Church of England Faces Calls to Withdraw Trans Welcome Ceremonies
The Church of England is facing pressure to withdraw guidance for ceremonies welcoming transgender worshippers following a transition after more than 2,000 members signed a letter of protest. Clergy members were among those who signed the open letter saying the “notion of gender transition is highly contested in wider society” and the guidance for baptism-style […]
Angola decriminalizes homosexuality
In a landmark reform, 155 parliamentarians voted for Angola’s first overhaul of the criminal statute books since gaining independence from Portugal. They voted to drop the colonial era provisions, broadly considered as anti-gay. “While there have been no known prosecutions under the law, provisions like this one curtail the rights and freedoms of lesbian, gay, […]
Barcelona’s LGBT centre is vandalised one week after opening
Residents of Barcelona have shown their support for the queer community after the city’s LGBT+ centre was vandalised just over one week after opening. The Centre LGBTI Barcelona opened in Calle Borrell, Barcelona, on January 19, with Eugeni Rodríguez, president of LGBT+ rights group Observatori Contra l’Homofòbia, describing it as a “historic day” for Barcelona’s LGBT+ community. However, it […]
Gay congressman who fled Brazil will be replaced by another gay politician
Gay congressman Jean Wyllys, who fled Brazil in fear of his life, will be replaced by another gay politician. Wyllys, a pioneering gay politician in the country, was re-elected in October to serve a third term in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, but fled the country this month after facing an influx of death threats and the murder of […]
Leaked HIV data creates fear among Singaporean LGBT community
A major leak of the confidential data of 14,200 people with HIV in Singapore could hamper a fight against new infections among LGBT+ people in the city-state, campaigners said on Tuesday. The health ministry said on Monday that an American, who lived in the country previously, disclosed online the details of 5,400 Singaporeans and 8,800 foreigners who […]
Russian LGBT Network formally requests federal investigation on Chechnya amid death threats to director
The Russian LGBT Network has requested that Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee look into reports of renewed arrests, torture, and killings of those suspected of being LGBTQ in Chechnya, Mediazona reports. The Network has led efforts to help victims of anti-LGBTQ persecution in Chechnya escape the region for multiple years. LGBT Network activists also named one of those arrested in […]
Life in the Closet: The LGBT Community in Central Asia
While much recent attention has been focused on the LGBT community in Chechnya and the wider North Caucasus, sexual minorities in Central Asia live under significant pressure as well. Russia’s 2013 law prohibiting “propaganda” promoting non-traditional sexual relations has had a consequential impact on LGBT issues in Central Asia. It triggered the introduction of an […]
France combats anti-LGBT bullying with new school campaign
A new campaign in France is aiming to tackle anti-LGBT+ bullying in middle and high schools across the country. France’s Ministry for Education and Youth launched a new campaign today called All Equal, All Allies, which will see all state schools putting up posters and providing guides about LGBT+ issues. SOS Homophobie – a French organisation […]
Londoners rally at Russian embassy demanding end to torture in Chechnya
The situation in Chechnya is urgent. That’s why nearly one hundred people flocked to a rally outside of the Russian embassy in London to call for an end to the persecution of gay men and women there. Since April 2017, authorities in the northern Caucuses have been rounding up people based on their real or perceived sexuality. They’ve […]
Myanmar LGBT Pride Out in Force, But Laws Lag Behind
This past weekend, pride week kicked off in full force in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. A flurry of rainbow umbrellas dotting Yangon harbor, held by fishermen following a flotilla of partygoers, set sail on Saturday. Followed by the drag olympics featuring a handbag throwing competition, a stiletto sprint and hula hoop contest. Hundreds attended the […]
LGBT community fear living openly in Kurdistan
Imagine living a lie. A life of lies, secrecy and often depression only to conform to cultural norms so that you or your family isn’t endangered or murdered. This is the case for the LGBT community in Kurdistan. Many have gone through their life living under a veil of shame, pain, resentment and confusion because of […]
Moroccan LGBT man claims police abuse, officers sanctioned
Chafik Lafrid, 33, said his life become ‘‘hell’‘ when he went out on December 31 last year dressed like a woman. The Moroccan gay man claims that he was abused by police and vilified on social media when his image was posted to the internet. The humiliating scene, has been viewed millions of times on […]
Trump Administration Sits on Hands As Chechnya Disappears LGBT People
A violent crackdown on LGBT people in the Russian region of Chechnya has resulted in the arrest and torture of dozens of people so far. Advocates, attorneys, and activists say that the Trump administration’s assault on the asylum system—exacerbated by the recent federal government shutdown—is complicating efforts to save others from a similar fate. “If […]
Whether it’s a bar in Shinjuku or over a dating app with someone in Osaka, words matter when talking about LGBT topics
A recent survey by advertising giant Dentsu revealed that roughly 1 out of 11 people in Japan identify as レズビアン, ゲイ, バイセクシュアル, トランスジェンダー (rezubian, gei, baisekushuaru, toransujendā, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender), and the survey comes on the heels of some positive developments for the LGBT community in this country. In 2015, Tokyo’s Shibuya and […]
Taiwanese volunteer campaigns in China for LGBT rights
Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) A Taiwanese volunteer who went to China recently to campaign against its sexual orientation therapies sees the LGBT communities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait as facing similar challenges. The Taiwanese volunteer, a Kaohsiung graduate student nicknamed GT, went to Shanghai earlier in January to participate in “Lovers,” a performance […]
Egypt’s LGBT Crackdown Expands to Stifle Journalists
An Egyptian television anchor was unexpectedly sentenced to one year in prison for interviewing a gay man on TV last week. The conviction of Mohamed Al-Ghaity, a host on the satellite channel LTV, reveals the lengths the government will go to shut down discussions on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues particularly, because al-Ghaity is known as a […]
Holocaust Memorial Day: How the pink triangle became a symbol of gay rights
As the world marks Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday (January 27), PinkNews remembers all those in the LGBT+ community that were persecuted by the Nazis—and how the pink triangle, used to identify gay or bisexual men in concentration camps, became a symbol for gay rights. When Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party seized power in […]
Chandigarh demands right to be different
The fate of LGBT community of Chandigarh swiveled into a different alley when Dhananjay Chauhan, a transgender student, led the campaign on Panjab University campus for a special toilet for the third gender. Dhananjay has also sought admissions for more from his community of transgenders in educational institutions. But the battle has just begun for […]
LGBT Navajos Discover Unexpected Champions: Their Grandparents
When she was 5 years old, Michelle Sherman learned exactly what her mother thought of gay men. “I remember seeing two guys holding hands, and then my mom’s like, ‘Oh, that’s disgusting,’ and so I was like, ‘OK, maybe it is disgusting,’ ” Sherman says. But then she realized she was attracted to girls and […]
Myanmar’s first LGBT pride boat parade sets sail
Rainbow flags flew high and gay anthems blasted out over Yangon’s river as a flotilla of boats took to the water of Myanmar’s biggest city on Saturday (Jan 26) for the country’s first-ever Pride boat parade in a sign of growing acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. Some 600 revelers partied under a […]
Reconnecting LGBT and Indigenous struggles
Historically, the LGBT community and Indigenous people have been closely connected in their struggle for equal and fair treatment in Canada. However, that connection has been partially forgotten and a former professor and activist said its time to realign both movements in order to move forward. “There are these major historical connections and I want […]
“We exist”, gays say in message to Pope Francis in Panama
A long and tender kiss between two women in downtown Panama on Friday was a quiet but symbolic message from the LGBT community to the visiting Pope Francis: “We exist!” Samirah Armengol and her friend Basch Beitia were staging a “kiss-in” with friends in front of landmark Catholic church to draw attention to gay rights […]
After LGBT paranoia threatened to shut it down, gov’t defends HIV prevention group in Riau
Activists warn that the LGBT panic in Indonesia is not only causing wide scale discrimination and persecution against the protected minority group, it is also helping to create a public health crisis by making it more difficult for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services to reach vulnerable populations. The office of a non-governmental organization that focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention […]
Nearly one in 50 US teen students see selves as transgender, government reports
Nearly one in 50 U.S. high school students considers themself transgender, and more than a third of those say they attempted suicide in the previous year, according to the first study of its kind by a government agency released on Thursday. Those transgender students are the frequent victims of violence and bullying, threatened at school […]
Taiwanese LGBT activist named Newsweek Creative Class innovator
A Taiwanese LGBT rights activist has been included in Newsweek’s Creative Class of 2019, an initiative celebrating innovators who develop creative solutions to the world’s problems, according to the American weekly magazine. Jay Lin (林志杰), founder of LGBT streaming platform GagaOOLala, was named one of 15 innovators in the Creative Class of 2019, published by […]
In the deepness of Siberian closets
Until recently a flag, painted on the balustrade, contrasted the otherwise concrete-grey waterfront next to the Angara River, which trenches the city of Irkutsk into halves. Its rainbow colors attracted attention of disapproving minds. Now it is gone, but those who painted it to hint at their irrevocable existence are still here. One of them stands at […]
The LGBT Community of Bali Celebrates Annual Festival In Secret Amid Indonesia’s Crack Down On Rights
A Bali-based LGBT pageant held its crowning ceremony for Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata (YGD) in secret last month following multiple online threats and opposition from the local Islamic governing council. Bali is Indonesia’s and arguably the world’s most popular tourist destination. It’s majority Hindu population also makes it the most progressive island in the […]
New research reveals how the marriage equality debate damaged LGBT Australians’ mental health
Although Australia has now achieved marriage equality, the topics of sexuality and gender identity continue to spark heated – and often discriminatory – public debates. Most recently, the issues of religious freedoms and anti-discrimination laws, the Safe Schools program, and gay conversion therapy have dominated public and political discourse. New research has suggested that such divisive debates have the potential to […]
Japan Supreme Court: Trans people must be sterilized before gender change
The Supreme Court of Japan published a ruling on Thursday (24 January) upholding a law that requires transgender people to be sterilized before changing their gender on official documents. Japan’s law in question is No. 111, which first took effect in 2003. The law states trans people, in order to secure a gender change, must be diagnosed with gender identity disorder […]
Nigeria police spokesperson tells gay people: Leave or face prosecution
A prominent police officer in Nigeria has told gay people to “leave the country or face prosecution.” Dolapo Badmos, a Chief Superintendent and Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, also urged citizens to report gay people to the police, according to Nigerian newspaper The Punch. On January 17, Badmos told her 125,000 Instagram followers: “If you are homosexually inclined, Nigeria […]