Police in Salt Lake City are investigating after a number of Pride flags were set alight in the Utah capital.
The investigation began on Monday morning (3 July) after officers were called to a home where the owner reported their flag being cut down and burned, the police said in a statement.
After responding to the incident, they learned that at least four other LGBTQ+ flags in the area had been vandalised, reportedly during the early hours of that morning.
Pride flags were cut and burned in Salt Lake City. (Twitter/@slcpd)
The police want to hear from anyone with information and have asked people in the area to check home-surveillance systems to see if they captured footage of any suspect.
In its statement, the police department also said it recognised “our responsibility to investigate hate crimes thoroughly and impartially to hold offenders accountable and ensure justice for survivors”.
They went on to say: “The Salt Lake City police department educates its officers and works with our community to recognise and condemn hate crimes and works to prevent them from occurring in the future.
“Hate has no place in our community.”
Photos of four of the flags were posted on social media by the police, with the images showing them having been cut and one in ashes on the ground.
Fox 13 reported more flags being cut and burned on Tuesday morning (4 July), this time near Harvey Milk Boulevard, named after the prominent gay rights pioneer.
One resident, Joseph Leyba, told the news outlet that he and four neighbours woke on Tuesday morning to find their flags in ashes on the pavement, and that he was “at a loss for emotions and feelings”.
He said it was particularly shocking because the area was Salt Lake’s unofficial LGBTQ+ district.
On a positive note, he added a woman he did not know replaced all the flags.
“She had Pride flags in her hands and was setting them on the front porches of all the individuals that had been affected,” Leyba said.
The bar where police raids sparked the 1969 Stonewall uprising has revealed why it stopped serving Bud Light – and it has nothing to do with calls for a boycott over the beer brand’s collaboration with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Co-owners of New York’s Stonewall Inn, Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly, have revealed that the bar turned its back on Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, in 2021.
At that time, the bar staged a “Keep Your Pride” campaign, which involving refusing to serve products of companies that claimed to be allies of the queer community but which also donated funds to anti-LGBTQ+ individuals.
“The reason we did that… was because they were out there waving the rainbow flag very vehemently, then turning around and contributing to anti-LGBTQ legislators, which can’t happen,” Lentz told Newsweek. “Our communities are fed up with that.”
Lentz said Bud Light’s collaboration with Mulvaney, who has 12 million followers on TikTok, “makes sense” and warned other businesses: “If you don’t market to Gen Z, then in 20 years or 30 years, your business will not exist because Gen Z is all about equality. Your consumer is ageing out.”
The backlash to the collaboration “was ridiculous,” and “the fact that they catered to it was alarming,” she added.
“But at the same time, they at least made an effort. I thought it was a great campaign.”
Dylan Mulvaney was the victim of a transphobic backlash over her social media collaboration with Bud Light. (Credit: Getty Images)
Anheuser-Busch faced a deluge of attacks from anti-trans people after they sent Mulvaney a single personalised can to celebrate the first anniversary of her “Days of Girlhood” TikTok series.
However, despite Target, Bud Light and Innocent Drinks being among the brands to face boycott calls over LGBTQ+ inclusion, stats show that most Americans appreciate and value queer people being featured in advertising.
According to GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance survey, 75 per cent of straight people feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ+ in advertising, while 60 per cent of heterosexuals agree that seeing queer people in ads makes them more comfortable with those who are different to themselves.
The Supreme Court in Nepal has issued an interim order enabling the registration of same-sex marriages, a move which has been described as a “significant step towards marriage equality” in the country.
The interim order was issued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday (28 June), asking the government to establish a separate register of marriages for same-sex couples in the country, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The US embassy in Nepal wrote on Twitter: “This decision is a significant step towards marriage equality and recognition in Nepal that marriage is a fundamental right.
“With the recognition of full marriage equality, Nepal will continue to be a leader in protecting all citizens against discrimination.”
While same-sex marriage is still not yet fully legal in Nepal, activists have said that the move is “very significant” for same-sex couples and “third gender” people. “Third gender” people are officially recognised in Nepal as of 2007, and can list their gender on ID including passports. The gender has been included in Nepal’s census since 2021.
“This is a very significant development, as same-sex as well as third genders and their partners can register their marriages. They will be entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples,” LGBTQ+ rights activist and former parliamentarian Sunil Babu Pant said.
