A solid majority of Australians voted in favor of same-sex marriage in a historic survey that, while not binding, paves the way for Parliament to legally recognize the unions of gay and lesbian couples. Of 12.7 million Australians who took part in the survey, 61.6 percent voted yes and 38.4 percent voted no, officials announced(…)
Over the next two weeks, a decision will be made at the United Nations (UN) on whether governments globally will accept discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. While the UN General Assembly cannot remove the ban on discrimination from Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter itself, Egypt(…)
More than one in four people (28.5%) believe that those in same-sex relationships should be ‘charged as criminals’, according to a new survey of over 100,000 people across 77 countries and territories around the world. Unsurprisingly, the 2017 ILGA-RIWI Global Attitudes Survey showed that there were major differences in views towards sexual and gender minorities in(…)
The United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity(IE SOGI) mandate was created through UN Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/RES/32/2 in June of last year and was confirmed through six separate votes over the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in 2016. Despite this comprehensive process of approval, some UN Member States insist(…)
Paraguay has passed a Russian style ‘gay propaganda’ ban in schools. The Ministry of Education has stopped public schools from using or spreading materials on ‘gender ideology’, in an effort to promote ‘traditional values’ and the ‘traditional family’. Like Russia’s ban on promoting ‘non-traditional relationships’, the ban on ‘gender ideology’ is a thinly-veiled attack on(…)
The Washington Post reports: This week, a government journal in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan announced that the country’s interior ministry had compiled a registry of “proven” gays and lesbians. The list named 319 men and 48 women, whom Tajik federal prosecutors identified in operations they called “Morality” and “Purge.” A purge — likely(…)
The United Nations human rights office on Friday expressed deep concern about a wave of arrests in Azerbaijan, Egypt and Indonesia of more than 180 people perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), many of whom have reportedly been mistreated by law enforcement officials. “Arresting or detaining people based on their actual or(…)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein Thursday launched an unprecedented set of global standards to support the business community in tackling discrimination against lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex people. Addressing an audience of business leaders, activists and journalists at Microsoft’s New York City headquarters, Zeid called on the private(…)
ILGA-Europe have launched an urgent appeal to help organizations on the ground support victims of the crisis in Azerbaijan, where members of the LGBTI community are being targeted by police raids. Members of the LGBTI community in Baku are being actively targeted by police raids, with those detained being assaulted, forcibly medically examined, fined or(…)
In a historic decision Thursday, India’s Supreme Court declared that an individual’s sexual orientation is protected under the country’s Right to Privacy law. “Sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy. Discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self-worth of the individual,” the Supreme Court judgment(…)