UK’s first non-binary priest reveals God guided them to come out after an epiphany
A non-binary priest says God guided them to come out after an epiphany. Bingo Allison, 36, is to their knowledge the first openly non-binary priest to be ordained in the Church of England. Bingo, who now works in Liverpool, visits schools across the area and hopes to inspire LGBTQ+ young people and show them they […]
Missouri inmate may be 1st openly transgender woman executed in U.S.
Unless Missouri Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency, Amber McLaughlin, 49, will become the first openly transgender woman executed in the U.S. She is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday for killing a former girlfriend in 2003. McLaughlin’s attorney, Larry Komp, said there are no court appeals pending. The clemency request focuses on several issues, including […]
What challenges will LGBTQ+ people around the world face in 2023?
Progress for the world’s LGBTQ+ people has not been evenly spread in 2022, with some countries marking new milestones and others rolling back rights. In wins, Singapore, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Kitts and Nevis decriminalised gay sex in 2022, while same-sex marriage was officially legalised in Switzerland, Mexico and Slovenia. But Indonesia approved a […]
Sanjana Tiwari, dost tumhari: Transwoman who works to uplift lives of others like her
Sanjana Tiwari, who was forced into the sex trade because of poverty, is now an autorickshaw driver and economically independent. As a volunteer activist, she is now educating trans people about AIDS and safe sex. “Sanjana Tiwari, dost hai tumhari,” she says endearingly when introducing herself to gay men and transwomen who are at risk […]
LGBTQ Group Pushes For Workplace ‘Protection’ In Mauritius
Collectif Arc-en-Ciel, an LGBTQ Group in Mauritius is aggressively pushing for protection for its members. It is also fighting for similar rights as its heterosexual counterparts in the workplace and issued an official statement saying: “We do awareness sessions within firms about the importance of equality in the workplace but there is one thing that […]
How new Title IX rules could affect California’s transgender and nonbinary students
It took Xander nearly a decade to try community college again. The incoming American River College student first attempted higher education in North Carolina in 2013. But navigating campus as a man who is transgender was a nightmare, said Xander, who’s now 30 and asked to use his first name only because he did not […]
Archbishop Hezekiah warns world leaders against promoting LGBT, abortion
The Founder and Archbishop of Living Christ Mission Inc Church, Prof Daddy Hezekiah, has warned the international community to desist from the promotion of abominable, immoral and very unnatural LGBT practices, reckless abortion and intake of illicit drugs. He advised the world leaders to place much premium on scientific discovery of drugs that can cure […]
Mamba’s 21 most-read queer stories of 2022
The year that was 2022, thankfully, saw a decline in the number of reported LGBTIQ+ hate crimes in South Africa, compared to 2021. There were nonetheless still several deadly attacks against queer individuals based on their sexuality, gender identity or gender expression. The year was dominated by issues impacting LGBTIQ+ young people. These included unfounded […]
OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY ADDED OVER A DOZEN LGBT WORDS IN 2022
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) adds new words into the dictionary that were used in order to keep up with the ever-evolving English language. For 2022, they added several new LGBTQ entries used by the queer community. One of the words is the very acronym LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) was added, along with […]
Did LGBTQ rights campaigns in Qatar help or hinder?
Protests by Western activists at the FIFA World Cup may have backfired and sparked a backlash against gay. lesbian and queer communities in Qatar, critics say. Early in December, the US fast food chain Raising Cane’s came under attack from conservatives in Kuwait. The fried-chicken specialist from Louisiana has 12 franchises there. A man filmed […]
Israel names first gay speaker – but new government includes anti-LGBTQ+ ministers
The Israeli legislature has elected Amir Ohana as its first out gay speaker as a number of anti-LGBTQ+ politicians are made cabinet members. Ohana, a close ally of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was nominated as speaker of the Knesset in a decisive vote of 63-5 on Thursday. Addressing the legislature, Ohana said: “I pledge to […]
U.S. appeals court upholds Florida high school’s transgender bathroom ban
A sharply divided federal appeals court on Friday upheld a Florida high school’s policy forbidding transgender students from using bathrooms that accord with their chosen identities. In a 7-4 vote, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the St. Johns County school board did not violate the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights law […]
2021 was supposed to be the ‘worst year’ for LGBTQ rights — then came 2022
Last year, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, labeled 2021 the “worst year” for LGBTQ rights in modern U.S. history, citing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country. This year, the amount has nearly doubled, the group reported. But as 2022 comes to a close, […]
Mauritius LGBT, Intersex Rights Group Pushes for Workplace Protections
An LGBT and intersex rights group in Mauritius continues to work to protect LGBT and intersex people in the workplace. Although there is an LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination law in Mauritius, Collectif Arc-en-Ciel insists more needs to be done to ensure LGBT and intersex people are treated the same as their heterosexual counterparts. “We do awareness sessions […]
Kadyrov to the Arab world: Who does not want to live under the LGBT flags – to join “special military operation” in Ukraine
