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First Gay Parade in North Macedonia

A rainbow of colors filled the streets of Skopje on Saturday when North Macedonia held its first gay parade. Demonstrators in the largely conservative Balkan region have called for the cessation of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT). Hundreds joined a march with whistles, a huge flag with rainbow colors and posters. […]

Anti-LGBT hate crimes are rising, the FBI says. But it gets worse

Friday marked 50 years since protesters fought back against a police raid of New York’s Stonewall Inn and catalyzed the modern gay rights movement. But despite decades of progress, members of the LGBTQ community across the country are experiencing targeted acts of violence. Hate crimes against LGBTQ people have been on a slight rise over […]

Argentina says Guyana’s LGBTI community needs receptive police, hate crime laws

Argentina, which chairs the 40-nation Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) that fights for the human rights of gays and bisexuals, wants Guyanese police to make reporting hate crimes easier and for the South American nation to pass legislation outlawing such crimes. The need for such measures was contained in a letter to prominent Guyanese gay rights […]

Turkish opposition sparks debate with pro-LGBTQ Pride campaign

In an unprecedented move, dozens of Turkish opposition-run municipalities celebrated LGBTQ Pride Day on Sunday, triggering rebukes and strongly worded statements from ruling party officials and their supporters. Among the first officials to show their support for Pride was Canan Kaftancioglu, the chairwoman of Istanbul Republican People’s Party (CHP) who is believed to be the […]

A library canceled an LGBT prom after backlash. Then a church stepped in.

When the Storybook Pride Prom for LGBT teens in Jacksonville, Fla., was canceled after online conservative backlash, a local church made sure the story had a happy ending. The Willowbranch Library in Jacksonville originally organized the event, inviting 14- to 18-year-olds to come in costume as their favorite book characters, with a dress code of […]

A ‘pride’ that roared on the streets of Kolkata yet again

On a muggy July afternoon in 1999, 15 people gathered at Park Circus Maidan in the heart of Kolkata dressed in bright yellow T-shirts that said Friendship Walk on one side and ‘Walk into People’s Heart’ on the reverse. They walked around the field, and then down Gariahat road distributing pamphlets, before splitting off to […]

Protests in Pakistan after father arrested for murder of transgender daughter

The transgender community in Pakistan are leading protests after a 19-year-old transgender woman was found “riddled with bullets” beside a river bank. The teenager’s father has been arrested for her murder. The woman, Maya, had left her home in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and was living with a group of transgender people called the Meena Group […]

Turkish police fire tear gas at crowds gathered for banned Istanbul Pride march

Police in Turkey used tear gas to break up a banned Pride rally calling for rights for gay and transgender people. Several hundred activists had gathered in Istanbul, cheering and waved rainbow flags, intending to march through the streets from the central Taksim district. Turkish authorities had banned the event for the fifth year running, […]

The LGBTQ artists using music as resistance in Latin America

Over the last decade, several openly queer musicians have emerged in Latin America. They use their music to combat hate. As the region has seen a rise of extreme right-wing beliefs, progress is being met with violent homophobic resistance, with several countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, and Chile, witnessing a surge of hate crimes in […]

Glaad’s bold new mission: An LGBT constitutional amendment

Glaad almost died in 2014. After years of fighting homophobic news coverage and working to bring about inclusion in the entertainment industry, the L.G.B.T. advocacy organization found itself losing money, scrambling to adapt to the rise of digital media and struggling to be taken seriously in Hollywood. “I was given a scary mandate,” said Sarah […]

Video: LGBT activists talk openly about life in Morocco

In collaboration with the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE), Human Rights Watch released a video, Monday, June 24. The footage, published on the Human Rights Watch Facebook page, aims to examine and combat the myths and stereotypes faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people in the MENA region. Human Rights Watch […]

How the internet is helping queer Nigerian youth push for Pride

For LGBTQ+ people growing up in Nigeria, the dangers of being out and visible are instilled in all of us. When I ask Logan February, a 20-year-old genderqueer poetry prodigy who is bravely out and proud, why they choose to be visible, their answer confirms a shift I’ve noticed in the new generation of queer […]

Pioneers launching Pride in Bermuda, St. Lucia, Uganda, India

Activists in Bermuda and St. Lucia are planning those nations’ first Pride celebrations, while a fund drive is under way for Uganda’s seventh Pride, which is held annually except when police raids shut it down. See also news about Pride in Uganda, India, Georgia and Ukraine. Activists in Uganda are seeking funds for this summer’s […]