“Parliament may take a while to pass the marriage equality law, but this order gives a practical solution to members of the sexual and gender minority communities who wish to register their marriage legally.”
Reveller takes part in a Pride parade in Kathmandu, Nepal on 10 June 2023. (Sanjit Pariyar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Couple Surendra Pandey and Maya Gurung told AP that they married in a Hindu ceremony six years ago. However, their marriage is not legally binding. They told the outlet that they were “relieved” to finally be able to register their marriage.
Gurung said: “I am overwhelmed with joy because of this decision and it is a day of commemoration for our community.
“This court ruling has established that we are equal citizens of this country.”
A 24-year-old man has been charged in connection with the stabbing of a university professor and two students during a gender studies lecture in Canada, in what police say was a “hate-motivated incident”.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, an international student who had recently graduated from Waterloo University in Ontario, is alleged to have carried out the “planned and targeted” attack “motivated by hate related to gender expression and gender identity”, police said in a press release.
About 40 students were attending the class on Wednesday (28 June) when a man stabbedthe 38-year-old professor, a 20-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man, police said.
The victims sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Villalba-Aleman has since been charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and mischief under $5,000.
“It is both sad and disturbing that this incident has occurred during Pride month,” Waterloo regional police service chief Mark Crowell said at a press conference on Thursday (29 June).
“We hope that this incident does not diminish from these celebrations but, instead, encourages us all to come together to continue to celebrate and inspire love over hate.”
In a statement on Twitter, the president of the university, Vivek Goel, said that the campus will continue to fly Pride and Two-Spirit flags until the end of July in response to the “hate-filled” attack.
“Professor Katy Fulfer and two students in her gender studies course were attacked because they were exploring society and gender,” Goel wrote.
“That this hate-filled attack, due to gender expression and identity, happened at the end of Pride month is even more painful.
“Our world is increasingly polarised and there are those who try to intimidate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. They want us to be afraid – afraid to learn, afraid to share, afraid to speak our truths.
“We won’t let this deter us from proclaiming our values of inclusion and openness.”
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, tweeted that he strongly condemned the “despicable” and “vile” incident.
A Kansas law will reverse gender markers on trans people’s birth certificates and driving licences, in a move deemed “disastrous” for those affected.
On Monday (26 June), state attorney general Kris Kobach confirmed to reporters that the new law – Senate Bill 180 – which takes effect from 1 July, will legally erase trans people’s gender identities.
Kobach said the law will also force public schools to record students as the gender assigned at birth, regardless of whether teachers and staff recognise gender identities of trans and non-binary students.
The legislation, described by the Kansas Senate as a “women’s bill of rights,” defines “sex” as “either male or female at birth” in state law, with no alternative definition for individuals who identify as trans, non-binary, gender fluid, or gender-non-conforming.
In addition, trans people will be forced to use toilets and other single-sex spaces corresponding to the gender they were assigned at birth.
Republican representative Brenda Landwehr, who voted for the bill, said it would “protect women’s spaces currently reserved for women and men’s spaces currently reserved for men”.
‘That does not make you a woman’
Senator Renee Erickson, one of three Republican lawmakers who joined Kobach during his news conference, said: “You can choose whatever name you want. You can choose to live however you want. That does not make you a woman.”
The law follows a 2019 ruling which saw a federal judge order Kansas to allow trans people to change their birth certificates to settle a lawsuit over a no-change policy. SB 180 would see the 2019 order cancelled.
Micah Kubic, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, accused Kobach of rushing to “impose his own stamp of extremism”. He added that state agencies are not required to adopt the attorney general’s views.
‘Disastrous and fraught with difficulty’
Trans activist and journalist Erin Reed, whose partner is trans Montana lawmaker Zooey Zephyr, said of the new law: “Rolling back transgender people’s legal markers would be disastrous and fraught with difficulty.”
Reed said enforcing incorrect gender markers could lead trans people to experience heightened “harassment and abuse”.
In May, Montana’s Senate Bill 458 was signed into law. The Republican-backed legislation defines “sex” as binary – excluding intersex, non-binary and trans people.
Zephyr has been vocal in opposing Republican’s anti-LGBTQ+ bills, which saw her banned from the floor of the state’s House of Representatives.
‘Calculated manoeuvre’
Reed added: “The calculated manoeuvre of redefining sex to systematically exclude transgender individuals is an attempt to sidestep legal challenges. These laws represent a clear attempt to move beyond targeting transgender youth and the beginning of the campaign to eradicate transgender adults from all legal protections.”
