Tickets are now on sale for London’s first ever Muslim LGBT+ Pride
Tickets are officially on sale for London’s first LGBT+ Muslim Pride festival, bringing together artists and advocates for an event that organisers hope will spotlight a community so under-represented in the Pride calendar. LGBT+ Muslim group Imaan set the date for the event for Saturday, April 11, and tickets hit the EventBrite shelves Wednesday. Tickets […]
Sydney to ‘feel the love’ at Mardi Gras today
Sydney Mardi Gras CEO Albert Kruger says this year’s event will include “everyone from all walks of life that touches our community”. Sydneysiders are preparing to ‘feel the love’ tonight as the city’s biggest celebration of LGBT pride kicks off. Mr Kruger told Sky News the parade will be broadcast this year which is “unique” […]
Chechen exile survives suspected assassination attempt after fighting off attacker
A prominent Chechen blogger and critic of the region’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov has survived a suspected assassination attempt after fighting off a man he said attacked him in his apartment in Poland. Tumso Abdurakhmanov posted a video on Wednesday night showing himself looking shaken and standing over a man on the floor of the apartment […]
Shameful statistic staining Australia: Young LGBTI people twice as likely to be homeless
A group of 1000 people will come together this weekend to stand in the shape of a house to raise awareness of a shameful statistic about the state of young people. Around Australia tonight, an estimated 116,000 people will sleep rough – either on the streets, in temporary shelter or in unsupported accommodation. Of that […]
Washington state passes ban on gay and trans panic defenses for homicide
A measure prohibiting homicide defendants from claiming a defense based on panic over a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity has been passed by lawmakers in Washington state. Nine states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey New York and Rhode Island — have legislatively banned the use of gay or transgender panic […]
Four years, two continents: a gay Chinese couple’s journey for a surrogate son
Before Qiguang Li could pass through customs and step on to US soil for the first time, he faced a three-hour detention where he learned that he needed to be more candid about his identity. It was September 2015, after a long flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles. Li came with another man, Wei Xu, […]
The Fight for LGBT Rights in Vietnam Still Has a Long Way To Go
Prejudice, discrimination, and stigma against the LGBT community in Vietnam still loom large. Change will take concerted efforts. On September 14, 2019, on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Ho Chi Minh city, Nguyen Hue street was busy as normal, attracting hundreds of tourists. But something was different about that day: the street was holding an […]
Top Imam vows to stop ‘demonic’ LGBT conference from coming to Ghana
The Pan Africa ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) is set to hold its 2020 annual conference in Accra, Ghana, in July. It will be the organisation’s first conference held in West Africa. According to Human Rights Watch, LGBT+ people living in Ghana suffer discrimination and abuse in public and in private, […]
‘Scared’ gay sisters given temporary reprieve from being returned to Pakistan
Two sisters say they are “relieved but worried” after they narrowly avoided being deported to Pakistan where they say they face the threat of LGBT-based violence. Samina, 52, and Nazia Iqbal, 48, from Stockport, were scheduled to be taken out of the country on Saturday night from Manchester airport after a judge said it was […]
Lesbian speaks about the heartbreaking process of trying to ‘prove’ sexuality to the government
A lesbian from Zimbabwe has spoken out about how it took five gruelling years to convince the Home Office that she’s gay and should be granted asylum. Angel fled to the UK five years ago, after police found her naked in bed with another woman and beat the pair of them up. While sex between […]
As survivors speak out, 9 countries seek to ban gay ‘conversion therapy’
From electric shocks to ‘praying away the gay’, global momentum is growing to ban so-called “conversion therapy”, with bills drawn up in nine countries, a rights group said on Wednesday. The United States, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Germany are among countries seeking to outlaw the treatment, based on the belief that being gay or transgender […]
‘Return the key’: the parents who reject their gay children
Chris Jewell was in tears after a big, intense fight with his boyfriend of five years. So big, the police were called. Highly distressed, he phoned someone with whom his relationship had become strained: his mum. He rarely asked her for anything and was always well behaved; the first in his family to attend university. […]
Afro-Feminist Resistance in Brazil’s Carnival
In Southern Brazil, the all women’s carnival block Cores de Aide is marching for political resistance and in defense of women, who have been particularly under attack during the far-right presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. Eliro, social worker: “This act is important, principally at this moment when this country is not well, when public policies are […]
Pro-Trump preacher says Pete Buttigieg should be jailed for talking to 9-year-old about being gay
A pro-Trump preacher has said that Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg should be jailed for speaking to a nine-year-old. Dave Daubenmire, more commonly known as right-wing internet persona ‘Coach Dave’, hit out after a nine-year-old boy asked Buttigieg about being gay at an event in Denver, Colorado. Buttigieg had praised the “brave” boy, saying: “It won’t […]
From fines to imprisonment: What are penalties for homophobia in different countries?
