Chinese-owned TikTok Bans LGBT Content Even Where Homosexuality Is Legal
The draw of being a part of social media and gathering followers is the big reason for many to jump on their phones. TikTok seems to be the ego toy of the youth, but you’ll see Will Smith on there and even Terry Crews, but the faces are those mainly of high schoolers and college-going […]
‘Any day you can be taken’: Inside what it’s like to be gay in Chechnya
Ricky was just 19 when he said the police came for him. He was at work and they took him to the local police station. From there he said they took him somewhere else, placing a bag over his head. “At first, they were just beating me. They punched me and then [they] used electric […]
The Nations With the Highest Levels of LGBT Acceptance (and Lowest)
An updated study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law ranked the world’s nations by levels of LGBT acceptance. The current report updates and expands a previous Williams Institute report, “Polarized Progress: Social Acceptance of LGBT People in 141 Countries, 1981 to 2014.” Coming in at number 1 is the island nation of […]
Taiwan: What’s next after marriage equality?
When the annual Taipei LGBT Pride sets off from City Hall on Saturday, it promises to be an especially joyful occasion. With the legalization of marriage equality earlier this year, participants will mark the closest thing to a crowning achievement for Taiwan’s LGBT movement in more than 30 years of struggle. But even after that […]
Anti-homosexuality Bill poses severe threat to human rights
Uganda is facing a serious threat to human rights and the HIV response with the announcement of plans to introduce legislation that will impose the death penalty on people found to have had sex with a member of their own sex or to have “promoted” homosexuality. The Ugandan Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Simon Lokodo, […]
Polish Parliament Should Scrap Bill Against Sex Education
Threatening sex educators with jail may seem extreme – but it seems Poland’s ruling Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) party is willing to go there to cement power by generating fear and misinformation. Fueling intolerance and targeting rights activists, an independent judiciary, and a free press have become hallmarks of PiS since the party gained power […]
Christian Council plans showdown with Bahamas Pride
The Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) will mount a series of events opposing the Bahamas Pride celebrations slated for October 2020. BCC President Bishop Delton Fernander said yesterday the church must stand up and ring the bell against the celebration of something that contravenes the word of God. He said the church will also call upon […]
How PrEP is changing safe sex practices for India’s LGBTQ community
The dating, hook-up and relationship-seeking culture in the LGBTQ community has always had its own secret set of codes that allowed its members to navigate this dicey domain in public, while remaining under the radar. These tell-tale signs have ranged from one’s sartorial choices to subtle glances in public and private spaces. Over time, these […]
LGBT In Turkmenistan: Go To Jail Or Live A Lie
To his friends and colleagues in Turkmenistan, Kamil is a successful cardiologist working at a prestigious clinic and an eligible bachelor from a well-connected family. Only a few people in his close family circle are aware of Kamil’s real struggle: He is secretly gay. In Turkmenistan, where homosexuality is a crime and shunned by the […]
Conversion therapy: PM concerned about ‘vulnerable’ LGBT youth
The Prime Minister has expressed concern about “vulnerable” youth at risk of undergoing gay or trans conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is where people try to change lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) people’s sexuality or gender identity using therapy, drugs or other means. The controversial practice has been banned in the Australian state of […]
The Terror Gap: U.S. Laws Let White Supremacists Operate Like ISIS
The recent arrests of Jarrett William Smith, a former U.S. Army soldier who discussed plans to “bomb a major U.S. news network,” and Conor Climo, a Las Vegas man who plotted attacks on a synagogue and LGBT bar, give an inkling of the growing threat posed by far-right terrorists in the United States. But U.S. […]
Christian group claims Ethiopia is soft on homosexuality
A group affiliated with Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church is condemning what it calls the government’s silence on homosexuality in the country. Speaking at a conference [Sept. 8] in Addis Ababa, the capital, Dereje Negash of the Orthodox Church group dedicated to an Ethiopian saint, said the government’s indifference on the issue is helping the LGBT movement […]
Northern Ireland prepares for momentous gay marriage, abortion changes
Campaigners who fought for decades to end Northern Ireland’s same-sex-marriage ban and restrictions on abortion prepared on Monday for a momentous change to the laws on both at the stroke of midnight. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that does not allow same-sex marriage. Also, unlike England, Scotland and Wales, laws […]
Ghana: Former Pres Kufuor Urges Fight Against Same Sex Marriages
Former president John Agyekum Kufuor has urged the world to fight against same sex marriages. He stated that no amount of argument could change the fact that without man and woman there would be no human race. Former President Kufuor made the call in Accra on Friday when members of the National Coalition for Proper […]
Praying to wake up in a girl’s body: LGBT group hosts transgender women explaining why, how they transitioned
Three individuals who transitioned from male to female shared their journeys recently when the Oak Park Area Lesbian & Gay Association hosted a Transgender Education Panel at the Oak Park Library. Panelists Ann Lewis, Odette Bishop and Jill Rose Quinn each shared how they struggled with their identities for decades before coming out as transgender […]
‘They paid a guy to kill me’: health workers fight homophobia in Uganda
