News

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Japan’s main opposition party submits bill to finally legalise same-sex marriage

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Japan’s main opposition party has submitted a bill calling for same-sex marriage to be legalised. Chinami Nishimura, of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), submitted the bill today (6 March), the South China Morning Post reported. Japan, which is due to host the G7 summit meeting in May, is the only member of the influential intergovernmental political forum that does not recognise LGBTQ+ marriage. Prime minister Fumio Kishida came under fire last week after claiming that not recognising same-sex unions “isn’t unfair discrimination by the state”. Nishimura, the acting chief of the CDP, responded: “I think it’s discrimination if marriage is recognised legally for […]

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LGBTQ+ suicide helpline inundated with harassment from conservatives, staff say

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Staff at The Trevor Project, one of the largest LGBTQ+ youth advocacy groups in the US, have said that they aren’t being adequately supported with regard to the homophobic and transphobic harassment they face.  Frontline staff, dealing with emotionally draining cases coming through its crisis support hotline, are said to be those suffering the most.  Last year, the hotline was swamped with fake calls, resulting in increased waiting times for those actually in need of help, Vice News has reported. This comes amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ moves taken by conservatives in the US, including Don’t Say Gay legislation and various attempts […]

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Anti-LGBTQ+ extremism isn’t limited to just the United States. Here’s how to beat them worldwide

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While LGBTQ+ Americans have been subjected to numerous legislative attacks by Republican politicians recently, being queer is also a challenge in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as most countries enact laws and policies that criminalize, stigmatize, and discriminate against queer people.  However, laws and policies are not the only problems, as being anti-LGBTQ+ has become an integral part of the cultural identity of many people in the MENA region. Like the American far-right, hating queer people has become a badge of honor. Between 2018 and 2019, the Arab Barometer surveyed six MENA countries asking, “Is homosexuality an acceptable […]

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Man Charged in Stabbing Death of Oakland Drag Queen, Chorus Singer

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Police in California announced they have arrested a university janitor in the murder of a local drag queen, barber, and member of the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus. Curtis Marsh, 53, was found stabbed to death in his burning Oakland apartment near Lake Merritt on Saturday, March 4. Marsh was a popular member of the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus who also performed as a drag queen under the stage name Touri Monroe. On Friday, Oakland Police Department (OPD) announced the arrest of Sweven Waterman, 38, and the Alameda District Attorney later charged him with Marsh’s murder. Waterman had worked as a senior custodian […]

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TRANSLIFE Seeks Volunteers for it’s Conference April 29

TRANSLIFE needs volunteers for their April 29 conference. Allies are welcome and encouraged to volunteer, folks should have a general understanding of what it means to be affirming to the trans community. We have two shifts: 9:00 am-1:00 pm and 1:00 pm-5:00 pm. You are also welcome to volunteer for the whole day. There are two types of volunteers, general volunteers and safety volunteers. General volunteers do various tasks which can include things like registration, welcomers, hall monitors, food set up and break down, room clean up, and assisting committee members, staff, and facilitators. Safety volunteers will work the parameters, […]

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Tory immigration bill could condemn LGBTQ+ refugees to death: ‘Immoral, disgraceful and indefensible’

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The UK government is facing fierce condemnation from opposition MPs and senior Tories over its “immoral, ineffective and incredibly expensive” Illegal Migration Bill. The bill has been devised by the Tory government to reduce or stop “small boat crossings”across the English Channel.  If it becomes law, all adults who arrive in the UK via the Channel or in the back of a lorry will be detained for 28 days. They would then be sent back to their country of origin or on to a third country like Rwanda. Families with children could also be detained and deported. Opposition MPs, human rights advocates, […]

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When parents are the activists: PFLAG celebrates 50 years of LGBTQ advocacy

In 1982, David Holladay was 16 years old and about to come out to his mother. They lived in a small town in Oklahoma and attended a Baptist church. This was the era of Rock Hudson and Elton John and Billie Jean King, people whose names, he said, “were never far away from something derogatory.”  When Holladay considered his future as a gay person, he saw it only as “the fog of the unknown.”  What Holladay didn’t know then was that a movement was brewing that he and his family would be a part of for decades to come. He […]

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Less than 10% of 2022’s anti-LGBTQ state bills became law, report finds

State legislators across the country proposed a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ rights last year, but less than 1 in 10 have become law, a report published Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign found.  The LGBTQ advocacy group’s 2022 State Equality Index, an annual review of state legislation and policies that affect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, found that state legislators introduced 315 bills that the Human Rights Campaign described as “anti-equality.” Just 29 became law.  The majority of the new laws target transgender minors. In the last three years, 18 states have banned trans […]

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Joe Biden calls out “terrible” & “sinful” laws targeting trans youth

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On the heels of the White House vocally condemning a call to eliminate transgender people, President Joe Biden called out Florida for attacking transgender youth. “What’s going on in Florida, is as my mother would say, close to sinful,” Biden told out actor Kal Penn on The Daily Show in an interview that will air later today. The White House press secretary was done being talked over by Simon Ateba. “It’s just terrible what they’re doing,” he continued. “It’s not like you know, a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I decided I want to become a man,’ or […]

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Hate crimes jumped nearly 12% in 2021, new FBI figures show

Hate crimes in the U.S. increased by 11.6% in 2021 from the previous year, according to revised figures the FBI released Monday. The statistics showed that 12,411 people were reported to have been victims of hate crimes in 2021, 64.5% of them targeted because of their race or ethnicity, 15.9% targeted for their sexual orientation and 14.1% for their religion. The reports were up from 8,120 in 2020 to 9,065 in 2021 — some crimes had multiple victims. In 2020, reports of hate crimes increased by less than 3% from the previous year. The FBI released initial 2021 data in December that indicated a […]

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