Belarus: Theatre students arrested, fined for LGBT artistic stunt
Three of Belarus Free Theatre’s ‘Studio Fortinbras’ students were arrested and fined for “holding an unauthorised mass event” when they dressed as police officers with rainbow epaulettes for a public performance addressing homophobia on November 28, 2018. “These arrests are completely disproportionate to the supposed offense and an indication of the Belarusian authorities’ determination to […]
LGBT+ activists attacked on peaceful march in Kenya refugee camp
LGBT+ activists were attacked and arrested by police after staging a peaceful march through Kakuma, a UNCHR refugee camp in Turkana County, Kenya. Around 40 LGBT+ activists took part in the march on Tuesday (December 11) through the camp to protest against poor conditions, inadequate healthcare, and discrimination. A member of Refugee Flag Kakuma, which campaigns for the […]
Russia’s gay propaganda law ‘endangers children’, says report
Russia’s “gay propaganda” law is directly harming and endangering LGBT+ children and young people, according to a new report. The report – which is called “No Support: Russia’s ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law Imperils LGBT Youth” – was released today by Human Rights Watch, and runs to 92 pages. The human rights group found that the law, which […]
Mexican Boxer Dario Larralde Says Hitler Was Right, ‘gays are a plague’
Mexican boxer Dario Larralde has apologised after saying he supports Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in calling gay people “a plague.” In a since-deleted video on Twitter earlier this month, the boxer said: “F**king gays, I have a f**king phobia… everywhere I go, every day, there’s always a f**king gay punk on the corner watching me. And I […]
Study Finds High Levels of Depression Among LGB Teenagers
Young lesbian, gay and bisexual people start becoming depressed and self-harming from the age of 10 because they feel different from their heterosexual peers, research has found. LGB 16- to 21-year-olds are four times more likely to have felt depressed, harmed themselves and thought about killing themselves, according to a study based on interviews with […]
Brazil: Same-sex Couples Rush to the Alter Ahead of Bolsonaro Inauguration
On the night of the Brazilian election, Bianca Gama cried as it became clear that the country’s next president would be Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right politician whose career has been marked by homophobia. As the official result was announced, Gama’s girlfriend Priscilla Cicconi turned to her and said: “You were right. We should get married – before […]
Israel Supreme Court: Both Same-Sex Partners Named On Adoption Certificate
The names of both parents who adopt a baby in Israel must be registered on its birth certificate even if both parents are the same sex. Israel’s Supreme Court made the ruling on Wednesday in response to a lawsuit filed by a homosexual couple who claimed they were being discriminated against since both members of […]
Miss Universe’s First Transgender Contestant Revels in Being Role Model
Like many other contestants at the Miss Universe beauty pageant, Angela Ponce grew up watching the glitzy spectacle on television, dreaming of representing her country one day. This year, her wish has come true, with Ponce making history as the first transgender contestant in the pageant’s 66-year history. “Trans women have been persecuted and erased […]
Interview: The Law Damaging Russia’s LGBT Children
When Russia passed a law banning what it called “propaganda of non-traditional relationships,” it made positive discussion about LGBT relationships illegal. The official rationale for the law was to protect children. But the reality is that it hurts them. Over the past two years, Human Rights Watch has interviewed LGBT children in Russia about the […]
Church of England Approves Transgender Clergy Guidance for Welcoming Trans Christians
The Church of England issued guidance to clergy on how to be “creative and sensitive” as they welcome transgender people into the faith. The church’s House of Bishops approved the pastoral guidance document that advises Anglican clergy to address trans individuals by their chosen names, rather than their birth names. The move to welcome more transgender […]
Advocacy Groups Celebrate the 70th Anniversary of International Human Rights Day
LGBTI advocacy groups and public figures celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights on Monday (10 December). 10 December is also commemorated annually as Human Rights Day While advocacy groups celebrated the progress made with regard to LGBTI rights, they took the opportunity to point out that a lot of work is still […]
Strongmen Like Putin Threaten LGBTQ People Across the Globe
The worldwide struggle for LGBT equality has dramatically changed in the past few years. From our movement’s inception, our great challenge has been to shed our invisibility and use education to overcome ignorance. On a cultural level we have been undeniably successful. By coming out in massive numbers, we have blown a huge hole in […]
There’s No Easy Path to Asylum, But It’s Even More Difficult for Queer People
Making asylum claims more difficult for members of the LGBTQ community, caravans of refugees — as with those that have traveled up through Central America hoping to reach the United States — are often far from welcoming to queer people. The most recent caravan that reached the U.S.-Mexico border — full of Hondurans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans and […]
Gay men claim football for their own in Brazil
Growing up gay in Vitoria, a city of almost 2 million in south-eastern Brazil, Joao Paulo Silvares never really liked playing football, the country’s national sport and passion. “I was scared to play because it wasn’t somewhere I felt comfortable,” Silvares, 34, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “In Brazil, I think that it’s a bit […]
Argentina, UK to co-chair LGBT rights organisation for two years
Argentina and the United Kingdom have been chosen Monday to co-chair the Equal Rights Coalition for two years starting next June, to succeed Chile and Canada at the helm of the first-ever intergovernmental organization dedicated to the protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBT) people around the world. The ERC […]
Australia: What Our Current Anti-Discrimination Laws Mean For LGBTIQ Students And Teachers
