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Transgender Pakistanis face uncertain future

The transgender community’s history on the Indian subcontinent spans thousands of years. The community has historically thrived, but discriminatory colonial laws left it isolated and trans people faced violence in the subcontinent. Pakistan is no exception. A group of 26 tribal clerics in Pakistan’s Khyber province on July 7 banned trans people from dancing and playing music during weddings. They ruled clergy would not perform wedding rituals at any marriages that included dance and music. The clerics in their decree said they will not perform the last rites of an entire family if any one of them disobeys the decision. […]

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A staggering 81% of trans adults have considered suicide

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An alarming 81% of transgender adults have considered suicide, according to a new studyfrom the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Comparatively, it found 35% of cisgender adults have considered suicide. The first-of-its-kind study, which appeared in this month’s edition of the journal Psychiatry Research, examined the prevalence of serious drug use, psychological distress, and suicidality among a nationally representative sample of trans and cisgender adults. The study took its data from the U.S. Transgender Population Health Survey (TransPop). The study found that 42% of trans adults have attempted suicide, compared to just 11% of cis adults. It also found that 56% of […]

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New York City Dancer Murdered In Anti-Gay Hate Crime

The New York Daily News reports: A professional dancer voguing at a Brooklyn gas station after a trip to the Jersey Shore with his friends was stabbed to death during a confrontation Saturday night with a group of Muslim men who said the victim’s impromptu performance offended their faith, witnesses and friends told the Daily News. O’Shae Sibley, 28, a professional dancer who has performed at Lincoln Center as part of an all-queer dance group, was blasting music and dancing with his pals at the Midwood Mobil station on Coney Island Ave and Avenue P just after 11 p.m. when their antics […]

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Trans men enter Miss Italy pageant in droves after trans women are told they can’t compete

More than 100 transgender men have entered the Miss Italy pageant this week, according to an activist leading a protest against recent comments by the pageant’s organizer, who said trans women wouldn’t be allowed to compete. The comments came after another European pageant, Miss Netherlands, crowned its first transgender winner, Rikkie Valerie Kollé, this month. About a week later, Patrizia Mirigliani, the official organizer of Miss Italy, told an Italian radio station that Miss Italy wouldn’t allow trans women to compete.  “Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news using strategies that I think are a bit absurd,” Mirigliani said, according […]

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Montana judge temporarily lifts ban on drag performances ahead of Pride event

A federal judge in Montana on Friday temporarily blocked a new law that restricts drag performances just days before thousands of people are expected to attend Montana Pride’s 30th anniversary celebration in Helena. The way the law is written “will disproportionately harm not only drag performers, but any person who falls outside traditional gender and identity norms,” including transgender people, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said. The law seeks to ban minors from attending what it calls “sexually oriented” performances, and bans such performances in public places where minors might be present. However, it does not adequately define many of the terms used […]

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‘Life-saving’ middle school for LGBTQ+ youth set to open in Arizona

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A middle school for LGBTQ+ youth, described as “life-saving” for its future pupils, is set to open in Arizona.  The Queer Blended Learning Center, a “micro-school” for up to a dozen students, will open its doors in Phoenix in August. Traditional classes such as maths and reading will be taught alongside LGBTQ+ history and social studies.  The school, which will be housed at the Phoenix headquarters of LGBTQ+ youth charity, one•n•ten, currently has six students enrolled, and is looking to expand to accommodate 10 to 12 pupils, AZCentral reported. Leaders of the school programme said it will be life-saving for queer children in […]

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Discriminatory Bill Harms Trans Women in Hungary

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In another blow to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Hungary, on July 13, the Hungarian government proposed a bill that excludes transgender women from a women-only pension scheme. The bill is expected to go to parliament in September. The proposed bill comes on the heels of a court ruling on behalf of a transgender woman, obliging the local authority to recognize the plaintiff as a woman, making her eligible for the women-only pension benefit. The benefit is available to women who have worked 40 years but not yet reached retirement age.   The verdict caused a meltdown in Hungary’s […]

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Kenya set to introduce cruel anti-homosexuality law

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Kenya is on the verge of introducing legislation that would criminalise openly identifying with, or supporting, the LGBTQ+ community, with punishments including the death penalty. Labelled the Family Protection Act, the East African country’s bill would see a complete ban on activities that “promote homosexuality”, including openly identifying as LGBTQ+ or wearing Pride emblems. Those found in breach of the law would face a minimum of 10 years in jail while those found guilty of performing same-sex acts would face a minimum of 14 years. Additionally, anyone found guilty under a clause for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as engaging in “homosexual […]

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The rainbow flag: Flown, banned and raised again

When Adm. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health, declared 2023 the summer of Pride, she rang a clarion bell but also delivered a challenge in our hate-filled era because, as per the ACLU, LGBTQ communities have recently seen close to 500 anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation proposed across the nation . Yet LGBTQ communities persist in celebration, resistance and resilience. Over 30 cities from Silicon Valley, Calif., to Atlanta are scheduled to commemorate Pride from July to November. Tragically, many communities face homophobic legislation that now bans flying the rainbow flag. I was dismayed to learn this trend of hatred had […]

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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: LGBT People Face Bias

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines face bias-motivated violence and discrimination in their daily life, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The authorities should repeal the country’s colonial-era laws that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct and pass comprehensive civil legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The 58-page report, “‘They Can Harass Us Because of the Laws’: Violence and Discrimination against LGBT People in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,” exposes the physical and verbal assaults, family violence, homelessness, workplace harassment, bullying, and sexual violence that sexual and gender minorities face under the […]

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