STARS SLAMMED ‘Beyond disrespectful’ – Josh Cavallo SLAMS Iker Casillas for ‘coming out as gay’ as Spaniard says Twitter was hacked
JOSH CAVALLO has slammed Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol for being “beyond disrespectful” after a tweet from Casillas’ account said “I’m gay.” Australian star Cavallo, 22, bravely came out as gay last year, becoming the first active male professional to do so. And he has condemned both Casillas and Puyol on social media. Cavallo wrote on his […]
Human rights campaigner fears ‘gay-bashing’ attacks by locals at Qatar World Cup
LGBTQ+ visitors to Qatar for the World Cup could be left open to “gay-bashing” attacks from locals with the security forces lacking the resources to protect them, a Qatari human rights campaigner has said. Concerns have been raised over what sort of treatment visiting members of the LGBTQ+ community will receive from the authorities in a country where same-sex […]
Putin says U.S. wants to push gender “perversions” on Russian schoolchildren
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed anti-LGBTQ views in his speech following the annexation of four Eastern Ukrainian regions into Russian territory. Putin delivered the speech last Friday in Moscow after Ukrainians in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia voted to join Russia. The four territories held elections overseen by Russian military troops and pro-Russian separatists. The U.S. […]
Legal ruling may signal trouble for Biden’s Title IX plan, LGBTQ guidance
Some legal experts say a new federal court ruling striking down pro-LGBTQ employment policies from the Biden administration may spell trouble for similar guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and its mammoth regulatory proposal on Title IX. A federal judge in Texas delivered that big legal blow to the administration Oct. 1. District Court […]
Trailblazing Brazilian trans lawmakers face more conservative Congress
Erika Hilton, a 29-year-old Sao Paulo city council member, just made history as one of the first two transgender lawmakers elected this week to Brazil’s Congress. But the victory is bittersweet, Hilton said, after a stronger-than-expected showing by President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies in Sunday’s general election consolidated a robust right-wing coalition among her […]
New Zealand Gay Man’s Convictions Overturned 3 Years after Death
New Zealand’s Supreme Court on Friday took the unusual step of overturning a man’s convictions even though he died three years ago. The court found there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice after Peter Ellis was convicted of sexually abusing children at the daycare center where he worked as a teacher more than 30 […]
‘Transphobic narratives from politicians fuelling hate’ as recorded crimes soar
Senior politicians have been accused of perpetuating transphobia and fuelling hate crime against transgender people as official figures reveal such crimes rose by more than 50% in a year. Galop, an LGBT+ anti-abuse charity, said transphobic narratives in the media and by senior politicians have been allowed to grow without challenge and are translating into “violence […]
From “grooming” to “child abduction”: Right’s accusations against LGBTQ advocates get even worse
Last spring, as the right began using the word “grooming” as a slur against LGBTQ people and their allies, journalist Melissa Gira Grant noted at the New Republic that the word provided a way to “say both the quiet and the loud part.” Contorting a term long used to describe real instances of child sex abuse into […]
Challenge to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law Thrown Out by Judge
A federal court in Florida dismissed a challenge to the state’s “don’t say gay” law last week, but left open the possibility the case could be refiled in the future. In a 25-page opinion issued last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, found the […]
Chinese LGBTQ-plus couples are getting married virtually through weddings hosted in Utah
Chinese LGBTQ-plus couples are using digital technology to circumvent China’s non-recognition of same-sex marriages. Since 2021, around 200 Chinese and Hong Kong couples have tied the knot via virtual weddings hosted in the state of Utah, and in particular, Utah County. Because the state does not impose citizenship requirements for marriage licenses, Utah County began […]
Slovenia becomes first East European country to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption
The Slovenian parliament on Tuesday passed an amendment allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt after a constitutional court ruling made it the first country in Eastern Europe to do so. The family law amendment was passed by 48 MPs, with 29 against and one abstaining. Slovenia, which emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia, is […]
Transgender Guatemalan woman’s deportation case to get U.S. Supreme Court review
The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday that it will take up a transgender Guatemalan woman’s bid to avoid being deported after a U.S. immigration board said she did not prove that she would face persecution if she returned to her home country. The court granted Leon Santos-Zacaria’s petition for review, which presents two technical […]
Ukraine: Amid War, LGBTI People Fight for Equal Rights
In late September, the LGBTI community in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv defied ongoing shelling to hold a week of Pride events under the slogan, United as Never Before. Kharkiv Pride saw activists decorate the city – severely damaged from Russian missiles – with banners, organise rallies on the metro, hold memorial events for LGBTI […]
German Interior Ministry Aims to Offer Better Protection for Queer Refugees
The German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, has required the decision makers of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) to review the asylum procedures for queer victims of persecution. According to a press release issued by the Ministry, the decision that will become effective on October 1, 2022, will obligate migration services and authorities […]
A Portland initiative to help unhoused LGBTQ people is facing backlash
The American Rescue Plan provided more than $5 billion for housing and services for homeless people, and cities are using that money in a variety of ways. In Portland, Ore., a cluster of sheds has been operating as a shelter for LGBTQ people. But Katia Riddle reports some neighbors have withdrawn their support for it.
