The Thai king has signed same-sex marriage into law, the official Royal Gazette said Tuesday, making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise marriage equality.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn gave royal assent to the new law, passed by parliament in June, which will take effect in 120 days – meaning the first gay weddings are expected to take place in January.
Activists hailed a “monumental step” as Thailand becomes only the third place in Asia where same-sex couples can tie the knot, after Taiwan and Nepal. The law on marriage now uses gender-neutral terms in place of “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives”, and also grants adoption and inheritance rights to same-sex couples.
South Korea’s commitment to equal rights has suffered a dangerous setback with the appointment of Ahn Chang-ho as chairperson of the government’s National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
A former Constitutional Court justice, Ahn has drawn widespread criticism for his opposition to antidiscrimination protections, particularly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
Ahn has taken several deeply troubling positions over the years, including opposing comprehensive sexuality education in public schools, claiming antidiscrimination protections spread HIV/AIDS and anal cancer, and suggesting that homosexuality could lead to a communist revolution.
At his confirmation hearing, Ahn reiterated many of these views, casting minority rights as a threat to the viewpoints of the majority.
President Yoon Suk-yeol appointed Ahn despite strong opposition from civil society groups and his concerning confirmation hearing, bypassing the National Assembly’s approval process. Ahn’s confirmation is part of a worrying trend under Yoon’s administration, which has now appointed 29 officials without the National Assembly’s approval.
This appointment is particularly disappointing given South Korea’s already weak record on minority rights. South Korea and Japan are the only two countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) without a comprehensive nondiscrimination law. In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged South Korea to pass such a law and expressed concern about ongoing discrimination against various minority groups.
As Human Rights Watch and civil society partners have documented, antidiscrimination protections are urgently needed in South Korea to address unfair treatment based on race, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other characteristics.
For over two decades, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has been a crucial defender of minority rights, investigating discrimination, developing research, and advocating for an antidiscrimination law. Yet despite widespread public support for antidiscrimination legislation, the National Assembly has repeatedly failed to enact such a law.
As Ahn assumes his new role, it is critical that the commission resist any erosion of its mission and uphold South Korea’s human rights obligations. Any retreat from its commitment to nondiscrimination would be a devastating setback for the country’s progress on equality.
A new political ad from former President Donald Trump delves deep into transphobia, highlighting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ support of providing lifesaving care to transgender inmates (something required by federal law) and showing pictures of her next to a drag queen, a trans woman, and a nonbinary person.
“Kamala is for they/them,” the 30-second ad says. “President Trump is for you.”
The ad primarily accuses Harris of supporting “taxpayer-funded sex-changes for prisoners and illegal aliens” — a crude restatement of her 2019 ACLU questionnaire answer that all federal prisoners, including trans immigrants detained by border agents, deserve medically necessary care, which includes gender-affirming care and surgeries. The Constitution requires U.S. prisons and detainment facilities to provide such care, and courts have upheld this requirement, but some facilities still deny it to inmates.
“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Even the liberal media was shocked,” the ad states. To substantiate its claim, the ad shows Harris’ video interview with the National Center for Transgender Equality, in which she declares her support for providing care for trans inmates.
Neither one has anything to do with the federal government’s decades-long obligation to provide essential medical care to all inmates.
Trump has also claimed that schools are conducting surgeries on trans youth without parental consent. This is also a lie. No schools are providing such surgeries, doctors typically refuse to provide such surgeries to minors, and doctors never provide gender-affirming surgery to minors without parental consent.
Furthermore, the Republican National Platform pledges to “keep men out of women’s sports” and cut federal funding for any schools “pushing radical gender ideology” or “inappropriate sexual or political content on our children.”
Chapter 9, Section 5 of the platform promises to “end Left-wing gender insanity,” stating, “We will keep men out of women’s sports, ban Taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, and stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition, reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations, and restore protections for women and girls.”
Down-ticket Republicans are also incorporating transphobia into their political messaging.
