News

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Beirut Pride Concert Cancelled after Religious Protests against ‘Debauched and Immoral’ Festival

Beirut Pride organisers say they have been forced to cancel their opening concert after religious authorities raised objection to the “debauched and immoral” event. It is technically legal to be gay in Lebanon, but the annual Pride festival in the country’s capital has faced repeated crackdowns, with its lead organiser arrested in 2018. The 2019 event now also appears to be under threat, with organisers announcing the cancellation of a planned opening concert. A statement said: “Upon the announcement of the Opening Night of Beirut Pride 2019 at [arts venue] The Palace, religious institutions called for the cancellation of the concert, linking it to […]

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Justice Department Backs Catholic Church in Firing Openly Gay Teacher

The U.S. Justice Department is supporting Catholic Church leaders in Indianapolis who are being sued over the firing of a teacher in a same-sex marriage. Recommended NOWFelicity Huffman says she just wanted to give her daughter ‘a fair shot’ U.S. NEWSPresident Donald Trump is an ‘idiot’ — says Florida middle school teacher Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband says the First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion and gives faith-based schools the right to associate with some people and not others. The government filed a statement Friday in Marion County court. Joshua Payne-Elliott says the Archdiocese of Indianapolis illegally interfered […]

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Michigan Adoption Agencies Can Turn away LGBTQ Couples, Judge Rules

Religious-based adoption agencies that contract with the state of Michigan will be allowed to refuse to place children in LGBTQ homes under a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge Thursday. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids blocked Democratic state Attorney General Dana Nessel, Michigan’s first openly gay statewide officeholder, from barring the faith-based agencies from excluding LGBTQ couples from services. He said her action conflicted with state law, existing contracts and established practice. Nessel had, through a legal settlement between same-sex couples and the state Department of Health and Human Services, reversed the state’s stance earlier this year. […]

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Activists Call for ICE to Release all LGBT Asylum Seekers because They Can’t Provide Proper Healthcare

Human rights activists have filed a complaint calling for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release all LGBT+ migrants from custody because they say it cannot provide adequate healthcare. 14 groups demanded the release on Wednesday, September 25, which as well as LGBT+ detainees included any migrants living with HIV, because of poor medical and mental health care. According to the Boston Globe, the director of legal services at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Roger Coggan, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon: “We know that lack of medical and mental health care, including lack of HIV care, is the norm. “By the […]

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Study Dispels Stereotypes of Rural LGBTQ People of Color

Despite stereotypes about rural residents as exclusively white and straight, rural America is home to millions of LGBTQ people of color, and a new report from the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank, shines a spotlight on their lives, their experiences and the unique issues they face. “Rural communities have always been home to people of color and LGBT people of color, but their lives and needs are often unexamined or overlooked,” Ineke Mushovic, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “LGBT people of color are more likely to live in poverty, more vulnerable to discrimination and less able to […]

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Judge Tosses Lawsuit Challenging Maryland Conversion Therapy Ban

A federal judge has thrown out a psychotherapist’s lawsuit challenging Maryland’s ban on treating minors with conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change a client’s homosexual orientation. U.S. District Judge Deborah Chasanow’s ruling on Friday rejected Christopher Doyle’s claims that the state law violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious freedom. The judge said prohibiting the practice of conversion therapy on minors doesn’t prevent licensed therapists from expressing their personal views about conversion therapy to minor clients. Roger Gannam, one of Doyle’s attorneys, said Monday that they will appeal the judge’s decision. Doyle is represented by […]

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“Don’t Punish Me for Who I Am” Systemic Discrimination Against Transgender Women in Lebanon

We cannot find employment, we do not have homes, we cannot get an education, we are marginalized, we are shunned from society, we have no life, no connections, no families. We are rejected from family, from institutions, from friends, from our homes. We go to look for jobs and the first thing they ask for is ID, and when they see I present as a woman, but my ID says male, they won’t hire me. If the government helps us correct our official records, we can go find jobs like any other person and do just fine. Instead, they convict […]

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‘It’s Like Being on the Edge of Dying’: Chechnya Man Arrested and Tortured for Being Gay

A gay man who escaped torture in Chechnya has spoken about his harrowing experience amidst Russia’s ‘anti-gay purge’. 27-year-old Amin Dzhabrailov fled to Canada through the Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit that helps LGBT+ people escape from countries where their sexuality puts their lives in danger. Speaking at a Rainbow Railroad fundraiser in Winnipeg on Thursday, September 12, he described to CBC his ordeal as a gay man in the Russian republic. “It was awful,” he said, remembering the day in March 2017 when Russian soldiers kidnapped him from the hair salon he worked at. “I was colouring hair and it was my usual day. I […]

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EQCA Endorses Candidates in Palm Springs Elections

Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization has endorsed Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Geoff Kors in his re-election bid for Palm Springs City Council District 3 on Friday. Kors previously served as the organization’s executive director from 2002 to 2011. The organization also has endorsed Dennis Woods for City Council District 2 and has dual-endorsed Grace Garner and Les Young for City Council District 1.  “Palm Springs has a record of electing strong, pro-equality candidates to the city council and we expect the 2019 election to be no different,” said Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur. “After a […]

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Bahamas LGBTI Activists Contribute to Hurricane Dorian Relief Efforts

LGBTI activists in the Bahamas have joined efforts to help victims of Hurricane Dorian in their country. Alexus D’Marco, executive director of the D’Marco Organization, on Friday told the Washington Blade her organization is providing support to people who are now living in shelters in the Bahamian capital of Nassau and assessing the specific needs they may have. D’Marco and her colleagues are also tracking missing people and reporting them to Bahamas’ National Emergency Management Agency. D’Marco, who is also the executive director of the Bahamas Organization of LGBTI Affairs, noted the Rustin Fund for Global Equality and the Caribbean […]

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