Lawsuit in London to allege Grindr shared users’ HIV status with ad firms
Grindr faces the prospect of legal action by hundreds of users who will allege that the dating app shared highly sensitive personal information, including in some cases their HIV status, with advertising companies. The law firm Austen Hays is to file a claim on Monday in London’s high court alleging that the US owner of […]
Dominica court overturns anti-sodomy law
The High Court of the Caribbean island nation of Dominica has ruled that Dominica’s law against consensual same-sex intimacy is unconstitutional. The judgement against the anti-sodomy law was announced via Zoom this morning. With this decision, the number of nations with anti-LGBTQ laws has dropped to 65. Cara Shillingford represented the claimants. The Attorney General’s […]
In the Olympics of Drag, Taiwan just took the gold
For Taiwan, which often finds its international participation constrained – barred from a World Health Organization membership and competing under the “Chinese Taipei” flag at the Olympics – the triumph of Nymphia Wind, a charismatic drag queen from Taiwan, on Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race American television reality competition is a moment of significant […]
In Australia, women-only app becomes latest front in war over trans rights
Sydney, Australia– Sall Grover says she did not think twice when she blocked Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman, from her Australian-based women-only app Giggle for Girls. “It did not register, as we get men trying to enter all the time. Mr Tickle passed our AI facial recognition test, which was deliberately set at 94 percent […]
Gov. Greg Abbott Wants to ‘End’ Trans Teachers Expressing Their Gender in Texas
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested that he wants to end transgender and gender nonconforming individuals from expressing their gender while teaching in the state. At a speech delivered Friday at the Young Conservatives of Texas convention, Abbott described a report of a high school teacher who wore feminine clothing rather than clothing that matched their gender assigned […]
Venice Biennale platforms LGBTQ , outsider and Indigenous artists
Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition that opened Saturday, curated for the first time by a Latin American. Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa’s main show, which accompanies 88 national pavilions for the seven-month run, is strong on figurative painting, with fewer installations than recent editions. […]
In Japan, US book on transgender surgery for young people sparks threats, heated debate
A decision by a conservative-leaning newspaper in Japan to defy threats and push ahead with the translated publication of a book critical of gender-altering procedures for young people has stirred debate over their exposure to life-changing decisions and the different views on freedom of expression. Earlier this month, Sankei Shimbun Publishing released the Japanese-language version of Irreversible Damage: […]
Learning Love and Loyalty in the AIDS Crisis
David called me on Saturday, April 23, 1994, to tell me Bill died that morning at 8:35. Now it was over. The inevitability, the feelings of resignation, concern, fear, and despair would all merge into a sense of great loss. Mostly, I felt calm, even numb. I was glad to know Bill died peacefully and […]
Jeremy Corbyn calls for an end to the ‘horrors’ of anti-trans discrimination
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has shared a message of support for transgender people everywhere. The Islington North MP told the Council of Europe that there had to be an end to the “horrors of transgender discrimination”, in his speech on Thursday (18 April). A parliamentary assembly was held for the Council of Europe to […]
Nepal Promotes LGBT-Friendly Tourism With First International Rainbow Conference
The first International Rainbow Tourism Conference opened here on Saturday, with Nepal offering itself as a safe and respectful destination in South Asia for the sexual minority community. The single-day international conference was organised by Mayako Pahichan Nepal, a non-governmental organisation. “This pioneer event organised by Mayako Pahichan Nepal in collaboration with Nepal Tourism Board […]
California judge agrees to second look at language in proposed transgender initiative
A California judge weighing potential prejudice in the title and summary of a proposed ballot measure concerning transgender children is considering his ruling after a Friday hearing. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto already had issued a tentative ruling in favor of the state Attorney General’s Office, deciding that the title of the proposed […]
Scotland Pauses Transgender Medications For Minors
Scotland has paused all new prescriptions of transgender medications such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, the latest in a string of developments in Britain pumping the brakes on transgender medical services for minors. Scotland’s only youth gender clinic, the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow, which is operated by Scotland’s National Health Service (NHS) […]
Trudeau’s 2024 budget includes $150 million to promote ‘2SLGBTQI+’ ideology at home and abroad
The Trudeau government plans to expand ‘equity groups’ to include people who identify as ‘2SLGBTQ+’ and to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to promote its ‘Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan’ and ‘embed’ LGBT issues in the Canadian government. The Trudeau government’s 2024 budget features plans to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to […]
Mathabatha Joba’s podcast empowers queer voices
The airwaves buzz with a new and exciting podcast called ‘LivenInspirewithMathabatha’ hosted by an advocate for the LBGTQ+ community Mathabatha Joba every Wednesday from 19:00-20:00 on MyneighborhoodTV. The producer of the podcast Onkemetse Matlahaku said the podcast provides a safe space for members of the queer community to share their stories, both triumphant and challenging. […]
Biden’s new Title IX rules protect LGBTQ+ students, but avoid addressing transgender athletes
The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under rules finalized Friday by the Biden administration. The new provisions are part of a revised Title IX regulation issued by the Education Department, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Joe Biden. He had […]
Burundi’s president says gay people should be stoned
