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, […]
New York City Hospitals Prohibit Unnecessary Intersex Surgeries
New York City Health & Hospitals, the largest public healthcare system in the United States, has instituted a policy to defer all medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. The move is a major boost for Intersex rights following City Council legislation earlier this year that mandates public education on the issue. Intersex people, or people […]
Here are 3 Olympic couples who will be competing on the same team in Tokyo
A record number of out LGBTQ athletes are heading to Tokyo, and naturally, that means several Olympic couples will be making the trip together. We’ve seen same-sex couples compete on the same Olympic team before. Back in 2016, Helen Richardson-Walsh and Kate Richardson-Walsh of Great Britain became the first married couple to accomplish the feat, […]
These 15 Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World You Might Not Have Known About
Nonbinary Vikings – Viking imagery in contemporary culture is heavily associated with stereotypes surrounding masculinity; long-haired, heavily muscled warriors are used to sell everything from beer to sports. While gender boundaries were rigidly policed, as in any raider society, these borders were more permeable than people today may think. “The Vikings were certainly familiar with […]
At the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, trans farmers raise alpaca, patrol for threats
WESTCLIFFE, Colorado, July 16 (Reuters) – The ranch hand walks along rocky ground, the beam of her flashlight cutting through the moonlit night. She holds a shotgun loosely at her side during her patrol of an alpaca ranch founded as a haven for transgender and non-binary people. Penny Logue, who grew up on a farm, […]
How a fearless activist forced Isle of Man to end its gay sex ban – and why his fight isn’t over
On 10 July, 1991, local gay rights campaigner Alan Shea, supported by activists from LGBT+ group OutRage! In London, demanded the end of the Isle of Man’s homosexuality ban. Although homosexuality was partially decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, followed by Scotland and Northern Ireland in the early ’80s, sex between men remained punishable […]
Erdogan fires university rector after 6 months of student protests
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday replaced a top Istanbul university rector whose controversial appointment led to months of student-led protests against his rule. Erdogan appointed Melih Bulu as rector of Bogazici University in January but was immediately met by anger over the president’s influence on educational institutions. But in an announcement published […]
American LGBTQ+ Museum coming to N.Y.C.’s oldest museum as part of expansion
New York’s oldest museum will soon expand to incorporate a museum dedicated to LGBTQ history. Representatives for the New-York Historical Society, established in 1804, announced earlier this month that the museum will expand by 70,000 square feet to include space for The American LGBTQ+ Museum. The new museum is slated to open its doors in […]
Four Georgian TV stations go off air in protest over journalist’s death
TBILISI, July 14 (Reuters) – Four television channels in Georgia went off the air on Wednesday in protest at the death of a cameraman who was beaten up during violence against LGBT activists, and demanded the prime minister’s resignation. Hundreds of people took to the streets of the former Soviet republic’s capital, Tbilisi, on Sunday […]
LGBTQ in China lament ‘dark day’ after social media crackdown
Chengdu, China – A week ago without warning, WeChat, a popular social media platform in China, permanently suspended the official accounts of more than a dozen college LGBTQ groups, igniting a new round of debate on the country’s already threatened community. The suspensions largely affected groups almost entirely run by students, including at prestigious academic […]
Arrested, abused and accused: wave of repression targets LGBT+ Ghanaians
All I wanted to do was help vulnerable people,” said Shaun Apong, tears streaking down his face, from behind the bars of a squalid police cell in Ho City in eastern Ghana. Apong was one of 21 people arrested in early June, charged with unlawful assembly and accused of spreading an LGBT+ agenda, amid a […]