Maggie Baska

When he made the tough choice to flee Uganda, in the wake of the country’s draconian anti-LGBTQ+ law being passed, activist Henry Mukiibi thought: “What have I left behind?”  Mukiibi, the executive director of LGBTQ+ group Uganda’s Children of the Sun Foundation (COSF), has been on the run and living in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, since earlier this year, after receiving information that the authorities at home wanted to arrest him under the new anti-homosexuality legislation.  The Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was enacted in May and carries the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, has unleashed a torrent of abuse against LGBTQ+ […]

Max and Sasha are just two of the many LGBTQ+ people who have joined the mass exodus fleeing Russia to avoid violence, discrimination and war. Now, the queer Russian-Ukrainian couple are left with the scars of living under Vladimir Putin’s repressive regime. Putin’s obsession with rejecting what he sees as Western “degradation” has led to Russia toughening anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in recent months. At the same time, the Kremlin has clamped down on free speech, human rights and dissent as the war in Ukraine drags on.  Max and Sasha fled Russia this time last year. They joined the hundreds of thousands […]

An attacker has been sentenced to over a year in jail after he punched and threatened a man who he thought was gay with a deactivated AK-47 rifle and bayonet in a homophobic incident.  Marcin Skalimowski, 41, assaulted an unidentified man in an unprovoked attack after the man tried to talk to him at the St James Wine Bar in St Helier, Jersey on the evening of 20 March.  Skalimowski was removed from the bar after the assault, but he returned 10 minutes later to threaten the victim, who he assumed was gay, with the two weapons.  Crown advocate Luke […]

A trans woman living in Moscow is scared for her safety as Russia moves to ban gender recognition and trans healthcare. Mihelina moved to Moscow from Georgia to study performative arts and music. It used to be “one of the most liberal cities and queer friendly,” she tells PinkNews, via translation by Queer Svit co-founder Anna-Maria Tesfaye. “Now, every day, I hear slurs and threats towards me,” she goes on. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, president Vladimir Putin has clamped down even further on LGBTQ+ people in Russia. Trans people have been considered internal enemies, with fresh efforts to take […]