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, during a direct line broadcast for the first time in English and Arabic, addressed the Arab world and all Muslims with an offer to participate in the war in Ukraine “against the Satanists”, reports EA Daily. “Whoever does not want to live under the LGBT flag, we will give […]
3 Major LGBT Developments Of 2022 You Need To Know
As the year 2022 comes into an end, the LGBTQ community has found itself in upheaval in the United States and in the world as many continue their battle against the progress that has happened in the government and in the hearts of many people. This tumultuous period has targeted the rights of many queer […]
Russia’s Media Regulator Granted Powers to Block all LGBT Sites
The Russian government has granted its media regulator the authority to block websites containing “LGBT propaganda” without a court order, according to a decree published on Monday. “Information propagating non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences” now serves as grounds for blacklisting any website in Russia, alongside those containing child pornography, information about suicide methods, and […]
Uganda: Claims that LGBTQ+ people are “recruiting” schoolchildren
Annet Kezaabu, is the chairperson of the Anti-Pornographic Control Committee at the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity. It has reportedly warned that members of the LGBTQ+ community are targeting schools to “recruit, groom and initiate” children into homosexuality. According to the overwhelmingly uncritical Ugandan media, She claimed that these children are “recruited” into this “vice” […]
Moroccan director wants ‘healthy’ debate on gay rights
Moroccan director Maryam Touzani hopes her latest film, shortlisted for an Oscar, will provoke “a healthy, much-needed debate” around LGBTQ rights and challenge taboos in the conservative country. “The Blue Caftan” tells the story of Halim and his wife Mina, a couple who make and sell traditional robes in one of Morocco’s oldest souks. Their […]
Niger Lawmakers want the criminalization of gay relationships
As reported by the BBC, a group of lawmakers in Niger has supported a motion seeking to criminalize same-sex relationships in the country.
Tally of nations with anti-gay laws dropped to 68 this year
During the past year, the world has witnessed slow progress toward full recognition of the human rights of LGBTQ people, though many nations remain obstinate in their homophobic belief that all queer people are morally corrupt criminals. At the start of the year, 72 countries had laws punishing same-sex intimacy, including the tiny Pacific nation […]
Indonesian soldiers jailed for having gay sex as anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown continues
Two Indonesian soldiers were kicked out of the army and have been sentenced to seven months in jail for having gay sex. Gay sex is currently legal for civilians in most of the country, according to the South China Morning Post, however it is banned for members of the military. Soon, though, it will be […]
Israeli doctors, health care workers reject Netanyahu allies’ anti-LGBTQ remarks
Israel’s largest medical center and health care workers from hospitals around the country have spoken out against remarks by allies of Benjamin Netanyahu calling for a law to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people in hospitals and businesses. It was part of a broader blowback against remarks made this week by Religious Zionism politicians calling for […]
‘We Were Verbally Abused’: How a Kerala Church’s LGBTQ-Themed Star Sparked Row
A church in Kerala’s Ernakulam district is in the eye of a storm for spreading the message of ‘one love’ through an LGBTQIA+-themed decorative star that it had put up this Christmas. What happened? A youth group at St Mary’s Forane Church in Tripunithura hung the star around three weeks ago with the intention of […]
Sydney’s new LGBT museum Qtopia appoints queer curatorial team
Sydney’s new LGBTQI museum, Qtopia has announced the appointment of its Queer curatorial team in the leadup to its February opening. Queer curators, artists, and archivists Jacqui North and Liz Bradshaw will lead the exhibitions at The Bandstand in Green Park and The Red Room at the National Art School. With over 25 years of […]
Queering the family farm: Despite obstacles, LGBTQ farmers find fertile ground in Midwest
Shannon and Eve Mingalone avow that their farmers market booth is “very gay.” They hang strings of pride flags and sell rainbow stickers to help pay for gender-affirming care, like hormone replacement therapy, for Eve. Sometimes, when parents and their teenagers pass the booth, the adults glance, then speed ahead. The kids pause for a […]
Remote same-sex marriage breaks international boundaries
Same-sex couples in China are making their love official in the United States — all from the comfort of their own homes. Yi Yang and Johny Ni have been together for about three years, but as a gay couple in China, marriage hasn’t been an option until now. In October, the couple was able to […]
Dani Oliva is 1st trans executive at major music company
Music and technology company Venice Music has named Dani Oliva as their vice president of legal and business affairs. He is the first openly transgender person to become an executive at a major music company. Oliva has made several strides in the music industry recently. Before being promoted to an executive position, he received a platinum […]
Donnelly pressed over use of UK clinic for children with gender-identity issues
Documents released under a Freedom of Information request show Mr Donnelly was contacted by a representative from Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) and an individual, whose name was redacted, asking to meet the minister. The requests came in August this year following concerns about the Tavistock clinic in the UK, which provided gender dysphoria services to […]
Netanyahu rebukes far-right ally for anti-LGBTQ comments
JERUSALEM — Designated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare rebuke of his new coalition allies on Sunday for saying they would advance laws allowing discrimination against LGBTQ people, pledging there would be no harm to their rights by his upcoming government. Netanyahu is set to form the most ultranationalist and religious government in Israel’s […]