News

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UK Police homophobia may have played role in failure to catch murderer

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The Metropolitan Police made assumptions about “the lifestyles of gay men” in investigating the crimes of Stephen Port, according to a leaked report from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC). The unpublished report, seen by Channel 4 News, states that “the public cannot be satisfied that police are making decisions based on evidence and fact” because of the assumptions made in the investigation into Port, who murdered four gay men. Port, known as a the “Grindr killer”, murdered Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor over a 15-month period in 2014 and 2015. He approached his victims via dating apps before giving […]

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Lesbian activist brutally stabbed to death after rejecting man’s sexual advances

A lesbian woman has been stabbed to death in Umlazi, South Africa, after reportedly rejecting a man’s advances, leaving the local community “very disturbed”. IOL Daily News reported that 32-year-old Pinky Shongwe was stabbed to death while going to a local shop after an “unknown” man allegedly harassed her with unwanted advances. A spokesperson for Umlazi police, lieutenant-colonel Nqobile Gwala, said that the case is now being investigated as a murder. “She was found lying on the road and was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on arrival. The motive of the killing is unknown and the matter […]

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Supreme Court rejects case of Christian group and bisexual lawyer

The Supreme Court says it won’t review the case of a Seattle-based Christian organization that was sued after declining to hire a bisexual lawyer who applied for a job. A lower court let the case go forward, and the high court said Monday it wouldn’t intervene. Two justices, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, agreed with the decision not to hear the case at this stage but said that “the day may soon come” when the court needs to confront the issue the case presents. The case the high court declined to hear involves Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. In […]

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Groups opposed to gay rights rake in millions as states debate anti-LGBTQ bills

In today’s heightened culture war, the coffers of the anti-gay movement are overflowing. According to publicly available annual returns, 11 nonprofit groups identified as anti-LGBTQ hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center took in over $110 million in contributions during the financial year ending in 2020. The dollar amount represents a recent high-water mark for the organizations, whose take of donations, grants and other noncash contributions has increased steadily since 2016, when the same 11 groups reported more than $87 million in such contributions.  Florida Senate passes ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill MARCH 9, 202200:26 In just four years, their total […]

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New Global Research on Conversion Therapy: Online Panel Discussion with Researchers March 30

Horizons Foundation, the world’s first LGBTQ community foundation, will host a panel with leading experts in the fight against hate and extremism discussing new global research on conversion therapy, the discredited practice of trying to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.  Produced by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a grantee partner of Horizons Foundation’s Global Faith and Equality Fund, this research exposes how tech companies, many of which are based in the SF Bay Area, have failed to root out anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy disinformation and ban providers pushing the discredited practice, even though many claim to do […]

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California Gov. Newsom signs law that makes abortions cheaper

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Tuesday to make abortions cheaper for people on private insurance plans, the first of more than a dozen bills the state’s Democratic leaders plan to pass this year to prepare for a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade. The new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that banned states from outlawing abortion. If they do, at least 26 states are likely to either ban abortion outright or severely limit access, according to the Guttmacher Institute, […]

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How Russia’s war on Ukraine is a war on LGBTQ people

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As the world continues to watch the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine with horror, one question continues to plague the minds of queer activists in the West: what about the LGBTQ people? Russian leader Vladimir Putin has a long record of oppression of the queer community from public humiliation and imprisonment to encouraging mob violence. Filmmaker David France documented Putin’s anti-gay campaign in his film Welcome to Chechnya [now streaming on HBO Max] which detailed queer oppression in the titular Russia-allied republic. Will Ukraine face the same fate? We sat down with France to discuss the situation for LGBTQ people living in Russia and Ukraine, the state […]

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U.S. provides support to LGBTQ groups in Ukraine, surrounding countries

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The special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ rights abroad on Friday said she and her office continue to provide support to advocacy groups in Ukraine and in countries that border it. Jessica Stern told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview that she has held “multiple roundtables” with Ukrainian activists and organizations “to make sure that my office and I both have the relationships and then getting information directly from people on the frontlines.” Stern also noted she has also spoken with LGBTQ rights organizations in Poland, Hungary and other countries that “would be receiving LGBTQI Ukrainian refugees” […]

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Bill promotes California as U.S. refuge for transgender youth

California could provide legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families under a proposal announced Thursday that joins a growing list of initiatives from the nation’s most populous state aimed at counterbalancing actions in Texas and other conservative places. Democratic state lawmakers said they will introduce legislation to offer California as a safe haven for parents in other states who risk having their transgender children taken away or from being criminally prosecuted for supporting their children’s access to gender-affirming procedures and other health care. The measure is a response to moves in several Republican-dominated states and particularly Texas, where […]

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Kosovo MPs reject bid to legalise same-sex unions: ‘Homophobes have no place in parliament’

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Lawmakers have rejected legislation that would have made Kosovo the first Muslim-majority country in the world to legalise same-sex civil unions. Kosovo wants to join the European Union, and the bid to introduce same-sex marriage was part of modernising efforts by prime minister Albin Kurti’s government, which also tried to introduce other rights for minorities and business reforms But after hours of debate, just 28 out of MPs out of 120 voted in favour of the motion with some members of Kurti’s Vetevendosje party voting against it, according to Euractiv. Many against the draft code cited religious beliefs and “family values”. Vetevendosje representative Labinote Demi-Murtezi said […]

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