France gets its first gay prime minister with Gabriel Attal

Education Minister Gabriel Attal has just been appointed prime minister of France, the first out gay man and LGBTQ+ person to be named to the position. At age 34, he will also be the country’s youngest prime minister in its Fifth Republic. “I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to get […]

Scottish government publish plans to ban conversion therapy

While UK-based activists sit tight in wait of an update on Rishi Sunak’s conservative party to follow through on their promise to ban the abhorrent practice, Scotland is pushing ahead with proposed legislation that would “prevent and respond to harmful acts” that attempt to alter or suppress someone’s sexual or gender identity. The proposal, published […]

Putin’s War Against My Marriage

On November 30, Russia’s Supreme Court decided that the “international LGBT movement” was an extremist organization—at the initiative of the Russian Ministry of Justice. This ruling could mean that any Russian citizen who has come out will face up to five years in prison—”for supporting extremism.” The Kremlin is not fighting against gay people only; […]

Uganda stabbing victim Steven Kabuye blames LGBTQ+ attacks on politicians

Kabuye, who is the executive director of the advocacy group Colored Voice Truth to LGBTQ was left in a critical condition in hospital after he was “stabbed to near death” last week by two men just meters outside of his home. Graphic video footage uploaded to Kabuye’s X account shows him lying on the ground with […]

Osage singer-songwriter’s new album seeks to inspire two-spirit resilience

The Osage singer-songwriter Marx Cassity released their new album, “2Sacred,” on Nov. 5 as a response to a 3-year-old statistic of 33% of Native queer youth attempting suicide. Cassity goes by the name of Marca as a therapist specializing in trauma but added the “X” in their stage name, Marx, to represent the gender diversity […]

Vietnam soccer star and girlfriend celebrate wedding in LGBTQ sports first

Last year saw Vietnam feature at the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in the national team’s history. The first weekend of 2024 has given the players further cause for celebration, with many in attendance at the same-sex wedding of one of their teammates — defender Tran Thi Thu — in Ho Chi Minh City. Thu’s […]

Govt is committed to provide all fundamental rights to trans community: Mushaal

ISLAMABAD  –  Special Assistant to Prime Min­ister for Human Rights and Women Empowerment, Mush­aal Hussain Mullick here on Sunday said that the govern­ment was committed to provide all fundamental rights to the transgender community across the country at gross root level. She was addressing at the con­cluding ceremony at a workshop on wellness and communication development […]

US expresses concern after Burundi president says gay people should be stoned

The United States said on Friday it was troubled by comments from Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who last week called on citizens of the small African country to stone gay people. The comments escalated a crackdown on sexual minorities in a nation where LGBT people already face social ostracism and jail terms of up to […]

Aunties and ‘othermothers’ play huge part in supporting LGBTQ+ youth, new study finds

Aunts and ‘othermothers’, who care for children who are not biologically their own, provide significant support to LGBTQ+ youth, new research has found. The new finding is according to the paper “Aunties, Aunts, and Tías: The Forgotten Othermother Supporting and Housing LGBTQ Youth”, published in Socius, an open-access journal of the American Sociological Association. The […]

Ecumenical Patriarchy Denies Ban of Archbishop Who Baptised Gay Couple’s Children

Monasteries on Mount Athos, an important Orthodox Christian spiritual centre for centuries, have denied that the Archbishop Elpidophoros of America’s visit to the monestaries was canceled because in July 2022 he baptised two children of a gay couple. The archbishop will be visiting Mount Athos on the occasion of the Feast of Epiphany accompanied by […]

Ohio’s governor just made life a lot harder for transgender people

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has signed an executive order banning hospitals in the state from performing gender-affirming surgeries on minors. The ban went into effect immediately, even though such surgeries aren’t typically conducted on minors. DeWine recently vetoed a bill to ban all gender-affirming medical treatments for minors (including medication) and to ban transgender […]

Rosie Duffield cleared of transphobia and antisemitism by Labour

Labour MP Rosie Duffield has been cleared of allegations of transphobia and antisemitism by her party, saying she has been “completely exonerated”. The Canterbury politician, whose views on trans people have caused a rift in Labour, said the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had dismissed the claims against her and “there was no case to […]

