This brave charity is helping desperate LGBT+ Afghans escape the brutal Taliban

The Rainbow Railroad is a global NGO providing aid and asylum to LGBT+ people around the world. Since its founding it’s helped more than 1,600 LGBT+ people find safety, including many victims of Chechnya’s “gay purge“. It now offers a lifeline to LGBT+ Afghans – already a persecuted minority – who find themselves uniquely vulnerable […]

LGBT in Afghanistan: ‘I could be killed on the spot’

Before the Taliban uprising in Afghanistan, life for gay man Abdul (his name has been changed) was already dangerous. If he’d spoken about his sexuality to the wrong person then, Abdul could have been arrested and taken to court for his sexuality, under Afghan laws. But since the Taliban seized control of major cities in […]

Polish region wants to remain an ‘LGBT-free’ zone despite risking millions in EU funds

This week a Polish regional council has voted to remain an “LGBT-free zone” despite a warning from the European Union that it could lose funding. Numerous local authorities in Poland have declared themselves free of so-called “LGBT ideology” as gay rights have become a high-profile and deeply divisive issue in the predominantly Catholic country under […]

Will Romania step up anti-LGBTQ legislation like Hungary?

Many Romanians probably do not know what the letters LGBTQ stand for, and this is hardly surprising given that sexual orientation and gender identity have not played a major role in the country’s public debate in recent years. Although a referendum seeking to prevent same-sex marriage from ever being legalized was held in 2018 after […]

How to Help Queer Afghans Right Now

As images of Taliban forces regaining control of Afghanistan circulate across social media, many can’t help but think about the future of the country’s LGBT population. Same-sex sexual activity was already outlawed in the country and even punishable by death. But the Taliban’s stricter rule over Afghan citizens has left many fearing the worst, especially […]

The Nonbinary Chinese Fighting to Live Their Truth

Chao Xiaomi cut quite a figure as she strutted down an alley near the Forbidden City in the brilliant May sunshine. The 38-year-old was dressed to kill in a tight-fitting purple cheongsam, matching nails, and a jade bracelet. But many locals’ eyes were drawn to something else: her bushy black beard. Several passersby gaped and […]

Scotland’s LGBT community is frightened by the current anti-trans obsession

I NEVER picked a “side” – I was born this way. Common decency would argue that a group of people put into the continuous, never-ending, daily cycle of defending their existence should not be simply classed as a “side”. For many of us, this “side” was never a choice. However, undermining LGBT+ rights and inclusion […]

‘Born gay in the Soviet Union, living gay in Russia’

In recent years, there has been a growing number of artistic ventures about the lives of LGBTQ+ people in Russia. One of them is the art project PASHA. Though he doesn’t reveal his real name or the details of his biography, the artist behind the project regularly publishes new works on Instagram under the handle […]

President Museveni Refuses To Sign Homophobic Law

The LGBTIQ community in Uganda has today caught a break after President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni returned the notorious Sexual Offences Bill back to the floor of Uganda parliament for reconsideration saying all the crimes that would be punishable under the law are already provided for under the Penal Code Act. While chairing plenary within parliament […]

49ers expand LGBTQ outreach, DT Maurice Hurst shares love for his gay friends

As the San Francisco 49ers held a special Diversity & Inclusion Day at training camp last Thursday — inviting members of the LGBTQ fan group 49ers Pride to attend the team’s Community Corner — newly acquired DT Maurice Hurst opened up about his support for LGBTQ people, including the possibility of having a gay teammate. […]

Moderna starts human trials for its revolutionary HIV vaccine this week

This week, the biotech company Moderna will start human trials for its HIV vaccine. Its HIV vaccine will be the first of its kind to use messenger RNA (mRNA), an approach that Moderna used in its effective COVID-19 vaccine. The clinical trials will start on August 19 and end sometime around spring 2023, according to […]

Men hurt in homophobic attack at Birmingham’s Gay Village

Two men have been attacked with bottles and had homophobic abuse shouted at them in Birmingham, police have said. Rob and Patrick, in their 30s, were outside the Missing Bar in the city’s Gay Village on Sunday. West Midlands Police said the abuse came from a group of four men in a black SUV, who […]

Turkish LGBTQ Activists Counter Oppression With Art, Solidarity and Radical Hope

Activism came to Hazar Kolancalı like a thunderstorm, at first a rumbling in the distance and then upon her all at once. The constant — and often violent — oppression of LGBTQI+ people in Turkey, a country that is increasingly hostile toward them, manifested suddenly for Kolancalı in a brutal arrest at the hands of […]