As Pride celebrates Stonewall, Catalonia remembers its own LGBT breakthrough

Franco’s Spain dismissed queer people as a “danger to society.” Then, they staged an unprecedented protest in Barcelona. Pride is back in Barcelona this weekend as the global LGBT community celebrates half a century since the revolutionary Stonewall riots. It was not until 1977, after the end of dictatorship, that Catalonia staged its own version, […]

Gayborhoods’ used to be a LGBT save haven. Now, many LGBT people have been priced out

For better or worse, iconic “gayborhoods” are getting way more expensive, pricing out LGBT people in the process. Neighborhoods such as San Francisco’s Castro district or New York’s Greenwich Village have cultural and historical significance for the LGBT community and house a large LGBT population. A home in the Castro district values at nearly $1.8 […]

LGBT community demands its rights with massive Mexico City march

The Mexican LGBT community showed this Saturday how much it has advanced in demanding its rights with a huge march in the capital of a country where hate crimes against its members persist. Waving the rainbow flags of sexual diversity, around 65,000 people, many wearing colorful disguises, set out in the early afternoon from the […]

Nepal holds first Pride parade in Kathmandu

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Kathmandu on Saturday (June 29) as Nepal held its first every Pride parade. According to local media, Nepal has celebrated the LGBT+ community with marches and parades since 2002, however, this event marks the first time such an occasion has been put on during Pride season. The […]

LGBTQ Tour Group Cancels Ethiopia Trip After Death Threats

Death threats force a Chicago-based gay tour group to cancel an upcoming trip to Ethiopia. “One of the emails was you cannot come here you are not even human,” expressed Dan Ware, owner of Toto Tours. “You are less than human. So that, it’s like a blow to the heart.” Ware said he was devastated […]

Gov’t promises support for LGBTIQ community

Some 150 people, including representatives of the government and relevant ministries, the LGBTIQ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer), local authorities, ambassadors, parents and guardians held a meeting on Thursday under the theme Dialogue on Legal and Public Policies to Protect LGBTIQ People in Cambodia. Keo Remy, head of the Cambodian Human Rights […]

Treaty rejected over LGBT clause

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and the Malaysian Employers Federa­tion (MEF) voted against an international treaty to promote a harassment-and-violence free workplace because a section in the document includes the LGBT community. In a list of countries voting for the adoption of the Convention Concer­n­ing Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of […]

With ball gowns and dance, LGBT+ refugees in Kenya cast aside woes to celebrate

LGBT+ refugees in Kenya – some dressed in sequined ball gowns and slinky black evening dresses – cast aside their troubles on Thursday to eat lunch, dance to Congolese rumba and celebrate their second International LGBTQI Refugee Day. After staging the first event in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp last year, several East African refugees were […]

Survivor of Jamaican hostility, I work to legalize our loves

Risk of imprisonment. Death threats. Blackmail. Contempt from police. AIDS. Jamaican/Canadian activist lawyer Maurice Tomlinson tells why he works to overturn Caribbean nations’ anti-gay laws. The first time I visited my now husband in Toronto, he suggested that I get out and explore the city on my own while he was at work. I was […]

Meet the 41 out gay and bi soccer stars in the Women’s World Cup 2019

It is still a hostile world to be a LGBTI athlete. Thankfully, the Women’s World Cup is here to show that you can be both LGBTI and excellent in your sport. This year, there are at least 41 openly gay or bisexual women in the World Cup in France this year. While the game may […]

PM Lee: Whatever your sexual orientation, you’re welcome to work in Singapore

Are the winds of change blowing over Singapore? Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke up about sexual orientation and Section 377A of the Penal Code, which deem homosexual acts between men illegal, at the Smart Nation Summit at Marina Bay Sands on June 26, Wednesday. The Prime Minister fielded a question from the audience about […]

Gay librarian’s suicide prompts LGBT rights debate in Myanmar

The suicide of a gay man in Myanmar who was subjected to “homophobic bullying” from his co-workers has prompted a national conversation on LGBT+ rights in the Southeast Asian country. Kyaw Zin Win, 25, worked as a librarian at Yangon’s Myanmar Imperial University. He took his own life on Sunday (June 23) after posting a […]

Brazil’s Biggest Employer of Trans People Flies Its Pride Flag

With some 11,000 workers, the Guararapes Confeccoes SA is the biggest employer in Rio Grande do Norte state on Brazil’s northeast coast. In a typical month, the company hires around 100 people; during the busy holiday season, it might add eight times as many. For many residents of the capital city of Natal, it’s also […]

Middle East Survey Sees Patchy Progress in Views on Women’s and LGBT Rights

More men than women in Iraq say they have been sexually harassed, while only 6% of Lebanese people think being gay is acceptable, according to a major survey of public opinion in the Middle East published on Monday. The wide-ranging study, conducted by researchers at Princeton University, found although support for women’s rights and for […]