According to AP News, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal, said: “The attorney general must be off his rocker. This was a bunch of bombast by an attorney general engaging in politics.”
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 away their rights to healthcare, legal recognition and participation in society.
“All of this made homophobes and transphobes feel more comfortable and basically made them think they can do anything,” Mihelina says.
“For example, two days ago, we were walking around in one of the central parks in Moscow, and two men came to us and said, ‘You have two minutes to leave this park or else’.
“Then, we went to the [underground], and someone called my friend a ginger c**t for no reason.”
Mihelina, who uses she/him pronouns, has been left “worried and scared s**tless”. She’s particularly concerned for his future given a new bill that seeks to ban trans people from updating their official gender marker, particularly with Russia tightening its conscription for the war effort.
She eventually made contact with Queer Svit, an LGBTQ+ support group which, among other things, is helping trans people to obtain legal recognition while they still can.
Mihelina, a Georgian trans woman living in Moscow, says the situation for LGBTQ+ and trans people is “getting worse and worse” in Russia. (miliyollie)
“Before Queer Svit happened, I thought that the only option I had was suicide… I was very confused, and I didn’t know what I should do” Mihelina says.
“Every day, a new law project or law would be passed. It’s not only concerning queer people, but in general. They were all insane… I felt absolutely hopeless and I didn’t know what to do.
“But then I found that Queer Svit has this initiative where they help people like me with changing their gender marker.
“Honestly, when they said they would help me, it made me cry because I was unable to find money then, and my parents were not very helpful. They didn’t want to help me with this, and I was terrified.”
Russia moves to ban trans healthcare and gender recognition
On 14 June, Russian lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that would ban gender-affirming healthcare as well as changing one’s gender marker in official documents, such as passports, and public records.
The bill still needs to go through the state duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, before it lands on Putin’s desk, but there’s little doubt that the legislation will pass quickly because about 400 of the 450 members of the Russian parliament, from all political factions, are listed as its authors, according to Russian independent media outlet Mediazona.
Queer Svit has received more than 500 requests from trans people like Mihelina who need help, Tesfaye says. The number has increased at least fivefold lately, because “people are freaking out”.
“Trans people are already marginalised,” Tesfaye says. “If – well not even if, it’s just when – they pass this law, it means these people will be unable to find a job, to get medical help, to have gender-affirming therapy and definitely surgeries. [It will] also increase the level of transphobia.
“This increases the level of any type of crime – hate crime, murders. I don’t think we can even process the levels of problems. It’s horrible.
“I don’t think I can even understand the catastrophe that will happen even though I know it will happen. It’s just impossible to realise how inhumane this law is.”
The anti-trans law is yet another blow to Russia’s beleaguered LGBTQ+ community
Putin, lawmakers and the Russian Orthodox Church have embarked on a decade-long campaign to preserve what they deem the country’s “traditional values.”
This crusade saw tightened restrictions under Putin’s so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda law, preventing queer representation in mass media.
The law, which was first introduced in 2013 under the guise of protecting children, was revised in December to prohibit the dissemination of information on LGBTQ+ and trans identities to people of all ages.
Amid this onslaught of state-run hate, LGBTQ+ activists have fled the country, queer organisations have been persecuted and social media influencers arrested.
The Russian health ministry has been instructed by Putin to establish a psychiatric facility to study the “social behaviour” of LGBTQ+ people, independent news outlet Meduza reported.
Mihelina would ‘love to leave Russia right now’, but the trans woman can’t because of family obligations and her studies. (miliyollie)
Health minister Mikhail Murashko announced the move while answering questions in the duma during the first reading of the bill.
LGBTQ+ groups fear the statements are a sign that Russia is preparing to roll out forcible conversion therapy. The pseudo-scientific practice has been widely condemned by medical organisations, LGBTQ+ advocates and human rights groups worldwide and has been compared to torture by UN experts.
Mihelina doesn’t have “any words to describe this madness”. She would “love to leave this country right now”, but she can’t because of family obligations and her studies.
She says music is what keeps her afloat – she’s “obsessed” with hyperpop, and artists such as Arca and Sophie.
Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
A survey has found that a slim majority – just over half – of LGBTQ+ people in the UK feel comfortable being “out” in the workplace.
The study by consultancy firm Deloitte found that 52 per cent of the 402 LGBTQ+ Brits polled were comfortable being openly queer at work, compared to 43 per cent of the 5,474 LGBTQ+ people polled worldwide.