One recent TV ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee accuses Democratic Texas state Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of “push[ing] sex changes for kids” even though he told the Texas Tribune that he has “never supported tax dollars paying for gender transition surgeries and never will.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has also published ads accusing his opponent, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), of being “wrong for our girls,” a reference to Allred’s support of the Equality Act, a federal bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal anti-discrimination protections.
Allred was a co-sponsor of a resolution to create a “Transgender Bill of Rights to protect and codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary people under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security,” the Texas Tribune noted.
Allred’s campaign called the ads a “disgusting, false attack, and another example of how Ted Cruz only wants to divide Texans.” Allred and Cruz are polling very closely in a high-profile race that could help determine party control of the Senate.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) released an anti-trans ad featuring Riley Gaines, a former competitive collegiate swimmer who launched a career as a spokesperson against trans athletes after she tied for fifth place with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA championship.
In the ad, Gaines says that Hawley’s Democratic opponent Lucas Kunce “supports the radical trans agenda” and falsely claims that he supports “sex change operations for minors.” Doctors rarely ever conduct such procedures on minors. Gaines also claims that Kunce supports “boys in girls bathrooms” and “explicit teaching in grade school,” though both are distortions of his support for LGBTQ+-inclusive school policies.
“It’s really disgusting that these politicians think they can use trans people, and more specifically trans youth, as a political tool to win points,” Chase Glenn, the trans male executive director of the Alliance for Full Acceptance, told the Associated Press.
Republican campaigners and polls indicate that transphobia resonates with conservative Christian voters. In fact, the Republican National Platform promises to legally protect Christians who discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
However, a March 2024 poll showed that 53% of voters oppose candidates who campaign against transgender people. While that might sound like a slim majority, such a majority could help determine which candidates win in close races.
An August 2023 Economist/YouGov poll found that majorities of voters mostly care about inflation, taxes, jobs, the economy, government spending, and immigration.
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A federal judge inIndiana has granted a preliminary injunction requiring the Indiana Department of Correction to provide gender-affirming surgery fortransgender inmate Autumn Cordellioné.
The decision comes after Cordellioné, a trans woman currently incarcerated in a facility for men, challenged the constitutionality of Indiana’s 2023 law banning gender-affirming surgeries for prisoners.
United States District Court Judge Richard L. Young ruled on Tuesday that the state’s ban on gender-affirming surgery likely violates the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the care is deemed necessary. The ruling mandates that the IDOC arrange for Cordellioné to receive the surgery immediately.
The case centers on a state law that prohibits the use of state resources to provide gender-affirming surgeries for incarcerated people. Cordellioné, who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, has been undergoing hormone therapy and social transitioning but argued that surgery is medically necessary to address her ongoing distress. The court’s decision affirms what major medical associations have long argued: that surgery is essential in some cases for the treatment of severe gender dysphoria.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana represented Cordellioné in her legal battle. The organization argued that the blanket denial of gender-affirming surgery amounted to deliberate indifference to a serious medical need, as established under the Eighth Amendment and discriminated against transgenderindividuals in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The court agreed with the ACLU’s arguments, concluding that Cordellioné’s need for gender-affirming surgery was both urgent and medically necessary.
In a statement following the court’s decision, Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, emphasized the broader implications of the ruling for transgender rights. “Today marks a significant victory for transgender individuals in Indiana’s prisons. Denying evidence-based medical care to incarcerated people simply because they are transgender is unconstitutional. We are pleased that the Court agreed.”
The ruling also reinforces that states are required to provide adequate medical care to incarcerated people, a principle grounded in the U.S. Constitution.
Cordellioné, who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2020, has faced multiple suicide attempts and incidents of self-harm due to the severity of her condition. While hormone therapy has provided some relief, Cordellioné has long argued that surgery is essential for her mental and physical well-being. Her legal team, along with experts who testified in her case, emphasized that her dysphoria could not be fully alleviated without the surgery.