On the surface, Australian anti-discrimination laws safeguard queer, trans and non-binary adults and children from discrimination while working and receiving an education. But in reality, our anti-discrimination laws provide a legal shield for select institutions to remove LGBTQI+ staff and students from classrooms. The Sex Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity, marital status, […]
New Israeli religious group aims to combat LGBTs for ‘destroying family values’
A new religious group will launch a campaign on Tuesday against the LGBT+ community and in support of the “traditional family,” and plans to hold a demonstration in which protesters will attempt block a central junction in Tel Aviv. “Choosing Family — the Movement for Strengthening Family Values in Israel” was founded last week by […]
What We Talk About When We Talk About Gender in Armenia
“I’m asking you a simple question: Do you have any responsibility towards the LGBT community?” This was one of many inflammatory questions addressed to Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a historic televised debate last week ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections. Pashinyan and Vigen Sargsyan, the first deputy president of the former ruling Republican Party of […]
Bengaluru’s LGBTQIA+ Community Celebrates Namma Pride
When petitions were filed against the Aadhaar in the Supreme Court years half a decade ago, nobody could have guessed that it would have such an impact on the rights of sexual minorities in India. This year, Bengaluru celebrated Namma Pride and Karnataka Queer Habba, under the banner Coalition for Sex workers, Sexual & Sexuality Minorities’ Rights (CSMR), Bengaluru. CSMR volunteer Vishnu […]
International Human Rights Day: Progress of LGBTIAQ rights across the world
From South Africa to India, Costa Rica to Trinidad and Tobago, here is some of the progress made in terms of LGBTIAQ rights across the world in 2018. 70 years ago today the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. The milestone document proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being – […]
Church of England bishops to start inquiry into so-called ‘gay cure’ therapies
Senior Church of England bishops will start an inquiry into ‘gay cure’ therapies. Bishops will take evidence from people who have gone through the so-called ‘treatments’ to turn people from gay to straight. The treatments range from counselling to ‘corrective rape’, where victims are forced to have sex with someone of the opposite gender. The […]
These Teenage Trolls Are Pretending to Be LGBT, and Screwing Up Scientific Studies
Scientists studying LGBT youth may have a big problem on their hands: meddling kids. More specifically, meddling kids who think it’s funny to identify as gay or lesbian on surveys—and who then give exaggerated responses to other questions about, say, substance use or eating habits. That phenomenon, in turn, could be inflating certain estimated health disparities between LGBT youth and their peers. NYU […]
GSA Not Allowed to Say Gay or LGBT+
Staff members at Leo Jr./Sr. High School won’t let their recently-founded Gay-Straight Alliance use the word “gay” or the initialism LGBT+, according to New Now Next. The alliance was originally called Leo GSA, but the school’s administration told the members that they must go by the alternate name – Leo Pride Alliance. Of course, the pride in this […]
LGBT Activists Question Constitutionality of New Foster Care Law
The civil society association called “Rainbow Families”, which brings together LGBT activists, will ask the Constitutional Court to assess if the new foster care law was in line with the Constitution, saying that the law was discriminatory against an entire population group, as it did not enable same-sex couples to be eligible to provide foster carer […]
Homophobes threatened to light gay kids on fire at Canada school
Students members of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) in Botwood, Canada, say that homophobic classmates threatened to set them on fire. Pupils at Botwood Collegiate high school in Newfoundland spoke out about their horrifying clashes at the school with a faction of students opposed to LGBT+ rights. Botwood, the small rural town, has a population of […]
Hungary and Poland say no to LGBTIQ
“A Europe that protects” is Austria’s motto for its presidency of the Council of the EU. But it couldn’t agree to protect everyone. Hungary and Poland on Thursday torpedoed a joint statement by EU employment and social affairs ministers intended to promote gender equity in the digital era because of objections to a reference to LGBTIQ, the […]
Anti-trans group admits bathroom predator myth is made up
An anti-trans group has acknowledged the failure of bathroom predator scare-mongering tactics in the Massachusetts referendum on transgender rights protections. The realisation came as part of an analysis of the failure of the anti-trans campaign published on the website of MassResistance, an organisation claiming to advocate for family rights. The hate crime watchdog Southern Poverty Law […]
Fired for not using trans student’s pronouns, teacher argues ‘that is not tolerance’
Before he was fired for refusing to use male pronouns for a transgender student, Virginia teacher Peter Vlaming defended his convictions. “We are here today because a specific worldview is being imposed on me,” Vlaming said during a West Point Public School Board meeting to decide his fate, WTVR6 reported. “Even higher than my family ranks my […]
Mexico Recognizes A Gay Couple’s U.S. Marriage In An Extremely Important First For The Country
Gay rights in Mexico is a tricky subject — same-sex marriage is legal in 12 of 31 states plus Mexico City, and gay marriages are federally recognized. However, it’s still not technically legal to marry freely nationwide. On Wednesday, in an important step toward supporting same-sex unions, Mexico recognized a gay couple’s U.S. marriage, paving the […]
Islamic exorcisms used as conversion therapy as Indonesian city moves against LGBT population
An Indonesian city has launched a new campaign to “cleanse” LGBT people of their “social sickness” through religious exorcisms, a move that’s been seen as part of the country’s growing intolerance towards the community. Local media recently reported that police in Padang had apprehended 18 couples for “psychological support and rehabilitation” — 10 were women identified […]