Russian LGBT Pride Parade Finally Approved and Immediately Banned in Village of Seven People
Russian activists announced the first government-permitted Gay Pride march, but less than 24-hours later, local officials said they would not let the event go ahead, even in a town with a population of only seven people. The initial announcement, made by one of the country’s most famous LGBT rights activists, followed a series of bids from campaigners […]
Growing up Gay in China: As Chinese Come Out of the Closet, Companies Cash In
A group of girls sit cross-legged in front of a wall-to-ceiling mirror concentrating intensely as they apply make-up. They talk quietly, exchanging tips on which brush to use and what shade of mascara works best. But these young Shanghai women are not trying to make themselves look more feminine. They are getting lessons on how […]
Republicans Pick ‘anti-LGBT Extremist’ to Challenge out Senator Tammy Baldwin
Republican voters have picked an anti-LGBT candidate to challenge the only out US Senator, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. The Democratic firebrand, who co-chairs the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, will face an anti-LGBT challenger in November. Republicans picked State Senator Leah Vukmir to challenge Baldwin in this week’s primary. The Human Rights Campaign notes that Vukmir “has repeatedly taken extreme positions […]
Egyptian Actor Pushes for LGBT Rights
Amid Egypt’s continuing repression of its LGBT citizens, dissidents, political activists and journalists, actor Khaled Abol Naga keeps promoting LGBT rights. An award-winning actor, stage director and film producer, Naga was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2007. He has spoken out on many sensitive social issues, including HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation and children’s rights. […]
Good News for Africa’s Queers
An eight-part podcast series looking into the experiences of “queer Africans living, loving, thriving and surviving on the continent and in the diaspora” recently hit the virtual world. Titled AfroQueer, the weekly series covers topics such as law, migration, film, race, censorship, family and sex. The series is put together by an African queer-focused digital media […]
Germany has Approved Plans to Legally Recognise a Third Gender
Germany’s government has approved plans to introduce a third gender on official forms. In November, the highest court in the country ruled in favour of an intersex person and ordered the Parliament to legally recognise a third gender from birth or remove gender from documents. Germany was the first European nation to introduce the option for parents to […]
Tunisia: Gay Rights, Inheritance Reforms Put Country on Edge
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has backed equal inheritance rights for men and women and is also pushing for other reforms such as decriminalizing homosexuality. Religious conservatives are far from happy.
Austria Rejects ‘gay Afghan’s’ Asylum Claim Telling Him he Doesn’t ‘walk, talk or dress like a homosexual’
Austria has rejected the asylum application of an Afghan claiming to be gay because he did not ‘act’ or ‘dress’ like a homosexual, according to a media report. An official in Lower Austria state found no grounds for fear of persecution based on the sexual orientation of the 18-year-old, the Falter weekly newspaper reported. ‘The way you walk, act […]
Baker Who Refused to Make a Gay Wedding Cake Back in Court
A baker who won a US Supreme Court battle over his refusal to bake a gay wedding-themed cake is again in the headlines, this time for turning down a request to make a transgender-themed treat.
‘She Insulted My Manhood’: Murder Underlines Turkey’s LGBT Backlash
In a country where anti-gay violence is often excused as unjust provocation, a fatal shooting has raised fresh fears. Simge Avcı loved practical jokes, says her roommate Bahar, recalling how her friend would giggle after pretending to spill the contents of an empty teapot on her startled victims. Bahar (not her real name), 25, had lived […]
Pride in London Sorry After Anti-Trans Protest
Pride in London organizers have apologized after anti-trans protesters “forced their way to the front of the parade”. Members of lesbian and feminist group Get The L Out demanded to march behind the rainbow flag, which marks the start of the event, organizers said. The group argues the trans movement is attacking lesbian rights and […]
Spain Offers Free Fertility Treatment for Lesbians and Single Women
Spain’s new Socialist government has agreed to offer free reproductive treatment to lesbians and single women on Friday, restoring a benefit cancelled by the conservative administration it toppled in June. The announcement rounded off a string of social measures made during Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s first month in power. The austerity-minded government of former premier […]
Gay Marriage Does Not Fit in a Communist Country, Cuban Evangelicals Say
Five Evangelical churches in Cuba say they oppose same-sex marriage because the ideology of gender is totally foreign to Cuban culture or “the historic leaders of the Revolution.” The Evangelical League of Cuba, the Eastern and Western Baptist Conventions, the Methodist Church of Cuba and the Assembly of God Evangelical Church explained their posture in […]
A Ray of Hope for LGBTI Community
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear petitions for scrapping Section 377 of the penal code, a 149-year-old archaic law which criminalizes homosexual acts and provides for a punishment of up to ten years in jail. The petitions were filed by 32 individuals, including celebrities, IITians and LGBT activists. In […]
LGBT Issues Are of Huge Interest to People Not Just from Those Communities – the Data Proves It
When the prototype version of Pride London took place in 1972, it was sneered at by a media that was “universally hostile”, according to veteran LGBT activist Peter Tatchell. Ahead of Pride London 2018, organisers commissioned a study, Pride Matters, which found that 59 per cent of heterosexual people believe there is already too much […]
Malaysia: Numan Afifi, More than just gay
I will openly admit that I have been gay since 2008 when I came out right in front of a crowd of people. Thus, when I was outed again during the #UndiRosak campaign, it didn’t create quite the same fireworks as it did the first time. I have been blessed with accepting parents as well […]
Activists Sneak Pride into Russia
Six activists made Moscow a little gayer using some creativity. The activists from Spain, The Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia joined together using soccer shirts, standing side-by-side in the color of the pride flag to protest Russia’s “homosexual propaganda” ban. “Unfortunately, 40 years later, there are still countries in which homosexuality is persecuted, sometimes […]
Ecuador Judges Rule Against Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Two judges of an Ecuadorian court have ruled against that nation’s ban on same-sex marriage. The pair of judges sit on the Family, Women, Children and Adolescents Court in Cuenca, Ecuador. The presiding justices were Iliana Vallejo and Ruth Alvarez. In their ruling, they noted that rejected same-sex marriage license applications amounted to a significant […]
By Day, He Runs for President of South Sudan. By Night, He Unloads Trucks at Lowe’s.
