‘We are equal’: Thai party candidate aims to be first transgender Prime Minister
Pauline Ngarmpring wants to become Thailand’s first transgender prime minister to bring hope to the marginalised and make political life accessible for future LGBT people. As Pinit Ngarmpring, he was a CEO and sports promoter, well known in the world of Thai soccer. Now she prefers to be known as Pauline Ngarmpring. The 52-year-old is one […]
Canada makes $30M pledge supporting global LGBT rights
Canada’s government has pledged $30 million to improve LGBT lives in developing countries over the next five years. The announcement, made February 7, includes annual payments of $10 million after that. Randy Boissonnault, Canada’s special adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on LGBTQ2 issues, and International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau joined LGBT global advocates in […]
Algerian student murdered, ‘he is gay’ written on wall with his blood
Two assailants executed an Algerian medical student in a shocking homophobic killing on Sunday, in which victim’s blood was smeared on a wall reading “He is Gay.” Assil Belalta was murdered in his student residence at the Taleb Abderrahmane campus in Ben Aknoun, a district just outside the city of Algiers. The 21-year-old Belalta was […]
LGBTQ Armenians Face Reign of Terror
On Monday, there was another gay-bashing in Armenia, this time against a member of Right Side NGO, a trans activism organization. Max Yarzhapetyan was walking on the street in Yerevan, the capital and largest city, when three men started to follow him, swear at him, and hurl homophobic slurs. Yarzhapetyan called the police as the […]
German minister calls for ban on conversion therapy
The German health minister, Jens Spahn, has said that he will seek to ban “conversion therapies” that claim to change sexual orientation. “Homosexuality is not an illness, which is why it does not need to be treated,” Spahn, who is gay himself, told the left-leaning Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung. He hoped that a German law […]
Federal judge temporarily blocks military from forcing out HIV-positive airmen
A federal judge on Friday blocked the military from forcing out a pair of HIV-positive airmen, saying she had seen no evidence that the disease should prevent them from serving. “These are the kinds of people that it seems to me the military wants to keep in the service,” Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern […]
Outing the Irish LGBT past, telling the truth to the present at New York Irish Center
For most of the 20th century, LGBT Irish citizens were forced to live in a kind of exile in their own country, with the laws, the church and public opinion all working in concert to make their lives invisible or intolerable. So what happens to a history that is not written down? What happens to […]
Hopes High Before Kenya Ruling on Decriminalizing Gay Sex
Members of Kenya’s LGBT community are looking forward to a High Court ruling that might decriminalize gay sex. The impending ruling is raising hopes among LGBT persons across the region. South of Nairobi, in a remote town, models are in training in a safe house tucked in a quiet neighborhood. These are not just any […]
Don’t forget about us, say LGBT+ students
LGBT+ students and their supporters are urging parliament not to forget about them and protecting their rights to stay in the school they want to attend. A group of young people delivered a petition to federal parliament on Wednesday with more than 55,000 signatures calling for all students and teachers to be protected from discrimination. […]
Gay-friendly cartoons outrage homophobic Indonesians
Indonesia’s Information and Communications Ministry, also known as Kominfo, has demanded that the popular social network Instagram remove gay-friendly cartoons published by a user known only as @Alpantuni. The ministry even suggested that Instagram be blocked in Indonesia. The cartoons riled many Indonesia users of Instagram, who tagged Kominfo in comments about the cartoons to […]
Ten Exiled LGBTQ Activists Speak
“We want to give a voice to those, who are not heard, whose voice has been taken,” Ali Feruz says. “Because the story of every human is at the same time the story of humankind.” Ali’s new project Unit is ready to launch: a network of journalists and human rights defenders working to increase the quality […]
Gay Politician Makes His Own Political Party in Conservative Poland
Robert Biedron, a gay and atheist politician, in Catholic, conservative Poland, has created his own progressive political party of young, urban members called the Spring party. Biedron, 42, a former LGBT activist, wants to separate church and state, phase out coal, and improve rights for LGBT people and women, all two years ahead of the […]
1 year in Egyptian prison. The crime? Interviewing a gay man
Egypt is a rabidly homophobic country, solidly situated on the list of 73 countries in the world that have made gay sex illegal and it’s getting worse. A recent and most egregious example of unjust arrests was the arrest of the TV presenter Mohammed al-Ghaity, who was found guilty of contempt of religion and incitement to […]
Gender-neutral Canadian activist shows solidarity with Japan’s LGBT communities
Gemma Hickey entered Japan this week with something no Japanese national can obtain a gender-neutral passport in which the gender category shows neither female nor male, but an “X.” The 42-year-old Canadian, who became one of the first in the country to receive such a passport, made their first visit to Japan with the passport […]
Black queer people are victimized every day
Stacey Long Simmons, director of advocacy at the National LGBTQ Task Force, vividly recalls the time, as a young college student, she was walking outside of campus and a group of white men slowed down and shouted, “N-word bitch go home.” Simmons hails from Queens, N.Y., where she admits racist incidents did occur but being […]
Lawmaker pulls proposed transgender birth certificate ban
