Taliban lashes and flogs Afghans in crowded football stadiums for ‘adultery and gay sex’
The Taliban have flogged a group of people in a crowded football stadium for “moral crimes” including gay sex. Twelve people, including three women, were lashed in front of thousands of onlookers in the eastern Logar province, a Taliban official has informed the BBC. According to the source they were punished for “sins” including “adultery, robbery, and […]
How the American anti-LGBTQ hate machine is posing a threat to Canadians
Seth Compton woke early one morning in July to his phone buzzing furiously with new messages. A wave of hate, stirred up far away, was starting to crash down on the LGBTQ youth centre he runs in North Bay, Ont. A flyer for an upcoming drag show at the centre had been posted by Libs of […]
I spoke to 100 LGBTQ+ Afghans fearing for their lives under the Taliban. This is what I learned
Filmmaker Dan Hall accidentally found himself in contact with more than a hundred queer people in Afghanistan living under Taliban rule. He shares some of their stories in a powerful new film. After Hall, a documentary director and producer, put out a call for contributors to help on a podcast about Afghan music, his number […]
It took a trip to Australia to find her true self. Now Divina Loloma wants to be Fiji’s first transgender politician
When Divina Loloma was living in Australia, her voice began to change. It was 1987 and she’d left her home country, Fiji, in the aftermath of a violent military coup. Sydney would offer her safety and better opportunities for education. However, it didn’t take long for Ms Loloma to discover much more — a place […]
Anti-LGBT law in Russia: ‘Leaders want to construct a united conservative base’
Russian MPs this week updated, and expanded, an anti-LGBT law – the latest in a series of measures aiming to highlight “traditional” family values. Against a backdrop of conflict in Ukraine, Russian political and religious leaders are ramping up an internal identity war. Russian MPs on Thursday voted to extend a law banning all forms […]
Days After Acquittal Confirmed In Nudes Case, LGBT Artist Flees Russia
An LGBT activist and artist acquitted recently in a high-profile pornography case over nude drawings and other artwork she posted online has left Russia days after an unsuccessful appeal by prosecutors, her mother mother said on November 25. Yulia Tsvetkova, 29, was found not guilty in mid-July before prosecutors under pressure from anti-LGBT activists appealed […]
Influential evangelical group that opposes LGBT+ rights vandalised after Colorado Springs mass shooting
A sign on the property of the Colorado-based evangelical organisation Focus on the Family was vandalised with graffiti reading “blood is on your hands” and “fives lives taken,” an apparent reference to a mass shooting inside a Colorado Springs LGBT+ nightclub that left five dead and injured 18 others. The graffiti was covered with large […]
Rainbow struggle playing out on sidelines of World Cup
Aside from the competition for the World Cup title, one of the most hotly contested issues in the tournament in Qatar is over rainbow colors. In the first week of the tournament, seven European teams lost the battle to wear multi-colored “One Love” armbands during World Cup matches and some fans complained they weren’t allowed […]
India’s top court to weigh same-sex marriage recognition
India’s top court decided Friday to proceed with a case weighing legal recognition of same-sex marriages, four years after the same institution struck down a colonial-era ban on gay sex. The case, brought by a gay couple who informally exchanged vows last year, could pave the way for India to become the second jurisdiction in […]
South Korea’s supreme court rules on legal transgender recognition
In a victory for LGBTQ rights, South Korea’s supreme court ruled that transgender people have the right to change their legal sex status, regardless of whether they have underage children. South Korea has been a democracy for more than three decades. Now, despite this, some minorities, including sexual minorities, are still battling for basic rights. […]
Court Rules in Favor of Newspaper against Lesbian Association
Mediaworks, a Hungarian media giant, has won a case against the Labrisz Lesbian Association, according to a ruling handed down by the Curia (Supreme Court) on Wednesday. In the dispute between the NGO publishing the storybook Fairyland for Everyone (Meseország mindenkié) and Mediaworks Hungary Zrt., the publisher of Magyar Nemzet, the Curia rejected Labrisz’s claim, Magyar Nemzet reported. In September […]
Former ‘detransitioner’ fights anti-transgender movement she once backed
Ky Schevers is fighting back against the anti-trans movement she once took part in. Schevers was assigned the sex of female at birth and later chose to start gender-affirming care by taking testosterone to transition from female to male in her mid-20s. She stopped taking testosterone, though, in the years that followed while she continued to explore […]
Police joked about rising tide of gay hate
As stories of teen gangs hunting down homosexual men grew with police ignoring the issue, community leader Gary Cox started a project to shine a light on gay hate crimes in Sydney in 1988. In little more than a month, a “terrifying picture” had emerged, he told an inquiry on Wednesday. Stories of youth gangs […]
German Catholic Church amends law to allow LGBTQ employees
The Catholic Church in Germany has updated its labor laws to end discrimination based on sexuality. The amendment, passed on Tuesday, comes almost a year after 125 employees of the Catholic Church came out as queer together in a demonstration to end discrimination under Church rules. Until now, employees of the Catholic Church could lose […]
Events bring awareness to asexual and intersex communities
The week of Oct. 23 was dedicated to two LGBTQ awareness periods: Asexual Awareness Week and Intersex Awareness Day. The former, also known as “Ace Week,” occurs every last full week of October, while the latter is observed each Oct. 26. “Experts estimate that up to 1.7 percent of the population are born with intersex […]
In First, Israel Issues Guidelines to Schools for Dealing With LGBTQ Students
