Tijuana shelters reaching capacity as migrant caravan continues to stream into border city
Central American migrants continue to make their way toward Tijuana, even as the border city south of San Diego struggles to accommodate the more than 2,000 caravaners who have already arrived. Mexican media has reported that more than 1,500 Central American migrants arrived in Mexicali Friday, about three hours by car to the east of Tijuana, and that the migrants are […]
How the Catholic ‘Alt-Right’ Aims to Purge LGBTQ Members from the Church
Websites like Church Militant, LifeSite News and the Lepanto Institute are ratcheting up the rhetoric with personal attacks on supporters of gay Catholics. The call for action against the “Forces of Organized Perversion” landed in the inboxes of conservative Roman Catholics across the country just before Election Day. “Have you had enough?” activist Randy Engel wrote […]
‘Waria’ Told to Leave Their Home in Jakarta Amid Anti-LGBT Campaign
Seven transgender people in Sumur Utara, Klender, East Jakarta, have been told by residents to leave a boarding house they are currently staying at. “We, kampung Sumur residents, reject the presence of LGBT groups”, states a banner put up in front of the boarding house on Saturday. The neighborhood unit (RT) head was collecting signatures from residents […]
Gay Couple from LGBT Migrant Caravan Marry in Tijuana
A gay couple from an LGBT+ migrant caravan from central America married in an emotional ceremony in Tijuana. Pedro and Erick tied the knot in front of journalists and human rights workers on Saturday. Freelance journalist Sarah Kinosian, who is based in central American, shared a video of the pair kissing after the wedding. She […]
Ukraine Transgender Rally Disrupted by Far-Right Militants
Far-right militants in Ukraine have disrupted a march by transgender activists in the capital Kiev. Reports say two young women were attacked and mocked as they received medical attention, and a Canadian journalist was punched in the face. Another reporter says police officers manhandled the activists and did nothing to stop the violent far-right members. […]
Pre-Referenda LGBT Rights Rally Draws 100,000 in Taipei
A reported 100,000 people attended a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in support of LGBTQ rights Saturday, with a nationwide referendum on marriage equality and LGBTQ-friendly education scheduled to take place Nov. 24. Featuring musical performances and speeches, the rally culminated with a performance by heavy metal band Chthonic, which is fronted by legislator Freddy Lim […]
This Activist Can Explain What Life Is Really like for LGBTI People in Myanmar
The Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar made the news this month. It was revealed that two LGBTI individuals had been arrested under the colonial-era Section 377 of the penal code. Myanmar criminalizes ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’. The British introduced it in 1860 and those found guilty face up to 10 years in jail. It is the […]
Depok to Issue anti-LGBT Regulation
The administration of Depok in West Java says it is committed to preparing a regulation to curb a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement that the administration believes is becoming more rampant in the area. “[We will make it] to overcome this social deviancy. This mayoral regulation will be an effective regulatory step to […]
South Africa Needs to Oppose Tanzania’s anti-Gay Crackdown
Tanzania’s anti-gay crackdown has run into opposition far and wide, but not yet from South Africa, although equal rights for its LGBT citizens are enshrined in the nation’s constitution. South Africa has even wavered in its support for a South African journalist and press freedom advocate who was expelled from Tanzania last week as she and […]
LGBT Migrants Fled Persecution Back Home. Then They Fled the Caravan
For most of the people traveling as part of a thousand-person migrant caravan in the hope of reaching safety at the U.S. border, the group represents their best chance to escape persecution, violence and criminal exploitation in their native countries. For roughly 80 LGBT Hondurans, however, the group itself became a dangerous place—dangerous enough for them to […]
Court Strikes Down Guyana anti-Transgender Law
A Guyana anti-transgender law banning “cross-dressing” has been struck down, after it was used to target transgender people. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), an international court with jurisdiction across several Caribbean and South American countries, heard a challenge to a Guyanese law that made it a criminal offence for a man or a woman to appear […]
Denmark Withholds Aid to Tanzania after Anti-Gay Comments
Denmark is withholding 65m krone (£7.5m; $9.8m) in aid to Tanzania after “unacceptable homophobic comments” from a senior politician, a minister says. Development Minister Ulla Tornaes did not name the official but said she was “very concerned” by the comments. Last month, Paul Makonda, commissioner for the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, called on the […]
Tanzania Loses $300 Million World Bank Loan Amid Crackdown Concerns
The World Bank has pulled a planned $300 million educational loan to Tanzania amid concerns about the country’s policy of banning pregnant girls from going to school. The $300 million program was meant to help Tanzania’s Ministry of Education improve access to quality secondary education. It was scheduled to be approved by the bank’s management […]
Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ Often Begins at Home, With Devastating Consequences
The new movie “Boy Erased”—about a gay teen’s ordeal when forced to attend a “conversion therapy” program—is shining a spotlight on a treatment deemed bogus and harmful by most experts. And new research shows the key role parents often play in efforts to change an LGBT child’s sexual orientation. The first-of-its-kind study, which surveyed white […]
What Is it Like Living in Regional Australia as a Part of the LGBTIQA Community?
