The government in Poland has used taxpayer funds to pay for anti-LGBT+ articles that compare queer rights to Soviet Russia and communism. The country’s justice ministry paid for two articles in Polish weekly magazine Do Rzeczy titled “In Defence of Christians” and “Catholics Pilloried”, The Irish Times reports. “The Soviets were also marching under the
World
Protesters gather for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Paris, France, on June 2. (Pierre Suu/Getty Images) Police officers in France have been caught privately sharing hundreds of racist, sexist and homophobic messages. The messages were shared in a private Facebook group, which is made up of more than 8,000 police officers, gendarmes (paramilitary police)
A gay lecturer from China has revealed that his academic career was left in tatters in his home country after he hosted classes on sexuality. Cui Le was a linguistics lecturer at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in the southern Chinese province of Guangzhou when the backlash began, the South China Morning Post reports.
Volunteers carry sacks of rice on March 20, 2020 in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines (Ezra Acayan/Getty) The LGBT+ community in the Philippines has been recruited to distribute coronavirus relief after packages reportedly went missing in the hands of corrupt officials. Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao City in the southern Philippines noticed a “recurring problem”
Screenwriter Apurva Asrani (right) with his partner Siddhant (Twitter/@Apurvasrani) Acclaimed Bollywood filmmaker Apurva Asrani has celebrated buying a house with his partner after being forced to hide their relationship for 15 years. Asrani is an award-winning filmmaker best known for Satya (1998), Shahid (2013), and the human rights biopic Aligarh (2016). His drama-comedy series Made in
Zambian President Edgar Lungu. (DAWOOD SALIM/AFP via Getty Images) President of Zambia Edgar Lungu has pardoned two men who were jailed for having gay sex in November, 2019. Carrying a 15 yearslong sentence, the imprisonment of Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba by high court judge curdled into international outcry from LGBT+ advocates and diplomats towards
Pakistan’s transgender community, already forced to the fringes of society, are being deprived of crucial support during the country’s coronavirus lockdown. (ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images) Existing inequalities that mean trans people are more likely to have mental and physical health problems are being exacerbated by coronavirus, according to scientists who are urging governments to act. The
Dr Caroline Norma will appear on a panel discussing “the major concerns around the proposed [conversion therapy] ban”. (CarolineNorma76/ Twitter) Students are revolting at an Australian university after a lecturer signed up to be a panellist at a “unscientific and dangerous” gay conversion therapy forum. Dr Caroline Norma is a lecturer in the School of
Minh Khang with his new baby. (Vietnam Insider) Vietnam’s ‘first trans dad’ has given birth to a baby, with his wife at his side. Minh Khang and Minh Anh became parents on May 16, to baby girl Thiên An. Khang, 24, and Anh, 21, are a well-known trans couple in Vietnam, who met in 2017
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a press conference amidst the coronavirus pandemic. (Andressa Anholete / Getty) Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the release of an expletive-filled video of president and “proud homophobe” Jair Bolsonaro as part of a corruption investigation. When Brazil’s former justice minister Sergio Moro resigned last month, he claimed that Bolsonaro had been
The ‘genderbread person’ helps children to understand the differences between gender and anatomy (Genderbread.org) A high school has dropped an LGBT+ educational tool after a transphobic mother complained it was targeting “vulnerable children” like her own transgender son. The school in Australia showed 15-year-old students an image of the ‘genderbread person‘, a well-known teaching resource
Former Iranian aide Shahindokht Molaverdi was condemned for “promoting” homosexuality (YouTube/AP Archive)/ The former aide for women’s and family affairs in Iran has been forced to apologise for sharing an innocent cartoon that was branded as “homosexual propaganda”. On May 15 Shahindokht Molaverdi shared a poster to mark the International Day of Families on her
A court order was issued for the LGBT+ Ugandans’ immediate release (image supplied) 19 LGBT+ Ugandans who were arrested, whipped and interrogated under “bogus” coronavirus charges have been released following sustained pressure from human rights groups. Their release was ordered by a Ugandan court on Monday (May 18) after public prosecutors were forced to withdraw
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves to the crowd as he marches in the Pride Parade in Toronto, June 25, 2017. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images) Canada has just approved a site for a C$8 million (£4.7 million) memorial to thousands of LGBT+ people who were forced out of government and military jobs by a five-decade institutional “purge”.
