A court in Japan has ruled that not allowing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
On Tuesday (30 May), Nagoya District Court became the second to rule against Japan’s banning of same-sex marriage, despite the country’s prime minister Fumio Kishida claiming the ban wasn’t discriminatory to the LGBTQ+ community.
Japan is the only G7 nation that does not recognise same-sex marriage.
The ruling – welcomed by activists and supporters outside the court – follows Japan’s main opposition, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), submitting a bill calling for same-sex marriage to be legalised.
Lead lawyer on the case, Yoko Mizushima, spoke to journalists and supporters following the ruling, saying: “This has rescued us from the hurt of last year’s ruling that said there was nothing wrong with the ban, and the hurt [caused by] what the government keeps saying.”
Japan court voices concerns about human rights violations
In November, a Tokyo district court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional, but that the absence of a legal system to protect same-sex couples is aninfringement of their human rights.
Currently, same-sex couples are only able to engage in civil unions – and even then, only in certain areas, such as Tokyo – with Japan’s constitution stating that marriage is between a man and woman.
While civil unions afford certain rights, couples cannot inherit assets, adopt, or even see their partner in a hospital if they are involved in a medical emergency.
Kishida came under scrutiny in February after one of his aides, Masayoshi Arai, reportedly made anti-LGBTQ+ comments, including that he “doesn’t even want to look at” married same-sex couples.
Arai was promptly fired, and Kishida called the remarks “outrageous [and] completely incompatible with the administration’s policies”.
Public supports same-sex marriage
Calls for a marriage equality bill, along with anti-discrimination and other legal protections for LGBTQ+ people, increased following Arai’s remarks.
Kishida previously said that same-sex marriage “could change people’s views on family, sense of values and society”.
But the prime minister’s stance could result in his downfall. Polls show his approval ratings have halved to about 30 per cent since last year, and, according to a global Ipsos survey, at least 69 per cent of the Japanese population support legal recognition of same-sex marriage, with just six per cent opposing it.
In addition, 68 per cent believe same-sex couples should have the right to adopt, while 20 per cent do not agree with the proposal.
Right-wingers have cried foul again, this time targeting Lego’s LGBTQ+ A-Z of Awesome campaign for Pride, after internet troll Oli London tweeted “Lego turns trans”.
Lego’s A-Z of Awesome, launched for Pride Month last year, is a community-centred social media project aiming to highlight LGBTQ+ voices.
Reposting an advert of the campaign on Twitter, London – possibly best-known for his various plastic surgery procedures to make him appear like BTS star Jimin – wrote: “Lego turns trans,” and implied that “transgender building sets for kids” were included.
A Lego spokesperson told PinkNews: “We have not released any LGBTQIA+ sets aimed at children. The A-Z of Awesome was a marketing campaign released last year, that featured sets built by our amazing adult fans. None of these sets are for sale.
“Lego play is for everyone and we are committed to building a [kinder], more empathetic and understanding society now and for future generations.”
London’s post has garnered more than 900 retweets, with many joining him in calling for the brand to be boycotted.
One person commented “adding to my #boycottlego collection of boycotts”, while others also called for the brand to be blacklisted.
Lego’s A-Z of Awesome page highlights interviews with builders such as self-described Black, queer woman, Hope, from Boston, who has “dedicated her life” to supporting young LGBTQ+ people of colour, with her work paying “tribute to those themes of intersectionality”.
The brand announced in April that all of the A-Z of Awesome creations will be exhibited at its Legoland theme park in Denmark, from 24 May.
Lego’s first Pride range, Everyone is Awesome, was launched in May 2021. The range featured 11 figurines, all but one of which had no specific gender designation so as to “express individuality while remaining ambiguous”.
His reaction resulted in him being criticised online with people on Twitter coming out in force to slam his video, with social media users pointing out that the staff were just doing their job.
Ever-growing list of brands the right have called to boycott
Lego joins an ever-growing list of brands the conservatives have demanded be boycotted, including, Nike, The North Face, Bud Light, Target , adidas and Starbucks.
The announcement saw social media users say they were adding the brand to the list of businesses they would no longer frequent.