Recently, Switzerland residents came to a referendum for introducing a law that would punish people for discrimination based on sexual orientation in the country. Many European countries, the US, and some countries of South America envisage punishment for homophobia. In Ukraine, homosexuality is still often condemned, and people of homosexual orientation are attacked. At the […]
Priest who compared LGBT-inclusive education to Nazism invited to speak in UK parliament
An anti-abortion Anglican priest who said LGBT-inclusive education is “state-sponsored abuse” and comparable to Nazism has been invited to speak in UK parliament. Reverend Lynda Rose was invited by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP’s leader in the House of Commons, to speak at a meeting of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group. […]
Irish leader Varadkar to resign, as parliament fails to find new leader
Irish leader Leo Varadkar has told parliament that he will resign on Thursday night, after suffering a crushing defeat in a parliamentary vote. No clear successor has emerged from the process to lead the country. Varadkar said he would stay on as caretaker leader after he tenders his resignation to Irish President Michael D. Higgins. […]
Acting intelligence head Richard Grenell’s push to decriminalize homosexuality has yielded little
Donald Trump became the first president to name an openly gay person to a Cabinet-level position Wednesday when he announced that Richard Grenell would serve as his acting director of national intelligence. Grenell is the architect of a U.S.-led effort to decriminalize homosexuality in the 68 countries where it is still illegal. In two others, […]
A THIRD OF POLAND DECLARED ‘LGBT-FREE ZONE’
Local municipalities across a third of Poland have adopted resolutions “against LGBT propaganda” or “pro-family”, creating what rights groups describe as hostile spaces for anyone who is not heterosexual or committed to the so-called “natural family”. According to an “Atlas of Hate” map created by activists, an area greater than the size of Hungary has […]
LGBT Pattaya Pride festival showcases rights and acceptance
Pattaya celebrated its LGBT community with the colorful Pattaya International Pride 2020 festival. City tourism advisor Rattanachai Sutidechanai kicked off the Feb. 15 festival with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations including Bangkok Rainbow and the LGBT Business Network of Thailand. The event is held yearly to celebrate and promote LGBT rights and acceptance into […]
SETBACKS FOR QUEENSLAND’S CONVERSION THERAPY BAN
Australia’s first proposed legislation criminalising “LGBT conversion therapy” has suffered setbacks and divides after receiving criticism and support on issues of medicinal practice and gender dysphoria. Under the new amendments, practitioners of the discredited therapy would face fines and up to 12 months’ imprisonment, while those who perform conversion therapy on children and other vulnerable […]
A Police Raid, Viral Videos and the Broken Lives of Nigerian Gay Law Suspects
The 57 men stumbled out of the back of a dark police truck into the glare of a sunny courtyard and a phalanx of cameras. Some clutched another’s hand, as if for comfort. They lined up on wooden benches in the dirt, almost all of them trying to hide their faces, and not succeeding. Standing […]
Zionist Left Campaign Lures Arab LGBT Voters
The Labor-Gesher-Meretz list on Monday launched an ad targeting the LGBT community inside Israeli-Arab society, in an attempt to appeal to liberal voters affiliated with the Joint Arab List. The ad takes advantage of the conservative line adopted by the Arab list, which has not been supportive of the LGBT in the Knesset, Haaretz reported. […]
No Scottish police officers have been trained to tackle LGBT hate crime in four years despite being a ‘priority’
Despite rocketing rates of violence against LGBT+ people in Scotland, absolutely no Police Scotland officers have been sent to a training course to better tackle the upsurge of hate crime in around four years. According to the BBC, the country’s top police officer in 2016 said that tackling hate crime is an “absolute priority” for […]
Morality police swing out wildly in Indonesia
Indonesia’s self-appointed morality police are at it again, this time featuring a university-educated member of the Commission for the Protection of Children (KPAI) who drew public ridicule by claiming that women risk becoming pregnant by sharing a swimming pool with men. Commissioner Sitti Hikmawatty’s startling gaffe came during a week when Human Development Coordinating Minister […]
Torched Effigy of Gay Couple Causes Outrage in Croatia
The Croatian President, government ministers, LGBT rights groups and the Ombudsperson on Monday all condemned the burning of an effigy of a kissing same-sex couple and their child at a Dalmatian carnival, calling it a hateful act. The image was torched at Sunday’s traditional carnival in the small town of Imotski in the Dalmatian Hinterland. […]
Brazilian transgender dancer shatters Carnival parade taboo
When dancer Camila Prins entered Sao Paulo’s Carnival parade grounds, a costume of feathers clinging to her sinuous body, she fulfilled a dream of feminine beauty nearly three decades old. Prins says she first realized she wanted to be a woman at a Carnival party at age 11, when, like the other boys, she was […]
Hundreds join colourful Pride Parade in Thai city
Hundreds of people joined a colourful Pride Parade in Chiang Mai in Thailand on Saturday (February 22nd). The event, which celebrates the LGBT community, has been held for two years in a row following a ten-year hiatus. LGBT people in Thailand do not have the freedoms many enjoy in the West. Thai law currently does […]
Rainbow Scapes: Filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan on chronicling the lives of LGBT individuals who ‘lived fearlessly’
In 2011, I travelled across India to document lives of 20 gay, lesbian and transgender persons who have lived their lives fearlessly and contributed in their own might to the community’s visibility in the mainstream. This was part of Project Bolo – the first ever Indian LGBT Oral History Project and all the 20 interviews […]
Teenage transgender row splits Sweden as dysphoria diagnoses soar by 1,500%
For several days this week the veteran Swedish journalist Malou von Sivers will cover the same topic in every episode of her nightly TV chat show: the extraordinary rise in diagnoses of gender dysphoria among teenage girls. Lukas Romson, one of the country’s leading trans activists, is prepared for the worst. “There will be no […]