Classroom workshops offer support to LGBTQ youth in rural Quebec Social Sharing

A new project launched by the Association for New Canadians is working to create a safe and welcoming environment for LGBTQ immigrants and refugees coming into Newfoundland and Labrador. The association is working with the Rainbow Refugees Association of Nova Scotia to create Welcome Rainbow, which will develop training for staff and orientation sessions for […]

Sarajevo’s Pride Parade Calls For More Rights for LGBT Community

Sarajevo’s second-ever Pride parade as well as a counter-protest organised by a hardliner Muslim political campaign group ended peacefully on Saturday. “Aware of discrimination, violence and hate speech, we resist and we are clearly saying that it is enough! After two years, we are here again, but this time in a pandemic that has hit […]

Bucharest gay pride march resumes after coronavirus pause

Several thousand LGBT supporters took to the streets in the Romanian capital of Bucharest Saturday for a gay pride parade that resumed after a year’s pause due to the pandemic. Marchers young and old walked through the capital’s streets, with many waving colorful flags and blowing whistles. Teodora Ion-Rotaru, executive director of ACCEPT Association, an […]

92% Of LGBT Adults Have Received At Least One COVID-19 Vaccine Shot

LGBT adults have nearly universally adopted the COVID-19 vaccine. According to a report released Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the education arm of the nation’s largest LGBT rights advocate, 92 percent of LGBT adults surveyed in the United States have received at least one vaccination for COVID-19. The rate of adoption within […]

Kids in this country can ‘explore gender’ in school without parental consent

Children as young as four can “explore their gender” without parental consent in some parts of the UK. New guidance in Scotland has said schoolkids should be supported in using a different gender if they want. It may mean using a new name – including in school systems – pronouns, dressing differently, or using the […]

LGBTQ stars grabbed spotlight at Olympics, but Japanese athletes remained hidden

If LGBTQ athletes at the Tokyo Olympics were their own country, they would have been in the top 10 on the medal table. Around 180 athletes at the event were openly LGBTQ, making it the queerest modern Olympics to date. The hypothetical team finished the Olympics ranked seventh in the world with 32 total medals. […]

Taiwan-Macau gay couple wed after landmark legal win

A Taiwanese-Macanese gay couple tied the knot in Taipei on Friday after winning a landmark legal case as they called for the island to amend its laws to allow same-sex unions with all foreigners. Taiwan is at the vanguard of the burgeoning LGBTQ rights movement in Asia and became the first place in the region […]

Rom-com between boys is now a series

AFTER premiering and gaining recognition as 2nd Best Picture at the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival, the boys’ love movie, The Boy Foretold by the Stars, transfers to the small screen as a six-episode series titled Love Beneath the Stars on iWantTFC. As their love story continues on the series, senior high school students Dominic […]

LGBTQ Adults Are Facing Hunger At Almost Twice The Rate As Others, New Data Shows

LGBT adults living in the U.S. are nearly twice as likely to be experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic than non-LGBT adults, according to new survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the more than 64,000 people who responded to the bureau’s latest Household Pulse Survey, just over 13% of LGBT adults reported living […]

Ghana’s president in tight spot over anti-LGBT law

Opposition lawmakers in Ghana are pushing President Nana Akufo-Addo into a tight spot by promoting an anti-LGBT law widely condemned by critics for undermining rights but applauded by many Ghanaians. Gay sex is already illegal in the highly religious West African nation, but while discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people is common, […]

Rights defenders tell details of queer girl’s abduction by Chechen law enforcers

The “Russian LGBT Network”* is concerned about the fate of the girl who was abducted a year ago by Chechen law enforcers, and is going to appeal against the decision of the Chechen Supreme Court (SC), which has found the investigator’s refusal to investigate the abduction as legitimate. The refusal to investigate the abduction case […]

Homophobic Ghanaian ‘Family Values’ Bill is Odious and Beggars Belief

Sometimes the human capacity for cruelty takes my breath away. A recently proposed bill on “sexual rights” and “family values” in Ghana is a case study in extreme cruelty. Ghanaian MPs are considering legislation that is so onerous it beggars belief. And I do not say this lightly. Russia, Nigeria, Uganda and Hungary have all […]

Amid continued criminalisation, Uganda endorses LGBT access for HIV treatment

Despite ongoing criminalization of men who have sex with men and transgender people, the government of Uganda is attempting to include them in national plans for the reduction of HIV and AIDS, a contradiction activists say continues to impede the fight against the epidemic. The Ugandan government has set an ambitious target of reducing new […]