Mumbai Hosts First Same Sex Wedding Party After SC Verdict
For Vinodh Philip, there couldn’t be a better tribute than his wedding reception to the city that embraced him and saw him through his toughest turmoil. Nearly five months after the Supreme Court decriminalized Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, the 43-year-old founder of Rainbow Voices Mumbai, India’s first LGBTI choir, and his husband […]
LGBTI Students to get New Access to Bursary Program from Province
The Nova Scotia government will broaden who is eligible for a bursary meant to promote diversity in the communications field, after Mount Saint Vincent University students and staff said they were concerned it excluded LGBTI students. LGBTI students say accessing bursaries and scholarships can be difficult, as many are not geared toward their community or are not well-publicized. The Communications Nova […]
When Religion Leads to Trauma
“We think of church as a place of healing and transformation, and it is,” says Michael Walrond Jr., pastor of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. But for some, he says, “religion has been more bruising and damaging than healing and transformative.” Pastor Mike, as he is called, leads services in a renovated art […]
Anastasia Pirveli: Georgia’s Transgender Star
Every day, I’m in touch with people who could be homophobic. It’s because of my strong way that people are very kind and polite, there are no problems in the street, – says Anastasia Pirveli, a Georgian and openly LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) singer. With fiery red hair and impeccable style, her strength commands […]
Alan Turing Voted Greatest Icon of 20th Century on British TV
After nearly two months airing mini-documentaries about 20th-century movers and shakers, the BBC Two series Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century picked a winner along with seven finalists in a vote on February 5, according to the show’s site. The good news is that the gay scientist and World War II codebreaker Alan Turing was named […]
Why Some Members of Singapores’s LGBTI Community Prefer Life in the Shadows
When news broke in December that Singapore’s High Court had allowed a gay couple to adopt their son conceived through a surrogate in the United States, it was not met with cheers by all of the city state’s LGBT community. Public opinion over same-sex relationships is deeply divided in Singapore, where gay sex is still technically illegal […]
Scottish Schools Celebrate LGBTI History Month with Tribute to Queer Icons
Scotland’s secondary schools are transforming corridors into tributes to icons like Marsha P Johnson this LGBTI History Month. ‘Icons: Who Made LGBT History’ is a booklet launched last week of 28 positive LGBT role models. It was designed by the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign. TIE successfully campaigned for LGBTI history to be taught in […]
Living in Venezuela Now is Hard. Being LGBTI Makes it Harder
Venezuela’s shrinking economy has sparked an exodus of LGBT+ people as the economic crisis has put the brakes on the country’s growing tolerance towards its gay and trans community, activists told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Not that Venezuela was ever an easy place to be different. For years, Daniel Arzola endured homophobic abuse from his […]
LGBTI Community Reaches Out to the Poor with Medicine Bank
Bebo Kinnar, a transgender from Jamshedpur, grew up as a subject of ridicule and discrimination. But today, her initiative – Dava Daan Jeevan Daan – started in collaboration with a gay individual, Amarjeet Singh, is helping poor patients have access to free medicines. Despite being social outcasts, they refused to give up and have have […]
‘Boy Erased’ Erased from Brazilian Cinemas
A decision by distributors not to release a film about gay conversion therapy has stirred controversy in Brazil and provoked dismay among the country’s LGBT activists. Boy Erased, which was scheduled for release across Brazil between January and February this year, is an adaptation of the eponymous memoir by author Garrard Conley and follows his […]
‘Space to coexist’: Inside South Africa’s LGBT-friendly Mosque
Neatly laid out and facing Mecca, it is the colourful prayer mats arranged in a rainbow pattern that offer the first clue that the Masjid Ul-Umam mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, is not a typical place of worship. Nearby, Tahir, a softly spoken man in his late 20s, sits between a gay imam from Zambia, […]
India’s doctors: from ‘conversion’ to conversation on LGBT+ issues
It started with a homophobic post on social media. Dr. Prasad Raj Dandekar, a radiation oncologist based in Mumbai, was scrolling through his Facebook feed one evening several years ago when he saw a colleague had posted an anti-gay comment. “I commented saying, ‘This isn’t appropriate; maybe you don’t mean it,’” Dandekar told the Thomson […]
Poland’s first openly gay mayor creates new party ‘Spring’
Poland’s first openly gay politician founded a new progressive party on Sunday ahead of European and Polish elections this year. Robert Biedron, who named the party “Wiosna” (“Spring”), said he wanted to challenge Poland’s divisive politics and win seats from Poland’s ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party at European elections in May. “There is […]
CA would ban infant intersex surgeries under Wiener bill
California would become the first state in the nation to ban surgeries performed on intersex infants if state lawmakers approve a bill authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). At a news conference in San Francisco Monday morning, Wiener is scheduled to announce his legislation. It has yet to be assigned a number […]
Victoria to become first Australian state to ban conversion therapy
Victoria is set to become the first state in Australia to introduce a ban on conversion therapy. Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria (head of government) made the announcement at Midsumma Pride in St Kilda today. In a statement posted to his website, Andrews’ office explained that his government “will bring in laws to denounce and […]
LGBT Organization makes significant marks for inclusion of LGBT families in Belize
Our Circle, an LGBT advocacy group based in Belize is launching new projects aimed at strengthening ties within the local LGBT community. The organization has launched their Brown Bag Series for “Activists, Advocates & Allies”. The Brown Bag series is being administered under the Sexual Acceptance for Everyone (SAFE) project being funded by the Inter American […]
Violent comments against student who kissed his male partner are ‘worrying’: Inter-University LGBT Network
The recent online vitriol some Singaporeans have spewed on a man from a local junior college who was seen on an Instagram post kissing his male partner was worrying, said Singapore’s Inter-University LGBT Network. In a press release on Sunday, the network denounced comments inciting violence that were made towards the couple and urged authorities to […]
Pride Parade 2019: Mumbaikars celebrate decriminalisation of homosexuality with love, liberty & fervour
The commercial capital of the country celebrated its first Pride Parade after the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality in September last year on Saturday. Hundreds of people were seen marching with a wave of colors from August Kranti Marg, which holds a significant position in the country’s independence movement. The famous Quit India Movement against the […]
Same-sex couples to file suits for marriage equality in several courts on Feb 14
Chizuka Oe and Yoko Ogawa have lived together in a relationship of mutual trust for almost 25 years since they fell in love after their first encounter at a party. Despite some people around them refusing to recognize the two women as same-sex partners, or family members who have looked at them askance, Oe and […]
Gay cure therapy ban could be blocked because it limits ‘free speech’.