The brand released a statement supporting their partnership with Gonia, adding that the “outdoors are for everyone”.
Meanwhile, Bud Light continues to face the fallout from its collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney following the beer brand giving the trans influencer a single can of their brew with her face on it.
Another household name to be face ring-wing wrath is adidas, with its Let Love Be Your Legacy collection for Pride 2023, supposedly guilty of “erasing women” and “gaslighting”.
Pride-themed Swatch watches have been seized by authorities in Malaysia in raids of 11 of its stores, reportedly due to ‘LGBT symbols’ on the timepieces.
The raids happened between 13 to 15 May and around $14,000 (£11,347) worth of stock was seized, according to various media reports.
The watches were part of the brand’s 2023 Pride collection, launched on 4 May, which features six different watch faces in Pride colours. Each watch strap is made up of two bands containing colours that make up the full Pride flag.
As reported by local newspaper MalayMail, Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was questioned about the seizures while making his way to parliament on Thursday (25 May).
Ibrahim told reporters: “The only fact I know is that the confiscation was because the watches had LGBT symbols, not because of the colours.”
In a statement to the AFP news agency, Swatch Malaysia’s marketing manager Sarah Kok said the stock would be replenished and displayed on shelves.
Swatch Group chief executive Nick Hayek said the company “strongly contests” that the watches “could be harmful”, saying that the collection is meant to spread a message of peace and love.
“We wonder how the Home Ministry’s enforcement unit will confiscate the many beautiful natural rainbows that are showing up thousand times a year in the sky of Malaysia,” he said.
AFP quoted an anonymous ministry official who said the watches had “LGBT” on them and had six colours (as in the Pride flag) instead of seven in a rainbow.
The band’s November performance was announced in same the week that the watch raids took place, and welcomed on social media by Ibrahim.
However, an opposition MP called for it to be cancelled because frontman Chris Martin has been pictured holding Pride flags in the past.
Ibrahim’s local government development minister, Nga Kor Ming, hit back, describing such a call an “old-fashioned way of thinking” that was “not suitable for our multicultural society”.
In a win for diversity, Mexico has finally begun allowing its citizens to legally identify as their true selves after issuing the country’s first non-binary passport.
Foreign minister Marcelo Ebrared confirmed on Wednesday (17 May) that the Mexican government had issued the first passport with a non-binary gender marker, calling it a “great leap” for freedom of expression.
On International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) no less, Mexican activist Ociel Baena received their passport during a ceremony held by government officials, including transgender federal lawmaker Salma Luévano.
“We endorse our support for sexual diversity,” the foreign minister wrote in a statement. “All rights must be guaranteed for all identities. No more hate speech – diversity enriches and flourishes.”
Under the new policy, non-binary and gender non-conforming Mexican citizens can choose to replace a gender category with an ‘X’ rather than simply choosing male or female.
The foreign minister also clarified that applicants can now “omit the need to specify gender” when applying for new passports.
According to the community-driven LGBTQ+ rights site Equaldex, 16 countries, including Mexico, currently recognise the ‘X’ marker on official documentation, such as passports, licenses and birth certificates.
The Mexican government now allows non-binary and gender non-conforming people to apply for gender-neutral passports. (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, four countries allow only certain types of recognition either for intersex people or given certain requirements. The last country to change its policy on non-binary passports was Spain in December 2022. It allows ‘X’ markers for intersex people only.
Several countries still don’t allow ‘X’ markers to be used on passports, including France, Italy and the UK.
Activists across the UK have heavily criticised the government for its stance on non-binary passports, with the government saying on multiple occasions that it has no intention of updating the policy any time soon.
In 2021, the UK confirmed it had no plans to add the ‘X’ marker to legally recognised passports despite a petition urging the government to do so, which was signed by more than 136,00 people.
“As set out in the response to the Gender Recognition Act consultation, there are no plans to make changes to the 2004 Act,” the government response to the petition said.
“The 2018 GRA consultation did not bring forward any proposals to extend the GRA to provide legal recognition to a third, or non-binary, gender.
