International

/ /

Gay Palestinian man who fled to Israel to escape persecution murdered and beheaded in West Bank

,

A young gay man, who fled to Israel to escape persecution in Palestine and was seeking asylum abroad, has been kidnapped and brutally murdered in the West Bank. Ahmed Hacham Hamdi Abu Marakhia, 25, fled Palestine two years ago after his sexual orientation was revealed. He had been living in Israel after authorities acknowledged his life would be in danger if he returned to Palestine. He was about to begin the process of seeking asylum abroad – potentially in Canada – at the time of his death.  Ahmed was killed Wednesday (5 October) in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the […]

/ /

Russian court fines TikTok for not deleting LGBTQ content

A Russian court on Tuesday fined TikTok for failing to delete LGBTQ material, the country’s latest crackdown on Big Tech companies. The Tagansky District Court in Moscow issued the 3 million ruble ($50,000) penalty to the short-video sharing platform following a complaint by Russian regulators. TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. https://recaptcha.net/recaptcha/api2/anchor?ar=1&k=6LeCn4odAAAAAFt1umE7XdVqlpUB2-e20vksHlQL&co=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmJjbmV3cy5jb206NDQz&hl=en&v=a9s0j4pCVT6gaTEkLiFbtZPH&theme=light&size=invisible&badge=bottomright&cb=c1mmb77y0c3x According to the case file, state communications regulator Roskomnadzor complained about a video published on the platform earlier this year that breaches Russian laws against promoting “LGBT, radical feminism and a distorted view on traditional sexual relations.” The […]

/ / / /

LGBTQ History Made in Brazil; First Trans People Elected to the Brazilian Congress

Yesterday Erika Hilton (she/her) in São Paulo and Duda Salabert (she/her) in Minas Gerais won their elections to the Brazilian Congress, making them the first trans people ever elected to Congress in the country’s history. Despite ongoing anti-LGBTQ hate perpetuated by the Bolsonaro administration, a record number of out LGBTQ people ran for Congress this year in Brazil – over 300 – including a record number of trans people. With yesterday’s results, LGBTQ representation in Brazil will double from 9 to 18 elected officials, 16 of whom are women. Alhelí Partida, Director of Global Programs at LGBTQ Victory Institute, released the following statement about the […]

/ /

Celebrating LGBTQ History Month: How it started and why it matters

In 1994, a Missouri high school teacher named Rodney Wilson – the first out public school teacher in the state – wanted to give students better access to LGBTQ history as well as more role models with whom they could identify. He established a planning committee with LGBTQ leaders from around the country, and from there, Gay and Lesbian History Month was born. The group selected October for what would ultimately become LGBTQ History Month because school would be in session. October is also when we celebrate National Coming Out Day (on the 11). The two LGBTQ marches on Washington in 1979 […]

/ /

Bisexual genius wins Nobel Prize for reconstructing DNA of ancient humans

,

Bisexual Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday. The 67-year-old helped found the study of paleogenetics, a field that investigates ancient humans and other species using very old genetic materials. Using this science, Paabo successfully reconstructed the genome of Neanderthals, the closest ancient relative to homo sapiens, the modern human species. Scientists think that Neanderthals genetically diverged from homo sapiens nearly 500,000 to 650,000 years ago. Paabo’s reconstruction of the Neanderthal genome was particularly impressive considering that his team only had DNA evidence that had severely degraded over nearly half a million years. He and […]

/ /

Iceland publishes robust LGBTQ+ action plan

,

Iceland has published its action plan on LGBTQ+ issues for the years 2022 to 2025, which includes an end to discrimination for queer blood donors, training in LGBTQ+ issues for police, “appropriate and unbiased” healthcare for trans people, and more. The country’s parliament is also pledging 40 million Icelandic Króna (around £250,000) to support ministries’ LGBTQ+ projects within that time period. The UK used to have an LGBTQ+ action plan, established in 2018 under Theresa May’s Conservative government, which included meaningful reform of the Gender Recognition Act and the banning of conversion therapy in all its forms. Neither of those things has come […]

/ /

LGBTQ Italians on alert as right-wing alliance triumphs in election

The triumph of a right-wing alliance in Italy’s election has raised concern among LGBTQ advocates, who fear nationalist leader Giorgia Meloni could adopt anti-gay policies as prime minister and set back their efforts to boost equality.  Meloni, who is set to become Italy’s first woman premier at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two, fiercely denounced what she calls “gender ideology” and “the LGBT lobby” just months before Sunday’s vote. But she has also played down her party’s post-fascist roots and portrays it as a mainstream group like Britain’s Conservatives. So what would her leadership of Italy’s new government mean […]

/ /

Cuba approves same-sex marriage in unusual referendum

Cubans have approved a sweeping “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefining rights for children and grandparents, officials said Monday, though opposition in the national referendum was unusually strong on the Communist Party-governed island. The measure — which contains more than 400 articles — was approved by 66.9% to 33.1%, the president of the National Electoral Council, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, told official news media, though returns from a few places remained to be counted. The reforms had met unusually strong open resistance from the growing evangelical movement in Cuba — and […]

/ /

England To End LBQ+ Discrimination in Access to Fertility Services

,

The British government has committed to a 10-year strategy to end discrimination against “female same-sex couples” seeking fertility services. The first ever Women’s Health Strategy For England, published by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, includes language supporting reproductive rights for lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ+) women. It commits the government’s health department to improving transparency and removing discriminatory policies to ensure “female same-sex couples are able to access [National Health Service] NHS-funded fertility services in a more equitable way.” In October, 2021, campaigners Megan and Whitney Bacon-Evans launched a legal case against their local NHS board, stating that its fertility policy […]

/ /

Turkey: Anti-LGBTQ display reflects nation’s political shift

The 25-year-old translator by day and trans drag performer by night felt overwhelming panic and anxiety when several thousand demonstrators gathered and marched Sunday in Turkey to demand a ban on what they consider gay propaganda and to outlaw LGBTQ organizations. The Big Family Gathering march in the conservative heart of Istanbul attracted parents with children, nationalists, hard-line Islamists and conspiracy theorists. Turkey’s media watchdog gave the event the government’s blessing by including a promotional video that called LGBTQ people a “virus” in its list of public service announcements for broadcasters. “We need to make all our defense against this LGBT. We […]

«‹ 47 48 49 50›»