Ablakwa dares NAPO to prove LGBTQ curriculum claims
North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has challenged to Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Napo) over recent claims regarding his involvement in promoting LGBTQ-related content. Mr Ablakwa, in a fiery statement, dared Napo to produce evidence of a pro-LGBTQ curriculum that he allegedly prepared, as well as the names of pastors and imams who reportedly accompanied him […]
Pope’s Next Consistory Will Have a Number of LGBTQ-Positive New Cardinals
Pope Francis has named 21 new cardinals, a number of whom have LGBTQ-positive records, to be elevated at a December consistory. The pope announced the cardinals-designate at Sunday’s Angelus, drawing heavily from the Global South with only a few European or North Americans named. Overall, those who had public records on LGBTQ+ issues were largely welcoming. These include […]
Two Ukrainian women in love were torn apart by Putin’s war. They never stopped fighting to reunite.
Polina Muzhychkova and Sofia Malina fell in love fast. At 17 and 19, respectively, they met in Mariupol, Ukraine, and began dating. But a month later, the Russian Army invaded – and obliterated –their city. They were quickly torn apart, forced to flee and hide with their respective families. A recent profile in the New York Times depicts their valiant […]
Canberra Police Issue Search Warrants and Seize Devices Over Grindr Attacks
ACT Policing has intensified its investigation into the alleged homophobic assaults of three men in Canberra, all of whom were targeted through the dating app Grindr in July. As part of their ongoing inquiries, police have executed five search warrants over the past two weeks, including in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South […]
Russia Is Forcing Gay Chechen Men To Become Soldiers In Ukraine War, Says LGBT Group
SK SOS, a human rights group in Chechnya, say that Russian authorities are “blackmailing” imprisoned gay Chechen men to become soldiers, and fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine. The group says that the men are threatened and blackmailed into ‘volunteering’ to fight on the frontlines of the globally controversial war. SK SOS says […]
EU Court Hands Down Landmark Victory For Transgender Rights
The European Union’s top court has ruled that member states must accept changes of first name and gender obtained in other countries in the bloc, a landmark ruling brought about by a case involving Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi, a transgender man with dual citizenship in Romania and Great Britain. The decision, which establishes a significant legal precedent, […]
Falsehoods about LGBT circulated to distort discussions about accession to EU
Falsehoods about the LGBT people are often disseminated in the public space to distort discussions about Moldova’s accession to the European Union, according to representatives of the civic initiative “Citizens for Europe”. Eugen Muravschi, a member of the team, said that these untruths are meant to distract attention from current problems. The EU cannot impose […]
E.U. nations must recognize legal gender changes across bloc, top court rules
The European Union’s top court ruled Friday that member states must recognize legal changes to gender identity processed elsewhere within the E.U., in a case with far-reaching implications for transgender people across Europe. The European Court of Justice sided with Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi, a transgender man who sued his home country of Romania for refusing to […]
Spain’s first transgender soccer team makes debut in regional men’s league
A soccer team consisting entirely of transgender men has made its debut in a regional league in Spain, overcoming administrative challenges and prejudice to become the first all-trans squad to achieve federated status in Europe. The team, named Fenix FC after the mythical bird symbolising rebirth, played some friendlies and seven-a-side games last season but […]
JK Rowling declares that her religion is now transphobia
In census data released Thursday in Scotland, there were a number of interesting findings about LGBTQ+ and gender identity, the trans population in Scotland, and religion. One fascinating nugget, revealed later online, mingled all three data points: JK Rowling’s religion is now officially her opposition to trans equality. The notoriously anti-trans Scotswoman and author of […]
Supreme Court’s new term takes on ghost guns, porn access and trans care bans
The U.S. Supreme Court, at once a major flashpoint in the 2024 campaign and potential presidential election referee, gavels open a new term on Monday with the nation deeply divided over its recent rulings and skeptical of the justices’ ethics and impartiality. The court’s fall docket includes high-profile disputes over age-verification to access pornography online, […]
US ‘Welcome Corps’ helps resettle LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing crackdowns against gay people
A crowd surrounded his boyfriend’s house and beat him. Ngounou’s family learned of the relationship and kicked him out. So Ngounou fled — alone and with little money — on a dangerous, four-year journey through at least five countries. He was sold by traffickers and held captive as a sex slave in Libya, harassed in […]
How a social media ban will harm LGBTQIA+ teenagers like me
Hi – I’m Maggie Perry, a 15-year-old trans girl who lives in Central Queensland, and I work for 6NewsAU, a news channel run entirely by teenagers like me. I’m an election reporter who’s followed by politicians, I’ve been featured on podcasts and had the chance to write for multiple news outlets. Every election, I go live with my […]
Georgian Speaker Signs Law Curbing LGBT Rights After President Refuses To
Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on October 3 signed into law a bill that rights groups, the opposition, and the international community say drastically curbs the rights of the country’s LGBT community. Papuashvili, of the ruling Georgian Dream party and a co-sponsor of the bill, endorsed the bill after President Salome Zurabishvili on October 2 refused […]
Young, Queer, and Threatened for Climate Activism
When Brynn Kilpatrick was nine years old, inspired by then 16-year-old Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future, she started her own climate vigil on her main street during her grade four lunch period. Kilpatrick, a friend’s daughter, lives in my hometown in rural eastern Ontario, about 50 miles deep in the great Canadian boreal forest that stretches from Newfoundland […]
Soweto Pride Marks 20 Years Amidst Surge in LGBTIQ+ Murders
Soweto Pride marked a vibrant and significant milestone as it celebrated its 20th edition on Saturday, 28 September, at the Dorothy Nyembe Park in Dobsonville. With a day packed full of joy, protest, and reflection, the event once again demonstrated why it remains an essential platform for the LGBTIQ+ community in South Africa.
