Grindr witch-hunt sparks fresh call to make gay sex legal in Morocco
Morocco is facing fresh demands to decriminalize gay sex after women started outing gay and bi men using dating apps. As GSN reported last week, a Moroccan expat living in Turkey called Naofal Moussa or Sofia Talouni sparked the crisis. She is a social media influencer and went on Instagram Live to tell Moroccan women […]
How Iran’s anti-LGBT policies put transgender people at risk
Despite repressive laws against homosexuality, gender reassignment surgery remains legal in Iran. But Iranians who seek sex-change operations are faced with a harsh approval process and a high risk of botched surgeries. When Arya came out as transgender, his family immediately rejected the idea. “They did not accept that I was trans,” says Arya, who […]
This woman realising her chickens are in a lesbian relationship is the ultimate quarantine love story
Two hens brought together in quarantine have fallen in love, and the story of how their owner realised she had lesbian chickens will melt your heart. Nothing about the match between the lovebirds was planned. In a viral Twitter thread, Amanda Brunton shared how she realised her two chickens were in a lesbian relationship. The […]
EU urged to act as Hungary’s far-right government moves to end legal recognition of trans people
The European Union has been urged to take action against the Hungarian government as it moves to push through “discriminatory” legalisation that would end the legal recognition of trans people within the country. The bill, which says that gender should be defined as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes”, was first submitted […]
POLAND IS AUSTRALIA’S ‘LOGICAL CONCLUSION’ OF EXCLUDING LGBTQI PEOPLE WITH RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION BILL
The ‘LGBTQI exclusion zones’ throughout Poland are the logical extension of excluding LGBTIQ people from public life through ‘religious freedom’. According to national lobby group Just-Equal’s spokesperson Brian Greig, the conservative push in Poland, backed by the Catholic Church, to ban LGBTQI people from visibility, advocacy and civic space was the inevitable conclusion of a […]
Thailand Constitutional Court rejects marriage law petition
On 31 December 2019, the Constitutional Court of Thailand decided not to accept a petition made by two LGBT couples and the Foundation for SOGI Rights and Justice (For-SOGI) on 22 November 2019, requesting the Court to rule whether the current Thai marriage law violates the 2017 Constitution. The two couples with representatives from LGBT […]
COVID-19: LGBTQ community kept in closet by public health officials
Everyone knows I’m queer. Except one group of colleagues. Ironically, they’re the ones from my own field — public health professionals. I work for the National LGBT Cancer Network, a CDC-funded, LGBTQ+ disparity network. I announce I am trans and bi whenever I host a training program for the Network. But while knowing one trans-bi […]
Japan NGO offers same-sex ‘partnership certificates’ to address gaps in current provision
About 20 companies in Japan will start accepting “partnership certificates,” issued to same-sex couples by a nongovernmental organization, from July as a way of providing employees with spousal and familial benefits that are available to straight married couples, people familiar with the matter said Saturday. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is among companies participating in the […]
Transgender players kick down doors in local football
Mara Gómez and Marcos Rojo are blazing a trail for transgender players in Argentine football. Out on the pitch, they finally can feel like themselves. In addition to the sheer joy that football brings them, Mara Gómez and Marcos Rojo have the extra satisfaction of knowing that after a long and difficult journey, they are […]
Dozens of Gay Men Are Outed in Morocco as Photos Are Spread Online
At least 50 to 100 gay men were outed in Morocco over the last two weeks, rights activists say, after the men were identified on location-based meeting apps while sheltering at home amid a coronavirus lockdown. In at least three cases, men were kicked out of their houses, L.G.B.T.Q. activists said. In interviews, many others […]
We’re Still Picking up the Pieces of the Last Crisis
At this point there can be only one priority: to overcome the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As economist James Meadway has described, in the short term we need the opposite of a war economy — not the public mobilization of resources against a common enemy, but a demobilization in order to […]
Lesbian Indonesian singer bats away messages of hate to pen songs about acceptance of LGBT minority and respect for all
Indonesian singer and songwriter Kai Mata realised, as a teenager in Jakarta, she liked women more than men – but her realisation was quickly followed by disillusionment. “There seemed to be no support networks in place, and no one I knew in Indonesia was openly gay, bisexual – or anything but straight,” she recalls. “It […]
Lockdown, religion, migrant, survival, and more
The good thing about this Chinese virus is that it has knocked the stuffing out of religion. Where are monotheism, polytheism, in fact theism itself? What about God, Jehovah, Allah and the three gods of Hinduism? The Holy Ghost has become a little ghostly. One would think that atheism has come into its own at […]
Two transgender women found burned to death in Puerto Rico
The bodies of two transgender women were found burned to death inside a vehicle this week in Puerto Rico, according to activists, raising alarm about the killings of several transgender people on the island in the last two months. According to police, two people were found severely burned early Wednesday in Humacao, a coastal city […]
No end in sight for Tanzania’s anti-LGBT crackdown
When James Wandera Ouma is asked what gives him hope as a gay man living in the east African nation of Tanzania, he can’t think of anything. “There’s no joy,” Ouma says. “There’s no happiness in life. You may have happiness in your own house, but when you go outside, you are afraid.” Ouma is […]
Amid Pandemic, Trump is About to Roll Back Protections for LGBT Patients
President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be just days away from rolling back an Obama-era policy prohibiting discrimination against LGBT patients. Politico reports: The health department is close to finalizing its long-developing rewrite of Obamacare’s Section 1557 provision, which barred health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. The administration’s final rule on Thursday […]
During COVID-19 this Catholic group wants to warn you about the ‘mass production’ of LGBT+ people
Bill Donohue is an anti-LGBT+ extremist who heads the Catholic League, an American Catholic anti-defamation and civil rights organisation. His previous claims to fame include telling gay people they can’t celebrate Christmas, and stating that Catholic priests’ molestation of children is actually down to homosexuality, not paedophilia. He recently took to the Catholic League blog […]
Finland’s first same-sex adoptions confirmed
The Rainbow Families Association Sateenkaariperheet confirms that Finland’s first two same-sex adoptions have taken place. It comes three years after the Marriage Act was reformed to allow marriage equality and same-sex adoptions, and a female couple and a male couple have both adopted infants in the capital city region. “In domestic adoptions, the decision on […]
Books with LGBT+ themes are ‘most challenged’ in U.S.