A US federal magistrate judge has said that a ban on gay cure therapy should be blocked because it violates constitutional free speech protections. Evangelical law firm Liberty Counsel had brought a legal challenge against a 2017 ordinance passed in Tampa, Florida, that sought to outlaw conversion therapy on minors. Similar laws banning gay cure […]
Transgender trio fail in legal bid to be listed as male on Hong Kong ID card.
Three transgender people who identify as male lost their legal bid on Friday to be recognised as such on their Hong Kong identity cards, in a setback for the LGBT movement to achieve equal rights. While expressing sympathy, High Court judge Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung ruled against the three applicants, Henry Tse, Q and […]
Award-Winning Activist Jay Lin on Sharing LGBT Stories with Asia.
When Newsweek publicly announced that I was one of the 15 members of the “Creative Class of 2019,” I seriously had to pinch myself. I was discussing video streaming services at a conference in Mumbai, where I had been invited to speak about GagaOOlala’s plans to forge Indian alliances in preparation for the roll-out of our services […]
Copenhagen presents Denmark’s first LGBTI+ policy.
Copenhagen is set to become the first city in Denmark to usher in policy specifically designated to the LGBTI+ community. The policy, ‘En ligeværdig del af fællesskabet’ (‘An equal part of the community’), includes initiatives such as more unisex toilets in the public space, anti-bullying strategies and preventing loneliness among LGBTI+ elderly. “Copenhagen made history […]
This Gay Man Speaks Out About Fleeing Iraq, Where He Says Being LGBT Is a ‘Death Sentence’
In commemoration of 2019 marking 50 years since the Stonewall Riots took place, the editors over at Gay Star News are inviting 50 international guest writers to offer their own stories of diversity and resilience. One of those such guests is Amir Ashour, a gay Iraqi who fled his home country for the United States […]
Film on lesbian romance hailed for pushing boundaries.
A Bollywood movie about a family accepting their daughter is a lesbian was hailed on Friday (Feb 1) for pushing the boundaries of cinema in socially conservative India. It comes after the country’s Supreme Court scrapped a colonial-era ban on homosexuality in September, sparking wild celebrations amongst India’s LGBT community. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh […]
Greek bishop who told followers to spit on gays guilty of inciting hatred.
A Greek bishop has been given a seven-month suspended jail sentence for inciting homophobic hatred and abusing ecclesiastical office. Bishop Amvrosios of Kalavryta, whose name is Athanassios Lenis, appeared in front of a three-member misdemeanour court in the town of Aigio on Monday (January 28), reports the English-language version of Greek newspaper Kathimerini. The case […]
Conservative Muslims reject antirape bill over ‘pro-adultery, LGBT’ concerns.
The passing of a bill on sexual violence, which has been deliberated on by the House of Representatives since 2016, is at risk of being delayed again, this time by those who consider it to be “pro-adultery” and “pro-LGBT” by omission. The bill was first proposed after the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old […]
Cameroon: Crowd kills ‘man of God’ caught in the act
Diallo (a pseudonym), a human rights activist in Maroua, reports. A homosexual couple was surprised in the midst of love-making one morning last October in a shop in the central market of Maroua. The older man in the couple was Goche Lamine, a Nigerian native in his thirties who had been selling non-prescription medicine in Maroua […]
28 US states still lack basic equality for LGBT people, State Equality Index says.
28 US states are still lacking in basic equality for LGBT people, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s State Equality Index. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute released the annual index on Thursday (January 31) detailing state-level progress on LGBT+ rights. The rankings show significant progress has been made towards […]
Berlin’s monument to gay victims of the Holocaust vandalised.
Berlin’s memorial to homosexual people killed during the Holocaust has been vandalised. Local magazine Monopol reported that the structure had been vandalised with black paint with a political message being painted on the structure. The monument has been repeatedly damaged in recent times. Police are investigating the incident. The Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism […]