Emma Powys Maurice

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150 Best and Worst Countries for LGBT Travel, Ranked

Nigeria has emerged as the world’s most dangerous country for LGBT+ travel in a new index of global LGBT+ safety released earlier this month. The LGBTQ+ Danger Index ranks the 150 most-visited countries using eight factors, including legalised same-sex marriage, worker protections, criminalisation of violence and whether, based on Gallup poll findings, it is a good place to live. Nigeria earned itself a ‘top’ score of -142 on the danger index due to its total lack of LGBT+ protections, alongside the criminalisation of same-sex relationships and propaganda. Homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years and, under Sharia law, the death penalty. Even the […]

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LGBT People in China are being Forced through Traumatizing Conversion ‘Therapy’

LGBT+ people in China are being forced to undergo so-called ‘conversion therapy’ in at least 96 public hospitals and unlicensed centres, according to a new human rights report. The widely-discredited practise of conversion therapy is considered by medical experts to be pseudo-scientific and ineffective. It is often compared to torture and has been linked to higher risks of depression, suicide, and drug addiction in those who undergo it. China removed homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders in 2001, but in the absence of a conversion therapy ban the practise has continued to thrive and is openly advertised on vans and billboards. There are many different techniques, including […]

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Singapore’s Colonial-era Gay Sex Ban to Face First of 3 Legal Challenges

Tomorrow the high court in Singapore will hear the first arguments to overturn Section 377A, a colonial-era law that criminalises gay sex. Singapore’s strict penal code classes sex between men as an act of “gross indecency” punishable by up to two years in prison, although prosecutions are rare. The law doesn’t apply to sex between women. Three Singaporean activists have launched three separate challenges against the outdated law – Roy Tan, a former organiser of the Pink Dot gay rally, Johnson Ong Ming, a DJ, and Bryan Choong, a former leader of the non-profit organisation Oogachaga. The trio are arguing that Section 377A […]

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Gay Veterans Dishonorably Discharged Can Reclaim Benefits Under Rhode Island Law

Rhode Island’s governor kicked off Veteran’s Day weekend by approving legislation that will extend local and state benefits to veterans who were dishonourably discharged for their sexuality. It’s estimated that more than 100,000 LGBT+ people were ‘dishonourably’ or ‘less than honourably’ discharged from the US military between World War II and the repeal of the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell‘ policy in 2011. On Friday, November 8, Governor Gina Raimondo ceremoniously signed the crucial legislation allowing these veterans to reclaim the benefits they deserve. “In the state of Rhode Island, if you’re a veteran who’s served, you oughta be eligible for […]

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Saudi Arabia Declares Homosexuality, Feminism and Atheism as ‘Extremism’

Homosexuality, feminism and atheism are classed as extremist ideas in Saudi Arabia, according to the country’s Security Agency. The claims were made this weekend in an official promotional video posted by the verified Twitter account of Saudi Arabia’s Presidency of State Security, but this now appears to have been deleted. According to Reuters, the video listed homosexuality, feminism and atheism as takfir – the Islamist militant practice of labelling followers of other schools of Islam unbelievers. “Don’t forget that excess of anything at the expense of the homeland is considered extremism,” said the video’s voiceover, adding that “all forms of extremism and […]

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Queer children’s Author Slams Illinois School for Cancelling her Visit over Reference to Harvey Milk

Queer author Robin Stevenson has condemned an Illinois school for cancelling her visit in response to a complaint from a ‘homophobic’ parent. Robin Stevenson is the award-winning gay Canadian author of Kid Activists: True Tales of Childhood from Champions of Change. She was due to give a talk about the book at Longfellow Elementary School in Wheaton, Illinois. The school’s vice president asked for a list of the activists mentioned in the book, then abruptly informed her the day before the visit that they would be cancelling without explanation. Stevenson later learned that the reason was one parent’s objection to their child reading […]

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Students Stage Walkout after High School Threatened to Out Gay Classmate to her Parents

Students at a Catholic high school in California have staged a walkout after teachers threatened to out a gay classmate to her parents if she didn’t attend counselling. High school senior Magali Rodriguez is one of two openly LGBT+ students at Bishop Amat Memorial High School, the only other one being her girlfriend. The school has no written policy barring same-sex relationships, but when the pair started dating Rodriguez was forced into disciplinary meetings and counselling with the school psychologist, and barred from sitting next to her girlfriend at lunch. None of these rules applied to straight students, and Rodriguez says she […]

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5 Malaysian Men Jailed and Caned for Attempting Gay Sex

Five men in Malaysia have been jailed, fined and caned for attempting homosexual sex in the Muslim-majority country. Selangor Shariah High Court near Kuala Lumpur sentenced four of the men to six months in jail and six strokes of the cane as well as fines of RM4,800, local newspaper Harian Metro reported. Their crime: “Attempting intercourse against the order of nature.” A fifth man was sentenced to seven months jail, six strokes of the cane and a RM4,900 fine for the same offence, although it’s not clear why he was singled out for harsher punishment. Homosexuality and all same-sex sexual acts are […]

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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Donated $100 Million towards Gene Research for HIV Cure

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has teamed up with the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop revolutionary gene-based cures for HIV and sickle cell anaemia. The billionaire couple are the most generous philanthropists in the US and have previously donated a whopping $287 million to HIV/AIDS research. They are now giving an additional $100 million which, combined with the NIH’s investment, will amount to at least $200 million over the next four years – a huge boost to researchers fighting the diseases. It’s particularly vital as scientists recently announced they have discovered a new strain of HIV for the first time in […]

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Supreme Court Justices Met with Leader of Anti-gay Hate Group ahead LGBT Rights Cases

Before announcing their judgement on three critical LGBT+ rights cases, US Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito chose to meet with the leader of a notorious anti-LGBT+ hate group. Kavanaugh and Alito met with Brian Brown, who is the co-founder of the National Organisation for Marriage (NOM) and the president of the World Congress of Families (WCF). Both groups actively campaign against basic LGBT+ rights in the US and beyond. Brown himself has long organised against LGBT+ communities, promoted harmful laws and emboldened other hate groups and extremists. Recently, he boasted of his close relationship with autocratic Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and met with […]

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