Burundi’s president said gay people should be stoned, amid a larger crackdown on the LGBTQ community in the East African country. “If you want to attract a curse to the country, accept homosexuality,” Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye said in a question and answer session with journalists and the public last Friday, according to Reuters. “I even think that […]
LGBT Ghanaians await court ruling on restrictive new law
ACCRA (Reuters) – Members of Ghana’s LGBT community and activists are waiting to see whether the West African country’s president will sign into law a bill that would further restrict their rights and likely worsen the persecution many face. Kwame, a gay man who spoke to Reuters on the condition his real name was not used, […]
A Second Trump Presidency Would Be A Nightmare Scenario For Transgender People
Jules was driving to their friend’s house in St. Petersburg, Florida, last year when a police officer pulled them over for a busted taillight. Jules wondered if the officer saw their “Say Gay” sticker — a small protest to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill — and nervously handed over their driver’s license. […]
Puberty blockers paused for under-18s in Scotland
Scotland’s only youth gender clinic has paused prescribing puberty blockers for under-18s. Prescriptions for under-18s currently on the waiting list are to be blocked following the decision by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC). The Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow also said that patients aged 16 and up would no longer receive hormone treatments until they […]
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf confirms trans women will be protected under new misogyny laws
The Scottish government are set to introduce a bill to address prejudice and violence against women and girls – which rightly includes trans women and girls – before the current parliamentary term ends in 2026. The First Minister said that “anyone affected” by misogyny would be safeguarded, no matter their gender identity. Speaking to BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, he said: […]
Travel warning issued for LGBTQ+ tourists in Greece. Where in Europe is safest for queer people?
Following a travel warning issued for LGBTQ+ tourists in Greece, these are the European countries that are most welcoming to queer people. When same-sex marriage was legalised in Greece back in February, LGBTQ+ campaigners celebrated. Now, though, the British Foreign Office has issued new travel advice for queer people travelling to the country. An update, […]
Out in the World: Anti-LGBTQ bills, laws are spreading around the world
Anti-LGBTQ bills and new laws are spreading around the world, including in several African nations and the former Soviet republic of Belarus. The proposed or approved legislation in these various countries seek to criminalize same-sex relationships and gender identity, ban promoting LGBTQ rights, and censor media outlets. Prominent Ugandan LGBTQ activists Frank Mugisha, executive director of […]
Russia-style NGO crackdowns spread as Europe dithers
Georgia’s ruling party plans to reintroduce highly controversial Russia-style “foreign agent” legislation aimed at incapacitating civil society and independent media. If adopted, the laws, which were withdrawn last year in the face of massive protests, would require foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations and media to register as “agents of foreign influence”. That would make them subject to additional scrutiny and […]
Federal appeals court overturns West Virginia’s transgender sports ban
A federal appeals court struck down a West Virginia law that barred transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams in public schools and colleges. In a 2-1 ruling Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, a transgender girl who argued that the law prevented her from […]
Uganda: Activists Appeal Shock Anti-Homosexuality Law Ruling
Twenty-two individuals have filed an appeal with Uganda’s Supreme Court against the Constitutional Court’s recent refusal to strike down the country’s vile Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA). The Supreme Court is the highest appeal court in Uganda. The petitioners include academics, activists such as Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha and Jacqueline Kasha Nabagesara, as well […]
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf confirms trans women will be protected under new misogyny laws
Humza Yousaf has confirmed that trans women will be protected under new misogyny laws in Scotland. The Scottish government are set to introduce a bill to address prejudice and violence against women and girls – which rightly includes trans women and girls – before the current parliamentary term ends in 2026. Speaking to BBC’s Good […]
Iraq postpones vote on bill to impose death penalty for same-sex acts
The Iraqi parliament is threatening to pass a long-delayed anti-LGBTQ bill that would impose the death penalty for same-sex intimacy. Although Iraq does not currently have an explicitly anti-gay law, Erasing 76 Crimes has long included the country in its list of nations with anti-gay laws, because it arrests LGBTQ Iraqis on vague “anti-morality” charges. […]
US Supreme Court lets Idaho enforce ban on transgender care for minors
The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let a Republican-backed law in Idaho that criminalizes gender-affirming care for transgender minors broadly take effect after a federal judge blocked it as unconstitutional. The court granted Republican Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s request to narrow a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill, who ruled […]
Trans youth dying in suicide “epidemic” as UK increasingly restricts gender-affirming care
Transgender 15-year-old Jason Pulman died by suicide after his country’s medical system told him he’d have to wait 26 months for his first gender-affirming care appointment. His death is at least the third to occur among trans teens in the U.K. who were recently denied similar care — advocates worry such deaths will only increase […]
First China transgender clinic deals with ‘visitors’ as it embraces country’s 4 million people with body dissatisfaction
For China’s transgender population of four million – and those with empathy for them – they are people whose souls are trapped in the wrong body. At the country’s first transgender clinic in Beijing, they are not seen as patients. The term transgender describes people whose internal sense of being male, female, neither, or both, […]