International

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Botswana officially removed its anti-sodomy law from its Penal Code

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Botswana’s anti-sodomy law has been officially repealed. Section 164 of the Southern African nation’s Penal Code used to ban sodomy and carried a possible seven-year sentence with it. But in 2019, the country’s High Court ruled unanimously that the law was unconstitutional. “Human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized,” wrote Judge Michael Leburu for the court at the time. “Sexual orientation is not a fashion statement. It is an important attribute of one’s personality.” “Personal autonomy on matters of sexual preference and choice must, therefore, be respected. Any criminalization of love or finding fulfillment in love dilutes compassion and […]

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BRITAIN: HIV+ “Grindr Rapist” Gets Life Sentence

The Telegraph reports: A rapist who deliberately infected multiple boys and men with HIV has been jailed for life. Adam Hall was convicted of raping five victims aged as young as 15 having met them on Grindr or at bars in Newcastle-upon-Tyne between 2016 and 2023. Hall, 43, also had consensual sex with victims without protection. He will spend at least 24 years behind bars after being sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court, which heard he had “never apologised” for what he did. Though the former Tyneside sex shop worker had been diagnosed with HIV in 2010, he could have kept his viral […]

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Court allows lesbian group appeal to exclude trans women from events

A Federal Court in Australia has allowed an appeal for a trans-exclusionary lesbian group to legally ban trans women from its public events for five years amid a lengthy, high-profile battle. The Melbourne-based Lesbian Action Group has been fighting for an exemption to Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act for years, with the most recent court date on 15 April being its third attempt. The group’s first attempt at securing the exemption was in 2023, when it submitted a later rejected application to the Human Rights Commission. The second was in the form of an appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal, which was dismissed. Lesbian Action Group describes […]

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Senegal’s new anti-LGBTQ+ law used for first conviction as man jailed for six years

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A court in Senegal has handed down the first conviction after the country’s newly toughened anti-LGBTQ+ law criminalising same-sex acts, sentencing a 24-year-old man to six years in prison and a $3,300 fine. The case is an early sign of how quickly the harsher penalties are being enforced. On 10 April, the man was convicted in Pikine-Guédiawaye, a suburb of Dakar, for “acts against nature and public indecency”, and sentenced to six years in prison. He was arrested earlier this month. Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué said the law has created a climate of “constant fear” for LGBTQ+ people in Senegal. Speaking […]

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EU Top Court Strikes Down Hungary’s Anti-LGBTQ Law

Politico Europe reports: Hungary violated EU law when it banned children from accessing LGBTQ+ content, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Tuesday, ordering Budapest to scrap the legislation. The landmark judgment marks a blow to outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s legacy as his longtime rival Péter Magyar prepares to take office next month. Hungary’s legislative crackdown on LGBTQ+ representation is in breach of a series of EU laws and “constitute[s] a particularly serious interference with several fundamental rights,” the Court said in a press release, siding with the infringement procedure originally lodged by the European Commission. The case […]

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India passes limiting trans protection bill that redefines who qualifies as trans

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The Lok Sabha, also known as India’s House of the People, has passed a new bill that limits the rights of transgender people in the country. Passed on 24 March, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026 makes amendments to the previous 2019 law that pertains to the rights and wellbeing of trans people. The amendments redefine who qualifies as trans people and therefore who is protected by the law, and also introduces a new system for identity certification and stricter punishment for offences against the trans community. Under the new bill, a medical board will be formed to […]

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Girlguiding sets September deadline for trans girls to leave after ban

Transgender girls must leave the Guides by September 6, Girlguiding has said. The deadline comes after the December 2025 decision to stop allowing trans youngsters from joining groups as part of its updated inclusion policies. In the fallout of the Supreme Court’s judgement that the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of a woman refers to “biological sex” only, Girlguiding announced late last year that “with a heavy heart” trans girls and young women would no longer be able to join groups. Now, with the September 6 deadline, affected members have “time to plan, prepare, access support, and decide when – between now and September – they feel […]

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United Nations rejects U.S. effort to erase trans women: “It stops here”

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Delegates at the United Nations 70th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) overwhelmingly voted against considering a proposal by the U.S. to adopt an anti-trans definition of “gender.” On March 19, the final day of the nine-day conference, the U.S. introduced a resolution calling on U.N. member states to officially define “gender” as referring only to men and women. The resolution claimed that the landmark Beijing Declaration on women’s rights, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, already defined gender as “referring to men and women.” But a letter from the progressive Women’s Rights Caucus […]

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Prominent LGBTQ+ activist just became Nepal’s first out trans lawmaker

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Nepal has elected its first out transgender lawmaker. On Monday, Nepal’s Election Commission confirmed that Bhumika Shrestha will serve as a Member of Parliament, taking one of 182 seats in the country’s House of Representatives that the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party secured in this month’s elections. “I am very excited but also feel the responsibility on my shoulders,” Shrestha told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Our constitution has provisions for our community, but they have not translated to laws and policies. Our community expects me to raise our issues.” The 37-year-old activist and actress has been a leading figure in Nepal’s LGBTQ+ rights movement. […]

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Poland To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages From EU

Deutsche Welle reports: Same-sex marriages performed in other EU countries will now be recognized in Poland, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Friday. The decision marks a landmark moment for LGBTQ+ rights in one of the bloc’s most socially conservative countries. The case involved a Polish couple who married in Germany in 2018. When they later moved to Warsaw, officials refused to register their marriage, citing the constitution’s definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Last November, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU member states cannot refuse to recognize same-sex marriages lawfully conducted elsewhere in the […]

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