A proposal that would have blocked transgender people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates in Utah was shelved Thursday, prompting relief from LGBT advocates but leaving the issue in limbo. The legislation would have reversed longstanding practice in many parts of the state and had prompted warnings that it could put Utah […]
Dems introduce bill to take gender-specific terms out of tax code to make it LGBT-inclusive
A bill introduced by two Democratic lawmakers Thursday would update the U.S. tax code to remove gender-specific references such as “husband” and “wife” and would replace the terms with “spouse” in an effort to be LGBT-inclusive. Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Andy Levin (D-Mich.) said in a press release announcing the legislation that the tax […]
Same sex couples seek marriage rights in Valentine’s lawsuit
Chizuka Oe and Yoko Ogawa have been together for 25 years, but when they submitted their marriage registration at a Tokyo town hall, they knew it would be rejected. “We were told that they cannot accept our registration because we are both women,” said Ogawa, standing in the winter sun outside the building in Nakano […]
North Africa seen as unsafe for LGBT people: Rights Groups
The Bundesrat, Germany’s upper house of parliament, is considering whether to recognize Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia as “safe countries of origin.” Yet LGBT people are still persecuted in all three places. Luise Amtsberg , a Green member of parliament and an expert on refugee policy, said that due to the dangers faced by homosexuals face […]
How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans
The most vocal trans-exclusionary voices are, ostensibly, “feminist” ones, and anti-trans lobbying is a mainstream activity. Case in point: Ms. Parker told the podcast “Feminist Current” that she’d changed her thinking on trans women after spending time on Mumsnet, a site where parents exchange tips on toilet training and how to get their children to […]
Japan Launches First LGBTI Safe House
Japan opened its first LGBTI safe house in Tokyo this week. Nijiiro House supports LGBTI people who have fallen into homelessness due to their sexuality or gender identity. It also offers support for mental health issues and employment. The house mainly helps gay and bisexual men as well as trans and non-binary people Yuta Onaga from Nijiiro […]
LGBT+ Victims of Spain’s Franco Regime Fight for Compensation
Moves by Spain to finally exhume the remains of former dictator Francisco Franco have spurred growing demands for compensation by LGBT+ victims of oppression and torture under his 36-year regime. Spain voted in September last year to disinter Franco’s remains from the vast underground basilica constructed outside the capital Madrid before his death in 1975. […]
Top Brazilian Court to Decide Key Homophobia Cases
Brazil’s supreme court is expected to rule Wednesday on a pair of cases that could determine whether homophobia and transphobia should be considered criminal offenses. The cases, brought by Brazilian rights group ABGLT and the Popular Socialist Party, ask the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) to acknowledge the “unconstitutional delay” of Brazil’s Congress in criminalizing violence […]
How Does Taiwan Really Feel About LGBT Issues After Its Referendums?
If 2017 saw the rise of marriage equality in Taiwan, then the backlash in 2018 suggests many observers held an overly optimistic view on just how much Taiwanese public opinion had shifted. With the March 2017 Constitutional Court deeming the existing civil code that limited marriage to heterosexual couples as unconstitutional, the expectation was that […]
Israeli Politician Shlomo Karhi says Pride Parades are ‘against nature’
Israeli politician Shlomo Karhi has been condemned for saying Pride parades “legitimise something that is contrary to the natural family unit.” Karhi, who will be a candidate for Israel’s ruling Likud party in the national election on April 9, also told Israeli radio station Radio Darom “holding gay Pride parades is completely wrong,” according to Israeli news […]
Fury at HIV Data Leak in Conservative Singapore
Rico has lived with HIV for almost a decade, confiding in only a small number of people in socially conservative Singapore, fearful of the reaction. Last month, he got a phone call saying information about his condition had been published online. Rico was one of 14,200 people whose HIV status, name and address were dumped […]
Mexico: LGBT Activist Oscar Cazorla Found Dead: Promoted Zapotec ‘3rd gender’
A defender of LGBT rights and proponent of muxe culture in Oaxaca has been found dead in an apparently violent attack. Óscar Cazorla was at home in the Juchitán de Zaragoza municipality when he was killed. “They find the lifeless activist muxe, Óscar Cazorla, who for decades fought in favor of the LGBT community,” said […]
Small, Rural Businesses are Far Behind India’s Corporate Giants in Welcoming LGBTI People
Following India’s September move to scrap a colonial-era ban on gay sex, more and more corporations are opening their doors to LGBT+ people and ushering in policies to make them feel more welcome. But smaller firms across industries – textile houses, printing presses, rubber manufacturers, real estate agencies and others – are not racing to […]
Faith Leaders Urge Government to Support LGBTI Education in Schools
More than 50 members of religious organisations, campaigners and education leaders have signed an open letter asking the Department of Education (DfE) to support LGBT+ education in schools. The open letter, published in The Guardian on Monday (February 11), references concerns that the government may allow independent schools to opt out of LGBT+ education. “This poses a […]
Bolsonaro Regime to Remove Brazilian Textbook References to Feminism and Homosexuality
Brazil‘s president and his senior officials have vowed to revise school textbooks to remove references to feminism, homosexuality and violence against women. Jair Bolsonaro has also said he wants the military to take over some public schools, as part of what teachers believe is a “nonsensical” approach to education reform. “One of the goals to get Brazil out of […]