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Boys’ love brings edgy drama to China, and a backlash

For years, Chinese television dramas were the poor cousins of Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese soap operas. A 2018 Chinese remake of the Taiwanese show Meteor Garden is a good example. Following the tensions between a poor girl and four rich boys, the mainland version was unwatchable. A drama about class divisions set in present-day China […]

Improving the Lives and Rights of LGBTQ People in America

The Trump administration spent the majority of its four years in office launching a barrage of attacks infringing on the rights of LGBTQ people, promoting discriminatory policies, and creating barriers to access critical government services. These actions reflect the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for the rights, dignity, and well-being of LGBTQ people, their families, and […]

Transgender student shares distressing experience of MOE blocking her HRT treatment

Using a throwaway account on reddit/r/SGExams, one transgender student recalled her difficult experience in school, specifically with the Ministry of Education (MOE) allegedly interfering her hormone replacement therapy (HRT) treatment that was prescribed by her doctor after she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The student recalled her experience in an all-boys-primary school, describing it as […]

What does the European Commission’s LGBTIQ Equality Strategy mean for CEE?

For most of emerging Europe, LGBTIQ rights and social inclusion remain contentious issues with no clear path forward. Poland and Hungary especially have seen a sharp rise in anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric and policies that have worried many activists and analysts. In November of 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new LGBTIQ Equality […]

California bill would ban intersex surgery for young kids

A California lawmaker is trying again to ban some medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children until they are at least 6-years-old, hoping a narrower focus combined with new legislative leadership will be enough to get the first-of-its-kind legislation signed into law. State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, introduced the bill late Thursday […]

Nigerian gay-themed film will explore homophobia’s impact

The film “Broken Rainbow” which is produced by HUG Media, a Nigerian indie-film-making outfit, will address family rejection, depression, HIV stigmatization, suicide, and homophobia — crucial issues affecting the gay community. The film is written, produced, and directed by Godwin Harrison, a Nigerian filmmaker who is passionate about making queer-themed films. Aside from the poster […]

Steelers: How anti-gay row inspired rugby film

Conventional perceptions around sexuality, gender and manliness are challenged in a new documentary about Kings Cross Steelers – the world’s first gay rugby club. The film, called Steelers, shows how the club literally saved the lives of some of its players. Yet it was a story that nearly did not get told at all. Israel […]

Biden Should Cement Rights in US Policy

(Washington, DC) – US President-elect Joe Biden should work with global leaders who have sought to shore up a defense of human rights around the world, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2021. His administration should also look for ways to entrench respect for human rights in US policy that are […]

Biden Admin. to Terminate Flawed Asylum Agreement with El Salvador

President-elect Joe Biden said he will terminate a flawed asylum agreement with El Salvador, the Human Rights Watch reported. LGBT groups within the country experience violence and discrimination from churches and authorities. The flawed agreement allows immigration authorities in the U.S. to transfer non-Salvadoran asylum seekers to El Salvador, the HRW reported. “The Attorney General’s […]

LGBT+ Ugandans find camaraderie, hope and despair on election day

KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Despite a presidential campaign marked by homophobic rhetoric, LGBT+ Ugandans turned out to vote on Thursday, with many hoping for change and finding unexpected camaraderie. In the capital Kampala, a ballot officer asked 30-year-old transgender lawyer Noah whether he was male or female when he handed over his identity documents, […]

Czech Republic rules against same-sex couples adopting as wave of homophobia continues sweeping across Europe

The Czech Republic has ruled against adoptions from same-sex couples registered abroad as anti-LGBT+ rhetoric continues spreading across eastern Europe. On Monday (11 January) the Czech Constitutional Court rejected a regional court’s proposal to amend a law that prevents same-sex couples registered abroad from adopting Czech children. Same-sex couples are currently unable to adopt as […]

South Korean firm suspends LGBT-hating chatbot over hate speech

A popular AI-driven chatbot in South Korea with the persona of a 20-year-old female student was taken down this week after it was accused of bigotry towards sexual minorities, the #MeToo movement and the disabled. Lee Luda, developed by Seoul-based start-up Scatter Lab to operate within Facebook Messenger, became an instant sensation for her spontaneous […]

Hong Kong workplaces lag behind rest of Asia in LGBT acceptance, study finds

Attention to workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) has been on the rise in recent years. Among key areas of D&I, many are calling for advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) inclusion. But despite an increasing focus on LGBT equality in the workplace in Hong Kong, more multinational firms in Hong Kong had enacted LGBT-friendly workplace […]

Poland plans to make censoring of social media accounts illegal

Polish government officials have denounced the deactivation of Donald Trump’s social media accounts, and said a draft law being readied in Poland will make it illegal for tech companies to take similar actions there. “Algorithms or the owners of corporate giants should not decide which views are right and which are not,” wrote the prime […]

INTERVIEW-Greece’s first gay minister hopes appointment helps erode homophobia

LONDON, Jan 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Greece’s first openly gay minister said encountering homophobia in public life was “a given”, but hoped his appointment to the conservative government would make it easier for LGBT+ people to tackle discrimination. Nicholas Yatromanolakis was named deputy minister for contemporary culture after being promoted last week in a […]

WOMAN WHO THREATENED TO BOMB SCHOOL PLEADS GUILTY TO HATE CRIMES

After threating to kill students and teachers by bombing the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington DC in May 2019, a woman has plead guilty to hate crimes. Enraged by the school’s announcement that they would begin publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine, 36-year-old Sonia Tabizada of San Jacinto, California made multiple, threatening […]

Popular rabbi warns followers COVID vaccine ‘could make you gay’

A popular rabbi urged his followers not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, warning them that doing so, it might “turn them” into homosexuals. Rabbi Daniel Asor’s assertion goes against decrees issued by leading rabbis in Israel and around the world, who have called on ultra-Orthodox society to take every precaution against the global pandemic, […]

Polish activists face jail for sticking up Virgin Mary posters with rainbow halo

The trial of three Polish activists accused of “offending religious beliefs” will start on Wednesday, according to LGBT+ rights organisation ILGA-Europe, and could result in each one being jailed for up to two years. Elżbieta, Anna and Joanna – whose last names have not been released – were arrested in 2019 and charged the next […]

Dept. of Ed Says Title IX Does Not Apply to LGBTQ Discrimination

The United States Department of Education’s Office of the General Counsel published a memorandum on Friday that states that LGBTQ students are not expressly included in protections under Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination at federally funded institutions. Questions about how Title IX applies to LGBTQ students surfaced after the U.S. Supreme Court’s […]

Move to make state gender identity more inclusive in SA

Move to make state gender identity more inclusive in SA Article by Roberto Igual | January 12, 2021 | In HEADLINES The South African government wants to update the country’s gender identity policies and laws to be more inclusive of transgender and intersex citizens. Published last month for public comment by the Department of Home […]

Senegal: Victims of homophobia find respect inside prison walls

African prisons often are hotbeds of homophobic violence, but that hasn’t been the experience of seven Senegalese men convicted in November on homosexuality charges. Treated respectfully by at least two prison officials, last month they also met with LGBTQ rights advocates who visited them in prison. The Free Collective, which shelters abused victims of Senegal’s […]

Remote Work Eases Coming Out for Transgender Employees

For those who decide to come out as transgender, the workplace can be a big hurdle—using the bathrooms, keeping up a new appearance and dealing with reactions from co-workers. But with many offices going remote, more transgender employees are concluding they can come out while letting their work—not their gender identity—speak for them. River Bailey, […]

Tolerant Uruguay a place for some trans citizens to ‘glow’

On a recent Sunday in the Salaverry household in Montevideo, various members of Uruguayan transgender teenager Sebastian’s family gathered for a traditional “asado,” or barbecue. The family sat around the large kitchen table, looking at photos of a young Sebastian and his older brother Ignacio. Sebastian, who at 18 sports the shadow of a beard, […]

The ex-cop behind China’s largest gay dating app

Browsing the internet as a young policeman in China, Ma Baoli recalls the sheer volume of web pages telling him he was a pervert, diseased and in need of treatment — simply because he was gay. “I felt extremely lonely after I became aware of my sexual orientation,” says Ma, at the time a newly […]

In Four Years, Trump Has Ushered In Federal Judicial Climate Unprecedented In Its Hostility

In just four years, President Trump has ushered in a judicial landscape that is significantly more hostile toward LGBTQ+ people, with nearly 40% of Trump’s confirmed federal appellate judges having demonstrated anti-LGBTQ+ bias according to a new report released today by Lambda Legal. The new report — the culmination of a painstaking, four-year effort by […]