Young’s ruling affirms that Indiana’s law represents unconstitutional discrimination based on sex. The judge cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which determined that discrimination againstLGBTQ+ people is a form of sex discrimination.
Teams of prominent scientists and ethicists have called for the end of medically unnecessary nonconsensual surgeries on intersex children in two new papers.
On the heels of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s first-ever resolution affirming the rights of intersex people, the papers signal growing international resolve to address rights violations experienced by people born with variations in their sex characteristics, sometimes called intersex traits.
Since the 1950s, surgeons have conducted irreversible and medically unnecessary “normalizing” operations on intersex children, such as procedures to reduce the size of the clitoris, which can result in scarring, sterilization, and psychological trauma. Intersex advocacy groups, as well as various medical and human rights organizations, have spoken out against these surgeries for decades. Despite a growingconsensus that these surgeries should end, as well as global progress on banningthem, some parents still face pressure from surgeons to choose these operations for children too young to participate in the decision.
The authors of one of the expert papers found that surgeons’ subjective cosmetic preferences for the appearance of genitals was one of the most commonly reported justifications in the paper’s sampling of elective “normalizing” surgeries on children younger than 10. Cosmetic appearance of genitals has no validated measure, so the data featured surgeons’ subjective descriptions instead. The authors, including five World Health Organization staff members, concluded that, “Legislating and medical regulatory bodies should advocate for ending the conduct of irreversible, elective, ‘sex-normalizing’ interventions conducted without the full, free and informed consent of the person concerned.”
The second paper, co-signed by dozens of professionals around the world, including physicians, ethicists, and psychologists, examined the ethical implications of “normalizing” interventions on children’s genitals. The authors conclude that clinicians “should not be permitted to perform any nonvoluntary genital cutting or surgery on any child, regardless of the child’s sex traits or socially assigned gender, unless doing so is urgently necessary to protect the child’s physical health.”
Both papers advocate that children born perfectly healthy – just a little different – should be free to grow up and make decisions about their own bodies.
Over 10,000 books have been banned across the entire United States over the past school year. The trend has seen a particularly strong increase in states with a strong Republican presence, according to the free-speech nonprofit PEN America.
This is a major increase compared to the 2022-2023 year, which saw a total of 3,362 books banned across the country.
Florida and Iowa are leading in the total number of bans, with over 8,000 recorded between the two states. This number is largely due to the increasingly strict laws on book bans.
The banned books include Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie; the famous work on anti-Black racism Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 by W.E.B. DuBois; Alex Haley’s book about the lived experience of slaves, Roots: The Saga of an American Family; and James Baldwin’s autobiography Go Tell It On the Mountain.
Iowa’s bans stem from Senate File 496, a law restricting LGBTQ+ books from grade seven and below along with total bans on books deemed to contain sexual content. Florida’s House Bill 1069, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), resulted in a similar ban, albeit a much more strict one.
PEN America cites other laws from Utah, Tennessee, and South Carolina as contributing to these increase in banned books as well.
Individual school districts have also had a hand in banning many books. The Elkhorn Area School District in Wisconsin, for example, banned over 300 books over a several month period.
PEN America says that the types of books banned “includes books featuring romance, books about women’s sexual experiences, and books about rape or sexual abuse as well as continued attacks on books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, or books about race or racism and featuring characters of color.”
The organization also emphasizes that these numbers are an undercount of the actual amount of banned books since many book bans go unreported. Additionally, the organization says schools have also implemented “soft” book bans, including policies that cause greater hesitancy to check out books from libraries, restrictions on who can check out restricted books out, book fair cancellations, and the removal of classroom collections.
Six major book publishers are currently suing the Floridian government after hundreds of their books were pulled from libraries, cutting severely into their profits and discriminating against their authors.
A Florida school district recently agreed to re-shelve 36 books to settle a lawsuit concerning multiple banned books, including And Tango Makes Three, an often banned children’s book about a gay penguin couple raising a chick.