Books with gay and transgender topics got a record number of objections at U.S. libraries and schools in 2019, said research on Monday showing growing protests over LGBT+ themed literature. Eight of the top 10 “most challenged” books that parents and community members sought to be removed from shelves dealt with LGBT+ topics, said the […]
Israel Shows Us the Future of Protest
Rabin Square in Tel Aviv has always been a popular site for demonstration. Israelis gathered on this expansive plaza to protest the Gaza War in 2014 and to demand LGBT rights in 2018. It is also where, over the weekend, more than 2,000 people gathered to decry the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This […]
The danger of being transgender in Latin America in times of quarantine
The trend started on April 1 in Panama, when President Laurentino Cortizo announced that men and women can only leave their homes on different days in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Peru followed suit the following day, and Colombia’s capital city, Bogotá, last week. Almost immediately, the orders proved to endanger the […]
Towards an “LGBT-Free” Poland?
In the years following the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the Third Polish Republic quickly rose as one of the most promising democracies and market economies in Eastern Europe. However, Poland’s remarkable economic and political liberalization has not led to commensurate progress for more complex social issues, particularly LGBTQIA+ rights. The […]
Netflix’s ‘A Secret Love’ Traces Lesbian Couple’s Unlikely Romance Across 6 Decades
After years of keeping their relationship under wraps, Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel are getting candid. A new Netflix documentary, “A Secret Love,” explores the couple’s powerful and heartwarming story. Produced by Ryan Murphy, the film highlights the evolution of LGBTQ rights since the women first met in 1947 through the present day, as they […]
Meet the artists driving Russia’s new wave of queer music
The city of Norilsk is located above the Arctic Circle in Russia’s north. With just under 200,000 inhabitants, it’s known as a harsh, industrial place, its history shaped by extensive mining of nickel and copper and its Soviet-era prison camps. It’s not a place you’d associate with dreams of a music career — and it’s […]
Court rules against Beersheba print shop that refused to serve LGBT group
The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court ruled Tuesday that a local print shop must compensate an LGBT rights group after it refused to print its posters. The Aguda Association for LGBT Equality in Israel filed a NIS 100,000 ($28,134) lawsuit against the business, Rainbow Color, three years ago after its owners refused service to the Ben Gurion […]
Texas attorney files complaint comparing judge’s pride flag to swastika
An openly gay Texas judge says she was forced to take down her rainbow pride flag and other colorful materials after a local defense attorney filed a complaint, comparing the symbol to a swastika and Confederate flag. Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez told NBC News that she was investigated by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct […]
One of Turkmenistan’s top showmen and entertainers has been arrested for the crime of being gay
A well-known actor has been arrested in Turkmenistan for the simple crime of being gay, local media reports claim. The man, who has not been named, was reportedly arrested last month along with his partner and a dozen other men on suspicion of homosexual activity. Gay sex is illegal in the central Asian country and […]
1 in 5 Russians Advocate ‘Eliminating’ LGBT Community – Poll
Almost one in five Russians believe that LGBT people should be “eliminated,” according to the results of a new independent Levada Center poll. The figures showed 18% of respondents giving the response, marking a slight softening in attitudes toward members of the LGBT community since 2015, when 21% advocated their “elimination.” Similarly, 32% said this […]
LGBT people in Japan worry getting coronavirus may result in outing
A 34-year-old man who lives with his same-sex partner in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, has chosen not to be open about his sexual orientation at his office. But he worries it may be revealed if he becomes infected with the virus as he would have to tell a public health center about his partner when asked […]
LGBTQ Orgs Say They’re in Deep Fundraising Trouble Because of Coronavirus
Garden State Equality had its lowest month of fundraising in four years, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. New Jersey’s largest LGBTQ organization has found itself at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. After New York, New Jersey has the second-most coronavirus cases of any U.S. state, with […]