South Korea lags behind Taiwan on LGBT rights
Taiwan’s recent same-sex marriage legalization may indicate a global trend towards greater LGBT tolerance, especially among developed democracies. South Korea, however, remains an outlier in this trend in spite of its vibrant democracy. Pro-LGBT organizations in South Korea were unable to register as charities as of 2015. The South Korean Court has only granted LGBT […]
Costa Rica education minister resigns under Evangelical fire for LGBTQ policy
Costa Rica’s education minister Edgar Mora resigned on Monday following protests against policies including his support for gender-neutral bathrooms, in a sign the cultural issues that dominated last year’s presidential election remain divisive. Protesters included members of the Pentecostal Christian-aligned opposition party, as well as transportation and education groups. They criticized Mora on multiple fronts, […]
Cambodia: Government urged to draft LGBT laws
Government officials and members of the LGBT community met on Thursday to discuss the drafting or revision of laws and policies in order to facilitate their rights. The meeting was held during a dialogue on “Legal and Public Policies to Protect LGBTIQ People in Cambodia”, held in Phnom Penh. Ly Pisey, coordinator of Rainbow Community […]
Four LGBT Syrian refugees arrive in UK in time for Pride
Four newly arrived LGBT Syrian refugees will be able to openly express their sexual identity when they join the Pride celebrations in central London on Saturday. They arrived in London on Thursday after waiting for more than two years to be airlifted to safety. Their situation was resolved after the Guardian highlighted the plight of […]
Botswana seeks to overturn ruling that legalized gay sex
Botswana’s government will appeal a high court ruling that decriminalized homosexuality, potentially resuscitating a law that punished gay sex by up to seven years in prison. Last month’s landmark court ruling, which was praised by international organizations and activists, meant Botswana joined a handful of African countries that have legalized same-sex relationships. But Attorney General […]
High heels run defies gravity, homophobia in Madrid
Dozens of men and a few women in stiletto heels raced through the center of the Spanish capital on Thursday, defying gravity, the heat and attempts by the far-right party Vox to curtail their Gay Pride celebrations this year. The race in Chueca, a gay-friendly neighborhood in central Madrid, draws competitors from abroad and is […]
Taiwan’s marriage law brings frustration and hope for LGBT China
It was a landmark moment for LGBT rights. When Taiwan passed a law allowing same-sex couples to marry, crowds in Taipei erupted into cheers, chanting: “First in Asia”. For those watching from across the Taiwan strait in China, where gay couples do not have that right, the moment was heartening but also profoundly sad. Matthew, […]
UK government defends failing to pass equal marriage in Northern Ireland
The UK’s capital is about to host its biggest Pride weekend tomorrow (6 July), but same-sex couples do not have the right to marry in Northern Ireland. The government revealed its progress on their LGBT Action Plan, a 75-point plan, yesterday (4 July). Not every same-sex couple has the right to marry in every part […]
Venezuela’s transgender community fears hormone shortages
André Bellorín has fought a long battle for the body that matches his identity. He has been through two operations, a bitter conflict with his mother and an expensive course of hormone treatment in his hometown, Caracas, Venezuela. But now he fears he may lose all the progress he has made. “My beard has stopped […]
UK ordered to return lesbian after wrongly deporting her back to Uganda
The UK is ordered to return a gay woman after wrongly deporting her to Uganda. The 25-year-old, who was deported five years ago, was told she could return in a landmark court ruling. Some suggest this could open the door to thousands of similar challenges, according to the Independent. The lesbian, who arrived in 2011 […]
Jamaica could see its first trans Member of Parliament
A 29-year-old activist in Jamaica is vying to become the first openly trans Member of Parliament (MP) to sit in the country’s House of Representatives. Rich Richards has said he will run as an independent candidate in the Saint Andrew Eastern Constituency in the next general election, due in 2021. In a country where tolerance […]
Is lesbian kiss in Crimean play ‘gay propaganda’?