Iowa’s book ban was recently brought back into law when a permanent injunction against the ban was overturned by an appeals court.
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The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would require public colleges and universities to recognize and fund student religious groups even if they discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and others, drawing condemnation from the Congressional Equality Caucus and others.
House Resolution 3724, dubbed the End Woke Higher Education Act, passed on a vote of 213-201, with four Democrats joining 209 Republicans in the majority. No Republican who was present voted against it. It is unlikely to pass the Democratic-majority Senate, and President Joe Biden opposes it. So it has little chance of becoming law, but it gives Republicans a chance to flaunt their far-right credentials.
The bill incorporates HR 1816, which would require public colleges and universities “to provide all rights, benefits, and privileges afforded to other student organizations — including funding, access to facilities, and official recognition — to student religious groups regardless of the group’s practices, leadership standards, or standards of conduct,” according to an Equality Caucus press release.
This would mean that religious groups would be exempt from the “all-comers” policies adopted by many colleges and universities. These policies bar student groups from discriminating against LGBTQ+ students and others if they receive recognition and funding from the school; the funding usually comes from student activity fees.
The 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Christian Legal Society v. Martinez held that public higher educational institutions could require student groups, including religious ones, seeking official recognition by the school to follow an all-comers nondiscrimination policy.
“To no one’s surprise, Republicans are again using their majority to attack the rights of minority communities, including the LGBTQI+ community,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, chair of the Equality Caucus, said in the press release. “Every student should be free to fully participate at school — including in extracurriculars — without fear of discrimination. By forcing universities to recognize and fund on-campus organizations that discriminate against minority students, including LGBTQI+ students, students of color, and students with disabilities, Republicans effectively want to force minority students to subsidize their own discrimination.”
HR 3724 also would prohibit any accrediting organization from “requiring, encouraging, or coercing” schools to “meet any political litmus test,” which is aimed at diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s atrocious Far Left woke policies threaten the values of every American,” says a press release from House Republicans.
During debate on the bill, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott called it a “baseless attempt to inject culture wars into an ever-important accreditation process,” States News Service reports.
The White House issued a statement against HR 3724, saying it “would micromanage both public and private institutions, undermining their ability to recognize and promote diversity.” It further notes, “There are more appropriate ways to ensure that schools are free from discrimination and that students may exercise their rights,” including the work of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
PinkNews examines the issues faced by bisexual people at work, the impact of bi-erasure and what colleagues and employers alike can do to support their bisexual colleagues.
A common experience for many bisexual people is the feeling of being invisible, and this rings true for the workplace. Many bisexual people are faced with the choice of being out and living their authentic selves or trying ‘fit in’.
With the amount of time spent at work, having to hide a huge part of one’s identity can be emotionally draining and can lead to burnout, mental health issues and even exacerbate imposter syndrome.
LGBTQ+ people are often discriminated against and even bullied at work: Data from McKinsey suggests that up to 30 per cent of LGBTQ+ people believe that their sexual identity will harm their career progression.
Katherine, an art history professor at a small state university in the rural US Midwest, believes her bisexual identity has positively impacted her career in academia – but she remains acutely aware of the issues it poses, too.
The bisexual Pride flag. (Getty)
She tells PinkNews: “While working in a Women’s and Gender Studies department for five years, in a way [being bisexual] legitimises my research and teaching interests. When introducing myself to students in those classes, it creates a safe space for my LGBTQ+ students to share their experiences and perspectives.”
However, living in a largely conservative part of the country and with anti-LGBTQ+ bills on the rise, Katherine still maintains a level of care in how she discloses her sexual identity.
“I mostly have fear from outside the university setting from internet trolls and conservative politicians,” she explains. “But this is also one of the reasons I try to be so open with students. So many of them come from rural communities where they can’t explore their own sexuality or gender.”
