International

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Queen calls for conversion therapy ban in UK

Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday in a speech that marked the opening of Parliament called for a ban on so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales. “Measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities and ban conversion therapy,” Elizabeth said.  While this announcement forecasts a step forward in LGBTQ activism and a change in the culture surrounding LGBTQ acceptance in the U.K.; the queen’s statement was met with hesitation, especially with regards to the when and how the ban will be implemented.  According to the U.K.’s public sector information website, the passing of legislation to implement the ban […]

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Polish police taught being LGBT+ is a ‘social pathology, like drug addiction’

Poland’s police commander-in-chief has been asked to explain why a new textbook for police officers lists LGBT+ people under “social pathologies”. The textbook, Social Pathologies – Selected Issues, was recently published by a police training centre in Legionowo. It describes the LGBT+ community as a form of “social pathology” alongside drug addiction and begging, highlighting trans and non-binary people as particular examples. The shocking text was raised in the Sejm on Friday (5 May) by Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, MP for the left-wing Lewica party. “I would like to emphasise that the LGBTQ community is not an ideology, nor is it a pathology – these […]

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Gay man shares harrowing experience of religious conversion therapy

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A gay man was “traumatised” and experienced relentless suicidal thoughts after enduring 18-months of religious conversion therapy. Gary, from Lurgan in Northern Ireland, told RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with Claire Byrne show that he sought conversion therapy in 2010 due to his intense feelings of shame about his sexuality. He quickly found a number of religious-based organisations on Google that claimed they could help him overcome his same-sex sexual desires. Looking back, he now feels that religious leaders tried to “brainwash” him into thinking there was something wrong with him and that he needed to be fixed. “I was there on Google, ‘Can I be gay and […]

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Blood donation rules in UK for gay men to be relaxed next month

The NHS will make the questions it asks of all blood donors gender-neutral from next month, allowing more gay and bisexual men to donate blood. The change, which will come into effect on 14 June, will allow more people from LGBT+ communities to be able to donate, the service said. Under previous NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) guidelines, male donors were asked to disclose whether they have had sex with another man. The new Donation Safety Check form will ask all donors, regardless of gender, the same questions about their recent sexual behaviour. The NHSBT said the change will mean that eligibility […]

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Gay Croatian couple’s five-year legal battle ends as judge rules can adopt

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A court in Croatia has ruled that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt, bringing to an end a gay couple’s five-year battle for their rights. Ivo Šegota, a molecular biologist, and Mladen Kožić, a sociologist, became the first-ever same-sex foster parents in Croatia in 2020, having launched a legal battle after their fostering application was initially denied in 2017. According to Openly, on 21 April Zagreb’s administrative court ruled that same-sex couples should not be discriminated against when it comes to state adoption. The government has the right to appeal the ruling within 15 days of receiving the judgement, but this seems […]

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LGBT+ activist leaves hospital after savage beating only to be put under house arrest

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An Uzbek LGBT+ activist who was attacked with a baseball bat has finally been released from hospital, only to be placed under immediate house arrest. Miraziz Bazarov, 29, was rushed to hospital in March after masked thugs ambushed him outside his home, leaving him with a smashed femur and serious internal injuries. After leaving hospital on 29 April he was immediately taken to the Tashkent directorate of interior affairs and interrogated, according to his lawyer Sergei Mayorov. He was charged with libel and public insult before being sent home on house arrest and ordered not to communicate with anyone. Mayorov says the […]

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Cameroon: Wave of Arrests, Abuse Against LGBT People

Cameroonian security forces have arbitrarily arrested, beaten, or threatened at least 24 people, including a 17-year-old boy, for alleged consensual same-sex conduct or gender nonconformity, since February 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. At least one of them was forced to undergo an HIV test and anal examination. Based on Human Rights Watch’s monitoring and discussions with Cameroonian nongovernmental organizations, the recent accounts of abuse documented here seem to be part of an overall uptick in police action against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Cameroon. Sexual relations between people of the same sex are criminalized in Cameroon and punished with up […]

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South African gay man found murdered on his 22nd birthday.

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Police in South Africa are investigating the killing of a young gay man – Lonwabo Jack – who’s believed to be the country’s fourth LGBT+ murder victim in less than a month. The body of the 22-year-old was found with stab wounds in a pool of blood on Sunday (18 April) in Mau-Mau, Nyanga East. He died on his birthday, according to the Lesbian Alliance Of South Africa (GLASA). Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana told IOL that no arrests had been made yet, and that allegations of rape had also formed part of the investigation. “Lonwabo was a nice kid, he was always […]

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Germany to charge five leaders of Chechen ‘gay purge’ with crimes against humanity

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Five leaders of the horrifying Chechen “gay purge” could finally be charged with crimes against humanity thanks to a criminal case in Germany. The five officials are within the inner circle of Chechnya’s autocratic leader Ramzan Kadyrov, according to the Guardian, and the charge sheet against them stretches 97 pages. t accuses the Chechen military and state apparatus of persecution, unlawful arrests, torture, sexual violence and incitement to murder at least 150 individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation since February 2017. The criminal case was submitted in February by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German […]

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ISIS recruiter murdered gay man and injured another for holding hands

An ISIS recruiter who stabbed a gayman to death and critically injured another because they were holding hands has gone on trial Tuesday (13 April). The streets of Dresden, Germany, were seized by fear and violence after 21-year-old Abdullah AHH, wielding a large kitchen knife, stabbed two tourists who visited the eastern town on 4 October 2020. AHH, a Syrian refugee, is facing one count of murder for fatally stabbing Thomas L, 55, and one count of attempted murder for wounding Thomas’s partner Oliver L, 53, according to the MailOnline. His only regret, AHH told court psychologists, was not killing Oliver. He said the […]

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