A play in Crimea has created a stir on Russian social media after a video clip emerged of a scene which featured women kissing. The production was staged by the Gogol School theatre lab during the Tavrida Festival, an annual art event organised by Russian state youth agency Rosmolodyozh. Reaction has been mixed, with some […]
Japan grants refugee status for homophobic persecution for first time ever
Japan has granted asylum to an LGBT+ refugee on the grounds of homophobic persecution in their home country for the first time. Details including the refugee’s home country and gender have been withheld for protection. Japanese site Asahi reported: “According to the Immigration Control Agency, the applicant was arrested by police in his home country […]
The nations where it’s still criminal to be gay (as India marks an awkward anniversary)
Tuesday marks 10 years since India decriminalised gay sex, but it’s unlikely the milestone will be celebrated. That’s because the 2009 lower court ruling was short-lived; overturned within a few years by the nation’s Supreme Court. Their 2012 judgment effectively re-established the British colonial-era law Section 377, which saw gay sex punished by up to […]
New York Pride: Bumper crowds attend LGBT march
Around 150,000 people took part in the march, 50 years on from the Stonewall riots, with many more watching. The riots, after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, helped to energise the fight for gay equality. This year’s march started outside the inn. It was billed as the biggest Pride march in history. LGBT […]
LGBTI Asia: From Myanmar tragedy to Pakistan progress
Homophobic bullying in Myanmar. Rainbow socks in Singapore. A first for trans people in Pakistan. This is a brief roundup of LGBTI news from countries that have anti-gay laws or are recovering from them. A Myanmar librarian died by suicide after homophobic bullying. Bullied librarian posted heartbreaking note before dying by suicide. Myanmar university investigates […]
More than 200 companies tell Supreme Court to apply job discrimination laws to sexual orientation, gender identity
More than 200 companies urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to apply the nation’s job discrimination laws to sexual orientation and gender identity. In three major civil rights cases the justices will hear when they return to the bench in October, the companies – which together employ more than 7 million workers and have more […]
First Gay Parade in North Macedonia
A rainbow of colors filled the streets of Skopje on Saturday when North Macedonia held its first gay parade. Demonstrators in the largely conservative Balkan region have called for the cessation of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT). Hundreds joined a march with whistles, a huge flag with rainbow colors and posters. […]
Tunisia: LGBT right group leader announces plans to run for November Presidential elections
The leader of Tunisia’s LGBT community, Shams, has announced plans to run for November presidential elections, first time ever a gay enters a presidential race in the North African country and in the whole Arab world where being homosexual is outlawed. Mounir Baatour, a lawyer by profession last week told Belgian news agency Belga that […]
Anti-LGBT hate crimes are rising, the FBI says. But it gets worse
Friday marked 50 years since protesters fought back against a police raid of New York’s Stonewall Inn and catalyzed the modern gay rights movement. But despite decades of progress, members of the LGBTQ community across the country are experiencing targeted acts of violence. Hate crimes against LGBTQ people have been on a slight rise over […]
Argentina says Guyana’s LGBTI community needs receptive police, hate crime laws
Argentina, which chairs the 40-nation Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) that fights for the human rights of gays and bisexuals, wants Guyanese police to make reporting hate crimes easier and for the South American nation to pass legislation outlawing such crimes. The need for such measures was contained in a letter to prominent Guyanese gay rights […]
Turkish opposition sparks debate with pro-LGBTQ Pride campaign
In an unprecedented move, dozens of Turkish opposition-run municipalities celebrated LGBTQ Pride Day on Sunday, triggering rebukes and strongly worded statements from ruling party officials and their supporters. Among the first officials to show their support for Pride was Canan Kaftancioglu, the chairwoman of Istanbul Republican People’s Party (CHP) who is believed to be the […]
A library canceled an LGBT prom after backlash. Then a church stepped in.
When the Storybook Pride Prom for LGBT teens in Jacksonville, Fla., was canceled after online conservative backlash, a local church made sure the story had a happy ending. The Willowbranch Library in Jacksonville originally organized the event, inviting 14- to 18-year-olds to come in costume as their favorite book characters, with a dress code of […]
A ‘pride’ that roared on the streets of Kolkata yet again
On a muggy July afternoon in 1999, 15 people gathered at Park Circus Maidan in the heart of Kolkata dressed in bright yellow T-shirts that said Friendship Walk on one side and ‘Walk into People’s Heart’ on the reverse. They walked around the field, and then down Gariahat road distributing pamphlets, before splitting off to […]
Protests in Pakistan after father arrested for murder of transgender daughter
The transgender community in Pakistan are leading protests after a 19-year-old transgender woman was found “riddled with bullets” beside a river bank. The teenager’s father has been arrested for her murder. The woman, Maya, had left her home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and was living with a group of transgender people called the Meena Group […]
Turkish police fire tear gas at crowds gathered for banned Istanbul Pride march
Police in Turkey used tear gas to break up a banned Pride rally calling for rights for gay and transgender people. Several hundred activists had gathered in Istanbul, cheering and waved rainbow flags, intending to march through the streets from the central Taksim district. Turkish authorities had banned the event for the fifth year running, […]
The LGBTQ artists using music as resistance in Latin America
Over the last decade, several openly queer musicians have emerged in Latin America. They use their music to combat hate. As the region has seen a rise of extreme right-wing beliefs, progress is being met with violent homophobic resistance, with several countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, and Chile, witnessing a surge of hate crimes in […]
Glaad’s bold new mission: An LGBT constitutional amendment
Glaad almost died in 2014. After years of fighting homophobic news coverage and working to bring about inclusion in the entertainment industry, the L.G.B.T. advocacy organization found itself losing money, scrambling to adapt to the rise of digital media and struggling to be taken seriously in Hollywood. “I was given a scary mandate,” said Sarah […]
Video: LGBT activists talk openly about life in Morocco
In collaboration with the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE), Human Rights Watch released a video, Monday, June 24. The footage, published on the Human Rights Watch Facebook page, aims to examine and combat the myths and stereotypes faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people in the MENA region. Human Rights Watch […]
How the internet is helping queer Nigerian youth push for Pride
For LGBTQ+ people growing up in Nigeria, the dangers of being out and visible are instilled in all of us. When I ask Logan February, a 20-year-old genderqueer poetry prodigy who is bravely out and proud, why they choose to be visible, their answer confirms a shift I’ve noticed in the new generation of queer […]