Home Office Postpones the Removal of LGBTI Asylum Seeker
THE UK Home Office has deferred the removal from Scotland of a young asylum seeker who is currently in the Dungavel detention centre. Isabella Katjiparatijivi, a 29-year-old from Namibia, had sought asylum fearing that she faced persecution in her home country because of her sexuality. Her case was unsuccessful and she was refused leave to appeal to […]
“Fires don’t discriminate and neither do we” – Lancashire Ramps up Recruitment of Women and LGBTI Firefighters
Lancashire fire service is seeking to recruit more firefighters from underrepresented social groups. LFRS will be recruiting full time firefighters in March and the service said it wants to see more female and LGBTI applicants. It is also encouraging more recruits from black and minority ethnic groups. “We’re saying, ‘If you ever thought you couldn’t… […]
Jamaican LGBTI Group Crowdfunding to Rebuild Rainbow House
Describing itself as Jamaica’s oldest LGBT group, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexual and Gays (J-Flag) has established a crowdfunding page as it seeks funds to rebuild its office building known as ‘Rainbow House’, that was gutted by fire on December 30, last year. The fire of unknown origin caused extensive damage to the building, located in St […]
Kenya could make history by legalising homosexuality
In Kenya, February 22 2019 could be an anniversary remembered for generations. This is the date on which a three-judge bench at the Constitutional Court in Nairobi will give Kenyans – and the world – their decision on whether laws that criminalise the private, consensual relations of people of the same sex are to be […]
BILL LEGALISING GAY MARRIAGE TO BE DEBATED THIS WEEK
The Czech Republic currently offers civil partnerships for same-sex couples. However, advocates of gay marriage say the current system still leaves them at a disadvantage. Apart from the symbolic difference of being called “registered partners” rather than “spouses”, gay marriage advocates also say there are practical deficiencies. These include the inability to claim widow pensions, […]
Brexit threatens LGBT+ rights: top British lawyer
The rights of British minority groups are under threat from hardline politicians holding the government to ransom during the Brexit process, leading lawyer Helena Kennedy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Friday. British Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to win support across political lines after her proposed Brexit deal was defeated by a historic […]
Haredi Parents Consider Underground Schooling to Escape LGBT Curricular Requirements
Shraga Stern, a Haredi parent living in the UK, sent a letter to the secretary of state for education, Damian Hinds, saying: “Many members of the community would choose to leave the United Kingdom for a more hospitable jurisdiction rather than comply with such an obligation to mention homosexuality or gender reassignment in a positive […]
LGBT rights advocate files case against Attorney-General, stating Section 377A of Penal Code is void
An LGBT rights advocate has filed a case against the Attorney-General, stating that Section 377A of the Penal Code – which criminalises sex between men – is “inconsistent” with portions of Singapore’s Constitution, and “is therefore void”. Mr Choong Chee Hong, better known as Bryan Choong, filed it at the Supreme Court in November last year. Mr […]
LGBT Muslims Struggle to Find Their Place in Turkey
Deniz, a 20-year-old observant Muslim who lives in Istanbul, works as a sign language translator and is studying gastronomy in his spare time. But Deniz, who prefers to use the pronoun “they,” also identifies as non-binary and pansexual. (This means that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction.) Although […]
Beijing LGBT Center Celebrates 10 Years of Inclusivity
With the end of January 2019 fast approaching, and with it, Chinese New Year just around the corner, it’s time again to look back and remember personal achievements over the past 12 months as well as hopes and expectations for the year ahead. One association that has a lot to celebrate is the Beijing LGBT Center who marked their 10 year anniversary […]
Activists say they are helping people flee new anti-gay purge in Chechnya
LGBT activists say they have begun helping people flee from the Russian republic of Chechnya amid what they claim is a new wave of detentions and torture targeting the gay community there. The LGBT Network, a St. Petersburg-based rights group, said last week that 40 people had been detained and at least two were tortured to death in what they believe […]
Egypt sentences TV host to year in jail over gay interview
An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced a television host to one year in prison for interviewing a gay man last year, a judicial source said. Mohamed al-Gheiti, who has expressed his stance against homosexuality on several occasions, was accused of promoting homosexuality and contempt of religion, AFP said. The misdemeanours court in Giza also fined […]
To what Extent are Human Rights respected in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
There was little visible progress on human rights during 2018. Authorities failed yet again to end structural and political discrimination against Jews, Roma, and other minorities. There was limited progress towards accountability for war crimes in domestic courts. Journalists remain vulnerable to intimidation and threats. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face hate speech […]
South Korea slipping on LGBTI rights, activists warn
South Korea’s fledging LGBTI movement has triggered a conservative backlash, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned this week. In it’s 2019 world report, HRW said leaders had done little to protect the rights of LGBTI people in South Korea. The rights group noted 210,000 people had signed a petition against a pride parade in capital, Seoul. Anti-LGBTI protestors also […]
Russia website calls for ‘gay hunters’ to attack LGBTIs across the country
A website that gamified hunting gay men in Russia has been reactivated and is now calling for ‘gay hunters’ in several regions. In April 2018, Saw-inspired website пила (Russian for ‘saw’) came under fire as it encouraged homophobes to report LGBTI people for torture. The website seems to be active at the moment of writing. It includes a call […]