The impact of bisexual erasure at work
Many in the bisexual community contend with bi-erasure – the tendency to remove, ignore and even falsify experiences of bisexuality in legacy media, academia and history. In its most extreme form, bi-erasure can also manifest as the belief that bisexuality doesn’t exist.
Bisexual people can experience specific micro-aggressions at work, including assumptions about their partners and relationships and inappropriate questions about their personal lives. Bisexual women are often fetishised and bisexual men are often told that they are “too afraid to come out as gay.”
Frustratingly for the bi community is that sometimes bi-erasure and micro-aggressions come from within the LGBTQ+ community itself.
Fears of experiencing this could be preventing bi people from being out at work. Data from Catalyst found that in the US, just 17.5 per cent of bisexual men are out at work, compared to 50 per cent of gay men. For bisexual women, nearly 20 per cent are out compared to 49 per cent of lesbians.
Katherine admits that bi-erasure does happen frequently: “People tend to view any monogamous relationship, regardless of the gender of those involved, as being straight or gay.”
She says she combats bi-erasure by being more open with friends and family, yet she does acknowledge the negative impact it can cause.
“I think the bi-erasure affects me in the way that it is part of me, and I hate that in some cases I cannot share that part of me for fear of being targeted politically.”
Supporting bisexual colleagues and employees at work
Here in the UK, the most recent census data reveals that 1.28 per cent of the population (640,000) identified themselves as bisexual. For Gen Z specifically, those born between 1997 and 2012, four per cent identified themselves as bi.
As the younger generations feel more comfortable being out and head into the workplace, the responsibility of employers and colleagues to recognise all facets of the LGBTQ+ community is even more crucial.
Aside from simple steps like respecting pronouns and challenging bullying and discrimination, there are some other things business leaders and co-workers can do to support the ‘B’ in the LGBTQ+.
Education
Bisexuality is often misunderstood and can be attached to stereotypes. If employers understand that being bisexual is a valid sexual orientation, and that the sex of an employee’s partner, partners or spouse does not immediately categorise them as ‘gay’ or ‘straight’, it can create an empathetic working environment where everyone has the opportunity to live their authentic lives while at work. Business leaders should consider targeted training and resources that specifically tackle the bi-experience.
Listening and communication
Active listening is a powerful tool for supporting bisexual employees. Much like the rest of the LGBTQ+ community, no two peoples experiences are the same. Creating opportunities for open conversations where bisexual employees can share their experiences, concerns, and suggestions. Be empathetic and validate their feelings, showing that you genuinely care about their well-being. Encourage a culture of respectful communication, where everyone’s perspectives are valued.
Respect privacy and the ‘coming out’ experience
Coming out is a personal journey, and it’s important not to pressure anyone to disclose their sexual orientation. Never assume someone’s sexual orientation or share their personal information without their consent. Part of an inclusive workplace is creating a safe space where employees can choose to share when they’re ready promotes trust and respect.
The two men who provided the narcotics that caused the death of trailblazing trans activist and actress Cecilia Gentili have both pleaded guilty to distributing the drugs.
Gentili, 52, died in her Brooklyn apartment from fentanyl-laced heroin that authorities say she received from the men, Michael Kuilan, 44, and Antonio Venti, 52.
Prosecutors said Gentili was found dead in her bedroom in February from the combined effects of controlled substances including fentanyl, xylazine (a vetrinary sedative), cocaine and heroin. The heroin, laced with fentanyl, was provided by Kuilan and Venti.
On Monday, Kuilan on Monday pleaded guilty to possession and possession with intent to distribute both of the drugs, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York. Kuilan also pleaded guilty to a charge of gun possession following an earlier conviction that barred him from carrying a firearm.
Venti pleaded guilty to narcotics possession in July.
Text messages, cell site data, and other evidence revealed that Venti sold the fentanyl and heroin mixture to Gentili on February 5, 2024, and that Kuilan supplied Venti with the lethal narcotics.
