Budapest Pride stands up for LGBT rights in Hungary
LGBT people and their supporters have marched through the capital city of Hungary to defend their rights. It comes as the government tries to limit discussion of homosexuality and transgender issues in schools. A law to limit teaching on the subject came into force this month, and Prime Minister Viktor Orban plans to back it […]
Hungary’s LGBTQ community: ‘We are afraid of losing everything’
Over the past months, Boldizsar Nagy has had to grapple with things he never expected. He was never anyone “special,” the journalist and children’s book editor said — certainly not a household name, as he is today. When he and his team published a fairy tale book titled Meseorszag mindenkie, or Wonderland Belongs to Everyone, […]
Ghana: anti-gay bill proposing 10-year prison sentences sparks outrage
Draft anti-gay legislation submitted to Ghana’s parliament could propose up to 10 years in jail for LGBTQ+ people as well as groups and individuals who advocate for their rights, express sympathy or offer social or medical support, in one of the most draconian and sweeping anti-gay laws proposed around the world. Support for intersex people […]
Senate unanimously confirms 2 LGBTQ women to top military positions
The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed two LGBTQ women to top military positions. “President Biden nominated two historic #LGBTQ+ nominees for key roles” at the Department of Defense,” White House Senior Advisor on LGBTQ+ Engagement Reggie Greer wrote on Twitter. On Thursday, Gina Ortiz Jones was confirmed to be the next undersecretary of the Air […]
False start for intersex athletes barred from Olympics
When the world’s fastest women race for gold over 800m in Tokyo, all three medallists from the 2016 Olympics will be absent – barred as intersex athletes who refuse to alter their natural hormones to meet the rules of sport. The ban is one of many controversies dogging a sporting spectacle that opens on Friday […]
Panama’s Gender-Based Lockdown and the Resilience of Transgender Activism
On April 1, 2020, the government of Panama introduced a gender-based lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This meant that women and men were only allowed to do essential shopping on alternate days. The country’s Health Ministry described the gender-based quarantine as “the simplest procedure” to reduce the number of people on the streets […]
Budapest Pride march is a protest against anti-gay laws, say organisers
Saturday’s Pride march in Budapest will be “a celebration, but also a protest”, organisers have said, as Hungary’s LGBT community prepares to rally in defiance of an escalating anti-gay campaign by the country’s government. Johanna Majercsik, one of the organisers of Pride month in Budapest, which culminates with the march, said she expected to see […]
Popular Gay TV Show in Hong Kong Draws Political Attacks, Raising Worries Over Rights
HONG KONG—A TV show about a male love triangle is proving a big hit with viewers, but criticism from pro-Beijing politicians is stirring concern that broader freedoms could be caught up in China’s political crackdown, even as Hong Kong prepares to host the Gay Games in 2022. “Ossan’s Love,” a 15-episode drama focusing on a […]
Hungary to hold referendum on LGBT issues by early 2022
BUDAPEST, July 22 (Reuters) – Hungary plans to hold a referendum on legislation that limits schools’ teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues late this year or early next year, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said on Thursday. Orban announced the referendum on Wednesday, stepping up a culture war with the European Union. The […]
Letters | Hit TV series shows Hong Kong ready to talk about gay rights, but gently does it
I agree with your editorial, “Let reason prevail in debate on gay rights” (July 20). I can’t say I was not initially taken aback by the headlines concerning the forced shutting down of university LGBT groups in mainland China, but I had a better picture after a closer look at the news. I was not […]
UK to engage Guyana on LGBT rights, abolishing death penalty and decriminalising suicide
The United Kingdom (UK), through its High Commission in Guyana, intends to engage the Irfaan Ali led government on major human rights issues in the coming months. These include but are not limited to the abolition of the death penalty, decriminalising suicide and more protection for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) […]
Chile senators approve gay marriage bill; one step left
Senators in Chile passed a long-awaited bill Wednesday authorizing same-sex marriage, in what LGBT campaigners hope will be the penultimate step to its final approval. Chile, which legalized same-sex civil unions in 2015, has been waiting on this bill since 2017, when it was sent to congress by then-President Michelle Bachelet. In a surprise move, […]
Argentina rolls out ID cards for non-binary people
In a first for South America, people who do not identify as male or female can tick a third box in their ID cards. People who neither identify as male nor female in Argentina will be able to use “X” the gender field in their national ID document and passports starting July 21. Argentina is […]
Embassies from across the world demand ‘freedom from violence’ for queer Hungarians
Ahead of Budapest Pride, 30 embassies from across the world have demanded “freedom from violence” for queer people in Hungary. The open letter, published Monday (19 July) was signed by the embassies of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, […]
RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION BILL CANNOT BE AT THE COST OF LGBT RIGHTS, SAYS LIBERAL MP
The Federal government is set to bring in a new – its third – draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill later this year. But a growing number of Liberal MPs are voicing their concerns about its impact on marriage equality and LGBTQI+ rights in Australia. The latest to add his voice to the growing chorus […]
Times are changing in Uganda: Parliament gets a progressive clerk