Trans activist endures gang hell in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Trans activist Dominique Rebel Saint-Vil of OTRAH (Organisation Trans d’Haïti) is surviving — barely — in her beleaguered, impoverished gang-controlled nation. In the following interview, she describes her exile in her own country, prey to armed gang violence that reigns supreme over a nation that hasn’t had a president for over two and a half […]

Vatican moves to calm bishops over same-sex blessings approval

VATICAN CITY, Jan 4 (Reuters) – The Vatican on Thursday moved to calm Catholic bishops in some countries who have balked over last month’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples, telling them that the measure is not “heretical” or “blasphemous”. In a five-page statement, the Vatican’s doctrinal office also acknowledged that such blessings could be […]

Celebration for gay community if Estonia brings same-sex marriage to Eastern Europe

The Estonian parliament decided on a “gender-neutral” marriage legislation in June. The law no longer mentions “a man and a woman” but “two natural persons” who can marry. Gays with a registered partnership (introduced in 2016) can now change this to marriage through a simplified procedure. Baltic News Network has reported about this. The move is the […]

Out in the World: Democracy, LGBTQ rights were threatened around the world in 2023

The year 2023 was marked by a severe global assault on LGBTQ rights and unexpected challenges and progress. Despite the hard shove backward, LGBTQ communities stood up and fought back against hate for themselves and communities across the globe. Some anti-LGBTQ political leaders and conservative forces in Russia, Uganda, and Italy led the way to queer […]

What will the world do on LGBTQ+ rights in 2024?

LONDON, Dec 21 (Openly) – There were huge milestones and setbacks for LGBTQ+ rights around the world during 2023. Same-sex marriage was legalised in nations including Slovenia and Andorra, gay sex was decriminalised in Mauritius and the Cook Islands and self-identification laws for transgender people were passed in Spain, Finland and New Zealand. However, trans rights lost ground in Russia and parts of […]

Record number of anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in 2023

At least 510 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures across the United States last year — a new record, according to American Civil Liberties Union data as of December 21. That’s nearly three-times the number of such bills introduced in 2022. Education and health care-related bills, in particular, flooded in at unprecedented levels. Along with a […]

Ugandan LGBT activist in critical condition after stabbing

KAMPALA, Jan 3 (Reuters) – A prominent LGBT rights activist in Uganda, where sexual minorities say they have faced a wave of abuse since a harsh anti-gay law was enacted last year, was stabbed on Wednesday and is in critical condition, his organisation said. Steven Kabuye was “stabbed to near death by unknown assailants a […]

2023 World Same-Sex Marriage and LGBT Rights Progress – Part 4: Africa and Oceania

It was an unusually busy year for LGBT news in Africa in 2023, with one country decriminalizing sodomy, one slowly opening the door to equal marriage, several non-discrimination rulings, and a bunch of countries continuing or extending harsh anti-LGBT crackdowns. It was quite a bit quieter in Oceania, but we did also see one more country […]

Israeli Supreme Court rules LGBTQ+ couples can adopt children

Six years since the state pledged to change adoption law so that discrimination against same-sex couples would be eliminated, the Israeli Supreme Court on Dec. 29 unanimously ruled that existing law allows LGBTQ couples to adopt. The judges issued their decision as part of a discussion of the petition that two LGBTQ couples submitted in […]

Uganda kicked out of Agoa following controversial anti-gay law

United States President Joe Biden has officially removed Uganda and three other African countries from the beneficiaries of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), effectively ending Kampala’s ability to export certain commodities to the US duty-free. In a decree dated December 29, President Biden said he has “determined” that the four countries “do not […]

Russia’s War on Woke Putin Is Trying to Unite the Far Right and Undermine the West

In March of this year, Russia will hold presidential elections. The contest, like ones past, will be highly choreographed, and its outcome is preordained. President Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia for more than 23 years, will dominate the race from the beginning. Every media outlet in Russia will promote his candidacy and praise his […]