Harris Campaign Ramps Up LGBTQ Engagement as Election Day Nears
Vice President Kamala Harris has eked out a narrow lead in the latest polls, but slim margins in seven key battleground states are still likely to decide the outcome of the election, which experts say will be the closest America has had in decades, if not more than a century. And LGBTQ voters, who comprise […]
Georgian President Refuses To Sign Anti-LGBT Bill Into Law
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has refused to sign into law a bill approved by parliament last month that rights groups and many opposition politicians say drastically curbs the rights of the country’s LGBT community. The so-called “family values” bill was pushed through parliament by the ruling Georgian Dream party on September 17 in an 84-0 […]
Kyrgyzstan: Reject Proposed Law on ‘Extremist’ Materials
Kyrgyzstan’s government has proposed problematic amendments to the criminal code and other legislative acts that would restore criminal charges for the mere possession of materials deemed “extremist,” Human Rights Watch said today. This move threatens to undo crucial progress made in 2019 when authorities decriminalized possession without intent to distribute such materials.
“US ‘Welcome Corps’ helps resettle LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing crackdowns against gay people
Cabrel Ngounou’s life in Cameroon quickly unraveled after neighbors caught the teenager with his boyfriend. A crowd surrounded his boyfriend’s house and beat him. Ngounou’s family learned of the relationship and kicked him out. So Ngounou fled — alone and with little money — on a dangerous, four-year journey through at least five countries. He […]
Based in Japan: Being Gay in Japan with Tokyo BTM
Tokyo BTM is an increasingly popular channel that focuses on queer culture in Japan. Created by two expat, Andrew Pugsley, from Canada, and Meng Delvey, from mainland China, the duo has garnered over 9 million views and 75 thousand subscribers since starting in June 2020. Pugsley’s love for Japan started decades ago. It was the […]
Labor’s 11th-hour decision on LGBTQ+ census questions prompted weekend scramble, documents reveal
The Albanese government’s last-minute rejection of proposed questions on sexuality and gender diversity in the upcoming 2026 census sent bureaucrats into a weekend scramble, new documents show. In the late hours of Friday 23 August and Saturday 24 August, officials at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) agreed to cancel a scheduled media briefing on […]
Trans Man & Passionate Refugee Advocate: The Story of Thomars Shamuyarira
Thomars Shamuyarira is proudly out trans man from Harare, Zimbabwe. Despite enduring immense adversity—including being disowned by his family and forced to flee his home country due to his LGBTQI+ identity—Thomars has emerged as a leading advocate for LGBTQI+ refugees in South Africa. As the founder of The Fruit Basket, an organisation committed to supporting […]
How ‘The Queer Arab Glossary’ Challenges Stereotypes About Arab Homophobia
With Lebanon experiencing its deadliest day in nearly 20 years this month — not to mention the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine that has left more than 40,000 Palestinians dead — Marwan Kaabour says he has struggled with how to navigate the release of his debut book, “The Queer Arab Glossary,” especially when these […]
First Ugandan who faced death penalty for gay sex is out on bail
The first man arrested under Uganda’s new Anti-Homosexuality Act is out on bail awaiting trial. Micheal (also known as Michael) Opolot was held for 350 days of pretrial detention until the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Soroti granted him release on cash bail on July 30 on a charge of “unnatural offense”. That charge was a […]
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party wins election – here’s what it could mean for LGBTQ+ people
A far-right party has won the most votes in an election in Austria for the first time since World War II. The pro-Kremlin, anti-Islamic, alt-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) won 29.2 per cent of the vote, beating the ruling Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), which gained 26.5 per cent. The FPÖ’s leader, Herbert Kickl, who calls […]
Seoul Drag Parade brings queer culture out of nightclubs, into daylight
Gojoseon was founded over 4,000 years ago, after a bear in a cave ate garlic and mugwort until she transformed into a human. Although this legend gives us a statutory holiday in Korea, there aren’t that many street celebrations held for this fabled story. Instead, people around central Seoul’s Haebangchon and Itaewon will be treated […]
Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ soldiers call for more rights – as Russia forces minorities into active service
Russian authorities have been rounding up gay men and coercing them to fight in Ukraine, according to some recent reports. The Russian leader has long vilified the gay community in Russia and introduced a raft of new anti-LGBTQ+ laws while promoting supposedly “traditional” masculinity as part of his narrative of creating support for the war. He regularly uses conservative values […]
Why are HIV infections on the rise in Lithuania?
Last year, 267 new cases of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) were registered in Lithuania. This is significantly more than in 2021 when 121 cases were diagnosed. Specialists attribute the rapid growth of the disease to immigration. The data from the National Public Health Centre (NVSC) shows that almost half of the new HIV cases in both […]
KSOU to provide free education to transgender students
With an aim to promote higher education in the transgender community, the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysuru, has decided to offer all courses free with “zero fee” for transgender students. KSOU is now writing to all NGOs and other organisations working with the transgender community to create awareness about this facility. They want to […]