International

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At least 50 people detained by police at Istanbul Pride event

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At least 50 people were detained this weekend at a banned Istanbul LGBTQ+ Pride event, organisers have said. The event, which took place on 28 June, went ahead despite a ban imposed by the local authorities and a lockdown of all the city’s main gathering points. Iron barriers were installed around Istanbul’s famed Taksim Square, while subway transport in certain areas was also restricted. The Turkish Journalists’ Union has also confirmed that one of the people who were detained was Muberra Unsal, who holds a press card. “Journalists covering the Istanbul Pride March faced unlawful interference again this year. Despite repeatedly identifying […]

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Russia sentences nightclub owner and staff to jail under ‘LGBT movement’ ban

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A Russian court has jailed the owner and two employees of an LGBT nightclub in Orenburg after convicting them of organising and participating in the activities of an “extremist organisation”. Authorities claim it is the first prosecution under the country’s ban on the so-called “LGBT movement”. Vyacheslav Khasanov, 37, the owner of the Pose club, was sentenced to seven years in jail and ordered to pay a fine of 1 million roubles (£9,745/$12,902), as per The Independent. Two other staff members who were arrested were also convicted. Club manager Diana Kamilyanova, 30, was sentenced to six years and three months, and art director Alexander Klimov, […]

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Best and worst countries to be LGBTQ+ in Europe in 2026 revealed

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Malta is no longer Europe’s LGBTQ+ rights hot spot, after Spain has won the title in ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map for 2026. In ILGA-Europe’s 18th annual Rainbow Map, 49 countries in Europe were ranked on laws and policies which affect the LGBTI community. Spain’s move to the top spot comes after the country introduced new legal protections, a new independent equal treatment and non-discrimination authority, and a fully functioning depathologisation of trans identities in healthcare, among other achievements. Sadly, positive moves with legal policies do not mirror the lived experience of those in the LGBTI community. In Spain, assaults on LGBTI people have risen from […]

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Gilbert Baker’s original Pride flag takes a trip to Ireland

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In 1978, artist and activist Gilbert Baker designed the original rainbow flag — which remains the basis for all modern variations of the famous Pride symbol. The first flag, hand-stitched and dyed by Gilbert and a handful of friends and volunteers, was unveiled at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade that same year. Baker’s rainbow flag is now making a historic journey across the Atlantic Ocean, where it will be on loan to the city of Cork, Ireland, for four months. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five […]

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New Africa “charter” attempts to impose Christian nationalist ideology across the continent

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In Ghana last week, participants from 20 African nations advanced the latest iteration of the African Inter-Parliamentary “Family, Sovereignty and Values” Charter, a document African rights activists say threatens to dismantle protections for women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in service of a Christian nationalist worldview. Attendees at the annual conference have set an ambitious goal to realize the document’s illiberal agenda: ratification of the charter by the African Union General Assembly. Organizers hope to take it to the pan-African governmental body next February, where it would be put to a vote. “It is a license to oppose, regress on, or […]

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Bangladesh university condemned as students reportedly expelled and handed to police over alleged homosexuality

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Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University has been condemned by advocacy groups for their treatment of students (Image: Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University) A technical university in Bangladesh has reportedly expelled four students and handed two others to police following allegations of homosexuality, prompting condemnation in a statement by JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF). JMBF chief adviser Robert Simon said: “When an educational institution attempts to control private life, personal relationships, and sexual identity, it ceases to be a place of education and humanity and instead becomes an instrument of oppression. This must stop immediately”. JMBF said the incidents […]

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Zelensky Backs New Discussions On LGBTQ Rights

The Kyiv Independent reports: There should be open public discussion about the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 11, in a rare reference to the topic. Zelensky’s comment came during a cultural event in Kyiv, as legislative efforts to advance LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine continue to face slow progress, despite growing public support in recent years. Oleksandr Demenko, a veteran and head of an LGBTQ+ military and veterans NGO asked the president whether Ukraine needs cultural products that “normalize LGBTQ+ topic” and help increase public tolerance in the country. “I believe that everything should be […]

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30,000 Christians Counter-Protest Seoul Pride 

The Chosun Daily reports: On the 13th, the Seoul Queer Festival, one of South Korea’s representative queer events, was held. Meanwhile, a counter rally opposing homosexuality also took place, causing congestion in downtown Seoul. The Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee held the 27th Seoul Queer Parade, an event with an estimated 50,000 participant along Ujeongguk-ro in  Seoul. The core event, the queer parade, began at 4 p.m. Approximately 600 meters away from the queer culture festival venue, in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, a rally opposing homosexuality with an estimated 30,000 participants was held. The rally, titled *Marriage Between Men […]

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What Do Canadian Separatists Want for LGBTQ People? Albertans May Soon Find Out

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On a Friday afternoon in February, Teresa McCleary and Rose Milner sat near the entrance to Calgary’s Boddums Up Pub, collecting signatures for a petition pushing for Alberta—which is widely recognized as Canada’s most conservative province—to separate from the rest of the country. “I want the old Alberta back. I want our free Alberta back. … We are a cash cow for the East. They don’t care about us,” says McCleary, who sported a baseball cap with the words “I am Albertan!” As for Milner, she feels Canada is becoming “communist.” “Bring back the ‘60s,” she told Uncloseted Media and GAY TIMES. […]

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Italian Catholic Scouts group to allow LGBTQ+ leaders for first time

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Italy’s Catholic Scouts is set to allow LGBTQ+ Scout leaders to join the group for the first time ever as it updates its outdated selection criteria. The council for the Italian Association of Catholic Guides and Scouts, also known as AGESCI, announced the change in a document shared on 28 May. “AGESCI has reached the conclusion that… emotional orientation and gender identity cannot constitute exclusion criteria in the discernment that community leaders are called upon to exercise when an adult requests to join the association to play an educational role,” the document said. It went on to say that the teaching of being […]

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