBT or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. The impact of coronavirus has not left any section of the society unaffected. And so are LGBTs. There are an estimated 100,000 transgender who live in Telangana. Like the […]
Supreme Court scraps April calendar, delays major cases amid pandemic
Citing the ongoing coronavirus public health crisis, the US Supreme Court on Friday cleared its calendar for April, extending an already historic delay of major legal cases, several of which have big implications for the 2020 election. The announcement, coming in a statement by court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg, adds 8 cases to the 13 postponed […]
Panama’s Gender-Based Quarantine Ensnares Trans Woman
When Panama announced it would implement a gender-based quarantine schedule in response to COVID-19, transgender activists were alarmed. And with reason: on April 1, police detained a transgender woman alleging that she was male and out on “the wrong day.” The Ministry of Health’s quarantine measures allow women to do essential shopping on Mondays, Wednesdays, […]
U.S. eases ban on gay blood donors amid coronavirus
The United States eased its policy on gay and bisexual men donating blood on Thursday due to rising concerns about blood supplies during the coronavirus crisis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, said it was reducing a 12-month ban on men who […]
EU lawmakers condemn Hungary for ‘attack’ on trans people over sex on IDs
European Union (EU) lawmakers on Thursday criticized Hungary for trying to ban transgender people from changing their sex on some official documents as a “deliberate” attack on the community. The ruling Fidesz party proposed on Tuesday to change the law so that birth, marriage and death certificates show “sex at birth” – reversing a policy […]
Asylum seeker beaten, doused in petrol and threatened with beheading by his own dad finally told he deserves refuge
A gay asylum seeker from Ghana who was beaten, doused in petrol and threatened with beheading by a homophobic mob led by his own dad has been given a reprieve after the US denied him refuge. The man, who is in his late twenties and originally from Ghana’s capital, Accra, was in a secret relationship […]
Meet the lesbian who made political history years before Harvey Milk
Three years before LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Kathy Kozachenko made history in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Forty-six years ago, on April 2, 1974, out lesbian Kathy Kozachenko was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan — becoming the first openly gay person elected to political […]
Hong Kong’s LGBT+ community calls for new top judge to work with them
Hong Kong’s LGBT+ community urged the territory’s new top judge to work with them as they campaign for the recognition of same-sex marriage and to stop widespread discrimination. Hong Kong’s chief executive last week chose Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung to be the next chief justice of the court of final appeal, although the appointment – […]
Are people living with HIV more at risk from coronavirus?
As coronavirus sweeps the world, many people living with HIV are asking whether their status counts as an underlying condition and makes them more at risk. Many HIV-positive people in countries such as Britain and the United States are aged over 50, having contracted the virus during the AIDS pandemic in the 1980-90s, making them […]
Ugandan police accused of abusing lockdown laws after LGBT arrests
Police in Uganda have charged 20 LGBT people with disobeying rules on physical distancing and risking the spread of coronavirus, in what campaigners say is a clear case of authorities in parts of Africa abusing newly imposed restrictions to target sexual minorities. Fourteen gay men, two bisexual men and four transgender women were taken into […]
Viktor Orban moves against Hungarian trans rights holding power
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has moved to seize long-standing rights as one of the first things he will do after receiving new autocratic power. On Monday, the Hungarian parliament voted to extend Orban’s supreme power by granting him the right to rule in law indefinitely, meaning he no longer had to consult other lawmakers […]
Singapore: Two men file appeals against High Court decision to dismiss Section 377A challenge
Two men have filed appeals against a High Court decision to dismiss their legal challenges against the law criminalising sex between men. Lawyers representing Mr Johnson Ong Ming, a disc jockey, and Dr Roy Tan, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist and retired doctor, told The Straits Times on Tuesday (March 31) […]
ANNOUNCING AIDS 2020: VIRTUAL
The health and safeguarding of our community is our highest priority. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020), to be held on 6-10 July 2020, will become the first virtual edition of the International AIDS Conference. AIDS 2020: Virtual will enable delegates to access and engage with the latest […]
