Hungary’s controversial anti-LGBT law goes into effect despite EU warnings
A new law that bans the dissemination of content in schools deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change went into effect Wednesday despite a warning from Europe’s top rights watchdog that the law risks discrimination against LGBT people. The new law that comes into force across Hungary prohibits sharing content on homosexuality or sex reassignment […]
For Turkey’s LGBT+ community, discrimination said to loom larger
Cayan Hakiki trimmed their finger nails and scrubbed off the polish last week in order to take Turkish university entrance exams without being hassled, as advocacy groups say LGBT+ people face increasingly open discrimination. “I didn’t want any problems at the entrance,” Hakiki, 23, told Reuters at home in the capital Ankara. Hakiki identifies as […]
European Court Upholds Russian Transgender Woman’s Right to Family Life
In a victory for a transgender parent’s right to maintain contact with her children, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on July 6 that Russia’s denial of her visitation violated her rights to family life and freedom from discrimination. The woman, known in court documents as A.M., had two children with her spouse before […]
LGBTQ Social Media Groups at Most Major Chinese Universities Shuttered Overnight
Tencent’s WeChat social media platform on Tuesday evening blocked and wiped all past content of the accounts for the campus LGBTQ groups of China’s top universities, striking a major blow against LGBTQ awareness and rights. Many campus LGBTQ clubs have never been officially recognized or condoned, but have been able to operate unofficially for years […]
Georgian LGBT Activists Call Off Pride March After Violent Attacks
LGBT campaigners in Georgia have canceled a planned Pride march after opponents attacked activists and journalists and the government and church spoke out against the event. Hundreds of violent counter-protesters took to the streets of Tbilisi against the Pride march scheduled for the evening. At least 15 journalists were attacked by mobs at different locations, […]
Russian retailer apologizes for lesbian couple in ad
MOSCOW, July 5 – A high-end Russian food retailer has angered both gay rights campaigners and opponents by running and then apologizing for an ad that included a profile of a family in which a mother and her adult daughter both have female partners. A 2013 Russian law, decried by Western countries as state-enforced bigotry, […]
Protests in Spain against suspected LGBT hate crime
BARCELONA, July 5 (Reuters) – People took to the streets of Spain’s biggest cities on Monday evening to express their anger at the death of a man in a suspected homophobic attack at the weekend. Crowds filled a central Madrid square and activists marched down a major street in Barcelona, chanting slogans and waving placards […]
Georgian Patriarchate condemns int’l support for ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda activities’ at Tbilisi Pride
The Georgian Patriarchate says the ‘drastic interference’ of foreign officials ‘in our public and spiritual life’ through supporting Tbilisi Pride events ‘is a matter of severe concern and [is] unacceptable’. Tbilisi Pride, a civic movement which opposes homo/transphobia and fights to overcome it through exercising the constitutional right of assembly and manifestation, is holding events […]
LGBTQ+: Bagbin’s neutrality soiled after becoming cheerleader for anti-LGBTQ bill
On the matter of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, welcoming a bill presented to the House that would criminalize the “promotion, advocacy, funding and act of homosexuality in all its forms,” a professor of law has described it as a failure on the part of the astute lawmaker. According to the Executive Director of […]
France drops homophobic Senegal, Ghana, Benin from ‘safe’ countries list
In a decision mostly focused on the dangers facing LGBT people in homophobic nations, Benin, Senegal and Ghana have been dropped from the list of “safe” countries from which France does not expect to receive refugees fleeing for their lives. “This list of 16 countries drawn up by OFPRA (the French Office for the Protection […]
Rainbow flag burned and marchers assaulted at Zagreb gay pride march
Croatian police have detained several people over incidents during and after this weekend’s Pride march in the capital of Zagreb. The incidents included verbal and physical attacks on some participants and the burning of a rainbow-colored LGBT flag, the Zagreb police said Sunday. Police are still looking for some of the perpetrators. Franko Dota, from […]
Gay couple wins case against florist after Supreme Court rejects appeal
Over the objections of three conservative justices, the US Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Washington State flower shop that violated state anti-discrimination law by refusing to serve a same-sex couple on religious grounds. The decision means a California Supreme Court judgment against Arlene’s Flowers and owner Barronelle Stutzman will stand. In […]
Kenyan Civil Society welcomes Move by Methodist Church to Allow Same Sex Marriages
The Church’s announcement came when the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersexual and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community just finished celebrating pride-month. Pride month is a yearly promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of LGBTQIA+ people as a social group marked every year in June. Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health Executive Director Jedidah […]
Discriminatory State Rhetoric Is Threatening Turkey’s LGBTQ+ Community
Among the negative consequences of Recep Erdoğan’s Presidency, his leadership has been harmful to the rights and safety of Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community. For example, in June 2021, Istanbul’s Pride parade was broken up by riot police. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used to forcibly disperse the crowd and prevent participants from getting to more […]
Brazilian potential presidential candidate announces he is gay
Brazilian governor and potential major party presidential candidate Eduardo Leite, a prominent critic of President Jair Bolsonaro, came out as gay in a TV interview. Leite, governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, would be the first openly gay presidential candidate in Brazil. Anti-gay rhetoric has been a staple of speeches by […]