“The government noted that there were complex practical consequences for other areas of the law, service provision and public life if provisions were to be made for non-binary gender recognition in the GRA.”
As mpox cases start to rise again in some key areas, experts are urging queer people to remain vigilant and get vaccinated.
Mpox cases are down significantly since the epidemic reached its peak in the summer of 2022. The shift prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare that the outbreak was no longer a public health emergency on 11 May – but that doesn’t mean the virus has disappeared.
The WHO is now warning that mpox cases could rise again during the summer months as queer people congregate for Pride festivals and other gatherings.
“[Mpox] still is circulating, it still is with us, and still does represent an ongoing risk,” Dr Richard Pebody, mpox lead with the WHO, tells PinkNews.
“It’s much lower levels of cases now than what we were seeing before, but we also know – and this is the key message I really want to get out to folk – is that there is still the potential for flare-ups, for further outbreaks, this spring and summer.”
He continues: “We’ve seen recently a flare-up in France for example. We’ve also seen a flare-up just recently in the States, in Chicago. These have again really been occurring primarily in the GBMSM (gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men) community and many of the cases had a vaccine last year as well, so it is highlighting the ability of the virus to still circulate and to cause illness.”
Mpox (previously monkeypox) is no longer considered a public health emergency, but it’s still circulating. (Getty)
That’s why the WHO is now launching a new campaign to remind the public that mpox is still circulating as the summer season begins.
“We know festivals where people get together there is an increase in sexual contact. There is the potential for further clusters and outbreaks in those types of settings,” Dr Pebody says.
“It’s really about putting this out there and raising people’s awareness that, on the one hand, we [should] celebrate where we are now, but also to highlight what we can do to keep ourselves and those around us safe.”
WHO urges people to get tested if they develop mpox symptoms
Dr Pebody says there are a range of things people can do to protect themselves and others from mpox this summer.
“On the one hand, if you suspect that you’ve got mpox yourself – so if you’ve started to develop a rash which is consistent with mpox – then get yourself checked out.
“Give the festival or the event a miss. Avoid close contact with others and that will certainly reduce your risk of then spreading that on to others – that’s a really important thing.”
People can also reduce their risk of contracting mpox by taking a smallpox vaccine if one is available in their country. Vaccines reduce both the risk of infection and the risk of severe illness.
The WHO wants people to stay safe this summer, but they also want to reassure queer people that they can still have fun while socialising or having sex with new partners.
“I would really try to reassure people not to be frightened,” Dr Pebody says.
“Certainly now in Europe, the incidence of mpox is much, much lower than it was last year. We’re in a much better position so we certainly don’t want to frighten people. What we want to do really is to remind people that mpox is still potentially out there, but there are things we can all do to reduce that risk of potentially being exposed.
“If you’re planning to go to a festival, to an event, do go – have fun, have a good time, but just remember what you can also do to protect yourself and others.”
The extension to the Same-Sex Marriage Act, approved on Tuesday (16 May), allows same-sex couples to jointly adopt a child to whom neither of them are related, a right previously only open to heterosexual couples and single people, CNN reported.
Previously, if a same-sex couple wanted to adopt a child, only one of them could register as the child’s legal parent.
“I am very excited that we granted joint adoption rights to same-sex couples today,” Fan Yun, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said.
“Legally, we have finally returned same-sex couples to their children… parental love is the same, and only through joint adoption can we protect the rights and interests of each other by law.”
The DPP described the law as a monumental milestone.
The introduction of same-sex adoption in Taiwan follows a ruling in December 2021 that challenged the ban, with a gay man in Kaohsiung City being granted the right to adopt his husband’s child.
A family court ruled that 38-year-old Wang Chen-wei’s child, whom he had previously adopted, could also be adopted by his 34-year-old husband Chen Chun-ju.
At the time, the ruling applied only to their specific case and did not legalise same-sex adoption country-wide, something Chen-wei described as absurd.
“I am happy that my spouse is also legally recognised as the father of our child… but I can’t feel all that happy without amending the law,” he told toAFP.
Taiwan recently held its first LGBTQ+ Pride celebration in two years – after the country relaxed its strict COVID-19 restrictions – which attracted more than 120,000 revellers to the capital Taipei.
