No One Wants To Testify’: Gruesome Murder Case Highlights Vulnerability Of Russia’s Transgender Population
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — In June, a high school student discovered a decapitated and dismembered body in a swimming hole on the Mga River just outside St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city. Using the serial numbers of Irish-made breast implants found on the body, police identified the victim as 23-year-old Jamshid Hatamjonov, a transgender sex […]
Australia’s fa’afafine community is growing, and they want their voices heard
Latoya Hoeg had an upbringing some kids can only dream of. Rather than struggling to fit in as a boy, her Samoan family embraced her differences. “I was an effeminate person,” Latoya explains. “I was just being me, and my family back in Samoa, when I spoke, they just went, ‘fa’afafine!’” Fa’afafine means the mannerisms […]
Cayman LGBTQ Foundation: ‘It’s time to live and let live’
Cayman’s LGBTQIA+ residents and allies gathered at Central Terrace Saturday evening in support of the newest organisation to join the community cause and to celebrate the expansion of same-sex partnership rights. More than 120 Caymanians and residents purchased tickets for the first fundraiser of the Cayman LGBTQ Foundation, established earlier this year by Noel Cayasso-Smith. […]
Transgender People Still Criminalized in 13 UN Member States, Report Finds
At least 13 United Nations member states still criminalize transgender people, while others use morality and indecency laws to crack down on the trans community, a report showed on Wednesday. Nigeria, Oman and Lebanon are among the nations with explicit anti-trans laws, according to the latest Trans Legal Mapping Report by LGBT+ rights group ILGA […]
2020 LGBT Pride parade in Taipei to celebrate self-identity
Taipei, Sept. 28 (CNA) The theme of this year’s LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, one of the largest in East Asia, will be “Beauty, My Own Way” to celebrate people being true to themselves rather than conforming to society’s gender expectations, the organizers said Monday. The parade, which saw 200,000 people march through the streets […]
After ambassadors push Poland to protect LGBT rights, its leaders push back: ‘Nobody needs to teach us tolerance’
WARSAW, POLAND — Polish leaders on Monday rejected suggestions that LGBT people are deprived of any of their rights in the country, after an open letter from 50 ambassadors and international representatives cited a need to work for “non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual acceptance.” The ambassadors’ appeal, made in an open letter published Sunday, comes as […]
Gay woman who was attacked after being unlawfully deported to Uganda wins court case against Home Office
A gay woman who was unlawfully deported from the UK to Uganda where she had been gang-raped has won in a court case against the Home Office, in a ruling that could pave the way for thousands of similar challenges. The 27-year-old was brought back to the UK last year under High Court orders after […]
Drag queens to grace Vogue magazine cover in Brazil
MEXICO CITY (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A pair of drag queens will grace the October cover of Vogue in Brazil, the magazine said on Monday, marking a landmark for the iconic fashion publication in a nation where openly gay and trans people face violence and discrimination. Grammy-nominated singer Pabllo Vittar and rapper Gloria Groove will […]
Gender equality in Japan gets a push from young activists
Ayano Sakurai believes that the Japanese government’s policy on gender equality needs more feedback from people of her generation who face wide-ranging gender-related challenges in their daily lives. Sakurai, 25, saw an opportunity when the government solicited public comments on a draft of ideas for its forthcoming basic plan on promoting gender equality. As the […]
California requires correctional facilities to house transgender inmates by gender identity
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Saturday a package of measures intended to strengthen protections for LGBTQ people, including one that requires the state’s correctional system to house transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex people by their gender identity. The new law, SB 132, also requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to […]
Ex-Minister takes on alleged lesbian soldier who married partner in uniform
Rachel Appoh, a deputy minister of Gender and Children Protection has added her voice to calls for the hierarchy of the Ghana Armed Forces to crack the whip on the female soldier who allegedly married her lesbian partner in military uniform. Viral pictures and videos captured the officer whose identity has been revealed as Staff […]
Government issues gender identity guidance for teachers in England
Teachers should not tell children that they might be a different gender based on their personality or the clothes they want to wear, new guidance from the Department for Education states. The guidance, published on Thursday, notes teachers in England must not “reinforce harmful stereotypes” and resources used to discuss topics involving gender and biological […]
Poland’s ruling nationalists cement new coalition deal
Poland’s ruling nationalists signed a new coalition agreement on Saturday, ending weeks of in-fighting in the three-party alliance over how it will govern over the next three years. The leaders of the Law and Justice (PiS) party and the smaller conservative United Poland and Accord groups signed the deal at PiS headquarters in Warsaw on […]
Thousands march in Uruguay for LGBT rights
Rainbow colours and war cries have rung out at the centre of Montevideo as Uruguayans gathered for the annual LGBT pride parade wearing masks undeterred by the pandemic that did not prevent a large turnout. A gigantic rainbow flag and three vehicles with mobile DJs and dance music accompanied the march on Friday along the […]
Key Rights at Stake in US Supreme Court Pick
The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, 2020 leaves a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court and enormous uncertainty over the court’s future role in the protection of fundamental human rights. A nominee for Justice Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court should be evaluated in terms of their likely impact on […]
