International

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Russian singer jailed under LGBTQ+ propaganda laws after nude performance

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A Russian singer has been jailed under the country’s LGBTQ+ propaganda laws after performing a show wearing nothing but a sock on his genitals.  On Monday night (8 January), Maxim Tesli, front man of Shchenki (The Puppies), was detained at a St Petersburg airport.  It has been reported by Russian media that he was planning to leave Russia amid growing calls for his arrests, following a video of his performance going viral.  At court the following day, Tesli was jailed for 10 days on charges of petty hooliganism. In November, Russia’s supreme court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism by branding the “international public LGBT […]

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‘The Eunuch Maker’ pleads guilty to role in live-stream castration cartel

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A Norwegian man who called himself “The Eunuch Maker” pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to the underground castration and extreme genital modification surgeries he performed on numerous willing participants over six years, according to the Daily Mail and other media outlets. Maruis Gustavson, 46, appeared in the Old Bailey Central Criminal Courthouse in London on December 19 last year where he admitted his role as the ringleader of a castration cartel that made hundreds of thousands of dollars by posting videos and live-streaming the underground surgical procedures to a paying audience on the dark web. Gustavson appeared in court via a video link […]

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Same-sex marriage is now officially legal in Estonia

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Same-sex couples can now legally marry in Estonia, in a landmark moment for the Baltic states. LGBTQ+ people in Estonia have been able to register civil unions since 2016, but the country became the first former Soviet republic to legalise same-sex marriage in June 2023 after a vote of 55 to 34 in the country’s 101-seat parliament.  The legislation officially came into force on New Year’s Day (1 January) and same-sex couples in the country can now register their marriage applications online. It is believed the first applications will be processed and certified by early February.  Estonia’s minister of social protection, Signe […]

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Macron Appoints France’s First Openly Gay PM

Reuters reports: French President Emmanuel Macron appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal [photo] as his new prime minister on Tuesday, seeking to breathe new life into his second mandate ahead of European parliament elections. The move will not necessarily lead to any major political shift, but signals a desire for Macron to try to move beyond last year’s unpopular pension and immigration reforms and improve his centrist party’s chances in the June EU ballot. Attal, a close Macron ally who became a household name as government spokesman during the COVID pandemic, will replace outgoing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Attal will be […]

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Republican Lawmaker Spoke in Support of Bill to Kill Gay People in Uganda: Report

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U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican representing parts of Michigan, encouraged the Ugandan government to “stand firm” amid the international backlash against the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which includes the death penalty in some cases, during a speech in Uganda last October. The act is also known as the “kill the gays” bill. Walberg made the remarks at Uganda’s National Prayer Breakfast. The Republican co-chairs the event in the U.S. According to reporting by The Young Turks, the trip was paid for by the secretive conservative group The Family — which is also known as the Fellowship Foundation. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni sat in the audience. […]

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Advocacy Groups Warn White House of Risks to LGBTQ+ Refugee in Potential Asylum Policy Overhaul

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A coalition of key LGBTQ+ and immigrants’ rights groups has come forward with a strong condemnation of potential revisions to the United States asylum system. In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and members of Congress, organizations including Immigration Equality, the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and Lambda Legalhave outlined severe concerns regarding the implications of these changes for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. It comes at a critical juncture, just days after the Biden administration indicated its willingness to consider significant changes to the U.S. asylum and immigration system. Last Tuesday, reports emerged that the administration, in discussions with Congress, was […]

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Ghana’s Anti-LGBT Push Will Harm Its Democracy

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Events in recent months have raised fear among Ghana’s human rights activists, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and allies.   In October, police stopped a 30-year-old who was carrying sex toys at a checkpoint, detained and threatened them with jailtime. The police demanded a bribe of 500 cedis (40 USD) for the person to be released, an unlawful and cruel expense, particularly in a context of severe economic hardship. In September, school authorities dismissed a 17-year-old student over allegations that he was gay from a boys’ boarding school in Accra, activists told Human Rights Watch. According to one activist, […]

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Gay man to be deported to Uganda after refugee status rejected: ‘I’ve run out of options’

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A gay man has expressed his horror and hopelessness after learning that he will be deported back to Uganda after living in Canada for five years. The 25-year-old man, who came to Canada in 2018 as an international student, and has since worked in Edmonton, Alberta as a nurse, ran out of options this year when his work visa expired and his application for refugee status was rejected. Uganda has become one of the most dangerous countries for LGBTQ+ people this year, with the introduction of its harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act. The act, which was signed into law in May, calls for […]

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Human rights court rules Poland should recognize same-sex partnerships

 Poland has violated the right to respect for a private life by failing to offer legal recognition for same-sex couples, the European Court of Human Rights said on Tuesday, putting pressure on Donald Tusk’s new government to quickly change the law. Ten Poles argued that the vast majority of Council of Europe member states offered same-sex couples a right to marry or to enter into registered civil unions, and asserted that they were disadvantaged, for example in the fields of taxation, social rights and family law. “The Court considered that the Polish State had failed to comply with its duty […]

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One of the world’s most iconic Asian nightclubs has been celebrating queerness for almost 3 decades

When I first started questioning my sexuality and identity, I didn’t feel butterflies. I didn’t feel excited or even the strong desire to understand more about these new feelings. I felt scared. Terrified even. I knew that even the first tendrils of these thoughts had the capability to unravel my entire life. And unravel it they did. My past world had revolved closely around my community and my family. When you grow up in a Pakistani Muslim household as I did – and strictly Muslim at that – there is often a great reverence and respect placed upon relatives and […]

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