Lily Wakefield

/ /

Queer Activists Issue ‘Urgent Call for Justice and Equality’, Demanding Reforms in India’s

LGBT+ activists in Mumbai have launched a petition to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption as an “urgent call for justice and equality”. The Humsafar Trust, an LGBT+ rights organisation in Mumbai, started the petition at the end of Pride Month. While LGBT+ acceptance is growing in the country, the petition states: “We, the LGBTQ+ people of India believe that there can not be a right time to ask for equal rights which are already enshrined in the Indian constitution but cannot be accessed by the LGBTQ+ community.” The Humsafar Trust is calling for the “recognition of same-sex marriage, adoption rights for LGBTQ+ community, anti-discrimination laws […]

/ /

70 Countries Risk Running Out of HIV Drugs Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, WHO Warns

Seventy-three countries fear they could run out of antiretroviral (ARV) medications, which prevent the transmission of HIV, because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A new WHO survey released ahead of the biannual International AIDS Society’s conference found that 24 countries currently had either supply problems or critically low stocks of the anti-HIV medications because of COVID-19. In the 24 countries experiencing shortages, around 8.3 million people are using ARV medications. Suppliers failing to deliver the medication, shut downs of air and land transport and limited access to healthcare services were listed as reasons for […]

/ /

Overwhelming Majority of Generation Z Transgender People Are Closeted

Almost eight in 10 Gen Z transgender people have only come out online and are still closeted in real life, according to a report by Tinder. One year on from the introduction of its orientation feature, which allowed daters to pick up to three sexual orientations to find better matches, Tinderhas conducted research into Gen Z attitudes towards LGBT+ issues. Gen Z, described in the Tinder research as 18 to 25-year-olds, were more likely than other age groups to use the orientation feature, were most likely to include more than one sexual orientation, and were more likely to choose more than one gender […]

/ /

Facebook Refused to Take Down Posts Threatening to Murder LGBT+ People

Facebook reportedly refused to take action on posts that called for the murder of LGBT+ people, according to activists. LGBT+ activists across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have called on Facebook to tackle hate speech, including posts that call for the murder of queer people. But, the platform reportedly found that they did not “contradict community standards”. Activists and rights groups wrote an open letter to Facebook in the wake of the death of Sara Hegazy, an Egyptian LGBT+ activist who was jailed and tortured for raising a Pride flag at a concert, and then tragically died by suicide. The letter said: […]

/ /

US Marines Celebrate Pride Month and 10 Years since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The US Marine Corps has released a statement celebrating Pride month and a decade since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and one officer is on a mission to shut down homophobes who disagree. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was the official White House policy that barred openly gay, bisexual and lesbian people from serving in the US military. The Marine Corps released a statement in support of its LGBT+ members at the beginning of Pride month, which said: “During [Pride] month, we take the opportunity to recognise our LGBT service members and reflect upon the past. “We celebrate their successes and recognise […]

/ /

Lawmakers of Gabon Voted to Decriminalize Homosexuality

Lawmakers in the Central African country of Gabon just voted to decriminalise homosexuality, after making gay sex illegal just last year. In 2019, Gabon, on the west coast of Central Africa, criminalised same-sex relations with a penalty of up to six months in prison as well as a fine of 5 million CFA francs (£6,393). At the time, LGBT+ rights activists in Gabon said that the new law against homosexuality had “further sent the LGBT+ community underground and has created harassment”. But, according to Reuters, lawmakers in the country’s lower house of parliament voted on Tuesday, June 23, to revise the 2019 law […]

/ /

The Stonewall Inn Needs Your Help to Stay Open

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to save the historic Stonewall Inn, where the modern LGBT+ rights movement began, as it struggles during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2016, the Stonewall Inn became the first LGBT+ national monument in America, honouring its unique part in the history of the LGBT+ rights movement. But, after being shut down for three months, the historic New York venue is struggling The venue said that because of its “uncertain future” it was desperately in need of “community support” to  “help to save one of the LGBTQ+ communities most iconic institutions and to keep that history alive”. Organisers […]

/ /

New Director of Trump’s Federal Media Agency Has Ties to Anti-LGBT+ Group

Michael Pack, the head of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) who was chosen by Donald Trump, has appointed a new federal agency director with ties to an anti-LGBT+ organisation. The USAGM is an independent agency which oversees state-run media outlets, for example Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and it says its mission is “to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy” in accordance with “broad foreign policy objectives of the United States”. According to CNBC, Pack terminated longtime board members within weeks of being appointed and replaced them with Trump loyalists. Now, he is reportedly moving to […]

/ /

Almost Every Single Queer Teen in Trump’s America has Been Bullied

Almost every queer teen in America has been bullied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity under the Trump administration, a new study has found. It is well-documented that LGBT+ young people are more likely that their straight counterparts to experience bullying, and are at a greater risk of developing mental health problems such as depression and eating disorders. But a new study showed that the problem is worse than previously thought. It found that 91 per cent of LGBT+ youth had experienced bias-based bullying, almost every queer teen in America, doubling estimates from previous research which surveyed predominantly heterosexual youth. […]

/ /

Chicago Cop Who Shouted ‘f****t’ at Black Lives Matter Protesters Fired

A Chicago police officer has been stripped of his police powers after he was found to have shouted a homophobic slur at Black Lives Matter protesters. A clip emerged on social media this month of the unnamed officer in an argument with anti-racism protesters after a traffic cone and part of a barricade were thrown at him. The officer, who did not appear to be injured, yelled at the protesters: “B***h! Wait ’till I turn my back, you f**king faggot!” Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot — one of the first out queer Black women in office anywhere in the United States — told a press conference on June […]

«‹ 11 12 13 14›»