News

/ /

Nicaragua’s LGBT+ Revolutionaries

A humble cinderblock home with a tin roof in a poor neighborhood in the Costa Rican capital of San José has become a refuge for nearly 40 gay Nicaraguan youth who played a leading role in the popular uprising against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s regime this past April. The destitute youth fled Nicaragua as refugees to nearby Costa Rica after Ortega launched a brutal and bloody crackdown on those who led months of mostly peaceful protests against changes in the country’s social security system and government corruption. The 8-month long government repression, condemned by the U.N. and the Organization of […]

/ /

Did Cutting of Aid to Tanzania Help to Change its Anti-gay Policies?

Cutting off aid to Tanzania may have helped change the country’s tough stance on homosexuality. In October the governor of the economic capital, Dar el Salaam, ordered the rounding up of all suspected gay people. Paul Makonda ordered people to report others they suspected of being gay, and within days police received hundreds of reports. ‘If you know of a homosexual, you must report them to a police officer. No one can escape,’ Makonda told media. Even though African LGBTI advocates protested the move, the World Bank and Denmark cut aid to Tanzania because of its homophobic policies. Advocacy group […]

/ /

70,000 Canadians Sign Petitions Calling for Conversion Therapy Ban

Two separate petitions launched earlier this year in Canada asking the government to ban conversion therapy have amassed a combined 70,000 signatures. One petition has received 11,200 signatures, and the other – which was started by It Gets Better Canada – has 58,400, according to BBC News. The first petition calls on Canada’s government to ban conversion therapy for minors, and also asks them to prohibit taking young people out of the country to take part in the practice. Meanwhile, It Gets Better Canada is asking the government to clearly state that Canada “opposes the use of conversion therapy and […]

/ /

There’s a New London Home for LGBTI Asylum Seekers, This is how You Can Help

With Christmas less than a week away, it might be the perfect time to help others in need. Micro Rainbow International Foundation is opening a new safe home for LGBTI asylum seekers in London and is calling for donations. The charity is urging everyone to donate whatever they can on social media. They have set up an Amazon wishlist where whoever wishes to help can buy anything from bedsheets to microwaves. MRI is crucial in helping asylum seekers MRI was born in 2012. It provides shelter to lesbian, bisexual, gay, trans and intersex people who are homeless because they have been […]

/ /

German Parliament Adds Third Gender to Birth Certificates

Germany’s parliament has passed a law which will add a third gender to birth certificates for people born intersex. The blank option on forms, instituted in Germany in 2013 as a Europe-wide first, will be replaced by a “diverse” option for newborns whose sexual anatomy does not fit the binary male or female, according to The Local Germany and Deutsche Welle. Intersex people will also be able to change their gender and first name on birth certificates if they feel they were assigned the wrong gender at birth, though this will usually require a medical certificate. The changes to the […]

/ /

Queer Origins of America’s Favorite Holidays

Historically, humans have found ways of dealing with winter, that gross time of year when it’s bitter cold, dark at 5 p.m., and depressing as all hell. Not only ways of dealing with it: we’ve found ways of turning into the best time of year. The span of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is filled with excitement, consumerist fervor and eustress for many an American, no matter how bruised and battered we get during the contact sport that is the Black Friday to Cyber Monday stretch. The last months of the year are our designated time to chill, hang with […]

/ /

Trump Administration May End Disciplinary Protections for Minority Students

According to the New York Times, obtained documents reveal the Trump administration is planning to roll back another set of Obama-era policies. This time, they’re targeting protections for minority students in schools across the country. Under the leadership of Barack Obama in 2014, the White House implemented policies aimed at making sure minority students did not face disproportionate disciplinary actions. Trump and his Education Department, led by Betsy DeVos, however, argue the policies ‘eased up on punishment and contributed to rising violence in the nation’s schools’. This development reportedly stems from this year’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School […]

/ /

Gay Man in Singapore Wins Landmark Child Adoption Case

A gay man has won a legal battle in Singapore to be legally recognised as the parent of a child he fathered through surrogacy abroad. The Singapore High Court ruled on Monday that the 46-year-old gay man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will be able to adopt the child, reversing a previous decision from a lower court. The man has been in a relationship with another man for more than a decade—the two have been living together since 2003, according to the South China Morning Post—and used his sperm to conceive the child through surrogacy in the US. […]

/ /

GOP Senator Blocks Reappointment Of Lesbian EEOC Commissioner Over Her “Radical Views On Marriage”

Members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces civil rights laws in the workplace, are routinely reconfirmed in a bipartisan manner. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, however, is bucking the norm by putting a hold on the reappointment of Chai Feldblum, the first openly LGBTQ person to sit on the commission, because of her “radical views on marriage.” “One nominee to the commission’s five-member board wants to use the federal agency’s power to undermine our nation’s founding principles,” Lee wrote on his website earlier this year. “Don’t think for a second that you, your family, and your […]

/ /

Russian Election Trolls Created a Fake Helpline for Struggling LGBTI Teens to Help Trump Win

Russian trolls out to rig the election for Donald Trump created a fake helpline for struggling LGBTI teens. The Senate released a report saying Russia engaged in an all-out social media campaign to manipulate votes during the 2016 election. Millions of posts on every popular social media platform from Facebook to Pinterest were provided to the Senate and House Intelligence committees. And in these posts, there were some extremely damaging stories. LGB young people far more likely to feel suicidal if they lose friends after coming out The Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency created a fake helpline and posted the link […]

«‹ 506 507 508 509›»