Seeing yourself on the big screen
Shin Thant tried to create a metaphor for the experience of feeling culturally excluded and vilified on the big screen. It went like this; A transgender person who goes to the cinema to see a Myanmar comedy would want to duck out of the theatre at the end before anyone could see them, such would […]
Thailand’s transgender politician Pauline Ngarmpring: ‘I do it for future generations’
On March 24, Thai voters will elect a new parliament, which is set to end five years of direct military rule. 52-year-old Pauline Ngarmpring, a transgender candidate, is contesting the polls and representing the Mahachon Party. In fact, Ngarmpring is one of three candidates put forward by the party for the post of prime minister. […]
UK lawmakers calls against detention of LGBT asylum seekers
Britain should not put LGBT+ asylum seekers in immigration detention centres where they risk being abused and harassed by staff and other detainees, lawmakers said on Thursday. LGBT+ people are often traumatised after fleeing persecution back home, said the Home Affairs Committee, whose inquiry was prompted by a scandal over abuse of detainees by staff […]
Gay politician Robert Biedron challenges Polish leaders on gay marriage
Openly gay politician Robert Biedron is demanding the Polish government and president to recognise LGBT+ equality, including same-sex marriage. Biedron, a long-time LGBT+ campaigner who became Poland’s first openly gay MP in 2011 and the first openly gay mayor in 2014, presented five demands for LGBT+ equality in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. […]
Canada’s military issues new policies to welcome transgender troops as Trump insists on ban
As U.S. President Donald Trump moves to banish transgender troops from the ranks, Canada’s military is welcoming such recruits with revamped policies that promote equality, respect and accommodation. New directives from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) circulated internally today and obtained by CBC News give guidelines on medical and surgical supports, uniform and naming protocols, […]
Malaysia seeks gay tourists, but targets its gay citizens
Malaysia’s tourism industry wants the country to keep attracting the money of gay and lesbian tourists, even though Malaysia keeps cracking down on its LGBT citizens. The country even has an anti-homosexuality law under which it imprisoned an opposition leader for four years. That puts Malaysian tourism promoters in a difficult position, which they don’t […]
Tomomi Inada’s uphill battle to ‘promote understanding’ of LGBT issues in Japan
Tomomi Inada isn’t trying to get Japan to legalize same-sex marriage or ban discrimination against gay citizens. The conservative lawmaker just wants to “promote understanding” of LGBT issues. Even that seems too much. The former defense minister said she’s unsure she’ll be able to introduce new legislation seeking greater tolerance of same-sex relationships amid opposition […]
United Airlines now offers nonbinary gender options for travelers booking flights
United Airlines will now offer travellers booking flights non-binary gender options for identifying themselves, the airline announced Friday. “United is determined to lead the industry in LGBT inclusivity, and we are so proud to be the first U.S. airline to offer these inclusive booking options for our customers,” said United’s Chief Customer Officer Toby Enqvist. […]
Can the Czech Republic Tear Down Europe’s Rainbow Curtain?
Eastern Europe has long resisted same-sex marriage. Prague might be about to change that. When Veronika Sediva, a 32-year-old consultant, visited the passport office in Prague two years ago to pick up documents for her partner and their son, she was turned away. “It’s heartbreaking to be told your family is not real,” Sediva said. […]
M5S leader Di Maio distances party from ‘medieval’ anti-LGBT conference
Italy’s co-deputy prime minister and governing Five Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio has slammed his coalition partner the League party as “medieval” for its support for an anti-gay, anti-abortion event due to be held in Verona at the end of March. League party leader Matteo Salvini, who holds the position of co-deputy prime […]
Puerto Rico to ban gay conversion therapy for minors
Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló said he will sign an executive order banning so-called gay conversion therapy on minors. Rosselló announced the decision on Wednesday (March 20), days after a bill on the subject was blocked in the House of Representatives by his own party, the New Progressive Party. “As a father, as a scientist […]
Justice Ministry overturns deportation order for gay Taiwanese man without visa
In a rare move, the Justice Ministry has revoked a deportation order for a gay Taiwanese man who remained in Japan illegally after overstaying his visa, apparently giving consideration to his longtime partnership with a Japanese national. The man had been suing the government over the denial of special permission to reside in Japan. He […]
Prominent LGBT+ organisation in Kenya wins right to be recognised as a charity
A prominent LGBT+ organisation in Kenya won the right to be recognised as a charity on Friday in a Court of Appeal ruling that could give greater freedom to persecuted sexual minorities across the country. The court ruled that the government could not use colonial-era laws criminalising gay sex to block the National Gay Lesbian […]
Loud and proud at Arab summit
Luxembourg’s openly gay prime minister, Xavier Bettel, has boldly condemned Arab countries’ conduct towards LGBT individuals – much to their dismay. Leaders from Arab countries were taken aback by his statements at last month’s EU-Arab Summit, where he pointed out that he could be executed in some Arab countries because he is married to a […]
Students press city for LGBT protections
Two students from Blue Springs South High School made a presentation to the city’s Human Relations Commission this week, asking for assistance in lobbying for increased protection for members of the Blue Springs LGBT community. Shelby Norman, a junior and co-president of her school’s Young Democrats club, read a letter they had written aloud to […]