For the first time, Israel’s Education Ministry has issued guidelines to schools regarding LGBTQ students and families. The document, released on Tuesday, requires schools to train teachers on the subject, to clarify with students which pronouns they use and to formulate rules to forbid discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation. Work on […]
Lesbian couple in Italy wins right not to be identified as “mother” & “father” on government docs
In a rebuff to Italy’s new right-wing government, a lesbian couple in Italy has won the right not be identified as “mother” and “father” on their child’s identity card. A judge in Rome ruled that because both members of the couple are the legal mothers to their daughter, it didn’t make sense that one of […]
How Noah Scheffel Is Bringing Transgender People Into Tech Careers In Brazil
To say that 2019 was a life-changing year for Noah Scheffel is an understatement. That year, the Brazilian technologist had been impacted by transphobic attitudes in his working environment due to his own transition journey, which led to a near-death experience. Little did he know this trajectory would result in EducaTRANSforma, an edtech focused on […]
Should Pre-K Kids Learn About Drag Queens and ‘Intersex’? MD School District Says Yes
One of Maryland’s wealthiest school districts has moved forward with an LGBTQ-inclusive book list for elementary school students while allegedly declining to recommend several children’s books that promote “American values.” According to Fox News, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) showed a list of LGBTQ+ books via Powerpoint that would be offered to pre-k through fifth-grade […]
2022 Qatar World Cup Human rights protests and reactions live: LGBTQ, armbands, rainbow flags…
Iranians chant for Mahsa Amini. Right before England beat Iran, the fans gathered outside the Khalifa International Stadium to chant the name of the woman whose death sparked the protests in Iran: Mahsa Amini. Germany remembers migrant workers who died in Qatar. In Herne, northern Germany, 20,000 candles were lit at a football stadium to […]
Clear spike in anti-trans rhetoric sets stage for violence like Colorado Springs shooting, experts say
A rapid increase in recent anti-trans and anti-gay rhetoric and protests set up violence like the overnight murders at Colorado Springs’ Club Q, political scientists and activists trying to keep their communities safe say. Anti-LGBTQ protesters, spurred on by conservative media that claims youths are being “groomed” or “mutilated” to create larger trans communities, have targeted […]
Mothers of LGBTQ children join forces in Latin America
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Fabu Olmedo is so nervous about clubs and restaurants in Paraguay that before a night out she often contacts one to make sure that she’ll be let in and won’t be attacked or harassed. Olmedo doesn’t know if she can go out in public safely becauses daily life is hard for transgender […]
Maguindanao town goes strict against LGBTQ cross-dressing
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines — Previously known as the municipality of Maganoy, this third-class town with a population of around 35,000 has imposed stricter measures against members of the LGBTQ community. Anwar Emblawa, executive secretary of the Shariff Aguak municipal government, said the move was in line “with upholding and respecting the Islamic religious tradition […]
Pakistan’s transgender activists seek rights and protection
Karachi (AFP) – Hundreds of transgender activists and their supporters protested in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi Sunday to campaign for equal rights and raise awareness of discrimination against the community. The protest comes days after the local release of “Joyland”, a controversial Pakistan movie about a married man’s affair with a transgender woman that was initially […]
Mothers of LGBTQ children join forces in Latin America
Fabu Olmedo is so nervous about clubs and restaurants in Paraguay that before a night out she often contacts one to make sure that she’ll be let in and won’t be attacked or harassed. Olmedo doesn’t know if she can go out in public safely becauses daily life is hard for transgender people in the […]
First openly transgender NFL cheerleader Justine Lindsay a ‘face of the possible’
After becoming a member of the Carolina Panthers TopCats cheerleaders in March, Justine Lindsay had heard that there was nothing like the team’s first home game of the season. That sentiment proved true. “It was the best moment I could imagine,” she recalled in an interview earlier this week of the Panthers’ season opener on […]
‘Rainbow wave’ in U.S. midterms lifts LGBTQ hopes, but battles lie ahead
A “rainbow wave” that lifted record numbers of LGBTQ candidates to victory in the U.S. midterms is a promising sign of growing acceptance, but tough legislative fights still lie ahead in many Republican-controlled states, rights campaigners said. Even as Republicans gained a slim majority in the House of Representatives, the absence of the predicted “red […]
‘I feel gay, disabled … like a woman too!’: Infantino makes bizarre attack on critics
The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has accused critics of Qatar’s human rights record of staggering hypocrisy and racism in a bizarre and incendiary attack on the eve of the 2022 World Cup finals. In an 57-minute diatribe which frequently drew gasps of astonishment, Infantino claimed that western nations were in no position to give morality […]
Belgium bans ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ people
Belgium is banning conversion practices – a pseudoscientific practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms – for members of the LGBTQ community, announced State Secretary for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunity and Diversity Sarah Schlitz. Although Belgium is regularly regarded as a model of LGBTQ […]
Canada Soccer announces 4-year partnership with LGBT project ahead of World Cup in Qatar
As the men’s World Cup in Qatar puts a spotlight on the country’s record of human rights violations, Canada Soccer has partnered with a group that aims to tackle homophobia in sports. You Can Play is a project that started in 2012 that is working to create the most inclusive space possible for LGBT fans, […]