Pink News

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Students stage walkout over new school policy banning Pride flags

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A group of determined New Jersey students defiantly staged a walkout in protest against a new policy that stops them from flying an LGBT+ Pride flag.  About 40 students, some wearing kaleidoscopic coloured items, in Passaic, New Jersey, took to the streets on Monday (28 March) for the right to fly the Pride flag, NJ.com reported. The Passaic board of education recently enacted a policy that bans flag displays on school grounds with exceptions for the American flag, New Jersey state flag and school flags.  But students want to be able to raise the LGBT+ Pride flag. Several stood in front of the city’s […]

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Disney ‘pressured’ animators to censor same-sex kiss in Nimona movie, staffers say

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Former staffers of animation studio Blue Sky have claimed they were pressured by Disney into censoring an LGBT+ scene from the movie adaptation of Nimona.  Nimona was originally published as a webcomic by ND Stevenson – the trans writer, cartoonist and animation producer behind acclaimed projects like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Lumberjanes.  The fantasy comic about a shape-shifter named Nimona was eventually published as a graphic novel by HarperCollins and won an Eisner award in 2016. Nimona was picked up by Disney-acquired Blue Sky and was set to become a film before Disney closed the animation studio in 2021.  Three ex-Blue Sky workers told Business Insider that Disney didn’t fully […]

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UK Police homophobia may have played role in failure to catch murderer

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The Metropolitan Police made assumptions about “the lifestyles of gay men” in investigating the crimes of Stephen Port, according to a leaked report from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC). The unpublished report, seen by Channel 4 News, states that “the public cannot be satisfied that police are making decisions based on evidence and fact” because of the assumptions made in the investigation into Port, who murdered four gay men. Port, known as a the “Grindr killer”, murdered Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor over a 15-month period in 2014 and 2015. He approached his victims via dating apps before giving […]

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Body of trans rights activist Elise Malary found on shore of Lake Michigan

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A body found on the shore of Lake Michigan in a suburb of Chicago has been identified as trans rights activist Elise Malary. Malary was last heard from on 9 March, and on 11 March she was reported as a missing person. Although she was missing and her apartment had been left unlocked, police initially said there was no indication of foul play. On Thursday, 17 March, a body was discovered by 19-year-old Tristan Lambach on the lakefront in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Policy later confirmed that it was Malary. She was just 31 years old. Malary was a passionate […]

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Kosovo MPs reject bid to legalise same-sex unions: ‘Homophobes have no place in parliament’

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Lawmakers have rejected legislation that would have made Kosovo the first Muslim-majority country in the world to legalise same-sex civil unions. Kosovo wants to join the European Union, and the bid to introduce same-sex marriage was part of modernising efforts by prime minister Albin Kurti’s government, which also tried to introduce other rights for minorities and business reforms But after hours of debate, just 28 out of MPs out of 120 voted in favour of the motion with some members of Kurti’s Vetevendosje party voting against it, according to Euractiv. Many against the draft code cited religious beliefs and “family values”. Vetevendosje representative Labinote Demi-Murtezi said […]

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Disney staff stage week of walkouts over ‘utter failure’ to fight ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill

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Disney employees are staging a week of walkouts over CEO Bob Chapek’s response to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. Disney has faced stiff criticism for its muddled response to the bill, which would ban the discussion of LGBT+ lives in classrooms. Disney initially refused to make a public statement and defended its political donations to Republicans who helped push the bill through before apologising and pausing donations. Organising as the Disney Do Better group, LGBT+ people and allies working for the company are urging bosses to do more, including by ending all donations to lawmakers who supported the law indefinitely. “By supporting […]

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Ukraine’s LGBT+ leaders say fleeing isn’t an option: ‘We have to save our country’

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With Ukraine defending itself from Russia’s brutal war of aggression, the country’s LGBT+ activists have found themselves playing a new role. War is an equaliser, Kyiv Pride director Lenny Ensom tells PinkNews. “The bomb doesn’t ask you what is your identity, the bomb just falls,” he explains. He hasn’t been able to get much sleep since the invasion started, as the sound of shelling is never far away. On Tuesday night (15 March), a building in his district was hit. “It’s like Russian roulette. They just hit and you don’t know where the bomb will land.” As director of Kyiv Pride, he’s dedicated much of his […]

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LGBT+ Russians live in fear of Putin’s next deadly move – but fleeing isn’t so easy

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Putin’s war in Ukraine is part of a mission to turn back the clock to the Soviet era – a prospect that terrifies LGBT+ Russians. Maria, an LGBT+ activist in Russia whose name has been changed to protect her identity, says queer people have been fleeing her country since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine – which many agree is all part of a terrifying quest to bring Russia back to its former dominance. That vision, she says, does not include LGBT+ people. When Maria speaks to PinkNews over Zoom, she’s quick to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine as a war. That […]

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LGBT+ Ukrainians fear ‘extermination and concentration camps’ under Russian rule, activist says

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LGBT+ activist Andriy Maymulakhin can hear gunfire in his home, which is located in a village just 50 kilometres from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Life since Russia invaded has been tense for Andriy, who serves as head of LGBT+ rights organisation the Nash Mir Centre, based in Kyiv. He’s separated from his boyfriend of 10 years, who is in western Ukraine. Two of his friends and one of their elderly parents are sheltering at his home. Shortly after Russia launched its invasion, Nash Mir’s offices were raided and its employees assaulted. Those who attacked them were, surprisingly, Ukrainian – the raid points to just how […]

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Conversion therapy app ‘suitable for all ages’ available on Google Play Store

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Malaysia’s government has launched a conversion therapy app to help LGBT+ people “return to nature” – and it’s being platformed by Google. The app, Hijrah Diri Homoseksualiti, was released by Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM), and is currently available from the GooglePlay Store. According to its description on Google’s app store, it includes “suggestions, ideas, explanations and interpretations” to help users “overcome the problem of homosexuality”. The app also contains an e-book by an “ex-gay” Muslim man, in which he describes how he “is confronted with some of the things that provoke him to commit this sin, and how to […]

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