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Gay Men File Appeal in Trumped-Up Chechnya Conviction

 Two men, whom police tortured in Chechnya, are appealing their conviction on false, politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should withdraw the charges against the two men, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, who are brothers, void the conviction, immediately free them, and hold to account those responsible for torturing them. On October 25, a regional appeal court in Pyatigorsk will hear their appeal against sentences of eight and six years in prison, respectively, for allegedly providing food to a member of an illegal armed group. “The injustice against Magamadov and Isayev could not be more stark, and […]

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Brazil’s fake news crisis is lethal for LGBT+ community

The Brazilian presidential election has fueled a misinformation emergency that has tipped the LGBT+ community into a boiling pot of fake news. This is part of a broader global problem and we need a global plan to stop it. Since the beginning of this year’s election race, incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro deliberately galvanized Christian voters by framing the election as “a fight between good and evil,” repeating the scare tactics about the LGBT+ community he used in 2018. Bolsonaro’s tactics have also dragged his opponent, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva into an outright contest of who is the true Christian among them. Caught […]

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Anti-Trans Bills Also Harm Intersex Children

The spate of anti-transgender legislative proposals across the United States in recent years also threatens to undermine the fundamental rights of intersex children, Human Rights Watch, interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, and the SOGIESC Human Rights Initiative of the University of North Carolina Human Rights Law Program said today. MAPPING THE INTERSEX EXCEPTIONS Anti-Trans Legislation Across the United States Permits Rights Violations Against Intersex ChildrenSEE IT HERE  On Intersex Awareness Day, observed annually on October 26th, the groups introduced an interactive map that highlights how lawmakers across the US have included clauses in their bills that allow or encourage human rights violations against children born with intersex variations. […]

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Far-right figures appear to be testing Twitter’s boundaries for anti-LGBTQ speech

In the fews days since Elon Musk closed his deal to buy Twitter, far-right users have started to celebrate what they hope will be the ability to freely use homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and make threats on the social media platform.  On Saturday, former UFC fighter Jake Shields, who has over 340,000 Twitter followers, appeared to be testing the boundaries of the company’s moderation apparatus by posting a photo of a drag queen smiling at a young drag performer with the caption, “This is a groomer.” Shields added, “I was suspended for this exact tweet a month ago so we […]

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Australia’s FIFA World Cup Team First to Collectively Back Workers, LGBT Rights

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Australia’s national men’s football team, the Socceroos, just became the first FIFA World Cup side to collectively speak up on human rights issues in Qatar. In a powerful video released on October 27, sixteen current and former Australian players, supported by the broader playing group, expressed their solidarity with migrant workers and LGBT people, making it clear that “universal values like dignity, trust, respect and courage should define football values.” Players correctly assessed the situation in Qatar, where important reforms have been introduced but require better implementation. More importantly, they acknowledged that the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar resulted in preventable suffering and […]

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DNA evidence could help D.C. police solve the 1987 murder of a lesbian woman

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D.C. police have used DNA testing technology that could help solve the 1987 murder of a lesbian woman. On May 13, a 35-year-old woman named Greta Denise Rainey was found raped and strangled in her Capitol Hill apartment. Eighteen months before her death, a 22-year-old named Florence Eyssalenne was also found raped and murdered in her apartment, which was next to Johnson’s. At the time, investigators took DNA samples as part of a police rape kit. Now, using contemporary DNA-testing technology that wasn’t available at the time, police have tested the samples and formed a DNA profile of an unidentified […]

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Community unites to create Pride display after couple was targeted by MAGA vandal

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A Chicago couple whose home has been repeatedly vandalized by a Trump supporter is combatting hate with love. Erica Hungerford and Peter Charnley rallied their community last weekend to create a massive display of LGBTQ Pride on their garage. ADVERTISING The couple has refused to be intimidated by a man who has repeatedly destroyed their Pride flags and left them threatening MAGA messages at their home in the city’s Jefferson Park neighborhood, where they have only lived since February. The couple was joined by about a dozen members of their community on Sunday to paint a rainbow mural on their […]

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Five centuries on, Milan still echoes with the genius of queer icon Leonardo da Vinci

Since his death more than 500 years ago, multihyphenate genius Leonardo da Vinci and his spectacular works have inspired respect and wonder in generation after generation the world over. An icon of the Renaissance, an inventor so ahead of his time that it’s taken centuries for many of his ideas to come to fruition, and the painter of some of the most stirring and famous works of art on the planet, Leonardo has also become a hero for LGBTQ people, who’ve long seen in his works and biography a host of beguiling clues to his queerness.  Yet non-Italians are often […]

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Hector Zavala Discusses His Solo Show “Buscando al Ultimo Hombre Gay (Seeking the Last Gay Man) at The California Theatre in Santa Rosa November 30

Cheryl King is producer of the Wednesday Weirdness performance series at The California, the latestnew nightspot in Santa Rosa. She recently interviewed Hector Zavala about his new solo show, Buscando al Último Hombre Gay(Seeking the Last Gay Man) prior to his upcoming performance at The California on November 30.Hector’s answers provide not only a great preview for the show, but also a thoughtful examination ofmany hot-button issues in current culture. CK: First a question about the title – What does it mean? Who is doing the seeking? And who is the lastgay man? HZ: When I first wrote the show […]

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Transgender voters risk losing their voice in 2022 midterms

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Less than two weeks before the midterm elections, the window for transgender voters to verify their identities for voting is closing fast. Roadblocks for trans people to acquire accurate identification abound, while ID requirements to vote are getting stricter in a growing number of states. The predictable result will be fewer trans people voting in 2022, just as their rights are coming under attack from anti-LGBTQ candidates. According to the latest research from UCLA’s Williams Institute, over 200,000 trans voters could be disenfranchised this November. It could be worse. A 2015 study from the National Center for Transgender Equality reveals voter participation from […]

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