Just minutes into the night shift at Lowe’s, beads of sweat sparkle on Bol Gai Deng’s forehead. He’s at the back of the suburban Richmond store, unloading a 54-foot truck crammed with leaf blowers and barbecue grills, Drano and pitchforks — tough work that drives off most in a matter of weeks or months. Deng […]
These Five Court Cases Could Change the Future of LGBT Rights
The Supreme Court nominee President Trump is expected to announce on Monday could play as large a role in unraveling LGBT rights as retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy did in recognizing them. As LGBT legal advocacy groups previously told The Daily Beast, virtually everything will be on the line if Kennedy is replaced with an arch-conservative: […]
No, LGBT People Aren’t Harming Malaysia, But Child Marriage Is
When the news broke last week that a 41-year-old man from Kelantan had married an 11-year-old girl, alarm bells went off in Malaysia’s newly elected government as well as among nongovernmental groups. The Kelantan state police started an investigation, and activists stepped up calls to legislate a minimum marriage age of 18, with no exceptions. […]
Royal Marines March At London Pride For First Time
For the first time, the Royal Marines have marched through London as part of the city’s Pride celebrations this year. Members of the British armed forces have attended the event celebrating the LGBT+ community for the last 10 years, with hundreds of defence personnel marching in celebration of Pride in London last year. More than one million people took […]
International Support for Budapest Pride March
More than 100 CEOs will march together at Budapest Pride Saturday. Meanwhile, the embassies of 34 countries around the world expressed their support for the rights of LGBT communities. Business leaders from local organizations, SMEs and large multinational companies will join Budapest Pride, including Citi, Blackrock, BP, GE, Diageo, IBM, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nielsen, Procter&Gamble […]
Reconstituted Supreme Court Bench to Hear Section 377 Case
Days ahead of the crucial hearing on a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of section 377 of the IPC that criminalises consensual gay sex, the Chief justice of India Dipak Misra has reconstituted the 5 judge constitution bench to hear the case. According to the cause list released by the Supreme Court registry, the […]
Britain Cannot Stay Silent as LGBT Rights Are Rolled Back Across the World
From Poland to Egypt to Trump’s USA, independent judges are the last bulwark against governments who threaten gay rights. When I was starting out as a barrister in the 1980s, Lord Denningwas the most famous judge in the land, and the supposed role model for every lawyer. But not for me. Not when I was […]
Public Support for Men in Drag in Row with Chinese Police
A video of a heated altercation between three men in drag and police officers in the city of Suzhou has started tens of thousands of people talking about LGBT rights in China. The video has been widely shared and viewed more than three million times on the Chinese video-sharing site on Miaopai. According to local […]
Colombia Failing to Stem Murders of LGBT People
Colombia has made no progress in stopping killings of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, campaigners said, as new research showed more than 100 were killed last year despite an overall fall in the murder rate. Colombia’s murder rate fell to its lowest level in four decades last year, according to government figures, but the […]
Black Pride: Why We Need an Event to Celebrate Being Black and Gay
Hundreds of thousands of people will line the streets on Saturday to celebrate the LGBT community at Pride in London. But many LGBT black people say they feel excluded at mainstream Pride events and experience racism on the gay scene. And that’s why, the day after Pride in London, UK Black Pride takes place a […]
Only Two Thirds of Generation Z Identify as ‘Exclusively Heterosexual’
Homosexuality is no longer the taboo it once was. But figures suggest that young people are even more open to experimentation than previously thought. Only two thirds of Generation Z identify as solely heterosexual, in stark contrast to previous generations, a study has found. Research by Ipsos Mori found that 66 per cent of young […]
Neo-Nazis In Sweden Allegedly Attacked People Supporting Israel And LGBT Rights
Members of a neo-Nazi group were allegedly involved in two separate incidents in Sweden this week, reportedly attacking LGBT rights supporters and a member of the Sweden–Israel Friendship Association. The men accused of the assaults are members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a self-identified National Socialist political party that is campaigning on an anti-immigrant […]