SPLC Publishes List of ANTI-LGBTQ Groups in US
The anti-LGBTQ movement continued to enjoy success in mainstreaming its agenda in 2019 as the Trump administration pursued anti-LGBTQ policies at the federal level, while state and local lawmakers in many areas followed suit. In the meantime, three cases with implications for the rights of LGBTQ people came before the Supreme Court. One of those […]
LGBT+ marches unite in first online Global Pride due to coronavirus
Organisations running LGBT+ Pride marches around the world have joined forces to hold the first online Global Pride event in June after hundreds of real-life gatherings were shelved due to the coronavirus pandemic. Global Pride will be livestreamed on June 27, starting with East Asia, Australia and New Zealand and moving through timezones to the […]
Ugandan fear of Covid-19 leads to 23 arrests at LGBT shelter
Uganda police charged the 23 LGBT Ugandans with disobeying a presidential directive against large meetings, aimed at curbing the spread of the virus that causes Covid-19. The March 29 raid by police and army targeted the shelter of Children of the Sun Foundation Uganda (Cosf Uganda), a local LGBT organisation on the outskirts of the […]
Tributes pour in for pioneering transgender Latinx activist Lorena Borjas who has died from coronavirus
The pioneering transgender activist Lorena Borjas has tragically passed away from coronavirus early on Monday morning. Borjas, 60, was known as the mother of the trans Latinx community in Queens. As a survivor of human trafficking, she dedicated the past 30 years of her life to protecting other transgender victims of trafficking, slavery and violence. […]
Nigerian music group releases new pro-LGBT song
The Christians On Diverse Energy (The CODE), a group of Nigerian LGBTIQ+ vocalists, has released a new song that advocates full recognition of LGBTIQ+ human rights and equality in Nigeria. The new Afro-highlife song ‘We Are One’, which was composed and produced by the group THE CODE, relays messages of unity, oneness, resilience, courage, equality […]
Idaho governor signs two bills that limit the rights of transgender people
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed two bills into law Monday that limit the rights of transgender people. One measure bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, while the other prohibits transgender people from changing their gender on Idaho birth certificates. Little’s office did not comment on the laws. House Bill 500, […]
Isolation and HIV memories hit LGBT+ elderly hard in lockdowns
As lockdowns are imposed around the world to stop the spread of coronavirus, LGBT+ groups are scrambling to support older members of their community who are more likely to live alone and suffer from poor health than their heterosexual peers. With community centers and other face-to-face services forced to shut from Mexico City to New […]
Chechen Police Brandish Pipes in Coronavirus Street Patrols
Police officers armed with plastic pipes in Russia’s republic of Chechnya are patrolling the streets to observe compliance with the region’s coronavirus quarantine, Russian media reported this weekend. The majority Muslim region enacted a strict quarantine Saturday with steep fines for venturing outside. Videos that circulated online starting late Friday showed police convoys advising residents […]
HIV-Positive Service Members Targeted by Trump Win Partial Victory
A federal judge has refused the Trump administration’s request to remove the Modern Military Association of America from a lawsuit challenging discrimination against HIV-positive service members, meaning a greater number of troops will be protected from discharge now and that all service members with HIV will be protected if the suit succeeds. The MMMA is […]
Singapore Upholds Colonial Anti-Gay Laws: Being Gay Remains Illegal For 5.7M People
Singapore’s High Court today ruled to uphold the criminalisation of homosexuality, the Human Dignity Trust have confirmed. The decision would have overturned an anti-gay colonial law instated in 1938 under British rule. Gay rights activists were challenging the law, following success in India’s supreme court to throw out similar laws. The 377A clause bans men […]
Supporting PrEP in eastern Europe and central Asia
ECOM – Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity – recently published a report on access to PrEP (regular medication to prevent HIV infection) in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. We spoke to ECOM’s Community Health Systems Coordinator, Gennady Roshchupkin, about ECOM’s work in the region. The report is primarily an advocacy […]
Quarantine Chronicles: Returning Home as a Gay Person
For as long as I felt possible, I put off making the decision to leave behind my life in San Diego and return to my hometown to quarantine myself. For about a week after the UC San Diego administration announced their transition to online courses for Spring Quarter in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, I […]