Maria Nantale is enjoying a beer at a rickety wooden bar after a long day’s work. “Forty people tested today,” she reflects. “Found three positives. One of them is in denial. She has run away.” Twice a week, from dawn until dusk, Nantale holds an “outreach” in the town of Mbale, population 76,000. The aim […]
Details of gay man’s electroshock treatment endured at Belfast university
In a story for The Belfast Telegraph, the man, given the pseudonym “John,” says that while a student at QUB he was referred to the school’s Department of Mental Health, where he underwent electrical aversion therapy. “When I was about 15, I realized I am one of these people who are homosexuals and who are […]
History has overlooked the Gay Liberation Front’s role in Stonewall … until now
Something very strange happened during last June’s celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The LGBT community, especially those of us from Gay Liberation Front New York, realized how the history we created from 1969 to 1971 was being distorted by those who had recorded it. Even LGBT organizations, whose mission is to […]
Zambia must shun the anti-gay politics of disgust
Zambia’s president has made homosexuality a campaign issue to distract attention from the fact that his people are starving, millions are living in poverty, and the nation is buried in international debt, says Zambian-American human rights researcher the Rev. Kapya Kaoma. Zambian President Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front (PF) party has been campaigning for […]
‘Please leave’: why the Sydney archbishop’s same-sex marriage message has Anglicans rattled
For a man renowned for his civility, the language was blunt. During his annual speech to the Anglican Church’s Sydney synod, Archbishop Glenn Davies told supporters of same-sex marriage to “please leave us”. “My own view is that if people wish to change the doctrine of our church, they should start a new church or […]
The challenge of adolescent SRH services in Bangladesh
The adolescent population (between the ages of 10 and 19) covers more than one-fifth of the total population of Bangladesh, which consists of approximately 36 million in total. Currently 52% of the girls get married by the age of 18, and 18% by the age of 15 and the adolescent birth rate is 113 births […]
Coming Out in Uganda Was a Death Sentence. The U.S. Border Was a Trap.
Margaret didn’t know what was going to happen when she approached the bridge between Juárez and El Paso, but she knew she couldn’t wait anymore. Six months since fleeing her home after being raped and repeatedly beaten for the crime of being a lesbian, the 20-year-old Ugandan was barely holding onto the last shreds of […]
Council asks judge to ban LGBT lessons protesters from near school
A high court judge has been asked to extend an exclusion zone permanently banning activists against LGBT equality lessons from demonstrating outside a Birmingham primary school. Protesters went head to head with a local authority during the five-day trial to stop protests outside Anderton Park primary school. The school, in the Sparkhill area of the […]
Reading Chick-fil-A outlet to close in LGBT rights row
A US fast-food chain will cease trading at its first UK outlet amid a row over donations to anti-LGBT groups. Gay rights campaigners called for a boycott of Chick-fil-A, which opened its first branch at The Oracle shopping centre in Reading on 10 October. A spokeswoman for the centre said “the right thing to do” […]
HIV POSITIVE BABY ADOPTED BY GAY COUPLE AFTER BEING REJECTED 10 OTHER TIMES
An Argentinian gay couple have adopted an HIV positive baby girl who had previously been rejected by 10 other families. The child, named Olivia, was born with the virus. Earlier attempts to adopt out the girl had not been successful, with prospective parents apparently being wary of the child’s HIV status. That all changed after […]
Scotland: The LGBT+ elderly dance club tackling isolation
A project aimed at bringing older members of the LGBTI+ community together through dance clubs has launched in Scotland. Arts company All the Queen’s Men came up with the idea in Australia after research showed that older LGBTI+ people were feeling alone and isolated, especially in rural areas. The National Theatre of Scotland, creative organisation […]
Hong Kong court turns down first judicial challenge for same-sex marriage but urges government to review policies
A Hong Kong court on Friday turned down the city’s first judicial challenge for same-sex marriage and civil union partnerships, but urged the government to “undertake a comprehensive review” to save time and money from court actions arising from discrimination. Court of First Instance judge Mr Justice Anderson Chow ruled against a lesbian woman known […]
Paraguay: Amnesty International brings unconstitutionality proceedings against resolutions that discriminate against LGBTI people
Today, Amnesty International, together with Diversxs Alto Paraná, and with the support of the Red Paraguaya de la Diversidad Sexual (REPADIS) and It Gets Better Paraguay, presented an Action of Unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court of Justice regarding two resolutions by the Board and Municipal Administration of the City of Hernandarias that violate the human […]
Buttigieg emerges as new threat to Biden after debate
Joe Biden faces a new threat from South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is fresh off an eye-opening debate performance and positioning himself to be a top contender for the support of centrist Democrats if the former vice president falters. Buttigieg has emerged as a fundraising powerhouse and will enter the final stretch before […]
UN Body Urges South Korea to Improve Sexuality Education
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is urging South Korea to revamp its sexuality education curriculum to cover age-appropriate topics like pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These steps are crucial if South Korea is to address the needs of all youth, curb harmful gender stereotypes, and halt rising HIV […]