Year after India gay ruling, a battle to change attitudes
Vivek Kishore and Vishwa Srivastava hit it off soon after meeting at a cafe, little knowing what lay in store for them as a gay couple in India where homosexuality was a criminal offense until a year ago. The couple’s worst fears came true when they were slapped, abused, and threatened with police action by […]
LGBTQ MPs quit Britain’s Liberal Democratic party after dramatic defection of ex-Tory Phillip Lee: ‘a homophobe, a xenophobe’
The party is over for some members of Parliament in the U.K. Former-member of the Conservative Party Phillip Lee might have messed up Boris Johnson’s Brexit chances when he joined the Liberal Democrats in a dramatic walking-across-the-aisle move on Tuesday. In a spectacular, Hollywood-worthy show of defection, Lee crossed the chamber during the prime minister’s […]
Groundbreaking report reveals reach of conversion therapy
A first-of-its-kind report documenting conversion therapy around the world highlights the pervasiveness of the practice. The 73-page report, “Harmful Treatment: The Global Reach of So-Called Conversion Therapy,” published by OutRight Action International August 22, documents common factors that lead to conversion therapy and recommendations for eradicating the practice. The report found that religion and “pseudo-health […]
UK introduces new regulations to teach about LGBT and same sex relationships in schools
This school year marks the beginning of the end of a decades-long campaign to get an inclusive education system in the UK. Despite recent controversy by some parents in schools in Birmingham, as of September 2020, there will be new regulations introduced for teaching relationships and sex education (RSE) to include LGBT and same section […]
Former Gay Conversion Leader Denounces ‘Harmful’ Movement After Coming Out
The South Carolina-based founder of one of the nation’s largest “gay conversion” programs issued a formal apology for his role in the discredited movement this weekend ― just months after coming out publicly as gay himself. McKrae Game, who served on Hope for Wholeness’s board of directors until 2017, called “gay conversion” programs “very harmful” […]
‘Disco outside the Dáil’ protest against Pence visit
A “Disco outside the Dáil” organised in protest against the visit of US vice-president Mike Pence drew a crowd to Kildare Street this afternoon. Protesters led by Amnesty International waved rainbow flags, wore Mike Pence masks and danced to music by YMCA and RuPaul, in a demonstration inspired by US LGBT activists. Representatives from Amnesty, […]
The 2020 Summer Olympics Likely to Be the Queerest, Most Political Games Yet
When Tokyo hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics, there will likely be a record number of out LGBTQ athletes competing in the Games. Not only that, it could also prove to be the most political Olympics in recent history. The number of open LGBTQ athletes appearing in the Olympics has increased steadily in recent years, and […]
Transgender woman granted long-term residency in Japan
A Southeast Asian woman has become the first transgender person to receive a long-term residential permit in Japan, according to her lawyer. The 58-year-old woman, who has not disclosed her name and nationality, had been living in Japan illegally for 26 years — and living with a partner since 2002. However same-sex marriage is not […]
Lebanon: End Systemic Violence Against Transgender Women
Transgender women in Lebanon face systemic violence and discrimination, Human Rights Watch, Helem, and MOSAIC said in a report and video released today. Transgender women face discrimination in accessing basic services, including employment, healthcare, and housing, as well as violence from security forces and ordinary citizens. For the 119-page report, “‘Don’t Punish Me for Who […]
Conversion Therapy Crusader Comes Out As Gay
The Post and Courier has reported that the Hope for Wholeness founder 51 year-old McKrae Game came out as gay, nearly two years after he was fired from the faith-based conversion therapy program. Game is now trying to come to terms with the harm he inflicted when he was advocating for religious efforts to change […]
Inside the Supreme Court Discrimination Cases That Could Change LGBTQ Rights
On Oct. 8, the High Court is set to hear three landmark LGBTQ workplace-discrimination cases. They are as intensely personal as they are political. Until 2012, Aimee Stephens was, in her own words, “basically leading two different lives, one for work and one for home.” At work she dressed and presented as a cisgender man. […]
TOP PA DIPLOMAT IN UK DENIES DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LGBTQ IN THE WEST BANK
In August, the Palestinian Authority banned the LGBTQ group Al-Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society from carrying out any activity in the West Bank. A prominent Palestinian diplomat in the UK assured on Friday that the Palestinian leaders and institutions do not discriminate against the LGBTQ community, despite a group being banned […]
New campaign raises awareness of dangers faced by LGBTQ people in UK immigration detention
UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group have launched an important new campaign. The organisation’s first national social media campaign #LendYourVoice aims to raise awareness around the discrimination and danger that LGBTQ people currently face in UK detention centres. As it stands, the UK is the only country in Europe to not have a time limit […]
‘Everyone needs a place’: Gay couple fights for Hong Kong public housing
Like many young married couples in Hong Kong, Nick Infinger and his partner struggled to find a home they could afford. So last year, they applied for a public housing flat and prepared for the long wait. But within months, the Hong Kong Housing Authority rejected their application under the “ordinary family” category, citing a […]
Groups argue law doesn’t protect transgender woman from workplace bias
More than three dozen groups, from Christian colleges to feminists, filed friend-of-the-court briefs urging the U.S. Supreme Court to side with a Michigan funeral home business that fired a transgender employee who dressed as a woman. The groups’ arguments follow a filing by the Trump administration last month urging the nine justices to rule that […]