Homophobic gangs in Nigeria are targeting LGBTQ+ people and blackmailing them for money using fake online dating profiles, it has been revealed.
These criminals are called ‘kito’, which is a Nigerian term for a person who pretends they are queer on social media and dating apps to entrap LGBTQ+ people.
A new BBC Africa documentary, Kito: Blackmailing LGBT Nigeria, sheds light on the crimes perpetuated against the country’s LGBTQ+ community, as criminals use people’s sexual identities to blackmail them.
In Nigeria, being gay can carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
In the documentary, a father of three, Mohammed, shares the story of when he was the victim of a kito gang.
Mohammed had been talking to a man named Jamal online before he decided to meet up with him.
They went back to his home and when Mohammed got into the shower, a group of men burst in and began beating him. Jamal and the gang took a video of the assault and posted it online.
“I couldn’t believe that someone I trusted could go to the extent of doing that to me,” Mohammed told the BBC.
Mohammed said he became suicidal after the experience but his son’s unconditional love kept him alive.
“I called my kids, three of them. My son told me he loves his father. Even if his father is queer, he has no issues with that,” he said.
Emmanuel, another victim of the kito, told the BBC he was also filmed after being tricked. His attackers didn’t post the video online, but instead forced him to withdraw 500,000 naira (£860) from his bank accounts and tortured him with an iron.
He said the experience hurt him “mentally” and left him feeling “insecure”.
Most of the men interviewed in the documentary lost their jobs when the blackmail videos went online.
Crimes targeting gay men using dating apps have become a common occurrence across the continent. In South Africa, authorities recently warned gay men using Grindr to be careful as criminals were using the app to find targets and blackmail them.
Most top dating apps are entirely inclusive of trans people, which will come as terrible news to transphobes who are still raging over lesbian dating app HER’s ongoing support of its transgender users.
In recent weeks, HER has faced the vitriol of anti-trans bigots expressing outrage that the platform, which has been trans-inclusive “since day one”, welcomes trans and non-binary people.
And it’s not just HER. Leading dating apps such as Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge and Grindr are all trans inclusive and have zero-tolerance policies when it comes to transphobia on their platforms.
The pile-on faced by HER resulted in its Twitter account being temporarily suspended on Lesbian Visibility Day (26 April), after bigots reported it en masse. It has now been reinstated.
So-called gender critical male activists even took to creating accounts on HER in a bid to “catch out” trans women using it to find love – only to end up exposing one another instead.
The team behind the app did not take the hostility lying down and came out swinging for trans rights and in defence of HER’s trans and non-binary users.
In response to the attacks, the team sent a push notification to the app’s 10 million users,telling transphobes to delete it from their phones.
Robyn Exton, HER’s founder and chief executive, told PinkNews that the anti-trans hate was not slowing the team down and, instead, they are using it as an opportunity to double down and “to make our position exceptionally clear”.
Exton explained: “It’s kind of absurd that we’re now getting this vitriol, saying that we’re a lesbian app that is ‘now promoting’ inclusion of trans women. It always has, since day one.”
Robyn Exton, the founder of queer dating app HER. (Helena Price)
Transphobes enraged at HER’s policies will be hard-pressed to find a mainstream dating app that specifically excludes trans people.
Arguably the best-known dating app in the world, Tinder is often the first platform people new to the online dating world venture on to – and is open to the entire LGBTQ+ community.
The app has found LGBTQ+ people tend to use Tinder as the first place they are comfortably “out” after coming to terms with their identity, a spokesperson for the company told PinkNews.
The number of LGBTQ+ Tinder members under the age of 30 has doubled in the past three years, data from the platform showed.
A spokesperson said: “Tinder is an inclusive community where our members can freely express themselves, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
“Vulnerable communities face outside bias, prejudice and stigma, and Tinder recognises the role it has to support the safety of all members on our platform.
“We’ve collaborated with leading organisations, including HRC [the Human Rights Council], RAINN [The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network] and GLAAD to help us create an equitable and respectful platform where everyone can make meaningful connections.”