As part of their plea agreements, Kuilan and Venti agreed that they caused Gentili’s death. In addition, law enforcement searched an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn belonging to Kuilan and found hundreds of baggies of fentanyl, as well as a handgun and ammunition.
“The perpetrators of the tragic poisoning of Cecilia Gentili, a prominent leader of the New York transgender community, have now both admitted their guilt in selling the lethal drugs that have caused this heartbreaking death,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “These drugs, heroin and fentanyl, have caused so much pain throughout our community. I hope this case will bring a sense of closure to Gentili’s family and serve as a warning that this Office will be relentless in holding fentanyl dealers accountable.”
“While these guilty pleas can’t undo the tragic loss,” Peace added, “it sends a message that we will do everything we can to make sure those responsible for drug related deaths face the consequences for their actions, and the families of those who lost their lives receive justice.”
Gentili’s death shocked the transgender community in New York, where she received an outpouring of grief from local prominent figures, including nightlife legend Amanda Lepore and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), as well as her fellow cast members on the trans-centered TV series Pose.
The Argentina native was honored with a memorial service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, attended by over a thousand mourners. The joyous and “scandalous” service earned condemnation from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York City.
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Daniel Trujillo first spoke at a hearing at the Arizona legislature when he was nine years old. The now-17-year-old has spent years telling lawmakers that as a trans boy he exists, he is loved, and he’s thriving.
In fact, at one drive home after a hearing, Daniel told his mother Lizette that the only time he felt discriminated against was when he would go to those meetings. Outside of facing down anti-trans lawmakers, he lived a normal teenage life. He skateboarded. He hung out with friends. He was happy.
Daniel is content to share his story. It’s kind of his way of giving back.
“There’s a lot of younger trans kids [out there who] are shy, and they don’t always have the words to express the feelings that we all feel,” he told The Advocate. “And so sometimes it feels like this is the least I can do for these people that are so close to me.”
Daniel’s and others’ joy is at the center of a new campaign from the American Civil Liberties Union called “Freedom to Be.” As the organization tracks hundreds of bills going after transgender people, like Daniel, the group is pushing back by highlighting the actual lives these individuals lead.
The campaign couldn’t come at a more important time. The Skrmetti Supreme Court case could affirm Tennesse’s ban on gender-affirming care, eroding the medically necessary care that many trans youth depend on.
Freedom to Be will be a year-long, multimedia, multi-platform campaign, with a focus on long- and short-form video content, including a portrait series of trans people, digital and billboard ads, art installations created by and for trans people that will blanket the National Mall in 2025, and call to action surrounding a pledge to support trans youth, the ACLU said.
Abdool Corlette conceptualized Freedom to Be.
“We knew that we wanted to create something bold, something bright, something that embodies the like beautiful simplicity of the words “Freedom to be,” “Freedom to be me,” said Corlette, the head of brand at ACLU. “[The campaign] is about bringing as many people in. We knew that we wanted to create beautiful portraits of our primary storytellers that captured them as they are, that captured them in the beauty of their day-to-day lives.”
Corlette added that the team wanted to put power back into the hands of the trans storytellers. They asked them what comes to mind when they think of freedom to be me. What does that provoke in you? What does that inspire in you?
“We really allowed the answers from our storytellers to inform the look and feel of the campaign. We wanted this campaign to feel accessible. We wanted it to feel like we were just observing a person’s everyday life,” Corlette said. “We knew that there was already so much rich authenticity in folks’ day-to-day lives, and we just wanted to bring that to a wider audience.”
The focus on joy, Corlette said, is just continuing the legacy of LGBTQ+ rights movements. Trans and queer liberation always centered joy as a core element of the battle against injustice.
“What trans folks know is that their lived experience should not be defined by the people who are trying to erase them. And joy is something that is key to the trans experience. There is nothing more powerful than experiencing joy in the face of so much oppression, and we need it now more than ever. We need to showcase narratives that are not just rooted in trauma,” Corlette said. “There is nothing more powerful than saying, ‘I deserve the freedom to be.’”