Australian politician Mark Latham pledges to gut transgender rights
Australian One Nation politician Mark Latham has unveiled a series of new anti-transgender policy pledges. Latham was once the leader of Australia’s centre-left Labor Party, but is now a member of the nationalist One Nation party, which he leads in New South Wales. Ahead of state elections in March, Latham has focused on transgender children, […]
Medical Students Push For More LGBT Health Training To Address Disparities
When Sarah Spiegel was in her first year at New York Medical College in 2016, she sat in a lecture hall watching a BuzzFeed video about what it’s like to be an intersex or a transgender person. “It was a good video, but it felt inadequate for the education of a class of medical students, […]
How Chester’s first LGBT+ choir are taking the city by storm
Chester’s only LGBT+ choir is looking for new members of all ages and diversities to complete their ensemble. Proud Marys, who formed in November 2017, already have around 40 singers ranging from age 18 to mid 80s – but are keen to get some more participants on board. The choir, which initially began as a […]
Dillian gets humanitarian protection
“I feel vindicated.” That was the reaction of Dillian Johnson in an emailed response moments after he was told that he had been granted humanitarian protection by the United Kingdom Home Office for the next five years. Johnson, fled the country in December 2017 after he was shot at his Gasparillo home. He claimed then […]
Court Decisions on LGBT Rights Echo ‘A Wild Wish’
More than two centuries ago Mary Wollstonecraft laid the foundations for feminist thought with a simple premise: lack of equal opportunity diminished individual self-worth and hobbled social progress. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Wollstonecraft made a “wild wish” for equality between the sexes. When women are treated as less than equal in law […]
The ‘angels’ helping migrants at US-Mexico border
Hugo Castro rubs his temples before joining the sea of evening rush-hour traffic that snakes all the way from San Diego to the Mexican border. The beat-up Jeep Cherokee he drives has 290,000 miles on the clock and is crammed with donated goods – sacks of rice, nappies, first-aid kits, chicken stock and T-shirts that […]
Three billboards outside Nanjing: Chinese artist takes aim at gay ‘conversion therapy’
On a hazy day this week, a convoy of three white trucks is making its way through the streets of Nanjing, in eastern China. They are covered in huge red banners with black lettering that look like billboards from a distance. “Treating a ‘disease’ that doesn’t exist,” reads one. “Chinese classification of mental disorders still […]
Activists: Chechen Authorities Order Families to Kill LGBT Family Members
Russian campaigners have told The Daily Beast that Chechen authorities have ordered people to kill LGBT members of their own families, and have demanded ransoms for the release of detained LGBT relatives. According to reports, at least 40 people have been arrested in the last two to three weeks, many of them tortured, in a new crackdown against LGBT people […]
Yale announced ‘non-binary’ gender option in response to Trans Rights Coalition Petition
Registering as “non-binary” is now a non-issue at Yale. A November petition by the Ivy League university’s LGBT community has successfully changed the Student Information System. Students may now select “M” for male, “F” for female, or “N” for non-binary. Last year’s petition by Trans Rights Coalition was sent directly to Yale President Peter Salovey, […]
EP resolution another example of hostility towards Azerbaijan
The resolution of the European Parliament regarding the case of Mehman Huseynov in Azerbaijan is another example of hostility towards Azerbaijan as a whole. The resolution is presented in the tone of demarche, and it is unacceptable, Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Press Council, Azerbaijani MP Aflatun Amashov told Trend Jan. 18. “The resolution of the European Parliament […]
Vigilante Raid on Indonesian HIV Group
This week a militant Islamist group in Indonesia raided the offices of an HIV prevention organization on suspicion that the group had been conducting “LGBT activities.” The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) was joined by Indonesian soldiers and local residents in an incident that follows a disturbing pattern of similar vigilante raids across Indonesia. Mulyadi Anwar, a member of the city […]
Murdered’ transgender woman from Droitwich was LGBT hero
Amy Griffiths was discovered dead at her flat in Chalverton Court, Droitwich, on Monday. Police said she had suffered head and throat injuries. Martin Saberi, aged 53, was charged with murdering Amy, whose name was also given in court as Michael Griffiths. Saberi is due to appear at Worcester Crown Court today. Connor Turner, one of Amy’s […]
Gay couple to join Japan legal challenge after marriage bid fails
A couple who failed in an attempt to register their same-sex marriage in Japan vowed on Friday to take legal action to force the country to legalize gay weddings. Ai Nakajima and Kristina Baumann, who live in Yokohama, near Tokyo, attempted to register their marriage with local authorities on Wednesday after marrying in Germany last […]
Indian trailblazers #RideWithPride after gay sex ban lifted
Bollywood makes a lesbian rom-com, a transgender woman bags a key opposition party post and judges green light same-sex couples living together – just some of the groundbreaking firsts since India legalised gay sex four months ago. But the largely conservative country is far from accepting and giving equal rights to LGBT+ people, experts said, […]
Using queer cartoons to promote LGBT+ rights in Bangladesh
In April 2016, the police found the bodies of Xulhaz Mannan and Tonoy Mahbub, two prominent LGBT+ rights activists, in an apartment in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital. This week, police arrested one of the main suspects in the murder, stating that the killers had plotted the attack over the past six months. Mannan and Mahbub’s […]