Additionally, in 2019 Tinder introduced its “traveller alert” an in-app function that enables LGBTQ+ users to “hide” their profile, should they be alerted by the platform that they have entered a country that discriminates against the queer community.
Tinder calls itself an inclusive community.(Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for OkCupid – which has 50 million registered users worldwide – told PinkNews that the platform supports the entire LGBTQ+ community.
“We were the first dating app to offer expanded gender and orientation options and we now offer users 22 genders and 20 orientation options that include agender, transgender, trans man and trans woman,” the spokesperson said.
“Last year, after hearing from non-binary and transgender daters, we realised there was an opportunity to educate and inform people about the different identities we offer on our app and added definitions to each of our gender and orientation options to help people better understand what these terms mean, and better serve all our users.”
The team is always working to create a “safer, more welcoming experience for everyone”, they added.
‘Transphobia is a violation of our terms’
On its website, Hinge – with its 23 million users – describes trans and gender non-conforming people as an “essential part of the [its] community”.
A Hinge spokesperson said: “At Hinge, we’re passionate about building a welcoming and effective dating app where everyone can find love.
“To support LGBTQIA+ daters in fully expressing themselves and foster an inclusive community, we’ve introduced a variety of app updates.”
These updates include NFAQ (Not-so Frequently Asked Questions), a resource for queer daters, prompts for LGBTQIA+ daters, the addition of pronoun options and more than 50 gender options for users.
“The safety and well-being of our trans daters are always a top priority,” the spokesperson added, “We have a zero-tolerance policy for hate and anyone exhibiting transphobic behaviour on Hinge will be banned from our community.
“If a user experiences transphobia, we encourage them to report it through our hate speech reporting option – which they can do directly within the app and our team will take immediate action.”
They added: “Anyone who reports a user for being trans or non-binary will be banned from our community. Furthermore, we have an ongoing relationship with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to identify and remove any hate speech within our app.”
A statement from the company’s website also says: “We have never, and will never, ban someone based on their gender or gender expression. Being trans is no more a violation of our terms of service than being cis (cisgender refers to anyone who is not trans).
“Transphobia, on the other hand, including reporting someone simply for being trans, is definitely a violation of our terms of service. We have banned members in the past for reporting profiles for this reason and will continue to do so.
“It’s our responsibility to ensure that trans members feel safe and welcome on Hinge and we will continuously work to do just that.”
Most dating apps are trans inclusive. (Yu Chun Christopher Wong/S3studio/Getty Images)
Perhaps best-known as a hook-up app for gay men, Grindr is proud of its inclusivity and describes itself as a “social networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people”.
In 2017, the app introduced more gender options to enable users to be able to express themselves authentically.
This has expanded over the years and the app now hosts a range of community resourcesfor the trans, as well as the wider queer, community, covering everything from FAQs on gender identity to sexual health.
‘Real love is for everyone’
Although launched as a dating platform for solely cisgender, heterosexual people, eHarmony has grown over the years and now specifically labels itself as “LGBT friendly”.
The company website states: “We believe that real love is for everyone and we’re deeply committed to providing a platform that’s safe, inclusive and welcoming for every single one of our members.
“We don’t have a type – eHarmony members represent individuals of all ages, demographics and backgrounds.”
“We’ve learned and grown quite a bit in our 20+ years of helping millions find real love and we have continuously evolved to meet the needs of our members. The work to build a diverse and inclusive environment is never complete.
“We recognise that we have work left to do and we are committed to finding ways to be more inclusive to people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, across all facets of what we do.”
Schools in Wales and Scotland are implementing respective and inclusive guidance to help support LGBTQ+ students.
Both regions of the UK recently announced separate schemes that would support transgender and queer students by training faculty members on how to handle LGBTQ+ issues.
Reports reveal that 60 per cent of Scotland’s secondary schools have adopted LGBTQ+ Youth Scotland’s inclusivity scheme as of Monday (24 April).
The LGBT Charter aims to provide a number of resources, including awareness training and policy reviews, to help improve the treatment of LGBTQ+ youth in local schools.
So far, 212 of 357 secondary schools in Scotland have adopted it, along with 40 primary schools and 21 colleges.