Lebanon’s LGBT community is often denied healthcare, and it’s not OK
With absent or inadequate sex education in school curricula, Lebanese youth are pushed to learn about sex from unreliable sources, with all the risks it entails. The issue is all the more alarming when it comes to the country’s LGBTIQ+ community, whose members face a multitude of struggles and misconceptions pertaining to their sexual health. […]
Multiple Birmingham Schools Refuse to Teach LGBTI and Diversity Lessons After Parents Protest
Another four schools in Birmingham have reportedly halted lessons on diversity and LGBT issues following complaints by parents. In a letter quoted by the BBC, Leigh Trust said it was suspending the No Outsiders project, which teaches tolerance of diverse groups, including those of different races, genders and sexual orientation, until an agreement with parents had been reached. It […]
Gay Lawmaker Who Fled Brazil Amid Death Threats: Bolsonaro ‘turned me into a pariah
Brazil’s first openly gay lawmaker, Jean Wyllys, who fled his country over mounting death threats after the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, fears he won’t be returning home anytime soon. In an interview with AFP in Paris, the 45-year-old politician and LGBT activist, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Europe since January, […]
A Chinese Dating App for Gay Men Is Helping Them Have Kids, Too
The urge to have a child hit Geng Le hard after age 35. A former cop from China’s Hebei province, he’d launched a gay dating app called Blued a couple of years earlier, in 2012, and had become something of an icon for the Chinese LGBT community. Still, he felt his life was somehow incomplete without […]
Japan Urged to Stop Requiring Transgender People to be Sterilised
Human Rights Watch has urged Japan to drop its requirement that transgender people be sterilised to have their gender changed on official documents. A 2004 law says people wishing to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs removed and have a body that “appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs” of […]
These LGBT Refugees Came to Kenya Seeking Freedom. Now They Say They’ve Been Imprisoned and Abused
On Feb. 22, activists, reporters and well-wishers from Kenya and all over the world gathered in a courtroom in Nairobi, hoping to witness a historic moment: the decriminalization of homosexual conduct for the first time in conservative East Africa, a region where anti-LGBT crackdowns are common, sometimes even at the behest of presidents. A judge ultimately deflated […]
#GoodNews: India’s First LGBT Theatre Group Launched in Kerala
At the back of the temporary stage built on Queer Pride day, Prijith stands looking tense. He looks preoccupied even as he describes to journalists the new programmes they are about to announce after the march ends at Manaveeyam Veedi in Thiruvananthapuram. There would be the launch of an LGBT theatre group, Q Rang, the […]
Presidential Hopeful Cory Booker Pledges to Reverse Trump’s anti-LGBTI Policies
Presidential challenger Cory Booker has pledged to reverse a number of Trump administration policies undermining LGBT+ rights. The Democratic senator, one of 14 candidates who are seeking the party’s nomination in 2020, set out his commitments on LGBT+ issues at a rally in Davenport, Iowa on Sunday (March 17). Addressing an audience question from a […]
Turkish Police Officer Suspended for Being Gay – DW
A Turkish police officer in the eastern city of Van has been suspended from duty because he is gay, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on Sunday. It all started in late 2017, when 34-year-old Metin, who has served in the police for over 10 years, was imprisoned for eight days last year for sexual violence as […]
Northern Ireland Equal Marriage Activists: UK Government ‘doesn’t care’
Activists have accused the UK government of “not caring” about equal marriage in Northern Ireland, after a car crash meeting with Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley. Karen Bradley met with LGBT+ campaigners from Northern Ireland on Monday (March 18) who are fighting to break the impasse that has left Northern Ireland as the only part […]
U.S. Top Court Hands Defeat to Hawaii B&B That Spurned Lesbian Couple
The U.S. Supreme Court handed a defeat on Monday to a bed and breakfast owner in Hawaii who turned away a lesbian couple due to her Christian beliefs, but it could soon take up another major case on the conflict between gay and religious rights. The justices refused to hear an appeal by Phyllis Young, […]
Dramatic increase in violence against LGBT people in Cameroon
Humanity First Cameroon and Alternatives-Cameroon are two leading organizations advocating for human rights in Cameroon, with a particular focus on the rights of LGBT people. Working together and in cooperation with other groups throughout the country — namely Positive Vision, AAH, Alcondoms Cameroun and ASEMIR de l’Ouest — they have compiled a report on anti-LGBTI […]
Will the African nation of Botswana decriminalise homosexuality in June?
Botswana’s High Court is considering a challenge to the provisions of the penal code criminalising consensual same-sex relations in the country. It will hand down its judgment in June. The challenge raises similar legal issues as the one pending at the Kenya High Court, which is due for a decision in May. Same sex relations […]
Russian court jails top Chechen rights activist for 4 years
A Russian court on Monday sentenced a top Chechen rights activist to four years in a penal colony after a drugs trial that has drawn condemnation from international groups. Oyub Titiyev, head of the Chechnya branch of rights group Memorial, was arrested at the start of last year on what supporters said were trumped-up charges. […]
Google’s queer female pi world record breaker hopes to inspire LGBT community
Emma Haruka Iwao, a queer software engineer at Google, who calculated pi to a new world record, has said that she hopes her achievement will inspire others in the LGBT+ community. Speaking to PinkNews, Iwao, who is from Tokyo, Japan, said she believed that the work of those from the LGBT+ community, women, people of […]