In Mexico, transgender politicians make strides
Salma Luévano was arrested for publicly identifying herself as transgender in provincial Mexico in 1985. Now she is set to take office as a member of Congress It has been a long journey, but one that appears to be breaking through the rigid definitions of gender that long prevailed in Mexico. Luévano is one of […]
Ghana political leader says LGBTQ ‘pandemic’ is worse than COVID-19 and it ‘must be fought by all of us’
One of Ghana’s most powerful political leaders said that the LGBTQ “pandemic” is worse than the COVID-19 pandemic, and “it must be fought by all of us.” The remarks by Parliament Speaker Alban Babgin came on Tuesday during a morning prayer meeting as lawmakers introduced an anti-LGBTQ bill that would criminalize the “promotion, advocacy, funding […]
Czech Mental Health Institute launches initiative to help transgender people cope with anxiety, depression
Transgender people are those whose gender differs from the sex they were born with. Suicidal tendencies and inclination for self-harm appear in up to half of the transgender people who are clients of therapeutical services in the Czech Republic, as a result of their emotional pain, trauma, minority stress, social isolation, etc., experts say. Data […]
Tbilisi Pride Forges Ahead, 23 Counterprotesters Detained
Tbilisi Pride Week began on July 1 with a screening of the “March for Dignity” documentary about the LGBTQ rights struggle in Georgia, with activists, LGBTQ allies, and foreign diplomats, including British, French, German, and Israeli in attendance. The event moved ahead as far-right and ultraconservative groups, including businessman-turned-politician Levan Vasadze affiliated counterprotesters, descended upon […]
Uganda lockdown hampers rural LGBT access to life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs
Gay rights activists in Uganda are reporting difficulty in delivering life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive community members during the ongoing countrywide lockdown and curfew imposed in response to an upsurge of Covid-19 cases. Joseph Kawesi, the executive director of Come Out Post Test Club (COPTEC), which combats HIV and AIDS, said Wednesday in Kampala that […]
Russian Food Retailer Defies ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law With LGBT Family-Featuring Ad
Russian organic food retailer VkusVill has featured an LGBT family in its new promotional material this week, defying the country’s law against “gay propaganda toward minors.” As part of a series of health-conscious families, VkusVill spotlights a “matriarch” Yuma, her partner Zhenya and two daughters Mila and Alina, who practice ethical veganism, support fair trade […]
Russian Band Releases Pro-LGBT Video
Russian band Sansara on Tuesday released a pro-LGBT video for their single “We Will Become Better.” The video is about “two people who love each other but forbid themselves because of societal judgment around their relationship, and so unfortunately it cannot happen,” its writer Evgeny Primachenko told The Moscow Times. The clip has so far […]
Anti-LGBT+ laws cost Caribbean billions in lost business – report
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Businessman Richard Branson on Wednesday urged Caribbean countries to be more LGBT-friendly as a report said anti-gay laws cost the region’s 12 English-speaking nations up to $4.4 billion a year in lost tourism and emigration. “Business can be a driving force for social, environmental and economic benefit,” said Branson, founder […]
White House Names Jessica Stern as Next US Envoy for Global LGBT Rights
(WB) The White House on Friday announced it has named Jessica Stern as the next special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBT rights abroad. Stern for the past 11 years has been the executive director of OutRight Action International, a global LGBTQ advocacy group. The White House in its announcement notes Stern is also […]
Canada’s Senate puts LGBT conversion therapy bill on hold for summer
OTTAWA, June 30 (Reuters) – A pledge by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ban LGBT conversion therapy has been delayed until at least September, after an attempt to recall the Senate over the summer to deal with the bill failed late on Tuesday. Canada’s Senate, or upper chamber, held special sittings earlier this week […]
Poland could face legal action over its controversial ‘LGBT+ free zones’
The European Commission is studying the possibility of legal action against Poland over its “LGBT-free zones” in some towns, several EU sources have said. As the “guardian of the treaties” binding the European Union together, the commission could launch an infringement procedure against the country, which is ruled by a right-wing, socially conservative government whose […]
Venezuelan activists say there is little to celebrate this Pride month
Activists in Venezuela say there is little to celebrate this LGBTI Pride month, which they say is behind in South America on legislation protecting members of the LGBTI community. Venezuela still bars same-sex marriage and child adoption by same-sex couples, among other laws that some countries in the region such as Colombia and Brazil allow. […]
Spain’s Cabinet Approves Draft of Transgender Rights Law
The Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday passed a draft bill on LGBTQ rights that will seek parliamentary approval to allow transgender people over 16 to freely change their gender and name without doctors or witnesses intervening in the process. The proposal could still change during a lengthy parliamentary debate of the legal draft. But if its […]
Poland should copy Hungarian LGBT law, says Polish minister
WARSAW, June 28 (Reuters) – Poland should copy a Hungarian law that bans schools from using materials seen as promoting homosexuality, the Polish education minister said in comments published on Monday, as the nationalist government attacks what it calls “LGBT ideology”. Hungary’s premier, Viktor Orban, has outraged other European Union leaders with the law, with […]
France could ease path to parenthood for single and lesbian women
When Benedicte Blanchet, a 40-year-old who lives in a Paris suburb, decided that she wanted to have a child on her own and not wait to meet the right man, nothing prepared her for the costly obstacle course that was to follow. Under existing laws in France, which are among the strictest in western Europe, […]