Lead on recognising same-sex unions in Hong Kong must start with government not courts, lawyers and activists say
Lawyers and activists have urged the government to take the lead in drawing up a legal framework for the recognition of same-sex relationships in Hong Kong rather than leaving decisions to the courts, which struck down a major case seeking to recognise foreign gay marriages last week. They accused the administration of leaving the burden […]
Transgender people still face discrimination in Belgium, claims activist
European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen denounced discrimination of the LGBTI community last week, criticising Poland for their LGBTI-free zones. “Being yourself is not your ideology, it is your identity and no one can ever take it away. So I want to be crystal clear, LGBTQI-free zones are humanity free zones,” von der Leyen […]
The pandemic hit LGBTQ Canadians differently. Researchers want to know why
Why were sexual and gender minority people more affected by layoffs, and saw their physical and mental health impacted more severely than Canadians overall as COVID-19 spread this year? Online surveys have suggested contributing factors to these startling truths. Nathan Lachowsky, associate professor at the University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy […]
Govt urged to recognise, research on intersex community
There are growing calls for government to recognise the existence of intersex persons and need for research to guide on the realities of the “hidden” community. Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions, in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not seem to fit […]
Trans rights activists and Home Affairs minister agree to work together
Last month, a group of trans, LGBTI+ and allied organisations wrote to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) over its reduction of vital gender-affirming services during the lockdown period. The letter was issued along with the results of a survey on the impact of Covid-19 on Home Affairs services for trans individuals. It found “a […]
Senegal: Activists seek funds to rescue 10 men arrested by religious police
Religious police on Sunday night arrested 10 young gay men in the holy city of Touba, Senegal, and threatened them with homosexuality charges. LGBT rights activists are seeking financial help to evacuate them to a neighboring country where allies will take care of them. Six of the men were released after enduring violence at the […]
Could Same-Sex Marriage Advocacy in China Be Poised for a Breakthrough?
Last fall, as China’s lawmakers neared finalizing the country’s first-ever Civil Code, they opened to public comment its draft chapters on marriage and other areas of law. A newly formed coalition of LGBTQ organizations advocating for gay marriage called Ai Cheng Jia (“Love Makes Family”) saw an opportunity. They could use the official comments process—which […]
French court rejects transgender woman’s demand to be recognised as a mother
France’s highest court has ruled that a transgender woman cannot be officially recognised as the biological mother of the child she conceived with her wife before transitioning. The court ruled on Wednesday that a 51-year old transgender woman, referred to in court as ‘Claire’, would have to adopt the six-year-old child in order to become […]
A Step Backward for Same-Sex Couples in Chile
Over three years ago, the Chilean government sent a bill to Congress to uphold same-sex marriage. The bill has not moved forward. Instead, Chile has been taking steps backward. Take the June decision by the Constitutional Court, denying a request by a lesbian couple who were married in Spain and have a child, to have […]
Changes to gender recognition laws ruled out
Ministers have ruled out changes to make it easier for transgender people in England and Wales to have their gender legally recognised. They have rejected calls for people to be able to self-identify their gender and change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis. Ministers said reform of the 2004 Gender Recognition Act was not […]
A refuge for homeless transgender people is in the works in New Orleans
A group of advocates in New Orleans have raised more than $400,000 to create what will be the city’s first home for transgender and gender non-confirming people who are experiencing homelessness. The project called the House of Tulip (Trans United Leading Intersectional Progress) is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S., […]
Trans Activist Akkai Padmashali joins Congress Party in Karnataka
Well know transgender activist Akkai Padmashali joined the Indian National Congress in Karnataka on Sunday. Akkai is the recipient of Karnataka Rajyotsava award – the second highest civilian award of the state- in 2015, and is the founder of Onedede, an oranisation working for the rights os sexual minorities and vulnerable groups. Akkai was inducted […]
Beirut’s port explosion shattered a queer oasis, but the residents of Mar Mikhael have vowed to rebuild
Firas Nabulsi remembers dancing in drag under a rain of glitter, rose petals cascading from beneath his wig, the Beirut nightclub crowd cheering as he lip-synched to a Whitney Houston song. Now he doesn’t have anywhere to dance, anywhere to work or anywhere to live. The blast destroyed his home in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael, along […]
Germany: CDU leadership hopeful slammed for comments on homosexuality
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leadership hopeful Friedrich Merz came under fire on Monday for a response he gave when questioned on whether he could imagine Germany having a homosexual chancellor. Merz, a candidate in the CDU election set to take place in December to find a replacement for Angela Merkel, who is stepping down — […]
BBC journalist had the gall to ask Barbados’ prime minister if people should be ‘allowed’ to be gay. She didn’t hold back
A BBC journalist asked the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, if people should be “allowed” to be gay – and she did not hold back. Mottley appeared on BBC News to discuss revived plans for the Caribbean island to remove the queen as its head of state and become a republic. In the interview […]