Indian state bans unnecessary surgery on intersex babies
An Indian state has banned sex assignment surgery on babies whose sex is not clear at birth, a health official said on Wednesday, in a first to protect intersex children. The landmark move was made in response to an April order by Tamil Nadu’s top court to prohibit such surgeries – which research suggests can […]
Appeal to stop gay marriage opens in Cayman Islands
A lawyer representing a lesbian couple whose court victory legalized same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands five months ago said a government appeal against the ruling, which opened on Wednesday, sought to deny the basic right to marry. Chantelle Day, a Caymanian lawyer, and her partner Vickie Bodden Bush went to court last year after […]
Lawmakers OK same-sex marriage in Mexico’s Oaxaca state
Lawmakers in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca have approved changing the civil code to authorize same-sex marriage. A statement from the state congress says marriage will now be defined as a “civil contract celebrated between two persons, who unite to realize a life in common and provide each other respect, equality and mutual help.” […]
Birth certificate reform passes through Victorian Parliament
The Victorian Legislative Council last night passed an amendment to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996 (Vic), making it possible for transgender and gender diverse people to change the legal gender on their birth certificates. After lengthy debate the amendment went through Victoria’s upper house last night, with 26 votes in favour and […]
Boston ‘straight pride’ parade dwarfed by large counter-protest
A controversial “straight pride” parade in Boston on Saturday drew more than 1,000 counter-protesters and a few hundred supporters. The rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was “grand marshal” of the event, for which a group calling itself Super Happy Fun America (SHFA) acquired a permit in June. SHFA claimed it wished to draw attention to the […]
The (queer) year that was
If you’re a queer Indian, the reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (a colonial-era law that criminalised consensual adult same sex relationships) on September 6, 2018, is a milestone you’re unlikely to forget. A big human rights win achieved on the back of decades of struggle by the community, the judgment […]
Parents demand action after students from LGBTQ club in California HS allegedly harassed by group holding MAGA flags
A high school in Bakersfield, Calif., is investigating an alleged incident of harassment against students who participated in a meeting of an LGBTQ club. According to multiple social media posts, students from Frontier High School were confronted and bullied at the first meeting of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) in the school year. The GSA […]
Leaflets falsely claim pupils taught masturbation in relationship classes
The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has said all schools will be given support to teach relationship education, after leaflets suggesting that lessons encourage primary school children to masturbate were handed out in London. Other material seen by the BBC said parents “will be questioned on the day of judgment” if they do not challenge the […]
How Silicon Valley fostered India’s LGBTQ+ movement
The moment I heard that Section 377 had finally fallen, I wondered if my friends Arvind and Ashok, sitting far away from India in their two-storey house in San Jose in California, had heard the news. Arvind Kumar and Ashok Jethanandani were the first out gay Indian couple I had ever met. In a sense, […]
Indian State Bans Unnecessary Surgery for Intersex Children
India’s Tamil Nadu state government has issued an executive order banning medically unnecessary surgeries on children born with intersex variations. The order comes in response to an April court judgment prohibiting “normalizing” surgeries until the patient is old enough to consent. Genital surgeries are banned except in life-threatening situations and warns against surgeons deliberately misinterpreting that […]
SOGIE bill won’t spoil rights of non-LGBTQ, says former DSWD chief
Rights are not rice cakes that should be divided. This was the case posed by former Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Friday, as she took up the cudgels for proponents of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill. According to her, it would be narrow-minded for some people to look […]
It’s been long march for LGBTQ rights — Straight Pride boosters skip over that
On Saturday there will be a Straight Pride Parade, where people will be marching many of the same streets as the Boston Pride Parade. The proponents of this parade wonder: If LGBTQ people have a parade, why don’t straight people get one too? This logic reveals a disregard for LGBTQ history. For centuries, gay and […]
Principal Who Banned a Book With LGBTQ Themes Arrested for Child Porn
Phillip Todd Wilson had removed books parents objected to because of gay characters and controversial content. A high school principal who once banned books with LGBTQ content and other factors parents and administrators found objectionable has now been arrested on child pornography charges. Phillip Todd Wilson, principal of the Clark County Area Technology Center, a […]
Religious discrimination bill: Coalition accused of creating a ‘Trojan horse for hate’
Christian Porter releases bill, which will stop employers from limiting workers’ religious expression in private following fallout from Israel Folau’s sacking. LBTQI advocates have condemned the government’s proposed religious discrimination bill, saying the “radical” new laws would give people of religion superior rights that would allow them to discriminate. While the Greens have criticised the […]
No single ‘gay gene’, reveals the largest-ever study of the genetics of same-sex sexual behaviour
Scientists have again debunked the idea of a single “gay gene”, in the largest study to date of the genetics of same-sex sexual behaviour. Rather, their findings paint a diverse and complex picture of human sexuality, and the genetic factors that influence it. Nearly half a million people took part in the study, mostly from […]