Asia’s first LGBT-focused streaming service tackles taboos
A rom-com about a lesbian flight attendant and a romance in a gay spa are among the shows featured on Asia’s first LGBT-focused streaming service, which is pushing boundaries in an often highly conservative region. GagaOOLala brings more than 1,000 feature films, shorts, web series, and documentaries to people across Asia, where censorship and traditional […]
A very LGBTQ decade: Gay marriage, trans rights and a ‘rainbow wave’
At the dawn of the year 2010, few Americans could predict that the coming decade would revolutionize the legal and cultural landscape for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. After all, it was only in 2003 that homosexuality was decriminalized across the country, thanks to a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Over the past 10 […]
LGBT refugees: Repeatedly attacked in Kenya but unable to leave
On Christmas Day, LGBT refugees in Kenya again were the targets of homophobic attacks. It was just the latest outrage against LGBT asylum-seekers who are repeatedly told that, no matter where they are, they must go elsewhere or face violent reprisals. A year ago, LGBT refugees were evacuated to Nairobi from Kakuma refugee camp because […]
What happened? The policies Scott Morrison’s government appears to have abandoned
Governments should be judged not just on what they do with their time in office but also on what they don’t do. There are only so many hours in a day, and so many parliamentary sitting weeks in a year (there were just 10 since the May election). Nevertheless it’s important to know not just […]
UN official: Past decade has seen human rights `backlash’
The past decade has seen a backlash against human rights on every front, especially the rights of women and the LGBT communities, according to a top U.N. human rights official. Andrew Gilmour, the outgoing assistant secretary-general for human rights, said the regression of the past 10 years hasn’t equaled the advances that began in the […]
The US Hasn’t Only Stopped Defending LGBTQ Rights Around The World, Now It’s Part Of The Problem
My first job at BuzzFeed News in 2013 was something of an experiment: We wanted to cover LGBTQ rights worldwide as seriously as we cover wars or elections. The US and the world were changing fast. Former president Barack Obama made promoting LGBTQ rights a key priority of US foreign policy during his first term […]
LGBT Truckers Ride With Pride, Raising Awareness Around Country
At the wheel of the Rainbow Rider, a semi-tractor truck wrapped in a rainbow-hued road map, the LGBT Truckers can’t help but attract attention. And that’s their intention. The online support group, representing more than 4,500 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender truck drivers nationwide, is on a mission to spread goodwill and promote awareness of […]
Why Homosexuality Is Not Un-African
Let’s finally settle it. Homosexuality is just as African as heterosexuality. Yesterday, we shared with you news of J Hus and his online blunder. The rapper tweeted out the never-ending argument that LGBT life is not African culture. From artists and celebrities to politicians, many within Africa claim that homosexuality is un-African. In truth, LGBTQ […]
Transgender in Pakistan: Maya, the woman who almost broke free
She was from Nowshera, northern Pakistan, where society is conservative and tolerance for non-conformity runs thin. And Maya didn’t conform. She was transgender, born male but identifying and living as woman. She had escaped abuse at home three times, running far away each time. She’d found happiness and a new community, but then took the […]
Beloved transgender activist who raised awareness about transphobia killed in Toronto
A Canadian transgender activist who worked to raise awareness about transphobia was killed in Toronto, Canada’s The Globe and Mail reported. Julie Berman was found by police on Sunday afternoon at a residence in The Annex, a lively neighborhood in downtown Toronto. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her […]
From nuns to astronauts: 10 women cracking the glass ceiling in 2019
Countries around the world have promised gender equality by 2030, but in 2019 a new index showed that even the most advanced nations weren’t doing enough to reach that goal. Women are still paid around 20% less than men and make up fewer than one quarter of national parliamentarians, according to the United Nations’ International […]
The March For LGBTQ Rights Is Storming Through Trump Country
Chris Hartman hunched over his laptop keyboard in the corner of a campus classroom late one evening this fall, pondering an unfamiliar but welcome dilemma: Kentucky’s LGBTQ rights groups, including the one he leads, were making too much progress for him to be everywhere he needed to be at once. In the Western Kentucky University […]
How gender norms affect anti-LBGT prejudice around the world
A study conducted in 20 countries across the globe has shown that prejudice and discrimination against the LGBT community remains deep-rooted. In order to determine the ways in which these forms of stigmatization target the LBGT community, three researchers from New York University in Abu Dhabi conducted a global study across 23 countries on five […]
From parades to punishments: 10 headline LGBT+ stories in 2019
Millions of people joined Pride marches around the world in 2019 and gay, bisexual and transgender rights were increasingly in the spotlight, with some countries legalizing gay marriage while other mulled the death penalty for same-sex relations. The year also marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots against police brutality in New York City, […]
Thirty years ago, gay civil rights campaign set the stage for all that followed
When Massachusetts enacted a gay and lesbian civil rights bill 30 years ago, opponents warned about the slippery slope of acceptance. Senator David H. Locke, a Wellesley Republican, called the bill “the opening salvo in the gays’ march to social acceptance and approval of their chosen lifestyle” and predicted it would lead to legislation “permitting […]
Ukrainian City Bans ‘Deviant’ LGBT Marches