Thirty-one of 34 secondary schools in Edinburgh have been awarded charter status and will receive the benefits of the scheme along with 31 out of 38 schools in Glasgow.
Additionally, every local authority has at least one or more school which has received charter status.
Partnerships director at LGBT Youth Scotland, Ali Kerr, said in a statement: “These are formative years for young people and it’s vital that LGBTQ+ individuals are supported.
“With nearly two-thirds of secondary schools participating, this represents a significant commitment from Scottish educators to LGBT inclusion.”
Wales schools to receive supportive LGBTQ+ guidance
Meanwhile, Wales aims to publish guidance on supporting transgender and LGBTQ+ pupils in the next academic year
The Welsh parliament said it would provide “clear and well-informed advice” after an “extensive” consultation session over the course of this year.
Efforts to improve LGBTQ+ awareness in schools come amid reports from various charities that teachers often lack the confidence to address certain issues in classrooms.
As a result, an LGBTQ+ Action Plan implemented by the Welsh government hopes to create a comprehensive guide for teachers by 2024. The government initially planned to release the scheme in late 2023, but delayed its publication to guarantee integrity.
“This is a complex area of policy which requires extensive consultation with experts, practitioners, and the public, as well as children and young people themselves,” BBC News reported the Welsh government as saying.
According to reports from The Sunday Times on 16 April, prime minister Rishi Sunak said he is “concerned about parental consent,” adding that the guidance will compel teachers to “inform parents about their children questioning their gender.”
“There are so many vulnerable children in education who need so much support, so much help, and this just isn’t something that is frankly needed in the education system at all,” one said.
LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya face the threat of deportation if proposed anti-homosexuality laws are passed in parliament.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Kenya, but the the Family Protection Bill 2023 would expand upon these laws, meaning LGBTQ+ people would face life sentences for simply identifying as themselves.
If passed, the bill would impose a jail term of no less than five years on people found guilty of assembling, picketing, promoting or supporting LGBTQ-specific activities.
This would be dire not only for Kenyans, but refugees as well. The proposed bill would also allow for “the expulsion of refugees and asylum seekers” who identify as LGBTQ+.
Kenya is home to half a million refugees in camps across the country from Kakuma and Dadaab, according to Washington Blade. Refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya are mainly from Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, countries that have endured war, famine and economic instability.
Prior to this bill, Kenya was the only country in the region accepting refugee and asylum seekers without asking about their sexuality.
Recently, however, there have been increased attacks against LGBTQ+ people in the camps, especially in Kakuma, Kenya’s largest camp.
Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. (Getty Images)
A report conducted by the Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM) found that 83 per cent of LGBTQ+ refugees at Kakuma experienced physical violence due to their sexual orientation, with 26 per cent reporting sexual assault.
The report includes the horrific experience of a trans refugee living in the camps, who shared that they were forced to have sex with a woman.
“They forced me to have sex with the lady. They then lectured me on the need to get married and have children of my own. They left me traumatized. Two days later they asked the lady to come and stay with me as my wife.
“That is when I escaped from the block and moved to live with a friend in an area far from my allocated shelter. I did not report the incident since I was afraid the police would equally stigmatise me for who I am.”
There are currently 300 LGBTQ+ refugees in Kakuma who have started an online petition, pleading with the Kenyan government to stamp out discrimination and address the mistreatment they’ve been dealing with in the camps.
The petition reads: “As refugees who have sought safety and refuge from conflict and persecution, we should not have to endure further suffering and discrimination within the confines of the camp. Yet, this is the reality for many of us.
“We are subjected to brutal attacks and physical violence from fellow refugees who hold homophobic views, leaving us with deep wounds and scars that often result in physical disability. Some of our community members have even lost their lives in these attacks.”
The proposed bill will only worsen their lives and leave them with nowhere to go.
President of Kenya William Ruto, however, slammed this ruling and said: “It is not possible for our country Kenya to allow same-sex marriages … It will happen in other countries but not in Kenya.”
Anti-homosexuality laws have increased across the African continent as more countries introduce oppressive laws that target LGBTQ+ people.
