International

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Russia to Ban Same-sex Marriage and Adoptions as Putin Cements his Power Well into FutureEmma P

All hopes of same-sex marriage in Russia have been crushed as lawmakers push forward with a package of constitutional amendments that could prolong Putin’s power until he’s 84. Russia does not currently register same-sex marriages, but until now it had recognised marriages registered abroad as long as they weren’t between close relatives. That’s set to change as a draft bill submitted by seven senators late on Tuesday (14 July) will amend Russia’s Family Code and legally ban same-sex marriage and adoptions, including those by transgender people. “The bill ends the practice of marriage between persons of the same sex, including those who […]

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Poland’s Homophobic President Andrzej Duda Wins Re-election

President of Poland Andrzej Duda has narrowly secured re-election, after an ugly election campaign that saw him resort to homophobic dog whistles. According to preliminary results from Sunday’s run-off vote, the ultra-conservative Duda received 10,394,843 votes (51.22 per cent), giving him a wafer-thin margin of victory over the liberal candidate Rafal Trzaskowski, who received 9,901,371 votes (48.78 per cent). The result suggests that the Duda’s election campaign tactic of repeatedly targeting LGBT+ people in an effort to tap into rising homophobic sentiment appears to have paid off. President Andrzej Duda secures narrow victory after tapping into public homophobia. Duda, an ultra-conservative who […]

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Queer Activists Issue ‘Urgent Call for Justice and Equality’, Demanding Reforms in India’s

LGBT+ activists in Mumbai have launched a petition to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption as an “urgent call for justice and equality”. The Humsafar Trust, an LGBT+ rights organisation in Mumbai, started the petition at the end of Pride Month. While LGBT+ acceptance is growing in the country, the petition states: “We, the LGBTQ+ people of India believe that there can not be a right time to ask for equal rights which are already enshrined in the Indian constitution but cannot be accessed by the LGBTQ+ community.” The Humsafar Trust is calling for the “recognition of same-sex marriage, adoption rights for LGBTQ+ community, anti-discrimination laws […]

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LGBT Asylum Seekers Will be Given Priority under Norwegian Plan

For the first time Norway will prioritise LGBT+ asylum seekers as part of a new post-coronavirus refugee scheme. Announced on July 5 by the Storting, Norway’s federal government, the new policy will give LGBT+ refugees priority both as individuals and as a group. The three-year scheme was introduced in coordination with the UN after the outbreak of coronavirus disrupted the international settlement of many refugees. “Unfortunately, in many countries, it is not so that you are free to love who you want,” said the state secretary for integration affairs in the ministry of education, Grounds Kreek Almeland, in a press release. […]

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70 Countries Risk Running Out of HIV Drugs Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, WHO Warns

Seventy-three countries fear they could run out of antiretroviral (ARV) medications, which prevent the transmission of HIV, because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A new WHO survey released ahead of the biannual International AIDS Society’s conference found that 24 countries currently had either supply problems or critically low stocks of the anti-HIV medications because of COVID-19. In the 24 countries experiencing shortages, around 8.3 million people are using ARV medications. Suppliers failing to deliver the medication, shut downs of air and land transport and limited access to healthcare services were listed as reasons for […]

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Russian Voters Back Referendum Banning Same-sex Marriage

Russian voters supported a national referendum defining marriage exclusively as a union between one man and one woman. The referendum, which included more than 200 constitutional amendments, also paves the way for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036 if he so chooses. The proposals, voted on by the public over the past seven days, were supported by more than two-thirds of voters, though the opposition maintains that the referendum was rigged from the start. Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, slammed the gay marriage ban and said Putin is a “threat to the […]

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It Will Soon be Illegal to even Discuss Being Trans in Romanian Schools

The senate in Romania has passed a bill that, if signed by the president, will make it illegal to discuss gender identity in every school and university in the country. Passed on June 16 by the senate, the bill will forbid any discussion or “promotion” of “gender identity theory” – defined as “activities to spread the theory or opinion of gender identity, understood as the theory or opinion that gender is a different concept from biological sex and that the two are not always the same”. The bill will now go to Romanian president Klaus Iohannis for approval. It has […]

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Police Made a Spanish Town Mayor Take Down a Pride Flag because of Draconian Law

Police in Spain made the mayor of a small town take down a Pride flag because it was “illegal” – but locals were having none of it. Juan Civico, mayor of the Andalusian village of Villanueva de Algaidas near Malaga, thought erecting a Pride flag at the council building would be a kind gesture to the local LGBT+ community. But that simple act, Civico later discovered, was actually illegal – the Supreme Court recently ruled that government buildings must only fly official flags of Spain, its regions or of the European Union, according to the Jakarta Post. Three local residents seized on […]

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Montenegro Makes History by Legalizing Same-sex Civil Partnerships

Montenegro has just voted to legalise same-sex civil partnerships, becoming the first European country outside of Western Europe and the European Union to do so. Lawmakers in the small Balkan country reached the decision on Wednesday (July 1) after the law received 42 votes in the 81-seat parliament. Montenegro’s prime minister Duško Marković called it “a great step in the right direction for Montenegrin society, its democratic maturity, and integration processes”. President Milo Đukanović also welcomed the move, declaring on Twitter that Montenegro is now “one step closer to joining the most developed world democracies”. “[It is] a confirmation that our society […]

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Thirty People Arrested in Russia, Charged with Spreading ‘Gay Propaganda’

Police in Russia have detained over 30 people for protesting the arrest of Yulia Tsvetkova, an LGBT+ and feminist activist charged with spreading ‘gay propaganda’. Yulia Tsvetkova, 27, faces a six year sentence for running a social media page called Vagina Monologues, which encouraged people to share artistic depictions of vaginas to “remove the taboo”. She was charged with the distribution of “criminal pornography” under Russia’s gay propaganda law, which prohibits the positive depiction of LGBT+ people. On Saturday (June 27) more than 30 people, mostly women, gathered in in central Moscow to stage separate one-person protests against Tsvetkova’s charges. […]

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