International

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Thailand makes history as first Southeast Asian country to legalize same-sex unions

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Thailand is set to go down in history as the first Southeast Asian country to legalise same-sex unions after approving a historic bill.  The country’s Cabinet has approved draft legislation which will allow same-sex couples to register their partnership in Thailand, Bloomberg reported. The bill avoids the term ‘marriage’, but it will allow same-sex couples rights to jointly own property, adopt children and have inheritance rights between partners.  The bill now goes to the country’s Parliament for approval before it can become law. If passed into law, Thailand would be the first Southeast Asian country to approve such legislation.  It would also […]

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The UK plans to send LGBTQ asylum seekers to Rwanda to await their fate

“I felt like I was flying,” says Aloysius Ssali, recalling the day he was granted refugee status in the UK in 2010. He had been living on London’s streets for five years, homeless and undocumented since the UK didn’t formally recognize sexuality as a reason for protection at the time. Ssali grew up as a gay man in Uganda, where homosexuality can be punished by life imprisonment and where he had been targeted for campaigning for LGBTQ rights. When he returned home in 2005 after studying in the UK, he was captured and tortured – a common occurrence in the […]

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US: LGBT Asylum Seekers in Danger at the Border

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and other asylum seekers fleeing persecution in their home countries experience abusive and dangerous conditions in Mexicowhen not allowed to cross the border to seek asylum, Human Rights Watch said today.   Two policies implemented by the administration of former President Donald J. Trump – the Migrant Protection Protocols, commonly known as “Remain in Mexico,” and the Title 42 summary expulsion policy – continue to be used under the Biden administration to block access to the asylum system for most people who try to cross into the US to seek safety. This includes people at a greater risk of harm […]

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In Russia’s shadow, LGBTQ people across the Baltics fight for their rights

Surrounded by thousands of people wearing rainbow flags, glitter and sparkly outfits, Eddie Balčiūnaitė prepared to take part in one of the biggest marches the Baltic countries have ever seen.  The 21-year-old nonbinary Lithuanian grew up in a country that since 2009 has banned sharing information that “expresses contempt for family values (or) encourages … entry into a marriage and creation of a family other than stipulated in the Constitution.” Dubbed the “gay propaganda” law by its critics, the ban even preceded Russia’s 2013 infamous legislation. “The first time I heard about queer people was in the church, so it […]

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Anti-LGBTQ+ hate comes from just tiny minority of UK public: study

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The UK public is most likely to have feelings of respect and admiration towards LGBTQ+ community, according to new research from Stonewall. The research – published by the charity on the first day of Pride Month 2022, which also marks 50 years since the first Pride march in the UK – surveyed 2,000 adults across the UK to measure public sentiment towards LGBTQ+ people. Given a choice of words to describe their feelings toward different sections of the community, the most commonly chosen word was “respect”, followed by “admiration”. The proportion of respondents who chose the word “respect” was around a third […]

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Europe’s first LGBTQ+ youth centre gets new home in Manchester

Europe’s first LGBTQ+ youth support centre has reopened in Manchester after a massive redevelopment effort. LGBTQ+ charity The Proud Trust unveiled its newly redeveloped centre, The Proud Place, on 27 May. It’s a place where LGBTQ+ people can access community groups, support workers, and a range of events to meet local peers. The £2.4 million centre opened its doors after four years of development to the rapturous applause of Manchester patrons; its previous home of 20 years closed in 2020. Among the crowd were It’s A Sin star Nathaniel Hall and Schuh managing director Colin Temple, who presided over its opening along with other Manchester […]

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Taliban using monkeypox as an ‘excuse’ to ’round up’ and arrest LGBTQ+ Afghans

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The Taliban is using monkeypox as an “excuse” to harass and detain LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan. Two gay men who live in Kabul told PinkNews that the Taliban’s persecution of LGBTQ+ people has been ramping up ever since monkeypox started being detected in Europe. While not sexually transmitted, public health officials believe monkeypox is being transmitted in these networks through close contact during sex – though experts have also suggested the statistics may be skewed towards queen men because they are more conscious of their sexual health. Right now, Afghanistan has not officially recorded any cases of monkeypox – but that hasn’t stopped the […]

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Jerusalem Pride marches defiantly on after death threats sent to organiser and politicians

Jerusalem Pride defied death threats and counterprotests to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights loudly and proudly. Around 7,000 people attended the Jerusalem Pride march on Thursday (2 June), with 2022 marking the event’s 20th anniversary. Knesset speaker Mickey Levy addressed the crowds, saying he was “shocked to the depths of my soul” by the threats. “So I came today to stand against this evil specter,” he said, per The Times of Israel. “You are entitled to love who you want, you are entitled to marry who you love, you are entitled to raise a family like anyone else. These are not privileges, these […]

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LGBTQ+ Ukrainians on their new reality and why help is needed now more than ever

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Franz is struggling to comprehend how it’s been 100 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, kicking off a war that has dragged on for months. “You know, I didn’t even realise it’s been 100 days already,” Franz, who is just 18 years old, tells PinkNews. “It doesn’t feel quite right that it’s already summer. Some part of me still expects to see snow outside the window each morning, as if it was all just February that never ended.” Right now, Franz is in Slovakia, where he’s studying at university. He spends his days wondering where time is going – why the days seem to be […]

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Mexican LGBTQ group rallies support for beach ‘paradise’ battered by storm

When Hurricane Agatha battered a Mexican beach hamlet popular with LGBTQ residents and visitors earlier this week, members of the community sprang into action to help the town rebound. Zipolite, located on the enchanting southern Pacific coast of Oaxaca state, found itself directly in the path of the storm on Monday. The storm touched down only about six miles (10 kilometers) west of the town as a Category 2 hurricane, damaging buildings and filling the beach with debris.  By Thursday afternoon a GoFundMe campaign had already raised over $21,000 to be used “for the reconstruction of this paradise,” the GoFundMe […]

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