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 […]
Closing Arguments in Same-Sex Marriage Appeal
Same-sex marriage gives gay couples a “stamp of approval” not provided by domestic partnerships, a lawyer argued yesterday. Mark Pettingill, who argued against a government appeal to reverse a Supreme Court decision to reinstate same-sex marriages, added that the removal of the right sent a clear signal of disapproval. He said: “To remove this recognition […]
Let’s Do the Math on Gays in Malaysia
On Oct 29, an officer of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), Mohd Izwan Mohd Yusof, claimed that the number of gay men in the country had increased from 173,000 to 310,000 between 2013 and 2018, while the number of transgender people between 1988 and 2018 increased from 10,000 to 30,000. Among others, he stated […]
Thousands Attend Anti-LGBT Rally in W. Sumatra, Authorities Promise Harsh Laws to Stop Spread of ‘Virus’
Anti-LGBT hysteria seems to have once again taken hold in some parts of Indonesia, with near daily stories of authorities fanning the flames of hatred with discriminatory acts towards the vilified minority group. Many of these stories are coming from West Sumatra, with one city in the region recently seeing a massive anti-LGBT protest followed by […]
The Hidden Gay History of the Yukon, Home to One of the Most Remote Prides
Driving into Whitehorse, Canada, the only city in the Yukon, you’d be forgiven for tucking away your rainbow flag. With the Sacred Heart church on the right and only a Tim Hortons as the biggest chain insight – I wasn’t sure if this was a trip to parade my Gay Star News tote bag about. […]
Tanzania’s Anti-homosexuality Purge Is Making Ottawa Anxious
Official anti-gay prejudice in Tanzania is causing Canadian officials to reassess this country’s relationship with one of Canada’s biggest aid recipients. Arrests of gay men in Zanzibar over the weekend, and the launch of “anti-gay patrols” in the former capital Dar es Salaam on Monday, are the latest incidents to alarm Canadian diplomats. They’ve come […]
Protesters Vs. Petitioners: Dispute over Tunisia’s Anti-gay Law
Thousands of Muslim fundamentalists protested Saturday in front of the nation’s parliament to decry proposals in a government report on gender equality that they claim are contrary to Islam. Men and veiled women marched under a blazing sun from Tunis to Bardo, outside the capital where the parliament is located, to protest the report by […]
LGBTQ+ Germans Reveal Life of Insults with #MeQueer
LGBTQ+ people in Germany are sweeping Twitter with the hashtag #MeQueer, exposing how difficult life can still be in the country. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, pansexual and queer people are using the hashtag, modeled on the #MeToo movement, to expose the reality of their situations. In one tweet, a 19-year-old describes walking through the […]
Ukraine: Police Called on to Guard Odessa Pride Marchers
A small 100-people strong, mostly successful LGBT march, was held in the Ukraine under the watchful eyes of the police amid contrasting events elsewhere. Several anti-LGBT marchers carried out minor attacks on members of the group before the march. Two men who “committed hooligan actions in the city center,” by striking a passerby, were arrested. […]
‘I Am Me Now’: Syrian Refugee to Lead Kelowna Pride March after Life of Secrecy
Anas Qartoumeh says he wants Canada to keep fighting for human rights abroad. The Grand Marshal of the 2018 Kelowna Pride March is proud to lead the parade, but more important, he’s just proud he can be himself. Anas Qartoumeh is a gay Syrian refugee who fled his country in 2015 to escape the civil war, […]
Legendary Alleged Gay Club in Kuala Lumpur Raided for First Time in 30 Years
A local club operating on Jalan Sultan Ismail for about 30 years has finally been raided earlier this morning (August 18). It is believed that the club has always been popular among the local and foreign gay communities. The raid was a joint operation between the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), Federal […]