International

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Switzerland to allow trans people to legally change gender through self-ID

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Trans people in Switzerland will be able to legally change their gender by self-ID at a civil registry office from the start of the new year. Switzerland joins a growing number of European countries that allow a person to legally change their gender and name through self-declaration. It follows Denmark, Norway, Malta, Luxembourg, Ireland, Iceland and Portugal, according to international trans advocacy group TGEU. Under the new law, which will go into effect on Saturday (1 January), anyone over the age of 16 and not under legal guardianship will be able to change their gender marker and legal name by self-declaration at […]

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Lesbian risks life and flees Afghanistan to escape forced marriage

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Rabia was just 15-years-old when she became engaged to a Taliban officer against her will in a small village in Afghanistan. Now 22-years-old, Rabia has fled Afghanistan and has managed to get away from the man who made her adolescence hell. She is temporarily living in Pakistan, but she’s hopeful she will ultimately be able to claim asylum in either Canada or the UK so she can build a life for herself. Like so many others, Rabia had no choice but to flee when the Taliban seized power. She is a lesbian, which makes her a threat to Taliban rule. To make matters worse, […]

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‘It’s so liberating’: India’s first salon run by transgender men

The beauty treatments listed at the new La Beauté & Style salon are much the same as those offered by the dozen or so other parlours that dot the traffic-heavy Dilshad Extension area of Ghaziabad, 17 miles (28km) east of Delhi. But that is where the similarity ends. The wall behind the reception desk is painted in rainbow colours; a mural of a trans man with flowing multicoloured locks decorates another wall; a woman wearing a sari is having her eyebrows plucked next to a trans man who is telling a stylist how he would like his hair cut. I feel […]

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Brothers detained in Chechnya go on hunger strike

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Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, gay brothers detained in Chechnya, have begun a hunger strike after a judge denied a request to move their case to another region. The brothers fled to Russia in June 2020 with the help of the Russian LGBT Network after they were tortured in Chechnya, the site of deadly so-called “gay purges”, for running an opposition Telegram channel. ragically, the two men were forcefully returned to Chechnya in February 2021 on terrorism-related charges that activists say are completely fabricated. Magamadov and Isaev face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The Russian LGBT Network said in a […]

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Thousands of LGBTQ+ Israelis received text messages to ‘repent’ or face ‘death’

The Jerusalem Post has reported that thousands of LGBTQ+ Israelisreceived text messages saying they “deserve severe punishment, death and deportation” and calling on them to “repent.” The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel confirmed the news Monday. “You are LGBT and an apostate. You deserve severe punishment, death and deportation from Israel,” the message read. “Come to Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan in order to repent. We would be glad if you undergo conversion to faith.” According to The Jerusalem Post, “The message included a phone number and a Telegram account to contact and stated that it was sent by Rabbi Chaim Aryeh Hadash, the rosh yeshiva […]

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Thailand: Transgender People Denied Equal Rights

Transgender people in Thailand have no route to legal recognition of their gender identity, making them vulnerable to various forms of discrimination, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today with the Thai Transgender Alliance. The 60-page report, “‘People Can’t Be Fit Into Boxes’: Thailand’s Need for Legal Gender Recognition,”found that the absence of legal gender recognition, coupled with insufficient legal protections and pervasive social stigma, limits transgender people’s access to vital services, and exposes them to daily indignities. Thai transgender people said they were routinely denied access to education, health care, and employment. Thailand has a reputation as an international hub […]

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Senegalese lawmakers draw up chilling new law for LGBT+ people and allies

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Anti-LGBT+ lawmakers in Senegal are seeking to toughen the west African nation’s already horrific repression of queer citizens. A bloc of National Assembly members have drafted a bill that would lengthen potential jail terms for those convicted of same-sex acts. The penalty is already up to five years imprisonment for “acts against nature” – but lawmakers hope to stretch this out to a decade, they announced Monday (13 December). And in disturbing parallels to Ghana, lawmakers even hope to make simply advocating for LGBT+ a punishable offence, 76 Crimes reported. People who write, speak or finance any form of advocacy in favour of […]

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Chile breathes sigh of relief as pro-LGBT+ president elected over far-right bigot

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Gabriel Boric has won the Chile election, seeing off far-right anti-LGBT+ rival José Antonio Kast. At just 35 years old, Gabriel Boric was elected Chile’s youngest-ever president on Sunday (19 December). His far-right rival, Kast, conceded with 97 per cent of the vote counted, Boric having gained a 12 point lead with 55.8 per cent of the tallied votes. The left-wing former student leader won the presidency after a fraught election which the LGBT+ community feared could turn the clock back on equality. Same-sex marriage was finally legalised in Chile this month, and while Boric is committed to improving reproductive […]

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Thailand: Transgender People Denied Equal Rights

Transgender people in Thailand have no route to legal recognition of their gender identity, making them vulnerable to various forms of discrimination, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today with the Thai Transgender Alliance. The 60-page report, “‘People Can’t Be Fit Into Boxes’: Thailand’s Need for Legal Gender Recognition,”found that the absence of legal gender recognition, coupled with insufficient legal protections and pervasive social stigma, limits transgender people’s access to vital services, and exposes them to daily indignities. Thai transgender people said they were routinely denied access to education, health care, and employment. Thailand has a reputation as an international hub […]

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Hundreds of visitors to these popular nightclubs will have to face quarantine

A COVID-19 outbreak in Australia has left the queer community reeling as more than 700 patrons of two Melbourne nightclubs have been forced into quarantine. The Star-Observer reports that health officials in the nation have ordered partygoers of Peel Hotel and Sircuit Bar–two popular LGBTQ nightlife hotspots–into mandatory quarantine. A fellow clubgoer tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID earlier this week, and confessed to visiting both Peel and Sircuit Bar on Monday (December 10). “Anyone who attended the Sircuit Bar from 9pm to midnight and the Peel Hotel from 11.30pm to 3am on Friday 10 December needs to quarantine and get tested. The […]

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