The Rivne City Council in western Ukraine has banned the holding of equality marches. The local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community had plans to hold an event on January 1 in the regional capital located 327 kilometers west of Kyiv. The ban, initiated by the head of the council’s budget committee, city councilman […]
Brazilian comedy group hit by Molotov cocktails after film on ‘gay Jesus’
Molotov cocktails were thrown at the headquarters of Brazilian comedy group Porta dos Fundos in Rio de Janeiro on Christmas Eve, weeks after the group launched a film on Netflix depicting Jesus as gay. The group’s Christmas special, “The First Temptation of Christ,” a 46-minute comedy that portrays Jesus bringing home his presumed boyfriend Orlando […]
China: Supporters, Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage Clash in Online Polls
As China’s top legislative body begins reviewing potential changes to the country’s civil code this week, supporters and opponents of legalized same-sex marriage have taken to online polls to make their views known. The social media accounts of several Chinese courts and government offices, including Beijing’s Haidian District People’s Court and the press office of […]
Africa’s homophobia problem
Human rights activists in southern Africa have criticised Zambia’s tough approach to homosexuality after the country’s High Court sentenced two men last month to 15 years in jail for “crimes against the order of nature”. Arrests for gay sex conduct have been on the rise but no prosecutions have been recorded for same-sex activities in […]
VATICAN RULES IN FAVOR OF GAY DUTCH PRIEST
The Vatican has reinstated a homosexual Dutch cleric dismissed by his bishop for violating his priestly vow of celibacy. Father Pierre Valkering told Dutch radio earlier this month that the Congregation for the Clergy has granted his appeal, six months after Bp. Jozef Marianus Punt of Haarlem-Amsterdam removed him as pastor of Vredeskerk Peace Church. […]
After gay marriage law passes, Taiwan emerges as new market for LGBT+ surrogacy
On Geoffrey Li’s 40th birthday last year, he put aside his dream of an early retirement on an idyllic island and instead decided to raise a child in Taiwan using a surrogate in Southeast Asia. Li and his husband — whose twin boys are now three months old — are among an increasing number of […]
U.S. Recalls Its Ambassador to Zambia After Gay Rights Row: Sources
The United States has withdrawn its ambassador to Zambia following a row with authorities in the southern African nation after he criticized the jailing of a gay couple, embassy sources said on Monday. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said Washington is “dismayed” by the Zambian government’s statement that Ambassador Daniel Foote’s position “is […]
A Test for Foreign Teachers in Indonesia: Are You Gay?
Agree or disagree, the exam asked: “I would feel uncomfortable knowing my daughter’s or son’s teacher was homosexual.” Or this, true or false: “The gender composition of an orgy would be irrelevant to my decision to participate.” In recent weeks, foreign teachers at some private schools in Indonesia have been required to answer these questions […]
Croatia Court Rules Same-sex Couple Can Foster Children
In what campaigners call a “historic decision” for LGBT rights in Croatia, the Zagreb Administrative Court on Thursday ruled that a same-sex couple, Ivo Segota and Mladen Kozic, have the right to become foster parents. Rainbow Family Association, which gathers LGBT couples and individuals who have or want to have children, hailed the ruling on […]
US urges 69 nations, including Iran, to decriminalize homosexuality
US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and American Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft used the UN bully pulpit on Wednesday to call on 69 nations, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Algeria, to stop their criminalization of homosexuality. Grenell, the most senior openly gay member of the Trump administration, launched the unprecedented international […]
Brazil: Bolsonaro in homophobic outburst as corruption scandal swirls
Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has launched a homophobic attack on a journalist from one of the country’s top newspapers in an apparent bid to divert attention from a spiraling corruption scandal involving his son. “You look terribly like a homosexual,” Bolsonaro – who has previously boasted of being “proudly” homophobic – told the reporter, […]
J.K. Rowling backs sacked worker in transgender speech case
J.K. Rowling on Thursday backed a British woman who lost her job for tweeting that people cannot alter their biological sex after she lost a legal case against her employer. Maya Forstater was sacked from the Centre for Global Development, an international think-tank, after tweeting her opposition to a British government proposal that would make […]
Lambda Legal: Trump Administration’s Assault On the Courts and LGBTQ Protections Intensifies
Lambda Legal released the third edition of its annual report of judicial nominees revealing the alarming extent to which the Trump-Pence administration, with the help of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has filled the federal judiciary with an unprecedented number of unqualified, extremist judges whose records reveal deep hostility for the rights of LGBT people, […]
Human rights are rarely debated openly in China. Xiao Ma’s case is a fascinating exception
It is rare to see human rights debated openly in China but the case of Xiao Ma has proven to be a fascinating exception. Not only was Ma the first transgender person in China to sue an employer for gender discrimination but the lack of precedent in her case meant her lawyer used a transgender […]
Buttigieg under attack during Democratic debate
Openly gay Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was under fierce attack Thursday night in the sixth Democratic debate and, by the end of the evening, there was some data suggesting he had suffered some injury to his effort to convince voters he is a candidate who listens to the little guy and is electable. And […]