How the Chinese internet saw Cuba’s vote on gay marriage, surrogacy
Cuba’s legalisation of same-sex marriage and “altruistic” surrogacy has revived debate half a world away in a major trading and ideological partner, China. In a national referendum last week, Cubans voted overwhelmingly in favour of a “family code” allowing non-commercial surrogate pregnancies and same-sex couples to marry. The code also introduces measures against gender-based violence, […]
A trans woman made a map of affirming clinics. Hateful people turned it into a hit list
When transgender activist Erin Reed first started transitioning, she found it difficult to locate gender-affirming health centers that provide informed consent around hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and its effects. So, as an adult, she conducted extensive research in trans-inclusive web forums and created a Google Map listing 786 trans-supportive clinics, LGBTQ community centers, and other […]
Religious Freedom vs. Gay Rights: Why mainstream Jewish groups didn’t defend Yeshiva University
The latest exchange in the ongoing battle between Yeshiva University and the YU Pride Alliance, a student LGBTQ club, allowed for at least a temporary ceasefire between the two sides. But the case continues to generate controversy, as the status quo of other recognized groups continuing to operate on the campus, while the gay club […]
Miners’ strike: Valley community and gay activists’ enduring friendships
Almost four decades have passed since the 1984 miners’ strike but the unlikely friendships forged between a south Wales community and gay activists from London are as strong as ever. The 2014 film Pride told how group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised thousands for striking miners in the Dulais, Neath and Swansea […]
Iceland publishes robust LGBTQ+ action plan which puts the UK to shame
Iceland has published its action plan on LGBTQ+ issues for the years 2022 to 2025, which includes an end to discrimination for queer blood donors, training in LGBTQ+ issues for police, “appropriate and unbiased” healthcare for trans people, and more. The country’s parliament is also pledging 40 million Icelandic Króna (around £250,000) to support ministries’ […]
Tennessee GOP urges pediatric clinic to stop providing gender-affirming surgeries
A group of GOP lawmakers in Tennessee sent a letter Wednesday to Vanderbilt University Medical Center calling on the hospital’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic — the only one of its kind in the state — to stop providing gender-affirming surgeries. In the letter, addressed to the chair of the hospital’s board of directors, state Rep. Jason […]
LGBT organizations in Spain are pressuring the government to pass the ‘trans law’
Three LGBT organizations have met with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), the main party of the governing coalition in Spain, seeking the passage of the “trans law” before the close of the legislature at the end of next year. The State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Trans, Bisexuals, Intersexuals, and more (FELTBI+); the Triangle Foundation; […]
Pakistan launches anti-harassment hotline for trans people
Pakistan on Friday launched a hotline for transgender people in an effort to protect them from discrimination and harassment, a senior government official said. Trans people in Pakistan are considered outcasts by many, especially in conservative areas in the country, where they are often sexually abused, assaulted and even murdered. They also hesitate to enroll […]
Germany amends asylum rules in favor of queer refugees
Germany will implement new rules beginning Saturday for processing asylum applications from LGBTQ persons, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said. Faeser said Friday she wanted to better protect queer refugees and that no one should “feel forced to lead a dangerous double life.” The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is instructed to consider queer […]
Exclusion of Intersex People: A Systemic Conundrum
John Karanja attempted suicide three times before realising that his life, after all, had meaning. Karanja, who was born Dorcas Wangui in 1993, did not notice his body was different until he was eleven years old when he began puberty. However, in order to understand Karanja’s journey, we must first understand Dorcas Wangui. Wangui was […]
UN experts demand stay of execution for two women activists sentenced to death in Iran
UN experts are demanding a stay of execution for two women LGBT rights activists in Iran, Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar, who have been sentenced to death by Iranian judicial authorities on charges of “corruption on earth” and “trafficking”. Although the exact reasons for these charges haven’t been made public, the UN has been privately […]
Dominica High Court accepts challenge to sodomy laws
A constitutional challenge against laws that criminalize same-sex intimacy in the Caribbean country Dominica was to be heard today at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, acting as the High Court of Justice of Dominica. The hearing comes months after the same court decriminalized same-sex intimacy in neighboring St. Kitts & Nevis and Antigua & Barbuda. […]
Pakistan’s Progressive Transgender Law Faces Opposition 4 Years Later
Pakistan is considering amending a landmark transgender rights bill passed in 2018 that some legislators and clerics argue contradicts Islamic teachings on gender identity. Rights activists, however, say the law is being misunderstood and the “misinformed” debate against it is further endangering the transgender community. Hailed as among the more progressive laws on transgender rights […]
‘Lift this country up’: Trans pioneer Erika Hilton seeks Brazil election win
No one does political rags to riches stories quite like Brazil, but even in a nation where the most celebrated president in decades once shined shoes to survive, the story of Erika Hilton takes some beating. The transgender teenager was kicked out of her house aged 14 and spent several years as a sex worker […]
Russians Are Fleeing Putin’s Draft. But in Georgia, Few Are Happy About a Fresh Influx
It’s not hard to understand why Nikolai Shushpan, who is gay, made the decision to become one of the thousands of Russians to flee to Georgia after President Vladimir Putin announced a draft last week. “I’m more scared of being killed by my own army than the Ukrainian one,” he says, referring to Russia’s increasingly […]