The survey also found that 43 per cent of LGBTQ+ people in the UK fear being seen differently by their straight, cisgender colleagues, compared to 39 per cent of respondents globally.
Deloitte polled queer people from 13 countries for the survey, and nearly half of the British respondents (49 per cent) reported being discriminated against at work due to their sexuality or gender identity.
Thirty-eight per cent said they had come up against homophobic or transphobic behaviour – including sexual jokes – at work.
Phil Mitchell, co-lead for the Deloitte LGBTQ+ staff network Proud, said: “When people feel that their employers aren’t doing enough to support inclusion or are not taking non-inclusive behaviours seriously, many instances go unreported.
“Employers should take action to ensure that they provide a positive culture of LGBTQ+ inclusion, underpinned by respect.”
Of the LGBTQ+ 18 to 25-year-olds polled for the survey, 19 per cent added that they had been bullied in the workplace, while the study also found that LGBTQ+ young people are paid less than their straight, cisgender peers on average.
Amy Ashenden, interim CEO of Just Like Us, said: “Our research shows that the treatment of LGBT+ people in British society today is preventing young adults from thriving at work.
“LGBT+ young people deserve to safely be themselves at school, home and work – there must be no exceptions.”
A Californian transgender man claims a pharmacist at a Walgreens chain in Oakland refused to hand over his hormone replacement medicine due to their “religious beliefs”.
In a Reddit post made on Tuesday (20 June), 30-year-old trans Oakland resident Roscoe Rike wrote that he had entered the pharmacy to pick up his prescription when he was asked by an employee what the medication was for.
“I told him I was pretty sure that it wasn’t any of his business,” he said in the post which has since been deleted.
Rike explained that he had been going to the Walgreens pharmacy on Telegraph Avenue for nearly a decade, and had been picking up his hormone prescription for three years, always without issue.
But the pharmacist, who Rike said he had never seen before, allegedly claimed he could not fill the prescription “due to his religious beliefs”.
Rike then said he immediately began recording a video that had also been uploaded to the post, in which he asks the pharmacist: “So you think you know better than my doctor, is that what’s going on?”
The clip then sees the pharmacist say: “I just need to know the diagnosis”, which Rike responds with: “That’s none of your f**king business.”
The pharmacist then allegedly told Rike, after making “some phone calls”, that he was still not going to give him his prescription.
“At this point, I completely lost my temper and demanded to speak to a manager,” Rike continued. “The pharmacist ignored me and walked away.”
After speaking to one of the employees Rike said was “familiar to me”, a manager was then called in who “apologised profusely” and issued his prescription.
The US pharmacy chain told a local news outlet that it tries to find a middle ground between “moral beliefs” and its customers. (Getty)
“The whole experience was extremely distressing and caused me severe emotional pain,” he said. “I have reached out to the transgender law center, and plan on filing a formal complaint with the Walgreens corporate office.“
Rike finished by urging any local trans residents to make sure “this person isn’t working” when picking up their hormones, because, Rike said: “He will deny you care.”
PinkNews contacted Walgreens for comment on the alleged incident.
In a statement to the local news station KRON4, a spokesperson said: “Our policies are designed to ensure we meet the needs of our patients and customers while respecting the religious and moral beliefs of our team members.
“In an instance where a team member has a religious or moral conviction that prevents them from meeting a customer’s need, we require the team member to refer the customer to another employee or manager on duty who can complete the transaction. These instances, however, are very rare.”
Austrian police have foiled a potential terror attack at Vienna Pride after arresting three suspects with alleged links to Islamic extremism.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, from Austria’s State Protection and Intelligence Directorate (DSN), told journalists on Sunday (18 June) that three suspects were arrested on suspicion of plotting a terror attack at the event, according to CNN.
The suspects, aged 14, 17 and 20, are Austrian nationals of Bosnian and Chechen origin and were arrested by Austria’s Cobra special forces ahead of the parade on Saturday.
Vienna Pride, which ran from 1 June to 18, was attended by about 300,000 people this year.
Haijawi-Pirchner said the trio had become radicalised online, developing views in line with ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). He did not give details about the planned attack.
The domestic intelligence chief added that police carried out searches on properties in Vienna and lower Austria where they seized illegal weapons.
“In our democratic society, hate and terror have no place,” he said.