In what appears to be a positive shift in state policy thinking, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Adolf Mwesige, a liberal and progressive lawyer with a sense of urgency on human rights, as the new Clerk of Uganda’s Parliament. It could represent a new dawn for Uganda’s legislative process, with a renewed concentration on […]
Gay rugby player wins five-year battle against deportation to Kenya
A gay rugby player is celebrating after winning a five-year battle against deportation to Kenya, where he feared he would be persecuted because of his sexuality. Kenneth Macharia, 41, on Monday won an appeal in the immigration tribunal against Home Office plans to remove him from the UK. His campaign attracted huge public backing, with […]
Polish LGBTQ activists refuse to be silenced by lawsuits
Our family charters are not against any group,” Nikodem Bernaciak told DW from the offices of the Ordo Iuris Institute in Warsaw. On July 20, in Ostroleka, this conservative legal organization is to open the first of at least six lawsuits against four LGBTQ activists. The lawsuit accuses the founders of The Atlas of Hate […]
ACLU files suit over Montana transgender birth certificate law
The ACLU of Montana filed a lawsuit against the state, seeking to challenge a recently passed birth certificate law that it alleges makes it “difficult, if not impossible” for people to change their birth certificates to match their identities. The law that the ACLU seeks to undo require an individual to undergo gender-affirming surgery and […]
HUNGARIAN PM VIKTOR ORBÁN CALLS EU ACTION OVER ANTI-LGBTQ LAW ‘LEGALISED HOOLIGANISM’
Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán has called European Union action against his country’s new anti-LGBTQ law “legalised hooliganism.” The prime minister’s conservative Fidesz party introduced the controversial legislation, which bans positive representation of LGBTQ life to under-18s, last month. After several EU figures and heads of member states spoke out against the law, it was confirmed […]
Transgender woman in Cameroon describes ‘hell’ of five months in prison
The five months that two transgender women in Cameroon spent in prison were “hell”, one of them told Reuters on Friday after they were released, describing how they were initially forced to sleep with chains around their legs. Shakiro and Patricia left Douala’s main prison in a taxi after a judge ordered them freed until […]
Alarm as anti-gay messages and Nazi graffiti found in Melbourne
Victorian based LGBTI Jewish group Aleph Melbourne has voiced concern over anti-gay and Nazi graffiti appearing on Gardiners Trail which weaves it was through Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. “Aleph Melbourne condemns the senseless defacement and vandalisation of the freshly resurfaced Gardiners Creek Trail in Ashwood. “The presence of the Nazi swastika along with the accompanying words […]
No love from Ho for hit gay series
Pro-establishment lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu has strongly criticized Hong Kong’s first TV drama spearheading a gay relationship as being “marijuana in sugar coating.” ViuTV drama Ossan’s Love, which is the first local drama to show two gay characters kissing on screen, attracted much acclaim when it finished airing on Friday. The drama is a remake […]
Japan: Prime Minister Should Back LGBT Equality Act
(Tokyo) – The Japanese government’s failure to pass a national nondiscrimination law to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics was a lost opportunity to advance the rights of everyone in Japan, J-ALL, Athlete Ally, All Out, and Human Rights Watch said today, releasing a video of […]
Church in Norway marks name change for transgender person
A Lutheran church in Norway has held a name change ceremony for a 49-year-old transgender person in what officials said marked the first such event in a place of worship in the Nordic country. Elin Stillingen lived the first 40 years of her life as a man and legally changed her name and gender last […]
K-pop cafe ‘told BTS banners are gay propaganda’ by Russian print shop
A print shop in Russia reportedly refused to print BTS banners for a K-pop-themed café, insisting they were “gay propaganda” that would turn children into “perverts”. According to RT, the owners of the K-pop-themed PinkyPop café in Ekaterinburg, Ural Federal District, took to Instagram on Tuesday (13 July) to reveal that they had been turned […]
Protests over transgender rights at LA spa turn violent
Police arrested several dozen people and fired non-lethal projectiles to disperse an unruly crowd on Saturday after a dueling protest over transgender rights at a Los Angeles spa turned violent. The protests stemmed from a video that circulated online earlier this month, in which an irate customer complained to the staff at Wi Spa about […]
Trans Ugandans issue desperate food appeal as lockdown bites harder
Transgender rights defenders in Uganda have issued a desperate appeal for food for the transgender community amid the ongoing COVID-19 countrywide lockdown. More than 524 trans persons are on the verge of starvation and failing anti retroviral drugs uptake if no food is secured within 14 days, the activists say. The transgender leaders from Initiative […]
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT FAILS TO PROTECT RIGHTS OF TRANS AND INTERSEX PERSONS
The Australian government has failed to accept two of five recommendations regarding LGBTQI+ rights, following the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva earlier this year. On Thursday, July 8, in response to the review, the Australian government announced that they would commit to ensuring free and timely access to healthcare […]
E.U. takes action against Hungary, Poland over anti-LGBTQ measures
The European Commission has started legal action against Hungary after the country passed a law that bans sharing content in schools that seemingly endorses gay and transgender issues, the commission announced Thursday. “Equality and the respect for dignity and human rights are core values of the E.U.,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Parliament’s president, […]