Peter Elie. (Screen capture via YouTube) A 27-year-old has been arrested by Toronto, Canada, police in connection with the brutal murder of a beloved DJ, found dead in the laundry room of his apartment block. Peter Elie, 52, was found murdered early Thursday morning (May 14) after emergency services responded to a small fire in
The parents of a nine-year-old trans girl have spoken out about their journey to understanding, to try to help other parents of trans kids with theirs. Rina came out as trans to her parents when she was five, and socially transitioned to living as a girl when she was seven. “When I was about five,
Kaila Methven in West Hollywood, California, in 2018. (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images) Kaila Methven, heiress to a fried chicken fortune and a lingerie designer to the stars, has reportedly pledged to help employ LGBT+ people and raise $1million during the coronavirus pandemic. Methven’s company, PLUR, will hire LGBT+ people, as well as people in alcohol recovery
The annual Rainbow Map ranking has named Poland, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan as some of the worst countries to be LGBT+ in Europe, while the UK continues to slide down the rankings. Since 2009, LGBT+ organisation ILGA-Europe has compiled an annual Rainbow Map ranking of the 49 countries in Europe based on each country’s commitment
A leading Israeli rabbi has come under fire after he suggested that traumatising conversion therapy can “help people be straight again.” Yigal Levinstein, a co-head of a pre-army Yeshiva, made the claims about the harmful practice in a Zoom class taught through his Bnei David academy. “It’s possible to help people be straight again,” Levinstein
Barry Neufeld attacked the World Health Organisation for its position on transgender rights (YouTube/ CTV News) A controversial school trustee is under scrutiny for spreading disinformation in a Facebook post that linked the World Health Organization with transgender children. Barry Neufeld is an elected trustee for the Chilliwack School District in British Columbia, Canada. He
A police officer asks for documents at a checkpoint on April 21, 2020 in Bogota, Colombia. (Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images) Gender-based lockdown rules in Bogotá, Colombia, will be lifted after they fuelled a wave of violence against transgender people living in the city. Bogotá’s mayor, Claudia Lopez, said in a virtual press conference on Friday (May
Jens Spahn, German minister of health, announced the conversion therapy ban on Thursday, May 7. (Maja Hitij/ Getty) Germany has banned traumatising conversion therapy for people under the age of 18, and introduced penalties for adults, putting the UK and US to shame. On Thursday evening, May 7, the Bundestag passed a law which completely
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty) More than 3,500 same-sex couples have tied the knot in Taiwan since marriage equality was legalised almost a year ago. Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage on May 17, 2019, which also happened to be International Day
Security guards patrol the grounds at an immigration detention centre in Sydney, Australia in 2005. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images) A gay Pakistani couple who fled to Australia have been granted a temporary reprieve after asylum courts initially said their sexuality was “implausible”. Both asylum seekers appealed after their applications for permanent protection visas were rejected, and
Placard at a sex workers’ rights march in Stockholm. (Twitter/SWARM) Trans sex workers in Greece who don’t have legal gender recognition are being excluded from government support in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. In Greece, where sex work is legalised but heavily regulated, only Greek nationals with a female gender marker in their documents
Richard Grenell speaks at a press conference in January (Milos Miskov/Anadolu Agency/Getty) Donald Trump’s first openly gay cabinet member Richard Grenell wants the United States to stop sharing intelligence with countries where it’s illegal to be gay. Grenell told The New York Times that it will take more than just telling the leaders of these
A well-known actor has been arrested in Turkmenistan for the simple crime of being gay, local media reports claim. The man, who has not been named, was reportedly arrested last month along with his partner and a dozen other men on suspicion of homosexual activity. Gay sex is illegal in the central Asian country and
Naofal Moussas Instagram Live video where she instructed her followers to make fake accounts on gay dating apps. Screenshot/Supplied) Gay men in Morocco are living in terror after a beauty influencer instructed her hundreds of thousands of followers to use gay dating apps to identify them, in a country where homosexuality is illegal and violent
Contrary to claims made in a viral news story, Belgium’s health minister has not banned group sex during coronavirus lockdown. The original story, published on worldnewsdailyreport.com, claimed that the country’s health minister urged people not to engage in group sex while the crisis continues. But anyone who looked at the website for more than a
A gay couple have opened up about their horrific experience of being spat on during a homophobic incident in Amsterdam while the world is in coronavirus lockdown. The couple, called Daniel and Fabio, were walking to a supermarket on Molukkenstraat in Amsterdam yesterday (April 12) when the incident occurred. They were approached by a group