State police president Gerhard Pürstl told journalists: “For the LGBTQ community, many Islamic, as well as right-wing, extremists represent an intense enemy, which is clear from the violent crimes that have been committed during events in the past across the world.”
Austria’s Interior Ministry confirmed investigations by the DSN had revealed a number of people were planning an attack.
“The suspects were subsequently tracked down and taken into custody in a co-ordinated attack,” the security agency said, adding that those attending Pride were in no danger.
Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer tweeted his thanks to investigators for preventing “a possible Islamist attack in Vienna”.
He added: “We must never give in in the fight against radicals and extremists. They are a threat to our democracy and security and must be dealt with severely.”
Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig told Austria’s APA news agency that there “was no place for hate and exclusion in Vienna. Our city is colourful and cosmopolitan”.
Sarit Ahmed, an 18-year-old queer Druze woman, died after being shot multiple times while sitting in her car in Northern Israel, in a killing allegedly motivated by her sexual orientation.
Ahmed was found lying in the street near Yarka, with multiple gunshot wounds to her upper body on Friday (9 June), according to Israeli emergency services. After being taken to Galilee Medical Centre in Israel’s Northern District, Ahmed was pronounced dead.
The 18-year-old had previously received death threats from her brothers due to her queer identity. In 2020, Ahmed filed a complaint against two of her brothers, claiming they had made explicit threats on her life.
The two brothers were convicted of threatening her life and jailed for three and four months, while Ahmed was placed in a shelter for at-risk young women.
According to the verdict, her brothers found out that Ahmed was not heterosexual and knew about a relationship she had had which was “contrary to the family’s opinion and what was accepted”.
Tensions and threats reportedly came to head in October 2020, when Ahmed’s eldest brother returned home and took Ahmed’s mobile phone from her. It was on the device that he found information about her sexual orientation.
Walla reported that Ahmed’s eldest brother advised her to “drink poison, it’s better for you”, while the younger brother threatened to stab her “in the stomach with a knife, and then I will go drink beer – as if nothing had happened”.
Ahmed’s phone was confiscated by her father and oldest brother, and she was barred from leaving the house unless accompanied by a family member. This situation lasted for over a month, as outlined in the indictment, until Ahmed ran away and filed a complaint against her brother.
In the brothers’ sentencing, the judge wrote: “I have every hope that after this sentence the parents will find the best way to return their little daughter to the family, to take care of her in a natural way, with understanding and persuasion and not by coercion and threats.”
After a period living in a shelter for her safety, Ahmed decided to live with her sister, but just three weeks ago, she approached police and asked for protection, as she feared for her life once again.
Police have so far not made any arrests and no formal suspects have been identified.
Ahmed’s killing raises questions about the lack of protection for LGBTQ+ Arabs in Israel. During a recent Knesset hearing, it was found that the Welfare Ministry employs only one social worker dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ Arabs, Haaretz reported.
According to Arwa Adam, director of Arab LGBTQ+ organisation Beit Al-Mim, the Social Equality Ministry approved the opening of a shelter for the LGBTQ+ Arab community, but it had not been implemented.
Hila Par, chair of the Association for the LGBT, said: “It is difficult to describe the pain of the murder of the young woman after she received threats on the background of her sexual orientation. It is a sad day for the gay community and the entire Israeli public where such a murder takes place.
“When it comes to a girl who has been threatened in the past because of her sexual orientation, we demand that the police thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the incident,” Parr added. “This harsh reality cannot continue.”
Ahmed was part of the Druze community, sometimes described as a “minority within a minority” of around 120,000 people who form just two per cent of Israel’s population. Druze people practise a form of Ismaili Islam, identifying with the wider community in Lebanon and Syria, and some form of Arab nationalism.
Since the beginning of 2023, the number of murder victims in the Arab community has risen to 93, including seven women and two children.
Palestinian citizens of Israel have long criticised the discrimination they face and police inaction when it comes to crime and violence that disproportionately affects their community.
In April, Israel police commissioner Kobi Shabtai claimed that it is in the “nature” and part of the “mentality” of Arabs to kill each other in a phone conversation with in a phone call with far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“There is nothing that can be done. They kill each other. That is their nature. That is the mentality of the Arabs,” the Times of Israel reported Shabtai as saying.
Ahmed’s death follows the unrelated alleged crime gang-related shooting of five people at a car wash on Thursday (8 June) in the town of Yafa an-Naseriyye.