When Hugo Weaving dances along the red dirt of Broken Hill in evening gloves and an array of sequins, the world watches with affection. However, if a group of teenagers take to the streets of Whyalla waving a rainbow-striped flag, there’s no telling what will happen. For Harry Flam, 18, and Bec Aspey, 16 — members of […]
Birmingham University Warned of Risk to LGBT Rights at Dubai Campus
Staff and students at the University of Birmingham have warned that LGBT rights are not adequately protected at its new campus in Dubai where being gay or transgender risks imprisonment, flogging and execution. They have called on the university to make clear what safeguards staff and students have in the Gulf emirate given that same-sex behaviour, identifying as transgender, […]
Calls from LGBT Youth Groups for Increased Education in Schools
New research has shown that more than three-quarters of LGBT+ young people have disclosed that anti-LGBT+ bullying is a major source of anxiety in their lives. The new research from BeLonG To Youth Services shows that 76% of LGBT+ young people find this kind of bullying a predominant source of anxiety. The study also found that […]
Activists Take Aim at anti-LGBTQ ‘Hate Group,’ Alliance Defending Freedom
Surrounded by the skyscrapers that tower over Times Square, a new billboard went up this week that in large black letters reads: “NO GAYS ALLOWED.” Just below, a smaller message states: “STOP Alliance Defending Freedom. Learn more at NoGays.org.” The billboard is part of a new campaign that aims to draw attention to the conservative […]
Taiwan’s Pro-LGBTI Lawmaker Explains Why Equal Marriage Has Been ‘Derailed’ in Taiwan
Taiwan’s bid to become the first country in Asia to recognize same-sex unions has been a rocky road. One woman, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Yu Mei-Nu, has been at the center of that ride. Politicians first introduced equal marriage legislation into the parliament a decade ago. And, when President Tsai Ing-Wen and the DPP […]
Shedding the Last Layer: Gay India Awakens to New Freedom
In a country where nudity is neither commonplace nor commodity, the act of stripping publicly is often a political one — the same way the act of kissing, of hand holding, of laying in bed together has been political for the community we see here. Their nakedness, one needn’t really point out, is a triumph […]
Rights Groups Condemn ‘brutal and humiliating’ Tests on Gay Men in Tunisia
More than 70 gay men were jailed by Tunisian authorities last year, according to activists, who warn anal tests and phone searches are being used to identify suspects. Mounir Baatour, lawyer and president of the Tunisian LGBT association Shams, said that while the 2011 revolution had given greater freedoms to civil society groups, this had […]
Gay ‘cure’ Therapy Exposed in UK Churches, with Claim LGBTI Equality is ‘Like Nazi propaganda’
An ITV News investigation has exposed gay conversion therapy taking place in UK churches, with one pastor comparing society’s acceptance of LGBT+ people to Nazi propaganda. The broadcaster also found that several pastors at the Pentecostal Winners’ Chapel in Dartford—one of the largest churches in Britain—claimed they could stop people from being gay. In one video, two […]
LGBT Veterans Honored at D.C. Wreath Laying Ceremony
Close to 100 people, including LGBT veterans and active duty LGBT service members, assembled at the grave site of gay Air Force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery on Sunday to pay tribute to LGBT veterans. The Veterans Day event, organized by the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, included remarks by Major General […]
Is Poland About to Issue a Russian-style ‘gay propaganda’ Ban?
Polish president Andrzej Duda has said he would consider issuing a Russian-style “gay propaganda” law that would ban LGBTQ media, literature, and gatherings like Pride. The authoritarian leader told a reporter, “I think that this kind of propaganda should not take place in schools, it has to be calmly and consistently opposed. If such a law was created […]
Anti-LGBTI Sentiment Rises Ahead of Elections
Several regional authorities are planning to create regulations designed to further curtail the rights of the LGBTI community — minority group frequently used as political fodder during election season. Payakumbuh, the second-largest city in West Sumatra, is set to revise a 2016 bylaw on social ills to introduce several articles specifically banning LGBT activities to prevent […]
Doncaster ‘Gay Pride’ Poppy Divides Opinion on Remembrance Sunday
A ‘gay pride’ poppy decorated with LGBT rainbow colours has divided opinion after being shared by Doncaster Pride on Remembrance Sunday. The organisation shared the image – with part of the poppy’s traditional red petals replaced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community’s rainbow colours as the nation fell silent yesterday to remember the 100th anniversary […]
LGBT Migrants Leave Caravan over ‘Discrimination,’ Reach California Border
LGBT members of a caravan of Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border appear to have reached the California border after leaving the main group behind over alleged discrimination from other migrants. A local community group in Tijuana, Mexico, where the group appears to have arrived, said they were “surprised” to see members of the […]
Young Ukrainian Campers Learn Lessons in War, LGBT Hate
The campers, some clad in combat fatigues, carefully aim their assault rifles. Their instructor offers advice: Don’t think of your target as a human being. So when these boys and girls shoot, they will shoot to kill. Most are in their teens, but some are as young as 8 years old. They are at a […]
CCJ Declares Guyana’s Cross-dressing Law Unconstitutional
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled that a law in Guyana, which makes it a criminal offence for a man or a woman to appear in a public place while dressed in clothing of the opposite sex for an “improper purpose”, is unconstitutional. The law, Section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, is […]
Thailand: New Bill Offers Some Hope to LGBT Community
The Thai Justice Ministry has kicked off public hearings on the proposed Life Partnership Bill that is scheduled to be submitted to the Cabinet this month. The Life Partnership Bill has no less than 70 sections, but the elaborate legislation excludes some basic rights for same-sex couples, many said at the first public hearing stage […]